The plans for the redevelopment of Willesden Green Library Centre will be on display at a special exhibition. The two-day public exhibition of proposals will be open from 2pm to 7.30pm on Friday 9 March and then from 10am to 2pm on Saturday 10 March.
Martin Francis and other Greens have set up a campaign to attempt to try to block the scheme. They decided to do this before they could have known what the detailed proposals were. The exhibition will be an opportunity for everyone to actually see the proposals before making their minds up. Incidentally, the campaign has suggested that the proposals have not been public knowledge. In fact, one of its leading lights reported that meeting that voted through the feasibility study last year, was extremely well attended.
UPDATE:
On the comments, my expectation back in January was that the economy would continue to decline, and property prices fall alongside it. Since the whole scheme is paid for by house sales, that suggested that it would become much more difficult for the numbers to add up. Although the economy is doing badly, property prices in London continue to hold up. Therefore it has been possible to put together a scheme that doesn't require capital from the Council.
On the current Library, it has been run down and has a number of design faults, perhaps put in as an effort to preserve a remant of the old building in front. More forgivably, it has poor environmental standards because
people just didn't think about the environment much in the 1980s.
5 comments:
So the public will have only two days to look at these plans and on the Saturday only between 10am and 2pm. Why can't they be left out for a week or so for everybody to see?
Local people do not want all our history to disappear on the whim of a few transient councillors. We do not want the little old library demolished. We want to preserve it and we also want some open space in the front of the library. Many of believe that the present library is perfectly adequate and only needs sprucing up with a change of management.
Des Brittain.
Just over a year ago you were saying youself that the Willesden Green Library Development would not be likely to happen.
Labour designed and built the library that is now regarded as 'not fit for purpose'and it was to last for over 'sixty years'. This was in 1989 by the way. Can you be trusted with the current development?
Thanks for plugging Wembley Matters again James.
Anyone who follows the link will see that people were attending that Executive over a great many different issues as well as cuts that your Council were making - and not solely the Willesden Green issue.
The issue is was most concerned about, and I addressed the Executive on this, was the loss of the Willesden Bookshop. I was also dismayed at the planned destruction of the Old Willesden Library and angry that despite Brent's housing shortage there was no affordable housing included in the scheme.
All these aspects were known about before other, very vague, details were released.
The Keep Willesden Green campaign is made up of large numbers of people of different and no political persuasion.I do not run the campaign and would not presume to do so. I helped facilitate the blog and chaired the inaugural meeting. Following that meeting members of the Willesden community volunteered to form a committe and they then elected Co-chairs of the Campaign.
That's what democracy looks like!
I think it is important that local people have a voice in issues that concern them and I am sure that you would not deny them that - however inconvenient it may sometimes be.
Not sure why you're assuming that Keep Willesden Green is the brainchild of a political party. It's actually a genuine grass-roots movement of local residents, several of whom spoke at an Executive meeting some weeks ago. We got no answers, and you then went on to accuse us of 'raw aggression' in this very blog. I repeat, we were 3 dads, 5 mums and 3 children under 10. And you're still not listening to us.
Councillor Powney - you need to come down to Willesden Green some time and get your facts right. Keep Willesden Green has been set up by local residents - some have a party affiliation (including Labour), most don't. The campaign was launched in response to your Executive's plans - announced in January 2012 - that the Old Victorian Library was to be demolished and the bookshop was to be served notice as part of this 'Regenaration'. Many local residents attended the 1:1 consultation (and will be attending the exhibition this weekend) blithely assuming our views on these demolition plans might be heard. But it turns out that's not up for discussion. So which aspect of the 'detailed proposals' are local residents actually being consulted on Cllr Powney? The colour of the Library carpeting? Oh, that'll be Green, for sure.
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