September 2nd Scrutiny Committee to consider call-in of £1.54m payment to Veolia for extra work

 From a Wembley Matters story six years ago - has there been improvement since?

 

Following the story on Wembley Matters LINK on the additions to the Veolia contracts, Cllr Paul Lorber commented;

 Labour Councillors who signed up to a very bad contract including their so called "intelligence led cleaning" idea now want to pay more money for some extra service - even before they checked if Veolia are already doing what they are being paid for.

Liberal Democrat Councillors have "called in" the decision, with the support of one Green Councillor, to Scrutiny Committee on 2 September - so the decision can be properly scrutinised to clarify what improvements to our dirty streets will be made and whether the £1.5 million extra is the best use of the money.

In our view the whole issue of street cleaning, recycling and dumping in Brent needs to be looked at - but the 'call-in' is restricted to looking at the areas of work included in the £1.54 million proposed.

50 years on, the Grunwick strike is still important

 

Grunwick Factories Strike Mural by Anna Ferrie and the Community, Chapter Road, Willesden*

Pete Firmin explores the ongoing significance of a dispute that began fifty years ago this week. First published by Labour Hub. Reproduced with the permission of the author and publisher.

 

2026 is an important year for the commemoration of significant British class struggles. As well as marking the General Strike of 1926, it is 50 years since the start of the Grunwick strike in NW London.

 

But why did a strike of a few hundred workers at a small firm in Dollis Hill have national importance? Why was it frequently an item on the national television news? Why did it see more arrests in an industrial dispute than at any time since the General Strike of 1926?

 

The Grunwick strike was extraordinary because the strike of mainly women of South Asian heritage received widespread support from the trade union movement. Previous strikes by migrant workers, such as at Imperial Typewriters in Leicester and Mansfield Hosiery in Loughborough got no such support but rather the hostility of other workers and little support from the wider movement.

 

Grunwick was a photographic processing firm in Dollis Hill. In the days before smart phones, cameras contained reels of film which had to be sent away to be turned into photos after taking the pictures, and these were then sent back.

 

Working conditions were dire, overtime was compulsory and often without warning. Pay was lower than the London average.. 

 

There was an attempt in 1973 to unionise Grunwick workers but it failed when they were sacked.

 

On 20th August 1976, Devshi Bhudia was sacked and three other young men walked out in protest. Jayaben Desai and her son Sunil walked out in protest at this unacceptable treatment by management. Within days other workers joined the picket line. The strikers were advised by the TUC to join APEX, the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff which declared the strike official.

 

From the start, the strikers had the support of Brent Trades Council, whose headquarters were close to the factory. That building became the strike HQ, and it was there a strike committee was first elected on 24th August.

 

The strikers faced the extreme hostility of Grunwick’s management throughout. They offered to take the strikers back if they dropped the demand for union recognition. When the strikers rejected this, the company sacked them on 1st September. ACAS, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, offered to mediate: management refused.

 

George Ward, the Anglo-Indian owner of Grunwick, got important support from the National Association For Freedom (NAFF, now the Freedom Association),  founded in 1975, and gained public prominence through its anti-trade union campaigns. John Gorst, Tory MP for Hendon North, a pre-Thatcher Thatcherite, also assisted Ward alongside NAFF.

 

The first demonstration in support of the strikers took place on 10th September, and on the same day Jayaben Desai and another woman were injured by a management car.. Arrests of pickets began in the same month.

 

In October 1976, APEX referred the dispute to ACAS; however, Grunwick management refused ACAS access to those still working (many of whom were said to favour unionisation). ACAS recommended union recognition, but Grunwick refused.

 

At the start of November postal workers refused to deliver Grunwick mail, a crucial part of their operation, After court action, the postal workers backed down.

 

From March 1977, picketing was stepped up and got widespread support across the trade union movement. Strikers picketed the TUC General Council for the withdrawal of essential services (gas, electricity, telephone) to Grunwick, but this was refused, other unions arguing they would need to be indemnified against court action. At its conference, APEX, hardly a militant union, called for the cutting of supplies to Grunwick.

 

In mid-June a week of action began with a mass picket and 84 arrests in one day. More Grunwick workers came out on strike and Cricklewood postal workers began an unofficial boycott of Grunwick mail. As mass pickets reached 1,500, printers at the Sunday Telegraph refused to print an article critical of the strike. Labour MP Audrey Wise and Yorkshire miners’ leader Arthur Scargill were arrested on the picket line. Busloads of miners had come to support the picket from around the country.

 

At the end of June, Labour Home Secretary Merlyn Rees praised the police on a visit to the picket line. This was despite widespread support in the Labour Party, both locally and up to the National Executive Committee, for the strike.

 

In July ’77, the postal workers were suspended, which meant no postal deliveries at all in the London NW2 area. The postal workers’ action was called off at the end of the month only after they were instructed to do so by their union leadership and fined by the union for initially disobeying.

 

During the postal blockage, NAFF ran `Operation Pony Express’ to get mail from and to Grunwick out..

 

On 11^th July a mass picket and demonstration were supported by 20,000.

 

Recourse to the law had mixed results for the strikers. A court of enquiry under Lord Scarman was set up at the end of June ‘77, and called in August for union recognition and reinstatement of the strikers. In mid-July the High Court supported the ACAS report calling for recognition, but at the end of July the Appeal Court overturned the High Court decision and declared the ACAS report invalid. In December, the House of Lords, at the time Britain’s highest judicial body, confirmed the decision against ACAS. Throughout, when decisions went against them, Grunwick refused to comply.

 

Mass pickets of up to 3,000 continued, but at the end of September Roy Grantham, APEX General Secretary, attacked the call for a resumption of mass pickets, and the strike committee were threatened with disciplinary action if they supported them.

 

Despite this, further mass pickets took place in October and November. On 7^th November there were 113 arrests and 243 pickets were injured.

 

On 21^st November ’77, strikers held a hunger strike outside the TUC HQ calling for support.

With Grunwick management adamant they would not allow recognition, the law apparently against them, and a lack of official union support, the strike committee announced the end of the strike on 14^th July 1978.

 

The timeline alone does not give the full flavour of the dispute: the resilience of the strikers, the magnificent solidarity shown by the wider movement, up against police brutality and the obstinacy of a company determined to deny its workers their basic rights, backed up by a ruling class determined to beat down the workers’ movement.

 

When Thatcher came to power in 1979, she quickly moved to restrict the rights of unions even further, something our leaders have refused to seriously challenge over the intervening decades.

 

The Grunwick strike showed the immense ability of workers to resist and the power of solidarity across sectoral and, importantly, racial divides. But it also showed how when it comes to the crunch, we can’t rarely rely on our union leaders – or the law – to back us in that fight. We have to be prepared to fight on – and break the law – when they refuse.

 

Learning more:

 

There are a wealth of resources about the Grunwick strike available:

Books: 

Grunwick: The Workers’ Story, by Jack Dromey and Graham Taylor (Lawrence & Wishart).

Films:

The Great Grunwick Strike 1976-78, Brent Trades Union Council

The Year of the Beaver https://youtu.be/RBJZ9hkHmxo

This year, the 50th anniversary of the start of the strike, there are several commemorative exhibitions, including at the Working Class Museum and Library and at London Metropolitan University.

Over the weekend 17/18 October, Brent Trades Council is organising an event commemorating both the General Strike and the Grunwick Strike and discussing issues facing trades unionists today. For more details contact petefirmin@btinternet.com

 

Pete Firmin is Vice Chair of Brent Trades Council.

 

*Image: https://openverse.org/image/e51b2bd3-c06c-4bcd-9e01-1107f9cface3?q=grunwick+strike&p=2 “Grunwick Factories Strike Mural by Anna Ferrie and the Community, Chapter Road, Willesden” by Loz Flowers is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

£1.54m 12 month variation to Veolia's waste contract for additionl work to address the issue of maintaining clean streets in Brent

 

A recent dump on the Pilgrims Way Council Estate

 

A recent decision by a Brent Cabinet member became effective on Thursday and its impact will be watched with interest by residents.

Cllr Promise Knight, lead member for Cleaner Streets, Transport and Public Realm, after consultation with Council leader Muhammed Butt, has agreed a £1.54m extension to the £275m Veolia waste contract for a 12 month period.  

The changes address some of the issues raised by residents, including dumps on council estates made by outsiders,  as demonstrated above.

Any extension of the additional services beyond the 12 months will be subject to review, including the necessary finances being available.  The cost of this variation of the Contract will be funded from £3m growth awarded to Public Realm as part of the budget setting process. This was awarded as an investment in Public Realm and Street Cleansing to deliver clearer and more visible improvements in cleanliness across the Borough.

 

The proposed changes/additions  

 

(a) To include the provision of two small mechanical street sweepers to address street cleansing. Following recent funding from NCIL, mechanical sweepers were trialled for additional street cleaning, and they have been key in keeping Brent’s side roads and residential roads clean and have made a huge difference to the look and feel of the public realm.

 

(b) To widen the scope of the contract to include 5 additional litter pickers in each Brent Connect area to cover town centres and high streets cleaning. Litter pickers were another feature trialled recently. This brought in a significant change in the borough cleanliness. Litter pickers are important as they pick up surface litter that would be missed, as many roads are swept once a month even with rapid response crew help. This proposal of extra litter pickers operating on weekdays and weekends to cover from Friday- Tuesday, will help deal with extra pressure and demands generated over the weekends.

 

(c) To widen the scope of contract to include nighttime street cleaning and waste collection. Brent currently has a trial in place for nighttime street cleaning/waste collection. This overnight service from 9.00pm till 6.00am has improved the look and feel of our town centres in terms of overnight dumped waste. The borough looks much cleaner in the morning and the morning collection crew are able to complete their rounds efficiently and on time. The service feels that this initiative will immensely help towards maintaining a cleaner borough.

 

(d) To widen the scope to include a dedicated Persistent Organic Pollutants (PoPS) waste collection 7 days a week. In 2024, PoPS legislation came into effect and PoPS could not be mixed with other waste and necessitated a separate arrangement for PoPs collection. Due to the urgency and limited time period to put arrangements in place, a rapid response crew from Wembley North was re-directed to collect PoPs instead without incurring additional costs to the Council. The PoPs collection has worked so far but this has had an impact in street cleansing standards in the North of Wembley. Therefore, the service will benefit from having a separate collection crew and bringing the Wembley North crew back to meet the core contract requirement.

 

(e) To widen the scope to include waste collection from unregistered land. The NCIL project funding for waste on private land clearance has helped neighbourhood managers to get ad hoc cleaning done on parts of land that gets neglected and becomes an issue for ASB or a hot spot for dumping waste. If these ad hoc services are agreed and arranged with Veolia then it will help neighbourhood managers to keep on top without it turning into a big problem requiring huge resources for clearance.

 

(f) To widen the scope to include a weekend rapid response street cleansing crew.  In the current contract there are no pick-up crews collecting from residential areas during weekends. Due to the high volume of waste and fly-tip events occurring over the weekend period, this results in delayed responses and backlogs that significantly impact service delivery and Monday operations. The accumulation of waste over two days creates operational challenges and increases the workload for weekday crews. The introduction of two morning shift pick-up crews to collect from residential areas, with one crew covering the South and one crew covering the North of the Borough will help keep our streets clean. The shift will operate from 07:00 until 13:30.

 

(g) To widen the scope to trial an additional resource of a vehicle and two crew  members for our Brent Housing Estates. There is a requirement for a dedicated service to support Brent’s housing estates in the collection of Fly-tipped and excess waste. Due to the high volume of this type of waste on our estates, the existing in-house service is unable to cope. Officers have worked with Veolia to come up with a solution which would cover these services on 15 of our estates which needs additional service. This service will consists of 1 x 26t tonne RCV and 1 x Caged vehicle (Rapid Response) and a supervisor. The RCV will be used to collect Fly-tips (non POPS) and excess waste. The Caged vehicle will be used to clear POPS items as well as provide a rapid response element which can be quickly dispatched to attended to priority jobs. The supervisor is needed to co-ordinate the teams and act as a direct contact between Brent Council and the crews. The service is proposed to run for a trial of 12 months, Monday – Friday during normal working hours.

 

 Costs breakdown 

Each recommendation contains the 12 months estimated costs as listed below and are based on the hourly rates provided in the contract. Following the 12 months period, viability of projects and improvements made will be assessed and a longer-term plan for individual projects will be discussed with senior members and finance to establish budgets and additional contract expenditure.

(a) To include the provision of two small mechanical street sweeper to address street cleansing -£150k

(b) To widen the scope of the contract to include 5 additional litter pickers in each Brent Connect area to cover town centres and high streets cleansing- £250k.

(c) To widen the scope of contract to include Nighttime Street cleansing and waste collection- £120k.

(d) To widen the scope to include a dedicated Persistent Organic Pollutants (PoPS) waste collection 7 days a week -£180k.

(e) To widen the scope to include waste collection from unregistered land-£150k.

(f) To widen the scope to include a weekend rapid response street cleansing crew- £140k.

(g) To widen the scope to trial an additional resource of a vehicle and two crew members for our Brent Housing Estates -£550k

   

Climate Change and Environmental Considerations

 

The dedicated Persistent Organic Pollutants waste collection service helps the Council manage hazardous waste safely and in compliance with environmental regulations. This will reduce the risk of pollutants entering the environment.

 

The inclusion of waste collection from unregistered land will also help address accumulations of waste that can negatively impact neurodiversity and public health.

 

Whilst the additional cleansing and collection services may result in some associated carbon emissions, these impacts are expected to be outweighed by the environmental benefits that come from improved waste management, cleaner public spaces, faster responses to environmental incidents, and reduced levels of littering.

 

 

Union Park's Wembley water feature hit by Affinity's temporary use ban

 

The pond in Union Park South

Quintain were very proud of their water feature in Union Park when it opened, but today it is a sad sight surrounded by temporary fencing with just a little water flanked by unpleasant looking scum. There are several ponds that go down to Engineer's Way in Union Park South starting with a children's paddling pool at the top and a water, several ponds and water cascade at Engineer's Way.

 

 

Now that South section is dry or very low and closed off. Quintain told Wembley Matters that blanket weed had clogged and damaged the pumping system and the ponds had to be emptied for repairs to take place:  

Affinity Water introduced a Temporary Use Ban (TUB)/hosepipe ban, in the middle of scheduled maintenance of Union Park's SP04 water feature. Said maintenance was required to repair damage to the pumps caused by blanket weed being drawn into the system. Unfortunately, the TUB now prevents us from refilling SP04, or any other water feature.

The following notice will be displayed soon when it is back from the printers:

Meanwhile the newer lower section of the park, Union Park North, that has been designed to be more natural,  does have water and ducks have made it their home. The wild flower meadows in the North Park have proved more resilient to the drought than lawns would have been.  It is open to the public and was being enjoyed by many when I visited.

 

 

I know how difficult it is to control blanket weed from my own experience with a garden and allotment pond and wish Quintain well with their efforts.

Sandra White on her 'daunting' role in the Harlesden Pride in Place project

 Sandra White (Photo: Brent Council)

Sandra White, chosen by Brent Council to head up the Pride in Place project, added some context to the Next Door link to the Wembley Matters article published recently. 

   

I am both honoured and humbled by taking on this role. The Community Panel will choose how the funds are spent - No one individual will have power, and the ideas will be presented and put forward by local residents - Obviously we can't and won't do everything, but we will have a good go at it.

 

Pride in Place Programme funding over a 10-year period is split into 63% capital and 37% revenue. Capital Funding (63%) is money used for physical assets and infrastructure.

 

Usage: Building or upgrading community facilities, parks, sports grounds, high streets, and public spaces. Revenue Funding (37%) is Money used for day-to-day operational costs and services.

 

Usage: Running local programs, community engagement events, staffing, and civic capacity building.

 

This a huge role, a daunting role, but this investment can be used to make a difference and by coming together and taking action together we can hopefully build a sustainable foundation for change for the future of Harlesden. Just to add... I'm not a politician but I am a grafter, and I am here to serve. Also just to make this clear - this is a voluntary role - there is a £5K stipend, so not a paid post.

 

Funded by City Challenge money to encourage SMEs in Harlesden (Photo: Brent Council)

The Harlesden City Challenge project, part of an urban regeneration programme initiated by Tory Minister Michel Heseltine in the early 1990s, may have lessons for the Pride in Place project. Gerry Davis was the Chief Executive of Harlesden City Challenge and was based in Challenge House in Harlesden High Street.

£150,000 was spent on artworks some of which still remain scattered around Harlesden, but the real question is what wider impact did the project have on employment, social cohesion on equality. 

The £37.5m 4 year  project is claimed to have created 2,000 jobs, mainly in Park Royal and improvements in housing in Stonebridge and Harlesden. It funded High Street improvements including new street furniture and public art and restored and expanded  adult education and community services at the Victorian Morland Gardens villa. See Philip Grant's article HERE.

Time permitting I hope to look deeper in the City Challenge experience 

 

  

 

Marcus Garvey Exhibition Harlesden Library August 17th 6-8pm

 

 

BTWSC/African Histories Revisited, Friends Of Marcus Garvey Bust Collective and Brent Museum and Archives present the 2026 Marcus Garvey Annual Pan-Africanism Presentation at Harlesden Library Centre with presentations within the Brent Reggae Album Covers Exhibition. 

Local independent history researcher and historical musicologist Kwaku will mark his birthday with The Marcus Garvey Annual Pan-Africanism Presentation. There will be two mini-presentations: 1916-2026: Marcus Garvey And Black Music Beyond Reggae' and 1916-2026: 110 Years Of The UNIA In The United States'. £Free. https://BBM.eventbrite.com

Residents urged to take part in summer holiday consultation on far-reaching changes to Brent Housing Allocations Scheme

 

There are several ways of reducing the council's housing list - one is to build more council and social housing, something that Andy Burham has said he wants to do. Another way is to change the criteria for admission to the housing register to make fewer people/families admissible -  something that Brent has done in the past.  

In 2024 Brent launched a campaign urging homeless residents to move out of Brent to move to affordable private rented accommodation elsewhere in the country. LINK

Following a re-registration exercise aimed at people on the D Band - families who do not qualify to bid for homes under the Locata system - it appears that some still wished to remain on the list nevertheless and so Brent now wants to remove that band entirely, Alongside this a 'one offer' rule would be introduced. Families would be expect to accept that offer and if they don't could be moved down the priority list or lose access to further offers.  This is likely to put pressure on families to accept an offer even if it doesn't match their needs and be interpreted as 'accept or else'.  Additionally bedroom sharing rules are proposed to be changed so that same sex members of a household who are over 21 years old will be expected to share a bedroom rather than have separate rooms.

None of this would reduce the actual housing need but would improve the figures that recently have been publicised to the detriment of Brent's reputation.  

Brent Council has launched a consultation on its proposals during the summer holiday - not an ideal time!

 

Pete Firmin, a long time Brent tenant and campaigner said:

   

I encourage everyone to fill out this consultation. As ever, Brent may ignore comments, but if we don't submit any, they can claim there are no objections to their proposals. 

 

The big flaw behind their proposals is that they are proposing to restrict the access to Council housing at the same time as the new Prime Minister is saying he wants a massive council home building programme. So, instead of cutting access, Brent should be encouraging that. 

 

The individual proposals in the consultation are awful: 1) abolishing band D on the waiting list - i.e. telling people they are rejected as having any chance of ever getting a Council home. Compounded by the comment in the accompanying papers by the statement "There are lots of resources to help you find a suitable home in the private rented sector, including family homes and shared housing." Have they actually looked at the cost of private rented? They know most of the people on Brent's waiting list are there because they cannot afford the rents the private sector is asking for. 

 

2) Proposing that those on the waiting list are only made one offer. There are too many examples of people being made unsuitable offers, such as flats inaccessible for disabled applicants, distance from children's schools etc for this to be acceptable. 

 

3) "The council is proposing that same-sex adults aged 21 and over who are part of the same household be expected to share a bedroom". Really? Is that even a serious proposal?

 

So far only 11 people have taken part in the consultation. Go to LINK to take part. The consultation closes on September 13th 2026.

BRENT COUNCIL FAQS ON THE PROPOSALS

 

  

Brent Green Party welcomes PM's gambling reform announcement but warns of 'long road ahead' as another Wembley gambling licence is granted

Brent Greens campaigning against against gambling centres

 

From Brent Green Party

    

BRENT, LONDON Brent Green Party has cautiously welcomed the Prime Minister’s recent briefing announcing the intended scrapping of the controversial "aim to permit" rule under Section 153 of the Gambling Act 2005, over 20 years after its introduction by a Labour government.

Like many campaigners, affected families, and individuals who suffer from gambling harm, the Brent Green Party strongly supports ending the legal presumption that leads local authorities to believe they have no option but to approve new betting shops, casinos and 24-hour Adult Gaming Centres (AGCs).

However, the Brent Green Party warns that without a published White Paper, statutory document, or formal government policy roadmap, the announcement remains little more than a press statement. With legislation unlikely to be introduced until early next year, and heavy corporate industry lobbying expected during consultations, the "aim to permit" mandate will continue to hamstring local councils for the foreseeable future. The announcement also has no impact on the 80+ betting shops and casinos already in operation across Brent.

Furthermore, we have deep concerns about the Labour government’s true resolve to implement meaningful reform, given the government's close financial ties to the gambling industry; public records show the Labour Party and senior ministers accepted over £1 million in donations and gifts from betting executives and industry bodies in recent years, including a £25,000 leadership campaign donation to Keir Starmer from the head of Bet365 and VIP event hospitality for key Cabinet members. 

Gambling Harm Continue to Costs Brent £18 Million Annually

According to estimates from GambleAware, gambling-related harms cost the London Borough of Brent over £18 million every year. Despite these devastating economic and social impacts, local communities remain largely powerless under the current statutory framework. Where Green Party ward representatives are active, they have successfully mobilised residents against proliferation:

Willesden Green Ward: In June, a controversial Adult Gaming Centre application was formally rejected by the licensing committee following strong community opposition. This decision was unprecedented in the history of Brent.

Kilburn Ward: A major bingo hall/gaming application was forced into withdrawal ahead of its scheduled committee hearing in July due to organised local pressure.

This record contrasts with a recent decision of Brent Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee which granted a new premises licence to 312 Investments Limited to operate an Adult Gaming Centre at 574 High Road in Wembley Central, a ward represented by the Liberal Democrats at council level.

Speaking on behalf of Brent Green Party, Cllr Suzanne Gallagher said:

While we welcome the Prime Minister’s recognition that the 'aim to permit' rule is broken, a press briefing does not stop fixed-odds betting terminals or 24-hour slot machines from opening on our high streets today. Under Brent Labour, the industry has exploded in our borough with over 80 gambling venues, including ten within a ten minute walk of each other in Harlesden.

Furthermore, this announcement must be coupled with a comprehensive strategy to encourage local independent businesses to not only survive, but thrive. Small, independent enterprises present on our High Streets are currently suffering under punitive rent increases, extortionate commissions demanded by delivery platforms like Uber Eats, and a broader cost-of-living crisis impacting essential utility bills. The Green Party believes in actively promoting and protecting the local businesses that enrich our communities and drive our wider circular economy ambitions.

The recent approval of yet another gaming centre in Wembley Central where local representatives failed to even show up to the hearing to defend their residents proves exactly why we cannot wait months or years for legislative promises. The Brent Green Party will continue the good fight against gambling harms alongside our communities, pushing back against applications that threaten our town centres.