Brent Council Developments Update: Pre-planning consultation for new Bridge Park Centre by end of year. 1 Morland Gardens still under review.

The Bridge Park Unisys Site

 

The development site

From 2013 Indicative Plan Above and Council note below

Appendix 2 Indicative Development Proposals

Note that this scheme is only an illustration showing how 512 residential units could be accommodated on site and any planning application may arrange these units in a different way. Alternatively if this number of units are not secured then the land value will reduce accordingly as set out in the main report. The sports hall is illustrated by the block to the right of the illustration. It is very likely that the residential development next to the sports centre would need to be re-located to allow for parking for the sports centre to be accommodated. TheUnisys buildings are the two curved buildings to the top of the illustrations.

 After the community's fight for Bridge Park ownership, eventually won by Brent Council, and various concerns over the company with overall control of the Unisys part of the site, Great Mediterranean, registered in Luxembourg, I lodged a question with Brent Council for next week's Full Council.

The Unisys site is currently in the hands of Stonebrudge Real Estate Developers Ltd LINK a subsidiary of General Mediterranean Holdings. The valuation of their property reduced its value from £36m on January 1st 2022 to £29.5m on December 31st 2022. There are two  unremunerated directors and no staff.

 

Question from Martin Francis to Councillor Tatler (Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Planning & Growth)

 

In relation to progress on the delivery of various regeneration schemes across the borough, please could the Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Planning and Growth:

 

(1) Provide an update on the plans for the Bridge Park, Technology House, car breakers and Unisys site in Stonebridge noting that the Unisys building has been unused for 26 years. See 2013 Decision: https://democracy.brent.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?AIId=9146

 

(2) In respect of (1) above:

 

(a) Confirm whether Brent Council remains in a relationship with General Mediterranean Holdings as a partner, joint developer or otherwise in this development.

(b) Provide a timeline for the development of a new sports centre, housing and hotel on the site including planning permission and completion.

(3) Also provide an update on the plans and timeline for the development, including housing and adult college, at Altamira, 1 Morland Gardens, Stonebridge, NW10

 

Response:

 

(1)& (2) Bridge Park Update

 

Brent Council and General Mediterranean Holdings (GMH) exchanged the Bridge Park Conditional Land Sale Agreement (CLSA) in June 2017. Therefore, the Council is in a contractual relationship with GMH as its developer partner for the Bridge Park site.

 

Completion of the CLSA is subject to the following 4 conditions:

 

1. Vacant Possession

2. Trust Claim Condition

3. Financial Viability

4. Planning

 

Brent Council completed the Vacant Possession and Trust Claim conditions and is progressing delivery against the two outstanding conditions (Financial Viability and Planning) to enable CLSA completion.

 

A target milestone plan has been outlined below for the New Bridge Park Centre, and this is based on current information so may be subject to change based on progress against each milestone:

 

 Complete RIBA 2 - Concept Design Fix: Autumn 2024

 Complete Pre-Planning Resident Consultation: Winter 2025

 Complete RIBA 3 Spatial Co-ordination Design Fix: Spring 2025

 Submit Planning Application: Summer 2025

 Contractor Procurement: Autumn 2025

 Complete RIBA 4 – Technical Design Fix: Spring 2026

 Complete RIBA 5 – Commence on-site Construction: Summer 2026 –

Summer 2028 (assuming 24-month construction programme)

 

The immediate priority is to progress scheme plans for a pre-planning resident consultation towards the end of 2024, which will include the latest New Bridge Park Centre Bridge (sic) proposals and target dates for planning submission, planning determination and on-site delivery.

 

 1 Morland Gardens (Altamira Italianate Villa)

(3) Morland Gardens Update

 

The Council is reviewing its options and proposals for the Morland Gardens site. Once the Council has completed its review, officers intend on providing an update to the public later this year.

In parallel with this review, the Council is continuing to monitor the condition of the Altamira building so it remains structurally safe.

 

1 Morland Gardens – now a TV drama location!

 Guest post by Philip Grant in a personal capacity

 

Wreaths on the front door – but not for Altamira’s funeral!

 

Back in March I asked ‘Is Brent Council busy doing nothing?’ over “Altamira”, Brent’s heritage Victorian villa at 1 Morland Gardens. It appears that, six months after the Council accepted that its planning consent to demolish the building and had expired, it has still not completed the review of what to do with it next.

 

But when I was passing the site on Tuesday 7 May, I saw that it was a hive of activity. What is more, there were two new signs on either side of the entrance. The building had now become the Bakedwell Nursing Home!

 

One of the Bakedwell Nursing Home signs at 1 Morland Gardens, 7 May 2024.

 

The former college, which the Council specially restored and converted the building to be for Brent Adult and Community Education Service (now Brent Start) in the 1990s, might make a good nursing home, but this was not a real one. The beautiful Victorian building, which has been unoccupied since January 2023, had been chosen as a location for scenes in a TV drama!

 

There were marshals to keep onlookers at bay while a large cast and crew prepared for and filmed a crowd scene in the courtyard of the building. It was hot in the bright sunshine, but some of the cast members were wearing winter coats and woolly hats. Why? They were filming a Christmas episode, complete with Christmas trees (and holly wreaths on the front door).

 

Cast and crew, in between filming scenes for a TV drama.

 

I’m glad that 1 Morland Gardens is being put to some use, and presumably bringing in a fee to Brent Council for its use as a location for filming. I hope that they will use that income to repair the edges of the roof, before any more damage is done to the fabric of the Victorian villa by the Council’s neglect of this locally listed heritage building.

 

What TV drama were they filming? I don’t know, but if anyone has an idea which TV show might include a “Bakedwell Nursing Home” in its Christmas programme, please add a comment below!

Philip Grant.

1 Morland Gardens – Is Brent Council “busy doing nothing”?

 Guest post by local historian Philip Grant in a personal capacity

 

The Victorian villa, “Altamira”, at Hillside, Stonebridge, in October 2023.

 

When I was growing up in the 1950s, there was a song by Bing Crosby that I often heard on the BBC Light Programme (now Radio 2). It was fun to listen to, and the words have stuck in my brain: ‘We’re busy doing nothing, working the whole day through, trying to find lots of things not to do ….’

 

I’m beginning to wonder whether the Council are singing that tune over 1 Morland Gardens. It is now more than four months since I wrote that Brent was reviewing its plans for this site in Stonebridge, after the 2020 planning consent for its proposed development there had expired. A report was supposed to be prepared, for submission to Brent’s Cabinet, with new proposals for the site. No report has yet emerged, and there is nothing on the Council’s Forward Plan for such a report to go to Cabinet in April or May 2024.

 

Although the original plans were flawed, including as they did the demolition of a locally listed heritage building and the construction of flats over a community garden, causing air quality problems, the site could still be used for a sensible development. This could include an updated college facility for Brent Start (currently stuck in a temporary home that the Council moved it out to, at a cost of £1.5m), or other community use, and some much needed affordable housing, while retaining and re-using the 150-year old Victorian villa, which was, until recently, in excellent condition.

 

Doing nothing with the now vacant Council-owned building would be worse than doing something. And damage caused to the building, while it was in the hands of contractors last year, is in urgent need of repair. So, what is Brent Council planning to do? 

 

In order to find out, I sent this open email to Brent’s Chief Executive and Head of Capital Projects on 25 March, headed: 1 Morland Gardens, NW10 - its future, and the protection of this Victorian heritage building.

 

This is an Open Email

 

Dear Ms Wright and Mr Martin,

 

1. I was told last November that, following the expiry of the Council's planning consent for its proposed 1 Morland Gardens development, a review of future plans for the property was being carried out, headed by Mr Martin, and that this would report back with proposals to Brent's Cabinet for a decision.

 

I submitted a paper to that review on 20 November 2023, but four months later, the report of that review has not yet been published or submitted to Cabinet, and it is not shown as an item for decision during the next two months on the Forward Plan.

 

Please let me know whether the review has been completed. If it has, when will the report be submitted to Cabinet, and made publicly available? If the review has not yet been finalised, please let me know the reason for the delay, and the date by which the report and recommendations on the future of 1 Morland Gardens are expected to be ready.

 

2. In my open letter of 30 October to you, Ms Wright, I finished by including a photograph of damage to the slates on the roof of the Victorian villa (which had been carefully restored by Brent Council in the mid-1990s, to provide a permanent home for its adult education college). I wrote: 'please ensure that urgent action is taken to replace the missing slates on the roof of 1 Morland Gardens, so that the condition of the empty property is not allowed to deteriorate further.'

 

Following the unsatisfactory reply to that point by Mr Ghani, on your behalf, I wrote again on 20 November, saying: 'There have been further strong winds and heavy rain since I saw the heritage building three weeks ago, so that point is even more urgent now, if expensive damage to the fabric of the property is to be avoided.'

 

It appears that nothing has been done to address this damage to the property, and it has got worse during the winter weather. Here are three photographs, taken yesterday (24 March) by a fellow "Friend of Altamira", with arrows indicating the damaged areas:-

 

Front view of 1 Morland Gardens, showing missing slates, 24 March 2024.

 

 

1 Morland Gardens from corner of Hillside, showing missing slates on south wing of Victorian villa.

 

 

1 Morland Gardens, showing serious damage to slate roof on north wing of Victorian villa.

 

The initial damage was not present when the building was occupied by "Live-in Guardians" up until January 2023, so was probably caused by contractors during the time that 1 Morland Gardens was under the control of the Hill Group (possibly during asbestos survey work). I realise that those removing slates at the edge of the roof thought at the time that the building would be demolished, so that failing to put them back in place did not matter. 

 

However, this locally listed heritage asset (one of only two in Stonebridge Ward) is not currently due for demolition. It would be a travesty if its condition was allowed to deteriorate further, particularly if this was deliberate neglect by Brent Council, to use as an excuse for further proposals to demolish this much-loved, beautiful and still eminently usable Victorian building. 

 

As a reminder, if any were needed, Brent's own adopted Historic Environment policy on "Valuing Brent's Heritage" states:

 

'The effective preservation of historic buildings, places and landscapes and their stewardship is therefore fundamental to the Council's role.'

 

I am copying this email to the Lead Member for Customers, Community and Culture, and to the councillors for Stonebridge Ward, for their information.

 

I look forward to receiving an update on the situation over the review of the future of 1 Morland Gardens, and to hearing that the necessary repairs to the roof of the Victorian building are being carried out. Thank you. Best wishes,

 

Philip Grant.

 

Morland Gardens – Brent Council ‘unable to make any commitments'

 Guest post by Philip Grant in a personal capacity

 

Earlier this month I wrote “Morland Gardens – Report recommends Council does not proceed, but …”. The ‘but’ was because, although Brent cannot go ahead with its proposed redevelopment (as its planning consent has expired), it still has an outstanding “first stage” contract with Hill Group which includes the demolition of the Victorian villa “Altamira” (above).

 

At the end of my previous guest post I included the text of an open email I had sent to Brent’s Chief Executive, and other senior figures at the Civic Centre, seeking an assurance that this locally listed heritage asset would not be demolished, unless or until there was a legal requirement allowing for its demolition (which does not currently exist).

 

There was no mention of this at the Cabinet meeting on 11 December, when the Affordable Housing Supply update report (which recommended a review to come up with ‘an alternative site strategy’ for Morland Gardens) was dealt with. Last Friday afternoon I received this written response to my open email:

 

‘Dear Mr Grant 

 

RE: Morland Gardens and the Affordable Housing Supply (2023) Update Report  

 

Thank you for your open email dated 4th December 2023 addressed to Cllr Knight, the Council’s Chief Executive and the Council’s Corporate Director for Resident Services. Your enquiry has been forwarded to me to respond on their behalf.

 

The Council is unable to make any commitments or assurances either verbally or in writing on whether there will be demolition of the Altamira building or not, until such time the Council has considered its options for the site. As provided in previous correspondence, the Council will be reviewing the site options including the Altamira building, and will present these to Cabinet for consideration in due course.

 

Further information about the Councils procedures can be found on the Council's website: https://www.brent.gov.uk/your-council

 

Kind regards

 

Head of Capital Programmes’

 

My concern, and that of other “Friends of Altamira”, is that someone at the Civic Centre will instruct Hill Group to carry out the demolition of the buildings on the site, under their existing contract, while the Council is still considering ‘its options for the site’. That is a risk, which could occur either by mistake, or deliberately out of vindictiveness (against the campaign which took advantage of the Council’s mistakes, in its fight to save this important heritage building).

 

 

There should not be any reason why Brent can’t give the assurance I’d requested. A similar one was given in June 2021, when the then Strategic Director for Regeneration and Environment wrote to me (in response to me pointing out that Brent did not have the Stopping-up Order required before its proposed Morland Gardens development could take place): 

 

‘I confirm that the demolition of “Altamira” will not take place until all necessary legal pre-requisites are in place.’

 

The Strategic Director had been made aware that there would be objections to any proposed Order, and the reasons for it. Yet it was not until 28 April 2022 that valid notice of the proposed Stopping-up Order was given. That was just before Brent was finally ready to award a contract for the development. 

 

Given the uncertainty over whether the Council would obtain the legal right to build over the land outside 1 Morland Gardens, a group of Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors called-in his Key Decision to award the two-stage “Design and Build” contract. The minutes of the 9 June 2022 call-in meeting set out how he answered the reasons given by Cllr. Lorber and two members of the public about why the contract should not be awarded:

 

 

Mr Lunt’s argument was that “only” £1.1m was at risk (the estimated cost of stage one) if the contract was awarded, whereas the Council stood to lose £6.5m in GLA funding if the project did not go ahead. He gave the impression that the Stopping-up Order process would be over by the end of 2022. The minutes record his answer to a question from a Committee member:

 

‘It was confirmed that any objections to the stopping up order which were not withdrawn would be considered by the Mayor of London. Mr Lunt noted that in his experience, all stopping up orders had been confirmed.’

 

In fact, it was February 2023 before Brent supplied the GLA with all the information needed for the Mayor of London’s decision. When that decision came on 20 March, it did not confirm the Stopping-up Order. Instead, it said that the objections would need to be considered by a Public Inquiry, and Brent Council had still not arranged for that Inquiry to be held when its planning consent for the Morland Gardens development expired at the end of October!

 

The June 2022 call-in meeting of Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee did agree that the contract should be awarded (although Mr Lunt had failed to tell them that he could not award it, as the “Contractor Framework” under which it was offered had expired at the end of May 2022!). A contract was actually awarded a couple of months later, under a different Framework, after a rushed decision by Brent’s Cabinet.

It is that contract which still poses a risk to the survival of the 150-year old beautiful and historic landmark building at 1 Morland Gardens. The Council has only to look at its own published words to know that it should not allow the unnecessary demolition of this heritage asset: 

 

From Brent’s May 2019 “Historic Environment Place-making Strategy”

 

I believe that Brent can and should make a commitment over “Altamira”, so I sent the following open email in reply to the response I’d received on 15 December:

 

‘Dear Mr Martin and Ms Wright,

 

Thank you for your email this afternoon, in response to my open email of 4 December. I have to say that I am disappointed by it.

 

I realise that the Council is carrying out a review to consider its options for the site at 1 Morland Gardens, and that recommendations will then be made to Brent's Cabinet. 

 

The assurance I requested does not need to wait for the outcome of those considerations, as it does not seek any commitment that there are no circumstances in which Brent Council would demolish the heritage building.

 

The assurance I am seeking is not an unreasonable one (given the Council's heritage assets policies and the fact that the flawed original consent, allowing the demolition of Altamira, has now expired). I will set out its terms again:

 

that there will be no demolition of the locally listed Victorian villa at 1 Morland Gardens, unless or until there are new plans in place for the site which would require the demolition of this heritage asset, and those plans have been properly consulted on, considered and given planning consent, and there are no outstanding legal requirements which need to be met before those new proposed development plans can go ahead.

 

I hope that, having reconsidered my request on a fair reading of the assurance I am seeking, Ms Wright can now give that assurance on behalf of Brent Council. Thank you. Best wishes, 

 

Philip Grant.’

Morland Gardens – Report recommends Council does not proceed, but …

 

Guest post by Philip Grant in a personal capacity

When I wrote last month about the review which Brent Council was undertaking into its plans for 1 Morland Gardens, and shared a copy of the document I’d submitted on “getting it right this time”, one anonymous comment asked ‘will Brent Council ever admit to getting it wrong?’

 

The “Affordable Housing Supply (2023) – Update” report to next week’s Cabinet meeting shows the answer to that question is “No”. It says their original project has faced “challenges”, and Officers recommend it should be abandoned, but there is no reference to any of the many mistakes the Council made, and some attempts to shift the blame. 

 

The first of these comes in the Cabinet Member Foreword to the report: 

 

‘Several schemes in this report have faced significant challenges, examples include delays, objections, and new requirements like a second staircase. These factors are in some cases the reason why a scheme is unable to progress.’ 

 

It should come as no surprise to the Council, and other prospective developers, when residents object to schemes that breach Brent’s planning policies, and would adversely affect their lives! And there is no acknowledgement that many of the delays over the Morland Gardens project were the Council’s own fault:

 

The notice of the proposed Stopping-up Order was issued in April 2022, when the Council could have done that eighteen months earlier. They delayed submitting some of the information to the GLA which was needed before the Mayor of London’s decision could be given on 20 March 2023, after which it was Brent’s responsibility to arrange for a public inquiry, which they failed to do. My Brent’s Halloween Nightmare article includes details of their dithering.

 

 

Para. 5.10 from the Morland Gardens section of the report (shown above) refers to the position over Brent Start. But it makes no mention of the loss of housing provision at Twybridge Way, caused by moving the college to a ‘temporary location’ there (at a cost of £1.6m). I had warned Brent Council in 2021 what would happen if they went ahead with decanting Brent Start there, and you can read the details in “1 Morland Gardens and Twybridge Way – Brent’s response challenged”, which Martin published in October 2021. 

 

And as for the “excuse” about needing approval from the Secretary of State for Education, Brent was aware of that before they applied for planning permission for a 67 home housing scheme at Twybridge Way, that they got consent for in May 2020, and which has now expired!

 

 

The report talks of an ‘alternative site strategy’ for Morland Gardens, but there is no mention of the locally listed Victorian villa (above). The Pre-Construction Services Agreement (“PCSA”), which Brent entered into with Hill Group in July 2022, appears to have included ‘demolition’ as one of the “Services”. There is some concern among the “Friends of Altamira” (a diverse group that has been active since 2020 in trying to save this heritage building) that certain people at the Council, out of vindictiveness, might still try to have it demolished, even while the review into the future of 1 Morland Gardens is being carried out. 

 

In order to try and rule out that possibility, I sent an open email to Brent’s Chief Executive and others at the Civic Centre on 4 December, and I will end this update post with the text of that email:

 

‘Dear Ms Wright, Mr Gadsdon and Councillor Knight,

 

I have read the Affordable Housing Supply (2023) - Update Report for the 11 December 2023 Cabinet Meeting, which was published with the agenda on the Council's website last Friday, and I have shared the relevant sections of it in respect of Morland Gardens with the "Friends of Altamira".

 

We welcome the Report's recommendation, at 2.2, 'for officers to develop an alternative site strategy' for Morland Gardens, but there is one doubt which we would like you to clear up, please.

 

The Report talks about 'the future of the site', but makes no reference to the future of the locally listed Victorian villa. Para. 5.3 refers to the contract of July 2022 and the PCSA (Pre-Construction Services Agreement), which it describes as 'specifically an agreed technical design, enabling works and demolition.'

 

Please let me have Brent Council's assurance that there will be no demolition of the locally listed Victorian villa at 1 Morland Gardens, unless or until there are new plans in place for the site which would require the demolition of this heritage asset, and those plans have been properly consulted on, considered and given planning consent, and there are no outstanding legal requirements which need to be met before those new proposed development plans can go ahead.

 

As I, and others, have made clear to you, we sincerely hope that the new proposals for 1 Morland Gardens, emerging from the current review, will not involve the demolition of the Victorian villa on that site. 

 

Any such demolition, of the restored Victorian facade and belvedere tower, would be an act of vandalism which goes against Brent Council's clearly stated promises on valuing heritage assets:

 

'Once a heritage asset is demolished it cannot be replaced. Its historic value is lost forever to the community and future generations and it cannot be used for regeneration and place-making purposes. The effective preservation of historic buildings, places and landscapes and their stewardship is therefore fundamental to the Council's role.'

 

I look forward to receiving that assurance in writing from you, as Brent's Chief Executive, and to hearing either Mr Gadsdon (or whichever Officer is presenting the Report to Cabinet) or Councillor Knight make clear at the meeting on 11 December that Brent Council will not allow the demolition of the heritage Victorian villa to take place while the future of the Morland Gardens site is not legally settled. Thank you. 

 

Best wishes,

 

Philip Grant.’

 

 

Morland Gardens – Brent Council reviews its development plans

 Guest post by Philip Grant in a personal capacity

 

1 Morland Gardens, entrance seen from the Community Garden, 30 October 2023.

 

My guest post on 31 October, Brent’s Halloween Nightmare – its Morland Gardens planning consent has expired!, had an Open Letter to Brent’s Chief Executive attached at the end. I promised to share the Council’s reply to that letter with you, and will ask Martin to attach it at the end of this post (the first of two documents).

 

Although the letter, from Brent’s Director of Property and Assets, is dated 10 November, it mysteriously never got delivered to me, until the Chief Executive sent me a copy on 17 November. The letter is quite brief, but it did include the following important sentence: ‘We agree that the planning application as described below expired on 29th October 2023.’

 

So what happens next? The letter says: ‘Following the expiration of the planning permission, the Council is reviewing its options for the Morland Gardens site, including the Altamira building.’

 

“Altamira” is the locally listed heritage Victorian villa (pictured above), so after campaigning since the Council’s planning application, including its demolition, was submitted in February 2020, there is now a second chance to save it. I understand that the review aims to put forward recommendations to the Cabinet meeting in December (perhaps as part of the Affordable Housing Update which is due to be on the agenda?).

 

The third ‘key issue’ from my Open Letter which the Director of Property and Assets identified was not allowing the condition of the empty property to deteriorate further. His reply about the security of the site missed the point. My response reminded him that it was missing slates from the roof (and possibly more of them missing following recent strong winds) which needed the Council’s early attention.

 

Although we will have to wait and see what Officers recommend to Cabinet over the future of 1 Morland Gardens, I do not want that to be a repeat of the 2020 proposals, which have already caused a long delay and wasted several million pounds. When I replied on 20 November, I included my own contribution to the review, as a genuine attempt to help the Council “get it right” this time. I will ask Martin to attach a copy of that document below, so that anyone can read it if they wish to. 

 

Philip Grant

 

Brent Council's reply to Philip Grant's letter of 31st October on 1 Morland Gardens

 

  

Review of Options for Morland Gardens – getting it right this time