Guest blog by Philip Grant
At Wednesday's (November 13th) Brent Planning Committee meeting the
Planning Officer's recommendation to grant permission for a change of use of the
former Barham Park Library building from D1 (Community Use) to B1 (Business Use)
was rejected by the committee, by 6 votes to 1 vote, with 3 abstentions.
The committee were not satisfied that there were grounds for over-riding
Brent's Core Policy CP23, which states that 'existing community and cultural
facilities that support community participation and development will be
protected, or their loss mitigated where necessary.' The Planning
Officer's recommendation had been based on a Community Facilities Assessment
produced by an unidentified Council Officer, which claimed that there was no
need or demand for the former library space as community facilities. This was
based on the existing room at the Barham Park buildings which is available for
short-term hire only being occupied for 11% of the time it was available
(although this was at a time when before it was refurbished, and was not being
actively "marketed" by Parks Service), and there being other community
facilities in the area which could be hired anyway, such as church halls and
school buildings.
