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DAMESATHOME@GMAIL.COM
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Saturday 8 November 2014

LOSING THE ODEON, HIGH ST KEN......ESSA NEEDS YOUR OBJECTIONS NOW

CRUDE RITBLAT MONEYSPINNER

The Ritblats, pere et fils practically run the RBK&C Planning Dept. 

What they want they seem to get.




Ritblat Pere has been responsible for some real London monsters and son Jamie has the same familial bad taste.
John Ritblat, in his attempts to re-engineer himself as a kindly,fusty old English gent describes his hobbies as 'bee keeping and antiquarian books' . Talk about delusion!
He has got to be pulling our legs....

Object and sting him in the tail.....



Dear All
The deadline for objections is the 14th November.    It is better if you can get them in by then but if you cannot do so it is still worth submitting them.  The cut off date is the minimum amount of time which a planning authority must allow before determining an application.  This one is targeted for a decision in January and we fully anticipate some more information may emerge before that.  You can send objections to the planning department at the town hall or by email toplanning@rbkc.gov.uk

This application has attracted more objectors than any other in this area, we now need to turn these into objections.

It is a complex application and the developers stress the benefits of retaining the trees at the front which we welcome but this does not justify an increase in the bulk of the main building, the loss of vitality along the High Street, the two new cinema entrances one in the High Street one in Earls Court Road neither of which have the presence or civic significance of the original Odeon entrance.  One of these entrances will also be a coffee bar but it will only open when the cinema opens so there will be a stretch with the Chelsea building society a narrow cinema entrance and Odeon taken over as the access to forty odd luxury flats which will generate very little footfall since the drop off point and parking will be behind in  the internal courtyard.  This does nothing for the community.

As ESSA we are  planning a double objection with a simple key issue statement followed by a more detailed submission.  The first will focus on the increase in height over the consented scheme and the design of the penthouse which we believe will be detrimental not only to those living nearby but also the garden in Edwardes Square and from high level  in many of the blocks of flats around this site and this will be combined with the loss of vitality which will flow from the dedication of the Odeon entrance to a luxury flat entrance which just does not generate the life and vitality needed at this end of the High Street.  The second objection will deal with more detail matters such as the proposal to move the existing pedestrian crossing outside Postino which links the two parades of shops.

In case you missed it there was a  bit in the Evening Standard which you can find at


You may well be aware that the emerging basement policies are awaiting the Inspectors report as to whether or not he finds them sound.  In the meantime the Council have placed an embargo on any decisions which would not get through the new policies.  This could affect the time scale for decision on the Odeon.

We are also awaiting the release of the further visual studies which the developer produced and promised to give to the planners including the night time views.  These showed clearly how much the penthouse will stand out at night particularly when there is little leaf cover to hide the building.  These show that the new development will be even more evident from Edwardes Square garden than their original studies showed. We suspect the same is true from other locations but they have not been willing to produce these.

Anthony

Anthony Walker
Edwardes Square Scarsdale and Abingdon Association

20 comments:

  1. Happy to support, but given the K&C claque's cavalier disregard for the thousands that object to the shrine to corporate greed planned at Earl's Court, the phrase 'whistling in the wind' comes to mind

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The photo reproduced by the Dame showing the new development is a perfect match for the market that is intended. Rich foreigners with hot money to burn who will invest in another high end development and leave their properties empty. This is something that K&C excels at. And developers who do not give a stuff about society will make another huge financial killing.

      The flats will be sold off plan for £5000/ sq foot which compares with the current average value for the immediate area of £2000/sq foot. It will all help to drag property prices even higher and the pathetic Mayor of London will moan that "workers cannot afford to buy houses so we need to build more affordable properties". Which of course he never manages to do.

      What a pathetic bunch of politicians we have!

      Delete
  2. Its all agreed already between Ritblatt and Hornton Street. This consultation is a farce - the Muppets are being indulged, time and money is being wasted and the pathetic Cabinet will rubber stamp the scheme with the words "we have consulted".

    All Muppets should remember the immortal words of ex Cabinet Member for Education, Cllr Mary Weale: "We agreed to consult but not to listen". (Not so private comment to Chairman of Education Scrutiny Committee at a "consultation" for the Holland Park School proposal, and overheard by a Muppet)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Campden Hill Resident9 November 2014 at 16:39

      I remember the evening well. The dreadful Cllr Cox, Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee, was having one of his fly swatting meetings and taking great joy in screwing the public. On these occasions his inferiority complex knew no bounds.

      Delete
    2. Either their is huge corruption and collusion on the part of the officers and councillors or they are just weak, impotent and ignorant.

      Delete
  3. ESSA "talks the talk". But what difference have they ever made?

    Would Anthony Walker please discuss.......

    ReplyDelete
  4. Residents who know what is good for them should see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Commander Phelps RN9 November 2014 at 16:51

    Dame...you really are sometimes quite naive. The Ritblats are not English. Like our MP they are Lithuanian so why do you describe him as an English gent when he has no an fluid oz of English blood?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My Mate the Builder9 November 2014 at 17:34

      Stuff you, mate

      Delete
    2. Commander Phelps RN9 November 2014 at 19:22

      and who the damned hell are you sir? Watch your manners

      Delete
  6. Dame, a disquieting element of racism is apparent in this thread. The Riblats are rightly disliked because of their unacceptable business practices; not because they or their grandfathers are of foreign origin.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Commander Phelps RN10 November 2014 at 19:40

    Dame, ignore that hyper sensitive remark. The point being made was that collecting antiquarian books and bee keeping are seen to be rather English pursuits...and the Ritblats are not English. Nothing racist:merely a fact. It's clear that Mr Ritblat is trying to distance himself from being a sharp property developer

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  8. You really shouldn't argue with Ritblat. People who argue with him have been known to fall out of aeroplanes.

    ReplyDelete
  9. That was always the great mystery. How did Mrs Ritblat manage to open the door of a private jet: ok it was coming into land so was not pressurised but for a frail woman to open the door was impressive....

    ReplyDelete
  10. Phelps is ignorant. Someone should take him aside and quietly point out that since the days of ancient Babylon clay tablets, codices and then antiquarian books have been a passion of the literate elite. Bee keeping is a similarly ancient and universal interest.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Commander Phelps RN11 November 2014 at 14:00

    This man Ritblat is an Eastern European ex estate agent....hardly a member of the 'literary elite'.
    He is just posing....and you, Madam/Sir are a damned fool for being taken in by this vulgar and common fellow

    ReplyDelete
  12. Phelps yet again displays his ignorance. Some of the world's greatest tyrants have been bibliophiles. These pursuits are not mutually exclusive.

    Literate culture was brought to these islands on the edge of the known world by the Romans - late in comparison with ancient Asia the Mediterranean world. The fact is that these ancient "foreign" rulers lived in marble palaces, while ancient Britons inhabited wood and mud huts.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Commander Phelps RN14 November 2014 at 02:33

    I am an Englishman.....s*d off

    ReplyDelete
  14. Replies
    1. Commander Phelps RN14 November 2014 at 18:14

      Are you suggesting the social climbing Ritblat is a tyrant?

      Delete

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