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Wednesday 20 April 2016

RBKC OFFICER ALISON 'FLIGHTY' FLIGHT TELLS COMMITTEE TO IGNORE RESIDENTS




DURANT/CAPCO CHAIR

Thousands of residents have complained about  noise, vibration and dust from Earl’s Court; so many, in fact, that Hammersmith & Fulham Council requested a deferral of a vital decision due to lack of consultation with their residents and LBHF. 




Alison 'Flighty' Flight, Strategic Development Team Leader told the  RBKC Planning Committee to ignore residents and pass the conditions allowing Capco to proceed with their 61-90 nights of working unchecked.

'Flighty was the officer famed for 'locking on' to a DP9 contractor at the November 2014 meeting, which passed the original planning application.
This junior officer had the temerity to tell the meeting last night ‘that there was no obligation for the Council (RBKC) to consult residents’. One wonders whether these officers ever ponder upon who pays their wages.

There might not be an obligation, but this site is acknowledged as being complex and estimated to take 20 years before completion. On that basis alone there is a duty of care to residents and this lack of consultation could account for wide-spread ignorance of the proposals from neighbouring residents who are simply fed up with the level of noise, dust, vibration and feel that they have been let down by the Council.

It would appear that there is more scrutiny over a basement excavation than one of the largest construction sites in London. The recommendation that consideration of resident objections could be incorporated into an ‘informative’ attached to the S61 Notice is not robust enough to protect residents. 
It is limited in enforcement power and can only be considered to be pro-developer by placing the concerns of residents aside. This is not only a scandal but a shambles!

One resident said I am not confident of the management of the project. It would appear that the main contractor is operating totally unchecked.’

Is it really acceptable that noise levels at night should be based on residents keeping their windows closed? 
Did the panel understand the noise to be generated by the largest crane in Europe - this is toys for boys without the detail.

Reporting of problems is haphazard, inconsistent and, in some cases, takes a long time for the Contractors to respond. 
Where is the dedicated full-time team of Environmental Health Officers promised in the initial planning consent? Washing cars does not address the levels of dust experienced by residents and there are no details of how they will deal with dust once the white plastic sheeting panels are at ground level.

Residents have still not been given access to the Asbestos Risk Survey. Why is this?

Resident consultation relies on the Neighbourhood Group, which is weighted against residents, and does not include many of the RAs in Earl’s Court so this is consultation by tick box, rather than genuine consultation.

So why did the Council pass Conditions that fail to protect residents, without achieving guarantees that the identified problems had been considered, evaluated and effective improvements put in place? 

The phalanx of Capco employees and their PR rep outnumbered the objectors. 

This is yet another example of a council ignoring residents and obsequiously pandering to the whims and greed of a ruthless South African property combine.

25 comments:

  1. Shocking -sack her !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She would probably just be given a job with Capco

      Delete
    2. Why did RBKC's Information Officer Robin Yu refuse FoI asking to see "Planning Officer Allison Flight's correspondece with CapCo & DP9" back in 2014

      https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/planning_officer_allison_flights

      What are they hiding, Lady Borwick should be weighing in on the side of the residents.

      Delete
  2. I think why is a very important question, why the original planning was passed after English heritage reported it was of no interest and would not be listed, with no one questioning the report being written by Richard Coleman whose clients included Capcos planning agents DP9 a clear conflict of interest that was just brushed under the carpet. Then we have why is the council or Mayor not questioning in the current climate of tax stories the fact that Capco set up EC Properties an offshore company in Jersey for the project and not to mention their involvement with the Kwoks in Hong Kong who I believe are currently in prison after being found guilty of corruption on similar projects in Hong Kong, what nice people they have involved in this.

    The most recent whys have to be why we are not allowed to know about asbestos situation, why we are told the level of dust covering the area is ok ( and told it is because the wind is blowing in the wrong direction) and why they think it is ok to turn this in to a 24 hour a day building site ? And why the council and mayor think it is ok that Capco are as has been seen in documents monitoring people opposed to the scheme, are we in the UK or Russia ?

    maybe we should all start putting planning applications in for overnight building works and see if they are passed ? I bet I know the answer already.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CapCo have 20 companies based in Jersey:

      C&C Properties (Jersey) Limited (Jersey)
      Capital & Counties CG (No. 1) Limited (Jersey)
      Capital & Counties CG (No. 2) Limited (Jersey)
      Capital & Counties Properties (Jersey) 2 Limited Capvestco 2 Limited (Jersey)
      Capvestco China Limited (Jersey)
      Capvestco Earls Court Limited (Jersey)
      Capvestco Lillie Square Limited (Jersey)
      Capvestco Limited (Jersey)
      Covent Garden Limited (Jersey)
      Covent Garden LP Limited (Jersey)
      EC Group Holdings Limited (Jersey)
      EC Holdings Limited (Jersey)
      EC Properties LP Limited (Jersey)
      Empress Holdings Limited (Jersey)
      Empress State (Jersey) Limited (Jersey)
      Lillie Square Holdings Limited (Jersey)
      Lillie Square LP Limited (Jersey)
      Solum Group Holdings LP Limited (Jersey)
      Solum Holdings Limited (Jersey)

      Annual report here

      http://www.capitalandcounties.com/sites/default/files/CAP033_ARA2015_Web.pdf

      Delete
  3. This smells to high heaven.

    CapCo are failing they've missed the property party. House prices have hit their peak.

    CapCo shares have fallen drastically and EVEN Evening Standard reported that those in Wall Street & the City are shorting CapCo's shares, betting against them! They've spied on residents, spread dust through the Ward and for 18 months, 6 days a week, from early morning till late evening making residents' lives hell with noise & vibrations.

    They are now being done for taking state aid amounting to billions of pounds.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Capco are worried and various senior staff have been buying up shares to improve confidence in the company (one wonders where they get the money from ? ) , including Gary Yardley, Ian Hawksworth, Gerry Murphy and Das Soumen their Chief Financial officer who is also the only registered Director of their offshore company EC Properties which has its office in St Helier Jersey, Jersey Company Number 108459.

      Delete
  4. Capco MD Gary Yardley scrolled through his mobile phone during this meeting. His deep tan, glinting silver watch & slicked back thinning hair brings to mind the fading fairground bruisers of my misspent youth. There are residents suffering health-wise from the construction dust and the stress of it all. For what? Safe deposit boxes in the sky and so that local snobs happy in their conceit, can bray about improving the neighbourhood in their various trusts and societies.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Its quite laughable really, they have the council in their pocket, as well as the government & City Hall and they still make a hash of it.

    Their demolishers Keltbray are also benevolent donaters to Conservatives.

    Even with all this they still balls it up. It is quite embarrasing.

    Their execs even have to buy the flats because they have not sold one since September.

    Its a very sad joke being played on the residents and the entire borough!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I hear on the grape vine that we are getting some signs that you see at the entrances to towns, apparently ours will say "Welcome to RBKC, the Royal Borough of Keltbray & Capco, we welcome careful drivers of expensive cars and absent overseas property investors"

    ReplyDelete
  7. Will Victoria Borwick assist the residents of Earls Court?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Doubt it! Residents have had to turn to Hammersmith Labour MP Slaughter for assistance. Still she does look good for her age in her Olympic games maker outfit, all that is left of the iconic double Olympic venue Earls Court.

      Delete
    2. Victoria Borwick help us, yes I am sure she will help us leave the borough as quickly as possible so they can fill it with lot's of absent property owners so the council does not have to spend so much. As Miss Sweet FA the councillor ( Fenella Aounae) said in public "Earls Court attracted the wrong type of event and people" , the same lady who wanted a police officer near her home during certain events to make sure nobody urinated near it, to my mind there are a few people taking the pee and we all know who they are

      Delete
    3. Hilarious if it wasn't so sad

      Delete
  8. Property Week now announcing Battersea developers are holding on to flats due to downturn in the prime London residential market. Nine Elms is more popular than Earls Court due to proximity to Chelsea and railway, tube etc, hop, skip and a jump into the City; close to the park too.

    If Nine Elms are doing this then it means the worse for CapCo they're already been hit by their shares, unable to shift flats, spying on residents & objectors, executives and board members having to buy flats to keep up the facade.

    They are reeping what they sowed, but the Conservative Councillors and MPs who back them do not realise it.

    http://www.propertyweek.com/news/battersea-developer-holds-on-to-flats-amid-prime-resi-slump/5081596.article

    ReplyDelete
  9. Any polticial party wishing to take Earls Court from the tories could do so right now.

    This will be the last straw & Blues will not be voted back into Earls Court for some time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The tragedy is that they will.... AND they know it. Stick a blue rosette on a box of Fortnum's chocolates and it would be elected. Only Linda Wade's dedication -despite the convenient boundary change that they thought would do for her - saw her reelected at the expense of bumptious squirt Jonathon whatever his name was

      Delete
  10. Why are comments being deleted from this blog without good reason? There were a couple of comments in the story about Beauchamp Place referring to the repeated poor behaviour of shopkeepers in the south of the borough that Council officers and Councillors appear to turn a blind eye to which many of us recognise as being entirely accurate. Why were they removed?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Might be defamtory, Dame has to take care not be Carter Rucked!

      Delete
    2. The Dame has only ever deleted 2 or 3 comments and that was many months ago. She suspects that you may not have entered the comment correctly. So don't you dare get all hoity toity with the old thing!!!!
      Please, by all means, send them to her and she will get them loaded

      Delete
  11. By the way can I say a big hello to Capco we know they spy on us so will be reading this from the comfort of their offices . Just checked Capcos shares and way down on last year so we have more than the Queens birthday to celebrate. Lots of director share buying gone on this year so far

    http://www.lse.co.uk/DirectorsDeals.asp?shareprice=CAPC&share=cap_and_count

    Directors Deals for Cap & Count (CAPC)

    ReplyDelete
  12. There is something rotten in the state of Kensington. Id est Con-ned councillors that dance to Capco's carefully orchestrated tune and the it'll be alright on the Flight planners that advise these hopelessly out-of-their-depth old buffers on what is turning out to be a watermark case in how to screw up London/ers. Will Lazy Borwick lift a finger to help? About as likely as sweet FA (genius monicker!) filling the vol au vents with Shipham's Bloater Paste at at the next Tory fundraiser.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I see Capco are going to be working all day Saturday and Sunday 7th and 8th May, how come they can do this when any other building works for normal people have to cease by lunchtime on a Saturday and are not allowed on Sundays ? they have sent a letter with the usual rubbish about limiting dust and noise , the only time dust is limited is don to mother nature when it rains and sod all to do with good working practice by Keltbray and Capco . And Keltbray workers obviously have no care for their helath or their bosses do not check on them as in all that dust they walk around and work with no breathing apparatus mask protection at all, surely that is a breach of health and safety, it would be for anyone else, but then I forget the favoured ones are above the law it would seem.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Where is Victoria Borwick?

    Is she not suppossed to help the Earls Court residents?

    The absence of any sort of adult ensuring the safety of residents and workers is shocking!

    Would not be surprised if Tories voted out of Earls Court next local election & Borwick to lose half her votes 2020.

    ReplyDelete

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