Can you catch the easyBus?

Like me you have probably seen the bright orange branding of the Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s easyBus as it plies its trade up and down the Woodcote Road on route between London Victoria station and Gatwick airport.

At peak times the service runs every 20 minutes and off peak every 30 minute for much of the way – but you try to catch it! Unfortunately the bus just passes through Wallington on its way to the airport or to London. But it does stop in Coulsdon and in Streatham High Road.

I think there’s a hidden demand for this fast and reliable bus service from local residents who want to get to the airport without having to take their own car and hire a cab, so I’ve written to the man at the top – Stelios – to ask him to consider adding a stop in Wallington. I’m looking forward to his reply.

TRAINS OF THOUGHT (2)

On Thursday afternoon I met Peter Hendy at Sutton Station for his second visit to Sutton in 8 months and took him and his team to visit some of the highlights of the Smarter Travel Sutton Project.

Our first stop, just outside the station was to speak to the folks from Streetcar, an innovative car sharing club that now has over 120 members in Sutton. Then we moved on to have a look at one of the three new Smart Columns that have been installed in Sutton. The Smart Columns have interactive touch screens which offer easy access to a wealth of services and travel information from rail operators and Transport for London, including Journey Planner, travel updates, taxi finder and you can even print out maps, while broadcast screens show live train departures and the BBC.

Then we were off to meet Paul Cawthorne of Sutton Chamber of Commerce and colleagues from Reed Business Information (RBI) at their sustainable travel event at Quadrant House. RBI is Europe’s biggest online and offline publisher and one of Sutton’s largest employers. The company is clearly committed to the environment and has an environmental management system in place, as well as progressive policies to promote Smarter Travel – such as home working, flexi-working and tele-working, interest free bike loans. They have even reduced their car parking capacity to encourage more sustainable travel choices.

We spent too long at RBI – because they had so many interesting things to tell us – but we soon made up time on our way to our final destination, Wandle Valley School aboard one of Sutton Community Transport’s excellent Optare Aleros buses. The buses run on a biodiesel fuel mix and have extremely low emissions and they were paid for by a grant from STS.

At the school we were met by Head Teacher Doug Bone. Doug and his team run a truly inspirational school for young people who have experienced some behavioural difficulties in mainstream schools. I was really impressed to see how the school has embraced school travel planning and how the young people are really living the principles of sustainable travel. Doug was very welcoming and inspiring.

After that it was a quick trip back to Sutton Station to see Peter and the team off to London again after what was, I hope, a very useful visit.


Streetcar http://www.streetcar.co.uk/

Reed Business Information http://www.reedbusiness.co.uk/rb2_home/rb2_home.htm

Sutton Chamber of Commerce http://www.suttonchamber.biz

Sutton Community Transport http://www.suttonct.co.uk/

Wandle Valley School http://www.suttonlea.org/pages/dirinfo.asp?dfee=7005

TRAINS OF THOUGHT (1)

I think the theme of the week is going to be transport. I chaired Sutton Council’s Public Transport Liaison Group today and tomorrow I have a meeting with Peter Hendy, Transport Commissioner in Victoria Street to discuss the new Mayor of London’s Transport Strategy amongst other things. Then on Thursday Peter is paying a visit to Sutton to see the progress we have been making with Smarter Travel Sutton.

CHANGES AHEAD
Today we spent some time talking about the impact of Network Rail’s South London Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS). The strategy has some good news and some bad news for us here in Sutton.

On the good news side I was very pleased to see that my concerns about overcrowding and the time it takes to travel from Sutton, Carshalton Beeches and Wallington have been addressed:

• We will be getting longer trains on the Victoria services from Sutton, staring with 10 cars by 2010/11 and 12 cars by 2015;
  
• We will have a faster service to London Bridge via Wallington from 2010/11. They will stop at Waddon, West Croydon and Norwood Junction but then run non stop to London Bridge;
  
• There will be more morning peak Thameslink trains from Sutton via Hackbridge;
  
• And for those of you who hate Clapham Junction, the station will undergo major improvements by 2015 – at last I hear you cry!

On the other hand I was very disappointed to hear that Network Rail proposes to make changes to the existing Thameslink service from Bedford which will mean that the service will not come through Sutton.

I will be taking this up with Network Rail along with the depressing news that our new direct service to St Pancras International will also stop before sometime between 2011 and 2015 in favour of a service that requires us to change trains at London Bridge.


USEFUL LINKS:

Smarter Travel Sutton
http://www.smartertravelsutton.org/news

South London Route Utilisation Strategy

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browseDirectory.aspx?root=%5CRUS%20Documents%5CRoute%20Utilisation%20Strategies&pageid=4449&dir=%5CRUS%20Documents%5CRoute%20Utilisation%20Strategies%5CSouth%20London

And finally ....

.... for tonight at least, a visit to Bergen County, New Jersey.

Thank you Louise for your posting.

According to Wikipedia Wallington was created as a borough on January 2, 1895 (based on a referendum held on December 31, 1894), at the height of the Boroughitis fever then sweeping through Bergen County. The borough was formed from area taken from Bergen Township and Saddle River Township. Sections of Wallington were ceded to Garfield in 1898.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallington%2C_New_Jersey

Wallington in Victoria

Thanks for this one from Australia too.

Wallingon near Geelong in Victoria. It was almost as sunny here in the UK today!

The first of the 'other Wallington's' is in - thanks Jackson.

The ancient seat of the Trevelyan family in Northumberland. http://www.ejr.ndo.co.uk/wallington.html

Dating from 1688, Wallington House was home to many generations of the Blackett and Trevelyan families, who have all left their mark over the centuries. The restrained Palladian exterior gives way to the magnificent rococo plasterwork of the interior which houses collections of ceramics, 19thC painting and wallpaper and early 20thC dolls' houses. The house is set in delightful grounds comprising lawns, lakes and woodland, as well as a beautiful walled garden containing many species of unusual plants and shrubs and a conservatory housing a wide variety of fuschia.

Wallington not Springfield

According to the BBC – and Simpson’s fans no doubt – there are 14 towns in the US called Springfield.

That got me thinking. Do you know how many other Wallington’s there are out there beyond our one here in Surrey - and have you visited any of them?

Please leave a comment and a photo if you have one and I will post them.

Conservative candidate in Henley under fire for claiming to support hospital campaign

Organisers of the campaign to save a local hospital in Henley say they have not heard of Conservative by-election candidate John Howell, despite his claims to have supported their campaign.

The information came to light after John Howell claimed to have supported the campaign to save Townlands Hospital in Henley in his election literature.Commenting, Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats, Lord Rennard said:“Mr Howell claims to have supported a campaign to save a local hospital. But the chair of the hospital campaign says that they hadn’t heard of him and is unaware of any contribution that he has made to the campaign.“This is further evidence that the Conservatives have blundered over their choice of candidate.“People want an MP that they can trust.”

Stephen Kearney for Henley

Just a few days to go in the Henley by election following the resignation of Boris Johnson on being elected as Mayor of London.

Investing in Wallington

For some months I've been working with the Council and Transport for London - trying to squeeze more money out of TfL to improve the centre of Wallington for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.

The good news is that SWELTRAC, a transport partnership covering South & West London, has agreed to fund access improvements to the railway station and I will be talking to Peter Hendy, London's Transport Commissioner about the importance of providing funds to support this project on 24th June.

CHANGE IS GOOD
I think it’s good to see new buildings like the one Caffé Nero, Tesco and Specsavers making a positive improvement to our town. And the new Shotfield Health Centre will be very welcome too, but we need to do something to upgrade the street scene. Ideally we need to improve the pavements and remove some of the street clutter - and we definately need to do something about the traffic. Worringly, we have the worst air quality in the borough in Woodcote Road.

But the improvements must be popular to be successful. They need to be designed jointly by professionals and by the community. That means ensuring that local residents, businesses and resident and tenant associations are involved in the work to design them from the very start.

I will keep you updated on progress, but if we can convince TfL to shell out some money, consultation work should start early in 2009.