Tower panorama
Plans have been submitted for the section of the Neasden Stations Growth Area known as Neasden Goods Yard.
The design is by architects Allies and Morrison that were involved with projects for Kings Cross, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the BBC Media Village. The developer is Hollybrook who were responsible for a develpment in Park Royal for Network Homes. LINK
The proposal is for tower blocks of 30, 40, 42, 43 and 51 storeys and lower blocks of 5 and 16 storeys. 11,600 square metres of industrial space is planned along with changes to Neasden station to provide a link to the possible West London Orbital Rail station.
The development site
The development would provide 1,151 homes amd 640 student rooms along with a central garden, pocket park and children's playgrounds. Accommodation would start at podium level with industrial and commercial space at ground floor level.
A collonade is suggested to link the two stations along the heavily polluted ands pretty lethal Neasden Lane - also the site of the new North Brent secondary school.
There is also a potential bridge to the site which the applicant suggests could be part of a cycle route to Wembley.
Building would commence in early 2026 and completed by the end of 2032.
A recent view of the site
The statement of Community Involvement LINK begins with a meeting with the Brent Senior Leadership team in Febrary 2022 and ends with a meeting/s with the Council Leaders and Brent Planning Committee on September 14th. It is not clear whether this was two separate meetings on the same day or one meeting.
In between there is a list of consultation offers (it is not clear how many were taken up) to ward councillors, local residents' associations, places of worship, schools and businesses as well as public exhibitions and extensive leafleting.
What emerges in terms of responses is quite slight:
To date, the Applicant has received 48 written responses from residents and local businesses. 25 were issued through the online feedback form and 23 hard copy forms with feedback were submitted at the in-person consultation events. In addition, verbal feedback was shared with the development team at the workshop and public consultation events.
But used to demonstrate support for the scheme:
Unfortunately the Neasden Stations Growth Areas Masterplan also received little public attention although its repercussions for the area are highly significant. The changes are not just on this site but also the College of North West London's Dudden Hill site (developer Pinnacle Investments) and a light industrial area between Dudden Hill Lane and Willesden High Road.
The low-rise estate of Severn Avenue and Selbie Avenue forms an island between the towers of the Goods Yard site and the CNWL site that may be developed in the future.
From the Masterplan (Neasden Goods Yard on right and CNWL on left)
There was a discussion on Wembley Matters following the conclusion of public consultation on the MasterPlan that you can read HERE.
The Neasden Goods Yard planning application is now on the Brent Council Planning Portal and comments can be submitted there. LINK
611 local addresses should receive a consultation letter. Addresses HERE.
You can also comment on the GLA Planning 'Have Your Say' site HERE
The format is different to Brent Council's with prompts for what counts as planning considerations:
22 comments:
I wouldnt want to live 50 floors up (2x as high as Grenfell Tower), would you?
What would the fire regulations be for a building 51 stories high?
Two staircases?
Sprinkler system?
Weekly fire drills?
How many more firefighters and vehicles will we get in Brent to cope with all these new tower blocks???
Probably 0.
How can people comment/object?
Brent planners and committee are insane, so it is bound to go through, unless in these schemes were in the ward of the planning chair and deputy leader.
I assume you will be able to comment once the application is on the Brent Council Planning Portal. As the designation for tall building development on the site is already in the adopted MasterPlan the principle is already approved.
What is the limit on the size of a tall building though? 51 storeys would be more than twice the height of the taller tower block on the corner of Wembley High Road and Park Lane!
Who would want to live there? Dare say the lifts won't be as quick or reliable as the ones in the huge major office tower blocks in Central London. If the lifts stopped working you'd be trapped in your flat.
And why do we need another 640 student accomodation units in Brent when we don't have any universities or major colleges here? These student units don't contribute any council tax towards any of local services which are already overstretched. Our council is struggling financially - we need housing that helps with reducing the local housing waiting lists or which generates extra local council tax funding.
Here is the planning application; these things will get rubber stamped unless there are many objections.
There might be grounds due to the excessive height of these proposes towers to refer this to the Planning Inspectorate / Secretary of State -as was done with the Wembley Station Towers.. https://pa.brent.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=DCAPR_166779&activeTab=summary
These are the "Slums" of the future, these are not being built to be sold as they know no one will buy them. These are being built for the poor, desperate, and immigrants, working in low paid jobs in factories and the service industry whatever jobs AI cannot support, catering to the rich. Rabbit hutches in the sky, with little or no outdoor space, and nowhere to park a car. Not that anyone being forced to live in these places will own a car, we will look back and thank Sadiq Khan for ensuring only rich people will be able to own and drive cars and not only in London. What once was the stuff of science fiction, in the next 15 years will be a reality.
People do not want to live in houses like these unless they have no choice. If the living space was larger there would be an argument for this - but not only are there no amenities (youth clubs, swimming pool & gym, cafe, etc) in most of these developments there is also no space for outdoors relaxation. May as well start stacking rabbit hutches for the masses as these are not much better.
In 5 to 10 years time these will look like slums. Check out the cladding on these - even after a year they start to look weatherbeaten.
Totally agree with the comment that mentions students, housing waiting lists and council tax.
The £2k fee to buy Planning Committee support in advance of submitting an application is a sick joke!!!
There ought to be as many objections made as possible to Brent Council and the Greater London Authority as well as an active petition campaign against this housing development on various social, environmental, public health and fire safety grounds.
https://planapps.london.gov.uk/planningapps/23-3462
Brent is corrupt in green lighting these tall towers in exchange for 'social housing'. It's just a slight of hand. Please can everyone comment and ask for extension fire strategy and London Fire brigade approval and implementation of fire sprinklers and no cladding
If we knew they were going to people on the waiting list for years then it might be worth it. But if it's just going to developers the the locals won't back it.
And 52 floors? Absolutely madness.
I have now objected to this planning application on both the Brent Council and Greater London Authority planning sites.
How True: The £2k fee to buy Planning Committee support in advance of submitting an application is a sick joke!!! and is bordering on authorised corruption, but unnecessary as the jokers on the planning committee will vote for it as instructed.
Seeing as Brent Council have declared a climate Emergency can they advise exactly the carbon footprints of all the new tower blocks built in Brent in recent years and those about up be built too?
It says here...
"The construction industry produces something like 40 per cent of the UK’s total emissions — and roughly two-thirds of all the waste generated annually. That’s not a surprise when you see that more than 50,000 buildings are demolished each year — many of which could simply have been retrofitted, instead of being torn down.
The key point is that up to half of the lifetime carbon emissions of a building come during construction — meaning many new structures will take decades to pay back their carbon debt by saving more emissions than they created."
https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/environmental-catastrophe-buildings-carbon-london-rohan-silva-b1101013.html
A colleague was in contact with Brent Council planning department recently, they spotted this footnote at the end of a Brent Council email...
"Due to limited resources and significant ongoing staff shortages we cannot enter into detailed correspondence with residents or engage in negotiation on planning applications. These efficiencies are essential to ensure we can maintain essential services and process cases in a timely manner. We would therefore be grateful for your patience and understanding under current conditions."
So council tax paying residents can't correspond in detail with Brent Council over planning matters yet developers you can pay more get all the advice and guidance!!!
Bent B~ent
"The £2k fee to buy Planning Committee support in advance of submitting an application is a sick joke!!!" How very true
https://glaplanningapps.commonplace.is/planningapps/23-3462
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