Today I attended a drop in exhibition at The Cricket Centre, Plough Lane, Beddington, with local residents to hear and discuss plans to build a school at Sheen Way Playing Fields.
A site at Sheen Way has been allocated Sutton Local Plan (2018) for a Special Education Needs School for children with autistic spectrum disorder and/or moderate learning difficulties, i.e. The Futures Academy to be run by the Orchard Hill College & Academy Trust. The Futures Academy Free School would be a 5-19, co-educational special school with 246 places for children and young people who have additional and complex learning needs in the Sutton, South London and South East region. This school would replace the current school, the Carew Academy based at Carew Manor.
I share many of the concerns that local residents have about the plans, and I was sorry to see some people very upset about the potential impact of the plans to their livelihoods. These worries include:
- Impact on traffic and parking in an area already struggling with these issues,
- Access to the site being on residential roads rather than Purley Way,
- Potential problems of flooding,
- Lack of consideration of other sites,
- ...and many more!
They also feel their concerns are not being listened to be the Lib Dem-run Council or MP, which is why I am working with fellow Sutton Conservative councillors to raise these concerns on behalf of local residents.
You can find out more about the plans here.
In the meantime, please send any comments you may have about the plans to [email protected]. This e-mail address will be open until 07/05/2019.
A planning application for this site will be submitted to the London Borough of Sutton in the Summer term of 2019. Further details about the proposed building will be available on the planning portal of Sutton Council’s website and be open for residents to further have their say.
Make sure you get your voice heard about Sheen Way.
