Year 11 school students from Ark Elvin Academy today helped open the controversial Wembley Steps ahead of the first Euro2020 game at the stadium.
Raheem Sterling who attended Copland High School, the predecessor to Ark Elvin before an equally controversial decision to academise the school sent a message to the students.
Growing up in Brent, I could see the arch of Wembley Stadium from myhome. A short walk away and a lot of work later, I’ve got to do what I love in thestadium and representing everyone who calls Brent home. I am so proud ofwhere I grew up – our communityand the growing number of new, accessiblespaces for younger members of the community to play and discover their skills and passions.
PROW 87 as was (broken line) and replacement (solid line)
Five years ago there were protests about what was called a 'land grab' of a Wembley open space popularly known as Copland Fields. When Ark Elvin took over Copland High School the government found money for a brand new school for the academy chain. Copland had been campaigning for years for a new building because the school was in such bad condition. There had been plans for a 'Copland Village' development at the time to pay for a new build but the plans never came to fruition.
Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, then a governor at Ark Elvin who have been in favour of the academisation of Copland, strongly backed Ark's plans but found himself in conflict with local residents, who valued the access to green space in a heavily built up area.
The plans were approved and Ark Elvin got its new building and extended its footprint, while Elsley Primary doubled its size with an additional new building, and both they and St Joseph's enclosed part of the space that they'd had access to by covenant. Residents were left with a redirected Public Right Of Way (PROW) which is a path lined on both sides by a high fence and warning signs that this previous publicly used space was now 'Private Land.'
Local residents had used routes across this space to access the schools and Alperton via the bridge across the railway. A map of these routes was submitted at the time.
Those routes are now closed except for the main footpath. At the time local resident Chetan Patel told Annabel Bates, the headteacher of Ark Elvin:
With respect to ARK's planning application (ref 15/3161) for the school
redevelopment, I believe your proposal breaches the community's 'Public
Right Of Way' onto the existing fields in accordance to Highways Act
1980 Section 130A.
The community has had access to the existing park without any objections
from ARK or from the previous management of Copland Community School
for many decades now. The law assumes that if the public uses a path
without interference for some period of time – set by statute at 20
years - then the owner (ARK) had intended to dedicate it as a right of
way.
ARK's proposed development of the school can only be described as
'land-grab' with no consideration for the community users and the Law.
You may well ask, why is this coming up again 5 years later/ The answer is that since then we have had major housing developments in Wembley Central: Elizabeth House, Brent House and the Twin Towers with more to come alongside the Chiltern line and at Ujima House and on the former Copland site fronting the High Road. Planners admit most are deficient in amenity space but point to the accessibility of King Edward VII Park in Park Lane.
During lockdown residents have told Wembley Matters that King Eddies is now overcrowded because of the many new residents who have no gardens in which to exercise and enjoy fresh air. Longer term residents are now referring back to that loss of Copland Fields and reflecting on the access they used to have:
One resident told Wembley Matters:
Since moving to Wembley in the mid 1980s, Coplands Fields as it was known, was open to the public, myself and friends always exercised our dogs freely on this open space, flew Kites, off road remote control cars, played ball games, Rounders etc. It was a well used space by Asian cricketers (on designated hard surface - which I think no longer exists) Numerous local Football groups (Somali and Romanian) played regularly at weekends and during the week early evenings. Wembley Youth Club had unlimited access. A Volleyball Group set up their own nets in the far corner near Elsley Primary.
One of the best things about this open space was it allowed you to fly kites, remote control planes and helicopters as it has no trees in the middle, unlike King Eddies which does have obstructions such as trees. The public footpath and fields provided a quick short cut from Alperton to High Road, It was consistently used by parents from Wembley Central and Alperton area walking their children to schools St Josephs RC School, Elsley and Oakington Manor. All the people living in Tokynton Ward are completely cut off from using this space.
No CCTV evident on footpath which is like a dog's hind leg and nowhere to run if attacked.
St Josephs regularly (or did prior to Covid) use the space, Ark Elvin does not as it has its MUGA's designed in with artificial grass, and does not have access via a gate or anything unlike St Josephs and Elsley.
The Wetlands you refer to is within the boundaries of the Ark Elvin Academy. I seem to remember discussing this with a Biology Teacher who at the time said it was going to be utilised by the students to grow stuff and create a bio-diverse environment for nature and study.
I might add it makes a mockery of Brents Green Park and Open Space document, which clearly states that Wembley Central is massively deficient in green space, considering in the last few years more than 1800 new flats have been built with yet more to come. In 2011 census the pop of Wembley Central was approximately 15,000 I think we are now in excess of 25,000 and when all these flats are let we will be double in less than 10 years. The Brent House development in the report clearly states its deficient by 20% in its amenity space with respect to the number of residents it will hold.
It is hard to convey the nature of this enclosure of land in words so I have made this short video of the path of the redirected public right of way:
Four years ago Brent Council wrote to a resident to say what needed to be done to claim a right to access to the other footpaths across the Copland Fields as shown on the map above LINK.
The evidence sheet that needs to be submitted is HERE and Guidance from the Ramblers Association HERE.
It is late in the day but if nearby residents think it is worth the effort then good luck to them.
PICKET LINE - Thursday 16 March at Ark Elvin Academy, Cecil Avenue,Wembley, HA9 7DU.
7am onwards.
NUT, ATL and NAS/UWT members at Ark Elvin Academy will stage their first day of
strike action tomorrow against ten proposed redundancies -part of the fightback
against government education cuts.
All those who are sympathetic to the strike are welcome to join the picket line.
Ark Elvin was formerly Copland High School and was forced to become an academy despite opposition from staff, parents and students.
In an exchange of emails a Wembley
resident has accused Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt of misrepresenting
their views on the Ark Elvin Academy planning application due to be heard at tonight's
Planning Committee.
The allegations concern a
meeting between Butt and residents on the site at the weekend. In an
emollient letter Butt said:
At the meeting I was glad to hear from yourself and all the people
present that you were not against the development of the school and that
you understood that the new school will benefit the local area in helping to
shape the demand for school places, so that children will not have to travel
far from their homes. The current school building is in a poor state of repair
and the new proposals will deliver a high quality facility that will enhance
the learning environment for the students and in conjunction with the new
management team at Ark Elvin under the leadership of the Head Annabel Bates, we
will improve the life chances for those students.
Butt is on the governing body of
Ark Elvin.
Responding Chetan Patel wrote:
I'm surprised and concerned with regards to your email reply,
which is wholly inaccurate, untruthful and misleading.
I would like to record, I didn't say I was in support
of the planning application. This is very well documented in my numerous
correspondence, which you have also been copied into. Please confirm if you
want me to resend all my correspondence opposing the planning application to yourself.
You also stated all the residents at the meeting were in support of the
scheme. This statement also completely wrong.
The residents only agreed the school required
modernisation. None of residents at the meeting agreed with the
proposed Planning Application, which adopts Jesmond Avenue for
construction access traffic.
I can also confirm the residents have never been invited by Kier
(the developer) or the council to participate in two discussions with regards
to mitigation of construction impact. We have only ever been told what will be
imposed upon us. It feels more like a dictatorship.
If you feel my record of this meeting is still incorrect, we can have
this debate again at the Planning Committee meeting on the 22nd October 2015.
I'm very disappointed in your email and I hope the Planning Committee
are not unduly influenced by Muhammed Butt's poor recollection of this meeting.
Patel, who is due to make a
delegation to the Planning Committee this evening, has also been involved in an
exchange with Fiona Alderman. Referring to his claim that the Planning
Application was not valid because it did not deal with the issue of a Public
Right of Way across the playing fields Alderman wrote:
The assessment of such claimed
cannot be carried out by the Planning Committee and must instead be dealt with
by a separate process by Transport Department. My view is that there is no
impediment to the Planning Committee considering and determining the
application.
Chetan Patel replied:
There are legal procedures which
apply when rights of way are affected by development. Development is defined in
the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as “the carrying out of building,
engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land, or the
making of any material change in the use of any buildings or other land”. The
Act says that, with certain exceptions, planning permission must be obtained
before development is carried out.
The Department for Communities
and Local Government (DCLG) has guidance (refer to section 48.d, attached) for
local authorities on the validation of planning applications. The guidance
states that applications for full planning permission should be accompanied by
a plan of the proposed development showing all rights of way crossing or
adjoining the site. I believe the claimed ‘Public Right of Way’ by
myself any other residents by way of the 20 year easement period, should be
shown on the Planning Application, but is missing from the Planning Application
ref 15/3161.
If an application for planning permission
affects a right of way (claimed Pubic Right of Way) then a special rule applies
and the application must be advertised at the proposed site and in a local
paper. This is an materially important so residents can make comments about
them.
This means that, while the
existence of a right of way across the site of a proposed development won’t
automatically mean an application is rejected, the fact that it is there must
be taken into account by the officer or committee which decides the application.
The Planning Committee is at 7pm this evening at Brent Civic Centre.
