Dear Friends and Affiliated Societies,
Many of us are on the verge of despair with RBKC. From pre-application advice which is handled totally to the exclusion of public consultation for both large and small large planning developments, to planning reports which read like marketing brochures, to the elimination of our objections from past planning applications, to enforcement methods agreed then unenforceable, to large project started such as the Odeon site then left for years with no progress at all, to the Mayor of London becoming our planning director, and our pavements becoming extensions of commercial advertisements…our frustrations continue to grow.
The Council has promised change and we have seen some action. The management structure has changed with less executive directors and more central control. Sue Harris, as you can see below, has been tasked with Planning and Borough Development, Transport and Highways, Libraries, Cleaner Greener and Cultural Services, Community Safety, Finance and Resources and Environmental Health. But who is she hearing from about the changes needed? This is our opportunity to start that dialogue.
Can I ask that you send this out to your members and extend the invitation? Please come and have a say!
Planning for the Future - How is the Council Doing? Monday 26 November 2018, 6.30 for 7.00pm The Small Hall, Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX
With a new chief executive and new executive director for the Environment and Communities things are, we hope, being regularly shaken up in the Town Hall.
Sue Harris, Executive Director, Environment and Communities, comes from Hammersmith council where, under the tri-borough agreement, she has already had some experience of our borough being charged with environment, leisure and residents’ services. Under her new remit comes Planning and Borough Development, Transport and Highways, Libraries, Cleaner Greener and Cultural Services, Community Safety, Finance and Resources and Environmental Health.
We are planning an evening seminar where we hope to learn more about the changes that are happening in our council and how those changes might affect all of us the residents. We will aim to cover planning issues such as the Chelsea Enforcement Pilot, now being trialled in Kensington, CTMPs, and GDPR among other subjects.
Find out how you can ensure that contractors actually do stick to their obligations under the planning approval. There is nothing more maddening than finding, at 8.30 in the morning, lorries queuing up to reach a site that they should not access until 9.30 am. Or that noisy drilling is going on at the weekend or on a bank holiday. Who do you contact? What can we do about it?
Do you have a gripe that you would like an answer to? Come along and put your questions to leading council officials. This is a chance for all of us to have our say!
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