Author: Cyril Richert
Following our letter to the Prime Minister on Wandsworth Council’s planning procedures and ‘localism’ practice failures, the Council said we were all NIMBYies who “hurl false and groundless allegations around“.
According to the local media PutneySW15.com, a council spokesman said:
“Planning decisions are made by ordinary local people who have been elected to represent the wider community. They make hundreds of decisions each year having weighed up all the available evidence, including all the arguments in favour of permission and also all those against.
Their difficult task is to balance competing interests for the benefit of the whole community – to improve the borough’s built environment and to provide new homes, offices, schools, shops and other economic benefits like jobs. The council has worked in partnership with organisations like the Putney and Wandsworth Societies for many years with the shared aim of creating a better borough for people to live and work in and we are proud of our record.
Unfortunately this letter and the evidence presented alongside it is based on a skewed and wholly selective picture of the local planning system. All our decisions are based on planning legislation and we scrupulously follow out own local guidelines where these do not conflict with national planning rules. It is always regrettable therefore that some people have a more NIMBYist approach and choose to hurl false and groundless allegations around when they don’t get their own way.”
On Monday 7th April, Amenity Societies and Community Groups in the Borough of Wandsworth have teamed up to publish an ‘Open Letter’ to David Cameron showing major failures in its planning procedures, and calling for an urgent independent review into its planning processes.
Beside the bold comment made by the Council’s spokesperson, we look forward to receiving a response from Cllr Ravi Govindia, leader of the Council, to our letter’s detailed criticisms and a reply from the Prime Minister about our call for an independent review. It’s easy to be rude, less easy to give detailed explanations to the detailed criticisms set out in the letter’s Summary/Appendix.
You can find reports and articles about the initiative in the following websites.
On participants’ websites:
Putney SW15.com: Local residents’ groups write open letter to David Cameron (with forum discussion HERE).
Wandsworth SW18.com: Call Made for Urgent Review of Planning in Wandsworth (with forum discussion HERE).
Streetlife: Forum posts
Thanks for the many messages of support such as:
“Thanks to those who put this together. Living in a small community being swamped by gross, ugly developments around Wandsworth Bridge roundabout, I repeatedly wonder whether any of this would be allowed anywhere near where the councillors live. Perhaps if there are councillors reading this they can site cases.”
