Tuesday 27 June 2023

More than 400 people have signed petition calling on Brent Council to protect parks and green spaces from development. Please sign and circulate.

 

The petition calling on Brent Council to protect parks and green spaces, launched following public disquiet over the recent Planning Committee decision to approve four 3 storey houses in Barham Park, has reached more than 400 signatures.

As non-party political Philip Grant said in a comment on Wembley Matters:

Although the petition is shown in the name of Paul Lorber, the discussions leading up to it involved people from across political parties.

It was not just Lib Dems who stood up for the importance of the Sudbury Town Neighbourhood Plan in considering the application affecting Barham Park.

As well as Cllr. Lorber, the Labour councillor for Sudbury Ward, Teo Benea, also spoke against the application.

The Labour councillor for Wembley Central ward, and former Chair of Planning Committee, Cllr. Ketan Sheth, had a statement read out at the meeting, in support of tje Neighbourhood Plan and the importance of upholding its Local Green Space policies.

A link to the petition has been circulated by Brent Parks Forum, Brent Green Party and Brent Friends of the Earth. 

Meanwhile it has been established that the Covenant on Barham Park is still in place and Brent Council officers are  looking at the process required if it is to be removed, which should include the price developer George Irvin would have to pay. Readers will remember that Brent Council said previously that no steps had been taken to seek a valuation of the Covenant and thus establish the amount George Irvin would have to pay.

The Covenant protection is managed by the Barham Park Trustees, chaired by Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt,  and with a membership consisting only of members of his Cabinet. There is no independent community representation on the Trustees Committee. The Trustees are charged with protection of Barham Park which was left to the people of Wembley for their enjoyment by Titus Barham.

The Barham family made representations to Brent Council opposing the development as against the spirit of the bequest.

I urge people to sign as with an expanding population, and lessons learnt from the pandemic, we cannot afford to lose any more green space. Stonebridge is still smarting from the loss of the green spaces around Stonebridge Adventure playground and outside Stonebridge Primary School.

Signing on Brent Council website is a bit of a palaver but please persevere as loss of space will affect generations to come who will be hit by cliamte breakdown.

SIGN HERE

We the undersigned petition the council to uphold its long standing Strategic Policy of protecting Brent Parks and Open Spaces at all cost.

We are concerned that Brent Council's Planning Committee has ignored Strategic Core Policy of protecting Parks and Open Spaces and also the Sudbury Town Neighbourhood Plan, which designated Barham Park as a Local Green Space and developed a specific Planning Policy BP1 which stated that any housing building or redevelopment in Barham Park should be refused. That decision has effectively undermined Neighbourhood Planning, ignored the views of local people and put at risk other Parks and Open Spaces across Brent

Fields in Trust Interactive Map of Green Spaces LINK

 Brent area


 

No comments: