What game is Michael Barltrop’s playing in his response to our letter ‘Handle fragile town centre economy with care?' A political one, and one which treats Mitcham people with a total lack of respect. Here are some facts with Mr Barltrop would do well to digest.

Fact: Mitcham Society is not a political group, but a group which cares about Mitcham. Mr Barltrop has no idea how Mitcham Society members vote in local and national elections. Yet we all know where his sympathies lie as he is on the management committee of the Mitcham and Morden Labour Party.

Fact: The ‘regeneration project’ is not Councillor Andrew Judge’s project. Like all other councillors, Coun Judge works for local people. It is our project.

Fact: People working in shops in Mitcham have told us on many occasions and without any prompting, that their delivery vehicles can’t get access, their rubbish is not being collected and they are losing trade.

We have never suggested ‘lorries were allowed to park on Fair Green.’

What nonsense, Mr B.

Fact: The ‘tree lined avenue’ Mr Barltrop mentions will in fact be a road with up to 90 buses an hour churning out fumes over the grass and over pedestrians.

Fact: Mitcham Society campaigned against the bus lane. This was not out of any party political motivation, but because the arguments for it were not compelling and local people told us they were opposed. It is a matter of public record that in September 2013 93 local businesspeople signed an open letter to Andrew Judge in which they said "We believe the proposed new road will break up Fair Green and have a negative impact on our businesses. We strongly oppose the proposal to put a new bus road through Fair Green and urge you to think again."

Fact: Mr Barltrop says more than 75 percent of the local community support the regeneration project. As he will know, there were significant problems with the survey including major issues with the clarity of questions and non delivery of questionnaires to many people living directly on Fair Green.

Fact: Very sadly, our market is not ‘increasingly popular’. Merton Council spent tens of thousands of pounds on projects for Mitcham town centre, including significant money dedicated to bringing new life into the market. The project was an abject failure with external consultants taking money for projects but not delivering long lasting results. The fundamental  point of providing storage for stalls and goods was identified early yet never addressed, and many market stallholders are despondent and fed up with the lack of progress.

John Mansfield

Chairman

Mitcham Society