Tuesday 2 November 2021

The Preston Library site and 'Our exceptional and Priceless Planet'

 This Guest Post is the view of the authors and not necessarily that of Wembley Matters. Guest Post by SKPPRA (South Kenton Preston Park Residents' Association).

 

Yesterday the UN Secretary General of the UN António Guterres told humanity at the COP26 conference in Glasgow - ‘We face a stark choice: either we stop [the addiction] or it stops us[1].

 

Here in Wembley Brent Council gave an instant response to the UN that afternoon when contractors for the Council started work on the climate destroying redevelopment of the Preston Library site. In the words of Mr. Guterres - Brent Council have decided not to stop climate destruction but to stop us!

 

The library development is a disaster for the climate and for our local community which has fought for so long to retain a library use at the site. The local community strongly opposed the development in 90% of the responses made to Brent Council in the pre-application consultations and in the town planning process. The proposed development reduces community use at the site, overlooks and impacts on the amenity and privacy of the adjoining owners, and was found by the High Court in two separate Judicial Reviews to be contrary to the requirements of the Local Plan.

 

Brent Council was only able to avoid the quashing of the planning consent for a second time by invoking The Senior Courts Act – a Thatcher Government statute designed to limit individual and community involvement in local government decisions. The present Council, it appears has strong addictions not only to climate abuse but to the methods of its political opponents back as far as Mrs. Thatcher in the 1980s.

 

SKPPRA (South Kenton Preston Park Residents Association) and the residents living next to the Preston Library Site in Wembley have for more than three years sought to plot a better course for the community, the site and for the planet.

 

Brent Council proposes to demolish the existing Preston Library building and to build a new library on the same site a few metres away from the existing building. Residents know this is unsustainable and a climate destroying development. The proposal results in an avoidable emission of six hundred tonnes (600tCO2e) calculated using the ICE database at https://circularecology.com/ for the demolition and rebuild of the library building.

 

To mitigate these emissions ten-thousand trees (one third of the street trees in Brent) need to be planted and mature for ten years to offset the avoidable emissions in the library development.[2]   Brent to be carbon neutral by 2030?

 

The Community’s initiative not only saves the building and the planet, but avoids the emissions caused by the development, retains the trees destroyed by the Council, and avoids disruption to the underground river - Crouch Brook at the site.

 

The initiative is a response to the consequences of climate change, the recent floods in the area, and to Brent Council’s Climate Emergency Declaration (July 2019) which says that the Council will work with residents ‘every step of the way[3] to make the borough carbon neutral by 2030.

 


 

Community Proposal for Preston Library site with the retention of existing library (yellow), trees and new housing (grey). The existing library is demolished in the Brent Council Scheme to form a car park.

 

The UN IPCC report (9th August 2021) advised that this was the last report where there was still a chance to take emergency action to avert a climate disaster. The SKPPRA community and Brent Council know the critical ‘every step’ and ‘emergency action’ now means the immediate retention of the existing Preston Library building.

  

The Council Leader noting the publication of the IPCC report [4] said we can change our wasteful consumption of finite resources,  .. we can cease to be a drain on this exceptional and priceless planet…. To do nothing is to condemn ourselves and our descendants to untold misery and chaos. This is a climate emergency, we must act now’. 

 

For five years however Councillor Butt has refused to consider or respond to detailed objections to the development and refused to look at the alternative proposal or even take any step of the way with residents.

 

Referring this hypocrisy to the Mayor of London, to central Government Departments[5], to Barry Gardiner the local MP, and to Kier Starmer (Leader of Councillor Butt’s party) received no response other than the advice that avoiding the effects of climate change - was a ‘local matter.’ The UN Secretary General doesn’t agree.

 

Residents have invested time and resources in preparing an alternative proposal to save a valuable community resource and to prevent climate change.

 

In contrast - the Council has failed to apply its own policies on sustainable development, refused to explain or publish the cost of the development, and refused to consider any alternative proposals as promised in the Council’s own Climate Emergency Declaration.

 

Unfortunately, we live in Wembley but not on Councillor Butt’s exceptional and priceless planet.



[3] Brent Climate & Ecological Emergency Strategy 2021-2030 (April 2021) Page 2.

[5] Several referrals to Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG)

Join BrentFoE outside Barclays Bank, Cricklewood tomorrow, 12.30pm to protest against the bank's investment in fossil fuels


 

Brent Friends of the Earth will be demonstrating alongside other activists outside Barclays Bank, Cricklewood tomorrow in opposition to the bank's investments in fossil fuels.

On its Facebook page Brent FoE say:

Barclays is the largest individual provider of current accounts in the UK and the “worst banker of fossil fuels” in Europe, according to the impact rating carried out by Ethical Consumer magazine.
 
Barclays has been Europe’s biggest investor in fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement, according to the Banking on Climate Change report, providing 36% more finance than the next worst European banker (HSBC). From 2016-19 the company invested $118.1 billion (£862 billion) in fossil fuels. It is the tenth biggest funder of fossil fuel expansion internationally.
 
At its AGM in May 2020, over 75% of Barclays shareholders voted against a resolution to end the company’s investments in fossil fuels.
 
Among the fossil fuel projects funded by Barclays are:
 
Bangladesh’s coal expansion
 
Barclays has provided funding for the Rampal Power Plant in Bangladesh. The plant threatens the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, a vital carbon sink that reduces CO2 in the atmosphere.
 
The Bangladeshi government plans to increase dependence on coal from 2.8% to 37% over the next decade.
 
According to Tonny Nowshin, a researcher at environmental and human rights organisation Urgewald, the pollution from the plant would cause low birth weight for 24,000 babies and premature death for 6,000 people.
 
Financing deforestation
 
Barclays has provided financial services worth millions to five beef and soy companies known for their links with deforestation. These include meat producer JBS, whose controllers confessed to bribing more than 1,800 politicians in Brazil in 2017.
 
Violations of Indigenous rights
 
Many of the projects that Barclays backs are linked to serious human rights abuses, including ongoing violations of Indigenous rights. These include the Dakota Access Pipeline and tar sands pipeline projects which will cross Indigenous territories.
 
TO JOIN THE DEMONSTRATION MEET OUTSIDE THE CROWN HOTEL, CRICKLEWOOD BROADAY AT 12.15PM. THE DEMONSTRATION IS AT THE BRANCH OF BARCLAYS OPPOSITE THE HOTEL FROM 12.30PM.

Monday 1 November 2021

AND ANOTHER ONE TODAY! Confusing Communications from HS2 perplex South Kilburn residents

 

 

The HS2 project and its impact on South Kilburn residents is a sensitive issue to say the least and good communication from the project essential.

However, residents were perplexted to received the communication below.  It refers residents to the HS2  Ealing  page rather than Brent but the link actuall leads to the Camden page.

Dear Residents

HS2 Works: Utility drainage surveys on Rupert Road, Denmark Road and residential compounds 

We recently wrote to you regarding drainage surveys in your local area. We would like to inform you that we will be carrying out further surveys on Rupert Road, Denmark Road and in the grounds of Walbrook Court and Winterleys residential properties. These surveys will help us to understand the condition of the drainage system in the area and how best to protect it during construction of the railway. We will investigate the condition of the sewer system using a camera and may need to flush the system if any blockages are found. Your utility services will not be affected during these works.


You can find out more about the works from our recent notification. 

For more information about HS2 in Ealing, please see the Ealing page of our website.


If you have a question about HS2 or our works, please contact our HS2 Helpdesk team on 08081 434 434 or email hs2enquiries@hs2.org.uk.  

Yours sincerely,

HS2 Community Engagement team

Contact our Helpdesk team all day, every day of the year by:
Freephone: 08081 434 434 | Minicom: 08081 456 472 | Email:HS2Enquiries@hs2.org.uk
To keep up to date with what is happening in your local area, visit: www.hs2inyourarea.co.uk

Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube



South Kilburn resident Pete Firmin adds November 2nd 2021:

And so it continues - leaflet (photo below) arrives today. "Update meeting for residents near our Canterbury Works site". Okay, that's South Kilburn. But then at the online meeting we will "find out more about SCSJV's current and upcoming works at the Atlas Road site". I've no idea what SCSJV stands for, but I do know that Atlas Road is at Old Oak Common, nowhere near the Canterbury Works site. Confusing is an understatement.

 

EDITOR'S COMMENT: With such terrific in-depth geographical expertise at HS2 Ltd the line may well end up in Ipswich.