'Wembley Park' Ltd (how did they manage to take over the name of our neighbourhood?), estate managers for the Quintain development have emphatically denied rumours that they intend to install facial recognition on their estate around Wembley Stadium.
In response to an enquiry from Wembley Matters they said:
We do not operate cameras with facial recognition and have no intention of installing them.
This is good news as installation of facial recognition cameras in the Kings Cross development has been extremely contoversial both in terms of their intrusion into privacy but also because of their inaccuracy.
The issue does highlight how much of what was once public space has been privatised and access open to restrictions.
This was brought home to me last weekend when I was part of a Brent Green Party group leafleting for support for the Climate Strike on September 20th. We were giving out postcards about the strike to passersby on the space between Olympic Way and Wembley Library and were approached by a 'Wembley Park' security guard who asked us for our licence or written permission to leaflet. When we said we had neither he asked us to move out of the area. We could only leaflet on the narrow pavement on Engineers Way. Later when we leafleted on the pedestrianised road (Boulevard) that leads from Engineers Way we were again told to move on.
Not only have they taken over our neighbourhood's name but also our freedom to interact on political matters with local people.
The security notices define what is prohibited on the estate but end with a catch-all statement that gives 'Wembley Park' total control of what happens in the area:
When we queried this with 'Wembley Park' they replied:
Like every well-managed estate, we ask anyone who wants to distribute leaflets in #WembleyPark to approach our estate team for approval and to obtain the appropriate licence from Brent Council.We responded:
There has been no further response from 'Wembley Park'.There was a lot of controversy over the Brent Council leafleting licensing scheme. It was agreed the leafleting for political purposes was exempt: wembleymatters.blogspot.com/2012/04/now-itOur leafleting was for political purposes as defined by Brent Council. We were encouraging support for the September 20th Climate ActionWe believe that leafleting for political purposes is a 'civic freedom' and vital for a healthy democracy. We hope you and Brent Council agree. wembleymatters.blogspot.com/2013/05/petiti