TEN DAYS BEFORE THE BILLIONAIRE BLIGHTS OUR LIVES: OBJECT NOW!

We moan about those appalling planning decisions blighting our neighbourhoods: it's a bit like moaning about the English weather. 
Not much we can do about the weather but much we can do about a Council favouring rich offshore developers at our expense and comfort.

THE LIGHTS ARE ON BUT NO OWNER AT HOME

And rich, offshore developer is exactly what billionaire David Graham is.

His mansion, The Old Court House, has 12,000 sq.ft and around 8 bedrooms.
He lies if he suggests that he's building his mega basement because he needs more space. 


With several homes around the world, the eighty-year-old bachelor should be thinking of downsizing not making a kind of hell for his neighbours.

Here's the Dame's theory..... 
If he gets planning consent Graham will flog the Old Court House, having added vast value.... and leading to yet another problem. 
The buyer could keep rolling the permission for years ahead, blighting nearby homes.
You all need to stop this mega basement in its tracks.
The Dame implores you to click HERE and object on one or all of the following grounds;

• The Old Court House has a pre-existing basement
• No Traffic Management Plan can cope with 20-30 daily lorry loads through local streets
• A danger to the elderly and the young
• Noise and Pollution

and please object and forward to friends.....

RESIDENTS VERSUS COUNCIL....A BATTLEPLAN

A great comment which all should read.....

We Too Have A Voice28 January 2017 at 09:07

There need to be at least three written objections in order to force the issue out of the hands of Officers (the Brown Envelopes) and into the Planning Committee.

The Planning Committee Councillors (politicians) then need to be made aware of public feeling. Ways of doing this include:
(i) many formal letters of objection which Officers need to publish and reply to (the letters can be sent easily on the Council website)
(ii) speaking against the proposal at the Planning Committee
(iii) letters of objection from the learned bodies eg Kensington Society, and representative bodies eg Resident Associations, also sent via the Council website
(iv) articles in the press (eg Evening Standard) shortly before the Planning Committee
(v) direct emails to Planning Committee Councillors (Officers hate this because they lose control). Generally, there are 5 Councillors on the Planning Committee and the names can be obtained from the Council website a week before the meeting when papers and Agenda are published

Remember that Officers and Planning Committee Councillors generally have contempt for residents who are considered a nuisance and an inconvenience. The system goes to great lengths to suppress objections eg the the three-minute rule which denies objectors the fair time to make their case at Planning Committee, in spite of the fact that the developers have spent months meeting with Officers,figuring out the land, and often stuffing Brown Envelopes.

Objectors need to be well-researched, passionate and bloody-minded. They also need the will power to batter their way into the heads of Councillors like Quentin Marshall (Chairman of the Planning Committee) who love to feel important by moving in the company of the rich and mighty developers and Arab owners of Harrods. And human failure Quentin loves the thrill of "divide and rule".

There are some shining examples of residents who know how to deal with these rodents. Dr James Thomson, Prof Gordon Taylor, and the Dame are a few names that come to mind.

And remember the words of Cabinet Member Cllr Tim Ahern. "Planning in Hornton Street needs to be more resident friendly". 

The Leader, Cllr Paget-Brown, has failed to make any impact on the prevailing culture in his most important resident facing Department. 

Planning in K&C is a "no go" area for justice, common sense, and community interests. 

It is the preserve of rapacious developers, rich exploiters and Brown Envelopes.

STOP DAVID GRAHAM RUINING YOUR STREETS!

30 LORRIES DAILY DOWN OUR QUIET
STREETS

David Graham, the 'barely there' owner of the Old Court House DOES NOT WANT YOU TO DO THIS....
So what does Mr. Graham NOT WANT YOU TO DO?



He does not want you to click HERE! and write a short message to the Council objecting to the basement application on the grounds of

noise, increased traffic dangers, pollution and the fact that there is an existing basement.

What he wants is for residents to keep quiet about his plan to ruin lives for the next few years.

Savills are employed to oversee his massive basement scheme. 
They are notorious liars and refuse to tell the truth about the disastrous impact the scheme will have.

BLIGHT AREA

Similar massive basement projects in Kensington have caused long term misery for residents; not just from noise, dust, dangerous driving and pollution but because of severe structural damage to nearby buildings.


We all complain that the Council never listens. 
This is your moment to make your voice heard. 
You must write and object before February 10th.

THE BILLIONAIRE; BASE LIES AND BASEMENTS

Is David Graham, the reclusive eighty-year-old  Canadian billionaire going mad.......or just a series of 'senior moments'?
Dave owns a massive mansion in Walton Street. For years he has been bothering neighbours saying he doesn't have enough space; most odd considering Dave is rarely there....lives on his own and forgets the 12,000 square foot Old Court House already has a basement!
Savills are the ones behind this: boycott the firm: they are going to blight local property.

'WHERE'S MY BASEMENT?'

The sad part is that Dave is never in London so no one told him The Old Court House already has a huge subterranean basement complex.

It even has a lift going down to the complex with its Olympic-sized swimming pool and various other 'household offices'.

RESIDENT DANGER ZONE

Dave also boasts that he has become very pally with Mr.Stallwood's planning team. Have they been invited to stay at his spread in St Tropez? The Dame asks because Dave implies they are ecstatic about his plans to cause massive disruption to residents living in the area on the left.



For the next two years, 20/30 lorries daily, may be thundering around nearby streets causing: 

• noise
• dust, 
• danger 
• and even more pollution.

But this is the fundamental question.... 
The Old Court House already has a basement so why are planners giving Dave the impression he can build yet another?
The Council needs to ready itself for the 2,000 or so residents in the area going into 'Revolt Mode'. 
They have had enough of this very selfish man thinking he can turn their lives upside down.

CAPCO BREAKFASTS WITH PAUL RAYMOND'S GOFER

Dear Dame

I hope you are well and keeping warm on these chilly days.

Mentioning chills...one definitely ran down my spine when I saw the latest interview from Gary Yardley of Capco ( or Crapco as we call them round these parts) . 

Greasy Gary having breakfast with Mr James of Soho Estates.
Soho Estates, the property empire of gangster and
pornographer, Paul Raymond(dec'd)

It is certainly, to my mind, a contender for the Booker Prize for fiction. Gary rambles on about Capco building a New District for London. 

Is the vulgarian idiot aware that Earls Court has been in existence for a lot longer than Capco? 

The area, now Earls Court, is itself mentioned in the Domesday Book as being the manor of Kensington. The earls, of those times, held their Manorial Court in what is now Old Manor Yard. So why are Capco telling us all they are building a New District in London to be known as Earls Court? And why are RBKC and the 'never present' Mayor, Sadiq Khan, letting them spout this old tripe?

Capco continue to poo poo anyone against their development, oddly stating they are not building for people today but for those in the future! 

Do they imagine a new generation of 'tiny folk'?

One thing I found very interesting is  that Greasy Gary says they have been working with RBKC officers for the past ten years so that would be 2006?

Well, that doesn't fit with what we are all told. If they were planning to knock down the exhibition centre and estates that far back why was it hidden from us all?  

Capco  says on the myearlscourt.com that the London Mayor ( Boris) recognised it as part of the London Plan as an Opportunity Area in July 2011 ??? with the plans approved in 2013. So, if the area was not recognised until 2011 how could Capco have been working with the council on it since 2006 ? Capco are telling monstrous lies.

I also note he talks of Pocket Living.... 'developer bullshit' for flats you cannot swing a cat in: not that I would let one of my cats near a Capco flat, they are very choosy felines, with great taste.

My best Regards

Boris

RBKC HAS ITS DAY IN COURT

Can kill with one finger

In the left-hand corner, unarmed combat expert, 'Nasty Nikko' Holgate, our Town Clerk.....aided and abetted by 'BabyFace' Rocky Mellen

Heavy man

....in the right-hand corner, 'SuperSumo' Suresh Gupta


Very shortly, the Dame will be revealing all about a vicious battle between 'Nasty Nikko' and the formidable, self-proclaimed philanthropist, 'SuperSumo Suresh' the 40 stone 'leisure entrepreneur'.
'Nasty Nikko' has been running the Council for a few years so why only now has he dared take on 'SuperSumo Suresh'?
It reminds the Dame of the recent story of the man in the Norfolk hospital. He had been squatting in a hospital bed for two years, despite being fit to leave within days of entering the hospital. It has taken the hospital two years to decide to go to court and evict the man.
These government employees need to buck their ideas up.

L'AFFAIRE PHILBEACH

Dearest Dame

Earls Court residents pay towards hanging baskets to be hung from lampposts. Sadly, since the Summer they have not been replaced and the lamp posts remain bare into the New Year.

When the council has been called residents are told that the hanging baskets have not been replaced due to “health and safety”.

Dame, this naughty fib has caused guffaws of laughter.

Philbeach Gardens, home to 'Lord' Pooter Cockell and Cllr 'Hello Sailor' Spalding, seems unaffected by 'ealth n' safety' since the Gardens are not just abundant with gorgeous hanging baskets but fairy lights too!

More curious still is the question as to who paid to make Philbeach Gardens a riot of colour and light.

Was it the Council or Sailor Spalding's mates at CapCo?

Maybe Cllr Spalding can shed some light on this.....

As ever

Commander, the Hon. B*****y  P*****s, RN rtd

CANADIAN BILLIONAIRE KICKS CHELSEA RESIDENTS AROUND BUT GIVES UP BALLROOM DANCING

Old Court House

You live within a mile of The Old Court House, Walton Street? 
Then be very frightened!

David Graham, the bachelor billionaire Canadian owner of this 10,000 sq. ft plus mansion has decided that he needs even more square footage.

One of his gofers has written a greasy letter to neighbours telling them he plans to dig out a massive basement.

This will house a gymnasium; a media room (?) a replacement swimming pool and yet another kitchen(3 in total!) and storage.

So, Dave, what happened to the ballroom that you were obsessing about last time round? Are you no longer putting yourself up for Strictly Come Dancing?

The Dame is going to be blunt. Dave used to be married to that ghastly witch, Barbara Amiel. She then latched on to fellow Canadian, the unpleasant crook ‘Lord' Black. 

Lady Grim

Had Dave still been married to this ‘monstress’  we could appreciate she needed the extra storage space for her fabulous shoe collection-reputed to be several thousand pairs strong.....

......Dave is a near eighty-year-old singleton. For tax reasons he spends just ninety days a year in London; the rest of the year at one of his several other homes dotted around the world.

So why does he need to make neighbours' lives hell for two years when he has ample space within the existing 12 bedroom 'mansion'?

Money Lover

The answer? Money. 
It will cost £400 per sq. to do the digging adding a further £3,000 per sq.ft when he sells the building on. 
So, if he adds another several thousand sq.ft the arithmetic is obvious

His letter, addressed ‘Dear Neighbour’, was not even signed by this self-important and self-interested man: someone he calls his ‘colleague’, a Mark Brown did the signing.

In his letter, Graham gives the impression RBKC officers are somehow supporting his application and have agreed that the vast number of construction lorries can travel down Walton Street and then into Pont Street.

Cleverly, Graham forgets to mention that the lorries will also go thundering down an already congested Beauchamp Place or on down Pont Street and into Sloane Street.

Beauchamp Place
Graham Rat Run

This will be a massively disruptive project for thousands of residents.

It will also coincide with the demolition of the Police Station in Walton Street with yet more construction lorries.

The chaos will create hellish conditions for residents and businesses for the foreseeable future.

Beauchamp Place will be hit very hard.

Mr Graham, you have all the space you need. Your proposal is un-neighbourly and unwanted.

It will be fought tooth and nail and your suave blandishments count for nothing.

Oh, and by the way, Graham’s tightfistedness is shown here. He lists the major shareholders of Cablecast as himself, at 99.1%, and his oppo, Neil Bambrough, with 0.1%....

Mean sod!

TOP MAN FOR TOP CHELSEA SOCIETY JOB

SKILLED FIGHTER

The Council of The Chelsea Society has elected Dr. James Thompson to be its new Chairman, following the retirement of Mr. Damian Greenish.  

The new Chairman took office at the end of the Society’s AGM on 21^st November 2016.

James is an Honorary senior lecturer in psychology at London University, and has lived in Chelsea since 1982. He has been a member of The Chelsea Society since 1983.

He was drawn to Chelsea by the architecture, individual shops, mews houses, bohemian crowds, music, history, river views along the Embankment, and the exciting mix of cultural past and vivid quirky present. 

Within a year of moving to Chelsea he opposed a major planning application in his street, and since then has been Chairman of his local Residents’ Association in the streets between the Physic Garden and the Royal Hospital.

In 2006 James led the “Save Sloane Square campaign, and since 2011 has chaired the King’s Road Association of Chelsea Residents (KRACR) – campaigning particularly against large basement developments. 

He will retire from that Chairmanship in February 2017.

James holds membership card no. 20 at the Chelsea Physic Garden, and would have had an even lower number if he had responded more promptly to the first-ever membership application, hand-delivered by the Garden Curator to nearby streets in 1983.

James taught psychology and held clinics at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, later University College London Medical School. His first job was as a researcher on brain-damaged children.  

He was clinical psychologist at Guy’s Hospital Medical School, and later at the Institute of Psychiatry.  He continues to publish academic papers.

He was depicted as a character in a play at the Royal Court, as a psychologist explaining the motivations of terrorists!

As Chairman of the Society, James, like other Chairmen before him, will not be a member of the Society’s Planning Committee.

SAD BADGER AND HIS CHARMING FAMILY GREET THE DAME

The Dame was especially pleased to receive this from Sad Badger, an ardent follower with many a bristly comment.

This happy shot seems to have been taken outside the Orangery, Holland Park after a Christmas scavenge 

Our dearest Dame

All the very best in 2017 to you and your rascal nephew...

hope to read more and more of your discoveries and comments in this, what will no doubt be an eventful year.

cheerio and love from us all

Sad Badger and my sette

Oh, Cantabs....give it a rest. We know you have lots. I expect you wear your gown and mortar board down the pump, just to ensure the world knows you're a brainbox.

THE DAME SENDS ALL HER DEAR READERS BEST WISHES FOR 2017

The Dame wishes all her dear readers peace and happiness in the year ahead. 

Yes, even to those who hope a horrid accident befalls her....

Those unkind souls will be unhappy to note over 30,000 page views a month attest to the ever-growing popularity of her musings....