Sutton Borough Liberal Democrats

Richard's Annual Report

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There is no doubt which of my many activities as a Councillor has given me most pleasure in 2011. It has been representing the Borough and the Government as the "civic dignitary" in Citizenship Ceremonies, held in the Registrar's Office in Worcester Road in Sutton South Ward.

These ceremonies involve welcoming people from all over the world into British citizenship. One of my sons-in-law is from Ghana, and I believe that Britain benefits enormously from being a multi-racial and diverse society, with so many different cultures learning from each other. These people will be a great credit to Britain, and are enthusiastic about becoming British citizens. They will bring to our country cultures and experiences that we will learn from and which will make Britain a better place. At the most recent ceremony there were people from Nepal, the Ukraine, Sri Lanka, India, the USA, South Korea and the Congo. Perhaps because I am a Councillor for the Ward that contains the Registrar's Office and am often free during the day, I have been involved in many of these ceremonies.

Council Work and Council Committees

During the past year I have made a number of speeches at meetings of Sutton Council, on matters as diverse as the dangers from loan sharks, the reform of the planning system, new methods of working, health and safety at work and project management.

I serve on a large number of Council Committees, including the local committee for our area (the South Sutton, Cheam and Belmont Local Committee). Heather and I have made strenuous efforts to increase participation in this committee. Because I made my mark in my first year as a Councillor as someone who is committed, hard-working and serious minded, I was appointed to additional committees in my second year, from last May. I am the chair of the Joint Health and Safety Committee, joint between the Council and recognised trade unions, and since I was once the chair of the Board of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, based in Bilbao, I think I am qualified to do this. I have a strong interest in planning and sit on the Planning Advisory Group and the Development Control Committee. I have found being a member of the Economic Development Advisory Group very interesting, though while I have a first degree in economics my economics is rusty now. I have concluded from the figures presented at these meetings that Sutton is surviving the recession quite well. I am a member of the Audit Committee. I also represent the Council on a number of external bodies, including the boards of the Downlands Project and the Friends of Whitehall. I also served on the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee and later on the Sustainable Communities Scrutiny Committee but withdrew from this when I joined the Development Control Committee, as you will not make a full contribution if you spread your time too thinly across a large number of committees. A major reform of the Council's committee system is being discussed, for next May, and I have made a contribution to thinking about this by writing papers for the Council's Liberal Democrat Group.

Sutton South is a Low-Crime Area

I pay particular attention to crime trends in the Ward and attend the meetings of the police panel for the Ward. This assists the police in their work but is also a forum for dialogue between the police and the community. I have sought ways of making it more representative and would welcome ideas. I am aware that other members of the panel are sometimes amused at my assiduous interrogation of the detail of the crime statistics, something that perhaps comes from my background as a statistician. The statistics show that while Sutton as a whole is a low crime area, our Ward is one of the safest. I know that this statement is little comfort to those who have been victims of crime, and I speak from experience having been the victim of a serious assault outside Sutton station some years ago. Thefts from garages and motor vehicles have at times been a problem, and some drug dealing in the part of the Ward around the Brighton Road.

Campaigns

I have been responsible for, or played a role in, a number of campaigns during the past year. An important one is the campaign to oppose the plans for Capital Connect (Thameslink) trains from Sutton to stop at Blackfriars rather than continuing to north London. The trains to and from places like Farringdon at rush hours are always packed. This proposal will add time to people's journeys, displace travellers onto other already crowded services, and make Sutton a less attractive place for businesses moving from central London to locate to. Many residents of Sutton South Ward work in central London so it is important to the Ward that we oppose and defeat this plan.

Other campaigns have included opening up the side entrance to Sutton station, now the subject of a bid from the Council to the Mayor's Outer London Fund. I was successful in getting the polling stations in the Ward moved from Devonshire Avenue and Barrow Hedges schools to local church halls, a move popular with parents as it avoids closing the schools for a day at election times with consequent disruption to the education of the children and child-care issues. The campaign to improve the Devonshire Avenue Nature Area, while protecting it as a nature area and conserving the small blue butterfly, has been important, though my colleague Heather Honour has made the major contribution on this. I have been responsible for raising the issue, across Sutton, of care in the siting of the new generation of large BT boxes, though I have not succeeded in getting BT to move the box in Cedar Road I objected to. They investigated other sites, at my request.

As a Ward Councillor I enjoy meeting people who contribute to the life of Sutton South Ward. In the past year Heather and I have met and had regular dealings with many groups, including the Ministry team at Christchurch, at the synagogue in Cedar Road, the teaching staff at Eagle House school in Devonshire Road, Overton Grange and Devonshire schools. I took great pleasure in helping serve the Christmas dinner at Devonshire, and when Heather and I judged a competition for design of a poster for the Butterfly Watch Day at the Devonshire Avenue Nature Area. I recently visited the new Stanley Park high school building, which opens in January. I found particularly moving attending the Holocaust Memorial Day service held at the Europa Gallery, where I met members of the synagogue.

Casework

Whatever contribution one makes as a Councillor to the wider work of the Council and the community, it is the Ward casework that is the stock-in-trade. As anyone who looks at the record of my work in the year included on my blog will know, almost every day I am involved in some activity for Ward residents. The snow of last winter was a particular challenge and I found myself distributing grit and clearing the snow from the pavements at various locations including outside Fiske Court in Cavendish Road, in Cumnor Road and in Rutherford Close. The Council does not have the resources to clear all the pavements but there were some locations residents asked us to clear, including near sheltered housing. This was followed by action to get the grit bins re-filled and review the location of the bins, leading to some extra bins. Following approaches from residents in Lesley Gardens I got an additional grit bin placed there.

Trees are often an issue of concern. We have over 20 000 street trees in the Borough and I was able to get the four-yearly pruning cycle changed so trees in the Ward have been pruned this year. Before the pruning commenced I toured the Ward with Ben Morris, the Chief Arborculturalist, to discuss with him some particular problems. I was able to get trees planted in Copse Hill to replace trees damaged and removed following motor vehicle accidents.

Flooding is not an issue in the Ward except at the foot of Copse Hill. I got engineers to visit this site, following concerns expressed by residents, and some remedial action taken in relation to the guttering.

I have taken a particular interest in planning as Heather and I, as Councillors for South Sutton Ward, believe that the area has suffered from the progressive loss of detached family homes and their replacement by blocks of small flats, often with little or no garden. It has led to an imbalance in the housing supply, with an over-supply of small flats compared to family homes. About half the children in this area live in flats with no garden, and people often move out of the area if they have an expanding family, due to the shortage of affordable family homes. We regret the loss of original buildings of character. This has led us to be active in opposing the demolition of 39A Eaton Road and 83 Langley Park Road. I have also taken up a number of other planning issues in the Ward, including in Worcester Road and Farm Road, and several that continue to cause concern in Mayfield Road, some of which have continued over several years now but will, I hope, be concluded in 2012. In my speech on planning to Sutton Council on 17 October I supported the case for a full review of planning law and drew attention to some evident problems with current arrangements.

Heather and I met agents for the owners of Sutherland House. We continue to urge them to bring forward a realistic scheme for the development of this property. Such a development will have a big impact, renovating what is currently an eyesore and meaning that occupants of the building - whether workers or residents - are spending money in local shops and restaurants.

There are several estates of social housing in our Ward. Heather and I have supported efforts to develop residents' associations on these estates. If these can develop and play a part in the work of the local committee, this will redress a lack of representation of these groups on the committee. I have attended the estate inspections carried out by the management teams on these estates.

Parking will always be a difficult issue for Councillors, as often a solution that finds favour with one group displaces the parking elsewhere and causes concern in equal measure for another group. I have supported the introduction of parking controls in Eastleigh Close as residents wanted this and it seemed to me that the displacement effect was containable. This is now leading to a wider consultation exercise across the area at the west end of the Ward. Consultation has also taken place on yellow lines in Westmoreland Drive. The initial proposals were objected to by some residents and a modified scheme is now under consideration.

I am concerned at the amount of rubbish, and dog mess, left on the streets of our Ward by the inconsiderate. I got an additional bin put in in Cedar Road, at the point where (a resident suggested) people walking back from the station with a take-away would finish it and drop the wrapping. I have got the Area Response Team to check more frequently the bin in Cavendish Road by Fiske Court, as there is often rubbish dropped all round it. Other casework has been very varied but has included issues related to lighting, fencing and foxes. I am grateful to my colleague Heather for taking the lead on most issues relating to anti-social behaviour.

Looking Ahead

Looking forward to 2012, it will be a challenging year for the Council given current financial constraints. So far, the programme of economies has been sound and we have avoided some of the worst consequences of the cuts in Government support seen in some other authorities such as closing libraries. The financial challenges will continue to be severe. But we can look ahead with optimism that 2012 will be a year to remember for the London Olympics - with the torch passing through Sutton on 23 July - and the Jubilee.

Richard Clifton

December 2011

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Richard Clifton is a Liberal Democrat Councillor for Sutton Sutton ward.