Brent Council defends decision to go ahead with virtual Planning Committee despite residents' objections

Brent Council has put on record its reasons for rejecting deferral of the Sudbury Town Station planning application on lack of democracy grounds which presumably will also apply to other applications. LINK

The Meeting begins at 6pm tonight and the Livestream can be viewed HERE

…objections are raised concerning the 'virtual' nature of the committee meeting, and a perceived lack of transparency and public participation as a result of this. The Sudbury Town Residents Association have commented that certain statutory requirements have not been met and have asked that this item is deferred. However, they do not advise which statutory requirements they consider to not have been met. Officers consider that all statutory requirements have been met. The Government has legislated to enable Council meetings to take place virtually and has made it clear it wants Councils to continue to hold public meetings and make decisions to enable it to continue to carry out its functions. The Planning Committee will operate in the usual way but via Zoom rather than in the Civic Centre. People will continue to be able to register a request to address the Planning Committee and may speak on-line, using the Zoom app or using a telephone. The Committee will be live streamed as usual so anyone who might have come to the Civic Centre to watch, but not participate in the meeting, will still be able to observe proceedings. The planning committee meeting will continue to be transparent and public participation has not been reduced. The Council also has not extended “delegated powers” (i.e. the range of decisions determined by officers rather than committee) during the lock-down as some Councils have done. 

The absence of a Planning Committee site visit or a site meeting with residents has also been raised by objectors. The objectors have raised concern that the planning committee may not be able to fully understand a number of matters, such as the availability of disabled parking, levels of on-street parking, the relationship with adjoining sites (and associated impacts) and the relationship with the depot. Planning Committee site meetings are not held for committee items, either with residents or the applicant / agent. 

A planning application will have been already evaluated and the site inspected by planning staff and it is not necessary for a formal Planning Committee site visit to be made. There is no legal requirement for this to happen. Site visits may be held for a limited number of committee items when it is considered helpful to visit the site to understand the proposal and the site context. Committee members may visit a site in their own time should they consider it necessary to understand the site and its context. It is considered that members can evaluate the proposal using the application submission documents, site photos, committee report and other resources that area available (such as Google Earth and Google Streetview). The objectors state that such visits (or meetings) are important to enable the public to put their point of view forward. However Committee site visits are for observations only and not for conversations with members of the public or applicants – the place for this is at committee. There is a reasonable expectation the Planning Committee members are able to make a well informed decision from the information available to them.

Covid-19 deaths in your area of Brent

At present the Church End area is showing the highest figures in Brent

Brent GP urges residents to wear facemasks

The following represents the views of the author. I am not qualified to judge its merits but have been urged to share by some concerned readers.  It was first posted on Brent Covid-19 Mutual Aid Facebook LINK

PLEASE WEAR A FACE MASK

Dear Brent neighbours,

 

I’m a GP living in Brent and one of a group of doctors and public health specialists, called Masks4All (see here: https://www.masks4all.org.uk/). We have been working hard to convince the government to advise the public to wear home-made face masks when going outdoors. This is especially important when entering enclosed spaces like shops, supermarkets and on public transport where it is not possible to observe the 2m rule.

 

We have the support of hundreds of doctors and specialists, including those in public health. Despite widespread publicity here in the UK and the fact that most countries in the world have now implemented such a policy, the government is “still considering the evidence”. Those countries who adopted masks early have done so much better than the UK in terms of infections and deaths.

We know that BAME communities have been hit very hard by Covid-19. Brent, Harrow and Barnet are among the five local authorities with the highest death rate in the UK from Covid-19. Ealing has also had a very high death toll in care homes. We believe we should use everything we can to fight this dreadful virus and face coverings are one more weapon in addition to social distancing, and hand washing.

 

There are three key points about face masks for the public: they work by protecting those around you by blocking droplet spread of the virus. They do not protect you from being infected, ie “I protect you and you protect me”. They only have an impact if we all do it. Secondly, high-grade PPE masks must be left for front line health and social care staff, because there is such a shortage of these. Thirdly, wearing a mask does not mean you can stop social distancing and handwashing; those are still critically important.

 

There is lots of information on our website: https://www.masks4all.org.uk/, including why ordinary cloth masks work to reduce transmission, and how to make your own mask. Lots of us are already making and wearing cloth masks, but not enough of us. The data indicates if 50% of people wear a mask we can cut transmission by half, and if 80% or more do so we can almost stop transmission altogether.

 

Masks for everyone will also be an important part of coming out of lockdown, when the time for that is right.

 

We can’t wait any longer for the government to make up its mind, every day means more infections and more deaths. So if you’re not doing it already, please wear a mask when you do your shopping, or go on the bus or train, or if you’re still at work, and help protect your local community. If you are happy to do so please share this. 

 

Many thanks,

 

Jonathan Fluxman

BREAKING: Ujima House planning application withdrawn on eve of Planning Committee

The Planning Application  for  Ujima House has been withdrawn and Committee members will tomorrow defer the application to a future meeting.

The application was one of several subtantial issues due to be decided at tomorrow's virtual Planning Committee meeting.

A Supplementary Report on the Agenda states:

A letter has been received that was sent on behalf of the owners of the adjoining building (Lanmor House, 370 High Road) objecting to the proposal.

This application has been deferred to allow the consideration of the matters raised within their letter.

The meeting has attracted controversy because of concerns over the difficulty of the public making representations and the failure to arrange site visits.

See LINK

Wonderful video from Brent Music Service

Brent Music Service has been working hard to provide on-line instrumental lessons to young people whom they normally teach in schools.

They have posted this uplifting video which followed calls to sing or play 'Over the Rainbow' at the usual Thursday evening 'Clap for the NHS'. If anyone has any video footage of street renditions I'd be happy to publish them:

Warning over leaving out Mutual Aid payments

A reader has contacted me to say that money he left out by his front door for a Covod-19 Mutual Aid volunteer to pay a bill was stolen before the volunteer arrived. It was inside a housing block and the reader said that he had never before been a victim of crime and now he had been while shielding with possibe Corona-Virus in his own home.

He wanted to warn other vulnerable people via Wembley Matters. The local Mutual Aid  group told me that the procedure should be that the volunteer rings the intercom or the telephone to say they are outside before the recipient puts the money out.

The Mutual Aid group have clubbed together to make up for the loss.

Please be careful.

Defer these vital planning applications until residents can participate

There are still no clear instructions on the Brent Council Democracy web page (above) on how residents can make representations on planning applications that are tabled for Wednesday's virtual meeting.

Given this blog's long-standing campaign for transparency and accountability in local government I can only echo Paul Lorber's call to Cllr Denselow, the chair of the Planning Committee and its members, that the weighty planning applications be deferred until such time as site visits can take place and residents without internet access can make representations for or against applications.

These are the applications tabled for Wednesday:

0. APPLICATIONS FOR DECISION 
   
   
1. 18/4919 1-26A, coachworks & storage areas, Abbey Manufacturing Estate, all units Edwards Yard, Mount Pleasant, Wembley, HA0 
2.   Demolition and erection of a mixed use development of buildings ranging between 3 and 14 storeys in height comprising residential units (use class C3), flexible commercial floorspace falling within use classes A1, A2, A3, A4, B1(a), B1(c), D1 or D2, associated car parking, landscaping and ancillary facilities (Phased Development)
   
   
   
3. 19/1241 Car Park next to Sudbury Town Station, Station Approach, Wembley, HA0 2LA 
4.   Re-development of existing car park for the erection of two blocks of residential dwellings, with associated residential amenity space, refuse storage, cycle parking, landscaping and other ancillary works, together with re-provision of disabled car parking bays nearest to Station Approach to serve Sudbury Town Underground Station (DEPARTURE FROM POLICY CP21 OF BRENT'S LOCAL PLAN).
   
   
   
5. 19/3092 Ujima House, 388 High Road, Wembley, HA9 6AR 
6.   Demolition of the existing building and erection of a new building up to a maximum height of 39.6m comprising up to 5,000sqm residential floorspace (Use Class C3), up to 600sqm of flexible workspace (Use Class B1A, B and C), with ancillary cafe (Use Class A3) up to 600sqm ancillary floorspace, associated hard and soft landscaping, wheelchair car and cycle parking.
   
   
   
7. 19/3259 1-7 and 15-33 Peel Precinct and garages, 97-112 Carlton House, Canterbury Terrace, 8-14 Neville Close, 2 Canterbury Road, London, NW6 
8.  
9. Full planning application for a phased development for the demolition of 2 Canterbury Road, 1-7 and 15-33 Peel Precinct and 8-14 Neville Close, and erection of seven buildings (A to G) ranging between 5 and 16 storeys, plus part basement, comprising private sale residential units (Use Class C3), shared ownership residential units (Use Class C3), social rented residential units (Use Class C3); new health centre (Use Class D1), new gym (Use Class D2), flexible use class within retail and commercial units (Use Class A1/A3/B1) at ground floor, associated landscaping, highways and public realm improvements (including new public space and market square), private open space, associated car parking, cycle parking and servicing provision
10.  
11. FULL DETAILS HERE 

The Fryent Country Park Story - Part 6

The sixth and last in a series by local historian Philip Grant

 

The Fryent Country Park Story – Part 6

Over the past five weeks, we have wandered through 1,000 years of our open space’s history, up to 1980. Thank you for your company on this journey, and I hope you will enjoy the final instalment, which brings us up to date. If you missed Part 5, “click” here.

1. A Spring morning on Fryent Way, as you enter the Country Park.

As part of its plans to improve its open spaces (including the Welsh Harp) in the early 1980s, Brent Council appointed two Countryside Rangers. In 1984, Brent combined its Barn Hill and Fryent Way lands, under the name Fryent Country Park. That year volunteers, who began to help look after this open space in 1983, formed the Barn Hill Conservation Group (“BHCG”).

Among the first steps taken was the restoration of the existing ponds, and the creation of some new ones, to encourage frogs and other amphibians. The ancient hedges also needed attention, to bring the fields back to the way they had been on the Hovenden Map of 1597 (see Part 2). BHCG members collected seeds from existing trees and bushes on the Park in the autumn, growing new ones on an allotment to replant missing hedgerows.

2. BHCG’s 1988 illustrated map of the Country Park, with lists of species. (Photo of an old copy I still have!)

Group members also took part in nature surveys, to count the number of different species to be found there. Around 1990, the Park was declared a Local Nature Reserve. When BHCG members produced an illustrated map of Fryent Country Park in the late 1980s, it listed around 550 types of flora and fauna. The map included the old field names, and the rows of green dots marked new areas of woodland that were being planted at Beane Hill, in the south-east corner of the of the Park, growing ash timber for commercial sale.

Efforts to attract more public use of the Park were dealt a blow in August 1986, when Travellers occupied land beside Fryent Way. This was partly in protest against Brent Council’s failure to provide a permanent site for them to use. Towards the end of the year there were up to 400 Travellers living there, without a water supply or sanitation, and fly-tippers took advantage of their piles of rubbish to dump more. The Council took court action to evict them, but then allowed 30 families to occupy a “temporary site”, with portable toilets, near the Fryent Way car park, until a permanent site was built.

3. Traveller caravans at Fryent Way, December 1986. (Still from an RTE television news report)

The Travellers and their rubbish (tons of which had to be cleared away periodically) were a continuing source of complaint by local residents, even after the permanent “Book Centre” site in Neasden was completed in the summer of 1988. The last of the occupying caravans finally vacated the Country Park after further court action in 1990. Banks of earth were put in place along both sides of Fryent Way, to prevent vehicle access into the fields in future, and although these looked unsightly at first, they are now a grassy feature.

4. Hay meadow wildflowers and grasses, and a Gatekeeper butterfly. (Courtesy of Leslie Williams / BHCG)

An “organic” management plan is followed for the Park’s meadows, which have a rich mix of grasses and wildflowers, and are an important habitat for butterflies. Annual butterfly surveys have been carried out since 1986, to monitor the different types and their relative numbers, and several new species have established themselves. The grass is cut for hay, from July onwards, and where possible the Council markets the right to come and harvest the crop. In the photo below, from 2004, a farmer from Wiltshire was preparing to take the hay home, as winter feed for his organic herd of dairy cows, which provided milk to make Yeo Valley yogurt!

5. Hay baling in a field behind Valley Drive, 2004. (Photo by the late Ian Stokes, courtesy of BHCG

A popular corner of the Park has always been the old Bush Farm, reached along its drive from the corner of Slough Lane. Two fields were fenced off, as grazing for horses that are still kept in stables there, and BHCG has worked to restore the farm’s former orchard (shown on the 1597 map), which as well as old apple varieties has damsons, mulberries, cob nuts and hops. A wheelchair accessible path has also been created there, to allow disabled visitors to enjoy some of the fields and ponds.

6. Horses in a field at Bush Farm. (Photo by David Howard, posted on the Flickr website)

The Park is covered with a network of footpaths, and one of the tasks carried out by BHCG on their year-round Sunday morning projects is to keep these paths clear for walkers to enjoy. The photos below show volunteers working on a path near Uxendon Hill, which is part of the Capital Ring. This 72-mile long circular route, around the green spaces of outer London, was devised by the London Walking Forum and, in normal times, can be walked in easy stages. The leaflet for Stage 10, “South Kenton to Hendon”, describes Fryent Country Park as ‘one of the best surviving areas of traditional countryside in Middlesex’.

7. Before and after views from a Sunday morning footpath project. (Photos by John Parker / BHCG)

Another initiative to encourage visitors to enjoy the Park was Brent’s Countryside Day. From the 1990s, this annual show brought a range of country activities, information stands and fairground rides to the event field. Watching sheep dogs at work, or displays with birds of prey, brought crowds of many thousands. As well as seeing BHCG members demonstrating wood turning on a pole lathe, youngsters sometimes got the chance to have-a-go themselves. Unfortunately, funding for this event was one of the cuts the Council had to make after 2010.
 

8. A flyer for the 1999 Countryside Day, and using a pole lathe in 2010. (With thanks to John Parker and Rose Bennett / BHCG)

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