by Paul Scully | Mar 16, 2008 | Carshalton Central, News |
On Wednesday night, my colleagues and I heard Ken Andrew speak at the Carshalton & Clockhouse Local Committee about the issues around the proposed changes to Westmead Road. He presented a petition which attracted significant support from residents that would be most affected by the proposals. I was pleased to see a good number of residents at the meeting to tell us their views.
At the meeting, Ken articulated concerns about the changes to the Hail and Ride bus service and the introduction of speed humps. No-one could disagree with making our roads safer – hence my support for the introduction of the two mini-roundabouts and other limited changes as called for in the petition – but the rest of the scheme appears to address a problem that is not there. Lower Road has an accident record that requires some action. However the plan affects the entire length of Westmead Road and unduly affects bus users and drivers.
As previously reported, when this scheme was first presented to me and Eric, we both queried why speed humps remained in the proposal after being clearly rejected in the consultation. We were told that residents only objected to humps because of possible loss of on-street parking and since no places would be lost, there was no reason to remove them from the scheme. This explanation was derived from the comments that a few residents had written. We were not satisfied with this as we believed that there were insufficient comments to jump to this conclusion and so demanded that speed humps were removed from the design.
With many of these schemes council officers come under pressure to push through plans in fear of losing the funding at the end of the financial year. The choice that we had on Wednesday was described as “take it or leave it”. Councillors unanimously voted to leave it, rejecting the proposal. It is unfortunate that we did not have the option to pick and choose the parts of the scheme that residents believed would have most benefit to them, due to the cumbersome bureaucracy of Transport for London.
Ken Andrew and local resident Paul Kelly did a great job in organising the petition and I was pleased to see how well supported it was. We often take this Council to task for not seeking and responding to residents’ opinions and I am pleased that in this instance, residents have grouped together effectively to ensure that their voice is heard. Eric and I will continue to do our utmost to reflect your views and concerns about Carshalton.
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by Paul Scully | Feb 22, 2008 | Carshalton Central, News |
The latest round of Post Offices in London to be closed was revealed on Tuesday. 169 branches were identified with 2,500 closures in total earmarked across the country.
Sutton has its share with Carshalton Road, opposite the BP Garage joining Gander Green Lane, Bishopsford Road, Mitcham Junction and Wythe Lane for the chop. The shopkeepers seem to have mixed views but I fear for the less mobile who will find the mile or so travel to the nearest alternative difficult.
Conservative Parliamentary candidate Ken Andrew has collected 2,000 signatures around Carshalton and Wallington and Philippa Stroud has been proactive in raising support in Sutton for the campaign to stop these further closures. Philippa’s petition is also online, so please show your support here. There are a few weeks of consultation. Any chance of success in reversing this decision depends on your support. Please take a minute to register your protest.
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by Paul Scully | Jan 3, 2008 | Carshalton Central, News |
600 residents on or around Westmead Road and Lower Road were consulted on a traffic calming scheme shortly before Christmas. This was as a result of the poor accident record in Lower Road.
Proposals included two mini-roundabouts, changes to junctions and several speed cushions. Ward councillors were asked for comments on the plans following the consultations. Now, I have a well-publicised aversion to speed bumps at the best of times as they are too often used as a lazy-man’s way of “doing something”. The question was asked of residents “Do you agree with the road narrowing and speed cushions along Westmead Road between the mini roundabout junction with Shorts Road and the junction with Ringstead Road?” 59 people said yes, 82 people said no. In the amended plans, I was amazed to see that all 10 speed bumps remained between these two roads despite a clear rejection. The justification was that accompanying comments only feared that they would lose parking spaces. Since that wasn’t the case, it was OK to leave the bumps in.
Needless to say that this was unanimously rejected by us. Since the problems occur up to a mile away from the humps in Sutton Central (whose councillors graciously approved the speed bumps in our patch), I cannot for the life of me see why Westmead Road residents should suffer the extra noise, pollution and inconvenience of speed cushions. Watch this space for updates.
Update: I am informed by Cllr Janet Lowne that the Sutton Central councillors only approved the changes in their ward. I’m happy to set the record straight.
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by Paul Scully | Oct 30, 2007 | Carshalton Central, News |
As many residents in the Salisbury Road and Carshalton Park Road area will know, the site of 32a Salisbury Road was an orchard. I have written before how the open green space created by the layout of neighbouring gardens has maintained this heritage. The recent application to build four houses on it has been rejected. Although I wrote to neighbours a little while ago, it is worth detailing the reasons for refusal in order to combat similar inappropriate developments:-
(1) The proposals by reason of plot size, scale and building form would be out of keeping with the prevailing character of the surrounding residential area, and be harmful to its character and appearance. The application is therefore contrary to Policies BE1, and HSG1 of the Sutton Unitary Development Plan.
(2) The proposed development by reason of its scale and backland siting, would have an adverse effect on the amenities and outlook currently enjoyed by neighbouring residents contrary to policies BE14, BE18 and HSG1 of the Sutton Unitary Development Plan.
(3) The drawing no(s). relating to this decision is/are LBS01, SR-1-102, SR-1-103, SR-1-104, Design and Access Statement.
(4) The proposed development would provide a poor standard of accommodation for future occupiers through the likely substandard size of proposed bedrooms, bathrooms, and living/dining/kitchen areas, contrary to Supplementary Planning Guidance 7 – Internal Housing Standards.
(5) The proposed development would lead to an increase in traffic movements to and from the existing rear access with substandard width, inadequate geometry and layout, which would cause danger and inconvenience to all users of the proposed access. The application is therefore contrary to policies TR21 and TR29 of the Sutton Unitary Development Plan, and Supplementary Planning Guidance 12 – Design for the Layout of New Streets.
The applicants are able to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate in Bristol so the battle is not yet over. Thanks to everyone who sent their objections to the Council.
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by Paul Scully | Jun 12, 2007 | Carshalton Central, News |
Sorry about the pun, but Eric and I had a joint family outing to some of the treats of Carshalton including the Water Tower on West Street. I’ve gone past it so many times over the eighteen years that I have lived around the corner but not ventured up.
For the bargain price of 75p, we were rewarded with spectacular views of the grounds in St Philomenas and the old Carshalton House which is now the school’s main building. The fact that we were also afforded aerial views of the red splurge that is traffic calming in West Street shall be painted out of my memory in much the same way as the black asphalt has been, under the over-eager workmen painting the town red.
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by Paul Scully | Jun 9, 2007 | Carshalton Central, News |
I can’t say that there has ever been a crowd of people beating a path to my Council Surgery door and this morning was no exception. I was delighted to have the company of some wonderful people at the Ecology Centre, preparing their float for this year’s Carshalton Carnival. I was told that Sutton’s Meals on Wheels had won three of the last four years’ competitions for ‘Best Float’. This year’s entry was a feat of engineering with Dumbo strapped onto the roof of a Meals on Wheels van.
I later found out that they had won second prize. I hope that they didn’t lose because of the balloon that I had tied on a little too high. If I didn’t know that they could always use more volunteers, I would have said that I should have left it to the professionals. Never mind, their thoughts would have already turned to next year.
