Chairman's Blog - July 2014
OPEN MEETING AT WEST BARNES LIBRARY
We had an interesting meeting in June, which was open to all members, at West Barnes Library. Residents local to Motspur Park were able to raise a number of concerns, and the West Barnes Councillors, all of whom were in attendance, agreed to take them up with the Council officers.
The Library itself is due to be re-developed, in the same way as was the Library at Raynes Park, with the provision of flats for the elderly built over an improved layout below. The enhanced services at Raynes Park Library have been widely welcomed. The Head of Merton’s Library Services, Anthony Hopkins, who had oversight of those improvements, has agreed to speak to our next open meeting about the proposals for West Barnes Library in detail. This will be held at the Residents’ Pavilion at 129 Grand Drive on Tuesday 9th September, starting at 7.30 pm. We hope you’ll note the date in your diary now.
MOTSPUR PARK STATION
We also had an update on Motspur Park station. This has at present no lift and so access for the disabled is difficult. It has already been suggested that the new Library should be so designed so as to include some form of lift provision for the station.
There are also at the moment no toilet facilities at the station, the one toilet apparently having been permanently locked. The need for these will be taken up at the regular meetings which are held between Network Rail’s station managers and local representatives, including the MP. Toilets are now provided at Raynes Park and are kept in good condition. There seems to be no reason why the same can’t be provided at Motspur Park.
CROSS RAIL 2 CONSULTATION
Residents will remember that there are long term plans to build extra railway lines across London from south to north. This will mean that it should be possible in future to travel from Motspur Park and Raynes Park direct to Liverpool Street, Victoria and other stations north of London, using a tunnel that will be built north of us.
The first phase of the consultation was in 2013, and has now ended, and the proposals have been overwhelmingly welcomed in this area. You can see the results of the consultation at https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/crossrail/2
Wimbledon, Raynes Park and Motspur Park will be included as stations for the new service. There are, however, a lot of details to be worked through. These include changes to the frequency of trains from local stations, the question of whether Motspur Park and West Barnes level crossings will have to be down to vehicular traffic for even longer, and the question of extra noise if there are more trains using the route.
A second phase of the consultation is now under way, but this does not concern the approval of the proposals in principle for this area.
LESSA
You can read here the latest reply received from the Council officers about the sports field at the former LESSA ground. Both we and the local Councillors will continue to press Bellway to grant a lease over the sports ground to a school or junior sports club, as the Inspector - who granted in the appeal the planning permission for housing - intended and stated should happen.
John Elvidge
