I had a peek at Union Park North currently under construction in Wembley Park this morning. It is claimed to take inspiration from Humprey Repton who created the landscape around Barn Hill from around 1793.
At this stage there appears to be too much concrete to my taste and a natural pond/lake would be more in the Barn Hill tradition but of course it is early days. Some tree planting has already taken place and plans include 'a community centre, public art, a dedicated area for pets to enjoy some ‘pet time’ off their lead and a new bandstand for free music and entertainment year-round.'
Quintain claim that there are two aspects to the name 'Union Park' one aspect is bringing together a new community and the other a tribute to Walter Citrine, the first Baron of Wembley and 'one of the leading British and international trade unionists in the 20th century. Baron Citrine was widely credited for providing the Trades Union Congress with the administrative backbone it needed to become the respected lobbying organisation it is today.'
It will be interesting to see what is planned to explain his contribution in the new park.
The south section of Union Park has been open for some time. It is reviewed HERE.
54 comments:
Doesn't look like anything they promised initially on checking the old press releases from Wembley Park.
A park, really?
Looks like they are running out of money, usually the Wembley Park street name signs are on a silver pole and metal plate. This uses the traditional street name sign (but I do like this better). Looks more like an open space than a park. I wonder what will happen on event days, will it be Quintain residents only or will it be open to the public as a public park?
Probably become a meeting point for tin cans and burger wrappers
Can't wait to see some BIkini Clad Lovelies trying to sunbathe on the concrete sun loungers. Suppose you will have to bring your own airbed, sponge mattress. It will be very hit and miss amongst all that shade from the surrounding blocks. Either that or it will provide a comfortable bed on which to catch a few winks and sober up if your a footie fan who has over indulged
Our streets and parks are full of street drinkers everyday littering and urinating but of course as usual footie fans are easy targets to blame!!!
What on earth dies 'Tippatone' refer to and what dreadful kerning (spacing) between the letters on that road sign! Are there no proper sign writers anymore???
Dear Anon 2025 M03 17 23:00, they are an easy target because that's what happens, also there are a lot of them and they are held back by the Police and there are few if any toilets on match days. Sort of makes sense that they are a problem. That is not saying that Brent isn't plagued by street drinkers, mainly because they can't afford pubs or homes large enough to relax in. How anyone affords to live in Brent if they have to pay rent is beyond me.
TIPI was the previous name of Quintain Living the Private Rental Company in Wembley Park. It is possible that a Quintain clever person devised that cryptic name. I have to admit that TIPP AT One Walk is a very odd name for a path! But the the entire Wembley Park thing is slightly surreal and Dystopian. How on earth do the people living in Wembley Park afford these ridiculous/ludicrous rents?
What have I started? I never mentioned them drinking only sleeping it off and I was being sarcastic! Zero Tolerance of Street Drinking in HA9 is a big success for the Council and Police as it is not seen, there is a dramatic reduction in rubbish, cans, bottles etc. The only persistent problem is them urinating in every corner/alley way etc.
Poor excuse for a Park
What is the obsession of Water? It can't be good as it doesn't attract any ducks or swans which would be a nice feature, but even they don't want to live in the concrete jungle that is Wembley NoPark Looool
Can you confirm it will be a Public Park?
Football fans a problem? No, they are not!
They are instead people who have spent a lot of money on tickets and travel to attend world-class events our National Football Stadium - the stadium was opened in 1923 but nothing has been done to really improve the supporters experience of attending events - not enough toilets, fans crammed into small areas due to all the huge developments, local restaurants increasing prices on match days.
Football fans need to be treated with respect!
If Brent street drinkers cannot afford to go to pubs why aren't they drinking at home rather than littering and urinating in our streets and parks???
If their rents are so high how can they afford the drink???
There is no excuse at all for them littering our streets with alcohol cans and bottles 😡
TIPPATONE WALK, stupid name, named by stupid people. Who thought this one up and Brent Council endorsed it. It can't get any worse or can it?
Once again you blame the football fans for urinating when there are not enough toilets provided.
Even on non event days where can you go to the loo in Wembley High Road??? Wembley Central station toilets have been closed "temporarily' for repair for over 2 years!!!
Dear Anon - 2025 M03 18 11:04 Welcome to the contemporary and obviously unremarkable, faceless, nondescript, passionless, insipid Dystopian Borough of Brent. The land of grey biscuit boxes pretending to be homes. As for football supporters, they are the new breed, they obviously have plenty of spare cash, not like the residents of Brent.
Its not really to my taste, but I can think of any other development in Wembley that has provided areas of open space for use by the general public so that's a benefit.
Majority of residents of Brent are wealthy.
You are joking, average wage 23K
According to this the average salary in Brent is £43,600 ...
https://www.plumplot.co.uk/North-West-London-salary-and-unemployment.html
Presume its a reference to Bob Marley who once lived in Neasden.
Tippatone (also known as (Lord) Tippatone Hifi[1]) was an early Jamaican sound system.[2] Tippatone rose to prominence in the late 1960s, as the popularity of the second generation of sound systems (specifically Coxsone Dodd's Downbeat Sound System and Duke Reid's The Trojans) decreased,[1] and they were very popular in the early to mid-1970s.[2] Their selector was Jah Wise, who had started as a "boxboy," carrying equipment for the act, and quickly became their selector.[1]
Tippatone, like all sound systems, engaged in sound clashes; according to Jah Wise, those with King Twilight from Montego Bay were the most difficult.[3] Tippatone is one of the few sound system who has dubplates from Bob Marley.[4]
Above from Wikipedia.
Thank you Martin for the definition.
When was the last Reggae Soundclash at Wembley?
How do you know football fans have plenty of spare cash? Rather than gambling, smoking, drinking and holidays they might instead chose to spend their money on football.
Everyone has the opportunity to work and spend their money as they wish!
Dear Anon 2025 M03 19 09:10
Taken from Brent's 2023-27 Borough Plan Evidence Pack
The overall poverty rate after housing costs (AHC) in Brent was estimated at 33.0%
Child poverty AHC was 39.5% in Brent for 2020-21,
There were 1,671 Brent households in temporary accommodation at the end of June 2022
There are 26,014 households on the Housing register list at the end of June 2022
27.9% of full time employees in Brent for 2021 earn less than the London Living Wage of £11.05 per hour
Demand for the Resident Support Fund is also increasing with 2,277 applications received in Q1 of 2022-23 alone
Brent’s median annual wage for full-time employees is £33,805.
Residents of Brent are generally poor?
How many people are claiming benefits because they are problem gamblers?
How many children are living in poverty because of their parents gambling problems???
"Key findings of a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) conducted by Brent Council revealed that 6.2 per cent of residents in the borough are categorised as ‘problem gamblers’ – more than double the national average of 2.9 per cent. But it’s not just the social and community side that is impacted by the growing number of gambling sites, it is also having a direct economic impact. The JSNA also found that gambling-related harm is costing Brent an estimated £14.3m per year"
https://harrowonline.org/2025/03/09/residents-in-brent-with-gambling-problems-more-than-double-the-national-average/
Ah, the classic kneejerk cynicism about a public space designed for the people… how very predictable. Let’s be clear, Union Park represents progress, community, and investment in green infrastructure, all of which should be celebrated, not nitpicked by armchair urbanists lamenting their imagined pasts.
Of course, the usual crowd will scoff… “too much concrete,” “not enough water,” “where are the swans?”… as if they’d ever set foot in a working-class park that wasn’t landscaped to within an inch of its life for the middle classes to sip their oat lattes in. Wembley is a vibrant, evolving borough, shaped by working people, and this park isn’t just about aesthetics, it’s about function. Green space in urban areas is an essential public good, particularly in a borough with the levels of deprivation Brent faces.
and let’s be honest… delivering spaces like this in a city dominated by private landownership and speculation isn’t easy. That’s why Labour’s public-private partnership with Quintain is so important. Instead of leaving development solely in the hands of corporate interests who would price out local communities, this partnership ensures that Wembley’s regeneration includes public space, social value, and long-term community benefit. This is what a responsible, progressive approach to urban planning looks like… harnessing investment while keeping the interests of ordinary people at the heart of development.
And let’s talk about Walter Citrine… an actual titan of the labour movement, whose name being attached to this space should be a rallying cry for trade unionists and community organisers. This park is a testament to the power of collective action… proof that regeneration doesn’t have to mean displacement, that investment can serve the public good, and that Labour in power delivers for working people.
So instead of fixating on whether football fans will have a place to sober up or if the street signs meet some niche design standards, let’s focus on what matters. This park is public, open, and for everyone. It will provide a space for culture, community, and recreation… a reminder that our cities belong to the people who live in them, not just to those who profit from them.
These are the real questions. Because if you’re worried about the spirit of Wembley and the integrity of public space, then the fight isn’t against regeneration… it’s against those who would strip public assets and new modern spaces from the people.
*****solidarity***** with every worker who built this park, every trade unionist who fought for the rights that made such projects possible, and every resident who will get to enjoy this space as their own. Let’s keep it that way.
There was a Reggae gig at the arena last November! https://www.ovoarena.co.uk/events/detail/legends-of-legends
Its nice for Wembley to get some more publc open space, particularly as the Stadium appear to have fenced off the concourse which had always been open to walk your dog or go for a jog at anytime of the day. Surely the national stadium, much of it paid for by public money, should allow access to its concourse?
To "Anonymous20 March 2025 at 18:31" - What the hell is a 'working class park'??? Surely parks are designed for all people to use, not by their class? This is the 21st Century and we should be above class status.
You also say "This park is public, open, and for everyone. It will provide a space for culture, community, and recreation… a reminder that our cities belong to the people who live in them, not just to those who profit from them."
BUT didn't Titus Barham gift Barham Park to the people of Wembley for recreation, no matter their class? And isn't it our Labour run Brent Council that sold off the two ex park keepers cottages that sit entirely within Barham Park and are now working with a developer to remove the restrictive covenant on those two cottages so that the developer can profit hugely by building on the site within a vital green space???
So part of that historic green space taken away from us by Brent Council so that a developer can profit totally against your claims above!!!
Gosh, Brent Council are really offended at the remarks of the residents of Brent (nothing new there then). They are so offended that they have employed their highly paid Public Relations arm to justify what they are doing to us via this Blog, without having actually asked residents what they think. These Council Staff are highly paid and have no right to challenge what the real residents of Brent think, however, they have to do Butt's bidding unless they want to seek new employment (nothing new there then).
In two parts: Let’s evaluate this post by Brent Council lackies responding to the Leader’s directive:
“Ah, the classic kneejerk cynicism about a public space designed for the people… how very predictable. Let’s be clear, Union Park represents progress, community, and investment in green infrastructure, all of which should be celebrated, not nitpicked by armchair urbanists lamenting their imagined pasts.”
This is Concrete Park is indeed better than another tower block. Anyone would think that the developer was providing a gift to Brent residents, when what is actually happening is that the Developer has to provide amenity space to gain planning consent for their tower blocks, that is why they have provided this open space, not because they are generous.
The first sentence is basically sticking two fingers up to anyone who cares about the environment. The way it goes it is a quite stunning insult by Officers of the Council directed at the residents of Brent.
Part two: Regarding the view of their being too much concrete, this is subjective and people are allowed their own opinion, however, to be honest, no one can deny that the place is a very contrived and concrete area that is unlikely to support biodiversity and may even contribute to flooding of the area at a later stage. But again, the Officer that wrote the response is taking joy at insulting the residents of Brent because they don’t agree with everything that comes out of the Civic Centre at the behest of developer friends.
Reference to working class parks, I bet they can’t even define what they mean by working class just as the current Labour Party Leadership can’t, you know, my dad was a tool maker. Obviously, the Brent officer uses Starbucks far too much, and who drinks oat milk other than those with digestive problems, yes, Brent yuppie Officers it seems.
Wembley Vibrant, you are joking, its full of students, holidaymakers and people passing through. People passing between their tower block and the distant tube station to central London does not make an area vibrant. By the way, what function does this Urban Park provide or enable? Ah, street drinkers (until Quintain Security move you on), Football Fans etc, just passing through again. Essential for Public Good, what the blazes is that supposed to mean. Just imagine if all the residents came out to use the park, lol no chance it’s far too small. Blimey, the officer has actually admitted that Brent high levels of Deprivation, that’s tantamount to admitting that the Council are blatantly Gentrifying and forcing people out of the Borough, that fits with the number of residents turning up at the Civic because they have been evicted as they can’t afford the ridiculous rents in Brent anymore.
I won’t bore you anymore with a response to the above insult post by Brent Officers, both doing the bidding of the Council’s Leadership who are obviously in bed with the developers and pretending to be working class, whatever that now means.
Regarding the second sentence: “Progress, community and investment in in green infrastructure” So we should celebrate the Urban Space as a gift should we, when actually it is a necessary investment that allowed them to build the Tower blocks.
The last few phrases “not nitpicked by armchair urbanists lamenting their imagined pasts” This shows a distinct hatred of current Brent residents whether they are young, old, long-term or short-term residents. How Officers of Brent Council can be so insulting to their residents? It is unbelievable if it weren’t Brent.
“Of course, the usual crowd will scoff… “too much concrete,” “not enough water,” “where are the swans?”… as if they’d ever set foot in a working-class park that wasn’t landscaped to within an inch of its life for the middle classes to sip their oat lattes in. Wembley is a vibrant, evolving borough, shaped by working people, and this park isn’t just about aesthetics, it’s about function. Green space in urban areas is an essential public good, particularly in a borough with the levels of deprivation Brent faces.”
Brent Council gave £17.8 million of our CIL/NCIL money to multibillion pound developer Quintain for their vanity project steps outside the stadium and now we can’t actually access the stadium concourse???
Thought it was public realm and a public right of way??? In the past you were always allowed to walk around the stadium concourse even if you couldn’t afford a ticket to go inside.
Seriously Quintain, Wembley Stadium and Brent Counvil what are you doing???
"Anonymous20 March 2025 at 18:31" also says “This park is a testament to the power of collective action… proof that regeneration doesn’t have to mean displacement, that investment can serve the public good, and that Labour in power delivers for working people.” - how does that square with removing a restrictive convenant to development by a very wealthy developer on land which sits completely within Barham Park? And how does that square with proposing to evict a an artists studio, a veterans group, and a Tamil Community Association and a much used community run library from the historic buildings in Barham Park so that they can be developed for things like shops and an air b&b without offering any consultation at all with us local people???
"Anonymous20 March 2025 at 18:31" says "Because if you’re worried about the spirit of Wembley and the integrity of public space, then the fight isn’t against regeneration… it’s against those who would strip public assets and new modern spaces from the people." YET Labour run Brent Council have stripped public assets by:
- selling off the 2 ex park keepers cottages in Barham Park and removing the restrictive covenant for a developer to make a huge profit - the £200K generated from the removal of the covenant doesn't even cover the cost of all the Planning Officers time dealing with the 10 plus various different planning applications submitted by the developer so far nor all their legal advice;
- allowing a commercial boxing club to develop the sports pavilion right in the middle of King Edward's Park for their new boxing gym, this should be a community space
- and by giving £17.8 million in public NCIL/CIL to multi-billion pound developer Quintain for their vanity project steps outside Wembley Stadium - that money was our public funding and should have been spent on local projects in our communities.
Obviously don't they don't give a s... about the environment. They love gentrification and the eviction of the working class (the poor, who should not be seen, nor heard). The London Borough of Crooked and B~ent
It looks awful, like a cheap hotels with facilities (not).
It's a very low maintenance area obviously, in fact, probably no maintenance at all if they decide to call it a Bee Corridor, and it is left completely unmanaged and becomes waste ground just like the rest of them in Brent.
What a lovely area they are creating, all full of paths and lots of hard landscaping features. I really hope they've installed plastic grass too, then it the entire area will get nice and warm and there won't e any pesky insets or other wildlife to annoy us. Mind you, with all that decking, it will be a haven for rats underneath it. Let's hope Quintain don't stop access to none residents as it isn't actually a public area, it is owned and managed by Quintain.
A Park, what a joke.
It was never intended to be a Proper park, its just a bit of land designated as open amenity space to satisfy planning permission that they have to provide. Ask the tourists where's the Park in Wembley Park and they will tell you, you a hundred years too late.
Some one mentioned this concrete park added to the culture of Brent. What a ridiculous thought, besides, Butt's Brent doesn't have a clue when it comes to culture.
A meanwhile park, hopefully not. Parks should grow, evolve and be future funded to be well maintained in high population growth zones....
Around Westfield H&F has achieved continuous, up-keep, care and maintenance funding for new green spaces around its new asset management tenanted towers. It can be done.
Unfortunately this is Brent
Meanwhile Ealing Council are consulting on an ambitious regional park plan... https://www.ealingtimes.co.uk/news/25023378.ealing-park-run-horsenden-hill-warren-farm/
Brent is a different Local to Hammersmith and Fulham Local and to Ealing Local...
Better policy if the giant 6 boroughs asset mangement tenanted tower hundreds new West City Growth was planned and made 2025 transparent to all Londoners who wil have to live in it.
Why should Brent be any different to other boroughs??? Brent declared a Climate Emergency yet continue with this concrete everywhere policy.
We need more trees and more green open spaces.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council has an economic plan in place for its taxpayers experiencing C21 towering trauma.
While for Brent its just 'tower baby tower' in its Local zones where growing tenants is the economy. For a park to survive London C21 (outside a protected conservation area of family houses), it must be a WOW park with secured future maintenance and green growth plan in place from day one.
Harlesden new towers not direct connecting to Old Oak Common (to be Britain's biggest transport superhub) in South Harlesden is proof of Brent 'other ideas'. H&F and Ealing continue to hog this mega economic opportunity even under a national Labour Governments watch.
UK has no Climate Emergency its just Locals who have declared.
Brent does have some strongest protected in law conservation areas of family houses, forever green and being welfare state more intensively invested in.
Brents future is as a highly segregated borough with the only equality being paying of council tax, regardless of which zone type you live in, be it a green and pleasant protected zone, be it a grey extractive global development bleak zone.
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