Thursday 4 July 2024

Brent Council turn down request for public consultation meetings on Wembley Stadium's application to hold up to 54 'Large Events' a year with crowd theshold increased from 51,000 to 60,000. Decision expected in August

 

 

Cllr Anton Georgiou has tabled a question to Brent Council over Wembley Stadium's controversial application to increase the number of events and the crowd threshold at the stadium. The council reject a request to hold public consultation meetings on the proposal and suggest the application will go to Planning Committee in August when many residents will be away.

The question and response:

Question from Councillor Georgiou to Councillor Tatler (Cabinet Member for Regeneration Planning & Growth):

 

Large scale events at Wembley Stadium, especially when held on three successive days, have a major impact on the ability of thousands of Brent residents to go about their everyday activities.

 

In 1999, planning permission was granted allowing the Stadium to hold 37 'Large' events, which has subsequently been increased to 46 'Large' events. Now the stadium wants this increased again to 54.

 

Can the Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Planning & Growth advise:

 

1. Will Brent Council hold consultation meetings to hear first hand the impact the ever increasing number of Large-scale events have on the lives of local people?

 

2. Has Brent Council carried out a detailed impact assessment of how Large Event days affect the lives of local people?

 

3. Will due regard in the planning officers assessment be given to social impacts on lives of local people and not simply financial benefits for the Stadium?

 

4. What direct compensation or benefits can local people expect if the changes proposed were to be approved?

 

Response:

 

The Stadium has applied to vary a condition on their planning consent to allow them to hold up to 8 additional stadium events each year. They are also applying to increase the threshold above which the event cap applies from 51,000 to 60,000 people and to change the distinction between sporting and non-sporting events.

 

Events at the stadium been an important feature of Brent life for over 100 years bringing both benefits and impacts to our residents and businesses. There were no restrictions on the number of events at the previous stadium but an “event cap” was introduced for the new stadium. As you are aware, this started at 37 events and is now at 46 events following previous applications to increase the cap.

 

The Stadium have submitted supporting information with their application which examines the implications and potential impacts of the proposal, and this is available on our website.

 

We are currently consulting on this application, with letters sent to over 50,000 properties in the Wembley Event Day Zone and site notices put up around the stadium. Over 100 comments have already been received and these will all be considered.

 

We are not intending to hold a public meeting prior to the Planning Committee meeting for the application and it’s important that comments on the planning application are provided in writing.

 

Impacts to local residents and businesses are being carefully considered. We do not consider profits for individual organisations such as the stadium, but we do take the wider benefits that a proposal may bring to the local economy into account.

 

We secure measures and obligations that are required to mitigate impacts of a proposal but are not able to secure compensation for local businesses or residents. We must also look at the difference between what can happen now and what could happen if the application is approved.

 

We encourage residents and local businesses to let us know what they think about the Stadium’s proposal. We are still out to consultation, and it is likely that the application will be considered by the Planning Committee in August

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Surprised Cllr Tatler is even allowed to comment on this as she's currently standing for election as an MP in Chingford and has been spending weeks canvassing over there???

Population of Wembley has grown so much because of her tower block policy - we are all crammed into a much more built up area with no improvements to local roads or transport with buses diverted or stopped from running on event days.

Last night before the ACDC concert it was so busy trying to get out of Wembley Central station - very dangerous, hate to think what it was like at Wembley Park station!

Anonymous said...

Cllr. Tatler's reply would be written for her by a Council Officer.

Did she even have time to read and approve it before it was issued in her name?

Will she even turn up at the Council meeting to answer any supplementary question if she wins the Chingford seat?

Anonymous said...

Cllr Tatler points out that "There were no restrictions on the number of events at the previous stadium" but this is not relevant.

The old stadium was surrounded by low level mainly industrial units with a large coach park and our bus and train services where not severly impacted on event days.

The new stadium is surrounded by huge high density high rise residential developments, student accomodation and retail units, cramming so many people into such a small area that is clearly obvious that the huge number of major events will have a much bigger impact than anything seen at the old stadium.

Certainly with the old stadium we never had Parking restrictions from 8.00am for an event starting at 6.30pm, constant bus diversions and bus route cancellations.

Anonymous said...

cllrtstler needs to get her act together or she will loose her seats and needing an MP

Anonymous said...

Cllr Tatler is past her sell by date and should the electorate want her as their MP all Brent should rejoice and be happy to have got finally rid of her.

Philip Grant said...

I think the question now is whether Cllr. Tatler will turn up to the Council meeting after she lost what would probably have been a Labour gain in the Chingford and Woodford Green election.

She, and her friends at Labour HQ, made a big mistake by deselecting the popular local Labour candidate, and "parachuting in" Shama Tatler at the last minute.

Faiza Shaheen, who would almost certainly have won the seat for Labour, is right to say that she was treated unfairly by Keir Starmers's Party. Whether Cllr. Tatler will accept that truth remains to be seen!

Anonymous said...

They didn't want her!

Anonymous said...

Good on Iain Duncan Smith - he's a good local MP, very popular with residents in Chingford.

Anonymous said...

Who could blame them!!!

Anonymous said...

The infrastructure barely copes with current events. References to the older stadium are irrelevant as Wembley Park is now a hugely residential area with thousands of apartments inside the cordon affected on an event day. Until the infrastructure is improved to free up traffic and trains then it shouldn’t have increased events.