The current and proposed buildings for the area between the Bakerloo line and Harrow Road at Stonebridge Park station. Upper photo is Stonebridge Place and the lower the new Argenta House which replaces the two storey building opposite Stonebridge Park station (white roof on the Stonebridge Place image). Wembley Brook joins the River Brent here.
The floods at Tokyngton Avenue on July 4th were not publicised on other media but Wembley Matters reported LINK:
[Developments] will involve concrete aprons close to the brook area and contrasts starkly with the River Brent to the east on the other side of the River Brent where a flood plain has been retained as open space in Monks Park and St Raphaels Estate.
I am afraid Tokyngton residents may not have seen the last of the flooding.
A Brent Council spoksperson said they were not called to the incident but will be seeking to understand the causes. Meanwhile Chris Whyte of the Environment Department said, 'If there are specific and unusual causal factors, then we would be happy to look into these.' Chris.Whyte@brent.gov.uk
EXTRACT FROM DRAFT LOCAL PLAN
Wembley Brook and River Brent are potential sources of flooding and the majority of the site is within Flood Zone 3. Part of the site is within including extensive flood zone 3b (functional floodplain). Development, other than water compatible uses, will not be acceptable within functional floodplain. Any flood modelling from applicants which seeks to justify a revision to the functional floodplain boundary will need to be agreed by the Environment Agency.
Questions are now being asked about the alleged rerouting of the Wembley Brook by the developers of Argenta House and whether this had permission.
On April 23rd 2022 Wembley Matters asked, 'How many people know about the big (very tall) changes ahead for this corner of Tokyngton ward?' LINK
The early proposals for Argenta House were covered on August 14th 2019: 'Let's build a 24* storey housing block on a flood plain close to Brent's most polluted road...' LINK
Let's face it, if Towerblock Tatler or Ego Butt want a development to proceed (for whatever reason) the Planning Officers will write reports to facilitate the gaining of consent regardless of the real sutuation. This can be seen by this flooding that they say won't happen, I'm sure loads of other reasons against were covered up. Another example recently is surely Barham Park.
ReplyDeleteSee page 16 here https://democracy.brent.gov.uk/documents/s87497/18.4847%20Argenta%20House.pdf where it says
ReplyDelete“ Flood Mitigation Design Aspects
28. A critical part of the building’s design is formed in response to the flood risk of the site. The applicants had to fulfil a number of criteria before the Environment Agency could provide their in-principle support for the scheme. The three main aspects this covered was in respect of reducing obstructions to the floodplain, ensuring the future safety of occupants and preventing overshadowing.
29. In respect of reducing obstructions to the floodplain, the applicants note that the existing Argenta House building is raised on a network of columns above the brook, in response to flood risk. The stilts of the existing building are very close to the watercourse which increases the risk of debris getting caught and inhibiting water flow in times of flood. A replacement building could therefore provide betterment by proposing minimal structure into the floodplain and ensuring that any such structure is kept as far away as possible from the brook. A reduced obstruction would also require the ground floor footprint of the building to not exceed that of the existing building.
30. Building over the Wembley Brook watercourse which runs centrally through the site has the potential to block daylight, impact aquatic wildlife and plant-based habitats surrounding the water. In order to address this, the applicants sought to re-route the brook so that it would run close to the northern boundary of the site, this would allow for a larger built ‘footprint’ above the brook and would allow the watercourse to be out of shadow for much of its length. This would have the added benefit of presenting an opportunity to bring the brook out of its concrete channel, to naturalise its setting and greatly improve its local biodiversity. The rerouting proposed by the applicants would result in only 27% of the brook being beneath the building footprint.
31. To further reduce overshadowing, the building’s height is to be raised by 15m (three floors) above the watercourse to allow sunlight and daylight into the brook area and its surroundings. The height increase is to be achieved by providing a small ground floor footprint which would sit at the southern side of the site and would be replicated across floors 1 and 2. This ground floor footprint is equivalent to the site of the existing building’s footprint, thus ensuring that obstructions to the floorplain are not increased. From floor 3 and upwards the building would have a larger footprint which does extend across towards the rerouted brook, having given sufficient clearance below it to both allow sunlight and daylight to the brook but to also account for a climate change adjusted 1 in 100 year flood event, if this were to occur.
Clearly the developer wanted to reroute Wembley Brook!
Good job the train line is so high up there at Stonebridge Park station or we’d face flooded trains too 😟
As we keep saying the planning officers don't live in Brent so why should they care!
ReplyDeleteI asked on a local Facebook about previous flooding in the area and these two comments (from different people) were posted:
ReplyDeleteNever saw flooding to Tokyngton Avenue, but do remember flooding under the railway/canal bridges over the old North Circular at Stonebridge (both due to severe rain together with undoubted blocked gulley and a serious leak to the canal wall.
1977 just after we heard Elvis was dead it started raining and it rained all night and the Brent overflowed and Wembley was turned into an island Tokyngton Ave and Monks Park got the worst of it at that end of Wembley but all along the Brent houses were flooded
Just wondering where Cllr Krupa Sheth stands on all of this? Isn't she Lead for The Environment at Brent Council or is that just a fancy job title which allows her to turn up for all the photo shoots?
ReplyDelete