Forum Topic

No more planning notices in the Press or letters to residents

Last night, Councillor Bell said that Planning notices in the Press and letters to residents whose homes are effected by Neighbourhood build will end.  Notices will continue to be placed on the Planning pages on the council website. This morning, I wrote to the Council to say Mr. Bell was mistaken when he said Residents groups were being consulted on these proposed changes to local democracy.If you belong to a Residents Association or other such group, would you check if you have been consulted about these changes and tell us here?The savings from this proposal will be £30,000 per annum, or half the cost of Mr. Bell's new assistant.

Maire Lowe ● 4056d24 Comments

I'm loving you boys!

Jan Farlow ● 3997d

Ha ha ha!

Gerry Tan ● 3997d

It's also known as the Cowpat principle when service is poorly delivered.CustomerObfuscationWhenPoorAdministration /Administrative (depending which book you read)Trusted

Nigel Brooks ● 3997d

Thank you Arthur.  Brilliant. No need for an apology. I love the term and now I know it's meaning, it makes perfect sense.

Jan Farlow ● 3997d

Jan sorry I forgot the apology. This is my own terminologyand that is why you haven't seen it before. Not your fault mine.

Arthur Breens ● 3998d

A customer buys a Mars bar only to find it has been part eaten by a mouse. The customer brings it back. Shopkeeper apologises and gives him two Mars bars. Directly he leaves the shop shopkeeper pulls out all stock to discover the extent of the damage and then takes action to find the mouse and sort it out. The shopkeeper has used the complaint as a tool to improve performance. Conversely you can say to the complainant that there is no problem and take no action. This leaves the mice a field day. Sales of mars bars drop. The mice multiply and the shop goes out of business. This is the problem for the council...they should make the process work for them to correct problems or improve services not as a mechanism for fobbing off the residentA good complaint system reaches the status of a management tool. A non-existant complaints system or one that pushes away rather than engages with the problem and the complainant is of no value to the organisation and is therefore not a management tool. Just an opportunity missed.

Arthur Breens ● 3998d

Arthur what does management tool status mean and how is it implemented. I've not come across that terminology.

Jan Farlow ● 3998d

Did you listen to this?  It is about how developers are dodging having to provide affordable housing.Viability assessments which are kept secret...http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b05vzysp

Philippa Bond ● 3999d

Sorry Arthur, I don't get notifications of postings so hadn't realised this thread had grown, or I would have replied to you.  In my humble opinion, this change in notifications was done for reasons of:  getting the developments through without too much hassle or objection from The People, which means less work for them and less money spent by the developers.  PM me, let me know what I can do, or do so on this site for us all to see.  I know there is activity behind the scenes from the disgruntled masses.  May take a while, but they'll get there.

Angela White ● 3999d

Response received on time but pity did not rise to management tool status. Interestingly the 3 minutes you have to address the committee are by gift and not statutory. It seems to me that the complaint isn't worth following to the next stage. My councillors are not interested. If my complaint had reached "management tool status" then maybe the council would discover too late of course that it lost £millions when it sold off the 59 units of affordable housing (part buy part rent) in Dickens Yard or it wastes thousands of tonnes of fuel with its poorly designed access to Sherwood Close estate

Arthur Breens ● 4000d

My complaint (see above) is due today. No one has phoned to get the detail of this complaint so I wonder if it is being taken seriously. A rigorous complaints process is the mark of a progressive service organisation and is a really effective management tool. If the response fails to reach the deadline does that mean it is upheld?

Arthur Breens ● 4001d

The search facility on the Council website is useless.How do I find aplications affecting my post code? Seems I can't.So I have too look at everything in the last month. Pages and pages and pages.And I have to do that every month, just in case? Nobody will bother, so everything will get waved through.Democracy in action. Not.

Mark Vale ● 4013d

You are right Thelma. When the big £ sign appears there is everything getting in the way of fair play and proper process. How likely are you to be caught taking down the signs? Who has been prosecuted for doing it and what was the sentence? Thelma I've never seen such a rubbish proposal. How may bankers have been done for rigging the system and how many developers will be done? Spivs in suits and the law.....water off a duck's back.

Arthur Breens ● 4013d

As far as I can see - absolutely nothing.

Thelma Leach ● 4013d

What's to stop the developer simply removing the lamppost notices?

Jonathan Gilbride ● 4013d

Just to add. I've requested the business case/rationale paperwork (still waiting) behind this decision as I don't believe it is the most efficient way of saving money. The person who needs to hang up the lamppost notification still needs to visit the location and thus can hand deliver the letterbox notification. The saving they quote is due to the postage cost of such notifications. Yet the lamppost person still needs to visit the site. A Lean no-brainier!!!

Joanna Dabrowska ● 4013d

As the Conservative Planning Lead I do get frustrated sometimes that reports vary greatly in their quality, relevant planning officers don't turn up, missing/incorrect data/info is presented, amongst other things. Although I do appreciate the workload they currently have as they often work late evenings. As for the Planning Users' Group, I was accidentally invited to this meeting earlier in the year but then was quickly uninvited which I wasn't too chuffed about. As for planning notification changes these were hidden in a single line in the budget cabinet papers last year with no press release when it comes to effect shortly. This is the result of lamppost-only notifications https://twitter.com/jkdabrowska/status/598831746130509825

Joanna Dabrowska ● 4013d

Interesting programme:http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b05vzysp

Philippa Bond ● 4013d

Angela,I never went to the meeting. Donna B and Alex Jackson put me off. Even the misinformation that the planning committee receive in their packs isn't the province of the User group. I was unhelpfully passed to other officers withour even the nicety of an email address. Of course the real title is Planning Services Used Group. It ain't supposed to work for us....we are just used.I made an official complaint about the planning committee No 306892. As I canvassed for my Councillors Rai, Shaw and Conlan I asked if they would support me with this complaint. So far the silence is deafening. Officers and members have got away with this farce for ages worse if you have a big majority so why change the habit of a lifetime. Would you like to support me by copying my bullet points above and submitting them as a formal complaint. Then in the words of those exam papers we took many moons ago ...we can compare and contrast the answers. Thank you for your kind words.

Arthur Breens ● 4017d

Hi Arthur.  I was at the Planning Services User Group too.  What did you make of it?  Your questions on here are great - my concerns too, but did we get a chance to discuss them?  Perhaps you can email Alex Jackson and Steve Barton and ask for them to be put on the agenda for September?I agree - these big planning applications do feel like a done deal and in my humble opinion are.  Everything is stacked in favour of a positive outcome for the developers.

Angela White ● 4017d

What will it take to shake the tree?

Philippa Bond ● 4018d

Surely the Planning Dept will soon be shut altogether and you'll be able to self certify and rubber stamp your own application?It's not a big issue though is it?It's not as if illegal house developments in West Ealing are going to collapse and nearly kill people is it?Buildings of historical importance aren't going to be developed how the current users see fit or over expanded after being raised to the ground are they?And cronies won't smooth through developments impacting the lives of locals whilst bucks are made and shady people disappear into the night will they?Oh Ealing, my Ealing......

Colin Goodman ● 4020d

I think some of this is to be discussed at the Planning Users group meeting tomorrow Thursday 21 May. I was hoping to raise the problem of planning committees.(1)misinformation in guidance they read before committee(2)resident only allowed to speak for 3 mins whatever size of plan(3)no cross examination and no interest in resident submission(4)feels like case already decided beforehand. This should be a public meeting and everything should take place in public,,,,not fixed beforehand.(5)committee split on party lines when supposed to "legal" process.This isn't the remit of this group.Alex Jackson tells me it is about process not individual planning matters.So I am not allowed to speak.I have however made it an official complaint and asked my Councillors to support me.I'll keep readers posted.

Arthur Breens ● 4020d

Julian two houses and his cronies don't give a toss.Remember that when next you vote.

Nigel Brooks ● 4056d