Tuesday 24th June 1pm

Meeting to discuss the Beddington Park Consultation

I met with Bill Wyatt, Assistant Parks Manager to consider how we could best consult with residents so that he can prepare an action plan linked to the proposed Beddington Park and the Grange Management Plan. I had been invited as chair of the Local Committee and also because I had expressed an interest in involving residents in the plans as much as possible, something Bill was keen to do. We talked through a draft consultation document and made suggestions on how to improve it. We wanted to find out how residents use the Park currently, and how they would like to use it in the future. We also thought about how to encourage residents to come up with ‘blue sky’ ideas to stimulate discussion and innovation. Bill was keen to have the views of residents living next to the park as their experience may be different to users of the park, but wanted guidance as it is expensive to write to large numbers of residents. I suggested that we might be able to enlarge the area of the consultation of local residents if we worked on a sample basis. We also talked about how we might reach residents who don’t use the park to find out if there are any barriers to them accessing public open space. Bill will be having a similar discussion with local ward councillors and Friends of the Park.

 

During the meeting Mark Dalzell, Parks Manager, dropped in to alert us to the opportunity for the borough to put in bids for funding for heritage projects. I suggested that with Public Realm projects, s106 funding, and now heritage funding possible, perhaps the local committees should concentrate on continuing to come up with general projects that they would like to see which can then form a bank to be allocated to the most appropriate funding sources as available.

Tuesday 24th June 10am

Joint Scrutiny of Tier 4 Personality Disorders Briefing

I met with Marion Woodard, Senior Policy Officer at Sutton and Cllr. Sheila Knight from the London Borough of Merton at Merton Civic Offices to discuss the meeting on 2^nd July which was prompted by the closure of the Henderson Hospital in Sutton. This meeting was to discuss procedure and to ask Cllr. Knight if she would be prepared to be vice-chair. Cllr. Knight is a long serving member of her borough’s health scrutiny committees and she has a particular interest, and knowledge, of issues around mental health which would be a bonus to this committee.

 

As an aside I spent today travelling by bus as I was aware that parking in Merton was problematic. I was very pleasantly surprised at how well it all went. A bus went virtually door to door to get me from home to Merton Civic Offices. I was then able to have an early lunch in a local Irish Pub I knew served good food and then caught a bus to my next meeting at 1pm at Denmark Road in Carshalton. After that I caught another bus home again. At no point did I have a long wait for the bus nor was the stop far from where I wanted to be. Watching the world go by from the top of the bus was very relaxing and meant I arrived in a good frame of mind for my meetings. I am also fairly sure that the journeys didn’t take any longer than they would have done by car if you factor in time taken to find parking spaces etc. I will certainly be doing this more often.

Monday 23rd June 10am

Beddington and Wallington Local Committee Pre-agenda

This meeting took place with Malcolm Barker, the Locality Lead Officer for this Local Committee; Mariette Akkermans, Executive Head of Older and Disabled People’s Services and Steve Farrow, Regeneration Projects Manager. The purpose is to refine the agenda for the meeting to be held on 17^th July.

 

Mariette will be talking about the development of Franklin House on the Roundshaw Estate, which is to become a dementia resource centre. This item arose because Roundshaw residents were interested to know what was happening with the site, and it also provides a great opportunity to talk to residents about the new model of care for older people with dementia, as this is an issue that may affect many of us at one time or another.

 

There will also be an item on the two year management plan for s106 money. S106 money is money that arises from larger developments to enable Local Authorities to improve local facilities necessary as a result of the development. For example where a large residential unit is built, if it contains above a set number of units then the developers will be required to make a contribution to educational resources to allow for the fact that the development may result in more children in the area. Money for environmental improvements may be required where a development involves a loss of green space, or is for an industrial purpose. What is exciting about the new plan is that it allows residents, through their local committees, to determine the priorities for negotiating these s106 agreements and to prepare a project bank to be allocated to appropriate developments when they come up. All this will be explained in more detail at the meeting.

 

Another interesting discussion will be considering 20mph zones around Wallington town centre as a suggestion that has arison as part of the station access improvement scheme. Officers are very keen to hear residents’ and businesses’ views on this idea.

 

We cut out a couple of proposed items to go to a later meeting to allow more time for the remaining items, and we decided what information needs to be circulated with the agenda.

 

Prior to the meeting there will be an informal consultation event on the new waste management service. Officers are keen to gather as much information as possible about how the new system is working so that we can continue to make improvements. This will be from 6.30pm to 7.20pm at Bandon Hill School.

Thursday 19th June 11.30am

Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Meeting

Chair Stuart Gordon-Bullock & myself met with Neil Talbot the temporary senior policy officer for the committee to discuss the committee’s workplan.

Wednesday 18th June 9.30am

Ward Meeting

Colin, Richard & I went through the usual topics: new planning applications, common casework and issues affecting Wallington. We were very pleased to see the outline planning application for Wallington Square and we hope to encourage the applicants to offer residents the opportunity to discuss the plans with them & us.

 

Sgt. Le Shirley of the Wallington South Safer Neighbourhood Team has agreed to join us at our next ward meeting so we can talk about ways we can work together more in the ward.

 

We also discussed plans for Take Part Take Pride week and we have a great idea which we hope to be able to implement. We need to ask a few favours first before we can confirm it will go ahead.

Tuesday 17th June 10am

Visiting a Resident

I went to visit a disabled resident at their house to assist them with some form filling. I am constantly amazed at the amount of forms disabled people need to fill in to obtain assistance with their needs. Many of the forms are virtual duplicates but for different agencies. It would be so much easier if one comprehensive form could be completed and then used both as the basis and a trigger for all the agencies to work together. Many of them require doctor’s forms to accompany them which mean additional trips to the GP – the last thing a disabled person needs.

Friday 13th June 6pm

Meeting at Bandon Hill School

This meeting was arranged as a result of contact by the school governors who are concerned about the ‘Your High’ shop around the corner from the school. It provided an opportunity to bring everyone interested up to speed about the legality of the shop, the Council’s responsibilities and the petition. As well as myself, Tom Brake and Police representatives from Beddington South and Wallington South Safer Neighbourhood Teams attended and addressed the meeting. The police advised of their own concerns about the shop and explained that they have talked to the owner who agreed to voluntarily impose an over 18 age restriction and shut the shop door at school pick up time. They said that they would be keeping a close eye on the shop and any associated anti-social activity or drug offences. The police asked that parents and local residents report to them any instances of anti-social behaviour in relation to the shop and occasions when the shop breached its own restrictions. Parents advised that they were already aware of seeing under 18s in the shop and had been verbally abused by the owner.

The meeting was also attended by ward councillors from Beddington South and Wallington North, Inspector Colin Baker and the Headteacher from nearby Wilsons school. There were questions and a number of suggestions from parents and I will be following these up.

Friday 13th June 10am-2.30pm

A Healthy Tea at the Carers Centre

To continue the Carers Health & Wellbeing theme to Carers Week the Carers Centre put on a drop in session with fruit teas and healthy nibbles. A practice nurse settled in for the day to offer blood pressure and other basic health checks whilst I offered a Councillors Surgery for carers. I only had two carers specifically seek me out for help – one I was able to help on the spot through a telephone call and with the other I managed to get the ball rolling by the next day. The rest of my time at the centre was spent drinking tea and listening to carers stories. There were a few carers I had not met before so it was nice to get to know them. It really helps me to understand the range of difficulties that carers face by talking to them about their situations. What impresses me most about the majority of carers that I talk to is the lack of resentment they have, and their stoicism through some appalling difficulties. Every one of them has my admiration.

Thursday 12th June 9.30am

Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Conference

This Sutton conference brought together commissioners and providers of services across the social sector and health services to consider issues around safeguarding vulnerable adults.

 

The results of a Kings College survey into the national prevalence of elder abuse were presented by Jill Manthorpe. The survey reported that 4% of people aged over 66 and living in private households had experienced mistreatment involving a family member, friend, care worker, neighbour or acquaintance. The predominant abuse reported was neglect, followed by financial abuse.

 

 

 

David Thompson from Advocacy Partners talked about the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, and after lunch Dru Sharpling from the Crown Prosecution Service talked about issues around obtaining evidence to prosecute persons accused of mistreatment of vulnerable adults.

 

I had to leave before the end of the conference so I missed the workshop sessions. However I found the conference useful in raising my awareness of the issue of elder abuse and protecting vulnerable adults.

Wednesday 11th June 12pm

Carers Forum

The Sutton Carers Forum was set up to give carers the opportunity to make their voices heard. It is jointly supported by the Council’s Carers Development Unit and the Sutton Carers Centre. It is usually well attended and has managed to attract a good range of speakers & opportunities for discussion. Today we had the Mayor in attendance once again, speaking specifically on the guidance given to GPs about supporting carers.

 

We were also very lucky to have Dr Healther Lings, Senior Partner at the Shotfield Health Centre. Carers have spoken very highly of the service provided to carers at this practice so Dr Lings had been invited to talk about what the practice did to support carers, as an example of best practice.

 

Also speaking was Frances Newell Head of Commissioning – Equalities and Patient/Public Involvement from the Sutton & Merton NHS Primary Care Trust. Frances described ways in which the trust tried to engage carers in consultations and feedback on primary care provision.