An email from Irvin Leisure to Brent councillors has been seen by Wembley Matters.It is not possible to tell if the email went to ALL councillors but it does suggest that many will be at the Funfair it invites councillors to attend. It asks councillors to reply personally to George Irvin in response to an invitation to enjoy free admission to the upcoming Funfair at Roe Green for friends and family:
Hello Dear Councillor,
As I’m sure you realise, we have worked with your Borough for many generations staging the Annual Funfairs where we support many local charities including the Mayor’s charity which we are raising funds for at this year’s event.
The local community have an important day coming up soon at the local Fair, this being Eid al-Fitr on the 21st and 22nd April 2023 and regardless of your personal religion we would like to invite you along with family and friends to our Funfair free of charge as I will arrange tickets for you all.
Do confirm to George direct if you wish to attend as many other Councillors will be attending.
George Irvin's controversial application to redevelop a site in Barham Park LINK to build 4 houses is with the council and expires on Thursday April 20th.
After publication I received the following emailed comment about the Barham Park development:
Brent Council treated the Barham bequest as their own asset for a long time. They used buildings in Barham Park as offices for Parks Department and build the two cottages for parks staff in early 1970s without permission.
The park buildings and pathways have been neglected for years and rather than treating it just like any other Park, paid from the Council Tax the Council is insisting that Barham Park needs to generate its own income to fund improvements.
When the cottages became empty and needed substantial upgrading a decision was made some 14 years ago to sell them to generate money for repairs to the park.
George Irwin bought them at auction for £630,000.
The sale was subject to a covenant preventing further building. While this has nothing to do with planning - and any permission could be given or refused - the ‘restrictive’ covenant cannot be ignored.
As the Council sold the two cottages with the Covenant on basis that it was the two houses and not more. The value received was reasonable. If the houses and land were sold unrestricted than the value would have been much higher.
The Council Trustees have a fiduciary duty to maximise any income to the Trust. As the land from Titus Barham is a charitable endowment, they also have a duty to protect it. They could simply say 2 houses is enough and no more - irrespective of any decisions made by planning.
If the Trustees, following proper advice and probably clearance from the Charity Commission allowed the proposed 4 houses to be built - despite public opposition - they would have to extract a fair and substantial value for disposing of the protection given by the restrictive covenant.
George Irwin paid £630,000 for two cottages some years ago. He also incurred legal and other costs. Each of the 4 town houses, once built could be worth £700,000 each that is a total of £2,800,000. If demolition, rebuilding and other costs come to say £1,170,000 that would still leave a gain of £1 million.
The Brent property or Finance team can do this calculation for the Barham Trustees as a value needs to be placed on the covenant. An independent valuation officer from the Inland Revenue will probably need to be involved.
What is quite obvious is that George Irwin will not be allowed to go ahead without paying a very large price - even if the planning Committee caves in and allows more building inside an important Brent Park. Once Brent officers finally advise him of the price, he needs to pay he may simply give up on his plans and realise that he is wasting his time.
GEORGE IRVIN HAS SENT THIS COMMENT (00.15 APRIL 20TH)
I need to make everyone aware we have been asked to support Eid al-Fitr by many Mosque’s all over London that we do events with and because of this we have sent £10 of tokens to all the councillors that can be given to anyone including charities in Tower Hamlets, Lambeth, Brent and Southwark where funfairs are taking place over Eid as this has nothing to do with planning issues.
We support many non-political charities, like the mayors charities with our annual funfairs as we have donated more £500,000 over previous years.
So this is completely wrong to say this is connected to any planning, applications.
