In the last couple of weeks members of the Planning Applications Committee have turned down a number of basement applications-to the joy of residents.
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| CHelsea Cinema-Doomed! |
And a few days ago Cadogan's application to redevelop the Chelsea Cinema and adjoining Trafalgar House pub was kicked into touch.
No wonder residents were in a self congratulatory mood.
Sadly, the The Dame thinks that residents have been counting their chickens.
None of these decisions are any form of reliable indicator of what the future might hold.
Councillors have made a show of standing up to Mr Bore and team, but the truth is this....'yes, there will be a temporary moratorium on big basements but, in the end, a council aligned to the interests of 'big money' developers will throw a few scraps to residents and carry on as before.'
As one planning expert and senior member of a highly regarded local resident association said, "our victory over Cadogan was Pyrrhic: they will come back and win on appeal"
No wonder Mr Bore could afford to be so patronising and condescending at the meeting!
If residents really want change they need to get some muscle and that means putting up their own candidates.... if unhappy with their politically sponsored councillor.
It looks to me as if the Dame is back on her yacht and Ludo has taken over her typewriter again. Not up to the usual standard. 'The Council is aligned to the interests of big money developers' she says. But she also says that the Council turned the application down but it will be granted on appeal. So is Ludo saying that it is the Planning Inspectorate who are taking bungs from the developers!!
ReplyDeleteNo, the Dame is firmly land bound and poor, dear Ludo is 'drying out'.
ReplyDeleteThe Dame has never suggested that there is corruption;merely that the Council is fearful of upsetting powerful vested interests and their batteries of smooth lawyers and 'experts'. In this particular case it was easy to make a bit of a show of resistance knowing that it go thorough on appeal.
Dear Dame, on both occasions it was the LABOUR Councillors who instigated the rebellion, on perfectly sound grounds, and the rest of the committee saw the good sense in it and was persuaded. Not that this is necessarily a political issue at all, more (from what I have seen) a prevalence of intelligent and independent thinkers who have read the papers and asked the questions in advance.
ReplyDeleteIt is not political, but integrity rules.
This is a good thing, and some of the newer Conservative Councillors are encouraged in this new arena to think with their brains and not their pockets.
For as long as I can remember it is only the Labour councillors on the Planning Committee who ever read the papers, study the proposals and make sensible observations. Unfortunately they are routinely overruled by the Chairman, Cllr Warwick, who convenes the Tory Group before every Planning Meeting and tells them how to vote. And since the Torries are too lazy to even read the papers prepared by Officers, they just do what the Officers recommend. Very occasionally a Tory steps out of line and makes it clear that the whole thing is a farce and resigns from the Committee in disgust and then quits the Council. This is exactly what Cllr Mosley did.
DeleteThe Tories do not even try to create an appearance of democratic behaviour on the Planning Committee. Arrogant and lazy Deputy Chairman Cllr Mackover has not bothered to attend a single Training meeting laid on by Officers or attend a single briefing meeting laid on by Officers before Planning Committeess. The useless Mackover has no qualifications or experience of building law, planning law or construction matters. Or anything else that matters. And he is much too important to correspond with residents by email or telephone, routinely ignoring all approaches. What a puffer.
DeleteSam suffers from depression. He has every intention of attending briefings. One day.
DeleteThe lesson from the Chelsea Cinema is that a group of local celebrities like Bryan Ferry gave their names to the "no" campaign. Just like Sloane Square - it was James Thomson and his celebrities who forced the reptile Moylan to stop in his tracks. But this should not detract from the backbone and commitment that we are seeing from the newborn Cllr Sir Anthony Coates who is doing a first class job to articulate resident concerns about basement digs, And he is taking on the vested interests of Officials in the Hornton Street Planning Department.
ReplyDeleteThere is more than this to the Sloane Square story. The celebrities brought the press on board to make a fuss about Moylan's mad cap scheme. But it was the focus and determination of Thomson that won the day. When his wife Maagaret went to the Kensington Town Hall and asked for six sets of election papers, the Tory Agent (Fragrant Howells) turned white. A few days later a chastened Pooter (disgraced ex Leader Cllr Cockell) approached James Thomson in private and offered to scrap the Sloane Square proposal on condition that Thomson did not put up candidates at the local election. This is how power works
DeleteReaders of this blog are hugely impressed by the stand that Cllr Coates is taking over the basement issue. This is exactly how representatives should behave. Listen to their residents and campaign on their behalf. Cllr Coates is setting an example for other Councillors, especially the Tory Councillors, and it is hoped that they will wake up and take note of some long overdue and outstanding conduct
DeleteTHREE CHEERS FOR COATES
Cadogan gets a bloody nose over his ridiculous proposal to wreck the much loved Kings Road Cinema. This rebuff comes hot on the heals of Cadogan's refusal to continue subsidising the Conservative Office at 1A Chelsea Manor Street (the building is owned by Cadogan) and the hopeless Tories have been forced to find new premises. Rumour has it that they will be slumming it in North Kensington which is not to the liking of fragrant Howels.
ReplyDeleteRevenge is a dish best served cold
DeleteTories in N Ken? Too too tragic.
DeleteThey will soon find out just exactly what the locals think of them; they'd better choose the location very very carefully!
Watch this space! The Tories will exchange contracts on a long lease at the end of this month and have launched an appeal to pay for new high tech equipment and computers. But from what 10.53 says it is water canon that they need, not computers, to control the riff raff in the North
DeleteRock has worked hard to persuade his colleagues to move nearer to home. The puffers ambitions know no bounds
DeleteThe Dame could be right that it is a false dawn. But we should remember that Cllr Mills has recently joined the Planning Committee. She has been outspoken in word and writing that the whole set up is a bad joke. And worse.
ReplyDeleteMaybe she is making her presence felt. We hope so
Bore is dust. The question is "Who will replace him?" Mr Stallwood, one of Mr Bore's Deputies, is young and ambitious. He has been alerted on a number of occasions to the massive resident unrest about planning - but it is not clear that he gets it. Maybe he has been showing loyalty to his boss. But Hornton Street cannot afford to make another mistake with this important appointment. Cllr Paget-BRown needs to think carefully and understand that we are watching to see what he does.
ReplyDeleteI just doubled the number of people working for me to cope with basement demand. It will be a disaster if the Planning Committee ruins my market.
ReplyDeleteMore drivel from the Labour blog. Dnet-Coade stirring again
ReplyDelete12:32 aka Cllr Palmer
ReplyDeleteIf you spent more time reading council papers rather than playing with your share portfolio in council meetings you would not come in for criticism
It's not a portfolio - it's spread betting. Gambling pure and simple.
ReplyDeleteThe pratt now wants Wii's and Xboxes in the new north Ken Leisure Centre rather than proper exercise machines! Must have shares in Nintendo.
ReplyDelete