Vacancy for a Committee Member Designate to take Responsibility for Planning Applications

Responding to planning applications from our Estate is a core function of the Residents Association.   Typically, 45-50 are submitted to Royal Greenwich each year.   About half are for work which will not be visible from the public highway so we do not comment on these.   As to the remaining 20-25, it is usually clear whether or not the proposed works fall within planning guidelines for our Estate.   We support those that do and object to those that do not.   Very occasionally we notify residents who will be able to view the proposed works from their houses if we think they are especially contentious.    This has only happened two or three times in the past four years.

Keith Billinghurst, the committee member who currently reviews planning applications, would like to hand the duty over to someone else by the end of 2015.   The intervening time will allow sufficient time for whoever takes it over to become accustomed to it and for him to be on call if required.

Under our constitution the Committee can co-opt up to two people between one AGM and the next.   This has already happened since our 2013 AGM, which is why we are referring here to a ‘Committee Member Designate’.   The existing two co-opts will stand for election at the AGM in December, 2014.   The person who takes on planning matters needs to be a full committee member because of the importance of the task.   We are therefore looking for someone who will be willing to stand for election this coming December. 

Committee meetings are held on the Estate on a weekday evening every 4-6 weeks.   However, planning work can be carried out at whatever time suits the individual concerned, because the need to meet with others is very unusual.   A reasonable level of computer literacy is a pre-requisite.

Estate Residents who are interested in applying for the role, or those who would like additional information about what is involved, are invited to contact Keith Billinghurst by email at keith.billinghurst@btinternet.com.