The waiting game...
I read somewhere that the council were concerned that few journalists attended meetings in the Civic offices. I guess one of the reasons is that they, like many others have already put in a full days work and the chances of picking up a good story is remote.
One of the committees that sometimes has a story attached to it is our Planning Control Committee made up of councillors who, along with the councils planners are judge and jury as to whether a project will go ahead or not.
Sometimes the public gallery is full of people waiting to hear decisions about a particular application who are obliged to sit it out until their turn comes. This is often late in to the night. Would it not be possible for someone to ask the visiting public what planning application they were there to hear then bring those forward to be heard first thus saving everyone a great deal of time sitting on hard seats for hours on end listening to hard hat applications they have no interest in. If it’s difficult for the committee to deal with the public interest plans first, could the chair person to tell the public gallery to expect a delay of two hours giving them the option of staying, going shopping and returning later.
One typical public interest application recently was demolishing the old peoples home in Vicarage Road, Bexley. A resident, Jeff Miller, spoke against the development as did Mrs S.Mitchell. The council’s planners told the committee why they thought the project should go ahead and ward cllrs. Downing and Tandy supported the objectors. When it came to the vote six members voted for and six against. The chairman cast her vote to approve so the scheme goes ahead. We shall photograph the site and the finished project to see how it all fits in with the olde worlde of Bexley Village. The good news was that the developer and planners have solved the problem of flooding in Bexley.
Mr Miller stormed out of the meeting with other members of the public all shouting cringing abuse.
HIPS
Our friendly local estate agent has confirmed the market has pretty well dropped to its lowest level and the future of estate agents as we know them today will changed forever because of the introduction of the HIP which all house owners now require before they are able to sell their properties. Your domestic energy assessor plays an important role in obtaining a satisfactory HIP. Our estate agent points out that a whole new industry is being created by the government and the danger is that mortgages will be difficult to come by without a good HIP so home sellers might find themselves having to employ specialists to bring their properties up to a required standard before it can be sold. Think about roofs, boilers, damp courses, insulation, double glazing etc. If it’s sold as seen the HIP will say so and the price expectation will be lower so the seller loses both ways because he can’t sell without having a HIP. I understand a HIP only lasts six months! Sounds like a good 17.5% VAT earner for the government.
Planning
We thought the idea of planners and a planning committee was to make sure buildings that are erected in Bexley are compatible with those in the surrounding area. How on earth did this block of flats gain approval? A question that is being asked by many readers of the Chronicle. If they allowed this building why not the Gaudi look-a-like down by Sidcup station?
The NHS
I have discovered why the NHS are losing money. I received no less than three separate letters (all unsigned) requesting me to go to an optician in Sidcup for a check up. My own optician undertakes the retinal check and advises the Barnard Medical Centre of the results. My optician charges me £10 for the service as opposed to the NHS chosen optician who charge nothing!
St. Pancras station
The hullaballoo about the refurbished St.Pancras station has not moved me. Whenever I have to travel northwards I nearly always travel by car because of the tortuous journey from Sidcup to Charing Cross then the tube, which, quite frankly, leaves me exhausted. If I did want to spend a small fortune travelling by Eurostar to Paris why should I have to invest over an hours time travelling in the opposite direction? The worlds gone crazy.