Pat Yourselves on the Back Part 2 (From Times Series)

Pat Yourselves on the Back Part 2

8:03pm Wednesday 14th January 2009

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Another Monday, another Finchley and Golders Green Planning Sub Committee, the meeting promised to be a quick one. There were only four items on the agenda.

However, one planning application prompted a lot of debate. The planning officers had recommended approval for the installation of aluminium barriers (white powder ones to be strictly correct), at the entrance to an access road adjoining Grove Lodge on Regents Park Road N3.

The redevelopment of Grove Lodge has long been opposed by the residents of neighbouring Regency House. This is sheltered accommodation and they had fears for the safety of pedestrians due to increased traffic along their road. The road is private but it is unclear who actually owns the road.

The developers were proposing automatic barriers as the solution. This would stop unauthorised use of the road.

Two speakers from Regency Lodge addressed the Committee. One told us the average age of the residents in Regency Lodge is eighty five. The other speaker told us the women residents outnumbered the men by a huge ratio, because the men were dying earlier. Some of us shifted uneasily in our seats.

The applicant also addressed the committee and argued that this is what the residents, he had spoken to, want.

I think the Committee concluded that the scheme had not been properly thought through. A vote was taken and the application was refused by five votes to two. It will be interesting to see what happens now.

My previous blog told you about the Conservatives patting themselves on the back for keeping the Council Tax down, or more accurately keeping the increase below inflation.

Well it turns out it is more like a stab in the back. Papers just published for the next Cabinet Resources Committee reveal inflation busting rises for council services. Things like parking permits pay and display, vermin treatment and a host of other charges go up by well over r the official ( and unofficial ) inflation rates.

But the unkindest, most unfeeling and unnecessary increases are reserved for burial and cremation charges. Why the Council is proposing ten per cent increase, for example for the cost of digging a child’s grave, is inexplicable. In fact every charge connected with dying, is going up. I don’t think we will be seeing a self congratulatory press release on this one