Croydon Disability Forum/Dementia Action Alliance Meeting
13/09/2017 08:56:00.......Posted by Yvette Hopley

I attended two very important meeting this week - Croydon Disability Forum and the Dementia Alliance Meeting.  At the Disability Forum concerns were raised in relation to the misuse of blue badges, wheelchair safety on the bus (particularly when wet and slippery) and the closure of high street banks.  Issues were also raised in relation to the new proposal to close some roads around schools, thus preventing the usual access for carers, the delivery of medical equipment and indeed disabled children to schools.  I will submit a number of council questions in relation to the issues raised and hopefully a satisfactory arrangements can be made to allow entry into the zone during the restriction period in exceptional circumstances.

I also attended a meeting of the Dementia Action Alliance Group at the town hall.  I am pleased that an officer has been allocated to this important work - Rachel Carse who starts on 18th Setpember.  Both the Sanderstead Residents' Association and the Riddlesdown Residents' Association are keen to work with the local councillors to raise awareness of dementia in the community.  If you want to become more involved with the work we are doing please do get in touch.

Rec traveller update
06/09/2017 21:29:00.......Posted by Tim Pollard

I contacted officers again today because the traveller group who started to congregate on the Rec last Thursday are still on site.  The council has apparently  served a bye law notice, which is usually successful in forcing groups to move on but that has not been the case with this encampment.  They have therefore had to apply to the court to serve a s77 notice.  This notice has also now been breached so officers now need to go back to Camberwell Court again for the removal order, which may take until Monday.   However, officers have been regularly liaising with the group and they have said that they will leave before the weekend. 

If I get any further information I will post it here.

Eid prayers in the Rec
01/09/2017 13:35:00.......Posted by Tim Pollard

Cllr Lynne Hale and I were delighted to be invited to join the community of the Purley Masjid and the South Croydon/Sanderstead Islamic Centre on the day of Eid-al-Adha. Around a thousand people were there on a beautiful morning to take part in a short prayer service.

It was fortunate that the weather was kind, as the organisers had chosen last night to take down the 'just in case' marquee due to the potential issues with a traveller group who had set up an illegal encampment on the other side of the Rec (see separate post).

It was great to see so many people using the park and I hope that this can become an annual event (albeit it moves earlier in the year by ten days every year).

Many thanks to the organisers and Purley Councillor Badsha Quadir for inviting us to be present for a very interesting event.

Graffiti removed
01/09/2017 13:32:00.......Posted by Tim Pollard

Many thanks to the council's graffiti removal team who removed the racially-motivated graffiti left on several walls and fences in Sanderstead over the bank holiday weekend. I reported these on Tuesday, as I suspect did several other people, and the mess was removed very swiftly.

Sanderstead Rec travellers
01/09/2017 13:25:00.......Posted by Tim Pollard

Last night we heard the unwelcome news that Sanderstead Rec had again been the target of a group of travellers, who have set up camp at one end. Apparently they gained access through the gate by the children's play area, which was temporarily open to allow access for the pizza man, who is allowed to set up inside the ground on certain nights. I understand he did his best to prevent their access, but there were a lot more of them than there was of him!

The access had nothing to do with the use of part of the rec this morning by some of our Muslim community for open-air prayers to celebrate Eid. In fact they had been given separate access to enable them to construct a marquee yesterday, but they felt under the circumstances it was best to take it down rather than leave it as a tempting target.

I am told that the required assessment of the traveller encampment has already been done and the eviction notice served. They then have 48 hours to vacate the site.

Local Plan: good news for Sanderstead, not so good elsewhere
30/08/2017 07:37:00.......Posted by Tim Pollard

We have had the outcome of the Local Plan Inspection in public, where residents' assocations across the borough and Conservative councillors tried to get the worst excesses of Labour's local plan rejected or turned down by the Inspector. 

I think it is fair to say we have enjoyed mixed success, with some improvements to the plan gained, but much which is intensely disliked by residents still remaining.

In Sanderstead we have succeeded in getting the proposed intensification zone around Onslow Gardens removed. This was a particularly daft place to try to intensify and we are very pleased that it has gone. Elsewhere in the borough the intensification zones, all in wards which don't normally vote Labour, have been reduced in scale, which is good. But they are still there, which is bad!

We have also seen the deletion of Sanderstead Plantation from the Green Belt removed, so it remains as GB. 

Two of the most disliked policies affecting this area - the Gypsy and Traveller site behind the recycling centre and the 16 storey tower in Purley - are still there, so if Labour gets its way will be built.

Other changes in brief:

• we’ve gained some MOL in Shirley but lost Local Green Space from the whole borough;
• we still have a school site at Coombe Playing Fields, with green belt status removed;
• the embargo on hot food outlets has been deleted;
• the protection of garden land policy has been deleted and incorporated into a new character policy;
• we have gained sites of nature conservation at Shirley Allotments and Kent Gateway.

All in all a mixed bag. My colleagues and I put a lot of time into supporting residents' groups and speaking at the Inspection hearings, so we are pleased that at least some of what we argued for has changed.

The changes to the plan (and only the changes, not the rest) are now open to consultation until early October.

Graffiti
29/08/2017 10:47:00.......Posted by Tim Pollard

Someone has daubed racially-motivated graffiti on a house in Blacksmiths Hill Sanderstead, which I have reported to the council's removal service, together with other graffiti in the same colour a little further up the road.

SGN road works in Hamsey Green
24/08/2017 17:21:00.......Posted by Tim Pollard

SGN will be starting a mains replacement scheme in this area, here are the phase details;

Phase one: Clyde Avenue: 11/09/17-12/10/17: One –way westbound from Limpsfied road-Wentworth way: diversion via Hilton Way.

Phase Two: Tudor Close: 02/10/17-18/11/17: Full closure (access for residents).

Phase Three: Ellesmere Drive/Hilton Way junction: Multi-way signals: Dates TBC.

Phase Four: Hilton Way: One-way westbound from Limpsfield Road – Wentworth Way: 06/11/17-6weeks.

The school on Wentworth Way will be contact directly by SGN with this information. Access to and from the school in Wentworth Way will be accessible at all times. Pedestrian access maintained at all times either by pedestrians boards on existing footway or by pedestrian walkway in the carriageway. 

There are also works to be carried out on Limpsfield road itself which will be planned for next year’s school summer holidays. This is still to be planned. Once this is information is available and update will be sent.

Borough Grange garden furniture
22/08/2017 11:32:00.......Posted by Tim Pollard

Together with ward colleagues Lynne Hale and Yvette Hopley, I yesterday visited Borough Grange to see the new garden furniture provided out of the Sanderstead ward community buget. The old furniture the residents had been using was very dilapidated, so we were pleased to help by supplying some new chairs, table, umbrella and bench.

Unfortunately the weather was not very summery, so the chairs weren't in use! Our thanks to Brett, who appears with us in the photo and who apparently built the furniture from its flatpacked form. 

Change to Riddlesdown road works
22/08/2017 11:26:00.......Posted by Tim Pollard

In spite of the site notices posted in the local Guardian annnouncing Southern Gas Networks road works in Riddlesdown commencing 4 Sept, it transpires that the council has not yet agreed the permits and the earliest the works will now start is the beginning of October. It could be later still, if SGN don't move swiftly on their application.

We are hopeful that the council will also act to reduce the length of time required for the works - residents are understandably not thrilled at the proposed 32 week duration.