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| Early days of the campaign to Save the Queensbury |
Guest blog by Ian Elliott
A property developer bought The
Queensbury pub in Willesden Green almost four years ago and lodged a plan to
build a 10 storey tower block in its place. Save The Queensbury was formed and
we convinced Brent Council's planning department to reject the plans. We then represented
ourselves at a five day public inquiry when the developer appealed,
unsuccessfully and the Inspector spoke highly of the merits of the existing
building.
From the start we believed that
the building, in a conservation area, should have been protected by being added
to Brent's "local list" of buildings. The problem is, we have been
left completely confused as to who takes a decision as to what buildings are on
the list and have now been stonewalled by decision-makers at Brent Council.
Back in 2012 we were told that
there were no plans to review Brent's list, which contains buildings as diverse
as the State Ballroom in Kilburn to the bandstand in Queens Park.
In June 2014 a mysterious report
appear on Brent's website, rightly adding Kensal Rise library to the list but
claiming that The Queensbury had been reviewed but would not be added. Naturally
this was a blow so we asked for the assessment to be made public. Brent refused
to publish the assessment so we complained to Brent's Chief Executive and asked
for this to be looked at by a senior officer, away from those close to the
decision.
Instead we had a reply giving
Brent a clean bill of health - from a manager in the same department who we
wanted to be investigated as failing to consult with residents. (Bear in mind
also that officers in planning have twice recommended that the pub be
demolished, in spite of local opposition). Weird, eh?
Fast forward to summer 2015 and
Brent consulted
on a review of the local list and we, along with dozens of residents, asked for
The Queensbury to be listed. Cllr Margaret McLennan, Brent Council’s lead
member for housing and development, said:
“This consultation is a chance for residents to have their say on the pieces of
Brent’s fantastic heritage that are most important to them. I would encourage
people to go online and nominate their favourite site of historical interest to
be considered for inclusion on the Local List.” So we did.
We thought we were making
progress when a report emerged, adding The Queensbury to the local list, later
2015. A decision was promised, in December 2015, but an email from Brent
Council reveals that a decision not to proceed was apparently taken by Brent's
Cabinet.
We asked for the minutes of that
decision, given that it was on a Cabinet agenda for December. No response. No
agenda. No minutes. Hang on.... this is getting weirder. Where's the
transparency?
The Chair of planning then tells
us that a "Policy Coordination Group" would a review the Cabinet
decision but that's left us mystified. Of all the 30+ groups and committees
listed on Brent's Democracy
site, the PCG is not one. So we asked again, only to hear that the Lead
Councillor (i.e. the one inviting us to participate in this democracy) will no
longer comment or email us on this matter.
At the turn of
2015 we put in a Freedom of Information request to try and clear the smoke
around Brent's mysterious PCG and hopefully find out precisely who took a
decision not to add The Queensbury (again) and on what basis.
In law, Brent
have to respond to an FoI request, by the first week of February.
We will wait
and see if we get transparency and minutes from the mystery PCG. Or at least an
explanation as to why The Queensbury was not added, again. Without this, the
popular and viable pub in a beautiful conservation area remains vulnerable to
demolition.
