Dame,
We long-suffering residents of H&F are delighted you have now turned your beady eye on Cowan and his cowboys showing him to be the hypocrite he is for pretending he's actually interested in the financially stretched residents of the Borough.
Like your old friend, Pooter Cockell, he seems more interested in toadying up to billionaire property developers as the story below shows.
You asked what Cowan did before hitting big money in local government?
He ran a now defunct publishing business which also 'did' 'leadership' courses giving credence to the maxim "if you can't do it: teach it"
Anyway, here's the story...
Shepherds Bush market for over fifty years has provided everything from exotic foods to unusual fabrics.
A few years ago greedy developers moved in.
Using foul means and rarely fair they tried to get rid of existing tenants and turn the entire area over to more multi-million pound luxury flats
The developers are U & I Group.
In a fightback residents launched a petition to save the market which attracted thousands of supporters.
Undeterred, the developers cooked up something in collaboration with Cowan.....
The traders found out about the report and put in an FoI but Cowan and team refused access on the spurious grounds of commercial and financial confidentiality.
All the traders were told that to gain access to the proposed building site half the market would have to close down and become the main access for a stream of lorries and excavation equipment needed for the large scale construction....even though the developers own chunks of adjoining land that could be used for access.
Well done London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham for throwing your residents to the wolves
Thinking caps on , everyone ! Is a market street that is never used as a throuh route for vehicular traffic , but has been used for 50 years by throngs of people , not by definition a Public Right of Way , which would require a procedure called Estoppel before it could be blocked up and used as access route to the building site ?
ReplyDeleteIf it is not yet registered , get on to LBHF Highways Dept. to have it listed as Public Right of Way and have it entered on the Definitive Map (an official map where all rights of way in the land are shown in red , so they cannot be ignored at a whim) .
LONG LIVE SHEPHERDS BUSH MARKET !
There is a great shop (flanking the market stalls) that sells all types of curtain fabric and lining that they can transform into the finished product. An individual and useful shop.
ReplyDelete"Cowan used to run a company (now wound up) selling "Leadership Courses".
ReplyDeleteThis is another Cllr Matthew Palmer
God help H&F
If it is not too late, a complaint needs to be made to the Information Commissioner's Office about the council's refusal to provide information. Is the FOI request publicly available on WhatDoTheyKnow. Otherwise, can the requestor of the information let us know what was requested - perhaps there is another way to request the information?
ReplyDeleteThis a staggering story. A Socialist Leader of H&F helps spivy property developers to shaft the local community in order to make loads of money from luxury property development.
ReplyDeleteCowan is another Pooter! Disgraced ex Leader of RBKC, Cllr Pooter Cockle, is a case study for the voters of Hammersmith and Fulham to study carefully.
Get shot of Cowan in the same way that K&C residents agitated to keep Pooter out of the House of Lords and show him the door to Hornton Street
As a Fulham resident, this council is an absolute disgrace. Incompetent on all levels of provision of service. Virtue signally, incompetents who leave the streets in a disgusting mess while wasting money on pet projects. Cant keep Hammersmith bridge open. Complicit with Khan, a bunch of lefty w*&kers.
ReplyDeleteStephen is a good friend of mine and I am delighted to have shown him how to live 'high on the hog' as a Council Leader
ReplyDeleteThe Tory Councillors in H&F have a challenge that they need to rise to. Unfortunately they do seem to be up to it
ReplyDeleteOoooh.....
DeleteA big Sunday lunch
"Unfortunately they do NOT seem to be up to it"
Of course