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Category Archives: Merton
All Croydon parks ‘under threat’ says environmental campaign
A shocking report from charity CPRE London highlights how the council’s Local Plan has put every open space in the borough at risk from development, writes PAUL LUSHION, our environment correspondent Croydon, and its planning protection-lite revised Local Plan, has … Continue reading
Posted in Bromley Council, Charity, Community associations, Croydon Council, Croydon parks, Environment, Friends of Addiscombe Railway Park, Friends of Ashburton Park, Friends of Croham Hurst Woods, Friends of Crystal Palace Park, Friends of Farthing Downs, Friends of Grange Park, Friends of Grangewood Park, Friends of Haling Grove, Friends of Heavers Meadow, Friends of Lloyd Park, Friends of Marlpit Lane Bowling Green, Friends of Millers Ponds, Friends of Norbury Hall Park, Friends of Selsdon Woods, Friends of Shirley Windmill, Friends of South Croydon Rec, Friends of South Norwood Country Park, Friends of Spa Wood, Friends of Stambourne Woods, Friends of Wandle Park, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Merton, Sadiq Khan, Southwark Council, Sutton Council, Wandsworth Council, Waste incinerator
Tagged Alice Roberts, Beddington Farmlands, Bromley, Campaign for Protection of Rural England, CPRE, CPRE London, Croydon, Croydon Council, Labour, Local Plan, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Sutton, Tooting Common, Waddon
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#Binmageddon: Under-performing Veolia hit with warnings
Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, on some long-overdue action being taken with the rubbish contractors who are supposed to be responsible for the state of the borough’s streets One day after “Mucky Merton”™ issued a Service Improvement Notice to … Continue reading
Help to Buy fuels London’s house price inflation say Lords
A parliamentary report out today underlines that £29bn-worth of housing subsidies have simply helped to boost several Tory donors’ profits, reports our housing correspondent, BARRATT HOLMES The cost of an average home in Croydon increased by 4 per cent in … Continue reading
#BINMAGEDDON! Boroughs left looking like rubbish tips
‘They treat us like the rubbish they are supposed to collect!’ Mounting reports from around the boroughs in the South London Waste Partnership suggest that the councils’ waste service contractors are creaking under pressure. By STEVEN DOWNES The complaints about … Continue reading
Posted in Addiscombe East, Addiscombe West, Business, Croydon Council, Croydon parks, Environment, Fly tipping, Merton, Refuse collection, Shirley North, Steve Iles, Sutton Council, Veolia, Waste incinerator
Tagged #SuttonBinShame, Addiscombe, Croydon, Croydon Council, Labour, Merton, Purley, Shirley, SLWP, South London Waste Partnership, Sutton, Sutton Council, Veolia
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13 MPs criticise move of maternity services from St Helier
MPs from across south London have written to Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, with a letter critical of plans for St Helier Hospital’s maternity services to be downgraded and moved to a new site in Belmont. Sarah Jones, MP for … Continue reading
Government cuts £100m from budget for new Sutton hospital
Plans for a new hospital in Sutton have been hit after the government wrote to the local NHS Trust to advise that they would be cutting their contribution to the £511million build costs by around a quarter. The plans to … Continue reading
Four London boroughs have no plans for waste reduction
CROYDON COMMENTARY: The boroughs of Croydon, Sutton, Merton and Kingston have a new draft South London Waste Plan and, according to PETER UNDERWOOD (right), it’s a load of rubbish One of the most common issues people raise with me is … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Croydon Greens, Environment, Fly tipping, Kingston, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Merton, Peter Underwood, Refuse collection, Sutton Council, Veolia, Waste incinerator
Tagged Beddington Lane incinerator, Croydon Greens, Kingston Council, Merton Council, Peter Underwood, SLWP, South London Waste Partnership, South London Waste Plan, Sutton Council, Veolia, Viridor
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Viridor incinerator given 20 warnings in just 15 months
Twenty: that’s the number of official warnings issued by the Environment Agency to Viridor over their waste incinerator at Beddington in just 15 months. The 20 formal warnings – without a hint of any kind of sanction for the multi-national … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Kingston, Merton, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator
Tagged Beddington Lane incinerator, Hilary Gander, Viridor
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Teacher recalls Merton’s park stars finest hour and a half
Two south London boroughs have managed to produce a profusion of footballing talent, from Neil Sullivan to Callum Hudson-Odoi, from Jason Cundy to Wilfried Zaha. Here, DAVID MORGAN looks back to the days when he was manager of one of … Continue reading
Posted in Crystal Palace FC, David Morgan, Football, Merton, Schools, Sport, Wilfried Zaha
Tagged Callum Hudson-Odoi, Croydon, David Morgan, Graeme Stuart, Jason Cundy, Merton, Neil Sullivan, Wilfried Zaha, Wimbledon FC
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Calls for Beddington incinerator to be shut down over CO2
Viridor’s figures show that their south London plant is pumping out three times as much CO2 as other, similar facilities. By PAUL LUSHION, environment correspondent The Viridor incinerator at Beddington Lane, operated on behalf of Croydon and three other south … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Environment, Kingston, London-wide issues, Merton, Peter Underwood, Refuse collection, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator
Tagged Beddington Lane incinerator, Croydon, Environment Agency, Kingston Council, London, Merton Council, SLWP, South London Waste Partnership, Sutton Council, Viridor
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Door-to-door testing rolled out to locate covid-19 variant
A mass testing programme was rolled out this morning in the CR4 postcode area in a determined effort to locate people with a highly infectious variant of coronavirus. On-the-spot doorstep tests, home testing kits and mobile testing units are to … Continue reading
Posted in Health, London-wide issues, Norbury, Siobhain McDonagh MP
Tagged coronavirus, Covid-19, Mitcham, Norbury, Pollards Hill, Siobhain McDonagh MP
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Merton seeking replacement for long-standing CEO Curran
Ged Curran, the chief executive at Merton Council for nearly 17 years, is set to leave his £220,000 per year job. There has been no formal announcement from Merton of Curran’s departure, but the council is holding an appointments committee … Continue reading
Posted in London-wide issues, Merton, Outside Croydon
Tagged Ged Curran, Merton, Merton Council
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Merton scraps building company to avoid Brick by Brick failure
Our housing correspondent, BARRATT HOLMES, on how a neighbouring borough has twigged that Croydon’s model for house-building doesn’t work Another Labour-run south London council is to junk its arm’s-length house-building company – after seeing what the catastrophic clusterfuck Brick by … Continue reading
Posted in Brick by Brick, Business, Housing, Mark Allison, Merton, Planning
Tagged Brick by Brick, Labour, London, Mark Allison, Merantun, Merton Council, Mitcham Cricket Green
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Overflowing sorting hall sees Viridor facing health complaints
Shocking photographs taken from inside the sorting hall at the Viridor-operated incinerator at Beddington Lane show overflowing piles of rubbish with clinical waste sacks mixed with general household refuse and strewn across the floor. The only thing that appears to … Continue reading
Labour leader of south London council is to stand down
Stephen Alambritis is to stand down as the leader of Merton Council. Alambritis announced his decision two hours into last night’s annual meeting of the Labour-run council. No reason was given for his decision to stand down. He described his … Continue reading
One year on, Viridor finally submit report on Beddington blaze
PAUL LUSHION on how a company worth £4.2bn looks set to get away with another crime against the environment Don’t hold your breath, but Viridor might just be about to get around to delivering a report on the massive fire … Continue reading
TfL backs Sutton Tram Link – but lacks £420m to pay for it
Transport for London has plumped for a tram extension that links Sutton town centre with the Northern Line Tube at Colliers Wood. But they just don’t have the £420million needed to pay for it just yet. The outcome of a … Continue reading
Posted in Merton, Sutton Council, Sutton Link, TfL, Tramlink, Transport
Tagged Mayor of London, Merton, Merton Council, Sutton, Sutton Council, TfL, Transport for London
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Councillors ‘gagged’ from questioning incinerator operators
Our environment correspondent, PAUL LUSHION, on how what is supposed to be a public meeting at Croydon Town Hall tonight has banned questions about the fire at the Beddington Lane incinerator Councillors elected to represent people living across four boroughs … Continue reading
Posted in Broad Green, Business, Croydon Council, Environment, Kingston, Merton, Nick Mattey, Refuse collection, Stuart Collins, Sutton Council, Veolia, Waddon, Waste incinerator
Tagged Beddington Lane, Beddington Lane incinerator, Beddington North, Broad Green, Kingston, Merton, Nick Mattey, SLWP, South London Waste Partnership, Stuart Collins, Sutton Council, Veolia, Viridor, Waddon
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Pants on fire! Viridor continue to lie over incinerator blaze
Environmental polluters Viridor continue to lie about the extent of the major blaze at their Beddington Lane waste plant in July. In an official report submitted ahead of a meeting of the South London Waste Partnership to be held at … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Environment, Fly tipping, Kingston, Merton, Refuse collection, Stuart Collins, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator
Tagged Beddington Lane incinerator, Beddington North, Croydon, Croydon Council, Kingston, London Borough of Croydon, Merton, Stuart Collins, Sutton, Viridor, Waddon
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Official figures show Croydon is capital’s worst for complaints
Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, crunches some numbers and finds that according to the annual report from the Local Government Ombudsman, our council does not compare well, however you dress it up Official figures from the Local Government Ombudsman … Continue reading
Posted in Adult Social Care, Bromley Council, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Education, Jo Negrini, Lambeth Council, Merton, Planning, SEND, Southwark Council, Sutton Council, TfL, Tony Newman
Tagged Bromley, Conservative, Croydon Council, Haringey, Jo Negrini, Labour, Lambeth, Liberal Democrats, Local Government Ombudsman, London, London Borough of Croydon, Merton, Ombudsman, Southwark, Sutton, Tory
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Croydon councillor leads call for incinerator fire investigation
BERTIE WORCESTER-PARK reports on the fall-out from yesterday’s fire at the site of the Viridor incinerator on Beddington Lane Stuart Collins, Croydon Council’s deputy leader, has called for an urgent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the fire at the Beddington … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Charlie Mansell, Croydon Council, Environment, Kingston, London Fire Brigade, London-wide issues, Merton, Refuse collection, Stuart Collins, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator
Tagged Beddington Lane, Beddington Lane incinerator, Charlie Mansell, Stuart Collins, Sutton Council, Viridor
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Creatura needs help from ‘Bust-up Boris’, as LibDems win seat
Two south London council by-elections in the past week suggest the LibDems might have a chance of breaking Croydon’s political duopoly, reports our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE Boris Johnson’s selection by the 0.15per cent of the population which comprises the … Continue reading
Posted in Boris Johnson, Chris Philp MP, Coulsdon, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Croydon South, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Mario Creatura, Merton, Old Coulsdon, Sarah Jones MP, Wandsworth Council
Tagged Boris Johnson, Chris Philp MP, Conservative, Coulsdon, Croydon Central, Croydon South, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Merton Council, Tory, Wandsworth Council
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TfL’s Crossrail debts seem certain to shunt Sutton tram link
All prospect of City Hall or the government stumping up the £330million-plus needed to build an extension to the Croydon tram network appears to have vanished. Finance reports released last week by Transport for London show that further delays to … Continue reading
Viridor apologist Brunt’s blunt treatment from Merton Council
Our Merton correspondent, NORMAN COLLIER-WOOD, reports on how the toxic fall-out from rubbish contractor Veolia’s shortcomings has claimed its first council victim Merton’s rubbish councillor, Mike Brunt, has been sacked from his council cabinet post. Labour councillor Brunt had been … Continue reading
