Motspur Park Gas Holders update

Thank you to all the residents who attended the meeting organised by Sutton Council on Thursday 25th September. It was incredibly helpful for me to hear more questions and concerns from local residents. 

I started by explaining what I have done to help represent residents' concerns on this development, because I think it’s important that our elected representatives are transparent about how they are working for local residents.

If you were not at the meeting, I thought it might be helpful to recap those here;

1. Early 2025 - Luke followed the initial development plan closely and canvassed residents in Worcester Park to get an idea of the initial concerns about the plans.
2. Summer 2025 - Luke’s office began to receive emails from residents in Worcester Park who had concerns about the development, and raised questions about the plans.
3. 24th July - Luke attended the third residents consultation event and heard a series of Questions from local residents and was able to speak to Berkeley Homes.
4. 25th July - Luke issued a series of questions to Sutton Council and Berkeley Homes based on residents concerns - and published here: www.luketaylor.org.uk/campaigns/motspurpark
5. 7th August - Luke held a meeting with Berkeley Homes to go through their initial answers to questions and to get more answers on some key points, further information then published on my website.
6. 27th August - Luke met with Sutton Planning Officer to discuss the next steps on ensuring the Sutton and Cheam constituents I represent are not forgotten when the development is considered.
7. 5th September - Luke met with South West Railways Managing Director to discuss Worcester Park services generally, but spoke specifically about the Motspur Park development, and was subsequently able to connect SWR, Sutton Council and Berkeley Homes so that they can discuss the increased demand for services and how this will be considered when SWR plan future services.
8. 14th September - Luke had a call with a Worcester Park resident about the development and discussed ways to object to development and make improvements for Sutton residents.
9. 22nd September - Luke met with TfL and asked them to make sure that the traffic impacts of the development on Central Road and Green Lane are being correctly considered, and that the reliability of all the buses through the area are not compromised by the additional traffic generated.

10. 24th September - Luke spoke with Sutton Council Planning Officers to ensure that pressure was being put on TfL to make sure traffic impacts are not ignored.

     

At the meeting on the 25th I took extensive notes so that I could capture questions to take away and try to work with Sutton Council to resolve, so see below a list of the things that residents raised, please let me know if I missed anything!

Green Lane School Impacts;

• How can the impact of construction traffic and residents traffic on Green Lane School be mitigated?
• Statutory duty to provide safe routes to schools - can a school street be implemented to reduce traffic at peak hours on the section of Green Lane from the roundabout into the school car park area?
• Can traffic impact be split between Caverleigh Way and Green Lane by removing the road closure bollards?
• Is the roundabout at the school appropriate for the levels of traffic that will now be experienced?
• Need for pavement and crossing upgrades from Kingshill Avenue, Caverleigh Way, Green Lane and Longfellow Road to the school to ensure the safety of children walking to school.
• How will air quality be monitored around during construction to ensure that emissions from vehicles and from works on site do not negatively impact the school? How will air quality be monitored longer term to ensure that the additional traffic generated does not cause air quality to deteriorate?

Green Lane Congestion Impacts;

• There are considerable issues already with parking demand on Green Lane around the sports clubs, they have been denied permission to build car parking themselves in the past, is this now an option to enable parked cars to be taken off Green Lane and reduce obstacles?
• Various residents reported a 12 minute and up to 25 minute wait at the Green Lane / Central Road junction with current traffic levels, what will be the impact of the additional traffic, and how can this be mitigated, if at all?
• Are the access plans along Green Lane and along the new road beside the Beverley Brook sufficient for emergency services access? Is there emergency service access available along the cycle and walking route that accesses Motspur Park to the north in a more direct route than having to access from the south?
• How will safety concerns all along Green Lane be addressed with the additional traffic, will new pedestrian crossings be provided? How will speed limits be enforced? Are the current pinch points that are used for speeding control outside 14, 48 and 100 Green Lane appropriate for the increased traffic? Are the existing speed cushions still appropriate for the construction traffic that will be using Green Lane to exit the site?

Central Road Congestion Impacts;

• Central Road traffic is already too heavy, what is being done to improve bus reliability on this route, and how will this extra traffic make that worse?
• Carshalton residents often avoid Central Road and Worcester Park when driving back from the A3, what is being done to reduce traffic more generally in Worcester Park?
• What is being done to work with TfL to make sure the traffic impacts are being considered? - Yes, Luke Taylor MP met with TfL to discuss the issues, and Sutton Council are working with TfL too to make sure that happens.

Construction Phase Specific Concerns;

• How will the weight limits on the bridges along Green Lane be enforced with the huge cranes and trucks that will be required to remove the steel and waste soils from the site? To avoid larger vehicles from exiting to the south, can temporary exits be made to the north via the proposed site entry at Motspur Park when abnormal loads or heavy vehicles need to exit the site?
• What will the process for contaminated soil remediation be? What equipment will be needed for this processing? What safety measures will be put in place to ensure residents are not put at risk? How will the additional sensitivity of the proximity to the school be dealt with? What are the risks of contaminated runoff into the Beverley Brook?

Flood Risk Concerns;

• Berkeley Homes claim that the capacity of the Beverley Brook will be increased through the site, which will mean less risk of flooding upstream, but how will this impact the flow downstream? Will this displace the flooding problem to Motspur Park area?
• Have the concerns of the Worcester Park Flood Forum been properly addressed? Can a meeting be arranged between the Environment Agency, Sutton Council and the Flood Forum to ensure that the site is not making flood risk worse in any areas?

Alternative Road Access Options;

• There is physical space available to build a new road access through the old BBC sports ground site accessed off Motspur Park (road) and access the site via a bridge or tunnel under or over the railway, has this option been considered to properly unlock the site? Developers admitted it would cost them too much to do this.
• Can the provision of this road be linked to wider redevelopment of the BBC sports ground? What is the latest on those plans and by Fulham FC to develop that site?

What powers do Sutton Council have to stop this?

• Why can’t Sutton Council just close the roads to stop this development from happening? - There is no way to do this without making things worse for existing residents and isn’t an option.
• Can’t Sutton just say no? - To stop a planning application from being approved you must make objections which are legally valid as reasons to stop a development from going ahead, and by making every effort to mitigate these issues first, this is what Sutton Council, and Luke Taylor MP are trying to do in a constructive way.
• Can’t Sutton Council work with Kingston Council to stop this development from impacting Sutton residents? - Yes, this is exactly what we’re doing with this meeting and with council officers understanding and explaining the impact on Sutton residents to Kingston Council.

Are the planning assumptions credible?

• Residents have concerns over how credible it is to provide 590 homes with only 90 parking spaces, are we just going to get cars parked in surrounding streets that will mean existing residents have their drives blocked and find it more difficult to park?
• How are Berkeley Homes going to really make sure that prospective residents really understand the restrictions on parking availability before they buy or rent here?
• While Sutton already has CPZ on Green Lane and Longfellow Road, how will parking enforcement on Hamptons Estate be able to cope with this extra demand?
• Issues for Merton and Kingston residents need to be addressed by relevant Councillors and Councils.
• Is there really an improvement in the biodiversity of the site following the project?
• Are the homes that are being provided really affordable? Are the affordable houses being purchased by Kingston Council? Is there a risk of poor doors and segregated housing areas, how is this being mitigated? Are all the facilities and areas of the site accessible to all residents?

Concern over demand for services;

• Rail services are already busy and unreliable, how will this be improved? - Luke Taylor MP has put SWR in contact with Berkeley Homes and Sutton Council to arrange a meeting to discuss how additional capacity can be provided, and to ensure this happens before the development would be completed.
• How will GPs, Dentists, Pharmacies and Hospitals deal with the additional demand from new residents? - The NHS needs to be clear on the capacity of local GPs surgeries and how newly registered residents will be accommodated in existing surgeries?
• What are the current school place demands like for the school catchment areas that the development will fit into, both Primary and Secondary? - Dorchester Primary is known to have spaces for Reception to Year 5, and Green Lane school has vacancies (between 13 spaces and 1 space) in all year groups bar Year 3 where there are no vacancies. Secondary School demands are likely to be higher at present, but when the development is completed it is expected that the bulge demand will have passed, and the existing surplus seen in primary schools will have reached secondary school level.