Guest post by local historian Philip Grant in a personal capacity
The Victorian villa, “Altamira” and community garden, at the corner of
Hillside and Brentfield Road.
My first guest post about the 1870s Italianate-style Victorian villa at
1 Morland Gardens, in February 2020 (!), asked “Housing or Heritage? Or both?” Now BOTH is a real possibility again, following the exhibition and its
subsequent consultation on Bridge Park and the Hillside Corridor (see Martin’s recent post for details).
If you are interested in the chance to save this beautiful and historically
important local landmark, and see it put to good use for future generations of
local residents to enjoy, please read on. I will outline the current position,
and how you can help, in this latest guest post (there will be “links” to
earlier ones, if you would like more information).
The Council’s original plans for redeveloping 1 Morland Gardens, which
had been the home of Brent’s adult education college since the 1990s, were
approved by the Cabinet in January 2020, and then by five (out of eight) members of the
Planning Committee later in the year. They included
demolishing the locally-listed heritage building (against national and Brent
planning policies) and building over the community garden outside
the property, which the Council had no legal right to do, and would have breached its air quality and climate change policies.
The project failed, after the Council’s planning consent expired at
the end of October 2023, without
construction work having begun. Since November 2023, Brent Council have been carrying out a review of their future plans
for the Morland Gardens site, after the
Brent Start college was moved out to a “temporary” home (meant to be for just
two years while the redevelopment was carried out). One year on, I would have
expected the Council’s ‘outline proposals’ from this review, which were
unveiled as part of the Bridge Park and Hillside Corridor exhibition on 28
November, to be more than this:
‘This site, formerly Brent Start’s home before they
moved to Twybridge Way, is going to be redeveloped. The Council plans to build
new council homes and community facilities here. We want to hear what you think
is needed.’
The
entire Morland Gardens section from the exhibition.
I had a good conversation at the exhibition with Brent’s Head of Capital
Delivery. One thing he made clear was that site for the new proposals,
following the consultation, would only be for within the 1 Morland Gardens
boundary. They no longer plan to build on the community garden land outside ('we
have learned some lessons from last time').
The plans for Brent’s new leisure centre building at Bridge Park show
that the new Brent Start college, and the affordable workspace, which were
going to be at Morland Gardens under the Council’s failed 2020 scheme, will be
at Bridge Park instead. This means that they do not have to be part of the future
plans for the 1 Morland Gardens site.
A section drawing through Brent’s proposed new Bridge Park building,
from the exhibition.
It is ironic that Brent are now proposing to rehome Brent Start on the
Bridge Park site, as that is what I suggested in October 2021, before they moved the college out of Morland Gardens. That suggestion
was made in correspondence with Stonebridge Ward councillors, with a copy to
the Cabinet members and Council Officers involved. It would have allowed Brent
to go ahead with its Stonebridge Phase 2 housing scheme at Twybridge Way, which
received planning consent in May 2020.
I repeated that suggestion to Brent Council’s Leader in an email of 19
January 2022, sending the text of this comment I had made under Martin’s blog “Muhammed Butt hails High Court's Bridge Park
Appeal ruling”, reporting the Court’s decision
and Cllr. Butt’s reaction to it:
‘This decision means that the development of the
long-blighted Unisys building can also go ahead.
That would give Brent the opportunity to work with
the developer, to include in the redevelopment scheme the modern college
facilities that Brent Start Adult College needs, paid for by the £15m of CIL
money which the Council has set aside for that.
The new college on that site would be ideally
placed, next door to 'the fantastic new leisure and employment centre that
local people need and deserve' at Bridge Park.
Building the new college facility there would mean
only one disruptive move for the college, rather than a move into temporary
accommodation in the "Stonebridge Annexe" building at Twybridge Way,
then back again to Morland Gardens after two or more years.
A decision to pursue the "Unisys" option
for the college would immediately free-up the Twybridge Way site for Phase 2 of
Brent's Stonebridge Housing scheme, including family houses and much-needed New
Accommodation for Independent Living flats.
It would also mean that the locally listed
Victorian villa at 1 Morland Gardens would not need to be demolished, but could
be sympathetically incorporated into a new housing scheme on that site, once
the college had moved to its new facilities.
That looks like a win/win/win situation, and should
be quickly and seriously considered.’
The exchange of emails is recorded in full in the comments under that
article (which some might find interesting reading!). The first response to my
suggestion was from Cllr. Muhammed Butt: ‘Morland Gardens is not part of the
work around Bridge Park and will continue to progress in its current form
separately to Bridge Park.’
The last response was from Brent’s then Director of Regeneration on the
Leader’s behalf: ‘The proposed developments at Morland Gardens and Bridge Park
will continue as planned. There will be no changes to the proposed
re-development at Morland Gardens as a result.’ My “final word” to the Director
on 31 January 2022 was: ‘If (or when) your proposed [Morland Gardens] redevelopment
comes to nothing, the Council won't be able claim that it was not warned of the
mistakes it had made, and the risks it had decided to take.’
If only they had listened! It would have saved several wasted years and
millions of pounds of Brent Council money! But, to quote the words of a song, ‘they
would not listen, they did not know how, perhaps they’ll listen now.’
“The Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh, which inspired the song, (Image from the internet)
I was assured at the exhibition that the Council still has an open mind
on whether to retain the Victorian villa as part of the new redevelopment
proposals. Officers will await the outcome of the consultation process before
drawing up their recommendations for Morland Gardens. I am as sceptical as many
of you will be about Brent Council “consultations” (‘they would not listen,
they’re not listening still, perhaps they never will’), but I hope, and
believe, there is a real chance that a strong show of support for retaining the
Victorian villa would swing the decision that way.
Brent Council’s stated policy on valuing heritage assets. (From a supporting document to the Local Plan)
That is why I am asking for your help, please. If you agree that this important heritage asset should not be ‘lost
forever to the community and future generations’, and that it should ‘be used
for regeneration and place-making purposes’, please share that view as part of
the consultation exercise. Please do that as soon as you can, and definitely
before 6 January 2025.
There is an online consultation, but that is mainly about Bridge Park, with a few tick box options for
possible Morland Gardens facilities at the end of the long survey form. If you
are responding to the survey on the Bridge Park proposals, you could give your views
on keeping the Victorian villa in the “other” box at the end of this Morland
Gardens section:
The Morland Gardens section of the online survey form.
To be sure that your views reach the decision makers, I’d suggest instead
that you send your views, including that the heritage building should be
retained, in an email headed “Morland Gardens consultation” to: bridgepark@four.agency , with a copy to: neil.martin@brent.gov.uk
Thank you!
Philip Grant
