'Alarm' over council plans for Bridge Park centre

A north London campaign group has expressed alarm at a council's proposal to close a leisure and community centre, with a replacement not expected to open until 2030.

Brent Council said a centre to take over from Bridge Park Community Centre in Stonebridge could take up to five years to deliver.

Bridge Park was once the largest black-led community enterprise in Europe – housing business units, workshops, a sports hall and a theatre.

Last year, the council announced the site would be developed as part of a wider £600m investment, and would include homes, a hotel, park, and the new leisure centre.

Following a consultation late last year, residents highlighted the need for improvements to the leisure centre and community spaces but the council said the poor condition of the existing building would require at least £1.5m to restore it – which was "not a sensible use of limited funding".

Residents have now been asked to take part in a new consultation, which proposes to shut the community centre as early as July 2025.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the Harlesden People's Community Council (HPCC) said they were "concerned that the consultation process may not have reached those most impacted".

The group has urged Brent's black community to participate in the Phase 2 survey "to ensure your voices are heard".

Intended as a post-war utopia, Harlesden's Stonebridge was a high-rise, high-density housing estate.

By 1981, the unemployment rate for young people on the estate was estimated to be over 50% and with no community facilities to help meet residents' needs, many turned to a life of crime.

Then a 25-year-old Leonard Johnson returned home from prison with a message for his community: "Let's build, not destroy".

He was the driving force setting up Bridge Park, then the largest black community project in Europe. The objective was to develop self-help and community empowerment strategies to tackle deprivation in Stonebridge.

A community action group was established, made up of young black people from the estate.

Early activities included maths, English, drama, electronics and black history classes, all run from a small garage on the estate.

When the disused Stonebridge bus garage came up for sale, Mr Johnson saw the potential of the site to provide a sports hall, cafe, workshops, IT facilities and childcare – all to be run by local people.

It was bought on behalf of the HPCC for £1.8m by Brent Council, in conjunction with the Greater London Council and the Department of the Environment.

The new space contained Brent's first IT centre, a creche for working mothers on the estate, many of whom were single parents, and changing rooms to service the nearby Stonebridge Recreation Ground.

One third of the main shed was dedicated to providing units for local businesses.

In 1996 Brent Council took over management of Bridge Park but it remained an community asset.

In 2017, the site was provisionally sold to an offshore developer, sparking a legal battle over ownership between the council and the community.

In 2020, the High Court declared Brent Council the "sole legal and beneficial owner of Bridge Park".

In 2024, Save Bridge Park was launched, with an attempt to have the site added to the National Heritage list for England.

Source: HPCC

HPCC listed concerns about the plans, including the lack of an IT centre, managed workspace, theatre, and music studio, all of which are currently offered at Bridge Park.

"These are key resources that support local youth and help steer them away from crime. To exclude these facilities is to neglect the fundamental needs of the community."

The group is now campaigning to have Bridge Park included on the National Heritage List for England to "help secure the necessary funding to preserve the facility and keep it as 'a vital resource for our community".

Brent Council leader, Muhammed Butt, said: "Bridge Park Leisure Centre is so much more than a building and we want to honour its history and build on its legacy for the next generation of residents."

He added that the next phase of consultation was "about gathering feedback on the proposed closure, and transition arrangements for residents".

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