Brent Cabinet yesterday made the decision to close the Bridge Park Leisure Centre pending its redevelopment. Although tribute was paid to the young people from the Black community of Harlesden and Stnebridge who started the centre in the 1980s it was clear that the Cabinet wanted to close this chapter. Cllr Butt said that a new centre was needed for 'our changing community'.
The meeting was notable for a very long speech by Cllr Nerva who seized on a comment from a speaker from London Roller Derby about the flooding and heating in Bridge Park to justify demolition and rebuild, forgetting perhaps that Brent Council was the landlord that let this happen.
No start will be made on the site until Historic England has made a decision on a community bid to give Bridge Park heritage status because of its genesis.
A plaque was promised by the Council commemorating the contribution of the late Leonard Johnson to the founding of the centre.
What a load of waffle from the Labour Leader. The Chief Executive could not hide during his meaningless diatribe.
ReplyDeleteWhen exactly will the new Leisure Centre be open? Brent Council is incompetent and incapable of delivering any building project on time and on budget.
I live in Preston Ward - currently represented by Labour Councillors. Labour decided to redevelop the old Preston Library building.
What was the budget for building the new Community Library space and how much of public money was finally spent on it. The Community Library was supposed to reopen at least 18 months ago - the flats above are occupied but the long awaited promised Library is still closed.
How much longer do local residents and taxpayers have to put with such incompetence from the Labour Leader and his Cabinet? I bet that the people of Stonebridge will have to put up with the same kind of delays and be without a Centre for years.
Like most anticipated project timetables published in Cabinet Reports, the one for Bridge Park may prove to be optimistic!
ReplyDeleteThere will be no start on site until Historic England, and potentially the Secretary of State, have made a decision on the application made for giving the Bridge Park centre listed status.
If the (understaffed and overworked) listing team at Historic England consider that the application has little chance of success, they may make a decision to reject it quite quickly.
But if it falls within one of their priority categories (such as that the building is at risk of demolition), they could give it full consideration.
One application which I know is being given full consideration, for listing a group of Ernest Trobridge cottages in Kingsbury, was made by Brent's then Heritage Officer at least two years ago.
I had submitted it letter in support of the application, and was one of the people sent a copy of Historic England's draft submission to the Secretary of State in August 2024.
After a few weeks consultation period on that, the report would be finalised, and sent to the Secretary of State for the formal listing decision. We are still waiting for that decision!