Merton London Borough Council

Parking charges in Merton are set to increase next month, but the council has been accused of having a lack of evidence that it will not improve air quality.

The new charges for public car parks, street parking and parking permits will be launched on 14 January, 2020.

It will see on street parking in Wimbledon town centre rise to £4.50 an hour from £1.20-2.40.

It will increase to £3 in areas including Raynes Park and Colliers Wood would go up to £3.

Merton Council hopes this will reduce levels of nitrogen dioxide.

Sixty per cent of this in the borough comes from vehicles.

In July the council voted in favour of declaring a climate change emergency pledging to make the whole of Merton carbon neutral by 2050 and the council a carbon neutral organisation by 2030.

But Liberal Democrat Councillor Anthony Fairclough said: “The scheme looks like it’s purely about raising revenue, mainly targeted at people who live in areas that don’t tend to elect Labour councillors – Wimbledon and Raynes Park – where the new charges will be highest.

“Instead we want them to look seriously at schemes where the worst polluting vehicles pay more, where support is given to help people change to greener vehicles, and where other positive action is also taken to improve air quality.”

Merton Council

Nearly five months on from its collapse, the Bishopsford Road Bridge remains closed to traffic.

In April work began on strengthening the bridge over the River Wandle, which borders Sutton and Merton.

But on 10 June the river flooded causing a series of unfortunate events.

Four days later the northern arch of the bridged partially collapsed, breaking gas, water, electricity and broadband mains.

The southern arch was unaffected but the central arch also suffered minor damage.

The gas leak meant that homes were evacuated with residents only allowed to return the next day.

The bridge is now open to pedestrians and cyclists and Merton Council is carrying out weekly monitoring of the paths but it is still not known how much the repair of the bridge will cost or when it will be reopened.

A meeting of Merton’s sustainable communities overview and scrutiny commission heard that the council is working with contractor FM Conway to iron out these details.

But Councillor David Dean said residents are concerned with how long the repairs are taking.

Merton CCG

Merton may not be the first place you’d think an international delegation would visit but on Wednesday a party from Tokyo visited the Nelson Health Centre near Wimbledon Chase Station.

The group from the International Longevity Centre wanted to learn about how older people in Merton are supported, and find out more about providing community care for the elderly so they can remain independent for as long as possible.

Chair of Merton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Nelson Health Centre, Dr Andrew Murray, said: “With increasing ageing populations across the world, it is vital we collaborate to develop our future services.”

Merton CCG

The group was hosted by the Health Innovation Network and Dr Carrie Chill, from the network, said they were particularly interested in social prescribing where a GP advises non-medical services in the community.

The Nelson Health Centre uses HARI (Holistic Assessment and Rapid Investigation) where a team of medical professionals including nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and pharmacists support patients to keep them well, reduce falls, recover from illnesses and injuries to stay living at home and receive the care they need in the community.

The plan is set to be rolled out across the borough after a pilot this year led to a large improvement in the well-being of patients.

Merton Council has issued a statement after four men were stabbed at a council-run park this weekend.

The stabbings took place in Morden Park on Saturday where Eastern Electrics festival was taking place.

The techno music festival was granted a licence by the council in February despite strong opposition from nearby residents.

Today a spokesman for Merton Council said any future applications for events of this nature would take the incident into account.

The spokesman said: “We were shocked to hear what happened in Morden Park on Saturday. Our thoughts are with those involved and their families. Merton is a very safe place and we take safety at events very seriously.

“Should an application be submitted to the council for an event of this nature in the future, past events would, of course, be taken into consideration.”

The first victim, a 24-year-old, was attacked just after 16:00 and taken to hospital. Just before 18:45 another man, aged 27, was stabbed before being rushed to A&E.

Paramedics had to then take a third man, in his 20s, to hospital after he was found with stab wounds at 21:38.

None of these three men suffered life-threatening or life-changing injuries. The fourth victim, a man in his 40s, was then found injured just before 22:00, his condition is unknown.

Getty Images

Plans for five air domes over tennis courts at Wimbledon have been given the go ahead by Merton Council.

The world-famous tennis club in south-west London is made up of two sites on either side of Somerset Road.

The smaller site, used by members throughout the year and for warm-ups during the annual championships, is being replaced with a new building with six indoor courts, six outdoor clay courts and an underground car park.

Building work is set to start in August, so the club wants temporary air domes over five courts on the main site to allow members to still have the option to play indoors.

In an application, planners said: “The air domes are critical in ensuring the overall Wimbledon Master Plan is carried out without detriment to the Club’s facilities and so that Wimbledon continues to be regarded as the finest stage in world tennis.”

The application had a handful of objections from residents living in Somerset Road who said there would be noise from the generators running all night.

One said: “The existing background noise levels e.g. from the odd passing vehicle at night is very different from the constant noise emitted from five generators running 24 hours a day for three years.”

But members of Merton Council’s planning committee passed the plans unanimously without debate.

LDRS

Counterfeit goods like fake tobacco, toys and jewellery are finding worthy uses after being confiscated from criminals.

The items, seized by Richmond and Merton councils, have been donated to Sports Traider, a charity that works with trading standards departments. Most of the haul is made up of items like fake rugby scarfs, boots, trainers, jewellery, toys and tobacco.

Fake jewellery often has dangerous levels of harmful substances like nickel, and the toys can be unsafe for children due to sharp edges or choking hazards.

It is hoped the scheme will reduce the amount that goes to landfill, and ensure that none of it ends up back on the black market.

The clothes will either be re-branded or shredded for material, and the tobacco will be used for compost.

Sports Traider uses the money it raises for schemes to help disabled and disadvantaged people gain employment and training, or play sports.

PA

More than a third of London children missed out on their first-choice secondary school places this year, according to a report.

The analysis, published by Labour MP Harriet Harman, showed 34% of children in the capital missed out on their first-choice place, a 2% rise from 2017, and almost double the national average of 17.9%.

It also found pupils in the inner city were much less likely to land a place at their preferred school, with 37.3% of pupils in inner London boroughs applying to secondary schools missing out on their first choice.

The worst 10 local authorities for children securing a place at their first-preference school are all in London.

The worst performer was Hammersmith and Fulham, followed by the City of London, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Westminster, Wandsworth, Southwark, Merton and Brent.

Big White Wall

People in Merton living with depression and other mental health conditions will be able to talk about their problems online, as well as face to face in future.

A new online therapy service has been set up to make more appointments available and to improve recovery rates in the borough.

The Big White Wall has been commissioned by Merton CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group) as an interim solution to address below average access and recovery rates.

It has been commissioned alongside another online service called Ieso Digital Health.

Both services have contracts until April next year when the CCG is planning to change all of its IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) contracts.

Drivers could soon have to pay more for parking in Merton in a bid to reduce the number of people using their cars.

A report, set to be considered by the council’s cabinet on Monday, shows that nitrogen dioxide pollution in some areas breaches EU limits.

The council has identified ‘air quality focus areas’ in Mitcham, Morden, Raynes Park and Wimbledon which have high levels of pollution.

Another report outlining the increases is expected to be ready in December before being considered by the council in January.

Before the changes are decided, residents will have 21 days to have their say in a statutory consultation period.