WELSH HARP DEVELOPMENT DEAD IN THE WATER?

Housing on the Hendon side of the Welsh Harp - not wanted in Brent

Following on the opposition of Brent Green Party, Welsh Harp Labour Action Team and the Welsh Harp Joint Consultative Committee to the proposed development of the Greenhouse Garden Centre for housing, Sarah Teather MP,  the Brent Council Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Democratic Conservative groups have all declared their opposition to the scheme.

Sarah Teather has circulated a newsletter in the ward opposing the development and echoing many of the comments made in this blog. The Welsh Harp ward is in the new Brent Central constituency that she will be contesting at the General Election.

The newsletter also contains a petition against the proposed scheme. This adds another petition to those already being circulated by residents and the Labour Party.  The Liberal Democrat group on the council have joined Sarah Teather in opposing the application.

Bob Blackwell, Leader of the Conservative Group told Wembley Matters: "The Conservative Group are totally opposed to any form of housing development on the two sites, both in Brent and in Barnet. The Conservative Group has always supported retaining this open space and campaigned against proposals to develop this area some 10 years ago."  Robert Dunwell, leader of the Democratic Conservative group said that in his considered professional opinion the application should be opposed in principle.

This will all help the campaign against the development ahead of the Planning Committee hearing which is likely to be held on December 16th.  However it is important to remember that as the Committee is a statutory one it is not whipped in the same way as other Council committees. It makes an independent decision, taking into account officers' reports and representations by all parties concerned. Residents should continue to make representations via the Brent Planning Website here.

WELSH HARP JCC OPPOSE GREENHOUSE DEVELOPMENT

The Welsh Harp JCC took the significant step of expressing its opposition to the Greenhouse application to build housing on its site at its meeting tonight. The development has been opposed by local councillors, residents and other organisations.

The application now goes to the Brent Planning Committee and representations can be made up to November 20th.  It is likely to be heard on December 16th.

PLEA TO BRENT COUNCILLORS ON WELSH HARP JCC

I wrote the following letter to Brent councillors who sit on the Welsh Harp Joint Consultative Committee  ahead of the meeting on November 11th. I wrote in my capacity as the organiser of  Brent School Without Walls which runs environmental education sessions for primary school pupils in Fryent Country Park. I also forwarded the letter to Natural England and the London Wildlife Trust who sit on the JCC.

Dear Brent Councillors,

I am writing to you ahead of this evening's JCC meeting to request that you do all you can to persuade the JCC to adopt a position of opposition to the proposed development of housing on the Greenhouse site. I know that the JCC does not make the final decision but I believe a strong stand on the issue, conveyed to the Planning Committee before their December 16th meeting, could be very influential.



Since the proposal was announced there has been a strong groundswell of local opinion against the plans. Two petitions opposing the development are currently circulating in the area and the 'Comments Book' at the exhibition at the Greenhouse itself contains many heart-felt, passionate pleas for the Welsh Harp to be defended. As local councillors I hope you will rise to that challenge.


As you know the proposed site is adjacent to the SSSI and MSINC and close to the Environmental Education Centre. The environmental report for the developer argues that a buffer zone of trees will be enough to mitigate the impact on the open space. I would strongly claim that this is not the case. The SSSI and MSINC need a much larger buffer zone to protect them. At present the limited opening hours of the garden centre and its large outside selling area, replete with plants, trees and shrubs, provide a buffer. This transition zone between housing and the open space will disappear and noise, traffic and light pollution; and loss of habitat, will have a direct impact on the wild life of the area. In addition the extension of Birchen Grove, across the open space, to provide access to the new estate will be a further loss of green field space. All these developments could have a detrimental impact on the diversity of the grounds of the Environmental Education Centre. Once housing has been developed on the Greenhouse site there will be inevitable pressure on the area between the development and Runbury Circle. This contains the Birchen Grove allotments, where I am an allotment holder, and the Environmental Centre whose work I strongly support.


Brent already has less green space than many other London boroughs and we must defend every inch of it. My mother played around the Welsh Harp as a child in the 1930s, and my brothers and sisters and I did the same in the 1950s when we visited our grandmother in Church Drive. I believe my life long interest in the environment stemmed from that experience and a similar one on Barn Hill. These are two gems of semi-wild areas that we have left in Brent and it is vital that we protect them and they are available to the next generation. London Heritage last year lamented the fact that Brent, unlike other London boroughs, had no official 'heritage champion' and suggested this explained the deterioration in Brent's conservation areas. In the absence of such a champion, councillors and residents should join together to be community heritage champions for the borough.

Martin Francis

WELSH HARP ENVIRONMENTAL CENTRE - A VALUABLE RESOURCE

The Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre is adjacent to the proposed housing development on the Greenhouse Garden Centre site.

The Centre is used by children from the boroughs of Brent and Barnet and wider afield and is an excellent and valued local resource,

Click HERE to see a video about the Centre's work.

FIGHT TO KEEP OUR DIMINISHING NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

Concern over the possibility of housing development on the Greenhouse Centre site at the Welsh Harp has increased in both Brent and Barnet since the Wembley Observer followed up the story first carried on this blog.

The development will be discussed by the  Welsh Harp Joint Consultative Committee at 7.30pm on Thursday 11th November in the Council Chamber at Brent Town Hall, Wembley. The JCC consists of councillors from Barnet and Brent, users of the Welsh Harp reservoir and open space, Natural England, London Wildlife Trust, Old St Andrews Residents' Associaiton, Woolmead Residents' Association and West Hendon Community Forum. 

The decision on planning applications will be made by the Planning Committees in each borough but the viewof the JCC will be important.  The public have a right to attend these meetings and it is important to hear what our representatives are saying about this threat to our dimishing local natural environment.

The JCC Agenda says that the consultation on the plans ends on November 11th. We have rung Brent Council to query this and have been told by the Planning Department that the Brent consultation actually ends on November 20th and the most likely date for Brent's Planning Committee to consider it is likely to be December 16th.

Meanwhile at least two petitions are circulating opposing the development of the site as housing and there is a possibility of a public meeting on the matter.

The JCC Agenda can be found here

ARK BIGGER THAN EXPECTED?

Since the steel skeleton of the Wembley Academy has gone up there has  been a lot of chat amongst locals about its size, as it begins to tower above Bridge Road.  Many think it is bigger, both in terms of height and in the amount of the site it covers, than they expected from the plans and visualisations they saw during the consultation.

Visualisations and artists' impressions can be notoriously misleading.  Figures and lamp posts are often added to give some idea of proportion but is still hard to guage actual size. The tall part of the building at the junction of Bridge Road and Forty Lane is jammed right up against the trees of the SLINC (Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation)  in the corner.

The size of that part of the building which is adjacent to Forty Lane can be seen from this photograph, remember there is also the lower building on Bridge Road.

Similar issues have arisen with the Brent Cross Development where developers have used illustrations which minimise how out of scale the development is with surrounding housing.  The Coalition for a Sustainable Brent Cross Cricklewood Redevlopment have published illustrations which give a different impression on their website

BRENT COALITION STRENGTHENED AS COUNCIL FACES PROJECT COLLAPSE

Jean Lambert, Member of the European Parliament, this week backed the Brent Cross Coalition's call for a Public Inquiry into the Brent Cross Cricklewood Redevelopment Plan.

The Coalition is now supported by individuals at every level of political representation, as she joins Sarah Teather MP for Brent East; Navin Shah, London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow, Darren Johnson, Chair of the London Assembly; and many local councillors in calling for a public inquiry.  In addition the Coalition is supported by Barnet and Brent Friends of the Earth, Brent Cyclists and organisations representing thousands of local residents in Barnet and Brent.

In announcing her support, the London Green MEP said, “This scheme clearly has regional repercussions in terms of its scale, because of questions of compliance with the London Plan, issues regarding traffic pollution and transport infrastructure. There are also unanswered questions about the planned waste disposal process and its impact on health. I fully support the Coalition’s call for a full Public Inquiry so that an informed and robust debate can take place into such a major and controversial development.”

While support for the Coalition continued to build Barnet Council was forced to contemplate the possible collapse of the whole project.  A report prepared for their cabinet admitted that there would be no return for developers in the delayed first phase of the development and that the first rent revenues for the Council would not be realised until 2018. They drastically slashed the number of guaranteed housing units to 795 units against the overall total for the project publicised by the developers of 7,500 units.  It is clear that after the first phase nothing is certain and there is still a risk of developers pulling out.Much more information is available on the Coalition's blog HERE.

No wonder the Barnet cabinet discussed face saving strategies in the event of the whole project collapsing.

WELSH HARP NATURE UNDER THREAT

Fresh from their 'trumph' in getting permission to build the Wembley City Academy on playing fields and adjacent to a SLINC (Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation), Brent Council are now poised to grant permission to build housing close to the the Welsh Harp Reservoir (an SSIS - Site of Special Scientific Interest)  and the Welsh Harp area (an SMINC - Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation).

What is important is that an area of peace, beauty and natural diversity will be threatened by the impact of housing, a new road, increased lighting and noise, and the loss of habitats.

The application has been made by the Greenhouse Garden Centre and is for 71 dwellings and hard-standing and access road on the Greenhouse site and the adjacent disused Woodfield Garden Centre site. The latter site had been ear-marked for possible Greenhouse expansion. 

A display about the proposed development is tucked away unadvertised at the back of the Greenhouse, rather than at the front, but nontheless has attracted many entries in the Comments Book - most of them extremely critical. Among them are heartfelt appeals to save this unique corner of Brent and vows to fight the development as fiercely as previous attempts to build on the land and close down the Education Centre have been fought.

The development will be close to the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre and its extensive grounds, and the Birchen Grove allotments.  In the manner of these things if the planning application is granted it may not be long before both these sites are under threat as the 'gaps' between blocks of housing are filled in. As the sites are owned by Brent Council,  I have a hunch that it may not be long before they will want to cash in on these assets.

This will of course give them an interest in supporting the application.

See the plans and comment on them HERE
Planning Application No. 09/3220 Planning Officer: victoria.mcdonagh@brent.gov.uk  0208937 5337
To be decided no earlier than 12th November 2009