Pravda speaks on Goldhawk Block

The latest edition of H&F News, the council propaganda sheet that you pay for with your taxes, has given the official council version of what happenned at this planning meeting. Having been there I can say that their account is one of the most biased and inaccurate accounts of a meeting I think I have ever read.

Apparently the council officers "guided" the councillors to the only decision that was open to them - er, wrong. In fact the council officer had to admit that some of the key points in her submission were wrong. This included the statement that Innocent Drinks "wanted" to leave the Goldhawk Road Industrial Estate. This was, she admitted, totally untrue. In fact as the officer ploughed through her report all you could hear were cries of "rubbish" from over a hundred local people who had packed in to watch.

The chair of the committee (who represents Shepherds Bush Green ward) Alex Chalk, is the only person quoted in Pravda's article. In fact he is quoted at such length that it takes up an entire column of text. The "journalist" obviously ran out of time or space to be able to interview a single member of the Residents Association or any other person who disagreed with the council's decision to allow the property developers they have such a high regard for to move in.

This is more a post lamenting the lack of an independent media that can accurately report the news in H&F rather than a comment about the rights and wrongs of the planning decision. What we now have instead is a propaganda rag that by hoovering up all the local advertising revenue has effectively driven any independent newspapers out of the Borough. So all we have left is this council mouthpiece that distorts the truth to fit a political agenda.

There are several changes to the Bush coming up that you might or might not agree with, such as the culling of the trees on Shepherd's Bush Green. Don't expect that freesheet that drops through your door to give you the full picture on that or anything else! I might even write a letter to the "Editor" you know..