Two Community Consultation meetings arranged by ARUP were held on Saturday 1st March 2014 at 11.30 and 13.30 at the Paxton Suite in The Lodge, Crystal Palace Park. These meetings, though inadequately publicised by the organisers, were well notified by the CPCA and other local organisations, which perhaps contributed to the inauspicious start to the first meeting, when more than 200 people attending at 11.30 were unable to gain admittance, finding the room already packed to capacity, with every seat taken and many more standing and even sitting on the floor. Predictably, people unable to attend were furious at this fiasco, which was not helped by the sublime arrogance of…

The Coalition is preparing a new assault on planning laws that will give developers legal powers to force through planning applications without council approval or environmental assessments. Under new proposals, described by one planning expert as a nuclear option, developers and builders will be able to by-pass local authorities that delay decisions on conditions attached to planning approval. Even worse, the Coalition also proposes to remove requirement to assess the impact of some large residential developments or housing estates, super-markets and shopping centres on the countryside. Campaigners, including concerned Tory back-bencher MPs representing rural areas have warned that these radical reforms could result in communities being “held to ransom” and…