Chapter Road development completed

The opening ceremony of the Grunwick Place development at Chapter/ Cooper Road, took place on Friday 22 June. The development comprising four, 5-storey blocks of residential units, has been completed by Durkan‘s Specialist  Works Division on behalf of Brent Housing Partnership, after a 4-year gap when the building works stalled  when a  previous contractor  went into  receivership. The site is of historical significance as it is where the ‘Grunwick  Dispute’ took place between 1976 – 1978.  The Dispute ‘was a long  running industrial dispute involving trade union recognition at the Grunwick Film Processing Labs in Willesden. Led by the late Jayaben Desai, a group of mostly female, immigrant, East African Asian strikers were dubbed “strikers in saris” by the news media.  To commemorate the long running dispute and the workers’ leader Mrs Desai, a plaque has been erected on the new pedestrian route and cycleway.

Voting registration

From 2014, each individual will become responsible for ensuring they are registered to vote. This is a change from the current system under which the head of a household completes a canvass form giving details of each individual eligible to vote at an address. There are fears that this move will see millions of people drop off the electoral roll. The Electoral Commission has estimated registration levels could drop from 80% to 65% as a result of the change and will skew support for political parties with conservative voters thought to be more likely to register than Labour voters.

Willesden Green Town Team

In June 2012 the Willesden Green Town Team moved into Unit 1, Queens Parade, Walm Lane to host a space to communicate developments to the local community. The Town Team which started to form the month before wanted to be more visible and feel part of the New Windows on Willesden Green project. In the Unit you can talk to the WG Town Team about plans for events and community activity.  Town Teams are being established across the country to bring local aspirations and ideas to influence emerging local and national policies and strategies relating to community, environmental and business development.  By encouraging strong cross-sector partnerships and developing a vision with community and political support, there is a greater opportunity to harness public and private investment and to action more sustainable change.


If you want to get involved email Peter Paddon at Blue Consulting at: peter.blue@btinternet.com.