Buses: Routes 93, 413 and 80 are operating normally through Stonecot Hill.
Roads: The surface on the main A24 Stonecot Hill road is clear and lighty traffic is moving freely. Many side roads have still not been gritted and are very icy, so drive with extreme care.
Pavements: Despite some gritting yesterday, most of the pavements on Stonecot Hill are extremely icy so walk with caution and expect your journey to take longer than usual. Side roads are also very icy.
Minicabs:Sky Cars on Stonecot Hill are open and have cars available for those that don’t have their own transport (or don’t want to use it!)
Sutton Schools: Most schools in Sutton are open today. Please check this list or your school’s website for details.
Merton Schools: Most Merton schools will be open today. Please check this list or your school’s website for details.
Waste collection: Today is the normal waste collection on Stonecot Hill for residents in the Sutton Council area. Sutton Council will resume waste collections today having suspended them since Monday to transfer staff to gritting and other snow-related duties, but will start with Monday’s collection rounds and catch up during the week to Saturday. So, you can put your bins out today but don’t expect them to be emptied necessarily. The council have asked residents to dig out their bins as those that are snowed in and cannot be moved will not be emptied. More details on Sutton Council’s homepage.
Merton Council collected waste on their side of Stonecot Hill yesterday.
The Emmanuel Parent and Toddler Club will be closed today but hopes to be back next week.
Check this page for updates throughout the day. I’ll update the time in the page title when there’s new information.
Heavy snow has brought most of Stonecot Hill to a standstill today with buses cancelled, schools shut and many businesses closed for the day.
But every cloud has a silver lining. For many it’s an unofficial bank holiday and a chance to go out and play in the snow or just stay at home in the warm. Those desperate or foolish enough to venture out in their cars won’t find themselves bothered by traffic wardens.
Many key businesses and services in the area remain open, including both doctors’ surgeries, Imperial Pharmacy and Barclays Bank (though get in quick before the cash machine runs low). The Co-op is closed but most of the newsagents and convenience stores are open and have stocks of essentials like bread and milk, though many of the newspapers were not delivered to them today.
There has been some gritting and snowploughing on the main road but many of the residential side roads remain dangerous and should be used with caution. There has yet to be any gritting or salting of the pavements.
With most public transport out of action the best advice is to avoid unnecessary journeys but if you really need to travel and can’t reach your destination on foot, local minicab firm Sky Cars are open and doing their best to keep up with demand.
For more information about schools and other public services please keep checking the Sutton Council website.
Residents in Hill Top have terrible trouble with fly tippers, but as their access road is private property the council aren’t that keen to help. Two recent suspicious fires in the area don’t seem to have made much difference.
Sometimes it’s better to show rather than to tell.
Stonecot Hill can look forward to a brighter and more colourful summer after volunteers from Sutton Living Streets gave the street planters a seasonal makeover.
Bright purple lavender plants and pink geraniums now shine alongside the more muted trees and shrubs, which themselves have had a timely trim.
The planting is part of Sutton Council’s Take Part Take Pride week, which encourages residents to organise events in their neighbourhoods to bring people together socially and to improve the places where they live.
Campaigner and keen gardener Charlotte Gilhooly said,
The planters have been dull for a long time and we wanted to do something about it now that summer’s here. We were really pleased when we heard about Take Part Take Pride and asked if we could use the opportunity to brighten up our neighbourhood. We’re delighted with the results and looking forward to keeping the planters in shape.
Sutton Living Streets is the local branch of a national charity that campaigns to promote walking, better streets and stronger communities.
Stonecot Hill is now one of the many places to feature on Open Street Map. The site aims to let people work together to draw a street map of the whole world. Anyone can use the map, whether they just want to find out where they’re going or incorporate it in their own projects.
Like Wikipedia, anyone can edit Open Street Map. So as the local coverage was quite sparse I took the opportunity to add in the names of many of the roads, place the Woodstock pub and St Cecilia’s and Emmanuel churches and draw in some roads which weren’t already there.
You can see the full map by clicking on the image above. Anyone can contribute, so if you’ve got the time and the inclination and want to add in your road or place anything on the map from post boxes to cash machines, you can get started editing here.
