Tenants say they will be overpopulated by Council plans

A GROUP of residents have called on a council to rethink its flagship regeneration plans.

The tenants, from Alpha House, in Cambridge Avenue, Canterbury Court, in Chichester Road, and Gorefield House, in Canterbury Road, on the South Kilburn Estate say the development will leave the area overpopulated and without any green space.

The South Kilburn regeneration project aims to transform the wider housing estate into a modern low-rise development of 1,200 new homes.

Building work has already started and is due to be completed by 2014.

The three blocks will be untouched as the surrounding homes are demolished and replaced with new housing metres from their windows.

Liz Leicester, chair of Gorefield House, Alpha House and Four Courts Tenants and Residents Association, said: “We only found out about their plans by chance. People are feeling they have been ignored. They need to come up with something else that is more sensitive to our needs.

“Once they build the new houses and flats we are going to be on top of each other, services will be overstretched and there will be extra pressure on parking.

“People don’t have a lot round here and they don’t want to lose there green space either.”

In their first action the tenants paraded through the estate on Saturday, February 12, calling on residents to join them.

Ms Leicester said an objection will be lodged with the council and while councillors will be lobbied to push for a rethink.

However a Brent Council spokesman said the consultation had been extensive and that people supported the scheme.

He said: “We have changed landscaping to the rear of Gorefield in response to local people’s views. Creating new and improved open spaces across South Kilburn is part of the overall plan and how to achieve this is a subject of debate locally. Further consultation on the public realm is planned for later in the year.”