The Autumn glory of a Brent council estate

There are many stereotypes surrounding council estates and impressed by the beauty of the King's Drive/Pilgrims Way estate in Wembley I thought I would share some pictures with you that will perhaps challenge the stereotype and show that social housing estates can be beautiful.

The estate is in a corner of what is now Fryent Country park and is built on part of a larger site on which prefabs (temporary housing for bombed out families) were built by German prisoners of war in 1946-7.  The majority of the housing is still rented or lease holder with some private after the council right-to-buy of the Thatcher era.

A claim to fame is that Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts lived on the estate and was expelled from his home to practise his drumming in the surrounding fields. Follow these links for more LINK LINK LINK

Accounts of the time speak of the 200 or so prefab children who used to play in what seemed like countryside surrounding the prefabs and today it is still a wonderful rare place for children to be able to play out safely with their friends.  They can have adventures, play hide and seek and pick blackberries just 15 minutes walk from Wembley Stadium.

Built on a gentle slope which goes down to Fryent Way with Barn Hill to the north the estate benefits from the retention of many mature trees when the prefabs were replaced with blocks of flats and staggered terraced housing in the 80s.

The trees enhance the estate not just with their beauty but as a habitat for birds and mopping up air pollution, screening traffic noise and providing cool in the hottest of summers. I always notice a difference when I get home after a hot and dusty day in Central London.

Some of the trees, particularly the flowering cherries, are at the end of their lifetime and I do hope that Brent Housing Partnership will replace them to preserve the estate's beauty. Another problem is that Veolia, the council's Public Realm contractor, has a habit of taking a chainsaw to shrubs and,  irrespective of their natural shape, reducing them to cuboids or spheres sheering off buds or berries.

I have posted a gallery of pictures below which I hope illustrate the power of trees to enhance a semi-urban landscape:

UPDATE First steps taken in making ASDA/Forty Lane/Kings Drive junction safe

New markings were installed this morning on King's Drive, Wembley, at the junction with Forty Lane and the ASDA slip road.

Campaigners including Wembley Matters and local resident Ann Fitzgerald have drawn attention to the dangers at the crossing. LINK Often people drive straight across six lanes of traffic (there are no traffic lights on King's Drive) and do a u-turn on the Asda slip road to drive north to Bridge Road/Forty Avenue. The large 'Turn Left' sign and cross hatching make it clearer that cars should not drive across Forty Lane. In addition there are now no parking zig zags outside the French School entrance in King's Drive which used to be the Town Hall car park entrance, very close to the junction.

Ann Fitzgerald who has witnessed numerous infringements at the junction said the news was 'Brilliant!':

I’m so fearful of one of the children getting knocked down. A BMW on Monday did that Kings Drive cut through at speed.  I just don’t know if I could live with myself – thus I feel I have become a nag.  But as you know yourself, it’s right by the entry gates to the Lycee and I do think drivers get a tunnel vision with gaining time and just don’t think pedestrian.

Ironically cars were seen using the manoeuvre even while the  workmen were painting the signs.

The installation of a yellow junction box LINK at the junction is the next stage in making the junction safe.  This will address the problem in the morning school-run rush hour of slow moving traffic blocking the pedestrian crossing even when the lights are on green.

It is hoped that the box junction will be installed before December 7th.  It will have to be done overnight due to the volume of day time traffic and timing will be dependent on the weather.

There are also plans for a new signal crossing at the junction of The Paddocks and Forty Lane, the other side of the French School. It is hoped that this might deter people crossing Forty Lane from the bus stop outside the old Town Hall entrance to the Chalkhill Estate.

Another accident at Wembley ASDA junction tonight

I came across another accident close to Wembley Asda about 40 minutes ago.  Locals have become increasingly concerned at the number of accidents, including collisions, at this site.  Cars leave several lanes to exit from Asda to turn right into the southbound carriageway of Forty Lane.  Others turn left into the northbound carriageway, while cars also enter King's Drive from Forty Lane.

The satellite photograph above was taken before the opening of the new petrol station at Asda which resulted in a new road layout within the Asda site and increased traffic and the Click & Go facility has now had its hours extended.

The French School is due to open in September at the former Brent Town Hall and will eventually have 1100 pupils adding to the traffic.

At the timeof the school run and just after northbound traffic on Forty Lane is often bumper to bumper across the junction with cars exiting Asda trying to squeeze in when the lights change.

Thankfully injuries tonight appeared to be only minor but clearly this junction needs urgent review.

Change to Barnhill polling station site

The temporary polling station

Brent Council has made a last minute change to one of the polling stations in Barnhill ward.  Voting used to take place in the Town Hall which is now being converted into the private Wembley French School.  Poll cards advertised a temporary polling station in a hut on King's Drive but that proved impracticable and voting will now take place in a hut on the corner of King's Drive and Greenhill Way.

Some prickly characters seen in Wembley

I was cheered up on seeing these hedgehogs late last night on my way back from the Wembley Green Man. They were on the lawns in front of the flats on King's Drive, opposite the former Town Hall Library.

It is estimated that the population of hedgehogs in the UK has declined from an estimated 36 million to just 1 million affected by loss of habitat and increased traffic fatalities.


Readers of the BBC Wildlife magazine recently voted for the hedgehog to be the nation's wildlife symbol which the Green Party welcomed as appropriate as it represents the threat faced by many species.

Caroline Lucas will be leading a session at our forthcoming conference on the RSPB State of Nature report LINK

Officers recommend go ahead for ASDA petrol station

The planning application for the building of a petrol station in the car park of the Wembley ASDA store was called in by Barnhill councillors Michael Pavey and Shafique Choudhary.  It will be considered by the Planning Committee on July 25th.

The officers reject objections that have been made on grounds of increased traffic congestion, increased danger for children and the elderly at the Forty Lane/King's Drive/ASDA intersection, and noise and nuisance to neighbours. They say that it is not within the planning system's purview to consider whether this would lead to over-provision of petrol stations in the vicinity.

On the capacity of the ASDA entrance road, Forty Lane and King's Drive intersection the report says:

Previous capacity analysis carried out for the signalised junction at the Asda entrance onto Forty Lane suggests there is plenty of spare capacity at this particular junction, so the predicted increases in flows are not considered likely to give rise to any junction capacity problems at the site access

The photograph below, taken recently, shows traffic at the intersection:

Traffic at ASDA entrance road/.Forty Lane/King's Drive