New Facebook group launched for Wembley area

A range of outlets for the many voices of Wembley residents is healthy for democracy and social cohesion so I warmly welcome a new Facebook group called Wembley Online.

The group describes itself thus:

Wembley Online is a media page for Wembley and Brent. The page shares the latest news/events/offers/adverts/competitions and many more posts from Wembley and the surrounding areas. The page also shares various articles from local newspapers and magazines and keeps the members up to date with all the news from Wembley. The public also engage with the articles by commenting/liking and sharing the posts and also expressing their views on the latest developments in Wembley and Brent.

Link to site:  https://www.facebook.com/WembleyOnline/

Quintain lodges planning application for replacement of Wembley Stadium pedway with steps

Artists' impression of the steps

The pedway in use

Quintain's planning application for the replacement of the Wembley Stadium Pedway by steps is now on Brent Council's Planning Portal  LINK. The application will be heard by Brent Council Planning Committee. Brent Council has controversially given £18,000,000 Community Infrastructure Levy monies back to Quintain for this and other claimed improvements to the public realm between Wembley Park station and the stadium.

The steps are very similar to those at the station with the addition of a broader landing at the top of the steps.

The full application contains proposals for the possible  use of the 'undercroft' beneath the steps similar to that on the South Bank which was only saved for skateboarders after a spirited campaign.

The plan involves the planting of trees along Olympic Way and the construction of two roads parallel to the steps connecting the stadium to Engineers Way.

Summary of the Planning Application:

18/0973 | Full planning permission for the demolition of the existing 'Pedway' ramp structure to the front of Wembley Stadium and the construction of a set of steps (with associated lighting) to connect ground level to Wembley Stadium Landing Level (concourse); and use of the void created beneath the proposed steps as secure storage for estate maintenance equipment; the reconfiguration of an existing unadopted estate road (Perimeter Way) to create two new roads either side of the steps connecting to Engineers Way; the use of land beneath the steps bridge as temporary event space; a revised vehicular access to Plot W03 immediately west of the application site and public realm works comprising the installation of hard landscaping, street trees, lighting columns that can incorporate advertising banners, street furniture, underground water attenuation measures, services, tree pits and other associated works. AND Advertisement consent is sought for banners to four lighting columns on Olympic Way, as proposed under this application. | Zone C, Olympic Way & Perimeter Way, Wembley, HA9

Putting aside the issue of all the alternative uses that Brent could have made of the £18 million the issue of safety arises when the stadium empties down the steps. The station steps are steep but are not used in one massive exit from the station but staggered as trains arrive at intervals. People wlll exit the stadium at the same time and descend the steps. We already know how rammed it gets on the pedway and Olympic Way at exit times - one slip and there could be a serious accident.  The illustration on the application gives a clue to how crowded it will get:

Stables in Exile Spring Group Show

Free Entry

                         Normal opening times :  Monday- Thursday  10-2pm
                    Friday 2-5pm  Saturday 10-4pm Sunday 11-1pm & 6-8pm

                              Curated by Stuart Gould  sgould27@hotmail
                                                                                                   

Hey kids, get down to St Raph's tomorrow for the Great Brent Easter Egg Hunt!

Quintain up for sale again as Lone Star acts on post-Brexit concerns

The Financial Times LINK is reporting that the US private investment firm Lone Star that acquired Quintain in 2015 LINK is looking to off-load the Wembley developer to reduce its exposure to the London property market ahead of Brexit.

Lone Star acquired Quintain for about £1bn, including debt, in 2015 and the sale may raise more than £3bn.

The change of ownership last time produced accelerated, denser and higher development as well as the switch to the country's largest private 'build to rent scheme.

Who knows what the next owner will do with Wembley and whether the Labour Brent Council will continue its close relationship with them.

A spokesperson for Quintain told Wembley Matters this afternoon:

Lone Star is exploring options to introduce a new strategic investor into the ownership of Quintain. It is likely that any new investor will acquire all or part of Lone Star’s shareholding and make available new long term capital for the next phases of the development of Wembley Park. This process is in its early stages. If a transaction does go ahead, and there is no certainty that one will, it is simply an “equity reshuffle” amongst the top shareholding base and will have no impact on the management team, strategy or day to day running of the company.

The confused Conservatives of Brent North

Well, look what popped through my door from Brent North Conservatives today! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery of course, but that's not really what caught my attention.

Tories sell themselves on the basis of their efficiency  so I was struck by the fact that the front page ad for what's inside the four page paper got both items wrong: 'Reducing litter and flytipping in our neighbourhood Pg2'  was actually on Page 3. 'Our streets peppered with potholes and broken pavements Pg 4' does not appear at all on any page.,

An item on Roe Green villages battling a commercial Powerleague pitch says it is on the 'Bacon Lane campus' but does not mention the school's name (it is Kingsbury High). However, the article is illustrated  rather unhelpfully with a picture of Roe Green infant and Junior School.

I live in Barnhill ward but there was no  mention of any issues in the ward.  I am not sure what the residents of Chalkhill Estate will make of it.

Caroline Pidgeon and Sadiq Khan's exchange on Cricklewood Aggregate Terminal

Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat Assembly Member,  has also written to Sadiq Khan about the Cricklewood Aggregate Terminal:

It is my understanding that planning permission was granted by Barnet Council last week, however, there are a number of reasons why I believe it is vital that you now carefully examine this planning application.
The reasons why I believe this is necessary include:
1) The Barnet Council planning committee decision was made by a majority of only 1 vote: 6 councillors were in favour and 5 were against.
2) The London Borough of Barnet was both the planning authority and the joint applicant
3) The votes in favour appear to have been cast on party lines with all 6 of the ‘aye’ votes being by Conservative Councillors (and with no Conservative Councillors voting ‘no’).
4) The neighbouring boroughs of Brent and Camden both posted objections to the applications and councillors from those authorities spoke against the development at the meeting, along with London Assembly Member Navin Shah.
5) The development has the capacity to impact profoundly on the wellbeing and amenity of residents in three boroughs (Barnet, Brent and Camden) in terms of air quality, congestion on the already-over-used A5 and traffic safety. It is predicted by the applicants that there will be a further 452 HGV movements per day on the busy A5 (with consequent NO2 emissions and traffic impact) and PM10 emissions from the proposed stockpiled materials.
6) The impact on air quality report presented by the applicants was formulated by comparison with a baseline scenario gleaned from an inaccurate/non-representative traffic recording for previous use of the site (for example the traffic count included about 200 bus movements when the site was being temporarily used as a bus park whilst Cricklewood Bus Garage was unable to accommodate the buses in the usual way).
7) The broader previous use of the site was as a result of uncontrolled/illegal subletting and so, even if the counts had been accurate, they represented a scenario unfit for comparison with a proposed permitted development. Proper bases for comparison would be the current situation or, arguably but sub-optimally, the existing section 73 permission.
8) The applicants had previously released (informally and to only one residents’ association during the consultation process) an air quality addendum, which contradicted the results of the addendum that they later relied upon, but they did not publish the previous report on the planning portal. That previous report suggests that there may be ‘substantially adverse’ impact on air quality from the development.
9) There is good evidence that the traffic data is flawed in relation to both junction safety and the overall capacity of the A5.

For all the above reasons I would urge you to call in, review and then reject this planning application.
Yours sincerely,

Caroline Pidgeon AM

 Sadiq Khan replied:

Reminder: Comedy at Ark Elvin Saturday April 7th