WALLINGTON SQUARE

I attended a presentation by The Winston Group - owners of Wallington Square last night. Local businesses and other organisations such as the Council, Wandle Housing and local councillors were invited to view some early designs for their proposals to redevelop the Square. Cllrs Jayne McCoy and Joan Hartfield also attended.

On the whole, the plans looked attractive and could help 'lift' the look of this part of the high street, as well as provide additional housing. But I was unsure about the number of floors (4) overlooking Woodcote Road and about what looks like a fairly substantial new block at the Clarenden Road end of the Square. We were assured that our views would be taken on board before any planning application is submitted - possibly next month.

CANON PLANNING APPLICATION

I recently received a letter from Parkridge Securities and Canon UK Ltd enclosing artists impressions of their plans for Canon House in Melbourne Road, Wallington. As you may know, this site is subject to a new planning application.

If first impressions are anything to go by, this is a much-improved proposal, which will, if approved, refurbish the building and provide 22 studio flats, 60 one-bedroom flats, 86 two-bedroom flats and 6 duplex units. There will also be ground floor premises for businesses and some car parking and cycle storage onsite.

One of my main concerns with the application is that there is minimal parking on site and this will clearly have an impact on local roads and residents, but in some respects it is the kind of development that should be encouraged in the town centre.

If you have any comments on the application, please drop me a line or write to Wallington North ward councillors Margaret Ali, Bruce Glithero or Joan Hartfield. You can find their contact details here: http://sutton.moderngov.co.uk/mgMemberIndex.asp?bcr=1

It is also very important to contact Sutton Council’s Planning Officers if you have views about this application. Letters should be addressed to: The Planning Department, London Borough of Sutton, 24 Denmark Road, Carshalton, SM5 2JG. Please ensure that you make reference to the planning application number - D2006/56209 - in your letter.

Full details of the application can be found on the Sutton Council website. Just follow this link: http://82.43.4.135/FASTWEB/detail.asp?AltRef=D2006/56209&ApplicationNumber=
&AddressPrefix=canon&submit1=Go

FESTIVAL OF FUN

I have just got back from a few days away from Sutton at the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe. It was a lot of fun, with plenty of different cultural entertainment available – albeit a bit too much alternative comedy for my liking – but it did get me thinking. Is there a demand for a cultural event in Sutton’s calendar? I’d like to know what other people think.

What’s on at the Edinburgh Festival: http://www.eif.co.uk/
And the Fringe: http://www.edfringe.com/

ARE YOU SURE KEN?

It has been widely reported in the Times and elsewhere in the last day or so that London Mayor, Ken Livingstone is considering introducing a scheme of cycle registration and number plates in a bid to crack down on law-breaking cyclists.

Whilst I accept that law-breaking cyclists give all cyclists a bad name, this needs to be dealt with by appropriate enforcement action by the police. Ken’s plan won’t resolve the problem but it may well put people off cycling. It is ill thought out for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it will deter cycling. Cycling in London has increased by 50% in the last few years and this is good news. Making cycling more difficult will just increase congestion on the roads and crowding on the public transport system.

Secondly, it is not the way to solve the problem. The police have powers to give spot fines to law-breaking cyclists and they should use them. Livingstone is in charge of the police, so he has the power ensure that they enforce the law.

Thirdly, Livingstone really hasn’t thought out the administrative issues that this idea presents. There are well over 30million bicycles in the UK. Does he really want them all to be registered and to have number plates – even my 7-year-old son’s bike? And who will end up paying the bill for the office of the ‘Bike Tsar’ – the local council taxpayer no doubt.

Finally, the camera technology won’t work. When Livingstone introduced the congestion charge, he exempted motorcycles because the cameras photograph the front number plates of cars entering the zone - which motorbikes do not have. The same problem would apply with cycles.

Livingstone seems to think that he might be able to persuade all the London Boroughs to support him on this. Sutton Council won’t be doing so in a hurry.

More info: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5225346.stm

GO AND SEE “AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH”

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when HIS SALARY depends on his NOT UNDERSTANDING IT” - Upton Sinclair

It's not something that I would normally do, but I accepted an invitation from DEFRA to attend a preview showing of Al Gore’s film about climate change, “An Inconvenient Truth” last week. I’m glad I did! I came away convinced that we really must act now if we are to avoid the worst ravages of climate change.

I'm trying to bring the film to Sutton, so that as many people as possible can see it.

If you want to know more about the film and THE PROBLEM, visit http://www.climatecrisis.net/

WHY SHOULD LOCAL RESIDENTS HAVE TO ACCEPT PHONE MAST?

I met a group of concerned residents at The Albany in Woodcote Road with my colleague Councillor Jayne McCoy recently to discuss their concerns about plans for a mobile phone mast on their building.

Not surprisingly, they are worriee about the long-term health risks associated with masts, for which I accept there is inconclusive research to date – but they don’t want it!

Jayne and I are really sympathetic to the residents concerns, but we feel frustrated by the Government’s planning regulations that strongly favour those who want to erect mobile masts. The fact that the owners of the building are imposing the mast upon the residents is pretty awful – especially considering that they stand to make a lot of money out of it, but won’t have to suffer the consequences.

Then about a week ago, I thought we were getting somewhere when I got a call from a vry nice man from Ericssons. He wanted to know what I would like him to do. “Tell H3G not to install the mast I told him.” He promised to do so – but I haven’t heard anything since.