I’m sitting in front of my PC doing some last jobs before I escape the downpour that has just started by going to Spain for a fortnight. Blogging will be off the menu for a while.

In the meantime, I look out of my office window to enjoy the view (thanks to digital photography, you can too.) But I wonder for how much longer will I be able to look out on an unspoilt green oasis. A planning application has just been submitted to build four 3-bed houses in the long narrow parcel of land between the gardens of my neighbours in Salisbury Road and those in Carshalton Park Road. If passed, there will be a 7.5m brick wall just to the right of my garage shown in the photo. Fortunately the plans are somewhat optimistic since they show an access road passing straight through my garage. Suffice to say, I won’t be allowing any demolition work.

I hope that neighbours will send their opinions to the Council saying enough is enough. 41% of ‘brownfield’ development in Sutton is in fact on garden land, well above the national average. This proposal is the thin end of the wedge. Access is poor, irreversible damage will occur to the ecological balance of the area (I have had stag beetles, herons, woodpeckers and jays in and around the garden in recent years) and around 30 householders will be adversely affected. If any local resident is so minded to write, the planning reference is C2007/58001/OUT. You can write to London Borough of Sutton, 24 Denmark Road, Carshalton, SM5 2JG or comment directly here.