Does London Mayor's new guidance on purpose built student accommodation address recent concerns in Brent?

 Marketing  video for purpose built student accommodation in Wembley Park

 

There has recently been discussion about the amount of purpose built student accommodation in Brent, with some disquiet even in the Brent Planning Committee. (See LINK) Rather than reflecting an anti-student prejudice it is often about the loss of sites that could otherwise be used for family housing and questions about balancing local communities.

Brent planners have insisted that the need for student accommodation both in Brent and London as whole has been established and contributes to housing targets,

The London Mayor has recently published London Plans guidance for London local planning authorities which reviews some of the issues. The full document can be found HERE and key extracts follow (my highlighting):

 

The Purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) London Plan Guidance (LPG) provides advice on how to apply London Plan Policy H15 to best meet London’s needs. This guidance applies to a specialist form of housing designed and managed for students. This typically comprises a mixture of flats for 6-8 students with shared living spaces, and larger studio flats, plus additional communal social spaces and other facilities.

As well as providing students with a place to live, PBSA can play an important role in alleviating pressures on the wider private rental sector. Indirectly its provision also helps underpin London’s higher education sector as a global player, and the wider knowledge economy of the city.

The LPG sets out detailed advice on siting, designing and developing such housing, including balancing it with other housing types. It aims to ensure that these developments are designed and managed to be of good quality, safe and inclusive and integrated into their neighbourhood. The guidance is aimed at those designing PBSA schemes and decision-makers assessing them as part of the planning application process.

 

London’s universities are disproportionately concentrated in a few areas, including within the CAZ (Central Activity Zone) . PBSA (Purpose Built Student Accommodation) has clustered in similar areas, particularly in inner London. This has diversified the student accommodation offer from the traditional, university-built PBSA, and private rented homes. Several boroughs where this is the case have sought to limit further growth in such (purpose built) student accommodation, as well as in some cases, HMOs Homes of Multiple Occupation). This reflects their concerns about housing mix in their neighbourhoods and the potential ‘crowding out’ of conventional housing, given other types of housing need amongst their population. However, in turn, other boroughs (including within outer London, some distance from where London’s universities are concentrated) have since seen a particularly high influx of PBSA schemes, giving rise to similar concerns.

 

PBSA in relation to neighbourhood housing mix can be considered in two ways:

 

• In support of PBSA proposals that help disperse from traditional concentrations to alternative, suitable locations – perhaps adding an element of student housing to existing residential stock that is primarily conventional housing. This may be particularly relevant where there is a shortage of family homes, which students are currently occupying as HMOs or which they could be in future, in light of PBSA shortages.

 

• As a more negative consideration, where there are long-standing or more recent concentrations of PBSA, or similar, non-self-contained accommodation, relative to conventional housing. This may be spatial (in particular neighbourhoods) or as a proportion of housing delivery, where PBSA may be considered to be ‘crowding out’ conventional housing schemes. Such dominance may be particularly acute under certain market conditions; and where development sites are limited (which would ordinarily be equally attractive for conventional residential use).

 

PBSA should form part of a wider positive strategy in delivering mixed and inclusive neighbourhoods in most Local Plans. It should be acknowledged that what is considered an appropriate balance of PBSA and conventional housing will differ across London, and within boroughs. Local Plans should identify if and where spatial concentration of PBSA, or proliferation of PBSA delivery compared to conventional housing delivery, is impacting the ability to ensure mixed and inclusive neighbourhoods. They should also identify more positive opportunities for PBSA to help contribute to local and strategic objectives.

This could be used to develop spatial policies; or to indicate the significance of neighbourhood or pipeline housing mix in decision-making.

 

BREAKING: BRENT COUCIL HAS REACHED AGREEMENT WITH LIME BIKES ENABLING THEM TO CONTINUE TO OPERATE IN BRENT

 

Lime bikes outside St Andrew's Church, Church Lane, Kingsbury

From Brent Council

Lime has agreed to invest hundreds of thousands of pounds in the creation of hundreds of bike parking bays across Brent, as part of a comprehensive plan to tackle residents’ safety concerns.

 

The bike hire company was in the limelight after Brent warned that the dockless e-bikes would need to be removed from the borough if a number of concerns were not addressed by 31 October.

 

A plan to improve the way the bike rental service operates in Brent has now been negotiated following a series of constructive meetings, with a new operating model to begin immediately.

 

 Lime Bike parking bay (not in Brent)

 

Under the new plan, which was launched today Lime will:

 

• Introduce and fund the creation of 200 new parking bays, in priority areas. These designated parking bays will be implemented and enforced in phases. All locations will be added before July 1 2025.
• Immediately reduce the size of its fleet in Brent by a third - from 750 to 500 bikes - while these other improvements are made, and consult closely with the council before increasing bike numbers again.
• Introduce zoning changes that prevent the parking of bikes in areas where parking has frequently been poor.
• Introduce automatic ‘slow zone’ speed controls in busy hotspots such as around Wembley Stadium and Wembley High Road, as well as a dedicated events plan for the stadium with the council.
• Increase the number of Lime cyclist patrollers and parking wardens on-the-ground in Brent by 78%, ensuring that any issues reported can be dealt with quickly.
• Remove inappropriately parked bikes within 2 hours of being reported via a newly created email.
• Reinvest the fines from poor parking back into the local community through the council’s Together Towards Zero grant scheme.
• Launch a new resident cycling forum to meet on a quarterly basis and provide a cycle training session each month for Brent residents.

 

Councillor Krupa Sheth, Cabinet Member for Environment and Enforcement, said: 

 

Since raising our concerns with Lime earlier this year, we've spent considerable time at the table with them, communicating residents' issues, outlining our expectations, and closely reviewing their proposals.

 

We’ve squeezed a number of really important improvements out of Lime, and it is welcome that they have listened to residents’ feedback and are taking immediate steps to change.

 

This council supports active travel, but safety is non-negotiable. We hope that we have turned a corner with Lime and expect residents to see real, noticeable improvements from now on. We will hold Lime to these new commitments to ensure they are honoured.

 

Hal Stevenson, Director of Policy at Lime, UK, said: 

 

We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Brent Council to continue offering our service to the tens of thousands of residents that rely on us daily across the borough.

 

Over the past two months, we’ve collaborated closely with the Council to establish an action plan that will deliver immediate, on-street improvements, while also funding the creation of a new network of mandatory parking locations by July 1. 

 

Our significant investment in this network demonstrates our commitment to working alongside Brent to provide long-term solutions that address community concerns, while continuing to support their efforts to ensure more journeys in the Borough are taken by bike.

 

We are listening to our Council partners and taking action to manage the record demand for our e-bikes responsibly.

 

Residents should report badly parked bikes to Lime directly on their website or through their App or alternatively through a new email Brent@li.me or by calling 0800 808 5223.

 

Average Brent rent has rise by more than a third since 2023

According to My London Office of National Statistic data shows that Brent has seen the steepest rise in rents over the past 12 months of any local area in England or Wales.

The average rent is now £2,121 per month - a rise of 33.6% since 2023. This compares with a London average rise of 9.6%.

Private rents in Brent soar 33.9% in a year ONS statistics show

Source

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the period to June 2024 show that since June 2023 there has been a 33.9% increase in private rents in the borough.

 

This compares with a maximum increase of 3.8% (for flats) in houses purchases over the 12 month period.

 The latest statistics confirm the problem that Brent Council faces due to the rise in private sector rents when looking for accommodation for homeless families.

They also challenge the claim that the increase in the number of built to rent homes in the borough, let at market rents, will via market pressures reduce rents overall.

On the basis of house prices there appears to  be an economic case for owers of detached houses to convert their property into flats as we have seen in corner site properties in the Salmon Street area of Kingsbury.

Glitch in Brent Council 'Find your polling station software'

 There appears to be a problem with the Brent Council website Find Your Polling Station LINK

A resident fills in their postcode for Gorefield House

 The resident is given the polling station address Hornbill House, 2 Rudolph Road

But when clicking on 'Show me directions' is directed to William Dunbar House

This is the actual location of Hornbill House

Best to double check when using the site.

Labour urged to 'get a grip on the unrelenting cladding horror show'

 The cladding crisis has hit properties in Brent (see LINK) and End Our Cladding Scandal  has been in the forefront of the campaign to achieve justice for the occupants of affected buildings along with Brent Cladding Action Group.

End Our Cladding Scandal has recently issued a statement LINK calling for a stronger commitment from Labour on the issue:

Since the Grenfell catastrophe in 2017, we have welcomed the support from Labour MPs – whether that given to individual leaseholders or the Shadow Housing team’s ongoing engagement with our campaign. This included commitments made by Sir Keir Starmer in 2021 and the plan to create a “Building Works Agency” to solve the building safety crisis if Labour was re-elected – a plan which we helped to shape.

In October last year, Labour’s full final policy platform explicitly stated that “Leaseholders should be protected from the costs of remediating cladding and non-cladding defects in all buildings irrespective of circumstances.” Labour’s manifesto now only states that it will “review how to better protect leaseholders from costs and take steps to accelerate the pace of remediation across the country” and that there must be a “renewed focus on ensuring those responsible for the building safety crisis pay to put it right.”

We expected Labour’s manifesto to be high level; however, we are disappointed to not see more than this.

Labour may wish to restore the dream of home ownership to 1.5 million people across the country. But, right now, an estimated 600,000 people are trapped in unsafe flats with their dreams and futures ruined. The pace of remediation remains glacial with millions of leaseholders unable to sell and move on with their lives. Buildings insurance is also still a mess. Last April, Shadow Housing Minister, Matthew Pennycook recognised that ordinary people “have been struggling with the eye-watering cost” for years and that we “need ministers to act decisively to drive those costs down not yet more procrastination and tinkering around the edges.” He said that Labour would “look to quickly establish a risk-pooling scheme with government backing” – will a Labour government back the ABI’s Reinsurance Facility in the first 100 days if it wins the election?

We want, need and deserve to have firm commitments with a clear timeline to fix all buildings, ensure residents are and feel safe, and protect all leaseholders – all of whom are innocent and are still shouldering a desperately unfair burden. We have shown Labour how to do this at a meaningful pace and with visible grip in our manifesto.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report will be published on 4^th September and we expect this to spell out how successive governments played a huge part in causing this crisis by focusing on the interests of industry over residents and enabling decades of bad practice across the construction sector. We note that the National Audit Office is due to report on the pace of remediation in Autumn and this should add pressure on the next government to get a grip of this unrelenting horror show.

In recent years, we have worked with the Government, the Health and Safety Executive’s Building Safety Regulator, Homes England, the Leasehold Advisory Service, and many other stakeholders to hold them to account and set out how the building safety crisis can be fixed. Whichever party forms the next government must show the political will to deliver a much fairer and faster end to the building safety crisis. Labour’s manifesto is titled Change – we need details on how they will change the current ineffective approach to making homes safe. Fire won’t wait and neither can we.

Sufra's activities reviewed and the need for a fair and humane asylum system

I have just received Sufra Food Bank's latest Newsletter and am sharing the extracts below:

 

The UK has long been stuck in a ‘doom loop’ of poverty, with one in five households with children now going without meals and 11 million people experiencing food insecurity. An utterly shameful situation in one of the world’s richest counties.   Charities like Sufra can’t take the state’s place in providing basic economic security for local people – especially those experiencing hunger and deprivation. But in the absence of adequate statutory support, Sufra – like many other charities – have had little choice but to step in to fill the void.  We’ve just been crunching the numbers: the last financial year was unprecedented in terms of demand, innovation in our services, and the scale of our work.   You can read a short blog about all we did last year here, but below are a few key facts and figures to give you a flavour of what’s been happening at Sufra between April 2023 and March 2024:   We distributed almost 10,000 food parcels at our Food Banks, served around 19,000 people freshly cooked hot meals at our Community Kitchens, and facilitated over 3,000 shopping trips at our Community Shop.  We expanded our Welfare Advice Team, supported nearly 500 guests with professional advice (including many asylum seekers, refugees and migrants), and applied for OISC accreditation so that we can provide immigration advice (coming soon!).    We established a successful new Community Wellbeing Project with a community shop, café and comprehensive wrap around support. We even launched a Toolkit to encourage the programme to be replicated in other parts of the UK.   St. Raphael’s Edible Garden has been in full bloom. We harvested 3/4 of a tonne of fruit, vegetables and nuts – and distributed much of this at our weekly Garden Market, which saw 361 visits throughout the year.   We recruited 205 inspiring new volunteers who gave up 13,000 hours of their time to support members of their community across all of our services – from Food Aid and the Garden to Advice and even Admin.    As you can see, we have been focused on establishing holistic programmes that help prevent poverty and reduce demand for emergency food aid.   But none of this would have been possible without the support of our generous donors, supporters and inspiring volunteers – people like you! So, on behalf of everyone at Sufra, please accept our heartfelt gratitude for helping us achieve all that we did.

Calling for a Fair and Humane Asylum System

The theme for this year’s Refugee Week (17-23 June) is ‘Our Home’ – a theme that resonates deeply with Sufra’s values and our work. If you’ve ever visited Sufra, you will know that our advice guests can access a welcoming community space, fresh food, and tailored professional support - which will soon include accredited immigration advice.   In recent months, Sufra’s Advice Team has been overwhelmed by the huge rise in homelessness among our refugee guests. Across London, refugee homelessness has increased by a shocking 239%.

What’s the issue?

Upon receiving refugee status, asylum seekers are served eviction notices and given just 28 days to find alternative accommodation – many have been given as little as 7 days.   Given that they have no income, savings or employment at that point, most end up homeless and without any adequate support, which inevitably leads to destitution and distress.

What can you do?

Please bear this crisis in mind when considering the upcoming election - we all need to hold policymakers to account for policies such as these that directly impact our guests at Sufra.   You can also support this campaign by the Refugee Council, calling on the UK Government to treat people fairly and with dignity when they arrive in the UK.   If you would like to support the work of Sufra’s brilliant Advice Team directly, you can contribute to our Emergency Aid Fund here, which we often use to provide emergency accommodation and other essentials for those experiencing homelessness.

Support Sufra’s Emergency Aid Fund here

Byron Court strikes against forced academisation continue on Friday and subsequent weeks

 From Brent National Education Union

 

NEU members at Byron Court Primary School are striking again in a fight to save their local community school which is threatened with a forced privatisation by the huge Harris Federation chain of academies. PICKET LINE OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL FRIDAY 14^th JUNE 7.30-9.30am! [Subsequent dates: 18^th/19^th June, 25^th/27^th June and 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th July]

 

Staff at Byron Court Primary School in Wembley continue to strike to save their local community school from a forced “academy order” following an intimidating Ofsted inspection. They are striking  following their protest, alongside parents and the NASUWT outside the DfE last week in which a petition of over 2000 signatures was handed over, supported by Barry Gardiner, the constituency Labour Candidate.

 

THE NEU HAVE YESTERDAY LAUNCHED A “GO YELLOW” CAMPAIGN ACROSS ALL BRENT SCHOOLS in which staff are asked to wear yellow or black as an act of solidarity with striking members at Byron Court. Yellow and black are the current Byron Court uniform colours and the campaign is launched on the day that Harris Federation are forcing their way into the school to “consult” pupils on a new uniform.

 

Staff have today heard that the proposed TUPE consultation will not conclude until AFTER the general election, bringing real hope that the incoming Secretary of State will pause this forced academisation process.

 

Jenny Cooper of the NEU national executive has stated:

 

Forced academisation is a process opposed by most education unions and flies in the face of democracy; this should not happen in a civilised society. We call on all political parties to reverse this policy if elected and to start by intervening to save Byron Court

Queens Park by-election will be held on July 4th

 Dated: Thursday 30 May 2024 Kim Wright
Returning Officer
London Borough of Brent,
Brent Civic Centre
Engineers Way
Wembley
HA9 0FJ
Printed and Published by the London Borough of Brent
London Borough of Brent

NOTICE OF ELECTION

Election of a Borough Councillor
For the Queens Park Ward
To be held on
Thursday 4 July 2024

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT

1. An election is to be held for a Borough Councillor for the Queens Park Ward.

2. Nomination papers may be obtained from the Electoral Services Office, Brent Civic Centre,
Engineers Way, Wembley HA9 0FJ.

3. Completed nomination papers must be delivered to the Returning Officer at the address shown
above from the day after the date of this notice, weekdays between 10am and 4pm but not later
than 4pm on Friday 7 June 2024.

4. If the election is contested, the poll will take place on Thursday 4 July 2024 between the hours of
7.00am and 10.00pm.

5. Applications to register to vote must reach the Electoral Registration Officer by midnight on Tuesday
18 June 2024. Applications can be made online: www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

 
6. Applications for a Voter Authority Certificate or an Anonymous Elector’s Document valid for this
election must reach the relevant Electoral Registration Officer** by 5pm on Wednesday 26 June
2024. Applications can be made online: www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate

 
7. Applications to vote by post or to change existing postal, postal proxy or proxy votes must reach the
Electoral Registration Officer at the Electoral Services Office address shown above by 5pm on
Wednesday 19 June 2024. Applications can be made online at www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote and
www.gov.uk/apply-proxy-vote

 
8. New applications to vote by proxy must be received by the Electoral Registration Officer at the
address shown above by 5pm on Wednesday 26 June 2024. Some applications can be made
online at www.gov.uk/apply-proxy-vote

 
9. Applications to vote by emergency proxy at this election on the grounds of physical incapacity; for
work/service reasons; or photo ID is lost/ stolen/ damaged/ or voter ID not received, must reach the
relevant Electoral Registration Officer ** by 5pm on Thursday 4 July 2024.

By-election for election of a Queens Park councillor

 From Brent Council website:

NOTICE OF CASUAL VACANCY

A Local Government Councillor for the Queens Park Ward in the London Borough of Brent

Notice is hereby given under Section 87(2) of the Local Government Act 1972 that a casual vacancy exists for the office of Councillor for the Queens Park ward of the London Borough of Brent.
 

Requesting a by-election

A by-election is only triggered by local government electors requesting a by-election to take place.
 

This requires TWO local government electors within the London Borough of Brent giving notice to the Proper Officer of the authority that an election should take place. 

Holding a by-election

On receipt of the requests to fill the vacancy, the Returning Officer will set a date for an election to be held within 35 days.
 

All requests for a by-election regarding this Casual Vacancy must be sent to the Proper Officer at: Chief Executive’s Office, Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley HA9 0FJ or by email to
kim.wright@brent.gov.uk or Chief.Executive@brent.gov.uk
 

Kim Wright, Returning Officer
(Proper Officer for the London Borough of Brent)
24 May 2024

On the third strike day Byron Court strikers and supporters are in good heart and voice

 

Outside theBrent Civic Centre...

 and inside

Byron Court strikers and their parent and community supporters took their protest from the picket line to Brent Civic Centre this morning. Their energery remains undiminished on the third strike day against forced academisation and determinations has, if anything, increased.

Daniel Kebede, NEU General Secretary joined the picket line and congratulated the campign on their 'push back' on forced academisation that would stand as an example to others:

 

 

Buoyed by the support, including that of three Brent councillors, the strikers and supporters were in good voice on the picket line and at the Civic Centre. 

 

 

 

Yesterday one of the Byron Court NEU representatives, Alice Butterton, told Wembley Matters about the impact of the Ofsted judgement on staff and parents. (The Byron Court girls cricket team won their cricket tournament!) 

 

If you care about our health services Sunday's meeting at Unity Centre is a must!

 

Police use of facial recognition technology is coming to Brent. Undermining human rights or helpful in fighting crime?

 

Cllr Tariq Dar, the next Mayor of Brent, has hailed the news that facial recognition is coming to Brent on Twitter saying, 'Great news, this will help reduce the crime rate in Brent.'

The zoom meeting on May 21st (email Brentiag.community@gmail.com to attend) will be an important opportunity to debate the drawbacks and merits of the technology and its uses.

Note that the meeting is not asking Brent citizens if they want facial recognition used in the borough, that is stated as a fact: 'Facial recognition technology is coming to Brent!'

It is particularly important in Brent as police are said to favour its use for the scanning of large crowds such as those at Wembley Stadium and the Arena. Another Brent factor is the doubts raised over its accuracy when surveying people of colour and discriminatory use by the police. An additional concern is its use on private developments and private 'public spaces' such as Olympic Way where safeguards may not be strong..

The civil rights organisation Liberty devotes several pages to the issue on its website LINK. Extract below:

What is facial recognition?

Put simply, facial recognition is a form of technology that attempts to match a person’s face from a picture, video footage or live camera feed to a database of facial images.

Do the police use facial recognition?

Yes. Several UK police forces have used facial recognition technology since Leicestershire Police scanned thousands of people’s faces with it at Download Festival in 2015.

Police use has been spearheaded by the Metropolitan Police and South Wales Police. The forces have used the surveillance tech to scan hundreds of thousands of faces at protests, sporting events, concerts, Notting Hill Carnival, Remembrance Sunday, train stations, busy shopping streets, and even the seaside.

In 2022, it’s clear that the Met Police is ramping up its use of the tech.

How does police facial recognition work?

Police facial recognition works by measuring and ‘mapping’ a person’s unique facial features. These ‘maps’ are then converted into a numerical code to be matched against the codes of faces on secretive watch lists.

Up until now, the police have used what is known as ‘live’ facial recognition. This means that the act of scanning a person’s face and comparing to the watch list happens in real time.

It usually involves facial recognition cameras mounted on top of police vehicles stationed in crowded areas. The cameras scan the faces of everyone in range, and the software instantly compares them to the database.

Recently, South Wales Police announced that it was testing facial recognition on officers’ phones, so they could more easily scan people’s faces in the street.

As well as ‘live’ facial recognition, the Met has purchased software that allows it to carry out what is called ‘retroactive’ facial recognition. This is when faces in still images or previously captured video footage are scanned and compared to the watch list.

Who is on the watch list?

The police say the watch lists are made up of dangerous criminals and people wanted by the courts. There are usually thousands of people on a watch list each time a force uses facial recognition.

In 2020, we represented Ed Bridges against South Wales Police (SWP) in the world’s first legal challenge to the use of live facial recognition – more on this below (spoiler, we won).

During the case, we were able to see SWP documents that revealed that anyone could be on the watch list, whether they were wanted in connection with a crime or not. It also became clear that the images on the watch list could come from anywhere. The police could even take them from our social media accounts.

What’s the problem with police facial recognition?

The ‘maps’ that facial recognition makes of your face is unique to you. Much like a fingerprint, it is identifiable biometric data.

With ‘live’ police facial recognition, cameras scan everyone in sight, so this data is likely being snatched from you without your knowledge or consent. And this is certainly the case with ‘retroactive’ police use.

This is gross violation of your human rights.

Police officers have previously admitted to us that they just deploy live facial recognition in crowded areas to scan as many people as possible.

Retroactive facial recognition also turns every photo or video available to the police – including any you upload to social media – into a possible surveillance tool.

Does it work?

Lots has been said about the inaccuracies of the tech and how incorrect matches with the watch list have led to harmful police interactions.

Studies show that it particularly struggles to tell Black people apart, and has difficulty with women of any ethnicity.

But the idea that more accurate tech would lessen the problems with facial recognition is false. History shows that surveillance technology will always be used to monitor and harass people of colour. More accurate tech would only make this easier and discriminatory policing worse.

Is it lawful?

No.

When Liberty and campaigner Ed Bridges took South Wales Police to court for its use of live facial recognition, the Court said the force’s use of the tech was unlawful because it violated everyone’s human rights.

The Court also said that SWP hadn’t adequately taken account of the discriminatory impact of the tech – failing to meet its obligations under equality laws.

And by processing people’s unique biometric data, SWP also breached data protection laws.

You can read more about our legal victory here.

The Met Police has pushed ahead and continues to use live facial recognition after our win against SWP, but the Met’s use must also violate human rights, equality and data protection laws – and is therefore unlawful.

We also believe that retroactive facial recognition is similarly unlawful.

What should happen?

Especially after our court victory, there have been calls for Parliament to create laws governing police use of facial recognition.

However, there is no way of creating a law that solves the human rights or data protection issues, let alone discriminatory policing.

The safest thing to do is ban police from using dangerous facial recognition surveillance technology. More than 80,000 people have signed our petition. Add your name today.