Thorncliffe

16/02/2023

https://www.thorncliffe.com/a-new-housing-and-planning-minister/

22/12/2022

Great tree from Lucy.

Lucy’s tree will brighten up New Mole House

Local student Lucy Rees has raised over £400 for the Mindspace Project by selling small homemade Christmas trees. However, a much bigger tree is about to brighten up the offices at New Mole House.

Although most of Lucy’s trees have been designed for desktops, she also made just one tree that was 60mm tall and it was Lucy’s aim to sell this larger tree to a commercial company in return for a corporate donation to her chosen charity.

Thorncliffe, a community engagement firm based in London, bought the tree in return for a £100 donation to the Mindspace Project. One of Thorncliffe’s senior staff, Deborah Paterson said:

“There isn’t time to bring this lovely tree over to our offices in the UK so we would like to donate it to the Royal Gibraltar Police so that it can brighten up the police station while officers are on duty over Christmas and the New Year. I have visited Gibraltar many times and I have the highest regard for the RGP.”

Anyone wishing to contribute to Lucy’s appeal can do so at https://www.facebook.com/lucyschristmastrees

21/01/2022

Do you read our London and Home Counties planning committee digest? If not, here it is on LinkedIn.

Many of you will receive our London and Home Counties planning committee digest by email. From this week, we are publishing it on LinkedIn. Please share...

06/10/2020

Our congratulations, from all at Thorncliffe, for Mark Allison, who becomes the new leader of Merton.

Mark is a friend of Thorncliffe, having worked as a colleague with us for five years.

Mark has been a councillor for nearly 20 years, ten years as cabinet member for finance, and deputy leader for seven years. He is firmly aligned to the moderate side of the Labour Party and will make no sudden change on the approach of Stephen Alambritis.

Mark is from Carshalton, and went to York University and Birkbeck London. In his early career he worked transcribing MP’s speeches for Hansard, as a marketing consultant, football writer, and political researcher. He stood for Sutton council in a 1995 byelection and was Labour candidate in Sutton and Cheam at the 1997 general election. For many years he worked for Siobhain McDonagh MP.

Having moved to Colliers Wood, Allison was elected to Merton council for the Lavender Fields ward in 2002 and immediately joined the cabinet with responsibility for customer services. Labour lost control after the 2006 election, but Mark took to opposition very well – attacking the Conservative administration for overspending and increasing council tax.

In February 2010 Mark managed to detach the Merton Park Ward Independent Resident councillors from their allegiance to the Conservatives; with their votes he defeated the administration over increases in parking costs. At the council election in May 2010 Labour managed to win one more seat than the Conservatives and this time the Independent Residents backed Labour to run the council.

Mark became cabinet member for finance, a highly politically risky post in normal times. He succeeded in keeping council tax rates down and frozen longer than in other boroughs, being partly motivated by electoral concerns. In early 2013 the Conservative group moved a no confidence motion in him, blaming him for making excessive cuts and under-spending against the budget; Mark reacted by noting the severe reductions in government funding.

The Labour group chose him to be deputy Leader in September 2013, and won an overall majority in the 2014 council elections. The continuing cuts caused a major political dispute in 2016 when the budget reduced spending on social care in order to continue a council tax freeze; several Labour councillors objected and one resigned.

Merton has not been among the councils obsessed with housebuilding, but Allison has sought to use available sites for housing. An attempt by an unidentified entrepreneur to use a derelict leisure centre in Wimbledon was rebuffed by him in 2018 as the council intended to develop homes on the site.

Thorncliffe has been working in Merton for many years now. If you have a project in this borough, or any other, email [email protected]

06/08/2020

Planning for a fight,. Announcing the White Paper is the easy bit. Developers should not count their chickens on this reform just yet, as there may be a significant backlash from Conservative councillors.

It’s said that Prime Minister Harold Wilson told party allies in the 1970s that he could not allow council house sales because our people – he meant Labour councillors – wouldn’t stand for it. …

19/06/2020

Do you have a right to lobby councillors sitting on a planning committee? It happens all the time, but is it a legal right and something which the authorities cannot stop? The answer from today is yes. That question has not previously come up as a legal issue, but it did so last week in a Planning Court judgment over Holborn Studios in Hackney. [ 394 more words ]

Do you have a right to lobby councillors sitting on a planning committee? It happens all the time, but is it a legal right and something which the authorities cannot stop? The answer from today is…

16/06/2020

Thorncliffe | Your Shout are pleased to announce approval for their own code of conduct from the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (ORCL), an independent statutory office holder that receives funding via a sponsor government department. From 1 July, only companies with an ORCL-approved code, either an individual code or one through a membership body, will be able to declare their code with ORCL. [ 370 more words ]

Thorncliffe | Your Shout are pleased to announce approval for their own code of conduct from the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (ORCL), an independent statutory office holder that …

22/05/2020

"We cannot let this pandemic make us cower in our houses. We have a responsibility for life to continue." "I actually think that, even if this wasn't a pandemic, this online option (communityUK) is the best option of all because it allows us to be more flexible." Find out more about >>>>

“We cannot let this pandemic make us cower in our houses. We have a responsibility for life to continue.” “I actually think that, even if this wasn’t a pandemic, this online…

30/04/2020

“I broke the rules and went for a pee”. We have been speaking with councillors about virtual committees. Here are five takeaways: “The first vote counts”.At old fashioned analogue committees, eyes of members frequently fall on one or two influential councillors when it’s time to vote. Many other members follow their example. That’s harder now. “I feel sorry for the councillors whose names begin with A – they have become the example to follow”. [ 224 more words ]

We have been speaking with councillors about virtual committees. Here are five takeaways.

14/04/2020

Richard Patient, Managing Director of Thorncliffe | Your Shout has welcomed the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists’ endorsement of its Code of Conduct following an industry-wide consultation.

Richard Patient, Managing Director of Thorncliffe | Your Shout has welcomed the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists’ endorsement of its Code of Conduct following an industry-wide consultation. The Of…

06/04/2020

Steve Reed is the new Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary in Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet, and shows that Starmer intends to take local government seriously. Reed was leader of Lambeth borough council for six years and sorted out the infamously poorly run council administration, leading a thoroughly pro-development authority. Reed is from St Albans and studied English at Sheffield University before working in academic publishing. [ 472 more words ]

Steve Reed is the new Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary in Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet, and shows that Starmer intends to take local government seriously.

12/03/2020

The Secretary of State for Housing and Planning has, this morning, made a major statement in the House of Commons. Redeveloping a vacant building with new residential developments may become a permitted development right, according to proposals from Secretary of State Robert Jenrick this morning. He stated that the right would apply to vacant commercial, industrial and residential blocks, and the new development must be well designed and meet natural light standards. [ 294 more words ]

Redeveloping a vacant building with new residential developments may become a permitted development right, says Jenrick