by Paul Scully | Mar 5, 2015 | News, News |
I live near Carshalton Beeches station and work near East Croydon station. Boy, the contrast in travel times couldn’t be more stark. It takes twice as long to get to London Bridge and Victoria despite being just one mile further away from both. Croydon’s tram system has helped to regenerate New Addington and the London Overground which terminates at West Croydon helps to connect commuters with Canary Wharf without having to travel into Zone 1.
Commuters using Sutton station have a better choice of trains with the quicker Hackbridge route coming into play but they still have the handicap that we all have – the terrible performance of Southern Railways. The last published punctuality figures showed that for the month of December (yes even the figures are delayed), only 46.2% of trains arrived on time. The annual figure is 76.2%. That’s just not good enough for the price that we are paying as commuters. Fare increases are there to invest in the infrastructure which with projects like Crossrail is undoubtedly happening. We need investment and improvement here on the lines in South London.
Worcester Park station is incredibly busy at peak times with the platforms full in the morning. When handing out leaflets at 7am about my campaign to get Crossrail 2 to stop there, I had to step back as a train came over the bridge to avoid being mowed down by a throng of early morning sprinters tearing for the train to Waterloo. At the moment the plans for Crossrail 2 are to have the trains stop at Motspur Park, presumably to feed the spur line down to Chessington. That is such a missed opportunity to alleviate the issues at Worcester Park which local commuters are crying out to have sorted. People come from Stoneleigh and further afield to use Worcester Park station. More trains will help everyone and will benefit the local economy as a whole.
A new shopping centre is coming to Croydon in around 3 years. That will have a big effect on Sutton High Street which we need to address. We cannot compete, we shouldn’t compete. Instead we need to make sure that our residents can benefit from both the convenience of Sutton and easy transport to Croydon. Extending the London Overground is cheap as the tracks are already there but it is good forward planning to get that in place now before the shopping centre opens. The Overground service will help ease congestion on the London Bridge line, as some people will choose to travel on the slower but cheaper train to Surrey Quays and Canada Water. I’m told by Transport for London that they don’t want to make the change because the trains will be too full further up the route. Basically they don’t want to provide services where there is a high demand for them – nonsense!
Passengers travelling through Sutton station rightly complain about the reliability and frequency of the trains. This is something I am determined to tackle head-on. We need more services with fewer stops further up the line to reduce travel times and get at least somewhere near to par with our neighbouring boroughs. The building work going on around Sutton will lead to more commuters. Currently 40% of people commute to London. Our trains will get even more crowded unless we increase capacity and frequency now.
I have had a mixed response to the possibility of the tram being extended to Sutton. Some people fear it will encourage more people to travel out of the borough rather than attract people in. Others just don’t want the upheaval. The Croydon tram system has worked well in connecting communities. As a local route connecting the High Street and St Helier Hospital with the main tram route, it has great potential. Yes, buses already travel along the proposed route but the prioritisation of the tram means that they travel far quicker along the route and are more efficient. Boris has told me that the council and local business groups have made a lot of noise about the tram, but they haven’t got residents on board yet. I believe that politicians should communicate with residents more clearly and at an earlier stage to gauge their views and let them have the opportunity to help shape their community rather than react as a result of a surprise decision.
I plan to keep Sutton moving.
by Paul Scully | Feb 25, 2015 | News, News |
Speaking to local traders across Sutton, Cheam & Worcester Park, they have felt the benefits of a number of initiatives introduced by this government to help small businesses. Relief on business rates meaning that many of the smaller shops don’t have to pay anything and Employment Allowance which reduces National Insurance, making it cheaper to employ new staff are just two changes which have a positive impact. However there are several local factors that influence the local economy and retail in particular. I run my own business and so am aware of the need to be able to concentrate on my core business rather than government or council bureaucracy. I use and seek to promote local shops wherever possible. I know how they shape our local communities and how they rely on steady business to survive.
High Streets like Cheam Village, North Cheam and Worcester Park depend on people who may want to nip into local shops to pick up one or two things, maybe on impulse or perhaps whilst getting some money from the cashpoint. Although there are surface car parks in Cheam and Worcester Park (the latter being free), I always see people parking up in the loading bays to pop into a shop for a few minutes when I’m walking about. Some drivers are clearly chancing their arm, hoping to avoid a ticket, but others seem unaware that they are parked in the wrong bay. It’s happened to me on London Road a few years ago. Coming around the corner from Senhouse Road, I parked in the first available bay and saw a parking sign a few yards ahead of me saying I could stay for 30 minutes. What I hadn’t seen is another sign right next to my car turned around 90 degrees which explained that the bay I was in was in fact reserved for loading only. I didn’t notice that the bay was slightly wider on the road. I got a ticket which I successfully appealed.
But how many people don’t appeal when the rules aren’t clear or are just misleading? On the other side of London Road, a Loading Bay sign has been erected next to perfectly legal parking bays rather than the reserved loading bays ten feet further up the road. TfL have admitted that none of the tickets that might be issued on that site are enforceable. To sum it up, the system is as clear as mud. If shoppers are confused, they’ll either go somewhere else where life is easier or they’ll get put off returning if they get a fine. I often hear of people fearful of appealing during the 14 day discounted period as they are worried about the risk of having to pay the full charge. That’s a common mistake which reduces the number of appeals that local authorities would have to consider. Traffic wardens often issue tickets if there is a query, on the basis that they can be appealed. I’m pleased that the Business Minister, Matt Hancock MP, told me that he was going to see what can be done to reconsider for the Conservative manifesto a ten minute grace period before a ticket is issued, a move that was squashed by Liberal Democrats in government.
I believe that it is possible to review all of the loading bays in Cheam and North Cheam, working out when they are used for loading and so how long they are standing empty and unused, with a view to making them available to shoppers for a short stop during the quieter times. Many shops for example, stock up in the morning, whereas a few will have regular deliveries throughout the day. It won’t be possible to have one rule to cover every bay, but that’s not the case at the moment. A TfL funded advertising campaign on the radio is reminding drivers to keep clear and read the signs on loading bays as they are all different. Why not turn it round the other way? Clogging up the streets isn’t productive but that’s no reason not to be flexible.
I’ve asked businesses in these areas and most are broadly supportive. I always ask residents who vote in my regular “Independent Shop of the Year” competition what one change would improve their local shopping area and easier parking is by far and away the number one response. So I have teamed up with Steve O’Connell, our local London Assembly representative to ask Boris to look into this. There may be a million and one reasons why TfL and the council come back and say it’s impractical but if you don’t ask, you don’t get. This isn’t a magic wand solution, but it is an achievable change that can help several local retailers and in turn, benefit whole communities.
by Paul Scully | Feb 16, 2015 | News, News |
Sutton has consistently been near the top of the education performance tables. People move to the area in order to have a better chance of getting a place for their child in one of the many excellent local schools. That demand plus the fact that five schools in the borough select by academic ability and two on faith, puts a real pressure on the local authority to ensure that there are enough school places for Sutton’s children. In the early 2000s, Sutton started to shrink some of its schools before realising that the demand was increasing, rather than decreasing. Primary schools took on ‘bulge classes’ to cope with the short term and many were expanded through considerable building work. However, it seemed as though the council forgot that children grew up and moved onto secondary school. The planning for secondary school places didn’t seem to be there until the 11th hour.
We now know that we need a new secondary school by 2017 and another by 2020 to meet that demand. Those schools that can expand have, but it’s not enough. The government has invested £50m in tackling the issue in Sutton but we need to act decisively at a local level. 2017 isn’t long. Children currently in Year 4 will be at risk of having to travel outside the borough for the next stage of their schooling if we don’t act now.
Over this period of time, the economic recovery has led to prime sites in Sutton being snapped up by property developers building homes, offices and shops. All good news for Sutton, but that’s left a shortage of sites suitable for a school. Last summer, the council told us that they were looking at sites but refused to tell us which ones. The soon to be vacant Sutton Hospital site seemed to be the only one openly discussed as part of an extremely long-term plan for the hospital land. That site could work but the council would need to find a few million quid to buy the land before a single brick could be laid, the nearby junction would likely need considerable remodelling to cope with increased traffic and the demand for school places is more acute to the north of Sutton. I took the trouble of asking residents living close to Sutton Hospital what they thought. Their clear preference is for a new healthcare facility to be on that site, such as an enhanced GP surgery in the same style as the Jubilee Centre in Wallington.
So, I took it upon myself to look around for a site that might fit the bill. A derelict full sized artificial football pitch at the back of Rosehill recreation ground, next to the Sports Village appeared to be a possibility and certainly worth investigating in more detail. The council owned the site and had put out a tender to sports companies to bring it back into use as a football pitch, in contrast to councillors claims that they had always had this site in their minds as a possibility. The pitch itself has roughly the same footprint as Greenshaw’s main site (excluding the separate sixth form building). Transport links are good, especially if the tram came rolling past the front door and it’s closer to the centre of demand. Of course there are challenges. It’s Metropolitan Open Land so would need permission from the Mayor and of course people naturally don’t want parkland built on without a solid case being made.
I was pleased that after I raised the issue at every opportunity, the council added Rose Hill site to their potential sites, doubling their shortlist to two! Last autumn, they announced that they were going to conduct feasibility studies on the two sites, reporting back at the end of January. Midway through February, I haven’t seen any reports. We can’t rush and make mistakes but neither can we hang around and expect the problem to solve itself. The 2017 academic year is only seven full terms away. I served on the Project Board for the last school to be built in the borough – Stanley Park High School. That was built on a former hospital site. It took years and £1m of legal fees just to agree the purchase of the site between two public bodies. My experience is that schools take time to get right, that Sutton council doesn’t have the best track record of project management and that information is hard to come by from the local authority. That’s why I’m putting school places high up on my list of priorities. We need those places now and we need them for Sutton children. That’s a subtle but important distinction from simply having more places in Sutton which may then simply increase the already high numbers of people coming from Croydon, Merton, Surrey and further afield. Greenshaw and Wallington Boys have both applied to the Department for Education for funding to build a free school. Sutton was conspicuous by its absence in the latest announcement of new schools to be built. We need to have a far stronger voice making our case to the Department of Education than we have now.
by Paul Scully | Feb 13, 2015 | News, News |
Business Minister Matthew Hancock MP joined me in Worcester Park to ask local traders what red tape the government can cut to make their work easier. Visiting Ross Fruiterers in Central Road, the minister highlighted an example of cutting testing time for some fruit imports from six days to six hours, leading to even fresher fruit on the shelves of greengrocers.
Matthew Hancock MP said: “On Saturday it was fantastic to see exactly what cutting red tape has done for businesses like Ross’s Fruiterers in Sutton. Ross spoke to me about the importance of tackling regulation, lessening his costs as an employer and allowing him to do more for his customers. But a future Conservative government wants to go further. We are committed to the ambitious goal of cutting £10 billion more red tape in the next parliament so our nation’s employers can grow and create jobs.
“We are proud this has been the first government to reduce burden on employers, but there is still more to do. Healthy businesses are the backbone of a strong economy and our plan for red tape will help create more jobs, secure more futures, and ensure Britain is better off.”
I know from running my own small business how much unnecessary bureaucracy eats into my time and productivity. Ross and his fruit shop are both integral parts of Worcester Park. Business rate relief has made running his shop cheaper, reduction in national insurance has lessened the cost of employing his staff. Now we need to tackle the parking issue that I know is a major bugbear for Ross and other traders and part of my plan for Sutton, Cheam and Worcester Park.
I’m delighted that the Minister has promised to go away and look at the possibility of a ten minute grace period to avoid parking tickets, a move proposed by Conservatives in government but vetoed by coalition Lib Dem ministers. It’s this sort of direct action rather than wringing our hands that’ll help improve our day to day lives.
by Paul Scully | Feb 11, 2015 | News, News |
At 6pm on Monday 16th February, please take an hour out of your day and join me to become a Dementia Friend in an information session at my campaign HQ in Sutton – Sutton Conservatives, 2a Sutton Court Road, Sutton, SM1 4SY. Parking is difficult on site but Morrisons and B&Q have 2hrs and 2.75hrs free respectively. The office is only a couple of minute walk from Sutton Railway station.
People with dementia get by with a little help from their friends and anybody can become a Dementia Friend – it’s just about learning a little about what it’s like to live with dementia and turning that understanding into action. This could be helping someone to find the right bus or being patient in a till queue if someone with dementia is taking longer to pay.
This fun, interactive session will help you understand more about what it is like to live with dementia, and what we can all do to make our local community more dementia-friendly. I’ve been around a number of local care homes over the last couple of months in particular and I’m full of admiration for the patience and dedication of the people that look after those with dementia, from professional carers to the family members who are having to cope with something akin to a bereavement whilst still looking after that person from day to day.
I hope you can spare the time to learn a little more about the 1238 people living with dementia in Sutton and Cheam, as well as the Right to Know campaign by the Alzheimer’s Society, which aims to improve rates of diagnosis and post-diagnosis support. I’m looking forward to learning more myself and hope you’ll come along. Everyone is welcome and the more people that gain a deeper understanding of this condition, the better prepared our area will be for the increasing numbers of people with this debilitating condition.
