We have a council spouting off about sustainability, climate emergency, green measures, LTNs etc whilst systematically conniving with profiteering developers to destroy the place. If your neighbour is a tenant, you could contact their landlord. The hours of service are: Monday to Wednesday. However, I cannot see that a lot of what they are accused of here is entirely within their control, and they do not appear to be significantly worse than many other Planning Departments (although admittedly may be a bit too relaxed regarding over-development). They made the council aware of the dispute over land ownership and the 2018 court judgement. The South Norwood protesters marched in support of the residents of Regina Road, a Croydon Council-owned block of flats that shocked when an ITV News expose aired recently. Many residents have already chosen to take advantage of the scheme to plant trees as groups, contributing as little as 3 per person, raising the full amount as a team." I saw one of them trees come down no regard for safety just cut and left to fall. This fact sheet is aimed primarily at people who believe the council should be taking enforcement action against a nearby development and may be considering making a complaint to the Ombudsman. We can then serve a legal notice under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 requiring the offender to stop causing a nuisance. Show Communal cleaning: The landlord explained that the caretaker was scheduled to attend weekly on a Monday Labour-controlled Croydon council gave planning permission for the development in Old Coulsdon; Neighbours said the nine-flat development is 'unquestionably' out of character with the surrounding area Croydon Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association (CBNWA) is a charity with a reach of up to 29,000 residents across the whole borough. Often this solves the problem. And the scheme for replanting is hopelessly mean and unviable.. Unimpressed: Croydon Council planners handling of the neighbours boundary dispute saw the Ombudsman being sharply critical. If you think a vulnerable adult is being abused in any way, you can report this as a safeguarding concern. On Monday (21 December), the councils antisocial behaviour enforcement team shut 70 Alford Green in New Addington just hours after Croydon magistrates agreed a formal closure order. Mobile Homes For Sale Lycoming County, Pa, how soon after gallbladder surgery can i get a tattoo, How Do Squirrel Monkeys Protect Themselves, Mobile Homes For Sale Lycoming County, Pa. There are a large amount of formal complaints about their planning practice that are on file but delayed internally once responded to they then go onto the ombudsman you can see why Croydon Planning Department is choosing to stall these internally. Follow these steps if you have a dispute with your neighbour. The decision notice on the 89 Hyde Road block of flats was signed off by the councils head of development management, Nicola Townsend. There's no charge for making a complaint or sending us feedback. To contact us, please email inside.croydon@btinternet.com, elderly couple who have lived at 96 Hyde Rd for more than 50 years, to, Help to support our genuine local and independent journalism, Council chiefs accused by MP of being on side of developers, Council planners 3-month delay over Sanderstead complaint, shed just organised herself an escape plan from Fishers Folly with a new job in Redbridge, Regulation 122 of the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010, Developers given free rein from a council with no controls, Feeble planners allow builders to get away with (tree) murder, You can support Inside Croydons news-breaking independent local journalism. Venues for hire. The resident made further complaint s on 21 August 2020 and the landlord issued a formal letter about the problem to the neighbour in line with its complaints policy. As Inside Housing puts it, Many residents in the block and in another across the road had repeatedly complained Two years continuous noise nuisance, making life unbearable for a neighbour undergoing chemotherapy, has ended with a three-month closure order on an Upper Norwood flat. The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/596/contents, particularly as set out under SCHEDULE 2 Emails from residents unanswered, six-month delays in dealing with a formal complaint, and a planning department that ignored a court order. giving feedback There is a borough-wide issue in council blocks with damaged and vandalised security doors. Gumtree. Emails from residents unanswered, six-month delays in dealing with a formal complaint, and a planning department that ignored a court order. The you can get help for rough sleepers through StreetLink. The council has also agreed to try and learn lessons from this complaint, the Ombudsman states, probably more in hope than expectation. On July 3, I was phoned by Mr Newlands, who told me that all the trees on the site were being cut down. Heather Cheesbroughs standard response is to convert residents letters, without their agreement, into formal complaints effectively kicking them 5 months down the line. My own follow-up email to Heather Cheesbrough of July 27, was ALSO copied to Katherine Kerswell and Cllrs Hamida Ali and Jason Perry. If Steve Reed OBE MP and Clive Fraser spent less time trying to strangle democracy in the LLP and more time trying to address these dire housing issues, theyd be doing what they were elected to do. Births, deaths, marriages and citizenship, Support is available for you or someone you're worried about, contact our Single Point of Contact (SPOC) team, Report and request removal of offensive graffiti, If you are a Housing Association tenant, please report the issues to your Housing Association, If you are a Council tenant or leaseholder please contact your Tenancy Officer or call 0208 726 6000. If it is longer the Council may ask customers to explain why they could not complain sooner. The Ombudsman says that there were two key points that the council ought to have considered. 15, Navrang Industrial Society, B/H Sarvodaya Petrol Pump, Sosyo Circle, Udhna - Magdalla Road, Surat - 395002, Gujarat, India. News stories, speeches, letters and notices, Reports, analysis and official statistics, Data, Freedom of Information releases and corporate reports. Perhaps a Government could bring in a requirement for new title pans to accurately plot all boundaries and building plans on NEW and REBUILT properties using modern surveying methods down to a very high level of accuracy eg by Satellite co-ordinates. Since early 2018 I have tried, along with the Riddlesdown Residents Association and other neighbours, to help Mr and Mrs Newlands, the elderly couple who have lived at 96 Hyde Rd for more than 50 years, to defend themselves from the unsustainable intensification that threatens to swallow up their family home. He has built out building in his back yard without lawfully planning. We aim to give all our customers a good service, but sometimes we make mistakes. Walls tend to stay put. "A planning enforcement investigation is ongoing and the ombudsman is being updated on the . Dont worry we wont send you spam or share your email address with anyone. The council effectively encouraged this illicit building work to go ahead after it granted planning permission, because the planners never bothered checking on the Land Register or other certificates to confirm the property ownership. I cannot see the council scrutinised Ms Zs service of Certificate A through any such process here. Quantum Homes, their work on Pollards Hill South . From your message it appears that there was some dispute over whether notice was served on you. There was not, and has been no sign of any action by the councils planning enforcement officials. Its as if the Regina Road scandal never happened, said the source. . The council has powers to deal with noise that is considered a statutory nuisance. This latest Ombudsmans decision against Cheesbroughs department would appear to contradict that contention. There are rules about heights of structures, their maximum height alongside a boundary, the area of land that can be covered with sheds without the need for planning permission, and heights of walls, fences gates etc. A person can complain of nuisance if damage is caused by a substantial and unreasonable interference with the private right to use and enjoy one's land. The council took action in response to ongoing neighbours On Saturday 6 August, the family and supporters of Mr Duggan, numbering around 120, marched to Tottenham police station to protest about the shooting. cominbuy clothing reviews 9998219401. Alberto Bocelli Architect, We do not provide anout of hours service for complaints about parties. It took the council another two months to reply six months after the original complaint had been lodged. Mr X also contacted Ms Z directly asking her to stop the trespass. Croydon CR0 1EA What a shit show the planning department is. . And while some of the ill-served residents have been moved out or been promised new accommodation away from Regina Roads badly maintained flats, the notion that repairs are being conducted any more urgently or efficiently are belied by photographs of the blocks. If you have a story to share about housing conditions, email housingstories@itv.com. It would be unlawful for the council to remake its decision by merely reissuing the decision notice with the tailpiece omitted. having more team managers respond to complaints. Another day, another ruling from the Local Government Ombudsman against Croydon Council. If the noise persists, we will attempt to visit your property at the times the noise normally occurs to witness a nuisance. For reasons that should be obvious when dealing with local authorities and their planning departments, the Ombudsman tends to try to avoid becoming enmeshed in disputes between the public and their councils planners. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. But Hey, that sounds like hard work and it would expose to public scrutiny just how useless these two are. Croydon Council. For all customer service enquiries go to @ContactCroydon. The Inner West Comprehensive Development Control Plan (DCP) 2016 for Ashbury, Ashfield, Croydon, Croydon Park, Haberfield, Hurlstone Park and Summer Hill came into effect on on 10 January 2017.. The hardest part of being at Croydon council is the uncertainty when there are cuts in budget or changes to services. That email included . Is there a basement at the Farfield Halls which could be converted to a dungeon? . The tenant attended court on November 29, but However, this work must be done at reasonable times and should not cause nuisance to neighbours. Ministers have sent in a taskforce to oversee Croydon council after an audit report revealed the Labour-run authority is on the verge of bankruptcy following a . All bad enough, you might think, but there was more to come on the day, this time from the council. (53%) Messy Gardens or property. Likes. The council generally adopts an escalating approach to noise enforcement and can deal with unreasonable . On the morning of July 7, Mr Newlands called again to tell me the road had been blocked for more than an hour, without warning or signage, while demolition machinery was delivered to site. To reduce noise nuisance from houses and premises, the law defines a maximum amount of noise which is acceptable during night hours. Labour councillors in several wards have lodged formal complaints on behalf of their residents for months on end, as the homes security is being placed at risk, and break-ins at the blocks have become more frequent, vandalism and drug-dealing has been an issue. only to leave after less than six months without any obvious sign of actually achieving anything. They say this is necessary as the existing court orders do not allow them to remove the further building work undertaken by Ms Z after she received planning permission.. A party wall agreement, covered by the Party Wall Act covers shared walls in between semi-detached and terraced houses, or structures such as the floors between flats or maisonnettes, plus garden border walls. He has build wall in my front garden in my property. Got away with it. Some of her neighbours had been lodging similar complaints to the council's housing department and Axis for four years. see https://www.gov.uk/party-walls-building-works. The council respond directly to you with further enquiries or to update you as the rubbish is cleaned up. If your neighbours complain to the Council, you may find the Environmental Protection department writing to you asking you to take action to avoid causing a nuisance. Stalling: the Newlands letter to Heather Cheesbrough, after the council somehow managed to ignore their formal complaint for three months. As many as 450,000 complaints are investigated each year by councils. If you're a member of the public who has concerns that a child or young person is being harmed or needs support, you should contact our Single Point of Contact (SPOC) team. Croydon council's housing department operated with "a poor operating culture with a lack of care and respect for tenants" resulting in accommodation being left in terrible conditions, a . Complaints and feedback. There was understandable disgust and anger, from the Riddlesdown RA members as well as the long-suffering Newlands, that the council had left it so long before introducing this new excuse for the already totally unacceptable and disrespectful delays. Just another episode in the regular shambles at Fisher's Folly Another day, another ruling from the Local Government Ombudsman against Croydon Council. A planning investigation has been opened after Croydon Council made a 'series of mistakes'.. By the early hours, rioting Talk to your neighbour. 25.6K Followers. Because, after all, that kind transparency and honesty about dealing with its failures might catch on, and could even lead to the council learning from its mistakes, and who at Fishers Folly would want that? It was dated February 22 2021, three months after the committee meeting. The property is in a great condition, and ready to move in. I got quite a waft from the other side of the road as it hit the ground. Once this form has been completed, the information will be forwarded to the relevant team for action. Image: Cleaner Croydon, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Croydon Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association. The leadership is helpful, creative and always supportive. COMPLAINT 202011660. There is a culture of not taking their complaints seriously., And Hewitt has a worrying message for Croydon Council and other social housing providers who fail their tenants. News, views and analysis about the people of Croydon, their lives and political times in the diverse and most-populated borough in London. Ploughing through the law: demolition of 89 Hyde Road went ahead, despite a complaint suggesting the council process had been unlawful, Schedule 1 of the undertaking reads (my italics for emphasis): Sustainable Transport Contribution means the sum of 13,500 to be utilised towards (which could include but not limited to and council exercising absolute discretion) sustainable transport, highway management measures and the delivery of sustainable transport initiatives in Sanderstead.. Fransoy Hewitt had collated a diary of shame a list of all her phone calls and emails to the council and its contractors over the previous 18 months. Which, for most reasonable people, might have been a starting point for a radical improvement in the councils care and attention to its tenants. Unlawful (and extensive) excavation works has thereby been allowed to continue (by default), necessitating large lorries using adjacent roads, the control/management of which the CLP was meant to control. The cameras had been checked by both the landlord's staff and the police and permission was granted for him to have them. Where to find Access Croydon. To WM then you, as land owner, have far more powers to stop development on land owned by you, than the Council as Local Planning Authority has. The HRA was the source of the money used to pay Dr Alison Knight her 800 per day fees when she swanned into Croydon as an emergency interim head of housing, only to leave after less than six months without any obvious sign of actually achieving anything. You could use a mediation service if raising the issue informally does not . For the smell to count as a statutory nuisance it must do one of the following: unreasonably and substantially interfere with the use or enjoyment of a home or other premises. Their reports are deliberately written in a dry, officialese. If we receive a complaint from you about neighbours playing loud music, we will send a letter to the alleged offender (s) asking them to keep the volume down. A Croydon flat where the tenant subjected her neighbours to fighting, knife threats and excessive noise has been shut. Examples of nuisances may include noisy animals, loud air-conditioners and interference . This was submitted to the Council and verified by the Planning Team without my knowledge. CROYDON IN CRISIS: If 2020 was Croydon Council's year of Negreedy and bankruptcy, 2021 has been the year of leaks, mould and a local authority exposed as incompetent and uncaring about those living in its properties. But Inside Croydon is aware of formal complaints being filed within the past month about the supercilious and condescending approach of senior council officials to Regina Road residents at recent meetings. please note that the Stage 1 Complaint was addressed to YOU and it is from YOU that we expect a substantive response . another ruling from the Local Government Ombudsman against Croydon Council. Please select Council property Housing Association Private rented Owner occupied. Re Mr. Harveys comment above, I would comment that Land registry plans (at least, those shown on the Land Title documents) rarely if ever show the ownership of a boundary fence. Accountability stopped in public service with William Whitelaw and the Michael Fagan incident. In that case, and its one persons word against another, I would suggest that the Council (or someone) should warn the applicant that, if it turns out that the notice was not served, they risk their planning permission becoming void. Now you might well think that Townsend, as someone with her qualifications and experience, in a position of such significant (delegated) power, would have known this.