The first few months of any new year for a councillor are taken up by preparation for the Council’s budget meeting. By law each local authority is required to pass a balanced budget The Council’s finance team will have been working for months to prepare this, and there will be a business plan of many […]

This month I look at Lime Bikes and other dockless e-bikes … There’s clearly demand for dockless e-bikes, and it’s great if they can get more people in Merton cycling. In October I met with representatives of both Lime Bikes and Human Forest, both of whom are hoping to reach agreements with Merton Council about […]

Welcome to the fourth edition of my Insider’s blog. You can read the first-to-third editions here, here and here. This month’s edition reports back on – amongst other things – the September “full Council”. This is where all councillors come together to hold the administration to account. Each meeting has a specific theme. The Liberal […]

Sent: Thursday, September 1, 2022 4:13:26 PMTo: Tim LipscombCc: Planning Representations Subject: Planning representation on Application Number 22/P1819 Dear Tim, DEMOLITION OF THE EXISTING ENTRANCE TO WIMBLEDON CHASE STATION AND ADJACENT RETAIL UNITS AND 45-48 ROTHESAY AVENUE AND THE ERECTION OF A NEW STATION ENTRANCE AND BUILDING RANGING IN HEIGHT BETWEEN FOUR TO NINE STOREYS […]

Welcome to the third edition of my Insider’s blog. You can read the first and second editions here and here. I hope you’re having a good summer and are not too warm! I was away for a week at the end of July and so this month’s update is a little later than usual. Amongst […]

Below are our updates on the 2022 proposals for the development at Wimbledon Chase Station, including: Summary of and link to the plans (17 July) Feedback from the public meetings (4 August) Response from the developer on sewerage capacity, housing mix, parking and station entrance/step-free design (11 August) We’ll add details to this page as […]

Welcome to the second edition of my insider’s blog. You’ll see that I still haven’t got the length quite right! You can read the first edition here. “Was it a surprise?” Since the elections in May, a number of people have asked me if the best ever local election results for the Lib Dems in […]

Cllr Anthony Fairclough writes: “Hi – one of the things I am going to try out is a monthly round up of some of the things I do as a councillor. Hopefully it’s interesting to at least some people. Let me know what you think. This one’s a bit ‘process-heavy’ but others should be less […]

See our letter here!

Re: Application for 12 storey/53m tall building in Wimbledon town centre You might know that this Thursday, the Council’s planning application committee will be asked to give permission to a huge new building. The site is St George’s House East, which currently houses Pret, Little Waitrose and Starbucks on the ground floor. The proposal is […]