Borough First News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

THE first meeting of a planning meeting crumbled into chaos after tempers flared over delayed start, last-minute substitutions and an applicant…

future if council decides to move out. At a cabinet meeting on Thursday, April 29, senior councillors approved to launch a review of the Royal Borough’s ‘outdated’ headquarters in St Ives Road on whether they want to invest ‘significantly’ into refurbishing the building or move out to a ‘fit for purpose’ office space. According to the report, the town hall, built-in 1962, has become ‘too costly’ to maintain and it cannot meet the local authority’s climate target as its energy performance was deemed ‘only just acceptable’. To modernise and refurbish the council bu...

. Senior councillors approved recommendations to dispose of council-owned land in Sawyers Close, which is an ex-council estate and consists of 192 homes, to estate owners Abri Housing Group. According to the report, Abri approached the Royal Borough to take ownership of the land so they can build affordable housing as they are looking to either refurbish or redevelop the existing 1960s flat blocks there. The refurbishment or redevelopment work would require temporarily transferring the existing tenants to the newly developed building, which would be subject to a planning application, w...

leader to the North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un. The Borough First councillor Geoff Hill (Oldfield) has publicly apologised for his ‘ill judged’ tweet, which has since been deleted, calling the leader of the council, Cllr Andrew Johnson (Con: Hurley & Walthams), ‘Cllr Andrew Kim Jong Johnson’. Following the recent full council meeting on April 27, he posted: “Cllr [Johnson] has now restricted full debate at full RBWM council so your councillors have lost speaking rights. “This is undemocratic and dictatorial. Congratulations Cllr Andrew Kim Jong Johnson for crushing democrac...

Old plans of the retirement homes Planners reduced the scheme from 45 flats after panel members rebelled against officer’s recommendations and refused the original plan on the grounds the designs ‘were out of keeping’ with the area’s Victorian scenery, ‘poor quality’ designs, loss of trees, and parking overspill. The developer did go to appeal – but it was dismissed by the planning inspectorate in January 2021 due to the development’s effect on the character of the area and on nearby trees. Speaking on behalf of an objector, Stephen Whale urged members to refuse this...