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by Paul Scully | May 26, 2007 | News |
Eric and I were lucky enough to visit the Diamond Riding Centre on Woodmansterne Road on Thursday. The trustees wanted to raise their concerns about the effects of an access road to the proposed rebuilt Stanley Park School on Orchard Hill and also discuss opportunities.
I’ve lived in Carshalton for eighteen years now and always considered the Diamond Centre a sign opposite Oaks Park. In fact it is a sizeable operation, being the largest specialist disabled riding centre in the UK and possibly the world. 30 horses and 250 volunteers help children and adults with every type of disability enjoy a degree of freedom and stimulus that is simply not available to them anywhere else. They also practice “hippotherapy” which uses the movement of the horse to apply physiotherapy to the rider, often with the most severe disability.
They feared that if an access road was constructed within the BIBRA site, they would have to reduce the number of horses by six as it would be too dangerous to access the grazing fields across the road. On the positive side, pupils attending the proposed mild autistic spectrum unit may be able to benefit from the Centre. They also train volunteers up to an accredited level where they can open their own centre. Techniques have been exported to countries such as Croatia where victims of landmines have benefited. The vocational nature of Stanley Park may have some synergy with this.
It was a lovely morning and so walking across the fields was pleasant enough, but seeing the combination of concentration and delight on the children’s faces made it a truly wonderful experience.
by Paul Scully | May 26, 2007 | Carshalton Central, News |
I sat on the Development Control Committee on Wednesday evening and helped to reject an application for a hot-food takeaway on the Parade on Beynon Road. There were two main concerns. Firstly there is already a Chinese takeaway and an Italian restaurant in what is by any measure a small shopping parade.
Secondly, and by far more importantly, the traffic and parking would be an absolute nightmare. Double red lines mean that the only parking is in Wilmot Road. Drivers leaving the restaurant that wanted to turn right, would have to negotiate a busy, blind corner and customers coming from the Windsor Castle junction would have to cross a busy lane of traffic approaching the lights, thus causing the traffic to back up behind. This is on a red route and the short statement from TfL saying that sufficient parking controls were in place, just wasn’t good enough and perfectly illustrates the fact that they do not make any effort to get to know the area where they maintain our crucial arterial roads.
I received a call from a consituent whose rubbish hadn’t been collected for five weeks in Wilmot Road. The question of waste did not come into the discussion on Wednesday but if there is another application, I’ll expect rubbish collection to be fully addressed as well.
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by Paul Scully | May 22, 2007 | News |
Cllr David Pickles has resigned the Conservative whip to sit as a UKIP councillor for Belmont ward.
I’ve known David for five years and he has always had forthright views on the direction that the Conservatives should go and they didn’t always coincide with mine.
I have no interest in stifling free speech, opinion or serious debate. However, I did feel that a recent letter in the local Guardian about housing and immigration was ill-informed and did not sit easily with a modern, changing party that seeks to represent all residents in Sutton.
That is not to say that these issues should not be discussed or that there are no problems. There quite obviously are many issues regarding our border controls and the total disarray in the Home Office, but it is vital that we discuss the situation rationally rather than risking tarring every immigrant with the same brush. Margaret Hodge, MP for Barking has just made the same mistake, referring to “her white families” who she feels should have priority over others for housing. This reference taken in isolation, would not look out of place on a BNP leaflet. What about black or Asian residents born in the UK? As the son of a Burmese immigrant, I want to tackle immigration head-on, but in a way that does not give way to hijacking by extremists.
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by Paul Scully | May 20, 2007 | Carshalton Central, News |
When I was elected, I promised to “Make Carshalton Central”. It’s nice to know that there are others doing the same thing. I came across a new website, Sutton Forum, where people share their thoughts and concerns about Sutton and Carshalton.
Any way of discussing the issues can only be a good thing. I’ve added a permanent link on the sidebar.
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by Paul Scully | May 18, 2007 | News |
Many people will have been left scratching their head after the reporting of a speech by Conservative Shadow Education Spokesman, David Willetts MP. Sutton is one of the top performing Education Authorities in the country and is one of the few with a Grammar School system.
I am fortunate to have touched on all parts of the education system, having gone to an independent school myself, sent my children to both Comprehensive and Grammar Schools in Sutton and being a governor at a Primary and Secondary school in Carshalton.
We should be proud of our schools in the Borough, selective and non-selective alike. The Grammar Schools continue to achieve the very best results that stand up to comparison with any other. The non-selective schools perform admirably and continue to improve. Stanley Park High School is a case in point where their achievements would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. They were recognised as one of the most improved schools in the country this year. The rebuilding of the school is an opportunity to capitalise and build on this record.
I’ll leave it to our Parliamentary candidates to consider the national education system, but locally, I retain my commitment to protect our Grammar Schools whilst seeking to give every child the tailored education that they require to have every opportunity in the future. The system works in Sutton, let’s leave the decision to those who involve themselves directly in Sutton education not Whitehall.
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by Paul Scully | May 16, 2007 | News |
Gordon Brown claims that he will reinstate the importance of Parliament. He has a job on his hands. The current PM has no appetite for debate when he can be off on a foreign jolly or quizzed gently on a television sofa. Today, Tony’s representative on Earth, John Prescott drowned in word soup as he put on another embarrasing performance in his valedictory PMQs.
He seemed to know nothing of the problems with the online system for junior doctors’ jobs and little about the problems with Home Information Packs.
When asked who would take responsibility for the latest chaos in the NHS, Prescott said “I’ll tell you who is to blame… medical students.” This was an interesting take on the situation and one that I don’t think that Patricia Hewitt would be wise to continue with when trying to save her job.
The rest of the exchange with William Hague was Prescott blaming the Tories for the Dome, for losing the election in 2001 and the baggage retrieval situation at Heathrow. OK, I made the last one up but he knows what he needs to do if he wants the Conservative Leader to be the one answering the questions at PMQs. The Speaker was incredibly lenient allowing him to start on the Conservative position on Grammar Schools even though this was as far removed from the topic as Tony is from Parliament.
My rant is over: normal service will be resumed.
