Kanda Consulting

Tower Hamlets Planning Following last week surprise refusal, by the Development Committee, of the proposals for Montgomery Square, in Canary Wharf, the Strategic Development Committee in Tower Hamlets took their opportunity to embrace the chaos on Wednesday evening. Despite the committee failing to be broadcast live via the council's webcast service, something that is likely to be raised as an issue, the committee made decisions on two major schemes. Following the resignation of two Aspire councillors last week the committee also did not see a change of members ahead of Wednesday night. The membership of the committee, which should have changed to reflect the new political makeup of the council, appears to have remained in its previous state. This gave Aspire a majority on the committee which they used to push both applications through. The Harbour Exchange scheme, which has already been deferred twice, was approved by members with little discussion. The points raised at previous committees on the scheme, around family sized homes, were not touched on. Members appeared to just nod through the unchanged scheme, which does raise questions regarding the original deferrals. The Life Science development in Whitechapel proved more contentious. Having also been deferred once already the application was expected to face some scrutiny. It what appears to be a highly staged managed process the Aspire members made two changes to the application. Firstly, removing the word "womens" from the £2.5m contribution to women's health projects attached to the application. In a borough where women's life expectancy is 7.5 years less than men, against a London wide trend of women living 1.2 years longer than men, this is a shocking decision by the committee. It will add fuel to the fire around the issue of the Aspire group having no female representation among their councillors. More critically from a planning perspective, Aspire members of the committee add a section 106 commitment that changed an affordable workspace contribution to an affordable housing contribution. The condition was explicitly referenced in the heads of terms before the vote on the item in what, could arguably, appear to be a coordinated move by members. Though the item passed this will almost certainly need to be dealt with, possibly by returning to committee, before the scheme can move ahead. While these kinds of moves are not surprising in Tower Hamlets planning committees the lack of intervention by officers, including the legal officer was surprising. It raises serious questions regarding the knowledge of members but also the position officers now find themselves in regarding advising the planning committee. With the Best Value report due to be published, despite legal challenge, its likely the behaviour of committees in the borough will feature in the inspectors commentary to the Secretary of State.

Tower Hamlets Update Ahead of full council tonight two Aspire councillors have formally resigned and will sit as independents. Cllr Ohid Ahmed, as reported yesterday, has formally resigned as an Aspire member and has now been joined by Tower Hamlets Speaker, cllr Saif Uddin Khaled. Behind the scenes the Speaker has been threatening this move for the last 10 days and the loss of the ceremonial 1st citizen of the borough will be a significant PR blow for Mayor Rahman The balance of power on the council will now change with the planning committee likely slipping from Aspire's grasp. With this evenings full council and the coming days ahead likely to generate more drama, as committees change hands and a new speaker is elected, Tower hamlets could be entering a period of further major unrest. With the MHCLG Best Value report due to be published imminently there has never been a better time to seek experienced, expert and politically balanced advice on how to navigate through the turbulent waters of Tower Hamlets. If you have questions reach out to the Kanda Consulting team at politicalinsights@kandaconsulting.co.uk

Latest update on the emerging turmoil at Tower Hamlets 👇 With the council’s hostility towards the MHCLG’s Best Value investigation, the expected resignations of more councillors, and the Mayor’s powers likely to be restrained, Director of Insights Andrew Clark, outlines how the Council’s turmoil may impact the built environment. If you'd like to understand more about the situation in Tower Hamlets, get in touch with us here: politicalinsights@kandaconsulting.co.uk Click here to find out more about Kanda's political insights offer: https://lnkd.in/ecrt_uiF

An excellent case study for generating long-term social value in the heart of the #CityofLondon. For the past 18 months, Kanda has been supporting Sharon Wright in working with over 400 young people from schools across London to empower the next generation to actively shape the future of #HollandHouse. A fantastic example of community involvement along with BGO, Sharon Wright of the-learning-crowd ltd, and the wider project team.   Alexander Morris, Stiff + Trevillion Architects, DP9 Limited 

Kanda was delighted to see Halcyon Development Partners' proposals to redevelop 115-119 Wallis Road unanimously approved by the #LLDC earlier this week.   The scheme will deliver 337 high quality co-living bedrooms - helping to meet local housing need - flexible workspaces, and new commercial spaces. The redevelopment of the site will also see the delivery of vibrant and accessible public spaces, including opening up the canal frontage to the public.    It was a pleasure to work alongside Halcyon Development Partners, Morris+Company, and Spacehub. Kanda worked on the community consultation prior to the submission of the application, including in-person consultation events onsite and meetings with local political stakeholders. Congratulations to all the team and we can’t wait to see these plans come forward!

"Build more bloody houses". Director of Digital & Data John Greenshields writes how this message at #LabourPartyConference couldn't have been more clear, and that the Labour Party's unity around it speaks volumes. At Conference, there was profound agreement on the 'why' for building 1.5 million new homes. But there was also agreement on how challenging this will be in practice, especially as much-needed planning reforms will likely occur in parallel with new housing delivery which could only complicate matters. While the Government is still relatively early on into its term, the sector is on the edge of its seat, readily waiting to gain certainty on the 'how', so it can better understand its role in delivery. For a full download on housebuilding discussions at Conference and 'what next', read John's piece here: https://lnkd.in/esm5KNTJ If your business, site, or project would benefit from our integrated communications support, get in touch with us at: info@kandaconsulting.co.uk

"If Combined Authorities can’t help government with its mission to deliver 1.5 million homes, devolution will have failed - not the principle but the execution." Highly informative summary and analysis from Jo Dancy nee Sistern, Director, Regions, on the core takeaways from #LabourPartyConference in relation to regional growth and placemaking. The primary message being that while there is optimism around the Government's desired regional growth and placemaking ambitions, there is apprehension around what is actually required to deliver on such a massive scale - not just homes, but the delivery of new infrastructure to support New Towns and communities, and execution from Combined Authorities. But many know it is still early days and there will be more detail to come from government as we head towards Christmas. Read the full piece here: https://lnkd.in/ejZTKkvq If your business, site, or project would benefit from our integrated communications support, get in touch with us at: info@kandaconsulting.co.uk

Yesterday, we were treated to a Walk n' Talk at #ElephantPark by landscape architects Armel Mourgue and Neil Matthew from Gillespies.   Located in the heart of Elephant & Castle, Elephant Park is a transformational project that, when complete, will deliver a major landscape-led masterplan that includes close to 3,000 new homes, climate resilient buildings and spaces, and green infrastructure for all to enjoy. Much of which has already been delivered!   A truly exemplar project for placemaking and social value generation.   Thanks to Ciron Edwards for organising, who has played an instrumental role in the project - leading over a decade of community engagement, co-design workshops and public consultation on the project.

Packed London Networking Drinks Reception at #LabourPartyConference last night with SME4Labour. A fantastic event with clear shared commitment from industry and the public sector to working together to enable new homes for London. We'll be sharing more in the coming days about the key Conference takeaways for housebuilding in the Capital, but the message couldn't have been clearer - that strong partnerships will be required to deliver on the step change required to deliver new homes at pace, at scale, and of quality. A really positive way to round the Conference off for us at Kanda. Thanks to our amazing speakers - Tom Copley, Cllr Shama Tatler (Shama T.), Graeme Craig, Kevin Bonavia MP, Rupa Huq, Kanishka Narayan, Chris Gascoigne, Karen Alcock, and Ibrahim Dogus To find out more about what we do at Kanda, click here: https://lnkd.in/g3cHzdwy

With the Government looking to advance their ambitious housing agenda, which includes delivering #NewTowns and unlocking major regional growth, our Regional Growth and Placemaking panel at #LabourPartyConference couldn’t have been better timed. Hosted with SME4Labour and chaired by our Director of Regions, Jo Dancy nee Sistern, there was much discussion and consensus around how building at pace and scale could not come at the expense of quality placemaking and stewardship. There was also plenty of robust conversation about the practicalities of delivering against this ambitious agenda, and the role and impact of the #NPPF changes. We’ll provide a fulsome analysis of regional placemaking and growth later this week, but in the meantime we want to say a big thank you to our amazing speakers – Jim Dickson, Kevin Bonavia MP, Peter Marland, Fiona Fletcher Smith, and Jamie Hunter. If you’d like to hear more about Kanda’s work in the regions click here https://lnkd.in/eXSJM9sF or get in touch with info@kandaconsulting.co.uk