Stonecot Hill has a new community noticeboard thanks to Sutton Council’s Cheam North and Worcester Park Local Committee chaired by Stonecot councillor Abigail Lock. The board is sited at the end of the green next to the alleyway to Dudley Drive.

We’re waiting to find out who’s got the keys to the doors and what it will be used for but we understand that it’s likely to be for notices local to the neighbourhood rather than the borough-wide information that appears on the council noticeboard across the road.

The Cheam North and Worcester Park Local Committee next meets this Thursday 5 November, 7.30pm at St Bede’s Centre in St Anthony’s Hospital, North Cheam. The committee discusses a wide range of issues about the local neighbourhood and has a budget for improvements to streets and parks which is spent at the request of local people. Everyone is welcome to attend the committee and get involved.

If you’re keen to attend regularly you might like to subscribe to the committee’s calendar using your calendar software (Outlook, Google Calendar, iCal, etc.)

Local residents are invited to a Stonecot community event hosted by Councillor Tony Brett Young and Sutton Youth Service detached team.

The event takes place on Friday 20 February 2009 from 6pm – 8.30pm and is held in the school hall, Brookfield Primary School, Ridge Road, SM3 9LY.

Residents will be able to get to know other local people both young and old, have a chance to offer their views on improvements to local facilities and find out more about the council’s work in the area.

Superintendent Warren Shadbolt from the Safer Sutton Partnership will give a presentation on the Sutton Life Centre, a new community centre, library, youth, IT and educational facility to be built on Sutton Common Road.

There will be music, food, group activites, a community question time and prizes to be won.

If you would like to attend, please contact tony.brettyoung@sutton.gov.uk or Joe Edmonds on 07736 338 732.

More information is available on Sutton Council’s website.

Sutton residents in the Stonecot Hill area will be pleased that brown bin waste collections are back to normal tomorrow. Brown bins were not collected last week due to snow in the earlier part of the week. Waste collection staff were transferred to gritting duties and were unable to catch up with the backlog later in the week. Green and blue recycling bins were collected last week as normal.

As many residents now have overflowing brown bins, Sutton Council has relaxed its usual “side waste” policy and will not be penalising any residents that put out extra bin bags beside their wheelie bins.

For more information see Sutton Council’s waste collection page.

Stonecot Hill’s shopkeepers have resorted to a spot of GIY — Grit It Yourself — after Sutton Council left local residents in the lurch and the area’s pavements more suitable for Torvill and Dean than safe to walk.

Three days after Sunday’s heavy snowfall, most of the area’s pavements remain ungritted by the Council. The junction between Stonecot Hill and Ash Road and the access to the bus stop has seen dozens of falls, with one lady receiving a cut head and many others thankfully escaping serious injury.

One shopkeeper resorted to spending £70 on his own grit after repeated requests to the Council for a supply went unanswered. Some have taken to chipping away the ice with shovels while others simply shut up shop for the day as too few customers had made staying open unviable.

With temperatures expected to reach six degrees tomorrow and sun forecast for Saturday the thaw is coming slowly, but probably quicker than a council gritter.

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.