Wembley Park 1895
Artist's impression of the hoped for Wembley Park from the station
If you are a Wembley Park resident you may have been stopped by a visitor asking for directions to the park. One Wembley resident got so fed up with such requests and what appeared to be the vanishing prospects of a new park in the quintain development that she took to calling it Wembley-No Park.
Now a pair of planning applications (21/2517 Plot NE02) and 21/2424 (Plot NE03) give some clues to the future shape of the park on the former Yellow car park (North East Lands).
The relatively new Chalkhill Park is a testimony to how parks can help transform an area: aesthetically, environmentally and socially. Chalkhill is open to the railway on one side and bordered mainly 2-4 storey homes on the other sides. The 'Northern Park' will be surrounded by tower blocks of various sizes. These applications include for NE02 two block of 10-27 storeys comprising 487 residential uits, and for NE03 two blocks of 10-21 storeys comrising 282 units. There are more blocks in the surrounding developments.
This image gives a view of the proposed park between the blocks:
The proposed park from above Wembley Park station
It is interesting in the above image to see the green space around Danes Court and Empire Court between the Jubilee and Metropolitan line and North End Road - the architects of the time knew their stuff. These residents are now concerned about their loss of light from the nearby towers and one concern will be how much shadow will be cast over the Northern Park by tower blocks.
Some of the artist's impressions make the tower blocks look like a mirage rather than the pretty hefty buildings that they are:
The Park will be divided into 2 sections - separated by Engineers Way and there will be a fairly narrow entrance between blocks on Rutherford Way:
This image gives some context but show the blocks only on one side of the park (well you can catch a glimpse of balconies on the far right).
The entrance to the park from Rutherford Way:
Rutherford Way/Engineers Way where the two parts of the park are separated:
It is clear that a great deal of work has gone into the planning of the park and I embed the relevant document below. It must be a wonderful relief to design a beautiful park with pleasure people's pleasure in mind rather than yet another human rabbit hutch!
Attention has been given to bio-diversity and different habitats as well as play areas for children. Clearly maintenenace of the park is a key issue and lack of clarity h over this has been the downfall of many a similar project elsewhere.
Users would include residents of the surrounding flats as well as visitors although again there has been local concern about what was advertised as accessible public space becoming private. The plans envisage that the park could be used for outdoor concerts, firework displays and New Year celebrations. After the recent Euro2020 disturbances and earlier problems on the green at Wembley Hill Road near Wembley Stadium Station, consideration will need to be given to how the park will be used on event days.
The Neighbourhood Consultation on the building and park plans for these 2 Reserved Matters Applications closes on Thursday 5th August 2021.
To comment got to LINK and search for references 21/2517 and 21/2424
DETAILS OF THE PARK PLANS ARE MAINLY IN THIS DOCUMENT (CLICK BOTTOM RIGHT SQUARE FOR FULL SIZE)
THIS DOCUMENT GIVES FURTHER DETAILS LINK
10 comments:
This is Not a Park as advertised for months to attract people to buy or rent a home in this development . The one advertised would have been larger than King Edward V11 park . This is a small open space totally unfit for the population that will live in the development . A bit like the so called dog park which is the size of someones front room . This will be a slum and an expensive one to live in .
Does the application say how big the whole park both sides of the road is? I couldn't find it in the pages you have uploaded. Yellow car park is pretty big so hopefully this is quite a large space?
I'll try and find out but remember the blocks of flats will take up space.
The total Northern Park will be 12,702 square metres (1.27 hectares) the Southern Park will be about the same.
King Edward VII Park in Wembley is 10.5 hectares. Ironically 'King Eddies' was a replacement for the loss of Wembley Park as an open space (c1914).
Thanks for looking. I see they are providing a community hall as well. I like the Yellow at Wembley Park so hope it's similar to that.
Well the Illustrations, CGI images, and colourful language used to describe what they will achieve certainly impressed me. However, I feel the reality will be very different. It is what they promised 6.2 acres in total. Comparing to King Eddies which is 26 acres, means that it is just about 25% of the size of King Eddies, which still doesn't quite live up to what most people imagine a Park is! This is just a bit of grass with a pond. Let's be honest you will have to be very discriminating where you choose to sit and sunbathe in the summer, as quite a lot will be in shade due to the surrounding high rise buildings (even CGI couldn't disguise that)
For those wanting a better perspective of size "Leicester SQUARE" is 1.2 hectares = 3 acres, and they don't call it Leicester PARK! lol
Who cares? 10 years from now this so called Park will be full of students desperate to escape their little rabbit hutches, drinking alcohol and smoking dope, cans and rubbish scattered everywhere, the water will be tainted and devoid of any wildlife. It will be known as the "Projects of Wembley" and the residents will be campaigning for a Basketball Court and Skate Park.
Looking at the artist's impression of The Meadows, you would think that you were in a real park. But here is the reality.
The Meadows will be the main open area for recreation in the Northern Park, and from my measurement of the plans it is an oval-shaped area which is around sixty metres long and around forty metres wide.
That's not a lot of park for a major urban development, with Quintain's masterplan for the area looking to provide around 4,000 homes (quite apart from the student accommodation blocks and other developments), in an area identified by Brent's planners as having an open space deficiency.
If a group of children wanted to have an informal game of football on The Meadows, they would probably need at least a quarter of the area available - so would ball games be allowed in the Northern Park, and if not, where will the children play?
Although the Northern Park will have Engineers Way along its southern edge (behind a HaHa!), the 21 storey block NE03 at its south-west corner will restrict the amount of evening sunshine it receives. Other proposed blocks on its eastern side will probably restrict its morning sunshine in future.
The application's Wind Microclimate Report's conclusions say:
'Within the meadows, dog run area and the pond, wind conditions are suitable for short-term sitting from spring to autumn and thus for proposed general recreational activities.'
During the "less favourable" times of year, the wind conditions would only usually be suitable for strolling or walking, not for sitting on the seats that would be provided.
And as for 'firework displays', would these be safe when this new "mini-park" will be surrounded by tall buildings (NE02 = 26 storeys next to the park, NE03 = 21 storeys next to the park)?
Firework displays in public parks are illegal.
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