Dear All
As you will know we celebrated our 1st 12 months at 428 High Road Wembley earlier this month. Our tenancy is at 2 weeks notice and we can never be certain of our future.
In any case the High Road shop is in Wembley some way away from Barham Park.
GOOD NEWS
On Friday we collected the keys for our 2nd premises at Sudbury Town Station (about 5 minute walk from Barham Park and the currently closed library). We have taken a 3 year lease on these small premises once again at short notice with Transport of London having the right to reclaim them if they find a commercial tenant or need them for any station related works.
We intend to run a library/bookshop from here in parallel with the shop in Wembley High Road for the time being. We are currently cleaning up and hope to furnish the shop and stock it up over the next 2 weeks and then decide on opening hours and activities.
BAD NEWS
As you will know the Council has decided to lease the Barham Library building and other parts of the building to an organisation called ACAVA who want to convert the space to 29 ‘artist studios for rent’. The lease is for 15 years with no break clauses.
It is the Council however (through the Barham Park Charity) who have submitted a planning application for change of use from D1 (library) to B1 (artist studios). ACAVA claim that they need 24 hour access to the building and this is what the Council is applying for on their behalf despite the fact that the residential area starts just on the opposite side of Harrow Road.
You can see the full details of the application on the Council Planning website under reference 13/2179. https://forms.brent.gov.uk/servlet/ep.ext?extId=101150&reference=112613&st=PL
We will be sending in objections and are happy for others to send in theirs. The key points are:
1. The buildings were donated for the enjoyment of local people and the library served the library served successive generations for almost 60 years.
2. Local people want a library and not artists studios for rent to outsiders.
3. 24 hour access is unacceptable and will impact on amenity of local residents.
All the best
Paul
PS. We are getting closer to the 2nd anniversary of the closures. Brent SOS needs to give some though how we’ll remember this year and what fuss we’ll cause. The objective must be to create as much public awareness as possible and this may mean a number of events in advance of the actual date.
There is a Council Meeting on 9 September (the 1st in the Civic Centre) and of course the expensive opening ceremony in early October itself.
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