As an elected Brent Councillor in the 1990s, the planning committee had a poor reputation, with rumour and counter rumour about its decision-making. It was a committee on which most of us did not wish to serve.
We have hopefully moved on from those days, but there are currently many concerns over planning. Do we have enough
planners? Are these planners of sufficiently high calibre to cope with the volume and complexity of today’s planning applications? Do we follow through on enforcement action?
In April the respected Queens Park Residents Association said that Brent had a “poor planning service”.
I get complaints from my local residents about slow service and seemingly illogical decisions from the planning department. The planning committee itself has come under scrutiny after a series of high profile decisions during the past year – particularly in respect of decisions around the Wembley Stadium area.
The whole area is just one massive building site. At the last count I believe the approval of these high-rise buildings meant a future 11,000 increase in population....and rising! What will the landscape around the stadium look like when all these buildings are complete? Is the infrastructure in place to cope with this population increase, or a better question, what is Brent Council actually doing to cope with this significant increase?
It was interesting to hear of the alleged comment of a Labour Councillor, when cabinet places were being allocated, asking who was the “cabinet member for Quintain?!” High-rise developments have definitely caused controversy ....witness the debate over Chesterfield House and the current row over the future of Heron Tower.
Other controversial planning approvals that spring to mind include the Byron School decision, which seems to be going legal, and in my own patch the Willesden Lane temple approval –which has the potential of going legal.
I dread to think where we would be without the steady influence of Cllr Sarah Marquis as planning committee chair. However, it does seem that she sometimes has to fight with the Labour leadership – witness the fiasco of her being told to hold two planning meetings within three days back in May. Readers may recall that she did not agree with that, and opted out of the second of those meetings.
Cllr Marquis understandably questioned how committee members could do justice to the reading of the massive volume of paperwork within that time frame. There will always be controversial planning decisions – they are always controversial if you are on the losing side!
I believe our residents want basic fairness, professionalism and credibility in the planning process from start to finish.
Do they really believe that Brent is giving them that?
Cllr John Warren, Brondesbury
Park Councillor and leader of Brent Conservatives
Published in the Kilburn Times