Thursday 26th February 7.30pm

Beddington & Wallington Local Committee

The main topics for decision at this meeting were some proposals for public realm funding, the Redford Avenue Cycling Scheme, the Beddington Lane Regeneration Scheme and the Wallington Station Access Scheme.

 

Under Public Realm the committee agreed to match fund 5% of monies provided by Viridor Waste Management Ltd to make environmental & access improvements to the River Wandle in the committee’s area, allocating £13,500 to the scheme.

Members also agreed to make public realm funding available to refurbish Elms Pond in Wallington North and ensure the fountain continues to function. This pond had never been intended as a wildlife pond but as a result of people adding fish and plants to the water, as well as litter, the filters were not able to function sufficiently to power the fountain. At the suggestion of a resident we agreed to also explore the possibility of obtaining funding from Viridor through a Friends Group.

On review of the report on progress with other projects agreed for funding the committee expressed dissatisfaction at the time it was taking to get the hanging baskets in place. Reasons for the delay were given but the committee were not entirely convinced. I have since taken this matter up on behalf of the committee and the baskets are due to go up in the week commencing 6th April.

 

The Redford Avenue Cycle Lane was given the go ahead as only nine objections to the scheme had been received from a total of 194 local residents consulted, and these were on the grounds of cost, for which full explanations were given at the meeting. There were only a small number of residents at this meeting but most of them spoke to express their support for the scheme.

 

The committee was briefed on the overall plans to regenerate the Beddington Lane area including addressing the drainage problems there. We were advised that the scheme would cost around £10 million in total which would need to be requested from Transport for London (TfL). It was expected that TfL would prefer to fund the project in phases so we were asked to agree the scheme in principle so that officers could apply to TfL for funding for the scheme to be implemented in stages. Consultation with local businesses and residents was ongoing and the final details of each part of the scheme would be subject to consultation and agreement with ward councillors. The scheme met with general approval by members and was agreed in principle.

 

The Wallington Station Access Scheme was discussed in some detail with officers highlighting the amendments to the plans made following the public consultation and feedback from members and community representatives. The main change was to the station forecourt. Objections had been raised to moving the drop off points away from the station entrance which meant that passengers would need to cross in front of vehicular traffic. The revised plans now placed the drop off points on the same side as the station entrance. The revisions were welcomed by all and the scheme was approved for implementation.

Carers Poverty Protest 22nd April 2009

An independent grassroots collaboration of carers is organising a protest rally highlighting the fact that many carers are forced into poverty as a result of their caring role.

The London protest will be held in Old Palace Yard at 11am on Wednesday 22nd April 2009, marching to 10 Downing Street to present a petition.

 

The protest is supported by Carers UK, the Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Crossroads.

 

In Sutton we are organising a large coach to transport all interested parties – carers or their representatives, to London so that they can attend the March. Our Sutton & Cheam MP Paul Burstow will be supporting the march and making a speech. Please contact either me or the Sutton Carers Centre direct to reserve a place on the coach.

 

There is similar action planned on the same date to march on the Scottish Parliament. This will start from Edinburgh Castle at 1pm and aims to arrive outside the Scottish Parliament at 1.45.

 

The petition in question states the following:

 

We the undersigned call upon the Government to increase Carers Allowance for all people who provide a minimum of 35 hours a week unpaid care for a relative, partner or friend of any age with a long term illness, disability or who is older and frail’

That the called for increase in Carers Allowance should be paid regardless of carers means or receipt of other “income replacement” benefits (including the State Pension) ; that carers should not have to self-fund their caring role (live off their savings); that means-testing and the overlapping benefit rule be scrapped (carers should not be forced to live on a government imposed limited income) and that students should not be excluded from receiving Carers Allowance.

That Carers Allowance should be paid at a level that allows carers dignity and quality of life and at a level that recognises that carers are unique within the benefit system, in that carers:

 

(i)  have to fulfil the requirement of caring for a minimum of 35 hours a week in order to qualify for a maximum of £50.55  Carers Allowance, the underlying entitlement to Carers Allowance or the Carers Premium,

 

(ii) provide care and support that would otherwise have to be carried out by state-funded social care staff;  that carers contribution to society is worth an estimated £87 billion a year; that the average carer is saving the nation over £15,260 a year and that without carers our NHS and social care systems would collapse.

That the Government recognise the injustice inherent in the fact that social care and respite are dependant on local authorities budgets and not on the service users needs, resulting in a ‘post code’ lottery.

 

 To sign this petition click here.

 

Street View proves an excellent aid for local councillors

I followed the launch of Google’s Street View with mild interest, however at today’s ward meeting my eyes were opened to its extreme usefulness to local councillors.

Councillor Bailey & I were discussing a recently submitted planning application for development above a shop in Wallington high street. We were debating which shop it related to and whether the skyline was currently unbroken. As it was raining at the time, we were about to agree to investigate it later when I suddenly thought of Street View. In no time at all the argument was resolved and our questions answered. Even Cllr. Bailey, a proud technophobe, was impressed and urged me to investigate another planning application on our list.

 

Although it could not substitute for an actual site visit when an application is under detailed review, Street View will be of great assistance for making that initial assessment of whether we expect a planning application to be controversial and therefore require referral to the Development Control Committee.

 

Tuesday 24th February 7.30pm

Scrutiny Overview Committee

The main item for consideration at this meeting was the Council’s Ten Point Plan for supporting businesses and residents during the economic downturn. Corin Thomas and Gill Bull were the council officers in attendance to answer member’s questions.

 

The committee learnt that an Economic Support Task Force made up of representatives from the business community and voluntary sector as well as local MPs and council officers had been set up to assess the impact of the downturn on residents and businesses and to pool their expertise to consider ways to help the borough through these difficult times.

 

Members had received a report on the progress to date on the ten point plan and asked specific questions on some of the individual measures.

It was interesting to hear that not many small businesses supplying the council had taken up the priority payment scheme. Investigation had found that most of the small suppliers were already happy with the speed they were paid by the council and so didn’t feel the need to ask for priority.

 

The Citizens’ Advice Bureau advised that they had experienced a 21% increase in enquiries relating to personal debt.

 

I enquired about how well the housing benefit department was managing with the increase in claims and was advised that they were currently keeping on top on things but the situation was being monitored.

 

I also suggested that representatives from the local regional body of accountants be invited to sit on the task force for their specific expertise as business advisors might be useful.

 

The other agenda item discussed in detail was the council’s quarterly tracker report which highlights the progress of various departments and partners against the key plans and performance measures.

 

Members picked out items they wanted to have more information about. I picked up the lack of data available to monitor performance relating to the number of adults in contact with secondary mental health services. It was hoped that the Mental Health Trust will make this information available soon.

 

This cross-party scrutiny committee worked cooperatively this evening. The opposition members got in their political points about the ten point plan but it was otherwise a sensible review of ongoing work.

 

 

My only quibble is with members emailing or texting on their blackberries during the course of the meeting. I feel that it is incredibly rude having asked officers & other witnesses to attend and give evidence at a meeting only to ignore them in favour of playing with their little black boxes. It happens too frequently for it to be explained away as ‘urgent messages’.

Thursday 19th February 7.15pm

Site Development Workshop

This took place at the Trinity Centre in Wallington. Key representatives from local residents’ associations had been invited to this workshop to hear about the drafting of the Site Development Policy and to feed in their views about the proposed sites in the Wallington area.

 

In order to meet the requirements of the ‘London Plan’ it was necessary for sites to be identified which might be suitable for future development. Once identified it needed to be agreed what kind of development might be appropriate. By making these decisions now it should make it easier for planning to reject unsuitable applications and speed up the process for acceptable ones.

 

 

In Wallington sites identified included the Stanley Park High School site, Shotfield car park, Wallington Square, Wallington Public Hall & car park, Station Approach and car park.

 

Attendees were asked to look at one or two sites according to their specific interest and discuss what type of development, if any, they considered would be appropriate. Development to be considered included retail, residential, car park, commercial or industry. Of the groups at this meeting strong feelings were expressed about the need to retain car parking at Shotfield as this was important to attract shoppers to the area. Wallington Hall was discussed and there was general agreement about the need to have a community hall, but there were differences of opinion about whether the existing hall should be kept & refurbished or a new hall built, either on this site or elsewhere. It was felt that a small residential or commercial development could be built on the car park as long as sufficient parking was retained both for the hall and the new development.

 

A number of similar workshops were planned and the results would be collated & reported back to planning and attendees by request.

Tuesday 17th February 2pm

Meeting with Director of London Wildcare Centre

I met with Ted Burden, the director of the Wildcare Centre to discuss funding issues the centre was currently facing. Ted also showed me the barn he was keen to convert into a visitors’ centre with the focus on attracting schoolchildren and teaching them about conservation. I also looked at a piece of land adjacent to the centre which Ted would also like to turn into a wildlife garden, again for teaching purposes.

 

 

I heard about some of the emergencies the Centre had been called to over the Winter including rescuing some birds from a frozen pond.

 

‘Your High’ Shop has Closed

I can officially confirm that the owners of the ‘Your High’, and of late the ‘Fireworks’ shop, have moved on.

 

I originally wrote to the owners of the building last year (not the same people as the shop owners who leased the premises) advising them of the strength of feeling against the shop from local people, and the volume of signatures on the petition started by our local MP Tom Brake. I received a response from the owner’s agents who stated that in the light of the public’s concerns they would serve notice on the leaseholders.

 

I have been awaiting confirmation of this action for months. I was aware that it may take until the lease was up for review to effectively get the shop owners out, but it comes as a great relief to know that it is finally official. The agent told me that he had great sympathy with local residents as he was a parent himself & would not like such a shop around the corner from his children’s school.

 

Despite assurances from the owners that the shop would keep its doors closed at school pick up times and not permit under 18s onto the premises I have heard reports from teachers that they were abused by the shop staff when they made polite requests to close the shop doors; parents telling of sightings of school children in the shop; and tales of abuse and intimidation from staff members.

 

I am sure that the parents & staff of Bandon Hill and Wilsons school, who were the closest neighbours of this shop, are very grateful for the support of all the other borough schools and churches who came together to help Tom’s campaign against this shop by circulating petitions and passing on information. The closure of this shop is a real victory for local residents.

Tuesday 10th February 12 noon

Carers Forum

We were due to be updated on the Better Healthcare Closer to Home strategy and intermediate care for older people but there had been last minute cancellations from both our main speakers leaving a big hole in the agenda.

 

After a bit of discussion Claire Shearer gave an update on the progress of the formation of LINKS – the Local Information Network which is the expanded and redefined version of the old Public & Patient Involvement Forum. Claire explained that there were still places available on the board and encouraged carers to join up as representatives. For more information about LINKS contact SCVS – Sutton Centre for the Voluntary Sector.

 

Suggestions were put forward & a vote taken on the August Forum day trip and Eastbourne was agreed for 2009.

 

The Forum was advised of various workshops & focus groups ongoing over a range of issues.

 

Claire Shearer reported back on the Chaucer Centre inaugural meeting held by Mark Clenaghan, Director of Mental Health Services for Sutton & Merton with carers and service users. Carers who attended the meeting expressed their deep dissatisfaction with how the meeting had been managed which gave insufficient time or emphasis to carers’ issues. I agreed to follow this up with Mark Clenaghan when I next meet with him through the Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee.

Thursday 5th February 10am

Meeting with Support Group for Parents of Children with Aspergers

Following my original consultation with parents attending this support group I finally got the opportunity to feedback to them the results of this work. I thanked them for their efforts both in talking to me and responding to the consultation & attending the consultation events. I said that I hoped that with the resulting change in the policy they felt that their efforts had been worthwhile and a great example of ‘people power’. I was asked to clarify some points on the implementation of the new policy and agreed to get back to one parent on an issue requiring clarification.

 

The parents took the opportunity of having me there to raise some other casework issues which I have been following up on.

Tuesday 27th January 11.30am

Carers Partnership Board Meeting

Two of the main speakers at this meeting had to cancel so the main item remaining was the establishment of a Sutton Transition Partnership. Toby Price lead for the transition of disabled young people from children’s to adult services attended to update us on this matter. We were aware of concerns raised previously about the transition from children’s services to adult services and the setting up of a partnership specifically to seek improvements in this area was welcomed.

 

The Partnership is expected to commence in April with a ‘Transition Conference’. The board requested a Carers item at this event.

 

It was agreed that there should be a representative from the Carers Partnership Board on the Transition Partnership Board.

 

During the course of the meeting Claire Shearer, a carer, brought up the issue of access to information after a bereavement. In trying to help a friend who was recently bereaved she had realised how difficult it was to find out about what to do from funeral benefits to claim to who to notify. There appeared to be no collated information on the Council website.

 

After the meeting I followed up this matter and have been working with the Superintendent Registrar at Sutton Registry Office to get the information that appears on their website also on the Council website. At the next CPB meeting I will be asking members to review the information to ensure that it contains sufficient detail to assist carers specifically.