Showing posts with label Willesden Green Redevelopment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Willesden Green Redevelopment. Show all posts

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Who will do a 'Margaret Hodge' over fake Kensal Rise emails tonight?

'Now Mr Gillick, what do you have to say about these fake emails?'
What a pity I have a Green Party meeting tonight. I would have liked to attend the Brent Planning Committee taking place this evening at the Civic Centre after the revelation today that a large number of emails sent in to support the Kensal Rise Library redevelopment were fake. See Kilburn Times LINK

The facts will be reported to the planning committee which is due to hear representations from campaigners against the development. I presume the developer Andrew Gillick will make a presentation to the Committee. I hope one of the councillors will 'do a Margaret Hodge'  and subject him to some some close questioning.

Meanwhile if the police are called in I suggest they also investigate similar claims over the Willesden Green Library regeneration.

This afternoon the owner of the Gracelands Cafe and Yard found she had been listed as a supporter of the development while away on holiday. The story emerged on Twitter:

  1. yes we are listed online as being in support of the development. The Yard is v much in support only of the library. So underhand.
  2. Brent Council received ‘high proportion’ of fake emails supporting Kensal Rise Library development plans - News
  3. Yes someone's lodged 'support' response for development on behalf of the Yard & we're outraged. Have complained but no reply

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Planning Committee won't consider Willesden Green development on Wednesday

The Galliford Try planning application for the Wiillesden Green flats and library development has been deferred until February 21st for 'technical reasons'.  Keep Willesden Green campaigners have raised various issues about the legal status of the  application over the last week or so.

The email from Democratic Services to councillors on the Planning Committee is below:
Dear Member,



Due to technical reasons, the planning applications for Willesden Green Library (references 12/2924 and 12/2925) will be deferred from tomorrow night’s meeting.  As the applications will still need to be considered at the earliest possible time following tomorrow’s meeting, the Chair has asked me to confirm your availability on Thursday 21 February 2013 for the special meeting.



If for any reason you will not be able to attend the meeting please consider asking your alternate. I would appreciate it if you could respond to this request at the earliest opportunity preferably before 10:00am tomorrow morning.



Joe Kwateng

Democratic Services Officer

Legal & Procurement Department

( Direct Line: 020 8937 1354
joe.kwateng@brent.gov.uk
This is becoming a real headache for the developers, maybe Galliford Try/Linden Homes will pull out before the 21st?

Tuesday 20 November 2012

'They're out to get you,' Butt warned

'Your main opposition comes from within the Labour Council Executive, the Labour Group on the council and some senior council officers,' opposition leader Paul Lorber told Labour Council leader Muhammed Butt last night. Butt's wry grin seemed to indicate that he recognised a grain of truth in the statement.

Lorber's comment came in response to Butt's speech for the Budget First Reading Debate where he lambasted the vindictiveness of the Government's welfare cuts predicting that their policies would lead to the wiping out of the advances made by 13 years of Labour government:
This is the deliberate effect of an ideological experiment designed by  (the Conservatives) and shamefully supported by the Liberal Democrats. It is a social experiment based on the Conservative belief that the rich should have no responsibility for the poor.
 Butt outlined  a package of 'reforms'  that would provide resilience and protection for the community:
  • Support for local business and their growth through working with them for shared objectives
  • Paying the London Living Wage to direct council employees and encouraging contractors to do the same
  • Create an energy cooperative to bulk purchase energy for residents
  • Investment in an innovative employment support package
  • A new deal for the voluntary and community sector helping troubled families and tackling health inequality
Butt said that the council would shift council resources from the 'treatment of problems to the prevention of problems'  and would 'squeeze contractors and providers' and get rid of 'inefficiewncy, duplication and waste'. He said that the council couldn't fight the residents' battles for them any more but could provide a 'dented shield'.

Cllr Butt said that the council budget had been reduced by 28% between 2010 and 2014 and that the failure of the government's policies had led to forecasts of a 7% reduction every year until 2020 at least. 

There was a conspicuous lack of detail on what that would mean in terms of cuts to council services except for a passing reference to looking at charges for services.

If there is to be any proper consultation on the budget, and particularly if there is to be any effective campaign  based on a needs budget, the specific cuts to services need to be spelled out as quickly as possible. Residents need to have a realistic view of what they face in the immediate future. Apart from the Living Wage and Energy Cooperative proposals the other 'reforms' are vague. It would be an insult to residents if the consultation just sought endorsement for the reforms and the gloss involved in 'community, fairness and growth'.

There was little evidence in Paul Lorber's speech that he had burned the midnight oil preparing a comprehensive alternative approach. He criticised the lack of substance in Butt's presentation but his own was a knockabout speech piling blame for the economic crisis on the Labour Government and more tellingly  emphasising Ed Balls' statement that Labour are 'going to be ruthless about public spending'. He ridiculed Butt's claim about strengthening communities when the council had cut grants to the voluntary sector, and supporting businesses when they had increased parking charges hitting reducing the trade of local businesses.  Conservative leader Cllr Kansagra  said little apart from drawing attention to the cost of legal action over the libraries and parking charges.

I thought there might have been more attention given to Sarah Teather's Observer interview about the welfare benefit cap. Cllr Jim Moher, in response to Lorber's quote from Ed Balls said it was not a question of 'whether we would make cuts but whether we would have made this scale of cuts' and went on to say there was no hint in Lorber's speech of the disquiet in Lib Dem ranks and amongst many Lib Dem councillors. The Sarah Teather 'elephant in the room' had been reduced to a hamster.

So what about the rest of the meeting?   I left before the motions but questions to the Executive included some effective ones from Cllr Alison Hopkins in libraries and Cllr Carol Shaw on the Willesden Green Redevelopment and a less effective one from Cllr Daniel Brown on the dangers of the failure to clear fallen leaves after the cuts in street cleaning.  Cllr Shaw criticised the cost of the Civic Centre perhaps forgetting that this was the brain child of the Lib Dem led previous administration - fully supported by Labour of course.

Cllr Hunter extolled the virtues of making 'evidence based' recommendations on health and not 'political ones' thus not opposing the closure of Central Middlesex A&E. She quoted Boris Johnson approvingly on the virtues of cross-party support for the Olympics.

 Labour backbenchers asked questions that enabled Muhammed Butt to make attacks on various government policies including the cutting of the Early Intervention Grant. Cllr Krupesh Hirani drew approval from across the chamber when he spoke about the hard work of carers and even more when he took a swipe at adult care provision in Brighton and Hove where there is a Green led minority administration.(Background HERE)

Entertainment was provided by spotting the councillors and officers who had fallen asleep, those that were tweeting and texting surreptitiously under desks or cardies on their laps, and of course seeing Cllr Zaffar Van Kalwala once again achieve a multiple orgasm just by listening to the sound of his own voice.







Monday 3 September 2012

Brent designated Willesden Green a 'Public Square' 29 years ago

The designation of the open space at Willesden Green Library as a Town Square includes a requirement that it be proved that the open space has been used for leisure activities for 20 years. Both the developer Galliford Try and Brent Council have opposed designation.

A 1983 Brent Council development  document has now come to light that clearly shows the Council designating it a 'Public Square' 29 years ago.


More information on www.keepwillesdengreen.blogspot.co.uk

Saturday 1 September 2012

Squaring up for a battle in Willesden Green

Campaigning in the 'Town Square' (Photo: Kilburn Times)
The battle over the application to designate the open space outside the Willesden Green Library Centre as a Town Square is hotting up.

If the space is so designated it could torpedo the plans to build over 90 unaffordable flats on the present car park.  These plans require that the new building be moved close to the High Road roadside to make room for the flats. The present open space would be built over.  If the space is designated a Town Square, it cannot be built on and this would mean the former car park space available for the flats would be much less. The project depends on the developer making money from the land given to it by Brent Council to build the Cultural Centre at 'no cost' to the council. Fewer flats, less profit, no money for the Cultural Centre.

Not surprisingly the developer, Galliford Try-Linden Homes has put in an objection to the Town Square application. Rather more surprisingly, as Brent Council decides to approve or reject the application, the Council itself has also put in an objection.

In the meantime local historian Philip Grant has revealed that back in 1984 Brent Council itself supported the idea of an open space here:
In a document produced by Brent's Development Department (the forerunner of the present "Regeneration and Major Projects") in December 1983, an annotated plan of the site stated: 'The Council intend to preserve the little building on the corner with its turret and decoration - the wings behind are later additions, and these will be removed to provide some much-needed open space.'
 
Some councillors wanted to save money on the project, and demolish the whole of the old (Victorian) Willesden Green Library, replacing it with a public square which would run from the new Library Centre right down to the High Road. In a Council debate, reported in the "Kilburn Times" on 20 April 1984, Councillor Len Snow said that this 'would be a sad mistake', leaving 'a gap here, which will be open to wind and traffic noise'. He went on to say: 'If the square was protected by an interesting frontage it would be a haven of peace and on a sunny day a delight to sit in.' 
 
Len Snow's view, and that of like-minded Councillors, eventually prevailed, giving Willesden Green the public square that local people have enjoyed for more than 25 years, and still enjoy.
Philip's article and the response by Martin Redston to the developer's objection can all be found on the Keep Willesden Green blog HERE

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Old Library may be retained, rest of 'consultation' just tweaking

Details of the new round of consultation on the Willesden Green Library redevelopment published today LINK show how limited any rethink is likely to be.

The Keep Willesden Green group demanded that the Council and developers Galliford Try 'stopped.listened and reflected' on the proposals with the suggestion that they go back to first principles and involve local residents and users from scratch.

Instead it appears that the housing development,  loss of the Town Square and the bookshop are still taken for granted. There is a concession over the Old Library building which goes only as far as that new early sketches will be on display and 'will show how the old library may be retained as part of the building'. These sketches will be on display throughout August for feedback and 'developed proposals will be ready in September'.

The second phase of the consultation to take place between September and October is limited to 'details like how the library space will be divided or what could go inside the old library'. Brent says stoutly, 'We know where we think each activity shold go (e.g. the library, museum etc).  So no consultation on housing, council offices, cafe, Town Square, car park, bookshop space, or the size of the library.

They have organised workshops for specific target groups, which run the risk of setting different groups against each other, rather than working out priorities through face to face discussion:
Tuesday, September 4 - Seniors
Thursday, September 6 - Small and medium enterprises
Tuesday, September 11- Community groups
Thursday, September 13 - Ethnic minority groups
Tuesday, September 18 - Teens
Thursday, September 20 - Families with young children
 Although of course many people will cover several categories so may end up attending 3 or 4 times!

The Council says it will carry out outreach in local schools and will develop details with schools in the Autumn.

The third phase is the 'Interim Strategy: October-November' and the Council say that core services will continue to be delivered at the Willesden Library Centre as well as non-core such as the markets. Unfortunately one vital 'non-core' service, the Willesden Bookshop, has already closed when the Council could have extended its lease during this period.

Reviewing this timetable it seems clear that the Council's intention is to get planning approval in December and  hand over the site to the developers by January 2013.

Meanwhile I am sure Keep Willesden Green campaigners will be considering their next moves in the light of the above.





Saturday 23 June 2012

Willesden Green redevelopment in trouble?

With the on-line comments on Galliford Try's application to demolish the Willesden Green Library Centre and Willesden Bookshop along with the Victorian Library,  showing over-whelming opposition from local residents, LINK it appears that the developer has launched a last-ditch attempt to find the 'silent majority' councillors have claimed are in favour of the scheme.

A PR company has allegedly been employed to go door to door in Willesden Green to collect signatures for a pro-redevelopment petition claiming that the new building will be 'lovely'.  See 'Beware the stranger at your Willesden door' LINK The petition will squeeze in between the formal deadline and consideration by the planning committee.

Meanwhile the Victorian Society has added their voice to the opposition and chided the Council:
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
Their full submission can be seen HERE

Cllr Ann John and Cllr George Crane signing agreement with Galliford Try (Brent Magazine April 2012)
There are various technical issues relating to the planning application and particularly the aspects relating to Grange Road that are being challenged as well as doubts over the application  being solely in the name of Galliford Try when  the scheme was a partnership with Brent Council. There have been so many responses that planning officers have been overwhelmed and acknowledgements of written submissions are taking several days and on-line comments taking some time to upload.

A further complication is the role of Cllr Ann John who now sits on the Planning Committee. As someone who as leader of the council advocated the scheme,  she may decide that it would be better not to take part in the discussion and decision making on this issue because of claims of 'predetermination' i.e. that she had already made up her mind before the Committee's perusal of the application.

Meanwhile public notices have appeared in the vicinity and the local press advertising the application to register the public space in front of the present library as a Town Square. The space will disappear if the redevelopment takes place and a successful registration will clearly have repercussions for the developer's plans.

Friday 8 June 2012

Commons Act application for a Willesden Town Green

Parachute games in the open space last May
Relaxing on the proposed Town Green last weekend
An application has been made to register the open space outside the Willesden Green Library as a 'Town Green'. This has been done under the Commons Act 2006 and involves demonstrating that the space has been used for sports and lawful pastimes for the last 20 years.

The space will be lost if the proposed Willesden Green Redevelopment goes ahead.

Meanwhile on-line comments so far on the development application by Galliford Tri have been overwhelmingly critical. Campaigners will be out at the library again this Saturday and welcome support from local residents.

Comments on the planning application cane be see on the Keep Willesden Green blog: HERE and HERE

Monday 9 April 2012

Sign today to delay the destructive Willesden Green redevelopment

After Brent Council's dismissal of the petitions to allocate space in the proposed Willesden Green Cultural Centre for the Willesden Bookshop and to retain the Old Willesden Library building, it is understandable that people are cynical about the usefulness of petitions when the Council is clearly not prepared to listen.

However, we must continue to ram the message home and the demand of the 'Pause, listen and reflect' petition on the Willesden Green Library Regeneration is perfectly reasonable. Citizens should have the right to a say in major new developments and the Council cannot be allowed to get away with sham consultations that merely tick a statutory box and are subsequently ignored.

The lamentable performance by Cllr Crane at the Dollis Hill Hustings and Cllr Ann John's uncertainty over some of the processes and detail at her meeting with Keep Willesden Green campaigners, and the massive majority rejecting the plans at the Galliford Try consultation, show that it is to everyone's benefit to pause and reconsider plans that will impact on the area for years.

Today is the last day of the 'Pause' petition so if you have not done so please go on-line now and sign up.LINK.

THE FULL PETITION TEXT

We the undersigned petition the council to Pause the Willesden Green Library Centre regeneration plans to allow for full consultation with residents in order to ascertain their views on how the area should be developed and the amenities that should be provided or retained.

Brent Council is handing over public land worth £10.4 million to a property developer in exchange for rebuilding the Willesden Library Centre. The original 1894 library building on the High Road will be demolished, The Willesden Bookshop is likely to be driven out of business, the public car park will be reduced to 8 spaces and a children’s play area will be lost. Over 18 months, three five-storey blocks of 90+ luxury flats will be built behind the existing Library Centre.

We all want a thriving, welcoming and dynamic library and cultural centre, but the current deal has been sealed with virtually no public consultation and very little available information, ignoring the wishes of over a thousand local residents who have expressed opposition to these plans in two Brent e-petitions.

While the developers get a healthy profit from the sale of luxury flats and Brent councillors get some fancy new offices, the cultural and financial cost to rate-paying citizens is disproportionately high. It smacks of ‘profits before people’.

Borough residents need to have a say in the content and design of the library centre redevelopment, but we have not yet been given the chance to do so.

The Council says: Plans for the development of the library centre were raised at the executive committee in February 2011, and quickly followed by two public consultations to ‘test the market’. The council had to abide by commercial confidentiality, so no detailed plans could be made public until a deal was signed with the developer on 15 February 2012.

We say: Did you know about this in 2011? Not a single local resident or tradesperson we spoke to knew about the plans until Jan 2012, and only then through word of mouth. The Feb 2011 consultations were conducted with, respectively, 5 and then 7 people. One person present recounted that they were asked for their opinion, then shown plans for the centre that were drawn up before the meeting. This does not conform to the generally understood definition of a ‘consultation’

Saturday 17 March 2012

Angry residents question Cllr Crane on Willesden Green Library plans

At a public meeting - called by the Keep Willesden Green Campaign - the Green Party candidate for Dollis Hill, Pete Murry, has called on Brent council to rethink its plans to demolish Willesden Green Library. The meeting, which was originally intended as a hustings for the by-election, saw a huge amount of anger directed at Councillor Crane; the Labour executive member for regeneration. The public demanded to know why the regeneration plan did not include any provisions for social housing. The audience also asked why there has been no proper consultation on the plans and why their  petition of 5700 names was being rejected by the council. 

Pete Murry, who is a long standing Brent resident and user of the library said:
It beggars belief that the petition submitted by Keep Willesden Green is being fobbed off on a technicality. We will continue to press for the petition to be accepted and for a full council debate to be had.

The Green Party do not agree with the demolition of the library in the first place and are fighting against it. If, however, the Labour plans do come to fruition it seems absurd that there will be no social housing built as part of the project; especially considering the fact that almost 15,000 Brent residents are on the housing  waiting list.

Friday 9 March 2012

PAUSE, LISTEN AND REFLECT, Brent Council told

Keep Willesden Green have launched a new paper and e-petition on the Willesden Green Regeneration issue that encompasses the various concerns of the local community are by calling for Brent Council to Pause, Listen and Reflect before proceeding.

You can sign the E-Petition HERE

PETITION TEXT

We the undersigned petition the council to Pause the Willesden Green Library Centre regeneration plans to allow for full consultation with residents in order to ascertain their views on how the area should be developed and the amenities that should be provided or retained.

Brent Council is handing over public land worth £10.4 million to a property developer in exchange for rebuilding the Willesden Library Centre. The original 1894 library building on the High Road will be demolished, The Willesden Bookshop is likely to be driven out of business, the public car park will be reduced to 8 spaces and a children’s play area will be lost. Over 18 months, three five-storey blocks of 90+ luxury flats will be built behind the existing Library Centre.

We all want a thriving, welcoming and dynamic library and cultural centre, but the current deal has been sealed with virtually no public consultation and very little available information, ignoring the wishes of over a thousand local residents who have expressed opposition to these plans in two Brent e-petitions.

While the developers get a healthy profit from the sale of luxury flats and Brent councillors get some fancy new offices, the cultural and financial cost to rate-paying citizens is disproportionately high. It smacks of ‘profits before people’.

Borough residents need to have a say in the content and design of the library centre redevelopment, but we have not yet been given the chance to do so.

The Council says: Plans for the development of the library centre were raised at the executive committee in February 2011, and quickly followed by two public consultations to ‘test the market’. The council had to abide by commercial confidentiality, so no detailed plans could be made public until a deal was signed with the developer on 15 February 2012.

We say: Did you know about this in 2011? Not a single local resident or tradesperson we spoke to knew about the plans until Jan 2012, and only then through word of mouth. The Feb 2011 consultations were conducted with, respectively, 5 and then 7 people. One person present recounted that they were asked for their opinion, then shown plans for the centre that were drawn up before the meeting. This does not conform to the generally understood definition of a ‘consultation’

REMEMBER TO MAKE YOUR VIEWS KNOWN AT THE EXHIBITION ON SATURDAY 10AM-2PM, WILLESDEN GREEN LIBRARY. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO MEET KEEP WILLESDEN GREEN CAMPAIGNERS OUTSIDE AND SIGN THE PETITION.