26 September 2016 | Inaugural meeting of the Pimlico Neighbourhood Forum

The meeting was held at St, Saviour’s Hall Monday 26 September 2016 at the invitation of the Pimlico Federation of Residents Association 

Present: 

Directors of Pimlico Freda: Mr Edward Reeve (Chairman), Mr Richard Gayner, Lady Scott 

Westminster Councillors: Angela Harvey, David Harvey and Nickie Aiken 

Guest Speaker: Mr Simon Birkett from the Knightsbridge Association 

+ 50 Pimlico residents 

Edward Reeve, acting as Chairman, welcomed Simon Birkett from the Knightsbridge Association (KA) to the meeting. He then outlined the main purpose of a Neighbourhood Forum which is to create a Neighbourhood Plan (NP). This Plan can include not only planning matters but it can also cover such issues as trees, open spaces, hotels, short-term tenancies, cultural and sporting provision for the area etc. Once approved, it will carry significant weight in planning decisions for Pimlico during its five-year life span. The Localism Act 2011 defines the hoops to be jumped during the process of creating a Neighbourhood Plan and states that NPs must cohere with both national and local policies. 

Simon explained to the meeting that he had recently formulated Knightsbridge’s Neighbourhood Plan with the help of a professional planning firm. Their Plan runs to 140 pages and has cost the Kensington Association £100,000. It will soon be the subject of a public consultation, followed by a local referendum before it becomes active. He finished by generously saying that he would be happy to help us formulate Pimlico’s Neighbourhood Plan and to share any relevant chapters which feature in the Knightsbridge Plan. 

The Chairman decided to set up a Steering Group, totally separate from Pimlico FREDA, which would manage the PNF membership, create the Neighbourhood Plan and raise funds for any professional help that might be needed. Raising funds was considered to be the biggest challenge in our area which has no big businesses. 

The PNF Steering Group was then formally elected by the meeting as follows: Peter Ruback as Chairman, and Clive Aslet, Edward Reeve, Mair Garside and James Ingham as members.