Residents' views on Wembley Stadium events & capacity increase now on record

Wembley Matters drew attention recently to the fact that the Minutes for the March 23rd Planning Committee failed to record the content of residents' representations against Wembley Stadium's application to increase the number of full capacity events at the stadium. See Residents' views absent from offical record of Wembley Stadium Planning Committee meeting

This omission has now been rectified. This is an extract from the re-written minutes:

Dr Ruth Kosmin spoke on behalf of Barnhill Residents’ Association (BHRA) objecting to the proposal, including on the grounds that the cost benefit analysis submitted was inadequate and should not be taken into account. 

Dr Michael Calderbank objected to the proposal on behalf of Wembley Park Residents’ Association, including on the grounds that it is unnecessary and inappropriate to amend the current cap, impact on amenity of residents because of anti-social behaviour, and insufficient mitigation measures. 

Denise Cheong representing Wembley Champions spoke in objection to the proposal, including on the grounds of failure to meet obligations under the current condition in terms of infrastructure provision, impact of full event days on existing road and public transport network, strain on local businesses and residents, all leading to detrimental impact on quality of life.

D Bablas on behalf of Wembley High Road Businesses Association spoke in objection to the proposal, including on the grounds of impact on some of the businesses as leisure time shoppers are deterred from coming to the High Rd; parking problems exacerbated on event days; impact of additional people on quality of High Street environment. 

Fatema-Karim Khaku representing BHRA also spoke in objection to the proposal, including on these grounds: submitted transport study was inadequate; there was a lack of empirical evidence and robust analysis; failure to properly consider impact on the tube network; overall, unacceptable impact on the transport infrastructure. 

In accordance with the provisions of the Planning Code of Practice, Councillor Choudhary, ward member, stated that he had been approached by members of BHRA. Councillor Choudhary objected to the proposal on the grounds that it did not contain adequate information to assess the environmental, transport and business impacts. He added that in addition to increased anti-social behaviour, the proposal would put a strain on the road network in the area. 

In accordance with the provisions of the Planning Code of Practice, Councillor Stopp stated that he had been approached by local residents. Councillor Stopp stated that the potential benefits of the proposal would be outweighed by the costs to the area including fear of anti-social behaviour and increased litter (evidenced by the increase in the caseload from his constituents) and undesirable precedent.

Interestingly the written statements of Cllr Butt and Sheth, read out to the Committee by the head of planning, are still not included.

Brent Council: Mystery of the missing minutes

From Brent Council website this morning

The missing minutes of the Planning Committee came up at Brent Cabinet last night in relation to the Council's proposed Pub Protection Policy.  The July 23rd Planning Committee was unusual in that it did not discuss individual planning applications but the principles behind council policies including the Development Management Plan and issues such as the amount of affordable housing and how to manage the process by which developers try to reduce the amount of affordable housing through viability assessments.

The Committee's views (which are statutorily independent of the Council itself) are clearly vital in informing the fraemwork within which planning decisions are made. An accurate record of the Planning Committee's discussions are absolutely essential.

However two months later the minutes have not been published and my questions about non-publication have not been answered. I suspect that they may have been lost - although there is probably a form of newspeak that would be used instead of that simple word.

The consequence was that when the Cabinet discussed the Development Management Plan yesterday even the documentation did not reflect what the Planning Committee had said. This was evident when the Pub Protection policy was discussed. The Council had been forwarded the model polict prdiced by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and the Council was supposed to discuss amendments to the Brent policy in the light of CAMRA's recommendations.

A member of the Queensbury campaign pointed out the the Cabinet that the policy brought to the Cabinet remained unchanged. I found out later that by noon yesterday CAMRA had received no communication from Brent Council. The dialogue with CAMRA seemed not to have taken place in the two months between the Planning Committee and the Cabinet.

However, Andy Donald, Director of  Rgeneration and Major Projects told the Cabinet that there were 'ongoing discussions' with CAMRA, which must have taken place between noon yesterday and 7pm! He said that there was space to add further to the policy in the future. Michael Pavey, deputy leader, commented that CAMRA was a reputable organisation  and that there would need to be good reasons given for any departure from their recoemmndations.

The issue of affordable housing and viability assessments is clearly extremely important during the current housing crisis and was discussed in some depth at the Planning Committee on July 23rd. Donald commented last night that there was no reason why developers' viability assessments should not be made publicly available, although they were technically complex, but warends that publication was likely to be opposed by developers. The aim of the Council was that their view on what constituted a legitimate viability assessment would be clear and consistent.

Some of the main issues that were discussed at the July 23rd Planning Committee were covered on Wembley Matters at the time. The report can be found HERE.

Minutes for Brent Planning Committee now available

Following a delay caused by the illness and hospitalisation of the officer concerned, the Minutes of the last planning Committee Meeting, which considered the Kensal Rise Library planning application, are now available in time for tonight's meeting.  LINK

Putting aside the possiblity of the recording of meetings so that such a situation does not occur again, I would like to wish the officer concerned a speedy recovery.