Forum Topic

No more planning notices in the Press

I've received notification from Mrs. Aileen Jones, Head of Planning at Ealing Council, that henceforth there will be no further notices of Planning applications or consultations in the local papers. If you like to keep up to date with Council and Developers plans for building in your area, then, sorry, you will have to find other ways.

Maire Lowe ● 4206d17 Comments

Publishing them on ActonW3.com would be a solution for our area but wouldn't really work in locations not covered by a site like this.The technology is there to implement quite clever low cost digital solutions which could target planning notices very precisely. Trouble is budgets for this sort of thing are being cut so additional spending is unlikely at the present point in time. The only short term answer if for people other than planning anoraks to read the paper.

Andy Jones ● 4195d

I'm a bit confused by what the Council considers appropriate consultation. Recently there was a proposal to reduce parking places in the road next to mine. There was apparently a notice in the Gazette but no one affected saw it. There was one notice on a tree which was initially higher than eye level so I walked past without seeing it as did everybody else. Fortunately one eagle eyed resident noticed and drew it to people's attention. No e mails or letters. Should there have been? I understand the proposal has been withdrawn but the Council hasn't written to the objectors. Should they have?Thing is, only planning anoraks read the weekly list of applications, so there needs to be a way of alerting people to those applications which will affect them. I haven't got the answer. Does anyone?

Maire Lowe ● 4198d

'And if the point of publishing the planning details in the paper is to make people aware of what is proposed - at considerable cost, isn't it worth looking at whether that is better done, and more effectively, by other means?'You still haven't grasped the point that the primary reason for persisting with the current system is, not to keep the public informed, but to support the local newspaper industry. Everybody is aware that there are better and cheaper ways for Councils to communicate with residents but the social cost of pulling the rug from under newspapers is considered to be too great.In a time of severe budget constraints there is no real alternative to this system, flawed though it clearly is. The Ealing Gazette has not really provided proper news coverage of the Acton area for at least five years and we are fortunate to have the excellent ActonW3.com to fill the gap. Other parts of the borough are not so lucky and would be left without the most basic coverage should the Gazette close. At a time when there are allegations of abuses of power at Ealing Council which need scrutiny and the area is about to embark on the most sustained period of redevelopment since the Victorian era, even the most threadbare borough press coverage will be valuable.Therefore the Gazette deserves our support. It may be harder to get your hands on than it used to be - I haven't managed to get last week's edition but it is out there and it is free. Although the specific W3 area coverage is deficient it remains worth reading for its wider coverage.

Andy Jones ● 4202d

Oh, I am in favour of a free press of course. Journalists - even resting ones - tend to be.I just don't think the Ealing Gazette reaches enough people to be a viable conduit for local information. Let alone for calling local politicians to account. That's done more effectively online nowadays isn't it (if at all).And if the point of publishing the planning details in the paper is to make people aware of what is proposed - at considerable cost, isn't it worth looking at whether that is better done, and more effectively, by other means?Does the Gazette have an Acton-based, or even Acton-responsible reporter? Since they made Michael redundant, I'm not sure it does.

Sara Nathan ● 4205d

Not at all Maire. The never broken rule about a free press is that politicians in opposition are very much in favour and politicians in power are against it!

Andy Jones ● 4205d

Hear hear Andy!Especially about the informed local news. Bet you thought I would never say that.

Maire Lowe ● 4205d

Sara, I'm sorry but if you post information on here that is incorrect you should expect it to be pointed out. It is always better, as a rule, to be aware of the facts before having an opinion on a subject.The broader point here is not how effective these notices are - I don't think anybody would claim that they make a real contribution to keeping people informed. The primary purpose they serve is sustaining a free and independent media by providing a subsidy to the local papers. As someone who spent her career in subsidised media you should recognise the need for this support.Unravelling the current arrangement would be very complex because there are hundreds of different laws which would need to be changed so it is likely that this system will endure for some time. To argue that the Ealing Gazette is not a good paper or not as good as it used to be and therefore should have the plug pulled is a dangerous one in my view. For many parts of the borough it is the only place they can potentially get news about their local area and even in its current reduced state it continues to publish stories which express views opposed to the ruling administration of the Council.

Andy Jones ● 4205d

Since I rarely read the Gazette, I'm inclined to agree with Sara that change is due . Although I would prefer to put money in local papers than carry on with Around Ealing which is mostly puff and an additional cost when jobs and services are being cut. The concern here is the statutory publication of Planning notices. Will we all learn to read the on line publication? Will we notice the solitary notice pinned high on a tree? Mostly there won't be letters to residents so don't rely on that. I'm told that no notifications of changes to Friary Park have been sent to the nearby roads. Yet they will be affected.

Maire Lowe ● 4205d

OK - it doesn't justify it if you want to be pedantic. It's a poor use of public money. I wonder if there is any research on whether it is an effective communication in the case of smaller planning matters.Traffic Orders for events do not now have to appear in the paper - thus removing about three quarters of the cost of obtaining one - good news for street parties and Playing Out at least.

Sara Nathan ● 4205d

Sara, it is still a requirement to put a notice of significant road closures in the local paper. Pick up a copy of an Ealing Gazette tomorrow if you can find one and you will see.When you say 'newspapers just don't reach enough people to validate spending statutory money on them' you are contradicting yourself. Spending this money doesn't need validation because it is statutory.

Andy Jones ● 4206d

Or maybe not in the future.it used to be a legal requirement to put road closures in the papers - it isn't now.The times they are a-changing. (even the Times of London)the problem is that newspapers just don't reach enough people to validate spending statutory money on them.

Sara Nathan ● 4206d

Sara, it's a legal requirement to put it in the newspaper.

Andy Jones ● 4206d

It seems to me to have been a terrible waste of money paying for these things. Why contribute to Trinity Mirror's bottom line when they distribute it badly and hardly anyone reads it.The combination of online, letters through neighbouring addresses and posters on lamp-posts seems at least as likely to reach people and much less expensive.

Sara Nathan ● 4206d

Think this is very unlikely. There has been discussion about this on EalingToday.co.uk as well. I doubt very much that the Council would stop publishing notices in the paper where they had a legal obligation to do so. If they didn't the relatively small amount of money saved would be quickly outweighed by legal problems. Any application submitted and not properly handled could be challenged and applicants would sue Ealing for any resulting loses.The current system for doing this is clearly broken but that is not grounds for Ealing Council unilaterally opting out of it.

Andy Jones ● 4206d

Time to move away from scouring the Gazette. It doesn't quite fit in with your conspiracy theories, but there is a weekly list of planning applications for your ward available on-line, as well as a search facility.

Pete Grist ● 4206d

Well, with towering tower blocks scheduled for Friary Park and Park Royal and the 100 year-old King's Arms to be replaced by a block of flats (with reduced affordable housing) not to mention the ongoing fiasco over The Oaks (and I still remember a Labour councillor saying "We can't have social housing - it leads to social problems!") I have no doubt that Ealing Council want to keep their plans to bury Acton under "landmark tall buildings" as far away from those that they effect until it's far too late.  It should be obvious by now that Ealing Council want to rip the heart out of Acton and stamp on any burgeoning character that might be trying to bloom.

Adam Kimmel ● 4206d

So I suppose a monstrosity can be built on your doorstep without prior warning or discussion?  Nice!

Jean F Fernandez ● 4206d