[Reposted from Feb 2010] Ideas from First Town Team Meeting - 8 February, Unity Centre, Church Road

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The following notes have been received from Scott Adams at Urban Design Skills - 020 7287 4269, email: scott@urbandesignskills.com.  (This need not be the only blog about Harlesden - if you set one up, Urban Design Skills will no doubt supply notes directly to you, as well.)

Introduction to Renaissance Towns by Professor Alan Simpson:

The process being introduced to Harlesden has worked throughout the UK and has roots in the US. The Renaissance Towns process recognises that social and economic visions and place making strategies must be pursued collaboratively – by the community and for the community – working with the local authority.

Renaissance Town visions are developed through a series of public and community – Town Team – meetings and workshops. Events are led by the community and facilitated by a range of expertise, who provide the skills and resources required to translate aspirations into adoptable and realisable visions for change. The Town Team leads the development of the renaissance vision. Expert facilitation skills are drawn from a variety of sectors, including planning, movement and transport, community engagement, urban design.

Resulting visions - referred to as Charters – are developed from this process. It is a process and its scope is, of necessity, ambitious. It invites communities to determine – within a clear structure and in collaboration with their local authorities – the pathway for long-term futures. Renaissance - cultural change, innovative, sustainable economic and community driven – is allied to new infrastructure, built form and an attractive, accessible and amenable public realm.

The Renaissance Process follows four general steps:

Beginnings:  Establish community and local authority commitment to the Renaissance process and the appointment of a Town Team, its advisors and facilitators.

Town Team:  Recruitment of the Town Team – an open forum of people from the area from all sectors to explore issues and establish Key Themes. The Town Team is the champion of the Charter, overseeing its legacy and delivery over the coming years.

Charrette and Workshops:  Community driven workshops held over two consecutive days to explore and develop long-term opportunities. This process creates the Charter.

The Charter:  Sets out 5, 10 and 15 year visions for the Community and its environment. Drawn and written up by the facilitators, re-presented to the community, agreed, signed, presented to the local authority and embedded into Council workings. The Renaissance process is driven by the belief that attractive and accessible – beautiful – neighbourhoods and communities, towns and cities, attract the visitor, the investor and the resident. Whilst poor quality environments deter, physically and culturally attractive ‘places’ secure their own long-term social, economic and environmental well being.

Following the introduction to the Renaissance Towns process to be undertaken in Harlesden, an open session allowed Town Team members to question and share ideas for the process.

The following are brief points made by individuals in attendance:

1. The following ideas were suggested for the town centre: - Allow for two-way traffic - From the clock to the library, rmove traffic for parts of the day - Address parking issues - Introduce cycle lanes - Provide better lighting at cash machines - Create new business incentives to provide a greater retail mix.

2. The centre point of Harlesden is a car park, not a civic space. Perhaps make the car park underground. Introduce cafes and venues for art and music, maybe using Park House.

3. A long term resident wanted to know if this process was going to lead somewhere, and what led Harlesden to its current position. Was the community planned to decline from the Council and others?

4. Another resident expressed their view that the area has gone from good to bad to worse. The community was consulted in the 1980’s, but the revitalisation never happened. Today people come to the area just to dump rubbish.

5. Chain shops might add to the mix of businesses, but a lot of people come to Harlesden because there aren’t chain shops here. Most businesses are locally owned. We should be careful to maintain the local appeal of the area.

6. Harlesden needs a greater diversity of shops and needs to deal with the empty shops. The town team process should focus on bringing together the many communities in Harlesden that live and work beside one another, but often do not interact with each other. The process also needs to engage with the youth.

7. How can we deal with traffic volumes? Are we tied by existing constraints? Should we consider a local Harlesden congestion charge?

8. Please bring the nice aspects you see in North Brent to Harlesden.

9. As a recent resident of three years, I have really seen people coming together over the last year. We should build off this and look at other similar places, such as Stoke Newington. Also, why not bring in a market to focus on the local food culture?

10. It would be nice to think about making the space better for pedestrians, like Oxford Street.

11. Should we consider moving the traffic, maybe through a tunnel?

12. We need to include the key people in Brent, including the top officers to these meetings.

13. Along Craven Park Road, where the phone booth is in the island, there was a bench… Put it back!

14. We need the commitment from the younger generation; they need to be involved and have a sense of ownership.

15. It would be nice to have a public space, maybe with a bandstand to showcase and to be used by local talent.

16. We need to ensure the planners will listen and participate and be involved in the process.

17. We should have a small cinema and art space for Harlesden.

18. There is a cultural strategy and it will be launched next month. This should be included in the process.

19. We should think about the various uses throughout the day, and consider how we relate them to crime prevention. Also, public transport, pedestrians and cycling should be given priority. There should be a shift in priority of street users, like in Brugges.

20. The approach from Willesden Junction road is shabby. It is a gateway to the town centre and needs to be improved.

21. There is a Facebook page created for anyone who would like to join it called Keep Harlesden Clean.

22. A blog should be set up to keep those online interested during the process.

23. We need commitment from the Council, why aren’t others here from the Council?

24. At night the street are empty and dark, and all the shops have roller shades pulled down. Perhaps there could be competition to paint the shades, with the youth competing to have their designs selected.

25. Who owns the process, is it Transport for London or Brent Transportation Service. It is Brent Transportation Service…

26. Should we consider the larger view, including the canal and Stonebridge?

27. The long term is important, but so are improvements in the short term, including ‘zone H’ parking, addressing the stolen art work and traffic along Tubbs Road.

28. Where are the traffic wardens? They should be here, so we can find out how to help them enforce parking.

29. We all need to lobby the charter to realise it and the projects it will contain.

30. The Brent education building in Harlesden will be shut shortly, why not keep it open and use as an extension of the Library?

The following are comments that were posted on the presentation boards:

1. Hammersmith and Fulham have applied for a Crossrail station for the Kensal Green area, we should incorporate.

2. Need to address the bottleneck at High Street Harlesden and Park Parade along with the inconvenient bus stops and HGV traffic.

3. We need more cultural spaces for the arts, movies and local information. Potential site could be the former ‘BACES house’ or ‘Park House’ that is owned by the Council or NHS.

4. Reclaim Tavistock – invade and improve

5. Promote ‘Legible London’ through a single style of signage that is harmonised, clear and concise.

6. Flowers from metal trees: Space unifiers, space identifiers, space beautifiers.

7. Look at the wider picture: Willesden Junction Station and its redevelopment as the gateway to NW.

8. Focus on the canal, which is a beautiful thoroughfare and is a useable community space throughout the day. However, lighting is needed as it feels uncomfortable at night.

9. Ask TfL to make Willesden Junction Station more beautiful, like Hampstead Heath station. The current developments seem to be making it even worse.

10. Sort out both the Harrow Road footpath entrance and main entrance to Willesden Junction Station.

11. We need something to inspire community pride, like a community-led art project.

12. Address areas of Craven Park Road that are derelict, move cable boxes, introduce pavement studs for traders, upgrade all lighting and provide publicity on loading bays.

13. Camera enforcement for traffic, Remove HCC build-outs, review car parking zone H, provide a crossing for the Library (see Living Streets document) and reduce shared parking.

The second Town Team meeting will be on Monday 1st March from 6.30 to 8.30pm at the Unity Centre, 103 Church Road, Harlesden.

Please encourage fellow residents, colleagues and business owners interested in the future of Harlesden to join us!

The two-day workshop will be held on Friday 19th March and Saturday 20th March, with the venue to be confirmed.

For further information, please contact Scott Adams at Urban Design Skills on 020 7287 4269 or via email: scott@urbandesignskills.com


Urban Design Skills, an urban design consultancy working on behalf of Brent Council and Transport for London for the Harlesden Town Charter, recorded the above notes.