Sketches at tomorrow's meeting showing how Old Library 'may' be retained

Here is the latest communication from Brent Council regarding the Willesden Green Consultation:

The council will launch a further round of consultation this week with residents and current Willesden library users. This will look at how the new building will be used as well as the design.
 
The event taking place on the 8th August will introduce this next stage of consultation. Residents and stakeholder groups have been invited via email, online advertising, twitter, posters, the Library newsletter and direct mail.

At this event Brent Council and its partners Galliford Try will display new early sketches for the proposed Willesden Green Cultural Centre this week. The sketches will show how the old library may be retained as part of the new building.

There will be three areas of discussion during the next stage of consultation outlined below:

August – September - The Old Library

Architects are developing proposals to integrate the Old Library with the new Cultural Centre, ideas will be on display at the Willesden Green Library Centre throughout August and you can leave a comment. Developed proposals will be ready in September.
 

 September - October - Inside the building

We know where we think each activity should go (e.g. the library, museum etc) but we have not decided details like how the library space will be divided or what could go inside the old library. We are having a series of workshops to explore the options in September.

Everyone is invited to any of these workshops, they have been designed to understand how specific target groups would need to use the facilities:

∙ September 4 - Seniors
∙ September 6 - Small and medium enterprises
∙ September 11 - Community groups
∙ September 13 - Ethnic minority groups
∙ September 18 - Teens
∙ September 20 - Families with young children

Further outreach is planned for local schools and the detail for these will be developed in the autumn term with the schools.

October – November - The Interim Strategy

Core services will continue to be delivered while the WGCC is on site; we also want to make sure that the non core services continue to be delivered for example the market. We will be working with the Willesden Green Town Team to develop this strategy.

The Willesden Green Town Team is working with Brent to look at the regeneration of the High Road and lots of activities are being planned for the autumn:

∙ Town team tidy up
∙ Place making and urban design workshops
∙ Pop up shops and meanwhile uses
∙ Market relocation

You can be a member of the Willesden Green Town Team, contact
peter.blue@btinternet.com for more details.

If you need more information or have any questions about the planning application please contact Galliford Try’s dedicated freephone information line on

0800 298 7040 or email

feedback@consultation-online.co.uk. Web: www.willesdengreen.co.uk  Twitter: @Will_GreenCC 

Beth Kay

Regeneration Officer (Major Projects)

( Office: +44 (0) 20 8937 1038

( Mobile: +44 (0) 7943 190 093

Ê Fax: +44 (0) 20 8937 1050

: Email:beth.kay@brent.gov.uk

KWG up-beat as it moves to the next phase

Keep Willesden Green met at a local community hall tonight and had a minor celebration of the welcome news of the withdrawal of the Galliford Try planning application, before quickly getting down to the business of planning the next stage of the campaign.

In recognition that Brent Council says it is in listening mode, it was decided to ask Cllr Muhammed Butt, leader of the council to meet with a group of KWG members.  We will emphasise  participation rather than just consultation and,  in the spirit of the Localism Act, explore ways of working  with the council and other groups  to realise the aspirations of the local community.

There was a very positive atmosphere at this well attended meeting and an up-beat 'can do' approach to the next phase, whatever the difficulties in the past,  which bodes well for the future.

There was a recognition that the campaign had brought the people of Willesden Green together as nothing had before and a determination to build on this new sense of community.

Navin Shah opposes library demolition

Last month Navin Shah, Labour London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow wrote to Andy Bates regarding the application to demolish the old Willesden library building.. This is what he wrote:

Dear Mr. Bates,

Application for Conservation Area Consent for the demolition of the old library building.
Willesden Green Library Centre, 95 High Road, London NW10 2SF

I am writing to you about the conservation area consent application for the proposed demolition of Willesden Green Library. I strongly object to the proposal for demolition on the following grounds.

As the London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow I have been contacted by a number of residents in Brent who are extremely dismayed at the proposals to demolish the library. I fully share their dismay as I feel that this is a historically important building of local interest and importance which should be preserved.

As an architect by profession with special interest in listed buildings of architectural and heritage value I feel preserving Willesden Green Library is extremely important. The old building of ‘Arts and Crafts’ design contributes greatly to character of the area and should be celebrated as an iconic building, rather than be demolished.

This library building is a social and cultural tool and knocking it down would destroy the historical and architectural contribution it makes to the Borough of Brent and its special significance to the character of the area. This is a much loved building making positive contribution to the surrounding areas which is recognised by its local listing by Brent council and local people love it, as do I. So why destroy local heritage?

I’m not against the principle of regeneration for the site but there are other options available to the Council without destroying this cute little local landmark. Once a building of this character is destroyed, you will never get it back. I urge the members of planning committee to save Brent’s heritage by refusing the consent for demolition

Demolition would remove a 'good and much-cherished historic local building', Victorian Society

The Victorian Society has added its voice to the public outcry against Galliford Try's planning application to demolish the Victorian Willesden Library to make way for a warehouse style Cultural Centre. This is their submission:

Dear Mr Bates

RE: Demolition of former Willesden Green Library building (Locally listed, 1894, Newman and Newman)

It is disappointing that despite a request in March to be kept informed of developments in this case, the Council failed to notify us of this application. Instead we have been reliant on a huge number of concerned local residents to inform us that an application was submitted.

Given this application differs very little from that presented to the public a few months ago (and on the principle of demolishing the Victorian library building has not changed), I can only reiterate those objections expressed in my letter of 13 March this year.

The old Willesden library was erected in 1894 following a poll of the Ratepayers of Willesden. Built in an Arts and Crafts style, its form, unusual roof configuration and good quality decorative plasterwork are particularly pleasing. Overall it can be said to make a very positive contribution to the streetscape and the conservation area in which it sits. We disagree with the view of the applicants that this building is of “little architectural value”.

Its significance is enhanced by its prominent site, noted in the Willesden Green conservation area character appraisal as one of two principal foci of the conservation area. In the context of the consulted scheme, the historic building occupies only a small portion of the site. Moreover, it lies on the site’s fringes, not at its centre and there is thus scope to develop the site behind the library, leaving it to remain unaltered.

Proposals to demolish the old library fly in the face of the Council’s own guidelines on heritage and urban development. The conservation area character appraisal stresses the significance of the building and of preserving and enhancing the character of the conservation area. The Council has also stated the “need to conserve the best of our built heritage against pressure for redevelopment and unsympathetic alteration.”

Public consultation exercises came too late in the day to be of any real worth, with the first of two public exhibitions being held in March, and a second post-application. It is also clear that no major amendments were made to the proposals as a result of this exercise and the opposition pronounced by local people. An indication of that opposition was the 5,700-signature petition presented to the Council.

The proposed cultural centre fails to abide by the Council’s stipulation that proposals must be of “exceptionally high quality in terms of design and contribution to the streetscape”. It would see the removal of a good and much-cherished historic local building and an erosion of the character and quality of that part of Willesden.

Yours sincerely

James Hughes

Conservation Adviser