Stupidity or plain arrogance?
DAVID v GOLIATH BATTLE: IT LOOKS BAD TIMING FOR CLLR CURRAN WITH 5 MAY COUNCIL ELECTIONS. WHAT IMPACT AT THE BALLOT BOX? The Public Inquiry into the Tesco-Homebase development at Osterley/Brentford kicks off on 15 March. With the support of Leader Cllr Steve Curran, the Council has authorised spending £200,000 on lawyers to "robustly defend" the go-ahead. The developers – Berkeley Homes/St Edward – will no doubt deploy equally expensive lawyers. Together their legal team will dwarf the resources of local opponents such as OWGRA. Despite that, it will be a fierce battle and David could well deliver Goliath a knock-out blow.Other opponents will include Historic England, Royal Botanic Gardens (Kew), and The Gardens Trust. A large part will be concerned with the impacts on heritage assets - Kew Gardens, Syon Park, Osterley Park and, to a lesser extent, listed buildings such as the Gillette building. The inquiry which will be webcast live from Hounslow House.It will also be a battle over to Steve Curran's vision of development in the Borough and, depending on the evidence, that could well be reflected at the ballot box on 5 May. While the Tories are expected to benefit overall in the area, there will be sympathy for the three Labour councillors who joined the opposition – Tony Louki, Richard Eason and Unsa Chaudri.In justifying its legal expenditure, the Council says: "We don’t have the resources or capacity to deliver that defence alongside delivering the other corporate priorities so need to add this additional budget to fund appropriate external support to robustly defend the decisions."A number of options were considered but with limited resources currently available relevant teams do not have the ability to robustly defend the decision."Earlier this month Cllr Curran defended his acceptance of hospitality from developers, including Berkeley. It was all fully and properly declared (although without giving a value). The Council website shows:* Dinner/Entertainment-11th October 2018 - The Berkeley Foundation Celebration at the British Museum.* Ticket to England v New Zealand Hospitality and match ticket Twickenham Stadium- 10th November 2018- Adrian Hunter Berkeley Strategic Land Ltd.* Hospitality and Match tickets x 2 at Lords - Test Match 14th August 2019 (England v Australia)- Berkeley Group.He told the Isleworth & Brentford Forum: “It’s incumbent on me as Leader of the Council and Lead Member for Planning and Regeneration to promote the Council wherever I can.“There's an enormous amount of development and that's really important.“People want to come and live in Brentford, to work in Brentford, to stay in Brentford. They want to bring up their children in Brentford and for them to be educated here – all our schools are good or outstanding. We were voted Council of the Year.“We've got a very clear agenda about sustainable jobs, sustainable homes, being carbon neutral by 2030, so I go anywhere and meet anyone at any time to ensure we meet our targets to build more family homes.“I make no excuses about making sure against stiff competition from other boroughs in London who are all banging the drum to get multi-million pound investment.“I am absolutely comfortable with the way this council manages its affairs around planning and regeneration.”
Vanessa Smith ● 1675d6 Comments