| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Dr Onkar Sahota's application in Haven Green rejected | |
| Posted by: | Michael Brandt | |
| Date/Time: | 17/08/13 10:26:00 |
| The problem is, Judith, that the system is broken and wrong. I have experienced almost the same issue with Hounslow on a much smaller scale ( an extension to a terraced house ) The design was flawed and on building experts advice I lodged an objection. However, the owners/builders jumped the gun and started building. Less than 6 months after construction I start to get damp problems my 6 year old adjoining wall. Planning was granted but with a footnote referring to building having commenced prior to permission and that an objection had been filed and that the owners therefore were taking a risk of which they would be liable for the consequences. In this instance the owners were decent responsible people and paid to have the problems identified put right all without having to go to court. But the problems is the whole system is supposed to protect me and the other party and time and again it fails, Leaving the victim to resort to very costly legal procedures and if you are up against someone who is very wealthy or well connected you are more than likely to be stuffed. My brother has a small property in Isleworth, He currently works abroad and it is temporarily let. He recently found that planning permission has been granted by Hounslow for an extension to the house next door which is into his garden! The house is part of a conjoined block, in a conservation area, and a completely untouched development which was built under very strict guidlines. The gardens are collectively owned by six freeholders so are communal. Even though he did not get any notification and he was living there at the time of application, other residents did object. The Hounslow Planning officers recommended the proposal and dismissed all the conservation criteria and the fact that the land is not the applicants to build on. The councils answer to this debacle? Go and get a lawyer. The residents have sought such but these are modest homes occupied by people of very modest means. The cost of legal action is way beyond even their collective means. LBH councillors and officers simply refuse to engage in the matter even via the complaint procedure. The applicant, it turns out is a wealth multiple property owner in Hounslow who has very close connections with the Labour party, again it is a very similar episode as with Dr. Sahota with meetings and links being rather too strong for good to prevail. In this case Hounslow councillors approved, no questions asked and Hounslow practice does not allow any form of Q&A from objectors when planners omit or brush over objections. One LBH Councillor, Theo Dennison who clearly noticed that things were not right tried to change the procedures so as to be more open, accessible and fair was swiftly removed from the chair and committee by his own party. Apart form the politics, some of the planning professionals seem to make very strange recommendations and a lot of strange things happen like sub-stations and drainage relief installations being omitted from maps presented to voting councillors.The conflict of interests, and how everything is rigged if the client is..London Borough of Hounslow. It is becoming a virulent disease with politics, money, greed and power all fuelling it. We are supposed to have and evolved system that keeps these very excesses in check, but too many are finding ways to abuse it or pick through the weak links. Clearly it has spread from Hounslow and Brent to Ealing and it is now something that the Government need to take a closer look at but I suspect they are no better than the likes of Sahota and Bell et all. |