Pollards Hill is a small residential district straddling south London boroughs of Croydon and Merton between Mitcham and Norbury. The boundary of the two boroughs is a street named Recreation Way. No roads directly cross the Croydon and Merton divide, and streets were planned according to borough, leading to differing architectural or building schemes. It lends its name to a ward of the London Borough of Merton.
History
dissolved in 1965 on incorporation into London. It helped to meet the post-World War II housing shortage, wrought by the London Blitz, by building prefabricated ‘Arcon’ bungalows at Pollards Hill. The first were ready by January 1946, meant to last about 10 years. Many remained until the mid-1960s. The pre-fabs were mostly demolished in the 1960s, to make way for a new, high density, low-rise scheme that was constructed by Merton London Borough Council and Wimpey Homes between 1967 and 1971. Separately, four landmark maisonette blocks were built by MBC in the 1950s on Yorkshire Road: Westmorland Square, Bovingdon Square and between those years Hertford Square and Berkshire Square. A branch library and community centre were built, which received a design award.
Governance
Councillors
Both sides of Pollards Hill elected Labour Party councillors at the last Council elections in May 2018. At present in the local government re-warding process used nationally for the regular election of a delegation of councillors, it lends its name to a ward of the Merton.
UK elections (general elections and by-elections)
East and west have, since 1992 and 1997, respectively seen their relevant two seats in London, locally dependent wholly on borough, return Labour MPs. The seats are Croydon North and Mitcham and Morden. The narrower majority, narrowly, is in the latter; at all elections since 1997 the two seats have seen a greater than 28% Labour majority.
Geography
To the east, covering the sides of the hill, are larger houses, stretching towards central Norbury. The roads are lined with pollarded lime trees. To the west, at the foot of the hill, is the Pollards Hill estate stretching to Mitcham Common. A section of the estate was transferred to the ownership of Moat Homes housing association in 1998 under a stock transfer from the local authority. Moat has since demolished four maisonette blocks dating from the 1950s and is undertaking a wider regeneration of the stock. Covering the crown of the hill is Pollards Hill Park, an open area of 7.75 acres, managed by Croydon Council.
Pollards Hill is home to the largest Ghanaian British community in the UK on the Merton side according to the 2011 census, with 6% of the population and over 600 people born in Ghana. It also has a large Asian British population on the Croydon side, and the area is home to many other different nationalities.
Culture and community
Pollards Hill on the Merton side also contains a wide range of community facilities including a library, community centre, youth centre and a neighbourhood police station, the first in Merton. In 2005, a community cycling club was set up with help from the Commonside Trust. It won the London Cycling Campaigns' award for Best Community Cycling Initiative in 2006.
