Planning Chaos As Approval Is Deferred For Flats That Have Already Been Built

Cllr. Mike Cartwight (Lab) said last night's
PAC meeting descended into "chaos"

Last night, St. George’s farcical application to build their already constricted show-flats on Hammersmith Embankment went to H&F Council’s Planning Applications Committee (PAC). The PAC had to sit through an Orwellian presentation delivered by H&F Council's notorious planning team, which included assurances of what would be done “before development commences.”

Here’s Cllr. Mike Cartwright’s report:

"The papers that officers presented to members of the Planning Applications Committee did not even mention that this building had already been built. They did show photographs of it but admitted they had not written to St. George to complain. Officers explained that the man in planning dealing with this application had left and gone to live in New Zealand. They said they were therefore unsure if St. George had met with him. It was pure chaos.

I told the committee they had to put a marker down and not follow the planning officer’s advice to approve this scheme or St. George would run amok. I moved that we defer making any decision and the PAC members agreed.

I guess you can understand (at a stretch) why St. George tried their luck. Developers think this Conservative Administration is a push over. Many residents will remember how, at Imperial Wharf, St. George built an additional 30 flats without planning permission. The Council only found out about that when the electoral registration department could not reconcile the numbering of the flats. The Conservative Administration then promptly nodded through that post-build planning permission."