St Peter & Paul Catholic Church has put in a planning application for a parish hall behind the church.
We have made a formal response to this application.
We’re broadly in support, and our comments concentrate on ensuring the hall and its uses are sensitive to the surrounding environment and people who live locally.
Read our comments on St Peter & Paul Catholic Church planning application for a parish hall
The Burn Bullock has been added to the national Heritage at Risk Register.
This is maintained by English Heritage and records the listed historic buildings and structures across England which are most at risk from being lost or irrevocably damaged.
It is pleasing that the community campaign to save this much loved building from neglect has won national recognition but salutary to consider the challenge of putting things right.
Mitcham Cricket Green Community & Heritage is continuing to campaign to save the Burn Bullock and secure the future of the historic cricket pavilion. Join up if you want to get involved.
The Burn Bullock’s entry on the Heritage at Risk Register is here.
Merton Council has officially recognised the historic Mitcham cricket pavilion as an “asset of community value”. This is in response to our application and it is the first community asset to be recognised in this way anywhere in Merton. Over 1,000 buildings, open spaces, pubs and other community assets have been recognised by local authorities across England since the new powers to protect community assets were introduced in 2011.
The cricket pavilion has been at the heart of the local community since it was built in 1904 – supporting cricket on the ground where it has been played continuously longer than anywhere else in the world. The effect of placing it on the statutory register of assets of community value is twofold. First, it gives it an important status as a building which is valued by local people when decisions are made about its future or development in the area. Second, any effort to sell the building would trigger a six month moratorium during which time the community could raise the funds and support needed to take over responsibility for the building.
This recognition is especially important as the cricket pavilion faces an uncertain future. Although locally listed it is under the same ownership as the nearby Burn Bullock. This has fallen on hard times and is subject to enforcement action against illegal car sales and the decay of the listed building. Securing a future for the cricket pavilion is an urgent priority and we will be campaigning hard for it to be put under community management.
We will be looking at other buildings and open spaces which are worthy of similar recognition as community assets. Let us know which you most value in the Cricket Green area.
The Cricket Pavilion on Cricket Green will be open to the public between 10.00am and 4.30pm on Saturday 20th September as part of this year’s Open House London event.
The pavilion is locally listed and was built in 1904. It is packed with cricketing memorabilia.
Mitcham Cricket Club’s young players will put on a cricket match, and in the pavilion there will be an exhibition about Mitcham Cricket Club in World War I.
There will be refreshments and you can take tea on the pavilion balcony while watching the cricket.
At 2.30pm there will be a free guided walk taking in the diverse buildings and landscape within the Cricket Green Conservation Area.
All the details are on our Open House 2014 poster.
Cranmer School at Cricket Green is expanding to help it cope with a rising demand for school places. When the school put in its planning application for new building in May 2013 to cater for a 50% rise in pupil numbers we were supportive, while expressing concern in two areas:
The school has applied for permission to ‘discharge’ or have accepted as complete, its work in both those areas. Sadly we do not feel it has done enough in either respect.
The travel plan fails to address problems caused by drivers dropping off and collecting children, which even before the school’s expansion include illegal parking and causing obstructions in residential roads. We believe the 50% rise in pupils will make these problems worse and that Cranmer School is not doing enough to address this.
We are very disappointed that ‘community use’ of the school’s new Multi Use Games Area, is restricted to a very narrow definition of ‘community’ and want to see this broadened. We also want to see wider access to the school’s facilities for the local community out of school hours.
We believe that Cranmer School, which is in the heart of a residential community, should reach out widely to everyone and think beyond its current, narrow definition of community.
Read our representation to Merton Council Cranmer School community use & travel plan September 14
Our Autumn 2014 Bulletin is being distributed to homes around Cricket Green by our volunteers.
In this issue you can:
And much more.
Download our Autumn 2014 Bulletin
Mitcham Cricket Green Community & Heritage 