Is the proposed library building big enough?

The 1989 Library Vision - what we have lost

We have managed to get hold of Brent Council's leaflet advertising the opening of the 1989 Willesden Green Library. Clearly this building had EVERYTHING  including a community bookshop. See what we have lost....

Council's presentation on Willesden Green Regeneration

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

First drawings of Willesden Green redesign

Retained library scheme from Brondesbury Park

 

Ground Floor

First floor

 

 

 

Second Floor

My apologies for the quality. These were photographed at today's consultation.

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

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