stop the tower!

The Genesis Housing Group today [Monday 17 October] announced that it is withdrawing its current planning application for a landmark tall building next to Queens Park Station.

Brent Council worked closely with Genesis on the application but has concerns about certain requirements, which were also expressed by the Greater London Authority (GLA).

The GLA’s main issues were regarding elements of the design of the building as well as whether it meets sustainability requirements and was able to deliver local improvements.

Genesis has taken the opportunity to listen to residents in Queens Park, South Kilburn and Westminster and will continue to actively involve those groups in future plans for the site. Genesis plans to submit a new proposal next year following further consultation.

Anu Vedi CBE, Chief Executive of Genesis Housing Group, said: “We are committed to providing much-needed affordable homes on this site. We intend to continue to work with the council in agreeing further consultation with the local community on the future of the Keniston Press and Salusbury Road carpark site.”

Councillor Ann John, Leader of Brent Council, said: “I would like to thank Genesis Housing Association for agreeing to take another look at this scheme and consider the matter further with local residents and planners.”

Brent Council’s Planning Service has arranged a public meeting on 3 November to update local residents and explore future options for the Salusbury Road Car Park site, south of Queens Park Station.

Councillor Neil Nerva, Chair of Kilburn and Kensal Area Forum, said: “The meeting on 3 November provides a real opportunity to explore how local residents can be actively involved along with Genesis and Brent Council in plans for this site.”

Today sees the addition of an email newsletter to the site. To be kept up-to-date with the proposed development at Premier Corner, please sign up to the newsletter. When signing up to the newsletter you are asked to provide your name, address and postcode. You do not have to provide personal information if you do not want to so the name and address fields are optional. However we do ask that you provide your postcode - we will use this information to generate a map (using google maps) that show where interest in the proposed development is coming from in the local area.

Sign up to the newsletter using this link.

This weblog is rapidly becoming a major info point for the proposed development at Premier Corner.

I’ve published the website visitor stats that have been gathered today. In the first 16 days of October this site has had as much traffic as September and August combined. This is probably due to the posters and leaflets distributed locally by concerned residents. The increase in traffic shows that local residents are genuinely interested in finding out what information they can about the proposed Genesis development.

The StatCounter.com utility on the left hand side of the page records the number of visitors to this site. It counts ‘page loads’ (in green on the graph above) which is a measure of the number of times the site has been visited. It also counts unique visitors (blue) and returning visitors (yellow) using a cookie stored by the web browser of the visitor to this site.

no, not this website, but a major public consultation event about the Premier Corner site.

Date:Thursday 3rd November
Time:19.00hrs
Location:Queens Park Community School

Cllr Neil Nerva writes:

Further information about this meeting will follow. Brent Council will be circulating invitation letters next week to residents in Queens Park, and surrounding areas. In addition information will be available on the Brent website.

I have discussed with Brent Planning Service suggestions made at the Area Forum as to how consultation about the future use of this site might be improved.

I hope that following the Area Forum held on 27th September, Genesis will reconsider their proposal and will agree to withdraw the current planning application. The planning brief mentioned a 10 to 20 storey building the current proposal from Genesis exceeds this. This will enable proper informed debate to take place about how the site might be developed.

In advance of the meeting on 3rd November Cllr Nerva has asked Brent Planning to discuss with Genesis and the Mayor of London the following issues:

• Public Transport
  • It would be a scandal if Queens Park Station is not rebuilt at the same time as the car park is developed

  • More information is needed about the bus, pedestrian and cycling facilities
• Phasing
  • How can the development of the car park be properly linked to developments on the site of the British Legion and Albert Road Day Centre?
• Community benefit
  • What new community resources will be provided?
• Design
  • It is imperative that the architect appointed does not assume that the design is a fait accompli

  • How can quality be assured for the design and final build?
  • Local residents expect and want to be involved in the design if the building – how can this be achieved ?
  • Can the architect provide more than one design for consultation with local residents ?

Labour Councillor for Queen’s Park ward Neil Nerva left a comment on this post to the blog.

Following the ACF held at Queen’s Park Community School last week, he has now established that a major public consultation event is to be run by the Brent Planning Service and is likely to be held in the week commencing 31/10/05. As soon as we know the exact date and have further information we will post it here.

Neil also advises us of a weblink to the South Kilburn Regeneration Project Homepage.

In an email to us, Councillor Nerva writes

I along with other local councillors want to facilitate informed debate and ensure that both Brent Council Planning and Genesis are aware of and listen to the views and concerns raised by local residents. I do not regard the proposed development as put forward by Genesis to be a done deal.

Postal address:
London Borough of Brent
Planning Service Brent House
349-357 High Road
Wembley HA9 6BZ

Case Officer: Meghji Hirani
T: 020 8937 5231, F: 020 8937 5207
Email: meghji.hirani@brent.gov.uk

Planning application reference: 05/1317

‘Area Consultative Forums were set up to give local people a say about the issues which matter to them. At each meeting, residents, traders and community representatives are able to raise questions about services provided by the council and other agencies in Brent. Chaired by a councillor, each area forum meeting is open to the public and is held during a weekday evening in an accessible venue’ - From ‘About ACF’, Brent Council website

At the Kensal and Kilburn ACF on Tuesday 27th September 2005 the proposed Queen’s Park Development will be discussed.

Refreshments provided.

Recently we posted a question about the decision making process for the proposed development in Queen’s Park. We are interested to know whether this development is considered a minor development and as such the planning decision would be made by Brent Planner OR whether the decision would be made by a meeting of the Brent Council Planning Committee.

We wrote to Meghji Hirani at Brent who advises us that:

This application will be decided at planning committee. There is not yet a date set for when this may be but all those that wrote in and provided their address will be notified of the date and time of the committee.

We will of course advise all readers of this blog with the date and time of the planning committee meeting.

We received our 900th hit yeaterday - not bad for a website devoted to a single local issue. Perhaps this interest will be taken into consideration when the planning decision is taken.

Here you can see the stats for this website over July and August. In total this website has been viewed by 373 peple (at the time of posting) and has been access 902 times.

August 11th, Wembley Observer. Alex Stephens reports on the efforts of the local community to raise awareness of the development and to facilitate the participation of residents in the planning process.

Here’s a scan of the article for you to read.