Shams Court residents in revolt as yet another development on their doorstep removes their right to light

 

Shams Court, Fulton Road

A four storey block of flats, Shams Court is tucked away between Olympic Way, North End Road and Fulton Road. Gradually it has been encircled by high rise buildings and now more are on their way.

Yesterday comments closed for the existing 6 storey building facing Olympic Way (3 Olympic Way below) to be replaced by a 6 storey hotel extension, an 8 storey building and 22 storey and 25 storey towers.

3 Olympic Way (today)

Proposed

This is the description of the plans on the Brent Council Planning Portal:

21/2130 | Demolition of existing building at 3 Olympic Way and erection of 3 buildings of basement, ground and 8, 22 and 25 storeys (excluding rooftop plant) to provide 178 residential units (Use Class C3), new hotel accommodation comprising 260 rooms (Use Class C1) and a retail food store (Use Class E). 6-storey extension to existing hotel at 5 Olympic Way to provide 95 additional hotel rooms (Use Class C1) and amenities, extension of ground floor to create new colonnade and public realm improvements to Olympic Way. Other works associated with development include new access from North End Road, disabled car parking, cycle parking, private and communal amenity spaces, public realm works and other associated works | Olympic House, 3 and Novotel, 5 Olympic Way, Wembley, HA9 

Only 22 comments are recorded on the portal and as usual Brent Council hasn't published the Consultee comments for the public to see.  All 22 comments from Shams Court, Danes Court and MacLaren Court object to the development. A resident from Shams Court claims that they only found out about the proposals by accident and were thus able to inform the other 8 flats, despite the developer admitting that Shams Court is the building most affected by the plans.

This is typical of the comments:

This planning application will have a serious, detrimental impact on the health and well-being of the homeowners of the 9 flats at Shams Court, a 4 storey block.


Shams Court flats were sold in 2014 and were a part of the development holding Pinnacle Tower flats, the Novotel Hotel and other affordable housing flats. Since then we've had non-stop construction works and high rise buildings built around us, namely the Scape Wembley (29 storeys) and Felda House (17 storeys) which tower over Shams Court (to the East of Shams Court).


The development of these towers next to Pinnacle Tower (18 Storey tower to the South of Shams Court) and the Novotel (19 storeys to the West of Shams Court) left us with very little natural light and a claustrophobic environment to live in. We are overlooked in our flats and on our roof garden, leaving us with little privacy. Noise levels, anti-social behaviour, disturbance and nuisance from overcrowding of a small area with thousands of people greatly depreciated our quality of life since we first bought our new homes at Shams Court.


To grant the application of a 25 storey block immediately at the back of Shams Court (to the South) would be shameful. We are already overcrowded and overlooked. We would be left with no natural light from every single direction and be subjected to enduring increased noise pollution, disturbance, loss of privacy and anti-social behaviour.


It is without doubt that the new norm for the majority of working professionals would be to spend most, if not all, of their time working from home, without access to offices. These proposal will be detrimental to our health and well-being as Shams Court will be the place we reside for the vast majority of our days.


I must also stress that Shams Court was sold as a means of affordable housing (shared ownership). To have yet another massive building towering over us will severely lower the value of our homes, trapping the residents of Shams Court in negative equity, within homes they cannot sell due to the poor quality environment that's been created by non-stop construction of high rise structures around us.


We put faith in Brent Council to understand the detrimental effect this proposal will have on the residents of Shams Court. We hope you will protect us from these deleterious proposals. The idea of a small 4-storey block being immediately towered over by high rise buildings on every side (in very close proximity) is ludicrous. Yet this is what is being proposed.


I would urge you to visit Shams Court, or view a satellite map of the existing towers surrounding us to see the detrimental impact that this proposal would have on Shams Court residents.


When the original development was built in 2014, it's assumed the developers were granted the permission to build our development, under a section 106 agreement. The grant of which would have relied heavily on the provision of affordable housing. They are now intending to subject the same residents of their affordable housing to awful living conditions, ruining our prospects and well-being by building yet another tower on top of us. This is nothing short of cruel and deceitful behaviour.


Within the documentation provided on this portal, I can say that there are false claims of consultation between the developers and residents. There's a mention of ongoing communication with residents Dec 2020, Jan 2021 and Feb 2021. This has simply not happened and these proposals have only recently come to our attention.


The Daylight Assessment document also fails to include Shams Court on various parts of the document, for example the '2 hours of sunlight before and after' impact assessment. I believe the developers are purposefully misleading Brent Council on the impact that these structures will have on Shams Court.


For the sake our physical and mental health I sincerely hope that these plans are refused.

Another residents says:

I am a key worker who was born, lived and worked in Brent and that's why I was able to buy within our block. We really enjoy living here and generally feel that the development in the area is for the good. However, when plans will (admitted by the developer) have a detrimental effect on our living standards (and therefore our health), it is unfair that we and our baby twins (and our lovely neighbours) are either being forced to live in a terrible environment (during building but more importantly, after) or being forced out from our homes.


The developer is the same company that owns the Novotel and the Pinnacle Tower. They, in fact, built our flats as part of the then planning agreement to have part of the requirements to have a certain proportion of the development available for keyworkers - but they themselves are now pushing us out by making living conditions uninhabitable, or proposing and writing plans that will have that effect.

 

Given what happened last Sunday at Euro202 it is important that planning officers consider the impact of another high density development of Olympic (Wembley) Way on security and crowd control.

The plans have wider repercussions regarding the protections that are supposed to be in place for protected views of Wembley Stadium and what has been described as the claustrophobic, canyon like, approach to the stadium along Olympic Way.

The 'protected' cumulative view from Barn Hill. The 3 Olympic Way towers are in green outline and those in the pipeline in pink - including plans for the Wembley Stadium Retail Park and Fountain Studios site.

 The view along Olympic Way with the green and pink outlines of the proposal and those that have preliminary agreement.

 

 Danes Court in North End Road (now opened up to through traffic) the proposed development will be on the right.

Claim that 'Wembley Variant' soaring amongst fans after Euro2020

 I have just returned from Olympic Way where there was a positive and friendly atmosphere with many families present BUT even in the most crowded outdoor spaces no masks being worn. However, masks were worn in Sainsbury's my fans stocking up with beer,

The i Newspaper has published a story claiming that Covid19 is soaring amongst groups of fans who attended the Euro2020 matches at Wembley Stadium - sufficient for it to be dubbed the 'Wembley Variant'.

Report HERE It was published yesterday and updated this morning.

The introduction to the report.

Swathes of England football fans have reported testing positive for coronavirus following the Euros final on Sunday night, as Public Health England (PHE) issued renewed calls for regular testing ahead of the lifting of restrictions on Monday.

Some fans said that “pretty much everyone” they knew who headed to the stadium had contracted the virus or was self-isolating. The large numbers of fans reporting positive Covid tests following the match has led people to dub the illness “the Wembley variant”.

The final at Wembley, which was part of a Government trial to test the safety of large events, saw 60,000 fans attend with no social distancing or masks after producing a negative test result. However, thousands more congregated outside and dozens of ticketless fans stormed the stadium.

Government Data up to July 12th LINK

 

Section 35 Dispersal Order authorised for Ace Cafe and nearby areas until 14.59 on Sunday

 The Brent Independent Advisory Group  Brent IAG) has issued the following information:

Section 35 DISPERSAL has been authorised by Insp O'Connor from 15:00 16/07/21 to 14:59 on 18/07/21 CAD 4275/15July refers. 

The areas covered are ACE Cafe and surrounding areas Harlesden, tube Station, Craven Park, Hillside, North and East of Northfields Estate due to expected Anti Social Behaviour over the next two days. Dedicated officers have been resourced to be in attendance for both nights. Thank you for your continued support by passing on this information and for helping to keep our communities safe.

Background Information on Section 35 Dispersal Orders HERE

A disturbing report that every Brent councillor and relevant officer should read about last Sunday's mayhem at Wembley Stadium

 

Newspaper commentary has focused on many  aspects of last Sunday's disturbances at the Euro2020 Final at Wembley Stadium, including how the new high density developments around the stadium may have contributed by funnelling  the crowd into a narrow space. The Independent today has a comprehensive special report that every Brent councillor should read as well as senior officers and those responsible on the day.

I asked Brent Council Press Office on Monday for a statement. Today  I was told that someone was working on it. Even a statement of sympathy for those injured or otherwise affected would have at least been an acknowledgement of the seriousnes  of what had happened - but nothing has been heard up to the time of the publication of this artcile.

The full independent article can be read HERE - I will publish just three extracts below which I think will be of interest, but do try and read the whole article. Comments welcome.

 

Several sources have told The Independent that the local council and the FA do not want strong numbers of the force around as “it’s bad for optics”.

Tim Roberts, who has lived across from Wembley for 16 years and was involved in the building of it, says the priority has been “ensuring the value of the area for retail and residential investment”.

He says that Quintain, the development and asset management team behind Wembley Park, wields massive power in the area.

“The local council, Quintain and the FA have an uncomfortably close relationship, which means there is no scrutiny. We are yet to have a comment from anyone political in Brent after what we saw on Sunday, which is shocking.

“It’s as though nothing happened when we were very lucky that there wasn’t a loss of life. All the blame has been placed on the fans, but they are not solely responsible. The management of the stadium and the area around it has been appalling. Whenever issues are pointed out, it’s brushed under the carpet.

“I have spent the last few days removing far-right insignia and even acknowledging there is a large element of that accompanying England and games here just goes ignored. It’s about pretending everything is great, Wembley is great, Wembley Park is great.”

 

 

Three employees from Wise Security, which provided stewards for the final, have approached The Independent to criticise the lack of preparation they received and care after a harrowing experience.

None of them are over 22. They have spoken anonymously to prevent being blacklisted for future jobs and confirmed that there had been fake stewards inside Wembley, that some accepted bribes because “the pay is a joke”, that there was no detailed plan of anything that could go wrong on the day or how to handle it, and that even after suffering both racist and physical abuse by ticketless fans, there’s “been more PR than caring about what we’ve just been through and asking if we need help.”

One of them, a young Asian male born in the south of England who was stationed in a stand that became overrun with ticketless fans, was racially abused. “I was told, ‘Go back to Pakistan. Don’t tell us where we can go in our own country, this is our stadium. All lives matter, but not P*** lives.’”

He says he was in fear of his own safety, but more worried that “a lot of people could die here, right in front of me”.

 

 

While the unacceptable actions of ticketless fans was deplorable and central to the dangerous scenes on Sunday, there was also a “serious failure of security and stewarding,” according to a safety officer of a Premier League club. Accountability must follow.

He was “completely staggered” by what he saw unfold at the stadium. He reached out to The Independent, but asked for his identity to be protected. His account of events tallies with a stream of testimonies from several different stakeholders.

“I can categorically tell you that the majority of stewards I directly came across or watched on Sunday had no training for the role. I would put money on it that a lot of them have never worked a big football match before, or any kind of match. They were young, out of their depth, and the ones who innocently turned up to do what must seem a fun job are also victims of what happened.

“Who was the stadium safety officer? What was the plan and protocol? Was every steward clued up on the layout and what to do in case of any and all emergency situations?

“What I saw on Sunday is a product of what we’ve seen for a long time in my line of work: cost-cutting and loss of quality control. There are very few solid, reputable security companies. Most will hit the number of stewards by any means necessary, which includes not bothering whether they have an NVQ or not.”

 

FOOTNOTE

From the Leader of Brent Council, Muhammed Butt's  Register of Interests on the Council website

11/07/2021 - 2 x tickets Final Euro's. Aprroximate value £150.00 x 2. Received from GLA
7/7/2021 - 2 x tickets England v Denmark. Approximate value £150.00 x 2. Received from GLA
13/06/2021 - 2 x tickets England v Croatia. Approximate value £150.00 x 2. Received from GLA

Do you know Brent youngsters on Universal Credit who would like a job placement? Details of Kickstart Scheme here

 Press Release from Brent Council

Brent Council has launched a new youth work placement scheme, helping to provide a much needed boost to employment in the borough.

 

The Kickstart scheme is part of a £2 billion national programme developed to create employment opportunities for young people, improve their confidence, and prevent long gaps in employment.

 

Available to Brent residents aged 16-24 and in receipt of Universal Credit, the work placements run for six months, supporting young people to follow their aspirations, develop employability skills and eventually find work.*

 

More than 70 local businesses have signed up to create over 250 job placements across a diverse range of occupations. Opportunities on offer include a Graphic Designer placement at Excelsior Graphic Designer, a Trainee Hairdresser placement at Chop Chop in Wembley Park, and a Bar Runner placement at BOXPARK Wembley – to name just a few.

 

There are also 30 placements at Brent Council, paid the London Living Wage, where young people will have the opportunity to work alongside and learn from the council teams.

 

Cllr Thomas Stephens, Cabinet Member for Education, Employment and Skills said: 

The Kickstart placement scheme has come at a time when it is most needed, following a year of high employment, furloughs and job uncertainty, all brought on by the pandemic. 

 

As we come out of the final lockdown restrictions, the council is renewing its focus in supporting our young people and increasing community employment. Through the Kickstart scheme, young people in Brent can pursue their career aspirations and develop employable skills.

 

On Thursday 22 July from 10.30am to 12.00pm, Brent Works will host an online information session about Kickstart and the opportunities on offer. It is open to everyone, including young people, to find out more information and ask questions. To attend, register by email at brent.works@brent.gov.uk.

 

If you work with or know young people, living in Brent, who would like to discover more employment opportunities, please direct them to the Brent Works opportunities page.

 

EDITOR'S COMMENT

 

I askd Brent Council for further information on whether the 70 local businesses were paying the young people taking up job placements. This was the response:

The jobs are paid National Minimum Wage. The council jobs and some employers pay London Living Wage and top up to 35 hours per week. Depending on the individual’s circumstances they may get a top-up from Universal Credit, e.g. for housing.

So worth checking the details if you apply.  The National Minium Wage for 18-20 year olds is £6.56 per hour. The London Living Wage for over 18s is £10.85 per hour.

Bee Walk at the Welsh Harp on Saturday

 

Let's Walk- Bees and Other Pollinators Guided Walk, Saturday 17th July, 11.30am – 1.00pm

 

Canal & River Trust together with Friends of the Welsh Harp bring you a Bees & Other Pollinators Walk with ecologist Russell Miller.

Russell will demonstrate how to find and identify bumblebees, solitary bees, hoverflies and other pollinating insects.

This is also a great way to explore what's on your doorstep and meet new people.

 

All ages welcome to attend! 

 

Get your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/.../lets-walk-bees-and-other...

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Solidarity with Pete Firmin trapped in a Kafkaesque Labour nightmare

 

 

Readers of Wembley Matters will be familiar with the name Pete Firmin. Pete has written many guest posts for Wembley Matters, mainly focusing on issues on the South Kilburn Estate where he is active on housing and tenancy issues. His last post was only yesterday on problems over getting help regarding the flooding in the Kilburn area.

Pete has been suspended from the Labour Party for some months, although you would think he is just the sort of committed socialist and grassroots activist that the Labour Party should welcome with open arms.

This letter has just been published by the Kilburn Times LINK explaining the background to his suspension by the Labour Party and the Kafkaesque situation that Pete finds himself in. Putting aside political differences (I am a Green Party member) I would like to express solidarity with Pete and Bridget in their predicament.

 

THE LETTER

When will the Labour Party Leadership’s purge of Left wing Labour members end?

 

It is now almost eight months since Pete Firmin (the chair) and Bridget Dunne (the vice-chair) of Hampstead and Kilburn Constituency Labour Party (CLP) were suspended from the Party.

 

Pete and Bridget have been given no opportunity to explain or defend themselves. 

 

Pete and Bridget’s only transgression was allowing Hampstead and Kilburn CLP members to debate a motion opposing the withdrawal of the Whip from Jeremy Corbyn. The Hampstead and Kilburn General Committee meeting in November last year, voted for this motion in solidarity with Jeremy Corbyn. The following day Pete and Bridget were suspended.

 

Pete Firmin was suspended from the Labour Party with Bridget Dunne, eight months ago - in taking disciplinary action against two Party members - action that has never been explained legally or made public - the Labour hierarchy have obviously acted against the principles of natural justice. Their decision was secretive, manifestly sectarian and profoundly undemocratic.

 

Using such draconian methods against individuals who were only carrying out the wishes of the Constituency has damaged not only the morale and fabric of the local Party but Labour’s case for fairness.

 

In all the years I have been a member of Labour (including eight years as a Kilburn ward councillor) I have never known the Party to be so authoritarian and undemocratic. Pete and Bridget are dedicated socialists and trade unionists with over 40 years’ service to the Labour Party between them. These are the very people our party needs if we are to defeat Boris Johnson’s ruthless Tory government. But we won’t defeat them by being every bit as dictatorial. 

 

Over 30 members of Hampstead CLP recently submitted a statement to our MP, Tulip Siddiq asking her to support Pete and Bridget’s immediate reinstatement. I urge Tulip to stand by Pete and Bridget. Sir Keir Starmer should start fighting the Tory government and not Labour party members. He should also restore the Labour whip to Jeremy Corbyn.

 

Angie Birtill, Kilburn, full address supplied

UPDATED: Brent Scrutiny recommend to Brent Council Cabinet that they undertake a public review of lessons learnt from Sunday's incidents at Wembley Stadium

 

Shortly after UEFA announced an investigation into Sunday's events at the Euro2020 match at Wembley, Brent Scrutiny Committee attempted to find out whether Brent Council was going to hold a review of its own responsibilities in the matter.

Brent Council is responsible for scrutinising all the public safety arrangements at the Stadium and for issuing the safety licence. The Council also chairs the Wembley Stadium Advisory Group.

 

Recording of yesterday's meeting

Committee Chair, Roxanne Mashari, had to repeatedly remind officers that the Committee had a right and a duty to scrutinise these issues in the light of the seriousness of what had taken place. Residents need to be reassured that concerns were addressed and that similar events would not happen again.

In response officers said it was too soon after the event to consider these issues and wanted to wait until Tuesday's meeting with partners in the SafetyAdvisory Group for information that would be forthcoming. The Advisory Group includes the Council, Police, Wembley Stadium and the Football Association. It was evident that Chris Bryant, representing the FA, had been taken by surprise by the UEFA announcement.

Chris Whyte for Brent Council outlined the Council's role and particularly the activities of the Council's two Public Safety Officers who were present before, during and after events to check arrangements both inside and outside the stadium. Such arrangements included how the checking of tickets at turnstiles was managed; management of licensed premises inside the stadium; management of the seating arrangements once the match started; crowd management outside the stadium including the enforcement of Public Space Prohibition Orders over illegal trading, advertising, ticket touting; and working with partners via the Stadium Control Room bringing any incidents to their attention. No councillor questioned whether two Public Safety Officers were sufficient for such a large stadium with 60,000 plus attending.

Whyte clarified it was only the Council's operation alplan that he was responsible for signing off, and not those covering policing and stewarding. The plan was forwarded to the CEO and Council Leader. The police and Wembley Stadium made their own risk assessments for specific events and subsequent deployment decisions.

Cllr Hassan wanted to know the terms of reference for any inquiry and what it would cover and whether the Council deployed different numbers for different events. Chris Whyte said it was too early to discuss terms of reference for an inquiry and the Council should wait for the meeting with other stakeholders. The level of resources that the Council had deployed recognised the importance of Euro2020 ands was well in excess of the number that would be deployed at a Spice Girls concert.

Cllr Mashari was frustrated at not being able to get a clear commitment to a public review by the Council itself and her suggestion that the Committee recommend that Tuesday's stakeholders meeting should be held in public was rejected. Cllr Janice Long suggested that this  demand amounted to grandstanding and Mashari should not believe everything she read in the papers. Cllr Mashari said the allegation of grandstanding diminished the seriousness of the incident where people were injured and a tragedy could have happened.

 

 

Video Evidence in Tos Atkins' BBC  Report HERE

After further discussion when most members agreed to wait for more information, the Committee agreed that information from the Safety Advisory Group, including the Minutes, should be brought to the next Scrutiny Committee meeting and made a recommendation that the Cabinet undertake a public review of lessons learnt from Sunday's incidents.

The leader of the Council, Muhammed Butt, was present latterly during the discussion but did not take part.

Another informative article worth reading revealing there were advance plans for fans to 'jib' into the stadium- points to a failure in pre-match intelligence:  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/euro-2020-wembley-security-failings-b1884231.html