Following a campaign by local residents, the Blenheim Road area has been designated an Area of Special Local Character (ASLC) by Sutton Council.  ASLCs recognise areas of distinct character and identify particular features that the Council wants to preserve and enhance.

The area covers Blenheim Road, the houses in Sutton Common Road opposite and those across the railway line, including those at the bottom of Hallmead Road.  The houses were all built in the early 1930s (when the Sutton Common railway was built), as semi-detached cottages, with side entrances, diamond paned leaded windows and distinctive high roofs with Dutch style hip ends.  There are similar cottages at the other end of Sutton Common Road, and in Clensham and Broomloan Lanes, but they do not form part of this designation.

The Blenheim Road residents conducted considerable research on the history of this area, which is presented in the Character Appraisal submitted to the Housing, Economy and Business Committee, which approved the designation on 9 March.  The ASLC will be a material planning consideration that the Planning Committee will need to take into account in assessing planning applications in the area.  Residents will still enjoy their right to make changes to their homes, while enhancing and protecting the characteristics that make the area special.

Speaking at the committee that approved the ASLC, Cllr Steve Penneck thanked the residents for the work they had done, and Council officers for their support.  He hoped that in due course it might be possible to find out who the architect of the properties was, and whether there is any link with the similar cottages further down Sutton Common Road.