London Borough of Sutton

Coordinates: 51°20′N 0°10′W / 51.333°N 0.167°W / 51.333; -0.167
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Template:Infobox London Borough

The London Borough of Sutton (pronunciationⓘ) is a London borough in South London, England and forms part of Outer London. It covers an area of 43 km2 (17 sq mi) and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It is one of the southernmost boroughs of London. It is south of the London Borough of Merton, west of the London Borough of Croydon and east of the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames. The local authority is Sutton London Borough Council.

History

The borough was formed in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Sutton and Cheam with the Municipal Borough of Beddington and Wallington and Carshalton Urban District which had previously been part of Surrey.

Districts

The borough includes the areas:

Surrounding area

Cultural attractions and institutions

Descriptions of a selection of the Borough's cultural institutions and attractions are set out below.

The Charles Cryer Theatre, Carshalton

Charles Cryer Theatre

There are frequent productions at The Charles Cryer Studio Theatre, which is situated on the High Street. As well as drama and musicals, productions include comedy and dance. The theatre is named after the man who led the campaign to open the Secombe Theatre, Sutton, listed below.

The Secombe Theatre, Sutton town centre

The Secombe Centre theatre (named after Sir Harry Secombe) is in Cheam Road, adjacent to the Holiday Inn Hotel. The theatre was opened by Sir Harry in 1983, who lived in Sutton for over 30 years of his life.[1] The theatre was created out of a former Christian Scientist church building.[2] The main auditorium seats 340, and there is a large multi-purpose function room attached. The Secombe Theatre is operated in conjunction with the Charles Cryer Studio Theatre, named after the man who led the campaign to open the Secombe Theatre. (The Charles Cryer Studio is in a converted hall in nearby Carshalton - see entry above). Productions at the Secombe range in content from modern productions to new twists on older more established plays. Some productions are produced locally, while others come as part of touring groups. From time to time comedians and musicians appear at the theatre.

Carew Manor, Beddington

Carew Manor

Beddington Park is the location of Carew Manor which was the home of the Carew family. The Grade I listed banqueting hall,[3] which boasts a fine hammerbeam roof, survives from the original house along with part of the orangery built by Sir Francis Carew and claimed to be the first in England. In the grounds is an early 18th century Grade II* listed dovecote.[4] Archaeologists have recently discovered a Tudor garden including a grotto at Carew Manor, believed to have been created by Sir Francis Carew in the 16th century.

Sutton Library, Sutton town centre

Sutton Library is situated close to the top of the town, near St Nicholas Church and the Holiday Inn Hotel, and is part of a complex which contains the Civic Offices, home of Sutton Borough Council, and the Sutton College of Liberal Arts. It is the largest library in the borough. Originally opened in 1975, it was extensively refurbished in 2004 to meet changing customer needs. It was the first public library to appoint a library writer-in-residence; the first to establish a CD and video lending library; and the first to offer a full public library service on Sundays. The library is arranged over four storeys, and the lending and reference facilities extend to a reader's lounge; café and shop; IT facilities; opportunities to listen to music; and a children's library themed around the world's environments.[5]

Whitehall Gallery, Cheam

Whitehall Gallery

Whitehall is a timber framed and weatherboarded house in the centre of Cheam Village. It was originally built in about 1500 as a wattle and daub yeoman farmer's house but has been much extended. The external weatherboarded appearance dates from the 18th century. In the garden there is a medieval well which served an earlier building on the site. Now an historic house museum, the building features a period kitchen, and house details from the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian eras. The building is open to the public on Wednesday, Thursday & Friday 2-5pm; Saturday 10 am - 5 pm, Sunday & Bank Holiday Monday 2-5 pm. There is an admission charge, and an audio guide. There is a programme of events and changing exhibitions in the house, which also has displays about the history of the house and its inhabitants, nearby Cheam School, and Henry VIII's Nonsuch Palace.

Little Holland House, Carshalton

Little Holland House in Carshalton Beeches was the home of the artist Frank Dickinson (1874–1961). Dickinson's Arts and Crafts style interior was influenced by John Ruskin and textile designer and artist William Morris. The house contains many of his art works. It is now occasionally open to members of the public.

Carshalton Museum, Honeywood

Honeywood Museum

Honeywood is a large house at the western end of Carshalton Ponds. At its earliest it dates from the 17th century but has been much extended and restored, particularly in the period 1896 to 1903 when a large Edwardian wing was added to the south side. It now houses the London Borough of Sutton's main Museum and has a local history collection, including objects that date back to the Bronze Age. The museum has recently been refurbished, reopening in May 2012 with enhanced features. Among others improvements, there are now expanded displays about the river Wandle and its influence on the life of the area, including an interactive map.

Sutton Life Centre, Sutton

The Sutton Life Centre is an £8 million community facility designed to improve life chances for younger people and encourage good citizenship. Its key feature – the lifezone – is a virtual street, a room with screens on all walls showing real-life scenes from Sutton's streets. It also has a library, a cafe, a climbing wall, and community, eco, sports, youth and media zones.[6] It tries to encourage community engagement and involvement. It was opened on 27 October 2010 by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.[7]

Sutton Arts Council

Sutton Arts Council exists to support and promote the arts, broadly defined, within the Borough. Managed by a small Executive Committee of volunteers, it currently has around eighty member societies covering a wide range of arts and heritage interests - dramatic and operatic, musical and choral, artistic and photographic, ethnic, linguistic and historical.[8]

Governance

Local council seat distribution as of May 2010:

style="width: 2px; background-color: #FAA61A;" data-sort-value="Liberal Democrats" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" |
Party Seats
Liberal Democrats 43
Conservative 11
Independent
Total 54

The main local government of the borough is Sutton London Borough Council. The Council has had a Liberal Democrat administration since 1986. From 1965–1986 Conservatives administered the council. At the London local elections, 2010 the Liberal Democrats returned 43 councillors, the Conservatives 11 and the Labour Party lost all of its seats on the council.

Councillor Ruth Dombey is the Leader of the Council. The Leader of the Opposition is Councillor Graham Whitham and Deputy Leader of the Opposition: Councillor Tim Crowley. Graham Tope, later Lord Tope was the Leader of the Council from 1986 to 1999.

National Politics

Sutton is divided into two parliamentary constituencies, Sutton and Cheam and Carshalton and Wallington with one MP each:

style="width: 2px; background-color: #FAA61A;" data-sort-value="Liberal Democrats" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #FAA61A;" data-sort-value="Liberal Democrats" |
Party Member of Parliament Constituency
Liberal Democrats Paul Burstow, a former local councillor, replaced Conservative Olga Maitland in the 1997 General Election Sutton and Cheam
Liberal Democrats Tom Brake, replaced Conservative Nigel Forman in the 1997 General Election Carshalton and Wallington
London Assembly

As the London Assembly has eleven London-wide members from all four main parties, the borough shares its geographical London Assembly member with neighbouring Croydon, in its elections which began in 2000 and take place with the election of the Mayor of London, a Conservative Assembly member has gained a large majority (in other words it is arguably a safe seat). The current Assembly Member is Steve O'Connell, then a local councillor from Croydon, who was elected with an increased share of the vote of 43% following fellow conservative Andrew Pelling's time representing the area.

European Parliament

Sutton is represented in the European Parliament by the London constituency.

Notable individuals

Notable individuals closely associated with the borough:

Education

Saint Philomena's School

The London Borough of Sutton is an exceptionally high performing borough for education. [citation needed]. Five of the state secondary schools in the London Borough of Sutton are Grammar schools. There is also 1 exceptionally high-performing Catholic day school; this is St Philomenas School. The John Fisher School which is managed by Sutton LEA is geographically in Croydon and has a Croydon postal address.

The Borough came top of the England GCSE league tables in 2011 on the key benchmark - the percentage of pupils achieving five good GCSEs (A* to C) including English and Mathematics. The national average for 2011 was 58.2%. The average for Sutton, at 74.7%, was more than 15% above this national average. Only three other local authorities were able to achieve an average above 70%, all lower than Sutton. (See Sutton Guardian, 31 Jan 2012).[10]

List of primary schools

List of secondary schools

There are also a number of private schools including Sutton High School for Girls and Collingwood School

Further education colleges

Environment

BedZED
BedZED (Beddington Zero Energy Development)

It is in the London Borough of Sutton that the acclaimed BedZED (Beddington Zero Energy Development) housing complex is located (500 metres from Hackbridge mainline railway station). It utilises a number of innovative technologies to enable it to operate with zero energy use. It was designed by the architect Bill Dunster to support a more sustainable lifestyle. The project was led by the Peabody Trust in partnership with Bill Dunster Architects, Ellis & Moore Consulting Engineers, BioRegional, Arup and the cost consultants Gardiner and Theobald.

The 99 homes, and 1,405 square metres of work space were built between 2000 and 2002. The development has attracted wide interest and acclaim over the past decade since it was built, and, among other examples of recognition, it was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize for architecture in October 2003, and won awards from the London Evening Standard and RIBA in 2002.

Carshalton Environmental Fair

The Environmental Fair is held in Carshalton Park on August Bank Holiday Monday.[11] It features over 100 stalls and showcases local sustainability initiatives. It also includes music, performing art, poetry, children's activities, campaign groups, local craft, interactive demonstrations, and a farmers' market. Music is performed from three stages and across the genres from rock to folk. The main stage is a natural open-air amphitheatre. There is food and a bar with real ales. The fair attracts on average around 10,000 people. It is organised by EcoLocal with a team of volunteers.

Sutton Ecology Centre

The Sutton Ecology Centre is located in the Carshalton Village part of Sutton borough.[12] It is an area of mainly open space where visitors can find out about wildlife habitats, alternative energy, recycling, composting, and organic gardening. The Centre's activities include running educational visits for schools and community groups, as well as events and volunteer days.

The history of the Ecology Centre is that the grounds were until the late eighties known as the "Lodgelands", named after the old gardens of The Lodge in Carshalton. They were used as a tree nursery until the early eighties, when they became surplus to requirements. After a prolonged public debate, it was agreed in 1987 to preserve the area as an open space for public use.

Transport

Sutton has frequent Commuter rail services to central London stations, including London Victoria (approx 26 minutes travelling time depending on service), London Bridge and several Thameslink stations, including St Pancras. Whilst Sutton is one of five London Boroughs not to have a London Underground station within its boundaries, the Northern Line in neighbouring Merton is easy to reach by local bus. And whilst it also has no stations on the new London Overground network, it is only 10 minutes from West Croydon, which is served by this network. It currently has no connections with the nearby London Tramlink that serves places like Croydon and Wimbledon, although it may become part of this network in the future. The main forms of public transport used in the borough are surface rail from its various regional railway stations and local buses. The Sutton Rail Users forum was formed to campaign for the introduction of higher-frequency, regular interval services from Sutton to central London. Evening frequency of the direct (i.e. via Hackbridge) service to and from Victoria was increased in 2010 from two trains an hour to four trains an hour.

National and international travel

Sutton is linked into the national motorway network via the A217 and M25 orbital motorway at Junction 8. The M25 skirts the south of the borough, linking Sutton with other parts London and the surrounding counties. The A24 passes through the north western part of the borough, through North Cheam and onto Epsom, Dorking, Horsham, Worthing, Bognor Regis and Chichester. This follows, in part, the course of Stane Street, an old Roman road linking London and Chichester. The A232 links Sutton with other towns in the borough, also the boroughs of Kingston, Croydon and Bromley.

Sutton railway station

The Sutton and Mole Valley Lines railway route south from Sutton links the borough to Sussex and Surrey to the south, and to central London to the north: providing direct services to Dorking, Epsom, Horsham, Leatherhead, Wimbledon, Croydon and Wandsworth. Also running through Sutton is the Sutton Loop Thameslink line which links Luton and St Pancras International directly with the stations on the loop. The main station for all these services is Sutton railway station to the south of the town. The station is the largest and busiest in Sutton. Passenger rail services through Croydon are provided by Southern, First Capital Connect and South West Trains.[13] A pilot scheme launched by the Strategic Rail Authority, Transport for London and three train operators is designed to encourage more passengers to travel off-peak. In full partnership with the South London Boroughs which includes Sutton, SWELTRAC, SELTRANS and the transport users group, the scheme promotes the advantages of off-peak travel following improvements to safety, travel connections and upgrading of station facilities. The Thameslink Programme (formerly known as Thameslink 2000), is a £3.5 billion major project to expand the Thameslink network from 51 to 172 stations[14] spreading northwards to Bedford, Peterborough, Cambridge and King's Lynn and southwards to Guildford, Eastbourne, Horsham, Hove to Littlehampton, East Grinstead, Ashford and Dartford. The project includes the lengthening of platforms, station remodelling, new railway infrastructure (e.g. viaduct) and additional rolling stock.

Sutton is located about 15 miles (24 km) from both London Heathrow Airport and London Gatwick Airport. Heathrow is served by London Buses route X26 but there is no major direct public transport connection with Gatwick. Luton Airport, about 40 miles (64 km) to the north, is connected to Sutton by a direct train. Croydon Airport which was partly in the borough of Sutton served as London's main airport in the years prior to the second world war but closed in the 1950s.

Local travel

The hilly topography of Sutton and the lack of underground services in South London is a reason for the extensive suburban and inter-urban railway network. Sutton is in the commuter belt to London as part of suburbia. There are several busy local rail routes running along the borough's towns, connecting it with London Bridge, St. Pancras International and London Victoria. These local routes mainly run on the Sutton Loop and Sutton & Mole Valley Lines. As well as the main station of Sutton, there are several suburban stations at Hackbridge, West Sutton, Carshalton and Cheam and more.

A sizeable bus infrastructure which is part of the London Buses network operates from a main hub on the Sutton one-way system. London General, owned by the Go-Ahead Group, is one of the largest bus operators to serve Sutton along with Metrobus, Abellio London, Transdev London, Quality Line, and National Express London. Unlike other places in the country, London's transport infrastructure is regulated and therefore is not subject to price wars between different companies with TfL setting a standard price for bus services which is currently £1.35 with an Oyster card and free for all under 12s. Services include buses to central London, Croydon, Wimbledon, Kingston and a number of other civic centres in the south. London Buses route X26, the longest route in London, provides services between Heathrow airport and Croydon via Kingston.

  • 80 (Belmont Prions - Hackbridge) via Sutton and Morden
  • 93 (North Cheam - Putney Bridge) via Wimbledon
  • 127 (Tooting Broadway - Purley) via Wallington
  • 151 (Worcester Park - Wallington) via Sutton
  • 154 (Morden - West Croydon) via Wallington and West Croydon
  • 157 (Morden - Crystal Palace) via Wallington and West Croydon
  • 164 (Sutton - Wimbledon) via Morden
  • 213 (Sutton - Kingston) via New Malden
  • 280 (Tooting - Belmont) via Sutton and Mitcham
  • 293 (Epsom Hospital - Morden) via North Cheam
  • 407 (Sutton - Caterham) via Croydon
  • 410 (Wallington - Crystal Palace) via South Norwood
  • 413 (Morden - Sutton) via Lower Morden
  • 420 (Sutton - Redhill) via Tadworth
  • 463 (Coulsdon - Pollards Hill) via Wallington
  • 470 (Epsom - Colliers Wood) via Sutton
  • 612 (Wallington Green - Selsdon) via Purley
  • 613 (Worcester Park - Glenthorne School) via Sutton
  • 627 (Worcester Park - Wallington High School for Girls) via Sutton
  • S1 (Mitcham - Banstead Victoria) via Sutton
  • S3 (Sutton Hospital - Malden Manor) via Sutton
  • S4 (St. Helier - Roundshaw) via Sutton* X26 (Heathrow Airport Central - West Croydon) via Kingston
  • N44 (Aldwych - Sutton) via Wandsworth

Although hilly, Sutton is compact and has few major trunk roads running through it. It is on one of the National Cycle Network route running around South London.[15] The North Downs, an area of outstanding natural beauty popular with both on and off-road cyclists, is so close to Sutton that part of the park lies within the borough boundary, and there are routes into the park almost from the civic centre.

Construction of the East London line extension to West Croydon is now complete. There were plans to extend the service to Sutton, but it was decided to shelve them, as it was thought that trains risked becoming too busy by the time they reached Croydon. However, there are still hopes that Sutton will be connected to the London Overground scheme through Orbirail and TfL's interest in bidding for the South London Lines operated by Southern until 2009 when a new South Central franchise will be awarded.[16] Parliamentary approval to construct a railway line from Wimbledon to Sutton through what were then undeveloped rural areas had been obtained by the Wimbledon and Sutton Railway (W&SR) in 1910. The main supporters of the scheme were the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR), the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) and the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR, now London Underground's District Line). All held shares in the company and had rights to run trains over the line when built. World War I prevented any work taking place and by the early 1920s continuing financial support from the MDR meant that it had effectively taken control of the company. Through its ownership of the MDR, the London Electric Railway (LER, precursor of London Underground) was able to obtain approval to use part of the route for an extension of the City and South London Railway (C&SLR, now the Northern Line) from Clapham Common through Morden to Sutton. The route would have seen Underground Northern Line trains running on surface tracks from Morden past the nearby Underground depot and on to the Network Rail alignment close to Morden South. The Southern Railway (SR, successor of the L&SWR and the LB&SCR after the 1923 Grouping of railways) objected to this encroachment into its area of operation and the loss of its passenger traffic to a more direct route. The two companies reached an agreement that enabled the C&SLR to extend as far as Morden in exchange for the LER giving up its rights over the W&SR route. The SR subsequently built the line, one of the last to be built in the London area. It opened on 5 January 1930.

Parks

Fountain in Manor Park, Sutton Town Centre
Rainbow at the fountain at Elms Pond, at the junction of Butter Hill with London Road, Carshalton

The London Borough of Sutton has 89 parks and open spaces within it boundaries, representing a total area of 1,500 acres (6.1 km2). The parks are:

Main article: Sutton parks and open spaces


Sports facilities and clubs

Football club Sutton United F.C. are based in Sutton, who play in the Conference South. Carshalton has two football clubs: Carshalton Athletic F.C. (home ground at The War Memorial Sports Ground, Colston Avenue, and play in the Ryman League) and Carshalton FC (at Beddington Park).

Sutton Cricket Club is based in Cheam Road, Sutton, (entrance in Gander Green Lane.) The Club’s 1st XI plays at the highest level of the sport available to it, the England & Wales Cricket Board’s, ‘Surrey Championship Premier Division.’ The club’s 2nd and 3rd teams also play at the highest level available to them, the, ‘Surrey Championship 2nd XI and 3rd XI Premier Divisions.’ Sutton Cricket Club also provide league cricket for 4th and 5th XIs on Saturdays and for three XI’s on Sundays, two of which are dedicated to youth development. The club has a colts section with over 150 participants, and owns a second ground in Holmwood Close, Cheam. A cricket week is held at the Cheam Road ground every season, in addition to the club playing at least one mid-week friendly fixture every week.

Rosehill boasts an ETTA premier level Table Tennis Club, Rosehil TTC play in the Sutton & District League and the Thames Valley League. The Croydon Pirates despite their name play just inside the borough of Sutton, at Waddon and are one of the most successful teams in the British Baseball Federation.

At the Westcroft Leisure Centre, in Carshalton there are health and fitness facilities including two swimming pools, sports hall, squash court and fitness centre.[17] Westcroft is also home to Sutton Pumas basketball club. The Westcroft Centre was given a major (£11 million) refurbishment and new look during 2012.

There are also two public basketball courts in the Rosehill section of Sutton borough.

Wallington has a Non-League football club Crescent Rovers F.C. who play at the Wallington Sports & Social Club.

The Sutton and Epsom Weightlifting Club meet at Sutton Arena near to St Hellier's Hospital to the North of Sutton.

Climate

Sutton has a temperate climate in common with most areas of Great Britain, it is similar to that of Greenwich in Inner London: its Köppen climate classification is Cfb.[18][19] Its mean annual temperature of 9.6 °C is similar to that experienced throughout the Weald, and slightly cooler than nearby areas such as the Sussex coast and central London.[20] Rainfall is considerably below England's average (1971–2000) level of 838 mm, and every month is drier overall than the England average.[21]

The nearest weather station is at Gatwick Airport.[22][23]

Climate data for London Borough of Sutton
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °F 44 45 49 54 61 66 71 71 65 58 50 46 49
Mean daily minimum °F 34 34 36 38 44 50 53 52 48 44 48 36 42
Average precipitation inches 1.2 1.2 1.6 1.2 1.6 1.2 1.6 1.6 2.8 2.0 2.0 2.4 2.00
Mean daily maximum °C 6 7 9 12 16 18 21 21 18 14 10 8 9
Mean daily minimum °C 1 1 2 3 7 10 12 11 9 7 3 2 9
Average precipitation cm 3 3 4 3 4 3 4 4 7 5 5 6 5.07
Source: Weatherbase [24]

Town twinning

References

  1. ^ http://www.welshicons.org.uk/html/harry_secombe.php
  2. ^ http://www.overthefootlights.co.uk/20.pdf
  3. ^ http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-206699-beddington-place-great-hall-only-walling
  4. ^ http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-206705-pigeon-house-to-north-west-of-beddington
  5. ^ https://www.sutton.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2121
  6. ^ "Sutton Life Centre", sutton.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  7. ^ "Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg officially opened Sutton Life Centre", Sutton Guardian, 27 October 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  8. ^ http://suttonartscouncil.org/whatwedo.html
  9. ^ a b H.E. Malden (editor) (1912). "Parishes: Carshalton". A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 29 November 2012. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  10. ^ http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/yoursay/schools/9503933.SUTTON_TOPS_GCSE_LEAGUE_TABLES/
  11. ^ "Carshalton Environmental Fair".
  12. ^ https://www.sutton.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1627
  13. ^ "UK rail network map" (PDF). National Rail website. National Rail. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-05-30. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
  14. ^ "Good news for South London as £3.5BN Thameslink project clears major hurdle" (Press release). 2006-10-18. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  15. ^ "Areas to cycle in Sutton". 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-24. [dead link]
  16. ^ Next Stop South London - The Londonder, 08/03/08
  17. ^ "L.B. Sutton - Westcroft Leisure Centre".
  18. ^ WorldClimate
  19. ^ (Temperature data) 
  20. ^ "Mean Temperature Annual Average". Met Office. 2001. Retrieved 2007-08-22.
  21. ^ "Met Office: averages 1971–2000". Met Office website. Met Office. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-22.
  22. ^ (Rainfall data) 
  23. ^ (Pressure data) 
    Temperature and rainfall: 1961–1990 averages. Pressure averages: 1971–1988 averages.
    Derived from the Global Historical Climatology Network (version 1).
  24. ^ "Weatherbase: Historical Weather for London, England, United Kingdom". Retrieved November 2, 2007.

External links

Official

News and travel

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for London/South_West.

Culture

Community

Maps

Open data about London Borough of Sutton

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