Brent Planning Committee tonight approved the planning application for the Lidding Road Garages site in Kenton by four votes in favour, 3 abstentions and one against.
Cllrs Butt, Kennelly and Johnson abstained because they were not convinced by assurances from Thames Water over the flooding and sewage sitution which has been going on for some time and worsened considerably over the weekend. Thames Water attributed the problems to 'misconnections' when foul water is wrongly connected and flows into Wealdstone Brook.
Cllr Michael Maurice who voted against said he had no confidence at all in Thames Water's ability to deal with this situation and said he needed assurances that there was no risk to the propsoed development and to neighbouring properties.
Evidence was given by John Poole demonstrating that there had been surface water flooding despite Thames Water claiming that there had been no incidents.
Agents for the developer said they has satisfied Thames Water with their plans for sustainable drainage. They insisted that their plans would not worsen the current situation and perhaps make it better.
This is John Poole's excellent illustrated presentation:
This is a map produced by Thames Water showing the known misconnections – the red dots and lots of them – of foul surface water and foul sewage water in the Brent and Harrow Kenton areas.
This is a map produced by the Environment Agency showing who they believe are the riparian owners with regards to the Wealdstone Brook in the Kenton area of Brent. Note that Brent Council is assumed to be the riparian owner of large sections of the Wealdstone Brook and its banks – this includes council owned land as well as council owned properties.
Last week the Wealdstone Brook was at its worst ever. Human excrement was seen floating in the shallow waters of the brook through Woodcock Park. The smell from the brook was vile. The water was more than polluted – it was toxic. In 50 years living in Brent close to the brook I have never known it as bad.
This isn’t an issue of house values but it is an issue of health values
The drainage map shows the foul surface and foul sewage pipes that run across the proposed development at the end of Lidding Road. The red dot on plot is the manhole cover which overflowed on October 5th last year.
Brent Council has produced a number of climate emergency documents. I have produced copies of two of them for you. One covers biodiversity and the other is about tackling the climate emergency. Both make it a central point that we need to protect and improve our remaining green spaces by making them greener.
We in Kenton are working with the council to green up our area and make a big contribution to brent council’s target of being carbon neutral by 2030.
Both proposed planning applications run counter to these green policies of Brent Council. I therefore urge you to request from Oliver Myers, the Brent Council sustainability officer, a report on the impact of both proposed developments before you make a final decision. This would also coincide with the final report of the London Flood Review which is looking into the causes of the serious flooding events which hit London on the 12th and 25th July 2021. The final report is due out this summer.
I have highlighted the problems of the serious pollution of the Wealdstone Brook which is close to the proposed Lidding Road development. until an independent water analysis shows that the water quality in the brook is a least close to safe, then any and all proposed housing developments should be suspended pending works by Thames Water and the Environment Agency to improve the situation.
I understand that Brent planners have to take the word of Thames Water with regards to drainage systems in the area and that they are safe for further connections. I have to say that the experiences of local residents and the words from various engineers from Thames Water and Lanes for Drains that this is not the case.
I urge you to delay a decision on the proposed planning applications until the London Flood Review has completed its work and published its findings and that you have received a report from your sustainability officer.
We don’t need chemical warfare in the Kenton area of Brent – we already have it on a daily basis from the highly toxic and polluted water in the Wealdstone Brook. There are trace levels of oxygen in the water – then there are trace levels of oxygen on Mars.
