Brent Council's latest proposals for Newland Court infill road demonstrates it 'just isn't a viable site'

 Marc Etukudo of Newland Court, Wembley Park, one of Brent Council's infill sites has written to BrentCouncil about the impracticability and potential danger of their proposals on parking:

 

I had a meeting with a few residents of Newland Court last night and quite a few issues were raised regarding this proposal at Newland Court Ref: 22/3124. As you already know, none of the residents want this proposal to go ahead for so many reasons which you already know about but mainly because it JUST ISN'T A VIABLE SITE. Nothing about this proposal makes sense to start with and neither are any of the plans. Today, I want to bring to your attention the NEW PLANS that Brent has submitted in regards to the 12 parking spaces outside the block between flats 49 - 60 by the barrier gate end of Newland Court at the Barn rise entrance.

 

  

Please note that the 12 parking spaces already exist but what Brent's NEW PLANS intend to do is to move the parking spaces from the south side by the pavement to the north side against a raised wall and fencing in some parts, and with shrubs in the other parts. This means that everytime cars want to park they will have to let passengers off, including the elderly and kids onto the road from the passenger side because once parked up, no one will be able to get in or out of the car on the passenger side. This will also be the case anytime a car wants to pull out with passengers because it will not be possible to open doors on the passenger side.

 

IT IS A LOT SAFER AND MORE PRACTICAL TO HAVE THE CARS PARKED SOUTH OF THE ROAD BY THE PAVEMENT AS IT IS AT PRESENT

 

It also means that all the parked cars will be situated directly under the trees, constantly getting all the sticky residue from the trees and acidic bird poo that will damage the paintwork of cars that are parked there. Is Brent going to compensate for any damage to the paintwork of cars? And this is because Brent wants to turn a private road into a NEW ONE WAY PUBLIC HIGHWAY which is a very, very dangerous move for many reasons. It is going to be less than 5 metres wide and will encourage even more cars to use Newland Court as a cut through to avoid traffic on Forty Avenue which runs about 20 metres parallel with Newland Court. 

 

 

HOW ARE CARS EXPECTED TO PARK ON THE LEFT WITH RAISED WALLS, FENCING, SHRUBS AND DIRECTLY UNDER TREES

 

Over the years and till this present day we already have cars flying down Newland Court till they get to the Barn Rise entrance and find that there is a barrier and then have to reverse back. Having the cars parked south by the pavement acts as a cushion and protection for pedestrians ,especially those with kids. If the cars parking spaces were to be moved north of the road then it will become a very dangerous road for both pedestrians and  also residents trying to cross over a NEW ONE WAY PUBLIC HIGHWAY to get into their car and then have to pull out to let families including children and the elderly into the car in a very unsafe situation constantly.

 

 

YOU CAN SEE HOW NARROW THE ROAD IS THAT BRENT WANT TO ADOPT INTO A NEW ONE WAY HIGHWAY

 

And because of this, over the years kids have almost been run over by speeding cars and one child was actually hit but luckily it wasn’t fatal. But these are only the ones I know about. Introducing speed bumps a few years back has made no difference whatsoever because some cars almost take off when they hit some of the speed bumps. By building houses north of the road too with families who will have kids that will sometimes probably run out into the road will be a complete fatal disaster waiting to happen. Is Brent Council willing to take this risk????? Isn't it time common sense prevailed?????

Brent Council revises Newland Court planning application reducing the number of units

 

Revised application

July 2022 application

Some residents received a letter from Brent Council before the weekend directing them to a revised Newland Court application. Unfortunately the documentation had not been uploaded to the Council Planning Portal and only appeared this morning, perhaps after a rminder from Wembley Matters.  The deadline for responses is May 25th.

The number of housing units has been reduced from 7 to 5, fewer trees will be removed and on-site parking increased according to Maddox acting for the applicant,  Brent Council:

 

This planning statement addendum has been prepared to account for minor changes to the scheme, in response to feedback received from officers at Brent Borough Council and other stakeholders during the consultation stage on the original planning application which was submitted in September 2022 (LPA ref: 22/3124).

 

Notably, this included concerns from the highways officer regarding parking overspill, whereby the removal of residential units and additional car parking along Newland Court was recommended. The tree officer also raised concerns regarding the future maintenance of trees.

 

The Applicant has carefully reviewed the proposals in line with these comments, with the total number of residential units reduced alongside several other resultant changes. These are summarised below, with this addendum prepared as an updated to the previously submitted planning statement – accounting for all key changes.

 

• Units 01 and 07 have been omitted from the proposals. As such, the total number of units has been reduced from seven to five units – now comprising 3 x 3-bedroom 5 person units and 2 x 4-bed 7 person units.

• The removal of two residential units has allowed for a substantial increase to car parking.

• In total, 28 on-street car parking spaces are now re-provided as part of the proposals (in comparison to 12 under the original planning application).

• The private amenity areas serving the proposed units have been increased in size (again as a result in the reduction to the total number of residential units). This is explained in further under the proposed development section and within the Design and Access addendum (as prepared by FBM).

• The overall site area has reduced to 0.350hectares (as a result of the reduction in total unit number).

• The location of the bin stores has been revised to more convenient locations for existing/future residents.

• The total number of trees and tree groups proposed for removal to accommodate the proposals has been reduced from 13 to eight trees and tree groups. These are all low-Grade C trees and tree groups. 14 new trees will be planted across the site.

• 15 existing trees and tree groups will be retained, with additional protection measures proposed for five of these trees and tree groups which will be affected by the proposed works. This is summarised in full within the supporting Arboriculture Impact Assessment Addendum (March 2023) (as prepared by Waterman).

• The reduction in the total number of residential units minimises maintenance of trees whilst enhancing the outlook for future residents. This directly responds to previous concerns from Brent Borough Council’s Tree officer.

• Further landscaping has been incorporated at the entrance of the scheme, enhancing outlook and a sense of arrival for residents and visitors – directly in line with comments received form Brent Borough Council planning officers. 1.7 metre footpaths are also provided either side of the proposed one-way street, allowing additional green space to communal green areas of Newland Court.

Newland Court concerns now filed as a formal complaint to Brent Council of alleged systemic discrimination

Overflowing bins alongside boarded up garages that the Council intends to remove and build on

Marc Etukudo's struggle to get Brent Council to deal with problems at Newland Court, Wembley Park, have now resulted in his concerns being treated as formal complaint against the Council.  Note that the Council's infill proposals to demolish garages and build mini-houses on the site also involve reducing the number of bins.

This is the complaint:

RECYCLING BINS

The first issue is about our recycling bins. Now Brent Council has a habit of administering proposals and supposedly having consultation with any or all the residents affected about the proposal which is totally untrue. Brent Council actually only consulted with a fraction or a small percentage of the residents affected and then released a result that does not reflect the true figures of residents that are against the consultation if they were actually involved.

No one that I have spoken to at Newland Court received any consultation letter regarding having a trial by making recycling pickups from weekly to fortnightly. The first I or other residents found out about this was on social media where other residents in Brent were also asking if anyone was consulted about the 2 week recycling pickup trial and many were dumbfounded about it. I called Brent Council to find out why and was told that we were sent consultation letters which is untrue.

 

Now since this 2 weekly recycling trial pickup our bins are not being emptied fortnightly and even sometimes monthly so that our recycling bins are always overflowing and of course fed up residents are now putting the recycling waste into the residual waste which defeats the object of asking us to recycle our rubbish. When the residual waste is being emptied the bin men will sometimes take out only the bins in bags and leave the residual bins still half full. I have attached pictures for you to see and I hope you will address this issue.  

PARKING

We have had Wing Parking managing and controlling parking at Newland Court for a few years now and in late December last year I was told by a neighbour that when they renewed their Wing parking permit they were told that after the 10^th December2022 our parking permits would cease to be enforceable as Wing Parking would no longer be managing parking at Newland Court as their contract with Brent Council had ended.

I phoned Wing Parking and was told the same thing so I called Brent Council and was told that we were sent consultation letters regarding Wing Parking’s management at Newland Court which is untrue as I have spoken to several residents and none received any consultation letter from Brent. I have since found out that Brent Council said they consulted with all residents and are now doing a trial with 5 estates using Serco the security firm as their new source.

‘Systemic discrimination can be described as patterns of behaviour, procedures, routines, policies or practices that are part of the structures of an organization (Brent Council) and contributes to less favourable outcomes for minority groups (Brent Residents). Behaviours may include dismissive or derogatory comments, gossip, ignoring others, judgemental attitudes or isolating others.     

I have already accused Brent Council of Systemic Discrimination regarding other issues that Newland Court residents are facing in which I hope is being looked at as I am still waiting for a response to. So can you please find out why residents at Newland Court were never consulted regarding the 2 issues I have raised and what is going to happen at Newland Court now regarding non resident drivers who have now started parking as they like on our estate and even in between the garages preventing an elderly disabled driver from getting her car out of her garage on a couple of occasions. Also can our recycling bins be emptied????

Guest Post: Why the Newland Court garages planning application should be withdrawn.

Guest post by Philip Grant in a personal capacity

 

Policy DMP1, from Brent’s Local Plan.

 

“Wembley Matters” has been following the progress of Brent’s New Council Homes “infill” planning application, 22/3124. Most recently, Martin shared an email sent by Newland Court resident, Marc Etukudo, to the Council’s Head of Planning.Marc’s uncovering of the Barn Hill Conservation Area boundary change (adopted by Brent’s Executive – now Cabinet – in June 2013), which puts the site of the proposed new houses within the Conservation Area, made me review my own earlier objection comments. Last Friday I submitted my updated objections. 

 

I will ask Martin to include the illustrated pdf version of these at the end of this post – which includes screenshots from Brent’s massive Local Plan document of the policies which the Newland Court garages scheme would breach. Please have a look at these, if you think they could be useful for future objections you may wish to make on applications affecting you!

 

It was now clear to me that the Newland Court planning application should be refused, so I have sent the following open email to the Cabinet Member and Council Officer(s) behind it, calling on them to withdraw the application. I have asked Martin to share it’s text with you, so that it is available for anyone to read (and to write in support of, or comment on).

 

Dear Councillor Knight, Ms. Baines and Ms Sweeney,

 

This is an open email

 

As you are, respectively, Brent's Lead Member for Housing, Head of Affordable Housing and Head of Estates Regeneration, I think you should see my latest (and illustrated) comments document, which sets out further objections to Brent's Newland Court garages planning application, 22/3124.

 

It explains, in section 1, why the site on which you propose to build seven new Council homes is actually inside the Barn Hill Conservation Area. This was the result of a minor change in the boundary, adopted by Brent's Executive (now Cabinet) in June 2013. 

 

It lists the reasons why your application fails to comply with a number of Brent's Local Plan policies, including those on Heritage, Trees, Ecological Impact and Parking.

 

In case you don't feel that you have time to read the whole of the attached document, here are some highlights from its conclusion:

 

'There is already a long list of Brent Local Plan policies which application 22/3124 fails to comply with: BP1 Central, BGI1, BGI2, BHC1 and BT2. To that list can also be added the main development management policy in the Local Plan, DMP1. This policy states that ‘development will be accepted provided it is ….’ It then sets out nine tests, and this application fails at least five of them: a), b), d), e) and h). It cannot be claimed that there is ‘a minor conflict with policy’. The application is so far in conflict with Brent’s adopted Local Plan policies that it must be refused.'

 

'Although this “infill” scheme may have looked possible “on paper”, it is not practical or sustainable when the reality of its proposed site is taken into account. That, on top of its many failures to comply with Brent’s adopted planning policies, must mean that the application should be refused.'

 

It is not just me, or residents of Newland Court and neighbours in Grendon Gardens, who believe that your application should be refused - several Brent Council experts have also said so in their consultee comments on it.

 

I am bringing this to your attention because I think it is time you accepted that the Newland Court garages scheme was a mistake. Your planning application should be withdrawn, and no further money, or Planning / Housing Officer time, should be wasted on it.

 

I hope to hear that you have taken, or will now take, that sensible decision. Best wishes,

Philip Grant

 
(a Brent resident with an interest in housing matters)