In a previous posting LINK I raised concerns about the siting of a new school in Neasden Lane because of its history of poor air quality which in the past have been raised in Parliamemt by then MP Sarah Teather and with the GLA through Mayor's Question Time. At one stage pollution levels were in clear breach of EU regulations. The monitoring site was one of those which Boris Johnson, when London Mayor, was accused of 'fixing' by the installation of dust suppressants at the monitoring station.
Brent Council has taken action to 'clean up' the pollution LINK but has admitted that more needs to be done.
I should make it clear that I am not against a new secondary school in the Harlesden area, there has long been a campaign for a community secondary school there, but I am raising questions about the specific site chosen. This is particularly important when Brent Council through Brent Breathes is setting out to improve air quality near existing schools and cites particular issues when existing schools are on busy roads. Full Brent Breathes Report HERE see section on schools.
Planners have reacted to the Wembley Matters article with the following statement in a supplementary report presented to tonight's Planning Committee. There are also supplementary reports for the Sudbury Town and Ujima House planning appplications.
Air Quality
The site falls within an
AQMA a recent publication by Wembley Matters raised concern with allowing a new
school in an area with poor air quality, particularly an open roof MUGA. As
discussed in the main body of the report, the application site has been
identified as being one of the ones in the borough suitable to accommodate a
school.
The London Plan places
great emphasis on the importance of tackling air pollution and improving air
quality. It therefore states that development proposals should minimise
exposure to existing poor air quality and make provision to address local
problems of air quality such as by design solutions, buffer zones or steps to
promote greater use of sustainable transport modes.
The development makes a
particular contribution through promoting greater use of sustainable transport
modes. The existing Chancel House site currently benefits from a large car
parking area with 189 car parking spaces. Under the proposed scheme only 11
spaces are to be retained. To further discourage car use to the site a travel
plan is to be secured via the s106 agreement to promote walking and cycling to
the site. Sustainable transport modes are also promoted through on site cycle
parking provision and the contribution to TfL for local bus services.
As required by the London
Plan, the application has been accompanied by an Air Quality Assessment and an
Air Quality Neutral Assessment. The submitted Air Quality Assessment concludes
that air quality levels would not exceed air quality objectives when the site
is operational, with the Air Quality Neutral Assessment confirming that the
development is better than air quality neutral in terms of both transport and
building emissions.
The submission therefore demonstrates that air quality in
the area will not have an adverse impact on the proposed school, and that the
proposed development will not worsen air quality.
COVID-19 has disrupted our daily travel habits. As lockdown
restrictions are eased, we want to support and encourage people to adopt
greener, more active forms of transport. We have developed a plan to
introduce short, medium and longer-term improvements in the borough. The
plan supports social distancing, walking and cycling, as well as a
reduction in car use.
Draft measures include: new low traffic neighbourhoods, school
streets, new pop up cycle lanes and bike parking, further pavement
widening in town centres, and bus supporting measures. We have submitted
an application for £100,000 of DfT funding and making bids to TfL for
schemes under their £45m London Streetspace Programme. Schemes will
commence shortly as funding becomes available. It will be periodically
reviewed to include new interventions to address emerging priorities.
A new local COVID-19 testing site will open in Harlesden Town Garden on Wednesday 10 June for local residents.
As this area has one of the highest death tolls from COVID-19 in the
UK, it’s hoped that the testing site will help to drive down these
numbers by ensuring that those who have symptoms can get tested in an
easily accessible location locally. If they test positive they can then
take the necessary steps to self-isolate at home and prevent the spread
of the virus.
This will be key to supporting those who may not be able to travel to one of the other test centres.
Leader of Brent Council, Cllr Muhammed Butt said:
“COVID-19 has not gone away and it is still killing people in our community.
“I am urging any local residents, if they have symptoms, to get
tested now to protect yourself and others, and help to stop the spread
of this virus.”
Key information:
Where will the site be located?
The testing site will be at Harlesden Town Garden, Challenge Close, Harlesden, NW10 4BF.
When can I get a test?
The testing site will be open from Wednesday 10 June. Appointments will be available every day from 10am-5pm.
Tests must be booked by calling us 020 8937 4440. The line will be open seven days a week from 9am-5pm.
You can travel to the test site on foot or by motorcycle or bicycle and don’t need to use public transport
You have access to a face covering
You adhere to social distancing at all times, when travelling to and from the site
What are the symptoms of COVID-19?
Most people with COVID-19 will have at least one of these symptoms:
A high temperature
Or a new cough
Or a change in sense of taste or smell
If you have any of these symptoms, you should book a test.
What do I need to bring to the test with me?
You must bring a valid form of ID, proof of your appointment confirmation email and a face covering. If you do not have a valid form of ID or access to a mobile phone or
have an email account, please discuss this when making your appointment.
Can I bring my family members with me?
Only those being tested should be at the test site. If you can’t
leave your family at home, they may come with you but must wear a face
covering however children under the age of 2 will not be permitted as it
would be unsafe for them to wear a face covering.
What do I do while I’m waiting for my appointment or my test results?
While you are waiting for your appointment or your test result, you and everyone in your household must stay at home to prevent the spread of the infection.
When will I get my results?
Test results will not be held by the council. The testing site will
send you your test results by email and text message within 24 – 72
hours of completing the test. If you don’t have an email address or a
phone number, you can contact 119 for your results. For more information about COVID-19, visit www.brent.gov.uk/coronavirus
Detectives from the Specialist Crime Command are investigating the deaths of two women in Wembley.
Police were called to Fryent Country Park, Slough Lane at 13:08hrs on
Sunday, 7 June to a report of two women found unresponsive.
Officers and London Ambulance Service attended and they were pronounced dead at the scene.
While formal identification awaits, police are confident that the
deceased are sisters Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46, who lived
in Harrow and Brent respectively.
Next of kin have been informed. Their family are being supported by specially trained officers.
Post-mortem examinations will be scheduled in due course.
Detectives have begun an extensive investigation to fully establish what happened.
At this stage Nicole and Bibaa are thought to have been among a group
of around 10 people who congregated in the park from around 19:00hrs on
Friday, 5 June to celebrate Bibaa’s birthday.
Gradually people are believed to have left throughout the evening until only Nicole and Bibaa remained.
They were both reported as missing to police late on Saturday, 6 June
when they did not return home, before they were discovered on Sunday.
Detectives from the Specialist Crime Command (Homicide) are
investigating, with the assistance of officers from the North West
Command Unit.
The deaths are being treated as suspicious and a murder investigation has begun.
An extensive crime scene remains in the park.
There have been no arrests. Senior investigating officer DCI Simon Harding said:
“We are in the very early stages of the investigation and are working
hard to find out what led to these two women losing their lives. Their
families have been devastated by their loss and they need answers. They
have asked that their privacy is respected at this time as they come to
terms with this horrific incident.
“I need to hear from anyone
who was in Fryent Country Park on the evening of Friday, 5 June, or
early into Saturday, 6 June. The area the group were situated in is
around a five minute walk from the Valley Drive entrance of the park,
leading to a hill area.
“The area the group were in would be a
well-known spot to sit and look over London. If you were in that area of
the park from the evening of 5 June through to Sunday lunchtime,
noticed the group, or saw anything else suspicions, please contact us
immediately.
“You may have stumbled upon items of property, but
not realised the significance of them. If you did, you may well have
information that could assist us hugely. No matter how insignificant it
may seem, please contact us via the incident room on 0208 721 4205, or
via 101.”
North West Borough Commander Roy Smith, said:
“This is an awful incident and our thoughts are with the victims and their family.
“We are working closely with the investigation team to ensure we get
answers to what has happened. Local officers will be conducting
reassurance patrols and will be happy to speak to any concerned
residents.”
Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call police on 101 or tweet @MetCC quoting CAD 3160/7Jun.
Alternatively, you can provide information 100% anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council, said:
“This is such awful and tragic news and our hearts go out to the family and friends of the two women who were found.
“Police are investigating what happened, but for the family of the
two women who are today coming to terms with their loss, it’s vitally
important they know the truth.
“I urge anyone who has any information at all to assist the police with their investigation and come forward.”
Readers will know that I often write about Fryent Country Park on Wembley Matters and it has been a place of solace for many during the Covid19 lockdown with some local people discovering it for the first time. So it was with heavy heart that that I heard that the bodies of two women were found near the Bush Farm entrance to the park in Salmon Street earlier today. I'd like to express my sympathy to the families and friends of the two women for their shocking loss in this, the most stressful of times. LINK
Local events were organised at short notice for local people who could not attend the event in Central London. I have picked up these pictures via social media. Thanks to original posters,
Kilburn Grange Park (@Shelleb17)
Roundwood Park (@PukkahPunjabi)
Roundwood Park (Anita Whittaker)
Gladstone Park (via email)
Dawn Butler's speech at Roundwood Park on Facebook LINK
The fourth part of Philip Grant's series on the history of Wembley Park
We left Part 3 (“click” if you
missed it) just after the British Empire Exhibition had closed in 1925. Its
site and the buildings on it had cost around £12m (equivalent to over £700m
now), but the Liquidator’s attempt to sell them at auction as a single lot was
withdrawn, with the highest offer at £350k. It was later bought for just £300k
by Jimmy White, a speculator who paid 10% of this “up front”, with the balance
payable as the buildings were sold off.
Many of the
people who worked at the exhibition had been unemployed ex-servicemen. Arthur
Elvin was one of these, working in a cigarette kiosk in 1924. He saved as much
of his £4 10s wages as he could, and leased eight kiosks himself when the
exhibition reopened in 1925, selling sweets and souvenirs as well. He bought and
demolished his first small building on the site in 1926, selling the metal for
scrap and rubble as hardcore for road construction. After reinvesting the
profits several times, within a year he offered £122,500 for the stadium.
1. Wembley Stadium, after demolition of the BEE pavilions,
c.1927. (Image from the internet)
Elvin had paid
£12,500 deposit to White, with the balance payable over ten years, when in
August 1927 the Official Receiver demanded it all within a fortnight! Jimmy
White had only ever paid the initial £30k for the buildings, gambled away the
rest, and then shot himself. By working together with friends and banks, Elvin
managed to complete the purchase. Aged 28, he was the managing director of the
Wembley Stadium and Greyhound Racecourse Company Ltd.
2. Greyhound and speedway racing events at Wembley Stadium. (Images from old
books on the stadium)
Few had thought
the stadium could be saved from demolition, with the Cup Final as its only
annual booking. The company name is a clue to how Elvin believed it could be
made profitable. He introduced greyhound racing, three times a week, from 1928,
and motorcycle speedway, with his Wembley Lions team, from 1929, both with
regular crowds in excess of 60,000. The pre-match entertainment he put on for
the football final, including community singing (“Abide with me”), attracted
the Rugby League cup final in 1929, with Wembley as its home ever since.
With greyhounds
the only winter attraction, Elvin saw another possibility to keep Wembley’s 400
employees in full-time work during the early 1930s depression, after watching
an ice hockey game at Earls Court in 1932. His plans crystalized when the
second British Empire Games were planned for London in 1934. Working with Sir
Owen Williams, who had designed the stadium, the Empire Pool was constructed of
reinforced concrete in just nine months.
3. L-R, Duke of Gloucester, Sir Owen Williams and Arthur
Elvin at the Pool opening. (From an old book)
The Pool was
opened on 25 July 1934, just in time for the swimming and diving events of the
Games. The boxing and wrestling competitions followed, in a ring on a bridge
across the pool. Then the public could enjoy the pool for swimming throughout
the summer. As soon as the speedway season finished in October, its fans could
support a new Wembley Lions ice hockey team. The pool was drained for the
winter, and the rink on a floor above it could be used for public skating, when
the Lions or a second team, the Wembley Monarchs, were not playing.
4. A 1934 Empire Pool advert, and swimmers enjoying it. (From a Pool
programme, and an old book)
5. Ice hockey programme, and a match at the Empire Pool, both
late 1930s. (From old programme and book)
While Arthur
Elvin was making Wembley Park a major sporting venue, the exhibition buildings
that had not been demolished were put to new uses. The former Lucullus Restaurant,
alongside Wembley Park Drive, became a film studio. The huge Palaces of
Industry and Engineering were split up into units for manufacturing or
warehouses. Elvin used the Palace of Arts as storage space, for the platform
which supported the ice rink, and the banked timber track used for cycling
races inside the Empire Pool, but it was soon to be required for another
purpose.
In the late
1930s, Germany under Adolf Hitler aimed to become a dominant force. The Empire
Pool hosted the European Swimming Championships in 1938, and Germany easily
topped the medal table. After war broke out the following year, Wembley Council
took over the Palace of Arts as the centre for its A.R.P. organisation.
When thousands of British troops were evacuated from Dunkirk in May 1940, many
were brought to the stadium, which was used as an emergency dispersal centre.
Refugees from France, Belgium and Holland followed, and were given temporary
accommodation in the Empire Pool, before being rehomed across the country.
6. A Civil Defence review at Wembley Stadium, October 1942. (Image from
Brent Archives)
Wartime parades
and reviews made use of the stadium, and other events, including greyhound
racing, continued throughout the war. Service men and women could attend free.
There were many charity matches, like an England v. Scotland football
international in February 1944, with King George VI, Princess Elizabeth and
Field Marshall Montgomery in the Royal Box, which raised a record £18,000.
Others were inter-service games, including baseball and American Football between teams
from the U.S. ground and air forces in 1943/44, ahead of D-Day.
The stadium was
used as a landmark by the Luftwaffe, on their way to raids north of London, but
Wembley Park was also a target. A German airman, whose bomber was shot down
locally, had a map marking the location of an R.A.F. storage depot (the former
Palace of Industry!). Bombs hit the stadium on three occasions, and a V1
“doodlebug” landed on the kennels, killing a number of greyhounds, in 1944.
Each Christmas, during the war, Mr and Mrs Elvin and their stadium team
provided a free Christmas dinner for hundreds of local service personnel who
could not get home. In 1945, Elvin was awarded the M.B.E. for his wartime
efforts.
There had been
no Olympic Games in 1940 or 1944, and when London was invited to stage the 1948
Olympiad, the Government almost declined the offer because of post-war
austerity. Then, at the start of 1947, Elvin offered his facilities at Wembley
Park, free of charge, so the Games could go ahead. The Stadium company also
agreed to build a new access road from the station. Until early 1948, about one
third of the labour on this project was provided by German prisoners of war.
The new road, named Olympic Way, cost £120k and
opened in July.
8. German P-o-W’s at work on Olympic Way in 1947. (Still image
from a film made at the time)
9. Wembley Town Hall, in Forty Lane, decorated for the
Olympics in July 1948. (Brent Archives image 3829)
The Borough of
Wembley really got behind the Games. Many residents took paying guests into
their homes, as there were few hotels for spectators to stay at. Entertainments
for visitors were arranged by the Council. A school in Alperton was one of
those used to house male competitors, and the families of several pupils played
host to some of their female team mates.
10. The Olympic Games opening ceremony at Wembley Stadium. (Brent Archives,
1948 Olympics Report)
On 29 July 1948,
packed crowds watched the opening ceremony. Boy Scouts from Wembley carried the
names of the 59 countries taking part, in front of their teams in the parade.
Thousands of residents lined the streets, as a relay of local runners carried
the Olympic torch on its way to the stadium, ready to light the flame that
marked the start of the Games.
11. Olympic Way, with crowds going to the stadium for the
Games, July 1948. (Image from the internet)
For over two
weeks, Wembley Park and its new Olympic Way were full of visitors to this great
sporting occasion, and they were not disappointed. New heroes emerged, like
Emil Zatopek of Czechoslovakia, who won gold in the 10,000 metres and finished
second in the 5,000m by just 0.4 of a second, and Arthur Wint, winning
Jamaica’s first ever Olympic gold medal in the 400m, after silver in the 800m. Housewife
and mother, Fanny Blankers-Koen of The Netherlands was the heroine of the
Games, winning four athletics golds.
The Olympic Games (1948) – BFI / National Archives
Elvin, now Sir
Arthur, must have enjoyed the event that made “his” venue the centre of the
sporting world. As well as the opening and closing ceremonies, the stadium
hosted the athletics events, football and hockey finals and the show jumping
competition. The Empire Pool staged the swimming and diving, the water polo
final, and then, after bridging the pool again, the boxing bouts. Part of the
Palace of Engineering was used for the fencing competitions, and the Palace of
Arts was taken over by the BBC, to become the Broadcasting Centre for the
Games.
Could Wembley
Park ever match the “high” of the 1948 Olympic Games again, or would it simply
be forgotten as the years moved on? There will be more of its story to discover
next weekend, and I look forward to sharing it with you.
Please use the
comments section below if you have any questions from the series so far, or if
you have information on Wembley Park that you would like to share, with me and
others.
Step Up Hub would like to hear from local Black Asian Minority Ethnic
groups (BAME) to ascertain the impact of the Covid 19 crisis is having
on our communities in Brent.
