Dear Editor,
ACE Brent is a coalition of 13 groups who want to see more climate action in Brent. We started working together in November 2023. Can your readers support us or be involved?
So far we have :
- Agreed a set of our own priorities for climate action in Brent (on Transport/active travel, Insulation and retrofitting, Divestment, Planning and Regeneration, Renewable energy, Food/Plant based consumption, Trees/green space). We have an overarching priority of mechanisms for public participation in and scrutiny of climate action (most neighbouring councils have these). We have received responses to our priorities, and accept the arguments about lack of funds, but believe more ambition, creativity and transparency is needed when other councils are doing better. https://councilclimatescorecards.uk/#jump=london-borough-of-brent
We are currently working on actions we want to see in the party manifesto's for the May 2026 Council Elections:
- Increased discussion about climate action across the council; through delegations to Full Council and the Public Realm Scrutiny Committee, and by writing to all councillors with comments on key climate reports. One result is the current work of a Kerbside Management Task Group which is looking at actions for more climate and people friendly streets.
- Pushed for Monitoring the effectiveness of local climate measures, and benchmarking with relation to other London councils; resulting in a new monitoring dashboard (not yet publicised or available for public scrutiny)
- Influenced (maybe) the appointment of new climate roles : Cabinet member for Climate Action and Community Power (Cllr Jake Rubin), and Climate Champion (Cllr Mary Mitchell)
- Met regularly with Cllr Jake Rubin and Oliver Myers, Head of Environment Strategy and Climate Action. We have pushed for mechanisms for public participation, more frequent climate reporting to the Scrutiny Committee, and better information on the council website.
We were able to input to the Tree Strategy before it was written, and have had discussions about planning, active travel, food issues, use of NCIL and Strategic CIL etc.
The meetings are useful but not a substitute for full public participation. We now have agreement that the council will publicise future meetings with ACE Brent.
The next meeting is on Planning and the Climate, Nov 3rd, online at 7pm, and will be attended by the senior council members and officers.
We are aware that many Brent groups with environmental concerns are not yet aware of ACE Brent. We welcome all groups to get involved who want Brent Council to be doing more on the climate and bio-diversity. You do not need to agree with all of our suggestions so far. You can see work in progress at the moment here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-G0zJmmH8th96TrUf5dCQiSDwnqlyfRfBxEsAfHYFCk/edit?tab=t.0
Join in for news, to take part in working groups and participate in meetings with council.
You are welcome to :
1) Join us as a member group. The bigger our coalition the stronger our voice will be (see our current members below)
2) Join our mailing list as a group or individual. You will be updated on our activities, meetings - approx 6-weekly - meetings with the council and other key news (mailings max weekly, except when urgent matters)
3) Sign up for quarterly updates only
We look forward to hearing from you. And please let Elaine know Ace@brentfoe.com if you want the Microsoft Teams link for Nov 3rd at 7pm.
Best wishes,
Elaine Sheppard
on behalf of Action for the Climate Emergency Brent
