UPDATE: Mumbai Junction/John Lyon pub planning application return greeted with dismay by local residents. Developer's pre-app meetings with lead councillors, officers and planning committee.

The Sudbury Court Residents' Association have reacted quickly to the return of a planning application for the Mumbai Junction(John Lyons) site.  Although the applicant claim they have listened to Muhammed Butt, councillors and officers at a pre-planning meeting. Little seems to have actually changed.

 This extract indicates a Pre-app meeting with the Planning Committee!

 

Residents at consultation gave the plans an almost unanimous thumbs down and an anonymous comment  that seems to have been accidentally published on the Statement of Community Involvement is revealing:

 

The Sudbury Court Residents Association are informing residents about the proposal via a leaflet:

 Comment on the Planning Application HERE,

      

REVEALED: Restrictive Covenant on Islamia Primary School land

 Many thanks to Philip Grant for his assitance with this article.

 

The 'elephant in the room' on the proposed move of Islamia Primary School after eviction by the Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) Foundation has been the Foundation's plans for the site - they they merely said they want to develop it.

 

Wembley Matters has purchased a copy of the Land Registry entry for 129 Salusbury Road, the current site of Islamia Primary School. 

 

The following are details of the covenants contained in the  Conveyance dated 12November 1908 referred to in the Charges Register.  They appear to restrict any future development of the site, land and buildings, by the Yusuf Islam Foundation to educational use through schools. The only way that could be changed is by the owner applying to the Court (in this case The Lands Chamber of the Upper Tribunal) to have that restrictive covenant removed from the land.

 

The Purchasers do hereby covenant with the Commissioners to perform and observe the several conditions and stipulations set forth in the first schedule hereto. 

 

THE FIRST SCHEDULE above referred to 

 

That neither the land hereby conveyed nor any building or buildings now or at any future time erected thereon nor any part or parts thereof shall be used for any purposes whatsoever other than purposes authorised by the Elementary Education Act 1870 and the Education Act 1902 and the Acts extending and amending the same respectively [and that no building shall without the previous consent of the Commissioners in writing under the hand of their secretary be at any time erected on any part of the land coloured blue on the said plan].' 

 

This is what is known as a "restrictive covenant", so that the "burden" of the covenant relates to the land itself, and not to the owner of the land. 

 

For this to have effect,

 

'The original parties to the covenant must have intended that the burden of the covenant would remain with, and pass with the land every time the ownership changed.'

 

That quotation comes from a useful summary of the legal position  HERE. 

 

This seems to be clear evidence that the original parties to the covenant, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England ("Church Commissioners") and the County Council of The Administrative County of Middlesex (Middlesex C.C.), did intend that the land at 129 Salusbury Road, and any buildings on that land, should always be used for educational purposes as a school.

 

You can find much of the story of the Salusbury Road school site in Part 5 of Irina Porter's "Uncovering Kilburn's History' on Wembley Matters HERE. 

 

Philip Grant has contributed some further  historical background:

 

It appears that the Church Commissioners had bought the land in 1877. This may well have been for possible use for a school, as the Church of England was afraid that "Board Schools" set up under the 1870 Education Act would not teach religion. In fact, it was not until the end of the century that a school building was erected on the land for Kilburn Grammar School, a secondary school which had been founded by the Vicar of St Paul's Church, Kilburn, in 1897.

 

The Church Commissioners continued to own the land until 1908, when it was purchased by Middlesex C.C., after they and Willesden Urban District Council had jointly taken over the running of Kilburn Grammar School the previous year. Middlesex C.C. was abolished in 1965, at the same time that Willesden and Wembley Councils merged to form the London Borough of Brent. 

 

Brent Council then owned the land, and the school became the "comprehensive" Kilburn Senior High School in 1967, then merged with the girls school in 1973 to become Brondesbury and Kilburn High School. This ceased to exist when Brent had another reorganisation of its secondary schools in 1989, and Brent then sold the land and buildings. But they were sold to the then version of Yusuf Islam's charity, specifically to be used as a school, or schools, in line with the restrictive covenant.

 

Church End Festival Saturday - Noon to 6pm

 

Divest Brent calls on the Pension Sub-Committee to seize the opportunity and play its part in divesting from fossil fuels to ensure a planet habitable by humans

 

The Divest Brent delegation arrives at Brent Civic Centre

A delegation from campaign group Divest Brent made a presentation to the Brent Pension Fund Sub-Committee tonight to urge them to speed up the fund's divestment from fossil fuel copanies in the face of the climate emergency.

 

Glenis Scadding presented on behalf of the delegation and said:

 

Climate breakdown is gathering at shocking, unanticipated speed, with disasters occurring at 1.2 degrees of heating that scientists did not expect until we hit 2 or 3 degrees. If we are to save the planet from increasingly intense heatwaves, wildfires, droughts – and indeed keep it habitable by humans – we have to tackle the problem of fossil fuels NOW. 89% of CO2 emissions come from industry and from burning fossil fuels. You, the Pension Fund Sub-committee have a significant opportunity to play your part.

 

The International Energy Agency has warned that no new oil and gas exploration should take place, if we are to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Yet there are currently around 200 fossil fuel development projects, each expected to eventually emit over a billion tons of CO2. This alone would use up the entire global carbon budget and trigger runaway climate change – and ultimately, in all probability, the extinction of the entire human race.

 

 

The current high cost of fossil fuels means that projects to develop more of them, such as Jackdaw and fracking, are being given the go – ahead by Government. This is misguided short – termism since the time courses involved are too long to rescue us from our current energy plight. Much better to invest in new renewables, even Dr Chris Cornelius, the geologist who founded Cuadrilla in 2007, said recently that ministers would do better to look at geothermal energy and tidal power.

 

 

The only way to avoid the worst scenario is to reduce our fossil fuel consumption as soon as possible – and by divesting its Pension Fund from fossil fuel companies Brent Council would be doing its bit to send a signal that promotes investment into new renewable energy projects, not fossil fuels.

 

 

The primary purpose of the Pension Fund is to maximise investment returns to provide pensions to retired Council staff. Fortunately, just as the cost of renewable energy is now significantly lower than fossil fuels, so the outlook for renewable investments is much better than fossil fuels. The investment value of the fossil fuel companies are set to crash as petrol vehicles give way to electric ones (with the UK phasing out sales of new petrol vehicles by 2030) and hard economics persuades utility companies to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. Greenwashing by companies such as BP and Shell should not persuade you otherwise. Sub-committee members will not want to emulate their colleagues in local authority pension funds which lost up to £683 million in 2015 through failed investments in coal companies.

 

By divesting from fossil fuels Brent would be treading a well-worn path – 7 London boroughs have already committed to divest. The Islington Pension Fund chair has offered to talk to Sub-committee members and could answer queries.

 

We warmly welcome Brent Council’s Net zero roadmap but the measure used to identify the carbon intensity of an investee company or fund suffers from a major shortcoming: failure to consider scope 3 emissions. Fossil fuel companies are scored based on the carbon emissions of their offices, travel and power used in fuel extraction, but not on the emissions generated by burning them.

 

We do not underestimate the effort involved in Pension Fund divestment. Fossil fuel investments form part of an investment portfolio. In order to divest particular stocks and shares, the Fund will need to sell the entire holding in the investment fund in which they are held.  This is where Brent could benefit from the experience of those Boroughs that have already made the commitment to divest.

 

 

Brent Labour Party is already committed to divest – its 2022 manifesto promised to “redouble our efforts [to reach carbon neutrality] and call upon our partners to divest our Pension Fund of organisations that extract fossil fuels” All that is needed now is action.

 

 

Cllr Robert Johnson, chair of the committee, urged the delegation to hear the item updating the Council's  Net Zero Roadmap. The item is embedded below:

Islamia parents offered stark choice - either approve the move to Preston ward or the school closes

 Parents of children at Islamia Primary School in Queens Park have been offered a stark choice by the school's Governing Board: approve the move of the school to a site 6 miles away or it will close.

The informal consultation that opened on September 28th and closes on November 2nd will be followed by a formal consultation.

The consultation reveals that the Governing Board rejects Brent Council's favoured option of a refurbishment of present buildings on the present site and the building of a new block to accommodate a 2 forms of entry primary school.

Instead they favour demolition of all buildings on the site and the provision of a new-build two storey school. Brent Council does not think this is deliverable by July 2024 ready for a September 2024 start. The governors say they will endeavout to keep to tight deadlines to make this deliverable.

The consultation maintains the silence on the reason why the Yusuf Islam Foundation gave the school an eviction notice and merely says the Foundation intends to develop the site.

The governors appear to brush off the concerns  of parents unable to travel to the new site and state:

Muslim families who live in the north of the borough do not currently have access to Muslim faith education provision. In the future the population that the school serves may become more local to the new site.

 A parent told Wembley Matters:

This is quite unfair for current families.  Blackmailing tactics . Either approve the move or lose the school.

In reality local families will lose the school anyway.

Plus the consultation is inaccessible to many as it was sent out on the school App rather than via a paper copy.

 The consultation document can be found HERE,

 A consultation meeting for staff will be held on October 10th and there are two consultation meetings on Wednesday October 12th at the school at 9am-10am and 5pm to 6pm.

A further meeting will be held at a site to be confirmed near the Strathcona site on October 13th 6pm - 7.30pm.

 

 

 

 

Regeneration Plans for Masefield House, Wordsworth House, Dickens House, Kilburn Open Space & Carlton Vale Infant School to go to Planning Committee this Autumn

 

These proposal are due to go to Planning during the Autumn. The Council's website states:

The redevelopment site comprising of Masefield House, Wordsworth House, and Dickens House, as well as Kilburn Open Space and Carlton Vale Infant School forms part of the South Kilburn regeneration programme. 

 

What will be delivered?

 

The proposals for this site are being designed by award winning architects Karakusevic Carson Architects and include 5 new mixed-tenure housing blocks, and a new two-form entry primary school. 

Two of the new blocks will front the newly-reinstated Percy Road in line with the Council’s masterplan aspiration. The proposals also include housing blocks along Malvern Road. These have been designed in an urban villa style to complement existing villa blocks in the area, including on Malvern Road. 

 

The exact tenure split is to be finalised during design development, but current proposals envisage 100 new units. This includes approximately 37 affordable units for existing South Kilburn residents. 

 

The proposals have been carefully designed throughout to maximise the retention of existing mature trees and to ensure homes are all dual aspect, allowing for natural light and ventilation.

 

The new school will be a high-quality and sustainable learning environment for pupils aged 3-11. The designs include space for a nursery, specialist teaching areas for music, food/science and art, and additional spaces for children with special educational needs. This includes physical disability, visual impairments, and hearing impairment. The school will also contain spaces that can be securely used by the local community during out of school hours such as a Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA). The Council is working with local Kilburn Park and Carlton Vale Schools to see how the schools can benefit from the new school. Future governance arrangements will be subjected to statutory consultation with the schools and the wider school community.  

 

Under the same planning application, proposals are being brought forward for the redevelopment of other parts of the South Kilburn area. This includes an expansion and improvement of the Kilburn Open Space. 

 

As well as this, there will be 52 new mixed-tenure properties (exact numbers to be confirmed through continued design development) on the site currently occupied by Carlton Vale Infant School. This includes a residential block of circa 37 flats facing Kilburn House on Malvern Place. Three shared ownership units will also be in this block.  

 

To help meet local resident’s needs, these proposals also include 15 four-bedroom affordable terraced homes for existing South Kilburn residents.

 

Click bottom right corner for full page view

Quintain signs its single-largest construction contract to date at £227m to deliver a further 769 homes at Wembley Park

 Quintain Press Release (needless to say the views expressed are Quintain's)

 

• This fixed cost contract with long term partner John Sisk & Son will deliver two new residential buildings at plots NE02 and NE03 alongside the completion of the first park in Wembley for over 100 years
• The completion of the two buildings, covering 9,593m in total, is expected in early 2025, with 74% of the homes to be Build to Rent alongside over 100 affordable homes of mixed tenure
• This landmark contract signing is testament to Quintain’s success at Wembley Park over the past 20 years and continued momentum at the 85-acre site

 

Quintain, the developer behind Wembley Park, has signed its largest construction contract to date, awarding £227m to John Sisk & Son (Sisk) to deliver two new residential buildings and significant public green space at Wembley Park. 

 

The buildings, currently known as NE02 and NE03, will be the first to be delivered at Wembley Park’s North East Lands development, the latest quarter of the 85-acre site to be transformed by the developer. Quintain broke ground at North East Lands, which will deliver a total 2,000 homes, earlier this year as the developer celebrates its 30^th anniversary and 20 years at Wembley Park. 

 

The £227m contract between Quintain and Sisk has been agreed at a fixed price. Whilst not uncommon, a fixed price contract committed to by both parties, during a period of high inflation and following the impact of Covid and Brexit, is testament to the exceptional working relationship between the two businesses. This outcome was achieved through early engagement with the wider contractor framework, cultivating transparency and a fair allocation of risk.

 

James Saunders, CEO of Quintain, said: “Whilst the wider economic picture may be one of uncertainty, Quintain is committed to delivering hundreds of new homes for London at the right time and cost. This landmark contract signing is testament to our continued momentum at Wembley Park and our unwavering success at the site for the past 20 years. It gives me great pleasure to bring the North East Lands development forward with Sisk, our long-term construction partner and valued member of our contractor framework.”

 

The commitment to building a further 769 homes at Wembley Park in plots NE02 and NE03, during a period of economic uncertainty, demonstrates Quintain’s confidence in the market and in its Build to Rent product so successfully managed by its Quintain Living team, currently at over 3,000 homes.

 

Ajaz Shafi, COO, UK & Civils, John Sisk & Son, said “John Sisk & Son is thrilled to have formally signed contracts with Quintain for both NE02 & NE03 projects. This is the largest contract we have signed to date with Quintain and the first developments at North East lands. Sisk has an 18-year history at Wembley Park with our client, Quintain. Together we have created over 2,000 homes, along with a 365-bed hotel, 660 bed student resident units, 1,000 bay carpark, and over five acres of incredible public realm, with another 817 homes now currently under construction with the signing of this latest contract. This demonstrates our longstanding relationship with Quintain and the dedication of our staff and supply chain partners. We are extremely excited by this next leg of the journey at Wembley with Quintain and look forward to creating this new neighbourhood within Wembley Park.”

 

The homes will be delivered alongside the completion of Union Park, which is to span a full seven acres across Wembley Park, three and a half of which are already complete and open to the public alongside children’s play areas and water features. Union Park is Wembley’s first new significant public green space in over a hundred years and, once complete, will be complemented by community amenities for local residents and the public.

 

This significant construction contract signed between Quintain and Sisk comes after 18 years of successful collaboration between the two businesses at Wembley Park. The commitment to a continued partnership amongst a challenging market is testament to Quintain’s transparent and supportive approach as a client rather than encouraging a race for the lowest price which traditional tendering methods are known to create.

 

Previous projects between Quintain and Sisk have included the site’s flagship Build to Rent development 743-home Canada Gardens, the 472-home Emerald Gardens development, London Designer Outlet, the Hilton London Wembley Hotel and the reconfiguration and refurbishment of the Grade 2 listed Wembley Arena (now the OVO Arena Wembley).

 

Brent Community skips this weekend and through October. Full details.

 

After some community skips were postponed after the death of the Queen, they have been re-scheduled. These details are taken from the Council website today but please note the Council's advice to check with their webpage LINK before you load up your horse and cart or wheelbarrow!

From the Council website

Representatives from Veolia will join the council’s Neighbourhood Managers to help sort items and ensure they are recycled and reused wherever possible. 

Please check the location and date of your local community skip the day before you go, LINK just in case there are any last minute changes and be aware that we cannot accept builders’ materials (such as rubble), garden waste (including soil), commercial waste, pianos, or clinical and hazardous waste, tyres, fridges, batteries, oil and paint.

 

Queens Park	Harvist Road, near the junction with Chamberlayne Road, NW6 6HJ	Saturday 15 October	10am to 12pm
Kilburn	Priory Park Road, near the junction with St Julian’s Road, NW6 7UN	Saturday 15 October	2pm to 4pm

 

 

Queensbury	Old Kenton Lane, NW9 9ND	Sunday 2 October	2pm to 4pm
Kingsbury	Grove Park Recreation Ground car park, NW9 OLA	Sunday 16 October	10am to 12pm
Kenton	Masonic Centre, Northwick Circle, HA3 0EL	Saturday 22 October	10am to 12pm
Barnhill	Green space outside, Lawns Court, The Avenue, HA9 9PN	Saturday 22 October	2pm to 4pm

 

Wembley Hill	Outside 139 St Johns Road, HA9 7JP	Sunday 9 October	10am to 12pm
Preston	Windermere Avenue, outside the Church of the Annunciation, HA9 8TQ	Sunday 9 October	2pm to 4pm

 

Willesden Green	Chaplin Road, parking bays op 98 – near the junction with Villiers Road, NW2 5PR	Saturday 1 October	10am to 12pm
Dollis Hill	Vincent Gardens, near the bend, NW2 7RJ	Saturday 1 October	2pm to 4pm
Cricklewood and Mapesbury	Cedar Road, parking bays outside number 36, near the junction with Ivy Road, NW2 6SR	Thursday 6 October	6pm to 8pm

 

Wembley Park

North End Road, outside Empire Court, HA9 0AQ

Sunday 2 October

10am to 12pm