IN 40 years experience of planning applications, I've never heard such tripe from a planning committee member such as that spoken by Councillor Lauren Wall, the committee chairman's wife.
She said the council had to take account of the human rights of developers and had to save council tax by not fighting appeals.
By this nonsensical reasoning, why bother with planning applications at all? Simply let developers build what they like, because - according to her - to refuse planning permission would interfere with developers' human rights and save money fighting appeals.
What about the rights of the Acton residents who sent in petitions and objections? More than 300 people objected, including three local schools, who have no right of appeal, unlike the developers.
It seems it would not have mattered if there were petitions signed by 3,000. No notice would have been taken by the Labour members of the committee, who were mostly from the furthest regions of the borough, mainly Southall, North Greenford and Northolt.
These councillors do not have to stand for election in Acton and could not care less about the people of Acton, who have been left without representation. Not much democracy here.
The Acton member, Councillor Abdullah Gulaid, who was designated to be on the planning committee was not even allowed to take part, yet Councillor Shital Manro was drafted in from North Greenford to sit on the committee and quickly did a 'hatchet job' on the valid objections of the residents.
He had not even attended the site visit or received the many letters and petitions, yet his first act was to try to question the authenticity of the fire brigade's letter, which stated that the access road was not acceptable, even though the letter was quite clearly received from the fire authority on its headed notepaper.
The planning officers did all they could to help the developers by misrepresenting the developers' plans, which showed soft landscaping areas at the front of the new houses, but now are ludicrously claimed to be part of the vehicular roadway. The residents will step straight out their front door on to the roadway, to risk getting mowed down by a passing van or lorry.
The planners asked the highways officers to change their professional opinion that a sub-standard road was not acceptable, to help out the developers. It seemed almost as if they were acting for them.
I hope that Ealing Labour planning committee members and planning officers will be able to sleep at night when some mother with a double buggie, a disabled person, or a young child running out of the house is hit by a vehicle and injured or killed.
Should there not be an investigation into this whole shoddy affair?
JOHN MURRAY Goldsmith Avenue
Acton
