Residents gatherered at Willesden Green library this morning to show their concern to members of the Planning Committee who were paying a site visit prior to their decision on the planning application which will be made on Wednesday.
Residents were able to put a number of points and questions to planning officers and the developer. Among issues raised were:
- The decision being made before the outcome of the Town Square Inquiry is known and before the planning consultation period ends on February 14th
- The 'dodgy' support letters (see this week's Kilburn Times) that appear to have been solicited by the developer
- The smaller area of the new centre compared with the old and the erroneous inclusion of access areas in the calculation of the area of the new centre
- The loss of parking space for visitors to the new centre, especially if it is intended to hold major cultural events there
- The loss of natural light to the terraced houses on the roads on either side of the development
- Misleading drawings (see below) which misrepresent the scale of the development
- The aesthetic damage to the conservation area of an out of scale development
- Asset striping of public land by the developer with Council support
- Despite the huge housing list in the borough none of the new housing will be affordable
- Council action and statements appeared to indicate pre-determination
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| A true representation of scale? |
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| Delivering our messages |
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| This area will be flats |
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| This house and its neighbours will be over-shadowed by flats |
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| Marking the spot in the present library where the flats will end |
It seemed towards the end of the visit that councillors had still not been given a true idea of the dimensions, particularly the height, of the new housing development and its domination of the conservation area.
Concerning the dimensions (In particular the height) I As a resident of Grange road will be immediately be using a surveyour and solicitor to take legal action against Brent Council and Galliford Try PLC if the plans in current form go ahead and building begins, In it's current form this will result in a huge decrease in my natural light and then therefore breaking my right to light as a resident of over 45 years under the Prescription Act 1832. Without a doubt I will be unable to maintain my propertys level of illumination as also my neighbours property another resident of 20 years (Who has also contacted the council Andy Burnham on this matter and recieved no reply.) If the plans are not reconsidered to take into account residents of grange road we shall seek an immediate injunction to cease any building work undertaken on this site until our case is resolved I shall also be looking to recover all legal costs involved resulting from Brent and Galliford Trys failure to address this matter before . Quite frankly all residents are totally sick of Brent bulldozing (pun intended) this through with absolutely no respect for residents. I for one will do everything in my power to stop this small private streets community being ripped apart by huge over crowding of high rise crammed in flats. In fact next local council elections It might prove intresting to stand against our so called local councillors using this as a key point as at the moment the councillors WE AS RESIDENTS VOTED IN have little if any respect for the residents views.
ReplyDeleteCorrection in my above comment the name contacted was ANDY BATES not Burnham.
ReplyDeleteYou'd get my vote BL of Grange Road.
ReplyDeleteExcellent Public Meeting notes.
ReplyDeleteEach bullet point should be a nail in the coffin of this scheme.
I thought the chair handled the meeting beautifully. Sadly I am not convinced Council planners are listening to the residents.
I cannot believe that such flawed plans are being seriously considered.
We get...... a new small library...not big enough and which will need replacing on another 20 years
We lose..... a huge asset in the form of land, which will be lost to us forever.