UPDATE: APPROVED BY PLANNING COMMITTEE TONIGHT. Developer to pay Brent Council £2.2m to reduce affordable student accomodation at Fairgate house to zero

 

Demolition in progress on the High Road

 

With immense brass neck the developer of Fairgate House, 390-400 and 402-408, High Road, Wembley, HA9 has come back to Brent Council renaging on the 35% affordable student housing that enabled the application to be fast-tracked and consented. LINK  LINK

They now want to reduce the affordable element to zero percent  through a Deed of Variation and offer Brent Council a measly pay-off  (Payment in Lieu) of just £2.2m towards affordable housing elsewhere.

Even more astonishing, council planning officers recommend that Brent Planning Committee accepts the deal at tonight's meeting.

Ironically the scheme was used as a positive example of what was possible by councillors opposed to a neighbouring scheme that offered no affordable accommodation  when that was approved by just 4 votes to 3. LINK

Extract from Wembley Matters' account of that meeting:

Cllr Afzal questioned why student accommodation when there was a crying need for housing  for the thousands of people on Brent's housing list.  I have embedded the video of the discussion that resulted above as it rehearses many of the arguments on both sides of the debate and important for future applications.

A particularly controversial aspect of the proposal was that unlike Fairgate House, the scheme proposed no affordable student housing at all, based on a viability assessment. 

The developer, Regal London, claimed exceptional reasons for the lack of affordable accommodation and offered £3.95m for affordable housing elsewhere as well as  £70k towards local parks.

So the Fairgate House developer is now offering less. The original 35% affordable becomes the equivalent of just 5% affordable. From the officers' report one would imagine that £2.2m would pay for loads of homes!

It is recognised that there is a London wide need for affordable student accommodation and the proposed change in the provision (to a Payment in Lieu towards traditional affordable housing) would result in the affordable provision diverging from the requirements set out in London Plan Policy H15. However, given the very significant need for low-cost rent affordable homes (Social and London Affordable Rent) and the presence of extant consents held by the Council within which additional affordable housing could be provided, it is considered that a change to a payment in lieu would result in significant planning benefits.

 

It is considered that there are exceptional circumstances for the PiL approach to be supported in this particular instance, as set out above. This offers greater public benefit to Brent by contributing towards addressing local and strategic housing needs for conventional Use Class C3 affordable accommodation. It is recognised that the proposed payment in lieu would represent a significant reduction when compared to the extant consent which was subject to the fast-track approach. However, the contribution would represent the maximum viable affordable contribution. The benefits of the development are considered to outweigh the harm associated with the scheme. It is recommended that members delegate authority to the Head of Planning and Development Services to enter into a Deed of Variation to secure the legal obligations set out above.

 

Let's see how the Planning Committee deals with this tonight.

349 student bedroom accommodation in 13,16 & 17 storey building in Wembley High Road likely to be approved tomorrow

 

The present buildings, Pitman House and Fairgate House, 390-402, 402-408 High Road Wembley

The replacement building

The plans for a massive student accommodation block to replace Pitman House and Fairgate House on Wembley High Road, comes to Plannning Committee tomorrow.

Thge plans are for a party 13, part 16 and part-17 storey buildng housing 349 student bedrooms and a range of communcal spaces, along with three commercial units at ground floor level. 

Following other high-rise buildings on the High Road this is consider acceptable by officers. The building would almost face the controversial Cecil Avenue/Copland site where Brent Council is proposing a high density 9 storey building and close to the 17 and 19 storey Wembley Link (416 - 44 High Road) and the 27-storey Twin Towers (Uncle building) that replaced Chesterfield House.

The mock-tudor shops wedged between will begin to look very much out of place.

 Figures indicate the number of storeys

The land behind the development, between it and the railway line, is also likely to be  developed as a continuation of the Wembley Link concept:

The planning application has attracted few comments and only two objections.That is quite surpising given its size and potential impact. The Brent Trees Officer regrets the loss of trees in the development and is pessimistic about the survival chances of new trees to be planted in a shaded space.

Student accommodation and its suitability for the area and any potential problems are not directly addressed but Officers have this to say about that aspect of the proposal:

…Student housing contributes to Brent’s housing targets, at a rate of 2.5 bedspaces to one conventional housing unit, and the provision of accommodation for 349 students would equate to 139.6 new homes, which would contribute towards the wider target of 650 dwellings within the whole of the site allocation. To date within the wider site allocation, planning permission has been secured for 256 homes within Wembley Link scheme (18/3111) and outline consent secured for 5000sqm of residential floorspace (upto 54 homes) within Ujima House (19/3092).

The accommodation would be secured by condition for occupation by full time students enrolled on UK accredited and based further education courses during term time (for not less than 39 weeks of the year). The remaining time, (outside term time,) the Council is content that the units may be rented out on short-term lets, perhaps assisting tourism within the summer vacation period. This will apply to all of the student rooms. The majority of the units (51% of bedrooms) would be provided through a nominations agreement with one or more higher education providers, through the s106 agreement. This demonstrates that the accommodation would meet a specific London need, in line with policy H15 of London Plan and policy BH7 of Brent’s Local Plan.

A draft student management plan has been submitted, setting out how the development would be managed through an on-site staff presence providing a point of contact for students but also for local residents who might be concerned about any incidents of anti-social behaviour. Management and maintenance of communal facilities, emergencies and security measures are also addressed. An updated document would be required as a condition prior to occupation, and would provide a dedicated contact for local residents.

Officers recommend approval of the application subject to conditions and a Section106 Plan.

If you care about Wembley Central get along to this exhibition on Saturday and make your views known

 

Fairgate House today

 

 

The building that will replace it

 

EXHIBITION SATURDAY APRIL 9th 10AM-1PM

 

 4TH FLOOR, UJIMA HOUSE

388 HIGH ROAD, HA9 6AR

 

A handful of locals attended the first exhibition of the proposals for the redevelopment of Fairgate House and Pitman House in High Road, Wembley . In the unlikely surroundings of Stonebridge Boxing Club (punchbags may come in  handy) in Ujima House, a few easels displayed panels outlining the proposals that are still at an early stage.

 

There have been pre-application meetings between the developer Regal  and Brent planners but the PR agency insisted that there was still much to play for.

They encountered a sceptical audience who had seen their area transformed by concrete blocks with little benefit to long-term residents. Residents were particularly concerned that early promise of community facilities at the 'Twin Towers' on the Chesterfield House site, now marketed as 'Uncle' did not come to fruition and the Bowling Club pavilion in King Eddie's park is not available to the community. 'How can you build a community when there is nowhere for the community to meet?'

 

 

 

The agency said that this was a need that they could convery to Regal but there were doubts over the potential for shared student-community. The company that took managment of the building of the building may not be sympathetic even if the developer was. 

Roof terrace

 

Other developers' promises of accessible outdoor space had come to nothing with the spaces provided scrappy, litter strewn and inaccessible to the public.  Would the roof garden survive into the final stages of planning?

 

Clearly the current Fairgate House has little or no architectural merit but will it's replacement really make most of the opportunity offered by its demolition?

 

 Distribution of student accommodation

 

Residents also questioned the building's function as student accommodation asking what the area offered to students compared with the Quintain development in Wembley Park.  The agency was unable to provide evidence  there and then of the demand for such accommodation in Wembley Central but said that the developer must have done some research to establish the viability of the proposal.  There was scepticism over the ease of student travel into central London given the poor quality of service and frequency of the ageing Bakerloo line compared with the Jubilee.

 

The  context of the development is important as it is part of an 'intensification corridor 'and close to the the 'tall building zones' designated in Brent's new Local Plan. There is a continuous ribbon of new development starting at the massive Quintain, Wembley Park,  site reaching down to Wembley Stadium station and along High Road to the Twin Towers with additional buildings  further along around Wembley Central station. Then Ealing Road leads to the very dense high rise developments in Alperton.

Any opposition gains are likely to be limited to tweaks in plans rather than outright rejection.

The large bulky yellow building in the above image is to be built on the former Copland school site and will face the proposed Fairgate House development. Together the two sides of the High Road will present a sort of concrete canyon with less distance between the two sides of the road than you find on a European boulevard.

I pointed out at the exhibition the 3 storey buildings that line the High Road on the left side of the picture and wondered how  long they would survive. As you can see the blue high rises being built next to the Chiltern railway line tower over the low rise on that side of the road.

This image would make more sense if you could also see the heights of the buildings on the  west side of the High Road.

 

What was obvious from our vantage on the 4th Floor of Ujima House was the loss of vegetation on the  High Road side of the Chiltern Line compared with the suburban side. The High Road side has lost much of what was a 'green corridor' and more is likely to go with the developments in the pipeline despite promises of a 'linear park'.

 

 Between the railway and High Road

The view across to the other side of the railway line, trees and shrubs still intact on the bank

 

Opposite Ujima and Fairgate House is the huge ex-Copland School site where the yellow building in the above 'Emerging Context' illustration will be built - a prime example of densification along with the nearby Brent House development.

The ex-Copland School site

 

On leaving the area I was struck by two of the children's paintings that adorn the green hoarding around the Copland site.

 

They rather neatly sum up the different views of Wembley's future.