The site hours will be from 8am to 6pm Mon to Fri, 8am to 1pm on Saturdays.

Planning Enforcement officers visited the site and wrote to the Demolition Company, McCarthy Homes, and their planning agent. They responded to and apologised for the early morning working and they have informed the council that the hours will in future be adhered to.

Planning Enforcemnt will continue to monitor the site and if work continues outside the permitted hours they will recommend that a Breach of Condition Notice be issued.  

If  you are aware that any works are taking place outside of the permitted hours, please let us know.

Double Yellow Lines in Ross Parade

We wanted to let you know that we have asked the council to remove the double yellow lines that have been painted in Ross Parade recently.

The lines were installed without following the proper process which meant that your ward councillors were not advised of the responses to the consultation on the introduction of the double yellow lines, nor that they were going to be implemented. Had we known we would have objected as we know that they would have a negative impact on your business.

Our thanks go to Mandy of the Shanghai Chinese Restaurant for alerting us promptly to the matter. We advised Mandy in October that we were seeking to reverse the implementation of the double yellow lines, and we can confirm that this is going to be done. You may see notices advising of this fact. We have asked that this work is carried out as soon as possible to minimise the impact on your trade.

We hope that these works are implemented soon!

Police operations and activities over this busy period will focus on keeping the borough safe whilst deterring and targeting the small minority of individuals and groups intent on committing trouble.

Officers from Sutton’s Safer Neighbourhoods Teams, Safer Transport Teams and Safer Parks Teams will be out in strength all over the borough during the run up to Halloween through to the 5th November.

There will be day and late night, uniform and plain clothes patrols in town centres, parks and open spaces, and at transport centres like train stations and bus stops, and on bus routes.

Officers will be policing the borough’s main fireworks display – the Wallington and Carshalton Round Table’s fireworks display in Carshalton Park, Ruskin Road, on Saturday 3rd November when the gates open at 5pm and the display starts at 7pm.

Chief Inspector Partnership Nick Collins, who runs the community based policing in the borough, said that officers have a duty to help make sure that everyone can enjoy the festivities and stay safe.

“But we will act robustly against those people who may be tempted to commit crime and engage in anti-social behaviour. They can expect to be arrested and prosecuted,” he said.

Police have sent letters to 12 people in the borough on Acceptable Behaviour Contracts warning them against throwing eggs and flour as well as carrying and setting off fireworks in public places, such as streets and parks.

Young people are being advised to:

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  • keep your mobile phone and other valuables out of sight
  • go out with friends and avoid being alone
  • let your parents know where you are going and when you are expecting to be back
  • walk away from trouble

In addition, police urge youngsters to be aware of the possible impact of ‘trick or treating’ on some residents, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, and to respect signs that say ‘no trick or treating’.

Police advice to parents and carers includes:

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  • go ‘trick or treating’ with your children
  • take your family to organised events
  • secure your home by locking your doors and windows – and keep your lights on – when you go out for the evening
  • report anti-social behaviour to your local Safer Neighbourhoods Team

The Police operations and activities during this period are based on experience from previous years and working closely with partners like Sutton Council.

1. We are the elected Liberal Democrat Councillors for Wallington South Ward, which is served by Wallington Station.

2. Councillor Colin Hall set up the Thameslink Loop Line Campaign Group in 2009 in response to th South London Route Utilisation Strategy proposals.  The Campaign Group fights for the retention of through services from the loop line. This group is made up of elected members (MPs, AMs and Councillors) from the four south London boroughs on the loop line route. The Group will be submitting a separate response on this issue.  

3. Wallington South is largely residential and contains the second largest district centre in the London Borough of Sutton. The town centre has recently undergone significant improvements and investment.

4. A large number of our residents commute daily into central London for work.  From our correspondence with local residents it is clear that a large number of people commute to stations north of Blackfriars, including Farringdon / Crossrail, St.Pancras and St Albans. Many of our residents chose to move to the London Borough of Sutton because of its excellent public transport connections but tell us that these have been eroded over time.

5. Residents of the Ward also tell us they consider they value the direct service from Sutton and Hackbridge to St. Pancras International, for Continental Europe, and Luton airport. 

6. As local councillors we are very concerned about the continued diminution of train services from Sutton and Wallington and the failure to extend services to our area in the past. For example the East London Line (Overground) stops at West Croydon when it could have been extended to Wallington or beyond.

7. We are also concerned that the investment in Crossrail is being funded by the Mayor of London’s Community Infrastructure Levy which taxes development in our area without any tangible benefit for our residents.

8. We are also concerned that long term ‘overcrowding maps’ for train routes around London show that Sutton will be amongst the last to benefit from plans to resolve the problem. It is unacceptable that our commuters have to suffer significant overcrowding for longer than other areas. 

9. Councillor Hall visited the engineering team and Blackfriars in 2011 and was told that whilst it was technically possible for trains from Sutton to continue to use the Snow Hill tunnel it would reduce the number of trains that can pass through the tunnel and delay other (new) services. On the basis of this discussion we are concerned that Network Rail considers that the new routes are already decided.

10. Despite the “engineering view” (above), we are pleased that Theresa Villiers, the Minister of State for Transport has indicated in a letter to Councillor Hall that no decision has yet been made.

11. We are also disappointed that the draft South London Route Utilisation Strategy did not mention the planned changes to the Wimbledon loop. As a consequence the council, councillors and local residents did not have an opportunity to comment on the proposals.

12. Terminating Wimbledon Loop services at Blackfriars would result in our residents losing their cross-London service. This will penalise those of our residents who have made their residential, employment and educational location decisions on the basis of the existence of the cross-London Thameslink service. Many residents, who chose to live in the London Borough of Sutton on the basis of an existing pattern of transport connections, would lose a service that they have had for many years, and based their life around. It will also have an impact on those who commute to Sutton. This will potentially have an adverse impact on the local economy.

13. Any decision should take account of the impact of changes on the travel patterns of existing passengers, and of consequent requirements to change established travel patterns. It is because of the impact on Sutton residents that we object to any proposal that would result in terminating Wimbledon loop trains at Blackfriars.

14. The proposed changes will remove a valued connection with Eurostar and domestic long distance trains at St. Pancras International and Kings Cross. Our residents will have to change trains at Blackfriars, carrying possibly heavy luggage onto already crowded trains. This movement could be particularly difficult from the western bay platform when travelling north and to either bay platform when travelling south because of the platform lengths and the position of lifts and stairs at each end of the platforms. The recent Passenger Focus passenger survey found that having to change trains was a strong disincentive to train travel.

15. Sutton is identified in the London Plan as one of only four Metropolitan town centres in south London, with a large and growing population and employment base. It is a major business centre with many commuters and business travellers. It is therefore essential that Sutton, as a strategic south London destination, retains its connections to central and north London and beyond, and maintains its direct link to St. Pancras and the City.

16. We also believe that the attractiveness of Sutton to employers considering re-location away from expensive offices in central London would be affected. Sutton is a location from which one can travel to Brussels with just two train journeys, one taking 45 minutes and one two hours, and the journey to Paris is only fifteen minutes longer. We have been successful in attracting businesses to Sutton and this change would have a negative impact, particularly given the expected mushrooming of international train travel from St. Pancras over the next few years. These negative effects would impact on Sutton residents who want to work locally in Sutton.

17. We thus strongly object to any proposal that would result in terminating Wimbledon loop trains at Blackfriars from 2018.

18. We are aware that Sutton Council and the Thameslink Loop Line Campaign Group are submitting comments, and support those comments. However, we are making this submission to draw particular attention to the impact on our residents in Wallington South Ward.

MONICA COLEMAN

COLIN HALL

JAYNE MCCOY

Liberal Democrat Councillors for Wallington South

London Borough of Sutton

There will be a public exhibition to display the proposals on Thursday 2 August 2012 between 3.30pm and 7pm at Wallington Library.

McCarthy and Stone have provided an ‘information line’ telephone number 0800 298 7040 and email address feedback@consultation-online.co.uk for those with any questions, and after the exhibition there will be details on the internet at the following web address www.consultation-online.co.uk/Wallington

 A new cycle parking shelter has also recently been installed on the north side of the station near the car park entrance, which is part of Southern’s travel plan and franchise commitment.