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by Paul Scully | Jun 25, 2007 | News |
OK. It’s worse than I thought. The totem pole nearest St Helier as shown in the picture (it’s the one on the right!)appears to be a sculpture of a leaf on a stick looking rather incongruous next to a hospital desparately fighting for its existence through lack of funds. The other one is a couple of yards away from a large tree so is barely visible from the road.
Now remember this is your money. (No, it’s landfill tax credits paid by a private company, I’m told.) Yes, but the key is in the title. They are not called tax credits for nothing. This is a way of the private sector spending taxes as directed by the Treasury without HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) having to go through the ungentlemanly process of collecting it first. Still confused? Bear with me for a little longer:-
Fictitious company, Landfill plc dumps enough rubbish in a hole in the ground to generate a landfill tax bill of £400,000. It can pay this directly to HMRC or it can spend it as directed by regulations, reclaiming land, reducing pollution, providing or improving public amenities or parks within 10 miles of a landfill site, delivering biodiversity conservation, restoring or repairing places of worship or architectural interest nearby or funding costs or administration of environmental bodies.
Landfill plc then reduces its tax bill by 90%, in this case leaving it a bill of £40,000. It can then look for an “independent Contributing Third Party” (another company or a charity for example) to reimburse it with the £40,000 that it has just paid in tax. Landfill plc assuages its conscience, the Government points to good environmental work being done and residents get new parkland. All good stuff, but remember that this is money that would have gone to the Treasury so it is your money.
Now, back to totem poles. As I have said before, I applaud the new facilities in Poulter Park, and the skateboard ramps opposite the hospital, although I hope that there may be some landscaping around this in time. But, we are told that the totem poles were a local decision made by residents. I have the original consultation and there is not a single mention of any form of public art. We have asked arond 3,500 residents within a square mile of the totem poles if they were asked if they wanted £23,000 spending on these. Unsurprisingly, not a single person amongst the many that replied said that they had. Every respondent said that they were a waste of money.
At least now we can see them, we can be a little surer that wigwams won’t start appearing next to the totem poles. Not so much ‘How!’ more for goodness sake Why!
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.
![The Triffids are Here (and you paid for them)]()
by Paul Scully | Apr 26, 2007 | News |
In a recent press release, LibDem Council Leader, Sean Brennan rightly said that the Government should not force fortnightly waste collection on local authorities through the introduction of Joint Waste Authorities. What he failed to go on to say was that Sutton will not reintroduce fortnightly collections by its own volition.
During a campaign between 1999-2001, led by David Pickles, 22,000 residents signed their name to a petition calling for the reintroduction of a weekly collection forcing the council into a U-turn.
I’m sure that Cllr Brennan will want to correct this omission.
Hat tip for graphic: Robin Sharp
![The Triffids are Here (and you paid for them)]()
by Paul Scully | Apr 20, 2007 | News |
Let’s hope that the totem poles aren’t simply a farewell present to MPs Brake & Burstow and carved in their vision. Anyway, the Evening Standard read this blog and did an excellent job in finding out a little more about the project. Since the £600,000 bus stop was getting a little old hat, it’s nice to have another permanent fixture reminding us of the spending habits of this Council.
EVENING STANDARD, MONDAY 16th APRIL
Totem poles in, parks police out
KATHARINE BARNEY
A Council is to spend an estimated £20,000 erecting two giant totem poles in public parks. Sutton council has been granted planning permission to put up the 18ft carved oak sculptures, which it says are intended to make “a notable visual impact”. It comes as the Liberal Democrat-controlled council has disbanded its parks police service, leading to accusations that the totem poles are a waste of money and will encourage vandalism.
Councillor Paul Scully, leader of council’s Conservative Opposition group, said: “It’s an absolute waste of money These things are going to cost tens of thousands of pounds which could be put to a much better use.”
“We applaud the project to improve our open spaces, but why on earth do we need to top it off with these pieces of abstract art? It’s laying down a challenge to the anti-social element of society like a red rag to a bull.” The totem poles are part of a £490,000-scheme to improve open spaces across Sutton, including footpaths and play facilities such as a skateboarding park for teenagers.
The poles will be made by Sussex sculptor Walter Bailey, who has sold 11 similar pieces to Surrey County Council for £75,000. One will be located on the highest part of St Holier Open Space, next to a path and visible from St Helier Hospital. The other will be on Middleton Open Space so that it can be seen by passing drivers and pedestrians. It is intended to “balance” with neighbouring mature oak trees. Until this month, eight police officers in 4x4s patrolled parks across Sutton to deter vandals and prevent anti-social behaviour.
![The Triffids are Here (and you paid for them)]()
by Paul Scully | Apr 20, 2007 | News |
I’ve outdone myself on my alliterative title. Anyway, the Sutton Guardian published letters from me and Eric in response to a letter from the lead councillor Graham Tope which was somewhat short on explanations as to why we won’t have our parks policed properly over the summer despite the new scheme having been discussed since last year.
Extract from my letter:-
Additional funding for our Safer Neighbourhood Teams is always welcome in the long term, of course, but unless this extra money can sprout legs, drive cars and nick antisocial yobs within days – what additional reassurance will this give to users of our parks and open spaces over the summer? Very little, I imagine.
The charge of scaremongering that the Liberal Democrats hurl at anyone who might question their decisions has now lost any credibility. When will they just swallow their pride and say, “we were wrong, we are sorry”?
Extract from Eric’s letter:-
The gap between the Parks Police finishing on March 31 and the Met Police being trained to cover the park duties could be up to six months, which would take us to the end of the summer.
It was a senior police officer that gave this timetable, not a scaremongering politician.
We should not be increasing the workload on the Safer Neighbourhood Teams, who at this time of the year are fully committed with their own duties.
