It was interesting to note Simon Latham's comments about the proposed youth site at 82 Stanley Park Road.

Perhaps there would not be such anger about the proposal had the council decided to tell more people about it. Instead the planning department only felt obliged to tell people living within 90 metres of the site. This rather conveniently left out Stanley Park infants, junior and high school, which are all very near to the site. As Mr Latham knows, this will be a community project based in a quiet residential area with the potential to impact on the whole community. Therefore the whole community should have been informed, including schools, businesses and police, not just the nearest residents. None of the aforementioned were informed and this in itself creates suspicion.

The council has stated that the majority of residents at the project will not be offenders. Taken literally, that could mean that out of seven residents, three could be offenders. It would only take one with a £50 a day class A drug addiction to cause a mini crime spree.

The placing of the site in such a close proximity to the three schools is poor, there seems to have been little consideration for the welfare of the school children. Also, with the project at Heathdene Road and with planning permission granted for the project at 83 Wallace Crescent, it appears that a disproportionate amount of youth projects will be in the Carshalton/Wallington borders. All three projects would be within a mile of each other. Only last year the council spent thousands of pounds worth of council tax payers' money on the present site. This was to extend and to make improvements. If the proposal goes ahead, that site will be flattened. It now appears that money was wasted.

CHRIS SHARP

Woodfield Avenue

Carshalton Beeches

December 12, 2001 17:00