Chalkhill infill plans passed unanimously by Brent Planning Committee

 Cllr Kathleen Fraser (Independent, Chalkhill ward) speaks to the Planning Committee

 

There were some carefully considered contributions to Brent Planning Committee last night when a Metropolitan Housing Trust application for 61 new homes on the Chalkhill Estate was discussed. New blocks of up to 5 storeys will replace garages and car parking space on the 'Science Blocks' area.

Contributors recognised the need for more social housing and were pleased that ALL the new homes will be at social rent. A rare occurence in Brent!

However, there were some downsides. Mariana, from the most affected block, Einstein House, made a detailed case that a three storey block, replacing one storey garages, would impact on the amount of daylight residents received and were too close, well causing Einstein flats to be overlooked from the balconies of the new block.  Various mitigation measures were discussd, including screening of windows, tree planting etc. None of the proposals seemed to fully answer the problem.

 Cllr Kathleen Fraser, (Independent Chalkhill ward) whilst advocating the case for more social housing, recognised the disruption that would occur to residents and listed their concerns in full. She wanted assurances that existing residents would be fully involved and consulted as the demolition and new build took place.

There was concern that a CPZ would land hard-pressed low income residents with further charges. 

An issue that emerged during the discussion was a lack of confidence in Metropolitan Thames Valley's management of the estate including  management, maintenance, waste, safety, anti-social behaviour and issues such as abandoned cars dumped in estate car parks.  Metropolitan Housing Trust is separate from the daily managment and were not ble to answer fully. Brent Council will need to be in close touch with residents, councillors and Metropolitan when the work gets underway.

The Planning Committee unanimously approved the application. 

 

 

Chalkhill Estate infill at Planning Committee next week. 105 garages and car park replaced by 61 social rent homes

 

Metropolitan Housing Trust who run the Chalkhill Estate as Metropolitan Housing Thames Valley have submitted an application for the demolition of 105 garages and re-use of other space to build 61 infill homes on the 'science blocks' site on Chalkhill Road.

The estate was designed with a considerable amount of green space and there are many trees, some of which will be removed. Of the 105 garages 71 are currently unused and the application claims only 18 are used for car parking.

 

The garages are quite close to existing blocks and will be demolished and replaced by housing

 

Existing garages and car park in blue above

The planners point out that Forty Lane has been designated an 'intensification corridor' that allows for building heights of up to 5 storeys. The site is between Forty Lane and Chalkhill Road but with some buildings between the site and Forty Lane itself.

 

Building heights:

 

Terrace A - 3 storeys

Block B -3 storeys

Block C - 4 storeys

Block D - 5 storeys

Block E -3 storeys

 

There are CGIs of some of the buildings in the application papers:

Block C above

 

Plenty of trees are shown in the CGIs. There are currently 69 trees on site with 17 covered by Tree Protection orders and 10 will be removed to make way for the building of the new blocks:

 

 51 new trees will be planted to compensate for the loss but this is not sufficient to make up for the reduction in canopy cover provided by the mature trees on site that predate the estate. The developer will contribute £26,292 for mitigating the loss through new planting in the vicinity of the development.

 

£53,804 will be contributed to the carbon off-set fund. 

 

The provision of 61 new homes at social rent is positive. No intermediate product such as shared ownership is planned. As these are not generally considered affordable to local people, this is a plus. There are a number of larger family homes planned.

 

 

 B=bedrooms P=Persons

 

 There are 8 objections to the plans on the Brent Planning Portal. Behind the conflict is planners' treatment of the application as one in an urban context designated for'intensification' and residents' enjoyment of a site originally designed with plenty of light and green space. 

 

 Einstein House

 

Residents of Einstein House are particularly affected and have put in an objection. Note that a contributionof £30,000 to a CPZ is now included and a daylight assessment completed (covered in detail for each property in the Officers' Report HERE) that concludes the harm to exising residents is outweighed by the benefits of the new housing.

Einstein House Objection

 

I am writing to formally object to the above planning application, specifically the proposal to construct Block E directly behind Einstein House. My objection is based on the following planning concerns:

1. Loss of Light (Daylight and Sunlight Impact)

The proposed Block E will significantly reduce the amount of daylight and sunlight received by residents in Einstein House. The block is approximately three times the height of the current garages and will be located in close proximity to habitable rooms, including bedrooms and living rooms.

During consultation, we were informed that a daylight/sunlight report was conducted. However, no such report assessing the impact on existing homes has been included in the planning documents. The only report presented appears to relate to light within the proposed new blocks. This is a critical omission, as the council must be satisfied that BRE guidelines regarding adequate light to habitable rooms are being met. The height and massing of the proposed development will cast significant shadows over Einstein House, especially during winter months, severely affecting the quality of life for residents.

2. Loss of Privacy and Overlooking

Block E will be positioned approximately 12 metres from Einstein House. This is well below the 18-21 metre standard separation distance typically recommended between directly facing windows of habitable rooms. The proposed design includes balconies and windows that will directly face into the bedrooms and living rooms of existing residents. These rooms are considered habitable spaces and therefore deserve protection from unreasonable overlooking. No mitigation measures (e.g. frosted glass, angled balconies, or screening) appear to have been proposed to reduce this impact.

3. Noise Pollution and Anti-Social Behaviour - New Footpath

The plans propose the removal of the current secure gated area at the rear of Einstein House and its replacement with a public footpath. This significantly impacts residents' privacy, safety, and wellbeing.

Opening this area to public access may encourage anti-social behaviour, especially during evenings, and will create ongoing noise and disturbance. The proposed new lighting for the path while necessary for safety will further affect residents in ground floor flats through light pollution and reduced sleep quality. There is also no detail in the application on how this new public space will be managed or maintained to ensure current resident's safety.

4. Parking Pressure

There are already major parking constraints in the area. The proposed development does not include a robust parking strategy. While a small number of designated spaces appear in the plans, there is no clarity on whether new residents will be restricted from using existing street or estate parking.This will almost certainly exacerbate existing pressures, especially as no Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) or traffic management scheme is proposed. The application also appears to lack a comprehensive Transport Assessment to evaluate local capacity.

5. Poor Site Planning - Disproportionate Impact of Block E

While the wider development includes some open and green space, the positioning of Block E raises serious concerns. Unlike the other proposed blocks, Block E has been placed extremely close to existing homes in Einstein House just 12 metres away and at a height that is significantly taller than the current garages it replaces.

This placement creates an unbalanced development where one group of residents (in Einstein House) bears a disproportionate burden of the scheme's impact, including loss of light, privacy, and increased noise.

The council should require a review of the mass and siting of Block E to reduce its uniquely high impact and ensure a fairer and more sensitive design approach, especially when other blocks in the proposal do not create similar issues.

6. Lack of Transparent Consultation

Residents were not meaningfully consulted on key elements of the proposal. Several important documents such as the daylight/sunlight assessment for existing residents and detailed traffic or security plans were not shared during the consultation period.
This raises serious concerns about the transparency and fairness of the process, especially considering the significant impact this proposal will have on existing residents' lives.

7. Impact on Mental Wellbeing and Quality of Life

The combined effect of reduced daylight, increased noise, loss of privacy, and general overdevelopment will severely affect the mental wellbeing and quality of life of residents in Einstein House. These concerns should be taken seriously in line with Brent Council's Local Plan objectives and commitment to high-quality, healthy living environments.

Objections raised here fall in line with Brent's Local plan policies, London Plan policy and BRE daylight and sunlight guidelines.

For the reasons set out above, I respectfully urge Brent Council to refuse this application in its current form, or at the very least, require significant redesign and another consultation to mitigate its serious impacts on existing residents.

Einstein House Residents

The Planning Committee takes place at 6pm on Wednesday December 10th in the Conference Hall of Brent Civic Centre or can be observed online HERE.

 

Chalkhill Estate Centre (Google Earth)

 

When visiting the site I heard fears expressed that further infill proposals from Metropolitan will be made on the estate if this application is successful. Nearby on King's Drive the freeholder is consulting on infill plans for Kings Court (Kings Estate Improvement Programme) and Carmel Court and there are longer term plans for redevelopment to high rise of the ASDA, Kwik Fit, Torch corner site.

 

Metropolitan Housing respond to Archery Court concerns

Alison Hopkins has now received a reponse from  Metropolitan Housing regarding the concerns she raised over conditions at Archery Court, Wembley that were publicised on Wembley Matters. LINK

Dear Ms Hopkins

Thank you for your emails to Geeta Nanda, Chief Executive Officer received on 15 and 28 December 2017 Geeta was concerned to note the continuing difficulties residents in Archery Court are experiencing at this time. She has asked this team to look into your concerns and to feedback to her.

I firstly must offer our sincere apologies for our failure to respond to your earlier communication of 15 December 2017. Whilst it is evident there has been a lot of work carried out by ourselves and Barratt Homes it has become apparent that we did not take the opportunity to update you personally. I agree that this is disappointing, and we will be seeking to understand why such a fundamental part of the process was overlooked.

It is vital that we do not lose sight of any unresolved issues moving forward, and as such I have recorded your concerns as an official complaint, as this will enable us to keep track and, more importantly, keep you appraised. A formal acknowledgement will follow in due course.

In the interim, I wish to advise you of the action taken thus far:

·         A number of residents reported individual failures of electrical items in their homes to the concierge on duty at Archery Court on 09 December 2017. This appears to be the consequence of a power surge;

·         I understand that Barratt Homes, our developers, visited Archery Court over the weekend of 09/10 December 2017 in response to these reports and to effect repairs. I believe there were staff from Barratt Homes present to address any immediate concerns residents had during this weekend;

·         As a consequence of the significant numbers of electrical problems being experienced by a number of residents, helpfully summarised by yourself, we identified we should carry out emergency electrical checks of each flat to ensure there were no ongoing concerns, this being over and above what Barratt Homes were doing. These checks did not reveal any immediate risks;

·         We provided temporary heaters to those residents who had lost use of their heating, again over and above what Barratt Homes were doing;

·         I was particularly concerned to note from your email today that one resident has no hot water Barratt Homes have attended the flat in question today and diagnosed a fault with the programmer, a consequence of the power surge. I understand a similar scenario occurred in other residents’ homes and programmers have been replaced. Please be assured we are now working with the resident and with Barratt Homes to ensure a replacement is fitted as quickly as possible;

·         Barratt Homes are currently carrying out further investigative work to identify any ongoing faults with the communal heating/ventilation system, and we are liaising closely with them to understand the current position, and to establish what the next steps will be to resolve this. We should have a clearer understanding of the position early next week.

I agree that consideration needs to be given to how each resident has been affected by recent events, and as such we will consider the impact on a case by case basis, based upon the information you provided on 15 December 2017 to identify the support we are able to offer.

If you are aware of any other residents who experienced difficulties or damaged electrical items, please do let me know.

We will contact each resident affected in due course.

In summary I believe that appropriate steps have been taken as quickly as they can, but acknowledge there remain some issues which are still under investigation, and more importantly some concerns residents have about losses they may have incurred.

I am amenable to discussing your concerns further. I was unable to locate a contact number for you, but I can be reached on the direct number below this afternoon before 6pm.

Metropolitan Housing and Barratt Homes fail to rectify dangerous conditions in Wembley social housing block

Ex local councillor Alison Hopkins has decided to go public regarding dangerous conditions in new build social housing managed by Metropolitan Housing and built by Barratt Homes after Metropolitan Housing failed to respond to urgent concerns.

Hopkins said:

Residents  got in touch with me as I am their former local councillor. The flats are new build and have been plagued with faults since their first occupation.

 

Over the past months, they have had serious and dangerous issues with the power supply to the flats. Given the Grenfell event, they are extremely worried. Many of the families have special needs children. Some have no heating or only temporary and inadequate heating.

 

The following is a summary of issues raised so far: they have been collated today by a resident knocking on the doors of those at home.  These issues require urgent and immediate action from Metropolitan and Barratt's.

 

Archery Court HA9 0FR – issues to date. Each is a different flat

• communal  antenna not working.
• just temporary heating meaning they have no control on the heating, the ventilation system is not working, washing machine (with clothes still in it) so she has to foot the bill of buying school uniforms again, when she turns on the washing machine it blows the electricity in the entire flat. She has 5 children ages 15,13,10,6 and a 3 month old baby.
• this lady had an issue with her electricity since the end of November, she went without heating for 1 1/2 weeks her electric box trips out she calls them (metropolitan housing repairs) every time she has an issue an and they tell her that’s she’s always complaining and why is it her flat alone that have these issues... she has 3 children age 12, 9,and 6 The 12 year old is wheel chair bound with special needs and is home schoole
• washing machine, dryer, all mobile phone chargers are blown, internet box has blown and heating is not working along with the ventilation system too. She has 2 children age 5 and 6 months her son is also special needs. They have also told her that they will not reimburse her the money that she used to stay at a hotel in which I might add we were told to go to a hotel and we would be reimbursed!!
• heating is temporary ie. has not control over the heating other than turning it off completely if it gets too hot, has no ventilation system at all, expensive laptop charger and iPad charger too blown, sound system blown and coffee machine blown too 
• fridge not working and will be calling the insurance people today and just found out last night that have an electrical problem with my heating in the front room!!!!
• cooker timer not working children’s DVD player is blown.
• heating is temporary, no ventilation system.  
•  living room heating is not working and ventilation system not working. Her son was stuck in the lift for 20mins!!!
• ventilation not working but has terrible damp an mould in a cupboard also a leak in the bedroom however we all had a visit from our housing officer November 30th which she reported but metropolitan told her they have to wait on Barratt's permission to do some cut in the wall!!! And to investigate the other flat!!!

 

 

11 year old's postive message for inclusive Chalkhill event

Since the Referendum vote even Brent has seen cases of racist insults against some of our residents so it is good that the Chalkhill Fun Day publicity features a strong inclusive statement from 11 year old Yusra Qamar who says:

My country is the earth. I am a citizen of the world which consists of only one race - the human race

The Fun Day bringing together everyone in the Chalkhill community is on Saturday 16th July.

Chalkhill: A Growing community

The day after media publicity about the health benefits of gardening it was good to spend yesterday helping out with other volunteers on the Chalkhill allotments.

We were clearing the raised beds for the new season and topping them up with compost. There were problems with growing last year because there was no water source on the allotment that runs alongside the Metropolitan railway line.

That should be resolved shortly after an agreement between Metropolitan Housing and the Well London project on Chalkhill to install a water supply.  Anyone interested in  growing healthy local food and improving their own health through the exercise involved in gardening should look out for publicity regarding bagging one of the plots.

Join the Trust and help enhance Chalkhill's future

A notification from the Chalklhill Community Trust:

During the regeneration of Chalkhill Estate  over £1.4 Million was raised through land sales intended to ensure the continued development of Chalkhill. This fund has since been managed by a board of trustees, including community representatives. We are now seeking to bring 3 new trustees on board, 2 representing the local community and 1 representing local business. In this role you will be able to influence where and how this money is being invested, as well as steer the Trust’s policy on the management of the fund.

The successful applicants will receive formal trustee training, but will need some of the following attributes:

- Be committed to the Chalkhill Community Trust Fund and its objectives.
- Have the ability to remain impartial when making decisions, not allowing your personal views or prejudice to affect your conduct as a trustee.
- Have an open mind when seeking solutions.
- Be able to attend at least 4 meetings per year during office hours, as well as any additional meetings as required by the Trust.
- Either live within, or run a business local to, the area of benefit of the Chalkhill Community Trust Fund.
- Be committed and dedicated to further the aims of the charity.
- Have a strategic vision and be able to contribute to the continuance of the Chalkhill Community Trust Fund and its future success.
- Have good, independent judgement so as not to compromise the proper management of the organisation and/or adversely affect the reputation of the Chalkhill Community Trust Fund.
- Have an understanding and acceptance of the legal duties, responsibilities and liabilities of a trustee.
- Be able to demonstrate an ability to act with integrity, objectivity, openness and honesty.
- Have the ability to keep certain matters confidential.

Closing date November 20th. Application pack HERE