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| Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt |
Brent Council Planning Department has responded to a resident’s query about the Bobby Moore Bridge murals stating that the historic murals ‘may be shown in the future should the Council choose to do this.’ The resident was unhappy with Brent Council's decision to allow most of the mural to be covered up by advertising.
I don’t think I am going to put my money on a reappearance any time soon based on that comment!
Brent Council response:
This relates to the advertising on the side walls of the Bobby Moore Bridge underpass that covers the tile murals that are on those walls.Previous posts on this subject:
By way of background, the bridge itself, including the tile murals and the walls upon which the murals are located are owned by the Council. The Bobby Moore Bridge subway was constructed between 1991 and 1993 as part of the pedestrianisation of Olympic Way by Brent Council. The tile murals were erected at the same time and depict a range of sporting and entertainment events from the history of Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena.
The Council owns the structure and its walls, but The Council has leased the walls to Quintain for the installation of advertising. Vinyl adverts have been displayed on these walls for several years.
Following a request to the Council from the Wembley History Society, Quintain engaged with the society to working up the proposals to uncover an element of the murals. This resulted in the current proposals which included uncovering a portion of the mural which depicts football at the original stadium. The chair of the society confirmed that they were in support of the proposals.
Applications were submitted by Quintain to change the advertisements and uncover this section of the mural. Light boxes and advertisements were proposed to be affixed to the bridge in a way that would not damage the tile murals, allowing them to be uncovered in the future. The application for advertisement consent together with an advertisement for the approval of details pursuant to a planning condition were considered by the Planning Committee on 16 July. The merits of the proposal were set out in the reports for that committee meeting and were debated at length by Planning Committee members. The applications were approved at that meeting.
The tiles are not to be ‘obliterated’ as suggested in the e-mail, but rather, the new advertisements are to be fixed in a way that does not damage the mural. This was a key part of the proposals to put up the light boxes and advertising. The Council’s heritage officer has checked the works regularly to ensure that they are being undertaken in an appropriate way. The current proposals result in more of the tile mural being visible within the underpass and ensures that the mural is protected. Parts of the mural will still remain under advertising, but they will be protected so that they may be shown in the future should the Council choose to do this.