ZADIE SMITH, best selling author and long-time Brent resident has come out strongly in support of the the campaign to save South Kilburn's Granville rec from development. She said:
South Kilburn has been a building site for more than a decade. The local residents understand and support the need for social housing, but this needs to be balanced with the desire for green space in an economically deprived area. Green space is not and should not be the luxury of rich people. But in Brent, this is increasingly becoming the case. Less than a mile away, where I live, Queens Park is protected, preserved and prettified year in, year out, while the residents of South Kilburn are told they must make a choice between housing and grass. The people who would benefit most from a community garden have their collective green spaces taken away from them. Meanwhile, those of us who live in houses with gardens of their own are further rewarded with a pristine public space. It's not fair and it's not right
A South Kilburn community campaign spearheaded by Granville Community Kitchen, Kilburn Housing Co-op and Princess Road Residents Association is fighting to stop the re-development and hence destruction of Granville Rec, a long-established scarce inner-city green space.
Managed since 2023 by the Granville Community Kitchen (GCK), the Rec is a living, breathing community garden supporting local food growing and gardening with raised vegetable beds, fruit trees, herbs and flowers for wellbeing, physical activity, outdoor learning for children. The food grows abundantly. It helps fill low-cost organic veg bags for local people and provide free healthy meals once a week. The Rec offers everyday social connection in a neighbourhood where green open space has already been systematically reduced.
Brent Council wants to build 16 four-storey houses on the site as part of a 2,500 homes redevelopment. It says that the loss of the Rec would be mitigated by alternative green space elsewhere. This so-called “Urban Park” would consist of two small planted areas with sapling trees separated by a road and parking. In no way can this make up for destroying mature 100+year trees and a much-loved and biodiverse site.
Leslie Barson on behalf of GCK says:
While we recognise the pressing need for genuinely affordable family housing and the commitment to provide 16 social rent townhouses for existing South Kilburn tenants, this cannot justify erasing a thriving, community-led green space which already delivers significant social, health and ecological benefits. We are confident that, within the next phase of regeneration, the 16 homes can be accommodated on a more appropriate site in South Kilburn, allowing the Granville Rec to be retained and safeguarded for the community.
Campaigners highlight how the repeated heat waves over the summer have shown the urgent need to preserve mature trees and vegetation. Cooling green spaces are life-saving especially for people living in overcrowded badly insulated housing without gardens. They point out that Brent is breaching its own climate emergency policies.
Sara Callaway of Kilburn Housing Co-op says:
As a long-standing social housing co-op we cannot accept Brent Council’s insistence on taking away one of the last remaining green spaces in South Kilburn which they claim will provide 14 social housing units. But we will not be guilt-tripped into accepting that the only place these can be built is by destroying Granville Rec. Low income and people of colour often have the least access to green spaces and would suffer the most from the loss of this delightful community garden.
All are welcome to come along to the Rec on 19 September to see the fantastic veg garden and hear about the history of the Rec. Children’s activities and refreshments provided.
For more info: GCK website
https://granvillecommunitykitchen.org.uk/community/save-the-rec/
7 comments:
Thank you Zadie Smith for naming the glaring inequality between Queen's Park and South Kilburn.
Communities cannot thrive on bricks and mortar alone. The creative process, child development, and human well-being all rely on places where people can breathe, gather, and connect with nature. Community gardens like Granville Rec provide everyday inspiration, cross-generational connection, and breathing room in an urban landscape that has endured constant construction for over a decade.
Presenting this as a binary choice between social housing and vital green space is a failure of planning imagination. If Brent Council paves over the few communal green lungs left in South Kilburn, they are eroding the exact conditions needed for future Zadie Smiths to flourish. Save Granville Rec.
South Kilburn regeneration is in year 25.
".....Less than a mile away, where I live, Queens Park is protected, preserved and prettified year in, year out, while the residents of South Kilburn are told they must make a choice between housing and grass. The people who would benefit most from a community garden have their collective green spaces taken away from them. Meanwhile, those of us who live in houses with gardens of their own are further rewarded with a pristine public space. It's not fair and it's not right."
But it is, in Brent councils RIGHT politics and social zoning policies.
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With this, Zadie would definitely support South Kilburn Public Open Space (Kilburn Park) 2ha 100 veteran trees ( not just grass, but deep ecology and urban cooling too), being green prettified, gaining green space investment and management equality. Kilburn Park, Brent Kilburn's only park size park is not padlocked either!
The brunt to make night fires, branches of damaged veteran trees were removed today from South Kilburn Public Open Space by Veolia. No consequences till the next destroy and burn session, the opposite of park prettification. The removal of the for developer padlocks on Granville Road Public Open Space (G Rec ) to allow public access next?
No one has answered why the Regents Park and Kensington Gardens kitchen gardens are all day public open, while South Kilburn's is padlocked?
Thank you Suzanne for supporting the remaining public owned 2ha park and pocket parks network in new South Kilburn many many car-free housing tenanted tower sky houses with no gardens.
Green investment, what Zadie calls prettification, never happens in SK and most of its pocket parks do not have a maintenance plan, astonishing given that it is one of the UK's most densely populated neighbourhoods.
The market, demands un-care, neglect and abuse to intimidate and to take all the remaining green spaces. Dec 2024 a plan was put to Cabinet to major invest in South Kilburn Public Open Space 2 ha, a 60 year old park. A good issue for Kilburn Green councillors to ask questions about given the this is Brent Kilburn's only remaining park. With 100 veteran trees its an awesome urban cooler. Was to be green expanded when 2/3rds of Granville POS was built on in 2010 as community payback mitigation and safeguarding , nothing from corporatism yet in 16 years and counting.
The South Kilburn regeneration began in 2001, for me that counts as being 25 years. For the market in growth zones, every day is year zero - dementia, denial and hostile indifference reigns, a caste zoning of London being the sole objective- environments of and for poverty-building-by-design zoned. See Arundhati Roy on caste societies.
A simple question - was the site originally designated as land for building as part of the South Kilburn Masterplan and only made available for other temporary uses as 'meanwhile space' before detailed plans were for building were produced?
It is normal for 'temporary' uses to be agreed but this may stop if every time protests arise when expected 'temporary' use end (even if agreed and known all along) that temporary use would end one day.
More facts and history and intention for/of this land would help to clarify the position.
No it was not, it was green space in the community-led masterplan 2004/ SKSPD 2005.. 2/3's of Granville Road Public Open Space was built on -Granville New Homes, while the remaining 1/3rd of Granville POS was green invested in ( including a long fence and two new padlockable gates) as a 'pocket park' for new South Kilburn. That was 2010. Green space lost to Granville New Homes to be replaced later stages in the plan.
Since 2010 its been ConLib coalitions 'brownfield estate' re-designation, still in place as policy. All public owned land in South Kilburn was suddenly re-designated brownfield land including even this re-invested in green space. Its been developer padlocks on and off ever since and the recent re-name, of course.- public open space not being a good title any more.
It's not looking good with local people locked out of this public open space. Padlocking the local people out will save it from developers ?????? Brent cutting the padlocks off, maintaining and caring about it as the public open space that it is may be a better safeguarding approach..
South Kilburn many plans, what's the plan next?
South Kilburn Brownfield Trust passing all of South Kilburn's social infrastructure onto developers bit-by-bit to build towers on.
Queens Park is to be a trust this year, but I very much doubt that they will be passing it bit-by-bit on on to tower lords.
When Leasehold Reform is enacted, its claimed that building new leasehold flats in England with be banned by 2029 (for houses that is already the case). So Brent council would own its social rent flats new Brent towers and those who buy for £400,000 will own their flats too.
The plug is likely to be pulled on predaTORY trusts like the Brent council-led South Kilburn Trust. Why not pull the plug now and take those padlocks off what they call the Grenville Wreak?
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