Controversial tall towers on Wembley Park Station car park approved by minister

 

The five towers proposed to be built between Brook Avenue and the Metropolitan railway line, previously the station car park, have been approved. Philip Grant wrote about the planning issues involved HERE.

It is ironical that this has been announced on the day Full Council is set to approve the new Local Plan that will pave the way for many similar developments.

Construction News writes:

Transport for London (TfL) and Barratt Homes have been given the green light for a 454-home development near Wembley Park.

The minister of state for rough sleeping and housing Eddie Hughes MP made the decision to green light the project on behalf of communities secretary Michael Gove.

Planning permission for the scheme was initially granted by the London Borough of Brent in November 2020. However, the scheme was called in by former communities secretary Robert Jenrick in May last year.

Up to five new residential buildings will include replacement train crew accommodation, retail space, parking facilities and other communal areas. Up to 152 of the new homes will be classed as affordable housing.

The project faced a delay after concerns were raised that the scheme could impact heritage and listed buildings in the neighbourhood, especially the Barn Hill Conservation Area and the Lawn Court Conservation Area. Other listed spaces included Wembley Arena.

The minister accepted a report from the Planning Inspector, submitted in November, that the benefits of the scheme were enough to outbalance “the less than substantial harm” to the conservation areas.

Some of the benefits identified were the regeneration of brownfield land, increased affordable housing, delivery of a car-free development, and economic as well as environmental improvements to the local area.

The project spans 0.7 hectares, with Wembley Park Station and Olympic Square to the east, and railway lines that serve Wembley Park Station and the Chiltern Railway to its north. The project has an estimated value of £123.2m.

Jenrick's concerns over Wembley Park station TfL/Barratt development - Planning Inquiry opens later this month

 

As reported by Wembley Matters in June LINK Robert Jenrick, Communities Secretary has called in the development on the TfL car park next to Wembley Park station and referred it to the Planning Inspectorate.

Yesterday the Architects Journal LINK published an article about the call-in writing:

Brent Council’s planning committee unanimously approved the scheme at the end of last year after planning officers backed the proposal.

But Jenrick has now called in the scheme, telling Brent Council he particularly wants to hear about whether the plans will: create a nice place; be consistent with national housing policy; conserve the historic environment; and accord with the local development plan.

 But adding:

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government declined to comment on Jenrick’s particular areas of concern, pointing out that its policy since 2019 has been not to comment on why applications are called-in.

Make of that what you will.

The Planning Inspector instructed by the Secretary of State is T Gilbert-Wooldridge MRTPI IHBC and the inquiry will open at 10.00am on 28 September 2021. Currently 6 sitting days have been scheduled  (provisionally 28 Sept – 1 Oct and 4-5 October). 

The joint developer with TfL is Barratt  London who have come in for some criticism on social media this morning:

 

 

ALERT: Submissions to Wembley Park Station/Brook Avenue Planning Inquiry have to be in by Thursday July 8th - Read Philip Grant's submission

 

Submissions to the Planning Inquiry on the Wembley Park Station/Brook Avenue have a deadline of Thursday July 8th.

The referral to the Planning Inspectorate was made by Robert Jenrick MP, the Communites Secretary, after concern that the Planning Committee's approval decision was unsound as it was alleged to be in breach of Brent Council's own policies. LINK

Local historian Philip Grant has made a detailed submission that you can find below. Click bottom right for a full page view.

The closing date for comments, ahead of the Public Inquiry, is Thursday 8 July. Anyone who wishes to, but has not yet done so, can submit their comments to: leanne.palmer@planninginspectorate.gov.uk , quoting the reference: APP/T5150/ V/21/3275339. 

Secretary of State refers Wembley Park Station car park tower block development to Planning Inspectorate

The Communities Secretary, Robert Jenrick MP, has called-in the controversial Wembley Park station car park development which means he will make the decision on whether it goes ahead rather than Brent Council whose Planning Committee approved the development.

The application will be considered by the Planning Inspectorate at a public inquiry, with recommendations then going to the Minister to decide the outcome.

In a letter to Bob Blackman MP, the Planning Inspectorate said:

The Inspector instructed by the Secretary of State is T Gilbert-Wooldridge MRTPI IHBC and the inquiry will open at 10.00am on 28 September 2021. We have currently scheduled 6 sitting days (provisionally 28 Sept – 1 Oct and 4-5 October).

The Planning Casework Unit cannot forward any correspondence that was submitted to them before this case was called in. Therefore, if there are any matters which you wish to put before the Inspector, you can write to me at this address or email (leanne.palmer@planninginspectorate.gov.uk) quoting reference APP/T5150/ V/21/3275339.

You can also use the Internet to submit documents, to see information and to check the progress of cases through GOV.UK. The address of the search page is https:// acp.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/

Please submit any representations by 8 July.

The date by when the application will be decided will be published at the time the report is submitted to the Secretary of State.

At the Planning Committee only Cllr Michael Maurice voted against the application and Cllr Kansagra, leader of the Conservative Group said that the Council had been bribed by the developer with flats. (FULL REPORT)

Philip Grant, a regular contributor to this blog, presented a forensic analysis to the Committe based on the Council's own existing Tall Buildings policy which limited developments on the site to 10 storeys. It breached policy that had been made as a result of public consultation.  He concluded:

Committee members, please don’t allow yourselves to be fooled into accepting an application which doesn’t comply with the policies adopted by Brent Council, after consultation with its residents.

This application is a flagrant breach of those policies, and you can, and should, refuse it on those grounds. 

Philip's presentation followed a Guest Post he had written for Wembley Matters the day before the Planning Committee setting out his case in detail.  LINK

Regardless of party politics the Inquiry represents a second chance to stop over-development of the site as well as possibly putting a stop to officer's increasing propensity to make excuses for developers' failure to adhere to the Council's own planning policies and guidelines.

Philip Grant adds this comment:

AMENITY SPACE -

Although my main objection to this planning application was over its breach of Brent's tall buildings policies, there were a number of other failures to comply with planning policies.

When I had a look at the webpage for this application (20/0967) today, I found that although Planning Committee approved it last November, Brent has not yet issued a consent letter, so the application is still "undecided" (although with no mention that the Planning Inspectorate is now involved).

The other interesting thing I noticed was that an extra document had appeared in February 2021, described as a "Post Committee Delegated Report". It's main subject was 'Amenity Space Provision'.

It appears that Brent's Amenity Space policy DMP19 had been the subject of a Judicial Review, and this had found that Brent's planning officers had not been interpreting their own policy correctly! 'The JR judgement has clarified that all 3bed or larger units should be assessed against the 50sqm 
standard.' 

When planning officers had assessed the amenity space required for the 451 homes in the five tower blocks proposed at the Brook Avenue site, they had used 20 square metres as the standard requirement for the larger flats.

This meant that the cumulative private amenity space shortfall for the development was actually 7,498.9sqm, rather than the 6,178.9sqm reported to the Planning Committee meeting. 

[To give an idea of what these figures mean, the standard professional football pitch has an area of 7,140 square metres - so the residents together would be "robbed" of more than a football pitch in size of private amenity space, if the proposals are approved.]

Did the new information make any difference? This is what the planning officers' delegated report concluded:

'it is considered that the scheme would still be acceptable in planning terms, notwithstanding the shortfall against Policy DMP19 as the external amenity space provision remains to be of sufficient size and type to satisfy the proposed residents’ needs. The amount and type of external amenity space proposed was clearly expressed to members, and it is considered that members would not have come to a different view on the proposal had the greater shortfall been reported.'  

 

 

Gladstone Parade pulled off tonight's Planning Committee Agenda

 Item 6 , Gladstone Parade, has been withdrawn from this evening's Planning Committee.  The original application had already been approved but the developer was seeking  changes in the the distribution of housing and a different form of tenure.

Wembley Park Station car park – a TALL story

Guest post by Philip Grant. This planning application will be decided by Brent Planning Committee tomorrow, Thursday November 26th. The meeting starts at 6pm and can be viewed HERE

 

Elevation drawing from the planning application with heights added

What is a tall building? For Brent planning purposes it’s one that is more than 30 metres in height (ten storeys), or more than 6 metres above the general prevailing heights of the surrounding area.

The proposed Barratt London / TfL development which Planning Committee will consider tomorrow evening (Thursday 26 November, 6pm) is definitely a tall building (or five of them). You can see more pictures of this planning application in Martin’s 2 November blog.

 

Brent’s Planners, in the Key Issues comments at the start of their Officers Report to the committee accept that ‘the development would exceed the policy expectations in respect of tall buildings’. I think they should have been clearer than that, so let me take you through the tall buildings planning policies which cover the Wembley Park Station car park site. I’ll begin with my “old friend”, the Wembley Area Action Plan (“WAAP”).

 

Foreword to the Wembley Area Action Plan, 2015.

 

When Brent’s then Lead Member for Regeneration (now Deputy Leader) writes to say that this Plan, adopted by the Council after wide consultation with the local community, will determine ‘how Wembley develops over the next 15 years’, you would think you could trust her words. And you can, because the WAAP’s policies still apply, and form part of the Draft Local Plan that is currently being finalised.

 

The WAAP has a tall buildings policy, WEM 5. It’s opening words are: ‘Tall buildings will be acceptable in a limited number of locations within the AAP area.’ The locations where tall buildings are, or may be, appropriate are shown on a map. Wembley Park Station car park is in “the red zone”, labelled ‘Sites inappropriate for Tall Buildings’.

 

The Tall Buildings map from the WAAP.

 

One of the specific sites (W22) identified in the WAAP for particular proposals was called “Wembley Park Station Car Park”. However, that was the western end of the original car park, not the present site with that name. This is where Matthews Close was built, with blocks between 5 and 8 storeys high - a scale identified as suitable for the mainly residential area of Brook Avenue.

 

Brent Council adopted a new comprehensive set of Development Management Policies in November 2016 (as seen in an earlier blog on another planning case in August!). These did not set out any new policies on tall buildings, but it did confirm that ‘policies within the Wembley Area Action Plan will take precedence where there are locally specific policies covering subjects that might also be covered’ by the DMP and the forthcoming Local Plan.

 

Another “supplementary planning document” which will form part of the new Local Plan, when it is finalised, is the Brent Design Guide, SPD1. Its policies were adopted by the Council in November 2018. SPD1 has a section on ‘Density, height and massing’, which includes guidance on sites appropriate for tall buildings. Under Principle 3.1 it states: ‘Tall buildings will only be encouraged in areas identified as appropriate for tall buildings.’ As we have seen above, the Wembley Park Station car park is a site inappropriate for tall buildings!

 

A page from the Brent Design Guide, SPD1, dealing with building heights.

 

As well as this confirmation over tall buildings, SPD1 goes on to set out the rules for heights on all other sites. These include that ‘sensitive design should ensure that new development respects the character of the wider surroundings’, and that ‘new development should positively respond to the height of the adjoining buildings and local area’.

 

I’ve already made mention of Brent’s Draft Local Plan, which has been through several phases of local consultation and is currently undergoing a final review to ensure that it complies with both the National Planning Policy Framework and the London Plan. It should come into force next year, and shape Brent’s planning policies for the next 20 years, so that it’s right that how it would affect the Wembley Park Station car park application is taken into account.

 

The Draft Local Plan does include a site-specific policy for Wembley Park Station (BCSA7), covering two sites. For the southern site, the narrow strip of land between the railway lines and Brook Avenue, it identifies an indicative capacity for 300 new homes.

 

The Wembley Park Station site plan from Brent’s Draft Local Plan (Stage 3).

 

Details for the Wembley Park Station sites from the Draft Local Plan.

 

As shown above, the WAAP tall buildings policy, under which this site is inappropriate for tall buildings, still forms part of the planning policies within the Local Plan. The proposals for the southern site respect that, with just a small adjustment. You will remember that a tall building is one of more than ten storeys, and the design details for this site say: ‘Up to ten storeys will be considered acceptable to the western side of the site, stepping up slightly directly adjacent to the station.’

 

One of the key purposes the Draft Local Plan has been designed to do is to deliver the housing target of providing over 2,000 new homes in the borough every year for the next 20 years. The Wembley Park Station car park site can provide the 300 homes which the Plan requires from it, with buildings no more than ten storeys high, possibly rising to twelve storeys next to the station. Any proposed new development on this site does not need to breach Brent’s tall buildings planning policies.

 

The Barratt London / TfL proposed development offers 454 new homes (152 of which would be “affordable”, but with 79 for sale as “shared ownership” and only 73 for “affordable rent”). But it clearly breaks the Council’s tall buildings planning policies. What does the Officer Report to Planning Committee say about that? This is just one of nine paragraphs on the subject:

 

’47. Whilst the Wembley Area Action Plan (WAAP) forms part of the development plan for the area, as it is the adopted policy, the emerging changes to policy as observed within BD2 of the emerging Local Plan are to be acknowledged and stand testament to the substantial increase in housing targets that have come into relevance since the publishing of the WAAP. Furthermore, emerging London Plan policy can now be afforded substantial weight and the sustainability of this location immediately adjacent to Wembley Park Station would identify it as a preferred site for maximising development opportunities. Wembley Park Station is the only tube station in Brent to be served by more than one London Underground line and its 6a PTAL rating underlines its sustainability.’

 

Heavy going! It’s not easy to follow exactly what the relevant planning policy is. You could easily think that they don’t intend you to, so that you'll just assume that they must know what they’re talking about, and accept their recommendation!

 

Policy BD2, from Brent’s Draft Local Plan.

 

Para. 47 (above) of the Officers Report refers to Policy BD2, as if it supports tall buildings on the station car park site. But BD2 only supports tall buildings in appropriate locations. The online version of the policies map it refers to is difficult to read, because it has so much detail, but this site appears to be within the overall “tall buildings zone”, but not in the Core Zone. This suggests that the site allocation details for BCSA7 above, which allow a slight stepping-up to a tall building at the station end of the site, should prevail.

 

Para. 51 of the Report does provide a couple of lighter moments, even if unintentionally. How about this one? ‘The buildings proposed would serve as a place-marker for the station.’ Imagine the scene:-

 

Visitor: “I need to get to Wembley Park Station. Can you tell me where it is, please?”

Helpful local resident: “Yes. It’s next door to a tall building in Wembley Park.”

 

Or this one – ‘A significant reduction in height from 30 storeys at this scheme’s initial pre-app stage is also acknowledged and has resulted in a building which establishes a reasonable maximum height.’

 

A man walks into Brent’s Planning Office, and says: ‘I want to build a tower block three times higher than your planning policies allow.’

Brent Planner: ‘I’m sorry, sir, we can’t accept that. We can only recommend a building that’s twice as tall.’

 

If a comedian said that, you might well laugh at his joke. But this is not “a tall story” * – it’s exactly what Brent’s Planning Committee is being asked to agree.

 

Philip Grant.

 

* If you are not familiar with the phrase “a tall story”, it’s colloquial English for ‘one that is difficult to believe’ (Oxford Reference Dictionary).

The Brook Avenue Five Towers at Brent Planning Committee on Wednesday

 

 

View of the proposed buildings from Olympic Square ('Archer' statue and station steps on right)

 

The proposed blocks (Dark green, lower right)  showing their suburban context

The proposed blocks from Elmside Road (junction with Kingswood Road)

The proposed blocks (outlined in green) and other planned developments (pink) as they will appear from the junction of Forty Lane and Bridge road (The Torch pub on left and Ark Academy right)

The development of 5 blocks on Brook Avenue goes to Brent Planning Committee on Wednesday November 4th. This is a development of TfL land (formerly the station car park and tube drivers' depot). Two blocks are 13 storeys high, 1 is 14 storeys, 1 is 17 storeys and the highest, nearest the station is 21 storeys (reduced from the original proposed 30 storeys).

Th development represents the further  'leaking' of the highrise buildings around the stadium across Bridge Road into a partly two storey suburban street.  It is likely that eventually the whole of Brook Avenue will become high rise.

 

Looking along Brook Avenue towards Bridge Road and Wembley Park station with existing flats in the foreground

 The blocks outlined in green as they will be seen from Eversley Avenue/Barn Rise

The tallest block, block E, will have commercial premises on the first 3 floors with retail facing on to Olympic Square,  

Of the 454 housing units 73 will be London Affordable rent and 79 shared ownership ('affordable' 33.5 % of the total).

The officers' report states:

Whilst the London Affordable Rented flats will be a self-contained element of the development, the other affordable tenure will be intermixed with the private units of the development and residents of all tenures within the scheme will have equal access to the first floor landscaped podium. The development will therefore facilitate social cohesion between the different tenures.

The buildings proposed would serve as both a place-marker for the station but also effectively transition away from the denser core of Wembley Park across Bridge Road whilst also respecting the key viewing corridor of the stadium within which it sits. The height of this apex point of the development is acknowledged as significant and that it is taller than envisioned within the draft site allocation in general design terms. Nonetheless, officers give weight to the benefits of the scheme (including 40% affordable housing provision) and other policy requirements such as the Mayor’s housing SPG seeking densification of car free development around public transport hubs and consider that the proposed height of the building strikes a good balance between the competing requirements. 

A significant reduction in height from 30 storeys at this scheme’s initial pre-app stage is also acknowledged and has resulted in a building which establishes a reasonable maximum height which balances the townscape and visual impact considerations with the benefits of the housing delivery. The applicant's submitted Townscape and Visual Impact Assessment identifies a number of local views away from Brook Avenue from where the development would be visible and demonstrates how these views would change. The development will result in a substantial change to the backdrop visible from some nearby roads (such as Elmside Road and Beechcroft Gardens), but this change would very much be reflective of the status of the site as within a growth area and a housing zone.

There are the usual comments in the officers' that may be challenged by some members of the Planning Committee. As well as the above they include:

• The development is a'suitable and attractively built addition to theWembley park growth area.
• Amenity space is below standard but of good quality through podium gardens.
• On-site child play space is only 'marginally' below policy objectives and shortfall will be offset by developer contributing £31,000 to the imporvment of existing parks
• Viability has been robustly tested and has demonstrated that the proposal offers more than the maximum reasonable amount [of affordable housing] that can be provided on site.
• Loss of light to some windows of surrounding properties is 'not unusual for developments of this scale.'

The developers will contribute £260,00 towards enhancing bus capacity in the area.

There are 15 objections recorded on Brent Planning Portal including this one:

I am objecting to this application because it is a massive overdevelopment of a small and narrow site.

The Wembley Park area has sites allocated within it, under the Wembley Area Action Plan, as being appropriate to tall buildings. 

At the same time, the WAAP identifies sites INAPPROPRIATE for tall buildings, and this site in Brook Avenue is one of them. On those grounds alone (and there are others) this application should be refused.

The applicants argue that as the site is only just across the road from a site where tall buildings are considered appropriate, there would be no harm in allowing their five proposed blocks of between 13 and 21 storeys high. That is a false argument!

If this application is allowed, what is to stop another applicant coming along and saying, 'Well, my site is just across the road from one where tall buildings are allowed, so I should be allowed to build a tall block too!'. To accept this application would set a dangerous precedent, which other developers could exploit, and that must not be allowed to happen.

Brent's core policy CP17 is aimed at protecting and enhancing the suburban character of Brent. This application would do the opposite of that, by encroaching into the suburban character of Brook Avenue and its nearby streets, and the view from the Barn Hill Conservation Area. 

Only five years ago, Brent adopted the Wembley Area Action Plan, and with it, a line on the map which showed "this far and no further" for tall buildings. That line must be held, and this application must be rejected, so as not to undermine  it.  

COMMITTEE AGENDA