I just got back from a very happy week long trip to the Bay Area, to find that LMS Capital (not getting no googlejuice from me), a property developer, wants to build [London's 12th highest skyscraper across the road from our first floor flat.
](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_structures_in_London)
Upon arrival, we rushed to see the (4-day long) exhibition that LMS Capital have organised to 'publicise' this proposal. We have until august 17th to object.
Had an interesting conversation with the robot marketing the proposal, in which she responded to my clear distress at having 44 floors of flats staring straight through the windows into my bedroom, with 'don't you want a community in your area?' to which I replied, 'we moved to Hoxton for the community! you think we're so short of bars and community that we need a 140m glass skyscraper to help us connect?'
But I suppose, being a new technology nerdy kind of guy, and someone who has spent a fair bit of time taking things that should be online (but aren't) there, a few things surprise me about the planning process.
1. We got a nice 4 page A4 glossy through the door that doesn't include a URL, not even for this major capital project, not for the company that's building it. Not an address nor a phone number either.
2. Whilst the planning notice from Islington council claimed that the planning info would be available online, there was no URL included in that document either, and I can't find any reference to it online.
If I were the sort of paranoid who'd spent 10 years extracting public information from public bodies who didn't really want me to, I'd suspect, possibly, an unwillingness to use technology to improve the public's access to the planning process. I still have to take a day off work to go and get the detailed reports.
only one thing for it, I guess, better build a website.
We'll start with some pics:
photos from LMS Capital's proposed City Road Estate exhibition
### One Response to "I think I now understand how Arthur Dent felt about that bypass"
Tom Says:
Think you'll find those contact details in the darkened cellar of the planning department?.. perhaps in a locked filing cabinet, at the back of a disused lavatory, with a sign on the door saying beware of the leopard...