…and welcome Brentford Lubyanka. At Brentford County Court today St Georges PLC were granted a possession order for the land at Kew Bridge and the Eco Village can be evicted after a minimum of 7 days. In the eleven months since the occupation began the ecovillagers have proved to be excellent neighbours to the local community, giving much and asking little, and have been impressive in their commitment to a way of life which embraces and celebrates both people and the world in which we live in a caring and spiritual way. You will be missed.

As a counterpoint it is interesting to note Andrew Dakers, whose prevarication was in large part responsible for this site being granted planning permission, failed in his attempt to become MP for Brentford & Isleworth and that the voters in Brentford ward of Hounslow Council decided to dispense with his services as their councillor. Karma.

There will be a Court hearing next Friday the 7th of May in which the developers St George are seeking a possession order with a view to removing the ecovillagers from the development site at Kew Bridge Road.

This will take place at Brentford County Court from 1PM onwards.

At the Hounslow Council Sustainable Development Committee held on Wednesday, 17 February 2010 the planning application by St George for the land at Kew Bridge was inexplicably approved.

Given that on the last occasion this application was before the SDC the consensus was to reject the application and only at the last minute was the decision deferred, and that no significant changes were made to the application which still fails to satisfy Hounslow’s own planning guidelines, how is it possible for approval to be given?

St George seem to have known the decision was going their way – they started works reinforcing the boundary fence several weeks ago.

Anyone care to spill the beans on what has been going on behind the scenes?

The planning application by St Georges returns to Hounslow Council Sustainable Development Committee on Wednesday, 17 February 2010 at 7:30 pm and will be held at Committee Rooms 1 & 2, Civic Centre, Lampton Road, Hounslow. To view the agenda for this meeting please click here.
This may be the last opportunity to stop this development so please try and attend.

Paul Lewis, a community member of Strand on the Green Association spoke eloquently on behalf of the many community groups against the development,
“What is the point of local consultations if the views of all the local societies are ignored,” he said. “The only people that could be moved to write in with letters of support for the development were those who were managing agents for other St George developments.”

Paul, please add Green Dragon Lane Housing Co-op to your list of community groups against the development.

I cannot understand that the council officers present recommended the development given that it failed to satisfy many of the requirements of the planning brief, the unitary plan or the conservation area guidelines.

Special mention must be made for the council’s architecture expert whose presentation was so inept, and who appeared to be so embarrassed by her attempts to defend the indefensible, all she could come up with during a 20 minute presentation was that it was a “background” structure with white round bits at each corner providing “bookends” along the Kew Bridge Road frontage. Thank you, your performance surely killed this application if it was not dead already.

That the council officers, their expert on architecture and the legal adviser to the committee all met up in a local pub immediately after the meeting is I am sure entirely irrelevant.

Date:  Wednesday, 16 September 2009 7:30 pm, Sustainable Development Committee

Venue:   Committee Rooms 1 & 2, Civic Centre, Lampton Road, Hounslow

Open meeting.

St George’s planning application for the land adjacent to Kew Bridge at Kew Bridge Road, currently occupied by the ecovillage, will be decided at a meeting of the Hounslow Council Sustainable Development Committee on Wednesday 16 September. Details as follows:

Wednesday, 16 September 2009 7:30 pm, Sustainable Development Committee

Venue:   Committee Rooms 1 & 2, Civic Centre, Lampton Road, Hounslow

Contact:    Wendy Merry, Telephone 020 8583 2061, e-mail  wendy.merry@hounslow.gov.uk

This is an open meeting, although only those who have previously objected will be allowed to speak and even then only by giving at least 5 working days notice before the meeting.

A good turnout will ensure that the feelings of the local community towards this development will be made known.

A judge at Brentford County Court granted the couple an Interim Possession Order at a civil hearing.

It comes as the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner confirmed the pair are facing a probe over the property.
Under Commons rules, they should have spent most of their nights there but it emerged last month that it had not been lived in for up to a year.

The squatters, who entered the empty property on 26 June, will have 24 hours to vacate the terraced property once the notice has been served.