Our volunteers have been distributing the November 2017 edition of Queen’s Park News to all households in the QPARA area and to all Associate members of the Association. You can download this and previous editions from the Newsletter section of our website.
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Corrib Rest update
The owners of the Corrib Rest have given Brent Council notice that they intend to lease out the ground floor as a pub and community space.As QPARA is the organisation that nominated the Corrib to be listed as an Asset of Community Value, Brent has to notify us directly. This is in case any local community interest group wishes to be treated as a potential bidder. If they express an interest within 6 weeks, it would trigger a moratorium of 6 months during which the owner cannot grant the lease. This is explained more fully in the following extract from Brent’s letter to QPARA:- The notice from the owner was received on the 16th October 2017.
- The initial moratorium period, in which community interest groups can request in writing to the Council that they be treated as a potential bidder in relation to the land runs from 16th October 2017 and ends at 11.59pm on 26th November 2017 ( 6 weeks beginning with the date on which the Council received the notice from the owner). Any such notification within the 6 week period from community interest groups received by the Council will be forwarded to the owner of the land.
- The full moratorium period of 6 months will be triggered if a request from one or more community interest groups is received within the 6 week period as stated in no.2. The six month full moratorium period ends at 11.59 pm on 15th April 2018 (6 months beginning with the date on which the Council received the notice from the owner).
- If this full moratorium is triggered the owner cannot dispose of the land in that six month period, other than to a community interest group. If no community interest groups request to the Council that they be treated as potential bidder in the 6 week interim moratorium period, no full moratorium period applies and the owner is able to dispose of the land after the 6 week interim period to whomever they wish.
- The protected period in which the owner can dispose of the land ends at 11.59pm on 14th April 2019 (18 months beginning with the date on which the Council received the notice from the
wner – 16 October 2017). If disposal does not take place in this protected period the owner must give further notice under s95(2). - From 14th April 2019 the owner of the land at Corrib Rest Pub at 76 – 82 Salusbury Road, London NW6 6PA is able to dispose of the land without any restrictions.
QPARA understands that the owners have instructed agents to market the pub space by granting a new lease and inviting rental offers in excess of £150,000 a year. A QPARA member in Hopefield Avenue has already been approached for information about the community space by a Brighton chain of pubs.More details of the process are given on Brent’s website: https://www.brent.gov.uk/media/16409089/s-95-notice-of-disposal-corrib-rest-pub.pdf - The notice from the owner was received on the 16th October 2017.
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QPARA and The Corrib – where we are now
Residents may be aware that QPARA’s position on the redevelopment of the Corrib Rest on Salusbury Road has become a matter of concern, including on social media.
As the new chair of QPARA I think it will be helpful to provide the following brief account of developments and negotiations since The Corrib changed hands two years ago.
The latest position will be reported to our next monthly meeting on 9th February. All will be welcome to express concerns or ask questions.
Virginia Brand
QPARA – Chair
Since pub operators Greencoats sold the Corrib Rest to property developer Ashcross in early 2015 QPARA has been at the forefront of efforts to ensure that a viable pub and community room continue on the premises and that neighbouring residents are protected from any noise and nuisance arising.In particular we applied to Brent for the pub to be given ACV (Asset of Community Value) status. We were successful in spite of having to take on Ashcross’ high-powered lawyers. Without this it is highly likely that Ashcross would have applied for planning permission to turn the whole building into flats.We opposed the original planning application made in late 2015 mainly on the grounds that the proposed community room was too small, though there were other problems too. Nevertheless at their first hearing in February 2016 the Planning Committee were minded to approve. Due to poor communications from Brent QPARA were not present on this occasion. We made a big fuss, enlisted councillor support, spent a considerable amount of our funds on top legal advice and went in force to the second hearing in April when the Committee turned down the application decisively.In June/July Iceni, agents for Ashcross, approached us declaring a wish to co-operate and listen to our concerns before re-formulating a fresh application. Since then we have had a number of meetings with them as well as extensive correspondence. We have considered substantially revised physical plans and draft documentation in detail, spending many hours on this process.The Corrib Sub-Group made recommendations to the December 2016 and January 2017 QPARA monthly meetings and these were adopted after careful debate and by a substantial majority. They are based on documents we have seen as sent to Brent’s planners. They are currently being validated and until they are published QPARA does not plan to formalise its comments – not least in case anything changes. In principle we are intending to welcome changes in the community provision and protection for local residents that have been made in response to our representations but we are not supporting or opposing the development as a whole. As of 26 January there remains one substantial point of disagreement between QPARA and Ashcross. More details are available to members in the December and January monthly meeting minutes.