Over time, I have been asked a number of questions about the state of the public realm in Willesden High Road. This currently, understandably, dissatisfies many people.
I have pointed out before the experiment that Brent has been carrying out with trade waste. There is also the issue if household waste. Currently, officers are targeting Harlesden and Stonebridge, as the worst areas, but hopefully others can be targeted as those improve.
Secondly, pavements near the Willesden Sainsburys seem to be in a very bad way, but hopefully we can relay these. It has been noted as an area of poor paving in an area of high footfall.
Thirdly, there is a ponding issue at the junction of Willesden High Road and Brondesbury Park. In wet weather, the street simply fills with water. This is partly due to the lie of the land, but also down to poor drainage. When the Willesden Library redevelopment was going through the planning process, I made this objection specifically and it is now part of the conditions. More widely, we now have a gully cleaning contract that should improve our gully cleaning substantially, thanks to the application of new technology. This will also benefit part of the High Road, such as just outside what used to be The Crown pub, that have also suffered from surface water flooding.
This sort of thing may all seem very minor, compared to big issues like the redevelopment of Willesden Library Centre or The Queensbury, but improvements to the public realm are proven to be beneficial to shopping centres as a whole.
3 comments:
What Willesden High Road needs is substantial investment into a full and holistic urban realm improvement scheme to promote regeneration. It's only through this (and potentially the new Cultural Centre) will a step change be achieved. Any future redevelopment of The Queensbury, however, will have an adverse impact in my opinion.
Remember, however, that 30% of shops or more are expected to close over a generation.
In what context do you say that...?
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