13 August - The last word on 16 New Road
When
16 New Road was mentioned here two days ago I remarked that planning issues are something I
generally avoid and maybe in future I should make that a Golden Rule. Even a
simple case like the demolition of a bungalow turns out to be more complicated than I knew.
Until the second
reader's email showed up I was not very aware of the original application
and its rejection. I thought I had better check up on it.
Short of time as usual I decided to take up the long-standing offer from the
Chairman of the Planning Committee to give him a call if ever the need arose. So I spoke to him for 25 minutes.
I learned that not only did Bexley Council reject
the first application because
of the accommodation planned for the rear garden but when it went to the
Inspector, that was the only reason for him rejecting it.
With that part of the proposal abandoned there was absolutely no way that an
appeal would not be successful so there was no point whatsoever in Bexley
objecting to the second application. It would only cost Bexley Taxpayers several thousand pounds for nothing.
The original blogs are amended because the hypercritical tone was unjustified.
The tall buildings in the background of the photo are on the far side of Abbey
Wood station and Sadiq wants to see more. It seems to me that anyone with a
decent sized plot living close to Abbey Wood station who would like to make a quick buck can
demolish their house and blight the area with a tower block. I’m thinking about it…
Note: Like the owner of the bungalow, I was once a planning whore. When living in Hampshire I bought a plot of
land close to home which was too narrow for a house to satisfy the Planning
Committee. It cost me £300 because without planning permission it was valueless.
I used it as an allotment for a couple of years.
Then the gamble paid off because the planners relaxed their rules and I was able to sell it for £27,000.
It provided the funds for a cheap flat in Plumstead. I was so ashamed of
how circumstances had forced me into desecrating a nice road with a squeezed in house that I
have never been back to look at it or taken a peek at Street View.