Designated 'school service' buses on morning 18, 83, 92, 112 & 483 routes plus extra buses on some other routes from Tuesday - details

August 27, 2020, 2:13 pm

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From next Tuesday, September 1st, Transport for London will be running some extra buses on busy routes and some 'school priority' buses. There will be extra 206 buses from Kilburn/Harlesden to Wembley in the morning (but not in the afternoon), school priority - school service - buses (with all seats occupied) on the busy 18 route from North Paddington/Harlesden/Stonebridge to Wembley/Sudbury and they will also run on the 83, 92, 112 and 483 routes. Please check below for other routes and to see if there are school services on your route in the afternoon.

From TfL

Around 250,000 schoolchildren use London's buses to get to and from school. So, from 1 September until the end of October 2020 we're adding over 200 extra buses to the network - across low frequency routes and existing school routes.

We're also prioritising some of our bus services for school travel. Government guidance allows for all seats to be occupied on these 'school services', doubling their capacity, which is currently limited due to necessary social distancing.

These 'school services' will be clearly signed and are planned to operate on:

All our existing school services
Every other bus on key routes from 07:30-09:30 and 14:30-16:30 on weekdays
Some additional buses on less frequent routes

We ask that schoolchildren travelling without adults travel on the designated school services where these are provided, in order to help ensure space for customers on other services. Customers must also wear face coverings unless exempt for age (under 11 years), health or equality reasons - including on the 'school services'.

By doing all of this we will help increase capacity and free up other buses for other customers including your staff, and also help enable London's young people to make safe and reliable journeys to and from school.

A reminder that Zip Oyster Photocards are still valid for all schoolchildren and that free and discounted travel entitlements haven't changed. Please note that if children move between 11-15 and 16+ cards they will still need to register for the next card.

Extra buses and school service prioritisation from September

We are committed to helping London's schools reopen safely in September 2020. Around 250,000 school children use London's buses to get to and from school. So, from 1 September until the end of October 2020 we're planning to add over 200 extra buses to the network.

We're also planning to prioritise some of our bus services for school travel. Government guidance allows for all seats to be occupied on these 'school services', doubling their capacity, which is currently limited due to necessary social distancing.

These 'school services' will be clearly signed and are planned to operate on:

• 600-numbered school routes

• Some of our busiest high-frequency routes in both the AM and PM peak

• On certain low-frequency routes which we forecast to have a demand that exceeds the current capacity of buses.

We ask that schoolchildren travelling without adult's travel on the designated school services where these are provided, in order to help ensure space for customers on other services.

We will continually review how our network is operating to ensure our approach is working and meeting demand as best as possible. Check this page LINK regularly for the latest information on our services and safer travel guidance.

By doing all of this we will help increase capacity and free up other buses for other customers including your staff, and also help enable London's young people to make safe and reliable journeys to and from school.

Routes with extra buses being provided:
20, 50, 89, 110, 116, 117, 119, 122, 130, 138, 142, 152, 153, 167, 181, 186, 187, 201, 203, 206, 215, 216, 223, 225, 226, 228, 232, 233, 234, 246, 251, 255, 265, 269, 272, 273, 275, 282, 287, 289, 290, 294, 298, 300, 309, 313, 315, 317, 322, 323, 324, 325, 331, 339, 346, 352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 359, 360, 362, 367, 379, 372, 376, 377, 380, 382, 383, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 401, 405, 406, 407, 411, 412, 413, 418, 428, 434, 444, 455, 462, 463, 465, 470, 481, 484, 487, 491, 492, 493, 496, 498, 499, 533, A10, B11, B12, B13, B14, B15, B16, E5, E7, E10, E11, G1, H17, H18, H20, H25, H26, H28, K1, K4, K5, P5, P12, P13, R1, R2, R3, R4, R6, R7, R8, R68, S3, S4, U3, W5, W9, W16 and X26.

Plus school routes 601, 602, 603, 608, 612, 613, 617, 624, 626, 627, 628, 629, 631, 632, 635, 638, 640, 642, 643, 646, 652, 653, 655, 656, 657, 661, 662, 663, 664, 665, 667, 669, 671, 674, 675, 677, 678, 679, 683, 684, 685, 686, 687, 688, 689, 690, 692, 696, 697, 698, 699

Routes with school priority buses running between 0730 and 0930:
1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 18, 21, 25, 33, 34, 35, 36, 39, 41, 44, 46, 47, 51, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 70, 71, 80, 81, 83 85, 86, 87, 92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 99, 102, 103, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 118, 120, 121, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 131, 132, 133, 134, 136, 137, 140, 143, 144, 145, 147, 150, 151, 154, 155, 157, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164. 165, 170, 172, 174, 176, 177, 180, 184, 185, 188, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 197, 198, 199, 200, 202, 204, 207, 212, 213, 217, 219, 220, 221, 222, 226, 227, 229, 231, 235, 236, 237, 244, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 256, 257, 258, 262, 263, 267, 270, 271, 276, 279, 283, 284, 285, 288, 296, 299, 301, 307, 312, 316, 319, 320, 321, 326, 329, 330, 332, 333, 337, 343, 344, 357, 358, 363, 364, 366, 371, 379, 380, 381, 391, 393, 410, 417, 419, 422, 425, 427, 428, 430, 432, 433, 440, 450, 452, 453, 466, 468, 469, 472, 473, 483, 484, 486, 490, 607, B12, C10, C11, D6, E1, E2, E6, E8, E9, EL2, EL3, H10, H19, H22, H37, H91, H98, K2, K3, P4, R11, R70, S1, U1, U2, U4, U5, W3, W4, W6, W7, W8, W11, W13, W15 and W19.

Routes with school priority buses running between 1430 and 1630:
25, 33, 39, 46, 51, 54, 58, 61, 65, 80, 81, 92, 93, 95, 96, 110, 111, 112, 114, 120, 123, 124, 125, 126, 131, 132, 140, 143, 144, 147, 152, 157, 162, 163, 164, 165, 170, 184, 190, 192, 193, 200, 208, 213, 217, 221, 227, 229, 234, 235, 237, 238, 244, 248, 256, 261, 267, 270, 276, 279, 281, 284, 296, 316, 320, 326, 358, 364, 366, 371, 410, 419, 427, 433, 440, 444, 450, 469, 490, 607, C11, D6, E6, H10, H19, H22, H37, H98, K2, K3, P4, R11, R70, S1, U1, U2, W3, W4, W6, W8, W13, W16 and W19.

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Downloadable Covid-19 leaflet in Somali and Dari

August 28, 2020, 2:40 am

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≪ Previous: Designated 'school service' buses on morning 18, 83, 92, 112 & 483 routes plus extra buses on some other routes from Tuesday - details

This is artwork for a leaflet being produced by Brent Covid-19 Action Campaign sponsored by Brent Trades Council.

Thanks to Rhoda Ibrahim for the Somali translation, to Soodabeh Balali for the Dari and to Dr Jonathan Fluxman for suggestions and medical advice.

If you'd like to download the leaflets as PDFs to run off yourself here are the links:

https://1drv.ms/b/s!As12Pa4dpiTVitt-N7dczoUOdjLGOQ?e=VF6UMu

https://1drv.ms/b/s!As12Pa4dpiTVitt_WMF9RKVQbIoYsQ?e=ugZMhl

↧

Muhammed Butt to be challenged for Labour Group leadership

August 28, 2020, 5:19 am

≫ Next: The Welsh Harp Reservoir Story – Part 2

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In 2012 I got into trouble with then councillor Jim Moher in quoting a report about his part in the ousting of Ann John, then leader of Brent Council, and her replacement by her deputy, Muhammed Butt. LINK Moher said that he and his wife Ruth Moher, who became deputy leader, were engaged openly in a democratic process. Butt won the leadership by a narrow margin.

I am sure that Cllr Butt then will welcome the democratic process that will happen at the 2 stage virtual AGM. The first stage is on September 2nd and the second on September 5th The AGM takes place after the publication of a report aimed at improving democracy in the Labour Group and more widely. LINK

Councillor Abdirazak Abdi (Kilburn) in an apparent attempt to reinforce the principle that democratic challenge is legitimate, is standing for many of the positions, including the leadership, according to the nomination list circulated recently.

Cllr Liz Dixon (Dollis Hill) is bidding to continue as Chair while Cllr Ihtesham Afzal (Preston) challenges incumbent Vice Chair Cllr Abdi Aden (Stonebridge). Cllr Neil Nerva (Queens Park) is not standing again as Treasurer and the post will be contested by Abdirazak Abdi, Cllr Shafique Choudhary (Barnhill) and Cllr Keiron Gill (Brondesbury Park) a critic of the democracy report. Cllr Promise Knight (Stonebridge) is not continuing as Secretary and Councillor Sonia Shah (Wembley Central) has thrown her hat into the ring.

Cllr Sandra Kabir (Queensbury)wishes to remain Chief Whip but is challenged by Cllr Abdi.

Cllr Thomas Stephens (Sudbury) author of the democracy report, Cllr Promise Knight, Cllr Robert Johnson (Northwick Park), and Nerva (a former leadership challenger to Butt) have all submitted an interest in joining the Cabinet.

One of the more interesting contests will be for the chairs of the two Scrutiny Committees. The group has recently agreed that one of the committees should be chaired by a woman. Currently they are both chaired by men, Matt Kelcher and Cllr Ketan Sheth (Tokyngton). They are standing again and Cllr Roxanne Mashari (Welsh Harp and a former leadership challenger LINK), Cllr Fleur Donnelly-Jackson (Willesden Green) and Cllr Robert Johnson are all candidates. It will be interesting, as I tweeted yesterday, to see if the positions are filled by people with the essential independence and integrity when the council is dominated by a single party and much power is concentrated in the Cabinet.

Sources suggest that Cllr James Denselow (Queens Park) is currently out of favour. He voted against the 1 Morland Gardens planning application recently, although it appears that falling out of favour pre-dated this. Clearly his position as Chair of Planning Committee is a key one and given Cllr Butt's great interest in planning, a loyalist is likely to be appointed. Kelcher and Johnson have been suggested as possibilities.

One issue that rankles with some is an unanswered question about how many councillors are members of Councillor Butt's extended family. On the one hand that should not matter as anyone is entitled to stand and if someone is a brother, brother-in-law or uncle, the relationship does not denote shared views. On the other hand, is this a matter of public interest when several of them (it has been suggested there are five altogether) could be on the same committee as members or substitutes?

Some Labour Group members are concerned that an election for Deputy Mayor will not take place at the AGM.

↧

The Welsh Harp Reservoir Story – Part 2

August 29, 2020, 7:05 am

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Welcome back to this look at the history of our local reservoir. If you missed Part 1, you will find it here (just “click” on the link).

1. The Old Welch Harp coaching inn, in a 19th century painting. (From Geoffrey Hewlett’s collection)

In the 1850s, the reservoir had been expanded, so that it covered around 400 acres. An embankment had been raised, to protect a public house from flooding. The Welsh (or Welch) Harp tavern had been built in 1736, just north of the Brent Bridge. It served as a coaching inn beside the Edgware Road, one of the main routes north-west from London, which followed the line of a Roman Road, known by Saxon times as Watling Street.

In 1858, William Perkins Warner became the landlord of the tavern. He had spent his childhood at Blackbird Farm in Kingsbury, before going to train as a butcher in London. During the Crimean War of 1854-56, he worked for the governments’ Commissariat Department, a uniformed civilian force that supplied food to the army. On his return, he married the daughter of a Kilburn builder, and at the age of 26 he began a business that would make the Welsh Harp name famous.

2. A drawing of William Perkins Warner. (From the collection of the late Geoffrey Hewlett)

A horse bus service from London to Edgware had started in 1856. Warner realised that this could bring him many extra customers, as long as he provided attractions that would make it worth their while. He rebuilt the tavern, adding a large dining room that would also stage music hall entertainment. He also leased adjoining fields, to provide gardens and sports facilities, and acquired the rights to use the reservoir for fishing and boating.

3. Parts of Warner’s song sheet for "The Jolliest Place That's Out". (From Geoffrey Hewlett’s collection)

One of the top music hall singers at this time was Annie Adams. Around 1864, Warner had new words written to one of her most popular songs, “The Merriest Girl That’s Out”. After she had performed it at his venue, printed lyrics of “The Jolliest Place That’s Out” were circulated, with an advertisement for the attractions of Warner’s Welsh Harp at the foot of the page. People knew the tune, and would be singing the chorus as they went about their daily lives!

4. A Michaux velocipede, owned by Arthur Markham. (Image courtesy of Coventry Transport Museum)

As well as the regular sporting attractions of the tavern’s grounds and reservoir, Warner staged special events to bring in larger crowds of customers. Whit Monday, the day after the Christian festival celebrating Pentecost, was often taken as a public holiday, even before this was officially recognised in the Bank Holidays Act of 1871. In 1868, Warner organised England’s first ever bicycle race at the Welsh Harp, and presented a silver cup to the winner, Arthur Markham. He was riding a “velocipede”, made in Paris by the Michaux brothers. Today, the world’s most famous cycle race is the Tour de France, and that country can claim to be the home of cycle racing, although its first bicycle race was held just one day before Warner’s!

5. Crowds at Warner's Kingsbury race course in the 1870s.

6. A swimming gala in progress at the Welsh Harp, c.1870.

(Both of these images, from Geoffrey Hewlett’s collection, are probably from “The Illustrated London News”)

Warner brought racing on a larger scale to the Welsh Harp in 1870, with the opening of his Kingsbury race course. His Spring steeplechase meeting, with a course that went across the fields of Kingsbury as far as Preston, was famous in its day, but the Racecourses Licencing Act of 1879, banning horse racing within ten miles of the capital, put a stop to this venture. The summer of 1870 also saw the first of the Welsh Harp’s swimming galas in the reservoir.

7. The Brent Reservoir, as it appears on an 1873 O.S. map of Middlesex. (From an original at Barnet L.S.C.)

This extract from an Ordnance Survey map shows the Brent Reservoir as it was in 1873. You can see that its waters stretched east and north well beyond the Edgware Road. To give you an idea from the area today, part of the Brent Cross Shopping Centre and most of the Sainsbury’s superstore at West Hendon would have been under water. The map also shows the Midland Railway line, which opened in 1869/70, crossing the reservoir on a viaduct.

Warner was quick to see that the railway could bring many more people to events at his pleasure grounds. The trip from Hendon Station might put some people off, so he persuaded the railway company to build a Welsh Harp Station, which opened in 1873, just two minutes walk from the tavern. This was to their mutual benefit, with the Midland Railway running special trains on Bank Holidays to bring thousands of Londoners to the attractions that Warner staged.

8. Warner's advert and the Midland Railway special timetable for the Welsh Harp, Whit Monday 1884.

A succession of very cold winters from 1879 onwards saw the reservoir freeze over, sometimes for a number of weeks. Warner, never one to miss an opportunity, was soon advertising public skating on the Welsh Harp. He also brought down professional speed-skaters from the Fens, for one-mile races that drew large crowds of spectators. The Warner Cup, in January 1880, was won by the English champion, George “Fish” Smart. With milder winters now, even if the surface freezes, please don’t venture onto the reservoir – you would be “skating on thin ice”!

9. A newspaper advert for skating at the Welsh Harp, and "Fish" Smart winning the Warner Cup race.

10. W.P. Warner's Old Welsh Harp in the 1880s. (Brent Archives online image 1340)

William Warner died at the Old Welsh Harp in 1889, aged just 56. You can see in the photograph above, taken in the 1880s and used in a later postcard, what the public house he took over thirty years earlier had developed into under his management. His widow carried on their business for another ten years until the lease ran out, assisted by William’s brother, John. As well as the many sporting and entertainment facilities that the tavern and its grounds offered, they continued to put on special attractions, such as a parachute descent from a balloon by the fearless Miss de Voy of London in 1890.

Her gas-filled (from the mains!) balloon took off from the tavern’s grounds, watched by a large crowd. It disappeared into the clouds, and several minutes later Miss de Voy’s parachute was spotted. Unfortunately, she was blown off-course, and the crowd following her along the bank saw her land in the water, near the Cool Oak Lane bridge. A local newspaper report says that W. Leicester, a youth from Willesden, threw off his hat and coat, and dived into the water to save the brave aeronaut, but she was rescued by boat before he could come to her aid.

11. Cool Oak Lane bridge, from the reservoir bank, c.2010.

Even while the Old Welsh Harp was in its heyday, things were beginning to change around the reservoir. About 200 terraced houses were built in West Hendon in the 1880s, on new streets stretching down from the Edgware Road towards the water’s edge. But other parts of the surrounding land remained as rural countryside, where people could enjoy country walks on a Saturday or Sunday, if they were not making use of the livelier attractions on offer at the tavern.

12. Two photographs taken during a family's Sunday afternoon walk by the Welsh Harp in 1897.
(From the collection of the late Geoffrey Hewlett, copies donated to him from a Kingsbury family’s photo album)

The popularity of the Old Welsh Harp declined after Mrs Warner left, and the Midland Railway closed its station in 1903. There were other attractions that Londoners could enjoy, including the ambitious, but short-lived, pleasure grounds at Wembley Park. For his zeal in putting on sports and entertainment that brought in the crowds, W.P. Warner could be compared with Arthur Elvin, and his efforts to promote Wembley from the late 1920s onwards. More than fifty years before Elvin used greyhound racing as a way to save Wembley Stadium, Warner had staged England’s first greyhound race using a straight track and a mechanical hare, at the Welsh Harp in 1876. Unlike most of his ventures, that one ended in failure.

13. The reservoir and the Welsh Harp, in an 1898 illustration. (From Geoffrey Hewlett’s collection)

William Perkins Warner has been largely forgotten, but he has left a lasting legacy. Although its official name is the Brent Reservoir, because of his efforts most people know this stretch of water as the Welsh Harp. Its story will continue into the twentieth century, next weekend. Don’t miss it!

Philip Grant

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Borough Police Commander wants feedback on stop and search 'to make sure it is dignified and not criminalising young people'

August 31, 2020, 3:35 am

≫ Next: Another Brent school 3G pitch application meets opposition

≪ Previous: The Welsh Harp Reservoir Story – Part 2

Brent Safer Neighbourhood Board held an online public meeting 5pm Wednesday 19 August 2020 with Borough Police Commander Roy Smith. These are summary notes of the meeting. The section on stop and search is of particular interest following concerns about the number of Section 60 orders in the borough.

SUMMARY (Unedited)

Gill Close, chair of Brent Safer Neighbourhood Board, welcomed over 100 people to the meeting at which police commander Roy Smith would be answering questions.

Roy Smith identified the main policing challenges in Brent as:

•violence and preventing it, which is the top priority and involves stop and search, including section 60

•policingCOVID-19 for which they continue to adopt a gentle encouraging approach

•austerity causing financial constraints on activity even though they will continue to recruit officers.

People had raised 11 broad issues in questions sent in beforehand. The main issues were drug dealing, street drinking and the associated antisocial behaviour about which some residents felt that reporting to the police had no effect and community intelligence should be better used.

Roy Smith said he was a big believer in the broken windows approach of dealing with the small things before they got bigger. He wants officers to stop and deal with low level antisocial behaviour when they are passing by. He asked people to keep telling the police where crime and antisocial behaviour happens. He said he had asked officers to provide a speedy response by text or email to say what had been done in response to reports. He said that British Transport Police already used this type of quick response to reports. Residents had asked for anonymous ways to report these ongoing problems to the police and council. They are provided at the end of this summary.

Gill Close asked how solutions to these long-term ongoing issues could be better in future than they had been in the past as residents’ lives were affected every day.

Roy Smith said that Safer Neighbourhood Teams were now fully staffed following a big recruitment campaign and there were separate neighbourhood tasking teams. These teams could be tasked by Inspector Becs Reeves, Brent’s neighbourhoods inspector, to where needed, so police could tackle entrenched problems. He said really good ‘design out crime’ officers were working closely with the council on practical steps such as changing lights, fitting gates and altering refuse collection frequency. Police were also using partnership funding for safety initiatives, including £20000 to provide vulnerable residents with free Ring doorbells containing video cameras.

One questioner said that when drug dealing was reported to police, residents were told that an officer would come the following day, but this was not an effective way to catch the dealers. He asked for council and police to be more joined up about putting in new CCTV cameras to replace old broken ones overlooking a quiet area where drug dealing took place near Fryent Park. The council’s neighbourhood manager, Shirley Holmes, said she had requested a new CCTV camera but other locations came higher on the priority list for the number of cameras available. Roy Smith said the police and the council would follow this up. Police and council would also look at ways of tasking officers to respond to reports more effectively. He asked residents to provide specific times, dates, locations, vehicle registration numbers and descriptions in their reports.

A resident asked how vulnerable people could apply for one of the free doorbells. Roy Smith said that he would ask the officer in charge to consult with the council, safer neighbourhood teams and safer neighbourhood board on ways to identify people who would benefit most.

A ward panel member said that a large number of new builds no longer designed out crime but contained dark alleyways and car parks without gates, although designing out crime had been a requirement in the past. Roy Smith said that police would write a statement to use in the police response to all planning applications for new developments. It would state that they must be built to secured by design standards by avoiding such things as alleyways, recessed doorways and unlocked car parks and by using white light instead of sodium light. He also asked for links to be made between the council planning department and police and for the designing out crime officer to attend the partnership tasking meetings. Councillor Gaynor Lloyd said that some residents of older properties were concerned about proposals for gating rear alleys which might cut off access to their garage and the rear of their property. Roy Smith said that there were other design options for existing buildings.

A questioner said he had sent police his own good quality CCTV image of an intruder in his garden at 4am and received a standard reply that they did not deal with antisocial behaviour. He asked why the image could not be kept on file to help find burglars. Roy Smith said the response was unacceptable and asked for the image to be emailed to his office so that it could be forwarded to the right teams. He said he would also look at responses provided to victims of crime as there is usually something police can do even if it is only signposting to safety measures.

A questioner referred to what he had written in advance about noise late at night in Gladstone Park car park and residents’ requests to lock it and for the parks public spaces protection order to include noise. He said police and council tell him to call each other. Roy Smith said that things should not be sent back and forth between police and council. The issue would be looked at by police and council then the written question would be responded to.

A representative of Harlesden Area Action referred to her question submitted in advance asking for police to disrupt the behaviour in the open drug market around Craven Park Road and St.Albans Road. Roy Smith said Inspector Becs Reeves will work with the council on joint tasking of resources in the area. Colin Wilderspin, the council’s head of community protection, said that joint patrols were taking place and fixed penalty notices (FPN) and criminal behaviour orders (CBO) were being used.

A representative from Barn Hill Conservation Group said that trail motorbikes driving through Fryent Park fields and woods were a danger to pedestrians and asked how they could be stopped. Roy Smith said he would look at tasking for the roads and transport team, work with the council on measures to prevent access, and find out if police might get some off-road motorbikes. He asked residents to keep calling the police when they saw trail bikes in the park.

A questioner said that lots of residents send images to the police using Twitter @MetCC but the images do not reach the police. He asked for this to be enabled. Roy Smith said that the Metropolitan Police was currently dealing with this technical challenge as well as looking at ways to send images by WhatsApp. He will obtain an update on when the capability to receive images will be available.

A resident asked what the police were doing to persuade people away from crime rather than just taking measures to prevent parties, drug dealing and motorbikes in parks. Roy Smith said that police do support engagement activity but are not the driving force behind it. Police work with charities, youth organisations, football clubs and their independent advisory group and recently provided a summer camp for young people held at a local school.

Roy Smith responded to a written question about the impact of upcoming budget cuts, saying that there were proposals across London to increase the number of safer neighbourhood team officers so Brent might be able to have some town centre safer neighbourhood teams in addition to its current ward teams.

Roy Smith said that written comments on stop and search indicated people were asking for more of it. He said it was a fine balance, must be fair and explained well, and not unfairly target people disproportionately. It was fair to say that police could do better at explaining what they were doing and why.

A recent Section 60 Notice

A questioner said that many thought section 60 powers to use stop and search were used disproportionately in certain communities. She said that more engagement was needed with the community. She said that notice was not given soon enough and only on Twitter, which few people saw.

Roy Smith said there is disproportionality in stop and search and in the likelihood of being a victim of a homicide or a suspect, but stop and search was not a solution to violent crime, the sources of which needed to be addressed when children were at primary school age. Officers are taking weapons off the street and saving lives but it is an imperfect solution and he welcomes support on how to improve it. He said he spends a long time with members of the black community who are more affected than anyone else, including victims of shootings and stabbings. The problem is with how it is done and explained, but not with doing it. He said the police need to learn through feedback.

Roy Smith said he would work with the council on the best mechanism to get messaging about section 60s and quick spontaneous messages out quickly and to large numbers in the relevant geographical areas. He wants feedback on stop and search to make sure it is dignified and not criminalising young people. He provided his office’s contact details for feedback but asked the community to use their local ward officers as the primary point of contact.

Dr Angela Herbert, the chair of Brent police independent advisory group, said positive engagement was a priority. Roy Smith said that, if police stop and search someone and find nothing, they should apologise for the inconvenience, although not for the search. A participant commented that an apology is a must. Roy Smith said stop and search was not about racial profiling and must be intelligence led. He wants community support where officers are working legally. He said no-one has the right to prevent officers from doing their work. He said officers do not want to use force, so want people to cooperate calmly. Dr Angela Herbert said that the independent advisory group was looking to roll out training to help the community to respond safely.

Roy Smith thanked Roy Croasdaile, the chair of the Brent Stop and Search Community Monitoring Group, for running a stop and search workshop at the summer camp. He said it had provided a positive environment where young people could talk to police. Roy Croasdaile then thanked the 50 young people who had participated in stop and search scenarios in a role reversal with police. He said they had exercised their judgement very well and asked important questions, and that police officers had engaged enthusiastically with role reversal. The police press release about the workshop is HERE . Roy Croasdaile said that stop and search issues remaining were the speed of complaint resolution, disproportionality and equality impact assessment. Roy Smith said police were having conversations with the monitoring group to bring about improvement, including on complaints which he wanted to be able to deal with in five working days.

Roy Smith repeated the principle stated by Sir Robert Peel when he founded the Metropolitan Police in 1829 “The police are the public and the public are the police”. He said the police are paid but we are all demonstrating Peel’s principles by coming to this meeting, participating, being in workshops and gathering information. He gave a massive thank you to the community as the police could not do their work without community support. He thanked everyone for their constructive criticism, for which there was not a closed door.

Gill Close thanked Roy Smith for his responses to the questions and concerns raised.

Gill Close explained how people could send in follow-up questions until 5pm on Friday 21 August. She said that all questions submitted for this meeting would receive a reply from a police officer, and council officers would be involved where council action had been asked about. She said a summary of the meeting would be placed on Brent Council’s website and that, as part of its police accountability role, the safer neighbourhood board would follow up on the actions taken as a result of this meeting.

She said the safer neighbourhood board planned to hold more online meetings in future. She also invited everyone to the safer neighbourhood board public meeting from 7pm to 9pm on Thursday 18 March 2021 in the Grand Hall at Brent Civic Centre where they can ask questions of the commander, the Brent neighbourhoods inspector and the sergeant for their ward. She said that the safer neighbourhood board was working on ways to involve more young people in the public meeting and in ward panels, which set priorities for the ward police.

Gill Close encouraged everyone to join OWL (Online Watch Link) to receive secure messages on safety and crime from the police and council. She said that all contact details offered at the meeting would be provided with the summary of the meeting. She thanked everyone for attending and for sending in questions. She said the safer neighbourhood board hoped that today’s meeting and the individual responses questioners will receive will contribute to us all living in a safer community and will sow seeds for increased communication between the community and the local police.

Information on police contacts – follow this LINK (page 4)

Brent Stop and Search Monitoring Grouop on Facebook LINK

Stop-Watch Website of advice, articles and reports on Stop and Account, Stop and Search and more LINK

↧

Another Brent school 3G pitch application meets opposition

September 1, 2020, 2:26 am

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View of the Claremont site - the proposed 3G pitch will be on the grassed area lower centre

Kingsbury High School, Queens Park Community School and Claremont High School have all had plans to install floodlit artificial grass 3G pitches on their sites. The Powerleague proposal for Kingsbury High was withdrawn after a local campaign that cited environmental and social harm. The interests of the local residents compete with those of the school. The Claremont Planning Application is HERE .

19/1388 | Construction of an additional floodlit artificial grass sports pitch and cricket practice facility with incorporated batting cages, installation of 12 floodlights, erection of high boundary fences with associated gates, formation of pedestrian access stairs and ramp. | Claremont High School, Claremont Avenue, Harrow, HA3 0UH

Roe Green Residents' Association have written to a senior Brent planning officer and councillors drawing attention to some of the issues.

The Roe Green Village Residents' Association in North West Brent (RGVRA) may not be directly impacted by what is going on at Claremont High School but RGVRA nevertheless has an important contribution to make to the planning process concerning this particular application.

We have great concerns over the impact this application represents to residents and the environment. We are also concerned that this application is being assessed prematurely and without all necessary facts being available.

RGVRA has been faced with an almost identical application by an Academy school in recent months. In assessing the application RGVRA and its consultants have learned a significant amount of information about the development and operation of installations of this type which applies to the application described in 19/1388 as well.

The overall impact such installation has on its surrounding area makes this application at Claremont High School entirely unsuitable for this site. Installations like these belong far away from any residential dwellings due to their significant environmental impacts such as noise and light pollution affecting neighbours 365 days of the year until late at night. This also concerns the transport impact these facilities generate on what are typically quiet residential streets.

Scrupulous developers and agents appear to have devised schemes to provide cash-seeking academies with free ‘upgrades' to their perfectly usable natural grass playing fields through funds such as the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) and the prospect of new revenue streams by hiring these out as entertainment venues to the public.

Pupils tend to only have use of these new sports facilities for 35% of the time whereas the vast majority of the time these facilities get hired out for profit is to a narrow target audience of 18-25 year old male adults.

This is a recurring scenario running throughout the country. In Brent alone we have seen several of these applications in recent years.
Brent Council needs to recognise that these facilities are not sustainable for the long term future of Brent and its residents. In fact these schemes are detrimental to community cohesion.

This particular application at Claremont High School appears to represent an intense over-development of the site.

Residents will not be able to defend themselves against the new and constant noise, light and traffic impact this scheme will create.

Brent Council needs to listen carefully to the concerns of the residents affected by this application. Brent Council also needs to ensure that both residents and the Planning Committee have access to all the facts that govern the impact of this application based on professional evidence.

This application comes without a noise assessment and without a transport assessment. These types of facilities are well-known for their excessive noise and traffic generation. It thus seems evident that this application is lacking crucial information. Without this crucial information it would seem impossible for anyone to assess the true impact of this application.

We also feel concerned that the ecological evidence available may not be receiving sufficient consideration.

Alison Fure, the author of the 'Ecology and Bat Survey Report' to this application, is a highly-respected ecologist and bat expert with a specialisation in light impact on bat behaviour. Her findings and recommendations seem clear when her report states that ‘light curfews should be operated throughout the summer’ and that in fact ‘the new pitch should be used by the students from the school only’ which appears to suggest not to operate the facility past 4pm, i.e. school time.

Given Alison Fure's experience and expertise, we cannot think of any reason to question the ecology report’s findings or not take its recommendations seriously.

Furthermore, there are significant environmental impacts that do not appear to have been considered at all.

Within the Borough of Brent there are at least 150 artificial football pitches made of hazardous 3G rubber compounds. According to manufacturers' guidance, each of these pitches requires topping up with 2-3 tonnes of rubber infill throughout the year. This infill and its dust is toxic to humans and the Environment and, according to manufacturers’ guidance, may only be applied whilst wearing personal protection equipment.

Within the Borough of Brent alone, we thus have 300 - 450 tonnes of toxic material being released into the Environment every single year where it degrades further into ever finer micro-plastics that pollute our rivers and water supplies and enter residents’ lungs and our food chain.

Has anyone at Brent Council calculated the impacts this has? Is there an impact assessment available of how many 3G pitches there are and the health and environmental impacts these represent?

The site of the proposed new pitch is directly adjacent to the Wealdstone Brook. The applicant has neither accounted for nor mitigated against the micro-plastics pollution this development will cause.

Brent has declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency in recognition of our seas choking with plastic. Brent has committed itself to making Brent the cleanest, greenest borough in London.

As servants of the public and stewards of public resources Brent, therefore, has an obligation to ensure that these aims and commitments are upheld.

The Planning Committee and the residents affected by the sports pitches at Claremont High School must be given access to all the facts pertaining to the impacts of this planning application before this could possibly be considered,

We further request that Brent immediately puts on hold all planning applications involving 3G pitches until it has fully established the impact these have on our Environment and until it has completed an impact assessment on the current use of all 3G pitches in Brent and can assure the public that 3G pitches are compatible with Brent’s stated aims and objectives for making Brent the cleanest, greenest borough in London.

In the interim, Brent Council should instead focus on making more effective use of existing resources and help academies such as Claremont High School benefit from the 150 plus existing 3G pitches in the borough.

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Latest on South Kilburn controversy: L&Q Chief Executive to step down

September 1, 2020, 2:53 am

≫ Next: New Regeneration Director signs off variation to Bridge Park land deal with GMH

≪ Previous: Another Brent school 3G pitch application meets opposition

David Montague

L&Q, the controversial housing association recently in the news for its handling of Bourne Place in South Kilburn LINK, has announced that its Chief Executive, David Montague, will step down at the end of the financial year.

L&Q made the following statement on its website today:

David Montague has today announced that he will step down from his role as Chief Executive of L&Q by the end of the current financial year.

David joined L&Q as a member of the finance team in 1988 and became Group Director of Finance in 2003. He was appointed Chief Executive five years later in February 2008.

As CEO, he has overseen L&Q’s growth to become one of the country’s largest developers and providers of social housing. L&Q now houses over 250,000 people in 110,000 properties and has an ambition to help solve the housing crisis by building 100,000 new homes.

Speaking about his departure, David said: “It has been a pleasure leading L&Q in such extraordinary times and working with talented, dedicated and values driven people for the past three decades to deliver our social mission. At L&Q our story began in 1963 with a handful of entrepreneurs, £64 and a dream to house the people who had been forgotten by others; that dream has never waned.

Our mission is that everyone should have a quality home they can afford; everything we do is about providing essential homes and services for the people that need them most. I couldn’t be more proud of what we have achieved in my time as Chief Executive but I have decided that it is the right time for a new challenge.

I will continue to lead L&Q as Chief Executive until my successor is found. My remaining time will be spent working with the team to develop a new five-year strategy that will help us deliver the best we possibly can for our residents and communities.”

L&Q Chair Aubrey Adams said: “David has been a leading light not just for L&Q but for the housing sector in general. His commitment to our residents, homes and communities has enabled L&Q to face some of the toughest economic and structural challenges in the company’s history, and he has always done it with our social purpose firmly and passionately at his heart. We are thankful for everything he has championed.

Our search for David’s successor will begin immediately and will be squarely focussed on enabling us to secure the skills and diversity needed to continue our focus on safety, quality and customers, and steer L&Q through our next chapter. We will be working towards a smooth handover and transition by the start of the new financial year.”

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New Regeneration Director signs off variation to Bridge Park land deal with GMH

September 1, 2020, 2:41 pm

≫ Next: Very low public consultation response to another high rise development in shadow of Wembley Stadium

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Brent Council announced via its website today that Alan Lunt, the new Strategic Director for Regeneration and Environment, has signed of an agreement to exchange a Deed of Variation for the land sale of Bridge Park ahead of the announcement of the High Court judgment on Brent Council vs Bridge Park which is due this month.

The Officer Key Decision Form reads

Agreement to exchange a Deed of Variation to the Bridge Park Conditional Land Sale Agreement with “Stonebridge Real Estate Development” a UK-registered subsidiary company that has General Mediterranean Holdings SA as the parent company and Harborough InvestInc as the second guarantor.

The Decision Form tates that Shama Tather. Cabinet Member for Property, Planning and Regeneration was consulted.

If you are wondering what the variation is, then hard luck. Brent has 'fully' exempted the Report from publication:

The Council states that exemption is 'By virtue of paragraph(s) 3, 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.'

Back in 2015 when the Cabinet approved the initial move to do a deal with General Mediterranean Holdings, the then Chair of Scrutiny, Cllr Dan Filson, raised warned about doing a deal with a 'convicted fraudster' LINK. On the Wembley Matters report on the matter Filson made the following additional comment:

I must say I was surprised that whilst mentioning the two companies involved were neither incorporated nor registered in the UK, the Cabinet paper did not mention that they were registered in tax havens namely Luxembourg and the BVI, nor that the leading shareholder in the holding company was a convicted fraudster. A quick Google search revealed this.

Possibly the council officers preparing the report felt these issues did not matter given the safeguarding phrase that the decision of Cabinet would be subject to meeting financial scrutiny (quite how these financial checks would succeed given that they had not succeeded in the months leading up to Cabinet was not made clear!).

The wider issue of the ethics of dealing with tax haven companies wasn't touched upon at all nor the fraudster angle. I understand Councillor Pavey's position that it needs government action to deal with tax haven companies (to say nothing of persons being company directors of overseas companies who, by my book, should be disqualified from holding any positions of trust in any company trading or owning land in this country).

However Brent can have its own policies; but what should they be here? The land south of the North Circular Road at Stonebridge Park has been a derelict eyesore for a couple of decades. Brent can engineer development here by intervention using such land as it has as a bargaining tool. If we take the ethical route and don't treat with tax haven companies will we get better or worse terms from other companies? Conceivably could Councillors be surcharged for not getting "best value" in a deal? Will any action happen on this site at all for another decade?

I don't know how I would respond on these issues. My disappointment was that no attempt has been made to address them before this particular decision came to Cabinet despite the identity of these 2 companies being known for some time, years even. So the Cabinet was obliged to agree to a deal involving these two companies without a financial appraisal in front if it and without a stated policy on dealing with tax haven companies. It leaves an unpleasant taste.

In another comment Philip Grant wrote:

I sent my comment of 29 July at 19:59, asking whether it is ethical for Brent Council to be dealing with a company in a tax haven, to Cllr. Michael Pavey, the Deputy Leader who chaired the Cabinet meeting on Monday 27 July. Unlike some of his colleagues, Cllr. Pavey is willing to engage in dialogue, and (with his permission) here is his reply:
‘The article on Wembley Matters doesn't give a full account of the discussion. Cllr Filson made a series of excellent points. I imagine you've read the Cabinet report, so you'll know that section 4.6 states that "Finalisation of negotiations and entering into Heads of Terms with these companies will be subject to soconfirmation of satisfactory financial standing."

At the Cabinet meeting I sought specific legal advice on whether this point provided sufficient protection against the concerns raised by Cllr Filson. The legal representative stated that in his view, it did. Myself and my colleagues certainly had concerns on this front, but the legal advice was categorical. We will certainly keep an eye on this moving forward.

Martin quotes Andy Donald's somewhat derogatory comments about the decision makers not reading the papers. I certainly always read every single page of Cabinet papers and I know colleagues also prepare comprehensively. We have discussed Bridge Park in detail on many occasions and had a full discussion on Monday evening about issues such as trying to limit foreign ownership of the flats, the proportion of affordable housing and the sustainability of the new leisure centre.

I take your point on ethics and I for one am not comfortable dealing with companies registered in tax havens. Realistically though this is a much wider issue than this development. When you have companies like Starbucks, Amazon and Next routinely avoiding tax, it becomes difficult to hold this against any single company. We need national Government to lead a crackdown on legal tax avoidance and to insist on clearer transparency requirements. I don’t like dealing with companies registered in tax havens, but considering the size of the problem, I think the solution must come from the Government.’

It would help us have some faith in the process of this very controversial land sale if information was available to press and public and even more so to councillors. The decision could be called-in - it is another test of our councillors to see if they have the courage to do so.

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Very low public consultation response to another high rise development in shadow of Wembley Stadium

September 2, 2020, 8:15 am

≫ Next: Auditor: Brent better placed than most London councils to survive the financial challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic

≪ Previous: New Regeneration Director signs off variation to Bridge Park land deal with GMH

The proposed blocks on Fulton Road/Watkin Road

The major application at next Wednesday's Brent Planning Committee is this:

1,2,3 & 9 Watkin Road, Wembley, HA9 0NL

Demolition of existing buildings and erection of 1x part-20, part-17 storey building and 1x 14 storey building together containing 174 residential units; commercial floor space (B1a and B1c use class) on ground, first and second floors; car and cycle parking, refuse storage, amenity space and associated landscaping.

The existing buildings are low rise industrial and further development here is expected.

Out of the 174 residential units:

i. 15 units for affordable rent (at London Affordable Rent levels, in accordance with the Mayor of London's Affordable Housing Programme 2016-2021 Funding Guidance (dated November 2016) and subject to an appropriate Affordable Rent nominations agreement with the Council, securing 100% nomination rights on first lets and 75%nomination rights on subsequent lets for the Council)

ii. 35 units for Shared Ownership,(as defined under section 70(6) of the Housing & Regeneration Act 2008, subject to London Plan policy affordability stipulations that total housing costs should not exceed 40% of net annual household income, disposed on a freehold / minimum 125 year leasehold to a Registered Provider, and subject to an appropriate Shared Ownership nominations agreement with the Council, that secures reasonable local priority to the units).

The Planning Officers' Report states:

The viability hasbeen tested and it has been demonstrated that this is the maximum reasonable amount [of affordable housing] that can be provided on site.

The remaining 124 units will be private.

On loss of light to surrounding building (check out the density in the illustration above) officers state:

There would be a loss of light to some windows of surrounding buildings, which is a function of a development on this scale. The impact is considered to be acceptable given the urban context of the site. The overall impact of the development is considered acceptable, particularly in view of the wider regenerative benefits.

The impact on the supposedly 'protected view' of the Stadium Arch from Chalkhill Park is also considered acceptable by officers:

Whilst the development would slightly reduce the extent of the Wembley Stadium arch that would be visible from Chalkhill Park and incur some level of harm to the daylight and sunlight enjoyed at neighbouring properties, a balance has to be struck between different planning objectives, and the benefits of the proposal are considered to significant outweigh its harm. The height, layout, design and massing has been carefully considered and has been evaluated by the GLA and by Brent Officers who all have concluded that the proposed building is appropriate for this context.

From Chalkhill Park today

With the new buildings

Consultation responses were very low with two sets of letters sent to 1,078 neighbouring properties resulting in 5 objections and one neutral comment.

A Newsletter to 5,229 local residents and businesses to a two day exhibition about the project produced just 11 attendees and only 3 feedback forms. Cllr Muhammed Butt and Cllr Shama Tatler had their own private view. This is the report included in the main officers' report:

A public exhibition was held over two days at Wembley International Hotel on Tuesday 26th November 2019from 10am to 3pm and on Wednesday 27th November 2019 from 3pm to 8pm.Over the two days 11 individuals attended the exhibition, including the Leader of the Danes & Empire Courts Residents’ Association.Three feedback forms have been returned with largely positive feedback.

The proposed height was noted to have been deemed appropriate in the local context and there was strongsupport for the delivery of 35% affordable housing. However, some attendees voiced concern about anothertall building in an area which already has a large number.

Some stakeholders noted that they wanted as many 3 bedroom units as possible and one stakeholderquestioned whether the levels of demand for 1 and 2 bedroom units as opposed to 3 bedroom units willcontinue into the future.

The public realm and landscaping was strongly supported by stakeholders and an aspiration for thedevelopers to work with Barratt London to coordinate the public realm across the adjoining development siteat 10-11 Watkin Road was voiced. It was largely agreed that the existing site is underutilised at present. The potential to link the site with the brook side in the future was welcomed.Stakeholders supported the re-provision of commercial space and expressed interest in the types of occupierthe space is targeted at.

The Leader of Danes and Empire Courts RA emphasised the need for affordable housing in the area and suggested that parking spaces are provided to diffuse pressure on parking spaces nearby. The Leader of Danes and Empire Courts RA also welcomed the new landscaping and improved public realm proposals. A concern was raised that the redevelopment of the industrial space was unnecessary and that the nature ofthe commercial space would change the industrial character of Watkin Road. One attendee also felt that an uplift in commercial workspace would be unlikely to be beneficial to the local economy and would be unlikelyto create more jobs.

One attendee was concerned that the development would lead to increased traffic congestion locally despite the car free nature of the development.

A newsletter informing residents of the proposals and inviting them to the exhibition was sent to 5,229 local residents and businesses.A preview of the public exhibition was held with the Leader of the Council and the Lead Member for Regeneration, Property & Planning to brief them on the proposals between 9am and 10am on Tuesday 26th November 2019.

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Auditor: Brent better placed than most London councils to survive the financial challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic

September 3, 2020, 6:06 am

≫ Next: Brilliant work on River Brent off Blackbird Hill by Thames21 and volunteers

≪ Previous: Very low public consultation response to another high rise development in shadow of Wembley Stadium

The Audit Findings for the London Borough of Brent, to be considered by the Audit and Standards Committee on Tuesday September 8th are rather better than might be expected. LINK

The report by Grant Thornton states:

.....To put this in further context, Brent Council could receive no RSG, council tax or business rates in 2020/21 and still balance the books using reserves. This is a much stronger position than virtually all other councils, however it must be noted that the reserves are earmarked to support strategic projects outlined in the Council’s capital programme and many of these reserves cannot be used to support revenue costs.

The report looks forward to 2020/21 and the impact of the Covid19 measures taken by the Council during lockdown and the impact on income. Having had shaky reserves in the past the Council has been reluctant to eat into reserves but may have to as a consquence of a £29m funding gap, as well as reducing demand for services and 'efficiency' cuts:

If there is a shortfall the Council has contingency plans to keep it on a sound financial footing. The Council will use the full range of options available, including (but not limited to) taking steps to reduce demand for services, implementing further efficiency savings, streamlining processes, and as a last resort re-diverting earmarked cash reserves as a one-off measure. The Council holds general reserves of £15.1m and £146m in earmarked reserves (excluding Community Infrastructure Levy funds and other ring-fenced reserves) which are held to meet specific identified purposes or future expenditure commitments, a large proportion of which are for financing the capital programme.

A review of the capital expenditure plan seems inevitable. Budget planning and consultation will take place soon. One of the key issues will be what happens to Council Taxat a time when many residents will be strapped for cash as a result of unemployment resulting from the economic downturn.

EXTRACT FROM THE AUDITOR'S REPORT
2019/20 Financial Return

In a year where March saw the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Council has performed well to achieve a breakeven position for its service area budgets. The Council responded to the pandemic situation quickly, making critical decisions in response to constantly moving government guidance. With only 2 weeks remaining of the 2019/20 financial year with the outbreak of the pandemic, impact on the financial outturn was minimised for 2019/20 but will be a larger impact on 2020/21.

The outturn for 2019/20 highlights the effective management action taken to address the pressures throughout the year. The £1.5m overspend in Children and Young Persons (CYP) (in part offset by contingency funds within CYP reserves) and £0.6m overspend in Community Well Being were offset by underspends within Regeneration and Environment.

The use of CYP earmarked reserves illustrates that the Council does have ongoing financial pressures which need to be addressed. However, this needs to be put in the context of income growth opportunities the Council’s reserves position. Brent has over £134.8m of usable reserves, excluding capital reserves, which can ultimately be deployed to address in-year shortfall. To put this in further context, Brent Council could receive no RSG, council tax or business rates in 2020/21 and still balance the books using reserves. This is a much stronger position than virtually all other councils, however it must be noted that the reserves are earmarked to support strategic projects outlined in the Council’s capital programme and many of these reserves cannot be used to support revenue costs. It is also worth noting that the Council is very clear about finding solutions in CYP going forwards.

The Council’s MTFS set in 2019/20 identified £11.4m savings required for 2020/21 and a best estimate budget gap of £20m for 2021/22-2022/23. In the November 2019 MTFS update a comprehensive review of technical budget assumptions took place, including a review of the 2020/21 savings plans and estimated savings of £4.28m to be delivered in 2021/22 and £1.77m to be delivered in 2022/23.

As a result of the pandemic it is expected that service departments will experience income and expenditure pressures in 2020/21. The magnitude of the pressures will depend on the severity and length of the pandemic. The Council has modelled the financial impact based on lockdown periods of 3 and 6 months and has a cost tracker to estimate and record the additional pressures relating to additional expenditure, loss of income, impact on savings and capital programmes, and treasury management issues. The Council estimates the 2019/20 impact to be £0.4m while for 2020/21, a 3-month lockdown period has an estimated lost income impact of £19.8m, with another £14.9m on top of that for a 6-month lockdown. The Council reports these figures to MHCLG fortnightly.

The net cost of Covid-19 to the Council is expected to be £47.6m (£42.7m of additional income and expenditure pressures and £4.9m of slippage in savings plans), which is far in excess of the £21.2m funding to be received from central government. The cost estimates are considerable, and the Council has been working to the assumption that costs will be fully reimbursed. Central government recently announced a new package of support which includes provision for some income losses to be reimbursed where losses are more than 5% of a council’s planned income from sales, fees and charges, with central government covering up to 75% of the remainder. Also, any deficits on council tax and business rates income will be allowed to be spread over 3 years rather than 1 year. Detailed workings of the scheme will be confirmed as central government drafts the statutory instrument that will effect the changes. This leaves the Council with an estimated gap of £26.4m before support for income losses is taken into account. If there is a shortfall the Council has contingency plans to keep it on a sound financial footing. The Council will use the full range of options available, including (but not limited to) taking steps to reduce demand for services, implementing further efficiency savings, streamlining processes, and as a last resort re-diverting earmarked cash reserves as a one-off measure. The Council holds general reserves of £15.1m and £146m in earmarked reserves (excluding Community Infrastructure Levy funds and other ring-fenced reserves) which are held to meet specific identified purposes or future expenditure commitments, a large proportion of which are for financing the capital programme.

The Council has modelled indicative forecasts of the council tax base and business rates income going forward. Modelling is challenging for the Council given that the Council receives c£50m (approx. 40% of net rates payable) of additional relief from central government to further discount the bills of businesses in retail, leisure and hospitality sectors, as well as small businesses:
• the Council received c£64m from central government to provide grants (between £10k-£25k) to support the above businesses; and
• all other business rate payers having difficulty in paying were offered payment deferrals in line with central government guidance.
Due to the above, the amount of NDR income collected to date compared to budget has changed significantly, and forecasting future collection is dependent on how long different business sectors take to recover, if at all. The Council has modelled business rates collection forecast for 2020/21 for the amounts collected and to be collected over a revised collection profile, against a reduced collectible debit, to support future business rates income projections. However, the amount of business rates the Council is allowed to retain is largely dependent on the future business rates regime and the amount of section 31 grant for certain business sectors. Also, the Council is part of the London business rates pool in 2020/21. London Councils will be modelling the potential impact of a deficit on the pool and individual boroughs and the results are expected later in the year. This exercise along with other intelligence and data gathering exercises on collection rates will be critical to better understand the potential impact on the 2020/21 budget and future budget assumptions for business rates income.

Over the past 2 years, the Council has been addressing historic overspends and undertook a comprehensive review of demographic pressures and other expenditure pressures, ensuring the Council could move to a more sustainable financial position. Following the Covid-19 outbreak the Council’s financial position has changed significantly. The impact of the loss of fees and charges, and emergency costs have had an immediate effect on all local authorities. In the longer term there is likely to be further squeeze on public spending, which could impact future funding settlement allocations.

The 2020/21 budget agreed in February 2020 included savings of £7.4m to deliver a balanced budget. Analysis shows that £0.3m of the planned savings are at risk of not being delivered at all, £2.5m of the planned savings have already been delivered, and £4.6m of the planned savings will not be delivered in 2020/21 (the Council will look to make these savings in 2021/22 instead). The 2020/21 budget also agreed business plans which included savings of £4.3m. Along with review and tracking of Covid-19 cost pressures, the savings position is being monitored daily and monthly monitoring reports and forecasts are reported to the Departmental Management Team. At this stage, all indications are that the 2021/22 savings (including the £4.6m of planned savings for 2019/20) will be achieved. Looking ahead, the savings forecasts will be reported quarterly and challenged and CMT and Cabinet, as well as the Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee. As well as reporting progress of savings delivery the update reports will include mitigating actions or other interventions if there are delays in implementation or risk of delivery.

Proposed budget setting for 2021/22

Based on information available to date, the Council estimates that ongoing and recurring pressures will be in the region of £11m to £29m from 2021/22 across all service areas and council tax collection. At this stage, the estimates excludes future losses on business rates whilst further modelling is undertaken. Therefore, without additional funding or relives from central government the budget gap is likely to increase further. The Council’s estimates will be refined over the summer and are a major factor in the construction of the 2021/22 budget. Robust and credible plans will need to be developed and agreed in February 2021 to deliver a legally required balanced budget. At this stage, it is not clear when the Spending Review will be announced, or what the LG Finance Settlement for Brent in 2021/22 will be. The lack of clarity means that the Council will need to continue to plan with little or no funding certainty over the medium term. The Council expects to need to take difficult decisions about which services to prioritise and protect, and which to reduce in order to continue to deliver affordable and sustainable budgets.

To close a gap of this magnitude and in a relatively short space of time there are 3 main options:

• Further savings – options are limited given the current savings programme already includes a significant number of efficiencies and new income generation options are likely to be limited.
• Reduce growth assumptions – the current MTFS includes £13m of annual growth but there is a risk that reducing growth assumptions will store up pressures in future years.
• Scale back the capital programme – pausing or stopping specific capital schemes funded by borrowing would free up corporate revenue budgets set aside to provide capital financing.

A further consideration is if central government introduces new interventions specifically for long term Covid-19 related pressures, such as a multi-year minimum funding guarantee to compensate local authorities for income losses beyond their control. Another option may be to allow the capitalisation of losses, which would ultimately be funded by increased borrowing. The options will be further examined to ensure their consequences are properly understood and set out for members and the outcome of the review will be presented to Cabinet as part of the draft 2021/22 budget in October 2020.

The Council continues to maintain reserve levels much above those of its peers, but it is recognised that of the £398.4m total usable reserves and capital receipts reserve, £249.3m relates to reserves built up to help to finance the Council’s £1bn capital expenditure plans.

Excluding the capital reserves, HRA and schools’ reserves leaves general fund reserves of £134.8m, which is close to the average level of reserves for London boroughs. However, the Council must carefully consider the use of its reserves to support revenue shortfalls as it is a non-recurrent source of funding, and use of reserves on a large-scale risks creating structural overspends if the Council’s finances do not recover quickly and income is reduced long term.

From an audit point of view, the Council has managed its revenue reserves in a way that makes it better placed than most London councils to survive the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic from a financial perspective. This prudent approach to reserves must be continued to address the risk of future pandemics, recessions and other issues or events that may impact on the Council’s financial sustainability.

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Brilliant work on River Brent off Blackbird Hill by Thames21 and volunteers

September 3, 2020, 6:56 am

≫ Next: Brent & Kilburn Times saved by takeover

≪ Previous: Auditor: Brent better placed than most London councils to survive the financial challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic

Some of the volunteers

The walk through the urban orchard and St David's Open Space and along the River Thames appears on my Green Walk (see side panel) and is a great off the road route from Blackbird Hill (Quainton Open Space) to Wembley Park Station.

If we want to reduce car trips to schools it is a good route for young children accompanied by parents or independent older pupils. I was using the route the other day to get from Chalkhill School to Birchen Grove allotments and notice two extensive heaps of rubbish that had been collected in a Thames21 cleanup of the area which is part of an ongoing project.

The route of the river can be seen in the line of trees below. The river disappears under the railway line to re-emerge behind Wembley Stadium where there is another walking route to Stonebridge.

Brent Rivers and Communities Project Officer, Carolina Pinto, sent this report of the clean up day:

Last Saturday volunteers arrived on time, and the event started at 10.30am with a safety talk and instructions.

It is worth mentioning the important participation of our partners Ashford Place. We also counted with the presence of a representative from Extinction Rebellion Brent.

Everyone geared up, the group was divided to either litter pick or help to clean some duckweed from the pond. *Duckweeds are small, free-floating aquatic perennials that combine to form a green 'carpet' on the surface of the water. At Quainton we saw a thick mat covering the surface of the water, hard to remove, therefore a task to be continued.

During the break, we had surprise. The singer Maria Costa performed a song called the ‘River Brent’, a song she composed last year for the volunteers that joined forces in this initiative, to help the river Brent.

The result from litter picking: 40 full black bags of litter, a baby buggy, and a few other items.

Most volunteers mentioned coming back to the next events.

The next steps of the Brent Rivers and Communities project are to improve the park area (informal paths and more vegetation management now that the bird nesting season is coming to an end), and to start the river restoration activities- pre-booked for the beginning of October.

Come join us in the next events that will happen on Saturday 19^th September 2020 (Please remember to book in advance).

Carolina.Pinto@thames21.org.uk

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Brent & Kilburn Times saved by takeover

September 3, 2020, 7:28 am

≫ Next: Brent Standards Committee upholds councillor's freedom of speech

≪ Previous: Brilliant work on River Brent off Blackbird Hill by Thames21 and volunteers

Some of the many Archant titles

Brent's only surviving local paper, the Brent and Kilburn Times, which during the Covid19 crisis has been asking readers for support has been saved from bankruptcy and potential closure along with other Archant titles. Readers will have noticed how thin the paper has been recently.

The Eastern Daily Press, lead title of the 150 year group, explained the acquisition by Rcapital.

Norwich-based Archant - which publishes EDP, Norwich Evening News and many newspaper and magazine titles throughout East Anglia and beyond - has been acquired by new investors who will provide funding to continue its transformation into a successful modern media company.
The announcement also gives security for many hundreds of Archant pensioners and their families, and protects the hundreds of local businesses Archant trades with, who may otherwise have suffered losses  had the business, hit hard by Covid-19, been forced into bankruptcy.
Simon Bax, Archant’s Executive Chairman, said safeguarding the interests of local suppliers and customers, and its near-1,000 employees had been his priority.
Archant and our newspapers and magazines are an intrinsic part of East Anglian life. Not only do we employ hundreds of people in the region, but we are also an important part of hundreds of other local businesses who supply us, or depend on us to help grow their business.
Like so many other businesses, Covid-19 threw us into a very difficult position. Naturally, I am very sad this deal marks the end of ownership of the local families who founded our company all that time ago. But equally I am happy we have found a new partner who respects our heritage and is able to nurture Archant’s future.
I would also like to thank the Colman and Copeman families who have been the custodians of quality journalism in East Anglia for so long – their legacy is a modern media company that will continue to proudly serve the region.
The new owners, family-based firm Rcapital, specialise in backing companies with immediate financial challenges but who otherwise have ambitious and compelling plans for commercial success.
Chris Campbell, partner at Rcapital, said:
We are incredibly pleased to have worked alongside Archant’s management team and KPMG to put forward a plan that will restructure finances and inject fresh capital into one of Britain’s oldest local newspaper brands. We are hopeful, that with the support of its creditors, Archant will emerge from this challenging period as a stronger business that continues to provide a vital service to its clients and readership. Today’s announcement marks an exciting next phase for both Archant and Rcapital - I am looking forward to working with Simon and his team to deliver on the transformation plan.
Like many other businesses in the UK, Archant had become increasingly hamstrung by multi-million payments required to pay down the large deficit in its long-defunct company pension scheme.
Under the deal, that pension scheme has been transferred to the Pension Protection Fund, a public body responsible for managing almost a quarter of a million pensions in the UK.
Shareholders in holding company Archant Limited, which has been placed into administration as part of the change of ownership, have been informed their shares are now of no value.
There is no interruption to publishing in the business, which continues to trade as before.

Clearly it is early days and we will have to wait to see what the 'transformation plans' will mean in terms of jobs and the survival of titles. Closure or transfer to on-line would be a blow against local democracy. The group have this week launched a campaign backing local councils' demands for adequate post-Covid funding.

↧

Brent Standards Committee upholds councillor's freedom of speech

September 3, 2020, 8:27 am

≫ Next: It's the London Borough of Butt! Leader sees off challenge & strengthens his position

≪ Previous: Brent & Kilburn Times saved by takeover

The Audit and Standards Committee has published a 2 year record of its decisions. LINK

I was particulalarly pleased to see this decision:

23.10.18

Complainants

6 Councillor(s)

Complaint

Complaint regarding comments made, and published on social media (blog) by a Cllr about his removal from a committee.

Outcome

Decision under Initial Assessment Criteria:

Complaint was not considered to disclose sufficiently serious potential breach of the Code to merit further consideration as the Cllr was entitled to express the views he did as a matter of freedom of speech.

↧

It's the London Borough of Butt! Leader sees off challenge & strengthens his position

September 3, 2020, 11:56 am

≫ Next: CMA: Mis-selling or unfair contract terms on leasehold homes will not be tolerated.

≪ Previous: Brent Standards Committee upholds councillor's freedom of speech

The first part of Brent Labour Group's AGM saw Cllr Muhammed Butt easily see off a challenge from Cllr Abdirazak Abdi. Butt got more than twice as many votes as his opponent with fewer than a handful of abstentions.

With the Labour Group officer positions going to members friendly to Butt and appointments for particular Cabinet positions under his control, Labour insiders interpret the result as consolidating Butt's power and patronage, leaving him in perhaps his strongest position yet since he replaced Ann John in 2012.

By the next Local Council elections in 2022 he will have been Leader for 10 years having been Ann John's deputy previously.

With only one Liberal Democrat and 3 tame Conservatives in opposition and firm control of his own party, Butt is now likely to lay claim to an outstanding record of political and electoral success.

Perhaps that record will help him move on to other political pastures...

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CMA: Mis-selling or unfair contract terms on leasehold homes will not be tolerated.

September 4, 2020, 12:37 am

≫ Next: MP and Assembly Member join battle against the Jubilee line screechers

≪ Previous: It's the London Borough of Butt! Leader sees off challenge & strengthens his position

In the light of our recent coverage of leasehold issues in South Kilburn and the number of new developments across Brent it is welcome that the Competition and Markets Authority is opening enforcement cases against developers. Please note that apart from the named developers letters are also being sent to others.

This is the CMA's Press Release issued yesterday:

As part of its ongoing investigation, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is today opening enforcement cases focusing on certain practices of:

Barratt Developments
Countryside Properties
Persimmon Homes
Taylor Wimpey

The move comes after the CMA uncovered troubling evidence of potentially unfair terms concerning ground rents in leasehold contracts and potential mis-selling. It is concerned that leasehold homeowners may have been unfairly treated and that buyers may have been misled by developers.

The CMA’s action relates to the following areas of concern:

Mis-selling

Ground rents: developers failing to explain clearly exactly what ground rent is, whether it increases over time, when increases will occur and by how much.
Availability of freehold: people being misled about the availability of freehold properties. For example, the CMA found evidence that some people were told properties on an estate would only be sold as leasehold homes, when they were in fact later sold as freeholds to other buyers.
Cost of the freehold: people being misled about the cost of converting their leasehold to freehold ownership. When buying their home, the CMA found evidence that some people were told the freehold would cost only a small sum, but later down the line the price had increased by thousands of pounds with little to no warning.
Unfair sales tactics: developers using unfair sales tactics – such as unnecessarily short deadlines to complete purchases – to secure a deal, meaning people could feel pressured and rushed into buying properties that they may not have purchased had they been given more time.

Unfair contract terms – ground rents

The use of unfair contract terms that mean homeowners have to pay escalating ground rents, which in some cases can double every 10 years. This increase is built into contracts, meaning people can also struggle to sell their homes and find themselves trapped.

Alongside these issues, the CMA will also be looking further into ground rent increases based on the Retail Price Index (RPI) and may take enforcement action should it find evidence of unfair practices in relation to these. In particular, the CMA is concerned about the fairness of escalating ground rent terms linked to RPI and that these are not always effectively explained by developers when discussing RPI-based ground rent with prospective homeowners.

The CMA will also be investigating certain firms who bought freeholds from these developers and have continued to use the same unfair leasehold contract terms.

The CMA has now written to Barratt, Countryside, Persimmon, and Taylor Wimpey outlining its concerns and requiring information.

How the case proceeds will depend on the CMA’s assessment of the evidence. Possible outcomes include legal commitments from the companies to change the way they do business, or if necessary, the CMA could take firms to court.

Andrea Coscelli, CMA Chief Executive, said:

It is unacceptable for housing developers to mislead or take advantage of homebuyers. That’s why we’ve launched today’s enforcement action.
Everyone involved in selling leasehold homes should take note: if our investigation demonstrates that there has been mis-selling or unfair contract terms, these will not be tolerated.

Alongside its enforcement action, the CMA is also sending letters to a number of other developers, encouraging them to review their practices to make sure they are treating consumers fairly and complying with the law.

For people who own, or are looking to buy, a leasehold property, the CMA has produced written and video guidance, which offers advice on a number of issues, including what people can do when faced with fees and charges they consider unjustified.

The CMA will continue to work with the Government on its reform plans for the leasehold market, including supporting the move to ban the sale of new leasehold houses and reduce ground rents for new leases to zero.

↧

MP and Assembly Member join battle against the Jubilee line screechers

September 5, 2020, 2:34 am

≫ Next: The Welsh Harp Reservoir Story – Part 3

≪ Previous: CMA: Mis-selling or unfair contract terms on leasehold homes will not be tolerated.

Barry Gardiner MP and Navin Shah London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow have backed local campaigners whose lives have been blighted by a loud screech made by Jubilee line trains at a curve in the track in Kingsbury.

For over 2 years, houses that back onto the Jubilee Line’s Kingsbury Curve and farther afield have been affected by the increase in noise levels from the passing trains.

Residents are unable to socialise or relax in their gardens. People cannot sleep. Those working from home in the heat of the summer are unable to open their windows due to the noise disturbance. The Jubilee Line is on the Night Time network so on Friday and Saturdays, when it starts running again, there will be no let-up through the night.

In desperation, two neighbours from either side of the tracks, Anne Bovett and Karen Flaum, met by chance and decided to take action. Having written to TfL on a number of occasions and urging neighbours to do the same, they have now presented their MP Barry Gardiner with a petition of over 200 signatories asking him to take up their request for the speed limit on the Curve to be re-introduced, believing this will curb the noise.

Quotes from neighbours:

The noise is affecting my ability work from home as I can’t open the window.
We can hear the noise from our house 200m away
Cannot hear anybody in garden or hear TV or phone when train passe
We are long overdue for some peace
The frequency of the trains results in a continuous barrage of noise.
I cannot stay in the garden for any length of time.

Due to the pandemic, rather than go door-to-door with the petition, Anne Bovett and Karen Flaum posted individual copies into homes in Ravenscroft Avenue, Uxendon Hill and surrounding roads and hoped that neighbours would sign. They did!

The campaigners sent the petition to Barry Gardiner who wrote to Andy Byford, Commissioner at Transport for London asking that he:

provides an update regarding the progress that has been made to investigate possible solutions and take readings at affected properties
passes on the documents provided which sets out the concerns of residents so that they can be reviewed and assessed by the appropriate team when investigating the solutions available.
ensures the request of the 205 signatories for a reduction in speed to 20mph on The Kingsbury Curve is appropriately considered as a possible measure to improve the noise pollution that residents are having to endure.
ensures that affected residents are consulted throughout this process and they are provided with assurances that the necessary steps are being taken by TfL to address their concerns.

Navin Shah went as far as to threaten to pick up a banner and join the campaigners when he wrote to Heidi Alexander, Deputy Mayor for Transport:

Over two years TfL’s efforts at lowering noise levels at the above location(s) have failed and local residents are seeking renewed and urgent action to get their quality of life back from the persistent intrusive noise. I am writing to you to express my strong support to their concerns and help my constituents to regain the ‘quieter life’ as they put it.

FYI in early June this year, grease output of the track lubricant on Kingsbury curve was increased to reduce the screeching of rails but this has failed. Recently Mr Barros the TfL Noise and Vibration engineer visited the locality and confirmed the noise levels had increased. His report is awaited to confirm the current situation

I am hugely disappointed that despite so many investigations, inspections, email writings not a hint of the progress of equal to a tip of a pin can be presented to the residents of the area. I feel ashamed because this is the only task I have failed for residents. Please note I want to see demonstrable progress and want it as soon as possible otherwise I will have no alternative but to pick up the banners along with others and start campaigning with the local residents without any ifs or buts. There must remain the urgent need and genuine desire for bringing back noise level to a bearable level for residents any further delay would be unacceptable for the goodwill and respect we have for each other. TFL must act now, please.

The Director of Assets for London Underground told the Kilburn Times LINK that they were aware of the concerns of residents who lived around the Kingsbury Curve and had been told that recent work on the track had not reduced noise sufficiently. They will investigate additional measures including alternative lubrication for train wheels.

A wider solution which would require more fundamental change was suggested by Cedric Lynch who commenting on the story said:

Train wheel treads used to be machined to a slightly conical shape that allowed them to roll quietly round curves because the flanges did not have to touch the rails to make the wheels follow the curve. This wheel shape was found to cause "hunting" (a rapid oscillation) at high speeds on British Rail trains and was changed to a perfectly cylindrical shape that stopped the hunting but caused screeching on curves. Perhaps the solution is to go back to the conical shape on Underground trains, which do not go fast enough for hunting to be a problem.

↧

The Welsh Harp Reservoir Story – Part 3

September 5, 2020, 3:42 am

≫ Next: Community skips in all Brent wards during September - up to 5 bulky items with proof of Brent address

≪ Previous: MP and Assembly Member join battle against the Jubilee line screechers

Thank you for joining me again, on this third stage of our journey through the history of “the Welsh Harp” (our local reservoir – not the musical instrument!). In Part 2, we saw how the enterprise of W.P. Warner had made the name of his tavern synonymous with the reservoir beside it. This time we’ll explore changes, on and around the reservoir, into the 20^thcentury.

1. The Kingsbury dam and its overflow, c.1900. (Brent Archives online image 1341)

At first, not much changed. The area of water was mainly surrounded by the meadows of local farms, and attracted visitors to the countryside just beyond the expanding urban sprawl of London. Water flowing over the dam to feed the River Brent was a popular sight, across the fields of Gravel Pit Farm at Neasden. West Hendon had developed slightly, but there was still lots of open space nearby.

2. Cool Oak Lane, with its causeway and bridge across the reservoir's northern arm, c.1900.
(Barnet Local Studies Centre image 3284)

The Metropolitan Railway’s Neasden Works expanded, with a new power station to supply its electric trains, which were introduced from 1905. The Canal Company, which still owned the reservoir, refused to let the Metropolitan use water from its Feeder for cooling purposes, so they had to sink two wells for that purpose. It was the First World War that finally brought more industry to the area.

The airfield at Hendon already had a small aircraft factory, run by the Grahame-White company, when the war broke out in 1914. Other companies making planes for the rapidly developing aerial warfare were soon active in the area, such as the Aircraft Manufacturing Company (“Airco”) in Colindale and Kingsbury, Handley Page in Cricklewood and later Hooper & Co in North Wembley. In 1917, Handley Page designed a prototype seaplane, hoping to sell it to the Royal Navy, and their R200 was test-flown from the Welsh Harp. They did not receive an order, so the seaplane never went into production.

3. Scale drawings of the Handley Page R200 seaplane. (Courtesy of the R.A.F. Museum, Hendon)

By 1917, the slopes of Dollis Hill down to the reservoir were also the home of the Mechanical Warfare Department. Its role was to design and test tanks, for use to try and break the trench warfare stalemate on the war’s western front. By 1918, one of the designs it was working on was a modified version of the Mark IX tank, and on a misty morning in November 1918 the world’s first amphibious tank was tested on the Welsh Harp reservoir.

4. A Mark IX amphibious tank entering the Welsh Harp, November 1918. (Image from the Tank Museum)

Earlier this year, a friend interested in military history sent me a link to a short film that includes (at the end) footage of this test. It had been used as part of a French article on First World War tanks, and was described as a ‘Duck Tank being tested on the pond of Dolly Hill’! This “top secret” Department remained at Dollis Hill until 1921, before being moved to Hampshire. Its main buildings, surrounded by a high wall, were in the Humber Road area. It is remembered in the street name, Tankridge Road, and a section of the wall remains at Walton Close.

5. Remaining section of Mechanical Warfare Department wall, Walton Close, Dollis Hill, c.2010.

6. Aerial view of the reservoir in 1919, with West Hendon beneath the plane’s wing, and Dollis Hill beyond.

The local aircraft industry was badly hit when the Government scrapped its contracts for planes once the war had ended. One company at Hendon made use of the unwanted aircraft to offer pleasure flights to paying customers. The photograph above appeared with an article on the subject in “Flight” magazine, in June 1919, and shows a view across the reservoir to Dollis Hill.

7. The railway viaduct, seen from the Edgware Road bridge, 1921. (Barnet Local Studies Centre image 871)

The 19^th century had seen first canals, then railways, develop as important methods of transport. This scene from 1921, of the Midland Railway viaduct crossing the eastern arm of the reservoir, was soon to change dramatically as the rise of motor vehicles meant a need for better roads. The North Circular Road was constructed during the 1920s to help heavy commercial traffic avoid having to drive through Central London. Its proposed route would take it just south of the Welsh Harp, and by 1926 this section of the reservoir was filled in, and the River Brent put into a culvert, so that the road could pass under the brick arches of the viaduct.

8. New housing at Dollis Hill, and over the reservoir at Kingsbury, late 1920s. (Brent Archives image 570)

The construction of the North Circular Road opened up the northern slopes of Dollis Hill for development, and by the late 1920s new streets were appearing between Brook Road and Links Road. These can be seen in the photograph above, together with what must be the start of the Post Office Research Centre at the top of the hill. Across the reservoir, new suburban homes were also being built in the Church Lane and Wood Lane areas of Kingsbury. In 1928, Willesden Urban District Council bought 40 acres of land on the Kingsbury side of the Welsh Harp, planning to use it as a cemetery, which would lead to disputes that lasted until 1965!

The rapidly growing population at Neasden and Dollis Hill prompted Willesden Council to open a recreation ground on their side of the Welsh Harp. They also built a Neasden branch library, overlooking it, at the corner of Aboyne Road and the North Circular, which opened in 1931. In keeping with a growing fashion for open air activity, this had a reading terrace at first floor level.

9. The reading terrace at Neasden Library, 1931. (Brent Archives online image 2926)

One of the open air activities which had grown in popularity at the Welsh Harp during the 1920s was “sunbathing”, although it was not popular with everyone. By 1930, there was growing opposition among local residents to the visitors who came to the reservoir’s banks to bathe in the nude. One man complained to the Council that, while walking home to the Edgware Road from Old Kingsbury Church on a Sunday evening, they had come across ‘a bunch of stark naked men…. Hardly a pleasant sight for a man to have to pass with his wife!’

Matters came to a head one weekend in June 1930, when 40 men and women of the Sun-Ray Club (‘some wore no clothes, others wore slips or bathing drawers’) were confronted by a crowd of around 200 local people. Despite the presence of four policemen, who told them that the sunbathers were on private land, with permission from the owner, and that they had no right to interfere, the crowd attacked the bathers and drove them away. Kingsbury Council dealt with the issue in a more dignified way, when they received a deputation (not a new idea) from the National Sun and Air Association in May 1931, although they also decided against sunbathing!

10. Extract from the minutes of a Kingsbury Urban District Council meeting on 6 May 1931. (Brent Archives)

On the reservoir itself, the Brent Sailing Club was formed at the Old Welsh Harp Inn in 1930. A less tranquil use of the water also began the same year, when the London Motor Boat Club held its first speedboat racing event at the Welsh Harp. Larger speedboats were also used to give thrill rides for paying customers, as shown in this newsreel film from 1932.

11. A motor boat race on the Welsh Harp reservoir in 1937. (From the collection of the late Geoffrey Hewlett)

The 1931 speedboat racing season had celebrity guests at its opening, the aviator Amy Johnson and actress Anna Neagle. Amy had lived at Roe Green for nine months, before the solo flight to Australia that made her famous, and then had a flat at Vernon Court in Hendon Way. By coincidence, it was Anna Neagle who starred as Amy Johnson in a film about her life, after her tragic death in 1941, while flying as a wartime pilot in the Air Transport Auxiliary.

12. Anna Neagle and Amy Johnson at the Welsh Harp, April 1931. (From: ‘Amy Johnson – Queen of the Air’)

The south-east corner of the reservoir saw rapid industrial development along its main roads, and on the reclaimed land, in the late 1920s and through the 1930s. One of the factories by the junction of the North Circular and Edgware Roads made mattresses. The company was Staples, and the busy corner was soon known by that name. The traffic lights here became well-known for the jams that built up, as seen below in 1937.

13. Staples Corner in 1937, with the mattress factory bottom left. (Barnet Local Studies Centre image 4920)

When war came again in 1939, Dollis Hill again had a part to play. Secret underground bunkers were built for the Admiralty at its Citadel office building, on the corner of the Edgware Road and Oxgate Lane, and for the Cabinet at “Paddock”, beneath the Post Office Research Station in Brook Road. It was rumoured that a flying boat was moored on the Welsh Harp, ready to fly Churchill and other key leaders to safety from their reserve War Room if necessary, but I have no proof for that story. It was the research station that developed the first electronic computers, used at Bletchley Park for code-breaking during the war, and Tommy Flowers, who led the team that made them, is remembered by the modern street name, Flowers Close.

14. The aftermath of the West Hendon bombing, February 1941. (Barnet Local Studies Centre image 5105)

It was not those key targets that were hit during the Welsh Harp’s worst bombing raids of the Second World War. Early in 1941, Germany was testing new designs of high-explosive bombs, and dropping a single bomb in a raid, so that its effects could be seen afterwards. One of these exploded above the Ravenstone Road area of West Hendon on the evening of 13 February 1941, flattening 40 homes, killing more than 80 people and making around 1,500 homeless. At the opposite end of the reservoir, a V2 rocket hit one end of Wykeham School in March 1945. Luckily no children were there at the time, but seven people were killed in nearby homes.

Just as it had during the First World War, the reservoir played its part between 1939 and 1945. A Hendon Sea Training Corps was formed in 1941, and its young volunteers learned some boating skills on the Welsh Harp, as well as on land at a school in Algernon Road. Production at many factories was changed, to produce equipment for the war effort. Hickman’s works on the North Circular Road had been shopfitters, but by 1943 their carpenters were building wooden landing craft, which were tested on the reservoir before being handed over to the Royal Navy. LCAs were “Landing Craft, Assault”, which carried a platoon of up to 36 soldiers, from ships around ten miles offshore, onto the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

15. The Hickman's workers aboard a completed landing craft, 1943/44. (Image shared by the son of a worker)

Next weekend we’ll visit the Welsh Harp in more peaceful times. I hope you will join me then, for the final part of this series.

Philip Grant

↧

Community skips in all Brent wards during September - up to 5 bulky items with proof of Brent address

September 6, 2020, 1:59 am

≫ Next: Brent Cabinet discusses vital report on implementing plans to tackle Black inequality in Brent

≪ Previous: The Welsh Harp Reservoir Story – Part 3

In honour of the Great British September Clean, happening over the month of September, the Community Skip will be touring the borough and stopping in every ward.

Drop up to five bulky items free of charge, with proof of a Brent address. Representatives from Veolia will join the council’s Neighbourhood Managers to help sort items and ensure they are recycled and reused wherever possible.

To ensure everyone can maintain social distancing, you may be asked to queue. Hand sanitiser will be available.

Dates and locations are as follows. Please note that events may be cancelled or postponed at short notice. We advise that you check back. Restrictions apply, please see below (ward in brackets).

11^th September 2020, 10am-midday, Bramshill Open Space (Harlesden)
11^th September 2020, 10am-midday, Elmstead Avenue junction Preston Road (Preston)
12^th September 2020, 8am-10am, Townsend Lane (Fryent)
12^th September 2020, 10am-midday, Woodside Avenue near junction Woodside Close (Alperton)
14^th September 2020, 10am-midday, Tubbs Road outside the Pocket Park (Kensal Green)
15^th September 2020, 10am-midday, Henderson Close (Stonebridge)
16^th September 2020, 10am-midday, St Gabriels Road near the junction of Walm Lane (Mapesbury)
17^th September 2020, 10am-midday, Chalkhill Road (Barnhill)
18^th September 2020, 10am-midday, Gooseacre Lane (Kenton)
18^th September 2020, 8am-10am, Peel Road Ada Road (Northwick)
19^th September 2020, 9am-11am, Queensbury Parade junction with Winchester Ave (Queensbury)
19^th September 2020, 8am-10am, Chaplin Road near junction with Farm Lane (Sudbury)
19^th September 2020, 10am-midday, Burton Road near Waterloo Passage (Kilburn)
22^nd September 2020, 2-4pm, Quainton Street (Welsh Harp)
23^rd September 2020, 10am-midday, Christchurch Avenue near junction of Chatsworth Road (Brondesbury)
23^rd September 2020, 2-4pm, Cooper Road (Dudden Hill)
24^th September 2020, 2-4pm, Randall Avenue (Dollis Hill)
25^th September 2020, 2-4pm, St Pauls Ave (Willesden Green)
25^th September 2020, 10am-midday, Monks Park between the shopping parade service roads (Tokyngton)
26^th September 2020, 10am-midday, Kingswood Avenue junction of Harvist Road (Queens Park)
26^th September 2020, 8am-10am, Rosemead Ave close to number 20 (Wembley)

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Brent Cabinet discusses vital report on implementing plans to tackle Black inequality in Brent

September 7, 2020, 2:10 am

≫ Next: UPDATED WITH LATEST CHANGES Brent Cabinet changes see Cllrs Agha, Miller and Hirani replaced by Stephens, Knight and Nerva

≪ Previous: Community skips in all Brent wards during September - up to 5 bulky items with proof of Brent address

At 10am today the Brent Cabinet has a very important item on the Brent Black Community Action Plan. It constitutes 10 detailed work streams on all aspect of the Council's work:

1.    Early intervention: children, young people and families
2.   Enabling and strengthening community leadership through capacity building
3.   Developing community spaces – run and managed by local communities
4.   Supporting the black community and voluntary sector - grant funding and procurement
5.   Support for employment and enterprise
6.   Accountability and engagement
7.   Internal review of processes within the Council
8.   Homes and homelessness
9.   Tackling health inequalitieS
10. Embedding equality and diversity within the council workforce.

Unfortunately there is a possibility that most publicity will be given to a parallel plan to review the names of places in Brent associated with people involved in the slave trade, including Gladstone Park. Although symbolically important and perhaps an 'easy win' the resulting furore may drown out the vital and more difficult work involved in tackling current inequalities in education, work, health and housing to name just some of the work streams. As a veteran of the anti-racist campaigns in education in the 1970s I remember how the work we were undertaking in schools was derailed by rows about whether 'Baa, baa black sheep' should be banned. Slave trade names are important but have to be kept in perspective.

As an example of the detailed work this is Workstream 1 - Early Intervention: children, young people and families:

1.Working with schools to influence school curricula to:

· support young black boys with developing self-esteem, self-worth and confidence in the classroom, and through coaching and mentoring in schools

· ensure positive Black History is being taught.

School Effectiveness officers will continue to work with schools to encourage the teaching of black history. Good practice examples in Brent include schools, which have been awarded the United Nations ‘Rights Respecting Schools Award’, reducing inequality and promoting inclusive societies.

Officers will ensure schools maintain a focus on the progress of priority groups & will continue to support the ‘Raising Achievement of boys of Black Caribbean heritage’ project, building on the success in improving outcomes in Year 1/2 of the project.

2.Recruitment drive for black school governors. This includes encouraging schools and Governor training to include unconscious bias and anti-racism training. Recruitment processes for school governors are ongoing. A recent focused campaign resulted in 25% of recruited governors identifying as being Black/Black British. The governor training offer will be developed to include unconscious bias and anti-racism training.

3.Creating an assured way of life for young black people by enabling them to fulfil their ambitions and aspirations relating to education and work through:

enabling young people to explore and express their aspirations, which will include making them aware of opportunities available to them. This could also include confidence-building and making them feel ‘accepted’ and that
they do not have to work twice as hard as their non-black peers to achieve the same levels of positive outcomes for themselves
supporting parents with their own aspirations and to understand the aspirations of their families and children, and how they can enable their children to thrive
institutions, including FE colleges, reviewing their support to ensure it is enabling young black people to discover and achieve their aspirations and removing structural racism and unconscious bias and barriers.

Looking at the pinch points in a young person’s life (birth, starting school, transitioning from primary to secondary school, selecting GCSE subjects and beyond) we need to look at ensuring:

that the institutions and individuals who are influencers in a young person’s life at various stages possess the cultural competence to understand and respond to the context, pressures and barriers young black people can encounter at every critical stage in their lives. Training will be essential.
young people are enabled and given the ability to prepare for and handle situations. This includes developing personal resilience skills and creating spaces to have difficult conversations, possibly in school. These conversations could be trauma felt or experienced, directly or indirectly
that institutions deploy trauma training for professionals working with young people to support them with trauma and other issues faced
space and opportunity for young people to act as leaders and influencers
opportunities for young people to learn about black history which can enable self-worth and aspirations to grow
opportunities to celebrate achievements, for example, through an annual Youth Pride of Brent Awards evening hosted by the Council.

Actions in this section will align with actions in work stream 5 regarding support for employment and enterprise. Parents will be supported to access early years entitlements and the 30 hours free childcare offer through the Progress for All project.

Family Wellbeing Centres will provide parents and carers of 0-18 year olds with access to support services and programmes to develop their confidence and life skills.

Trauma-informed practice training will continue to be provided for professionals working with young people. Schools and colleges will be supported to access training in areas of cultural competence, unconscious bias and anti-racism.

Working with YBF and the Beckmead Trust, integrated youth activities will be provided around the new Alternative Provision school at the Roundwood Centre from January 2021. Youth engagement through a series of podcasts exploring issues and concerns for young people.

With The Beat London, the council recently commissioned a special

‘Time to Talk Covid-19’, phone-in to discuss why the BAME community is disproportionately affected by Covid-19
Brent Youth Parliament gives young people who may feel marginalised the opportunity to have a voice.

Alll the work streams can be accessed by following these links:

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UPDATED WITH LATEST CHANGES Brent Cabinet changes see Cllrs Agha, Miller and Hirani replaced by Stephens, Knight and Nerva

September 8, 2020, 5:02 am

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Brent Council has updated its website with new Cabinet appointments.

Cllr Neil Nerva replaces Cllr Hirani as Lead Member for Public Health, Culture and Leisure. Cllr Hirani is the Labour Brent and Harrow Constituency candidate for the May 2021 GLA Election (deferred from May 2020). Hirani lost little time in publishing a video congratulating himself on his performance in the Cabinet, which served the twin purpose of promoting his GLA campaign. LINK

Cllr Promise Knight replaces Cllr Tom Miller as Lead Member for Community Safety and Engagement

Cllr Thomas Stephens replaces Cllr Agha as Lead Member for Schools, Employment and Skills. Cllr Stephens was the main author of the recent report on democracy which was criticised as not going far enough by Cllr Gill LINK

The other Cabinet positions that remain unchanged according to the website are:

Cllr Muhammed Butt (Leader)
Cllr Margaret McLennan (Deputy Leader and Member for Resources)
Cllr Harbi Farah (Lead Member for Adult Social Care)
Cllr Mili Patel (Lead Member for Children's Safeguarding, Early Help and Social)
Cllr Krupa Sheth (Lead Member for Environment)
Cllr Eleanor Southwood (Lead Member for Housing and Welfare Reform)
Cllr Shama Tatler (Lead Member for Regeneration, Property and Planning)

I understand that Cllr Roxanne Mashari becomes Chair of Resources and Public Realm Committee following the decision to have male and female chairs. Cllr Ketan Sheth continues as Chair of Communitu and Wellbeing Scrutiny.

Cllr Matt Kelcher leaves Scrutiny to become Chair of Planning and Cllr James Denselow takes on the lesser role of Chair of Licensing.

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