The trustees of Barham Park in Sudbury – five members of Brent Council’s cabinet – are set to agree the deal with a local funfair owner and property developer to change a long-standing agreement that prevents further homes being built within the grounds.
In June 2023, Brent Council’s planning committee approved plans submitted by funfair owner George Irvin to demolish the two existing houses in Barham Park and replace them with four three-storey homes, through his development company Zenaster Properties.
However, the site is currently protected by a covenant, which restricts further development in the park.
The Barham Park Trust, which is made up of council leader Cllr Muhammed Butt, alongside Cllr Mili Patel, Cllr Fleur Donnelly-Jackson, Cllr Harbi Farah, and Cllr Krupa Sheth, is now looking to remove the restrictions so the development can go ahead. The council claims the move will generate significant income to pay for maintenance of the park estate.
The two existing houses on site were no longer needed when a borough-wide contract to run the parks was adopted in the early 2000s. They were subsequently auctioned off in 2011, when they were bought by Mr Irvin.
The move to change the covenant has received significant opposition.
Sudbury councillor Paul Lorber, a trustee of Barham Community Library, which is located in the park, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “The £200,000 offered is a joke and the covenant should not be changed as the Labour councillors promised local people that no more building will take place in Barham Park as a result of the original sale.
“The funfair operator was sold two old cottages and nothing more and he signed the covenant in full knowledge of those restrictions.”
The trust has obtained an independent report, which states that removing the restrictions will result in a “measurable uplift in the land’s value”. But Cllr Lorber claims that, as the value of the site will increase by at least £1m following the redevelopment, the Barham Park Trust will be “getting peanuts” in comparison.
He added: “It is about time that, for once, the Labour councillors in Brent actually kept a promise made to local people and not allow more disruptive building on our parks and open spaces.”
The agreed sum represents the ‘assessed market value’, according to the council report, and will be allocated to the trust’s restricted funds – in line with the Charity Commission’s guidelines. The trust is the legal owner of the restrictive covenants, meaning it does ultimately have the right to negotiate their modification or removal.
The report adds that disposing of the restrictions is ‘in the Trust’s best interests’ as it generates funds to ‘support its charitable objectives’, adding that, in accordance with the Charities Act 2011, the Trust has achieved the ‘best financial terms reasonably obtainable’.
A Brent Council spokesperson said: “This deal would mean that Barham Park, its facilities, and the local residents who use them will benefit from £200,000 of improvements over the coming years. An independent specialist has advised the trustees that £200,000 is the market value for altering the covenant, and that the proposed terms are the best that can reasonably be obtained for the trust.”
A final decision on the proposal was due to be made at Monday’s meeting of the Barham Park Trust Committee (February 24).
