Monthly Archives: January 2018

Merton Local Plan review – a time for action

The much anticipated review of Merton’s Local Plan provides an opportunity to turn the tide on the quality of new development in and around Cricket Green.

The new Local Plan will identify development sites and include the planning policies that will shape new building for decades.

We’ve set out our preliminary views in a detailed 20 page response and map which identifies:

  • fourteen sites with particular development or conservation opportunities – including detailed guidelines for developing not only the major sites at the Wilson and Benedict Wharf but also the Burn Bullock, White Hart car park, old fire station and the car wash site on London Road among others
  • the need to protect the important shopping parades along London and Church Roads and at Bramcote Parade
  • six opportunities for public realm and traffic management improvements, including closure of King George VI Avenue to traffic and removal of the tarmac path cutting across Cricket Green from the Police Station combined with moving the road crossing to the end of the public footpath running along the side of the cricket ground
  • thirteen community assets which need to be recognised and protected, including Wandle Industrial Museum, the bowling green, Mitcham Community Orchard and the Windmill pub
  • additional protections for Bellamy’s Copse, the carriage sweep outside Date Valley School and the green spaces which make such an important contribution to Glebe Court
  • protection for employment uses for the land and buildings used for car servicing and repairs behind London Road and for London Box Sash Windows

We have also asked for a Design Code to be prepared for Cricket Green which supports new residential development based on streets and town houses rather than flats and blocks.

We are looking for new policies to protect local ponds, including on Cranmer Green, and to designate all existing open space as Local Green Space, which offers the same protection as Green Belt.

We’re looking forward to collaborating with Merton Council during 2018 to help develop the plan and engage local people in these and other proposals.

There’s more to read in our full submission – Merton Local Plan review – MCGC&H contribution – Jan 2018.

We would welcome any feedback.

New nominations for Merton’s Local List

The New Year begins with our latest nominations to Merton Council for buildings to add to the Local List.

This celebrates buildings and other structures with an important local story or notable architectural and design details.

Our last batch of nominations – Bramcote Court & Parade, Jubilee Corner gas lamp, Canons Lodge lamp stands, the running track in front of Park Place and the Three Kings Pond cart dip were all successful.

This year we have nominated (clockwise in the image above from top left):

5, 7, 9, 11 Upper Green East – these are of late 18th or early 19th century construction with distinct double pitch roof (enabling heavy slates to be supported). They are among the oldest buildings in Mitcham Town Centre and have a long and continuous use as shops with a history of different uses, including take away pea soup, confectionery, pipe & tobacco, song sheets, bar, boot and shoe maker, sweet shop, tailors and outfitters, cobblers, and estate agent.

4-7 Upper Green West – these are the oldest buildings on the west side of Upper Green and are of mid Victorian construction with single pitch slate roof and four chimney stacks (three original)

Kellaway House – occupied by Citizens Advice on London Road this is a striking late 19th Century double fronted detached house which is the last survivor of what used to be a row of detached and semi-detached housed along London Road between the Upper and Lower Greens. These were subsequently replaced by Glebe Court

Mitcham Police Station – a distinctive yellow brick building redolent of its time which sits easily alongside the diverse assemblage of buildings around the historic Cricket Green and was opened in 1966

You can find out more about the Local List on Merton Council’s website https://www2.merton.gov.uk/environment/designandconservation/listed_buildings.htm