Brent Council planning massive changes to Kilburn Park Road

On Thursday night we attended a hastily convened meeting, at our request, with planning and housing officers from Brent Council at Westminster City Hall on Victoria Street.

A little while ago, as local Councillors, we had got wind of new plans being promoted by Brent to regenerate South Kilburn. This is a long-standing project which Brent have been naturally keen to do for many years, with a number of false starts and unsuccessful attempts.

Another plan has now emerged and Brent Council seem to have decided that it must be all pushed through exceptionally quickly. Irrespective of the merits of the plans, this is most alarming and shows a lack of respect for those residents on our side of the border who have not yet been publicly consulted about the plans. This message was conveyed in no uncertain terms at the meeting on Thursday to Brent.

Details of the plans are still being worked through, but we can see that they have the potential to have a huge effect on local residents in Maida Vale, particularly in Kilburn Park Road and Carlton Vale.
The headlines of the first stage of the plans are:

• to block off the roundabout at the top of Kilburn Park Road: and instead create a four-way junction controlled by traffic lights;
• to build 135 flats on the roundabout site: which will mean the loss of the open space, the grass and the 40 trees;
• to narrow parts of Kilburn Park Road and Carlton Vale: which will bring existing traffic a little bit closer to the houses currently in Kilburn Park Road and may reduce traffic capacity on the part of Carlton Vale which is just outside Westminster.

This is all part of a plan to remove the large high-rise tower blocks, in stages and over a number of years, which are such an eyesore at the moment.

We asked a lot of questions for Brent and went through their plans in as much detail as we could in two hours. We have further questions and need to get more answers from Brent about just how affected local residents, particularly in Kilburn Park Road will be.

The most single disappointing thing was that Brent Council, throughout this process, have not sought to engage with local residents in Maida Vale on plans which could hugely change our area. After quite a lot of questioning, it also seems like there is about 3 - 4 weeks left now for Brent to do some consultation with Maida Vale residents before the planning application has to go in. This is absolutely unacceptable.

The officers from Brent asked our views about how to consult with local residents. Bearing in mind the limited time that is now left, we have asked Brent to get in touch with local residents as soon as they can and also to set up a meeting so that they can present their views to all interested residents. Affected residents should receive further information from Brent shortly.

In the meantime, we will today be distributing a letter to all potentially affected residents alerting them to these plans and asking for their initial feedback on it. If you are a resident in the area, please do let us know what you think. Clearly the aspiration to improve South Kilburn is a laudable one, but is the loss of the roundabout, the green space and the potential effect on traffic a price worth paying for this? We need your views, as residents, as soon as possible.

Alastair, Jan and Lee