Contesting land or property
If you believe land or property is not needed and could be put to better economic use, then you can raise a challenge by submitting a Right to Contest application.
The application process has two strands:
- Strand 1: land owned by a central Government department and their arms length bodies
- Strand 2: land owned by a local authority or certain other public bodies
You’ll need to contact the relevant organisation when submitting the form. Details are on the application form.
ESSA Introduction & Retrofit Guides
Our new member ESSA (The Edwardes Square Scarsdale and Abingdon Association) has written an introduction to their work in the attached pdf document.
We’ve added links to their professionally produced and comprehensive retrofitting guides on the new Resources page. Their guides focus separately on typical Victorian, mansion block and modern buildings in London. We’ve also posted links to the Bedford Park Society’s timely Energy Guide which addresses some of the same areas (mentioned in member news last month), and while on the topic of keeping this week’s [more…]
New Resource Pages
There are many public sources of articles, reports and publications that could be important to London Forum’s members to help awareness of policy changes and activity of Government and GLA departments. The information could be useful for the way societies work with their local authority and their MP.
To help you, we’ve created a Resources website menu with links to useful research resources on the Internet, as well as to relevant London Forum material, including the Find Your Local Society page with its new map, and the [more…]
Interactive member map
We’ve added a new interactive member map to appropriate web pages, based on membership data provided by societies. Try it out live here (the image in this article is necessarily a static screenshot for publication). You can zoom in, and click on any of the blobs representing societies – the size of which represents membership – and review the data we show, including clickable links to member websites – example illustrated.
If you spot errors in location (an approximation in a handful of cases), or the [more…]
Inspiration for Community Action
The TCPA has resources for community groups to help make change happen at the local level.
See the various guides and case studies on their website here.
Please let London Forum have your comments on the TCPA facilities and on any local use made of them by completing our contact form.
Homes on Green Belt
The OnLondon news channel is one to which London Forum recommends its members should subscribe. Its edition here includes a review of the progress of review of LB Enfield’s new Local Plan. It promotes the use of Green Belt land for housing and the arguments for and against that will be considered by the Inspector in the examination’s stage three in October 2025.
There are other news items of interest in the OnLondon website including an Earls Court special, details of proposals to address use of mobile phones [more…]
Civil Society Covenant
On 21 July, Lisa Nandy, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, launched the Civil Society Covenant. By civil society, the document is intended to cover “charities, not-for-profit organisations, volunteer-led initiatives, social enterprises, campaign groups and grass roots organisations”. In her introduction, Nandy states that:
“We believe civil society has a powerful voice that must be heard in the rooms where decisions are made and that it is only by working together that we will build a self-confident nation where everybody’s contribution is seen [more…]
Royal Parks Police Disbanded
This article first appeared in The Greenwich Society newsletter
The Greenwich Society is very sorry to see the disbanding of the Royal Parks Police across London. At the last Safer Parks Panel meeting in April, Nick McLaughlin, Inspector of the Royal Parks Operational Command Unit, chaired this meeting and gave an update on the future of the Royal Parks Police and the dedicated police unit within Greenwich Park. A Police crime report for the last quarter was not presented to the meeting.
A significant funding shortfall of [more…]
Chewing gum stains
Keep Britain Tidy has allocated grants for local authorities in 2025 for cleaning chewing gum from pavements, as here. That website shows which Councils have received funding over the last four years. Most London boroughs have benefited, some of them two or three times. Residents will be the best judge of how effectively the money has been spent.
High Street Rental Auctions
Councils are empowered to take action where landlords have not taken sufficient steps to rent property by auctioning off leases on premises that have been vacant for more than a year and granting local businesses and community groups the ‘right to rent’ empty commercial lots at market prices.
The Government has updated guidance on the way auctions should be conducted, as here.
Didn’t find what you’re looking for? Try a new search:
How to petition Parliament
Old Kent Road development – update
High Value Council Tax Surcharge
Planning for Telecoms Masts
Most of us now carry smart phones around with us all the time: they have become an essential part of modern life. For most of the time when we are out and [more…]
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How Effective is Planning Enforcement?
📆 Mon 29th June | 18:30 - 20:30
🚩 77 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6EL (map)
How can we make it work better? Planning enforcement is important. Unless it’s done effectively, the integrity of the whole planning system is put at risk. But it’s one of the most frustrating issues for civic societies and local community groups. We’ll discuss this and related issues at this Open Meeting on 29th June. Please book here ( https://www.londonforum.org.uk/events/how-effective-is-planning-enforcement#booking ) Cases typically include: Large developments that grossly fail to meet planning conditions or even submitted drawings and plans; Illegal demolitions; Unauthorised residential alterations and extensions; Additional floors…