For Earl's Court residents, Traffic and Transport are two of the most important issues that affect our lives, and despite their importance these reports were late in the Joint Supplementary Planning Consultation (JSPD) Consultation process, they were not sufficiently covered, and answers weak, leaving residents vulnerable and frustrated with the planning process.
Over 20 million working people will be better off next year after Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government delivered the biggest ever increase in the income tax personal allowance in the Budget.
The massive £3.5bn tax cut for working people delivers:
The biggest ever single uplift in the tax threshold
A personal allowance of £9,205 in April 2013
21 million working people getting an extra £220 tax cut
Brings the total tax cut for basic rate tax payers to £550
Brings the total number of people lifted out of tax to 2 million.
Last Opportunity to Object to the Seagrave Road Development
The proposed site may lie in Hammersmith & Fulham, but will have a massive effect on Kensington & Chelsea. There have been several further pieces of news over the last week, on which we would appreciate your help:
1. We understand that the Mayor received the referral of planning application "Fulham Broadway: 2011/02000/FUL" from H&F Council on Wednesday 14 March. He has until 27 March to decide whether to allow or block the development, but the decision could be made any day.
2. Scores of residents have written to the Mayor asking him to block the scheme. If you are concerned with the scheme, we encourage you to send a request to the Mayor in order to maximise the pressure and persuade him to repeat his actions in blocking the Town Hall development in Hammersmith. So please also ask your neighbours and your friends to write to him as soon as possible. A draft email is set out below.
3. We are now asking those local residents who haven't responded to sign a very basic petition. Please let us know if you have half an hour or more to take a petition round a section of your street or block in the next few days (we need to scan and submit petitions back as soon as they are complete). Please email info@kensingtonandchelsealibdems.org.uk if you can help.
4. H&F and K&C Councils have now invited comments on the main Earl's Court development proposals, which the Councils are trying to separate from the Seagrave Road plan. The deadline is 6 April.
We will be circulating our comments shortly, but if you respond in the next few days, please send us a copy at our relevant campaign email address above, or send a hard copy to Cllr Linda Wade, 18 Nevern Square, London SW5 9PD.
The London Mayor c/o Planning Decisions Unit The Greater London Authority City Hall, The Queen's Walk, London SE1 2AA planning@london.gov.uk
Dear Mr Mayor
I am writing to ask you to BLOCK AND REFUSE CONSENT TO the Seagrave Road development application "Fulham Broadway: 2011/02000/FUL" on the following grounds:
1. This 16-storey high-density housing development is far too high, breaches guidelines, and is out of keeping with the surrounding area. It will adversely affect the skyline for Grade I listed Brompton Cemetery and residents in neighbouring conservation areas.
2. Hammersmith & Fulham Council has ignored and underestimated the impact of adding 808 homes on the environment, local services, traffic, parking and transport in an already overcrowded and heavily congested part of London.
3. The entire rationale for this development is to support a much larger redevelopment scheme to demolish the iconic Earl's Court Exhibition Centre and hundreds of homes, to make way for 77 acres of high-rise buildings, which has not yet been determined.
4. The initial GLA response to the wider scheme identified 14 breaches of the Mayor's London Plan. This development should not be approved until these are resolved.
5. Only 200 of the 808 homes in this development will constitute affordable housing, which is inadequate to accommodate the residents in the 760 homes that it is proposed will be demolished as part of the larger scheme.
6. Hammersmith & Fulham Council has approved this development despite having a conflict of interest in that it stands to gain £100 million from the overall Earl's Court redevelopment scheme.
Earl's Court Photography Exhibition at METRO Bank by Longridge Road resident, Catherine Farrell.
(c) Catherine Farrell
Cllr Linda Wade has played an integral role in the organisation of a photography exhibition, which will be of interest to residents and photography lovers alike.
A book of images to accompany the exhibition, designed by Cllr Wade, has also been published, entitled "Earl's Court Photographs".
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg used his speech to the Party's Spring conference in NewcastleGateshead to call for the forthcoming budget to be a "budget for fairness" and pledged that it would help working familes.
The Deputy Prime Minister pledged that by 2015 Britain would have seen an end to control orders, the first gay marriages and the first elections to the House of Lords.
Fairer taxes, promoting green jobs, protecting your civil liberties - these are just some of the achievements of the Liberal Democrats in government.
We're building a freer, greener and more liberal country - and stopping some of the worst excesses of the Conservatives. Find out more in this infographic.
K&C Liberal Democrats Stand Up for Our Local Schools and Children's Centres
Local Lib Dem Councillor, Tim Jones, has chaired the Trustees of Colville Nursery Centre and has ensured that the centre continues to offer affordable places in the ward by negotiating with the London Early Years Foundation, which will guarantee its future.
The result in the Norland by-election on 6th October saw the Liberal Democrats increasing their share of the vote by 2.7% to 23.2%. The Tories won the seat, despite losing 12.5% of their vote share.
