The final report to the Major Planning Development Committee, recommending the granting of planning permission for the Academy and Leisure Centre development, was published a few days ago, and the application is scheduled for decision on 26th September. The moment of truth is nearly upon us. It’s ironic that Senior Planning Officer Edward George, who has played a pivotal role in processing this application, wrote recently to one of our members saying;
“Whilst the Local Planning Authority sits within the Council we cannot be the applicants of any applications being assessed”.
The applicant for the KALC project is, of course, The Royal Borough of Kensington And Chelsea, the Local Planning Authority is also RBKC, and the application will be decided by a committee of Royal Borough Councillors. What credibility we should give to Mr George’s attempt to assert the fairness and neutrality of the process is therefore a moot question. Our readers will no doubt form their own opinions on this.
Meanwhile, we have submitted a last minute letter of objection, raising a number of questions about the soundness and integrity of the application. We presented a selection of the errors, contradictions, inconsistencies and false or misleading statements with which the planning application is riddled. We are quite sure that, had we the time and the patience to explore the documents in greater detail, and the technical skill to unpick the detail of the more complex technical drawings, we would have found many more flaws.
In our view this planning application has been so incompetently and so cynically drafted, and is so riddled with errors and inconsistencies, that it is unsafe, unsound and unworthy to receive planning permission.
We believe that the the dishonest and deceitful manner in which false and misleading information has been provided by the Applicant is an affront to the Committee and to the planning system, and that it would be reckless and irresponsible of the Major Planning Development Committee to grant planning permission based on the information provided in these deeply flawed and untrustworthy documents.
PLEASE READ THE FULL TEXT FOR A DETAILED EXPOSITION
You will find it via this link; GAG OBJECTIONS
Grenfell Action Group 