Grow your own veg – it’s a good time of year to start. Improve your gardening skills. Meet other people. Take home fresh produce… For more details phone 020-8770 6611!

Carshalton Community Allotment

Five good reasons to support us PLEASE next year in the local elections here in Carshalton Central ward…. 

1. Privacy. We have cancelled plans for a law which would have kept records of all the websites you visit and all the people you communicate with on social media sites – the so-called snooper’s charter. The proposals were an infringement of our privacy that wouldn’t have worked to make us safer, so we said no.

2. Economy Starting To Grow. This week’s GDP figures showed the economy is starting, slowly, to get stronger, as we steadily bring borrowing under control and build confidence in Britain again. Liberal Democrats in government have focused on creating jobs and opportunities, especially for young people, and our commitment to a stronger economy is pointing us in the right direction.

3. Crime is falling – again. It’s one of the untold stories of this government, but crime is lower than at any time since 1981. Of course, many factors affect crime rates but we firmly believe our drive on rehabilitation and treatment in prison and in the community is paying dividends.

4. Payday comes this week for millions – the first pay cheque to benefit from our £600 tax cut. Everyone who was affected by Gordon Brown’s 10p tax fiasco now pays no tax at all on their wages.

5. The Green Investment Bank issued its first guarantee this week, enabling the conversion of Drax coal-fired power station to biomass, cutting carbon, creating jobs and shifting us to a cleaner, stronger economy.

And of course, our councillors are, quite frankly, better than the others!

Look at the record of Labour (like Lambeth) and Conservative councils (like Croydon) and you’ll find shocking stories of waste and inefficiency while services local people rely on are cut.

One fact is illustrative: no Lib Dem council has closed a library this year, only councils run by the other parties.

This week has shown once again that our party is essential in politics. The Conservatives can’t be trusted to deliver a fair society. And Labour can’t be trusted to build a stronger economy. Neither stands up for the liberty of our citizens.

Only Liberal Democrats fight for a stronger economy and a fairer society, enabling everyone to get on in life.

Just to let you know that the paths and tarmac area within Carshalton War Memorial gardens off Honeywood Walk are going to be resurfaced week commencing Monday 29^th April 2013.  This is following requests by local councillors for improvements to the existing path surfaces which have become worn out.

We’re sorry for the short notice but the contractor had a window of opportunity to carry out the works sooner than planned and the Council have agreed that they can go ahead. Please note the contractor will be barricading off 4 parking bays along Honeywood Walk to allow safe access to the site.

Pupils and parents could soon be able to cross the road in greater safety after a £50,000 crossing scheme was given the green light.A pedestrian crossing in Woodmansterne Road, Carshalton would give children and parents, as well as other local residents, of Barrow Hedges Primary School a safe walking route to school.

It was agreed to send the project out to consultation following a discussion at the Carshalton and Clockhouse Local Committee on 16th April which heard that the school is set to increase pupil numbers and that local traffic currently averages 33-35mph on the road. The Headteacher of Barrow Hedges Primary School, said: “We actively promote children walking to school and welcome anything that makes it safer for children, parents and staff to come and go safely. At the moment it can be difficult to get across the road, so a pedestrian crossing would really help.”

The project, which would also include speed cushions and associated works around the crossing, will now go out to statutory consultation with a view to work starting later in the year, if it is approved.

Cllr. Hamish Pollock, Chair of the Local Committee, said: “The safety of children going to school has to be of the greatest importance and that is why the committee agreed to look more closely into taking it forward.”

The same committee also agreed to paint double yellow lines on the east side of Shorts Road following complaints that cars parked there were blocking traffic, including fire engines.

The council’s budget for the new financial year was agreed by the Council in March 2013. We are required by law to set a balanced budget which shows where the resources we plan to spend will come from. The main available sources are through central government funding and council tax. It is also possible to use reserves, but they can only be used once and we need to ensure that they are maintained at a sufficient level to cover the financial risks that we face. The central government funding system has changed significantly this year and now incorporates an element of ‘Business Rates Retention’ so that councils can gain additional funding from growth in the local business rates tax base, although they will also lose funding if the tax base falls.

Although it is not straightforward to compare 2013/14 with earlier years we estimate that our funding from central government has reduced by about £7.5m (9 per cent). Members decided to hold Council Tax unchanged, therefore qualifying for a council tax Freeze Grant from government equivalent to a one per cent increase (£850k). Overall there was a net reduction in the resources available. At the same time we needed to provide for the impact of inflation (£2.6m) and to fund investment in member priorities and meet unavoidable cost pressures (£1.7m). This resulted in a requirement to make savings of around £12m to balance the budget.

Savings for 2013/14 are being delivered mainly through the existing Smarter Services Sutton programme (about £11m). The remaining £1m comes from the early results of some of the Smarter Council projects and from additional interest earned from our treasury management operations. This reflects the fact that our cash balances are currently quite high due to holding government grants, mainly for future capital investment.

Our overall general fund revenue budget for 2013/14 is £155.2m. We expect our resources to fall over the medium term to around £144m by 2016/17, assuming no change to council tax. Given the cost pressures we face and assuming that the remaining savings under the SSS programme are delivered by 2014/15 as planned, we currently forecast a funding gap of £5.8m in 2014/15 rising to £23.6m by 2016/17. This is equivalent to a further 15 per cent budget reduction over that period, and work is under way to agree an approach to deal with this.

Members of the public are welcome to attend a Development Control Committee on Wednesday 24 April, when councillors will decide whether or not to grant planning permission for an energy recovery facility in Beddington. You can view the papers here. The meeting will take place in the Europa Gallery at Sutton Civic Offices from 8pm.

Carshalton Pond railings by the edge of the Award Winning Grove Park in Carshalton

We have recently received this message from Transport for London who manage the maintenance of the railings by Carshalton Ponds, High Street, Carshalton in the heart of the Carshalton Village Conservation Area:

The maintenance of the structure and the posts has been an area that has been difficult to manage over recent years. The reason for this is that the posts and railings do suffer from vehicle strikes, and in the past, these have resulted in significant damage to the listed structure upon which they are attached. Consequently, the listed structure, the posts and the railings have been in a poor state of repair, and last year we made repairs to all of these as well as designing in solutions to mitigate against the damage caused by vehicle strikes.

Part of the design was to ensure that the infrastructure remained in keeping with its original character, in particular for the listed elements. The new railings, however, are not designed to restrain vehicles from entering the ponds except as a visual deterrent or under very minor impact. This is because stronger barriers, which would require fixing to the listed elements, result in significant damage to the structure when hit by a vehicle requiring costly and lengthy repairs. Therefore, we have purposefully designed the railings to sheer off at the base upon impact allowing for damaged sections to be replaced with less disruption and to prevent any further damage to the wall surrounding the ponds. The new system is therefore working as designed, as it allows our contractors to replace any damaged sections promptly and with less disruption to traffic in the area.

As such, we have already instructed our contractor to make the necessary repairs, and I am just waiting for confirmation of their schedule and will let you know.

The front page of last Monday’s Evening Standard highlighted an issue repeatedly raised by Caroline, that of the millions of pounds lying dormant on unused Oyster cards and the serious problems many passengers face in seeking refunds.

At present there are 19.7 million Oyster cards which have not been used for more than a year, with a total value of £53 million on them. Some people might purposefully be keeping credit on their Oyster cards for occasional travel in London, but clearly there are many people who are unaware that they can claim back their credit (and their returnable deposit), or have faced problems in trying to do so, especially at Tube stations.

Transport for London now claims that they will improve their software and make it easier for people to claim a refund at Tube stations from June. At present the best way to reclaim a refund is by calling the Oyster contact centre on the low rate number of 0343 222 1234. Speaking to the Evening Standard, Caroline said: “For too long TfL has defended keeping hold of millions of pounds on dormant Oyster cards by claiming that it is easy to claim a refund at every Tube station.

Finally they have admitted that this is not always the case for people seeking to claim back their own money. “Making it far easier for people to claim back their money is long overdue. It is also vital these changes are properly publicised.” For more information see the Evening Standard’s extensive report. Further reports can be seen at Lib Dem Voice and the website London Loves Business. Will the Mayor agree to a new approach to sponsorship? One of the long standing criticisms of recent high profile sponsorship deals struck by Transport for London, such as for the Emirates cable car and the Barclays cycle hire scheme, has been the excessive secrecy over the contracts. Whether the deals are actually good value for Londoners has been hard to judge. Now, after consistent pressure from Assembly Members, it has been accepted by Transport for London that the sponsorship deals should be far more transparent.

After hearing about these proposed changes Stephen Knight, who is Deputy Chair of the Assembly’s Budget and Performance Committee, said: “Sponsorship can bring real benefits to transport, however all new deals must be transparent, provide value for money and protect TfL’s reputation. The real test is whether these positive proposals are actually signed off by the Mayor of London and properly implemented. “TfL also needs to show far more engagement with local communities and avoid upsetting people with tacky and inappropriate advertising displays, as has recently happened.”

Happy 87th Birthday to Her Majesty! 

Queen Elizabeth II

The Queen is expected to celebrate her 87th birthday with her family at Windsor Castle later, following a visit to Newbury Racecourse on Saturday.

Traditional gun salutes will be fired in London on Monday – because her birthday falls on a Sunday this year.

Each year, she celebrates her actual birthday on 21 April and her official birthday on a Saturday in June.