Notes of the Colliers Wood Residents’ Association
held on 15 February 2025
Action by | ||
1. | Welcome and introductions Fiona Sydney, chairing the meeting, welcomed residents. | |
2. | Apologies were received from Helen McAuley. | |
3. | Election of Chair and Committee It was agreed that last year’s committee members would continue to share the roles of Chair and secretary while Tom Searle would continue as Treasurer. One resident, James, offered to help with the secretarial role. Fiona reiterated that an important task in the coming year was to review the aims of the Residents’ Association and consider how to get more residents involved. | |
4. | Treasurer’s Report Tom apologised for the lack of a written statement. He had been locked out of the office by an asbestos scare. The Treasurer’s report would be attached to the minutes. There had been one grant to the Parks and Green Spaces sub group during the year, and aside from that £5000 remained in the account. Tom explained this amount was needed so that the Association was in a position to spring into action if necessary, for example to object to a planning application. There was no need for membership fees. | Tom Searle |
5. | Police Report Luke Taylor, dedicated ward police officer, explained that local police were focusing on prolific shoplifting. He advised that if residents saw shoplifting in progress, they should not tackle the shoplifter, but he encouraged them to report it. Police would come out to a call of shoplifting in progress, alternatively incidents could be reported on the Metropolitan Police website. The police would prefer to receive two reports about the same crime than none. Crimestoppers could be called if a resident was suspicious about goods being offered for sale. Street safe was an option for people who felt unsafe, for example a person hanging about. Cllr Caroline Cooper-Marbiah mentioned that Safer Merton (council staff who volunteer) patrol in areas of concern and report back to the council. Incidents of people at the tube station shoving past at the ticket barrier to avoid paying should be reported to British Transport Police. London Underground has a number of surveillance cameras at each station. | |
6. | Councillors’ reports Cllr Caroline Cooper-Marbiah advised residents of the new street cleaning contract. Veolia would continue to manage refuse collection but street cleaning would be brought in-house in April. Each street would be swept once a week, ideally directly after bin collection. Residents should continue to use the Fix My Street app to report any problems. This would not be a saving for the council, however it was this aspect of Veolia’s service that had attracted the majority of complaints. The council would be planting five hundred trees in parks and open spaces, including replacing trees in tree pits, over the course of the year. Caroline would let the Cabinet member responsible know that people were concerned that what was under the road surface e.g. drains should be taken into consideration. A resident raised the issues with local Street Trees. She had raised previously but with no satisfactory response. Caroline would take a photo of her work and send it to the Cabinet member responsible. Margaret offered to share the map of which trees would be planted, to be sure the roots would not cause problems. The council was planning to mark it’s 60th Anniversary with a year-long programme of celebrations. This will include wild flower planting across the borough. Seeds will be available in libraries and leisure centres. The Colliers Wood celebration will be held in Merton Abbey Mils on Saturday 19 April with a 1980s theme. The Big Sports Day will be held in Morden Park on 7 September. Cllr Stuart Neaverson informed the meeting that the planning application for additional towers had been rejected by the Council’s planning committee on fourteen separate counts. The site is owned by Criterion and they may appeal against the decision or submit further plans. While the cap on height would not apply in future the other grounds would still apply. Following the concerns about the parking e-bikes the council is working with Forest and Lime bikes to introduce e-bike parking bays. Stuart had raised the concerns about Laburnam Road bay with the council and the site could be changed. Cllr Laxmi Attawar fed back that the problems with rubbish, the blue bench and the Daffodil Walk continue. Neither is on council owned land. Laxmi has spoken to the proprietor and asked for a contact. Residents asked if the bench could be re-sited but the relatives had been determined to have the bench there, overlooking the river. Laxmi had emailed about the leaking fire hydrant. Laxmi explained that with street cleaning, which includes fly tipping, are coming back in-house, therefore fly tipping should be dealt with more effectively. This will include pop up skips which will be available six times a year. | Caroline Cooper-Marbiah Caroline Cooper-Marbiah |
7. | Updates on GP surgery, Merton Vision, Street Trees (see above) and Revisiting Vision for CWRA The plan for the GP surgery to be developed on the Merton Vision site is not going ahead. Laxmi explained that this was due to the cost of the building increasing following the Liz Truss’s budget. The Integrated Care Board (ICB), who had written a comprehensive letter to the Association, had no plans for future developments. They are making modifications to the current GP surgery. Tom mentioned that parking, which is shared with the community centre, has become an issue following the closure of the Lavender Road surgery. Merton Vision are discussing options for their future with the council. Revisiting CWRA vision Karen will be setting up a meeting of all those who expressed an interest. | |
8. | Parks & Green Spaces Margaret, chair of the sub group, gave an update. 8.1 Blue Bench and Daffodil Walk - discussed above. 8.2 Myrna Close Nature Reserve Bryony asked what can be done about litter and fly tipping as Fiona has been spending hours clearing litter. The reed bed also needed restoration but at 10k+ the council could not afford it. Stuart offered to ask officers if they could visit with Fiona and come up with ideas. 8.3 Tree Trail Wandle Valley Forum are working with tree council to create a tree trail to identify trees along the Wandle. 8.4 Proposed National Trust Park There was no news from the National Trust about Pickle Park. The last bit of work was drawing up a plan for the park but Margaret thought that they had yet to identify funding. 8.5 Wildflower seeds Margaret asked Councillors if a discussion with “Friends” groups could take place before wildflower seeds were sown. | Cllr Stuart Neaverson |
9. | Leonie Cooper, London Assembly member for Merton & Wandsworth, had offered to come to the meeting for 12 noon following the lack of response from the Transport for London representative. It was assumed that she had not been able to get away from her previous engagement. | |
10. | Speakers or subjects for future meetings
| Bryony to invite ICB rep, Tony Burton, Eleanor Stringer. |
11. | Any other business 11.1 Kevin said that he had tried to set up a local business forum but there had been no interest. The CW market would be held at Merton Abbey Mills in future. 11.2 The “Revisiting the aims of the RA” group would review the timing and mode (virtual or in person) of meetings. 11.3 No one present was aware of the plans for either the Kiss Me Hardy site or the empty unit under the Tower. 11.4 Catherine reminded residents that they could join her group to learn about cyber security. 11.5 Another resident asked if the unsightly planters outside the library could be removed. 11.6 Community Centre fundraising day: Saturday 28 June, with a jazz and blues band in the evening. 11.7 In response to a question from a resident Margaret said that the Parks and Green Spaces group were not in favour of the use of glycophosphates. Stuart explained that they had explored other methods, but these were less effective. | |
12. | Future meetings - all at the Community Centre, at 11am Saturday 26 April Saturday 20 September Saturday 1 November (please note the change of date) |