LBC Radio & Pollards Hill

Although I don't usually listen to LBC but last night a friend rang me up and told me that they were talking about Pollards Hill and Norbury with changes that have taken place in the area over the past few years. Some callers inveitably saw the area in a negative light, Norbury which is the nearest town centre to Pollards Hill has suffered a retail decline in recent years like many other centres but it is still contains a broad range of shops and restaurants.

Pollards Hill was also described as affluent, well to an extent that is true but I don't represent those parts which are actually in Croydon(Pollards Hill is split between boroughs with the hill itself in Croydon). The part I represent in Merton has no way near the affluence of the Croydon side where the most of the house go for £1/2 million+ (we have very few houses about £1/2 million in my ward)indeed parts of my ward have some of the highest level of deprivation in Merton with many indices like education, health, income, housing in the bottom quartlie for the Borough(though no where near the levels of some parts of London).

Anyway, I rang up LBC and was put through, I spoke up for the area and the main positive attributes about the area. One of those is the sheer diversity of the area with a large Ghanaian community along with many different races we are microcosm of London. We also have excellent community facilities with some of the best in Merton including a library which is heavily used by local residents which includes an IT suite. Living within the area I also see first hand how the area has improved over the decade since Labour came to power(though I avoided the political points on LBC), yes the area does face challenges but the they are less then they were a few years ago and over the past five years I've enjoyed having the opportunity to represent Pollards Hill on Merton Council.