London Borough of Sutton

The London Borough of Sutton is a London borough in South London, England and forms part of Outer London. It covers an area of 43 km2 and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It is one of the southernmost boroughs of London. It is south of the London Borough of Merton, west of the London Borough of Croydon and east of the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames.

History
The borough was formed in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Sutton and Cheam with the Municipal Borough of Beddington and Carshalton Urban District which had previously been part of Surrey.

Districts
The borough includes the areas:


 * Beddington
 * Beddington Corner
 * Belmont
 * Benhilton
 * Carshalton
 * Carshalton Beeches
 * Carshalton on the Hill
 * Cheam
 * Hackbridge
 * Little Woodcote
 * North Cheam
 * Rosehill
 * St. Helier
 * South Beddington
 * Sutton
 * The Wrythe
 * Wallington
 * Worcester Park

Cultural attractions and institutions

 * The Secombe Theatre, Sutton.
 * The Charles Cryer Theatre, Carshalton.
 * Sutton Library.

Governance
The governance of the borough is by Sutton Council, which is responsible for the administration of Sutton. The borough shares its London Assembly member with neighboring Croydon. It is a safe Conservative seat with the south of Croydon and parts of Sutton traditionally voting towards the Conservatives. The current Assembly Member is Steve O'Connell a local councillor from Croydon who was elected with an increased majority of 43% from Andrew Pelling's time in the seat. Sutton is represented in the European Parliament by the London constituency.

The London Borough of Sutton Council has had a Liberal Democrat administration since 1986. Prior to that it was a Conservatives council. Lord Tope was the Leader of the Council from 1986 to 1999. Councillor Sean Brennan has been the Leader since October 2002. There are two Deputy Leaders on the Council, they are Councillors Ruth Dombey and Colin Hall. The current Conservative Leader of the Opposition is Councillor. Paul Scully. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition is Councillor Tony Shields.

Following the London local elections, 2006, the Liberal Democrats returned 32 Councillors and the Conservatives 22. The Labour Party lost all of its seats on the council. In 2007 councillors from each of two parties defected to other political parties; one to the United Kingdom Independence Party from the Conservatives, and one to sit as an Independent from the Liberal Democrats.

Sutton is divided into two parliamentary constituencies, Sutton and Cheam and Carshalton and Wallington.

Paul Burstow is the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Sutton and Cheam, replacing Conservative Lady Olga Maitland in the 1997 General Election. He was previously a Liberal Democrat Councillor.

Tom Brake is the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Carshalton and Wallington, replacing Conservative Nigel Forman in the 1997 General Election.

Notable individuals
Notable individuals associated with the borough, are (or have been):
 * Sir Nicholas Carew, executed by Henry VIII
 * Sir Francis Carew, Elizabethan horticulturalist
 * Sir John Major KG CH, former Conservative Prime Minister
 * James Cracknell OBE, Olympic rower
 * Quentin Crisp, writer, author, raconteur
 * Lord George GBE DL
 * Jeff Beck, musician
 * Alec Stewart OBE, England cricketer
 * Katie Melua, singer, songwriter, and musician
 * Sir Harry Secombe, singer, comedian and entertainer. Member of the Goon Show cast.

Education
Education is to an extremely high standard in Sutton and the Sutton LEA is regularly in the top 5 of the whole country. There are several primary schools in and around the borough.

List of primary schools

 * Abbey Primary
 * All Saints Benhilton Primary
 * Bandon Hill Primary
 * Barrow Hedges Primary
 * Brookfield primary school
 * Camden Junior
 * Cheam Common Infant & Juniors
 * Cheam Park Farm Nursery and Infants
 * Cheam Park Farm Juniors
 * Culvers House Primary School
 * Dorchester Primary
 * Devonshire Primary
 * Highview Primary
 * Homefield Preparatory School
 * Manor Park Primary
 * Muschamp Primary
 * Nonsuch Primary
 * Robin Hood Infant & Juniors
 * Rushy Meadow
 * St. Dunstan's Primary
 * Stanley Park Infant & Juniors
 * The Avenue Primary
 * Westbourne Primary
 * Tweeddale Primary

List of secondary schools

 * Carshalton Boys Sports College
 * Carshalton High School for Girls
 * Cheam High School
 * Glenthorne High School
 * Greenshaw High School
 * The John Fisher School (boys)
 * Nonsuch High School for Girls
 * Overton Grange School
 * St Philomena's Catholic High School for Girls
 * Stanley Park High School
 * Sutton Grammar School (boys)
 * Wallington High School for Girls
 * Wallington County Grammar School (boys)
 * Wilson's School (boys)

There are also a number of Private schools including Sutton High School for Girls and Collingwood School

Further education colleges

 * Carshalton College
 * Sutton College of Learning for Adults

Climate
Sutton has a temperate climate in common with most areas of Great Britain, it is similar to that of Greenwich in Inner London: its Koppen climate classification is Cfb. Its mean annual temperature of 9.6 °C is similar to that experienced throughout the Weald, and slightly cooler than nearby areas such as the Sussex coast and Central London. Rainfall is considerably below England's average (1971–2000) level of 838 mm, and every month is drier overall than the England average.

The nearest weather station is at Gatwick Airport.

Transport
Sutton is one of only five London Boroughs not to have at least one London Underground station within its boundaries. The main public transport used in the borough are local rail from its various regional stations and local buses.

National and international travel
Sutton is linked into the national motorway network via the M23 and M25 orbital motorway. The M25 skirts the south of the borough, linking Croydon with other parts London and the surrounding counties; the M23 branches from the M25 close to Coulsdon, linking the town with the South Coast, Crawley, Reigate, and London Gatwick Airport. The A23 connects the borough with the motorways. The A23 is the major trunk road through Croydon, linking it with Central London, East Sussex, Horsham, and Littlehaven. The old London to Brighton road, passes through the west of the borough on Purley Way, bypassing the commercial centre of Croydon which it once did.

The Sutton and Mole Valley Lines railway route south from Sutton links the borough to Sussex and Surrey to the south, and to Central London to the north: providing direct services to Dorking, Epsom, Horsham, Leatherhead, Wimbledon, Croydon and Wandsworth. Also running through Sutton is the Sutton Loop Thameslink line which links Luton and St Pancras International directly with the stations on the loop. The main station for all these services is Sutton Station to the south of the town. The station is the largest and busiest in Sutton. Passenger rail services through Croydon are provided by Southern, First Capital Connect and South West Trains. A pilot scheme launched by the Strategic Rail Authority, Transport for London and three train operators is designed to encourage more passengers to travel off-peak. In full partnership with the South London Boroughs which includes Sutton, SWELTRAC, SELTRANS and the transport users group, the scheme promotes the advantages of off-peak travel following improvements to safety, travel connections and upgrading of station facilities. The Thameslink Programme (formerly known as Thameslink 2000), is a £3.5 billion major project to expand the Thameslink network from 51 to 172 stations spreading northwards to Bedford, Peterborough, Cambridge and King's Lynn and southwards to Guildford, Eastbourne, Horsham, Hove to Littlehampton, East Grinstead, Ashford and Dartford. The project includes the lengthening of platforms, station remodelling, new railway infrastructure (e.g. viaduct) and additional rolling stock.

The closest international airport to Sutton is Gatwick Airport, which is located 21 mi from the town centre. The airport opened on August 1930 and is a major international operational base for British Airways, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic. It currently handles around 35 million passengers a year making it London's second largest airport and the second busiest airport in the United Kingdom after Heathrow. Croydon Airport which was partly in the Sutton side of the borders opened on 29 March 1920 but, due in part to its short runway and the expanding Gatwick Airport close by the final passenger scheduled flight departed on 30 September 1959. It used to be the operating base for Imperial Airways and was served by British Airways. Heathrow Airport, London City Airport and Luton Airport all lie within a two hours' drive of the borough. Luton Airport is connected to Sutton by a direct train.

Local travel
The hilly topography of Sutton and the lack of underground services in South London is a reason for the extensive suburban and inter-urban railway network. Sutton is in the commuter belt to London as part of suburbia. There are several busy local rail routes running along the borough's towns, connecting it with London Bridge, St. Pancras International and Victoria Station. These local routes mainly run on the Sutton Loop and Sutton & Mole Valley Lines. As well as the main station of Sutton, there are several suburban stations at Hackbridge, West Sutton, Carshalton and Cheam and more.

A sizeable bus infrastructure which is part of the London Buses network operates from a main hub on the Sutton one-way system. Arriva London, part of Arriva, is one of the largest bus operators to serve Sutton along with Metrobus, London General, Transdev London, Quality Line, and National Express London. Unlike other places in the country, London's transport infrastructure is regulated and therefore is not subject to price wars between different companies with TfL setting a standard price for bus services which is currently 90p with an Oyster Card and free for all under 16's. Services include buses to Central London, Croydon, Wimbledon, Kingston and a number of other civic centres in the south. London Buses Route X26, the longest route in London, provides services between Heathrow Airport and Croydon via Kingston.

Although hilly, Sutton is compact and has few major trunk roads running through it. It is on one of the National Cycle Network route running around South London. The North Downs, an area of outstanding natural beauty popular with both on and off-road cyclists, is so close to Sutton that part of the park lies within the borough boundary, and there are routes into the park almost from the civic centre.

Construction of the first phase of the East London Line Extension to West Croydon is now under way north of the Thames. There were plans to extend the service to Sutton but it was decided that trains would become too busy by the time it reached Croydon, that it was abandoned. Although there are still hopes that Sutton will be connected to the London Overground scheme through Orbirail and TfL's interest in bidding for the South London Lines operated by Southern until 2009 when a new South Central franchise will be awarded. Parliamentary approval to construct a railway line from Wimbledon to Sutton through what were then undeveloped rural areas had been obtained by the Wimbledon and Sutton Railway (W&SR) in 1910. The main supporters of the scheme were the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR), the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) and the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR, now London Underground's District Line). All held shares in the company and had rights to run trains over the line when built. World War I prevented any work taking place and by the early 1920s continuing financial support from the MDR meant that it had effectively taken control of the company. Through its ownership of the MDR, the London Electric Railway (LER, precursor of London Underground) was able to obtain approval to use part of the route for an extension of the City and South London Railway (C&SLR, now the Northern Line) from Clapham Common through Morden to Sutton. The route would have seen Underground Northern Line trains running on surface tracks from Morden past the nearby Underground depot and on to the Network Rail alignment close to Morden South. The Southern Railway (SR, successor of the L&SWR and the LB&SCR after the 1923 Grouping of railways) objected to this encroachment into its area of operation and the loss of its passenger traffic to a more direct route. The two companies reached an agreement that enabled the C&SLR to extend as far as Morden in exchange for the LER giving up its rights over the W&SR route. The SR subsequently built the line, one of the last to be built in the London area. It opened on 5 January 1930.

Sports facilities and clubs
Football club Sutton United F.C. are based in Sutton, who play in the Isthmian League Premier Division.

Rosehill boasts an ETTA premier level Table Tennis Club, Rosehil TTC play in the Sutton & District League and the Thames Valley League.

Carshalton has two football clubs: Carshalton Athletic F.C. (home ground at The War Memorial Sports Ground, Colston Avenue) and Carshalton FC (at Beddington Park). At the Westcroft Leisure Centre, in Carshalton there are health and fitness facilities including two swimming pools, sports hall, squash court and fitness centre. Westcroft is also home to Sutton Pumas basketball club. There are also two public basketball courts in the Rosehill section of Sutton