RESIDENTS WIN AGAINST PLANNING TEAM AND THEIR CHINESE 'CLIENTS'
"Dear Dame, Just won... 6 hours to decide this building is big and ugly and would be horrible for the residents!!" It should have taken 30 SECONDS to decide that the Planning Department's pet project was an abomination.
Stallwood did his usual piece to the Councillors saying that if they did vote to refuse they might find themselves in a year's time in a room with many barristers asking tough questions, i.e. in an appeal. He always does this to put them off voting to refuse, high legal costs etc.
This is yet another wake up call for Cllr Campbell. She needs to take responsibility for the culture in Hornton Street, persuade herself that it needs to change, decide to change it, and then change it. And spend less time trying to get TV interviews to spout about Grenfell.
In a nano second she can pick some of the low hanging fruit. For example, ban Officers and Councillors from accepting gifts, entertainment and freebies from developers and their PR agents.
And then she can start to replace the anti resident members of her Cabinet. When ex Cllr Ahern, Cabinet Member for Planning, campaigned that "planning needs to be more resident friendly", he was frozen out by interested parties who were more interested in their freebies. He quit the Council. Dizzy seems to be more interested in the Cllr Weale type of person for her Cabinet. "we agreed to listen but not to hear". When Cllr Weale was overheard muttering these words the the Chairman of the Education Scrutiny Committee, SHE was Cabinet Member for Education.
Come on dizzy, pull your finger out and raise your game.
What Planning Director Stallwood did not say to Councillors was that if a climate existed where developers knew that their nonsense would be turned down then it would never come forward in the first place. But since there is a climate that developers know they can bribe Officiers and Councillors with flattery, private meetings, understandings and entertainments then they will put forward any scheme that makes money. For example £15m flats for foreigners for the buy to leave market. A HUGELY profitable business for developers. Dirty money that needs to be parked in safe London which destroys communities and contributes to the long term decline of society.
And developers are even more emboldened by the belief that if their bribery does not work at local Government level then they can rely on expensive lawyers to stitch up the system on appeal.
And how convenient and wonderful to have the Director of Planning for Kensington and Chelsea to remind residents and Councillors that if they are stupid enough to turn down an application then they will blow more Council Tax on lawyers to fight an appeal which will almost certainly be won by the developers. An extra £1m or two spent on lawyers is insignificant in the cost structure of a £1 billion project that makes £150m profit.
Appeal legal costs are not so frightening. Tiny sums compared to the overall K&C budget and tiny sums in relation to the importance of trying to preserve community and society. And certainly a fraction of the continued subsidy to Holland Park Opera from the Council Tax
Also, the developers are so confident of their position that the practice has grown up that they wave a claim to to recover their legal costs against the Council, even if they win. This is the ultimate "slap in the face" for one upmanship
Why does Cllr Campbell tolerate a culture in Hornton Street that requires thousands of hard working residents to spend time writing letters, making protests, attending meetings and getting steamed up over irresponsible, anti social and downright evil proposals.
Get your act together girl. You are being paid to do so.
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Stallwood did his usual piece to the Councillors saying that if they did vote to refuse they might find themselves in a year's time in a room with many barristers asking tough questions, i.e. in an appeal. He always does this to put them off voting to refuse, high legal costs etc.
ReplyDeleteThis is yet another wake up call for Cllr Campbell. She needs to take responsibility for the culture in Hornton Street, persuade herself that it needs to change, decide to change it, and then change it. And spend less time trying to get TV interviews to spout about Grenfell.
DeleteIn a nano second she can pick some of the low hanging fruit. For example, ban Officers and Councillors from accepting gifts, entertainment and freebies from developers and their PR agents.
And then she can start to replace the anti resident members of her Cabinet. When ex Cllr Ahern, Cabinet Member for Planning, campaigned that "planning needs to be more resident friendly", he was frozen out by interested parties who were more interested in their freebies. He quit the Council. Dizzy seems to be more interested in the Cllr Weale type of person for her Cabinet. "we agreed to listen but not to hear". When Cllr Weale was overheard muttering these words the the Chairman of the Education Scrutiny Committee, SHE was Cabinet Member for Education.
Come on dizzy, pull your finger out and raise your game.
What Planning Director Stallwood did not say to Councillors was that if a climate existed where developers knew that their nonsense would be turned down then it would never come forward in the first place. But since there is a climate that developers know they can bribe Officiers and Councillors with flattery, private meetings, understandings and entertainments then they will put forward any scheme that makes money. For example £15m flats for foreigners for the buy to leave market. A HUGELY profitable business for developers. Dirty money that needs to be parked in safe London which destroys communities and contributes to the long term decline of society.
DeleteAnd developers are even more emboldened by the belief that if their bribery does not work at local Government level then they can rely on expensive lawyers to stitch up the system on appeal.
And how convenient and wonderful to have the Director of Planning for Kensington and Chelsea to remind residents and Councillors that if they are stupid enough to turn down an application then they will blow more Council Tax on lawyers to fight an appeal which will almost certainly be won by the developers. An extra £1m or two spent on lawyers is insignificant in the cost structure of a £1 billion project that makes £150m profit.
Wake up dizzy.........
Appeal legal costs are not so frightening. Tiny sums compared to the overall K&C budget and tiny sums in relation to the importance of trying to preserve community and society. And certainly a fraction of the continued subsidy to Holland Park Opera from the Council Tax
DeleteAlso, the developers are so confident of their position that the practice has grown up that they wave a claim to to recover their legal costs against the Council, even if they win. This is the ultimate "slap in the face" for one upmanship
"Revenge is a dish served cold"
DeleteThe Leader of the Council is a calamity. Self inflicted by Tories who should know better.
ReplyDeleteLook at the picture above. This is the BIG picture. Why do we even waste time and money discussing it?????????
ReplyDeleteTime to refocus from brown envelopes and the detail of £200 million profit opportunities from quick fix developers
Why does Cllr Campbell tolerate a culture in Hornton Street that requires thousands of hard working residents to spend time writing letters, making protests, attending meetings and getting steamed up over irresponsible, anti social and downright evil proposals.
ReplyDeleteGet your act together girl. You are being paid to do so.
Well done to the protest group. They worked hard
ReplyDeleteWould love to see the protest group become our councillors!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting idea. "Protest groups" is a great training ground to find out how the Council functions and what it is about.
Deletehttps://thisisnorthkensington.wordpress.com/2018/10/01/time-for-rbkc-to-stop-planning-officers-and-councillors-from-playing-the-developers-tunes/
ReplyDelete