Tuesday 2 May 2023

Brent Council revises Newland Court planning application reducing the number of units

 

Revised application

July 2022 application


Some residents received a letter from Brent Council before the weekend directing them to a revised Newland Court application. Unfortunately the documentation had not been uploaded to the Council Planning Portal and only appeared this morning, perhaps after a rminder from Wembley Matters.  The deadline for responses is May 25th.


The number of housing units has been reduced from 7 to 5, fewer trees will be removed and on-site parking increased according to Maddox acting for the applicant,  Brent Council:

 

This planning statement addendum has been prepared to account for minor changes to the scheme, in response to feedback received from officers at Brent Borough Council and other stakeholders during the consultation stage on the original planning application which was submitted in September 2022 (LPA ref: 22/3124).

 

Notably, this included concerns from the highways officer regarding parking overspill, whereby the removal of residential units and additional car parking along Newland Court was recommended. The tree officer also raised concerns regarding the future maintenance of trees.

 

The Applicant has carefully reviewed the proposals in line with these comments, with the total number of residential units reduced alongside several other resultant changes. These are summarised below, with this addendum prepared as an updated to the previously submitted planning statement accounting for all key changes.

 

Units 01 and 07 have been omitted from the proposals. As such, the total number of units has been reduced from seven to five units now comprising 3 x 3-bedroom 5 person units and 2 x 4-bed 7 person units.


The removal of two residential units has allowed for a substantial increase to car parking.


In total, 28 on-street car parking spaces are now re-provided as part of the proposals (in comparison to 12 under the original planning application).


The private amenity areas serving the proposed units have been increased in size (again as a result in the reduction to the total number of residential units). This is explained in further under the proposed development section and within the Design and Access addendum (as prepared by FBM).


The overall site area has reduced to 0.350hectares (as a result of the reduction in total unit number).


The location of the bin stores has been revised to more convenient locations for existing/future residents.


The total number of trees and tree groups proposed for removal to accommodate the proposals has been reduced from 13 to eight trees and tree groups. These are all low-Grade C trees and tree groups. 14 new trees will be planted across the site.


15 existing trees and tree groups will be retained, with additional protection measures proposed for five of these trees and tree groups which will be affected by the proposed works. This is summarised in full within the supporting Arboriculture Impact Assessment Addendum (March 2023) (as prepared by Waterman).


The reduction in the total number of residential units minimises maintenance of trees whilst enhancing the outlook for future residents. This directly responds to previous concerns from Brent Borough Councils Tree officer.


Further landscaping has been incorporated at the entrance of the scheme, enhancing outlook and a sense of arrival for residents and visitors directly in line with comments received form Brent Borough Council planning officers. 1.7 metre footpaths are also provided either side of the proposed one-way street, allowing additional green space to communal green areas of Newland Court.

5 comments:

Marc Etukudo said...

Reducing the residential units from 7 to 5 and further landscaping incorporated to enhance the area might look good on paper but in reality it just isn’t a viable site for so many reasons. The 5 units are going to increase the total residents’ numbers at Newland Court by at least 30+ and to expect none of them to have cars is like placing sweets in front of a child and telling them not to eat them. Increasing the parking from 12 to 28 is still about 12 short of what is currently available at present. They still haven’t factored disabled parking spaces for at least 5 current existing disabled resident drivers.
• The new units are being built under lime trees which omit sticky residue. This is going to have a significant impact on the new residents’ lives.
• To build the new units all the trees will have to be cut and pruned back to the fences of Grendon Gardens residents’ backyard. If Brent Council do not commit to pruning constantly every few months then the new residents will have branches growing out of their ears.
• The overlooking rule is still compromised. It states 10 metres but it is still 8 and 9 metres in places which is very close to a few existing residents.
• ASB is current at present and increasing the residents’ by 30+ with new play areas will increase it even further.
I have only glanced through a few of the 66 new documents loaded so will make a further comments once I have had time because there are other important factors like biodiversity affecting wildlife including 3 species of bats that reside in the trees.
Marc Etukudo

Philip Grant said...

Marc is right.

Brent's Planning Officers should have refused the original application, but have allowed Brent's New Council Homes team and their architect to tinker with it.

Although they have made minor changes, and removed two houses from it (one of which was a small narrow one, more akin to the "beds in sheds" at the bottom of some gardens which the Council takes planning enforcement action against), it still has most of the flaws of the original plans.

Everyone who opposed the original application needs to object again. If we don't (or possibly even if we do) Brent's planners may well recommend it for approval, on the grounds that it is not as bad as originally proposed.

David Walton said...

Is New Land become Brent Highways land like South Kilburn 45 ha social housing estate (all estate legibility signs removed 2023) has?

Creates an intensive anti-social dynamic, whereby even a 'regeneration plan' re-newed in 2010 public open space is now 7 months both gates padlocked/ local public excluded for developer land colonial capture?

Anonymous said...

Like Marc said, if it’s not a viable site and Philip states that Brent Planning officers should have refused the first application then why have they allowed another consultation!!!! It’s because the planning officers work for Brent and have been instructed to push all these infills through. I don’t think a single one has been rejected by the planning officers as of yet but of course if this were a private proposal then it probably would have been rejected.

Anonymous said...

This is another attempt at presenting Newland Court and Grendon Gardens with the sam menu but dressed out differently....how ridiculous .

They just removed the two 2 bed houses from their plans and plonked another bit of landscape and think we will appreciate it .

I have to agree with Marc too . It makes no sense at all to even consider this site as a viable site to build these 4 and 3 bed housed at all. An extra 30 people added to Newland Court will be too much . The council are saying they will moy be allowed to have cars.... I would like to know who will be monitoring this on a daily basis . It is not at all acceptable for our allocated parking to be almost demolished and make it a public road...most people will be using it as a short cut to avoid Forty Avenue Traffic and so we will be bombarded with extra noise from cars and extra noise from new residents ...After afew years of no. Stop building noise .... this will drive us all crazy and its unacceptable.

I cannot cope with any more noise than the continuous noise from living off a main road already.

The so called new play area and landscaping does not make any logical sense at all or practical . They want to demolish our scenery and put a more uniform looking scenery.... why do they want yo consider getting rid of what we have now when there is nothing wrong with our trees or play area ...we do not want a play area. We need the
green space.

We need to be able yo allocated parti g for every single household on Newland Court...without discrimination. This is a private residential road as part of Newland Court and cannot be turned into a public road .

I think this plan is as bad as this previous one and I know there will be many objections to it