The councils Housing Revenue Account is a ring-fenced fund used to run the boroughs council homes. 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. 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. Most councils have yet to confirm plans, with about a third indicating they may propose a 3% increase. . Check benefits and financial support you can get, Find out about the Energy Bills Support Scheme, View a printable version of the whole guide. Antisocial behaviour. Is there a basement at the Farfield Halls which could be converted to a dungeon? So, I find the lack of scrutiny of Ms Zs submission of Certificate A is a fault.. This section has information about making a complaint about neighbourhood noise. Plans for five new houses and two new flats in Coulsdon have been green lit despite sparking a huge 450 objections from locals. 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.. Which is what makes this ruling, published yesterday, all the more extraordinary in its criticism of the council planners incompetence and lack of professionalism. 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. Silverleaf Developments made a planning application that included my land. Akton Recruitment has an opening for a SHELTERED HOUSING MANAGER ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SHELTERED HOUSING MANAGER _____ To promote, encourage and support the continued independence and well-being of the sheltered housing tenants by monitoring, enabling and meeting the necessary support needs To assess, review and respond to ongoing support and housing needs of sheltered housing . I think there has been a breach of planning control near my property and the council has not taken enforcement action. Call the police. If theyre going to hire more managers isnt it better that they understand quality management , ISO 9001 and all that, to ensure that complaints seldom arise in the first place? why dont the council just get a decent building firm/plumbers round to fix the place? If Ive read this right. If you call is not answered using 020 8921 8166 please try 020 8921 8921. It had been OConnell, a decade earlier, who had produced Newsnights devastatingly critical report into the equally squalid conditions endured by families living in temporary accommodation in Croydon. Of all the things most taxpayers would want is for people who are council tenants to have homes that are safe to live in. To make a complaint, please use the online form below. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Hope Thrift Bellgrade, The tenant attended court on November 29, but However, this work must be done at reasonable times and should not cause nuisance to neighbours. The Ombudsmans report says, I have called the complainant Mr X. Also, with workloads the way they are nationally most Planning Officers simply dont have the time to deal with things as closely as they would like. Patrick Butler Social policy editor. Residents of the block claim that Croydon Council had been informed of the issues but had not acted. Contact the police if you think your neighbour has broken the law - for example, they've been violent or threatening. But this was changed to general boundaries in 1875 which are only indicative and open to challenge. Some of her neighbours had been lodging similar complaints to the councils housing department and Axis for four years. The only requirement is that the correct Certificate is completed by the applicant (which may not have been done here), but this is pretty minor. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Croydon is an amazing and quaint beautiful town on the Savannah Highway in Queensland, make it part of your journey to Cairns or Tropical North Queensland. Hewitt has spent most of the past year researching and following up countless other instances of appalling conditions in council and housing association homes. An abandoned vehicle is one which has not been moved or attended to for a long time. As we read it, the inclusion of the bracketed text effectively means that the contribution could be spent on anything, without restriction and not necessarily even within Sanderstead. (19%) Croydon Council has the power to deal with noise nuisance that is considered to be a statutory nuisance. Hence the importance of having boundary markers such as concrete posts or brick pillars at all corners of a property, and making sure that neighbours dont nibble away and steal a sliver of land by moving a fence line. As well as sending your report to the council, we put it online, so everyone can see where the recurring litter hotspots are in your neighbourhood. To WM then you, as land owner, have far more powers to stop development on land owned by you, than the Council as Local Planning Authority has. Designed to abuse the local voters. Attribution. The planning committee approved the application. I remember thinking that I couldnt live in this for a day, never mind for months and months and months.. To help us improve GOV.UK, wed like to know more about your visit today. Heather Cheesbrough: had her mind on other things, like a new job. As many as 450,000 complaints are investigated each year by councils. The complaint included reference not only to the unlawful tailpiece but also to what I maintain were misleading statements made by the applicant, the agent and council planning officials alike leading up to the committees decision. This was submitted to the Council and verified by the Planning Team without my knowledge. The Planning department can advise on height of wall needing Planning Permission (PP) , which will depend on whether the wall is alongside a highway. Talk to your local police about ongoing crime and anti-social behaviour issues: Contact your police safer neighbourhoods team, NEW Help improve this site by Often this solves the problem. We certainly think so, and wonder how or why she was persuaded to make such a flagrant error of law in this case. open 9am to 4pm, Monday - Friday. Complaints can also be submitted in writing or by telephone to: Complaints Resolutions Team. Croydon Shire Council PO Box 17 Croydon QLD 4871 (07) 4748 7100 (07) . Ms Z appealed the court judgement, and lost. Our approach. Noise is the largest cause of complaints to local authorities. CR0 1EA. Heather Cheesbrough was in charge when Planning Policy SPD2 was written. Find a propertis in Croydon, London on Gumtree, the #1 site for Residential Property To Rent classifieds ads in the UK. Follow these steps if you have a dispute with your neighbour. If your neighbour is a tenant, you could contact their landlord. A person can complain of nuisance if damage is caused by a substantial and unreasonable interference with the private right to use and enjoy one's land. Although dated February 16 2021, the relevant unilateral undertaking was only published by the council on May 18, almost three months later. As many as 450,000 complaints are investigated each year by councils. As Inside Housing puts it, Many residents in the block and in another across the road had repeatedly complained Two years continuous noise nuisance, making life unbearable for a neighbour undergoing chemotherapy, has ended with a three-month closure order on an Upper Norwood flat. In the mixer: if you spot some unwelcome building work going on on your property, you might want to ask the council if they have granted planning permission. The council can also apply to the magistrate's court for a warrant to enter premises and seize equipment that is causing a nuisance. Call the cops The LAPD suggests that noise complaints, from loud TVs to awful parties, are best dealt with by your local police station. https://insidecroydon.com/2021/10/05/director-of-plannings-bogus-claim-over-institute-membership/. I Love Croydon Reviews 12 . There is room for learning and development and training that supports you to do your job. In June 2019, the council contacted Ms Zs planning agent querying if she had presented the correct certificate. This fact sheet is aimed primarily at people who believe the council should be taking enforcement action against a nearby development and may be considering making a complaint to the Ombudsman. Why havent they been made to stop work? If you are an owner occupier, please seek independent legal advice, For the Guaranteed Rent Scheme please email. A Croydon flat where the tenant subjected her neighbours to fighting, knife threats and excessive noise has been shut. There's no charge for making a complaint or sending us feedback. Croydon Council is pressing ahead with low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), undeterred by criticism from a neighbouring authority. 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. If the noise continues and we can see from your diary that it is unreasonable and therefore could constitute a noise nuisance we will serve an informal notice on the alleged offender. SPD2 is the document that has caused so much harm in Croydon and continues to do so. Am I missing something? Emails from residents unanswered, six-month delays in dealing with a formal complaint, and a planning department that ignored a court order. Stalling: the Newlands letter to Heather Cheesbrough, after the council somehow managed to ignore their formal complaint for three months. The Ombudsman says that the council has accepted its findings, and will pay Mr X 750 in recognition of his distress, time and trouble, and pay 500 to Mr Y, with apologies to both. COMPLAINT 202011660. But they will see the light of day and the ombudsman will direct responses. Also the same problems with the complaints process they dont follow their own complaints process. Woman completes National Trust scone-eating project. 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. Make a complaint. To contact us, please email inside.croydon@btinternet.com, elderly couple who have lived at 96 Hyde Rd for more than 50 years, to, Help to support our genuine local and independent journalism, Council chiefs accused by MP of being on side of developers, Council planners 3-month delay over Sanderstead complaint, shed just organised herself an escape plan from Fishers Folly with a new job in Redbridge, Regulation 122 of the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010, Developers given free rein from a council with no controls, Feeble planners allow builders to get away with (tree) murder, You can support Inside Croydons news-breaking independent local journalism. The council effectively encouraged this illicit building work to go ahead after it granted planning permission, because the planners never bothered checking on the Land Register or other certificates to confirm the property ownership. Class F hard surfaces incidental to the enjoyment of a dwellinghouse, PART 2 Minor operations I have used the service on many occasions and found it very useful with prompt response to most complaints. That email included . They made the council aware of the dispute over land ownership and the 2018 court judgement. There were 121 complaints to the Ombudsman about the running of Croydon Council - more than 10 each month. Another day, another ruling from the Local Government Ombudsman against Croydon Council. 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. The implication is that there are too many complaints for the current management to handle, so wed better get some more 50k a year (and the rest) managers to fob people off. The complaint process. If you need reminding, your response is now around 10 weeks overdue. Its definition of anti-social behaviour (ASB) includes playing of loud music and it says that it will take all complaints seriously. The application was retrospective, and the council had photographs from May 2019 that showed the strutural stanchions on Mr X and Mr Ys land. News, views and analysis about the people of Croydon, their lives and political times in the diverse and most-populated borough in London. From disruptive planning permission to noise complaints, you can tackle the issue of nuisance neighbours though your local council. 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. For a start, theres nothing to be found anywhere on the councils clunky website that reports any part of this latest clusterfuck by the planning department. The Ombudsmans report explains that Ms Z had been seeking to build a garage since around 2016. And the council knew of the April 2018 High Court judgement and the documents placed on the Land Registry records. Night hours. 11 hours ago 11h. Both Mr X and Mr Y learnt of Ms Zs planning application and objected. The council also apologised to a couple who complained to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. A ward councillor, Lynne Hale, spoke at the meeting and raised a series of concerns regarding the overdevelopment of the site. Other than essential front line services, Planning is the thing that Croydon Council has let down the people of Croydon the most on and continues unaddressed at a high level in the council. There was understandable disgust and anger, from the Riddlesdown RA members as well as the long-suffering Newlands, that the council had left it so long before introducing this new excuse for the already totally unacceptable and disrespectful delays. 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 A brand new Croydon library could be sold off before it's even been used; Read More Related Articles. Dont worry we wont send you spam or share your email address with anyone. STREET parties over the Platinum Jubilee weekend could be shut down if organisers dont have the correct permission. 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. But it said this was a civil issue and as such not a relevant planning consideration. Complaints Management; Contact Us; Coronavirus (COVID-19) Corporate Plan; Croydon Shire Planning Scheme; . It is established case law that local planning authorities cannot withdraw and re-issue decision notices to correct such errors. This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg). It was dated February 22 2021, three months after the committee meeting. 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. The facts about land ownership in this case were clear and in the public domain, the Ombudsman report states. The report said that a planning permission would not define the property boundaries. United Kingdom, NEW Help improve this site by JR. Jroc23 Roc. Choicelet is proud to introduce a studio flat for rent in South London - New Addington under Croydon council. Families have had their lives completely destroyed by this. He explained that the CCTV was initially installed for his protection and the neighbours' complaints about this was malicious and had no merit. 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 As a last resort you can take legal action through the courts. If you're a member of the public who has concerns that a child or young person is being harmed or needs support, you should contact our Single Point of Contact (SPOC) team. The gaslighting is astonishing. If we prosecute we will normally apply to the court to have the equipment permanently confiscated. Poor repairs: the maintenance of the flats at Regina Road is still less than optimal. Croydon Council has been paying a private landlord for the bunglow in The Glade which is empty (Image: Monica McSherry) A bungalow which Croydon Council allegedly pays 2,000 a month for has been "empty for years". In May 2018, the council opened a planning enforcement investigation to consider various potential planning breaches committed by Ms Z. South Croydon wasteland. Yet a Labour-run council has axed its meals on wheels service even after paying its outgoing chief executive more than 600,000, it emerged yesterday. Most councils have a private rented housing team. please note that the Stage 1 Complaint was addressed to YOU and it is from YOU that we expect a substantive response . Croydon Council. Fransoy Hewitt had collated a diary of shame a list of all her phone calls and emails to the council and its contractors over the previous 18 months. Its time there was a full investigation into the relationships between developers, members of the Council and Councillors. It will surprise no one who has had to deal with Croydons cash-strapped council that it failed to do so. 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. A Croydon house known for drug-taking, harassment and antisocial behaviour has been boarded up by council enforcement officers. 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. The council said the next phase of its Streetspace scheme will launch on 28 September and will use planters and signs to transform four more streets into places to walk, cycle and exercise while maintaining car access for their Also, if you are planning an international move, we can do it. By 3pm, he reported that the house was pretty much demolished. You should be able to find the team's contact details on your council website, usually within the housing . Croydon man furious at neighbour having tree cutter over at 9am because it's 'ruined his lie in' Secret chamber inside the Great Pyramid is uncovered after 4,500 years But even as the Newlands were being forced to cope with all the nonsense and nuisance next door, they were faced by the prospect of yet another block of flats right across the road from them, at 89 Hyde Road. Try to solve the problem informally by talking to them. According to the councils own complaints policy, we should have had a response to this complaint within 20 working days. When the council finally got round to replying to the Council Tax-payer, it claimed that the court orders gained by Mr X and Mr Y were immaterial to its consideration of the planning application. The work of OConnell and Hewitt had done in 2021 what Cathy Come Home had exposed in the 1960s. The council has also agreed to try and learn lessons from this complaint, the Ombudsman states, probably more in hope than expectation. 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. 3 0 Nov ember 2021. The council (so-called) planners have utterly no regard for public opinion or, indeed, the law. Mr X also contacted Ms Z directly asking her to stop the trespass. Labour councillors in several wards have lodged formal complaints on behalf of their residents for months on end, as the homes security is being placed at risk, and break-ins at the blocks have become more frequent, vandalism and drug-dealing has been an issue. 1 Noise is one of the most common neighbour complaints Credit: Getty Class E buildings etc incidental to the enjoyment of a dwellinghouse There was not, and has been no sign of any action by the councils planning enforcement officials. The council will expect you to discuss the issue and negotiate with your neighbour first. doors being closed. Thursday to Sunday. If your issue is not listed above, use our formal complaints form. 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.