2021 Census data: Population change 2011-2021 for Brent and its neighbours

 

Colindale Police Station 4Front protest - lessons for Brent?

4Front is a youth project based in Grahaeme Park, Barnet.  Yesterday the project hit social media when a 14 year old youth was arrested by police and youth workers intervened.

This was the police account of the incident.

A 14-year-old boy [A] was arrested on suspicion of possession of cannabis. As officers carried out the arrest, a group began to gather around officers and obstructed the police vehicle from leaving the scene. Further police units attended.

A further two people, a 23-year-old man [B] and a 25-year-old man [C] were arrested on suspicion of obstruction of a constable. The police vehicle left the scene and the group followed on foot to Colindale Police Station; a group of approximately 30 to 40 people remained outside the building.

A cordon is in place around the police station and a Section 35 dispersal order was authorised and further officers are supporting the dispersal of the group. 

4Front have previously complained about 'over policing' of the area and they are taking legal action over a previous incident when head of Community Support, Kusia Rahul, was arrested when he went to support a user of the project being questioned by police.  He had showed his ID on a 4Front lanyard but police demanded his car licence, which he said was not necessary as he'd established his ID. DETAILS

4Front released a video and preliminary statement about yesterday's event on Instagram HERE

According to the Huffington Post LINK, Project member Temi Mwale, named by September's Vogue as one of Britain's most influential activists, said at the scene:

We’ve been assaulted so many times here today. We have two members of my staff team that have been arrested.

We have several young people who have also been arrested. This is what we’re dealing with and I’ve told them we want it to be deescalated and yet they’ve refused.

This community is sick and tired of the way we’re being treated and now we need your support. We’re meant to be out there tomorrow, Tottenham police station, but instead we’re out here at Colindale police station right now.

Those arrested have been released pending investigation.

Co-leader of the Green Party, Sian Berry said on Twitter:

This news that police are raiding a well-respected London community project the day before a protest about police violence is extremely concerning. Strong arm tactics are not the way to reduce tension or build confidence.

The incident is relevant because, although it happened in the London Borough of Barnet, the police Basic Control Unit (NorthWestBCU) also covers Brent and Harrow.

A number of factors combine at the moment: oppressive summer heat, Black Lives Matter concern over police conduct towards the black community (not helped by the Fryent Country Park incident), and frustration at the continuing lockdown.

Good police-community relations  really matter at such a time. Back in 1986 with riots in Brixton and Bristol, Brent avoided riots because of the action of a small group of black youngsters in  setting up the Bridge Park project.  Significantly at the time their efforts were strongly backed by Brent Council and the local police commander.

Now in Brent we are awaiting the court's judgment on the battle in which Brent Council is fighting the original Bridge Park campaigners and their successors for possession of the site, and people are waiting to see if the police, who took pictures of the bodies of the women at the Fryent Country Park murder scene, are going to be brought to justice.

Borough youth facilities have been cut back  rwith just a remnant at Roundwood,  Stonebridge Adventure Playground has been closed and the land sold off, the playschemes that used to operate across the borough in the summer, are now largely closed.

Section 60 orders are creating tension in some areas of the borough.

It was not clear at the Bridge Park trial that the current Brent Council understands what a formidable achievement it was that the young campaigners of the time addressed groups of youth on our estates stopping a riot with the slogan, 'Build Don't Burn.'  The presentation of the Council case paid lip service to the founders of Bridge Park but there were moments when the mask slipped: 'Answer my question - this is not a street meeting' to one of the founders  and a reference to the new development catering for the demographic of today - not the 1980s.  Both QCs, the judge and most of the council witnesses were white. The defendants black.  None of the current Harlesden or Stonebridge councillors supported the Bridge Park campaign in court.

Surely there is a need for councillors at this crucial moment to get out into the community, make links with the young, hear about their concerns and act on them.   The network they build may be vital over the hot summer ahead.

What will the tri-borough police merger mean for residents?

The Borough Commander took part in a Q&A session on the amalgamation of Barnet, Brent and Harrow police forces. Here are his responses to questions from the public:

The questions below were sent in via our @MPSBarnet, @MPSBrent and @MPSHarrow Twitter accounts.

The session was conducted on Tuesday 9^th October 2018 at 6pm.

The video responses by Simon Rose were uploaded to Twitter and have been recorded below.

1.     “What do you see as the main challenges of this merger?”

“I think there are two main challenges of this merger. The first one is logistics, we are moving quite a few people from one location to another but basically that’s the deck chairs being moved on a ship. A far more fundamental challenge is we are moving over to a model where most officers will investigate and follow through with the enquiries they start. This is something we only did 20 years ago in the Met and it’s a model being used elsewhere around the country. What’s good about this? It means that for a victim of crime, when an officer reports this crime, they meet the investigating officer there and then and there is continuity but fundamentally the challenges are our officers getting used to this MI Investigation process because it hasn’t been done this way in the Met for some time and the logistics of moving around large numbers of people”.

2.     “How will the merger help increase security in areas such as Harlesden?”

“The merger doesn’t mean a reduction in the number of officers to the Borough. It’s a reorganisation of what we’ve got. The benefit of it is that areas such as Harlesden, Wealdstone High Street, South Harrow and the Grahame Park Estate we have a much bigger pool of officers in one big team in order to make them available to deploy at the times of peak times and those high demand areas. It’s actually a more efficient way of working with what we’ve got, to where we are putting it and where we need it the most”.

3.     “Does that mean one fast response vehicle for all of North London?”

“No, we certainly haven’t got one vehicle for the whole of North London. So the minimum strengths on an early turn, early shift, is 77, on a late shift its 86 and a night duty is 82. That’s quite a lot of officers but it’s a big bit of land. There’s 3 large area cars, 43 emergency response vehicles, IRV’s we call them and 6 station vans. So there is 50 plus vehicles available for deployment. They aren’t all going to be driving around at the same time, some will be in custody, some will be on enquiries but it is a very large pool of vehicles and officers available to deploy to demand.

4.     “Will the merger result in any changes in the overall number of active Police officers across the three Borough’s or the distribution of officers across different parts of the Borough?”

“So we are still going to have the same number of officers we had before. We will have in February, the serious sexual offences and child abuse team will also be based locally but at that time their work will come with them.  So fundamentally the number of officers we’ve got aren’t going to change. In relation to the distribution, because Harrow custody suite closes and we go to an East and West patrol site based out of Colindale and Wembley, the emergency response officers will patrol from two sites rather than three. So the patrol base changes but the number of officers we had before and afterwards stays the same”.

5.     “In the context of recent firearms incidents in Harrow, how can residents be assured they will receive a sustained (or improved) level of Policing following the merger?”

“I think the recent firearms incidents in Harrow is actually quite good proof that this can demonstrate an improvement in service, because as a result of being one BCU, I as the Borough Commander have access to the proactive assets of all 3 Borough’s and following the incidents in Harrow, we flexed officers from Barnet and Brent into Wealdstone and South Harrow and other Harrow as necessary to resource the demand there. So if you're actually looking for a case to prove that larger teams demonstrate more resilient processes and enable to deploy to the needs of Harrow as and when they rise, on that basis this is very good proof that it works”.

6.     What is the impact on Police response times as a result of Harrow Station closing?

“Currently Harrow has one of the best emergency 999 response times in London. Approximately 92 – 94% of all 999 calls, we arrive within 15 minutes. After we have merged the emergency response times at Harrow will still be within target.  The target is 90% of emergency response calls will be answered within 15 minutes. The officers will be parading from Wembley rather than Harrow, if you look at an AA route planner, its 9 minutes’ drive, obviously it's far less if you’re using blue lights and sirens and the cars will be deployed across the whole of the East and the West of the Borough or the BCU accordingly. So after the merger, we will still be meeting our response times”.

7.     “Where will members of the Public be able to find a physical Police response in Harrow without calling 999/101?”

So this is one of the things that doesn’t actually change at all. Harrow front counter will still be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. Harrow Police Station will still have Police officer’s working out of it. That will not change. The building is actually getting refurbished next year. So every single way you have to contact Police in Harrow prior to the merger is still the same afterwards. It doesn’t change”.

8.     “What impact will the merger have on Police availability for non-emergency activities, such as partnership working across the Borough?”

“The relationship we will have with partners will change after the merger. We are going to a model where we will have one partnership team, a larger partnership team, servicing the needs of three Boroughs rather than one. So it will be centralised, a lot of that partnership work is being delivered from South Harrow Police Station but the number of officers in that role doesn’t change. Their location does change but one of the biggest change, significant change is that it is slimming down the management structure. So it is fair to say that our attendance at meetings or senior officers presence at the more discretionary meetings will be less because the best way to protect the front line is to slim down the management. That is one of the things that has happened and you will certainly see one Borough Commander for three Boroughs rather than previously three for three.

9.     “How will resources be managed across crime hotspots on the 3 Boroughs?”

“The process we will use to manage Police resources across the three Boroughs is the same as it was before but rather than having three coordination and tasking meetings, we will have one that will look at the risk across the three Boroughs.  The available pool of assets will be much larger and it will be allocated according to threat, harm and risk.  So for us at the moment across the BCU it is Harlesden, Wealdstone High Street and to some degree the Grahame Park Estate”.

10.  “How will resources be evenly split and prioritised to the needs to the respective areas?”

“The resources are going to be allocated with the use of the TTCG (Tasking and Tactical Coordination Meeting). That will allocate resources to threat, harm and risk.  The Borough or the BCU will also have an East and West patrol site and the line has been divided so that demand is about 59% and 41%. The officers in the East will responding to all of Barnet and the South East corner of Brent demands and the officers in the West, will be responding to the rest of Brent and all of Harrow’s demands. That is about 50:50 but the extra asset will be targeted at the central coordination and planning meetings”.

11.  “How can you reassure residents that the tri-borough merger won’t lead to more street crime? What are you doing to persuade the Government to release urgent funds to Sadiq Khan to keep our communities safe?”

“Clearly it’s not my role to lobby the mayor to bring extra funds or officers into policing but in relation to the tri-borough merger and how it’s going to affect the deployment of the resources, I think, well I know as I have been party to the decisions and have made the decisions, when we had the significant crime incidents at Harrow we flexed, or I flexed extra officers from Barnet and Brent into Harrow to respond to that, so that’s actually a benefit to the tri-borough merger. We have a bigger pool of officers that can deploy according to the peaks and spikes in demand, which Harrow has benefited from”.

12.  “Where are the Police on the streets?”

“So the question, where are the Police on the street? Unfortunately if when you look out your front room you don’t actually see an officer walking past or driving past at the actual time they walk and driving past, you will never know they’ve gone past. So for example we have a minimum strength of 77 officers on an early shift and 86 officer on a late shift and 72 officers on a night shift. We have a total of 53 marked and a couple of unmarked vehicles deployed every day and these are the vehicles and officers who are on patrol on the three Boroughs. The fact you don’t see them, does just mean that you don’t notice them when they walk or drive past or you don’t happen to look out of your window when they go past your address but they are there, honestly!”

13.  “What is the cost of this restructure cost the public purse?”

“The restructure is actually being done to save money and to protect the frontline. So a lot of the amalgamation of Boroughs into BCU’s or the closing of Police station, it saves money. The whole amalgamation process actually saves 73 million, which equates to 1583 frontline officers. So a big driver for this is making better of use of what we’ve got. It’s actually about saving money, not wasting money”.

14.  “Can you confirm that the three Boroughs will be safely policed under the new BCU structure?”

“Well that’s what I am going to be held accountable for by the safer neighbourhood boards, by the Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Mark Simmons, who is my boss and the Commissioner.  That is what I am charged with being responsible for delivering. I believe yes it will”.

15.  “Police are struggling to cope with rising crime will there be investment in police cars, CCTV?”

“So there is going to be no extra investment in Police cars and CCTV. What we are actually investing in is mobile technology so that officers with these tablets can take a report at the scene and give a victim of crime, the crime reference number at the scene and then go on to the next job. If you look at how policing is being delivered since 1829, there’s this yo-yo process - You’d go out in 1829, you came back and wrote it up with a quill and bit of parchment probably. The ins and outs have fundamentally been the same until very recently. Only now that the officers have got tablets, they go out and take details on the street, enter the crime report on to the database and give the victim the details then. They don’t need to go back to the Police Stations and that efficiency - that is the investment in technology is helping to make a difference”.

16.  “Which units will create the new NW unit?”

“So very simply, what’s being merger to create this North West BCU are the Boroughs of Barnet, Brent and Harrow. There is a slight extra to that, if you like and a quite positive extra. The Sapphire, which is the sexual offences, the rape, indecent assault investigations and the child abuse investigations are also coming back to the Borough with the investigating officers. So with the good news around that is previously if you had a victim of domestic abuse rape, domestic abuse assault and there were child abuse allegations, there would be three separate teams dealing with that. Now there will be one team dealing with whole thing at the same Police Station. You will get more efficiency, better victim service, continuity and a more integrated Police response”.

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Brent CEO asked to raise the Cricklewood dump with her Barnet counterpart tomorrow

Alison Hopkins has written the following letter today:

Dear Ms Downs

I understand that you are meeting with the chief executive of Barnet Council tomorrow.

I would like to ask that, as a matter of the greatest urgency, you raise the planning application submitted to Barnet for a waste transfer facility on the A5.

I and other residents have been fighting these plans for well over a decade. Indeed, we formed a cross party and all party alliance to oppose the dump and the disastrous road layouts associated with the Brent Cross Regeneration. It is a matter of huge disappointment to local people that Brent now support the road changes: we would urge you NOT to do the same with regard to the WTF.

The current WTF is on the eastern side of the railway lines. Barnet wish to move it to facilitate the building of expensive apartments as part of the “regeneration” plans. Originally, the North London Waste Alliance opposed the move on the grounds of proximity to houses and schools, environmental aspects and the fact that they could not guarantee that HGVs would not rat run in Dollis Hill and the rest of Brent. I attach a copy of their objections: these were withdrawn at the last moment, despite all the comments still being valid. Their reasons for doing so are the subject of an FOI request which has not, as yet, been answered. The NLWA also stated that the proposed site was too small.

The current WTF causes huge nuisance from smells and emissions. It’s only saving grace is that in traffic terms it is in an industrial area although the stink carries to most of Cricklewood. The proposed WTF is RIGHT opposite thousands  of Dollis Hill homes, and an infants school which is already suffering from traffic emissions and air pollution.

The Brent Cross road layout changes, as supported by Brent Council, including those to Geron Way, Oxgate Gardens, Dollis Hill Lane and Humber Road will only encourage more rat running by the thousands of HGVs which are forecast to use the WTF each week.

I urge you to support the best interests of your council tax paying residents in Dollis Hill and Brent. These proposals are in no way in our best interests and must be opposed.

best regards

Alison Hopkins

Check the record of Laing O'Rourke winner of £700m Brent Cross pre-construction contract

--> It was announced today that Laing O’Rouke has been appointed under a pre-construction agreement as part of a two stage tender process for the main construction work of the Brent Cross  regeneration with an overall value of £700m.
Laing O’Rourke will work with Hammerson and Standard Life Investments to finalise the design and procurement in order to enable a start on site in 2018. 

The regeneration of Brent Cross London will double the size of the existing centre to 2 million sq ft of retail and leisure space. This will include up to 150 new retail stores and 50 new restaurants, a leisure and cinema offer, hotel accommodation and, it is claimed, improved public spaces including a new town square. The plans also include a relocated and enlarged bus station as well as, it is claimed, improved transport and highways infrastructure.

The regeneration has been opposed by residents in both Barnet and Brent concerned with over-development and and a significant increase in traffic. See Coalition for A Sustainable Brent Cross

O’Rourke hit problems earlier this year when it posted a £245m loss as a result of a PFI contract in Montreal. LINK

Earlier in October this year  two subsidaries of the company were fined a total of £3.8m after a worker was crushed by an 11 tonne concrete panelin Worksop in 2014. LINK

HSE inspector Stuart Pilkington said after the hearing: “This tragic incident led to the avoidable death of a young man, whose death could easily have been prevented if the companies had acted following previous warnings to identify and manage the risks involved, maintain the equipment, and put a safe system of work in place.”

Laing O’Rourke was fined £800,000 in March of this year over an incident in which, again in 2014, a worker crushed his own brother to death while driving a dumper at a building site for a multi-storey car park at Heathrow Terminal 2. LINK

Sink the Ark! Hendon Town Hall October 25th

From Barnet Parents Defending Education

ARK want the old Barnet football ground at Underhill, for a computer-based learning system which reduces the need for teachers so the academy chain makes savings by staffing cuts and supersize classrooms. 

Blended learning technology was commissioned by venture capitalists in the USA who hope to see ARK trial it in a London school. 

Is this what we want for our young people and staff?

• Residents are seriously concerned about the narrow, bendy, country roads around Barnet Lane and Mays Lane which become congested as it is.

• Two large secondary schools opposite each other is unwelcome. The Totteridge Academy is rapidly improving and is linked to the community.

Why sell our Greenbelt? 

• Barnet Council sold our Greenbelt land, to Tony Kleanthous, of Barnet Football Club for the price of a basic car - 14 years ago.

Government Education Dept. paid Tony £14.2 Million to buy it!

• Why was public money spent before planning permission was granted and at a time when existing schools are suffering cuts and have had cuts year on year, to their education budgets?

• Now ARK Pioneer propose to change the roads to two lanes which overall is unlikely to help and costs Millions from the Education budget and Barnet Council will have to pay almost half of the costs. Is this what local residents want? Is this best for our Borough?

Come to Hendon Town Hall on Wed. 25^th Oct

The ARK PIONEER planning permission meeting is

on: Wednesday 25^th Oct. 2017.

Start:7.00pm. But even 8ish will show you care. All Welcome. 

It is your right to attend and hear what is planned.

They Hoped YOU would not find out that this was coming to the Town Hall on Wed.

Even the local Councillors were only informed a few days ago about Wed. 25^th Oct

Show you care about a residents voice and education across the whole borough.

500 responses to the consultation on Ark Pioneer only 35 in support.

Contact: Barnet Parents Defending Education at: b.p.d.education@gmail.com

 The Council are proclaiming a need for more school places but this is related to the whole Borough in the future.

There is no need for a new school in Underhill and the seven surrounding Wards.

Over the whole borough, several schools have spare places, including Bishop Douglas and Christ College in Finchley as well as Whitefields and others.

 

Saracens have land and will shortly open through school in Mill Hill/Colindale area.

The Totteridge Academy last year raised exam results by 20% so that 67% of pupils got 5 A - C grades. But this school needs continued support NOT competition from ARK pioneer.

The Borough of Barnet has 10 academy companies currently. Most are small and some have excellent policies. But Ark are so powerful it will greatly distort and damage current and future relationships between schools and the Council.

Let us know if you want info regarding how ARK plough extra private funding currently into some of their Ark schools to raise exam results. Additionally exclusions are higher than usual in Ark schools. 

But Ark Pioneer is not related to extra private funds but starts a trend towards fewer teachers and the disruption of classroom structure..

Surely, Barnet would  be better off without an 11th Academy Company.

Parents campaigning against Ark Pioneer school in Barnet

From Barnet Parents Defending Education

Groups combine to discuss solutions to air pollution menace - Barnet March 23rd

Great to see a cross-party event supported by so many other organisations - an example to other areas.

The speakers are :

*  Jean Lambert Green Party MEP

Jean is a founder supporter of Clean Air in London , and as an MEP has pressed the European Commission to take action against the UK government for failing to meet legally binding EU air quality standards. She has also made numerous air quality consultation responses to the London Mayor and the UK government, and has published the pamphlet Air Pollution, London's Unseen Killer, which was widely distributed across London.

* Aaron Keily from Friends of the Earth England , Wales and Northern Ireland 

Friends of the Earth are currently running a campaign called Ditch Diesel

* Paul Drummond from UCL.

Paul has led work on looking fiscal ways of how a move away from diesel vehicles could be encouraged by taxation methods.

*    Andrea Lee from ClientEarth.

ClientEarth have successfully sued the UK Government for lack of action on implementation of measures to combat air pollution.

Each speaker will give a short talk, and afterwards there will be a Q & A session/discussion.

This meeting has the support of Barnet Residents’ Association, Barnet Trades Council, Barnet Alliance for Public Services, Barnet Friends of the Earth, Barnet LibDems, Barnet Labour Party and  Barnet Green Party.

Whilst entrance is free donations would be most welcome via this LINK
or ring 0800581051

This fund-raising action will be carrying on after the Barnet FoE Air Pollution Meeting.

When donating please mention “Barnet Air Pollution Campaign”.

Eventbrite link

Will Ark hit the rocks in Barnet? Join protesters on Wednesday Jan 25th

Residents, parents and teachers are  planning to turn out in force at Barnet Planning Committee  at Barnet Town Hall at  7pm on Wednesday when the Education Funding Agency makes an application LINK for the proposed Ark Pioneer School.  The EFA will to attempt to “solve”problems raised  by residents  regarding traffic congestion, high levels of air pollution, little parking for staff, dense development, 7 days a week schooling, transporting children from the other side of the borough and answer claims that the proposed site is not where new housing calls for a large all -through school such as this. The 4-18 school  in Barnet Lane would commence with 90 children admitted to  Reception and 180 to Year 7.

The EFA are proposing to buy up roads around the school and meet the cost of re-modelling them. Those opposed to the plans are asking whether the money could not be better used on existing schools.

It is not only the planning aspects of the school that concern teachers and parents but the proposed teaching method. It will be called Ark Pioneer because it introduces a new system, unlike those at existing Ark schools in Brent. 'Blended learning' through technology is central  to the plans.

In an extended article on the Local Schools Network website LINK Matthew Bennett traces the origin of the concept back to Rocketship Education in the US:

John Danner’s plan for Rocketship was to ‘make something that’s KIPP-like in terms of results’.  The chain copied many features of the KIPP (US Charter Schools) model:  an extended school day and year, a narrowing of the curriculum in order to focus on literacy and maths, and a ‘data-driven’ approach geared to driving up students’ test scores.  In 2012, the young ‘Rocketeers’ had an 8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. day.  This was divided into two 100-minute blocks of literacy instruction, one 100-minute block of maths, and a further 100 minutes in the ‘learning lab’.  There was no provision for art, music or PE.  The current curriculum seems to be slightly broader, including science, social studies and art as well as maths and reading.  But science is ‘embedded’ in maths, and social studies and art are ‘embedded’ in literacy instruction.  50 per cent of teachers’ pay is tied to their students’ scores in maths and reading tests.

But more than that teachers and parents are concerned that this model will be used to have lessons delivered by teaching assistants rather than qualified teachers, with children overseen as they work on ipads.   John Danner made it plain that the method was aimed at saving money:

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I do think we’re at a time, as a country, where this stuff really fits pretty well with economic crises … when you’re in a situation when you’re gonna be laying people off anyway, how do you make that as good as possible, and one of the ways is to have more of the work happening somewhere other than a classroom, through technology

John Danner, co-founder of Rocketship Education, 2010 (ibid)

Barnet NUT are holding a meeting on Wednesday but will finish in time to get down to Barnet Town Hall.  Jenny Brown, a teacher, resident and parent, as well as member of the Campaign for the Advancement of State Education (CASE), is urging people to join in the protest at Barnet Town Hall:

I think it is vital that people turn up  on Wednesday to apply pressure as part of the challenge to computer learning replacing  teachers. 

Teaching is based on a  pedagogy not rote content. Our profession is being threatened along with creative thinking, well being and the development of each child, young person and teachers of the future.