A level of ineptitude which would be tolerated no where else

Posted on January 11, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: Council cabinet members Alison Butler and Paul Scott are ‘like some kind of wrecking crew’ who have made massive errors over planning in the borough, and they should be sacked, according to SEBASTIAN TILLINGER

Councillors Alison Butler and Paul Scott are a married couple riding roughshod through Croydon’s planning system.

‘The Phil Mitchell and Sharon Watts of Croydon’, apparently

These are “meddler politicians” of the worst kind. Their councillor roles give them identity and a sense of purpose where, perhaps, their professional lives don’t.

The latest Inside Croydon article is correct: Paul Scott “made such a pig’s ear of their submission of the Croydon Local Plan to the government’s inspector in 2017 that all of the planning department’s proposed protections against development of the borough’s green spaces were rejected”.

That’s a 100 per cent rejection. When we balls-up in a Croydon, we do it big time.

This is wholly unprecedented. To put Scott’s “pig’s ear” into context, no local authority in England and Wales has ever had all their proposed green space protections rejected by the Planning Inspectorate before.

It has never happened.

This has meant countless hundreds of people all over Croydon have had to spend hundreds and hundreds of hours of their own time putting together very detailed submissions defending their own local recreation grounds and green spaces from development. And when I say development, I mean Alison Butler, Paul Scott’s partner, coming along with some half-baked proposal from Brick by Brick.

Can you imagine Scott and Butler’s conversation over the breakfast table? While one is managing to remove all protection from development from the borough’s open spaces, the other is making plans to build on them.

No other borough would put up with this. But then we have Tony Newman to thank for that.

I have seen an internal memo sent between Croydon planning officers who are clearly incandescent at Scott’s ineptitude and the uncertainty it has now placed on all green spaces in this borough.

Not only has Scott messed up here, he has also totally messed up the planning guidance for building in the suburbs. It’s a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Alison Butler and Scott: £93,000 in council allowances, and two homes

The Mayor of London has told Croydon that their house-building targets are ridiculous, way over-stated and should be reduced by at least 60 per cent.

In any business, that would be enough for Paul Scott to resign. Or be sacked.

Alison Butler and Paul Scott are like some kind of wrecking crew. They have lost touch with reality and with what residents want. They have a bunker mentality but more dangerously, they think they have the bitter pill we all have to swallow.

They are the Phil Mitchell and Sharon Watts of Croydon and the people of this borough should be doing everything in their power to get rid of them both. Starting with getting Paul Scott’s honorary title, as the borough’s “Design Champion” rescinded.

I can’t imagine anyone less deserving of this role.

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About insidecroydon

News, views and analysis about the people of Croydon, their lives and political times in the diverse and most-populated borough in London. Based in Croydon and edited by Steven Downes. To contact us, please email inside.croydon@btinternet.com
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