Thamesfield Councillors' Autumn Bulletin
An update from your local ward Councillors
Dear Resident,
We are your Conservative councillors for Thamesfield Ward in Putney which stretches from Putney Common to the Riverside Quarter, including the High Street and roads between Lower Richmond Road and Upper Richmond Road. We want to keep you updated on local news in our neighbourhood and ensure you have our details so you can contact us at any time.
Thamesfield Pays Tribute To Jim
Councillor Jim Maddan, OBE
We are deeply saddened to let you know that our fellow Thamesfield councillor and good friend Jim Maddan passed away on 13 September. Jim had represented Thamesfield since 2002 and touched many local lives. In addition, to being an active and effective ward councillor he had been Wandsworth Mayor in 2006/2007 when he raised £35,000 for Leonard Cheshire Disability and he had just embarked on her second term as Mayor. He had chaired the Adult Care Services fulfilling a challenging role with compassion and providing the best care possible. He also chaired the Health and Wellbeing Board. His special interest and great passion lay with community policing. As a former policeman, he believed that policing was best served by neighbours being actively involved and working with the police. He was awarded an OBE in 2015 in recognition of his services having been national Chairman of the Neighbourhood Watch and Home Watch Association for England and Wales. In 2006 he established the Wandsworth Community Safety Trust to offer to groups involved in crime prevention and community safety the opportunity to apply for funding to develop projects. He would be pleased to know that his good work will continue.
As colleagues we will miss his immense wisdom, support and good sense of humour and will always remember him with great affection.
Strategy for Putney High Street
Our priority is to do all we can to improve the High Street by supporting policies to give pedestrians greater priority over traffic, improve streetscape aesthetically, drive footfall and ensure that policies are well integrated with planning, highways and environmental departments all communicating effectively. Lobbying by Thamesfield councillors resulted in a Council paper approved in February 2017 with £53,000 agreed to fund a consultant to bring forward a comprehensive package of proposals for improvements. You can read the paper here
Putney faces increasing competition from Wandsworth Town so it is all the more important to invest in and improve our High Street. As part of this initiative Positively Putney (the Putney BID - business improvement district comprising Putney businesses) has submitted a funding bid to the London Mayor’s fund with match funding from the Council. We look forward to reporting further once the funding is secured. In the meantime, Positively Putney has funded the jet-wash of all the pavements in the High Street. They have also coordinated purchasing agreements which has already saved Putney businesses significant sums on their utility bills.
Bus matters
We continue to press TfL to implement the proposal to take the 485 bus into Wandsworth Riverside Quarter and then to reroute the 485 via East Putney tube and Putney station to offer hundreds of new residents much better connectivity to tube and rail transport options. Significant funding has been secured to create proper facilities for the 485 in Wandsworth Riverside Quarter. The 485 will still continue its route along Lower Richmond Road and to Hammersmith to transport the many pupils who attend schools served by the route.
We are lobbying TfL to replace Countdown in the two new replacement bus shelters outside Putney station. TfL have confirmed that Countdown will be reinstated at this transport hub where the shelters serve many bus routes. We will keep you posted.
River transport
Cllr Torrington has been in touch with the Wandsworth Riverside Quarter (WRQ) developer which owns the pier to urge them to submit an application for an extended pier at WRQ. This is critical as Thames Clippers has invested significant sums in two new river boats capable to accommodating greater numbers of passengers to meet growing demand as riverside developments are occupied. At the moment, the new boats cannot serve WRQ at all levels of the tide so the pier extension is crucial to maintain the river service to Putney and WRQ. There are further advantages as the new pier will incorporate a waiting room at embarkation point offering shelter and fewer delays on departure. The extended pier will reduce the impact of river traffic on the houseboats.
Beckett Rankine has designed the pier extension and we hope that a planning application will be submitted soon and that it will be possible to complete the piling before the fish spawning season next spring which would delay works until the following autumn.
Thames Clippers now operates 10 morning commuters services east and 9 eastbound evening services, including some to Canary Wharf. Returning west in the evening there are currently 9 sailings to Putney and WRQ with more planned. View the timetable see page 8 for the RB6 route.
When Battersea pier further downstream opens in the near future, off peak and weekend services are expected to serve that pier. We will be pressing to have them extended to WRQ and Putney piers too.
Foreshore litter pick on Saturday, 16 September
Join us and other local residents this Saturday at 4pm to collect litter on the Putney foreshore. (Putney Embankment)
Moped crime in Wandsworth Riverside Quarter (“WRQ”)
We attended a public meeting organised by residents attended by MP Justine Greening and PC Chan, the Thamesfield police officer. The area has become a hotspot for moped crime, a serious problem which needs to be addressed. We are working with residents groups in WRQ as they establish a new Neighbourhood Watch area. We have also lobbyied the Council to deploy mobile CCTV to collect evidence. The advice is not to leave anything of value in your car at all and if you are the unfortunate victim of a crime please report details, however small, to Vincent.c.chan@met.pnn.police.uk . It is important to record crime so that Thamesfield is allocated sufficient police to address crime levels. We will report further.
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Residents have made us aware of concerns regarding the jetty being run by the restaurant nearby in WRQ. We understand that an illegal marquee structure was erected in June and that there have been complaints about loud music being played late into the night. The operator’s license does not permit any music at all. We took the noise problem up following which an abatement notice was served under the Environmental Protection Act. We hope this will resolve the problem but would ask residents to let us know if the nuisance persists.
Regarding the illegal marquee structure reported to us by residents, PC Chan has mentioned concerns that it is attracting antisocial behaviour at night. It lacks any acoustic insulation to baffle noise. The operator has only just supplied the details sought by the planners in June and the application is live 2017/4015 with a deadline of 27 September for consultation. Here is the link to the application should you wish to comment
The jetty currently has permission to operate as a restaurant (D3 use) so alcohol must be served ancillary to a meal. There is no permission to operate solely as a bar.
Leaders Gardens
Over recent months a new footpath has been created with seating beside Beverley Brook. A further £60,000 has been invested following a grant from Wandsworth Local Fund in 2015. The works are due to be completed by the end of this year.
We were concerned to hear from residents about dog fouling in Leaders Gardens. Following our intervention, a dog ownership push is being organised in Leaders Gardens. Please report dog fouling or evidence of offenders to the officer responsible at mark.callis@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk or call 020 8871 7132.
Stockhurst Close
The Housing Panel has approved a grant of £1,100 for a bench and parasols for the community area at Stockhurst Close.
Affordable Housing Day
If you live or work in the borough and are interested in finding out more about how to get on the housing ladder, the Council is running its annual affordable housing day on 19 th October in the Wandsworth Civic Suite. To find out more about affordable housing, house purchase grants, right to buy or right to part right to buy go to wandsworth.gov.uk/homeownership or call 020 8871 6161.
Council funding for community and voluntary organisations
We would like to use our E-Bulletin to make residents and local groups aware that round 6 of the Wandsworth Grant Fund is now open for applications. Grants of between £500-£10,000 are available to community and voluntary organisations to undertake not-for-profit activity for the benefit of local residents through the six thematic priorities:
Arts and Culture, Children and young people, Health and wellbeing, Environment and attractive neighbourhoods, Achieving aspiration and potential and Citizenship and civic engagement.
Here is a link proving further information together with workshops for those interested in applying.
An important element of the application process is that applicants are required to seek the endorsement of their local councillor(s), linked to where the main activity of the project will take place. We would be delighted to hear from anyone who would like to put forward a project in Thamesfield.
The deadline for the current 6 is midnight of 16 th October 2017. Please don’t leave your endorsement until the deadline so that we have sufficient time to look at your application properly.
Railway pub, Upper Richmond Road j/w Putney High Street
JD Wetherspoon has sold The Railway pub to the Revolution Bars Group which is seeking to introduce a roof terrace (Planning application 2017/2697). The pub was built in 1886.
Paper 15-224 covers the implementation of Article 4 Directions to protect pubs which have historic/architectural value. The Railway is one of the pubs included as having historic value. The architecture of this building makes a positive contribution to Putney High Street thanks to its architecture. The plans suggest that no changes are proposed to the existing facades on the High Street and Upper Richmond Road.
The Revolution Group proposes a ‘cocktail bar’ which is a Class A4 drinking establishment. The Railway already has permission for A4 use.
Lighting Putney Bridge at night
The Council is in the early stages of surveying Putney Bridge in order to work up a brief to go to tender for work to floodlight Putney Bridge, a Grade 1 listed bridge designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette. We will report further progress in due course.
Events
Wandsworth Artists’ Open House on Saturday and Sundays, 7-9 and 14-15 October – www.wandsworthart.com
Battersea Park Fireworks on Saturday 4 November tickets available at www.enablelc.org/fireworks
Councillors Mike Ryder and Rosemary Torrington
Thamesfield ward
September 14, 2017
Related links
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