Murder at Charles Cryer Theatre

Murder at Charles Cryer Theatre

Tragic news comes to me of a fatal stabbing behind the Charles Cryer Theatre in Carshalton High Street. A car has also crashed near the Grange by Beddington Park. Police are investigating whether there was any link.

You can read a little more at the Sutton Guardian website, though the story will undoubtedly develop over time.

I’ll tell you what I told them: it is always shocking to hear of crimes like this, but it is especially disturbing when it happens in your local area.

My thoughts are with the family and friends of the victim, and I wish the police speedy success in their investigation.”

Murder at Charles Cryer Theatre

Carshalton CPZ Rejected By Most Residents

I promised to publish the results of the recent consultation about the options for controlled parking in the roads around Carshalton railway station.

Most residents came out against the two proposals of residents’ permits or one-hour restricted parking. However, the roads immediately adjacent to the station came out in favour and so we need to work with officers to see if anything can be done to help residents there.

Colston Avenue came out with a split vote. I suspect much of the desire for change comes from the badly designed parking regime there which I am pleased is to be changed anyway. Yellow lines will stop cars from parking on the road, whilst pavement parking will remain. This will keep some parking whilst allowing traffic to flow along Colston Avenue. It will be kept under review to determine whether priority arrows need to be added or other modifications are required.

I have uploaded the spreadsheet of the road by road results which you can see here.

Murder at Charles Cryer Theatre

Cedar Close To Be Rebuilt.

The campus at Cedar Close, Carshalton is to be rebuilt, updating the accommodation there for the residents who have severe learning disabilities.

Cedar Road is off Salisbury Road – almost directly opposite my house – and the site backs onto the Carshalton War Memorial Hospital land. The plan is to build new one bedroom flats with communal areas on the north end of the hospital land before clearing the existing Cedar Close land. I assume that with the hospital site due to be sold off, this will make an attractive parcel of land for developers when the lagging economy is well and truly fiscally stimulated. Neighbours in Salisbury Road have kept a close eye on the site for many years, expecting something to happen. As someone who will be directly affected, I will not be afforded any extra influence as a councillor, so I will be appealing to my ward councillor Eric Howell to ensure that whatever is built on the vacant site, it respects the character of the area and does not add to pressure on the infrastructure of the village. Cedar Close is designated as a low density site on development plans and sits adjacent a Conservation Area.

On a separate note, the families of some of the eleven residents that live in Cedar Close have concerns about the future care of their sons, daughters, brothers and sisters. At present, many of the residents share accommodation. Healthcare workers are assessing each individual to tailor the future development. However, many families are concerned that if the building is restricted to one-bedroom flats, the residents will lose the companionship of their fellow residents who have become firm friends. I cannot pretend to be an expert in this field but I will continue to speak to the families and the Council’s commissioning team to ensure that the best and most appropriate facilities are available.

NHS Snub Carshalton Residents

NHS Snub Carshalton Residents

Sutton & Merton NHS Primary Care Trust have delivered a blow to residents living around Carshalton Park by scrapping plans to build a new Intermediary Care Hospital on the War Memorial site, instead seeking to flog the land off for £2.1m.

For years, residents and ward councillors were promised faithfully that the land would be used for healthcare and their fears that it would be redeveloped were unfounded. Unfortunately those promises were hollow.

I have promised to keep residents up to date. Unfortunately, I found out about the sale, not from the PCT but from a Beddington councillor who had been informed at another meeting. I had smelt a rat when I saw the site strangely absent from the latest proposals for changes to healthcare in Sutton and Merton, Better Healthcare Closer To Home.

The proposals as a whole will largely benefit residents in the ward with the new Shotfield clinic in Wallington and rebuilding of part of St Helier hospital but Sutton will largely lose out to residents in Merton after their local MP spent well over £70,000 of taxpayers’ money on postage campaigning for her constituency. The Labour Government have rewarded her with the majority of the new facilities being in the north of the area covered by the Trust in places that I have only just recently heard of through my role as councillor, despite living here for all of my adult life.

The NHS will have to gen up on local strategic planning before trying to push through a major development. The parcel of land sits between a Conservation area and an area marked as low-density housing on strategic planning maps.

As we come close to the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War, it is disappointing to think that a healthcare site built through public subscription might be replaced by a memorial to the fallen by identikit modern housing. I’ll keep you posted as I hear more.

Murder at Charles Cryer Theatre

K.O. for the P.O.

The Post Office have revealed their decision on the future of branches in London. All five that were earmarked for closure in the Borough are to be axed, leaving hundreds of people inconvenienced and having to suffer longer journeys and longer queues.

One is here in Carshalton, opposite the BP garage on Carshalton Road. BP are putting an M&S Simply Food branch on their site. Without postal services, I fear that the shop will find it hard to compete with the might of M&S and BP. Another nail in the coffin of diversity.
Ken Andrew, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Carshalton & Wallington did a terrific job in raising awareness of the threat and collected a petition with well over 3000 signatures on it. Despite best efforts, the decision had pretty well been made with only 7 branches reprieved in London out of 171.
Murder at Charles Cryer Theatre

Boris in Carshalton

I brought Boris to Carshalton High Street a few days ago. We discussed the contrast between the village feel of Carshalton and the different types of problems that we face here compared to Zone One.

You may recall that local business owners and residents had complained about underage drinking and vandalism in and around the High Street and the two parks. Shopkeepers articulated their concerns whilst appreciating that not all young people hanging out around the canal were looking for, or causing trouble.

Victor Eve collared Boris to highlight the bleak future for patients of Malvern Ward in Sutton Hospital, a specialist Alzheimers unit which is earmarked for closure. The owner of Village Bathrooms bemoaned the fact that since TfL had taken control of the High Street as a red route, getting anything done was both time consuming and costly. Even seeking permission for decorations at Christmas was proving to be a headache.

Finally we rested the campaign-weary feet at Harry Brooks’ coffee shop where Boris chatted with John Faulkner, Chairman of Woodstock Road Residents’ Association and Steve Mendat, a local Neighbourhood Watch Street Co-ordinator and caretaker at All Saints School. He also had time to spend a few minutes giving an interview to Lisa Williams of the Sutton Guardian.

I was determined that Boris would not simply be surrounded by the party faithful, instead meeting “real” residents of the village such as John and Steve who could tackle Boris on issues that concerned their friends and neighbours rather than pushing an election message to them. We have a long way to go before the result of this election is known. However, if and when Boris enters City Hall as the new Mayor, I want him to know exactly where Carshalton is and what he can do for us. Time and time again since being selected as the Conservative candidate, Boris has given me confidence that he will not ride roughshod over areas such as ours, instead seeking guidance from those who know the area best including our hard-working London Assembly candidate, Steve O’Connell. I’m looking forward to the refreshing change.