Thamesfield Ward E-Bulletin Summer Edition

An update from your local ward Councillors


Jim Maddan, Mike Ryder and Rosemary Torrington Councillors, Thamesfield Ward, Putney, Wandsworth Borough Council.
Email Heretohelp@wandsworthconservatives.com

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Richmond Mansions

Your local councillors made representations to the council’s Planning Applications Committee after residents in Richmond Mansions, (one of the iconic buildings on the landscape as you enter Putney over the bridge), protested at plans to build an over-large unsuitable extension on the roof which would have seriously spoilt that view. Following their intervention, the application was refused.

Spencer Arms

There was a very mixed reaction among local residents when the Wimbledon and Putney Common Conservators agreed to let the Spencer Arms pub put tables for drinkers on a small area of the common next to the pub. Your local councillors thought the best way to evaluate this was to have a trial period, so people could decide for themselves after seeing the idea in operation. So they asked the council’s Planning Applications Committee, which had to give formal approval for the tables to be placed there, to give permission for just one year to begin with. Do let us know what YOU think about the idea, if you live nearby and have seen it in operation. You can contact mryder@wandsworth.gov.uk ; rtorrington@wandsworth.gov.uk or jmaddan@wandsworth.gov.uk .

Putney RSPCA Hospital

Six hundred local residents recently signed a petition to Wandsworth Council, urging them to ask the RSPCA to consider re-locating its Animal Hospital in Clarendon Drive, which has been there for 100 years. Residents say they are concerned about possible danger to local children from any “attack” type dogs which often wait outside the hospital with their owners for treatment, and also say local pavements are heavily polluted with dog mess. Thamesfield Councillor Mike Ryder arranged a meeting with council officers and local residents, headed by Mrs Martine Guy, to discuss these concerns. He is now arranging a full-scale meeting with the RSPCA’s Regional Director and the hospital’s Director to see what can be done. He commented: “Everyone admires the RSPCA for its wonderful work with sick animals at the hospital, but I do also recognise the residents’ genuine concerns, particularly where the safety of children is concerned. So I am pressing for a meeting with the RSPCA as soon as possible.”

Norroy Road

Householders in Norroy Road are organising a petition asking the council to make their street a cul de sac, with a barrier at the Putney High Street end  and a turning space and passing places so cars (and large vehicles like removal vans) can go back along it. They say Fawe Park Road, Disraeli Road and Norroy Road have been used as a rat run for drivers going from the Wandsworth Park end of Putney through to Charlwood Road. They also say their plan would improve safety for children, as there is a pre-school nursery in their road and two primary schools around the corner. Your local Thamesfield councillors have agreed to help them present their case to the council.

River Transport

Following a concerted campaign by Cllr Torrington and London Assembly member Richard Tracey over the past five years Thames Clippers have been appointed by TfL to run the river bus service between Putney Pier, Wandsworth Riverside Quarter and the City and other stops en route. With effect from October 2012 the five commuter services will be replaced by 21 services a day.

Thames Clippers also offer Travelcard, Oyster Card and season tickets to help reduce the cost of travel. They will be operating high speed catamaran and can integrate services from the west with those travelling east to Canary Wharf and many other destinations.

More information including a timetable will be published nearer the time. In the meantime details about Thames Clippers can be found at www.thamesclippers.com

Putney Post Office

It has taken a long time but after a long campaign by Cllr Jim Maddan and Justine Greening MP, it was announced recently that a lease has been signed on a new premises in Upper Richmond Road, close to the existing post office.

A period of consultation started at the end of July, however it is a victory for the campaigners, who have fought long and hard to maintain a post office in Putney Town Centre. The existing post office will remain open until the new location is open for business.

Air Quality in Putney

Local councillors, together with our GLA member and the MP for Putney, have for many years been aware of the poor air quality in Putney High Street. They have worked closely with council officers and the Mayor’s office to produce the watertight evidence to back up the anecdotal evidence.

That evidence has now been presented to Transport for London, who has accepted that buses are responsible for disproportionate amounts of the harmful pollutants. As a consequence by the end of 2012, many buses will have been replaced with less polluting vehicles, and others will have been adapted on similar lines. The programme will continue for the next three years until all buses have been replaced or converted

In the meantime, your councillors and the council officers are working on other schemes to maintain traffic flow in a more even-handed way and looking at other circumstances which increase air pollution, including the way and times that deliveries are made to local stores and what can be done about them.

What do you think about a new school?

Your Thamesfield councillors have launched their own special survey to find out what residents want to see at the disused Putney Hospital site by the Common. tinyurl.com/bqr94kg

Wandsworth Council has submitted a new planning application to use the site for a new 420-pupil primary school to meet growing demand for school places in the area. But some residents have complained the development (which would also include residential flats, to help meet the cost of the school) is too big, uses land from the Common, and would also add to local traffic congestion, while others are wholeheartedly in favour.

Councillor Jim Maddan, who is conducting the survey along with Councillors Mike Ryder and Rosemary Torrington said: "We have already listened carefully to what residents have told us so far. We did, for instance, appreciate their concerns about traffic and we urged the council to commission a full-scale traffic impact survey, which has now been done.

The council has sent out its own letters to residents in the immediate area, asking for their views on the planning proposal for the school. But we wanted to do our own research, over a wider area, so that we could really find out what people think. We are asking them, for instance, what they think about the idea of a rooftop play space, and what they think about the proposed school having a Special Educational Needs unit. We have personally delivered thousands of letters in the area, asking people to fill in a survey and send it back to us, or to give us their views on-line. We will then report back with the findings."

One residents' group from the Commondale area, called The Friends of Putney Common, is organising a public meeting about the school plan on October 15, to be chaired by our local MP Justine Greening.

If you want to give your views to us you can go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/2DB9RY2

Thames Tunnel update

Thames Water has published their proposals for Putney Foreshore and the Barn Elms Playing Fields, and many of the early skirmishes appear to have been won, but there are still further challenges.

Submissions will now be made to Wandsworth Council as the Planning Authority and detailed drawings and working practices will have to be finalised, before progress can be made.

It is hoped that some form of legacy will be achieved in the vicinity of Putney Pier and the foreshore, which will be of benefit to the local residents and other river users

Local councillors are working with Justine Greening MP and other interested parties to ensure that there is a minimum of disruption in the vicinity and that local businesses do not suffer during the construction process.

Final plans are available at www.thamestunnelconsultation.co.uk/

Putney Blades 2012/1833

We have been copied into a many emails from residents who are concerned by this application. The Council’s Design Panel has expressed reservations about the lack of a good public square where pedestrians can take priority over vehicles, and also about the bulk of the tower. The London Mayor’s office has responded to the consultation to say that the proposals fail to comply with the London Plan. Cllrs Torrington and Ryder met with residents in Burstock Road to listen to their concerns and advice them on their campaign. If the application goes to the Planning meeting on 22 August Cllr Torrington will represent resident views at the meeting. Please continue to copy us into your correspondence. The plans can be viewed at tinyurl.com/cmc845f


Police numbers and crime in Thamesfield

Local residents have been very vociferous about the dwindling numbers of police officers and police community support officers working out of Putney Police Office. Local councillors have made representations at the highest level and promises made, but they have come to nothing.

When questioned excuses have been made, including the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics, as well as too many PCSOs being successfully recruited to become warranted police officers and no plans to replace them, but the bottom line is that there is still a shortage of uniformed officers patrolling Putney High Street.

We will continue to fight for the published establishment of one sergeant, two constables and three PCSOs to be maintained, as well as fighting for Putney Police Office to remain open six days a week.

It is gratifying to note that the levels of reported crime are falling locally, with fewer reports of street crime and residential burglary. However there is a worrying trend that more and more cycles are being stolen, and too many people are having their bags and mobile phones stolen from bars and restaurants in the vicinity of the High Street. Extra vigilance is required if these trends are to be reversed.

The next meetings in Thamesfield Ward can be found at www.met.police.uk/teams/wandsworth/thamesfield/index.php

The Thamesfield Ward SNT Panel sets the priorities for the policing team to follow in addition to the standard police force priorities of robbery and burglary. The panel have recently changed the priorities to reflect the high level of criminal behaviour in the town centre:

  • Residential burglary
  • Motor vehicle crime
  • Status dogs

To contact the Safer Neighbourhood Team - thamesfieldsnt@met.police.uk . 020 8721 2434 or on 07920 233924. In an emergency always dial 999. For all other calls to the Metropolitan police please dial 0300 123 1212. Register bikes and other valuables on www.immobilise.com to enable police to return it to you if it is stolen.

There are presently 41 Neighbourhood watches in Thamesfield covering 2,340 homes.

 

Putney High Street

In times of austerity, when the number of vacant shop premises is on the rise, it is important to ensure that the look and feel of Putney High Street is maintained at a high level

During the run up to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee River Pageant there were a lot of visitors to Putney, and the marketing group of the Putney Town Centre Partnership Board, chaired by Cllr Rosemary Torrington, decided that the two shops at the bottom of Putney High Street facing Putney Bridge, which have been vacant for many years, needed some form of facelift

Two special vinyls were commissioned and installed in the week before the pageant. They certainly made the area less of an eyesore and similar treatment will be commissioned for other long term vacant premises.

Work is continuing to achieve the long term upgrade of the two properties involved at No’s 2 and 4-6 Putney High Street, but there are legal and financial constraints

Car Clubs

The Council is consulting on three new car club spaces in Thamesfield to be run by Zipcar. Nearby residents will have been consulted directly on the space at the junction of Festing Road and Lower Richmond Road, the space at the junction of Gwalior Road and Felsham Road and the space at the junction of Waterman Street and Lower Richmond Road.

Events, activities and exhibitions

The Council’s school holiday is now underway and continues until 31 August. There are events all over the borough including at Barn Elms, Barn Elms Boathouse and the Putney Leisure centre.

The programme can be downloaded at www.wandsworth.gov.uk/downloads/file/6416/holiday_fun_summer_programme/200087

The Cat’s Back has reopened under new management in Riverside Quarter. Harvey’s Brewery in Lewes now own the pub www.harveys.org.uk/

The café at St Mary’s Church is now owned by D’s Newsagents in Putney Bridge Road and under new management.

Local events are published in the listings pages of Brightside which can be downloaded at www.wandsworth.gov.uk/brightside . Regular local events in Putney are given below.

Eddie Catz, above Halfords, has a good schedule of classes and activities for young children throughout the year with special events during half-terms and holidays plus mum’s networking events. www.eddiecatz.com/events.php

Putney School of Art and Design runs regular art courses, family learning classes and a certificate and diploma in art and design. Details can be found at tinyurl.com/6durnxd

Wandsworth Symphony Orchestra performs several times a year in St Mary’s Church. Details of their programme at londonswso.org.uk/concert_dates.html

Fibonacci give regular lunch-time concerts in St Mary’s Church. Programme details at www.fibsonline.co.uk .

Putney Theatre Company and Group 64 Youth Theatre at Ravenna Road have a regular schedule of performances. For details www.putneyartstheatre.org.uk/

Putney Music Society meets at 8pm in Dryburgh Hall. Their programme of lectures is available at putneymusic.org.uk/whatson.php

The Putney Society, the amenity society for Putney and Roehampton, organises speakers and debates on topics of local relevance to the environment. Forthcoming meetings at www.putneysociety.org.uk/tags.html?tag=members%27+meeting

The Half Moon run a regular programme or music – to joint their mailing list go to www.halfmoon.co.uk . There is jazz every Sunday lunchtime from 1pm and families are welcome. Every Tuesday you can join the Half Moon pub quiz in the main bar with six people per team.

The Duke’s Head on Lower Richmond Road is offering stand-up comedy on Wednesdays. Doors open at 8pm, tickets £7 or £5 for concessions. There is a regular quiz night on Tuesdays at 8pm. www.dukesheadputney.com/

The sommelier at the Star & Garter on Lower Richmond Road hosts regular wine tastings and other seasonal events. www.thestarandgarter.com/events.asp

Cakes4Fun on Lower Richmond Road run regular cake-making courses, baking master classes, chocolate truffle-making and many other courses including evening classes.
www.cakes4funshop.co.uk/courses.irc?cName=courses&pg=1

Parsons Nose (formerly Buckleys) on Lower Richmond Road run butchering courses (half a free range lamb or pig) and sausage making classes. parsonsnose.co.uk/putney/classes.html

Wills Art Warehouse on Putney Common, (Lower Richmond Rd) exhibits and sells affordable contemporary art. www.wills-art.com/thistext.cgi?doc=dates

The Russell Gallery on Lower Richmond Rd, exhibits and sells modern British art. www.russell-gallery.com/welcome.htm

Regular daily guided tours and “feed the birds with the wardens” take place at the WWT London Wetlands Centre. Details from www.wwt.org.uk/visit-us/london/events .

The Putney Leisure Centre in Dryburgh Rd provides swimming and a full range of activities www.wandsworth.gov.uk/info/644/sports_facilities/391/putney_leisure_centre

Details about the Putney Sculpture Trail located along the river from Leaders Gardens to Wandsworth Riverside Quarter can be found via the link below together with places to eat and drink en route www.wandsworth.gov.uk/info/200097/town_centre_management/398/putney/4

If you would like to do some gardening but lack a garden consider the Garden Partners scheme run by the Council in conjunction with Age Concern. Volunteers enter into partnership with a homeowner of 60 or more to cultivate their garden and share the produce with them.
www.acwandsworth.org.uk/index.cfm?id=4705
or call Sarah Jackson on 8877 8946.

The Putney Senior Social Group for over 60s meets every Monday at All Saints’ Church, Putney Common between 10 and 11.30am. They offer tea and coffee and homemade cakes. If you know of friends or neighbours you think may be interested in joining call Jo Warren on 07970 280172.

Regenerate-RISE provides lunches, activities, outings and support for the over 60s, particularly those who are isolated. It operates from The Platt Christian Centre in Felsham Road. They also have a hairdresser open three days a week to anyone over the age of 60 at very reasonable prices.  They hold a cafe once a month on a Saturday open to anyone. For more information please email Mo Smith, Chair of Trustees, Regenerate-RISE at mosmith@regenerate-rise.co.uk

There is a permanent exhibition about The Putney Debates 1647 in St Mary’s Church by Putney Bridge open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm www.putneydebates.com .

Felsham Road recycling bank you can now recycle c ardboard, food and drink cans, mixed glass, plastic bottles, food & drink cartons and newspapers & magazines behind TK Maxx . Any residents, and particularly those who live in a flat with limited space to store orange sacks, can deposit the above items in the recycling facility throughout the week. As it is a residential area the recycling bank should be used ONLY BETWEEN 8AM AND 8PM.

There are recycling banks for Scope at Putney Leisure Centre, Leader’s Gardens or Telegraph Road. All textiles including curtains, bedding, towels, handbags, cloths, rugs and mats can be recycled here.

Useful Numbers

Details of the Minor Injuries Unit at Queen Mary’s Hospital can be found online

www.wandsworth.nhs.uk/pdf/MIU/minor%20injuries%20leaflet%2010-06.pdf or call 020 8487 6499/6999.

If you suffer from asthma or heart or breathing difficulties, you can sign up for the free airTEXT service to alert you to high pollution levels – eiteam@wandsworth.gov.uk.

Do help us keep Thamesfield ward in good shape by reporting instances of fly tipping and graffiti as well as broken pavements and pot holes.

Waste services – including fly tipping, street cleansing, missed collections, recycling.

Tel 020 8871 8558 Email wasteservices@wandsworth.gov.uk

Tel 020 8871 7479 for recycling hotline.

  • Graffiti removal

Tel 020 8871 7049 Email graffiti@wandsworth.gov.uk

  • Broken pavements, potholes etc

Tel 020 8871 6708 Email highways@wandsworth.gov.uk
Noise hotline Email esd@wandsworth.gov.uk

Tel 020 8871 6170 (during office hours)

Tel 020 8871 7869 (outside office hours)


Future Thamesfield E-bulletins;
As y our local councillors we send out regular e-bulletins to update you on local news, information on our work and things of interest in our local community. To join, simply reply to this email and type SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. It’s free and you can unsubscribe at any time by emailing the address below with ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject line.  

3 Summerstown, London, SW17 0BQ Tel. 020 8944 0378
heretohelp@wandsworthconservatives.com , www.wandsworthconservatives.com
Promoted by Kevin Fulcher on behalf of Putney Conservatives,
both of 3 Summerstown, London, SW17 0BQ


August 6, 2012