Willesden Green planning application approved

After a 3 hour meeting Brent Planning Committee tonight approved the Galliford Try/Linden Homes (and some would add Brent Council) planning application for the building of 94 one and two bedroomed flats and a Cultural Centre on the site of Willesden Green Library and its car park. 7 members voted for the application, 2 against and 1 abstained.

Members of the public were given extra time to speak and made the objections that by now will be familiar to most readers about loss of public space, smaller overall library space (though this was disputed by the planners and architect), lack of parking space, housing density and height and the future of the Brent Archive.

Cllr Hunter and Cllr Lesley Jones spoke in favour of the redevelopment while Cllr Carol Shaw  opposed and presented a list of 9 issues that needed to be addressed.

A major new issue was the failure of the Council to produce the public register of interests and make it available for inspecting at the meeting. This should have been done under section 12 of Brent's Planning Code of Practice. Philip Grant has argued in an e-mail to Joe Kwateng that as the overall head of the Department which includes Planning and Development, Andy Donald (Director of Regenration and Major Projects), had signed the Development Agreement between Brent Council and Galliford Try. As a result, all of Brent's Planning Officers have an 'involvement' with Andy Donald and should have declared a prejudicial interest.

Chris Walker, head of Planning, said that the processes were kept separate. However the issue remains that the register should have been available for inspection and wasn't made available. This may have potential legal repercussions.

Keep Willesden Green Public Meeting September 20th

Council's presentation on Willesden Green Regeneration

Brent Council's August 8th Presentation to the Public can be found below:

Action needed now over 'dead time' August meeting

Martin Redston, co-chair of Keep Willesden Green, has written to Beth Kay, lead officer on the Willesden Green Redevelopment for Brent Council (Major Projects) after her e-mail to Martin Francis (below) on the summer consultation event on August 8th.

You are of course taking the Mickey aren't you! You are clearly aware that the Nation (the World?) will be deep in the middle of watching and celebrating the Olympics. Many people will be attending the games, still others are actually on holiday during that period (myself included). Travelling to and from work will be difficult and people may have difficulty in attending at those times. I suspect that you personally will have a travel problem because you don't even live in the borough. The idea that people will be in a position to attend a drop in session to discuss the future of our Library facility at such short notice is frankly an insult to the community.

 

What is the relevance of your statement"We are aware of the constraint of the Olympics which is why we have programmed this event on a day when there are no events in Wembley"? exactly.

 

This proposal is appalling and clearly an effort to 'bury bad news' by Brent Council and their preferred partners Galliford Try. You clearly have taken absolutely no notice of the points in our discussion at the Willesden ACF in which I predicted that the developers would be working overtime to come up with a revised plan, but you denied that this was the case. Once again I was correct.

 

Even if the new plan includes everything that the Community has clearly requested in recent weeks, it is anti democratic to call a critical meeting at this time with less than a fortnight's notice. This event must be postponed until September when the community will be in a position to engage fully again. We have requested a meeting with Cllr Butt on many occasions since he took over as leader and no response has been received to date. Why have you as Regeneration Officer not ensured that it is properly arranged?

 

I am copying this to the Chief Executive and Brent Council Leader amongst others. Action must be taken now.

Yours in disgust,

 

Brent Resident, Martin Redston

Main points for objections on conservation grounds

Philip Grant has prepared a document which highlights the main points to consider for objections on conservation grounds to the Willesden Green Library planning and conservation area consent applications. It was shown briefly at the meeting on 15th May, but is available below for those who wish to refer to it more closely, and for anyone who was not able to attend that meeting.

Meet May 15th to save Willesden from developer vandalism

Downlaod a PDF of the invitation below:

Remarkable result: Brent's own consultation shows majority reject Willesden Green proposals

The outcome of the Galliford Try-Brent Council consultation on the Willesden Green Library Regeneration plans are now available and reinforce Keep Willesden Green Campaign's demand that the Council 'Stop, Listen and Reflect':

Remarkable PR had 220 responses to the public consultation (both on line and on paper). The breakdown was:

Supporters of the scheme    15
Partial supporters                24
Undecided                          10
Objections                        171

As a result a revised proposal is being worked on and Remarkable are planning to contact the original 50 people with whom they had 1:1 consultations to ask them to return to review the changes. However it is not expected that these will include the retention of the historic  Old Willesden Library building.

The dates of this second one-to-one consultations will be on April 17th..

Remarkable PR will also be sending out a revised flyer - to a similar number of resident regarding the updated plans.

Useful Handbook for campaigning

This Handbook on library campaigns has a lot of useful information that may be of interest. Follow this LINK

Executive asked to reconsider Willesden Green interim arrangements

The Call In and Scrutiny Overview Committee tonight passed a motion that  called on the Executive to reconsider their interim service plan for the period of the Willesden Green redevelopment to include the possibility of using existing closed library buildings in order to provide a comprehensive and financially viable library service.

Amid chaotic scenes Brent legal officers present appeared to indicate that the effect of this was to postpone any signing of an agreement with the developer until the Executive had considered the motion from Scrutiny. This will put back the timetable for the regeneration which is already running behind schedule.The anticipated signing date of February 2nd  was only revealed after the vote.

The next Executive is on February 13th and will already have a full agenda which includes the budget. Although the Executive routinely votes down referrals from Scrutiny Committee there will be a further chance for the public to make representations.

Eleven members of the public spoke tonight.

Much of what they had to say was concerned with the poor consultation over the plans.  It emerged that the 'stakeholder consultation' consisted of two evening focus group meetings attended by 5 and 7 people respectively who were unrepresentative of Brent's population. Several complained that there had been no mention of the Willesden Green closure when the Library Transformation plans were discussed and users of the closed libraries had been told that Willesden Green was their nearest alternative,

There were pleas from several different library campaigners for the closed down libraries to be reopened to provide an interim service. If Willesden Green had been near enough to be an alternative for their closed library then the reverse must also be true. A Kensal Rise campaigner argued that there was no justification for paying rent on temporary buildings when that purpose built library was available rent free and had enough space for the Brent Archives.

Nicolette McKenzie from Mapesbury Residents  made an impassioned plea for the Willesden Bookshop. She said that most cultural centres have a bookshop.  Although the bookshop was not part of the council's core service it was part of the bigger moral contract between the council and local residents. She said that the council needed to make some compromise and show goodwill towards residents.

Alison Hopkins for Dollis Hill and Neasden residents reminded the council that they had spent £300,000 on refurbishment of Neasden and were paying rent of £55,000 plus security costs on a building that could be put to use. The area was one of high deprivation and badly need the library..

Jacky Baines said that there had been no consultation over the of the old Willesden Library building and called on the council to listen to residents. She said that an epetition had been launched on the council website. (Available HERE)

Simon Hawkins, speaking for Brondesbury residents said that the first they had heard of the proposals was on January 16th. On the  focus groups he said it was wrong that so much was decided by so few. Consultation was now available only when detailed plans existed and decisions were being made by small groups behind closed doors. He said interim arrangements were incoherent and residents needed reassurance that the project was not a housing scheme with a small ill-thought out library space. He asked what justification there was for removing the cinema. Contrasting the success of the Tricycle he said that the Willesden Green Library Centre had been badly managed and needed a manager of real calibre.

Responses from Cllr Crane (leader member for regeneration and major projects) and Andy Donald, the officer concerned, reiterated that the present building was not fit for purpose and would cost too much to refurbish and anyway the council did not have the money. A developer partnership meant that the project was cost neutral with the council gaining the freehold of the new building by handing council land (the library car park and a section of Chambers Lane) over to the developer for housing.

Fuller version of this post available HERE