So what is this all about? The Dame has had sight of this email from Michael Bach of the Chelsea and Kensington Societies:he is not a happy bunny.
The Dame needs some help from her mentor, Person Familiar With The Situation to get a grip on the cause of his fury.
And here is PFWTS's highly informed take on what happened....
"This is an example of the cynical manipulation of regulation by Decaux assisted by friendly Officers in Hornton Street. Here is the story. BT has an outdated Public Service Obligation to provide public telephone boxes as part of their license to be a telephone operator. The obligation is now out of date because everyone has mobile telephones and nobody uses the boxes. And the business loses £ millions. But the phones still have to be provided. So enter Decaux who take the problem off BT's hands and use the telephones as an excuse to get some otherwise impossible to approve street advertising space. And of course the chumps in Hornton Street go along with it.
What a ruse! Why do we bother to pay high salaries to employ supposedly intelligent Officers?"
And here is PFWTS's highly informed take on what happened....
"This is an example of the cynical manipulation of regulation by Decaux assisted by friendly Officers in Hornton Street. Here is the story. BT has an outdated Public Service Obligation to provide public telephone boxes as part of their license to be a telephone operator. The obligation is now out of date because everyone has mobile telephones and nobody uses the boxes. And the business loses £ millions. But the phones still have to be provided. So enter Decaux who take the problem off BT's hands and use the telephones as an excuse to get some otherwise impossible to approve street advertising space. And of course the chumps in Hornton Street go along with it.
What a ruse! Why do we bother to pay high salaries to employ supposedly intelligent Officers?"
 |
| WORDS FAIL.... |
Now which councillor was it who put down, on expenses, a hearty breakfast for himself and the curiously named Monsieur Jean Jean of Decaux? Stand up Danny Boys Moylan!
Email to Tim Coleridge.................
Dear Tim,
We are gutted!!
This is extremely disappointing: 20 out of 25 of the JC Decaux/BT advertphones have been allowed by the Inspector.
It was a big mistake ever to encourage JC Decaux/BT to come up with this programme – now we are stuck with these for the next generation. It makes a nonsense of everything we have worked for over the last 15 years.
Strengthening the Local Plan after the event will not be enough – we must resist further encroachment of advertisements on our streets. This decision has just made it harder!
There will be a lot of people who will be angry about this result
Michael
MICHAEL BACH
Another Planning cock-up, aided and abetted by allegedly corrupt Councillors and allegedly inept officers. Oh let's just say it - IT'S A FIX.
ReplyDeleteGet your foot in the door at Hornton Street and it becomes a "nice little earner". Apart from Decaux, there are all those pavement renewal companies getting contracts to renew perfectly good pavements in the upmarket Kensington Streets. £100k a time for doing both sides of a street. £3 million a year of tax payers money getting blown away on this "little earner".
DeleteIt's been going on for years. RBKC pays Decaux £25k or more a year for each of those dreadful and unusable auto loos. They were installed for no other purpose than to enable the Council to tick the relevant boxes. Probably all on 30 year contracts.
ReplyDeleteI have never stepped foot in one of those in the fear that I may never be seen again!
DeleteI had to use on once - never again, I would rather slink round the corner and find a quiet spot! It was unbelievably filthy.
DeleteWhat a huge construction to deliver a very small thing - a public telephone! Not an ounce of common sense exists in the planning system. Why not just let A, B or C put up bill boards for their advertising and stop pretending that we are giving permission for something else.
ReplyDeleteAnother clear sign that the Hornton Street set up has drifted into a bad place.
This solid slab in the middle of a pavement should be outlawed on grounds of public safety. A huge blind spot for motorists and cyclists who will not be able to see pedestrians about to emerge and cross the road. An incredible decision of stupidity.
ReplyDeleteThe old telephone boxes had glass side windows which were therefore transparent and did not block the view of people and vehicles trying to navigate safely.
What a load of miserable little gits blogging on here again
ReplyDeleteIf you persist in being a bore and adding nothing to the debate the Dame will have great pleasure in banning or censoring you. You have been warned....And the Dame has no fear of being accused of being Stalinist....
DeleteBecause as we all know, the Labour group in K&C who are part of the editorial team of the Hornet are very nearly Stalinists
DeleteAs the Dame said.....she has no fear of being Stalinist in dealing with a twit like you Palmer. Many think you are borderline insane....poor Queensgate residents!
DeleteIf you think about it Public Telephones are almost obsolete now. Mobiles have seen to that.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a big con being played on us all by Cllr Moylan and his pal Mr Jean Jean from Decaux
This is an example of the cynical manipulation of regulation by Decaux assisted by friendly Officers in Hornton Street. Here is the story. BT has an outdated Public Service Obligation to provide public telephone boxes as part of their license to be a telephone operator. The obligation is now out of date because everyone has mobile telephones and nobody uses the boxes. And the business loses £ millions. But the phones still have to be provided. So enter Decaux who take the problem off BT's hands and use the telephones as an excuse to get some otherwise impossible to approve street advertising space. And of course the chumps in Hornton Street go along with it.
DeleteWhat a ruse! Why do we bother to pay high salaries to employ supposedly intelligent Officers?
These are being deployed nation wide.
DeleteThe odds of a single local authority (even one as self-deluded as RBK&C) was going to obtain some kind of dispensation was nil.
On the plus side: these don't smell of piss.
Unless I'm mistaken, The Dame long ago wrote that our own dear Cllr Moylan met senior Decaux representatives for an elegant repast at a high end hotel, maybe in New York. This was naturally at council taxpayers' expense.
ReplyDeleteWe continue to reap the benefits of such meals. Without due process, our streets are now littered with miniature advertising hoardings, installed on the pretext of providing us with obsolete public telephones. This borough is truly rotten.