Nonsuch Mansion House, at Nonsuch Park, open on Sundays, 14th & 28th April

Nonsuch Palace Model

Residents might wish to consider a visit soon to Nonsuch Museum, at Nonsuch Mansion House at the other end of the borough, in Nonsuch Park near Cheam Village.  The Service Museum is open on Sundays 14th and 28th April from 2pm to 5pm.  Last entry at 4:30pm. You can visit the old kitchens, the larder, scullery, laundry and game larder.  It is fascinating to see what a Victorian service wing would have looked like.  Entrance is Free.  http://www.friendsofnonsuch.co.uk/service.htm

Nonsuch Palace Model1

The amazing model of Henry VIII’s Nonsuch Palace in the Nonsuch Gallery is open  on Sunday 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th April.  Entrance is £2.50. The model is architecturally correct and of national importance.  http://www.friendsofnonsuch.co.uk/gallery.htm.   Both the Service Wing Museum and Nonsuch Palace Gallery are run by Friends of Nonsuch.  This group of volunteers  have been restoring the Service Wing of the house and have been giving donations which have done much to enhance the house and formal gardens.  http://www.friendsofnonsuch.co.uk/index.html

Friends of The Grove AGM

This Annual General Meeting of the Friends of The Grove Park (or AGM) is being held on Saturday, 20th April 2013 from 11am at the Water Tower, West Street, Carshalton. 

It is a golden opportunity to see inside the Georgian-built water tower which has been restored over recent decades. Interested members of the public may wish to come along and join the friends group. We are friendly and approachable.  The main speaker will be Tansy Honey from local charity, Eco-Local. We will also elect a chairman, secretary, membership secretary and so on.  Local Cllrs. Hamish and Jill are both members of the Friends of The Grove Park as we have been for many years and will be attending…

Councillor Jill Whitehead at The Water Tower

Councillor Jill Whitehead at The Water Tower

 

Wentworth Hall, 80 Ruskin Road – Update on planning matters and other matters

Local councillors received this message today 9th April from a planning officer about Wentworth Hall, 80 Ruskin Road (sited at the junction with Woodstock Road) and its planning application related matters and other matters that have been raised by residents and local councillors alike.

Wentworth Hall as viewed from opposite side of Ruskin Road

Wentworth Hall as viewed from opposite side of Ruskin Road

Dear Councillors Pollock, Whitehead and Salter, I am writing to advise you of the planning situation in relation to Wentworth Hall.

(a) Approval of Ruskin Road frontage: On 27th March the Development Control Committee resolved that in principle that the provision of steps rather than a ramp was acceptable, subject to officers approving the details of the steps and landscaping. The officers are still in correspondence with the applicant’s agent in relation to these details, so they have not yet been finally approved.

(b) Use of the first floor: In October 2010 the Development Control Committee granted planning permission (ref no C2008/60587/FUL) for an increase in roof height and provision of an additional floor within the roof space to provide additional community facilities and enlargement of existing flat, involving the formation of six dormer extensions. In August 2012 the Committee granted planning permission (ref no 2012/65722/FUL) for further extensions and alterations including at first floor level to provide for an enlarged storage area and first floor flat. The lawful planning use of the building, including the first floor, is for Use Class D1 Non Residential Institutions use, which includes use by the Muslim Cultural and Welfare Association of Sutton for a meeting place, as well a facility for prayer and worship. The building can be used for other activities, providing they are either ancillary or related to the use of the building by the Muslim Association, or are uses that fall within Use Class D1, which can include uses like day nurseries, medical uses and church halls.

(c) Dormer windows in eastern elevation: The agent advised that these windows will be altered to comply with condition 6 which requires them to be non openable. I have emailed to request he gives the timescale for doing this.

(d) Screening of external staircase to first floor flat: The applicant has submitted details of a 1.8m high rendered and painted blockwork wall to provide a screen; these details are acceptable.

(e) Condition of Ruskin Road frontage area: The applicant’s attention has been drawn a number of times to the condition of this front area by Chris Litchfield, on behalf of the Council as landowners, and I am advised that its condition is now much improved.

(f) Use of no 82: I understand that it is the applicant’s intention to reinstate the boundary fence along the eastern boundary of the site, adjoining no 82, upon completion of building works, as well as returning all that property’s back garden to residential use. I have emailed the agent to ask what the timescale for this is. In my opinion it would not be acceptable for part of the back garden of no 82 to be incorporated into the curtilage of Wentworth Hall on a permanent basis.

(h) Payment of rent: I am advised that the tenants have never stopped paying rent.

Please contact me if I can be of further assistance.

Regards.

John Rawlinson, Area Planning Manager (East Team), Development Services

LB Sutton, 24 Denmark Road, Carshalton, Surrey SM5 2JG

020 8770 6218

Mrs. Margaret Thatcher dies aged 87 years

Britain’s first woman Prime Minister Mrs. Margaret Hilda Thatcher died today 8th April 2013. She was 87. Thatcher460x276

Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has died “peacefully”  after suffering a stroke while staying at the Ritz hotel in central London. Prime Minister David Cameron called her a “great Briton” and the Queen spoke of her sadness at the death.

Lady Thatcher was Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990.

She was of course the first woman to hold the role and for a record number of 11 and a half years, and was first elected to parliament in 1959, and she retired from being an MP in 1992.

She will not have a state funeral but will be accorded the same status as Princess Diana and the Queen Mother.  The ceremony, with full military honours, will take place at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday, 17th April 2013. Many roads in central London will be closed before and during the procession. The Union Jack flag above Number 10 Downing Street has been lowered to half-mast.

Traffic Order: Mill Lane/Butter Hill bridge area

In order to facilitate the hydrodynamic vortex (silt traps known as Hydrodynamic vortex ) installation for the Wandle Trust, the London Borough of Sutton intends to make a Temporary Traffic Management Order for closure of -Butter Hill: Saturday 18th May to Friday 31st May.

This means from time to time road closure of Butter Hill from Mill Lane to Elm Grove Parade/Vellum Drive. There will be diversions via Mill Lane and North Street, or Acre Lane/Manor Rd North. There will be parking restrictions along Mill Lane which will apply from time to time. More in a future posting!

Butter Hill bridge on a sunny day...!

Butter Hill bridge on a sunny day…!

A Taxing Time

The new tax year has just started and that means Liberal Democrat tax reforms are coming into effect. From now on, more of the money people earn will go into their pockets and less will go to the taxman.

taxThat’s because we’ve raised the point at which you start paying income tax. Over 20 million people will now pay £600 less than they did under Labour. In households where two people are working, that’s an extra £1200 a year. £1200 to cover energy bills, or mortgage repayments, or to go towards a family holiday. And next April it’ll go up again. The vast majority of British taxpayers won’t pay a penny of income tax on the first £10,000 they earn. Millions of the lowest earners won’t pay any at all.

This is real help in tough times and it wouldn’t have happened without the Liberal Democrats.

Of course, the new 45p upper tax rate – down from 50p – is also coming into effect. But don’t let Labour pull the wool over people’s eyes. They may complain now, but of the 13 years they were in power, the 50p rate was in place for just 36 days.

In fact, for most of the time their top tax rate was 40p. Not 50p. Not 45p. But 40p – 5p less than now. And under Labour a cleaner would pay a higher rate of tax on their wages than a hedgefund manager selling their shares – a gross unfairness we have fixed.

What matters most today is that millions of people feeling the pinch will see their income tax cut – a promise from the Liberal Democrats in opposition, delivered by us in government.

Fancy a sneak preview of the transformation of the Olympic Park?

Olympic 2012Part of the Olympic Park will reopen on 27 July 2013.  If you can’t wait until then you can take a tour of the Olympic Park site to see how the park is being transformed into the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.  The visit includes a bus trip into the park and a journet up the UK’s tallest sculpture, the ArcelorMittal Orbit.
 
To book tickets visit http://noordinarypark.co.uk/events/

Planning Permissions: Change of use from retail use to residential use

The Government announced in the recent Budget that it will consult on proposals to further relax planning controls on changes from retail use to residential. The statement comes after other plans to remove planning controls were announced earlier this year. These include controversial new permitted development rights to allow change of use from office to residential, scheduled to come into effect in May 2013.

The Department of Communities and Local Government hopes that these additional retail-to-residential flexibilities will help secure the long-term future of the high street – “making better use of empty buildings and bringing people back to live in town centres, increasing footfall and supporting shops.” 

On face value, while the proposals could be beneficial in stimulating population growth in areas with a shrinking number of retail outlets, the effect could be to dilute the retail focus, essential character and vitality of some centres such as Carshalton Village, Westmead Road, Westmead Corner, Banstead Road and other local shopping areas.

It is anticipated that the proposals will hopefully include safeguards to protect key retail centres, through floorspace “thresholds” or “exclusion zones”. In many cases, due to the need for external changes (such as to remove shop front fascias, shop windows and doors etc.), it is likely that retail-to-residential conversions will continue to require planning permission.

Green Garden Waste Collections resume…

Garden waste collections will start on Monday 1st April to Saturday 14th December 2013

Image of a full Garden Waste Sack

Each household can put out two Council authorised 120 litre reusable sacks or three 70 litre jute sacks for free (additional single use 70 litre biodegradable sacks can be purchased for £1 per sack, at libraries only).

FREE GARDEN WASTE SACKS WILL BE AVAILABLE FROM ALL BOROUGH LIBRARIES FROM MARCH 2012.

Missed Collections need to be reported by the following day. You can do this by completing an Online Missed Collection report. Our aim is to collect the missed waste within 2 days (not including Sundays). Please make sure your bags are left outside for collection.

The garden waste collection will start on Monday 1st April 2013 and will run until Saturday 14th December 2013. The collections are fortnightly on the same day that the green wheeled bins are collected. Residents can put out up to two Council authorised 120 litre reusable plastic sacks or three 70 litre jute sacks filled with garden waste.  Extra 70 litre single use biodegradable sacks may be purchased at £1 each.

The reusable sacks can be used for the following: Twigs, sticks, leaves, grass, hedge clippings, dead plants, weeds and branches up to 20cms or 8 inches in diameter.

Biodegradable single use sacks:These are 100% biodegradable and will break down during the composting process. Sacks must be stored in a cool dry place at all times. Please restrict the use of these sacks to grass cuttings, leaves, weeds, dead plants, small hedge trimmings and garden materials that will not tear the sacks.

The Council arranges for the garden waste to be turned into a soil conditioner and this is made available to residents free of charge when available from the Impound Park Way Reuse and Recycling Centre, SM3 9QH. Residents are allowed to take away up to four sacks of soil conditioner at a time. Residents should take own sacks and spade with them.  

Sacks must be left open and not tied or taped shut.

  • Sacks must be visibly placed at the edge of your property before 6am and until 8.30pm on your bin collection day.
  • Please do not put sacks on the public footpath where they may cause accidents
  • It would help us if waste is put into the reusable and the single use sacks as near to the collection day as possible before it has time to decompose.
  • The reusable sacks will be returned to their point of collection. Whilst every effort will be made to return your sacks to you, windy weather conditions may cause sacks to be blown around.

Garden waste can be taken to the Re-use and Recycling Centre, Kimpton Park Way, Sutton SM3 9QH (off Oldfields Road, A217).

Top MP ‘very impressed’ by Sutton’s community vision

Sutton’s work to tackle climate change and involve all sectors of the community has been described as “very impressive” by a Government Minister, who visiting the borough to witness a host of community projects first hand.

Don Foster MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government visited Sutton and heaped praise on the borough after being shown a number of key projects.

Communities Minister Don Foster said: “I have seen for myself today what a terrific example Sutton is of what can be achieved when local councils and communities work together. I’ve been very impressed by projects like the BedZED low carbon development that showcases the type of buildings we need to build everywhere if we’re serious about tackling climate change, and the Circle Library that has involved the whole community in its development.

“And I’m also impressed that Sutton isn’t being complacent and is embracing new community rights devolved from central government such as neighbourhood planning, giving Hackbridge residents a real say in how they shape their community for the future.”

During the visit Mr Foster was taken to the Heart of Hackbridge Exhibition, BioRegional’s HQ BedZED and the Circle Library and met with leading local figures to discuss future plans.

Following the visit Cllr Ruth Dombey, Leader of Sutton Borough Council said: “We were delighted to welcome Don to Sutton and show him some of the borough’s most innovative schemes.

“He was extremely complimentary about the vision we have for the borough and the work we do here to include all sectors of our diverse community. We will now continue with our plans to make Sutton a greener cleaner borough and look for new and innovative ways to ensure it remains prosperous for all of our residents, encouraging local economic growth and new jobs.”

The Minister stopped at the BedZED development – an environmentally friendly low carbon housing development in Hackbridge – where he met with Bioregional representatives, the Chair of the Neighbourhood Planning Group and borough councillors. During his visit he heard about the development of a Neighbourhood Plan, the Hackbridge Improvement Plan and the proposed district heating system.

BedZED, BioRegional’s Chief Executive, Sue Riddlestone said: “The Minister stated that he’d ‘never come across anywhere where there is so much going on in one place!’ This is a tribute to the successful partnership between ourselves, Sutton Council and Neighbourhood Development Group and indeed the dozens of local people at the Heart of Hackbridge exhibition who, only today, were actively engaged in making their community a better place.”

Mr Foster arrived at Hackbridge just after 1pm before returning to central London during the evening. He became an MP in 1992 and currently represents the people of Bath. He is married with two children. on Foster MP (six from the right) meeting councillors, council officers and library staff at the Circle Library.