Jaine Lunn writes:
The last remaining tree on Wembley High Road has been butchered. Yes, the one on the corner Coplands and Cecil Avenue. Yes, the one that was originally outside the boarding . Yes, the one that had a Tree Preservation Order.
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26 comments:
The most obvious question in my mind is why was it cut down?
If it posed a threat of some kind to the health and safety of the general public,
who coincidently have no choice from day to day other than to walk along Wembley High Road, on pavements that are in a poor state of disrepair, reflecting unnatural and health damaging habits such as cigarette stubs and the distinctive orange-coloured stains from the habit of chewing paan, why was a (presumably) healthy tree that surely absorbed diesel fumes, given the number of cars that pass through that area from day to day, let alone the Tree Preservation Order attached to it for a purpose that was evidently false,chopped down?
Unfortunately, the planning permission granted by Brent's Planning Committee to Brent Council in February 2021 (application 19/2891) did allow for the removal of this tree.
Even though it was not within the application site, it would have been in the way of the planned new building.
The Arboricultural Impact Assessment, submitted as part of the approved application, did recognise the importance of this tree, in the following paragraph:
'3.11 London plane T10 was attributed Category A status for its high quality and large size. The tree is situated in a position of prominence within the local landscape, on the corner of Cecil Avenue and the Wembley High Road, in an area of high public visibility. Its removal represents a significant impact to visual public amenity which requires a robust mitigation tree planting proposal.'
The "robust mitigation tree planting proposal" was, and is, to plant five new trees on Wembley High Road. However, these will be towards the opposite end of the High Road frontage of the nine-storey block, near the repositioned bus stops and pedestrian entrance to Ark Elvin Academy.
What's the point of having a Tree Preservation Order if you they are just going to disregard it. Typical Bent Council, they are to quick to brown nose the developers.
Heartbroken. Such disregard of its beauty and life - typical of Brent.
This is Brent Council land - they appointed the architects and developers.
Brent could have specified that this magnificent tree was kept and protected especially on this highly polluted main road close to school!!! Any decent architect could have designed a scheme saving this tree.
This is complete decimation of nature and impacts the vital green canopy.
Brent Council have declared a climate emergency but do they actually understand anything about the climate????????????????????
Brent Council have sacrificed this beautiful, landmark plane tree so that as many homes as possible can be built on the former Copland School site.
Someone at the Council obviously thought that more homes was justification for ignoring other Brent environmental policies, and a tree preservation order.
Anonymous (21 February at 12:37) speaks of this as the Council favouring developers, but the "developer" in this case is Brent Council!
However, of the 237 homes that will be built on this Council-owned Cecil Avenue site, 150 will be for private sale by Wates, who the Council appointed in March last year to be their "developer partner". Three more will be sold by Wates, on behalf of Brent Council.
That leaves just 84 out of 237 which will be owned by Brent Council when the development is finished (scheduled for late 2026), of which 56 will be for Council tenants at London Affordable Rent level, with the other 28 planned to be for shared ownership.
You can read the details behind this in my most recent guest post on this Cecil Avenue development, published on "Wembley Matters" last month:
https://wembleymatters.blogspot.com/2024/01/wembley-housing-zone-brents-cecil.html
[My first guest post, of many, recording my efforts to try and get Brent's Cabinet to increase the number of genuinely affordable Council homes on its Cecil Avenue development, was published as long ago as August 2021. And they have not even started to build them yet!]
Is that a bird's nest in the tree? Surely this should not have been disturbed?
You can't possibly think that Bent give a care about Birds and their nests! They don't care about anything to do with nature, have you visited any of the park's lately? They have not maintained any of there so called "Bee Highways" and Meadow Planting.
This is not a tree in a Brent conservation area de-population development.....
I notice the impressive number of replacement street trees planted in Queens Park Conservation Area and its to be extensions east and west- Protecting people and places indeed.
Butt, if you cross the railway lines into South Kilburn, there like with Wembley its a Brent incremental tree-by-tree war to destroying veteran trees, going for that total environmental un-care look. Protecting people and places is also the slogan of the new Building Safety Regulator.
Our Labour council fully recognise the significance of preserving trees and green spaces in our communities. However, when it comes to deciding between housing and trees, we must acknowledge the pressing need for safe and affordable housing for all. The housing crisis is escalating, leaving many families struggling to find adequate shelter. Without prioritising housing, we risk leaving vulnerable individuals and families homeless, living in unsafe conditions or sent far away from their families. While it's distressing to witness trees being removed, we must prioritise.
I agree with the anonymous Brent Labour supporter (23 February at 22:21) that there is a 'pressing need for safe and affordable housing' in the borough.
Can he/she explain, please, why Brent's Labour Council did not immediately start building 250 homes on the Cecil Avenue site when they received full planning consent for these in February 2021, and why they did not borrow the money at then historically low interest rates to build them all as affordable Council homes for local people in housing need?
If they had done so, those homes would be ready, or at least nearing completion, now.
Instead, [and despite me reminding Cabinet members, before they made their formal decision in August 2021, about the Brent Poverty Commission recommendation (which they had accepted in 2020) that the Council needed to concentrate on building homes for Social Rent, which was all that many local people could actually afford] they chose to go down a lengthy "developer partner" route.
As a result, there will only be 56 homes for affordable rent to Council tenants at Cecil Avenue, which will not be ready until late 2026, and 150 homes there will be for private sale, making profit for a developer.
What does that say about Brent Labour's housing priorities?
So there you have it, ‘our Labour Council’ really don’t care about pollution and our green environment! Any Sensible Council would have preserved this vital mature tree and appointed an architect to design a housing scheme around it.
If ‘our Labour Council’ truly believes there is a pressing need for housing in Brent WHY EXACTLY are they allowing so many student accommodation.properties to be built here??????????????????? We don’t even have any major universities or colleges in Brent!!! These student accommodation properties contribute absolutely NOTHING to the council tax pot for vital local services as neither the students NOR the building owners pay any Council tax at all - yet they will all be using all of our local services.
If ‘our Labour Council’ were insisting that proper family homes were built instead would have a stronger community with families invested in the area long term contributing to our services by paying council tax.
Mature trees are VITAL to an area providing protection from pollution on busy roads, they cool the air, they provide shade and they help with mental health issues and they provide vital wildlife habitat - keeping them should be an absolute priority!!!
So there you have it, ‘our Labour Council’ really don’t care about pollution and our green environment! Any Sensible Council would have preserved this vital mature tree and appointed an architect to design a housing scheme around it.
If ‘our Labour Council’ truly believes there is a pressing need for housing in Brent WHY EXACTLY are they allowing so many student accommodation.properties to be built here??????????????????? We don’t even have any major universities or colleges in Brent!!! These student accommodation properties contribute absolutely NOTHING to the council tax pot for vital local services as neither the students NOR the building owners pay any Council tax at all - yet they will all be using all of our local services.
If ‘our Labour Council’ were insisting that proper family homes were built instead would have a stronger community with families invested in the area long term contributing to our services by paying council tax.
Mature trees are VITAL to an area providing protection from pollution on busy roads, they cool the air, they provide shade and they help with mental health issues and they provide vital wildlife habitat - keeping them should be an absolute priority!!!
They’re not building for those that need housing though are they? They’re building either student accommodation or 1 bed flats which “outsiders” buy up. Whether people like it or not this is gentrification through and through.
Re not protecting, re-planting, then maintaining trees in Brent Air Quality Action Areas and prioritising conservation area development zones of interest instead.
Even car free towering (BAQAA) need active traffic circulation space so that these intensive population zoned growths can move about safely and it is of course possible to substitute fly-tipping duty of care neglect with protected and well maintained trees also in these new intensive housing developments.
Socialism gone missing a long time ago in Brent. 'Forward together' no more.
Students are people and deserve places to live. They contribute to our area and many former students are also councillors.
Which establishments are these students studying at? Anyone who’s had even an elementary form of schooling can be said to be a student. Who cares if they’re councillors or not? Some people put local politicians on a pedestal and it’s really not all that! Get a grip man.
How do students contribute to our area?
Every adult in Brent was a former student to some degree - please don't suggest that local councillors are better educated.
We need proper long term housing not short term 'highly profitable for investors' student accomodation!
Comrades, it is utterly disgraceful how the bourgeois elites continue to prioritise the preservation of trees over the plight of the working class! While they weep over a single tree on Wembley High Road, they turn a blind eye to the exploitation and suffering of the proletariat. This is a clear manifestation of their bourgeois agenda, perpetuating the illusion of environmental concern while ignoring the true struggles of the people. Let us rise up and demand justice for the working class, for their voices deserve to be heard far more than the cries of a solitary tree! George Galloway MP has shown an alternative is possible, and for that reason I urge you to consider the workers party of gb over the status quo
So do only the 'borgeois elites' deserve a healthy environment then???
I'm working class and I want beautiful trees like this to be saved!!!
Perhaps you'd like the working class to go back to living and working in the polluted 'dark satanic mill' environments that we fought so much to get rid of.
Contrary to your comments isn't it the Labour Mayor of London who is forcing hardworking people to ditch their perfectly good cars to improve air quality in London???
Once again Labour don't know what they stand for!
Comrade, let me tell you, the actions of the Labour Mayor of London are nothing but a betrayal of the working class! They claim to care about the environment, but what they're really doing is trampling over the rights of hardworking people. Forcing us to ditch our cars? That's just another way to control and oppress us, all while they cozy up to their bourgeois buddies.
And don't even get me started on their so-called solutions to pollution. It's like putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound! They're ignoring the real culprits – the big corporations pumping out toxins like there's no tomorrow.
Labour has lost its way, my friend. They've forgotten who they're supposed to be fighting for. It's time for us, the true champions of the working class, to rise up and demand real change – not these watered-down, bourgeois-friendly policies.
LOL
Our Labour Mayor of London won't even dare publish data on the effectiveness of the expanded ULEZ zone before the May vote - they need time to study the data - yeah right!
BBC News - Doubts raised over Sadiq Khan's clean air claims
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68533703
Beautiful tree is completely gone now - further environmental destruction at the hands of Brent Council 😞
Mayor of London says air pollution in London is causing asthma.
My nephew, sister in law and some other relatives all have asthma - where do they all live? They live in leafy green villages in the countryside, they rarely even go to their local town let alone into the big cities.
You can get asthma anywhere.
I walked home from Wembley Stadium yesterday after the football past the traffic jams in Wembley High Road - today I’ve been coughing like hell and have had to use my inhalers many many times.
Thanks Brent Council for creating this nightmare - Wembley Stadium was supposed to be a public transport destination yet all you have done is encourage more and more cars by building more and more car parks diverting local bus routes when buses should surely take priority - and you have also cut down so many mature trees on our busy roads.
Please think again about what you are doing to our local environment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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