From Keep Kensal Green
KENSAL CANALSIDE DEVELOPMENT UPDATE
BALLYMORE WILL SUBMIT A HYBRID PLANNING APPLICATION AT THE END OF SEPT. 2023
On September 14th we learnt that Ballymore would be submitting a "Hybrid" Planning Application to RBKC at the end of September.
A Hybrid application means that Ballymore will only submit a detailed plan for the new Sainsburys build.
Plans for the rest of the housing development will only be submitted in outline with updated plans for different parcels of land (or plots) submitted as and when Ballymore are ready.
This type of planning application is not unusual for large scale developments, but given the long list of concerns raised by residents about scale and density of the build, loss of light, traffic congestion, impact on the Cemetery, drain on local infrastructure and crucially the issue of site contamination and how this will be dealt with on a "plot by plot" basis -- its vital that we register our complaint NOW before the application goes in.
We have been advised by a lawyer that residents should have been made aware from DAY 1 of the consultation process that this was a HYBRID planning application. RBKC's failure to do so is deemed "misleading" and unacceptable.
We have also been advised we have grounds to mount a challenge and ask RBKC to start a new consultation process that this time, includes information about the proposed Hybrid application.
If you would like to register your concern please click on the link to download a TEMPLATE Letter of Complaint which you can adapt and edit as you like.
4 comments:
Quintain submitted a hybrid planning application for much of their land at Wembley Park in 2015.
Nearly all of the attention it received was on the one detailed plan it included (from memory, for what became the Pink car and coach park). The other parts of the hybrid application received very little consideration, including by Brent's Planning Committee.
However, once the application was approved, that became the accepted "Masterplan" for Wembley Park, even though it differed in some parts from Brent Council's own Wembley Area Action Plan, which had been adopted (after public consultation) less than a year before Quintain's hybrid application!
When later detailed applications came in, including the one for building a primary school on the York House car park (rather than on a site next to the new park at the east end of Engineers Way, which instead will be yet another tower block), objections against them were brushed aside, on the basis that they had already been approved, in principle, as part of the 2015 hybrid application.
And the moral of this story is ... Beware of hybrid planning applications! If you, or an area you know and love (such as Kensal Green Cemetery), may be affected by the application, look at everything in them, especially the "outline" items, and object to anything which may develop into a detailed application which would cause harm.
If you don't object at the hybrid stage, you may find that future plans have been "approved" before you actually get chance to seen them in detail.
well i got a response from template letter wonder if thiers is copied and pasted...it reads as follows..."Dear .......,
I write in acknowledgement of your email.
I am the Director of Planning & Place, responsible for the Council’s Local Planning Authority (LPA) functions.
Thank you for your email, the contents of which I have carefully considered. I’m sorry to hear that you were unaware of the structure of the planning application intended to be submitted by Ballymore / Sainsbury’s for their proposals (which they refer to as ‘Project Flourish’ on the northern land of Kensal Canalside Opportunity Area.
We are aware that Ballymore (London Arena) Limited and Sainsbury’s Stores Limited intend to submit a planning application to the Council relating to land at Kensal Canalside. We will exercise our discretion as to whether to accept a combined outline and full [‘hybrid’] application if it is submitted.
Ballymore / Sainsbury’s approached the Council, as Local Planning Authority, in November 2020 for pre-application advice on their proposals. From the outset, Ballymore advised that their planning application would be a hybrid one, with about half the proposals submitted in detail (Plots 2 and 4) and the rest of the proposals (Plots 1, 4 and 6) submitted in outline.
The Applicant confirmed their intention to submit a hybrid application in December 2022, stating that it would still be a hybrid planning application but the amount of works submitted in detail would reduce and the amount of works submitted in outline would increase, with the primary road infrastructure from the site entrance at Ladbroke Grove and replacement Sainsbury’s store in Plot 2 submitted in detail and everything else in Plots 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 submitted in outline. .......(continued)
continued " I chaired a Developer Forum on 10 July 2023 at Barlby School where the Applicant explained their intended Phased delivery of their proposals as a hybrid application to residents and other interested people. Their presentation showed a 10-year timeline for delivery of those proposals – please see page 30. There were concerns raised at that meeting by residents about site contamination and reference to historic operational uses on the site that are considered to be potentially harmful; a point that you also raise in your correspondence.
You have been clear in your email that residents would have voiced their concern and been likely to have withheld support for this development if they had been aware of the nature of possible site remediation activity and duration of those works. Please do not feel disheartened as you and residents have not lost the opportunity to voice your opinions. The Local Planning Authority will carry out public consultation if an application is submitted and validated, and it will be very important for us to consider all planning matters that are raised to inform our assessment.
I note your request that the parties involved re-start their consultation from the beginning. As it stands, no application has been received, as such no formal consultation by the LPA has occurred. We will, of course consult on any application that is received. I am unable to speak for the Applicant and suggest that you voice your concerns about their consultation directly with them. We have and continue to strongly emphasise the importance of working with local residents and businesses in the development of proposals to make sure they meet your needs.
You have used the word ‘complaint’ in your email. Often, matters can be quickly resolved by email prior to the matter being escalated to be considered under the Council’s formal complaints procedure. If you remain dissatisfied with this response, you may make a complaint via the Council’s web site.
I do hope that he above is helpful to you and apologise that I am unable to address complaints aimed at the Applicant, or to compel them to meet your requests.
For further responses, please sign up for a myRBKC account and then set your preferences to receive email notifications on planning applications. You do not need to be a RBKC resident to be able to do this.
Yours sincerely,
Amanda Reid
Director, Planning & Place
Environment and Communities, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8
Mobile: 07790363868 "
template letter response ....(continued) ..
I chaired a Developer Forum on 10 July 2023 at Barlby School where the Applicant explained their intended Phased delivery of their proposals as a hybrid application to residents and other interested people. Their presentation showed a 10-year timeline for delivery of those proposals – please see page 30. There were concerns raised at that meeting by residents about site contamination and reference to historic operational uses on the site that are considered to be potentially harmful; a point that you also raise in your correspondence.
You have been clear in your email that residents would have voiced their concern and been likely to have withheld support for this development if they had been aware of the nature of possible site remediation activity and duration of those works. Please do not feel disheartened as you and residents have not lost the opportunity to voice your opinions. The Local Planning Authority will carry out public consultation if an application is submitted and validated, and it will be very important for us to consider all planning matters that are raised to inform our assessment.
I note your request that the parties involved re-start their consultation from the beginning. As it stands, no application has been received, as such no formal consultation by the LPA has occurred. We will, of course consult on any application that is received. I am unable to speak for the Applicant and suggest that you voice your concerns about their consultation directly with them. We have and continue to strongly emphasise the importance of working with local residents and businesses in the development of proposals to make sure they meet your needs.
You have used the word ‘complaint’ in your email. Often, matters can be quickly resolved by email prior to the matter being escalated to be considered under the Council’s formal complaints procedure. If you remain dissatisfied with this response, you may make a complaint via the Council’s web site.
I do hope that he above is helpful to you and apologise that I am unable to address complaints aimed at the Applicant, or to compel them to meet your requests.
For further responses, please sign up for a myRBKC account and then set your preferences to receive email notifications on planning applications. You do not need to be a RBKC resident to be able to do this.
Yours sincerely,
Amanda Reid
Director, Planning & Place
Environment and Communities, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8
Mobile: 07790363868
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