Volunteer needed to support responses to planning applications
EGRA started as a campaign group, we came together to provide a counter balance to the aggressive development along East Greenwich riverfront. We aim to provide the community with oversight on development plans and support for neighbours who want to take action if they feel unreasonable permission is being sought. This could be because the housing plan is too dense, the units of social housing too few, maybe there is no consideration of green-space, or that the design is inappropriate for the location. On occasions planning requests breach environmental standards, contributing to the loss of bird habitat the loss of reed beds, we do our best to mitigate the damage and also get involved when builders fail to comply with the restrictions on hours of work, public access, site cleanliness and site management more generally.
Since then EGRA has evolved, we are now working on a range of initiatives to make the neighbourhood a more beautiful place to live, but campaigning remains at our core. We need help on planning matters and want to recruit someone to help us make sure that Royal Borough of Greenwich and the developers realise that East Greenwich is a community with a voice.
We are looking for someone to lead EGRA’s response to planning applications and to be a first point of contact on planning maters internally and externally. Enthusiasm is the principal requirement although an eye for detail is vital. An interest in architecture/ built environment is of course important.
Tasks could include:
Bring all new planning applications to the attention of the EGRA executive and lead the discussion and review of them; the Greenwich Society produces a monthly list, which helps this task enormously.
Represent EGRA at a monthly planning group (the Greenwich Conservation Group; GCG) where domestic planning applications are reviewed.
Liaise with EGRA membership to find out what our neighbours think and gain consensus, ensuring an accurate response to planning requests.
Link with other interested parties on planning matters i.e. Greenwich Society, Woolwich Antiquarians, Westcombe Society and Charlton Society to ensure a cohesive and coordinated response.
Attend and speak on planning applications at council planning hearings and at developer forum
Read, digest and interpret planning applications and convey the message to the membership.
Contribute to EGRA executive thinking more broadly.
Ideally you would be able to commit two to three hours a month. The monthly meeting of the GCG at Greenwich Town Hall (actually in Woolwich should take less than an hour and sometimes if no local applications are reviewed your presence is not needed at all). However on occasions planning applications can come thick and fast in which case we hope that you would lead our response but other EGRA board members would support your efforts and share responsibility for attending meetings, reviewing documents or whatever is required.
Finally you should be comfortable speaking in public as you will attend council meetings and have strong written skills as initial responses to planning applications are usually on line and in writing.
Two people who are able to coordinate their efforts could share this role.
Please get in touch at info@egra.london or ask to speak to Louise Fletcher our secretary at the next public meeting on 12th February 7:30pm at the Star and Garter Public House, Old Woolwich Road SE10 9NY.
