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

 

Tuesday 6th May 12.15pm

SUTTON HOUSING PARTNERSHIP AUDIT COMISSION REPORT

MEETING WITH SIMON LATHAM

Cllr. Stuart Gordon-Bullock & myself as chair & vice chair of the Health & Well Being Scrutiny Committee had a meeting with Simon Latham as Executive Head of Community Living to discuss the Audit Commission’s report on the Sutton Housing Partnership. Also present were Pat Berlin, Head of Housing Partnership, Trevor Hart, Housing Strategy & Performance Manager and Marion Woodard Health & Wellbeing senior policy officer.

Our discussions focused on how best to scrutinize the findings of the report and the timings for information to be provided to fit around our committee dates.

 

As a result of the overrun of this meeting it was too late for me to attend the Carers Forum Steering Group meeting at the Carers Centre, to which I am an appointed advisor. Luckily I had half expected this and given my input to the supporting officer beforehand.

Wednesday 30th April 7.30pm

DEVELOPMENT CONTROL COMMITTEE

SHOTFIELD HEALTH CENTRE PLANNING APPLICATION

Both Cllr. Bailey and I decided to speak in support of this application. I praised the work the applicants had done to inform and consult with both residents and patients on the application and how they had amended the plans to account for that feedback. Cllr. Bailey spoke of the benefits the refurbishment of Jubilee Gardens would bring to the area and was able to answer some of the committee’s questions about the effect the building would have on the natural light available to the gardens. We were delighted that the application was approved unanimously.

 

http://sutton.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.asp?CId=105&MId=1690&Ver=4&J=11

Monday 28th April 10am

BEDDINGTON & WALLINGTON LOCAL COMMITTEE

CHAIR’S BRIEFING

I attend this meeting with Cllr. Bailey who is vice-chair. It is where I check that we have all the information required for the meeting, deal with administration, and liaise with officers.

Wednesday 23rd April 11.30am

St GEORGES DAY CONCERT AT WALLINGTON LIBRARY

I have seen the lunchtime concerts at the library advertised and have been meaning to go along but as ever there is always something more pressing demanding my time. So I was very pleased to receive an invitation to attend the special St George’s Day event in the wonderful Mallinson Room. The room was packed and we all enjoyed a selection of recorded music by English composers ending of course with Elgar’s Pomp & Circumstance No. 1 and some flag waving. The setting was completed by the arrangements of red and white roses which had been donated by the local Sainsburys. It was a wonderful and appropriate way to celebrate our National day.

Wednesday 23rd April 9.30am

WARD MEETING

This is a meeting between Colin Hall, Richard Bailey & myself: as councillors for Wallington South. Robert Landeryou my predecessor also comes along occasionally. We try to meet regularly to discuss local issues, agree which planning applications to de-delegate and to liaise on casework. This is particularly important as residents often write to all three of us without letting us know that they have done so and this can lead to duplication of work. We check progress on any cases like this and try to allocate just one of us to respond on behalf of us all. I feel sorry for officers who probably get bombarded from a number of sources on the same resident’s query. I have had letters that have gone to all ward councillors, local MP & opposition councillors, and that is after the resident has already contacted the council directly.

 

Today we were discussing how to increase the pressure to get an Area Action Plan for Wallington. With the Core Planning Strategy requiring 10% housing growth for Wallington we have to ensure that development takes place in appropriate areas without eroding the suburban nature of the area: which is the attraction for people who choose to live here. An Area Action Plan will give us greater power to enforce this. Without it we feel that the constant pressure from the current London Mayor to build more homes will give developers free rein to build anywhere there is land available – and we know that this is not a situation that residents of Wallington want to see. We have been very disappointed at our lack of success at preventing back garden development in the area when decisions to refuse these applications are overturned by Government Inspectors at appeal.

Tuesday 22nd April 10-2pm

EPSOM & ST HELIER NHS TRUST STAKEHOLDER EVENT

REVIEW OF SERVICES FOR WOMEN & CHILDREN

I attended this event as a representative for London Borough of Sutton.

The purpose of this event was for the project team panel to seek views and respond to questions from community groups and other stakeholders.

This is an area I have a particular interest in as a result of my NCT links and I was pleased that NCT representatives from the local branch had been invited and were able to attend. The NCT has a recognised reputation for providing unbiased information on issues around maternity services and early parenthood. The charity does extensive research and evaluation of other’s research and studies to ensure that the information they provide is evidence based and unbiased. I therefore felt that I had good background knowledge to call on to input into the event.

I made a comment that the information provided on staffing guidelines was only relevant to consultant-led obstetric units and for balance perhaps information should also have been provided for midwife-led maternity units and community support for homebirths.

When the options for service reconfiguration were presented I commented that the approach taken focused on risk assessment, staffing levels and sites, whereas Government guidance in the form of the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services, and the White Paper ‘Our Health, Our Care, Our Say’ both emphasise that maternity services should be designed around the women’s needs and should provide choice over birth environment.

Later on I brought up the fact that the Payment by Results commissioning basis is biased against normal birth as Trusts receive more money for births requiring interventions than those that proceed normally. I was pleased to be corrected and my knowledge found to be out of date when I was told by the finance representative on the Panel that this policy had now been amended to be neutral for 2008/9.

 I was surprised and pleased at the number of attendees who were concerned about the lack of choice available for local women, the high rate of caesarean sections performed by the trust (at ~25% well above the WHO recommended rate considered necessary of 10%), and the support for midwife-led maternity services. These feelings have not come across strongly in previous reporting of the debate over the review of the service. The Panel gave feedback on what they had learned from the event and noted that they took on board the strong support for midwife-led units which had previously only been viewed as an add-on.

All attendees are automatically invited to a further feedback session 27^th May to hear what proposals are being put forward after the results of all 6 stakeholder events have been considered.

Sutton & Cheam MP Paul Burstow was also at the event and contributed intelligently to the discussions. An NCT colleague of mine was very impressed by his summary of the proposals: Mr Burstow said that the Panel were presenting the options as models of care, when in fact this was misleading as they were nothing more than site options offering variations of the same model.

New waste management policies

 

 

I am very aware from talking to residents that the introduction of a charge for the green waste collection is unpopular. This is understandable when a charge is introduced for a service that was previously offered free of charge. Sutton was unusual in this as most other boroughs have always charged for this service. However I have found that when I explain the rationale behind the introduction of the charges the majority of residents accept that the new system is fairer.

 

Not everyone in the borough has a garden, many live in flats, but everyone paid for the free green waste collection service through their council tax. This is obviously unfair. The reorganisation of waste management services, including the introduction of a charge for the green waste collection, has meant that the council can afford to offer the glass collection service to everyone in the borough. Everyone produces glass waste either in the form of jars or bottles, so every resident benefits from this service.

 

The other aspect of the new policy is to encourage more people to compost at home by offering free composters. It makes sense for us to reduce the amount of compostable waste that is being ferried around the borough in our lorries.

 

It is also worth pointing out that residents have the choice about whether to pay the £35 charge. They can decide to compost their garden waste at home or they can choose to take it themselves to the nearest recycling centre. Certainly it will be a lighter load than the glass that currently needs to be transported to a collection site. I have suggested that we increase the number of sites where residents can take their compostable waste so that every neighbourhood has one.

 

The £35 charge is for 26 collections of one bag a year but it is still heavily subsidised. It does not cover the actual cost of collection and transportation. For the majority of people who have a large garden (usually accompanying a large house) this should not prove too great a burden, even if they require more than one bag. The Council is looking into offering subsidies for people for whom it would be a genuine hardship and who are unable to transport the waste themselves – perhaps elderly residents or those who have inherited their property.

 

I have been composting myself for two years now. It is only this year since having my garden ‘made over’ that I have had an opportunity to use the compost I have produced. My composter was nearly full, but every time I went to add more vegetable peelings there was always room for more. I had done the wrong thing by adding large woody clippings from my shrubs but when I came to see what I had I found that I had lots of lovely compost to improve the soil for all my new plants. It was very satisfying, and it has saved me money.

 

The charging for green waste collection is only a small part of the overhaul of the waste management services, for which the aim has changed from ‘maximising recycling’ to ‘minimising waste production’. It is due in large part to these changes that we were able to reduce the impact of our poor financial settlement from central government on our residents’ council tax charge.

Monday 21st April 1pm

SHOTFIELD HEALTH CENTRE PLANNING APPLICATION

Today I met with Jo Munden GP & the practice manager Andrew Morton to look at the final revised plans for the Shotfield rebuild. My ward colleagues Richard Bailey & Colin Hall also attended the meeting.

 

After the surprise refusal of the original application we have all worked with the practice to try to ensure that the revised plans will be acceptable both on planning grounds and, most importantly, supported by Wallington residents & patients of the practice. We encouraged the practice to display the plans so that residents could view the proposals and events were held so that feedback could be obtained. We also encouraged them to obtain evidence of public support which they have done in the form of a petition which has attracted thousands of signatures.

 

We are impressed by how the application has been amended to take into account the views of residents and we believe that the resulting plans have benefited considerably. The design is much improved, with better access for disabled visitors and detailed plans which will significantly improve the amenity value of Jubilee Gardens.

 

The consultation from residents was important because whilst everyone can agree that the building is in dire need of rebuilding and expansion, and of course patients will benefit from the extension of the practice facilities, the proposed building will be a storey higher and increased footprint. It is also located close to the prominent Library & Town Hall buildings and therefore needs to be sympathetic in style.

 

We could find no obvious reasons for objections to the building and confirmed that one of the ward councillors would be speaking in support of the application at the Development Control Committee on 30^th April.

Saturday 19th April 1.30pm

done

WALKABOUT WITH BRIAN PADDICK IN SUTTON

Brian is the Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor and I joined him to show my support for his campaign as he did a walkabout of Sutton town centre to meet & listen to local residents.  I found Brian to be down to earth and straight-talking: qualities I particularly admire. I think that he is a splendid representative for the Liberal Democrats and I would love to see him have the opportunity to tackle the issue of gun and knife crime currently plaguing London.

 

I took some video footage of Brian’s walkabout and came across a wonderful lady who unexpectedly gave us a glowing report: listen carefully!