Gough blasts 'juggernaut of development'

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Local Tory candidate says proposal are too much, too fast

Local Council Planning Committees are sometimes in a difficult position.  They are occasionally opposed to the developments they approve, but pass them because they suspect that they would lose any (expensive) appeal against a rejected application.   

They end up as the focal point of opposition by local action groups, but in truth our local efforts ought to be directed at the primary causes of over-hasty residential and commercial building projects.  I refer to Ken Livingstone and John Prescott.  Both of these ego-centric individuals have bestowed upon themselves increasing powers to permit "development" (destruction, more-like) of both green- and brown-field sites. increasing the required minimum levels of affordable housing to a point where developers are forced to contemplate unacceptable density levels, in order that they retain a margin of profit.

Even the most confident London Borough Councils find it difficult to oppose the Mayor's directives in this regard.  The consequences of these arbitrary targets are clear for everyone in the neighbourhood to see:  

•   A concrete crushing and waste transfer site forced into an unsuitable area, less than 50 metres from people's homes at the northern end of Old Oak Lane known as the Island Triangle. 
• The redevelopment of the Shepherd's Bush Central Line Tube station built with virtually no consideration for the residents in the adjacent street, who had even gone to the trouble and expense  of drafting alternate plans for the site.  Those plans looked superior to me when I observed them, but they were given no consideration by the Planning Committee who voted to approve the developers' plans.
•  And of course the Gypsy Corner Bus Depot.  In spite of a well-organised, reasonable, cross-party and widespread action against the TfL proposals, that ultimately saw the Ealing Planning Committee reject the second proposal, nevertheless Livingstone still had the contempt for those local voices to come to Acton Town Hall and tell us that he would appeal against the Committee's decision.

• First of all, I oppose the imposition by the Mayor of arbitrary minimum affordable housing levels.  I am not alone in this - earlier this year the Labour MP for Ealing Southall echoed these views when he declared that further inflow of new residents would place an intolerable burden on the existing community.  Local councils should retain the power to set their own levels.
• If we are to provide "affordable housing", let's make it available to key-workers through a far wider programme of assisted purchasing than we see at present.  Under this initiative, we should see the public and private sector encouraged to help the first-time buyers working in hospitals, fire and police stations and schools, with making a full or even part payment on a place near where they work.
• I would like to see the existing housing stock made to work harder - there are hundreds of empty properties around our neighbourhood, as well as sites far better suited to development than most of the easy targets that I have mentioned earlier. 
• And I would like to see the big Housing Associations scrutinised far more closely by the Housing Departments of the local councils, to ensure that they are doing a good job.  I have received complaints about the performance of one or two of the better known names - but it seems that the two local councils just don't care about making sure that the council and social housing stock we already have is offered to the public in the best condition possible.   

Jonathan Gough - Conservative Prospective Parliamentary candidate for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush

This article was originally published in a Monthly newsletter from Jonathan Gough. You can sign up to receive this newsletter by visting www.ealingconservatives.com  

December 30, 2004