by Paul Scully | Mar 26, 2015 | News, News |
I wrote a few weeks ago about the absolute necessity to protect healthcare services at St Helier. Before the latest real threat to services at St Helier hospital, our local MPs have shown Ed Miliband how to weaponise the NHS by scaring residents into thinking their hospital was under perpetual notice of closure over the last two decades. The net result of this was to move most services away from Sutton Hospital to St Helier. The Sutton Hospital plot will soon be empty. I have also written before about the problems of building a school on the site.
Sutton Council, despite massive public opposition, gave planning permission for a Medical Centre and houses to be built on the old Henderson Hospital site in Belmont. To date, NHS England has not approved the business plan and our Lib Dem MP told the Belmont and South Cheam Residents Association Meeting, on 3rd February, that the project would not go ahead because it wasn’t viable without a commercial pharmacy.
Ever since the development was first proposed, residents have highlighted the shortcomings of the original plans, particularly the distance from public transport. That will particularly affect patients at the Grove Road Practice which will be relocated 1.7 miles away from its present location. The council were urged to reject the application and to work towards getting the Medical Centre on to the Sutton Hospital site. Unfortunately they took no notice.
Sutton Council seems to be prepared to spend millions of pounds on a sizeable plot of land on the Sutton Hospital site for a school and with no intention of using any part of it to build a Medical Centre. Despite this purchase there is still more redundant land on the Sutton Hospital site. The Council says it is working to provide a proper infrastructure for the residents of the Borough. Now it is time for it to respond to the wishes of local people and accomplish something positive for Belmont and South Sutton, as well as catering for the needs of patients around Grove Road.
Will it ever happen? Only if local politicians feel the weight of public opinion. That’s why I’m asking local residents to join me, local councillors and many other Belmont residents in supporting my campaign to see a new medical centre on the Sutton Hospital site akin to the Jubilee Centre in Wallington where people can go for blood tests and minor procedures, thus taking some pressure of St Helier. In doing this, the Royal Marsden and the Institute of Cancer Research will still have enough space to expand according to their current plans. We’re lucky to have two world class cancer centres on our doorstep and we should support them whenever possible. I hope that you will sign my petition here and if elected, I will continue to push for a medical campus on this site.
by Jeremy Crampin | Mar 25, 2015 | News, News |
The Nightingale has stormed to victory to win my Pub of the Year competition for a second consecutive year. Situated on the corner of Lind Road and Carshalton Road, the pub received over 450 votes from loyal customers both via my Sutton Local website and paper entries on the bar.
Congratulations to The Railway in Cheam Village and The Robin Hood in West Sutton, coming second and third respectively. One loyal Nightingale punter will also be randomly selected to receive a £100 bar tab to spend in the winning pub.
I really enjoy organising this local annual contest as well as my Independent Shop of the Year competition. Local businesses are the lifeblood of our communities, and for our high streets to thrive and create jobs, whilst maintaining their character, local people have to come out and support them. In this competition that is exactly what has happened, so it is wonderful to see.
I am committed to continuing these fun competitions as a way to reward the hard work of local business owners and to put the spotlight on issues acting as barriers to a healthy local economy. Some people have suggested organising one for charities or restaurants, which I will certainly look into.
by Paul Scully | Mar 23, 2015 | News, News |
I have been in contact with the owners of Victoria House in North Cheam asking them for details of their plans for the eyesore building. They have sent me a copy of the presentation that some residents saw at the council’s recent Local Committee. The building is a very different design from the one that received planning permission a while back. Split into two, the new proposed building is designed to allow sunlight to enter the rear windows of the homes that face Church Hill Road. The intention is to allow the buildings to step up to a peak rather than one monolithic block sitting between lower buildings.
A public consultation will be held in May where residents will be invited to make comments before a planning application is submitted shortly afterwards. It is difficult to make a decision on the aesthetics of the building from these drawings. However it would seem that we are not going to get the landmark building that befits this important site. We all want Victoria House sorted as soon as possible, but not at any cost. Have a look and do let me know what you think.
by Paul Scully | Mar 16, 2015 | News, News |
Residents in Gander Green Lane have complained for years about HGVs on their residential road, shaking the foundations of their house at all hours. When the Kimpton Road Industrial Estate was built, plans for a link road were mooted but quickly shelved. That left HGVs looking at small, inappropriate roads to travel between the A217 and the A24. If the road had been put in at the time, traffic in the surrounding areas would run much smoother. Unfortunately subsequent development has meant that getting a link road will be incredibly difficult even if the money was there. That doesn’t mean we should not stop looking for a solution to this long-running issue.
I’ve been running a petition alongside the residents in Gander Green Lane to demonstrate support for action. In doing so, I aim to get Transport for London and the London Boroughs of Sutton and Merton to put it back on their agenda. The first thing to do is the simple quick-hits: making sure the weight restriction signs are absolutely clear at both ends of Gander Green Lane and Hamilton Avenue and get the satnav companies to redesign their routing software to avoid these roads.
As annoying as this is for residents, it affects a small proportion of constituents, but is but one example of a problem that seems intractable and so gets ignored by local decision makers. Central Road in Worcester Park is another place on which politicians seem to have given up. The perpetual traffic jams which affect Lynwood Road, Hampton Road, Green Lane, Browning Avenue among many more are caused primarily by the fact that there is only one road going under the railway line for about half mile in either direction. If there is a problem on the A3, the traffic will quickly back-up. I’m told that the traffic lights at South Lane/Malden Road junction cause tailbacks and are worth reviewing. I’ll investigate this further and see if this bears fruit.
For those travelling to Carshalton or Croydon from Sutton by road, the A232 has got considerably worse over the last few years and the council have missed a couple of chances to ease congestion here. The B&Q and BP garage on Carshalton Road were both given planning permission without thought to remodelling the junctions that they sit on. Both junctions are the cause of frustration to motorists travelling along that road.
We really need to push to ensure that planners take in a long term view of the area and likely increases in traffic if we’re going to keep Sutton moving. So many quality of life issues are determined locally rather than in Westminster. Therefore if elected, I won’t just go out and camp in the House of Commons, caught in the trappings of office. Sutton is my home too and I want it to be the best place possible in which to live and work.
by Paul Scully | Mar 10, 2015 | News, News |
Nicky Morgan and David Cameron gave Sutton a boost yesterday by naming Greenshaw Learning Trust as one of the 49 sponsors granted permission to build a Free School. Greenshaw Learning Trust is the name of the academy group formed by Greenshaw High School which now also includes Edenham High School in Croydon. They applied for funding for a new secondary school from the Department for Education.
I’m pleased that the Department for Education has recognised the need for a new secondary school in Sutton. Greenshaw are well placed to provide great education for even more Sutton children. Now we need to get on and build the school where it is needed most. That’s why I’ve been looking at Rosehill to the north of Sutton town centre. The council’s own figures show that we need a new secondary school by 2017 and another by 2020 with the greatest increase in numbers around the centre and northern end of Sutton.
The location for the school is subject to a separate procedure and will be determined by the council. I know some residents near Rosehill are worried about having a school built on Metropolitan Open Land. That’s perfectly understandable, brownfield sites are so much better to build on and some people will not want to live next to a school. However, the delay in getting on with building has meant that the council lost out on more suitable sites as they were snaffled up by private property developers.
I’ve written elsewhere about my views on Rosehill. The council were due to complete their feasibility study on their two shortlisted sites by the end of January. Hopefully this announcement will help spur them into action and we can get cracking.
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.
