Willesden
Magistrates’ Court. (Image from the Courts Service website)
At the
end of my
previous guest post about Brent’s application to stop-up two areas of highway, just
to the south of Engineers Way near the Olympic Steps, I said that I would see the
Council in Court on Thursday 16 April – and I did! Brent was represented by a
barrister from Landmark Chambers, supported by the Council’s top Transport
Officer and a Senior Engineer, and by Quintain’s Head of Planning (it was
Quintain who had asked Brent to apply for the Section 116 Highways Act 1980
Order). I was represented by – me!
I
arrived early for the 2pm hearing, and had an amiable discussion with the Brent
team and their barrister, who had sent me, late that morning, a four page “Applicant’s
submission” document and a fifteen-page copy of a decided Highways Act court
case (R. v Leeds City Council, ex parte Spice) which they would be quoting from
in support of the application. I don’t know whether they thought this would
intimidate me, but I assured them that I had plenty of experience in dealing
with Statute and Case Law from my working life.
Heading
from the front page of the “Spice” High Court Judgment document.
The
Magistrate hearing the cases listed for Court 4 did not appear until around
2.30pm, but it was not because he was having a long lunch. It turned out that
he had also only received the latest documents from Brent Council that morning!
When we got to “our” Case 6, around 3pm, he asked me whether, in the
circumstances, I would like an adjournment, so that I could consider these
extra documents, and a one centimetre thick “Application Statement” (“AS”) which
Brent had submitted to the Court on 7 April. I was only passed a copy of this by
the barrister at the start of the hearing. I thanked him for the offer, but
said that I was happy to proceed, as it was in everyone’s interests for the
matter to be resolved without further delay.
Brent
Council’s “Application Statement” document.
The barrister
presented Brent’s application, setting out that the Council had complied with
all of the procedural requirements for giving notice, and stating that the
Section 116 Order was needed so that responsibility for maintaining the old
areas of unnecessary highway could pass to Quintain, who had since developed
the land. She referred to photographs in the AS showing the locations of the
highway, including those for the eastern hatched area pictured here:
The “eastern
area” photos from Brent’s Application Statement.
The
barrister’s presentation went on for around twenty minutes, and then the
Magistrate asked several questions. One was about the assurance which Quintain
had entered into with Brent, which was claimed to reinforce the Section 106 planning
condition which allowed public access to the land which was the subject of the
application. He was particularly concerned with the wording in the final
sentence of Quintain’s letter of 30 March 2023, a copy of which was at tab 11
in Brent’s AS. That sentence said:
‘Although
the land will be stopped up, Quintain can confirm that it will remain open to
the public and remain free for people to pass and repass over but for the
avoidance of doubt there is no intention by Quintain to re-dedicate the land as
highway and public access would be on a permissive basis only.’
Quintain’s
30 March 2023 letter (with personal names deleted for privacy).
The
Magistrate felt that ‘on a permissive basis only’ suggested that the public
would only have a “licence” to cross the land, not a firm legal right. Quintain’s
Head of Planning said that was not what they intended – the company simply
wished to ensure that parts of the public space could be closed off for
maintenance on the occasional day when this might be necessary. There was a
short break while a revised final sentence was drafted, which satisfied the
Magistrate’s concerns.
I was
then invited to present my case objecting to the application. I asked whether
the Magistrate had a copy of the photographs evidence document, which I had
sent to the Council in January, and had emailed a copy to
the Court Office the previous week. He looked in his online case file and said
that he had a copy, which he felt would be very useful. I then set out my arguments,
that the application was wrong in law.
Extract
from the application Plan, showing the hatched areas.
Although
I agreed with the Council that it was sensible to resolve the residual problem
of who was responsible for maintaining the hatched areas of land, they did not
need a Section 116 Order to do that. The proposed Order dealt with the land as
it is now, and it was necessary for the public to continue to have ‘a right to pass
and repass, either on foot or dependent on suitability in a vehicle’ over this
land. The draft Order sought the Magistrate’s authorisation to stop-up this
highway ‘for the purpose of all traffic and all public rights of way [to be]
extinguished.’ But he could only sign the Order if the area of highway was
unnecessary.
Two ‘key
principles’ from Brent’s “Applicant’s Submission” to the Court.
I took
the Magistrate through the photos I’d taken in January, one by one, and
referring to the “Applicable Test” section of Brent’s submission, asked whether
highway, such as Olympic Way East, was ‘unnecessary for the sort of purpose for
which Justices would reasonably expect the public to use that particular way’?
One of
my evidence photographs, showing a car crossing the hatched area into Olympic
Way East.
I also
made the point that if the Magistrate did sign the Order which Brent had
prepared, it would create two completely contradictory situations for the
hatched areas. Under the planning condition and the Quintain letter of
assurance the public had the right to cross that land. Under the proposed Order
the public’s legal right to cross those small areas of land would be
extinguished. Although the public would see no practical change in their use of
the land for now, it could create a legal nightmare in future. Public use of
the hatched highway areas was necessary, and it was the Section 116 Order which
was unnecessary.
The
Magistrate asked me whether I was aware of Section 142 of the Road Traffic
Regulation Act 1984. I admitted that I had not read or considered it. He said
that it was possible for a road not to be a “highway”, and from looking at my
photos it appeared to him that Olympic Way East was not a highway, but a ‘road
to which the public has access’. Similarly, the footway areas, such as that in
front of the Olympic Steps, were not highway, but public space to which people
had access.
The
Magistrate said that he would retire to consider his decision, but would come
back and give it verbally when he had done so. We waited in Court 4 for at
least half an hour until we rose as he returned at around 4.30pm. In summary,
he agreed with Brent that the legal status of highway was not necessary for the
two hatched areas, so he would sign a copy of the Plan. However, he commended
me for my public spiritedness in standing up for the legal right of the public to
cross and recross those areas, and said that he would not sign the Order
authorising the stopping-up of those unnecessary areas until its wording had
been changed, to remove the reference to extinguishing all public rights of way.
Both
sides left the Court satisfied with the outcome, and Council Officers emailed
me a revised draft of the Order the following morning, inviting my comments or
agreement. I recommended tidying up the wording over ‘highway maintainable at
the public expense’, and suggested that to avoid any confusion over the
previous and present uses of the hatched areas they should be described as ‘disused’
and ‘now being part of .…’ I’m pleased to say that my suggestions were accepted,
and you can see the difference between the original and final versions of the
Magistrate’s Order here:
Opening
paragraph of the Section 116 Order document.
Closing
section of the Section 116 Order document.
If the
Notice last December about Brent’s application for a Stopping-up Order had included
the final wording, I would not have objected to it. So much time and effort,
over the past few months, for myself and Council Officers, could have been
avoided. I think this underlines the point I made in my
March 2026 guest post, that if Brent had (as it used to) a General
Purposes Committee consisting mainly of experienced back-bench councillors, who
could take the time to question Officers and get things right, rather than
Cabinet members rushing through an agenda at 9.30am ahead of a 10am Cabinet
meeting, the Council could avoid making some of its bad decisions.
There
have been too many bad decisions made by Brent Council over the past decade or
more, some of them wasting millions of pounds. I hope that the elections on 7
May will see a change in the balance of power, and bring in a majority of
councillors willing to work together, across party lines where necessary, to improve
scrutiny and decision-making. Scrutiny at Brent Council has been ineffective
for too long, mainly because too much power has been in the hands of the same
Leader.
I have
done what I can, on a variety of issues, to try to hold Brent Council to account,
including as an honorary member of Martin’s unofficial “Committee” for around a
dozen years, but it is time for official and effective scrutiny to pass
back to elected councillors, where it belongs. I hope that readers will
consider that when they decide who to vote for in May’s local elections.
Today's YouGov poll of Londoners carried out between 27th March and 21st April lists Brent as one of the London boroughs where Greens and Labour are close with the margin between the parties five points of less (green and red stripes above).
The projections give the following shares of the vote. Vote share is of course distinct from the actual share of seats and thus the majority party on the council.
LONDON BOROUGH OF BRENT
CONSERVATIVES 19
LABOUR 25
LIB DEM 14
REFORM 15
GREEN 25
INDEPENDENT 2
YouGov note:
The model, which uses data from more than 4,500 adults in London in
fieldwork from 27 March to 21 April, projects vote shares for each of
the parties in all 32 London boroughs. With so many close races, we are
not projecting seat wins and losses, as per previous YouGov council
election models, but are instead focussing on support for the parties.
Owing to the first past the post voting system, this does not guarantee a
party will win outright control of a borough, or even the most seats,
as happened in Bexley at the 2002 elections and Havering in 2022.
Image: YouGov
YouGov note:
As with all projections of this nature, our London-wide vote share
estimates also come with possible ranges. Labour could be anywhere from
as low as 19 to as high as 34. The Conservatives have a ten-point
probable range from 13% to 23%, while the Lib Dems could be between 10%
and 21%, Reform between 9% and 19%, and the Greens between 15% and 28%.
Venue: St Luke's church, Fernhead Road, West Kilburn (Queens Park station)
Date: Tuesday April 28th 7pm - 8.30pm
Peter
will be discussing his new book 'Complicit: Britain's role in the
destruction of Gaza', and much more, in a wide-ranging conversation.
Journalist Peter Oborne is the author of many books including The Assault on Truth: Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and the Emergence of a New Moral Barbarism (2021), The Fate of Abraham: Why the West is Wrong About Islam (2022) and now Complicit: Britain's Role in the Destruction of Gaza.
A
doyen of Fleet Street and broadcast TV for 30 years, he was blacklisted
by the mainstream media in 2019 for his whistleblowing article in Open
Democracy 'British journalists have become part of Johnson’s fake news
machine'. He now writes about politics for Declassified UK, Double Down
News, openDemocracy, Middle East Eye and Byline Times.
Described
as "one of the great truth-tellers of our time", Peter will discuss his
career and his books with Melissa Benn, and cast his eye on the latest
political developments. There will be plenty of time for questions from
the floor.
Peter's book Complicit will be available to buy and be signed, as will Melissa's new collection of the political writing of Tony Benn, The Most Dangerous Man in Britain?
I am not prepared to continue to participate or play any further part in any voluntary activity or community organisation in Brent including, but not restricted to, the Wealdstone Brook and associated flood relief and river restoration projects, until the Conservative Party nationally, and the Brent West Conservative Party locally, issue an unreserved apology for the totally unfounded allegations of 'alleged criminal activity' against Cllr. Sunita Hirani and her suspension and subsequent disqualification as a Conservative Candidate for the Kenton Ward in the forthcoming May 7th Local Brent Council Elections.
A usually well-informed source tells me that 'a whole raft' of Brent West Conservative Party submitted their resignations today with immediate effect. This follows the suspension and resignation of Cllr Sunita Hirani from the Conservative Party.
Saturday's Action Day to Save the Granville Rec took place in glorious sunshine - so bright that I could not see the screen on my digital camera! Despite that the video is worth listening to for Leslie Barson's passionate speech in defence of the space. It is accidentally appropriate that much of her speech takes place against the background of the rustling of new leaves in mature trees as I was unable to focus on the speaker.
The space is in the centre of the South Kilburn regeneration and an oasis for nature and humans alike.
The day was attended by a cross-section of local residents and two of the Kilburn Labour councillors were there alongside two of the Green Party candidates in an atmosphere of community solidarity.
“We are aware of the deeply
concerning incidents that have taken place across northwest London in
recent days, including an attempted arson attack at Kenton United
Synagogue overnight. I know this will be causing understandable anxiety
and distress for our Jewish residents and the wider community here in
Brent.
I’d like to thank
the Metropolitan Police and London Fire Brigade for responding at pace,
and for deploying additional resources to the area while they carry out
their investigations. We will continue to work closely with the police
and our community partners across the coming days, and I would urge
anyone with information to come forward and report it.
There
is absolutely no place in Brent – or anywhere – for hate, antisemitism,
or violence of any kind. We stand in full solidarity with our Jewish
communities and all those affected. Brent is proud to be a diverse and
united borough, and we will not tolerate hate from those who seek to
divide us.”
From Brent Green Party
The attempted arson attack at Kenton United Synagogue is an
incredibly terrifying act of anti-semitism. The spate of attacks on the Jewish
community in Brent and its neighbouring boroughs are vile and completely
unacceptable.
If you have any information that could lead to finding those
responsible for these attacks, please contact the police as soon as possible.
The Brent Green Party send our thoughts and prayers to the
Jewish community.
Cllr Mary Mitchell, leader of the Green Group on Brent Council speaking at the ACE Brent Hustings earlier this week.
This content published and promoted by James Paton on behalf of Brent Green Party and its candidates c/o 23 Saltcroft Close, Wembley, HA9 9JJ
Brent Green Party has launched its manifesto for a Fairer, Greener Brent. The Manifesto promises a more participative approach to running the local council with real citizen involvement. A similar approach was taken within the party to the production of the Manifesto with members involved in a policy ideas workshop at the campaign launch and ongoing dialogue later online.
A FAIRER,
GREENER BRENT
INTRODUCTION
We believe Brent is ready for fairer,
greener change. Change rooted in respect for the people of Brent and fresh
determination to make life better for all of us.
We want more for Brent residents than
Labour have provided over the past sixteen years.We believe that governing Brent is about political
choices - and too often Labour have made the wrong choices. Choices that work
in the interests of developers and corporations, and not in the interests of
Brent residents, choices that reflect a lack of transparency and
accountability, and choices that reflect a lack of ambition for Brent.
Austerity, started by the Conservatives
and Liberal Democrats and continued by Labour, has been the backdrop of these
choices but these failures have not been inevitable.
We believe Brent is ready for a new
administration that is committed to listening to residents, real citizen
involvement, transparency, accountability and to
tackling social and environmental injustice.
The Green Party is growing exponentially
in Brent, and nationally, where hundreds of thousands of voices are crying out
for change and for a politics rooted in the belief that local services should
work for people, not for profit.
Nationally the Green Party is calling for
a fairer, greener taxation system, including a new funding system for local
government, public ownership of water and rail and rent controls. In Brent that
same conviction shapes every commitment that we are making to Brent residents.
We want children to grow up in a safe,
warm home, with parks and open spaces that are protected, where there is real
choice about how to move around in Brent in a way that minimises air pollution
and increases health outcomes.
We want climate change to not be
perceived as an add-on, but care for our natural environment and awareness of
the relationship between planetary and human health impacts every decision that
is made. We think planetary boundaries shouldn’t be exceeded by continued
wealth and resource extraction, threatening our lives here and now and also
that of future generations.
We want to work in collaboration with
other parties and independents, respecting the decisions that residents have
made about who represents them, and to bring back real
democratic debate and participation to Brent.
Above all, we will build a Brent where everyone can feel
safe and belong, where lives are not restricted by lack of opportunity and
where residents can thrive irrespective of their background and start in life.
We will build a fairer, greener Brent that works for
everyone.
1.
Tackle Brent’s housing crisis head on
(1)Deliver more genuinely
affordable homes by prioritising social rent and genuinely affordable rent over
expensive ‘affordable’ products, supporting
community-led housing (including Brent Community Land Trust), and using council
land and planning powers to secure higher proportions of truly affordable
homes. We recognise that shared ownership is not an affordable option for most
Brent residents.
(2)Stop the sell-off of social
homes and rebuild council stock by campaigning to end Right to Buy and adopting
a “replace what we lose” approach, including targeted
buy-backs and acquisitions where this reduces temporary accommodation and keeps
families in Brent.
(3)Adopt a retrofit-first approach
to estate renewal and regeneration, exploring
innovative funding models and considering the whole life carbon impact of
buildings in decision-making.
(4)Get better value from Brent’s
housing companies (i4B and First Wave Housing). Review
their financial performance and tenant outcomes (repairs performance,
standards, satisfaction, affordability and void turnaround) and report findings
annually to Scrutiny, before scaling up acquisitions/“settled homes” approaches
to reduce reliance on expensive temporary accommodation and increase genuinely
affordable provision borough-wide.
(5)Implement a strict
“regeneration without displacement” policy so
residents can stay in their communities, including no net loss of social rent,
a meaningful right to return and resident involvement from the earliest stage
of design and decision-making.
(6)Bring repairs and housing
management back under stronger local control by
bringing council repairs back in-house (or re-procuring with clear standards),
publishing performance data and creating a clear escalation route so persistent
disrepair is fixed quickly.
(7)Support renters’ rights –
working alongside organisations like London Renters Union – and enforce them locally by backing London and national campaigns for
rent control .
(8)Hold every landlord to account
by maintaining and expanding landlord licensing so protections apply across the
whole borough, increasing the number of enforcement
officers, and moving from “paper licensing” to routine checks, proactive
inspections and tougher penalties for repeat offenders.
(9)Require sustainable development
that can be verified by publishing easy-read carbon/energy information for
major schemes, reporting annually on compliance with
Brent’s Sustainable Environment & Development SPD, and requiring SuDS
wherever feasible, microgeneration built into new builds and usable
food-growing space in major developments and growth areas.
(10)Reduce empty homes by
introducing stronger reporting, enforcement and penalties for long-term vacancy and using available powers to bring homes back into use so the
borough’s housing stock is used for people and not left idle
2.
Restore Public Ownership and Promote Community Wealth
(1)Support a strong, resilient
local economy that keeps wealth and benefits in the local area through prioritising insourcing of local services, local procurement
and local supply chains.
(2)Design a property strategy that
takes into account the social value as well as the financial value of council
assets, limiting rent increase of council-owned
properties & supporting the use of empty properties by community-led
organisations. Only dispose of council assets with full community consultation.
(3)Spend or earmark developer
funding for local communities rapidly and where it is most needed, provide regular, transparent reporting on funding received from
developers and decentralise decision-making about how funds are allocated.( Footnote: Brent
has accumulated approximately £177 million in unspent Community Infrastructure
Levy and Section 106 funds, the highest amount in the UK according to the Home
Builders Federation Unspent developer contributions 2026.)
(4)Explore closer integration
between the council and community libraries, through
the integration of volunteer-led library services where demand exists,
exploring paid library personnel, and protecting the remaining Brent
libraries from an erosion of their opening times and services to the
community.
3.
Protect, enhance and expand Brent’s parks and green spaces
(1)Protect Brent’s green spaces
from sale, development and commercialisation,
including renting out park spaces without consulting residents and protection
of open space designations.
(2)Adopt enhanced tree planting
standards based on Action on Climate and the Ecological Emergency (ACE)
recommendations: professional planting and aftercare protocols, canopy cover
mapping by ward with targets for low-canopy areas, native and climate-resilient
species prioritisation, and an interactive map showing planned felling with
reasons. Require independent verification of tree survival rates 3 years after
planting.
(3)Mandate biodiversity targets in the Krinkles’ Brent parks maintenance contract at the next review
point - including measurable targets for pollinator habitat creation, native
species planting, and canopy cover increase.
(4)Incorporate rain gardens such
as Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS) or planting, repurposing some kerbside space, helping to prevent surface water
flooding and increase biodiversity and replacing hard landscaping with soft
ones.
(5) As Lead Flood Authority work with partners including Thames Water, Canal and River Trust, Environment Agency, Thames 21 and the many concerned voluntary oganisations concerned to tackle pollution in our waterways and plan flood mitigations.
4. Give our children and young people the
best start in life
(1)Increase free-to-access youth activities that provide social connections and
screen-free time to children and young people and lobby the national government
to properly fund councils to provide a comprehensive programme of youth centres
and more youth workers to meet local needs.
(2)Commit to involving young
people,
especially those from marginalised groups and who have spent time in care, in
decision-making about children and youth services.
(3)Strengthen inclusive practice in schools to improve support and
ensure the provision set out in Education Health and Care Plans and Special
Educational Needs plans is delivered.
(4)Provide accessible and high-quality playgrounds and play spaces, with a guarantee that missing and broken playground equipment is
replaced within 6 months, and that every playground not restored in the last
ten years is surveyed and refurbished within this council term. We will use
natural, non-toxic materials with benefits to the natural environment and to
children’s health and seek to create shaded spaces within playgrounds.
(5)Encourage and support
schools to green their playground by developing resources about the
benefits of green playgrounds and providing information about grants available
to schools (locally and at national level).
(6)Provide necessary help
required to schools tosell second-hand uniforms, hence reducing costs
for families and textile waste.
(7)Encourage schools to remain within the Brent family of schools overseen
by the Local Authorityand continue to campaign against forced academisation.
(8)Ensure the Welsh Harp
Environmental Education Centre continues to have a future, working closely with community organisations to provide access to
biodiversity and wildlife to children of all backgrounds across Brent.
5.
Make it easier, cheaper and healthier to move around in Brent
Image: Nightingale Estate parklet, Hackney (Credit Michael Shilling)
(1) Adopt a joined-up approach to
managing the space on the road next to the pavement most commonly used for
parking (the kerbside) balancing public benefit,
safety, climate goals and local priorities, including through developing a
“kerbside toolkit” for communities to adopt, including the introduction of
community and business parklets.
(2) Reform parking policy to develop fair, evidence-led parking approaches that cut carbon
emissions, improve air quality and make more sustainable use of kerbside space,
including through linking parking charges to emissions, size and weight of
vehicles, and expanding controlled parking zones to 75% of the borough.
(3) Expand cycling provision, including roll out of a variety of cycle parking types in areas of
the highest demand and as part of a strategic approach to facilitate cycling
across the borough, and seeking the installation of segregated cycle lanes
where funding allows.
(4) Build strong partnerships with
community organisations working to give Brent
residents a real choice of how they travelby re-instating the Active Travel Forum and identifying support
mechanisms e.g. provision of under-utilised council property or direct funding/
(5) Increase action on expanding
active travel by re-instating the Active Travel Forum,
changing the active travel strategy to 2030 rather than 2041 to align with the
revised London Mayor’s Transport Strategy.
(6) Work with transport providers
to improve the reliability, affordability and accessibility of public transport
across Brent, including supporting more frequent bus
services, better orbital connections, and integrated ticketing to make journeys
simpler and more attractive.
(7) Commission a borough-wide
pedestrian safety audit identifying the most dangerous
crossings, junctions, and desire lines, with a priority programme for
improvements - evidence-led and data-driven, not reactive to individual
complaints/
(8) Expand school streets with a
whole-neighbourhood approach, not just on single
roads, but the surrounding area. Include measurable air quality monitoring
before and after implementation, particularly on high-pollution corridors.
Further extend 20mph coverage into new neighbourhoods where supported.
6.
Promote clean streets and public care of our environment
(1)Adopt a prevention-first
approach to increase recycling rates and reduce fly tipping and littering by
investing in awareness and communication campaigns,
focused on hyper local solutions and in partnership with local communities.
(2)Strengthen waste enforcement
within landlord licensing, and link licensing
conditions to verified occupancy levels to reduce the gap between actual waste
generated and collection capacity, driving fly-tipping in residential areas.
(3)Conduct a thorough review of
waste management services to ensure regularity,
accountability and clarity as well as work towards bringing waste services back
in house.
(4)Re-introduce free bulky waste
collections for residents after piloting of different
models, and review access to Abbey Road Recycling Centre.
(5)Expand repair cafes and
developing partnerships with schools to teach re-use
and repair skills, and develop a directory of local repair and reuse
businesses.
(6)Install more accessible public
toilets in parks to improve community hygiene and accessibility and encourage local businesses to offer access to toilet facilities to
non-customers in exchange for a business rate reduction.
(7)Introduce more ‘rest’ and
‘play’ assets to the street scene for older and
disabled people, and children and young people to socialise, improving
community cohesion and facilitating greater access to public space for everyone.
7. Take decisive action on the energy
transition and climate crisis
(1)Establish a Brent Community
Energy Fund that supports community-led energy
projects, including retrofitting, to improve the energy efficiency of buildings
and expansion of community-owned energy generation schemes in Brent.
(2)Deliver retrofit and solar
generation on council-owned buildings at scale, in
partnership with community organisations and utilising new funding models
(3)Moving council energy supply to
verifiable renewable sources, and prohibiting
avoidable single-use plastics in the Brent Civic Centre and at events.
(4)Expand work on the West London
Local Area Energy Plan, using influence to fast-track
feasibility studies and progress.
(5)Ban advertising of
high-emitting industries on council owned billboards.
(6)Boldly pursue retrofit of
council-owned homes through exploiting innovative financing models, starting with stock condition surveys for 100% of council homes within
18 months to credibly plan for where the greatest impact can be achieved.
(7)Publish an annual carbon budget
for council operations with the same rigour as the
financial budget, including buildings, fleet, procurement, and contracted
services.
(8)Embed whole-life carbon
assessmentand biodiversity into every
planning decision over a specific threshold by
requiring lifecycle assessments, prioritising retrofit over demolition,
enforcing measurable nature and carbon targets, and holding developers
accountable for delivering them.
(9)Update the Local Plan to
reflect carbon and biodiversity as non-negotiable design parameters, not trade-offs and to include design codes for materials, density,
greening, overheating, flood resilience
8. Increase Transparency and Accountability
(1)Establish a dedicated scrutiny
committee to address the housing crisis, the lack ofgenuinely affordable houses, the poor state of maintenance of
council-owned housingand poor
enforcement of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) landlords in some areas.
(2)Establish independent chairs of
scrutiny committees from opposition parties to ensure
democratic scrutiny of policies and operations in line with best practice
rather than the ruling party scrutinising itself.
(3)Review and update progress on
the Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy through
quarterly reports to the appropriate Scrutiny Committee using Key Performance
Indicators.
(4)Review council pay ratios in line with Green Party Policy to amend the Pay Ratio to 10:1 for
Council Staff so the highest salaries are not more than 10 times the amount of
lowest earning staff – increasing some salaries and reducing others.
(5)Adopt ethical investment and procurement policies and divest Brent
Council pension fund from fossil fuel companies and
companies complicit in the ongoing genocide in Palestine and other conflicts
including weapons manufacturers. Work with other London boroughs to encourage
the London CIV (Common Investment Vehicle) to carry out such divestments.
(6)Set a target of 80%
implementation of internal audit recommendations within 12 months.
(7)Commit to publishing all
Freedom of Information responses proactively via a searchable public
register, not just responding to individual requests.
(8)End the scandal of temporary
accommodation spending by publishing full costs, providers and outcomes
quarterly, in recognition of the fact that Brent
currently spends over £100,000 per day on temporary accommodation with minimal
transparency over provider contracts or quality standards
(9)Publish a real-time housing
safety compliance dashboard so residents and
councillors can see exactly which legally required checks (fire, gas,
electrical, asbestos, water, smoke/CO) have been completed, verified, and are
overdue.(Reference/footnote:
The RSH gave Brent a C3 “serious failings” grade in May 2025 because the
council could not verify 12,500 fire safety actions marked as complete. Nearly
half of council homes had no recorded stock condition survey despite the
council claiming 95% coverage. Source: RSH C3 regulatory judgement, May 2025.)
(10)Publish a monthly “Council
Health Check” covering Ombudsman and regulator
findings, complaint volumes by service area, compensation paid, audit
recommendation implementation rate, and financial position. (Reference/footnote: The LGSCO upheld 88% of detailed
investigations against Brent (21 of 24), one of the highest rates in London.
Compensation payouts hit 277,814 in 2024-25, a 56% year-on-year increase.
Source: LGSCO annual review letter 2024-25.)
9. Build a Brent where everyone can
feel safe and belong
(1) Champion migrant rights through
close partnership with migrant and refugee organisations in Brent and design services to support residents regardless of immigration
status
(2) Oppose far-right influence in
our borough, work with police to ensure online safety for
all, and pioneer local educational initiatives designed to dismantle the online
narrative of hypermasculinity and misogyny including through funding of
mentorship programs
(3) Listen to and work with
community organisations raising concerns about policing practices, bringing together stakeholders to meaningfully address concerns in a
community-centered way
(4) Establish named community
safety officers for Brent Hubs to allow residents to
engage directly with the community safety team and the police about personal
safety concerns
(5) Expand the number of safe
shelters in Brent for women fleeing violence,
including those that meet diverse needs, with culturally competent services for
Black, Asian, and minority ethnic women anddedicated provision for LGBTQ+ survivors, as well as accessibility for
disabled women. We will prioritise the use of vacant or underused council
properties for conversion into safe accommodation.
(6) Strengthen neighbourhood
policing partnerships to prevent crime, reassures
residents, and strengthens communities and we will make the case to the
Metropolitan Police for the resources and local presence every ward in the
borough deserves
(7) Address health inequality
through transparency and action, publishing ward-level
health inequality data annually, making the 11-yr life expectancy gap between
Stonebridge and Kenton visible, trackable, and tied to specific council
interventions in housing, environment, and social care. Brent had the highest
age-adjusted COVID death rate in the UK (REFerence
ONS)
(8) Commission an independent
review of safeguarding referral pathways,
acknowledging the fact that the CQC rated Brent adult social care “Requires
Improvement” in August 2024 and found that safeguarding referrals from
under-represented groups were not being received.. (Source:
CQC inspection report, August 2024.) Set a maximum 28-day target for
adult social care assessnts with monthly public reporting on compliance.
(89 We will encourage partnerships between social care, health, housing and the voluntary sector to ensure
early support and prevention.
10. Affordable, healthy food for every
neighbourhood
(1)Maximise allotment use by conducting a borough-wide audit of all 21 Brent allotment sites to
ensure every plot is actively used. Introduce a strict “use it or lose it”
policy to reallocate neglected plots to residents on the waiting list.
(2)Champion the “Right to Grow” to make it easier for residents to transform grey spaces into vibrant,
edible landscapes.
(3)Prioritise community growing
education by launching seasonal “Dig Days” and urban
growing workshops, bringing together experienced gardeners and beginners to
learn skills in food production, soil health, and composting. Turning food
growing into a shared community activity that builds skills and connections,
and partnering with schools to embed skills with young people.
(4)Ensure access to affordable,
healthy foodwith a low environmental
impact by piloting not-for-profit community
supermarkets to reduce food bills and making fresh fruit and vegetables more
accessible, particularly in areas facing food insecurity. Partnering with
retailers to tackle food waste and promote sustainable consumption.
(5)Work with nurseries and schools
to reduce the use of ultra processed food at school
and at home, and use all possible mechanisms to limit the opening of new fast
food outlets near schools. Encourage schools to promote the benefits of a
mostly plant-based diet.
