Residents of Newland Court wish to draw attention to proposals for their estate which are another example of in-fill. They have asked Wembley Matters to publish a copy of the letter they are sending to Brent Council. Publication does not indicate Wembley Matters support for every point made but it is important that residents' voices are heard.
NEWLAND
COURT AND GRENDON GARDEN RESIDENTS V BRENT COUNCIL
LETTER
OF OBJECTION TO PROPOSED BUILDING DEVELOPMENT
7th July 2022
I have
been a resident at Newland Court for over 30 years and I am taking this opportunity
to write to you on behalf of the majority of residents of Newland Court and Grendon
Gardens regarding Brent Councils proposal to knock down the garages in Newland
Court and build 7 town houses in replacement (4 x 3 bed, 3 x 2bed). I have seen
the proposed plans and discussed them with both residents of Newland Court and
Grendon Gardens at length. We have collectively concluded that the plans have
lots of flaws in them and we will petition against it and seek legal advice.
I have
been looking at the plan designs for the town houses that Brent Council want to
build in Newland Court and these do not give measurements of the
lengths and widths of the houses, only the height. However I can see that
the plan gives the lengths and widths of the gardens of all the residents’
in Grendon Gardens but does not give the distance
in length between the houses being built and the fencing that separates
the houses and their gardens. The only measurements of the houses are in sq
metres which only explain size in area therefore is quite misleading.
The residents
of Grendon Gardens trees in their gardens lean over and grow across the fencing
into Newland Court by up to 3 metres in some areas so there is no way you can build
houses without cutting half of one side of all the trees that are on the
Newland Court side of the fencing and also as you build the foundation of the
houses downwards, you will be destroying most of the roots of the trees.
Basically, you would need to remove most of the trees to build houses on the
proposed site. This will have a significant impact on the trees and the
greenery that gives us privacy and creates a peaceful and scenic view to the
area now.
In our
collective opinion there are lots of flaws in the new development planning and design.
Not only would it not be practical if you had to destroy or remove the trees to
be able to build houses in the areas specified as this is a conservation area
but this would ignite uproar especially with Greenpeace campaigners and
Environmentalists’ alike. It would create anxiety not only with the residents
of both sites who will be impacted, but more specifically Newland Court
residents who are worried about the effect it would have on their mental state
of mind.
“-No trees to the properties of Grendon Gardens will be
removed. An arboricultural
impact assessment will be submitted as part of the planning
application-
-The new houses will not directly overlook the properties
on Newland Court and
Grendon Gardens, as the windows have been designed to face
south, east
and west to avoid any overlooking-“
Which is
a deception as the 7 proposed houses’ windows will be facing south overlooking
our flats, and will invade our space and privacy. The present paving and
green space will be further reduced by building the houses outwards south and
both new and old buildings will be overlooking each other quite closely, which
will have a negative affect our everyday lives. So our privacy will be taken
away from us yet I see in the plans that the new houses will have their own
courtyard and bin area. Newland court will have an even smaller bin area than
we have now and there are currently not enough bins at present to service the
60 flats here and yet your plans are to reduce them in further.
This is
going to cause a great deal of chaos as in the plans the bins will sit in a
built area on the greenery further restricting the little green space we do
have and possibly causing the perfect environment for infestation of rats which
is already causing fear and great concerns within the tenants at Newland Court.
The reduction in Bins and the site where you plan to locate them will be extremely
unpleasant and unacceptable right below one blocks kitchen windows for us to
smell all the rubbish constantly. You may not be aware that there is always an
overflow of the bins towards the latter part of the week so rubbish will be
exposed and probably scattered as there will be more rubbish and less space to
service 60 flats.
At present we do not have enough
bins to service the 60 residents’ at Newland Court so we cannot imagine the
frustration and inconvenience reducing them will be like. Another issue which
has been raised by most of the residents is that because there are no security gates
and not enough street lighting in communal areas and cameras, fly tippers come
and fill up our bins with building waste materials and other stuff as soon as
our bins have been emptied which happens frequently and they to do this because
there are no consequences for them to worry about. They come not only at night
but in the day time too and I have been attacked and almost run over when I
have tried to confront them.
We have had rat issues for many years
and both Newland Court and residents of Grendon Gardens have been significantly
impacted by the frequent problem because at present we always have over flowing
bins. It is simply unreasonable and inconsiderate for our bins to be further
reduced unless collections are done twice a week instead of once a week for
both regular general waste bins and recycling bins. This is very unlikely to
happen as they sometimes only come once a fortnight, hence the growing problem.
Almost all the residents at Newland Court, especially those who have lived here
for 10 years or longer have suggested you fit proper security gates at both
ends of Newland Court to prevent our homes and vehicles being vandalised or
burgled, our families and kids being harassed by drug dealers or mugged on our little
estate.
Everybody usually using Forty
Avenue /Forty Lane use Newland Court as a cut through to The Avenue or other
neighbouring streets or as a meet up or stop off for eating and drinking or
drug smoking or dealings right under our noses. This has intensified in the recent
years and elder residents and children cannot walk freely because of the lack
of security and bad lighting. Between
the last two blocks (42 to 48 and 55 to 60 Newland Court) it is easy to see the
broken gate where the padlock goes missing every 4 to 6 weeks and a raised wall
area where everybody sits and meet up to drink, eat, shout and either deal or
take drugs. At night it is very dark in that spot and have asked Brent Council
for lights to be put on the walls in that area numerous times.
There are currently limited and
inadequate parking spaces for the residents of Newland Court and since Brent
council deployed an inept parking firm (WING) to control the parking, at weekends
it is free to park which is extremely inconvenient to residents as we can’t
find parking spaces. On weekend event days, event goers can freely park so that
residents on Newland Court have to keep parking on nearby roads and have to keep
moving their cars around during the day until a space is available if at all.
Also WING only sends a parking attendant on weekdays 2-3 times a month.
We currently have spaces for at
least 30 cars which are not enough and there are at least 5 disabled residents
that I know of however there are no disabled parking bays at present in Newland
Court and in your new plans parking spaces seem to have reduced significantly
to approximately 12 parking spaces. A total of 12 car spaces to service 60
flats and 7 new houses is very inconsiderate. This will cause more problems between
residents, more double parking and possible congestion in the local streets as
well. How can you possibly justify the few parking spaces as reasonable?
What are your suggestions for the
new residents in the proposed 7 new houses and where are the present residents of
Newland Court going to park their cars? I guess that is why Brent Council
stopped charging us for permits from 2022 to soften the blow of your new plans
of building these new homes. You have also rented a Portacabin for the cleaner
taking up 2 car parking spaces at a rental cost of £220 per week which has been
parked there for about 2 years now at the cost of £22,880 so far. It runs on a
diesel generator and when it is running, it emits diesel fumes which rises and
comes through our windows for us to inhale. What happened to Brent Council
going greener???
Having lived at Newland Court for
more than half of my life I could write a book on how Brent Council have wasted
money and resources on the unnecessary wrong things and not spent money on the
right things which I have already highlighted earlier. Another example is when someone
stole the inner plastic bin from the main food waste bin so that the refuse collectors
refused to empty it. The food waste bin filled up with food waste till it
overflowed and the stench that it caused which attracted rats as big as cats.
After dozens of calls complaining about the issue it still took over 6 months
to be replaced. Just simple things like that which takes Brent Council so long
to resolve.
We have had to endure loads of
disruption over the years with building works when the double glazing was
installed. When the kitchen and bathrooms were renovated and recently when the
roof was replaced and every single time the predicted time scale over ran for
months. The scale of this proposal would be hugely disruptive to the residents
in Newland Court, Corringham road and Grendon Gardens for at least the next 2-3
years. No matter what time scale you give because this project is massive and residents
are worried about the detriment to their mental health and wellbeing which will
be impacted from the stress of noise and the disruption to the area.
At present Brent Council have
been building a tiny block of 8 flats in a tiny plot at the entrance into
Newland Court on the corner of the Avenue and Corringham road by Mason Court.
This has not disrupted the lives of the residents of Mason Court because it is
to the side of Mason Court but has taken almost 2 years and is still not finished.
It was supposed to have been finished by March 2022 and has been hugely
disruptive with delivery trucks blocking the entrance into Newland Court
several times and destroying the recently laid new paving. Brent Council have
since erected new large wooden stumps to prevent trucks from parking on the
pavement.
Brent Council says that there is
a shortage of land to build on yet Brent Council have allowed private investors
to buy up all the land around Wembley stadium and the surrounding areas to
build unaffordable skyscrapers which are bought by foreign investors who rent
them out to only those who can afford them. Why didn’t Brent Council build
housing on some of the land at least knowing housing crisis have been here for
years and years??? Brent Council moved their headquarters to the Civic Centre
(at a cost of about £90 million but rumoured to be a lot more) from the former
Brent Town Hall on Forty Avenue and sold the land which is now a private French
School. That land could have been used to create 100’s of council homes.
There are numerous little plots
of open spaced land scattered across Brent that could be used for homes. There are
lots of derelict homes and then of course the former Unisys building on the
corner of Harrow Road and the North Circular that has stood empty for 25 years
in legal disputes. Over the years we have seen 2 petrol stations and a pub
disappear from Forty Avenue only to be replaced by private residential flats
and the Sattavis community centre on the corner of Forty Avenue and The Avenue
which was promised to be a community centre for the locals but has turned out
to be a hardly used private hire hall used only once a month or every couple of
months. Why didn’t Brent Council buy up those plots when they were up for sale
and build homes????
Our suggestion is that most of
the unused garages be knocked down and sufficient parking spaces made for
residents of Newland Court including a few disabled bays as there are at least
5 disabled residents living in Newland Court. A proper security gate at both
entrances into Newland Court installed and the side entrances locked
permanently to prevent not only vehicles but pedestrians cutting through the
estate dumping their rubbish in our bins which includes residents of Corringham
road who causally walk into Newland Court with their bin bags. This would also
stop fly tippers filling our bins up in the middle of the night. Sufficient
lighting and security cameras like other estates have. We need to be heard and
we need you to take every angle into consideration. Thank you for your
consideration.
Yours sincerely,
Marc Etukudo
On Behalf of Newland Court and
Grendon Garden residents.
1. This
derelict house in Barn Hill with overgrown shrubs even leading to the front
door. It has looked empty and not lived in for at least the last 2 years. This
house could be used to house a family unit.
2. The
Sattavis community centre on the corner of Forty Avenue and The Avenue which
was promised to be a community centre for the locals but has turned out to be a
hardly used private hire hall used only once a month or every couple of months.
3. Another
derelict house on the corner of Wembley Park Drive and Wembley Hill Road that
has also stood empty for over 15 years. Looking like an eyesore with another
excuse of an ongoing legal battle.
4. The Unisys buildings that have lain
derelict and unused for over 20 year in a costly legal battle between Brent
Council and the Bridge Park/ Harlesden community.
Isn’t
it time that Brent Council and the Bridge Park/Harlesden community stopped
wasting time and money on this long legal battle and come to an agreement or
split the land equally or are we going to see another 20 years of to and fro of
legal actions. A redevelopment would improve the
environmental quality of the area and create an attractive gateway to the
borough and Bridge Park. There
are numerous other homes or sites in Brent that lie empty and could have homes
built on.
