Communal cleaning: The landlord explained that the caretaker was scheduled to attend weekly on a Monday Labour-controlled Croydon council gave planning permission for the development in Old Coulsdon; Neighbours said the nine-flat development is 'unquestionably' out of character with the surrounding area Croydon Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association (CBNWA) is a charity with a reach of up to 29,000 residents across the whole borough. In May 2018, the council opened a planning enforcement investigation to consider various potential planning breaches committed by Ms Z. Based in Croydon and edited by Steven Downes. The council found the size of the garage then under construction exceeded that allowed under permitted development rights, where a developer does not need any planning permission. Long-term damage: the unlawful demolition of 89 Hyde Road could lead to the unironically named Quantum Homes to build a block of nine flats on this junction, When senior officials in Croydons planning department refuse to acknowledge their own serious errors, can residents rely on the councils complaints system? Births, deaths, marriages and citizenship, Support is available for you or someone you're worried about, contact our Single Point of Contact (SPOC) team, Report and request removal of offensive graffiti, If you are a Housing Association tenant, please report the issues to your Housing Association, If you are a Council tenant or leaseholder please contact your Tenancy Officer or call 0208 726 6000. Information about our two-stage corporate process can be found on this page. An abandoned vehicle is one which has not been moved or attended to for a long time. No thought for the environment, the local infrastructure, parking, GPs schools or transport. Its quite clear that theres a pattern of treating tenants like the problems that theyre living with are their own fault. The agent replied saying Ms Z had completed the correct Certificate A and would not be building outside the boundary of her land., Unimpressed: Croydon Council planners handling of the neighbours boundary dispute saw the Ombudsman being sharply critical. Although dated February 16 2021, the relevant unilateral undertaking was only published by the council on May 18, almost three months later. Croydon Council had been dealing with our formal complaint for three months by this point. Please select Council property Housing Association Private rented Owner occupied. please note that the Stage 1 Complaint was addressed to YOU and it is from YOU that we expect a substantive response . The report was finally released at lunchtime today, with council leader Hamida Ali emailing it first to members of the Croydon Labour Party. If you are experiencing ant-social behaviour there are many organisations which can help, depending on the situation: To report noise nuisance please email the pollutionteam atpollution@croydon.gov.uk. In approving application 20/00108/FUL, they did so based on a council officials report, the committee agreed that thereafter the director of planning and strategic transport has delegated authority to issue the planning permission and impose conditions and informatives. Croydon Council. Alberto Bocelli Architect, Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Wireless exposes disconnect between Bromley and neighbours. We have to build more homes and South of the Borough has to take its share but they should at least be of a high design standard and fit in with the surroundings. This included the garage under construction to the south of the plot. But Hey, that sounds like hard work and it would expose to public scrutiny just how useless these two are. CROYDON IN CRISIS: If 2020 was Croydon Council's year of Negreedy and bankruptcy, 2021 has been the year of leaks, mould and a local authority exposed as incompetent and uncaring about those living in its properties. He thinks he is smarter than law he know law order more than anyone. The CLP application, which amongst things includes articulated lorries drawn half-size and site cabins positioned in areas due to be protected during construction (for the sake of the one remaining tree), has quite rightly not yet been approved. But it said this was a civil issue and as such not a relevant planning consideration. If you are a tenant or live in a strata scheme you may have other options for . Complaints can also be submitted in writing or by telephone to: Complaints Resolutions Team. And Katherine Kerswell remains inflated but silent on the matter and Heather Cheesbrough is in professional denial (but were not exactly sure what her professional qualifications are?? Get the most out of your neighbourhood with Nextdoor. Ombudsman finds Croydon council did not carry out assessments, provide 'Mr D' with a support plan or offer him a personal budget. The councils decision should therefore be revoked under Section 97 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Booth seem likely to be left considerably out of pocket because of the necessity, through the councils actions, of undertaking anothr court case to get Ms Zs garage off their land. Its as if the Regina Road scandal never happened, said the source. Croydon Council is pressing ahead with low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), undeterred by criticism from a neighbouring authority. They made the council aware of the dispute over land ownership and the 2018 court judgement. The hours of service are: Monday to Wednesday. The resident made further complaint s on 21 August 2020 and the landlord issued a formal letter about the problem to the neighbour in line with its complaints policy. After being exposed, Croydon Council apologised and in May, a damning report from independent consultants found systemic failures and incompetence at the council and its repairs contractor, Axis, saying there was a poor operating culture with a lack of care and respect for tenants. The other key Legislation is the Party Wall Act , affecting construction on and near boundaries. It will surprise no one who has had to deal with Croydons cash-strapped council that it failed to do so. Where to find Access Croydon. Many residents have already chosen to take advantage of the scheme to plant trees as groups, contributing as little as 3 per person, raising the full amount as a team." Read more: Developers given free rein from a council with no controls The South Norwood protesters marched in support of the residents of Regina Road, a Croydon Council-owned block of flats that shocked when an ITV News expose aired recently. 3 1 March 2021. Make a complaint. The Council confirmed that the developer must have served notice before making the planning application. So, in March, Mr X asked to escalate his complaint to Stage 2 of the procedure because of this delay. We'll send your report directly to your local council, wherever you are in the UK. Contact the right team at the council. How things have been allowed to get so bad is beyond belief. Heather Cheesbrough: had her mind on other things, like a new job. why dont the council just get a decent building firm/plumbers round to fix the place? . Am I missing something? Find out what to do if you are having problems with loud music and parties, alarms, dogs barking and construction noise. Image: Cleaner Croydon, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. 3 0 Nov ember 2021. Residents of the block claim that Croydon Council had been informed of the issues but had not acted. JR. Jroc23 Roc. Drainage is really important here; it is becoming increasing concerning that the foul water sewers in Riddlesdown are carrying more water than they are designed for and as a result areas downhill from here are suffering frequent episodes of flooding, often foul water and sewage. London. Monument Beach Bourne, Ma, And theres a culture of not actually listening to what theyre saying. A Croydon Council spokesman said: "We apologise for any harm caused to the couple in this instance. Re Mr. Harveys comment above, I would comment that Land registry plans (at least, those shown on the Land Title documents) rarely if ever show the ownership of a boundary fence. Antisocial behaviour. Putting aside the likely unauthorised blocking of the highway, the demolition works were in direct breach of Condition 5 of the permission, which required the submission and approval of a Construction Logistics Plan before development commenced. Taxpayers seem happy to allow their money to be thrown around paid to service providers without any regard for whether suppliers are doing a good job.We need tighter controls to improve standards. She has turned rogue and now only sides with developers. London. Why havent they been made to stop work? I Love Croydon Reviews 12 . A Croydon flat where the tenant subjected her neighbours to fighting, knife threats and excessive noise has been shut. Section 65 of the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act requires that a council shall not entertain a planning application that does not meet the certification requirements set out in the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015. This form can be used to report a number of problems relating to the environment, that is in your neighbourhood, on the streets and roads, in parks, woodlands and public areas, which you think should be brought to our attention. Consequently, Mr X returned to court seeking an order for their removal. There is a culture of not taking their complaints seriously., And Hewitt has a worrying message for Croydon Council and other social housing providers who fail their tenants. Would you please confirm that you have re-joined the Institute, or in the alternative, when you intend to finally remove any reference to your membership of the Institute from your Linkedin profile and elsewhere. The same complaint that the council had been sitting on for almost three months. tenancy document that obliges the resident to behave in a way that is not antisocial or causes a nuisance to your neighbours. Over a hundred years, maybe 33% of the countrys existing properties would come up for renewal. Croydon man furious at neighbour having tree cutter over at 9am because it's 'ruined his lie in' Stop what you're doing and check out these cats that looks like vampires The scale of corporate dysfunction at Croydon council prior to its collapse into bankruptcy two years ago was serious enough to warrant police investigation into potential misconduct in public . According to senior council sources, the HRA has more than 900,000 earmarked to pay for a borough-wide door replacement project but the work has been delayed because a council official has not approved the work to start. Not if the latest development fiasco in Riddlesdown is anything to go by, says STEVE WHITESIDE. There is room for learning and development and training that supports you to do your job. How to make a complaint. This is well established.. The law uses the word shall, meaning it is mandatory on the council to reject such an application. Neighbour noise complaints comprise around two thirds of the total. This time, through a relatively minor boundary dispute between neighbours, the Ombudsman Patrick Butler Social policy editor. They own land built on by Ms Z. All bad enough, you might think, but there was more to come on the day, this time from the council. There was not, and has been no sign of any action by the councils planning enforcement officials. The court also said it would link a copy of its order to the Land Registry record alongside an expert report which identified the boundaries of Ms Zs property.. He says that the smell and the cold he encountered in that Croydon council flat have stuck with him as well as knowing that repairs teams had been round and she had called the council over and over again. It was dated February 22 2021, three months after the committee meeting. If you are a Council tenant or leaseholder please contact your Tenancy Officer or call 0208 726 6000. But this latest ruling from the Local Government Ombudsman effectively declares the planners to be utter buffoons. The aim of the charity is to support local residents who are concerned about crime such as burglary, scams and anti social behaviour. The council failed to reply to any of them. The only responsibility the Planning System has is to ensure that correct notice has been served on land owners. A planning investigation has been opened after Croydon Council made a 'series of mistakes'.. By the early hours, rioting Talk to your neighbour. croydon council complaints about neighbourssunshine coast regional district real estate Comments Off on croydon council complaints about neighbours June 9, 2022 Re Mr Patels comments above, it is actually frightening as to how much of the plot that can be filled up with sheds, under what is termed permitted development under The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, Worth looking up the UK Government Website, under its pages titled:- We aim to give all our customers a good service, but sometimes we make mistakes. If you could bottle the dignity and resilience of the people weve spoken to and sell it, youd make a lot of money, because they have to put up with so much more than most people, Hewitt told Inside Housing. Now you might well think that Townsend, as someone with her qualifications and experience, in a position of such significant (delegated) power, would have known this. 8.00am to 2:00am. The listing numbers complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman: Birmingham received 257 last year, with our neighbours to the north, Southwark (198) and Lambeth (186) taking the runners-up spots. This was a blatant breach of Condition 15 of the planning permission, which was meant to prevent any work on the trees during the bird-nesting season. We are committed to making our website accessible to all visitors. By this stage in the Ombudsmans report, the author is clearly warming to the theme of the mind-numbingly, staggering incompetence of the Croydon Council planners. As many as 450,000 complaints are investigated each year by councils. Designed to abuse the local voters. But he says because the council gave Ms Z planning permission, she undertook further building work. Our efforts were initially confined to another scheme at No98, which had been put forward by one of the more rapacious developers in southern Croydon, Aventier. Unlawful (and extensive) excavation works has thereby been allowed to continue (by default), necessitating large lorries using adjacent roads, the control/management of which the CLP was meant to control. Nicola Townsend: signed off decision notice. It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows the road, to hear that those lorries have been blocking driveways and preventing local residents from going about their normal activities, some of which includes caring for elderly relatives. It is an offence not to comply with this notice and if a pollution enforcement officer witnesses a contravention of the notice we will usually prosecute the offender. I cannot see the council scrutinised Ms Zs service of Certificate A through any such process here. Millions of HRA money had been earmarked to buy up Brick by Brick flats when the councils failing housing company needed a cashflow boost. If it's an incident that has already happened and doesn't need an immediate response, call the national Police non-emergency number, 101. To help us improve GOV.UK, wed like to know more about your visit today. Mobile Homes For Rent Hartland, Mi, Ministers have sent in a taskforce to oversee Croydon council after an audit report revealed the Labour-run authority is on the verge of bankruptcy following a . Other Council workers seem to get more sympathy from this website, but not the Planning Department. The council has powers to deal with noise that is considered a statutory nuisance. For the smell to count as a statutory nuisance it must do one of the following: unreasonably and substantially interfere with the use or enjoyment of a home or other premises. It confirmed it had written to the neighbour after the residents initial report of him urinating down the drain and the tenancy team would continue to monitor the area. News, views and analysis about the people of Croydon, their lives and political times in the diverse and most-populated borough in London. A number of drug dens which caused residents to "live in fear" have been shut down in Croydon. . Heather Cheesbrough, the six-figure salaried council exec in charge of the planning department, recently lectured elected councillors, telling them that, All the planning officers in the team have the highest personal integrity and professionalism.. The council has told the Ombudsman that it is seeking to improve its complaint handling, by: In their findings, the Ombudsman said that the council was correct that land ownership is not a relevant planning consideration, But this does not mean the question of land ownership has no relevance to the planning process. Further council plans to make the town greener include an electric bicycles hire scheme. A year on from a Judicial Review into one of Croydon Council's planning department's many contentious rulings, when a judge issued a Court Order that confirmed that the development at 54 Arkwright Road is unlawful, and people are now renting flats in that building - at up to 1,800 per month - even though it does not have a valid planning permission. So, I find the lack of scrutiny of Ms Zs submission of Certificate A is a fault.. The council will expect you to discuss the issue and negotiate with your neighbour first. This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg). The My Croydon app has a decibel meter that measures noise and informs users whether it is loud enough to be classed as a nuisance. They say this is necessary as the existing court orders do not allow them to remove the further building work undertaken by Ms Z after she received planning permission.. It said Mr X could return to court and seek an order permitting him to remove the stanchions and recover the costs of this if Ms Z failed to comply. Croydon Council have launched a new smartphone app, that allows users to report noisy neighbours.. If you think your neighbour's making trouble because you're transgender or because of your disability, race, religion or sexuality, it could be a hate . If you are experiencing ant-social behaviour there are many organisations which can help, depending on the situation: If you are a Housing Association tenant, please report the issues to your Housing Association. Removed all the trees they were not going to move !!! We plan to continue to shine a light on the treatment of tenants and the conditions they are living in, and keep questioning what is being done about it., Read more: Only 10% of council housing repair jobs ever get checked Show The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/596/contents, particularly as set out under SCHEDULE 2 You should be able to find the team's contact details on your council website, usually within the housing . CROYDON IN CRISIS: If 2020 was Croydon Councils year of Negreedy and bankruptcy, 2021 has been the year of leaks, mould and a local authority exposed as incompetent and uncaring about those living in its properties. Which, for most reasonable people, might have been a starting point for a radical improvement in the councils care and attention to its tenants. That email included . A nuisance tenant who terrorised his neighbours, making their lives a misery with his persistent noise and anti-social behaviour, has been barred from his home by a court ruling. And according to the reporter who broke the story which shocked the nation on ITVs News At Ten on March 22, theres still a lot more to come. You can report fly-tipping online or download our Don't Mess with Croydon app to send a photo and location of fly-tipping straight to the relevant team. There is no discretion in that. Night hours. Read more: Croydon shamed over dangerous squalor in council flats No reply: Katherine Kerswell is the 192,000 per year chief exec of a council that is slow to respond to resident complaints. CR0 1EA. They remain so. There is a borough-wide issue in council blocks with damaged and vandalised security doors. 13 July 2021. . No public servant has understood their responsibility or how to show contrition since. Our approach. STREET parties over the Platinum Jubilee weekend could be shut down if organisers dont have the correct permission. The facts about land ownership in this case were clear and in the public domain, the Ombudsman report states. "A planning enforcement investigation is ongoing and the ombudsman is being updated on the . Considering what was now occurring on the sites next door and opposite, disgust is probably too mild a word. Class E buildings etc incidental to the enjoyment of a dwellinghouse Choicelet is proud to introduce a studio flat for rent in South London - New Addington under Croydon council. The High Court ordered that Ms Z should therefore remove three steel stanchions outside the boundary of her house which formed part of the frame of the garage. Call the police. Putting aside the likely unauthorised blocking of the highway, the demolition works were in direct breach of Condition 5 of the permission, which required the submission and approval of a Construction Logistics Plan before development commenced. only to leave after less than six months without any obvious sign of actually achieving anything. Emails from residents unanswered, six-month delays in dealing with a formal complaint, and a planning department that ignored a court order. The fla Seller type Agency; Date available Date available: 17 Nov 2022; Property type Flat; Number of . The HRA was the source of the money used to pay Dr Alison Knight her 800 per day fees when she swanned into Croydon as an emergency interim head of housing, only to leave after less than six months without any obvious sign of actually achieving anything. Until it is, it will exponentially grow as the major problem in our borough. There are a large amount of formal complaints about their planning practice that are on file but delayed internally once responded to they then go onto the ombudsman you can see why Croydon Planning Department is choosing to stall these internally. The application was retrospective, and the council had photographs from May 2019 that showed the strutural stanchions on Mr X and Mr Ys land. Croydon councillors vote against 15% tax rise. Fifteen million Brits plan to celebrate the Queens 70-year reign wi Normally a Councillors mail bag is full of important, but not life threatening, mail and emails regarding missed bin collections, planning issues and complaints about noisy neighbours.