Meeting to be held at East Sheen Baptist Church, Temple Sheen on Wed 19 June 2024 at 7.00 p.m.
Agenda
The Appeals Casework Portal of the Planning Inspectorate website now states that the adjourned Inquiry will start on 5 November 2024.
The new Mayor of Richmond Cllr Richard Pyne, is the 59th Mayor of the Borough and lives in Sheen. It is a tradition that the Mayor raises money for local charities during his mayoral year. He has chosen Richmond Borough Mind and Home-Start Richmond, Kingston and Hounslow.
Richmond Borough Mind supports those affected by mental health problems. Home-Start RKH provides mental and practical support for local families with children under the age of five.
The first charitable event took place today in the gardens of Asgill House, built in 1757-58, a Grade One listed Palladian Villa overlooking the Thames. The house is on the former site of the Tudor Richmond Palace which was demolished after the Civil War. After some years of dilapidation the House was returned to its original appearance in a restoration of 1969-70. The garden contained a 200 year old copper beech tree, one of the Great Trees of London, but sadly eight years ago major branches broke and it had to be felled.
Asgill House is leased from the Crown Estate and the event was held with the kind permission of the present owner, whose late husband carried out the renovation.
Representatives of the Former Bank of England Sports Centre Membership met with senior staff of the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) in May 2024 at the Centre in Bank Lane. It was one of a series of meetings held every six months since June 2021 when the AELTC took a 15 year lease of the premises. The Bank of England had earlier announced its intention to lease the site and discontinue the Sports Centre in April 2019. The purpose of the meetings has been to consider ongoing community use of the site and keep up to speed with events at the Centre.
For the history see www.saveboe.org Tennis courts are available for public use via online booking and the facilities are used by clubs for football, netball, hockey and rugby. There is ongoing sadness at the loss of one of the best cricket pitches in London and a swimming pool which lies empty and unused. AELTC advertises the use of its facilities to Merton and Wandsworth residents but not to Richmond.
The site is now closed for preparation for the Wimbledon Qualifiers from Monday 24 June to Thursday 27 June 2024. Digital tickets for the Qualifiers are available for pre-purchase for £15 at the Wimbledon site. A small number of tickets can be purchased at the entrance in Bank Lane on the day
The site will be closed to individual or user group access until about 5 August 2024. During that time the Centre will host the Lexus British Open for wheelchair athletes and junior players on the grass courts from 30 June to 5 July 2024.
The length of the lease and the future use of the Centre somewhat depends on AELTC plans for their development at Wimbledon Park. Merton Council has given consent to the planning applications; Wandsworth Council has refused. The applications have now been referred to the Mayor for a decision thought to be dependent on a hearing on 19 July 2024.
This weekend there is a rare opportunity to visit the grounds of White Lodge, and see a performance of students of the Royal Ballet School in Richmond Park. The occasion is the School PTA Summer Fair. White Lodge is home to the School’s younger students and usually closed to the public.
It is a bit of a walk and there might be showers, so take a brolly.
See https://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/summer-fair/ for further details.
A wet morning but a pleasant afternoon!
We had an enjoyable weekend trip for a family party near Dawlish. We also had the pleasure of meeting Martin Wrigley, Leader of Teignbridge District Council and Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Newton Abbot.
Martin writes in his campaign documents : “I am passionate about getting the best for our local communities, across Dawlish, Teignmouth, Newton Abbot, ….. .. I’m proud to be part of the Lib Dem team at Teignbridge District Council that has started to make a real difference: protecting our environment and creating affordable new council homes….. .”
This sounded very familiar; we hear similar messages in the Richmond Park constituency. But the actuality in Mortlake and East Sheen is a wholly different experience. Plans for affordable housing are disgracefully low and the Mortlake Brewery development as planned does not protect the local environment.
Martin is out and about and actually communicates with his constituents. He admits they do not always agree but at least people feel consulted. His connections and open discussions between local government and parliamentary constituency would undoubtedly benefit the local population. In Mortlake and East Sheen they appear to exist only in the breach. Let’s hope the true Lib Dem principles of open democracy are supported in Newton Abbot and Martin can then perhaps even teach the Lib Dem heartlands of south west London a thing or two.
Sheen Common Bowling Club has played on the bowling green behind the cricket pavilion on Sheen Common for 100 years. The club has a kitchen/meeting room and two locker/wc rooms. The meeting room has boards showing Club Presidents and competition winners, one the father of Peter Heard who was born in Paynesfield Avenue in 1929 and died there in 2011.
The council maintains the green which is in a lovely tranquil, sunny spot on the common.
Regular meetings take place at 230pm on a Thursday afternoon but other times can be organised by arrangement. Beginners are welcome. A brand new set of lawn bowls are fairly expensive but the club has bowls that can be borrowed. Otherwise all you need is a pair of shoes or trainers with shallow tread or ideally flat soles.
Please get in contact if you need any further information or to arrange a taster session.
Email: sheencommon_bowls@aol.com Text/Whatsapp Alasdair on 07814423648
UPDATE Don’t forget the Market on 22 June 2024. Six stalls this week.
You all know the Hare and Hounds. It has been on the Upper Richmond Road in Sheen for nearly 250 years. Licensees Will and Lisa are now introducing an innovation: a Saturday morning market from 11am until 1pm. From now until the end of July there will be up to five stalls for local entrepreneurs in the garden. The initiative is in partnership with My High Street App.
On 8th June the stalls will include
Local Sheen Artists: Rachel Hunt, an architect who has turned her eye and hand to illustrations and is especially interested in rowing; Juliana Jones, showing prints, designs and illustrations; and Penny Choo showing retro / vintage inspired cards.
Daphnis and Chloe Jewellery is selling handmade, sustainable jewellery.
Lets Social is showcasing its creative social media expertise and services.
BTS Beauty, renamed in 2020, has been on the Sheen scene for 25 years offering treatments for women and men.
Polly the Facepainter speaks for herself!
The Hare has a perfect space for this new enterprise and these local businesses deserve support. So go along and browse and have a free cup of coffee or tea before you retire to the bar. The first lucky few to make a purchase on Saturday will be rewarded with a free Allora Spritz cocktail to enjoy in the garden.
Careful thought and scrutiny should be essential to good government. It requires an open mind and an understanding that many issues are by their nature complex and require widespread consultation. Politics now regrettably demands total loyalty, partisanship and manipulation, rather than truth and reason.
This is an editing of an idea expressed by Rory Stewart, when he was first appointed as a Minister by David Cameron and found to his apparent shock that his Secretary of State was Liz Truss.
It seems so apt a description of current political management of Mortlake matters.
On 24 January 2024 contractors placed notices relating to the installation of electric vehicle charging points between 199-207 Upper Richmond Road West. It was the first that almost all the business owners and residents in the nearby flats had heard about the works to be carried out on behalf of TFL and London Borough Of Richmond. Planning permission had already been granted.
Although the Council website stated that consultation notices had been served on everyone on 11 December 2023, only one actually received it. Inquiries were made of the Council who responded that neighbour notification letters were not a statutory requirement but Council records indicated that the letters had been generated and posted. And implied that Royal Mail might be to blame.
The Council stated that a site notice had been posted before planning permission was granted which fulfilled its statutory notification requirements. No-one saw that either.
There was no right of appeal. The Council said by way of reassurance that ‘a full professional assessment of the application was undertaken and the reasons for approval are set out in the Officers Report’. ‘The Council’s transport officer was consulted during the assessment process and raised no objections.’
No surprise there then and of little comfort to local people. There was no possibility of reversing the planning consent. Local traders and residents were left feeling cheated that they had not been given an opportunity to be consulted on the changes made.
Worse still nearly six months on the work has not been done. The electric charging points remain solely as posts; the spaces are unusable. There has been discussion with TFL about changing adjacent loading spaces to parking spaces. A decision from TFL is awaited.
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