The following submission on the SDP Masterplan for South Kilburn has been made to Brent Council by the users of The Granville Plus Centre and The Carlton Centre who live, work and study in South Kilburn: (please click at the end for the full article which is well worth reading)
Brent Council launched a consultation on its review of
the South Kilburn Masterplan Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) in February
2017 which ends on the 30 March 2017. For this consultation the Council
released a document over 180 pages long over 3 sections. The people from South
Kilburn were given 6 weeks to comment on this document which lays out the plans
for their homes, parks, health, education,small businesses, and community
services in the area for the next 10 -15 years.
Each site is given 2 A4 pages in the document. The
first half of the page gives the details about where the property is with the
second half of the same page incorporating a short paragraph about each of
these three issues: 'Description', 'Justification' and 'Design Principles'. The
second page gives a vague shadow drawing of a huge block or blocks in the place
of the current buildings.
There are repeated justifications for redevelopment;
that the buildings are poorly built, internal design problems, or poor design
and construction. Some of the justifications to tear down buildings are absurd
such as "there is a lack of clarity about what is the front or the back of
the property" (Crone and Zangwill) or the property "is currently in a
prominent gateway position and the current development does not capitalise on
this" (William Dunbar and William Saville Houses). Any idea of
refurbishment is brushed aside as not viable. On the basis of this paltry and
inadequate information people are expected to agree to a massive reconstruction
of their lives. The end result is unclear. Certainly this document gives very
little information about it. Further, much of the detail about the buildings in
the document is inaccurate calling into question the accuracy of the whole
document and its legal status.
We, the people of South Kilburn, reject this document
for 2 reasons. Firstly, the bad process and secondly, loss of trust in what the
Council are doing and why. With regard to the process, the length of the
consultation coupled with the importance makes it unable to be agreed in the time
period. To read the plans and think what they mean in this the time period is
far too short. The vagueness of the document along with the inaccuracies make
it virtually meaningless and allow the Council to do anything in South Kilburn,
making any idea of a consultation farcical. Most important 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.
Secondly, distrust that has built up in area because
the document has so many inaccuracies that it is hard to believe the people
writing it really knew or were interested in South Kilburn. They could not even
spend enough time to make sure they got their facts right. The writing is
filled with platitudes and disingenuous statements that skew the reader to the
decision the Council would like to see. But they do not show the full picture.
We ask that Brent Council
1. Sign up to Community Engagement Principles as defined in the National Standards for Community Engagement (http://www.scdc.org.uk/what/national-standards/) and put these into action in South Kilburn to make some recompense for the years of bad practice2. The justifications for the demolition of each building to be made transparent and public . We do not believe the buildings are not worth fixing and ask to see all the evidence, including costings, for these claims.
The Graville /Carlton Site in Depth
In this initial statement we will be detailing our
reply about the Sec 7 Community and other resources and Sec 12 Phase 4 Carlton
and Granville sites only.
On page 72 Community spaces are said “many are
currently not high quality. “with the public having a low level of awareness
of these facilities." The document then goes on to list the 'new community
spaces' at 7.2 apparently not well known to the South Kilburn public
They are:
St Augustine’s Sports Hall
The Tabot Centre After School Club under the Granville New Homes development;The Xhamia e Shqiptareve Community and Cultural Centre formerly the Old Shamrock Public House;The Vale Community Centre.
Let's look at each of these each in turn:
The Xhamia e Shqiptareve Community and Cultural Centre
formerly the Old Shamrock Public House; is a mosque with access limited by
faith. It is also very small and not available for many activities (such as a
women's exercise group).
The Tabot Centre is an after school club built in 2003
open only after school for people under 16.
The Vale Community Centre was built in 2000 and is
open to certain residents, those who can pay, is small and difficult to find
out who runs it. opened in 1998(?)
Only St Augustine's Sports Hall finished in about 2012
can be said to in anyway to be 'new'. But it is only accessible to the public
after 6pm and only for sports activities
The development of Moberley sports centre (almost a 1
mile) away is also mentioned as a community space for South Kilburn. It cannot
be said to be relevant to the people of south Kilburn. It is not a local
resource. Further by ignoring the serious trouble between the young
people on South Kilburn estate and those in the Mozart and other Westminster
estates (near the Moberley) in the document, shows how out of touch with the reality
of life in South Kilburn the council is.
We are highlighting the misinformation in this
document to show how trust is lost when these sorts of 'facts' are published.
To someone who knows South Kilburn , who lives and works there, it is hard to
recognise the place described. To say that people do not know about the
facilities in their area and then to list a mosque as one of those facilities
is to misconstrue reality. It is vital when such huge decisions are being made
on the basis of claims that they are truthful, accurate and clear. Not vague
and ambiguous leading the reader to a conclusion consistent with the Council's
plans.
With regard to the Granville/Carlton site specifically
the SDP says in 7.15 “.Much of the premises are however vacant after Council
services have contracted or relocated” Again at Sec 12 p.132 the buildings are
"currently under-utilised". This is the main justification for
drastically changing these buildings. Noise problems are the current
justification for not allowing people to use The Granville Plus Centre even
though numerous ways of working this out have been advanced with no movement
from the Council. Again this justification is false as the Council refuses to
allow the buildings to be used fully. This in turn perpetuates the culture of
distrust. It seems the Council do not want to solve this problem because it
suits their interests to have an excuse to change the buildings from their
present uses.
Under Pple CF1 item 3 says Regeneration of the Carlton
and Granville Centres into an Enterprise Hub, Education/ Community Space and
Housing; and again at Sec 12 p 132. It says "Non-residential floorspace
unquantified as yet and 40 dwellings" on the Granville/Carlton sites The
word housing occurs. Where has this come from? When has housing been mentioned
as being part of the plan for community facilities or on the site of community
facilities?
The diagram for Carlton and Granville shows no new
information or more accurately it seems to show the buildings that are there
now. Does this mean the Council intends to keep and refurbish these buildings?
If so why is this not stated as a possibility in the written paragraph?
In this statement we have examined in detail only 6
pages in a document that is over 180 pages long. How can the community whose
lives are centred in and around these buildings be expected to digest such an
expansive document, reveal its shortcomings, understand and attend to the
implications for the future of these plans for themselves and their children?
The process that is called 'consultation' is no more than a tick box exercise
of the worst sort. This comes after an explicit commitment by the scrutiny
committee to do things differently. This current exercise seems costly and
pointless. We do not agree to this document on this issue alone. How can you be
assure that silence is a educated agreement?
Lack of information about the Council's plans,
misinformation in the consultation document and lack of trust about the
Council's motives for the SDP Masterplan review all lead to a rejection of it.
This is the impetus for the people of South Kilburn to form our own plan for
the area. A plan that starts with those who live, work and study in the area to
promote the sustainability of the local community. We are writing that document
now-Towards a People's Plan for South Kilburn.
You can find Granville Community Kitchen at
The Granville Plus Centre, Carlton Vale, NW6 5HQ
or follow us at
@GranComKitchen
Like us on Facbook
2 comments:
when I visited my niece last December 25th
who lives in the Carlton vale area in one of those tower blocks which were built in the early 1960s,
I was shocked,and very sad to see that she is literally living in a one room flat.
that room serves as a bedroom and living room for her and her little pet dog (which barely has room to move let alone sleep.
The kitchen is so small and cramped, there is barely enough room for one person to cook in.
the bathroom is exactly the same and apart from the all in one room,
it is evident that the flat has not been decorated in a long time.
Now don't get me wrong, I am well aware of Brent council's record with housing...(I survived 13 years of life on the former council owned Chalk hill estate!)and I am now living on smaller version of that horrible estate
which was laughingly hailed as a 'regeneration'
but after almost 17 years, I can say with a degree of confidence based on real time experience,that my definition of regeneration differs greatly from Brent council and Taylor wimpey (who was commissioned by the council to build this soul destroying estate)
Brent council does not seem to want to acknowledge that a true regeneration requires more than knocking old bricks downs and replacing them with new ones.
it is also about making sure that the house or flat is adequately filled with sound insulation material so that people can live in a block without getting on each other's nerves when they unintentionally disturb their neighbors while moving around in their flat.
And of course the council prior to demolition of chalk hill assured the long suffering tenants that they were 'listening' to their complaints and suggestions on how the new estate should be planned and built.
But as per normal, the hopes I had were dashed when I moved in only to find that the new estate though smaller in size, simply isn't good enough.
There is no sound insulation at all in this flat and so once again I find myself feeling frustrated and tormented because of my neighbors who to an extent irritate me 'unintentionally' the fault lays with the people who designed this estate and the council who approved it despite knowing that one of the things they should have done was to make sure that the entire estate is adequately sound proofed in order to reduce the chances of the former tenants of Chalk hill estate
going from one haven of torment into another.
This is what happens when Councillors 'consult' with residents merely as a tick box exercise rather than using complaints and suggestions from tenants and residents as a sort of template or blue print in order to ensure that they don't repeat mistakes.
I feel so sorry for the residents of Carlton vale
because given Brent council's track record with housing,
there is little chance that those people currently living in 20th century one room flats will ever get to live in a modern flat which is well built and worthy of paying rent to live in without being driven to despair by noisy neighbors.
Dear Martin,
I am a resident of William Dunbar House (supposedly part of the Brent regeneration scheme). I found your twitter and blog online and wanted to reach out to you as you seem very active in a number of matters regarding the local community. We are in the process of setting up a residents' association for William Dunbar and William Saville Houses and are looking to join forces with the rest of the community. We are against redevelopment of these blocks and feel that residents have been given misleading and incorrect information. We would very much like to meet with you to discuss the basis for our objection, and also hear about the other campaigns being held in Brent with which we could align.
Thank you very much for your kind attention. I look forward to hear from you soon.
Best regards,
YanKi
Post a Comment