2 and 4 Cranhurst Road, Willesden Green before refurbishment
After
Willesden Green resident Simon Campbell has written to his councillors about the paving over of the front gardens of two Brent Council properties in Cranhurst Road, Willesden Green:
I am contacting you all regarding No’s 2 &4 Cranhurst Road NW24LN and their current refurbishment.
I have checked with Brent Council who confirmed that these properties are owned/managed by Brent Council and so will be responsible for overseeing the works being done to the properties.
The issue I have identified is the builders have completely removed any vegetation/garden with water permeable materials and instead installed a large expanse of non-permeable paving. (see attached)
Victorian housing stock such as these, were designed with water permeable front gardens to allow the clay subsoil adequate access to moisture so issues do not arise from subsidence and provide a green amenity.
As can be seen, previously there was planting, some biodiversity and drainage as there should be, and contrast this with the barren sterile environment that has replaced it. Brent Council like every other Local Authority does not allow such interventions for obvious reasons, so I cannot explain why this approach has been taken?
I would hope and expect that Brent Council would lead by example as regards best practice.
Brent needs as much greenery as possible; it also needs to decrease the amount of surface runoff going into the sewer system – this intervention fails on both counts.Making the properties more susceptible to future subsidence issues is not an advisable strategy.
Can you please investigate and find who is responsible for overseeing these works and let me know when this aspect can be remediated?
I raised this matter on the 'chat' at last night's Brent Environmental Network event: Creating greener communities: Why nature and biodiversity is vital and pointed out that there is not even the excuse that this will be used as car parking - it is a walled frontage.
I was involved in the refurbishment of many similar properties in Willesden Green in the mid-1970s, while working for Brent People's Housing Association.
ReplyDeleteApart from small brick-built dustbin stores (just one metal dustbin per home in those days) beside the front path, which were a building requirement then, the front gardens were left as gardens, which the "social housing" tenants were required to look after.
Hedges provide vital wildlife habitat and soak up pollution - why on earth would Brent Council authorise the removal of hedges here plus other plants?
ReplyDeleteWhat climate emergency? Brent Council demolished Preston Library and put it in landfill.
ReplyDeleteWhat a double-standard, preventing others vom doing this and granting it to oneself.
ReplyDeleteThis is in top of the obvious eeasins why it isn't a good idea.
Apart from that car parking can be done with two tracks paved and green in between or completely permeable paving.
Butt and his cronies just haven't got a clue
ReplyDeleteHow unbelievably naive of Brent as always, as they are on so many matters including: Environmental Issues, Wildlife, Flooding, Planning and Regeneration.
ReplyDeleteI think their current naivety is telling us they are improving air quality in Brent while allowing the demolition of so many buildings with employing any dust protection methods. This is in stark contrast to other London Boroughs. If you want evidence, just look around Alperton, it looks like it has been snowing, you can't even see the Saharan dust as it is covered so quickly.
I don't think Brent always lie, they are just so NAIVE, it is time for a change in the Civic Centre.
You are right Anonymous!!! Vote for change in May.
ReplyDeleteLabour has just pushed through their Local Plan. They cannot meet their targets for all the new builds that their friendly Labour Mayor of London is demanding without a lot of infill developments. This means that there will be a lot of building on back gardens and grassed areas which the Labour Leadership are happy to sacrifice just to meet their targets. All that concern about 'Climate Emergency' is of course just posturing as when it comes to the crunch ever higher tower blocks take priority over everything else. The University College London study highlighted the fact that in terms of carbon footprints any buildings above the 6th floor are twice as energy inefficient as those below. Alperton/Brent now has a number of 29 storey monsters - but that is no longer high enough as the land around Wembley point near the North Circular Road is now being considered for a 32 storey tower. As always any considerations on the impact on our local environment are a dispensable inconvenience.
ReplyDeleteGood post- 'Let development decide' where development absolutely loves hard dead urban environments.
ReplyDeleteA terrible example of a council seeking no environmental maintenance costs*, the destruction of the Central London public owned flood defences parkland public open spaces of South Kilburn Growth Area is the same issue on a 48 hectare scale. Pave it all over, tower it and raise future building and contents insurance premiums for families- development as knowingly growing London flood risk.
An environmental tax on Brent paved over front gardens and public parks to counter this anti-resilience politics?
Brent is truly clueless* regarding quality investing in and maintaining Brent Kilburn's only park sized park, South Kilburn Public Open Space (open 24/7) because it wants to concrete it all over. How to stop this given it is the new Brent Local Plan 2022-41?
Brent Council has launched Brent in Bloom 2022 competition, see here https://www.brent.gov.uk/parks-leisure-and-healthy-living/parks-and-open-spaces/brent-in-bloom where it says:
ReplyDelete“Brent in Bloom planting competition has seven categories and when judged, marks are awarded for:
colour
design
quality of plants
cleanliness
sustainability
One of the categories is….
“Front Garden - Planting - Awarded to the most colourful and imaginative design in a front garden, visible from the street”
Clearly no joined up thinking from Brent Council over the front gardens of these properties.
Brent in Bloom 2022 should correctly be named Brent Protection Areas in Bloom 2022.
ReplyDeleteWhereas, in Brent Renewal Areas- Bloom is Very Doubtful. And in Brent 8 Growth Areas- Bloom investment is impossible as its all surplus brownfield land to tower and pave over market red lined.
I don't remember Growth Area Brent resident taxpayers ZONED OUT of Brent life, health and wellbeing getting a vote on this hostile land policy path to poor life outcomes, a new kind of Corporatist Bleak/ Slum dog Billionaire?