Three Lakes at Wembley Park

Many thanks to local historian Philip Grant for this guest post:

 A comment on a recent item about “ A Tour of Wembley Park’s Green and Open Spaces” LINK said: 

‘I would love to see where the “lake” is going to appear. Just thought, with all the building work there will only be space for a large puddle in one of the many potholes in Wembley...Lake Water Butt.’   

What better opportunity for me to share with you the story of two previous lakes at Wembley Park, and one which is promised for the near future.

In May 1894 the Metropolitan Railway Company opened Wembley Park Station, to serve the new pleasure grounds which were brainchild of its chairman, Sir Edward Watkin. The gardens were designed to entice people from crowded inner London (travelling by train, of course) to spend their leisure time in this beautiful setting. Apart from the promise of a tower, taller than Eiffel’s in Paris, the attractions included a man-made lake, fed by the Wealdstone Brook, where visitors could hire rowing boats.

Lake 1 OS map with Wealdstone Brook and lake

Wembley Park, with lake and tower, early 1900's

Wembley Park’s pleasure grounds were very popular at first, but the tower (which became known as Watkin’s Folly) never got above its first stage, and was demolished in 1906/07. Before 1914, part of the grounds were being used as a golf course, and there were plans that the site would become Wembley’s next “garden village” suburb. Then the Great War came.

In 1921, the vacant pleasure grounds (with their excellent rail access) were chosen as the site for the British Empire Exhibition. When the layout for this vast enterprise was designed, the existing lake was filled in, providing a garden which welcomed visitors entering from the station, and a new lake was constructed.

Lake 2, BEE plan with lake and rivers

The new artificial lake, across the east-west axis of the site, was not just an attractive feature for recreational use. It was designed to collect and store water running off of the exhibition’s huge concrete buildings, so that the Wealdstone Brook would not flood after heavy rain.

The BEE lake looking towards the Indian Pavilion, 1924

After the exhibition closed in 1925, most of the pavilions of Empire nations were demolished. A vast swimming pool / sports arena was constructed at the western end of the lake, in time for the British Empire Games in 1934 (the road along one side of Wembley Arena is still called Lakeside Way). The remains of the rest of the lake survived for many years, but were eventually filled in to provide car parks for the old Wembley Stadium.

Wembhey Stadium, reflected in the BEE lake, after demolition of tge Australia and Canada pavilions, c1930

There is no lake at Wembley Park now, but in the latest version of Quintain’s masterplan for the redevelopment of the ex-Wembley Stadium land they bought in 2002, there will be a new lake, as part of a seven acre (not seven hectare, as sometimes claimed by Brent Council) park. As the lake might be difficult to spot on the coloured plan below, I have marked it with a yellow arrow.

Lake 3 (arrowed) on Quintain's master plan for Wembley, 202

This plan, and the image below, were part of a talk given to Wembley History Society in January 2018 by Julian Tollast, Quintain’s Head of Masterplanning and Design. Plans can, of course, be changed as developments progress, but if Julian’s vision for the new lake (in more or less the same place as the eastern end of the 1924 BEE lake) goes ahead, this is what it would look like in around 2027:-

Quintain's vision of the new park and lake

An existing road, Engineers Way, will cut across the lake and park. The park is a much smaller feature for the number of local residents than the parks which local Councils provided for their ratepayers in the past, although the “lake” would be bigger than a ‘Water Butt’. To his credit, Mr Tollast is conscious of history, and of the part played by the landscape architect Humphry Repton in shaping this area, which was named Wembley Park because of his work here in the 1790’s. He plans to use a landscaping feature favoured by Repton to reduce the view of the road from the park; a ha-ha (don’t laugh!).

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How to make Green Party communications relevant to working class voters

https://campaigns.greenparty.org.uk/executive-elections-2018/

Green Left, the eco-socialist group within the Green Party, invited members to submit questions to candidates for the Green Party leader and  deputy leader positions. There were 15 questions in all and candidates' answer can be found HERE

The Green Party is often seen as white and middle class although, helped by the campaigning of Green Left, its anti-austerity and social justice policies should appeal to both white and black and ethnic minority working class voters. My question focused on this issue:

How can Green Party communications of their policies be made more relevant to the working class (White and Black Minority Ethnic)?

Shahrar Ali (leader candidate)

Let’s make our own-branded campaign materials more representative of society. See our current spokespersons page. There is no visible ethnic diversity – which is frankly laughable, despite the brilliant people who could fill those roles (https://bit.ly/18QFrOS). You also have the opportunity to elect the first BME leader of a UK party.

Jonathan Bartley & Sian Berry (Co-leader job-share candidates)

We think it’s real Green action on the issues that matter to these groups that will win trust, not just communicating our policies. It’s vital that we are strong allies to campaigners on issues that matter to working class and BAME voters, and we should be enthusiastically backing them when they ask for our help, and seeking out ways to help them if they aren’t asking us yet. Our record of action and campaigning shows we are serious about this.

In London, Jonathan and Lambeth Greens went from one to five councillors due to their fierce campaigns supporting estate residents against demolition and fighting for public libraries that many residents depend upon. In the London Assembly, Sian has fought hard to defend injustices that particularly affect people of colour such as getting the Mayor to use name-blind recruitment to cut down on biases, and calling out the police on tactics such as stop and search, spit hoods, tasers and draconian automated facial recognition that disproportionately target Black people.

We also need to be supporting BME candidates to get elected. Jonathan just launched in Lambeth (in Brixton at the Black Cultural Archives in Windrush Square) the Deyika Nzeribe Fund. This was named after our party’s Manchester Mayoral candidate who died tragically on New Year’s eve 2017. We welcomed at that launch the first Green Mayor of Sheffield – Magid Magid and the new Green Mayor of Bristol Cleo Lake a proud Bristolian of African-Caribbean heritage. The fund – overseen by Greens of Colour - will support, engage and develop Green candidates of global south heritage.

Aimee Challenor (deputy leader candidate)

Our communications are relevant to the working class, we see mass engagement with our working class members, this should be celebrated and the hard work continued.

Jonathan  Chilvers (deputy leader candidate)

Great question. We need to be a lot better at this. By listening to residents on the doorstep, putting our principles into practical action so people can see the impact. Give people a voice when they feel powerless and make sure it’s their voice not ours.

Andrew Cooper (deputy leader candidate)

We need people to be familiar with the Green Party as part of their everyday lives. Taking up the issues and problems of working class people instead of just talking about them. Growing our Councillor base is a good way of building strong roots in communities and making ourselves relevant to people who often have challenging lives with limited incomes. I work a lot with the Muslim community in Huddersfield and it is by close contact with communities and taking up their concerns that helps build support.

Rashid Nix (deputy leader candidate)

The fact this is the 13th question shows what a priority this is! I’m dismayed at how Greens view working class and bme’s. It’s like we (I am black) are an alien species with peculiar habits and tastes. That’s prob why we lost 25,000 members! They probably joined Labour... TALK IN PLAIN ENGLISH WITHOUT TECHNO BABBLE!

Leslie Rowe (leader candidate)

By listening. When a democratic decision is made, respect it. That migration is not the problem but businesses addicted to a never ending supply of cheap labour not willing to pay the market rate for jobs is. Minimum wage too low, not enough minimum wage inspectors and we need to vastly increase vocational training.

Amelia Womack (deputy leader candidate)

Making sure we’re delivering our message into publications that are relevant to different groups. It’s no good simply getting our message in the Guardian and on Daily Politics as we simply talk to our bubble.

In the past I’ve worked with the Mirror and even Stylist Magazine to make sure our message reaches as broad a community as possible.

Also, it’s vitally important to be on the doorsteps with working class communities with a relevant message that will make a difference to the lives of people in their community. A large part of this is overcoming the rhetoric that migrants are what’s failing the NHS, housing, jobs etc and ensure we stop our government and other parties scapegoating from the issues caused by Westminster

GREEN PARTY ELECTIONS OFFICIAL INFORMATION

'Talk & Walk' urban food growing spaces with Granville Kitchen today

'Talk and Walk' event at Granville Community Kitchen Urban Food Gropwing is holding this event today as part of London National Park City Week:

28 July 2018 2pm – 3.30 pm

Meet at the Granville 140 Carlton Vale, NW6 5HE

Granville Community Kitchen invites you on a tour of three inner city growing spaces where you will be able to get involved in growing activities. Granville Community Kitchen is a community-led initiative for the South Kilburn community to access healthy, affordable and sustainable food and grow community!

Mrs Plug may get Willesden Green Library re-opened 'towards the end of next week'

The latest from Brent Council on the closure of Willesden Green library because of water supply problems:

The Library at Willesden Green is still closed. New parts are currently being fitted to repair the water tank. If all goes well the engineers say we will be able to reopen towards the end of next week. We will keep you informed as we get further updates. @Brent_Council

Butt's crocodile tears on South Kilburn

The Brent and Kilburn Times has a story about the recent public meeting on South Kilburn and the impact of regeneration and HS2. LINK  One resident has said disruption was so bad that he wanted to move away. The Kilburn Times reports:

Cllr Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, felt he “had to step in” on hearing residents wanted to move away.

He said: “I’m edging on the side of residents. 

“There’s a lot of regeneration taking place for the next 15 years or more and we must do all we can to safeguard the residents. “If he’s talking about moving out the area, we need to have a serious conversation.”

However, he was later challenged on why he petitioned HS2 to move the vent shaft from its original spot in a Queen’s Park car park in Salusbury Road

Cllr Butt has absoutely no excuse for not being aware of the issues as this blog has brought it to attention several times in posts from Pete Firmin, a resident and tenants represenative and a member of Kilburn Labour Party.  This is one blog that Pete wrote on May 26th 2015  LINK about the HS2 shaft that Brent Council asked HS2 to put next to Canterbury Works and a primary school on the estate, rather than the  council owened site next to Queens Park station which at the time was away from any residences. Brent Council has now given planning permission for flats on that site. Pete Firmin's post received 53 comments which are worth reading.

Guest blog by Pete Firmin, South Kilburn resident
 
On Friday 22^nd May, pupils, parents teachers and local residents held a protest at the gates of St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School in South Kilburn against the proposal from Brent Council that the ‘ventilation shaft’ for HS2 be sited right next to the school and close to flats.

Apparently such ventilation shafts are necessary at certain distances along the line in order to get rid of the air pushed in front of the speeding trains, otherwise they would slow the trains down. Such vent shafts are not a small thing, being usually about 25 m by 25 m and 2 storeys high – the size of a small block of flats. Such an enterprise is calculated to take up to 6 years building work, involving movement of over a hundred lorries a day to and from the affected area at peak times, with the association noise, disruption and dust...

HS2’s current proposal is that this be sited close to Queen’s Park station, but Brent Council is pressing that it be on the Canterbury Works site next to St Mary’s school instead. Some studies suggest a ventilation shaft is not essential at either site.

Brent Council’s proposal ignores the pleas from local residents and school staff and users and is putting its regeneration scheme above any concern for the health and wellbeing of students and residents. They have the support of Queens Park residents in this, who feel the vent shaft would be a “blight” on their community, despite the disruption and siting being much further from their homes and schools than is proposed for South Kilburn. As so often, South Kilburn is seen as the dumping ground for things that Brent and its middle classes regard as ‘undesirable’.

The issue of Brent and HS2 has a background. The local Tenants and Residents Association has been asking Brent Council about HS2 and how it will affect us for years, ever since we discovered it is due to run underneath (or very close to) our flats. Unfortunately, unlike Camden, Brent Council didn’t seem to be looking at this at all, its only comments being that HS2 offered great ‘business opportunities’ for Old Oak Common. Even when we got letters from HS2 saying they may want to Compulsorily Purchase our properties we got no support from Brent. We’ve all had at least 2 such letters now, and, despite our urging, Brent Council appears to have done nothing to get proper answers from HS2 on this. Some people have been told verbally that this is just something that HS2 has to do and they will not be wanting to CPO our properties, but we have never had such a commitment from HS2 in writing.

Then, despite us asking for years that Brent take up our concerns and nothing happening, we discovered from a third party that a report on HS2 was due to go to Brent Council  in March last year. This was the first we knew about proposals about the siting of the vent shaft, when the report argued for its siting in South Kilburn rather than next to Queens Park station. We asked that we be allowed to address the Council when it discussed the report, but this was refused. Instead we were given a commitment that our concerns would be taken on board. Given our concerns included opposition to the Council’s push for the vent shaft site to be adjacent to the school and our flats, this was clearly not the case.

Then this year we saw by chance an email from a Council officer to one of our Councillors which said “HS2,  we continue to lobby for this to be relocated from the Council owned site at Salusbury Road car park to the rear of Canterbury Works. Various professional studies have been commissioned which support this Full Council approved stance and have been recently submitted to HS2 for their consideration.”

Around the same time the headteacher of St Mary’s school came away from a meeting with HS2 and Council officers convinced the vent shaft was going to be put next to the school. Soon after leaflets were put through our doors campaigning against the vent shaft being sited there. This came from people associated with the school, and since then they have had a meeting for all parents, produced petitions and initiated the protest outside the school. 

Local residents support the opposition from school users to the siting of the shaft here, but there is an added complication. The leaflets put through every door and the drive behind the school campaign come from a PR company employed by the property developers building luxury flats (no social housing) at Canterbury House (also next to the school and a block of flats) and property developers hoping to build a ten-storey block of flats on the Canterbury Works site (currently a vehicle repair site, and the site where Brent wants the vent shaft site to be). 

Many of us are opposed to both the siting of the vent shaft next to the school and our flats and ANY further development of the site. We think that having been living on the middle of a regeneration building site for the last 3 years (with the myriad of complaints that has involved, about which Brent has done nothing), we should have respite from any further development and the disruption, noise and dirt involved. Added to which, the Canterbury House development is luxury flats only (advertised as in Queens Park, even though in the middle of South Kilburn), and development on the Canterbury Works would probably be similar, or at the very least the low proportion of social housing we are now seeing in SK ‘regeneration’), this would only add to what we have called the ‘social cleansing’ taking place with regeneration. SK is also already one of the most densely populated parts of Brent. 

We have lost some our little green space through regeneration, we would like to get some back rather than further development. So, as well as opposing the siting of the vent shaft here, we would oppose planning permission for further flats on the site too. Some of us joined the protest outside the school with placards opposing both the HS2 vent shaft and the property developers.

Just to be clear, the PR company’s employee working with the school put on the “No to HS2 at Canterbury Works” Facebook page “We do not want to see a ventilation shaft at Canterbury Works, we are protecting the interests of Canterbury House and a ventilation shaft would be detrimental to this development and to its future residents who will be part of the South Kilburn community.” 

Protecting the interests of Canterbury House means the property developers, it couldn’t be more explicit. Future residents seem to take precedence over current ones too. When they started work on Canterbury House (the building has been empty for years, even though planning permission was obtained some time ago), they knew that HS2 was going through the area and people had been served with potential CPO orders. Our belief was that they were hoping for maximum compensation (unlike us!) and that was why they pressed ahead.

We are hoping we can have one united campaign involving both school and local residents against the siting of the vent shaft here. There does seem to be an attempt to keep us at arms length from the school campaign, given our critical stance.

As so often, Brent Council has spent years ignoring the concerns of local residents and is now intent on pressing HS2 to trample on the interests of both school pupils and residents.

This letter from Pete Firmin to Scrutiny Committee provides detail on residents’ concerns about the South Kilburn redevelopment in general as well as the shaft: LINK

Brent Council issues parks and allotments fire warning

BBQ at Barn Hill Open Space at the weekend

Scorched grass after fire at the Open Space (not caused by above BBQ)

Brent Council has now put out the following announcement:

Due to the very high temperatures we have been experiencing over the last month, the London Fire Brigade have issued a temporary ban on all BBQs in parks across London. This is due to the risk of fire if they are left unattended. 

In Brent, we already have a complete ban on BBQs in our parks, however this is an opportunity for us to remind residents about the increased risk of fire due to the hot weather.

We appreciate that residents will want to enjoy the hot weather, however please remember your safety at all times. Perhaps you may consider alternatives such as arranging a picnic instead.

We would also like to request that allotment holders do not burn any green waste during this heat wave, to reduce the possibility of fire spreading.

If we are to have regular hot summers it may be worth the Council considering installing stone/concrete 'fire places' in its parks such as those found in North America and Australia but there are issues of air pollution to consider. LINK

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Quintain offers public tour of Wembley Park's 'green heritage' Saturday July 28th

Wembley Park 1908

Wembley Park 2018

Wembley Park has certainly changed a lot in 110 years in terms of green space. Quintain has set itself the challenging task of finding some green spaces in what increasingly looks like a concrete jungle. You can judge for yourself how successful they have been by taking part in this tour  on Saturday July 28th, 11am-12.30pm.  I regret that I am not yet well enough to take part but will be interested in a report back from any reader who joins the tour.

This is the information about the tour available on the Eventbrite booking site. I have not edited out the inevitable public relations plug for Quintain:


National Park City Week presents: A Tour of Wembley Park's Green and Open Spaces

As part of National Park City Week, Quintain, the award-winning team behind the £3bn regeneration of Wembley Park, will host a special guided tour, which will allow visitors to discover Wembley Park's rich green heritage - from “Wemba lea” i.e. Wemba’s clearing in the forest to the hedged fields of “Wembly Green” - as well as the long-term environmental vision for the neighbourhood.

Join Tour Leader Julian Tollast, Head of Masterplanning and Design at Quintain and National Park City Foundation Trustee, as he takes you through this fascinating journey through the past, present and future of this 85-acre site around Wembley Stadium, which is rapidly becoming a major new destination and neighbourhood for London. Tour highlights will include: visits to the 22 newly planted trees in Olympic Way, hailing from temperate areas across the world; the new Emerald and Elvin Gardens at Tipi; the secluded landscaped gardens to the rear of Brent Civic Centre; and a stop-over by the interactive masterplan model of the new Wembley Park, where you will be able to have a glimpse of the plans for the 7-acre park and lake being planned for the area.

Tour Leader Biography

Julian Tollast is Head of Master Planning and Design at Quintain with more than 30 years’ experience, including 17 at Farrells, working on significant and varied development projects has given Julian a great breadth and depth of understanding. Leading projects from both the client and consultant side provide him with the ability to rapidly explore and realise the potential of any opportunity and at any scale, “from District to Doorknob”. Julian’s skills in advocacy and communication built consensus to help secure planning approvals for two of London’s most significant developments and many other projects around the UK. His design and development experience coupled with skills in project leadership, management and construction enable him to help create and deliver added value across the Economic, Social and Environmental spectrum; further enhancing the reputation of the projects, companies and organisations he is associated with.

Where will I meet the group?

The orange benches meeting point opposite Sainsbury's

The official meeting point is in Market Square, by the orange benches opposite Sainsbury's at Brent Civic Centre. If you experience any difficulties finding the group, please call tour supervisor 07989 558842.


BOOK  FREE TICKETS HERE - Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult

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Brent Council to approve 'biggest financial transaction for a generation'

The Brent Audit and Standards Committee LINK will tonight consider a paper going to Cabinet in September LINK which would give the go ahead for the Council to borrow c£230,000,000 to fully meet its commitments on its already approved£800m capital investment programme.

The paper sets out detailed  borrowing options that balance risk and cost of borrowing. The amount required in 2019-20 is £62.4m and 2020/21 £166.6m.

As indicated in the diagram above the Council can only meet day to day costs from its Revenue account so the investment programme is aimed at 'invest to save' by for example buying housing and using revenue from rents to meet day to day costs of providing services.