Monday 19th May 7pm

ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETING

This was the annual mayor-making meeting together with councillors’ formal appointment to committees for 2008/9.

 

Myfanwy Wallace was the outgoing mayor and I had enjoyed attending a few events with her and her mayoress June Reid, a lovely lady. The one I remember most fondly is the Scouts Centenary Camp, because two of my sons were attending the (very wet) camp.

 

Dr Brendan Hudson was appointed as the new mayor with due ceremony. I was pleased to see Dave Callaghan take on the role of deputy mayor, as he was a ‘new intake’ in 2006 along with myself. I look forward to crossing paths with them both during the year.

Monday 19th May 11.30am

CARERS PARTNERSHIP BOARD MEETING

 

There were two main issues that provoked discussion at this meeting: a report back from the Sutton Partnership Board about the Draft Commissioning Framework, and an issue raised about Malvern Ward by Ken Fish under ‘Any Other Business’.

 

A Draft Commissioning Framework had been prepared on commissioning from the Third Sector in Sutton and is currently out for consultation. The stated aim of the draft is to increase the transparency and consistency of future funding agreements between LBS and the third sector. The third sector refers to voluntary and not-for-profit organisations.

 

Marilynne Burbage our rep. on the Sutton Partnership Board had some concerns about the draft which she had written down to be circulated at the meeting as she was unable to attend. Of particular concern was the statement that from 2008/9 the starting assumption for all contractual inflationary increases is 0%. There were fears that this would result in significant financial pressure for third sector bodies. Personally I suspect that the measure refers to ‘zero-based budgeting’ which can be a way of ensuring value for money when allocating funds, and would represent a change from what appears to be the current practice of adding a percentage increase year on year to cover inflation. Obviously this point requires clarification and Marilynne was right to question it.

 

Generally board members welcomed the aims of the new commissioning framework but wanted greater reassurance that services actually would be designed around need and that current services would not be lost.

 

Simon Latham stated that the commissioning framework would require ‘third sector’ organisations to produce efficiency savings in a similar vein to those required by local authorities & other public bodies. I stated that whilst I appreciate the need to demonstrate value for money in our dealings with third sector bodies, it also had to be recognised that we were talking about voluntary organisations, and questioned whether it was appropriate to expect the same level of efficiencies as we would for public sector organisations. All interested members were encouraged to submit their comments on the draft and I certainly intend to.

 

Ken Fish the vice chair raised the subject of the proposed closure of Malvern Ward. Claire Shearer, chair of the Carers Action Group expressed the concerns of carers of patients currently on Malvern Ward. Aziz Salim as joint commissioner for the PCT & LBS had been closely involved with the consultation and was able to provide a clear update on the current situation. Claire stated her understanding that of the options proposed the carers would prefer their relatives to remain on Malvern Ward until the service could be reprovided in upgraded NHS facilities. Aziz had pointed out that it may be some years before such facilities were ready and there was currently no certainty that they would be given the go ahead. I enquired whether the carers would have the opportunity to present their views to the Board considering the proposals, and was told that it was a public meeting so they could attend and on previous occasions special interest groups had been invited to speak.

 

The Carers Partnership Board meeting was followed by an agenda planning meeting as was suggested at the chair’s briefing. The idea was welcomed by the key individuals and I was able to feed back our agenda requests for the next meeting immediately following this meeting.

Saturday 17th May 10am

Councillors Ward Surgery

Every third Saturday in the month at least one of your Wallington South councillors makes themselves available to talk face to face to any residents who have a problem they would like help resolving.

 

We have a small meeting room on the second floor of Wallington Library where residents can turn up between 10 & 11.30am without appointment to talk to us.

 

Of course residents can telephone us or write, or even catch us in the street as sometimes happens, but it is standard practice for councillors also to hold a regular surgery. Attendance at these surgeries varies.

 

This Saturday it was Richard Bailey & myself, with no one expected and no one turning up unannounced. So we talked between ourselves for a while, caught up on a few ward matters, and went our separate ways at 11.30.

 

We originally held the surgery on the second Saturday of the month to coincide with the farmers’ market. Attendance was fairly low then so at my suggestion it was changed to the third Saturday. My thinking was that given the choice residents may prefer to make the most of the farmers’ market rather than talking to us. However there has been no significant change in attendance levels.

 

We would welcome residents’ feedback on the timing of our surgeries. Is Saturday morning the best time or would an evening slot be more useful? Do we not advertise the surgeries sufficiently? Are residents unsure of the issues we can help with?

 

Please note that we do not hold a surgery during August.

Wednesday 14th May 9.30am

WARD MEETING

Just Richard & I at this meeting as Colin had another appointment. We discussed a number of planning applications to which there was considerable local opposition.

We also talked about bringing pressure to bear on an unapproved building erected on garden land in Hawthorn Road. Today was the day it was supposed to come down, but I walked past it on my way home around noon and it was definitely still there with no wrecking ball in sight. Developers who break the rules in this way need to be made an example of to deter others.

 

 

I also updated Richard on the plans to hold a meeting at Bandon Hill School with Tom Brake MP to address some of our residents’ concerns about the ‘Your High’ shop that is due to open just around the corner from the school.

On my way home I inspected the site of the proposed development for 52-62A Beddington Gardens (D2008/59557). I was astounded at the size of the site. The plans show that the whole of the site will be filled with flats with parking at the back of the site resulting in considerable loss of garden land. This end of Beddington Gardens west of Holmwood Gardens has yet to succumb to flats so this development would have a significant impact on the character of the area. The only saving grace of the application is that the design implies that it will present a traditional looking street scene onto Beddington Gardens. The previous two applications for this site were refused and appeals dismissed. We have de-delegated the application for consideration by members at Development Control Committee.

Tuesday 13th May 11am

CASEWORK MEETING

I met with a resident and one of Tom Brake’s senior caseworkers at the MP’s constituency office to see how we could assist with the resident’s housing situation. The resident had contacted both Tom & myself so it made sense for us to pool our efforts.

 

Tom’s caseworker had in depth knowledge of the housing system so it proved to be a good learning exercise for me as my contact with this area of the council has been limited until now.

 

Whilst we were unable to provide the resident with their preferred solution we were able to advise on the options available and point them to the appropriate agency.

Monday 12th May 7pm

COUNCIL

This meeting required the adoption of various strategy documents and had a referral by the opposition for debate by full council.

 

The referral concerned the decision by the Executive to bring forward funding from the Capital Replacement Programme to meet the exceptional costs uncovered during the remedial work to Sutton Library, and thereby avoid delays to the planned work at Cheam & Westcroft Leisure Centres.

 

The opposition were making the argument that the works should have been foreseen in an old building. This was rather odd as the reason for the remedial works programme was to deal with expected system deficiencies. It had also been identified that asbestos would be present in a building of this age and the Council had protocols for identification & removal of asbestos which had been commended by the Health & Safety Executive only last year.

 

What was unforeseen was the nature of the asbestos which could not be ascertained until a commissioned survey had been done, and only then can the associated costs of dealing with that asbestos be determined.

 

It was not until the asbestos problem had been dealt with that access to the ceiling voids was obtained to enable a full survey of the works required to the ventilation system. It was the first time since the library had been built that the systems had been looked at (because of the asbestos) so there was no way of knowing the actual state of the equipment. It turned out to require more work than anticipated. Now the deficiencies have been identified council policies require that the work is addressed immediately to protect the health & safety of staff & visitors to the building.

 

It fell to me to try to explain the asbestos issue in a one minute speech to Council!

 

Commitment-phobic Conservatives?

I found the opposition’s response to the strategies drawn up to

implement the Liberal Democrat’s vision for Sutton to be hypocritical. Despite the strategies’ integration with the budget setting process and specific targets Cllr. Scully claimed that there was no real substance to the plans. As the leader of an opposition that has failed to produce any action plans of their own, any budget nor any delivery targets I can’t believe he has the front to claim that we have no substance!

 

Having argued the various strategies in this way they then bizarrely abstained from voting for or against one of the plans, and then voted with us to pass unanimously another strategy.

 

The opposition appear to be afraid to commit to writing any policies or budget proposals. This is unsurprising as in my short experience on the council the Tories seem to be more concerned with courting popular causes in their pursuit of power, rather than showing any real desire to tackle the day to day problems of governance. The reality of running the council means that difficult decisions have to be made which, whilst in the interests of the majority, may adversely affect others, and taking the flack for that. Populist politics don’t work in practice, however while they refuse to set down their plans so that residents can scrutinise them, they can make what claims they like without being held accountable for them.

Sunday 11th May 10.30am

ANNUAL COMMUNITY SERVICE AT WALLINGTON METHODIST CHURCH

I was pleased to attend this service along with the Mayor and Deputy Mayoress and a large number of representatives from voluntary organisations in the London Borough of Sutton. The theme of the service was serving the community and the Reverend Baker drew our attention to the huge amount of essential work in Sutton being provided by volunteers. I agreed with his assessment that more and more responsibility was being shifted onto voluntary organisations by Government and there was a need for the funding to follow.

Friday 9th May 9.30am

Carers Partnership Board Chair’s Briefing

I currently chair the Carers Partnership Board which is one of the many boards which feed into the Sutton Adult Partnership Board and ultimately the Sutton Partnership Board. The Sutton Partnership brings together public, private, voluntary and community organisations to promote a better quality of life now and for future generations.

 

I met with the vice-chair Ken Fish who is a carer, and Simon Latham as executive head with responsibility for carers services, to receive information about items on the agenda for the meeting on 19^th May.

 

One of the issues that came out of this meeting was the fact that Ken and other carers did not have the opportunity for suggesting agenda items. Currently a suggested agenda was being prepared by the Carers Development Unit and circulated to me for my input. I had not realised that Ken did not also receive a copy. We all agreed that carers should have more opportunity to put items on the agenda so Ken & I continued discussions on this issue after the briefing.

We agreed to hold an agenda planning meeting soon after each Carers Partnership Board meeting and to invite Marilynne Burbage or Nick Nalladorai who are carer representatives on the Carers Partnership Board and also on the Sutton Adult Partnership Board and Sutton Partnership Board, Marilynne also represents the Carers Action Group; and Rachael MacLeod who is chief executive of the Carers Centre & CEN rep on the Sutton Adults Partnership Board and Sutton Partnership Board. It was also agreed that I would invite members of the Carers Groups supported by the Carers Development Unit both to send representatives to the Carers Partnership Board and to feed in agenda suggestions.

Thursday 8th May 7pm

UNDERSTANDING RELATIONSHIPS FOR HEALTH SCRUTINY

MEMBERS DEVELOPMENT TRAINING

This was an information sharing session which I had suggested with the support of the Health & Well Being Scrutiny chair. The aim was for members to learn more about the governance arrangements of our NHS partners and to develop our relationship with them. Often the scrutiny setting can appear combative and we wanted to meet with our health partners in a less formal setting to encourage them to see us more as critical friends. It also gave us a chance to explain the nature of the scrutiny committee’s role as set out in government legislation.

The session was attended by the chief executives of the Espom & St Helier NHS Trust, Sutton & Merton PCT and South West London & St Georges Mental Health Trust along with other representatives from the council and the NHS.  It was a useful and informative meeting.

 

Of most significance was the announcement by the Mental Health Trust that it would be seeking Foundation Status in the near future.

Tuesday 6th May 7.30pm

BEDDINGTON & WALLINGTON LOCAL COMMITTEE

One of the main decisions made at this meeting was to go ahead with the proposal to fund hanging baskets in Wallington Town Centre, around Wallington Green on Manor Road and in Beddington Broadway. At the suggestion of one of the special advisors to the committee it was agreed to also extend the area covered past Wallington Station to the end of the shops east of the station. There will need to be a bid put in for revenue funding by the council for annual maintenance after the first year as this was not covered by the public realm budget.

 

The committee was also advised of the significance of the air raid shelters located at Mellows Park and Woodcote Green. Of all the shelters present in the borough these two in particular had characteristics making them worth retaining. It had been suggested at a previous meeting that they be removed. The committee agreed that it required further information about their merit and proposed use before any decision was made.

I would welcome any information or feedback from residents on this matter. Do you want to see either of these shelters preserved as a heritage site, or made into a feature – for example as an educational facility for schoolchildren studying WWII, or would you prefer to see them removed for better use of the open space?

 

Also at this meeting was the request made for ideas of how to spend uncommitted s106 money in Beddington North. Some funding is available for ‘environmental projects’ in the area and this, unlike public realm funds, is not limited to capital projects. Please contact me, your ward councillor or the committee area co-ordinator Jo Bryant on 020 8770 5091 if you have any suggestions or would like more information.

 

A sound recording of this meeting will be posted within a few days of the meeting on:http://www.sutton.gov.uk/councilanddemocracy/Commitee+Agenda+and+Minutes+Library/

Beddington+and+Wallington+Local+Committee.htm

Minutes will be available at: http://sutton.moderngov.co.uk/ieListMeetings.asp?CId=375&Year=2008&J=2