Co-op store proposal divides community near Dollis Hill Station

 

 

76 Burnley Road

A proposal to replace a vehicle repair workshop with a Co-operative food store opposite the Burnley Road entrance to Dollis Hill Station has divided local residents. Brent Council planners have recommended rejection of the application:

In contrast to Brent Council's advocacy of the retails jobs provided at the London Designer Outlet at Wembley Stadium, Planning Officers state:

With regards to on-site employment, the Applicant has submitted information stating that there would 
be a net increase in employment on the site as a result of the proposal. The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) Employment Densities Guide (2010) sets out that Use Class B2 (General Industry) requires 36sqm floorspace per employee. This equates to a capacity, for the existing use, of approximately 8 employees, whereas the proposed retail store could create 20-25 jobs. It must be noted, however, that up to 20 of these employees for the retail unit are proposed to be ‘part time’ employees. Furthermore, your officers consider that the jobs associated with defined employment uses are more likely to be skilled jobs than those associated with a retail use. Therefore, whilst acknowledging there would be a net increase in employment on the site, your officers conclude that an employment use has a greater beneficial impact on employment, with higher skilled personnel with the potential of apprentice schemes, than the proposed retail use. 

Petitions both for and against the proposal have been submitted as well as individual comments. The majority are against:

Against 


35 comments 
Petition Against - The second was an organised petition from 680 addresses with 992 signatures - including 175 signatures that did not have a full address. The objections are that the introduction of the local convenience store will damage the local shops and their business. 
       Your officers are also aware of a change.org petition against the proposal titled Help Protect Our Shops, with 103 objectors, on the grounds that the Council should support local community stores 

For 


5 comments 


Petition For 1)- Petition consisting of approximately 95 names. Many of these did not have full addresses. The generic supporting reason was the positive addition of a convenience store on Burnley Road. 


Petition For 2) 5 individuals from 5 different addresses who support the application based on new jobs and groceries at fair prices. 


Click on image to enlarge

A number of councillors called in the proposal so that it would be  decided by the Planning Committee rather than by officers and their reasons varied:

   

Name of Councillor 

Councillor Harrison

Date and Reason for Request

17/04/2016

Details of any representations received

We understand that the Co-operative Group proposals will result in the employment of 20-25 people with priority given to recruitment in the local area.

Name of Councillor

Councillor Nerva

Date and Reason for Request

17/04/2016

Details of any representations received

We understand that the Co-operative Group proposals will result in the employment of 20-25 people with priority given to recruitment in the local area.

Name of Councillor

Councillor Collier

Date and Reason for Request

18/04/2016

Details of any representations received

We understand that the Co-operative Group proposals will result in the employment of 20-25 people with priority given to recruitment in the local area.

Name of Councillor

Councillor Shahzad

Date and Reason for Request

20/04/2016

Details of any representations received

Should be heard at Committee so residences can expressed their views to the committee.

Name of Councillor

Councillor Hirani

Date and Reason for Request

22/04/2016

Details of any representations received

Concerned about the impact on local independent shops;
Concerns with the increase of traffic and spaces for loading vehicles.


Name of Councillor
Councillor Choudry


Date and Reason for Request
22/04/2016


Details of any representations received


Concerned about the impact on local independent shops;
Concerns with the increase of traffic and spaces for loading vehicles.


Name of Councillor
Councillor Patel


Date and Reason for Request
20/04/2016


Details of any representations received
 

Request that the application be discussed and decided by the Planning Committee only. 

Any person wishing to inspect the above papers should contact Robert Reeds, Planning and Regeneration, Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley, HA9 0FJ, Tel. No. 020 8937 6726

Barnet Council gives go ahead for Brent Cross redevelopment

Regular readers will know that the Brent Cross development has been subject to much debate, not least because of the increase in car traffic involved in the expansion of retail and the associated loss of green space. See Coalition for a Sustainable Brent Cross Development  LINK

This is a Press Release from Barnet Council: 

Barnet Council has today confirmed planning permission for a revamped Brent Cross Cricklewood shopping centre as part of the wider Brent Cross Cricklewood redevelopment. 

The confirmation comes today following the signing of final commercial agreements between Barnet Council, developers Hammerson and Standard Life.

The overall development of both north and south sides of the A406 will create more than 27,000 jobs and 7,500 homes and double the size of the shopping centre.

The Section 106 planning agreement is one of the largest in British history and will see a £250m investment in roads, public transport and pedestrian and cycle links as well as three new parks.

It will also see investment in three new schools and other community facilities as well as a £5.6m major improvements to Clitterhouse Playing Fields.

Leader of the Council, Councillor Richard Cornelius said:

It is very difficult to overstate the importance of this redevelopment to Barnet. The council is committed to playing an active role in the development of the south side of the site to get the best financial deal for the taxpayer and to play our part in creating a thriving London neighbourhood.

We are particularly excited by the opportunities presented by Brent Cross overground station which will give a 12 minute fast link into Kings Cross. We are working very closely with the Treasury and the Mayor’s Office to make this happen.

Is retail really the answer to Brent's economic development?

London Designer Outlet, Christmas Eve, 11.30am

If you wanted a little bit of peace and quiet away from the last minute Christmas shopping crowds then Wembley's London Designer Outlet (the LDO) was the place to be this morning. I popped in to see how things were going after visiting Wembley Library - the library was more crowded!

Of course the LDO has only just opened (but so has the library) and the weather forecast was poor (but that affects library users too). The library is for local people while the LDO is intended to attract crowds from within the M25 so transport disruption affects the latter more.

Despite this one would have expected more shoppers. The store doing the briskest trade was the Tesco Local just outside the LDO on Wembley Hill Road. There is still time for things to pick up and perhaps the post-Christmas sales will help, although of course products are heavily discounted anyway.  However there are vital questions to be raised.

I had a sharp little exchange with Cllr Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, earlier this week when I criticised his frequent tweets urging people to shop at the LDO - I suggested he had becomes its PR mouthpiece. He retorted that it provided jobs for local people and Cllr Pavey flew to his support accusing me of having no sense of fun and praising the LDO as a great addition to the local economy. The initimable tweeter PukkahPubjabi joined in, asking how many of the jobs were on zero hours contracts and the London Living Wage.

I responded: 

We have different views on what constitutes a viable, sustainable local economy. Reliance on retail is not the answer.

And that perhaps sums up the differences between me and Brent Labour on this. At the beginning of the Quintain regeneration I suggested that an emphasis on retail in a period of recession and debt was not a good idea and that the kind of jobs that would result were not of sufficient quality for our young people. Brent Greens put forward a suggestion for a Green Enterprise zone in the regenerated area, offering incentives for green industries to be set up, contributing to combating climate change and with pay-offs for residents in terms of energy saving technologies and adaptations.  There could be links with local colleges for training and apprenticeship schemes. The result would be skilled jobs of high social value contributing to the wider economy.

This is of course based on clear differences in our assumptions about future economic development. In the face of diminishing natural resources and the need to cut back on carbon emissions as climate change accelerates. Greens are looking for more sustainable economic models not linked to every increasing consumption and debt.  Socially useful production geared to needs not wants. A more equal society with less division between the rich and the poor.

Labour is still signed up to the neoliberal model with their challenge to capitalism little more than trying to give it a human face. They do not question the strategy of expanding the economy through consumption and borrowing. Despite the 2008 crisis they have little to say about the reform of banks or the City of London, reducing the ratio between the lowest and highest paid in corporations, or ending the privatisation of the public sector. On a local level Muhammed Butt doesn't recognise the contradictions of pushing discounted designer shopping to a population suffering income decline and thus easy prey for the loan sharks he is pledged to control.

That difference is what makes me an eco-socialist within the Green Party.

When we submitted our views on Quintain's and Brent Council's retail vision for the Wembley Park regeneration we described it as high risk but at the time it did include social provision such as family housing, health centre swimming pool and a new primary school. These remain to be built and would surely be of more benefit to Brent residents than retail units offering 60% off kitchenware!