The GLA worked behind closed doors with two councillors from Kingston Council, with the support of senior council officers, to create the vague, opaque and confusing Direction of Travel in which it is what was omitted that was important and therefore impossible for residents to see.

Not once is it stated in the Direction of Travel or the report recommending it for approval that, if approved, the document would provide the grounds for the designation of Opportunity Areas on multiple sites across the Borough in The London Plan.

Take the following statement from the report to Growth Committee in October 2016. It mentions a "Kingston Opportunity Area" which in fact did not exist at that date as only a possible "Kingston Town Opportunity Area" had ever been discussed, and then also that there are "areas of opportunity", whatever those may be, as they were not defined and had also never been discussed or agreed prior to the Direction of Travel coming forward.

This is totally inadequate as the basis for any growth strategy, let alone as justification for designation of the Borough as an Opportunity Area in the London Plan.

"It (the "DofT") seeks to take forward activity on the new Local Plan, the emerging Kingston Opportunity Area as well as the areas of opportunity which have arisen as part of the potential future delivery of Crossrail 2. The Direction of Travel therefore reflects the culmination of ideas on all of these projects to date."

My submission to the GLA regarding the Direction of Travel can be found in the link below under Scott.C (2191).pdf