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Mr Williams
There was no such agreement. Certainly none to which our Group was party.
I you want to rely upon something you say was said at the Scrutiny Committee meeting perhaps you can be more specific in your
interpretation and direct me to the relevant part of the minutes of the meeting. Since you have not even identified any other applicant
for the NA you have already designated it is not open to you to stall on determining our application. Particularly as you have also
already confirmed our eligibility on the criteria stipulated in the Localism Act there can be no reason for not approving our application.
As I said, if you will not attend our meeting tomorrow you can send a representative. If you are not prepared to do either please
provide answers to our questions in writing so that they can be communicated to those at the meeting.
(a)
As you appear to deny that the founders of the group, the community at large, or the former BNF's own 'steering
group' are at liberty to wind it up, who do you say is so entitled?
(b)
What steps have you taken to determine whether BNF was ever either a representative or properly constituted
body, capable of being recognised as a NF?
(c)
What steps have you taken to verify that John Corey, who you appear to regard as a one-man NF, represents
anybody whatsoever?
(d)
Has John Corey made an application to become the NF for your officially designated area? If so, what steps have
you taken to verify whether he has done so pursuant to a constitutional mandate from an eligible group? If not, on
what basis do you maintain there is any obstacle to the immediate approval of our application?
Regards
Russell Gray
DearMrGray,
Aspermyemailbelow,andasagreedattheOverviewandScrutinyCommitteemeeting,wewillarrangeameeting
forallinterestedparties,officersarecurrentlyarrangingadate.ForthisWednesdayIamnotavailableasIhavea
priorcommitment.
Bestwishes,
Mark
CouncillorMarkWilliams
LabourMemberforBrunswickParkWard
CabinetMemberforRegeneration,Planning&Transport
LondonBoroughofSouthwark
160TooleyStreet
London,SE12TZ
02075257730/07985629095/@markwilliams84
Mr Williams
Please respond to the email below. Our meeting is on Wednesday and our members will obviously want to
hear from you, and at least to know whether you are coming or not.
Regards
Russell Gray
On 11 Dec 2014, at 18:52, Russell Gray wrote:
Mr Williams
Again you have not responded to the email below.
As you are fully aware, we have long contended that the Council is dragging its heels and creating obstacles in
response to our application for recognition as a neighbourhood forum ('NF'). We have similarly long contended
that the reasons are obvious: You do not want local people having an influence over planning decisions,
particularly in the area around St Thomas St that the Council has identified as a cash cow to be milked at the
expense of the character and identity of the neighbourhood, contrary to local feelings. Your aspirations for
profitable but anti-social developments stand to be impeded by a community plan and you are therefore pushing
to the legal limits (and beyond) your powers to thwart our application.
You have chosen to dictate a neighbourhood area ('NA'). As you know, we do not accept that you are legally
entitled to designate an area for which there is no application. However, to strip you of any excuse for further
delay our meeting of 12 November agreed that we will amend our application to accept your designated area.
You received notice to that effect on 28 november.
In your officer's report, dated 20 August this year, that purported to justify your decision to designate the NA,
and that you signed on 28 August, you acknowledged that the BVAG/STP group met the criteria for
recognition as a NF.
In the circumstances there can be no justification for your failure to respond to my email below by giving an
early target decision date.
The STP(D) group will be holding a further meeting from 17.30 to 18.30 on Wednesday of next week (17
December), immediately prior to the BVAG Christmas party, for an update on the progress made by the
Council in determining our application. As you have declined all invitations to attend or host a meeting
yourself to explain your reasons for the continuing delay your attendance is requested. As a minimum you
should send a representative who is in a position to answer for you. The meeting will be held in Globe House,
at the corner of Bermondsey St and Crucifix Lane
Our followers will be wanting to ask you (or your delegate) the questions that you seem unwilling or unable to
address. Among others:
(a)
As you appear to deny that the founders of the group, the community at large, or the former BNF's own
'steering group' are at liberty to wind it up, who do you say is so entitled?
(b)
What steps have you taken to determine whether BNF was ever either a representative or properly
constituted body, capable of being recognised as a NF?
(c)
What steps have you taken to verify that John Corey, who you appear to regard as a one-man NF,
represents anybody whatsoever?
(d)
Has John Corey made an application to become the NF for your officially designated area? If so, what
steps have you taken to verify whether he has done so pursuant to a constitutional mandate from an
eligible group? If not, on what basis do you maintain there is any obstacle to the immediate approval of our
application?
Pleaser confirm by return whether you will be attending or sending a representative.
Regards
Russell Gray
Thankyouforyouremail.Iacknowledgeyourrequesttoberecognisedastheneighbourhoodforumforthe
neighbourhoodareathathasbeendesignated.
FollowingthemeetingoftheOverviewandScrutinyCommitteeIagreedtoholdameetingwiththedifferentgroups
todiscusswhetheragreementcouldbereachedonaneighbourhoodforumforthearea.Asyouknow,thismeeting
hasnotyetbeenarranged.
InoteyourclaimthattheBermondseyNeighbourhoodForummetatyourpremiseson12Novemberandagreedto
disband.However,IshouldadviseyouthatIreceivedconfirmationfromJohnCoreyinadvanceofthatmeetingthat
themeetingtakingplaceon12NovemberwasnotameetingoftheBermondseyNeighbourhoodForum.Ihavenot
receivedconfirmationfromtheBermondseyNeighbourhoodForumthattheyhavedisbandedandwishtowithdraw
theirapplicationtoberecognisedasaneighbourhoodforum.Iwould,therefore,liketocontinuewithmyintention
asagreedatthescrutinymeetingtoarrangeajointmeetingwithyourgroupandtheBermondseyNeighbourhood
Forumtoagreeawayforward.
IhopethatsuchameetingcanbearrangedinJanuary.Dependingontheoutcomeofthismeetingandwhether
furtherpublicconsultationisnecessary,Ishouldthenbeinapositiontomakeadecisiononthedesignationofa
neighbourhoodforum.
Yours,
Mark
CouncillorMarkWilliams
LabourMemberforBrunswickParkWard
CabinetMemberforRegeneration,Planning&Transport
LondonBoroughofSouthwark
160TooleyStreet
London,SE12TZ
02075257730/07985629095/@markwilliams84
Mr Williams
You have not responded to the email below. Our 12 November meeting did consider the possibility that the
Council would now revert to what we refer to as your plan A, which was simple delay in responding to us and
processing our application for recognition as a NF. The meeting's unanimous decision in that event was to reapply in exactly the same terms as for the original St Thomas St Plan but accepting the NA designated by the
Council. This is without prejudice to our contention that you had no power to designate such an area and that
the community will be at liberty to amend it if such a decision is subsequently made by the Group.
Please therefore take this email as a formal application for recognition of our group as the NF for the NA you
designated. You will of course have all the original application material and it now simply needs to be taken as
an application for the much larger area selected by you. The only change is that The St Thomas St Plan, 'STP'
will be known under the working title of The St Thomas St Plan (Displaced) 'STP(D)' until the Group
reconvenes to agree a new name.
Please confirm by return your target date for processing this application.
Regards
Russell Gray
Mr Williams
It is unfortunate that you did not attend yesterday's joint BVAG/BNF and open
community meeting. You had been given some weeks notice, you gave no specific
explanation of why you did not attend and you did not even send a representative. As
you have been told before, we do not think it is open to the Council to take a
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The email you received and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be covered by legal and/or
professional privilege and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
If you have received this in error please notify us immediately. If you are not the intended recipient of the email
or the person responsible for delivering it to them you may not copy it, forward it or otherwise use it for any
purpose or disclose its contents to any other person. To do so may be unlawful. Where opinions are expressed
in the email they are not necessarily those of Southwark Council and Southwark Council is not responsible for
any changes made to the message after it has been sent.