BREAKING: Call for multi-agency action on threat of severe flooding of the Wealdstone Brook in Kenton

 

The course of the Wealdstone Brook causing concern over flood risk

Following a series of  recent first hand observations of the Wealdstone Brook between Becmead Avenue in Harrow and the Falcon Way bridge in Brent, John Timms MBE – a local expert hydrologist with a wealth of knowledge and 35 years of experience on hydrology issues including the Wealdstone Brook - and John Poole, a local Kenton resident for 50 years whose garden also backs on to the Wealdstone Brook, have both concluded that they are very concerned about the potential impact of a severe storm event in the Kenton area of the Brent catchment.

 

The lack of Wealdstone Brook base and bank maintenance and observed obstructions in the brook have led us to conclude that there is the potential for a serious flooding event the next time there is a torrential downpour which can cause the brook to fill up rapidly, for the water in the brook to move at a speed approaching 2.5 metres per second and a discharge of 20 cubic metres per second, for the foul surface and foul sewer network to reach maximum capacity quickly and overflow creating a major flooding event in the area.

 

On the 16^th and 17^th of August 1977 1,200 homes and business were flooded to a depth of up to 1.5 metres in the Brent catchment. The factors that exacerbated the flooding then are still present 45 years later and John Poole personally witnessed the event in 1977.

 

We are issuing this joint statement because, although Thames Water is presently carrying out its legal duties in locating and dealing with sewage and surface water pollution of the Wealdstone Brook in Harrow and Brent, we do not believe that the agencies with responsibility for maintaining flood risks in the area, namely Harrow and Brent councils, Thames Water and the Environment Agency, are taking the necessary action to reduce the risks from potential flooding in the area.

 

We have photographic evidence of potential obstructions in the Wealdstone Brook which, during a severe storm event, may cause blockages of culverts along the open length of the brook, which is mainly in Brent, with consequential flooding of residential and public properties.

 

We call upon Brent and Harrow Councils, Thames Water and the Environment Agency to find ways of working together with local stakeholders to urgently find a resolution to these issues of the maintenance of the Wealdstone Brook in order to reduce the risks of flooding in the future. This should include recommendations to improve resilience to future flooding events as well as implementing locally the final recommendations in July 2022 of the Independent Review into the severe flooding in London on 12 July 2021 and 25 July 2021.

 

Key questions for Kenton councillors over Brent Council's action on polio virus

 

COPY OF EMAIL SENT TO THE 3 KENTON WARD COUNCILLORS – WEDNESDAY 17^TH AUGUST 2022 –

 

Wednesday 17^th August 2022.

 

Dear Kenton Ward Councillors,

 

Re: Cllr.Neil Nerva’s email to all Brent Councillors and the UKHSA Press Release

 

As I am sure you are aware I have been raising serious concerns about the presence of untreated raw human sewage seen floating in the Wealdstone Brook as it flows through the open access areas of Woodcock Park here in the Kenton Ward of Brent for some months now.

 

The latest press release from the UK Health Security Agency included in Cllr Neil Nerva’s email to all Brent Councillors dated Monday 10^th August 2022 includes reference to the detection of the polio virus in Brent waterways along with the detection of this virus in 7 other north London Boroughs connected in some way or the other with the Beckton Sewage Works in east London.

 

Councillors are being urged by Cllr Nerva and indeed the UK HSA along with health professionals in the areas concerned to promote the polio booster vaccination programme for children aged one to nine.

 

My questions to you as my Kenton Ward Councillors included in the email from Cllr.Nerva are;

 

1.    From which waterways in Brent were samples taken that indicated the presence of the polio virus?

2.    What measures are Brent Council putting in place to secure those waterways to help prevent access and reduce the potential for infection?

3.    Will samples of the water flowing in the Wealdstone Brook be included in the analysis being undertaken by the UKHSA and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)? And will these samples include both the water flowing in Brent as well as in Harrow?

4.    Given that in the UK HSA Press Release dated 10^th August there is the following statement; 

 

“ The level of poliovirus found and high genetic diversity among the PV2 isolates suggest that there is some level of virus transmission in these boroughs which may extend to adjacent areas. This suggests that transmission has gone beyond a close network of a few individuals.”

 

what immediate measures are Brent Council taking to monitor whether there is any indication of any individual in Brent showing potential signs of infection from the polio virus?

 

Our recent understanding and experiences from the Covid-19 virus pandemic would surely be enough to set alarm bells ringing amongst Brent Councillors and Brent Council Officers, that action in dealing with this polio virus outbreak has to be top priority for the health and safety of Brent residents.

 

Yours sincerely

 

John Poole,

(Kenton address supplied)

 

LETTER: Brent councillors & officers should have training on disease danger from raw human sewage

 Dear Editor,

Reading all the latest from Neil Nerva and UKHSA (see Notes below) plus other local commentary you can imagine that I am just appalled at the previous lack of action given that indications are that the polio virus is spreading and mutating. Why Brent Council has not declared a ‘Major Incident’ is totally and utterly beyond my comprehension. 

 

Once again, Brent Council is trying to shut the gate after the horses have bolted. The total combined lack of understanding and action is just appalling.

 

Perhaps some in-service training for Councillors and Council Officers on the connection between the presence of untreated raw human sewage in waterways and the spread of diseases might be in order?

 

John Poole

 

Notes:

 

Cllr Neil Nerva (Cabinet Member for Public Health and Adult Social Care) wrote to all Brent councillors on August 10th attaching the UK Health Security Agency on the health dangers after detection of the pokio virus in waste water in the borough. He stated:

Councillors have a key role to promote vaccination for children aged one to nine.

 UK Health Security Agency Press Release

JCVI has advised all children aged one to nine in London are offered a polio booster vaccine, prioritising the areas where the virus is present. The NHS in London will contact parents when it's their child’s turn to come forward for a booster or catch-up polio dose. Vaccine-derived poliovirus has been detected in sewage in Barnet, Brent, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest. There have been no confirmed cases of polio and the risk to the wider population is low. Across London, childhood vaccination uptake is lower than the rest of the country.

Following the discovery of type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus in sewage in north and east London, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that a targeted inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) booster dose should be offered to all children between the ages of one and nine in all London boroughs. This will ensure a high level of protection from paralysis and help reduce further spread of the virus. Nationally the overall risk of paralytic polio is considered low because most people are protected from this by vaccination. Many countries globally, including the USA and EU countries like Belgium, provide an additional dose of polio-containing vaccine as part of their childhood vaccination schedule. The NHS in London will contact parents when it's their child’s turn to come forward for a booster or catch-up polio dose - parents should take up the offer as soon as possible. The programme will start with the areas affected, where the poliovirus has been detected and vaccination rates are low. This will be followed by rapid rollout across all boroughs. This booster dose will be in addition to the NHS childhood vaccination catch up campaign across London. It’s important all children aged 1-9, even if up-to-date with their vaccinations, accept this vaccine when offered to further strengthen their protection against the poliovirus. Following the findings earlier this year of type 2 poliovirus (PV2) collected from the Beckton sewage treatment works, further upstream sampling undertaken by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has now identified at least one positive sample of the poliovirus currently present in parts of several boroughs: Barnet, Brent, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest. The sampling has also detected the virus in lower concentrations and frequency in areas adjacent to the Beckton catchment area to the South (immediately below the Thames) and to the east of Beckton. However, it is not clear whether the virus has established itself in these areas or if the detections are due to people from the affected area visiting these neighbouring areas. The level of poliovirus found and the high genetic diversity among the PV2 isolates suggests that there is some level of virus transmission in these boroughs which may extend to the adjacent areas. This suggests that transmission has gone beyond a close network of a few individuals. A total of 116 PV2 isolates have been identified in 19 sewage samples collected in London between 8 February and 5 July this year, but most are vaccine-like virus and only a few have sufficient mutations to be classified as vaccine derived poliovirus (VDPV2). VDPV2 is of greater concern as it behaves more like naturally occurring ‘wild’ polio and may, on rare occasions, lead to cases of paralysis in unvaccinated individuals. UKHSA is working closely with health agencies in New York and Israel alongside the World Health Organisation (WHO) to investigate the links between the poliovirus detected in London and recent polio incidents in these two other countries. Dr Vanessa Saliba, Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA said: No cases of polio have been reported and for the majority of the population, who are fully vaccinated, the risk is low. But we know the areas in London where the poliovirus is being transmitted have some of the lowest vaccination rates. This is why the virus is spreading in these communities and puts those residents not fully vaccinated at greater risk. Polio is a serious infection that can cause paralysis but nationally the overall risk is considered low because most people are protected by vaccination. The last case of polio in the UK was in 1984, but decades ago before we introduced the polio vaccination programme around 8000 people would develop paralysis every year. It is vital parents ensure their children are fully vaccinated for their age. Following JCVI advice all children aged one to nine years in London need to have a dose of polio vaccine now – whether it’s an extra booster dose or just to catch up with their routine vaccinations. It will ensure a high level of protection from paralysis. This may also help stop the virus spreading further. Jane Clegg, Chief Nurse for the NHS in London said: While the majority of Londoners are protected from polio, the NHS will shortly be contacting parents of eligible children aged one to nine years old to offer them a top-up dose to ensure they have maximum protection from the virus. We are already reaching out to parents and carers of children who aren’t up to date with their routine vaccinations, who can book a catch-up appointment with their GP surgery now and for anyone not sure of their child’s vaccination status, they can check their Red Book. The UKHSA, working with the MHRA, has already increased sewage surveillance to assess the extent of spread of the virus and are currently sampling eight further sites across London. A further 15 sites in London will start sewage sampling in mid-August, and 10 -15 sites will be stood up nationally to determine if poliovirus is spreading outside of London.

Editor's Note:  With primary schools closed for the summer holiday the usual method of communication  with parents of young children is unavailable. Brent Council should be seeking imaginative ways of communicating the urgent information about the need for parents  to take advantage of the vaccination offerfor their children (aged 1-9. Councillors could be doing that for their wards via social media, Facebook sites and Next Door as well as personal contact.

Further key questions for Brent Council after Brent named as one of the places polio virus found in waste water. Children 1-9 to be offered boosters.

 

Tweet released by Brtent Council at 10.45am Thursday morning

The BBC is reporting that children aged one to nine are to be offered polio boosters after the virus was found in 116 places in London's waste water since February. Brent is named as one of the places it was found. LINK

Campaigners drawing attention to the amount of raw human sewage flowing in the Wealdstone Brook had raised the public health danger with Brent Council and asked for the declaration of a public health emergency.  See John Poole's letter HERE.

On June 23rd 2022, John Poole write to Wembley Matters:

Yesterday – Wednesday 22^nd June 2022 – the area around Beckton Sewage Works in NE London has been declared a ‘Major Incident’ because the Polio virus has been detected in the local river water. LINK

Raw sewage in the Woodcock Park section of the Wealdstone Brook persisted through to May.

If it turns out that water samples were also taken from the Wealdstone Brook (and they should have been given the information now released from the Environment Agency as of yesterday) then Brent Council were negligent to say the least in not declaring the human sewage pollution of the Wealdstone Brook a ‘Major Incident’ as requested by me.

If there were no medical tests of the water for such viruses, then I would regard that a major dereliction of duty from Brent and Harrow Council and the local medical authorities, particularly since we had a zoom meeting with a health official in the Brent and Harrow area regarding just this issue. The water of the Brook was not only chemically toxic and dangerous to human health – it would also certainly contain some potentially very serious viruses and was therefore biologically toxic.

How dare they play games with our health let alone the health of children who continued to play in and around this river as it runs through Woodcock Park and no action was taken by the authorities to fence off this river in spite of repeated requests on health and safety grounds from the Friends of Woodcock Park.

I am angry, very angry – ignorance is no excuse for the failure to protect the health of residents of Kenton, particularly those that live close to the Wealdstone Brook.

Campaigners said that that the brook flowed close to a primary and a secondary school  as well as through Woodcock Park and that children playing could go into its waters to retrieve balls or  while playing.

Dr Melanie Smith, Brent Director of Public Health, said: 

The risk to the general public from polio is low and remains low if you're up-to-date with your vaccinations. The polio vaccine has been tried and tested over many years and is safe and effective. The NHS is offering all London children aged one to nine a booster, so do take the opportunity to ensure you keep your children protected.

Cllr Ketan Sheth, Chair of the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee said:

It’s a public health concern that the polio virus has been found in sewage. However, I’m pleased that the NHS has acted quickly and is offering children aged 1-9 an urgent booster vaccination to protect them from serious illness.

 

Responding to the update John Poole said:

 

This reply from Dr Melanie Smith is unacceptable. It is not a question of low risk but of no risk. And one of the ways to establish a no-risk approach is to seal off as best as possible access to waterways in Brent where these have been tested and evidence of the polio virus has been detected. 

 

The UK Health Security Agency declared a ‘Major Incident’ with regards to the detection of the polio virus in waterways in 6 London Boroughs associated with Beckton Sewage Works in East London. Under pressure and threats from me, the UKHSA has now named those 6 Boroughs and Brent has been added to the list. Brent is therefore now included in the ‘Major Incident’ which is ongoing according to an email to me from Scott at the Press Office of the UKHSA dated 19^th July 2022.  There are two vital issues here;

1.    Which agency carried out the testing of the river waters in Brent? Which waterways were found to contain the polio virus? And is this information publicly available? If not, then I will apply under the Freedom of Information Act for a set of the results.

2.    What action is Brent Council now taking, in view of the fact that Brent is now included in the UKHSA ‘Major Incident’, to publicise the dangers of the waterways in Brent ?

Cross-party and non-party call for Brent Council to play its part in tackling Wealdstone Brook pollution

 'Nauseating' - Wealdstone Brook earlier this year

 

Wembley Matters has covered the long-running issue of sewage and other pollution of the Wealdstone Brook that runs through parts of Harrow and Brent. Environmental campaigners, local residents and local political parties, have joined together to put pressure on the Environment Agency and Thames Water to take action.

 

As a member of Brent Green Party I welcome this cross-party and non-party approach to an important local environmental issue that affects everyone regardless of party.

 

At Full Council on July 11th Kenton resident John Poole will be make a deputation about the matter and later a motion from the Conservative Group, which I hope will received support from across the council chamber, will ask Brent Council to do all in its power to ensure the brook is cleaned up by the relevant agencies,  rectify wrongly connected foul sewers and consider legal action.

 

This is the Conservative Group Motion

Pollution of the Wealdstone Brook

 

The Wealdstone Brook, which runs in open water, starts in Harrow, runs through Woodcock Park in Kenton and then into Wembley past all the new developments around the stadium before reaching the River Brent, has been heavily polluted with untreated human sewage and toxic chemicals for some considerable time.

 

The Wealdstone Brook has nothing living in it – it is effectively a dead river.  The toxic smells which have come from liquids evaporating at low temperatures from the Brook water are nauseating and residents who live close to the Brook or have been walking close to the Brook in Woodcock Park, have been feeling physically sick as a result of these noxious odours.

 

 

Thames Water, who have been investigating the sources of the pollution, have admitted liability for cleaning up the pollution.  They have agreed that the pollution of the Wealdstone Brook is one of the worst they have come across but as a result of the shared responsibility for the maintenance of the Brook as it passes through Brent, Brent Council and the Environment Agency must also share some of the responsibility.

 

As a result the residents living nearby have expressed their disgust at the state of the Brook and consider that Brent Council should have declared this to be a ‘Major Incident’ once it had reports of untreated human sewage, toxic gases and smells vaporising from the water of the Wealdstone Brook.

 

This Council therefore resolves:

 

To do whatever is necessary and within the Council’s power to ensure that the water in Wealdstone Brook is cleaned up.

 

To do what the Council can to ensure that the agencies concerned take the necessary steps to detect and rectify all wrongly connected foul sewers which run into the Brook and to put them right at no cost to Council tax payers, in Brent.

 

To seek legal opinion as to whether legal action can be taken against the agencies that have responsibility for ensuring that the Wealdstone Brook is free of pollution if there is no immediate rectification of the problem.

 

 

To ensure in light of a serious risk to public health and as a matter of urgency the necessary actions are taken as soon as possible to put the foregoing into practice. 

 

Councillor Michael Maurice

 

Kenton Ward

LETTER: Cllr Butt challenged over building on green space

 Dear Editor,

I am accusing the Leader of Brent Council, Cllr.Muhammed Butt (Lab Tokyington), of telling an untruth yesterday when he said that Brent Council was not building on green spaces at the end of Lidding Road HA30YF here in Kenton and the green land space next to it known as the Legion Hall site both of which are right next to a SINC (a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation) and the Wealdstone Brook. The approved Planning Application 21/3248 Lidding Road Garages, Lidding Road, Harrow, IS on green spaces and I challenge the leader of Brent Council, Cllr.Muhammed Butt to join me in inspecting the site and let us agree the facts.

 

 John Poole,

Kenton, Harrow, HA 0UT (L.B.of Brent)

[Full address supplied]

LETTER: Beckton Polio alert exposes Brent Council's lack of action on Wealdstone Brook sewage pollution

 Wealdstone Brook at the height of the pollution incident

Dear Editor,

 

Yesterday – Wednesday 22^nd June 2022 – the area around Beckton Sewage Works in NE London has been declared a ‘Major Incident’ because the Polio virus has been detected in the local river water. LINK

 

Raw sewage in the Woodcock Park section of the Wealdstone Brook persisted through to May.

 

If it turns out that water samples were also taken from the Wealdstone Brook (and they should have been given the information now released from the Environment Agency as of yesterday) then Brent Council were negligent to say the least in not declaring the human sewage pollution of the Wealdstone Brook a ‘Major Incident’ as requested by me. 

 

If there were no medical tests of the water for such viruses, then I would regard that a major dereliction of duty from Brent and Harrow Council and the local medical authorities, particularly since we had a zoom meeting with a health official in the Brent and Harrow area regarding just this issue. The water of the Brook was not only chemically toxic and dangerous to human health – it would also certainly contain some potentially very serious viruses and was therefore biologically toxic.

 

How dare they play games with our health let alone the health of children who continued to play in and around this river as it runs through Woodcock Park and no action was taken by the authorities to fence off this river in spite of repeated requests on health and safety grounds from the Friends of Woodcock Park.

 

I am angry, very angry – ignorance is no excuse for the failure to protect the health of residents of Kenton, particularly those that live close to the Wealdstone Brook.

 

John Poole, co-founder of Brook Way Community Diversity Project CIC and member of North West London Rivers Alliance

Lidding Road Garage development approved despite many doubts over Thames Water assurances about sewage and flooding in the area

 Brent Planning Committee tonight approved the planning application for the Lidding Road Garages site in Kenton by four votes in favour, 3 abstentions and one against.

Cllrs Butt, Kennelly and Johnson abstained because they were not convinced by assurances from Thames Water over the flooding and sewage sitution which has been going on for some time and worsened considerably over the weekend. Thames Water attributed the problems to 'misconnections' when foul water is wrongly connected and flows into Wealdstone Brook. 

Cllr Michael Maurice who voted against said he had no confidence at all in Thames Water's ability to deal with this situation and said he needed assurances that there was no risk to the propsoed development and to neighbouring properties. 

Evidence was given by John Poole demonstrating that there had been surface water flooding despite Thames Water claiming that there had been no incidents.

Agents for the developer said they has satisfied Thames Water with their plans for sustainable drainage. They insisted that their plans would not worsen the current situation and perhaps make it better.

 

 

This is John Poole's  excellent illustrated presentation:

This is a map produced by Thames Water showing the known misconnections – the red dots and lots of them – of foul surface water and foul sewage water in the Brent and Harrow Kenton areas. 

 

 

This is a map produced by the Environment Agency showing who they believe are the riparian owners with regards to the Wealdstone Brook in the Kenton area of Brent. Note that Brent Council is assumed to be the riparian owner of large sections of the Wealdstone Brook and its banks – this includes council owned land as well as council owned properties.

 

 

Last week the Wealdstone Brook was at its worst ever. Human excrement was seen floating in the shallow waters of the brook through Woodcock Park. The smell from the brook was vile. The water was more than polluted – it was toxic. In 50 years living in Brent close to the brook I have never known it as bad.

 

This isn’t an issue of house values but it is an issue of health values

 

The drainage map shows the foul surface and foul sewage pipes that run across the proposed development at the end of Lidding Road. The red dot on plot is the manhole cover which overflowed on October 5^th last year. 

 

 

Brent Council has produced a number of climate emergency documents. I have produced copies of two of them for you.  One covers biodiversity and the other is about tackling the climate emergency. Both make it a central point that we need to protect and improve our remaining green spaces by making them greener.

 

 

 

We in Kenton are working with the council to green up our area  and make a big contribution to brent council’s target of being carbon neutral by 2030.

 

Both proposed planning applications run counter to these green policies of Brent Council. I therefore urge you to request from Oliver Myers, the Brent Council sustainability officer, a report on the impact of both proposed developments before you make a final decision. This would also coincide with the final report of the London Flood Review which is looking into the causes of the serious flooding events which hit London on the 12^th and 25^th July 2021. The final report is due out this summer.

 

I have highlighted the problems of the serious pollution of the Wealdstone Brook which is close to the proposed Lidding Road development. until an independent water analysis shows that the water quality in the brook is a least close to safe, then any and all proposed housing developments should be suspended pending works by Thames Water and the Environment Agency to improve the situation.

 

I understand that Brent planners have to take the word of Thames Water with regards to drainage systems in the area and that they are safe for further connections. I have to say that the experiences of local residents and the words from various engineers from Thames Water and Lanes for Drains that this is not the case.

 

I urge you to delay a decision on the proposed planning applications until the London Flood Review has completed its work and published its findings and that you have received a report from your sustainability officer.

 

We don’t need chemical warfare in the Kenton area of Brent – we already have it on a daily basis from the highly toxic and polluted water in the Wealdstone Brook. There are trace levels of oxygen in the water – then there are trace levels of oxygen on Mars.