The image used in
this poster may be the work of Amanda Rose ( ©amandarosephoto
)
– we are still waiting for Quintain to confirm whether or not this is the case.
Guest post by Philip
Grant, in a personal capacity.
Comments on my guest blog about the Bobby
Moore Bridge planning applications last week LINK led to a paper petition being
started. Signatures were collected from last Friday onwards, and forms for this
are still in circulation. I will write a little more about those efforts below.
From 21 May until 5 June, there is also an e-petition on
the Brent Council website, saying:
‘We, the
undersigned, petition the Council to put the tile murals in the Bobby Moore
Bridge subway at Wembley Park back on permanent public display, through its
Planning Officers or Planning Committee rejecting both of the current
applications relating to this site: 19/1387 (illuminated panels and surrounding
metal cladding) and application 19/1474 (advertising consent).’
If you live, work
or study in Brent, and support the aims of this petition (explained in last
week’s guest blog), and have not signed the paper petition, I would
encourage you, please, to sign the online petition LINK . The more signatures we achieve, the
better the chance of getting these planning applications considered properly,
and hopefully in public at a Brent Planning Committee meeting in June or July.
Following the suggestion that we should have a petition,
and getting the first signatures on it from local residents, Jaine and I went
out on Saturday afternoon, to bring the hidden murals to the attention of fans
going to the F.A. Cup Final, and seek their support. They, after all, are some
of the visitors to Wembley that the tile murals were designed to welcome, to
“the Venue of Legends”.
I had been standing in the Bobby Moore Bridge subway, in
front of the hidden tile murals and with a copy of the poster above as a “bib”,
for less than ten minutes when I was approached by a uniformed lady from
“Wembley Park Security”. She asked me what I was doing, and whether I had a
permit. I explained, and said that as I was not selling anything, or collecting
money for a charity, I did not think that I needed a permit. She insisted,
politely, on taking pictures of my “bib” and petition on her mobile ‘phone.
A few minutes later, she returned with a larger male colleague.
They told me that I was not allowed to petition anyone on Wembley Park land,
and that I should move away, across the white tiled line at the station end of
the subway. I said that the subway belonged to Brent Council, not to “Wembley
Park”, and that Quintain had admitted that fact in the planning applications
the petition was seeking signatures for. The lady insisted I was wrong, as did
her colleague after ‘phoning “Security Control”. I said that they had been
given incorrect information, but decided not to argue the point further!
Fans on the steps at Wembley Park Station, seen from the subway about 2
hours before kick-off.
As the place that “Wembley Park Security” had directed me
to was right at the bottom of the steps down from the station, and would have
caused an obstruction and been a safety hazard, I went across to Olympic
Square. I was glad that I did, because it was easier to approach people who
were standing, waiting to meet up with friends, rather than those walking
towards the stadium.
I have to admit that I only got around 50 signatures – I
am more “at home” in a quiet archive than amid the noise and crowds of Cup
Final Day! I believe that Jaine got many more, possibly several hundred. They
will all help, when submitted with those which two other supporters are
collecting.
Among the people I spoke to, there was genuine concern
that the tile murals (which few knew about, but some had seen on visits to the
stadium in the past) had been allowed to be covered over with adverts. As well
as the poster, we had some photos with us showing other sections of the murals
that are covered up. When I was speaking to the mother of one family group, her
daughter (no more than ten) said: “Look, that’s Michael Jackson!” Although the
late singer had serious “issues” in his personal life, he remains a popular
entertainer for his music and videos, and she had recognised him from the
mural.
Tile mural scene,
from Michael Jackson’s record-breaking
live concerts at Wembley Stadium in the 1980’s.
One older man was disgusted at the disrespect to Bobby
Moore, by covering up the mural and plaque in his memory. He wished me luck
with our efforts to get the murals put back on public display, but warned that
“money always wins.” Unfortunately, he was right about that as far as the Cup
Final went, as he was a Watford supporter, and his team lost 6-0 to Manchester
City (funded by the billions of a Gulf state ruler). But, with your help, money
(in the shape of Quintain) does not
have to win over the tile murals.
So, please, use the link above to go to Brent’s
e-petitions page, and back the efforts to have the planning applications
rejected, so that all of the Bobby Moore Bridge tile murals are saved from
damage and put back on public display.
Better still, if you can spare the time, please use the
link from last week’s guest blog to go to Brent’s Planning website, and object
to both applications, 19/1387 and 19/1474. The blog gives some good
grounds for objection, with both applications going against Brent’s Wembley
Area Action Plan, and the covering up of the tile murals being against the
‘interests of amenity’ under the advertising consent Regulations.
Thank you.
Philip Grant.
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