Bren Connects Wembley Tuesday 29th January

How on earth did this monster get planning permission? Wembley's new 'Twin Towers'

With the closure of Park Lane causing traffic jams and bus diversions around Wembley High while utilities are connected to the 'Twin Towers' on the Chesterfield House site, residents are asking new questions about how such a huge building was given planning permission.

The 15 storeys that can be seen in the video are not the finished building - there are 11 more storeys to go on the highest of the two towers. This is just 3 short storeys short of the controversial West Hendon building that can be seen from all over the area and dominates the Barnet end of the Welsh Harp.

The building was given permission by 4 votes in favour, 2 against and 2 abstentions on the Brent Planning Committee of the time. The then Chair of the Planning Committee, Cllr Sarah Marquis, voted against the scheme.

People are asking, 'How can just four people make such a big decision?' The Committee of course operates on just a simple majority basis so this legally was sufficient. However if the abstentions had voted against the scheme it might have been turned down on the Chair's casting vote.

Councillors of course are not the only people involved and the recommendation of planning officers is crucial.  This is what they had to say.

The original drawing - since permission was granted new applications have been made for building behind the Twin Towers alongside the railway line

There were hundreds of objections to the development from local residents and the controversy rumbled on Council leader Muhammed Butt's  'dinners with developers' . The then Labour councillor for Kilburn, John Duffy;  Conservative leader John Warren, and Philip Grant all took up the issue fearing too cosy a relationship between the council leader and developers. SEE LINK, LINK, LINK,

It's too late for any modification now - the planning committee decision is literally 'set in concrete', but perhaps there are lessons to be learnt for future developments.

"Exciting, independent, artisanal ‘makers and merchants’" wanted for new Wembley Park Market Hall

Quintain announced today  that it is launching a 4,000 sq ft market hall in Wembley Park this spring. The plan sounds rather like a market version of Box Park's catering space. Quintain is working with MrktMrkt a London-based  market and retail operator.

Quite what will be sold in the market is hard to discern from the statement by Matt Slade, Quintain's retail director:

The addition of Wembley Park Market is an important reflection of Wembley’s rich heritage. This area has long been a hot bed of creativity and grass-roots entrepreneurship. Wembley Park Market, by its very nature, will be an environment which supports this and in which it can continue to be cultivated. We are looking for exciting independent, artisanal ‘makers and merchants’ that offer services, crafts and products, to make up the tapestry of a vibrant, modern market.

 It doesn't sound very much like the old Wembley Market, loved by some and condemned by others. It appears, like Quintain's Tipi private rental accommodation, to be all about lifestyle - and perhaps not the lifestyle of longer-establised Wembley residents.  

Meanwhile the new Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, to be built within  the Fountain Studios, looks more accessible to the general public, with the acclaimed National Theatre production of War Horse due to open there in the autumn.  The theatre will have 1,000-2,000 seat capacity with a restaurant and bar space.

The press release announcing the venture said:

Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre will be a fully flexible theatre; a space that can be transformed to suit the requirements for every show – traditional proscenium arch theatre, in-the-round theatrical experiences, or immersive shows. It will encourage theatrical producers to think big, offering them an affordable alternative space to present bold and ambitious shows.

The Troubadour team has extensive experience of running spectacular theatres including the King’s Cross Theatre which consisted of two 1,000 seat theatres and one 450 seat studio housing the Olivier Award-winning production of The Railway Children, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights, David Bowie’s Lazarus and the Donmar’s Shakespeare Trilogy.  This will be the first theatre to open in Wembley Park and the first venture between Quintain, the developers behind the transformation of Wembley Park, and Troubadour Theatres providing a new cultural offering for those living, working and visiting Wembley Park.

The site and ikts neighbours is earmarked for development in the longer term and although the press releases did not say so the theatre is likely to be only temporary as were Troubadour's  King Cross Theatres which closed in 2017.  Troubadour said that they will ensure tickets are affordable and will undertake educatinal work with local schools.

There are no details yet of any other productions being staged before War House commences for a limited run from October 18th to November 23rd.

Originally Troubadour expected to stage its first production in autumn 2018.

The Troubadour Facebook page is HERE

Litter at Wembley Stadium is far from a new problem it seems

Guest post by Philip Grant
  

One of the reasons given by objectors to the recent planning application, to increase the number of higher capacity Tottenham Hotspur football matches at Wembley Stadium, was the widespread littering associated with these matches. It is not a new problem, as this extract from the copy of an article (kindly given to me by a fellow Wembley History Society member) shows:

‘The photograph printed on this page shows the amount of “clearing-up” that is necessary after the public has paid a visit to the Stadium at Wembley. One of the criticisms of Wembley last year was of the shocking untidiness of the visitors, and day after day a number of men who might have been more profitably employed in other ways had to spend a considerable time in getting rid of the rubbish that had been left behind.’

(The article was on “The Editor’s Page” of “The Boy’s Own Annual”, in 1925!)

Village School academisation delayed again as more questions arise

The date for the academisation of The Village School in Brent, in preparation for the formation of a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) with Woodfield School, has been put back again. I understand that this is in order for the Education and Skills Funding Agency to be sure that alleged irregularities at Woodfield have been addressed.

The new closure date according to Edubase, the government school information service is now February 28th, 2019 although that could change.

Interestingly one of the concerns has been the lack of separation between proposed Trustees and the governing board. As far as I know Sandra Kabir, (a Labour councillor) is still Chair of Governors at the school but Edubase records her as having resigned from that position last July:

 

 

Cllr Muhammed Butt has still not responded to the National Education Union's request for a meeting about the academisation and MAT proposals despite their heart-felt plea reported on Wembley Matters HERE

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How EU citizens should apply for UK settlement scheme

I'm pleased to hear that following the offer made at the Time to Talk meeting on Brexit , Brent Registration and Nationality Service will be at a Wembley primary school's  Parents' Forum on Thursday morning to talk about the EU settlemement scheme. Amidst all the Brexit chaos it was good to hear the government announcement, on the day the scheme opened, that they were dropping the £65 adult  fee (16 years old and above) and £35 charge for children.

There is further information about the settlement scheme, documentation needed and the process, in the presentation below - from Page 11. (Click bottom right corner for full size copy).

If schools, parents or community organisations wish to organise a similar meeting they should contact Mandy Brammer, Head of Brent Registration and Nationality Services:
Mandy.Brammer@brent.gov.uk

Brent's leading role in the anti-apartheid struggle has lessons for us today

Friday's talk about Nelson Mandela, the Anti-Apartheid struggle and Brent, organised by the Wembley Hisotry Society,  not only brought back memories for many of those attending, but also provoked thoughts about that campaign and what can be learned from it for those of us campaigning now on issues such as Palestine and Divestment from Fossil fuels.

Nelson Mandela first came to Brent in 1962 when he visited what was then Willesden Trades Council. Campaigners in Brent founded a Boycott South African Goods campaign in 1960 answering a call from Chief Albert Luthili, President of the African National Congress (ANC) LINK.

South African fruit was a particular target and small groups were set up across the country and in universities with at its peak  140-150 groups.  The deaths of two students in 1976 in the Soweto Students Uprising generated further support for action against apartheid and in 1984 Brent Anti-Apartheid was working with the National Union of Students, women's groups and black organisations appealing to Trade Unions not to handle South African goods. 

There were calls for boycotts that  have similarities with those promoted today by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign with a wider focus targeting sporting links, divest from companies profiting from apartheid, pension fund divestment, arms embargo and the release of political prisoners.  Barclays Bank, the biggest  high street  bank in South Africa,was targeted locally and Brent Labour Party moved its account to the Co-operative Bank.

In contrast with today's  timid Labour Council, the Labour Council at the time was part of a local authority delegation to Margaret Thatcher to present a petition if favour of the boycott and the Council stopped contracts with firms with South African links and councillors took part in pickets of supermarkets urging them not to stock South African goods.

All this helped the borough earn the 'Barmy Brent' label - they weren't 'barny' - just ahead of their time. In 1981   Brent was one of the first to name streets and buildings after Nelson Mandela with Mandela Close and then named Winnie Mandela House in London Road, Wembley.

1988  saw the huge Nelson Mandela's 70th Birthday concert at Wembley Stadium broadcast to 57 countries and watched by more than 600 million people - a huge impetus to the struggle. One of the audience at Friday's talk pointed out that there was no commemoration of the concert at Wembley Stadium or the Quintain development and urged the present council to make sure that this omission is put right.

With Mandela now seen as a heroic figure, celebrated throughout the world and locally in Brent schools during Black History month,  it is important to remember that he was denounced as a terrorist by Margaret Thatcher and Young Tories sported t-shirts calling for him to be hanged. Supporters of the anti-apartheid struggle were attacked as extremists, and supporters of terrorism, in newspapers and the House of Commons. Sound familiar?

As recently as 1990 as you will see in the video Tories in Brent went to the High Court to stop Mandela being honoured by the borough and this was only put right in 2013 at the instigation of Jim Moher, former councillor and  chair of Wembley History Society.

Local historian Philip Grant adds:
 

FOR INFORMATION:

Brent Council still has the scroll, pictured above, which would have been presented to Nelson Mandela in April 1990 if the Council had passed its resolution to make him a Freeman of the Borough.

It was brought along to the Wembley History meeting on 18 January by the Leader of the Council, Cllr. Butt, and shown to the c.40 people who had come to the talk.

It is hoped that the scroll, and the silver casket made to hold it, will be on public display at Brent Museum later this year. Look out for further news, if you would like to see it! 

 

St Raphael's residents appeal to Green AM Sian Berry to ensure they have a say on estate refurbishment/rebuild

Residents of St Rapahel's Estate in Brent have launched a petition appealing to Sian Berry, Green Party AM, to intervene with London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, to ensure that the power for residents to control the future of their estate is upheld.

The petition is available HERE and the text is below

We the residents of St Raphael Estate,  do not want Regeneration. We want  Refubishment with the clause that we are  in control of how this is done.  we need to protect our homes and open space. We need to preserve it for our children and the generations to come. If our estate undergoes regeneration we will lose our community, pay higher rents,  private housing association as landlords, tower blocks, short and unsecure tenancy, higher water rates, losing green space, breaking up of famillies with older children.

The  upheaval of relocation, while work is being carried out, there is no guarantee of coming back to the Estate or London. Although St Raphael’s estate has always had pejorative connotations to it and is portrayed as an unplesant place. This is wrong, there is a strong , united community  here who do not want to be separated from their famillies , stripped of the place they have called home for so long , moving away from neighbour, friends and family simply because it’s profitable to the investors they’re leading us into an ambigious future. We need to achieve 2000 signature, so we can forward our plight to the London assembly member Sian Berry to insure that the Mayor pledge to allow the Residents the power to control the future of their estate is upheld

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