• SINCE resident ballots were introduced by the London mayor as condition for receiving Greater London Authority grant funding many have been held in other boroughs, almost all successfully.

For Westminster, though, the Conservatives decided not to allow such ballots but to forfeit the associated funding instead.

This despicable decision not only strips residents of having any meaningful say but also deprives estate regeneration of badly needed funds for more social housing.

It’s only by refusing such a ballot that Conservatives think they can push through a monstrous development scheme for the Church Street ward which would see existing building heights more than doubled, cause severe overshadowing, particularly for the popular street market, and produce a new library too small for purpose.

Theirs is development by stealth: without seeking local consent, against all local stakeholders, against our local councillors, against a record number of objections.

People strongly support the regeneration of Church Street and building new affordable homes. The neighbourhood forum has been constructive throughout and presented an alternative plan by which the same number of new homes can be achieved while minimising overshadowing.

However this was rejected. Why? Not on grounds of sound urban planning but because Conservative politicians loathe interfering in private property rights, commonplace in urban regeneration elsewhere.

Why all this in Church Street? Well, if the Conservatives were to inflict this sort of development on the wards they currently hold, the resulting public uproar would likely sweep their majorities away.

Their current plans do not deliver neighbourhood regeneration. They are an aggressive, all-out, assault on our Church Street neighbourhood!

ACHIM VON MALOTKI, NW8