Showing posts with label South Kilburn Trust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Kilburn Trust. Show all posts

Monday 12 June 2017

Don't let them rip the heart out of South Kilburn - meeting Wednesday





From Granville Community Kitchen

 I am really sorry to tell you that the South Kilburn Trust and the RCKa Architects have 'responded'  to our outrage at the loss of the community Main Hall in Granville Plus Centre to a business hub. 
When the community  protested that it was losing the only large public space in the area, they have  responded by taking all the community space in the basement to  create a large 'event space there. 
This event space will have no kitchen. They say this can be hired by the community so is a 'community space'


THIS IS NOT COMMUNITY SPACE!


That means the community lose the Granville Community Kitchen (GCK) and all the other spaces in the basement. It is said the Community Kitchen can go in the 'living room'  kitchen on the ground floor. This space is open to anyone who comes into the building. This means that community groups, groups of parents and children, and vulnerable groups will have not have safe and dedicated space. Our children will not be allowed to be children with no space to play freely or safely. Anyone adult or child with lots of energy will have to be quiet and careful of their behaviour as they may disturb the business users. 

It means the needs of business users are placed first, over the community who have been using the building for generations!

Community users and Business users have different needs! They need separate spaces!

If the building loses it's sense of community purpose THAT IT WAS BUILT FOR it is no longer a community building!

The Mayor of London of London says that London is for All. He speaks of social integration and economic fairness. Where is the social integration in destroying the fabric of the Granville Community Centre and pushing the community out?  Where is the economic fairness if community is not given the opportunities to learn, to gather, to be supported, to express, to celebrate, to mourn? Economic fairness cannot be achieved without the social values that community bring.

Is this the legacy that the GLA, South Kilburn Trust and Brent truly want? One of reinforcing social inqualities? Of widening the gaps between the haves and the have nots? Of increasing social isolation of vulnerable people? Of not investing in the future of  our children and young people? Of having people go hungry? Of valuing money instead of people?

The Granville is the HEART of the South Kilburn community. Rip it out that heart and it dies!!


WE CAN STILL CHANGE THEIR MINDS!

What can you do?

Come to Granville, Carlton Vale, NW6 5HE
This Wednesday 14  June 
3pm - 8pm 

Voice your anger about this! Tell them you want seperate community spaces where we feel safe and that we control.. We want the  original purpose of the building prioritised and kept.

You will need to write it down but people will be there from GCK to help.

Please come and TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS to come too!

-- 
You can find Granville Community Kitchen at
The Granville Plus Centre, Carlton Vale, NW6 5HE
or  follow us at
@GranComKitchen
Like us on Facbook
GranvilleCommunityKitchen

Friday 9 June 2017

Locals challenge Brent Council's 'vision' for South Kilburn regeneration

The Brent Cabinet of June 19th, starting at the earlier time of 6pm, has a full agenda with several items relating to the controversial South Kilburn regeneration. The main item is adoption of a revised South Kilburn Supplementary Planning document. I receommed a full reading of the Officers' responses to representations made by local people (report embedded below) and others but here is a taster:


Leslie Barson and Dee Woods representing users of Granvill Plus Centre and the Carlton Centre

The vision is not the vision of the people of South Kilburn. It is an imposed vision whose prime purpose is to maximize housing. This has no long term benefits for the people of South Kilburn nor does it address the council’s own aims such as “improved public realm” (Masterplan Consultation Website) building for health and happiness. In fact it feels that the views are used to justify the decisions the Council wants with those decisions not necessarily in the interests of those who live and work in South Kilburn. They may coincide but they may not. The document has so many inaccuracies that it is hard to believe the people writing it really knew or were interested in South Kilburn. Its platitudes and disingenuous statements skew the reader to the decision the Council would like to see but don’t show the full picture. Brent Council should sign up to Community Engagement Principles as defined in the National Standards for Community Engagement (http://www.scdc.org.uk/what/national-standards/) putting these into action in South Kilburn to make some recompense for the years of bad practice. 

Officer response

The vision is an update of the original South Kilburn SPD, informed by the New Deal for Communities work. It has been subject to extensive engagement and reflects the opportunities that the area provides taking account of the area’s social, environmental and economic assets within the wider macro context that exists; particularly the need for viable delivery of new social rent dwellings, greater tenure diversity in the area, update of and additional provision of social infrastructure, increased opportunity for residents plus updated London planning policy which requires the efficient use of land.
Identifying that the masterplan has no long-term benefits for the people of South Kilburn is clearly inconsistent with the evidence of what has been achieved so far, including feedback from tenants who have moved into new dwellings, or accessed new/updated facilities. It also ignores the external validation of the work achieved for example by the Mayor of London. The Council recognises that regeneration is more than just a physical process ‘done’ to the local community; it complicated and requires engagement/support/participation and covers a multiplicity of issues. The Council has sought to follow good principles of regeneration wherever it can and for the vast majority of resident’s/local community groups, this is evidenced by a positive feedback. Inaccuracies have not been identified by the respondent and their response contains the type of sweeping generalisations it identifies the Council exhibit in the SPD. The masterplan process since 2005 and regeneration of the estate has quite rightly given the proposed level of change exhibited substantial levels of sustained engagement.

South Kilburn Trust


There is a risk of creating a divided community – on the one hand of people in social housing, set against private housing - very expensive to buy, or at high rents on short tenancies. There are a huge swathe of people in between - people who are working, and can’t get into social housing, but increasingly can’t afford to live in South Kilburn, let alone buy or rent a space big enough for their family. Different tenures and opportunities needs to seriously be considered so as not to end up with community of, bluntly speaking, rich and poor. And so it needs to be considered whether making the most amount of money out of a site is the best thing to do for the regeneration of an area.

Officer response


This scenario is one which officers are well aware of and is recognised in the SPD. The SPD identifies that ideally a wider range of tenures should be provided in the area. Nevertheless, it also identifies that firstly that the Council must make good on its promise to replace the number of existing social rented homes lost to the regeneration.
Unfortunately in the financial climate within the public sector currently, without grant/additional external funds opportunities for provision of alternative tenure types will be very limited. Social rent properties are extremely expensive to subsidise. The only other alternative would be to increase density to create greater subsidy. The Council is not using South Kilburn as a money making exercise; all proceeds are recycled within the regeneration of the area. The Council takes a whole life view of its assets and functions balancing up commercial property values with its role as a wider supporter of the community a significant number of which are reliant on many of the services it provides. 






Residents will be concerned about another proposal on the Agenda which  'appropriates' the green space to enable the redevelopment of Gloucester House and Durham Court to go ahead. A 'quality' replacement is promised:
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The redevelopment of Gloucester House and Durham Court site consists of:
·      The demolition of 209 residential units and garages contained within the Gloucester House and Durham Court site
·      Erection of 236 new residential units - market sale (134 new homes) and affordable social rented (102 new homes)
·      Relocation and improvement of the public open space and play area at the north of the Site
·      New public realm and improved routes through the Site
·      Landscaped private and shared gardens
·      Basement car park providing 91 spaces
·      Space for an energy centre for the South Kilburn District Energy System.
·      Market and affordable dwellings including a range of 1 to 4 bed flats and 3 and 4 bed duplex family units
·       
The appropriation includes open space with a public children’s play area, however a new replacement play area will be provided. The Planning Committee Report of 20 August 2014 identified that in order to justify the proposed redevelopment it is important that the replacement facility is of a significantly improved quality. The report found that overall, the proposals appear to be of sufficient quality to justify the redevelopment of the existing play area and inconvenience that will be caused during construction when no play area will be provided.
It should also be noted that Paddington Recreation Ground is around 330m away, South Kilburn Urban Park approximately 400m away and in May 2016 the new Woodhouse Urban Park in South Kilburn opened which is just over 500m away.

Saturday 27 May 2017

South Kilburn - the Non-consultation putting putting entrepreneurs ahead of residents

The official Brent Council view - is this the reality?

Guest post by Pete Firmin, South Kilburn resident

I went to the consultation on the future of the Granville Centre on Wednesday afternoon LINK with another member of our Tenants and Residents Association Committee. Not because we think those events are particularly useful, but because if no-one goes and makes critical remarks, they will say everyone welcomes their proposals. [Although sometimes they say that anyway]

We were greeted by someone from the Architects, who told us "this is what we are going to do". Of course, the architects are given a remit to carry out, but this is a long way from what consultation should be - the latest in a long line of Brent consultations where you are told what is going to happen, whether you like it or not.

Apart from pointing out that that isn't consultation, we said that their proposals - partitioning the large hall - effectively destroyed one of the few remaining community spaces in South Kilburn. She said it was underused by the community, to which we pointed out that that is because Brent has run down the services which did use it. Being from the architects, rather than those promoting the scheme, she didn't go there.

The main proposal is to partition the main hall to create workshops for entrepreneurs. SK Trust's sole emphasis now seems to be on "promoting entrepreneurs". Not quite sure how that fits in with representing all SK residents (as Brent always claims on behalf of SK Trust). And we were told `some' of those entrepreneurs will be local, which I take to mean most won't be.

The largest community space left will be about 1/3rd of the size of the large hall, meaning larger events (like the recent meeting with Zadie Smith, or the coming election hustings) could not be held there.It means the only largish `community' spaces left in SK will be tied to religious establishments, not the Council.

We were interviewed about the proposals on a video for the SK Trust, in which we said most of the above. Unfortunately the person filming asked us not to stray on to our criticisms of the SK Trust (now that would have made the visit worth it!).

As ever with such events, there was no-one present who actually favour and promote these proposals. So much for accountability. Leslie Barson from the Granville Centre and kitchen was there, and we went partly to support her and the work the Granville does, but they have their backs to the wall with no alternative but to accept what is happening.

I'm not naive enough to think that this steamroller can be stopped, but think it worth sharing so people know what is going on.

For the masochists among you, there is a further "consultation" on Wednesday 14th June, 3-8 p.m. at the Granville, renamed "South Kilburn Studios and Community Space @Granville 

Monday 27 July 2015

Brent Council: South Kiburn Trust did not apply for music licence in time for the Festival

Contrary to reports that Brent Council has revoked the live music licence for the South Kilburn Festival at 5pm on Friday, the day before the Festival, a Brent Council spokesperson said today that the  South Kilburn Trust had not applied for the licence in time for the festival.

The live music was transferred from the park to the OK Club on Saturday.

Saturday 25 July 2015

South Kilburn SKirmishes over Festival, Music and Developers

South Kilburn Festival this afternoon (Tweeted by @SKTrust)

Following rapidly on the news that Brent Council had withdrawn the music licence for the South Kilburn Festival  at 5pm on Friday - no explanation yet, came this message from the Canterbury Works campaign:
Dear friend,
We write to you today with some bad news.  We are aware that some of you already know, however for those that do not it is with great disappointment that we have to tell you that the scheduled campaign event on Saturday will not be going ahead.
We had planned to have a stall at the South Kilburn Trust Community Festival, however after discussions with South Kilburn Trust they have decided it is inappropriate for us to be in attendance for the two following reasons:
1.       The event is a family fun day and this is what their park licence request is for and, in their view, our stall does not sit within that remit
2.       The Trust wants to ensure that the residents are presented with the facts, and the pros and cons of the different options and do not feel it is appropriate for us to be there to say our side without, we would presume, Brent Council being there to say their side
Some of you have already been in touch to express your outrage and anger but we must respect the decision of South Kilburn Trust. We had already got the balloons and t-shirts ready for the stall and we will put them to good use!  Watch this space regarding our big community event in September.
Thank you,
Anna
Canterbury Works Campaign Team
One residents' leader commented: 'Titanic battle between property developers and SK Trust, with residents caught in the crossfire'

See HERE for background

Meanwhile the fall-out from the Council's decision to revoke the music licence rumbled on via Twitter during the day:


The live music had been moved to the OK Club and this plaintive plea was tweeted this afternoon:



Perhaps things will become clearer on Monday when the South Kilburn Trust and Brent Council explain what exactly was going on.