Monday 20 August 2012

Chalkhill Park taking shape


The much delayed and keenly awaited new Chalkhill Park is beginning to take shape at last.  Many local residents had given up on ever seeing it completed with rumours that it was going to be used to build flats flying around the estate.

It is expected to be finished by November but final completion will be subject to planting conditions for trees and shrubs in the Autumn.

Meanwhile consultations are due to take place with local residents on the public art to be installed in the park.


3 comments:

bigbreadeaterellis said...

I have no confidence that this park will be a success because judging by the frequent failures in this borough and the way the council always makes a big song and dance only for the pride to turn to embarrassment once the project is completed and inevitably fails.
I mean look @ the way the old chalkhill estate failed and then it was announced that it would be demolished and redeveloped.
well in my opinion the new estate is a chalk hill part two.
the only difference is that it is smaller but it has the same old flaws that made living on chalk hill estate a never ending nightmare.
for example the lack of adequate sound proofing material in these flats on chalkhill road means that house hold noises can be clearly heard in every part of the flats and for me personally I cannot bear to hear the sound of chairs being dragged across un carpeted floors.
and then you get the sound of children back and forth which is also annoying and irritating.
and if that was not enough the quality of these flats are so poor it defies belief that they could build these places for people to live in?
I have lived on chalk hill road since 2001 and already the ceiling is starting to crack.
the kitchen cupboard doors are starting to fall apart.
the balcony door is broken, the towel rail in the bathroom is broken, also my flat in infested with moths.
it is so infested that I now have to sleep on the sofa in the living room because I cannot relax knowing that my bed is covered with moths as well as the ceiling and my wardrobe.
and do you know what?
The old Chalk hill estate was plagued with cockroaches and that was even worse than the moths in my flat.
and way back in the 1970s when I was a child living with my family in rathbone house in kilburn square, we were regularly disturbed by our neighbors who lived above us and they were heavy drinkers and would play fight which would cause a lot of loud noise and I can still remember the frustration it caused my family.
and my parents used to send me up stairs to ask the people above to please stop making noise and of course they would apologize but once I went back downstairs the noise would start again.
eventually my parents could not bear it anymore and decided to get a transfer simply so that we could hopefully be able to live in peace.
now you may think what does my experience have in connection with a soon to be built children's playground?
well the connection is that all these things are council ideas and in my experience council ideas always fail.
and this is why I do not believe that this playground will be a success.
another reason for my lack of faith is that wembley is full of people who appear not to know what the purpose of pavements and dustbins are for?
because on chalk hill road there is no end of litter dropped by people and Many of them are adults that live nearby and really should know better but they don't care even though they know that pavements are made for walking on not dropping litter and bushes are not made for dumping litter either.
and when you have people like that living around here you can be certain that they will ruin whatever good things are built.
it seems to me that it's not just buildings that need redeveloping but the people Too.

Martin Francis said...

Have you see the film of the 1970s estate (PAGES - side panel)?

I think the park has potential but ongoing maintenance and security will need to be good. The number of park wardens has been drastically cut and they are now only a mobile team. Park maintenance is about to be privatised... Dogs may also be an issue although they will be excluded form the children's play area.

trevor said...

Hi Martin,
I think I have seen the clip you mentioned...it shows how the estate used to be before it was wrecked by the residents.
I wish I had nothing but faith in council projects but sadly I don't and as I mentioned in my previous post it is based on my experience of growing up and living in brent.
that experience hasn't inspired any confidence and the more I see how chalkhill road for example is increasingly being run down (once again by the residents) that just increases my despondency.
yesterday for example I stood on my balcony and watched a empty pizza box being blown about in the street and person after person that walked by and saw it and didn't think to pick it up and dipose of it properly.
ok to be fair I could and should have gone down picked it up and disposed of it in the dustbin but I didn't but that was not because I didn't care.
then there was the empty shopping bag that had been dropped by someone on the street and was left to be blown about by the wind.
it obviously upset's and bothers me that people use the streets and pavements as make shift dustbins which then makes what could and should be a nice clean and tidy estate look neglected and I think it's a shame and I would like to see a change in the near future of the attitudes of the people responsible for dropping litter all around chalkhill road and surrounding areas.
this is our home and we should take much better care of it.
it's not enough to just expect the street sweepers to come along and pick up what people can't be bothered to dispose of properly.