I remarked in a recent article that some time ago Brent Council was not sure of all the property it owned. There are two documents on the Council websute that may be of interest. The first is from 2021 and the second, unfortunately like many documents on the website, is undated. In the light of the Property Review and the controversy surrounding lease review, these may be of interest.
Some of the sites listed have already been redeveloped such as the Learie Constantine Centre in Willesden.
This undated list has some figures but they are likely to be well out of date. I will endeavour to get more up to date documents from the Council.
9 comments:
Complex stuff, and add to this that the National Planning Policy Framework for planning policy in England has no definition of what brownfield land is. Labour is redrafting the NPPF, continuity or change?
If you don't live in an expanding hillside Brent fully resilience protected conservation area zone, then your entire public goods of existing social and community support infrastructure as listed is at major risk of being 'land' traded to re-developers.
Add 2024 Brent Brownfield Register which is online to list.
This is why the new Labour Government is under so much media pressure. Media want continuity with public services, heath and parks only strong protected and invested if located in family houses conservation areas. With social exclusion and the bit-by-bit removal of all public services, health and park facilities in car-free tenanted tower flat growth zones.
A redistribution of shared national social wealth and public good ongoing for decades now, its been called austerity, its been called levelling up. Is project inequalities delivering change Labour pledges?
Population reducing conservation area zones know continuity works all ways and all for them. No signals yet either that continuity in zonal planning is about to be changed in all taxpaying families best interests.
So the council owns the pakistan community centre, who get a peppercorn rate and the chair is the mayor of brent tariq dar? Does 117 marley walk exist though?
The Council owns a number of freehold sites where Community Buildings were built 40 or more years ago. The Government Grants were provided to support specific organisations/communities and arranging long leases and peppercorn rents was a form of match funding to secure the original grants. These are historic decisions. The problem is that the current Labour Leadership of Brent Council does not recognise the true value that community groups run by volunteers provide and that by charging exhorbitant 'commercial' rents they will destroy their good work. The fact that some organisations pay £1 while others are told to pay £75,000 (East Lane Theatre Club in Sudbury) just highlights the unfairness and stupidity of Labour's approach.
And remember the YIMB's live in conservation areas where due planning protection they can't even get the tenant tower cranes, no public services, no green spaces facilities that they so crave.
Brownfield is all of South Kilburn's green spaces contribution to London National Park City until that is brownfield land is legally defined in England by the NPPF as not being communities long established parks and public open spaces.
Surely the stupidity is that some groups pay just £1 and then, no doubt, also get very lucrative council grants.
The change in rates for the cafe providing a public service at willesden library which was then forced out by a raise from peppercorn another prime example
The Ministry have confirmed that there is no legal definition of brownfield land in England.
So, beyond Brent conservation areas of full protection in law, its good luck to the rest of Brent taxpayers as to keeping their public services, health and park local facilities given they are brownfield "waste" in terms of growth and anti-welfare state agenda of decision makers. No wonder all those freebies.
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