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by Paul Scully | Dec 17, 2006 | Carshalton Central, News |
Developers have returned to a site on the corner of Coleridge Avenue and Shirley Road in the Poets’ Estate where a similar plan was rejected last year.
The planning application proposes the demolition of the corner house and the building of seven houses in its garden.
This application is as controversial as the first with several residents objecting on similar grounds to before, namely overdevelopment of the site which is prone to flooding from the culverts running alongside the garden and the danger posed from traffic going in and out of the narrow corner access. Despite our best efforts the Poets’ Estate was not recommended to be designated as an Area of Special Local Character (ASLC), which would provide an extra hurdle for potential developers but we were promised that the Local Development Framework would provide a sensitive approach to this individual area. I suspect that this will be the first test of this promise.
As a member of the committee that may decide on this application, I will decide on the night if and how they have overcome the reasons for rejecting the original application. Comments on the application (ref. no. C2006/56847) should be sent to London Borough of Sutton, Environmental Services, 24 Denmark Road, Carshalton, Surrey, SM5 2JG.
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by Paul Scully | Nov 6, 2006 | Carshalton Central, News |
Eric and I met many of the residents of Wallace Crescent at their residents’ association meeting last Tuesday. The three perennial issues came up and I hope that we can make some real progress on them in the coming weeks.
Building has started on a a Mother and Baby unit in the corner of the Crescent. Residents are naturally anxious about the effect that this will have. They have resolved to get to know the
management and build up a relationship to head off any problems. Eric and I will intervene if necessary.
Four years ago, I pledged to lobby TfL to get the Crescent closed off at the Pound Street end. Now I am elected, I will finally have a chance to fulfill this. Circumstances have changed that ought to make it easier for TfL to agree with the closure of the two shops that were reliant on that stretch of road for their deliveries. I am a self-confessed rat runner myself as I live in Salisbury Road so my acid test for any solution is one that stops me from using the road as a cut through.
The final problem is the garages in the corner and the number of cars left in the Crescent taking up space, sometimes with broken wings etc. leaving sharp edges. I have the details of the landlord and will be approaching him directly. I’ll report back on all of these later.
by Paul Scully | Oct 24, 2006 | Carshalton Central, News |
I spoke twice at last night’s Council meeting. The first was to raise the issue of the management of Sutton’s Leisure Centres. The non-profit making organisation, SCL that manages the four sites have given notice that they intend to walk away from their contract as they cannot raise the funds necessary either through charging or Council funding. Though they are an organisation specifically created to manage, Westcroft, Cheam, Phoenix Centre and Sutton Arena they have also won the contract to manage a leisure facility in Reading. Negotiations are continuing.
We were given clear assurances that all four centres would remain open. Less assured was the response when asked if entrance fees would be increased or which budget would be raided to provide the money to fund the centres.
We must commit to sport. Many people cannot belong to private clubs. There is £35k budgeted to bring the tennis courts up to scratch in Carshalton Park. This has not been spent and so the summer has been missed. We are told that we are the most obese nation in Europe. When we tell our children that it is healthy to do something that makes them out of breath a few times a week, we mean more that smoking a pack of 20 fags.
Eric and Cllr John Kennedy will be monitoring the negotiations to ensure that we keep and maintain leisure facilities that we can be proud of.
by Paul Scully | Oct 19, 2006 | Carshalton Central, News |
Sorry it’s a purple logo again. Maybe the Robins should consider a change of kit to fit in with my technological difficulties of putting the photo on the site.
Last night saw a long Development Committee meeting mainly due to the proposed Canon House development in Wallington. I spoke as Ward Councillor on the application to allow CAFC’s floodlights to be kept on for an extended time after Cup matches.
There has been strained relations between the residents and the club for a number of years. Though I hope and believe that the club are trying to improve relations and reposition themself as a family club, some residents are still concerned with levels of noise etc.
The club have had permission for the extension of floodlighting requiring annual renewal. They sought the permanent right. I suggested a compromise of two year permission allowing the new ward councillors time to work with both parties. This was agreed by the committee. Eric has organised a meeting between representatives from the club and residents tomorrow night. Though the first meeting will be a fun one to chair, I hope that this is the start of a beautiful relationship with the beautiful game.
by Paul Scully | Sep 27, 2006 | Carshalton Central, News |
Despite only having had one day’s notice of the event, I attend the Strategic Planning Advisory Group meeting as they considered whether to make the Poet’s Estate an Area of Special Local Character (ASLC). Planning officers were not keen as they claimed that there was no prevalent architectural style.
Pointing out the pressure that the area is under, in the light of the Coleridge Avenue planning application, I was able to repeat the prayer to the petition signed by 298 local residents last year which stated that Sutton Council themselves had claimed the area as “part of the borough’s heritage heartland” in the Sutton Scene magazine. There are three main considerations, the townscape, architecture and landscape. I believe that the Estate clearly demonstrates that it meets all three.
The result was a partial success. The planning officers are not keen to add any more ASLCs as this weakens the protection for the existing ones. A new policy to be included in the Local Development Framework will act as an overarching policy to protect particular suburban character in areas such as the Poets’. The decision has been deferred for six months whilst this new policy is implemented. If the committee do not feel that this is robust enough, they can reconsider the merits of the case and we shall start over again. At least I have six months’ notice this time.
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by Paul Scully | Sep 16, 2006 | Carshalton Central, News |
I have just returned from a press photoshoot in Rotherfield Road with the Rotherfield Road Action Group (RAG). Since the third application for sheltered flats in the road has been rejected, the focus of the Post has turned to the wider issue of development in the village, something that I concentrated on in my election campaign.
In May, I drew together residents in pockets of the ward and brought their attention to each development. It is vital to see the wider picture, that it is not just the odd application taken in isolation, but a systematic change that will alter the character of Carshalton and indeed the Borough forever.
There are two things that we can do. Locally we need the very strongest protection. We have an opportunity to acheive this in a document called the Local Development Framework which is being compiled now. This replaces the UDP and will dictate planning policy in the Borough for the next three years. It is important that Rotherfield Road is brought into the conservation area and that places like the Poets’ Estate are given special status.
Secondly we can rip up central government’s housing targets for the South-East. It is madness to increase London to the size of Mexico City whilst housing is being torn down in Manchester and Liverpool. We do not have the infrastructure to cope.
I’ll leave you with one fact to consider. The South-East of England has less rainfall per head of population than the Sudan. Go figure.
Developers have returned to a site on the corner of Coleridge Avenue and Shirley Road in the Poets’ Estate where a similar plan was rejected last year.
