WEMBLEY MATTERS News and views on local politics, the environment, climate change, culture and local history
Debris outside the former Barclays Bank (Credit: AmandaRosePhoto) @amandarosephoto
(Credit: AmandaRosePhoto) @amandarosephoto
Bridge Road was closed by police (Credit: AmandaRosePhoto) @amandarosephoto
It was fortunate that no-one was hurt when the gable wall above the former Barclay's Bank came down in Storm Eunice today. The bus stop is close by following its removal from the bridge but people had taken advice and stayed at home.
Dear Editor,
Regarding Brent Article 4- REMOVING PERMITTED DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS RELATING TO CHANGES OF USE FROM RESIDENTIAL FAMILY HOUSES TO HOUSES IN MULTIPLE OCCUPATION confirmed by the Council on 3rd February 2022 and coming into force on 1st November 2022.
This applies to the whole of the London Borough of Brent, but excludes the area designated as the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation Area, the draft Local Plan’s site allocations within the Church End Growth Area and all parts of the other seven Brent Growth Areas- Alperton, Stonebridge, South Kilburn, Northwick Park, Neasden, Burnt Oak/ Colindale, Northwick Park and Wembley corporatist colonial zones.
Why has the Council introduced this Article 4 to parts of Brent? Brent's answer is that:
...currently all Brent dwellings can be turned into smaller houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) without the need for planning permission. Smaller HMOs are shared houses occupied by between three and six unrelated individuals, as their only or main residence, who share basic amenities such as a kitchen or bathroom. There are currently about 17,000 HMOs (small and large) in Brent.
The Council recognises the importance that HMOs have in meeting housing needs. They provide accommodation that is more affordable for some people.
Nevertheless, when there are significant concentrations of HMOs it can cause issues. They change the character of an area and result in adverse impacts, for example higher amounts of anti-social behaviour. They also reduce the amount of larger homes (3+bedrooms) that are available for families.
As such the Council wants to be able to manage the development of HMOs and consider whether change of use from family dwellings is acceptable. Requiring planning permission will help in doing this. It will ensure that where a new HMO is applied for (except where exclusion applies) there is not an overconcentration. It can also help address elements that might impact on anti-social behaviour (such as waste management). It will also allow the Council to ensure a reasonable amount of larger homes for families remain available"
- but not in: Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation
Area, the draft Local Plan’s site allocations within the Church End Growth Area
and all parts of the other seven Brent Growth Areas. Why?
Two Brent's are emerging fast, one of family homes population de-growth suburb-bias and one of corporatist population growth "we can do whatever we want" extractive colonialism where existing social, health, education infrastructure, public open spaces and flood defences are built on and destroyed by political/ market design.
Combine this Article 4 major change with the Royal Institute of British Architects proposal last week for a £38 billion mass insulation of inter-war suburbs for health, wealth and social benefit gains. And Brent's persisting with 'Growth Areas' even though the new planning bill (which included this GA planning idea) was ditched in September 2021 by Michael Gove, all can see clear that Brent is a Local outlier, risk hungry and politically indifferent to its Growth Area high tax, less and less public services zones.
David Walton
From our very local correspondent
Last week I saw several workmen digging out the places where trees once were on the High Road to install new ones!!! Obviously of the right kind???? and it would appear that Brent have added some new Urban Art in Electric Orange colour warning Paan Spitters that they could be fined £100. Interestingly I spoke to Brent Enforcement Officer who said despite working for them for 3 years and Paan Spitting being one of his big bug bears like the rest of us, no matter that he has tried relentlessly he has never been able to catch a perpetrator in the act. LOL. I think it mostly happens at night.
Behind the Twin Towers (developer's name 'Uncle and the site of Chesterfield House) two more blocks are going up, one of 17 storeys and 1 of 19, being constructed by Henrys (same as twin towers) with same developer "Squarestone Hub" I think on planning it's listed as the Wembley Link, you will see from photos they continue to build on the Chiltern railway cutting as it has been purchased by them. The view from the back of my house shows that they have built in front of the gap between the twin towers which will definitely obscure most of the sunlight when it sets in the West. It's funny because these towers are directly behind Daniels, Nando's etc and cannot be seen if you are on the High Road at all.
I am afraid you missed the first event that was held this afternoon but there are more chances coming up:
From Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation
Before submitting a planning application to Brent Council, we are holding a public consultation to seek community feedback on our final designs.
The consultation will take place between 16th February and 2nd March and to support the consultation, we’re inviting the community to join us at one or more public events:
(Events on Thursday 24th February and Saturday 26th February will only be held on Zoom.)
Venue events
Community consultation event: site tour, presentation and Q&As*
Wednesday 16th February 2pm until 4pm
Grand Junction Arms, NW10 7AD
Drop-in public exhibition, view plans, ask questions and leave feedback*
Saturday 19th February
Between 12 and 4pm (drop-in)
Grand Junction Arms, NW10 7AD
Online events
Online consultation event: presentation and Q&A
Thursday 24th February
6pm until 7pm
Zoom, online
Online consultation event: presentation and Q&A
Saturday 26th February
11am until 12noon
Zoom, online
Book your tickets to come to our events HERE
*please note that only the events on the 16th and 19th February are held in Grand Junction Arms. Online events on Thursday 24th February and Saturday 26th February will only be held on Zoom.
From 16th February you will be able visit this consultation platform to view plans and fill out an online feedback form at:
http://www.consult.opdc.london.gov.uk/harlesdencanalside
The re-vamped Brent Council website is attractive and the link to services useful but there is a missing link that is important for active citizens who want to participate in decision making.
There is no link to 'Local Democracy' where citizens can find details of their councillors' contacts, meeting agendas and minutes, information on how to arrange to speak at meetings, information on petitions, election timetables and results and current consultations and consultation results.
These can all be found indirectly by using the 'search' facility, although you have to get the search term right, but for ease of use and accessibility there should be a direct link.
The most common request made by Wembley Matters readers is for councillor contact information and details of consultations - Brent Council should be providing that on its landing page.
There is a feedback form on the site to help make improvements. I have completed it and this is the link if you wish to provide feedback LINK
UPDATE:
I am grateful to Life in Kilburn for pointing out via Twitter that you can get to the information via the 'Brent Council' tab right at the top of the page next to the Search button. Not at all obvious and as there is a separate tab for 'Residents' doesn't seem to apply to them.
In my opinion it should be far more prominent but this is what the 'Brent Council' tab leads to:
With Brent schools struggling to cover classes due to high Covid rates amongst staff and a lack of supply teachers it is sobering to see that by February 4th the numbers of deaths from Covid had passed 1,000.
At the same time, according to BBC figures above, only 38% of the population of Brent, despite the best imaginative efforts of the NHS and Brent Public Health, had received a booster or third dose.
Omicron may generally be mild in impact but another variant could come along and 'long covid' rates are troubling.
It isn't over yet.
Guest post by Philip Grant in personal capacity
Earlier this month I sent a letter to Brent Council’s Leader and Chief Executive headed “Council Housing and Common Sense”, which was published as a guest blog. It set out my view that the Council has become too complicated in the way it seeks to provide the new Council homes that many local people need.
My letter focused on two Cabinet decisions in the past six months. One was to spend at least around £48m of borrowed money to buy 155 leasehold flats in a 26-storey tower block, yet to be built on the former Alperton Bus Garage site. These would not be acquired directly from the developer, Telford Homes, but from an unidentified “Asset Special Purpose Vehicle”.
The block in Alperton where the 155 leasehold flats will be built.
The second decision was to allow a private developer to buy 152 of the 250 homes that Brent Council will be building on land that it owns at Cecil Avenue in Wembley, and sell them for profit, rather than using all 250 of those homes as affordable housing for local people who need them.
What the High Road frontage of Brent’s Cecil Avenue development will look like.
I have received a reply to my letter, from Brent Council’s Director of Finance, and this is what he has written:-
‘Dear Mr Grant,
The Council continues to increase the delivery of affordable housing for our residents through self-delivery, via the use of S106 agreements with developers and working in partnership with Registered Providers. To maximise the delivery, the Council utilises GLA subsidy to support scheme viability but this is becoming increasingly challenging. This means the Council has to explore more complex ways of delivery, one of which has been the Alperton Bus Garage Development.
The development at the Alperton Bus Garage site provides a unique opportunity to purchase the affordable units in the wider development as part of a lease structure. The original proposal contained a tenure mix of 57 shared ownership units and 97 rented. By entering into this lease structure, it allows the Council to convert the shared ownership units into more affordable rented units. In this specific development, without the involvement of the Council a Registered Provider is unlikely to be able to offer the most affordable rented product due to viability limitations so the acquisition will further Brent’s key priority of providing homes that are most affordable. The lease option demonstrates value for money against our average development cost across our New Council Homes Programme of £280k per home, which includes both leasehold and freehold tenures.
The acquisition of the homes takes place through a lease structure that includes both the development and lease agreements. These areas of the report are exempt as they contain the following category of exempt information as specified in Paragraph 3, Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, namely: “Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)".
The Council has undertaken due diligence with regards to the SDLT exemption for the acquisition and assumes the Council will receive the exemption given the Council is deemed to be the relevant housing provider that is controlled by its tenants and the application of GLA grant receipts meets the requirement of a qualifying public subsidy. Until this has been confirmed by HMRC on acquisition, the potential cost needs to be highlighted as a factor of the scheme’s viability.
The Cecil Avenue site is part of a wider development in the Wembley Housing Zones Programme and includes the adjacent site Ujima House. This site is intended to deliver 100% affordable housing and a target of 50% across both sites. The development will also include workspace to support job creation and economic growth, community space, highway and public realm improvements and new publicly accessible open space. The Council needs to ensure the entire programme is financially viable within the GLA grant available hence the requirement for a mixed tenure development in order to subsidise the delivery of the affordable elements. The application of the funding structure available for the Alperton Bus Garage site cannot be applied to improve viability in the Wembley Housing Zone Programme to provide more affordable housing within the existing development.
As evidenced, the Council is committed to seek all opportunities to deliver more affordable housing within the financial viability constraints to ensure the optimum housing mix can be provided for our residents.
Regards
Minesh Patel
Director of Finance’
The main messages in this reply seem to be that the Council has to use more complex methods of funding, in order to make its Council housing schemes viable, but because this involves information relating to the Council’s financial affairs, they don’t have to explain the details to us. So much for openness and transparency!
The reply does not mention the shadowy “Asset Special Purchase Vehicle” for the Alperton acquisition, simply referring to ‘a lease structure that includes both the development and lease agreements’, which we are not allowed to know about, because that is ‘exempt information’.
The response over the Cecil Avenue homes may sound familiar. Some of it appears to be from the same source as Cllr. Butt’s recent reply to me. At least one sentence is identical, and must have been “copied and pasted”!
Parody Brent Council publicity photo for its Cecil Avenue development.
I still do not understand why the Cecil Avenue development, on land the Council already owns, can only be viable if just 37 of the 250 homes (just under 15%!) are made available to Council tenants at affordable rents. And why 152 of them (over 60%) have to be for the contractor, who Brent will pay to build them, to purchase for a fixed price and sell at a profit. I will continue to question that, as best I can.
Philip Grant.
The review of Fire Safety was the second item on the recent Brent Scrutiny Commitete agenda and was not as comprehensive as the Flood item.
A Brent council tenant who listened carefully to the discussion said:
The scrutiny committee did not seem to know much about the subject they were discussing with the biggest fault being they made no mention as to how residents will be involved, which was the main focus of the Building Safety bill and they failed to even mention Dame Judith Hackitt's three reports on Building Safety and the Fire Safety Act which updated the Fire Safety Order (2005.
Their 'experts' seemed to believe that it is only new buildings that the Building Safety bill applies to but that is not the case, as it also applies to current buildings.
Although they mentioned cladding, no one mentioned fire doors but to be generous the absentee technical officer might have brought them into the discussion and Cllr. Conneely tried to raise issues like fire doors but was told it was a 'housing issue'.
They were also vague about the training competences required but if they had read the Health & Safety reports on Building Safety led by Mr. Baker, the Regulator, they would understand that any new Inspectors would need to start from level 7 (Honours Degree) and have post grad qualifications in Fire Safety and related areas. That is why it is so hard to find suitable candidates, as most surveyors only have an honours degree but nothing higher.
I could go on, but I suppose it was a start, but I would give it a 3 rating (out of 10) as the council needs to start reading all the material that has already been published, although they seem to be waiting for someone to guide them to it.
As Dame Hackitt said only 10% of councils are 'on the ball' e.g. Camden but unfortunately Brent is within the remaining 90%.
Details of the proposed legislation HERE
Meanwhile planning applicants, Brent Council planning officers and members of the Planning Committee as well as the public may wish to take part in this series of meetings organised by the GLA (My hgihlighting):
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We are consulting on a new Fire Safety London Plan Guidance (LPG) covering London Plan Policies D12 Fire safety and D5 Inclusive design (specifically on evacuation lifts). The Fire safety LPG sets out how planning applicants should demonstrate their developments can achieve the highest standards in fire safety. The Fire Safety LPG reiterates that the fire safety of developments needs to be considered from the outset. It is essential that fire safety measures and the evacuation strategy are integral to the overall layout and design of a development, rather than considered for the first time at the Building Control stage. The guidance confirms that planning officers are not experts in fire safety, and therefore places the onus is on the applicant and the fire safety expert to demonstrate compliance with the London Plan fire safety policies. The consultation closes on 20 June 2022. Online Events We’re running the following events (all online): Wednesday 9 March – 6pm – 7pm Tuesday 15 March – 10.00am – 11.00am Thursday 17 March – 10.00am – 11.00am Tuesday 17 May – 6pm – 7pm Useful Links View details on the consultation and submit your
response: Sign up to attend our online events: The London Plan 2021 can be viewed on our
website: Any queries can be emailed to FireSafetyLPG@london.gov.uk. You can post responses to: The Planning Team, Greater London Authority, City Hall, Kamal Chunchie Way, LONDON, E16 1ZE. Kind regards The London Plan and Growth Strategies Team |
