Carshalton and Sutton Conservation Areas
In 2019 the London Borough of Sutton sought the views of residents and interested parties on the Character Appraisal and Management Plans for the Conservation Areas in Carshalton Village and Sutton Town Centre.
Carshalton Village: Character Appraisal and Management Plan
The Character Appraisal evaluates what is special about Carshalton Village, highlighting those areas of exceptional character and those areas in need of improvement. The Management Plan provides guidelines on how the good elements should be protected and the not-so-good elements improved.
The guidelines include specific guidelines, such as on school buildings, Grove Park and the River Wandle, and general guidelines, such as on development, public houses, shopfronts and open space.
Sutton Town Centre: Character Appraisal and Management Plan
The Character Appraisal takes account of work done as part of the Sutton Town Centre Heritage Action Zone. The Heritage Action Zone is a partnership between to Historic England, the London Borough of Sutton and the Carshalton and District History and Archaeological Society to promote local heritage - see Sutton First article below.
It has resulted in a proposal to expand the existing Conservation Area in Sutton Town Centre to include some of the splendid Victorian architecture along the High Street.
The Management Plan includes guidelines on new development, alterations and extensions to buildings, the retention of upper floor detailing and shopfronts.
The consultation closed on Friday, 19 July 2019.
Sutton First
In October 2018 the local council announced that Sutton town centre has been chosen by Historic England as the first Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) in London. We join nine other places across the country from Appleby to Weston super Mare. We are told that Heritage Action Zones will ‘unleash the power in England’s historic environment’ to improve our quality of life. Over the next three years the action zone will help Sutton face the challenges of growth to ensure the character of the town centre is not lost.
Sutton is one of eleven metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan as an ‘area with the potential for new opportunity’. We are now the fourth largest hub in South London with 25,000 people visiting each day. Almost fifty sites have been identified for redevelopment to produce more than 5,000 new homes and more commercial and retail space.
The local council will be working with Historic England, the Successful Sutton Business Improvement District and Carshalton and District History and Archaeology Society. Our HAZ status will enable us over the next three years to remove the High Street from the Heritage at Risk Register, investing in repair of the historic fabric and reinstating traditional details of certain older buildings.
An Historic Area Assessment for Sutton Town Centre has been carried out already by Locus Consulting, who have produced a gazetteer of individual buildings of interest as well as a Gateway Document. The assessment provides detailed information about the distinctive historic townscape and the nature, level and extent of its heritage significance. The town centre has examples of architecture from the Victorian period, the 1930s and the 1950s.
We will also be able to draw up policies to ensure heritage is central to new developments using existing architecture to promote good design. Another aim is to engage the local community through publishing research and running events. We will be able to call upon the expertise of Historic England when working with developers.
This year our archaeological records will be reviewed to assess the potential for more discoveries. Listing descriptions will be improved to support the planning process and there will be the opportunity to apply for new listings. In the conservation area in central Sutton around the crossroads at The Cock a grant from Historic England will enable a programme of enhancement works to be carried out with shop owners and local landowners.
A community engagement event has already been held to train local groups how they can contribute and they were consulted on the positive aspects of our historic environment, its challenges and how it might be celebrated in future.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Autumn Leaves
Sutton has over 17,000 street trees and during the busy leaf fall period Sutton Council provides additional resources for a ten week period (usually between October and January) to roads affected by the build up of fallen leaves. These dedicated teams will visit roads twice during this ten week period with specialist equipment. The team targets resources to streets that have the most trees and schedules clearance to stop pavements becoming slippery as the leaves break down, and to prevent gullies being blocked to reduce the risk of flooding. During this very busy and often unpredictable time the team is unable to ensure that streets, even on leafing schedule, can remain leaf free at all times.
There may be occasions when the progress of the team may be affected, they will keep a close eye on weather conditions to ensure the resource is dedicated where the greatest need is during these times.
What can you and residents do?
Leaves from residents own property can be disposed of through the paid for Garden Waste service or taken for free to the reuse and recycling centre at Kimpton Park Way. Alternatively, look at the tips for home composting. Residents should not sweep leaves from their own property into the road. If residents or a community or resident group would like to get involved in clearing leaves from streets or communal areas, complete the leaf clean up form with a few details. The team will provide bags for use and will arrange for them to be collected from a pre-arranged location.
If you have concerns regarding leaf fall in a particular road you can raise this with the team through Report It on the Sutton website.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alan G Lay - SSNA Memories
In November 1978 we moved home from Cheshire to South Sutton. I volunteered to drive the minibus for Sutton Lodge, collecting elderly residents from their homes to enjoy their lunch and return them back home in the afternoon. We also took them on outings, sometimes to the coast for a promenade and lunch.
After I became too old to legally drive the minibus I changed to Meals on Wheels duty to help deliver pre-packed meals throughout Sutton Borough. My wife Trauti became a cook at Sutton Lodge where she still cooks regularly.
Joan Hunt was the Chair Lady at the time and aided by members of the committee organised the newsletter articles and Joan, mainly unaided for many years, wrote and organized the production and distribution of the newsletter to road representatives who delivered and also collected annual subscriptions. (Today we have a committee who share the load). We became members of the South Sutton Neighbourhood Association when Joan Hunt was our Chair Lady and I was encouraged at a meeting, to volunteer to be Treasurer to the SSNA.
We also enjoyed regular rambles with members, where about 10 of us regularly met at Belmont Bus Station to walk through the countryside, finishing with a deserved pub lunch.
In recent times we moved our South Sutton Neighbourhood Association AGM meetings from Sutton Lodge to Chiltern Church because of problems with parking so many vehicles at the Lodge. I finally gave up formal duties some few years ago and am now enjoying being a local road representative.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following poem was written about Sutton in the early days of the SSNA by Margaret Hamilton who with her husband Jack have always been active members of the SSNA:
A Feel For Sutton
Sutton I’ve known you all my life Maybe I’ve come alive today
You are a familiar part of me The politics I’ll leave to you
I’ve measured my time between the changes I’ve found Sutton’s people are my friends
And learnt to justify what I see Unknown carers help me through
I reminisce, from stories told There’s a coming together in Sutton
Of places that I’ve never seen and the Library’s a focal point
I feel between the concrete blocks All groups, organisations and sharing
Communities awake from where I’ve been Show Sutton has quite a big heart