As a local Councillor and member of the Local Planning Committee I have been fascinated to see the public reaction to the planning application for a McDonalds Restaurant in the old Barclays Banks building in Wallington (DM2023/01802).
I expect tomorrow’s meeting could be noisy and full of interested members of the public and I don’t find that daunting because local people are getting involved and voicing their thoughts and concerns.
However, it is to my eternal regret that the current political system has marginalised the voting public and has failed to involve them on daily issues that really affect their lives.
We celebrated as the Bank of England reduced the interest rate by 0.25% but back in April, the Council increased your Council tax by 4.9% and that was before Sadiq Khan took his own little bite out of your pocket. So, you would think people would ask where their money went – you work hard to earn it, politicians and their administrative machinery don’t, and therefore we should be holding them to account at the ballot box!
At the recent Strategy & Resource Committee for the Council, elements of underestimated budgets on different projects were identified that the Council, on delegated authority, agreed to fund.
For example, Oru Space in Sutton High Street had drainage works and an additional staircase to safeguard fire escape routes – this work had incurred an additional cost of £103,808. They also identified additional costs incurred of £220,850 which the Council met on the basis of it being funded by increased rental payments but will be funded by borrowing.
Businessmen have to think about cash flow, Council’s don’t.
On a greater scale, Wilmot Dixon stated that cost increases on their project for the Council in Coomber Way had, including a 6% contingency, required an additional £669,000 which will be funded by the Council increasing our – that’s yours and mine – borrowing costs by £53,000 per annum.
When I raised concerns at Committee, the rather weak response was that the capital budget is £55 million so these are only small amounts – I think residents who fund the Council may have a different view over the scale of these amounts.
We had another example of profligacy with a proposal for a 20 mph limit in what was referred to as the Morton Gardens Area. This included a large section of Beddington all of which already have a lot of traffic calming road humps. A “public consultation” garnered just 4 replies but with the support of Liberal Democrat Councillors the objections of Beddington’s Independent Councillors could not prevent the go ahead at a cost of £120,000 for the signage!
And they cannot get rid of our heritage quick enough – that same committee meeting agreed the sale of the Russettings in Sutton, where so many people have married and has been the base for the Registrar. Weddings will move to the Civic Centre which of course will, in time relocate to the St Nicholas Centre – can we expect Leader of the Council to be doing Elvis impersonations in Sutton’s Chapel of Love?
And in the face of the Council’s own wholly owned building company, Sutton Living, unable to convert The Old Rectory in Carshalton, The project is said to be uneconomic so we are going to offer that for sale as well. How are they going to balance the budgets when they have sold all the assets.
My old Grandma always said look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves – the Liberal Democrat Council happily waste money on badly managed glamour projects and then moan about the need to cut services forgetting who we are elected to serve.
Like the McDonalds Planning, get involved people!