The current open space that will shrink if the proposed hotel is built
The view along Olympic way with the hotel in place
In February this year Wembley Park councillor Iman Ahmadi Moghaddam came out strongly against plans to build on the Samovar Space and Market Square between Brent Civic Centre and Olympic Way, close to the Wembley Stadium steps.
He and his co-councillor Cllr Najib Warsame have today reiterated their opposition and have called on residents to support them in fighting the loss of a space that has become the heart of the area; providing a breathing and relaxation place amongst the towers for football fans, concert goers, shoppers, the young and the elderly alike.
They said:
Wembley Park has changed quickly in recent years, but too often development has happened without properly listening to the people who live here or taking into account their infrastructure needs. Our public spaces are being sold off to the highest bidder!
We are still in fervent opposition to the proposed hotel on Market Square and Samovar Space and we will fight it every step of the way. This is one of the few open, shared spaces in the area — used by families, markets and the wider community — yet many residents only found out about the plans when it was far too late to contest it. There is already an issue with a lack of community in Wembley Park which is developing into a concrete jungle with high rise prisons and we believe this hotel only adds to these issues and does not address them.
We will soon be planning our next steps and we would love anyone interested in showing support to contact us!
Join our campaign!
Cllr.Iman.Ahmadi-Moghaddam@brent.gov.uk
The original public petition opposing the hotel development currently stands at 612 signatories.
11 comments:
We love these public spaces, every resident opposes the construction of this hotel. It’s awful!
@martin francis - could you ask the Councillors if they have met with Quintain and if they have what was discussed? I first heard about this about a year ago so to say residents only heard about it far too late seems a strange comment. have their plans changed?
Sadly Brent Council doesn't listen to us residents. All they care about is money and with 32 concerts this year and a tourist tax agreed by the government the hotel will no doubt be approved by Brent Council because they will see it as an opportunity to tax those attending concerts.
What exactly was the ex Green Councillor for Wembley Park doing when collecting his allowances as the Whip of the Labour Group? No doubt happily supporting all the Tower Blocks the Labour Party imposed on the people of Brent in recent years.
The land in question was made available by Quintain as "meanwhile space". It was granted outline planning permission years ago and as the word "meanwhile" suggest it was used for 'temporary' uses until Quintain were ready to develop it.
It seems odd that anyone should claim that they did no know. Anyone who bought a property nearby should have done their 'legal searches' which would have identified nearby land with existing planning permission. If you are going to spend a lot of money buying a flat in the area it is only reasonable to expect that you take some responsibility for doing your research.
As a Labour member until recently Councillor Moghaddam would have known this and would have been telling the Councillors under his charge to follow the Labour line of voting for Tower block planning applications. He was already a Councillor for this area before the last election so he would have know what was going to happen some time ago - so to play innocent now and oppose something that he supported in his old colours is sheer opportunism.
Quintain do not care about the community. They dont properly consult on such changes with the wider community. This is corporate greed at play over community. I really do hope the community properly stand up to this with support from the council!
There will certainly be grounds for objecting to this application, but if you are thinking of objecting to it please remember that it is a "reserved matters" application.
The principle of development on the NW04 site has already been approved. That shouldn't mean that this latest application will be "rubber stamped", but objections to it must be focused on matters which have not been fully approved.
There is some good general guidance on dealing with reserved matters applications on this website:
https://planwatch.co.uk/guides/reserved-matters-planning
Brent Council have already given outline planning permission.
Brent Council have given Wembley Stadium permission to hold more events where people need accomodation.
And there is going to be a local tourist tax on people staying in hotels.
So very much doubt this will be stopped :(
A sensible comment on here at last! Philip - what do you think are the grounds for refusal?
Thank you for your comment, Anonymous (18 June at 07:44).
I will need time to study the application, and the previous consents, carefully but when I have done that I will submit my objections, and will share my thoughts with anyone who is interested.
Thanks Philip - I looked at the change.org petition and there is no mention of the outline permission, the fact this is a reserved matters application and the spaces are temporary uses and not permanent. Surely without all the facts the petition cant be taken as a serious indication of public opinion? I certainly wont be signing it but would like to know if there are legitimate grounds for objection.
Public safety. Did everyone forget the Euro final chaos?
Total tower pack (no final plan for WP) is lucrative/ bad growth maximal extraction, true. But total tower pack is also a potential death trap.
Brent, no idea on outdoor rooms (high quality parks and high quality public squares strongest protected) as it C21 towers over/ over towers. Why should good growth in Brent be political limited to conservation areas of amplified welfare state services and population de-growth?
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