Sometimes it’s better to show rather than to tell.

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.

Police and community support officers from Stonecot Safer Neighbourhoods Team are stepping up foot patrols after two suspicious fires broke out in the area last week.

The first fire left the Nisa Thai restaurant with a big clean-up job after the blaze destroyed the roof and part of the walls of its rear extension.

Three days later, a second fire caused damage to a garage at the rear of one of Hill Top’s houses, just 50 metres from the restaurant.

Prompt action from the fire brigade prevented the fires from spreading and kept damage to a minimum. No-one was hurt in either incident.

• In an emergency phone 999.
• Do you know who may have started these fires? Speak to the Safer Neighbourhoods Team on 020 8721 2492 or email them at Stonecot.snt@met.police.uk

Slightly off the usual Stonecot Hill beat, Transport for London’s finest towaway crews were taking good care of this driver’s vehicle this morning further up the A24 in Morden. I do hope that everyone concerned was insured. Perhaps it’s not quite as bad as reversing one’s car through a shopfront.

Aside from the precarious and presumably damaging nature of the lift itself, TfL are adopting their usual policy of parking their towaway truck in the middle of the road to remove a vehicle parked in a bay. The aim, supposedly, is to reduce congestion and safety hazards.

UPDATED 30 April: This story has been picked up by the Evening Standard.

For up-to-the-minute traffic warden alerts and parking news from Stonecot Hill by text message, text follow stonecotparking to 07624 801 423. This service is free.

Many thanks to the Peter Sutton of Carpet Designs (020 8641 7909) and Ron Young for contributing these photos.

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.

Are these your keys? You can collect them from the Co-Op next to the pub.

Stonecot Parking is a news feed on the Twitter website where we’ll be posting short updates when wardens are spotted or there’s any other parking news.

Twitter is designed for short, instant messages and there are many ways you can read these updates:

• On the web
• Get updates delivered to you by email by entering your address into the form below, but please note that emails are sent only once per day so if you want real-time updates please choose another way of subscribing.
Enter your email address:

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• Subscribe to the RSS feed in your feed reader. There’s one built in to Internet Explorer 7 or you could try Google Reader
• If you join Twitter you can follow Stonecot Parking on your own Twitter page and opt to receive text message updates to your mobile phone. “Following” just means you’re subscribed to that feed within Twitter. Click the big button underneath the Stonecot Parking icon to follow once you’re signed in.
• Various instant messenger programs like AIM and Google Talk

We’ll do our best to keep this up to date but there’s no guarantee, so don’t blame us if you get ticketed or towed.

Storms and high winds on 9 March left Stonecot Hill mostly unscathed despite the dire predictions of the weathermen. But this wall and fence in Woodstock Rise took a tumble, leaving the owners with a big clean-up job and (we hope) their insurers with the bill.

A shop window has been smashed after being hit by an air rifle fired by a man in a passing van. No-one was hurt in the incident which happened while the shop was open but the window will need to be replaced. Sutton Police are investigating.

Did you see this incident or have you seen anything similar elsewhere? Do you know who might be responsible? Call Sutton Police on 020 8643 1212 or speak to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

A bogus charity clothes recycling bank has been removed by Sutton Council. Operators Green World Recycling had not sought planning permission before leaving it on the pavement outside Favorite Chicken on Stonecot Hill.

According to the operators, proceeds from the sale of the donated goods would be given towards “essential environmental projects” run by the Gaia Movement Trust — after operating costs had been deducted. But an investigation by the Independent in 2000 found that no money from the proceeds of recycling had been donated to charity during the first three years of operation.

Neither Green World Recycling nor the Gaia Movement Trust are registered as charities in England. Its predecessor organisation, Humana UK, which ran similar clothes recycling schemes, was closed down by the Charity Commission in 1999.