THREE CHEERS FOR CLLR MACKOVER....A HERO OF THE PEOPLE

HERO

The Officers are deeply embarrassed about being shown up by Cllr Mackover  for being inept and/or otherwise, in their dealings with Savills, who had obtained the "magic letter" as part of the secret pre-application process, (see letter from Officers to Savills on the Council website). 

Cllr Mackover put on his big boots and went to the site with his tape measure and found the "irregularity". It's all HERE

FAIRHOLME

Officers quietly wrote a report recommending retrospective approval that was not publicised but approved at the 8th March Planning Meeting (Cllr Warwick was Chairman at the meeting ). 

But conditions were draconian.

The report came clean and said that the odious Fairholme had dug a basement 1.6 metres longer than originally approved in 2013 and 400 cm deeper than approved. 

The conditions for retrospective approval include:

(i) the basement has to be shortened. The back wall must be demolished and a new wall built to conform with the 50% garden rule

(ii) a Chartered Engineer must be appointed at Fairholme's cost to supervise the work

(iii) a Stop Order on further work until the Chartered Engineer is appointed

(iv) the East European 'boys' who replaced Cranbrook must join the Considerate Contractors scheme before work re-starts

It was hushed up because Cllr Mackover did not want to rub the noses of the Officers in the basement's dirt. 

Or, possibly, Cllr Warwick made sure the whole thing was suppressed. 

The knives are out for the good Councillor Mackover. 

We should give him a puff as a hero of the people.

Another political disaster for Warwick and his crowd - they just do not understand that it is dangerous to attempt to manipulate public opinion. 

If they screwed up, the most powerful thing they can do is say immediately after the meeting "we screwed up: it won't happen again"

DON'T LET NOTTING HILL MARKET GO TO THE WALL

BARREN SPACE

There is nothing more depressing that the bare and windswept concourse surrounding Spence's over the top Town Hall. 
Some years ago, it was enlivened by the addition of a French market. 



Now is a chance to continue the tradition by hosting the ever popular Notting Hill   Farmers Market. 


The Market is being forced to move during the demolition of Newcombe House. 
Unless it finds a temporary local venue an attraction, much loved by residents, will close. 
This is the moment when Council might consider offering a short-term home to a much-loved focal point for residents.
It's also a chance to generate revenue from what is currently dead and uninteresting space and bring residents close to a building costing them millions a year to run.
A greater effort needs to be made to share Town Hall facilities with those who pay for its upkeep.

PUBLIC SPACE PROTECTION ORDERS....A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY

The Telegraph reports TODAY a group of young Saudi's have imported in their supercars, no doubt with the intention of driving noisily and dangerously around our streets.
Proudly, the Council boasts that it has issued 'several penalty notices'. 
This must have had a traumatic effect ISIS funding citizens of the 'Kingdom' of Saudi Arabia who claim to be our friends in the fight against terrorism. 
But, with friends like these brutal medievalists, we have no need of enemies.

Here is one of their trucks. It's the sort of vehicle ISIS fighters could put to good use.
Nick Paget-Brown says it too early to say whether the Public Space Protection Orders, forbidding the Middle Easterners from bad behaviour, are working. 

He is wrong. 
They have not worked from Day 1..... it's been a waste of time and money.
The police turn a blind eye to these drivers despite the dangers they pose to other road users and pedestrians.
They should never be allowed on our roads without legible number plates and full examination by DVLA. 
And it's time the police started to actively police the roads. 
Mobile speed camera patrols need to be seen on our streets and vehicle confiscation actioned.

WILL RITBLAT BUY THE LAND REGISTRY? SIGN THE PETITION

Sneakily, the Government has chosen the quiet of Easter to slip out further proposals to sell off that jewel in the crown, The Land Registry. You can read about their shady plans HERE and sign the petition HERE

The Land Registry operates in a quasi-judicial capacity. 
As one expert journalist commented, "Among the Land Registry’s many functions are quasi-judicial decisions on ownership and transfers, granting title and crucially, guaranteeing legal rights on behalf of the state. This is not just of fundamental importance to homeowners, but an essential feature of our economy. The backbone of the system is its freedom from outside influence and commercial interest."

In other words, it's a core function in a property-owning democracy. 
Just imagine if it was flogged off to a load of property developers, or worse the Qatari 'Royal' Family.
The Land Registry is well run and immensely profitable. 
It needs to be protected from predatory merchants of greed.

MPS LOSES £ MILLIONS UNDER FATSO GREENHALGH'S WATCH

And here's a multi-million COMPUTER SYSTEM COCK UP  that's happened under Fatso Greenhalgh's watch.

"You do not have to say anything, Fatso, but anything etc"

Now Fatso is threatening to sue Northrop Grumman in the forlorn hope he will be able to get Londoner's money back.



The man, besides being deeply unpleasant, is worse than useless. 
Piss up's and breweries come to mind when reflecting upon Greenhalgh.

SAFETY ON THE STREETS: SAFETY IN LIFTS

MR LARD

Another reason the Dame wakes in a cold sweat is the knowledge Boris has entrusted the safety of Londoners to an overweight podge called Stephen Greenhalgh. 

Greenhalgh's tenure as Dep Mayor, Policing has been marred by bad decision making and general incompetence. 

Whatever made Johnson think that being leader of a poxy little London Borough qualified Greenhalgh to run the Met. We Londoners live in very dangerous times. Greenhalgh is not the man for those times. 

He should have considered his position when apologising for doing something he claims not to have done. The 'something he did not do' was touch a young City Hall worker's bottom in a crowded lift. 

So why apologise for something he claimed not to have done?

More confusing still was his wish to 'apologise unreservedly for anything that could be or may have been construed as inappropriate on my part'.

Stevie is responsible for Met policing so, being 'the long arm of the law', his hands may have found the lift cabin too constraining, thus causing inadvertent contact with the lady's anatomy.
It's all rather odd......
If he didn't touch the lady's bottom why did he not come out and say so?

This sweaty and overweight, small-time, local politician is not suitable material as London's Dep Mayor: senior Met officers think him a joke and the last thing we need is a joker running the Met.

HAS CAPCO OFFERED BORIS JOHNSON A NON EXEC ROLE?

After one too many vodka martinis the old Dame often wakes in a cold sweat with a terrible sense of foreboding.

It is in that same state when she imagines the buffoon, Boris Johnson, as Prime Minister.

It says much about the depressed state of the nation that anyone could even conceive of allowing this music hall turn to run our once great country. So why Johnson, B refuse to answer questions from AM member Johnson,D about Capco's spying, when he had defended the Guardian for releasing details on spying on political figures.

Boris with Capco mates

Capco referred to this spying as 'monitoring activists'. 

It's the sort of stuff one expects from the former S. African spy organisation, BOSS

He even went on to say he was outraged to hear the USA had listened to Frau Merkel's phone conversations. 

Sadly, grandstanding stops when it comes to British citizens being spied on by a South African developer. 

In the case of Capco, Boris Johnson has not a single condemnatory word to say.

The Dame remembers, during the Riots, Johnson visited Clapham. 

He tried his buffoon tactics and was bawled out by 

angry residents. 

His look of bewilderment showed how easily he misjudged people's mood.

He is not a serious man for serious times.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR DL AND CITIZEN MAKING STAFF

The Dame attended a Citizen making ceremony at the Town Hall yesterday: she was hugely impressed.
It was a credit to the staff and made the old thing quite proud to be British.

The Inducted

The staff from the Registrar's Office were excellent and put everybody at their ease. 

Lady Arnold, our Deputy Lieutenant, did a superb job and, afterwards, at the informal reception, took the time to meet the new citizens, taking a genuine interest in their lives and aspirations.

Well done, all involved.
Her only moan was the fact that Mr Handel's music was played. 
How nice to have had a sample of that great English composer, Mr Elgar

THE DAME EXPLAINS....

The Dame can tell the world why the hapless Ian Duncan Smith, threw in the towel.

Angry Cardinal

Not much to do with BREXIT, nor his torrid relationship with bean counter Osborne.
The reality is this.... poor, slow old Ian, was hauled up in front of the very left wing, Cardinal Nichols, and told, as a devout Catholic, he should not be part of a Government hurting the disabled. 

How things have changed...there was a time when an English Catholic got a papal knighthood for supporting Generalissimo Franco......

WHAT NEXT FOR BROCKTON CAPITAL?

A wise resident described the events of the other evening as 'a battle won, but not the war'....

Samuels...better call Boris

Marks... how am I going to 
sort this one

Are Messrs Marks and Samuels, who run Brockton Capital, going to walk away, as so many others have? 
Most unlikely: these two are are not quitters.

More likely is that they will not appeal, but fine tune a re-application to address issues raised by residents.

Or, they could ask the Mayor of London to overturn the decision. However, the sheer weight of local opposition might make the Mayor timid about such intervention.

As usual, opposition speakers were limited in time. 

The four speakers were given sixteen minutes in total. 

The longest, eight minutes, was made by Tanya Alfille. 
Tanya presented the key points set in the letter from Trowers & Hamlins succinctly and with great clarity.

Camden Hill Residents Association chairman, David White, focused his thoughts on the loss of socially rented accommodation.

So, the ball is in Brockton Capital's court. If wise, they will try to mollify local ill feeling and this time really listen.

Incidentally, allowing residents just minutes to make a case is a nonsense. 
Nick Paget-Brown needs to review and revise upwards.

 

RIGGED SELECTION

Dear Dame,

Many Conservative and non-Conservative party members have questioned the fairness & transparency of the recent Abingdon Ward Selection process.

Seems pretty obvious to many people that the Party rigged the short list of prospective candidates put forward to a recent selection meeting

Only one local candidate was chosen against the advice of many residents and a very poor selection on offer. 
The rest of candidates had little or no interest in the area I have lived in for many years. Plenty of people unhappy in private and less private angry comments, but so far no answers. 
Officers of any political association  should listen to the residents and local committee members. 
They should not make important decisions behind closed doors

Why were  those chairing the meeting still refusing to answer the concerns of the local residents who were not allowed to speak about it? This seems like the old “nasty party” ways…

Abingdon Resident

PAR FOR SOUTH AFRICA....CAPCO SPIES ON RESIDENTS

Dear Dame,
It seems the paranoid are sometimes actually being followed. 

Donny Gordon CapCo

On the 25th February Earls Court developer, CapCo, announced at its AGM  money was to be spent spying on Earls Court & West Kensington and Gibbs Green Estate residents.  The spying includes those who objected to the project like Exhibitioners, who relied on the Exhibition Centre for their livelihood, and the rich and famous, like the Tory Mayoral hopeful, Frank Goldsmith's brother, Ben, who was an objector.

Ironic since this is a Conservative backed project.

South African based, CapCo labels concerned residents 'Activists' who object to the noise, nuisance and destruction of their homes and community. They should not be labelled as such for their concerns and fears now been proven correct. West Ken & Gibbs Green were the ones to break this news on their blog;
"The report goes on to identify “public opinion” as a principal risk and uncertainty: “The Group’s business (or aspects of it) are opposed or challenged by public interest or activist groups”. The impact on strategy could be “reputational damage, litigation, distraction of management and prosecution for non-compliance.” So, what is Capco doing to mitigate this risk? 
According to the rather sinister statement in its report, it is: “Monitoring intelligence on activist groups” – in other words it is spying on the residents of West Kensington and Gibbs Green and on those who have supported the campaign to save the exhibition centres. Do the public authorities – Hammersmith & Fulham Council and Transport for London – that have contracts with Capco, feel comfortable that their business partner is spying on people acting in the public interest? "Why are CapCo spying on British taxpayers?  It's concerning as CapCo are in a joint venture with TFL, a public body, as the Dame has pointed out an offshore company in Jersey to hive off profit from the tax man. Have details of 'activists' that CapCo are interested in been passed onto the developer by TFL and RBKC? Personal data that should not be shared due to the data protection act.To what extent has the spying been done? Has the law been broken in any way, have private details been acquired and have emails been broken into, are phones been tapped?  Ex spook Baron Evans of Weardale recently spoke out 

"Private firms are compiling detailed personal profiles of ordinary citizens using methods that are “just as intrusive” as those deployed by Britain’s intelligence agencies, the former head of MI5 has warned...companies are using “open source” material to learn “an awful lot about what you do on a daily basis and who you associate with” to an extent that “would be very surprising” to most of the public." 

Morningstar are the only paper to have reported on this. As usual the Lebedev owned Evening Standard remains silent. If the Daily Mail had not invested in this project it would probably have published this news too.As for Conservative MPs Boris Johnson and Greg Hands who have come out in strong support of CapCo, do they still stand by the developer and their spying on her majesty's subjects?Harry Palmer

DOES THE ROYAL BORER COUNT AS JUNK MAIL?

Some nasty residents are very rude about the Royal Borer newsletter produced by Mr Fitzpatrick's £770,000 a year PR team.

£400k a year to produce!

Do they not understand millions of ABC1 readers rely on the Royal Borer for high-quality information? 
At the Economist it is required reading and Henry Kissenger is often seen with a copy under his arm.
Of course, Mr Pickles, being an ill-educated northerner has no idea of the Borer's influence.
How dare he suggest its publication be ceased.

One resident reported to the Dame that he, and others, were fed up with bundles being stuffed through their letterboxes, despite signs saying NO JUNK MAIL.
Evidently, one of the PR team said, "we don't consider it 'Junk Mail'! So that's ok then.

SHEARING OFF OBJECTIONS

This email popped into the Dame's Faberge style inbox and makes interesting reading.
To misplace one objection is acceptable: to misplace so many is unforgivable; especially when this application is so controversial having attracted over 700 objections.

Please, Miss Shearing, do sort this out promptly and ensure the Committee is fully aware of the level of concern.

Dear Ms Shearing,

Re mislabelling of Public Comments and thus under-representation of Objections to this application on the RBKC website.

I am writing to you on behalf of the Hillgate Village Residents’ Association in advance of tomorrow’s planning committee meeting to ask why many recent Public Comments, listed on your website under documents for this planning application, are labelled as “General Comment” rather than “Objection”?  Specifically the following are objections and need to be labelled as such:

1.       15 Mar Rosemary Plant

2.       15 Mar 83 Campden Hill Towers – in fact miss-labelled as Support!

3.       15 Mar Dr Dan Plant

4.       15 Mar 14 Ladbroke Terrace

5.       15 Mar Aude Grasset

6.       15 Mar Gilvray Peck

7.       15 Mar 27 Powis Gardens

8.       15 Mar Mrs Millett

9.       14 Mar 30e Linden Gardens

10.   14 Mar 22 Acfold Road

11.   10 Mar 4a Pembridge Gardens – miss-labelled as Support!

12.   10 Mar 36 Royal Crescent Mews – miss-labelled as Support!

13.   9 Mar Chepstow Crescent

14.   7 Mar Desmond Higgins

15.   2 Mar 58 Westbourne Park Villas

I have not had time to go back beyond the beginning of this month.  We would thus request your urgent attention to label these properly as Objections and to check all “General Comment” so that public opinion is fully and properly represented.

Many thanks in advance for your assistance and we look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

CLLR FAULKS AND EXEMPLARY CONSULTATION OVER NEWCOMBE HOUSE

My Dearest Dame,

Cllr Faulks, one of the Hillgate Village Ward Councillors, has written to the Council objecting to the proposed Newcombe House development. 


A good start for the new Councillor but she needs to sharpen her act.

Furious residents approached Cllr Faulks and asked her to help them represent their views to the Planning Department about the proposed skyscraper for Nottinghill Gate. 

Her letter starts well. The first paragraph is all about her residents and their concerns. Then she goes on to list six major objections and why they should be taken seriously. 
So far, so good.

Then the letter starts to collapse. “Many aspects of the development that I commend” she chirrups.
Then she sells out completely. “I commend the developers for their efforts to involve and listen. Exemplary”

The developers seem to have listened in the tradition of Cllr Weale. “We agreed to listen but not to hear”. 
Cllr Faulks cannot have it both ways. 
Residents have just put in a petition with 750 signatures to the Council objecting to the plans. 
How could these resident views have been missed by the “exemplary consultation?”

Cllr Faulks needs to learn that she cannot be all things to all men when she joins a campaign. When she represents residents she has to represent their interests. She should not maintain an eye over her shoulder.....

Yours respectfully etc
xxxxxx

MR STALLWOOD GETS A SOLICITOR'S LETTER AND 720 RESIDENTS SIGN 'NO' PETITION

The Hillgate Village Residents Association have retained hotshot City lawyers,Trowers&Hamlin, to fight the proposed redevelopment of Newcombe Tower.
Its property team has written a very well argued letter to the Dame's new 'bestie' Mr Stallwood. 

Click to enlarge

It's a long letter and the Dame only includes part of the conclusion. 


If any dear reader wants to see it in its entirety then drop the old thing an email and she will forward on. Very odd that HVRA don't want to engage with the Dame....far too grand, one supposes!
287 people have now viewed this. Had the Dame been briefed up by HVRA days ago a good proportion of those might have added to the one hundred who have commented on the RBKC comment page. It may not be too late.
Click HERE AND MAKE YOUR VIEW KNOWN

Click to enlarge

NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE COMMISSION SAYS NO TO CROSSRAIL IN CHELSEA

Just out!

Commission Chairman
Lord Adonis

The National Infrastructure Commission has just published a fat report affirming the opponents of Crossrail in Chelsea have been right all along,

The Commission slams the pro camp saying there is NO transport case for a King's Road Crossrail and that costs have been severely underestimated.
Para 7 is the bombshell.....
Why has the Council been so aggressively pushing this project down our throats?

Click To Enlarge

PRAISE WHERE PRAISE IS WELL DUE

Well done to Cllr Coleridge and Mr Stallwood. 

You have both worked hard on this and it's a great result for residents.

More of the same, please!

The Dame also heard Coleridge was on good, sharp form in Notting Hill the other night.

Listening and assisting residents....we like it!

The Council made an Article 4 Direction to remove permitted development rights in relation to basement development on 15 March 2015. The Council consulted on the Article 4 Direction between 24 April and 8 June 2015. The Council considered the consultation responses before the Article 4 Direction was confirmed by Key Decision on 2 March 2016. The Article 4 Direction will come into force on 28 April 2016 and apply to the entire area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

The effect of this Article 4 Direction is that if you are the owner/occupier of a house within the Royal Borough you will not be able to undertake a basement development (see the actual Direction for the exact wording of the development being brought under planning control) using permitted development rights. You will have to apply for planning permission for such development from the date the Direction comes into force.

BUSINESS SAYS IT DOESN'T TRUST LOCAL COUNCILS WITH BUSINESS RATES

George Osborne wants to give local councils control over the raising and spending of the annual £26 bn of business rates revenue.

Local government waste money thus this is a dangerously flawed idea.

In K&C we saw what happens when a council with nil commercial experience tries to be entrepreneurial.

Over the years, £60 million has been wasted on Opera Holland Park; a few million more on Chelsea Care and Moylan's Folly, the Chinese paved Exhibitionist Road, cost us close to £28 million.

It is common knowledge that the Council is now spending hundreds of thousands on £200 an hour consultants because so many expert officers have had enough of the disaster that is the Tri-Borough and left.

Letting councils get their hands on business rates revenue is tantamount to giving a limit free Amex card to a heroin addict.

This is backed up by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. The ICAEW polled 500 businesses and found many believed their local council would not spend the money wisely.

At Cabinet level we have Rock Feilding-Mellen whose business experience is scant; Elisabeth Campbell who said that building Holland Park School cost us nothing! 
Mary Weale, recently 'let go' from a City broker and Major Gerald Hargreaves, an ex Army teacher, whose career speaks for itself.
Imagine this lot 'investing' in 'local enterprise'? Yes, very scary! 

"Many businesses do not have confidence in their local authorities to invest any additional income raised through business rates in the right place."

Stephen Ibbottson, ICAEW

A DAY OF THE LONG KNIVES OR NOT?

Tasteful

It's Saturday morning... The Dame reposed on her faux Louis Quinze day bed....her tasteful telephone tinkles. 

"Who's there" commands the Dame.
Silently, the Dame listens to yet another tale of woe.
It's a sobbing and inconsolable Cabinet member.....

The Dame's ample bosom

It seems that there has been some re-shuffling at Hornton St and certain political ambitions stymied.

So, who will be calling on the Dame, anxious to find comfort in her ample and maternal bosom?

IS CLLR FEILDING-MELLEN A MAN OF HIS WORD? SEEMS NOT

My Dear Dame
It has come to my attention via the new Silchester Residents Association website that it is not quite fair play in the "Regeneration Game". You can catch up HERE
We knew that Cllr Rock Feilding-Mellen and co at Hornton St had denied that there were any plans to redevelop the Silchester Estate right up until the letter was sent on July 3rd informing us of their consideration of our estate for their vision of North Kensington.  
This was just before the actual executive decision was made on July 16th to examine the possibilities of regenerating Silchester.  What we did not know was the contract for the consultancy to 'evaluate' the regen possibilities had been advertised in April, almost 3 months prior to the executive decision being made.  It appears it was advertised to members of the council’s framework, so not publicly.

        This is especially shocking as at a meeting of the Silchester Residents’ Association I attended where Cllr Rock Feilding-Mellen and Ruth Angel (RBKC head of regeneration) spoke, we were clear that residents would communicate with RBKC in a civilised and organised way, but expected respect and transparency in return.

Yours,

Shocked of Silchester

There is a petition you can sign to help HERE

SOME PEOPLE WOULD SAY ANYTHING TO GET TO BE MAYOR OF LONDON!

We knew Zac was 'Peter Pan' like, but we had no idea he was also Pansexual!
Does he really think serious, gay Londoners, are going to be impressed by this sort of 'low base' electioneering?
Small wonder we despair of politicians.....

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