Streetlife

JUST TWO DAYS LEFT...

The Queensbury is the only pub within 25 mins' walk where you DO NOT HAVE TO avoid eye-contact with some of the regulars (and bar-staff in some cases). It is a family-friendly social hub, bringing together the wide spectrum of people that make up the residents of Willesden. It is a meeting place for young (and old) professionals, and mothers with children. It is also an attractive building in a conservation area. The open front provides a sense of security for passers-by. Willesden already suffers from a lack of school places and GP surgeries. The current "regeneration" programme is short-sighted: non-resident council officers, private landlords and contractors will be the only beneficiaries of this vandalism. We need MORE places like the Queensbury, and FEWER rough pubs, betting shops, junk-food outlets.

THE QUEENSBURY PUB - an oasis in Willesden Green (good beer, good food, excellent service)

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/39/39767/Queensbury/Willesden_Green

IS UNDER THREAT OF DEMOLITION to make way for 56 flats in an ugly block.

It is also the meeting place of:

www.busyrascals.com http://www.facebook.com/busyrascals http://twitter.com/busyrascals

There are two petitions to stop it. Please sign and forward:

https://forms.brent.gov.uk/servlet/ep.ext?extId=101150&reference=109133&st=PL 

and

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/fairview-new-homes-stop-the-demolition-of-the-queensbury-2?share_id=NjeZwLQULC&utm_campaign=petition_creator_email&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition

More info:

www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/willesden_green_pub_under_threat_as_developers_lodge_plan_for_56_homes_1_1651613

Brent Council will support this private development because of the potential Council Tax and other grant income that 56 flats will generate for them.

This should be considered in conjunction with 43 homes at the Spotted Dog and 92 proposed flats on the WG library site, not to mention all of the flats to be built on the 6 closed libraries, The Police Station, the retirement homes at the Old Registry Office and Electric House in Willesden Lane.

Please respond to this further act of vandalism (they call it "regeneration")

by writing to your councillors and registering your views on the Brent Planning Website:

https://forms.brent.gov.uk/servlet/ep.ext?extId=101150&reference=109133&st=PL 

1. To object please sign and ALWAYS lodge your objection on the Brent Council link (above).

Brent have to pay attention to and list all formal objections in their report to the Planning Committee

- who will ultimately decide whether this application will be approved or not.

They are more likely to list the objections on their website (and possibly even quote them verbatim)

but they will mention only the petition in passing and the number of signatures.

2. A list of effective objections in this case would be (choose one or two or all of the below):

• "Loss of a meeting space" for the community and a "social hub".
• "Loss of active frontage" along the retail street: the pub and pub garden provide people and activity within the street, which means that the street is felt to be more attractive/enlivened and people feel safer when there are other people around (think of single women walking home from the station at night along an "inactive" street). The development proposal is set back from the street and does not provide any active frontage. This objection may not halt the development, but may make life financially difficult for the developers: the 100% residential development they are proposing is maximum profits for them. Any other use they have to build into the development will reduce their profits - so they might consider walking away. This objection may mean that the developers would be forced to provide an alternative "community space" within the new development.
• "Visual impact" on Conservation Areas and Listed buildings. There is a Heritage Report filed as part of the application where experts assess the impact of the development on any built heritage in the area - the report that accompanies the application of course states that the development will have limited impact! They may be experts but this is only one opinion. YOUR OPINION will count too. The pub is within the Mapesbury Conservation Area and opposite another Conservation Area. It is also opposite the Station which is a Grade II Listed building. Please state objection to the development on the grounds of ruining the setting of the Station building. What's the point of designating a Conservation Area then not conserving what is within it?
• "Height of the building" - worth using as an objection. The building is within a Conservation Area of 2 and 3 storey buildings. Although this is a hard one to justify as there is the tall building on the other side of the railway, which sets precedent.
• "Traffic generation and sustainability" - a 50 % car park is a lot of spaces for this type of development right on top of a Zone 2 tube station. The provision of this amount of car parking is designed to maximise profits. Forcing a reduction would make the development more marginal. Object to amount of new traffic using Walm Lane (already busy). Object to safety issues: access to the new car park is from Walm Lane and is very close to the existing junction. Is it sustainable to provide this number of car parking spaces? Should the Council not discourage private car parks, and promote the use of public transport?
• "Alternative development?" Suggest retaining the pub and converting the rest of the existing building into flats, and building new flats on the car park behind the pub?

Community Groups: www.mumsnet.com, www.busyrascals.com, www.camra.org.uk,

could contact the planning officer who is managing the application on behalf of Brent,

Case Officer:  Laura Jenkinson  020 8937 5276  laura.jenkinson@brent.gov.uk

on how to either engage with the developer or make sure the objections to the loss of the pub are fully understood by all involved in the decision making process. It may be that the developers, architects, planning officers, etc, have no idea of what goes on the pub and why it is so important.

More info:

www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/willesden_green_pub_under_threat_as_developers_lodge_plan_for_56_homes_1_1651613

I have also posted my personal comments at...

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/39/39767/Queensbury/Willesden_Green