Below is my letter to Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, in regard to his provisional decision this week to allow Merton Council to approve the Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium without further review:
Dear Sadiq,
Development of Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium
I was deeply disappointed to read that you do not wish to review the planning application for this site, reversing the decision of the previous Mayor of London, made just a few months ago.
You will recall that in late 2014 and early 2015 I led a campaign alongside Wandsworth residents to object to the imbalance between the scale of this development (very large) and the level of local service provision to accomodate it (very little). In February 2015, as our MP, you also went on the record to express your 'serious concerns' with the application, echoing our call for more to be provided by way of local transport, car parking, school places and GP services.
To remind you of your previous position, you can read your statements here and here.
The issues you raise have not been addressed since that time, so myself and local residents are saddened that you are reversing your decision on these topics without any justification.
To reiterate this point, when calling-in the Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium application for review in March this year, the previous Mayor also recognised these widespread concerns:
'.. is noted that the application would have a significant effect on one or more borough and raises strategic matters relating to transport and impact on services'.
Tooting residents are already upset that you have broken your Mayoral election promises to freeze all Transport for London fares and to build 50% affordable housing on sites such as the Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium (this application has less than 10%). We request that you do not add to this list of u-turns by also going against your previous commitment to get additional community services built into this application.
I have given my view on this matter via the online consultation and am urging other Tooting and Earlsfield residents to do likewise. But regardless of the results of that consultation, I would urge you to honour your previous committments to local people and hold a full hearing on the application, such that the community's serious concerns can be addressed.
Yours sincerely,
Dan Watkins
Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for Tooting