Don’t forget that today is your last day to respond to the Merton regen proposals. No matter what your opinion might be, we would encourage you to respond to the overall design as it will change Ravensbury forever if it goes through unchallenged.
The scale of the development is immense for the area and it appears that there will not be any more social housing provision than there currently is. Ravensbury Estate is next to the River Wandle so all these extra buildings and paving areas will serve to further compromise our area in the middle of a flood zone. Plenty of trees also will be removed both inside the regen area and outside.
Hengelo Gardens and Ravensbury Grove will significantly change if these proposals go unchallenged.
The 4 storey blocks of flats proposed along Ravensbury Grove will significantly change the character of Ravensbury so please write into: planning.representations@merton.gov.uk – Quote Ref 17/P1718
Good luck!
Ravensbury Residents Association
outline planning document, circle clarion housing 2017
outline planning document, circle clarion housing 2017
We checked the Merton Council planning explorer recently and have found that they have finally rubber stamped both of the Circle Housing planning applications for Ravensbury in mid May 2017.
Therefore the only thing that remains is for Merton Council to sell the land to Circle Housing. Ie, sell off priceless open space that forms part & parcel of Ravensbury Park and its immediate surroundings.
Redeveloping the derelict garages has sadly enabled Circle to persuade Merton Council to also redevelop our open space which, as we have said continuously, will ruin the character of our area, compromise the beauty of Ravensbury Park and enable redevelopment to ruin our unique village like environment that currently supports the Wandle Valley.
The developer proposes 2 sets of 4 storey blocks of flats and extensive paving in place of the grassed areas which is against the true environmental spirit that is Ravensbury. Seven houses are proposed on the derelict garages site.
Merton Council and our councillors have truly let Ravensbury and its neighbourhood down. And for what? Redevelopment by a company seemingly intent on changing Merton forever in the name of revenue; money in the bank.
They should all hang their heads in shame, or maybe just resign en masse and leave Merton to be run by its true guardians: its residents!
Just before Christmas 2016, Cypren Edmunds (Chair of Highpath RA) chaired a meeting between the residents of Highpath and the two executives, Austin Reid & Neil McCall from Clarion Housing (the merged Circle Housing & Affinity Sutton housing associations). Also in attendance was Paul Quinn, Merton Regen director.
What you’ll view on YouTube is the footage of the whole meeting.
There are 9 further clips of the same meeting also available to watch:
Last night (20th December 2016) Cypren Edmunds, Chair of Highpath Resident & Community Association, hosted a public meeting with Clarion Housing Group, that’s the now merged Circle Housing & Affinity Sutton. Clips of this meeting are on YouTube.
Attending were Austin Reid, Director of Transition (ex Circle Chief Operating Officer), Neil McCall CEO (ex Affinity Sutton), Paul Quinn (Circle Housing Merton Priory Homes regen director).
Austen Reid was in typical corporate mood, somewhat shocked to be within touching distance of the actual residents, and routinely demonstrated a sound knowledge of platitudes & non committal language, seemingly being evasive of the true situation on the ground, one that residents are only too aware of.
Neil McCall seemed a little shocked at the response from some residents regarding repairs & maintenance too, but his general demeanour did indicate a more sincere disposition, less self-serving than the rest. He did mention that he will not be responsible for repairs and maintenance on estates identified as being part of the future regen! We assume that the gentleman below will be responsible for that, but have far less confidence in him.
Paul Quinn was in the usual shape shifting mode, happy to provide the positive spin of the regen spiel, but unwilling to elaborate on the actual conduct of his regen team, the lack of proper resident involvement in the regen consultation including the architectural design, and the massive percentage of residents that are against his regen ideas for the future of Ravensbury (this is in reference to Merton Council’s own regen consultation).
Ravensbury Residents are against demolition of their estateAusten Reid (Clarion Housing) speaks to Merton residentsHighpath residents meeting with Clarion Housing
In all, it was a heated meeting that demonstrated that Clarion Housing Group will have a long way to go if they are to properly remedy the damage that Circle Merton had inflicted on the Merton communities relative to the past & present effect of poor repairs and the future effects of planned Merton regeneration.
There’s still a long way to go.
We hope everyone has a great Christmas & New Year break. See you in 2017.
At 7pm tonight (Monday, 18th January 2016), the Merton regen plans are on the Cabinet meeting agenda. This is held in rooms C D E in the Civic Centre, Morden.
Item 8 is about the public consultation of the Local Plan Stage 2, and already has these recommendations:
Recommendations:
That Cabinet:
1. Notes the results of Circle Housing Merton Priory (CHMP) Board and the decision of
Circle Housing Board to proceed.
2. Approves six weeks of public consultation on the Draft Estates Local Plan (including
proposals to include opportunities of development around St Marks Academy set
out in Appendix A of this report ) and Sustainability Appraisal and associated
revisions to the Policies Map from February 2016 – March 2016, noting that the
consultation will provide residents input into setting the parameters which the
council would require any submitted regeneration proposals for the three estates to
adhere to.
3. Approve the associated update to the project plan (Merton’s Local Development
Scheme) to reflect preparation of the proposed draft Estates Regeneration Local
Plan and the revised timetable for preparation of this Plan as set out in this report.
4. Delegate approval to Director of Environment and Regeneration [Chris Lee] in consultation with
relevant Cabinet members to approve changes to the consultation documents and
the start of consultation and the timetable option to proceed with following this
current consultation stage.
5. Delegate conclusion of negotiation with CHMP on financial viability matters to the
Director of Corporate Services and Director of Environment and Regeneration [Councillor Andrew Judge] in
consultation with relevant Cabinet members; with any subsequent amendments to
the Stock Transfer Agreement to be brought back to Cabinet & Full Council.
6. Delegate approval to the Director of Community & Housing in consultation with the
relevant Cabinet Member, to finalise a revised delivery timetable for the
implementation of the decent homes programme on the High Path, Eastfields and
Ravensbury Estates.
This looks like a very important meeting that has had quite a few man hours spent on its preparation, so it’s a shame our councillors neglected to keep us fully informed of these matters… Very busy people perhaps?
It does appear as if the decision for regen has been made already though, with relegation of existing residents, and their views taken for granted.
Getting resident replies to this consultation is very important for everyone in Merton as a whole.
Ravensbury Grove Blog 