The curious case of the six Kenton houses that will be built in a day

 

The six proposed houses   - current garage site (bottom right)

The development next to the Wealdstone Brook - current footpath bottom right
 

The proposed development with rather sparse biodiversity corridor  - current brook bottom right

John Poole (Labour candidate for Kenton ward) drew readers' attention to plans for th building of 6 houses behind 37-44 Woodgrange Close, Kenton in a recent letter to Wembley Matters. LINK  

At the time the appplication has been declared invalid but has now been vaidated and is back on Brent's Planning Portal LINK. However, whether one is for or against the development, the Planning Application completed by the developer's agent  raises issues about validity and the checks made by council officers as the information is of doubtful accuracy.

MZA Planning of 14 Devonshire Mews Chiswick, W4 2HA submit that the demolition of the grags and building of the 6 houses will be completed in a day:

 They claim that the area is not liable to flooding:

 

The Government Flood Map LINK shows there is a Level 2 of 3 risk now and more so in the future. And the Application Map and illustrations above shows it is right next to the Wealdstone Brook watercourse. Hard to miss really...

 In fact the Design and Access Statement shows that the houses will be raised above ground level to avoid flooding.

The steps up from the 'high quality amenity space'

 The next one might be a matter of debate as to whether designated sites may be affected:

 

The site surrounded by trees, St Gregory's school field and Woodcock Park

Lastly the agent claims that the site is not accessible without an appointment.

Footpath to the bridge and there is vehicle access to the garages

 In case you missed it John Poole added a comment on the previous article:

 

Cllr. Janice Long and I, John Poole, two prospective Labour Councillors for the Kenton Ward at the local elections next May, visited the site  and spoke with local residents at the Mural Bridge whose use Woodcock Park on a regular basis and they were shocked and surprised at the prospect of housing at that site and so close to the Wealdstone Brook. Cllr. Long wonders what else could the site be used for - the disused garages go back to the 1950s - and we all agreed that it is an ideal area for a greening project to add to Brent Council's increase in biodiversity in the area and supporting the Council's Carbon Net Zero policy.

LETTER: Alerting readers to the negative impact of proposed Kenton development on the Wealdstone Brook

 

Google Earth view. Trees indicate the course of the brook. Disused garages on right.

 

Dear Editor,

I am writing to draw attention to a  Planning Application for 6 privately built terraced housing units close to the Wealdstone Brook in the disused garage area at the back of Woodgrange Close in Kenton. This proposed development abuts the Woodgrange side of Woodcock Park and abuts the Wealdstone Brook close to the Mural Bridge. It was available to view up to today (18/12/25) but has now been withdrawn as 'invalid'.

Application reference 25/3407 is currently invalid, and as such will not appear on the public register. Once the application is made valid the Local Planning Authority will carry out a statutory consultation, at which time the documents will be available to view on the public record.

An attempt to produce this controversial development has been thwarted for the time being but we need to be vigilant about it being presented once again in the New Year with short notice. This proposed private housing development will have a negative major impact on the Wealdstone Brook here and further downstream in Wembley.

John Poole

(and you can print my name - thanks)

Kenton

Full address supplied. 

Kenton escapes Wealdstone Brook flooding - did local environmental action help?

Cllr Sunita Hirani (Kenton) has posted a Tweet re yesterday's flood warning about potential flooding in Kenton (and Wealdstone and Wembley) after heavy rain last night. 

She said:

I have been informed this evening that there were no reported floodings in the Kenton area of the Wealdstone Brook yesterday (Monday 15th July 2024) evening. The Environment Agency issued a flood warning for the area of Kenton around the Wealdstone Brook at around 8 pm (Monday 15th July 2024) for potential flooding in the area at around 9pm. My videos taken at about that time show the Brook coping with the volume of water and no flooding on the road around Lindsay Drive roundabout. 

 

Maybe, just maybe, someone, somewhere, will actually admit the fact that the work we did - the Brook Way Community Biodiversity Project CIC, in conjunction with Thames Water, at Lindsay Drive roundabout in clearing the dead, decaying and diseased trees, trunks and branches, actually contributed to avoiding a flooding disaster in the Kenton area yesterday evening. 

 

I can but dream.

 

GOVERNMENT FLOOD WARNING!!! WEALDSTONE BROOK AT KENTON, WEALDSTONE AND WEMBLEY

 

River levels are rising rapidly on the Wealdstone Brook due to heavy rainfall overnight tonight, Monday 15th July, and flooding is expected when river levels are at their highest from 9:00pm.

 

Flooding is forecast to affect locations near the Wealdstone Brook.

 

Further rain showers are forecast tomorrow, Tuesday 16th July, but no further flooding is expected and river levels should fall from early morning.

 

We are monitoring rainfall and river levels and checking rivers for blockages.

 

Residents are strongly urged to take action now. Remain safe and be aware of your surroundings.

 

Monitor local water levels and weather conditions. Consider putting your flood plan into action. You should avoid walking, cycling or driving through flood water.

 

This message will be updated by 10am on Tuesday 16th July, or as the situation changes.

 

Flood warning area: The Wealdstone Brook at Kenton including Wealdstone and Wembley.

INFORMATION PAGE HERE

Beavers Viable on the Wealdstone Brook in Woodcock Park, Kenton

Guest post by Tara Furlong on behalf of Friends of Woodock Park,

Residents petitioned Brent Together Towards Zero, who kindly funded the Friends of Woodcock Park to undertake the first stage of a beaver viability study on the Wealdstone Brook in Woodcock Park, Kenton.  Renowned expert, Derek Gow, undertook the long drive up from his 400-acre farm on the far side of Dartmoor in Devon with his extraordinarily well-behaved pup and trays of wildflowers for the banks of the brook.  Derek Gow is credited with re-introducing the beaver to the United Kingdom after a 400-year absence.  While beavers once again live wild on many rivers, their re-introduction into any area is controlled by Natural England on a 5-year license.  Beavers have been re-introduced to London in Ealing and Enfield.  However, if they are re-introduced on the Wealdstone Brook, it would be the first on a London river. 

 

The Wealdstone Brook is heavily culverted and has been subjected to manmade alterations along its course.  It floods heavily and local homes are at risk due to decrepit infrastructure, huge numbers of misconnections by businesses and residents, and over-building.  Despite the efforts of Thames Water, the quality of the water on the Wealdstone Brook is often very poor and can include untreated sewage in flash flooding events.  Local residents are determined to keep it out of their homes.  There are many red risk flooding areas along the course of the brook and one way of achieving a reduction in flooding is to hold water back in parks, gardens and green spaces where the earth can absorb the water before slowly releasing it. 

 

Local residents enjoyed a talk by Derek Gow on the history and habitat of the beaver last Wednesday, 31st January, hosted by Uxendon Manor Primary School.  After the talk, a panel fielded questions about the potential of re-introducing beavers.  There were many concerns, not least how much space would be dedicated to a beaver enclosure, how beavers interact with people and pets, and whether beavers could survive in polluted waters.  Beavers have crepuscular and nocturnal tendencies.  They live in family colonies in many cities globally, as well as in the wild, and mind their own business unless threatened or assaulted, when they will defend themselves.  Beavers are vegetarian: they eat herbaceous plants and roots and, in the winter, the cambium of trees.  They like to plant larders for themselves in the riverbed near where they live.  The channels they excavate out from the river to their food sources irrigate the earth.  They build dams: leaky weirs which slow and purify water and create ponds.   

 

Beavers’ natural behaviours change the landscape, producing new habitat out of an expansion of sunlight and water, which encourages a proliferation of biodiversity.  The Wealdstone Brook in Woodcock Park is designated as a Site of Interest to Nature Conservation (SINC) but over the years its health has declined.  Urban Riverfly Monitoring surveys since the summer have achieved a very poor biodiversity score of between zero and four out of a possible maximum of forty-two.  The brook is almost dead.  However, the recent dedicated activity of the Friends of the Wealdstone Brook, working with Thames Water, has helped improve water quality.  A recent annual survey by the Environment Agency spotted twenty sticklebacks in the park.  This is the first-time fish have been reported in two decades.  The Friends of Woodcock Park aim to see the return of small amphibians, mammals and birds to the brook.  A long-term ambition is to see the secretive woodcock which lives in damp woodland and which gave the park its name, and minute harvest mice that fall asleep in flowers after eating their fill of pollen. 

 

The morning after Derek Gow’s inspirational talk, he presented to pupils from Uxendon Manor Primary School and St Gregory’s Catholic Science College.  The children then planted the wildflowers on the banks of the brook: on the waters’ edge, mid-bank and on the upper bank. A Friends of Woodcock Park Community Gardening event the following Saturday secured biomatting around the young plants to help protect them.  Pupils will monitor the success of these plants across sites in the park.  Ideally, the wildflowers on the banks will establish, bloom and disseminate downstream to enrich biodiversity and contribute to stabilising the banks along the course of the brook.   

 

 

While the final report has not been released yet, early indications are that the Wealdstone Brook in Woodcock Park is suitable as a beaver habitat.  Its incised valley would encourage multiple tiered dams, leaky weirs, along its length.  This would help filter out pollution such that the outflow from the park would be clean water.  Careful planting would process pollutants and clean the water at source in the park too.  The Friends of Woodcock Park have applied for NCIL funding for the second phase of the beaver viability study, which uses computer modelling to investigate possible inundation extents of beaver wetlands if dam sequences were created.  It would analyse the impact on downstream flow regimes and therefore its applicability as a potential natural flood management option.  In an ideal world, we would see a chain of beaver habitats created along the River Brent: currently the most polluted tributary of the River Thames. 

 

Stay up-to-date on this ambitious project via the Friends of Woodcock Park website http://friendsofwoodcockpark.uk/ and social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Nextdoor.