Become a Brent councillor - event for prospective councillors January 27th 2025

 

BREAKING: Application for 3 day Korean Pop Music Festival in Northwick Park summer 2025

MIK22 Festival in Southwark Park

Hot on the heels of the Fryent Country Park application for a summer festival, which was withdrawn, another application been received for Northwick Park.

The MIK (made in Korea) 2025 with an attendance of up to 15,000 would be held in summer 2025 with a 'to be confirmed' date of June 7th-8th (although the application details Friday-Sunday). A section of the park would be required for 10 days prior to the Festival and 5 days following for preparation and dismantling. It would be surrounded by metal fencing.

 

The licence would cover 11am-10.30pm for plays, films, live music, record music. dance and workshops. Friday to Sunday. A licence to sell alcohol would run from 11am - 10pm Friday to Sunday.

MUSIC FROM LIVE BANDS WILL BE AMPLIFIED ON ALL STAGES WHICH COULD INCLUDE INDOOR AND OUTDOOR STAGESNon-standard Times

SOUND CHECKING MAY TAKE PLACE BETWEEN 09:00 - 18:00 MONDAY TO SUNDAY.

The organisers describe the event:

MIK 2025 is the second year (the first was 2022 in Southwark Park) of Magic Sound’s outdoor festival experience, showcasing international talent born out of the Korean Pop movement (K-Pop), now a globally recognised music genre.

 

The intention is for MIK to take place over a weekend (2 days). Whilst dates are pending at the time of writing, the speculative dates will be the 7 – 8 June 2025, with approximately 10 days prior for construction and 5 days following for derig.

 

Entertainment will consist of a single concert stage showcasing Korean Pop and Chinese Pop acts of international recognition, with amplified loud and recorded music. There will also be sale of alcohol as well as amenities such as food concessions and merchandise at the event. The event site will be fully enclosed in steel shield fencing to ensure access is controlled to ticket holders only via a single public entrance. A further production entrance will be identified for authorised, accredited personnel.

 

The London Borough of Brent (LBB), and specifically Northwick Park, have been chosen by the organisers due to the borough’s diverse population and access to public transport, walking and cycling facilities. MIK 2025 will provide a youth-led boost to Brent’s local economy.

 

The promoters and curators are Magic Sound (MS), who have produced a number of shows at indoor institutions such as the O2 and Wembley Arena, as well as MIK 2022 in Southwark.

 

MS have appointed TEU to produce MIK, overseeing operational planning and delivery of the event in the advance, live and postmortem phases of the event. TEU is staffed and managed by a team of experienced and qualified professionals with a proven track record of running safe events. Carefully selected contractors and individuals will be charged with running various aspects of the event on each day and will be answerable to a single Event Manager. The Event Manager, Site Manager, Security Manager and nominated Safety Manager will work as the Event Operations Team (EOT), consulting each other on various aspects of the show and liaising with heads of department, emergency service and LBB

 

The proposed premises sits within Northwick Park, a large public greenspace situated between Harrow and Kenton, with Watford Road to the west and Norval Road to the south. Northwick Park Hospital sits to the west of the site alongside the University of Westminster, Harrow campus. Train lines run north and east. The park is laid to grass with sports pitches and an access road leads to a car park at the centre with a foot path leading on to Northwick Park station. This road and footpath is known as the Capital Ring. The proposed licensable area is centred at approximately: OS Grid Ref: TQ 17029 87551 Latitude: 51u00b034'29"N Longitude: 0u00b018'45"W

 

The MIK 2022 in Southwark Park went ahead despite protests but a repeat in 2023 was cancelled after the organisers failed to sell enough tickets in the face of rising costs. See LINK

 

The full application with supporting documents can be seen on the Brent website and comments can be made with a deadline of January 14th 2025. SEE LINK 

 

The grounds on which comments can be made are fairly narrow. This is from the Brent website:

 Comment on applications

When a premises first applies for a licence, or if they apply to vary their licence, or if the licence is reviewed, you can comment on the application to support or oppose it.

 

How to comment

 

If you want to comment on an application, you must do it in writing by the advertised date. This is usually 28 days after the application was made.

 

Representations (comments) will usually be expected to relate to at least one of the licensing objectives.

 

The objectives are:

• preventing crime and disorder
• public safety
• preventing public nuisance
• protecting children from harm.

 

View the online register and comment on applications

Two sides of Brent as community mount a fire rescue and a woman dies in a shooting

 It was a real mixed 'Brent weekend' with the community coming  together to save people from a serious fire in Willesden LINK and the dreadful news of a female dying in a fatal shooting in Harlesden LINK. Our thanks go out to the life savers in Willesden and our sympathy to the family and friends of the Harlesden victim.

My thanks to Michael Roberts of the Michael Styles hair salon in High Road, Willesden for permission to publish the videos he posted on Next Door and other social media:  first hand account of the rescue and the struggle to get help for a hearing impaired man in the aftermath.

 

Michael Roberts has set up a Funding page for Albert to help him get back on his feet.

Statement from Cllr Muhammed Butt after female fatality at Harlesden shooting

 Following the tragic news of the fatal shooting of a woman in Harlesden, The Leader of Brent Council, Councillor Muhammed Butt has issued a statement. 

Councillor Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council said:

Along with everyone in Brent, I am deeply shocked and saddened to learn that a woman has tragically died following a fatal shooting on Gifford Road, Harlesden, last night, which also left two other people injured.

Our thoughts and condolences are with the victim’s loved ones and all those affected during this incredibly difficult time.

While incidents like this are rare in our borough, I know it will cause concern within our community. I want to reassure everyone that we are working closely with residents, partners and the police to make sure our residents feel safe and supported.

If you have any information that could assist the investigation, please contact the Metropolitan Police on 101 or ‘X’ @MetCC and quote CAD7137/14Dec.

You can also provide information anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111.

BREAKING: Mingle UK Ltd licence application for Jam J’ouvert event in Fryent Country Park has been withdrawn

 Brent Council licensing today confirmed that the application to run a pre-carnival event in Fryent Country Park on July 5th and July 6th 2025 has been withdrawn and the event will not take place. The application was made by Mingle UK Ltd.

See article on the plans HERE.

The case for rethinking the Queen's Park traffic scheme engagement process put to Brent Cabinet

 

 

Alasdair Balfour, a Queen's Park resident presented a petition to Brent Cabinet today setting out the case for halting the current engagement process:

Background

My name is Alastair Balfour, and I live on Chevening Road in Queen’s Park. A lovely street, in a lovely neighbourhood. I should support the MP Smarter Travel (“MPST”) traffic proposals as they appear to benefit me. But having experienced the utter chaos that the current temporary traffic restrictions have wrought on the wider neighbourhood, it is evident that the proposals are ill conceived, unfair and simply push the problem onto less fortunate neighbours in the ward. These trial schemes have created division among residents and gambled with the health and safety of thousands of children who attend schools on the boundary roads. Sadly, after years of false starts, real damage is being done to our community and to the trust they have in Brent’s approach to this topic.

In the weeks since the MPST meeting on November 4th, our petition has had over 1,400 signatures, a leaflet was produced and delivered to over 2,000 residents, a video has been made and circulated on social media, and newspapers are beginning to pick up the story. This has all been done by volunteers who feel let down, and who care for their neighbourhood. This outpouring of opposition is years in the making.

The MPST engagement is so flawed that it cannot produce reliable results. The catchment thinking is too narrow, the engagement materials were confusing, the online questionnaire was changed mid-engagement and never effectively communicated as promised. There was clearly no technical analysis which stands behind the proposals. And even Councillors and residents benefitting from the schemes oppose the options.

MPST are not traffic management experts, their mission is modal shift and nothing else. They lack clear objectives and indicators of success or failure. And without proper stakeholder definitions, they do not know even who they are solving for.

Proposed Way Forward

We understand that this is a highly complex issue, and we do not have all the answers. But it is patently clear that if this cabinet is serious about improving the situation it needs to start from square one and go back to basics. ⁠This requires joined up thinking, reflecting all stakeholders and doing hard work first. We must stop wasting money on projects that are doomed to fail. The skills and resources exist within the community to assist Brent in developing a project roadmap, defining the problems, crafting solutions, thus ensuring transparent engagement and community support. These offers of help and expertise have been rejected in the past. We ask whether Brent will accept them now, especially when budgets are so tight and resources so constrained.

All community groups (including residents associations) have always argued for wider consultation and a genuinely transparent cooperative process. There is a clear view of how to deliver success which can be shared with councillors at the appropriate time. But this must be done with total transparency, coordination, and consensus. Who better to facilitate this than the residents in the community. We understand the complex trade-offs required.

In conclusion, I want to thank you Cllr Butt for giving me the opportunity to speak today, and for confirming that this petition will be considered as part of this engagement process. But if you are serious about finding a path forward, we now need action over and above telling us that we have been heard. I am therefore requesting a commitment from the cabinet to the following three points:

1. Stop the flawed MPST engagement (it is so tainted that it only fuels anger)

2. Halt all hyper local traffic schemes until a data-led, wider area impact assessment can be provided

3. Sit down with local thought leaders to i) define the most pressing traffic problems (focused on boundary roads and schools), ii) agree the process roadmap which the entire community can support and commit real resources behind and iii) to use utmost transparency in all behaviour, data sharing and communication.

We have mobilised a significant amount of support from across the community in recent weeks, and we owe those neighbours an update on how the cabinet responds.

We want to bring everyone together to support the council’s objectives for a healthy neighbourhood – who would not? But we must learn from past mistakes, plan properly and deliver improvements for the many and not just a select few.

The response from Cllr Krupa Sheth, the Lead Cabinet Member responsible for the  environment can be seen at 06.20 on the video above, Queen's Park councillor Neil Nerva at 08.17 and and Brent Council Leader, Muhammed Butt at 10.25. You can make you own minds up as to whether they commit to the three points raised by Alasdair Balfour.

After the meet a local resident said:

Many residents watching online were bemused when Cllr Butt said at the end that Brent had 43 or 44 successful Healthy Neighbourhood schemes in place.. One said "We look forward to seeing his list. But I can only imagine he's referring to School Streets? To our knowledge, four years on from the first set of attempts, Brent has just one LTN running - in Harlesden and Stonebridge. A status update on that one was expected last April but has not yet appeared. Four of the first batch were implemented but had to be withdrawn before the trial ended  because they were not working.

Later attempts at designing a feasible scheme that could gain community support in Kilburn and Queen's Park Wards have failed - and the current "Engagement" has all the flaws in the speech given this morning" 

Queen's Park residents to present 1218 signature petition to Brent Cabinet on Monday calling on them to defer local traffic scheme after adverse impact of trial

A group of Queens Park residents will present a petition to Brent Cabinet tomorrow calling for the Council to withdraw the latest local traffic scheme proposed for the Queen's Park Healthy Neighbourhood. They want any formal consultation to be deferred pending a clear plan outlining the benefits

The petition is on the Brent Council website HERE
 

We the undersigned petition the council to register strong opposition from the residents and communities of Queen’s Park, Kensal Rise, Brondesbury Park, and surrounding areas, to Brent Council's hyper-local traffic scheme proposals in a limited area of Queen’s Park. We call on Brent Council to withdraw the latest proposals under the Queen’s Park Healthy Neighbourhood scheme and defer any formal Consultation until a plan is presented with clear benefits that prioritise the health, safety, equality, prosperity, and quality of life for the entire neighbourhood (in and around the designated ‘project zone’) based on strong community support, evidence-based planning, transparent decision-making, and value for money. 

 

The Queen’s Park Healthy Neighbourhood page on Brent Council’s website promises a scheme that “ensures the whole community can benefit from cleaner air and safer, quieter streets…”.

While we welcome and support that aspiration, the trial measures on the streets connecting Kingswood Avenue and Salusbury Road are diverting traffic unhelpfully, adversely impacting the broader community, and together with the new proposals developed by MP Smarter Travel, raise serious concerns regarding:

 

• Health and safety risks from displaced traffic increasing congestion and pollution within the project zone and on already dangerous and busy boundary roads, including Salusbury and Chamberlayne where thousands of children attend school.

 

• Failure to consider any impact on adjacent areas like Brondesbury Park, Kensal Rise and North Kilburn, and neglect of vulnerable populations such as the elderly, disabled, and families who cannot rely solely on walking or cycling.

 

• Unfair prioritisation of select streets at the expense of surrounding areas, imposed without broad community support, based on flawed engagement and inadequate impact assessment, exacerbating inequality and division.

• Unnecessary harm and disruption to residents and businesses in Queen’s Park and surrounding areas from restricted access.

 

 The Cabinet is at 10am on Monday December 9th and can be viewed online HERE.

UPDATE APPLICATION WITHDRAWN: Application for pre-Carnival weekend event in Fryent Country Park to be considered by Brent Council. Comments close on January 1st 2025.

 The venue: Upper Hydes field (Fryent Country Park) from Barn Hill Conservation Group map

 

 Event layout

 

Event organisers have applied to Brent Council for an open air event, attended by up to 3,500 people, in Fryent Country Park to celebrate the start of next year's Carnival season.  Consultation closes on January 1st 2025 for an event that takes place on the weekend of July 5th and 6th.

The organisers describe the event:

J’ouvert is a cultural festival to mark the opening of the carnival. It is an important ancestral tradition that still exists in countries such as Grenada, Trinidad & Tobago, Brazil, the French Antilles and other countries around the world. The event is design to display our cultural identity and tradition to people globally.

 

The first Jam J’ouvert was held at Cranford Community College in June 2018. The event was a tremendous success, as people from different ethnicities BME community and communities attended the event. Approximately 2000 patrons attended the event, as this was the first time such an event was held in London.

 

In June 2019, the event was held at the same venue, as it was the ideal location to hold such an event. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic in 2020 the event did not take place. However, the event resumed in 2021.

 

Jam J’ouvert is an opportunity to come along and dance to the pulsating rhythms of Steel bands, African and Caribbean music, celebrate the culture, be adventurous, and have a fun time. There are other aspects to enjoy such as our food, beverages, live entertainment, and body painting. Mingle UK Ltd has been building a reputation for quality events across London since 2016. These events include Mingle All White at the Cavendish Banqueting Suite, Mingle Beach Wear on the River Thames London, and The Annual 473 Camo Wear at the Tottenham Leisure Centre. As event’s organisers, we pride ourselves not only on providing a great occasion, but a high-quality community experience to all nationalities and demographics.

 

The London Borough of Brent is a diverse borough where people choose to live and work. Therefore, it is important that they are given the opportunity to share our culture.

 

• To dramatically improve on building better community relationship and encourage people from different ethnicities to integrate and enjoy the diverse nature of the event.

• This event will help to improve and maintain our cultural identity, as this is the first event of its kind in the Borough of Brent.

• Promote positive energy throughout different communities within London.

 

Hello Summer Saturday 5th July 2025

 

• This is a new event which was introduced in 2022. The vibe of the event is a welcoming to summer season in sophisticated chic style.

• This year the dress code is pastel colours accompanied with matching decor and photo opportunities including 360 photo booths.

• There will be local and international Soca artists, (Soca means the Soul of Calypso). Also, represents a fusion of African and Caribbean Kaiso, Calypso and South Asian rhythms. The Soca acts will perform on the main stage on the event.

• There will be a designated VIP area for the patrons to take photos with their favourite artiste and performers.

 

Jam J’ouvert Sunday 6th July 2025

 

• Traditional face and body painting will be carried out as part of the J’ouvert tradition.

• The event will include elements of traditional food and beverages being sampled and sold at the event.

• Live artist will be performing during the event.

• Live amplified music will be played during the event.

 

Cultural/religious events have been held here before and a long time ago there was an annual Brent Countryside Day that was abandoned one year because the fields were water-logged. It never reappeared. Recently there has been controversy over the use of the field for Event Day parking when public transport was disrupted.  Given its financial position Brent Council has adopted a policy to maximise income from its parks.

The short period for consultation, and it taking place over the holiday season is meeting criticism from residents.

The overall event would start at 10am and finish at 9pm on both days. Dance would take place from 12 noon until 9pm and the sale of alcohol between 12 noon and 8.30pm.

Organisers have submitted a slideshow of arrangements, embedded below as a PDF. Click on the X bottom right for a full page view.

 

 

 LINK TO APPLICATION WHERE YOU CAN LEAVE COMMENTS FOR OR AGAINST 

Brent Council states:

Representations (comments) will usually be expected to relate to at least one of the licensing objectives.

The objectives are:

·       preventing crime and disorder

·       public safety

·       preventing public nuisance

·       protecting children from harm

Wembley Park planning application to build 31 storey and 18 storey building on Olympic Way college site to be heard at Planning Committee next week

 

The new buildings from Bobby Moore Bridge (Bridge Road opposite station)

The College of North West London building that will be demolished

 

 In 2017 I predicted that the merger of the College of North West London and City of Westminster College as United  Colleges would lead to deals involving their property portfolio but I rather underestimated the extent of change that this would involve. Will property deals follow CNWL and CWC merger?

In Brent the plan involve the sale of both College of North West London College sites (Wembley Park's Crescent House and Dudden Hill's College Park) for housing development with  the profit funding a new college building on Olympic Way/Fulton Road. This was  given planning permission in July 2023 on the site of the Olympic Office Centre, formerly the HQ of Network Housing.

 

New Wembley Park Campus building

Brent Council was involved via a loan given to United Colleges to help set up the deal. CNWL has already sold its Kilburn site and sold its other Wembley Park building to the Education Funding Agency to provide accommodation for Michaela School.

If your head is spinning perhaps this explanation from Brent Planning Officers will help:

Officers have carefully weighed up the conclusions drawn by the viability assessment and the policy requirement for the delivery the new college facility in order to enable the release these two sites for development. Officers also have attached weight to the benefits associated with the delivery of the new college. Officers consider that the inter-relationship between these two schemes and the delivery of the new college facility is material to the consideration of this application, and a Section 106 obligation will prevent the implementation of these two applications unless the construction of the new College building is going ahead.

 

It is therefore considered reasonable and appropriate for the Council to place weight on the financial contribution that the sale of these two sites will make towards the delivery of the new college building and officers have also evaluated the scheme on this basis. However, it is for the decision maker to determine what weight should be applied to the facilitating role that the sale of these sites play in the delivery of the new college facility.

 

Officers consider that this should be given substantial weight given that the new college facility cannot be delivered without the sale of these sites to the College, not only for financial reasons (as the sale is required to fund the college) but also for planning policy and legal reasons (as Section 106 obligations will prevent the implementation of these two applications, if approved, unless the new college facility is going ahead).

This is rather a lot of pressure on Planning Committee to agree the application, particularly as Brent Council helped facilitate the deal.

The impact of the 18 and 31 storey building on the views from Wembley Park Station and Bridge Road is enormous. It will loom in front of the more distant views along Olympic Way to the stadium as well as from vehicles travelling between Wembley Central and Wembley Park.

 

 The problem will the piecemeal approval of the various Wembley Park applications is that the wider context is not always evident. For example the view below doesn't show the tower blocks under construction at Wembley Park station  along Brook Road, opposite the proposed buildings. In the illustration you can barely see the station itself.

 

The pink buildings in the illustrations are buildings in the pipeline for the approved Fulton Quarter. This the area behind the college building made up of the Stadium Retail Park, McDonalds and the Troubadour Theatre. LINK

The Fulton Quarter will provide 995 homes.

I have tried to show the overall impact by roughly placing the two towers in context below. The numbers refer to the number of storeys in each block.

 

 The viability assessment referred to in the officers' remarks is about how much affordable housing can be supplied and still give the developer a return. The officers make the figures at Wembley Park more palatable by combining the two ex-college sites:

The affordable units classed as intermediate by officers are shared ownership. Not affordable for most Brent residents and the Council itself is aware of the product's shortcomings. See LINK.
 

It is surprising given the magnitude of this application that the Brent Planning Portal LINK states only 6 comments have been received. The only comment actually shown is from Ilford:

I object to this planning application for these two buildings of 18 and 31 storeys in height for various social, environmental, public health and fire safety reasons. For example Wembley has now seen more than enough high density housing schemes in recent years that has put an overall strain on local social infrastructure. Also the townscape has been greatly changed which has had an inevitable effect upon local heritage around here too. This particular housing scheme is also being funded by a private building firm so therefore these flats are highly unlikely to be genuinely affordable to local residents. Fire safety has to be another major consideration in planning terms especially with the tower block fires that we have seen across Greater London in recent years as well.

The application for the Dudden Hill College Green CNWL site will also be heard at the Planning Committee next week, December 11th. I will review that later. LINK

 

Brent's Community Infrastructure Levy funds at record levels but without government policy change unavailable to offset planned £16m cuts

 

SCIL: Strategic Infrastructure Levy NCIL: Neighbourhood Infrastrure Levy

The latest Brent Infrastructure Funding Statement showing how Brent Council has used the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)  in 2023-24 strengthenss the case for relaxation of the restrictions on spending of the funds raised. £143m of Strategic CIL remains unspent and £15.5m of Neighbourhood CIL. 

The Council's 2025-2026 proposes £16m of cuts to council services.

Strategic CIL cannot be used currently for the day to day running of the Council. The Lead Member for Finance in her Forward to the report states that the current shortage of funds for that provision can only be addressed by the Government increasing local government funding.

However, following a suggestion made by Liberal Democrat councillor, Anton Georgiou, Cllr Muhammed Butt and Cllr Shama Tatler have written to the Government LINK calling for more flexibility regarding CIL spending to relieve some of the pressure in the short term:

Easing restrictions does not mean abandoning fiscal responsibility, rather adapting to current realities and the challenges councils are facing. Councils can still practice sound financial management while using CIL more flexibly. Establishing clear guidelines and accountability for the use of CIL funds would ensure that the funds are used effectively and responsibly.

The figures speak for themselves:

 

CIL spending and allocation:

 

Neighbourhood CIL allocations and spend are reported in the Brent Infrastructure Funding Report and too detailed to include here but well worth reviewing. See LINK. 

Overview of area spending

 In addition to CIL Brent can also raise money through Section 106 agreements with developers and these have become significant particularly in housing. Again there is a significant amount of money unspent in the fund:

 

 

 

 

 301 'affordable units' were secured through Section 106 but only four were social rent:

Strategic CIL to be used for new Kilburn Primary School building and Open Space improvements: some associated issues.

Current site

 Proposed

 

 Proposed in wider context

 

It has been no secret that in the past there has been resistance by the neighbouring South Kilburn schools, Carlton Vale Infant School and Kilburn Park Foundation School (a junior school), to amalgamation. However, they have recently been operating as a Federation with some joint management and leadership.

Now Brent Council has come forward with plans to build a new combined school building on the existing  Carlton Vale Infant site (KVI) and Kilburn Park School Foundation (KPFS). The demolished KPFS site would be incorporated into an improved South Kilburn Open Space.

The proposal before Cabinet on Monday December 9th is:

Approves the use of £12.9m of SCIL funding, for the construction of a 1 Form Entry primary school with a nursery and the infrastructure to expand to a 2FE school (including decanting of Carlton Vale Infant school to Kilburn Park Junior school and the associated building works), as part of South Kilburn Regeneration Programme.

 Approves the use of £4.4 m of SCIL funding, for the enhancement of the South Kilburn Open Space, as part of the South Kilburn Regeneration Programme. 

Given the difficulties facing the delivery (and viability) of the remaining housing schemes on South Kilburn the proposal, by using £17.3m of Strategic CIL, removes any funding through the regeneration.

As a Foundation school Kilburn Park has possession of its land and will have to agree a land transfer to Brent Council. Brent Council once in possession will have to request permission from the Department for Education to use the land for non-educational purpose, namely the improvement of the open space.

There is a potential fly in the ointment here because Islamia Primary is still looking for a site following an eviction order from the Islam Yusuf Foundation. The Strathcona site as an alternative was overwhelmingly rejected by parents. A potential school building will be standing empty and available before demolition. Islamia could appeal to the DfE not to release the land for non-educational purposes.

Both CVI and KPSF are operating well below capacity. The latest figures I have managed to find are CVI 56 pupils out of a capacity of 230, and KPFS 66 out of a capacity of 240. As a result the LA is proposing a one form entry school (30 per year group) and a 26 place nursery. In addition however, the build will include infrastructure for expansion to 2 forms of entry if required when demand increases as a result of the regeneration, but importantly the officers' report (rather puzzlingly) states:

20. It should be noted that should the need arise for the new school to expand to a 2FE school in the future, there is no provision in this proposal to cover these costs.

The  regeneration so far does not appear to have  resulted in much of an increase in the rolls of the two schools despite Good Ofsted report. If future housing tenure is aimed at young professionals rather than families the anticipated demand may not materialise.

This brings us to another issue. Brent Council has a School Places Strategy that deals with falling numbers in primary schools in some areas of the borough, with amalgamations and federations, and potential closures as part of the solution. Because school funding is based on the number of pupils, falling numbers impact on the school budget. As argued in some recent discussions this impacts in turn on the capacity of the school to employ the full range of staff to offer a broad and balanced curriculum and SEND support.

The officers' report sees a glowing role and future for the new school:

15. The school will not only support the educational needs of the growing population but will also act as a catalyst for community cohesion, social mobility, and local economic growth, linking directly to the wider regeneration goal.

    The new school will not only replace outdated facilities but will create a modern, efficient educational environment that meets the needs of South Kilburn’s children now and in the future. It aims to provide top-tier educational facilities at the heart of the community, fostering community cohesion and improving life chances for residents.

The officers' report does not see an early increased demand for places and discounts the Islamia interest:

 The modelling exercise [ ] identified that there would be sufficient capacity over the next five years (the 2027/2028 academic year) to meet projected need if a one form of entry primary school replaced CVI and KPJ schools, taking into account the likely relocation of Islamia Primary School away from the area.

Development of a two-form entry school would likely lead to spare places in the area which would not be an efficient use of resources. However, in the longer term given the level of planned regeneration, it was felt prudent to design options that would allow the new primary school to be relatively easily expanded to a 2 FE school should the need arise.

 However the new school will not be occupied until 2029, after that period, according to the timeline. Will a 2 form need be apparent by then and additional work needed?:

 

There are no design details of the new school as yet but it may well be a similar to the pre-assembled Wembley Manor SEND school in London Road. LINK

Proposals for the improvement of the  South Kilburn Open Space are promising at this stage:

28. The proposed landscape strategy of the South Kilburn open space includes ecological enhancements and activation of the open space through a network of safe routes, creating opportunities to bring together new and existing residents of South Kilburn. The proposed improvements include new cycle and pedestrian connections, a new multi-activity area, youth space, gym trail, woodland play area and earthworks, enhanced biodiversity, community orchard, and growing space, and a proposed community pavilion that can accommodate community space and café. Officers within the Parks Service have commented on the design proposals, to ensure ease of maintenance and community benefit.