Update: Travellers on Coney Hall Recreation Ground

(Photo: Ward Security)

Travellers have turned up in Coney Hall Recreation Ground. They appeared last night and seem to have gained access via Layhams Road, where some wooden posts along the edge of the park had been mysteriously removed prior to their arrival. It now appears unlikely that these were the same travellers that had been evicted from the car park at West Wickham station.

A notice has been served for the travellers to leave by 8:30 pm tonight. Police and council security personnel will, as usual, be in attendance.

The travellers on Monday afternoon

 

 

UPDATE 30/9/14 11:45am: All the travellers have been moved on. Council officers report that although there has been some minor ‘littering’, there is no fly-tipping to deal with and therefore the site will return to normal use very quickly.  The Ward Security team and colleagues are in the process of monitoring the travellers as they leave the Borough and are also at other local parks etc to deter any further incursions locally.

Isard House plans knocked back

Isard House

The proposals for the former care home at Isard House, Glebe House Drive, have been sent back by a council plans committee after your local councillors intervened on behalf of concerned residents.

The committee wants to see more space between the proposed units, more parking and for discussions to take place with local residents.

What’s happening at Hayes Place? Update

After complaints from residents about various aspects of the works at the former flats at Hayes Place, we have been in touch with council officers and Affinity Sutton. We can now report back as follows:

Location of site accommodation: the site compound is located on the green in front of the site; Keepmoat (the builders) have permission for this (the alternative would have been to use part of the highway), but on completion the accommodation and hoarding will be removed and the green returned to its original condition at no cost to the council taxpayer.

Works outside permitted hours: some construction activities, including starting up a generator, have been undertaken before and after permitted hours. Affinity Sutton have now have taken this up with Keepmoat and have assurances that this will not happen again. A full time site manager (who has been on leave for the last two weeks) will now be in charge and should be aware of the permitted hours of work.

Noise and smell of generators: Keepmoat advise that the existing generators are temporary and will be soon removed when a fixed builders supply is brought to site. In the meantime Keepmoat have been asked to ensure that the disruption caused by generators is kept to a minimum.

Muddy paths: Inevitably there will be mess from the site, but Keepmoat have been reminded to keep paths clear and clean at all times.

Affinity Sutton agree that there does seem to have been a lack of communication between the builders and residents, however we now expect a newsletter from the developers to come out shortly.

Hayes Primary School planning ahead

Hayes Primary School’s summer fair

Last week Graham and Neil, together with other colleagues, visited Hayes Primary School in George Lane. This popular school, firmly rooted in the local community in Hayes, has established a good reputation among parents and has many keen parent volunteers. It also has a higher than average number of male teachers, though they are still in the minority.

The school will shortly be submitting a planning application for new classrooms to improve the teaching spaces and enable some internal reorganisation – however, residents of George Lane will be relieved that the school has no plans to expand the number of pupils. Graham and Neil were pleased to hear that the school will be keeping neighbours informed of their plans.

September planning and licensing round-up

A quick round-up of progress – or otherwise – on some planning and licensing applications around the ward:

• Following a previous refusal and input from your local councillors, the Council has approved amended plans for the old trade union offices at Hayes Court on West Common Road. The development will restore the old house and replace the old outbuildings with new homes, as well as allowing public access to the grounds.

• The hearing into an alcohol licence for the service station at the bottom of Station Approach has been postponed until the new year after questions were raised about the level of trade in the shop compared to the sales of fuel.

• A planning application for the old All Saints school site in Layhams Road is expected to go before a planning committee soon, with the number of houses slightly reduced since the original plans were made public last year. Some residents have previously expressed concerns about traffic levels, the effects on the preparatory school and listed buildings nearby and impact on the green belt.

Another eight roads set for a makeover

The council has updated the programme of road resurfacing after it won additional ‘winter damage’ funds from central government.

Gates Green Road (between Croydon Road and Kingsway), the short stretch of Pickhurst Lane up to the Hayes Street roundabout and all of Station Approach are expected to receive attention in this financial year. Other roads, including Hayes Hill Road, Tiepigs Lane, Chilham Way, Farleigh Avenue and Hayes Wood Avenue are on the list for 2015/16, though all plans are subject to change in the event of severe weather or other emergency works taking priority.

What’s happening to the Hayes Place flats?

The former warden-assisted flats at Hayes Place, Bourne Vale, are now disappearing behind hoardings as builders prepare to demolish the blocks. Developers will then build twenty-six new houses and eight flats under plans that were eventually approved, after a number of revisions, nearly a year ago.

The new development, for Affinity Sutton, is the culmination of a long process which, after intervention by your local councillors, saw a notable reduction in the number of units to minimise housing density on the site, and the inclusion of flats that will be particularly suited to the elderly or less able-bodied residents.

We are aware that local neighbours are concerned at the parking situation, particularly in Chilham Way, and the mess that is arising from the works, as well as the area of the green being used by the builders. Although this is of course a temporary situation we will be watching closely to see that the impact on the local area is minimised as far as possible.