Update petisiSave the Shepherd's Bush Market BusinessesIs Everyone Being Held Accountable?
Save the Shepherds Bush Market Businesses CampaignLondon, Inggris Raya
12 Feb 2024

12th February 2024 

Is Everyone Being Held Accountable?

 

The developer formerly known as ‘Orion Shepherd’s Bush Market Ltd.’ had submitted a planning application in 2011 (Planning Application reference 2011/02930/OUT) and regretfully it was approved by the Hammersmith & Fulham Council. 

This was the beginning of considerable disruption and harm to the Shepherd’s Bush Market Community. The developer’s planning application brutally threatened the livelihoods of the market businesses and the welfare of the residential and business communities. 

It was not long before a massive effort began from many around the country to fight the developer’s hostile ambitions and to rectify the Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s poor planning judgment that permitted such prejudice.

In 2014 the Government Inspector, who was appointed by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government – Ms Ava Wood Dip Arch MRTPI, cast objection to the developer’s scheme. 

This was then followed by the final judgment from the Court of Appeal in 2016, which ruled that the developer’s planning application was prejudicial to the communities/market traders and consequently, the scheme was overturned and stopped. 

The achievement of protecting Shepherd’s Bush Market’s character and saving the market businesses, whilst removing the threat to the local communities was momentous and just. 

The judgments of both the Government Inspector in 2014 and the Court of Appeal ruling in 2016 established clear and thorough conclusions that stringent safeguards would need to be implemented to correctly protect the Shepherd’s Bush Market businesses and the Market’s character. 

 

 

 

Sadly, history shows that some do not learn from history. 

It had been thought that the clear and prudent recommendations that had been voiced by the Court of Appeal judgment would be respected, yet only a few years later there were worrying signs that the Hammersmith & Fulham Council was entertaining a partnership with the developer for a further time. 

In 2023, the developer who has amended their name from ‘Orion Shepherd’s Bush Market Ltd.’ to ‘YC Shepherd’s Bush Market Ltd.’ submitted a new planning application (planning application - reference 2023/01093/FUL) to the Hammersmith & Fulham Council to resurrect their wishes on Shepherd’s Bush Market and the neighbouring areas.  

This 2023 planning application is remarkably similar to the previous 2011 planning application which had been viewed to be grossly prejudicial to so many.

The new planning application is considered to ‘land grab’ sections of Shepherd’s Bush Market so the developer may build a broader and taller imposing office structure that will loom over the local homes and businesses. 

The development will bring great disruption and upset. Frustratingly the developer wishes to further their ambitions of greater profit and control by insisting on the market traders to accept weaker tenancy agreements than that which they are entitled to. 

The developer’s objectives threaten the longevity and affordability of the market businesses in the mid to long-term and there is alarming concern that the developer’s proposed tenancy terms and conditions may compromise the fundamental human rights of the market traders.

It is viewed as tragic that the Hammersmith & Fulham Council has not implemented sufficient safeguards to prevent the demise of the market businesses and the market’s character. 

The conduct of the developer during their alleged consultation on their planning proposals led to outcries from locals, expressing concerns about a lack of democracy.

Residents of neighbouring areas emphatically expressed outrage to Hammersmith & Fulham Council, expressing that the lack of accurate and appropriate consultation regarding this planning application was not democratic.

The Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s decision to conduct the planning application hearing on 19th December 2023, the busiest week before Christmas, was noted and has led to further criticism of the Council. 

There have been questions of fairness as to why the Hammersmith & Fulham Council forbid several different parties to speak in objection to the application at the Hammersmith & Fulham Council planning committee hearing.  

There is the query as to whether the Labour Hammersmith & Fulham Council have acted independently. The developer requires a partnership between it and the Council as it seeks to build on the Council’s neighbouring land known as the ‘Old Laundry Site Area’. 

The Old Laundry Site Area is viewed to be the Council’s plot of land which has incited the developer’s ambitions. 

It has always been suspected that if the Old Laundry Site Area was removed from the grasp of the developer, this may limit the developer’s prospects of bleeding the market community dry, and subsequently, could lead to Shepherd’s Bush Market being sold and returned back to the more favourable hands of the public body - Transport for London, or perhaps the Council.

It should be noted that the Hammersmith & Fulham Council has already partnered with the developer in other commercial schemes such as the Olympia -  Kensington, and it is wondered as to whether this has influenced the Council’s view to favour this planning application. 

If you seek the minutes of the Hammersmith & Fulham Council planning committee hearing on 19th December 2023, then you may perhaps be surprised how vague the written minutes are. 

These Planning and Development Control Committee Minutes for the hearing held on Tuesday 19th December 2023 may be viewed via the following link. 

https://democracy.lbhf.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=117&MId=7653&Ver=4

 

On the 19th of December 2023, five Councillors judged the developer’s planning application. 

Councillor Wesley Harcourt and Councillor Alex Karmel, who are both long standing, diligent Councillors, with extensive knowledge of the suffering that the developer’s 2011 planning application has caused the local community, both voted against the planning application and showed integrity and courage to stand up for values and rights of the local communities.

The three labour Councillors - Omid Miri, Rebecca Harvey, and Patrick chose to outvote Councillor Wesley Harcourt and Councillor Alex Karmel, and regrettably, the appalling planning application was approved by this committee.

It may be important for the London communities to consider with great thoughtfulness as to why these Councillors have supported this developer. 

Being that the 2011 planning application is very similar to the 2023 planning application, the applicant of the two schemes is the same property company, and the previous scheme was been considered by the Court of Appeal judgment to be prejudicial to the market businesses, one must ask why these three Labour Councillors - Omid Miri, Rebecca Harvey, and Patrick Walsh have chosen not to fend off the attack on this ethnically diverse and multicultural market community.

These Councillors have been appointed by the people, in the hope that they will act for the people. Therefore, holding this responsibility of representation, should they not be held accountable?

If a Councillor is praised for their astuteness, courage, sincerity, deeds, and humanity, then, how should the public react to a Councillor who is viewed to have made poor choices? 

Either one of these Councillors could have swayed the Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s decision of this planning application and used their vote to protect the Shepherd’s Bush Market businesses and the residents, yet these three Councillors chose to support the developer’s planning application, turning their backs on the residential and market communities. 

The fight to protect the market businesses, safeguarding the affordability and longevity of Shepherd’s Bush Market continues. 

There is a democratic process that must be followed before the developer can impose the considered madness on Shepherd’s Bush Market and the surrounding areas. 

This is not over and there is much that every individual in the country can do.

The Mayor of London and the London Assembly will now have the opportunity to consider the prejudice, ethics, and damage that this planning application may cause.

It is asked that the supporters of Shepherd’s Bush Market now write to the Mayor of London (mayor@london.gov.uk) to express their objection to YC Shepherd’s Bush Market Ltd.’s planning application – reference 2023/01093/FUL. 

 

People should not delay. Individuals should send their objections promptly to mayor@london.gov.uk

Many of the market traders have expressed their fear of the developer as the developer is currently their landlord and it is felt that there is a growing authoritarian regime falling onto the Shepherd’s Bush Market businesses.

Some fearful market traders have said that if they write to the Mayor of London expressing objection and the developer finds out, then, they fear that the developer will be vengeful against them. 

This is an understandable concern as history shows that times have not been easy for those who have stood up for their rights in Shepherd’s Bush Market against the developer. However, scared traders are encouraged to write to the Mayor of London, voicing their concerns and requesting the Mayor of London treat their objections against the developer’s scheme as private so as not to reveal their identity to the developer.

The Mayor of London, the London Assembly, and the Greater London Authority may choose to take the initiative to conduct an Equality Impact Assessment on Shepherd’s Bush Market, comparing the 145 leases that were currently present in 2009 that were occupied by the ethnically diverse and multicultural businesses of Shepherd’s Bush Market prior to Orion Shepherd’s Bush Market Ltd./YC Shepherd’s Bush Market Ltd. acquiring stewardship of the market in February 2014, and then, consider the significant fall in the tenancy and the diminishing percentage of the Market’s ethnic diversity, every year, from February 2014 to present day. 

A thorough official assessment of the decline of Shepherd’s Bush Market’s ethnically diverse and multicultural tenancy may reveal conclusive evidence of the ‘siege’ that has fallen on the market traders. 

Perhaps this will reveal that it may have always been the developer’s ambition to weaken the market traders’ rights that have previously protected them and allowed them to remain in their business premises on Shepherd’s Bush Market land. 

Thank you for your support. Please get writing those letters to the Mayor of London today!

 

 

  • Fancy reading some more recent articles on Shepherd’s Bush Market?

 

Dukung sekarang
Tandatangani petisi ini
Salin tautan
WhatsApp
Facebook
Nextdoor
Email
X