Three hundred luxury flats in the Friary Park development in Acton remain unoccupied. Sean Fletcher, a local resident, criticises in his latest video (below) the marketing of these flats to overseas investors rather than local families. He highlights the contrast with the 12,000 Ealing households in need of social housing. Multiple assessments deemed the Friary Park development “not viable” but Ealing Council’s planning committee approved plans.

The development was initially approved to include 45% affordable housing but subsequent applications expanded the number of flats and reduced commitment to affordable housing.

We held a lively interactive meeting on the subject of Artificial Intelligence on 30th April, which was recorded. Our first speaker, Richard Farthing, covered the background and some relevant uses, not only of well-known ‘chatbots’ such as ChatGPT, but also applications that use AI in the background, and real-world examples, particularly around planning. The second half was a full-on interactive session led by John Myers, who tested out several audience questions on live AI services, ranging from planning to creating images.

We naturally chose AI – in the form of Claude.ai – to generate the 1200 word report on the event page, alongside the two videos, and slides, with clickable links allowing you to explore the references mentioned, including the original AI ‘chats’. For comparison, we used both Claude and Google’s Gemini for shorter 300 word summaries below.  In this case Gemini made a bullet-point style summary as you can see, but Claude extracted perhaps a little more detail. Do we need a tool to merge the best of both ? It turns out that there are several tools already available to at least automate side-by-side comparisons.

Claude 300 word summary

AI: A Powerful New Tool for Civic Societies

Richard gave an illustrated introduction to AI, explaining how today’s large language models work and demonstrating their capabilities live. He showed how AI tools can summarise vast planning documents in seconds — a boon for societies grappling with complex applications running to hundreds of files — and introduced specialist tools including Objector.ai, which analyses planning legislation to assess whether there are grounds for objection, and Anti-Render, which produces more realistic versions of developers’ glossy CGI images. He also demonstrated how AI can help check whether images used on websites may infringe copyright.

Richard flagged some important cautions too: AI chatbots can generate plausible but inaccurate information, automated bots are already trawling civic society websites for copyright infringements, and the longer-term societal implications of AI — from job displacement to autonomous weapons — deserve serious attention.

John Myers took a more hands-on approach, taking questions and demonstrating AI tools in real time. He showed how an LLM can quickly locate planning policies, draft consultation responses, and synthesise multiple documents — tasks that would previously have taken hours. A member, Sophie, described how she had built a complete website for a residents’ association using Claude, with no coding background, at minimal cost — a practical example that impressed the room.

Key practical tips from the evening: always give AI as much context as possible about your organisation and local situation; ask the AI to plan before it acts; and always check what it produces before publishing or submitting. On data security, members were advised to avoid uploading personal information and to delete audio recordings and transcripts once minutes have been generated.

The message was clear: AI is already a powerful tool for civic advocacy, and societies that learn to use it well will be better placed to make their voice heard.

Gemini 300 word summary

Empowering Civic Societies with AI

The session highlighted that AI’s greatest strength for societies is in making summaries. Whether dealing with a 119-condition planning application or a dense 800-page developer report, AI tools like Claude and Gemini can extract key issues in seconds, allowing volunteers to focus on strategy rather than “turgid” reading.

Beyond text, the meeting showcased how AI can:

• Defend against copyright claims: By using reverse image searches like TinEye to avoid “trap” images on websites.

• Bridge the volunteer gap: One member shared how she built a complete, professional website for her residents’ association using AI, despite having no coding background.

• Draft Consultations: AI can take a society’s core principles and draft a formal response to government consultations, such as those on planning fees or public house protections.

A Human-Led Future

The speakers emphasised that while AI is an “intergalactic autocomplete,” it lacks a “soul” and local knowledge. The consensus was clear: civic societies should not fear the technology but should use it to level the playing field against well-resourced developers. As John Myers noted, the goal is to “equip ourselves to fight the battle” by combining human passion with machine efficiency.

Members are encouraged to experiment with free versions of these tools but to remain vigilant regarding security—always ensuring that personal data is never uploaded and transcripts of private meetings are deleted once minutes are finalised.

He said “In total, £6 bn is being given to new Neighbourhood Boards, made up of local people, to spend on whatever the local community believes it needs. Over the coming weeks I will outline a radical new approach to community power, and how we will help people take back control over the decisions that affect their family, their community and their hometown.”

The speech explains the problems that are to be solved.

Those involved in neighbourhood planning should know that there has been a relevant decision of the First-tier Tribunal Information Rights (the FTT).

The FTT ruled that a Neighbourhood Forum is a public authority for the purposes of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).

In a blog, James Maurici KC explains the Tribunal’s reasoning and the implications for neighbourhood planning groups which will be obliged to make available any environmental information they have.

Residents of a block of flats in Kew, many of whom are elderly or vulnerable, are facing eviction after the owner sold the block to Westminster council which has said it needs the building to be empty in order to house the growing number of homeless people in its borough.

Richmond Leader Gareth Roberts wrote to Westminster council, accusing them of showing “disturbing disregard for residents’ well-being” and having responsibility for the “displacement of an entire community”. 

The sources of this story are TheLondoner and member Kew Society

There is a resident-led analysis report in ‘Community Powered Reporting’ (www.communitypoweredreporting.co.uk) which the authors claim reveals a consistent pattern of decisions by LB Ealing’s leadership that have concentrated disadvantage in Southall’s most deprived communities.

The report is stated to have been reviewed by a legal team to ensure research validity and ethical standards and nothing in it should be understood as an expression of personal opinion. 

London Forum members may be interested in it for the depth of analysis it shows and the implications.

OnLondon is recommended for its news as an additional resource to the ones London Forum has made available.

It offers independent journalism on the city’s politics, development and communities.

Visit the OnLondon site and look for the SUBSCRIBE line.

Communities and local leaders will benefit from new powers in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, to protect local spaces, shape their high streets, and celebrate culture, according to a Government press release here.

Local people will see stronger and more public scrutiny of their regional mayors, through new Local Scrutiny Committees.

The Community Right to Buy listing period doubles from five to ten years and the Bill introduces the separate category of “sporting assets of community value”.

The lawyer Simon Ricketts warns land owners of the problems that may cause.  He wrote “This allows assets that support the functioning of a sports ground, such as car parks, to be indefinitely listed as assets of community value. In some circumstances the listing of a sporting asset of community interest will have permanent effect.”

“Landowners should be even more aware of uses on their land which may give rise to the future risk of ACV listing and/or they will need to plan for the possible consequences. Might the fear of listing mean that owners are more reluctant to introduce “meanwhile” uses pending redevelopment?”

Simon’s full blog is here.