The new hotel tower replacing 3 Olympic Way and the Novotel upper extension
The rattle of luggage trolleys will become louder along Olympic Way if Brent Planning Committee approves a new 23 storey hotel to replace the current much lower 7 storey building at 3 Olympic Way and a further 6 storey upper floor extension to the Novotel making it 16 storeys high.
The officers' report states;
The
proposed hotel accommodation would comprise of an upwards and infill extension
to the existing Novotel at 5 Olympic Way, as well as separate, new hotel
directly adjacent at 3 Olympic Way. The application states the new hotel
would be a 3 star model and that the reception area to the existing Novotel would
be transformed to create a shared reception area for the both the existing and
proposed hotels, with extended restaurant offer to cater for both hotels
too. The leisure facilities proposed (i.e. swimming pool and gym) at
basement level below the proposed hotel will also serve the existing Novotel.
In apparent contradiction to this description of shared facilities the officers also state:
This hotel is planned to be used by a different hotel operator, (i.e. it would not
constitute a further extension to the Novotel), and would have 260 hotel rooms.
The planning application is not limited to the hotels. The site includes a large car park space between Olympic Way and North End Road that will be built on.
Plans for this space includes a 26 storey residential building with 142 private homes named the 'Central Residence' and a 10 storey bullding of 30 apartments facing North End Road for 'affordable' housing.
The proposal goes to Brent Planning Committee at their meeting on Wednesday May 10th 6pm. Residents can apply to speak on the proposal. LINK
The officers' report spends considerable space on the problems of 'viability of social housing provision' and ends with agreeing that despite much higher requirements in terms of guidance that 10.4% social rent and 6.97% London Shared Ownership is all that can be provided in terms of financial viability of the whole development.
To summarise 142 homes (82.5%) will be private, 18 social rent (10.4%) and 12 shared ownership (6.97%) shared ownership. So only 1 in 10 of the homes will be properly affordable.As social and shared ownerships are all in one building on North End Road there is no impingement by 'affordabe residents' on the private area.
The officers' report addresses existing residents' concerns over access to daylight and sunlight (they say Danes Court, Pinnacle Tower, Trabriz Court and Felda House are affected) with this statement:
The growth area designation which applies to this location, and which
envisions significant housing growth within the locality of the site is given
significant weight. The expectation for significant development within this growth
area, as well as the expected high-density nature of development, would naturally reduce the expectations
for full compliance with the daylight and sunlight guidance for new development in this location. As
noted above, the undeveloped nature of a large proportion of the site affords some surrounding
buildings access to a higher level of existing sunlight and a generous baseline scenario, however this is a
location where change is expected to occur and the existing baseline conditions cannot realistically
be maintained
The officers' report states that there are 22 objections to the development but there are 57 recorded (some going back to the 2021 application);
Here is a recent objection;
Danes
Court resident: In response to your further letter regarding the application 3-5 Olympic
Way HA9 0NP, I wish to again oppose these plans. I can see no significant
change to the planning application for this site, which was first opposed by me
in March 2022.
As I mentioned before, the proposal to develop and build a building on 3-5
Olympic Way of basement ground, nine, twenty two, and twenty five storeys will
have a very detrimental impact on me and my family (and other Danes Court
residents). I live in 22 Danes Court which faces and is adjacent to North End
Road. Over a period of several years our quality of life has declined
considerably due to the building of numerous very tall blocks of flats and
student accommodation; Victoria Hall, Felda House, Scape, 1 Olympic Way,
Anthology, and recently a vast Barrett tower block of flats. These have had a
considerable impact on the light on my flat. Since these buildings have been
erected and most recently 1 Olympic way where a 15 storey tower block had been
built opposite our flat (to add insult to injury, this block appears to be
unoccupied!), the light to my flat has almost disappeared. We now have almost
no sunlight onto our flat. The days of enjoying an afternoon sitting on my
balcony are a distant memory and with this proposal we will be almost
constantly living in shade.
The proposal to build 9, 22 and 25 storey buildings plus add six storeys to the
Novotel hotel will almost completely decimate any remaining light on our flat.
This is not only detrimental to our well being, but our health as well. The
reduction in light and privacy have impacted on our mental health and quality
of life. Plants that used to thrive on my balcony now do not due to lack of sun
(this may seem minor to you but is important to me). This proposal will
significantly negatively impact on mine and others quality of life. Please
consider the Right to Light Act 1959. I have lived in my flat for 28 years and
enjoyed wonderful light for most of that, now it has lessened to very little
and this proposal will take most of the little light we have particularly in
the afternoons.
These buildings plus a supermarket will bring more people and traffic, which
will also impact on the noise, litter (a huge problem since all these buildings
have been erected in and near North End Road), privacy, anti-social behaviour
and traffic. North End Road is a dangerous rat run of traffic, fumes and noise.
It is almost impossible to cross without taking your life in your hands.
Lorries, cars, vans and occasionally coaches thunder down that road. We are
also often disturbed by vehicles sounding their horns in the midst of severe
congestion of traffic during school pick ups and event days. Adding further
congestion with traffic from these buildings will increase the nightmare of
this hideous, dangerous road.
The Danes and Empire Court flats were built in around the 1930s. The recent
buildings have smothered them, (they are now hidden by surrounding ugly
concrete tower blocks,) and brought only negative impact on the residents.
Litter has increased substantially. Only today I watched a man empty his care
boot of plastic water bottles and chuck them on the ground. Take away food
containers and other rubbish had led to an increase in vermin and made the area
look run down, which I am sure has contributed to an increase in crime. Ie drug
dealing has become the norm.
This proposal will considerably further add to the detrimental impact on mine
and other residents qualify of life. Therefore I oppose it.
And one from April last year:
Shams Court resident:
With reference to planning application 21/2130, I would like to register
my strong objections to this application as it will have a major impact
on all occupants of my address, all 9 flats in Shams Court, and I
believe our opinions should be counted as we have clearly been
identified in the plans as THOSE MOST AFFECTED. My reasons for objecting
are as below:
1. Developers have stated that they
consulted us (the owners of Sham's Court). This is entirely UNTRUE and
NO attempt has been made by the developers to consult any of the owners
of Sham's Court. This is just one example of the falsehoods mentioned in
their planning application.
2. From the daylight,
sunlight and overshadowing assessment you can see that the 8, 22 and 25
storey buildings will completely overshadow the ENTIRE SOURCE OF NATURAL
LIGHT to our kitchen and bathroom. This is our MAIN source of natural
light.
3. Shams Court is a small 4 storey building, which
will be engulfed in full 360degrees by extremely high towers. The image
attached has a mouse which points to the EXACT location of my flat. You
can very clearly see the tower would block ALL daylight through my
windows and is in touching distance of the building. It is visibly
engulfing my apartment and the entire Shams Court. We would be left in
darkness ALL DAY- you can literally see a full shadow on the developer's
image of our flat.
4. In the new report our kitchen and
Bathroom windows would get 1% of daylight and with the daylight from the
front living room and bedrooms would be an acceptable daylight
required. I completely disagree with this. Our living room is long and
hence the daylight coming in will not get to the kitchen area and we
will be below the living standard acceptable daylight. Also presently we
have to leave the bathroom door open to have daylight in the hallway
and entrance area. Therefore when the bathroom receives 1% daylight the
area mentioned will be in total darkness. This is outrageous. How can
you ignore where we receive such a significant proportion of our
daylight. It is false representation of the effects of this project. The
developers have omitted key information in their reports.
Additionally,
the costs of electricity have sky-rocketed. Once the light has been
reduced to a pathetic 1%, I will have to keep my lights on constantly,
using an excessive amount of energy. This is bad for the environment and
will put considerable strain on my finances due to the electricity
price increase. Shams Court was purpose built as affordable housing -
which it will no longer be
5. The buildings will tower
over Sham's Court and we will be in engulfed in darkness. Our roof
garden will be overshadowed leading to no daylight/sunlight and our
privacy will be entirely lost. My mother who lives with me and is a key
worker from home will be working in her room in a very dark environment.
This is not acceptable for mental health or working conditions.
6.
This development will have detrimental effects on our living standards,
privacy and health. This is going to affect every resident's privacy.
All of us will be under heavy stress which can cause significant damage
to our health and everyday living conditions both during construction
and even more-so after completion due to significant increase in
population density, noise, nuisance and anti-social behaviour. There are
six young children in our block and their lives deserve better than
this scenario. This development, if approved, will have an unbearable
impact on the mental and physical health of every resident and child in
this small 4-storey building.
7. The development of
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) have
already left us with very little natural light and an extremely
claustrophobic environment to live in. Our privacy has already been
significantly reduced with existing towers. Approving this development
will remove any remaining privacy that we have.
8. The
layout and density of this development is clearly over-development and
is overbearing in depth and height. Leading to all forms of
uncomfortable situations. The construction will have detrimental effects
on living standards, noise levels, cranes, dust emissions, demolition,
digging and construction and trackout of materials and heavy vehicle
noise will lead us to living in a terrible environment.
9.
Noise levels, anti-social behaviour, disturbance and nuisance from
overcrowding of a very small area with thousands of people will
significantly affect our quality of life on a daily basis. We already
struggle with noise in the area and this will increase it infinitely.
10.
The ground stability will certainly be compromised with the large-scale
excavation proposed. We share an underground basement with the existing
Novotel hotel and further construction of this nature can lead to a
weak structure and compromise the safety and integrity of all the
surrounding buildings.
We kindly ask Brent council to
understand the detrimental effects this proposal will have on the
residents of Shams Court. We trust you to protect us from this loss of
all natural light, increased noise pollution, disturbance, loss of
privacy and increase in anti-social behavior.
We hope you will protect us from these outrageous, inconsiderate proposals.
