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Descending from Barn Hill to Wembley Park
There was a tweet from Brent Council recently boasting of their new green planning guidance - unfortunately it showed what was clearly plastic grass.
Today's sunshine was a good opportunity to have a walk around Quintainland to see how things are going. The trees along Olympic Way are thriving and there are lots of container shrubs. Children were enjoying themselves splashing in the fountains outside the Wembley Arena but still a lot of hot concrete.
Children and families were clearly out and about enjoying the sunshine so I was interested in how they were enjoying the green 'amenity spaces' provided by the developers. I could not find one child playing on the plastic grass - the spaces were deserted.
The spaces are private - for people in the blocks only. Perhaps there are no children because the blocks do not contain families?
It resembles all those bicycle parking places provided in new developments that never have a single bicycle in them.
I thought it would be worth checking out Union Park on Engineers Way (Buses 92, 206, and 440 stop next to the park). I started from the stadium and walked down towards Engineer's Way and at first saw - a deserted tennis court and a deserted plastic grass playground (some real plants and trees though).
But hey! I could hear people and children giggling.
The paddling pool looked fun and there were some plants but no grass.
Heading north towards Engineer's Way there was a water feature and plenty of natural grass (although there are some drain covers disguised with plastic grass). There's a lot of water works here as this is a SuDs (Sustainable Drainage System) that provide an alternative to the direct channelling of surface water through networks of pipes and sewers to nearby watercourses. (see last image)
Clearly good for the environment and the prevention of flooding but whether it is enough to mitigate all the non-permeable concrete will only be tested by time as extreme weather contnues to develop.
Some thought has gone into planting here and it looks promising for biodiversity. There is even a bug hotel:
There were still only few people here and the nearby cafe reported no increase in customers in the fine weather. Felt a little strange - only a couple of people sunbathing on the grass.
On the west side of the park things were more lively at a small children's playspace. Unfortunately the nearest toilets are at Brent Civic Centre.
This is how the two parks will combine, with Engineer's Way running between them. The North Park will be surrounded by tall towers which will reduce sunlight but you would not think that from the artist's impression below with its shimmering misty tower blocks. The park is on the site of the former Yellow Car Park.
Bottom right North End Road and Bridge Road Junction
Shimmering towers and sunlit grass
I hoped to see some progress had been made on the North Park but was disappointed to see that the site appeared to be mainly used for storage with no work going on to prepare the ground for the park. Quite a contrast from the above image!
Given that the aim was for Wembley Stadium to be a mainly public transport destination I was surpised to see this boast:
Recent controversy over densification of the tall buildings reducing light are brought home in streets such as Rutherwood Way. The developer's artist's impression shows it as tree-lined!
If the weather is fine and the kids are bored in the last week or so of the summer holiday it might be worth taking them down to Wembley Park. Union Park is only a short walk from Wembley Park Station. Head down Olympic Way and turn left at Engineer's Way.
The Union Park SuDs system:
The road at the bottom is Engineer's Way
