You have until tomorrow to comment on 18 storey student accommodation block on Watkin Road, Wembley Park

The proposed block in centre of image

 From the Design and Access Statement by Claridge Architects for Seven Capital

As densification increases and every previous light industrial site is gobbled up for high rise developments in Wembley Park, existing residents are realising that their quality of life is being affected and have been getting organised.  The campaign for the retention of Samovar/Market Square open space is one part of that struggle and specific proposals another.

The replacement of two one storey workshops on Watkin Road by an 18 storey student block is encountering opposition and residents are being urged to object. The deadline for objections is tomorrow Thursday 12th November.

 

LINK TO OBJECT (Application 25/1759)

Your objection should focus on planning issues. You may wish to mention:

* Height and design: Whether an 18-storey building would be too dominant and overbearing for neighbouring homes and the surrounding area.

* Loss of light and overshadowing: How the development could affect daylight and sunlight reaching nearby homes and public spaces.

* Flood risk: Whether the proposal adequately addresses flooding near Wealdstone Brook, including future climate risks.

* Balance of development: Wembley Park already has several large student blocks. Consider whether this proposal provides the right balance of development and meets the wider community’s needs.

* Remember: Explain how the proposal could affect you, your neighbourhood or the wider community. Personal experiences and local knowledge can be very persuasive.

Has Cllr Kelcher satisfactorily answered a question on affordable housing in Brent?

 Brent Council put out this press release on November 6th 2026. Only 7 of the homes are for social rent, 30 are for discredited shared ownership,  and 86 for market sale at prices Brent residents can't afford.

  

The public are able to ask members of the Brent Cabinet questions at Full Council. The question and written answer are published on the Agenda and the member of the public is allowed a follow-up question at the meeting. Full Council is on November 16th.

  

Question from Stephen Thomas to Councillor Matt Kelcher (Cabinet Member for Regeneration & Planning):

 

Can the Cabinet Member for Regeneration & Planning advise what they are doing to address the shortfall and backlog in affordable housing supply across the borough given the level of units being delivered by private developers across Alperton, including the Beresford Avenue and Grand Union developments and all around Wembley Stadium and increase in use of buy to let and student accommodation and properties then being used as Air B&B. These developments are not felt to offer real benefit to local residents whilst also placing additional strain on local infrastructure and already stretched community services.

 

Response from Cllr Kelcher:

 

This administration is very proud of Brent’s record in delivering new homes for our local communities. Brent was recently named the UK’s number one council housebuilder by Inside Housing magazine, with 557 homes completed last year and a further 1,360 in the pipeline. Our wider approach to housebuilding supports a range of homes to meet different needs:

 

We have delivered 155 homes in 26/27 up to Q1 and we expect to deliver a further 300+ homes this financial year including in areas of need such as Alperton, Church End and Kilburn;
 
From Q1 2026-27 to date (including the number of planning permissions granted with affordable homes and across different the tenure types) – 201 LAR homes [London Affordable Rent], 61 Social Rent Homes and 10 Shared Ownership Homes
 
A range of homes for market sale.

 

A borough as diverse as Brent needs all these types of housing. Social housing is essential for residents on our waiting list, while other affordable tenures help households whose needs are not met by the market. We also need homes for the majority of our residents whose incomes place them above the eligibility thresholds for social or other affordable housing. Market-sale homes therefore also have a role in meeting local need and benefiting Brent residents.

LETTER: Local Support Group raises £80,000+ in the past 11 years for traumatised children and their families in Gaza

      

Dear Editor,

Brent Friends of Palestine (BFoP) was set up as a campaigning group for the rights of Palestinians in 2015 by a small group of like-minded people living in Brent. The group was very keen to support a project that worked with children in Gaza or the West Bank. They heard about the Palestine Trauma Centre (PTC UK) which was based in Nuseirat Refugee Camp south of Gaza City. It was founded by Mohamed Altawil who was born and grew up in Nuseirat and escaped via Egypt to begin studying for a PhD in the UK. With David Harrold, a university colleague, he set up the PTC UK. It has a team of workers in Gaza including family therapists, playworkers, sports trainers and clowns. The team seeks to meet the needs of children and young people traumatised by their experience of living continually under siege. Brent Friends of Palestine fundraises to support in particular the PTC UK Days of Joy project which provides fun and sports activities in a range of locations in Gaza on a very regular basis.

Although the outbreak of the Gaza-Israel war in October 2023 limited activities the PTC UK team has continued its Days of Joy activities but on a much smaller scale. It has also provided hundreds of food parcels to families and even tents, and the team has continued to be paid by money sent from the UK. Since the October 2025 ceasefire, the work of the Days of Joy team has expanded and more children, young people and their families are benefiting from this.

Brent Friends of Palestine, over the past 11 years, has held several fundraising events for the Palestine Trauma Centre UK. These include standup comedy, concerts, campaign meetings, street collections, the sale of original Christmas cards, and they have initiated many regular monthly contributions from supporters. Our last fund- raising event, a Jazz Evening, brought the total raised for the PTC UK by BFoP to over £80,000, an amount that the organisation is very proud of.

Your support for the Palestine Trauma Centre UK and Brent Friends of Palestine is very welcome. BFoP have a public meeting on Thursday November 19th with Richard Kuper speaking from Jews for Justice for Palestinians which could interest you.

For more details email: brentfop@gmail.com 

 

PTC UK website: www. palestinetraumacentre.uk

 

Wembley road closures & bus diversions Thursday 12th November from 3.45pm for England v Croatia match

 From Brent Council:

 

-  England vs Croatia kick off will be at 7.45 pm and road closures will be in place at 3.45 pm on Thursday 12 November.

We expect the area around Wembley Stadium to be very busy before and after this event so please avoid the area if you can, unless you have a ticket for the event.

Event day parking

Event day parking restrictions will be in place from 8am to midnight on main roads and from 10am to midnight on residential roads on Thursday 12 November.

If you have a paper permit, please make sure you clearly display it in your vehicle. If you have an electronic permit, you do not need to display this.

Drink-free zone

We want to create a safe and enjoyable experience for all visitors.

To crack down on anti-social behaviour, we will be enforcing a ban on street drinking in the streets around Wembley Stadium before this event, as part of the Public Space Protection Order (PSPO).

If we find anyone drinking on Olympic Way or in the surrounding streets, they will be asked to hand over their alcohol and enforcement action may be considered.

Road closures

As usual, the following roads will be closed to traffic starting four hours before start of the event and for the duration of the event to help keep pedestrians safe:

• South Way (Pink Car Park to Wembley Hill Road)
• Fulton Road (Empire Way to Rutherford Way)
• Engineers Way (Empire Way to Rutherford Way)

Approximately 45 minutes before the end of the event, Empire Way will also close southbound at the Esso Petrol Station on Wembley Park Drive. This will be followed by closures of Wembley Hill Road from the Triangle (Harrow Road) and the Tesco roundabout on Empire Way. These measures are there to create a safe route for spectators returning to Wembley Central Station.

BREAKING. RACE TO SAVE INDOOR RUNNING TRACK: GREENS & LIB DEMS COMBINE TO CALL ON BRENT COUNCIL TO IMMEDIATELY STOP THE REMOVAL OF WILLESDEN SPORTS CENTRE INDOOR TRACK

The track in action

 

 

THE LETTER SENT YESTERDAY TO THE CEO OF BRENT COUNCIL WORK TO REMOVE THE TRACK WAS DUE TO START TODAY,

  

Formal request to stop the removal of indoor track at Willesden Sports Centre

 

Dear Kim Wright, Chief Executive of Brent Council, and Councillor Muhammed Butt Leader of Brent Council

 

We are writing as Leaders of the Green and Liberal Democrat Groups on the Council to express our serious concerns regarding both the decision and the lack of consultation regarding the removal of the indoor athletics track at Willesden Sports Centre.

 

You are already aware of our groups’ perspectives on this from previous correspondence. However, this is our formal request to the council to pause on  the work due to begin tomorrow to enable a meaningful period of consultation to take place.

 

It is our understanding that the Council’s position is that the Cabinet decision on 22^nd June was a ‘final decision’ to remove the indoor track. However, the Cabinet paper does not make any reference to this. We also understand that this was not communicated to other parties, including Track Academy and Queen’s Park Harriers, until much later.

 

We therefore believe that the ability for Councillors to provide effective scrutiny was undermined. Had the decision to remove the indoor track been made public as part of the Cabinet papers, Councillors may have wished to call in the decision, as per the Council’s call-in protocol.

 

Our concern lies not only with your choice to remove the indoor track itself and the scant and in some cases misleading evidence that has been provided, but in the process you followed to make that decision.

 

This process has demonstrated a complete disregard for the perspectives of Brent residents as well as for Councillor input, scrutiny and the opportunity to represent our communities.

 

The fact that the decision to remove the indoor track was taken before the equality impact assessment is alarming. This calls into question the legitimacy of the decision made by officers and Cabinet.

 

The relationship between the Council and our local communities is vital. Although ceasing the planned renovation at this late stage would no doubt incur a financial cost, we believe that the cost of continuing when so many residents and users of the track feel that the Council has not listened to their concerns would incur an even more significant cost – the trust of residents across our borough.

 

There has already been significant negative press coverage of the Council’s plans for the Sports Centre and the campaign against the removal of the indoor track is growing amongst residents and has support from leading figures in athletics, include the CEO  of Athletics England. We believe that without an urgent rethink on the removal of the indoor track, you risk doing further serious reputational damage to Brent Council.

 

We strongly urge you to use your positions to cease the intended work and to rapidly embark on a consultation process that properly engages with the community around the Track Academy, Queen’s Park Harriers and other regular users of the track, with appropriate opportunities for scrutiny from elected members of the Council.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Cllr Mary Mitchell Cllr Anton Georgiou

Leader of the Green Group, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group

 

SAVE OUR MUCH USED & APPRECIATED PUBLIC SPACE IN FRONT OF WEMBLEY STADIUM. Object by November 19th & help build community amid the high rises

 

Note from the Editor. Below is the view provided by the developer for what the proposed hotel would look like from Wembley Park Boulevard. Captions added.

 

Brent Green Party Launches Community Fightback Against Fresh 24-Hour Kilburn “Bingo Hall” Bid and Invasive Facial Recognition Plans

 The large premises of the former Santander Bank on Kilburn High Road (Instant Streetview)

 

The Brent Green Party has launched an urgent community fightback against a fresh application by Golden Slots (Southern) Limited to open a new “Bingo” and 24-hour slot machine venue at the former Santander bank branch at 131–135 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7HS.

This latest application comes as local authorities and communities continue to wait for long-overdue statutory reform to the Gambling Act 2005—specifically the repeal of the notorious Section 153 “aim to permit” mandate, which legally pressures councils to presume approval for gambling applications. At Brent Civic Centre, the Brent Labour Party recently brought forward a Gambling Harms Emergency Motion at Full Council, finally and formally acknowledging the full scale of addiction and harm across the borough.

However, warm words and council motions do not stop predatory operators from targeting local high streets. Brent already suffers from over 80 licensed gambling premises, extracting an estimated £18 million annually from local communities and concentrated overwhelmingly in the borough’s most socio-economically vulnerable areas. Until the legal framework actually changes, Brent residents are forced, time and again, to fight every single expansion, variation, and new application from the ground up. It is in this context that the Brent Green Party is mobilising residents once again to defend Kilburn High Road.

Round Two at 131–135 Kilburn High Road: Coming Back “Guns Blazing”

Earlier this year, Macau Casino Slots applied to transform the exact same former Santander bank branch into a gambling hub. Following a powerful, multi-week grassroots mobilisation campaign led by local residents and Green Party campaigners, hundreds of formal objections flooded in. Confronted with determined, well-organised community pushback right ahead of the council licensing hearing, the applicant formally withdrew the application.

Now, the gambling industry has returned to the same site with a new applicant—Golden Slots (Southern) Limited—coming back guns blazing with a series of calculated approaches in its Local Area Risk Assessment (LARA) designed to convince Brent’s Licensing Sub-Committee that the venue will cause no harm to the community.

Despite applying for a “Bingo Premises Licence” (with bingo offered between 09:00 and midnight), the operator’s paperwork reveals plans to keep its “ancillary gaming-machine area” open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—L, operating purely as an overnight slot machine arcade between midnight and 09:00 when no bingo is even played.

Weaponising Invasive Facial Recognition Technology as “Safeguarding”

Most troublingly, in an effort to mask the severe risks of opening a 24-hour gambling venue in a high-deprivation area already saturated with at least seven other gambling premises and multiple pawnbrokers within 400 metres, Golden Slots is proposing the mandatory installation of invasive facial recognition entry screening alongside a “Verified Player Access” registration scheme.

The Brent Green Party is raising severe concerns over the deployment of biometric surveillance on Kilburn High Road:

• Biometric Mass Surveillance on Our High Street: The Green Party has consistently opposed the rollout of live and biometric facial recognition technology, both by the state and by private corporations, as a disproportionate, privacy-eroding intrusion into civil liberties. Subjecting residents to biometric face scanning and longitudinal tracking by a private gambling company raises profound data protection, consent, and human rights concerns.
• Algorithmic Bias in a Diverse Community: Facial recognition systems are notoriously prone to higher false-match and error rates across ethnic minority groups, women, and younger people. Deploying this technology on Kilburn High Road, one of London’s most multicultural and diverse corridors, risks discriminatory false alerts and unfair targeting.
• A “Tech-Wash” Distraction from Unacceptable Harm: Facial recognition is a surveillance tool, not a public health solution. It cannot prevent a person from gambling beyond their means, nor does it mitigate the cumulative impact of clustering another 24-hour slot arcade next to schools, bus stops, and cash converters.
• Unresolved High Risks & Unproven Legality: Remarkably, the applicant’s own risk assessment admits that its facial recognition system has not yet received the required Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA), lawful-processing approvals, or technical sign-offs. Even more tellingly, the operator explicitly excludes facial recognition from its own risk scoring—and still forecasts 12 separate “High” target risks across child protection, concealed gambling harm, financial hardship, cumulative exposure, overnight fatigue, and local crime and disorder.

Cllr Suzanne Gallagher, Brent Green Party, said:

We are still waiting for Westminster to deliver on its promise to reform the Gambling Act 2005 and scrap the ‘aim to permit’ rules, and while Brent Labour has finally passed an emergency motion recognising the £18 million extracted from our communities every year by over 80 gambling venues, motions alone won’t stop Golden Slots. Until the law changes, residents have to fight every single application on the ground.

Earlier this year, our community came together in their hundreds and forced Macau Casino Slots to back down and withdraw their bid for the old Santander bank. Now, Golden Slots has come back guns blazing at the exact same address, attempting to dress up a 24-hour slot machine operation as a ‘bingo hall’ and dangling invasive facial recognition technology to convince the licensing committee they won’t cause harm.

The Green Party is clear: biometric surveillance is not safeguarding. Scanning people’s faces and harvesting sensitive biometric data on a diverse high street is a deeply troubling invasion of privacy and a smokescreen that does nothing to stop financial exploitation or cumulative gambling harm. Even the operator’s own risk assessment admits that 12 separate ‘High’ risks remain unresolved. We beat this proposal once, and we are calling on every Kilburn resident, business, and community group to submit a fresh objection before 2 December so we can beat it again.

How Residents Can Object (Deadline: Wednesday 2 December 2026)

Because this is a brand-new application by a different operator, previous objections against the withdrawn Macau Casino Slots application do not carry over. Residents must submit a fresh representation before 2 December 2026:

• Email: Send objections to Brent Council’s Licensing Team at business.licence@brent.gov.uk
• Reference: Application for a Bingo Premises Licence – Golden Slots (Southern) Limited, 131–135 Kilburn High Road, London, NW6 7HS
• Requirements: Include your full name and postal address, and link your objection to the statutory licensing objectives under the Gambling Act 2005:
  • Protecting children and other vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling (citing the 12 unresolved “High” risks, 24-hour slot machine operation, local deprivation, proximity to schools and pawnbrokers, and the inadequacy of unproven facial recognition surveillance).
  • Preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder (citing the 3,238 recorded crime and anti-social behaviour incidents in the Kilburn area over the past year and the strain of 24-hour opening on the night-time economy).
  • Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way (challenging the use of a Bingo licence to run a 24-hour gaming machine venue where bingo ceases at midnight). 

LINK

Music, crafts and books (plus a little sunshine) heralds the opening of the Tiny Bookshop at Willesden Green Station

 

 

Things have been tough lately in Willesden Green with stabbings, drug dealing, anti-social behaviour and more, but today the mist cleared, the sun came out and friendly crowds started milling around the entrance to Willesden Green Station. Spotting the crowd the station's regular saxophonist took no time at all to unpack his instrument and soon cool jazz added to the atmosphere.

The occasion was the opening of the meanwhile space, Tiny Bookshop.  mainly managed by 16 to 25 year olds. Outside the shop (only room for about 6 people at a time) there was crochet, tote bag printing and more. The registered charity is looking for donations of books, vinyl records and CDs and anyone with an hour or two to spare to help run it.

The Willesden Bookshop

 

As Jolene Skordis says in the video above, this is the first bookshop in Willesden since the council failed to provide space in the new Willesden Green Library 14 years  ago when the old library that included the Willesden Bookshop was demolished. There was a hard-fought campaign to keep it open and it was good to meet Helen, one of the Willesden Green Bookshop's key staff members at today's opening. The Tiny Bookshop is a fraction of the size of her old workplace but a glimmer of hope. Martin Redston, a leader of the fight for the bookshop is no longer with us, but I am sure would have been proud of the community's support for a new, young venture, today.