In the recent Local Council Elections, the voters of Beddington North broke the mould of local politics. Disappointed by the divisiveness of party politics and experiencing the very worst of local decision making on a daily basis, the people of Beddington North delivered a decisive blow by electing three Independent Councillors – Nick Mattey, Jillian Green and Tim Foster.
Whoever you cast your vote for in that election, we have pledged to deliver the very best we can for this ward delivering a measurable improvement over the next four years.
And in case you are wondering why you haven’t heard much from us in these first few weeks, we have been getting the lie of the land and have already been busy with local issues.
- Richmond Green – a meeting is being organised that will offer the opportunity for a group of local residents to voice their concerns over issues regarding the new build houses. That will include Council Officers, Contractors, Residents and of course Councillors.
- Concerns have been raised about the delivery and quality of the first phase of the Beddington Lane Improvements. Again, a meeting with officers is scheduled for 6th June.
- Action was taken by Jillian in support of a Street Party for the Royal Wedding and she is taking on the archaic processes and communication surrounding this community focus.
- There are parking issues all over the place – we have already heard of troubles in Beddington Grove and Headley Avenue. Whilst we are aware of a Council strategy document, this is one of our long-term target issues. https://www.sutton.gov.uk/info/200194/parking_transport_and_streets/1736/parking_strategy/1
- We were even able to help a lady in Meller Close who had overgrown vegetation from the local school property – thanks to the team at Beddington Park primary for their prompt action.
- And of course, our most experienced Councillor, Nick Mattey, has been holding the ruling body to account on anything from issues with the Local Plan to the refurbishment of the Central Library which has left the Council without a suitable Chamber for Full Council meetings.
There has been another bonus for local residents that has come out of the last few weeks activity. Those who saw our literature will have seen that whilst we all stood as Independent candidates, we worked closely together and that has continued with our recognition as a group – within the context of the London Borough of Sutton, we are now viewed as “Sutton Independent Residents” and we have proportional representation on important committees:
Nick Mattey will sit on the Housing Economy and Business Committee and the Audit and Governance Committee
Jillian Green will sit on the Environment and Neighbourhood Committee, the Scrutiny Committee and the Licencing Committee
Tim Foster will sit on the Planning Committee and the Strategy and Resource Committee.
The people of Beddington North have three very vocal representatives – we have found our voice and we would encourage you to participate.
A foundation stone of our local Government structure is the Beddington North Neighbourhood Forum whose next meeting is on July 2nd at Cricket for Change on Plough Lane – we’ll be there and hope you will too.
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