Category Archives: Cricket Green Conservation Area

New “neighbourhood fund” priorities for Cricket Green

Merton Council has a new source of funding to spend on local priorities – the Community Infrastructure Levy.

This is paid by developers to cover the wider impact of their developments on the areas in which they build. A share of this goes to local priorities and we have set out ours in response to Merton Council’s consultation. 

Cricket Green Conservation Area already has spending priorities set out in the excellent Management Plan produced a few years ago. 

Our green spaces and trees need more care and we need to reduce clutter from signs and bollards.  We are also asking for the old fire station to be put to community use.  We would like the Council to do more to tackle the traffic problems around Lower Green West and improve Hallowfield Way so it provides the gateway that the Conservation Area deserves.  The shopping parade along London Road also needs urgent attention. 

Read our priorities for spending the neighbourhood fund 

Details matter

The details of new development matter to our Conservation Area as much as the construction of new blocks of flats.

Two current proposals illustrate the point.

Locally listed Caxton House is proposing a roof extension and to have a steeper roof pitch than its neighbours. 21 Cricket Green is proposing the area’s first mansard roof, including 13 dormers. Have a look at the images below to see what is being proposed.

Both are located next to listed buildings (the old school house and the Methodist Church) and both affect important views (on entering from Church Road and across the cricket ground).

We have looked at them in light of their prominent locations and the impact they have on the special qualities of the Conservation Area. This has led us to object on the grounds that the conflict with local planning policies and damage the appearance of this special part of Mitcham.

Read our comments:

21 Cricket Green mansard roof

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Caxton House ridgeline and roof extension

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Air pollution at Cricket Green

The impact of air pollution is rising up rapidly up the agenda and Cricket Green is not immune.

With support from Friends of the Earth we have been conducting some air quality trials in the area and the results are concerning.

We chose three locations at which to measure air quality – the busy road junction by the White Hart at Jubilee Corner; where Church Road reaches Lower Green and near the old milestone by Elm Lodge.

We set out ‘diffusion tubes’ for 20 days to measure pollution levels for nitrogen dioxide.

High levels of nitrogen dioxide are known to inflame the lining of the lung and reduce immunity to lung infections such as bronchitis. The tubes were sent off to a laboratory for analysis and gave the following results:

By White Hart 67.0µg/m3
Church Road/Lower Green West 27.1µg/m3
By Elm Lodge 41.8µg/m3

Air pollution is measured in µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre)

For the period of our trials (in August 2016) two of the sites exceeded the European legal mean annual limit for nitrogen dioxide at 40µg/m3

We cannot yet say that air pollution in Cricket Green is breaking legal limits as we ran the trials for too short a period of time. They are a snapshot and air pollution varies throughout the year as a result of the seasons, weather patterns, traffic levels and other events.

What we can say is that it isn’t looking good. While more results are needed, we think it is time to start taking action to avoid even more problems in the future. The solutions aren’t easy – traffic levels in the area are very high – but with effort they can found and as a start we think there’s merit in extending the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) already planned for central London to cover a much larger area.

We are keen to extend this study further, and we are supporting Mitcham Society in its own efforts to monitor pollution levels at Mitcham Fair Green. Let us know if you would like to get involved.

The Canons Conservation Management Plan – have your say

One of the benefits of the Lottery bid for The Canons is that the area has been given serious attention by historians, landscape architects, archaeologists and others.

A large amount of fascinating material has been produced about the historic landscape, its wildlife, the historic buildings and walls and the people who lived there.

Much of this has now been brought together in a draft of The Canons Conservation Management Plan.

This provides the results of the research and also sets out policies for guiding future conservation and development of the area.

Whether or not the Lottery bid is successful the Plan is sure to be a rich source of material for generations to come.

It will also be officially adopted as supplementary planning guidance and so carry legal weight when planning applications are decided.

Read the Conservation Management Plan and feed in any comments by 27th January.

The shisha cabins are back!

The plan for eight shisha cabins to be built on Metropolitan Open Land next to the Ravensbury Arms has returned.

The plans were considered “unacceptable” and refused planning permission by Merton Council in August.

The new plans are remarkably similar and deserve short shrift.

We’ve welcomed the restoration of the Ravensbury Arms and it is good to see it being brought back into use. It occupies an important site defining the beginning of the ancient route across Mitcham Common and surrounded on all sides by green space, including the historic Mitcham golf course.

Metropolitan Open Land has the same protection as Green Belt where development is only permitted in “very special circumstance”. This is a most “ordinary” planning application which urbanises protected open land and the developers have made little attempt to respond to earlier objections.

Read our views

shisha-cabins-dec-16

Don’t split Mitcham in two – our response to Boundary Commission plans

We have expressed strong opposition to the Boundary Commission’s plans for new Parliamentary constituencies which split Mitcham down the middle.

Mitcham has a long and proud history and a clear identity. This provides an important source of civic pride and social cohesion which in turn helps to address the significant economic, social and environmental challenges of the area.

We share the widespread dismay at proposals to redraw the Parliamentary constituency boundaries in a manner which will divide Mitcham and damage its identity.

The proposed boundary line could not be more inappropriate.

Among other impacts it will:

  • Divide Upper from Lower Mitcham
  • Separate Mitcham from its Common
  • Split Three Kings Pond from Three Kings Piece
  • Cut across Mitcham Cricket Green Conservation Area

We have supported the Mitcham Society’s petition for a more sensible outcome and asked that any future proposals put Mitcham at the heart of its Parliamentary constituency and avoid damage to its coherence and identity.

Read our submission – parliamentary boundary commission proposals