Sue Sheehan,Camden Council

A council officer getting to know Kilburn - a personal reflection.

I first came to Kilburn in the summer of 2022,

having spent most of my career working in south London. Very quickly I found people
that I connected with. I contacted some of the community groups and activists that I had heard
of in the local area and we did some walkabouts to connect with more people. I heard that there was very little networking in Kilburn and it was exciting to find out what else was going on in the local area.

It quickly became clear that the boundary between Brent and Camden councils, right down the centre of the High Road, is a major barrier. When one council is focusing its attention on Kilburn, the other is looking the other way,so people feel that they and the place has been neglected. The Kilburn Neighbourhood Plan Forum had been set up to use planning law to give local people some power over creating a sense of place in Kilburn, but work on that has been slow and there would still be a need for ideas and actions in the plan to be developed.

So One Kilburn started to from a general idea that if local people could get organised it would be easier to work with councils and other bodies (police and health boundaries also run right down the centre of the High Road), and one another to make positive change in the area. This is not an easy task and requires a lot of work (time and resources) and most importantly trust and relationships. So far we have worked mainly on the latter and I get a sense that people have thoroughly appreciated getting to know one another and sharing their ideas and ambitions for the area. Camden and Brent Councils have put in some resources to help with the organising so that time and attention is not taken away from already limited local community resources.

So far One Kilburn has proven that by knowing one another, they can collaborate and have a bigger voice. One Kilburn is already seen as a serious partner for the councils and police, for example. We have gained access to resources such as the Play Hut in Kilburn Grange Park and trialled a participatory fund – the One Kilburn Community Fund – where 1,200 were able to vote for community projects that would bring people in Kilburn together and contribute to the aims of One Kilburn.

One Kilburn has not become a constituted organisation but has thought seriously about its governance – knowing that it might want to be able to apply for its own funding in the future but also knowing that becoming a charity or social enterprise might change the nature of what we are and how we work together. So we are a network with aims, value and principles, and are developing our ways of working that reflect a desire to involve more people, be inclusive and welcoming and be longterm sustainable.

There is so much in Kilburn to preserve and I have particularly enjoyed learning about Kilburn’s history and heritage. Although I had not spent any time in Kilburn before I have family with connections to the area. My mum grew up in Maygrove Road and we have photos of her and her brother and local family hanging out on bikes along the railway sidings. She tells stories of visiting the State Gaumont andthe Grange Cinema. If we can stay organised in Kilburn and build from this carefully nurtured base there will be many more good things to come.