Campion sets out his tent on planning matters

Hornet was trolling around that house of Conservatism, when she saw that Cllr Campion was fulminating about insolent residents who dared form 'local unelected pressure groups'- as he dismissevely described them- to fight off Cllr Boyo Moylan's plans to turn our beautiful Borough into a concrete jungle, a la Brum Central.

He does not like Minister Greg Clark's plan to devolve matters of planning to residents: but why not you might ask?

According to Cllr Campion, a close friend of The Great Architect, "It will cause chaos if pressure groups of local residents, who represent no one but themselves, can override the decisions of locally elected councillors", and, "this cannot be left to the whims of local unelected pressure groups". 

What a piece of tortology!

Now that got Hornet kind of wondering........

Cllr Campion- when he is not maintaining other councillors websites (and they are not that impressive actually), or using his technical skills to identify yours truly (badly) - is an architect. So thus no surprise that he amplifies the views of Boyo, who not long ago claimed, that residents should not be consulted on planning matters.

So can we safely assume that Cllr Campion was party to the subterfuge that nearly prevented residents from knowing about the vulgar and crude designs for the Iranian Embassy? Did Cllr Campion too have mint tea and Persian pastries with representatives of this murderous regime? We should be told. We only found out about the Iranian Embassy thanks to The Standard's Mira Bar-Hillel(thank you Mira, we owe you one)

Cllr Campion claims to 'stand in' for residents when it comes to deciding planning matters on their behalf. So no surprise that he is also a councillor voted in on a abysmally low turnout, and far too grand to hold surgeries for those residents. Residents, who, he opines should keep quiet and let he and colleagues decide whether to destroy Sloane Square et al. The good councillor forgets that these 'pressure groups' are generally made up of resident associations he is proud to boast membership of.....

The roll call of major developments where insolent residents have had to fight to have their voices heard has been well chronicled....Sloane Square, Holland Park School,The Commonwealth Institute, The Iranian Embassy,Cheval Place. And as one leading campaigner comments, "Cllr Campion talks of "quasi-judicial" functions - but the Council repeatedly bypasses its existing legal powers to oblige certain applicants. RBKC is seemingly seen voting according to Daniel Moylan's diktat".

LDF 2005 public consultations produced results unacceptable to Mr Moylan - concerns, for example, over the future of Portobello Market & lack of public lavatories. The consultation was scrapped. There is no mention of either issue in its replacement. So much for listening to residents....Residents are clamouring for a transparent & consistent planning system. If RBKC persists in its present course; residents will have the final say. In case you haven't noticed, the process is already well under way."

Cllr Campion is of a vintage, like many on the benches at Hornton Street when "the public knew their place" and the public were like the proverbial school boy "seen but not heard". The we know best approach is finished and its about time Campion and his colleagues moved with the times.