A Bermondsey woman has made a formal complaint after being copied into an email chain where she felt Southwark Council officers belittled her campaign to halt homes being built on her estate.
In response, a council spokesperson told the News they were “extremely sorry” and that they had taken “immediate steps” to make sure it did not happen again.
The emails sent earlier this month included the subject line: “I know they will complain about anything but… – Slippers Place” as the officer attempted to find out why Katie Phillips had not received a leaflet to a meet the builders event on her Slippers Place Estate on Southwark Park Road.
Ms Phillips has campaigned against a plan to build a new block of council flats on the car park of her estate.
Ms Phillips and her supporters said the new block would cause overshadowing and disruption because of the noise, and also said they felt their views had not been taken seriously by council officers. Southwark secured planning permission last November.
Residents were invited to a meeting with the builders of the new block on Tuesday (August 16). Ms Phillips never received the invitation and complained on her anonymous Twitter account, which she has used to campaign against the development.
One council officer sent an email to colleagues with the subject line “I know they will complain about anything but… – Slippers Place”. The email was asking others to look into Ms Phillips’ claim that she had not been sent an invitation.
Unbeknown to the officers, Ms Phillips had been accidentally copied into the email chain.
The next officer responded, saying: “Isn’t it odd the one person we don’t deliver to is the one who runs the say no slippers Twitter account? I assume she/he is against new homes not the footwear?”
Ms Phillips later made another complaint on her Twitter account about an issue with parking on the estate.
Responding to that complaint in a later email on the same chain, the first officer added: “We’ve got another one (as ever, pinch of salt, etc)”.
In her official complaint to the council, Ms Phillips said: “As a resident on Slippers Place and the person closest to the infill, I have been left feeling like any concerns that I may have are just going to be dismissed and that the professionals that are supposed to be supporting in making this a smooth build are mocking me behind my back and the backs of the residents.”
She added that she would no longer be going to the event to meet the builders.
A spokesperson for Southwark Council said: “We are extremely sorry for the upset caused to a resident because of careless and disrespectful language used in an internal email conversation. Our residents deserve our respect and understanding and this exchange did not meet our standards or align with our values.
“We will take immediate steps to ensure this does not happen again, and we have written to the resident to apologise.”
The new eight-storey building on the Matson House car park at Slippers Place will provide eighteen council flats. Southwark has a council home waiting list of 16,000 households.
At the planning committee meeting in November, Ms Phillips was supported by campaign group Southwark Law Centre, who said that the block went against rules for density, urban greening and privacy and light, and also raised concerns about the impact of construction on the existing residents.
Responding, council officers said at the meeting that the density requirements in Southwark’s new housing plan were lower, meaning the new build would comply. The greenery was below requirements but an improvement on the current situation, they said. They added that although the light coming into some neighbouring windows would be affected by the new build, it would still meet the planning rules.
Objectors at the meeting said they had not been properly consulted by council officers. Committee members said this was a regret, although they added that the new homes team had tried to engage residents with leaflets and online meetings.
Cllr Martin Seaton, chairing the meeting, said the “responsibility is on us to make sure residents are fully aware” of plans on their estate, and added that “we need to be better”.
Lib Dem committee member Cllr David Noakes said that the council needs to be “the gold standard” for resident engagement.