stop the tower!

Like many people, we became aware only last autumn of Brent’s plans to build huge tower blocks by the station. We soon discovered there most locals were unaware of the plans, so we sent out a simple leaflet letting people know and directing them to Brent’s website for more detail.

In response to this, over 400 people wrote to Brent objecting to the planned 26-storey block. Around 300 of them copied us at qptower@hotmail.com. The letters were eloquent, passionate, and informed. There was an absolute consensus: no one wants a tower.

Here are some of the objection letters
People objecting came from all over the area:
North and south of the railway; east and west of Salusbury Road.
Private tenants, council tenants and owner-occupiers.

Brent and Genesis (the developers) then took the cynical strategic decision to withdraw the application until after the local election. This gave people the false impression that the towerblock threat had gone away.

Both Genesis and Chris Walker (Brent Planning) have confirmed that Genesis will resubmit after the May 4th Council elections when the Labour Leadership of the Council – if they get back in – will be less sensitive to public opinion.

Brent’s planning policy, set out in the Supplementary Planning Document, still calls for a tower block of 20 storeys. So a tower block WILL be built unless Brent changes its policy. Seven months on, Brent has refused even to discuss the possibility of changing the policy.