KENSINGTON SOCIETY FIRES BROADSIDE AT COUNCIL

PERMANENT BLOT ON HOLLAND HOUSE

The Kensington Society is one of the most effective and powerful of Borough resident associations:its views need to be taken extremely seriously....

In a broadside against the Council's own application to itself, making the Opera Holland Park canopy permanent, it has demonstrated the administrative incompetence of the Cockell Leadership. 

Amanda Frame, Chairman of the Kensington Society, has submitted a devastating objection, with a forensic analysis that has become a hallmark of the Kensington Society. 

But it is the introduction to their evidence that is jaw dropping:

"The Kensington Society is strongly objecting to this application. Before addressing the points of the

objection however, we must point out an error in the description. With regard to the Listed Building Grade it is noted as N/A. Holland House is Listed Grade I and it was one of our first listed buildings: it was listed on 29 July 1949. 

Listed within the RBKC’s own website, The History of the Royal Borough, "The great houses of Kensington", Holland House is noted as one of three of the greatest houses in the Royal Borough. It is unfortunate that in an application made by RBKC itself it does not recognise the importance of this building. 

English Heritage guidance, published in January 2012, states that they MUST be consulted about any application which affects the setting of a Grade I or II* building. We understand that English Heritage has not been consulted and therefore any approval of the application is invalid".

There cannot be clearer evidence that Cllr Cockell is trying to run the Borough as his personal fiefdom. When he wants to do something-even if plain wrong, he just steamrollers the system and abuses process to achieve his ends. To hear that his close Cabinet colleague, Cllr Lightfoot, is concerned about the application makes the situation even more serious.....