CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONFERENCE: Westminster Council is undertaking a complete review of its planning process to ensure it listens to the needs of local residents.
“Westminster is going to be a very different place in 12 months time and I am going to be very proud of that,” said council leader Nickie Aiken at a fringe event.
“We are looking at a complete overhaul of planning in Westminster from the moment you put in an application all the way through to decision making.
“The vision is to ensure that residents – particularly on major applications – work more closely from the very beginning.”
Westminster Council has come under criticism for ignoring the needs of residents over business and developers. Since Aitken came into power two years ago, a large part of her tenure has been directed towards improving relations with local residents.
Planning and development in the borough is a large part of that.
“People don’t think they are being listened to and things are being done to them. In Westminster we are moving to a different relationship with our residents,” she said.
“It’s [planning] top down and we have to make sure planning is from the bottom up as we have to make sure business, residents and neighbours work together to get the best development for an area.”
Aitken says the review will be coming out next month.
The council’s recent announcements include the rejection of plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street and taking its arms-length social housing company back under council control.
It is also starting to work up plans for the regeneration of its estates on Ebury Street and Church Street, which has led to conflict with the Greater London Authority.
In July it emerged that the council had foregone £23.5m of funding from the GLA because it would not hold another more up-to-date resident ballot on its plans for the Church Street estate.
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