by Paul Scully | Jul 12, 2017 | News |
On Monday I met with Transport for London (TfL) along with the local Conservative London Assembly Member, Steve O’Connell, to discuss the A217/A232 crossroads.
I am often contacted by residents who have witnessed, or even been involved in, near misses or scrapes when turning right from Cheam Road or High Street onto the A217. This is caused by confusion as to whether cars should cross on the inside or outside of each other. In contrast, when you turn right from the A217 onto the A232, the lights are phased to there is no oncoming traffic, allowing cars to turn safely without obstruction.
We discussed potential scenarios for resolving this problem, such as phasing the lights in the other direction, putting new signage on the traffic lights at Cheam Road and High Street demonstrating how to turn at this junction, or removing the white lines that guide cars turning right from the A217 onto the A232, which are arguably unnecessary as the phased lights do this job anyway, and replacing them with guiding lines to assist drivers turning right onto the A217.
TfL has agreed to go away and look at these options and feed back to myself and Steve O’Connell. We will be sure to keep residents updated.
by Paul Scully | Jul 11, 2017 | News |
Securing the long-term future of healthcare in Sutton has always been my top priority as your MP. I am pleased that the Epsom & St Helier NHS Trust are seeking opinions from Sutton residents about the future of healthcare in the borough, making it clear that St Helier hospital will stay open.
The staff at St Helier hospital provide great care, but many of the buildings themselves are no longer fit for purpose. Over 40% of the estate is functionally unusable to deliver healthcare.
Now the Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust has called for views on the future of its buildings at Epsom, Sutton and St Helier Hospitals. The Trust is making the case for £400 million of investment to replace the current buildings with new, modern, purpose-built facilities, but they want to hear from you about how they go about this.
Both Epsom and St Helier Hospitals will remain open and continue to provide us all with the great care we have come to expect, but there are three possible scenarios for a new acute facility:
1. A new facility at Epsom Hospital,
2. A new facility at St Helier Hospital,
3. A new facility at Sutton Hospital working in partnership with the Royal Marsden.
For the first time in years we have a proposal from the NHS which doesn’t risk Sutton residents having to travel to St George’s in Tooting for A&E and maternity services, instead protecting them within the area already covered by the Trust.
This is only the start of a very long process, but regardless of the outcome, the good news is that St Helier is going nowhere as the Health Secretary confirmed when he visited the hospital a before the General Election. In addition, 100% of the services currently provided by the Trust, including A&E and Maternity services, will continue to be provided locally.
If we are going to be successful we need everyone to get involved. To find out more and to have your say, visit the Trust’s website here.
by Paul Scully | Jun 28, 2017 | News |
Last year, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), the parent company of Southern and Thameslink, launched a consultation which sets out proposed changes to the timetable which will be operated by GTR in 2018.
The second phase of their consultation on the 2018 timetable has now started. GTR’s plans are designed to provide more reliable services, with more capacity for passengers.
Feedback from the first part of the consultation last autumn has been taken on board where possible and detailed timetables are now available to comment on.
The information can be found at www.transformingrail.com. At this link you’ll be able to view timetables, search times by station, and there are summary factsheets available by area.
Paper copies of the documents are available on request by writing to:
GTR Timetable Consultation
c/o East Side Offices
London Kings Cross Station
N1C 4AP
The consultation into the weekday timetables runs until 5pm on Thursday 27 July 2017. Weekend timetables will be shared later in the year.
Make sure you have your say on these changes. I remain committed to improving rail services in Sutton, Cheam and Worcester Park, by pushing for a resolution to the dispute with the Unions, getting the much needed infrastructure, rolling stock and new drivers to improve the current service, and then breaking up the overly large franchise.
by Paul Scully | Jun 27, 2017 | News |
The cladding on Chaucer House in Collingwood Road, Sutton, has failed a fire safety test according to Sutton Council, Sutton Housing Partnership and the London Fire Brigade.
I have received a copy of a letter sent to Chaucer House residents outlining the results of the test, which can be seen here. There has been no news yet regarding Balaam House, which is similarly clad.
Sutton Council, Sutton Housing Partnership and the London Fire Brigade have insisted that residents are safe, but residents will understandably be extremely worried after hearing this news.
I recently wrote to all residents in Balaam and Chaucer House, as well as residents in a number of high-rise buildings across Sutton, Cheam and Worcester Park to outline the action I had already taken post-Grenfell to get assurances of their safety, and assured them I would keep them updated.
I will now be asking further questions of the Council and Sutton Housing Partnership, particularly in regards to Chaucer House following this news. Residents need peace of mind and I will be updating them, as well as this website, as often as I get updates from the relevant authorities.
If you are a resident of Chaucer House, then I would strongly encourage you to go to the drop-in session this Thursday 29th June in Flat 5 between 3:30-5:30 to get additional information, and I will pass on the answers to the questions I have posed as soon as I receive them.
by Paul Scully | Jun 16, 2017 | News |
I am delighted at the announcement of further money from the Government’s £100 million A&E fund being allocated to hospitals across the country including at St Helier Hospital.
I was especially pleased that the Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust will receive £750,000, which will mean our local hospital can get prepared for winter early and be properly equipped to give the best care. That includes patients being assessed by a clinician when they arrive in A&E so they can access the best and most appropriate care for their needs. It will also mean that hospitals being able to build GP practices within the A&E where those with less urgent needs can receive treatment, helping to alleviate pressure.
St Helier is the already the best performing hospital in London for meeting its A&E targets, and we have the hardworking staff at St Helier to thank for that.
Investing in our local A&E will help to improve performance and make sure the vast majority of patients are seen within 4 hours of arriving at hospital.
With our ageing population there is increased pressure on our hospitals. This funding is welcome for our local hospitals in Sutton, Cheam and Worcester Park and will help them to prepare well in advanced for winter.
This investment will change the way local hospitals assess and see patients so they can get the most appropriate and best quality medical care for their needs.
by Paul Scully | Jun 15, 2017 | News |
Since the election last Thursday, some residents have contacted me about talks between the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
The ongoing discussions are not formal coalition talks. No-one is proposing a coalition such as existed between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats between 2010 and 2015. Instead they are discussing the possibility of ‘confidence and supply’. This means a loose agreement where the Conservatives can run a minority government with the DUP agreeing to support the Queen’s Speech, the Budget and legislation within the Queen’s Speech. In this system, the DUP have no ministerial positions nor any role in government.
We must govern in the national interest and that means giving as much certainty as possible to the electorate, businesses and those around the world with whom we will be dealing over the coming period. The DUP are a democratically elected party who have been in power in the Northern Ireland Assembly for some time. Although they have views on some issues that I do not share, they are a different party from the one that Ian Paisley founded in the 1970s. The leader of the DUP and their Chief Whip in Parliament are both former members of the Ulster Unionist party, the moderate sister party of the Conservatives. For these reasons the Labour party found it appropriate to speak to the DUP after the 2010 election and ahead of the 2015 election in order to form their own deal to run a government should that possibility have arisen.
I certainly don’t share the reported views on same sex marriage or abortion, views that are unfortunately clearly shared by many of their voters in Northern Ireland. For the last two years, the Liberal Democrats were led by Tim Farron who said he ‘wishes he could argue abortion away’, telling a Salvation Army publication in 2007 that ‘abortion is wrong’. He also has a very mixed record on LGBT issues as checked by Channel 4. As much as I disagree with such views, I recognise that they are shared by many people of faith.
However these issues are both devolved issues and moral issues which are always subject to a free vote in our Parliament. I have had reassurance from the Prime Minister that there is absolutely no prospect of the rights of the LGBT community or women being curtailed or diluted but rather we will continue to see what more can and needs to be done in this area.
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has spent time over the last few days in Northern Ireland assuring all parties that any agreement only relates to the parliamentary party of the DUP and will not affect the government’s neutral role in supporting the governing arrangements in North Ireland and protecting the Good Friday Agreement. The Prime Minister will be in Downing Street later today, speaking to politicians from all of the Northern Ireland parties. John Major relied on the votes of the Ulster Unionists during his time in No. 10 defending a small majority whilst laying the foundations for peace in Northern Ireland. Gordon Brown did not believe that peace was at risk whilst talking to the DUP in 2010 and maintaining a relationship with the SDLP as Labour’s sister party.
These are clearly challenging times and I do not dismiss these concerns out of hand but believe that they need not and will not affect an agreement that does not lock the two parties into a hard coalition such as existed after the 2010 elections, but brings the two together on votes that the two parties typically agree on anyway, leaving out those on which we would clearly disagree.
