Amidst over-development, a place to breathe and grow - South Kilburnites say 'SAVE OUR REC!'

The meeting at the Rec

 

 

From Save Our Rec
 

We hosted councillors from across the political spectrum, bringing together representatives from both Camden and Brent at the Granville Rec to amplify the #SaveTheRec campaign.

 

Leslie Barson met with Cllr Amer Agha (the Mayor of Brent), Cllr Matt Kelcher (Cabinet Member for Regeneration), and several Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem, and Green councillors.

 

Leslie highlighted why plans to demolish the Rec as part of the Hereford & Exeter regeneration project in South Kilburn must be urgently reconsidered.

 

*Loss of Public Space & Essential Amenities:*

Regeneration continues to erode crucial public and open spaces, leaving the Kilburn community with fewer vital local amenities.

 

*A History of Broken Trust:*

Decades of Brent Council failings in South Kilburn have severely damaged community trust, making transparent and genuinely accountable decision-making essential.

 

*Inadequate Replacement Site:* 

The proposed replacement site is simply not an equivalent alternative for a whole host of reasons.

 

*Lack of Community Participation:*

Meaningful consultation and true community participation have been consistently sidelined throughout this process.

 

Environmental & Wellbeing Impact:

 

🌱 *Community & Food Sovereignty*: It is an active community garden run by Granville Community Kitchen, providing local food growing, City & Guilds horticultural training, and educational workshops.

 

*🧠 Mental Health & Wellbeing:* It offers a calm, essential green sanctuary for local school pupils, young people, and residents.

 

🐝 *Vital Biodiversity:* It is a mature, irreplaceable urban ecosystem, not a space that can simply be replaced by concrete or artificial landscaping.

 

⚠️ WHAT YOU CAN DO

 

There is a Brent Councillors’ Members Briefing tomorrow. 

 

We are calling on *all* local residents concerned about the loss and overdevelopment of our green spaces to take action NOW:

 

1️⃣ Email your Ward Councillors: Ask them directly to attend tomorrow’s briefing and stand up for South Kilburn’s green infrastructure.

 

2️⃣ Send an Email / Message: If you believe in saving the Rec, contact:

 

 Cllr Rubin (Cabinet Member for Action on Climate)

 

⁠Cllr.Jake.Rubin@brent.gov.uk⁠

 

Cllr Kelcher (Cabinet Member for Regeneration)

 

⁠cllr.matt.kelcher@brent.gov.uk⁠

 

 

 

Useful Links & Petitions:

 

📌 Sign the Petition & Read More: https://granvillecommunitykitchen.org.uk/community/save-the-rec/

📌 Brent Green Party Campaigns: https://brent.greenparty.org.uk/campaigns/

 

Please share this message with your local Kilburn and Brent networks, street groups, and neighbours! 💚✊

'Stop the loss of more green and well used spaces in the South Kilburn high density building area' - Plea to save Granville Rec

 

South Kilburn residents stand up to to show their support for Granville Rec at the Council Meeting 

 

This is the speech Leslie Barson made about the Granville Rec, a rare mature greem space in South Kilburn:

   

I'd like to thank Pete Firmin, for presenting an overview of the structural problems  that we face in South Kilburn for more than twenty years. It's important to address this new council at the beginning of its term for you to know about the situation in South Kilburn. I'm here from Granville Community Kitchen and have worked at the Granville and South Kilburn for more than 30 years. I want to talk about saving a small pocket park on Granville Road, which residents named The Granville Recreation Ground, The Rec.

 

The history of this small space is that it was opened in 2009 when Granville New Homes were built on much of the open space that had been on Granville Road.  The Rec was built to replace open space lost at that time.  Unfortunately, there was no money to manage it.  It fell into disrepair and became a site for anti-social behaviour. With the eventual outcome that about 2011, it was locked permanently. 

 

It was then left abandoned, unused and unloved until 2023, when it was given to Granville Community Kitchen as a temporary place to grow food. GCK lost its garden space with the building of the new garden hall built in the garden at the front of Granville. 

 

After working hard for our first year uncovering the Rec, we have been able to fill it with flowers,  food.  Children, families, elderly people, the isolated, and learning projects for children, young people and adults.

 

We have shown that if it is managed well the Rec can be lovely, wanted, much used place and an asset to residents for their mental and physical health as well as an asset to environmental health and even supporting economic health giving residents vegetables and upskilling volunteers toward possible employment. 

 

In 3 years we have been managing the Rec we have brought it back to life

 

In 2025 alone:

 

407 visitors to education sessions

275 school learners

1102 educational sessions

2 open events with over 100 people attending 

And volunteers sessions twice a week

 

It is used by

Brent family services

Salisbury world refugee project

Local people birthday parties

Over 100 kg of veg distributed to volunteers , community meals and local residents 

 

The regeneration plans to build 14 new homes 4 stories high, completely covering the site with buildings.

 

In these plans a new space bigger than Rec and relocated on the edge of the estate near Kilburn Park tube is to be made as a ‘replacement’. It is called a ‘pedestrianised environment’ and is 10002m bigger than Rec but with trees planted in regimented rows with a road and parking going through this pedestrian area. 

 

There are many reasons why we object to this plan and why this pedestrianised area is NOT a replacement for the loss of old biodiverse land.

 

1.Location and Accessibility

The existing park is centrally located within the South Kilburn estate, making it easily accessible to residents. The proposed replacement would be situated on the edge of the estate, reducing its integration with the community.

2.Size and Usability:  

 

While the new space is technically larger (2500 sqm vs. 1500 sqm), much of this area includes roads and parking. This results in:

· Reduced safe, usable space for recreation

· Only four small designated "safe spaces" within the park

· An overall decrease in pleasant, car-free areas for residents to enjoy

 

3.Conflicts with Brent Councils Policies and Goals

The current Granville Recreation Ground aligns with and supports several key Brent Council policies:

1. Climate Emergency Declaration (2019, updated 2021): Helps achieve the goal of becoming the greenest borough by 2030.
2. Clean Air Targets: Contributes to improved air quality in the area
3. Green Infrastructure Vision: Provides valuable green space within the urban environment.
4. Health Equity: Offers a natural space that promotes better health outcomes and reduces inequalities.

4.Biodiversity and Ecological Value

The existing park boasts significant biodiversity with its mature trees, diverse plant life, and undisturbed areas. The planned replacement, with its manicured design, would severely limit the potential for supporting a rich ecosystem.

5.Community Amenities

Replacing the Granville Recreation Ground with this proposed pedestrian area would result in a net loss of valuable community space and amenities, particularly in an area slated for high-density housing development.

6.Natural vs Designed Landscape

The Rec offers a more natural, wild environment with mature vegetation. In contrast, the proposed pedestrian area  is highly designed with:

·       Trees planted in regimented rows along roads

·       Less opportunity for biodiversity and natural growth

·       Reduced foraging opportunities for wildlife and residents

We have  been asking for the last year that the plans be changed for The Rec and it to be left as a park for residents. We have a Petition with nearly 1000 signatures,

 

I now, ask all  the supporters of the Rec  who made the long expensive and time consuming journey from SK to please stand up show their support to stop any building on the Rec

 

We implore the Councillors to  listen  to those who live and work in South Kilburn, rethink the plans for the Rec  and stop the loss of more green and well used spaces in such a high density building area. Please, you have the power to do this! Save the Granville Rec!

Green councillor seeks specific assurances on potential defects and repairs in the South Kilburn regeneration, and sales to 'predatory, rent seeking, private equity firms'

 

 

The Brent Green Group of councillors are clearly intent on delivering their local election manifesto pledging that they will ensure scrutiny and accountability of Brent Council decisions.

Cllr Paul Ryan (Green, Kilburn) has followed up his supplementary question to Cllr Kelcher* (Cabinet lead for Regeneration) on South Kilburn (above) with the letter below which is awaiting a response. This follows Pete Firmin's presentation to Brent Council of a resident's view of regeneration issues in South Kilburn.

The Council is due to appoint a single development partner for the remainder of the South Kilburn  Regeneration in September.

THE LETTER 

Dear Cllr Kelcher,

I am writing to you to follow up on some of the questions posed to you and the impassioned deputations made by South Kilburn residents at the latest Full Council meeting in relation to South Kilburn regeneration and the upcoming awarding of the single delivery contract.

I would firstly like to thank you for communicating your willingness to further engage with South Kilburn stakeholders to reach a decision and a contractual framework that is most beneficial for the residents of South Kilburn and I hope that this is something that can be demonstrated and borne out in the coming days, weeks and months.

Unfortunately due to the time constraints of full council meetings we were unable to fully engage with many of the issues raised, so I am writing to seek clarity and more detailed and extensive responses to some of the issues raised.

Contractor Accountability

I am sure you noticed that, in both the questions I posed to you and the deputation presented by local resident Pete Firmin, the issue of structural defects and a lack of stringent build quality are pervasive themes throughout South Kilburn regeneration. Unfortunately, I and may residents feel that your abridged answer did not sufficiently address the issues raised, so I would like to use this opportunity to get a more detailed and specific answer.

The points that you, and the broader Neighbourhoods and Regeneration team have raised regarding the need for the prospective single-delivery contractor to be a long-term collaborative partner is well taken but, considering the history of defects and negligence throughout South Kilburn regeneration, will you be seeking clear contractual guarantees that the cost of any potential repairs arising as a result of structural defects will explicitly and exclusively rest with the contractor responsible for those defects. Additionally, is the Council placing mechanisms in place to ensure these repairs are carried out in a swift manner.

Private Equity

During the full council meeting, I raised the decision authorised by Neighbourhoods and Regeneration that would allow Countryside Properties to sell 143 new build units in SK to US private equity firm Principal Asset Management. Unfortunately you did not respond to this during the Full Council Meeting, but can you now confirm if the Council will commit to ensuring that, in the midst of a housing crisis, it will not allow any more units in South Kilburn regeneration to be sold to predatory, rent seeking private equity firms. 

Granville Rec

In response, to Leslie Barron's deputation in relation to protecting Granville Rec, you did not provide assurances that this vital community space would be protected and intimated that the Save the Rec activists present should be cognisant that this land would be used for social family housing. This has been interpreted by some residents as a cynical attempt to override the wishes of local residents by portraying them as opponents to social housing.

Is there express guarantees that any construction on the Granville Rec will all be social housing? Additionally, considering the scale and scope of investment in South Kilburn regeneration, have efforts been made to move these units to an alternative location?

Can you also assure local residents, that if the Granville Rec is destroyed, that they will be provided with an alternative space that is similarly bio-diverse? Will this space provide a comparable amount of unobstructed, uninterrupted green space that can feasibly fulfil the existing functions of the Granville Rec; namely a community garden and social space. If these guarantees cannot be provided, can you assure residents that you will endeavour to do everything in your power to ensure that this vital community space is protected.

Community Engagement

I appreciate that as Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Regeneration, you have quite an extensive portfolio. However, considering the enormity and impact of this project, would you be willing to attend a walking tour of South Kilburn arranged by the South Kilburn Residents Panel. This would give you an opportunity to understand the concerns and trepidation of residents and would be a show of good faith to demonstrate that they have a collaborator in the Council who is willing to listen and engage with them.

I look forward to receiving your detailed and thorough responses to the above and to continue working with you and delivering for South Kilburn residents at this critical juncture.

Kind regards,

Cllr Paul Ryan

Councillor for Kilburn Ward

Cllr.Paul.Ryan@brent.gov.uk

More problems for residents of troubled Forum House and Quadrant Court - unsafe balconies and a shattered glass balustrade

 

Forum House built 2009

 Quadrant Court built 2010

 

Residents of two of the earliest buildings constructed as part of the multi-million Wembley Park regeneration received a warning letter today from the latest of their managing agents MLM Property. LRM and First Port having been removed.

MLM asked for immediate access today to the Quadrant Court Winter Garden balconies to carry out inspections.  

They said:

We have recently become aware that some of the winter Gardens balconies glass fixings have deteriorated over time and the railings securing the glass have, in a limited number of balconies become unstable. This is clearly a serious issue, and is a priority to have resolved as soon as possible.

We have recently completed inspections of all 60 Winter Garden balconies in Form House (on elevations to Empire Way and corner of Lakeside Way) with 2 requiring requiring immediate intervention (with the glass already being removed as a safety measure), with a further 17 requiring temporary supports whilst a permanent solution is devised. 

The seriousness of the situation for the public as well as residents is clear from the warni:

In the meantime, the instruction not to use these balconies remains in places and the cordon of the footpath below will remain in place for the time being as an additional measure for everyone's continued safety.

Both buildings, post-Grenfell, were found to have cladding problems and other fire safety issues, fire patrols necessary  and residents faced significant increases in service charges.

MLM note a further worrying issue:

Additionally, you may be aware that a glass balustrade recently shattered during the very hot spell of weather. At  this time, we believe this incident is not connected to the issues identified in the Winter Garden balconies. We are arranging additional inspections of these balconies and whist priority is being given to the Winter Garden types, we expect to complete these inspections within the next month if possible.

Anticipating the first question that residents are likely to ask on reading the letter MLM say:

Whilst investigations are ongoing it would be inappropriate to speculate on what is causing these failures, however, we wish to assure you that these inspections are thorough and are being professionally documented so that we can advise you further on causes and remedial actions needed. 

Forum House and Quadrant Court were designed and built by Sisk for £43m and £45m respectively.

It seems that South Kilburn is not the only Brent regeneration area facing problems.

 

 

 

Swathes of South Kilburn left to decline in anticipation of regeneration that will barely increase the number of social rent homes

 

The commemorative plaque on a South Kilburn building that needed remediation work a decade after opening

 

South Kilburn resident and local activist Pete Firmin addressed Brent Council this week on the reality of living on this flagship regeneration project,         

 

Survivors of the Grenfell Tower tragedy talk of 2 main lessons – organisations must be accountable and residents must be at the heart of all decisions which affect them.

 

The minutes of the Council’s Community Wellbeing and Scrutiny Committee state “It is essential that tenants are placed at the centre of everything the Council does. Safe, secure and decent homes are a foundation for a fair and thriving borough and are not optional for any responsible housing authority.“

 

New buildings in South Kilburn have won awards from architects and planners. But residents know that pretty much every new block has major problems, such as scaffolding up for years to remove flammable cladding, or mould, heating and hot water issues. New flats are poor quality, often smaller and more expensive than the previous council flats. When a resident who has been living in a new flat for 10 years says she would move back into her old flat like a shot, you know there is a problem.

 

2 blocks have to be completely refurbished. Work has still not started on Granville New Homes, despite the report pointing out that refurbishment was necessary having been published in 2017. Instead, residents suffer repeated problems with utilities and there is a 24-hour fire watch around the buildings. Yet the company that did such a botch job with Granville New Homes has been awarded further contracts by Brent.

 

We have swathes of South Kilburn left to decline in anticipation of regeneration.

 

Time and again, Brent has not foreseen that decanting residents from blocks and not securing empty flats left them open to illegal anti-social behaviour, endangering other residents.

 

When shops in Stafford Road were flooded because of squatters after the Council had not secured the buildings the Council did nothing to assist those who had premises there and have lost their livelihoods.

 

Regeneration isn’t addressing bringing down Brent’s waiting list. At the end of regeneration - another 20 years - there will barely be more social rent homes - i.e. ones which people can actually afford - than before it started. Instead, expensive homes are bought up on a buy-to-let basis. The latest wheeze being to sell them en bloc to a U.S.-based private equity company, because the market for such homes in London is “challenging”. So why are we building homes no-one can afford?  Meanwhile, residents are priced out of the area. Research elsewhere in London shows that such gentrification contributes to falling school rolls and school closures.

 

What else were residents told we would get in addition to new flats? Among other things, 2 new `healthy living centres’ (we have 1 new GPs surgery, delivered years late), a new sports centre, a new community centre. No sign of them.

 

There is a systemic rubbish problem across South Kilburn, which the Council fails to tackle, There is the scandal of the ex job centre in Cambridge Avenue where residents have been asking the Council to take action against the owners over the accumulation of rubbish. For 8 years residents were told this was too difficult,  before the Council finally instigated court action, but still the rubbish accumulates.

 

From the start of regeneration residents urged that there be proper coordination with the many Housing Associations brought into the area, because of potential conflicts over who is responsible for the upkeep of different areas. Those conflicts continue.

 

Then there are the lesser issues - a chairlift broken for years, fire extinguishers not checked for years, broken panes of glass in entry doors which take a year to replace.

 

In my block, contractors told the Council last year that our flat doors are not fire-safety compliant, yet, despite asking, we have no idea whether the Council intends to do anything about this.

 

Having persuaded HS2 to build its vent shaft in South Kilburn, Brent doesn’t engage with residents affected by this. Residents in Alpha House got letters from HS2 earlier this year saying HS2 would monitor the block for movement now they are tunnelling further towards Euston. Attempts to get reassurance from Brent around this meet a brick wall.

 

Residents at the centre of things!? That would explain why residents associations are denied use of communal halls in their buildings for years, why no new blocks have such rooms, why Brent Council talks of residents associations as part of its “team” when it wants anything, but fails to deliver the services it should.

 

You may have heard of the Kilburn Neighbourhood Plan, endorsed by both Brent and Camden Council. But Brent insisted that South Kilburn could not be included in the plan. This excluded South Kilburn residents from having any say - or vote - in what the plan said about the Kilburn High Road and other areas of Kilburn which concern them as much as those who did have a vote.

 

The South Kilburn residents panel, consisting entirely of South Kilburn residents, has been established and is hoping to move to a fully elected body addressing the concerns of South Kilburn residents. It has been given a small say in the next phase of regeneration. Yet Brent Council refuses to assist with its running costs, at the same time as announcing it will pay £5,000 compensation to the chair of a body it appoints in Harlesden.

 

Time and again senior council officers and councillors have visited and told us how concerned they are at the problems of South Kilburn and nothing gets done. Time and again we are told of reorganisation of Council departments and nothing changes.

 

Residents themselves fill the space with no support from Council at all, such as the Carnivale last weekend, attended by 600 people with zero assistance from Council.

 

On Friday a Council officer organised contractors to deal with several issues around our part of South Kilburn which have been outstanding for years. The catch? The officer said they had been taken off dealing with estates but was dealing with these issues off their own bat because they were so embarrassed at repeatedly putting in work orders and nothing happening.

 

South Kilburn Regeneration – building what is needed or building what provides profit for developers? Brent Council to sell 143 units to U.S. private equity company

 

Guest post by South Kilburn resident Pete Firmin

South Kilburn Regeneration – building what is needed or building what provides profit for developers?

An acquaintance with more patience than me who closely follows Brent Council documents on the regeneration of South Kilburn recently unearthed the fact that the Council proposes to bulk sell the non-social housing in the current phase of regeneration to a U.S. private equity company, Principal Asset Management. A glance at their website shows Principal Asset Management has no interest in housing as such, but in maximising returns on investment.

This involves 143 `private market units’ in the current phase. Whether a similar deal would be used in the next phase of regeneration (for which a £1 billion contract is due to be awarded shortly) isn’t known, but clearly can’t be ruled out.

The justification for this deal given in Council papers is that the London sales market is "challenging.".

This is a clear indication that these flats are to be sold as `buy to let’. From the earliest stages of the regeneration of South Kilburn, many of the new flats have been sold on the Far Eastern market, this appears to be the first time flats are sold to a foreign owner as a job lot.

All this begs the question “why are flats being built for which there is no market?”.

We have been told from the start of South Kilburn regeneration 20 years ago that social housing to replace that being demolished could only be built if developers could also be built at market rates. This latest venture takes that one step further.

Britain’s, and especially London’s, housing crisis is a crisis of lack of housing which people can pay for while leaving them sufficient to live on. What is desperately needed is housing at social (or preferably Council) rents, not more housing they can’t afford. Terms such as “affordable” which developers and Councils love to use to show how much they care are a smokescreen. The legal definition of `affordable’ is up to 80% of market rent, i.e. unaffordable to anyone on average pay or below.

Principal Asset Management is believed to charge around £2,500 a month for flats in London, not something any of the tens of thousands on Council waiting lists can take on. This bulk sell off just feels like another way of helping the developers make a profit at little risk.

Developers frequently say part way through construction (as happened recently in Camden) that the percentage of social housing they committed to when they were given planning permission is no longer profitable and push for - and usually get - a lowering of that figure. They have Councils over a barrel in negotiations.

Such projects not only fail to deal in the slightest with the housing crisis, but also lead to gentrification of the areas under development, changing the nature of an area without necessarily improving the lot of the original residents at all. On top of which the social housing which is built is, more often that not, of poor quality and smaller and more expensive than that which has been demolished. Social engineering at its worst.

Brent Council needs to recognise that its current approach does nothing to deal with the housing crisis (if anything, it exacerbates it). It needs to not only stand up to developers and their demands, but also fight for a change to national policy. Shelter recently called on the government to “remove the historic debt local authorities owe to the government” for council housing. They say that £29 billion in “historic housing debt” is based on an outdated financial settlement from 2012; that it “sucks away money that could be invested in building new social homes”. Shelter calls for the government to “remove this debt from councils and put it on its own books without affecting the overall national balance sheet”. 

Working with other Councils to push for such a change could go much further to provide decent housing for all, rather than cosy deals only helping developers and private equity.

 

 

Formal Complaint issued over 'unacceptable situation' at L&Q's Bigler Court, in Alperton

 Bigler Court

Brent Liberal Democrat Leader Anton Georgiou, has issued a Formal Complaint to L&Q (London and Quadrant Housing Trust) over 'unacceptable conditions at Bigler Court, a block managed by the Trust in Alperton.

The block hit the headlines in January 2024 when a disabled grandmother was left stranded on the 8th for two months due to a broken lift. LINK  

Things clearly have not improved. Cllr Georgiou writes: 

For years, residents and councillors have repeatedly raised concerns about disrepair, lift failures. heating and hot water outages, flooding incidents, poor maintenance standards, security issues and the overall management of the block. Despite numerous complaints and reports, residents continue to experience the same problems time and again, with little confidence they are being properly resolved.

The stories coming fom residents are deepy concerning. People have been left for months without reliable heating or hot water, repairs repeatedly fail to resolve issues, and the lift has been out of service for extended periods. In recent days, two residents became trapped in the lift despite assurances that repair works had been completed. This ongoing situation is having a serious impact on residents' physical and mental wellbeing. Many feel ignored, exhausted and badly let down. 

Bigler Court is not the only L&Q building in Brent to be the subject of complaints. Bourne Place, in South Kilburn has many similar issues and was the subject of a guest post by Lucie Gutfreund in August 2020.  LINK The then L&Q Chief Executive, David Montague, stepped down a month later. LINK

Plaque at Bourne Place, South Kilburn

 

Cllr Georgiou is calling for a meeting with L&Q senior management to discuss the ongoing failures at Bigler Court and the immediate action L&Q will take,

In addition he expects:

• A full review of outstanding repairs and maintenance issues at the block.
• Clear timescales for resolving ongoing problems.
• Improved communication and accountability from L&Q staff.
• Meaningful engagement with residents and local councillors moving forward.