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.
Goodness me. Has Mr Stallwood changed colour and become a black man?
ReplyDeleteAnd Mr Coleridge looks more appropriate on his wrecking ball.
The PC world has gone nuts. Mr Stallwood is a white man. And Mr Coleridge is an Eton man. Let all residents be crystal clear about these matters.
DeleteIndeed... it all SOUNDS GREAT... let's see what happens when all the solicitors get their expensive teeth into the matter and how many loopholes will come up, making the provision useless....
DeleteColeridge is with a football person, you idiot. It is not a picture of the Planning Director
DeleteI am not an idiot
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DeleteDame. please remove this ignorant racist drivel?
DeleteThis gives Hornton Street more power. But lack of power is not the problem in Kensington and Chelsea. Nor is there a problem with rules and regulations - such as the new basemen policy.
ReplyDeleteThe problem in Hornton Street is implementation. All too often the practices are lax and Officers are too easily manipulated by developers.
Management and Leadership need to be tightened up. Accountability needs to be practiced. Planning Director Graham Stallwood is the new boy on the block. Council Leader Paget-Brown has turned out to be a mushroom.
The article 4 move by the Planning Department is fair. I would hope the basement community will recognize that these projects are difficult for neighbours to endure. If left uncontrolled and put into the hands of an unscrupulous or unethical contractor, they can be dangerous and intrusive. Requiring planning is simply another way of protecting innocent bystanders. Had the industry performed in the past, perhaps this step would not be required -- but sadly, the industry caused this step to be needed.
ReplyDeleteI thought planning permission was already needed to build a basement. So what is new about this.
ReplyDelete12.55, the new rules only apply to double-triple-quadruple basements. Up to this new article 4 you were allowed to dig ONE, and sometimes this was considered permitted development, depending on the circumstances.
ReplyDeleteThank you, does this mean that lots of basements of a single story have been built without going through the planning process.
ReplyDelete16:10 Basements of a smaller size (one storey, generally smaller than the building footprint) are allowed to proceed without planning permission. The Article 4 step the Council just took would make any basement now go through planning. This is a loophole the Council could have closed years ago but, for reasons only they know, they have not done it until now.
ReplyDeleteThey've done so because every month the Evening Standard publishes a critical story about yet another K or C basement damaging neighbours' lives. This belated tightening up of the regulations is intended to protect Horton Street's tattered reputation. As we know, Horton Street cares nothing for residents or their opinions. Nothing changes in the rotten borough.
ReplyDeleteSounds like no praise is due to fatty Coleridge. Just the bureaucrats shuffling paper and making reports to cover their back sides.
ReplyDeleteIs the Dame getting soft in her old age? Or is Piglet wooing her with visits to the Mayors Parlour to partake?
Piglet + Dame = bad smell
ReplyDeleteWhat a rude comment!!
DeleteThe Dame is assiduous in attacking the Council when it deserves it.
However, this is a step in the correct direction.
When officers and councillors do good the Dame will always say and give one of her big, maternal hugs.
Well said Dame
DeleteIt's good to know that Cllr Coleridge was on the side of the angels in Notting Hill. Because down in Chelsea all we see is a fire-breathing horned devil who wants to wreck the place with a Crossrail 2 station.
ReplyDeleteWhich N Ken got rid of and now has to endure once more. Just stop bloody building for a couple of years, eh? Everyone is exhausted!
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