Bush Farm Stables, Kingsbury – find out about plans for their future on 9 July at 6pm

 Guest post by Philip Grant in a personal capacity

 

The existing stables building at Bush Farm, June 2025.

 

Below:  Google Earth view.  

 

The stables building at Bush Farm, by the entrance to Fryent Country Park from the junction of Salmon Street and Slough Lane, is in a sorry state. It is owned by Brent Council, but has been neglected by them, with a series of temporary “patch-up” repairs, and it is now unsafe and desperately needs to be replaced. 

 

The Council says that it does not have the money to replace it, so the Bush Farm Collective, which rents the stables and two fields for their horses, obtained some Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy funding to prepare plans for a new stables building, and to explore how this could be paid for. Plans have been prepared, and are about to be submitted to Brent’s Planning Department, and the necessary funding has been agreed by the Government’s Community Ownership Fund, as long as the work begins by the end of 2025.

 

 

Bush Farm Collective are holding an open meeting for residents to come and find out more about the plans, in front of the stables at 6pm on Wednesday 9 July. I would encourage people to take up the invitation, as there have been misunderstandings in the past, and it is important that the local community understand and get behind its planning application.

 

As a result of conflicting advice from different Brent Council departments, a planning application for the temporary siting of two containers in a paddock was submitted in May. It was withdrawn, after Planning Officers told the Collective that this should be part of the application for the new building itself. There were some objections from neighbours to that application, and under the new application those are answered by moving the location of the containers (which are necessary for storing the contents of the barn while the work is carried out) so that they will be inside the construction site, not out in the field.

 

Among the requirements that Brent’s planners are insisting on is that the application documents should include a Heritage Statement, as Fryent Country Park is a heritage asset. That is how I became involved, when I heard about it. I volunteered to prepare the statement, as I live near the Country Park and have written about its history (for Wembley Matters!). I have, on several occasions, criticised Heritage Statements prepared by professional planning consultants, who would charge a four-figure fee for a document based on little evidence or understanding of the asset they are writing about. I believe my document, in support of the application, is an honest assessment worthy of the Heritage Statement description.

 

 

As part of preparing the Heritage Statement, I needed to see the plans for the proposed replacement building. They include two meeting rooms (convertible into one), which can be used independently from the stables, with an accessible outside toilet. These would provide an excellent facility for school nature visits to the Country Park, or for other community groups carrying out activities there, as well as the Collective’s own events. I am looking forward to being able to provide some material for a Country Park “heritage wall” in one of those rooms!

 

Bush Farm Collective set out their hopes for providing a much bigger community offer three years ago, and if they can get their planning consent in time to go ahead with the replacement building, those hopes will become a reality. Please go to the event on 9 July if you can, see what is proposed, and get behind the plans for this improved community facility. Thank you.

 

Philip Grant.