Do you sometimes have to make a journey within Sutton and wish that the journey could be pleasant.
It can be!
There are so many parks, green spaces and footpaths in Sutton that getting from A-B can be a pleasure.
Set out below a few suggestions in the map below, but you may have your own preferences.
It might take a little longer but you’ll be getting fitter (walking is one of the best exercises!) and you will feel a lot more refreshed when you arrive at your destination!

The routes set out below are:

St Helier to Mitcham Junction and Morden
Walk across St Helier Open Space, past the David Weir Sports Arena, cross Middleton Road, continue along the pleasant footpath, crossing Peterborough Road to Poulter Park. This provides access to the lovely Wandle Trail. Turn left for Morden and turn right for Mitcham Junction. (see Wandle Trail map below).
The walking time from St Helier to Mitcham Junction is about 50min and to Morden (via the lovely Morden Hall Park) is about 1hr.


On the River Wandle Valley Park junction with the St Helier (Sutton) access footpath. The river is on the left and the Wandle Trail continues towards Carshalton and Mitcham Junction (in the distance) and behind, it continues to Mitcham, Morden and eventually, Wandsworth

St Helier to Carshalton and Wallington

This is a “four parks” walk, linking Royston Park, Brookfield Park (sometimes called Wrythe Recreation Park), Grove Park and Carshalton Park. There are also links to Beddington Park, to follow the Wandle Trail to Waddon and Croydon.

The walking time from St Helier Wrythe Lane to Carshalton is about 25min and to Wallington is about 45min.

St Helier (south) to Sutton
This is a two-parks walk, taking in Benhill Recreation Ground and the lovely Manor Park, which has its own environmental café, built by the London Borough of Sutton. It’s a nice way of walking into Sutton.
(see map below)

LB Sutton is consulting on three conservation areas, Cheam, Wrythe Green and Beddington Park.

Set out below are details of how to reply on these proposals (taken from the LBS website):

Conservation Areas Consultation (from the LB Sutton website http://www.sutton.gov.uk)

The Council is currently consulting on the following Conservation Area Character Appraisals and Management Plans between 10 February and 25 March 2021, and we would like your views:

Draft Cheam Village Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plan

Draft Wrythe Green Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plan

Draft Beddington Parks Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plan (including Carew Manor and Church Lane Conservation Areas)

What is a Character Appraisal and Management Plan? 
A Character Appraisal considers what is special about a conservation area and highlights those parts that are of a good character and those areas in need of improvement. A Management Plan provides guidelines on how the good elements should be protected and other areas improved. It also considers whether any boundary changes are required for a conservation area. 

When does the consultation open?
The consultation will be open from 10 February to 25 March 2021.

How to get involved
We would like you to review the above documents and send your views via:

A questionnaire response on Council’s Consultation Hub ‘Citizenspace’:

Beddington Parks Questionnaire
Cheam Village Questionnaire
Wrythe Green Questionnaire

Email us at planningpolicy@sutton.gov.uk; or 
by post to: Strategic Planning, London Borough of Sutton, 24 Denmark Road, Carshalton, SM5 2JG; or

A presentation and discussion of each document will be given at the below local committee meetings:

Beddington Parks – Beddington and Wallington Local Committee, 2 March 2021, 7.00pm 
Cheam Village – South Sutton, Cheam and Belmont Local Committee, 11 March 2021, 7.00pm
Wrythe Green – St Helier, The Wrythe and Wandle Valley Local Committee, 4 March 2021, 7.00pm

Can I see a hard copy?
Yes. The documents are available in the below libraries. The opening times are set out below:
 
Cheam Library, Church Road, Cheam, SM3 8QH: Wednesday & Friday: 10am – 4pm
Wallington Library, Shotfield, Wallington, SM6 0HY: Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday: 10am – 4pm, Thursday: 10am – 7pm and Saturday: 10am – 2pm
Circle Library, Green Wrythe Lane, Carshalton, SM5 1JJ: Weds & Friday: 10am – 4pm
Sutton Central Library, St Nicholas Way, Sutton SM1 1EA:  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday: 10am – 4pm, Thursday: 10am – 7pm and Saturday: 10am – 2pm

Please note that these opening times may be subject to change in accordance with government guidelines on coronavirus and should be checked on the Council’s website https://www.sutton.gov.uk/libraryopeninghours.

Have your say on transport choices in Sutton

The London Borough of Sutton is consulting on the Draft Sustainable Transport Strategy. The consultation is open until 25 March 2021 and is available here.
The Strategy is designed to create opportunities for residents to travel safely, actively and healthily around the borough, and to support Sutton’s growth. 
Do have a look at this and leave a comment/suggestion. LBS needs these to get a steer on future transport policy of which walking and cycling are expected to take a very prominent position in the overall transport scene.

At Living Streets, Sutton Group, we are operating on two main fronts at present. The first is taking part in London Borough of Sutton consultations on infrastructure improvements and the second is attending council and stakeholder meetings to keep a Living Streets presence on them, and to make inputs where necessary.

We continue to press for 20mph speed limits to be more widely implemented and the Council has several in the pipeline.

We also have an active website where latest improvements are listed. On the website is a borough walking map, regularly updated.
We also work to increase the profile of the Wandle Trail, which forms an important walking link between Croydon, Sutton, Merton and Wandsworth. The section of the Wandle Trail that we are actively promoting is Sutton to Morden which is mainly a shared-use footpath.

We also work in association with the London Cycling Campaign as walking and cycling go so closely together.

In partnership with Get Sutton Cycling, we have set up a petition calling on Sutton Council and Transport for London to take action to ensure that residents can walk and cycle safely during the Covid-19 crisis, by:

• Widening space for pedestrians at pinch points such as shopping streets
• Using temporary barriers and bollards to protect people cycling to work, high streets, schools and hospitals
• Reducing traffic on residential streets so that people can walk in the road if they need to and share this petition we have created with

The petition can be found here: https://www.change.org/SuttonStreets.

Please sign the petition, and share it too. Thank you!

This year’s Summit was held in the lovely Council House building in central Birmingham and was a sellout.

Andy Street, Birmingham Mayor, has a big plan for the city making it better for walking and integrated with the new tram extension and new bus developments. Canal towpaths will be improved too (lots of canals in Birmingham!)

The Mayor of Paris told us of things that we can only dream of such as closing a motorway by the river and giving it over to pedestrians! Magic!

Then Aisha Hannibal, our Engagement Manager, ran a session on local initiatives.

One, in London, is reducing waiting times at light controlled crossings- more to come on this!

And low-traffic neighbourhood’s- more to come on this!

LS Sutton – Area Porosity Analysis

LIVEABLE NEIGHBOURHOODS
We are helping with a bid to create a Liveable Neighbourhood in Sutton.
The bid, to Transport for London, must show that we can create a neighbourhood where walking and cycling are actively promoted, together with low-traffic initiatives. This would create a pleasant environment for all and would be linked to public transport provision.
In Sutton it is hoped that a tram/bus rapid transit system will be built which would form an important part of a liveable neighbourhood.
The route serves central Sutton and the general feeling is that such a neighbourhood would be best near the town centre.
Most shoppers in Sutton walk, cycle and use buses and trains.
It was felt that access to the town centre, from both local residential centres and railway stations could be improved. And the High Street should be entirely pedestrian only.
It was stressed that it is important to keep the public and local councillors on side.
We will be having further meetings to discuss this and any developments will be reported on the website.
Attached here is a porosity map which shows where the main roads and public transport corridors are and areas where is is felt that they may be too porous to traffic taking short cuts.This is used when looking at the possibility of creating a Liveable Neighbourhood.

Look out for the new Carshalton Heritage App  being produced by the London Borough of Sutton. It is a wonderful idea and will get more people walking and using alternatives to the car. Ecolocal and Living Streets helped to produce the original Carshalton Heritage walking maps in 2006 and these were similar to the present proposed App – though the new App will be much more comprehensive and entertaining!

We’ll keep the website updated so that you can see the latest developments and get the App when it goes live.

Carshalton is on the Wandle Trail and the Trail forms an important walking link for Croydon, Sutton, Merton and Wansdworth and hopefully the App will feature the Trail. Both the App and the Trail serve a common aim – to get people walking!

Wandle Fortnight is a community-led celebration of all things Wandle. It runs from September 8th to September 23rd and celebrates the wonderful Wandle Trail which goes through Sutton! More details on: http://www.wandlevalleyforum.org.uk/wandle-fortnight.html#

Mapping the Wandle’s mills
A new self-guided trail map to explore the Wandle’s industrious past has been created by The Building Exploratory with the help of the Wandle Industrial Museum and a team of keen volunteers.
The trail map can be obtained by visiting the Wandle Industrial Museum or downloading a digital version from http://wandlevalleypark.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Mapping-The-Mills-Trail-Map-Final.pdf

Do have a look at this – a wonderful campaign being run by Living Streets and, if you can, get in touch with your prospective Councillors to remind them of the importance of walking and cycling.
Imagine a truly Liveable London. A city where:
It’s enjoyable to walk and cycle your local trips
You can breathe fresh air on streets free from congestion
Children can safely roam, and walk and cycle to school
There are relaxing places to stop, rest and talk to your neighbours

The website link is: https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/what-you-can-do/campaigns/my-liveable-london