Update on recent cases on adult social care highlighted by Wembley Matters

 I wrote in the week before Christmas about a pensioner with dementia who left his care home for 7-1/2 hours and ended up in hospital. An official complaint was made calling for an investigation. See LINK. I understand that  Glen Atkins has now moved from Beechwood Court to a residential setting that is better  able to meet his needs and safeguard his wellbeing.

I am told he is much happier in his new home, his needs are being met and he is safe.

Menwhile the first stage of the investigation has concluded that provider concerns were identified that warranted further investigations that are currently in progress.

Unfortunately in another case we covered over the holiday, that of John H in an Octavia property in South Kilburn, who was without central heating for 45 days, the outcome is not as satisfactory. His heating has been restored after 17 appointments and 45 days without heating  LINK but in the process of 'repair' parts of the system were disconnected meaning he cannot not top up credit for his heating. The engineer put in a temporary £10 credit which in the current cold weather is likely to run out quickly.

John wrote yesterday evening:

Just to update you.

No one from Octavia, Abri and Brent Council have been in touch today.

I still do not know if I will lose my heating when the 10 pounds of emergency credit runs out. 

My wall mounted meter screen remains blank and my Insite Energy credit balance is still frozen at the same amount as it was on Tuesday, when it was disconnected.

There was another case earlier this week when an elderly and vulnerable council tenant got locked out of her home and Brent Council proved less than helpful. 

Changes will needed if Brent Council is to realise its ambition to become an 'age-friendly borough'.

South Kilburn pensioner's heating back on after 44 days and 17 appointments

Pensioner John H's heating was finally repaired today. From Day 1 the 24th November, 2025 until today the 6th January 2026 the heating was down for 44 days. There were a total of 17 appointments arranged with SureServe of which four were attended and 13 missed.

John is a disabled  tenant of Octavia Housing at Bannister House South Kilburn.

Cllr Fleur Donnelly-Jackson commented on Wembey Matters today:  'The repair has been completed today after continued advocacy by the council's housing partnerships team. The support to the resident is ongoing. 

The saga isn't quite over. John told Wembley Matters this evening: 

All my heating is back on.

However, I now need another repair appointment to fix all the damage caused by SureServe today, including disconnecting my heating meter, which shows how much credit I have left and leaving some of my pipework exposed.

I asked Octavia to carry out the repair but they say it's not their responsibility and it's up to me to arrange the appointment with Insite Energy, who provide my heating.

 

Extraordinary Meeting of Brent Council on January 13th 2026 to agree new committee positions following Labour defections to Brent Green Party

 An Extraordinary Meeting of Brent Council has been called in line with constitutional rules to allocate the new distribution of committee positions This follows the move of 5 Labour councillors to the Green Party and the formation of a new Green Group, led by Cllr Mary Mitchell.

The Green Group becomes the second largest opposition group after the Conservatives taking over from the Liberal Democrats for the purpose of the Members Allowance scheme. LINK

The distribution of Committee seats:

 

Cllr Butt's office response to John H's case re heating and temporary arrangements - they are 'actively pursuing' a solution

 I wrote to Cllr Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council about the issue of John H, the South Kilburn resident about the lack of repair of his heating after 15 visits from Sureserve and the unsuitability of the initial offers of alternative accommodation.

This is the response from his Office:

 

Dear Martin,

 

I am responding on behalf of Cllr Butt.

 

 

Thank you for flagging this case with his office and for setting out the position.

 

Having looked into the matter on behalf of Cllr Butt, I can see that Cllr Donnelly-Jackson has pursued this issue throughout the Christmas period, raising it repeatedly with housing officers and the partnerships team that liaises with housing associations, including Octavia. To avoid any duplication of that effort and to ensure continuity, Cllr Donnelly-Jackson will therefore remain the lead councillor on this piece of casework.

 

Cllr Butt is aware of the position and will support Cllr Donnelly-Jackson in escalating the matter with senior management at Octavia where needed, with a focus on ensuring that any temporary arrangements reflect John’s health needs and required disability adaptations.

 

Thank you again for your advocacy on John’s behalf: please be assured that the case continues to be actively pursued.

 

 

Why does Brent want to Stop-up “highway” near the Olympic Steps?

 Guest post by Philip Grant in a personal capacity. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Philip for his many valuable contributions over the past year, 

 

I don’t make New Year resolutions. If I did, one of them would probably be not to get into any new entanglements with Brent Council in 2026. And I would have broken it already, after seeing this Legal Notice in the 18 December edition of our local newspaper.

 

The Notice said that the Council would be applying for a Stopping-up Order for an area of highway, including pedestrian areas near the Olympic Steps. That seemed an odd thing to do, as such an order would extinguish all rights of way over that land. I’m interested in the history of Wembley Park, and actually wrote an illustrated article, The Olympic Way Story, for Brent Council in 2017! I wanted to see what area of land the application affected, but to do that I would have to go to the Civic Centre ‘during normal office hours on Mondays to Fridays.’

 

A copy of the Notice, on a lamp post at Engineers Way, 22 December 2025.

 

So on Monday 22 December I went to the Civic Centre to inspect the Plan and Draft Order, and did see one notice about the proposed stopping-up on a lamp post. But when I asked to inspect the documents, staff in the Library did not know anything about them, and after a half-hour wait to be seen at the Civic Centre’s “Welcome Desk” (reception), staff there did not know about them either, and could not find them in the cupboards behind the desk.

 

I sent an email to the address of the Council Officer listed in the Notice as soon as I got home, and that Officer in Brent’s Development Services department sent me pdf copies of the documents the following day, also saying that they ‘were given to both Civic Centre reception and Wembley Library on the 12 December 2025 for public viewing.’ As I believe it is important that local residents have easy access to the Plan and Draft Order, I will ask Martin to attach copies at the end of this article.

 

When I saw what was involved in the Order Brent would be seeking from Magistrates on 22 January, I could not understand the reason for it. Why would they want to stop people walking over that land, or vehicles from going between Engineers Way and Olympic Way East or West? I felt it had to be questioned, and if necessary challenged! My 22 December email had been copied to Brent’s Public Realm Director (who had signed the Notice), and as his “out of office” message said that he was away until 29 December, this is the main section of the email I sent him first thing that morning:

 

‘[Your colleague] kindly sent me the documents for this Stopping-up application on 23 December, but that does not detract from the fact that those documents were not freely available for me to inspect, during normal office hours at Brent Civic Centre on Monday 22 December, as they should have been under your Notice of 11 December 2025.

 

Please let me know whether you still intend to make the Council's application at the hearing on 22 January 2026, or whether you will be issuing a fresh Notice, with a new hearing date, ensuring that the necessary documents are available to inspect, at a designated location within the Civic Centre (as suggested in my email to you of 22 December).

 

 

I note that the Plan showing the hatched areas which the proposed Order plans to stop-up was prepared for Quintain Limited in June 2025. Can you confirm, please, that the London Borough of Brent is making the application on behalf of Quintain Limited, and if so, on what basis is the Council doing that (and at whose expense)?

This is the relevant extract from the Plan (with the words "Olympic Steps" added for clarity):

 

 

The draft Court Order states that the application is being made because the area(s) 'shown hatched black on the plan attached drawing number TPHS-434-DR-00 should be stopped up on the ground that it is unnecessary.'

 

Please let me know the reasons why you consider those hatched areas to be unnecessary for pedestrians and/or vehicles to use in future. I have to ask that, because I cannot understand why that should be the case, as stopping-up would extinguish 'all traffic and all public rights of way ... over the said area of highway.'

 

From my knowledge of the area, including walking over some of the "hatched" areas myself on my visits to Wembley Park, I can't understand why it should be unnecessary for:

 

·      vehicles to pass, at least on some occasions, to or from Engineers Way and Olympic Way East and Olympic Way West, including to access the undercroft area for community and other events;

·      for pedestrians using the Engineers Way crossing from Olympic Way to have unimpeded access to the Olympic Steps, in both directions, especially when large events are taking place at the Stadium;

·      for pedestrians using the Engineers Way crossing from Market Square, beside the Civic Centre, to have unimpeded access to Wembley Park Boulevard (and back, on their way from Wembley Arena, the LDO and beyond towards Wembley Park Station);

·      for pedestrians coming west along Engineers Way from Canada Gardens, the University of Football Business and other developments, to have free use of the existing wide pedestrian area at the foot of the Olympic Steps, and the existing but narrower pedestrian area as they approach Wembley Park Boulevard and Arena Square.

 

The areas which your application proposes to stop-up were designed to be the way they are, as part of Quintain's Masterplan for Wembley Park. I can't see why the need for them should have changed, particularly given the growing number of people living in the area, and the increased number of large events at the Stadium, since that Masterplan was drawn up, and approved by Brent Council.

 

Unless you can provide a very strong justification as to why those hatched areas on the Plan are now unnecessary, I think that this application should be withdrawn. Best wishes,

 

Philip Grant.’

 

In case you have difficulty in visualising the areas the Council proposes to stop-up from the plan, I have marked them in red on this Google Maps satellite view extract:

 

The Public Realm Director quickly sent a holding reply, to say that he would consult colleagues on their return before sending a full response, and this is what he wrote when he sent that:

 

‘Dear Mr Grant,

 

The land proposed to be stopped up was the former bell mouth into Green Car Park and a sliver of land along the southern footway of Engineers Way located east of Wembley Park Boulevard.

 

The stopping-up was requested by Quintain as the area shown in hatch was deemed to be in the line of their Hostile Vehicles Mitigation bollards (an important counter-terrorism installation). These bollards are installed by Quintain, and the future maintenance will also be with them. The staggered nature of the former highway land would not serve any purpose as highway maintainable at public expense and so there is value in eliminating an ongoing burden on public finances.

 

I confirm Quintain has met all expenses in this stopping-up process. The original application was made around five years ago and the legal process, the statutory undertakers utility clearance and the obtaining of a court date have taken a considerable amount of time.

 

The stopping-up does not in any way impede public access to Olympic Steps nor to the access roads Olympic Way East and West. The stopping-up process will not in any way change the layout of the public realm that is currently in place. All existing pedestrian and vehicular access will remain unchanged, and we have had written assurance from Quintain to this effect. The purpose is simply to allow Quintain to maintain their land in future years to the same standard as the rest of the Wembley Park estate.

 

We have now been given a court date for the hearing on the 22 January 2026 at 2 pm. Therefore, the notice of intent and the draft order was publicised by our lawyers on the 15 December allowing sufficient time for the statutory notice period.

 

As part of the notice process, notices and a draft order were published in the local press; the same was posted on-site and a copy of the notice of intent, draft order and the stopping-up plan were left with Brent Civic Centre welcome desk and at the Wembley Library on the 12 December.

 

Following your email, my colleague contacted the Civic Centre welcome desk and requested that the documents must be available for public viewing until the end of the statutory notice period, i.e. 19 January 2026.

 

I regret you couldn’t view these documents when you visited. However, they were left with the front of house staff on Friday, 12 December 2025.

 

The stopping up process is a lengthy process and the court date is harder to obtain. Therefore, asking for an alternate date is not a viable option and would require substantial officer time.

 

I can advise, however, that if you are not satisfied with our process, then you can, of course, make representation at the court. 

 

I hope this is helpful background. Kind regards,

 

Director of Public Realm.’

 

The Olympic Steps and Stadium, from Engineers Way
(with people walking across a strip of land that could be stopped-up!)

 

If you have managed to read this guest post all the way through to here, thank you. What do you think of this proposed Stopping-up Order, and the Council’s explanation of why they are applying for it? If you have any views, please feel free to share them in the comments below.

 

I think it is important that local residents are aware of this application, by Brent Council on behalf of Quintain Limited. Having considered it myself, I believe that the proposed Order is unnecessary, and a misuse of Section 116, Highways Act 1980. I will try to persuade the Council Officer to withdraw the application, and will include my reasoning for that (as the text of an email I will send to him) for information in the comments section.

 

For now, though, I will wish all “Wembley Matters” readers a Happy New Year! There will be lots of interesting and important things happening in Brent in 2026, and this blog website is a very good source for information about them, so please keep following it.

 

Philip Grant 

Tower Block cluster, Neasden, planning application open for comments

 

Letters have gone out to residents regarding the re-consultation of the Neasden Goods Yard development appication on Neasden Lane (near the Jubilee line station and between the various railway lines). Note that a further development is planned for the O'Hara's Yard adjacent to the site.

A few storeys have been lopped off some of the blocks with the tallest now  Ground Floor plus 44 storeys.

The re-consultation closes on Monday February 2nd 2026. See LINK 

 

 PROPOSED TENURE

  

There have been four new comments since the 2023 version of the application:

Brent to get 9.9% increase in core funding next year. Ear-marked to address Adult Social Care and Children in Care budget shortfalls

From Brent Council 

The government has announced its local government funding settlement, following the Fair Funding Review of how council funding is distributed. The settlement introduces an updated funding formula intended to better reflect councils’ relative needs, costs and service pressures. 

The settlement marks a welcome shift away from short-term funding arrangements and provides councils with greater stability through a multi-year framework. It also restores a stronger emphasis on deprivation and need, which is particularly important for councils like Brent that face sustained financial pressures across social care, housing and homelessness services. 

Against this backdrop, the settlement includes a welcome 9.9% increase in core funding for Brent next year, one of the highest increases in London.

We will now work through the detail of the settlement carefully to understand its full implications for Brent’s budget and medium-term financial strategy. Our focus will be on making every pound count, protecting frontline services by driving efficiencies behind the scenes, and using public money responsibly to support residents who need us most. 

Councillor Mili Patel, Deputy Leader of Brent Council, said:

Brent was one of many communities that were disadvantaged when funding moved away from a focus on deprivation and need and was instead driven largely by population alone.

I am pleased that this settlement reverses that approach and puts the principle of fairness back at the heart of local government funding.

We will use this funding responsibly and sensibly to begin addressing the shortfalls in our budgets, particularly in the social care we provide for older people, disabled residents and children in care. These vital but often unseen services account for around two thirds of what the council spends, and they have borne the greatest pressure in recent years.

Formal investigation and a move requested after vulnerable dementia resident goes missing from Care Home for a second time, resulting in his hospitalisation

 

Beechwood Court

 

The partner and primary carer of an elderly man, Glen Atkins has written to Brent Council Leader, Muhammed Butt, and local MP, Barry Gardiner, following what she terms a 'profound breach of care' at Sovereign Network Group's Beechwood Court care home in Wembley.

She wrote: 

I am writing to you as an elderly carer, deeply distressed and frightened by the repeated safeguarding failures at Beechwood Court that have now endangered my partners life for a second time. 

My Partner, Glen Atkins, who has dementia and significant health needs, went missing again on Saturday 22nd of November, due to  what appears to be the lack of security and supervision from the carers.
 

On this occasion, the consequences have been even more severe: he was found in a deteriorated condition and is now in hospital receiving treatment. 

This is not only unacceptable but it is a profound breach of care. 

Following the first incident, I was assured that measures would be taken to prevent this from ever happening again. Those assurances were clearly not upheld. As his main carer, and as an elderly woman myself, I rely on the council’s systems to keep him safe. Instead, we are now living through the trauma of repeated failures that could have cost him his life. 

I am requesting the following immediate actions: 

1. A formal investigation into how my partner was able to leave the premises again despite previous alerts and assurances. 

2. An urgent review of Beechwood Court’s safeguarding procedures, including door security, staff monitoring, incident reporting, and emergency escalation processes. 

3.Immediate support in securing a safer and more appropriate placement for my partner, as I no longer have confidence in the facility’s ability to protect him. 

4. A direct meeting or call with a senior safeguarding officer within the council, within the next 7 days. 

No family should ever have to go through this once, let alone twice. The physical, emotional and psychological impact on my  Partner and on the family is immeasurable. I am asking you personally to intervene, as this situation now represents a systemic and dangerous failure affecting vulnerable adults in your borough. 

I look forward to your urgent response. 

Patricia Bryan 

 

Barry Gardiner has not yet responded and Muhammed Butt's office has just sent an acknowledgement,

 

Asif Zamir has written to Cllr Neal Nerva and Brent CEO Kim Wright in support of Patricia Bryan calling for a firmal investigation

 

My name is Asif Zamir, and I am writing to you formally to request an urgent investigation into the care and safety of Mr. Glen Atkins, currently a resident at Beechwood Court.

 

I am supporting Mr. Atkins’ partner and primary carer, Patricia Bryan, who has expressed profound distress regarding repeated safeguarding failures. On Saturday, 22nd November, Mr. Atkins—who lives with dementia—went missing from the facility for a second time. He was later found in a severely deteriorated state and is currently hospitalised.

 

Despite previous assurances following a similar incident, it is clear that the security and supervision protocols at Beechwood Court are insufficient.

 

I am formally requesting that you initiate a senior-level investigation into this case, specifically addressing:

 

The systemic failure of security measures that allowed a vulnerable resident to go missing twice.

 

The breach of previous safeguarding agreements made with the family.

 

An immediate review of the facility's fitness to provide care for residents with complex dementia.

 

To the Ward Councillors (Cc’d): I am copying you into this correspondence to formally request that you raise Member Enquiries on behalf of Patricia Bryan and Glen Atkins. We require your support to ensure transparency, accountability, and an urgent resolution to ensure Mr. Atkins is moved to a safer, more appropriate placement upon his discharge from the hospital.

 

 Given the severity of this situation and the fact that a vulnerable resident’s life has been endangered, I look forward to your acknowledgment of this email within 24 hours and a detailed response regarding the investigation steps.

 

Wembley Matters sough further information about the context of Mr Atkins'  going missing from the care home. Asif Zamir said:

 

It's alleged that CCTV was not working at  Beechwood house. Mr Atkins had been missing for approx 7.5 hrs. A contributing factor on the delay in finding him was that the staff  allegedly could not pin an exact time of when he had disappeared or the events leading up to his disappearance. 

 Mr Atkins had been taken by a members of staff to the communal area for his lunch and left unsupervised and that is when he disappeared.

When he wasreturned he had been out in bad weather and returned with wet clothes. 

Had the staff carried out their duty and provided accurate statements, there is a chance Mr Atkins could have been found earlier and prevented harm to him. There is a chain of failings.

He is in poor health in hospital; Beechwood Court have effectively evicted him whilst he is in hospital as they cannot meet his needs. The local authority must carry out their duty in helping find him a new home that meets his needs.

 

Patricia Bryan said that Mr Atkins had been found by police and returned to the Care Home who phoned to inform her.  When she arrived at the care home she was told the he'd had his medication and was in bed. When she went upstairs to his room she found him shivering and called 999. He was blue-lighted to Northwick Park Hospital where he remains. He has swollen feet with high blood sugar levels and is being treated with drugs for his diabetes and a course of insulin. Patricia said she she doesnlt know what trauma this incodent has caused and is seeking information from the consultant about his discharge.

She is looking at alternative care homes but was told that her preference would require an additional contribution of around £800 a week when that is how much pension Mr Atkins gets in a month.

 

A complicating factor is the triple involvement at the care home. It is run by Sovereign Network Group (SNG), the caring service is provided  by Westminster Homecare Limited  who have several recently renewed contracts with Brent Council, and Brent Council deals with allocations via the Adult Care Service and provides oversight.

 

A Stage 1 complaint was made to SNG on behalf of Mr Atkins and an investigation undertaken. The report on the investigation consists of a catalogue of many issues over time with the electronics and mechanism of the entrance door and a suggestion that he exited after the door was made insecure during a power outage. The conclusion has a sting in the tail: 

 

My Decision 

I am not upholding the complaint on the grounds of service failure. However, I want to be clear that this does not diminish the seriousness of the incident or the distress it caused. I fully acknowledge the impact this has had on Mr Atkins, including the deterioration in his condition and the concerns raised by Beechwood staff and social workers.

I would like to extend a further apology to you for the delay with your response. I wanted to ensure I had full scope of the situation at hand as well as tangible information/ updates to provide before responding to you. With that being said, I understand how important timely communication is and regret any additional frustration this may have caused. To compensate for this delay and in line with our policy, I will be awarding you £20 for delayed response. In line with our policy this will be credited to your rent/service charge account and visible on your statement within the next 28 days.

 

UPDATE: I emailed Cllr Nerva, Cabinet Lead Member for Adult Social Care, yesterday offering him the opportunity to make a published comment on this issue. I have only had a standard holding reply so far:  

Thank you for your email

I will respond to you as soon as possible

Cllr Mitchell leader of the Brent Green Group speaks out on leaving Labour

 

“We want to represent a party that believes in a radical overhaul of our systems to tackle the cost of living crisis and rising inequality.” Our five new councillors on why they left Labour to join the Green Party! 💚

[image or embed]

— The Green Party of England & Wales (@greenparty.org.uk) 16 December 2025 at 19:02

New Green Group on Brent Council: We are proud to be part of the Green Party's vision of hope and providing a real alternative to the status quo

Left-Right: Tony, iman, Erica, Mary and Harbi

A statement from the newly formed Green Group of Councillors in Brent Council: Cllr Tony Ethapemi, Cllr Erica Gbajumo, Cllr Harbi Farah, Cllr Iman Ahmadi Moghaddam, Cllr Mary Mitchell. 15.12.25

 

Like thousands of others, we joined the Labour Party because we believed in building a fairer society. As councillors, we took that mission into Brent, determined to stand up for the people who placed their trust in us.

Between us we have over 80 years membership of the Labour Party and over 30 years experience as local councillors representing our communities and advocating for residents. We have now come to the realisation that we can no longer play that role effectively while remaining within the Labour Party.

We always knew being a party of government would put the principles and values of the party to the test, but we have watched as on every issue this government goes further away from the founding Labour Party principles of democracy, social justice and equality.

We have a huge amount of respect for many of our hard working Labour colleagues and party members in Brent, but we don’t feel that the party represents the values we hold any longer.

We want to represent a party that believes in radical overhaul of our systems to tackle the cost of living crisis and rising inequality, including wholesale reform of our tax system to ensure that the richest pay their way, rather than tinkering around the edges.

We want to represent a party that recognises that there is a not just a conflict, or even a humanitarian emergency, but a genocide taking place in Gaza, one with British roots and one that we are supporting through arms sales and criminalising peaceful protest.

We want to represent a party that recognises that people and planet are inextricably linked and that we need to do much more to tackle the biodiversity and climate crises. That this is not something that will only affect our children, but is a case of national security here and now.

We want to be members of a party that has a real and open conversation about national identity & community cohesion and that doesn’t scapegoat immigrants, a party that maintains its international obligations to asylum seekers and stands firm against racism.

We want to be members of a party nationally and locally that values diversity of opinion rather than a top-down structure with no space for difference, that silences and expels members who speak out against the party line. We want to shape politics differently in Brent.

We did not enter public life to serve a party machine - we entered it to serve our residents and we will not abandon that duty. That is why we are today resigning our membership of the Labour Party, and joining the Green Party, becoming the first Green Group of Councillors in Brent.

We are proud to be part of the Green Party’s vision of hope and to be providing Brent residents with a real alternative to the status quo. Because there is an alternative. An alternative to austerity. An alternative to a politics that tells you “there’s not enough money” whilst billions keep flowing into the pockets of the wealthy and we continue to chase economic growth at all costs.

Today marks a new chapter in local politics in Brent, rooted in accountability and a commitment to environmental and social justice.

We invite all who share this vision to work with us in offering Brent a real alternative. Together, we can build a Brent that puts people before profit, public good before private greed and hope before fear.