John Healy, a disabled pensioner on the South Kilburn Estate has been given the run-around by Brent Council in his attempts to get them to issue a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP) to safeguard his life in the event of a fire. He contacted me in desperation after getting nowehere with councillors, housing officers and his MP:

I am grateful for anything that you might be able to help me with, including contacting the council on my behalf.   I sent my completed PEEP to the council last September but they have not contacted me about it.  Since them my mobility has got much worse and I am now housebound.

I keep ringing them and emailing the council and also my Kilburn Ward councillors  but no one replies. I escalated it by contacting my MP but she has not replied either, although she did sent me an automated email saying she had received my email and would get back to me sometime.

Inside Housing had a story last Friday, on how several disabled people died trapped in their homes in Grenfell tower and I could be facing the same situation in my block as no one can ever predict when a fire may break out.

I offered John Healy a chance to tell his own story on Wembley Matters. Here it is:

GUEST POST BY JOHN HEALY

I am a 70 year old male, living on my own in a South Kilburn high-rise, with a mobility issue and a hearing impairment (in both ears) I am registered with Brent Council as a disabled person but unfortunately I also caught the Covid  back in early March 2020 which has worsened my mobility issues and at the end of Feb. 2021 my legs felt they like they had lead attached to them and the result was I was unable to walk at all. I had been asking the council for a PEEP (Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan) for over 6 months but they will not issue me with one.

 

I need a PEEP urgently in case my high-rise needs an emergency evacuation e.g a severe fire and I would need the assistance of someone to help me evacuate my flat but without having a PEEP no one will be aware of my situation. I assume there will be many more disabled people in Brent needing a PEEP which the council needs to respond to immediately, as it could be a matter of life and death.

 

Currently Parliament is set to make it a legal requirement (Ref: The Fire Safety Bill) for all councils in England to issue a PEEP to all disabled people living in high rises who need one.  They will use a 'traffic light system' that will identify the risk level of every disabled person living in a high rise flat e.g. red for people with mobility issues and green for people with hearing impairments.

 

Although I am not a leaseholder myself, I am a member of the disabled leaseholders group who have been campaigning to get the government to pay for the removal of dangerous cladding from their own high rises but some of them also need a PEEP,  I have submitted a question to the panel at next week's cladding meeting on Zoom (see WM post below for details) where I have asked the panel, "Why does Brent Council refuse to issue me with a PEEP?" and hopefully both my MP's might give me a response.  I have previously sent three emails to my MP but she has not replied yet. That is ok as I know she is very busy dealing with other serious issues all of the time.

 

It appears that my high -rise has even fewer Fire Prevention measures than were in situ at Grenfell e.g we do not even have any fire alarms that could alert all our residents if a fire was to break out and help them to evacuate more quickly.  The council have also said it would be a waste of money to install sprinklers in my high-rise, as it is due to be demolished in 2026/27 as part of the South Kilburn Regeneration programme.

 

At Larkanal in 2009 everyone who died were not disabled but were families with children and they were told to remain in their 4th floor flats and wait for the fire service to come & rescue them - they were burnt alive. Some people might not think being on the 5th floor is high enough to be a threat but the Grenfell fire started on the 4th floor. But for me it is about evacuating myself down our only fire escape, unable to see in the smoke and with everyone non-disabled in a hurry to get out and I might be in their way due to my slow pace.

 

Several disabled people at Grenfell had this experience for real and they described being knocked over by others trying to escape

 

When I first moved into the block in 1993 the council had a policy saying no one with a disability should be housed above the 4th floor but they said 4^th or 5^th - what's the difference?  But it could be difficult to escape if you cannot walk even if you are only one floor up.

 

Brent Council has not implemented any of the Fire Safety Risks – Means of Escape for Disabled People (2007) LINK  measures in my tower block and I assume in the other 37 high rises in Brent.  e.g. my block does not even have a Fire Alarm.

 

Finally, The London Fire Brigade believes that everyone will be safe if sprinklers are installed in every high rise across London and that every council should install them without delay.  But it seems the council do not consider that my life and my fellow residents are worth saving, as they have decided we are expendable.  But if the council were to issue me with a PEEP, at least it would increase my chances of surviving, unlike all the disabled residents who tragically lost their lives at The Grenfell Tower in 2017…

Disability Rights UK has  insisted that disabled people in high rise flats should have a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan. LINK  

Time for some action.

Outraged patients are demanding that local NHS leaders reject a “Trojan horse” takeover of their GP surgeries by Operose Health, and start the public procurement process to find a new provider.  Brent CCG’s Primary Care Commissioning Committee is meeting on 17th March to discuss a regional NHS recommendation to approve the Operose takeover of AT Medics Ltd that previously ran the NHS contract for two GP surgeries, Burnley Medical Practice located in the Willesden Centre for Health and Care and The Wembley Practice based in the Wembley Centre for Health and Care.

Operose is a heavily loss-making subsidiary propped up by US based health insurer, Centene Corporation which is registered in Delaware, and has paid no UK tax.  Centene could pull the plug on Operose at any time forcing the the shut-down of a large number of GP practices.  Centene’s shareholders have accused it of financial cover-up and insider share dealing.

Operose Health’s publicity states openly that its market strategy is to exit NHS contracts that do not make a profit.  In one instance an Operose associate company pulled out of running Camden Road Surgery giving patients only 4 weeks to register elsewhere, to the fury of Camden councillors.

Patients argue that an open procurement process will guarantee patient safety and provide sustainable and transparent GP services, as opposed to Brent CCG rubber stamping a takeover where assurances by AT Medics have already been broken and Operose comes with a dubious financial future.

Nan Tewari, a patient of The Wembley Practice, accuses the NHS North West London region of wilfully misusing the pandemic as cover to bounce other local CCGs into rushing through approvals of the Centene/ Operose takeover bid.  Former Brent NHS non-executive director, Ms Tewari explained:  

It didn’t take much for our own basic internet research of Companies House records to uncover how Operose Health and MH Services are controlled and bankrolled by Centene to the tune of £tens of millions.  Then there is the little matter of Operose’s CEO and a director being former senior NHS executives.  Is it cronyism and corruption, or serial incompetence by greasy pole climbers, that led NHS NWL to withhold this vital information from the local CCGs?

 

On the one hand you have NHS region insisting Brent CCG has no choice but to agree the Operose takeover and on the other, it is advising that ultimate responsibility lies with Brent CCG as the legal decision-maker of the Brent GP surgeries’ future.  The breathtaking cynicism in this dishonourable ploy lies in NWL region knowing perfectly well that with Brent CCG soon to be abolished under national plans, patients will have no come-back if Centene decides to pull the financial plug on Operose and the surgeries close down.  Then, NHS region will shamelessly lament the late Brent CCG’s poor judgement and lack of prudence.  I’ve seen a similar scenario played out here in previous years.

 

She added: 

 NHS NWL says it’s satisfied by unenforceable ‘assurances’ that former GP surgery contract holders, AT Medics, would remain in control of the surgeries, yet in the space of a few short weeks since the Operose takeover, all the AT Medics directors have resigned or been sacked  It’s deplorable how NHS region gets away with continually palming off its sub-standard services and empty promises onto Brent patients.

Not that long ago, 3 reputable, UK tax-paying surgeries in Queens Park had wanted to merge and they were made to jump through a load of hoops and be grilled at length by Brent CCG’s Primary Care Commissioning Committee.  The double standard of NHS North West London practically instructing the CCG to push through the Centene/ Operose takeover under secrecy of ‘Chair’s Action’ and without any similar questioning, is a public scandal.

 

As with the Queens Park surgeries’ merger, the CCG must now fulfil its legal duty and moral obligation to Brent patients, and commission a reliable company through open public procurement rules, to run the two surgeries.

BRENT PATIENT VOICE RAISES KEY ISSUES OVER AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION, SCRUTINY, DUE DILIGENCE AND FINANCIAL STANDING

Click bottom right for full size document

The contribution of flying to global warming has long been an issue for environmentalists with many activists refusing to fly, most notably Greta Thunberg, and others rationing themselves to flights only when there is no alternative - although of course some would argue that the alternative is to stop completely, although that is a fraught decision in communities such as ours when families have so many relatives oveseas.

The rise of zoom conferencing during the pandemic may well  lead to an overall reduction in flying in the business sector and those not very healthy 'red eye' flights.

'Just Transition' refers to the demand that the transition to a low carbon economy is only viable if workers in the high-carbon sectors are offered alternative training and employment and not thrown into unemployment.  The importance of the Green Party engaging with trade unions over these issues was reiterated at our recent conference and a commitment made to emphasise work with trade unions and trade unionists in pursuit of a just transition.

 A Guest Post by Philip Grant

Last month, I wrote a guest blog about a planning application, which seeks to remove a condition from an existing planning consent. That condition was put there for public safety reasons. You can read the details in my earlier blog here.

The Olympic Way crossing on Fulton Road, and the LED screens (“JD WE’RE BACK”)

The condition prevents moving image adverts from being shown on large LED screens fixed to the Boxpark building in Olympic Way, when vehicles are using Fulton Road. It is designed to protect pedestrians on Olympic Way, as they use the busy crossing at Fulton Road, from drivers who may be distracted by the moving images.

After I submitted my objection to that planning application, the Planning Case Officer decided that the application was invalid, because ‘the proposals appear to be unclear in terms of which screens they are referring to and which screens the Highways Assessment appears to be relating to.'

Drawing from the planning application, noted to show where moving image adverts are proposed.

Now the application has been resubmitted, and has been validated, with the original planning application number, 21/0379. The new public consultation period on the application runs until 22 April 2021, so if, like me, you are concerned that it would be unsafe to remove that condition, you can make your objection on the Brent planning website for 21/0379. There is also a related advertisement consent application at 21/0427.

One of my original concerns was that only two people (one of which was Quintain) had been consulted on this application, and no local residents. Now letters about the application have been sent to a number of addresses in the Olympic Way area, although 16 of the 23 were to various parts of floors in the Olympic Office Centre (I wonder how the Covid-19 vaccination centre there will respond!).

An extra address has been added to the formal consultees, but this is “Environmental Health – Noise Team’ at the Civic Centre (although I think the proposal is for moving images, not movies to be shown on the screens). One of the specific points made in my February objection comments was:

‘When the original application was considered, both Brent's Public Safety Manager and the Metropolitan Police submitted comments on public safety matters. It is imperative that their comments should also be sought on this application.’

Why have they been omitted from the revised list of consultees? That is a question I will not just ask in this post!

Philip Grant.

BOOK HERE

As MPs, councillors and campaigners prepared for the above meeting tonight there was a reminder that the issue with new build is not limited to cladding and the fire risk - it is the overall quality of the buildings that have included balconies that flood, failed heating and ill-fitting windows that are a cause for concern and culminated in a window falling out recently endangering pedestrians in the street below.

The fallen window

 L &Q Homes were forced to apologise when a window fell into the street from bourne Place, one of their South Kilburn new builds:

They told Inside HousingLINK :

“Thankfully nobody was hurt, but this was a shocking and worrying incident.

“The safety of our residents is L&Q’s number-one priority, and we are very sorry for the concern this has caused.

“Our surveying team attended the site immediately to make the window safe and begin a thorough investigation into why and how this happened.

“All residents in the block were sent a text message on Saturday afternoon, and we were able to check the windows in the homes where we were able to gain access over the weekend.

“Our surveyors have assessed that there is no further immediate risk but advised residents to keep windows shut while we urgently complete a full inspection this week.

“We will continue to keep residents informed and updated while we work to resolve all issues as quickly as possible.”

From Brent Council

Brent residents are invited to join the council and NHS partners at an event where details about the Brent Health Matters programme to address health inequalities in the borough will be explained and workshops will be carried out to listen to communities. The event takes place on:

Brent Health Matters – Time to Talk Event

Wednesday 17 March 2021, 5:30 to 7:30pm

To register go to: https://timetotalkbhm.eventbrite.co.uk

The aim of this event is to set the current Covid and health inequalities context and then engage faith, community, voluntary groups and organisations, local residents and businesses across the borough in designing and delivering the Brent Health Matters programme that is being implemented to tackle local health inequality issues.

We want to gather feedback from the community on 

(a) their perceptions of local health inequality issues and

(b) what local action plans should include to address these issues.

This feedback will help develop work to improve the health for all the different communities that make up Brent. From April 2021, they will be able to further shape action plans and see how their feedback has developed into tangible work by the community, Council and NHS partners if they continue to follow the Brent Health Matters programme as a Community Champion or Community.

A new store in Wembley Park,  that opened near the Stadium and the Arena today, was revealed as one of the first Amazon Fresh stores in the UK.

Customers use an app to shop which totals up their purchases automatically without the use of a checkout - either automated or human operated.

For those people who like human beings and may have reservations about Amazon there are Sainsbury's and Co-op stores nearby.

With the the current focus on the safety of women, local residents have remembered the tragic deaths of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, murdered in Fryent Country Park last June.

The public are invited to place their own tributes at the Fryent Way gated entrance to the park which is opposite the main car park.

Women must be able to go about their daily lives free from the ever present threat of harassment and potential violence.

Brent CCG is discussing the takeover of two Brent practices t and appears unlikely to oppose. Join HERE

Nan Tewari has put this forward to the meeting which has just  started:

From We Own IT

 Following concerns raised by individuals, Brent Patient Voice and posts on this blog the Brent CCG's Primary Care Commissioning Committee decided this afternoon to call in AT Medics and parent company Operose for what the chair termed  a 'grilling' by the Committee. AT Medics is due to take over the Burnley Practice (Willesden) and Wembley Practice in Brent.

It was  unclear whether the results of that session could make any difference to the 'conditional' decision made in December - today's discussion was the first 'in public' airing of the issues and contained information that had not been available in December and included chanegs in control and  the down-grading of people who had been listed as directors.

Research by Brent Patient Voice, Nan Tewari and other individuals had unearthed financial and strategy issues concerning the companies involved AT Medics, Operose and tabove them the wholly American company Centene.

Gaynor Lloyd expressed astonishment at the lack of due diligence. Operose had made a loss in every year of its creation in 2016 and relied on a £9m funding from Centane.  She was surpised that no conditions had been put on the contract and asked if the CCG had complied with the procurement process. Nan Tewari said it had actively purused takeovers of loss making entities in the UK.

CCG officers said that services taken over by the contractor had received 'Good' and 'Oustanding' ratings.

Peter Latham, Chair of Burnley Medical Practice (one f those affected) and Vice Chair of Brent Patient Voice said that AT Medics had told staff not to inform patients of the takeover as it didn't affect them. They did not disclose that they were an off-shoot of Centene Corporation. 

Another aspect he raised was that the small print of the Privacy Policy on the practice website, required to access its facilities, that gave permission to share data with third parties for marketing purposes. The Chair of the meeting confessed that would worry her but officers said that all practices would be guided by GDPR.

Assurances had been given that AT Medics would make no changes in current personnel and that Patient Participation Groups would continue. GPs and other staff could of course decide to leave the practice.

The practices would be monitored for progress against Key Performance Indicators and Action Plans put in place if necessary.

Thr meeting was told that there would be an article about the issue in the Brent and Kilburn Times by Barry Gardiner, but unfortunately this had not been published at the time of the meeting so not available for consideration.

The Committee made the following decisions:

1. Undertake to gather more of the assurance documents involved and make them available.

2. Convene a meeting where directors of AT Medic and Operone could answer a range of questions in the spirit of GMS merger scrutiny sessions.

3. Provide answers to the list of detailed questions asked in a 12 page letter submitted by Brent Patient Voice

 A further question had been asked in the meeting for which no immediate answer could be given over whether if there was a financial failing in the practices that had been taken over, would action have to be taken in the US courts. Perhaps that could be added to the list.

Nan Tewari posed the question in 'Chat' at the end of the discussion as to whether the PCCC was acting lawfully in this case and added this comment after the meeting:

Notably, the only Brent Councillor who held the CCG's Primary Care Commissioning Committee to account was Gaynor Lloyd (Barnhill Ward).

One of the areas she floored the PCCC on, was whether they has followed the public procurement regulations in relation to the contract transfer.  

She had to insist three times before they finally admitted that they had not.

As expected, the PCCC gutlessly ratified the Operose takeover. Presumably their own thinking faculties just go into suspense when orders are handed down to them from on high (NHS North West London).

The question now is whether the outgoing CCG decision makers acted lawfully?

 I republish below a 'Comment' made on the earlier blog post abut Nan Tewari's concerns that I think is of relevance to the above.

I had not read Robin Sharp's excellently formulated letter before making my earlier comment above. The letter was very well researched, and his reasoning as to why Brent's Clinical Commissioning Group should be very wary of a takeover of Brent G.P. surgeries by Operose was spot-on!

Having had a look at some of the company records involved, I agree that there is a lack of transparency, and some complicated structures - something which in my experience is often exploited to try and conceal things that a regulator, or Tax Inspector, might find of interest.

As at 31 December 2019, the holding company for the UK group which Operose Health Ltd is part of, MH Services International Holdings (UK) Ltd, had creditors falling due within one year of nearly £49m (£48,999k).

It owed Centene Corporation £37.8m at the end of 2019, and then notes that it received a further £13m in 2020. These debts are unsecured, but repayable on demand.

Its accounts (audited by KPMG) have been prepared on the basis that the UK group is a "going concern". This is because Centene has advised 'that it does not intend to seek repayment of the amounts due at the balance sheet date, for the period covered by the forecasts.' Those financial forecasts only go up to 31 December 2021, and the accounts note that there is a risk that those forecasts may not be met.

The Director who made all the statements in connection with the holding company accounts to 32 December 2019, and signed them off, is not one of the company's UK resident directors, but Tricia Dinkelman. Her address is given as Centene Plaza, 7700 Forsyth Blvd., St Louis, Missouri, MO-63105.

That is also the address of Centene Corporation, which is a US company registered on the New York Stock Exchange, reg. 42-1406317.

The Delaware connection, referred to in Robin Sharp's letter, is that the money which the UK group owes to Centene, has not come directly from Centene Corporation, but via its Delaware registered "affiliate", MHS Consulting International Inc.

I hope that this information will be of use to Brent Patient Voice, in their efforts to get the Clinical Commissioning Group to consider VERY carefully whether Operose is a suitable organisation to take over Brent G.P. practices.

Centene Corporation obviously appears to feel that large investments in UK NHS G.P. practices will pay dividends with profits (at the expense of UK taxpayers) in future.

It is clear from the business model policies set out in the accounts of the group holding company, MH Services International Holdings (UK) Ltd, that this will involve the closure of non-profitable parts of its business (i.e. G.P. practices that still don't make a profit after it has "rationalised" them to make them more efficient).

It also seems likely, from these policies, that G.P. practices will be charged for the consultancy services provided to help make them more efficient!

The "bottom line" is that, if this sort of "takeover" is allowed to go ahead, our NHS G.P. Services will be privatised, the Government (i.e. taxpayers) will pay more for a reduced service, and the profits will end up in the U.S.A.

Michael Stapleton, aged 62

Following the death of Michael Stapleton, aged 62, in collision with a lorry on Tuesday, Brent cyclists have issued the following statement. The driver of the lorry failed to stop but has since been contacted by police. LINK:

We are deeply saddened to hear about the fatal collision between a lorry driver and a cyclist, that occurred on Tuesday afternoon at the junction of Furness Road and Harrow Road, in Harlesden. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family and friends of the cyclist who died at the scene.

 

This precise junction between Harrow Road and Furness Road was twice consulted on in the past two and a half years, in July 2018 and in January 2019. Brent Council’s proposals were presented as measures to reduce road danger. This was indeed a location identified by the council as having a “high number of accidents” and “high levels of recorded personal injuries”. This latest collision will be added to the grim tally of 9 traffic collisions already recorded at the junction in the past five years. 3 involved a pedestrian, 2 involved a pedal cyclist and 2 involved a motorcyclist.

 

In both our responses, we warned the council the measures fell far short of a comprehensive package to reduce road danger for road users who are the most at risk. Both times, we pointed out:

• 70% of serious injury or fatal collisions happen at or near junctions,

• This precise area has been identified by Transport for London as one of the top potential connection routes in the Strategic Cycle Analysis

• The proposed road layout would not eliminate left hooks which are a critical issue for people cycling and needed addressing.

• Nothing in the proposals to limit the risks of being cut when turning right, especially since Furness Road is on a slight incline, people cycling will be a bit slower to start off at a green light, whilst motorists accelerate.

• The Advanced Stop Line, even with improvements, would continue to offer next to no protection with regards to conflicts between cyclists and motor vehicles at the junction.
•  

We made several recommendations ranging from:

• Keeping enough of the central island to provide some physical separation on the junction and bypass it altogether.

• A short, shared space section on the mostly unfrequented pavement on Harrow Road.

• Introducing a phased traffic light to give cyclists a head start and limit mixing at the junction with moving motor traffic.
•  

None of these suggestions were acted upon. We know we cannot fully design out collisions but there is always scope to limit the consequences. This starts with designing a forgiving infrastructure that would act as a buffer to protect pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists from people driving dangerously, too fast and without due care.  

 

We now urge Brent Council to work with us and competently address road danger at this location as soon as possible and in full compliance with the latest regulatory guidance.

POLICE APPEAL

Police are appealing for information relating to a fatal hit and run in north London.

Police were called by the London Ambulance Service (LAS) at 16:07hrs on Tuesday, 16 March to reports of a lorry in collision with a cyclist on High Street at the junction with Furness Road, NW10.

 

Officers attended. Despite the efforts of the emergency services, the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

 

The man has been identified as 62-year-old Michael Stapleton of NW2. His next of kin have been informed.

 

The driver failed to stop. Officers have since made contact with the driver. No arrests have been made.

 

If anyone has any dashcam or CCTV footage, or witnessed the collision please contact police via 101 quoting reference Cad 4977/16Mar or the Serious Collision Investigation Unit witness line at Alperton on 020 8246 9820.

 

You can also email

 

FROM BRENT TRADES COUNCIL

Join Brent Trades Council, Stand Up to Racism, local trade unions, and other organisations to protest racism at Brent’s Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley Park, HA9 0FJ (nearest tube Wembley Park)at 1pm

Bring your union or your organisation’s banner, physically distance, wear a mask, stay safe – limit numbers to a max of 3 per banner to ensure we remain within the law.

1pm- Take the knee at Brent’s Civic Centre

5pm – online rally: https://www.tuc.org.uk/events/world-against-racism-online-rally-un-anti-racism-day

What is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination?

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on the day the police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid “pass laws” in 1960. In 1979, the UN General Assembly decided that a week of solidarity with the peoples struggling against racism and racial discrimination, beginning on 21 March, would be organized annually in all states across the world. Since then, the apartheid system in South Africa has been dismantled. Racist laws have been abolished in many countries, and we have built an international framework for fighting racism, guided by the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The Convention is now nearing universal ratification, yet still, in all regions, too many individuals, communities and societies continue to suffer from the injustice and stigma that racism brings.

This Saturday 20 March is UN anti-racism day. It’s 60 years since the apartheid government in South Africa gunned down people struggling for freedom but in Europe, the ugly head of racism rears its head again.

Hungary’s racist leader Viktor Orbán blames migration and ‘foreigners’ for the economic crisis. He is not the only one.

Across the world the racist right is reacting in similar ways which has led to a spike in racist attacks and which spreads fear.

Already in Britain planned draconian legislation is set to target B&ME communities. Johnson’s Tory government has failed miserably to address racism in this crisis. This new legislation must be opposed.

The report into the Windrush scandal shows the racism at the heart of the Tory government and its Hostile Environment Act. Refugees seeking asylum from war zones are being left to drown in the Mediterranean and turned back from British shores.A majority of black people are stopped and searched by the British police. The enquiry into Grenfell has still not reached any conclusion. A disproportionate of B&ME workers have suffered deaths from COVID.

 This is an unedited press release from Brent Council published today:

The funding formula for a £4.8billion package of infrastructure investment has been criticised as it does not use standard measures to assess levels of need and has led to London boroughs like Brent missing out on the top priority list.

The Government’s ‘Levelling Up Fund’ details how local authorities can bid for cash to pay for projects that can help boost the economy such as transport improvements, town centre regeneration, culture and heritage.

Every local authority in England has been put into one of three tiers – with tier 1 being those areas deemed most in need of investment. Only two London’s boroughs are in the top tier that mainly contains authorities from northern England. 

Out of the three tiers, Brent has been marked down into the second group. This is despite Brent having a relatively high level of unemployment – with 23,160 residents out of work and more than 10 percent of the borough’s working age population claiming unemployment benefits. The average claimant rate across the areas first in line for cash from the Levelling Up Fund is 7 per cent, three per cent lower than Brent. 

The Office of National Statistics also shows that Brent is the 38^th worst area for average income deprivation out of 314 local authorities in England.

"If the Covid crisis has taught us anything it has proved beyond doubt how unequal our society has become,” says Cllr Muhammed Butt, Brent Council Leader. “We have all been in the same storm but we’re not all in the same boat. Inequality costs lives and prevents people in less well-off areas from reaching their full potential. 

“Even when the pandemic is over, the legacy of job losses, reduced hours and poor mental and physical health are all issues that need urgent action. No one should be left behind and levelling up parts of northern England should not be at the expense of diverse boroughs like Brent. The council is determined to make Brent better, fairer and greener but we cannot do this alone. The council is concerned that the criteria used to assess the funding needs of different areas seems to discriminate against London. We are lobbying the Government to change the funding formula and make areas like Brent a priority for investment too.”

 Cllr Muhammed Butt (Photo: London Councils)

I thought the Brent electorate would like to know (be entitled to know?) the outcome of the recent complaints about Brent Council leader's conduct.  I requested a copy of the report on the investigation by Brent Monitoring  Officer, Debra Norman.  The investigation would have sought to establish if the behaviour cited infringed the Members Code of Conduct.

My request received this terse response:

Decisions notices relating to complaints under the Brent Members Code of Conduct are only published by the council where a serious complaint has been upheld and the sanction of public censure has been imposed.  That is not the case in respect of the complaints to which I believe you are referring.  I am therefore not able to provide you with a copy of the decision notice.

This suggest the complaints were not upheld but we, the electorate, cannot see the evidence that was presented and the response of Cllr Butt himself.

Clearly we are not thought capable of reaching our own conclusions based on the evidence that Debra Norman collected.

Without seeing the Decision Notice I cannot be certain of the basis of the complaints but I assume they were connected with the articles posted on this blog:

https://wembleymatters.blogspot.com/2021/02/lib-dem-councillor-complains-to-brent.html

https://wembleymatters.blogspot.com/2021/02/cllr-butt-leader-of-brent-council.html

 Brent has joined 11 other London boroughs to question Centene's take-over of GP surgeries:

 'Just Walk Out' or 'Just Don't Walk In'?

 Gaynor Lloyd has written, in a personal capacity, about her thoughts on Amazon opening its Amazon Fresh cashier-less store store in Wembley Park, following concerns expressed by other councillors.

Dear All,

I totally understand from the below there is nothing the Council can do about choice of tenants by a commercial landlord (I assume not Council property!)

I hadn't heard about the store: Amazon Fresh. I've just had a quick look on  the net – though not sure where it actually is.LINK

I suppose what I'd be worried about  - apart from all the really important things [another Councillor]  highlights, as to the operation behind any Amazon outlet -  is it seems to be a store with potential for fewer front facing staff.  Certainly no check out - which is where we were going with self-service checkouts (sadly  - IMO -  for all sorts of reasons - but other views exist) – but thinking of reduced employment opportunities. Yes, I know we have COVID but we already have enough stuff introduced under COVID regs altering our society and there are cases already being made at Government level as to whether they will/should stay in place.

I suppose the practical thing is to make clear (as I am sure the Council does do) its support for unions as well as London Living Wage, etc in the workplace in our businesses - but how many staff does it employ?

But on the  wider issue of looking after those of our local businesses who are still able to operate (where local residents work their guts out for long hours in just this sector) -what sort of competition does this provide to those smaller retailers and take-out food/meals providers- again competing with Amazon's power and tech and resources to "price"? (Their hours are 7 days a week,7am-11pm).

As to Amazon's background operation, it's so good to have the GMB petition ; it'd be good to know what progress the GMB is making with Amazon; their "intention to go to the Health & Safety Executive" highlighted in this article links to a fairly old (aargh) Daily Mail article. LINK    Does anyone know?

And thank goodness we are not America (yet) in Amazon's union thwarting activities! LINK  

For employees, though, like every other business, what we need to ensure is that more people know about the employer's responsibility for Health & Safety. The Brent website is clear LINK  , and there's an email address (would be good to have a phone number too, advertised by poster campaigns - so not limited according to access to digital)LINK  

HSE website is clear on managing risks at work LINK .    (Warehouse example at  LINK 

The Council – OF COURSE - showed an excellent example, when schools were first going back and many people had real anxieties; it liaised with the Unions and there was a dedicated team who cared about getting the risk assessments right. I know we don't have that control over businesses in our Borough but we can still make it clear what the Borough expects. It's not as though Amazon doesn't have the money to provide top end solutions to whatever a proper risk assessment has revealed as necessary. Hopefully, as in the case of the store, as Amazon did their fit-out, all this will have been at the top of their agenda. We are entitled to assume it was.

Not everyone will use Amazon of course! ( I was sharing ideas with a pal only yesterday evening about how to avoid but that is a matter of personal choice. )

The main agenda items tabled for Wednesday's meeting

This blog has reported the huge concerns of local councillors, Barry Gardiner MP, Brent Patient Voice  and Patient Participation Groups over the takeover of two GP surgeries in Brent by a US company. The concerns have been echoed across London in a joint letter by London borough chiefs to Matt Hancock.

One of the main issues is the alleged lack of due diligence by Brent CCG in coming to the apparent decision to back that takeover and the fact that the decision (it it wasa decision) being made in a private session.

Surely then it is incomprehensible that the only vehicle that the Council has to holding the Brent CCG to account, the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee, does not have  this as an item on its Agenda (above).

One can only hope that councillors will put such an item on the Agenda under Any Other Business in accordance with Standing Order 60.  

Many questions were left unanswered or unsatisfactorily answered at  Wednesday's meeting of the PPPG LINK this is a chance for Scrutiny to really do its job.

The Report for Brent Civic Centre

A new national websiteis allowing people to measure air quality on their street using their postcode. This is particularly useful when consideraing Healthy Streets/Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.

Research from the initiative shows that one in four UK addresses – almost eight million – are exposed to air pollution levels exceeding World Health Organization safety limits.

addresspollution.org offers a free air quality report for every UK address based on data from the Environmental Research Group at Imperial College London.

The work was commissioned by campaign group the Central Office of Public Interest (COPI), which wants the property sector to mandatorily disclose air quality information in the same way it does with asbestos. And it hopes this will also put pressure on governments to act.

A pop-up ‘demand action’ button is displayed to visitors using the site, which takes them through to a petition calling for estate agents and sites such as Rightmove and Zoopla to disclose air quality info at the “earliest opportunity”.

COPI founder Humphrey Milles described air pollution as a “dangerous, invisible killer” and said it would be “shameful” for the property industry not to inform people now this air quality information was so readily and easily accessible.

Legal opinion obtained by COPI goes further and suggested there is a strong legal argument that estate agents, property websites, surveyors and conveyancers will need to inform prospective buyers and renters of air pollution levels.

In their opinion Jessica Simor QC and barrister Neil Fawcett refer to the ground-breaking recent ruling on the re-opened inquest into the death of nine-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, which found her death was “contributed to” by exposure to excessive air pollution. Previously, deaths were only "linked" to exposure to air pollution.

Mark Cunningham, chief executive and co-founder of Whenfresh, which provides property data to major lenders, said that if the problem of air pollution isn’t dealt with, “it will clearly have an impact on the saleability and value of properties in high pollution areas”.

He added: “So like asbestos, radon, flood risk and Japanese knotweed, if data is available the mortgage lenders will want to understand it. Lenders take any environmental issues that might impact the value of the properties they effectively co-own very seriously."

The website’s national roll-out – it was previously available in some London areas – follows a report published in the journal Environmental Research last month that concluded that 99,000 early deaths across the UK are due to dirty air.

Another piece of research published by the European Society of Cardiology in October 2020 found 15% of COVID-19 deaths globally could be attributable to air pollution.

Earlier this month the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the UK has “systematically and persistently” exceeded legal limits for dangerous nitrogen dioxide (NO2) since 2010.

The UK has agreed to abide by court decisions initiated before it left the European Union. It could therefore face fines if it continues not to comply, and has been ordered to pay the European Commission's legal costs.

There was a pause due to Covid19 but now the new development of flats on  the corner of Queens Walk and Salmon Street is taking shape. The flats replace a detached suburban house that was in the style of other houses in the road. LINK

Responding to criticism of the plans Brent Planning Officers said:

The building does not have a 1930s appearance but does respond appropriately to the neighbouring developments in terms of scale. The corner plot presents an opportunity for a building of a differing architectural style and slightly greater prominence to sit comfortably without detracting from the character along either of the streets it adjoins.