Thursday 18 May 2017

Now a 26 storey block in Ealing Road to match the Wembley 'twin towers' !

Click on image to enlarge
The next Planning Committee will consider an application for a development at Minavil House (opposite the bus garage in Ealing Road) ranging in height from 10 to 26 storeys. In 2009 Brent Council Planning Committee refused an application for a 1-8 storey building on the site as being of an 'unacceptable scale and design'. However in 2012 it approved a 1-11 storey application.  The latest is the same height as the larger of the 'twin towers' on the site of Chesterfield House currently being built at the corner of Park Lane and Wembley High Road despite vociferous opposition from local residents.There is an application in for 28 storey blog at Apex House, Fulton Road, near Wembley Stadium.

This will be far the tallest building in Alperton and will dominate the area but planning officers state:
The proposal is substantial in terms of height, and objections have referred to this. Since submission the building has increased in height, and the assessment has been made based on the revised drawings. It is 26 storeys in total and it needs to be acknowledged that the Alperton Masterplan identifies some buildings of up to 17 storeys being appropriate. This clearly exceeds that, and would be taller than anything else nearby. Despite concerns suggesting that this would set a precedent for tall buildings, there are already tall buildings nearby: the context includes 243 Ealing Road (up to 14 storeys), Peppermints Heights (18 storeys) and Atlip Road (13 storeys). Minavil House is nearer to the station than the others, and the inevitably slightly better access to public transport does imply that this is where the greatest density should occur, which is a function of height. It is not within a town centre, but is near to a district centre.
 As is now 'normal' the amount of affordable housing is significantly less than Brent Council's and the Mayor's policy requires but after a viability study planning officers say:

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 London Plan Policy 3.12 requires boroughs seek the maximum reasonable amount of affordable housing 
when negotiating on private and mixed use developments, having regard to a number of factors, including development viability. Policy CP2 of Brent’s Core Strategy sets a strategic target that 50% of 
new homes delivered in the borough should be affordable. Brent’s DMP15 reinforces the 50% target set by policy CP2 and the need to seek the maximum reasonable amount of affordable housing. It also notes that 70% of new affordable housing provision should be social/affordable rented housing and 30% should be intermediate housing in order to meet local housing needs in Brent. London Plan Policy 3.11 sets a ratio of 60% social/affordable rented housing and 40% intermediate housing for new affordable housing across London. 

Presuming the proposals are considered acceptable on all other grounds, Officers take the view that the affordable housing proposals on the scheme should be supported. Notwithstanding the failure to comply with local and regional affordable housing tenure policy, the wider context is of delivering a key housing site in the Alperton area which has been allocated for development since 2011. Given the departure from policy and very large number of shared ownership units, it is recommended Genesis Housing Group be a party to the s106 agreement in order to ensure the scheme is deliverable. An appropriate Shared Ownership Nominations Agreement should also require a ring-fenced marketing period for the shared ownership units to local people, and that priority be given for applications from local people after that ring-fenced period expires, in order that the scheme endeavour to best meet local housing needs. 


Affordable rent in this scheme is 60% of market rent

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

If they diverted that watery thing in the picture with the untidy-looking boats on it into a big pipe and then in-filled the hole , they could squeeze in 2 or 3 more towers, couldn't they?
No bloody imagination these developers.

Mike Hine

Unknown said...

In 20 years Wembley will be a City of Urban Conurbations of Towers extending into the Skyline, lots of little boxes of urban living, with kitchens in your lounge/sitting room/living room/studio. Yes this is the reality. Long gone will be the houses we all want to live in. No more 3 bed family homes garden, garage, off street parking.......... Forget it, it is not going to happen. Big Towers high above the skyline, shadowing all local communities and housing existing from 1930s we are under siege from planners and developers, they are and will take from us anything that resembles a town or village. This one is Alperton just venturing out of Wembley Central. We need to band together , save our parks, our trees, and green open space. Vote with your heart, be true to yourself, your family and ideals. Vote Green and Yellow, the colours of Spring.

Anonymous said...

I don't disagree with the development since the existing building has been an underused eyesore for years (and who can say no to having a Lidl store!) but it's the height that annoys me - is it really necessary? The government keeps banging on about affordable housing but hardly any of these new builds ever are affordable.. We're going to end up with ghost towns at this rate.

Martin Francis said...

I agree the site needed developing but the proposed building is far too high and represents the greed of developers rather than what is best fr the local community. Yes, what we need is truly affordable housing ie one third of family income.

Anonymous said...

With all the number of people who will be residing in all these continually increasing towers the public transport systems will get to the state where it cannot cope with all the extra commuters so produced.

Anonymous said...

Not just the Transport system but also Hospitals, Medical Centres,Schools, roads ...on and on it goes. Wembley will be packed like a tin of sardines.

Anonymous said...

A neighbour of mine has a substantial private rental empire locally, he tells me that he's had to reduce rents by 10% this year as there are too many properties on the market. he is worried about the affect on the business with all the new residential developments in the pipeline. he'll be okay as he has zero leverage ; but others might not be so lucky.