Growing community out of the Pandemic - positive plans from Harlesden

 

The pandemic has taught us many lessons some of which point to a more positive future. Mutual Aid volunteers in Harlesden have identified a demand for fresh fruit and vegetables, a strong grasssroots desire for opportunities to connect  with and support one another and a recognition that community projects, gardening and interaction with nature are good for our physical and mental health.

Harlesden Town Garden have linked up with Mutual Aid to grow food for people who need it in the community. The food growing project is Brent-wide and organisers are currently looking for growing spaces and schools and community groups who would like to be involved.

Mutual Aid currently has a small plot in the Harlesden Town Garden and are also maintaining an allotment at the Longstone Avenue site where the plot holder is unable to maintain the plot during the pandemic.  They are currently looking for secure sites on which to grow food.

Contact details: info@harlesdentowngarden.co.uk 

Kensal Green Mutual Aid: LINK

@KGMutualAid  

Friends of Harlesden Town Garden are holding their Annual General Meeting on February 13th via zoom. They are looking for new committee members. If you wish to attend the AGM please email using the address above and you will be sent the link.

Mutual Aid network in Kilburn comes to the aid of a tree scheduled for removal - and saves it!

Guest post by Dan Judelson

Local councils removing trees agains the wishes of residents is a hot button issue. Sheffield has doubtlessly been the worst example of this  LINK  but here in Brent plans to remove trees saw produced a well organised and eloquent defence of mature trees and opposition to their removal in Furness Road. The result was a commitment from the council to fashion a new approach with removal being a last resort LINK .

So when notices appeared last Friday (24th) on trees at either end of Algernon Road, Kilburn, warning that one was scheduled for removal the following Monday, it became a small scale test of this new policy. The good news is that thanks to local residents quickly raising the alarm, along with fast responses from local Brent councillors and officers alike, the decision has been reversed and the tree saved. How it happened is at least as important as the fact that it did happen.

(Photo courtesy Sophie Capel)

Like many other areas, Kilburn has set up a number of mutual aid groups, at both ward and hyper local street level. While the intention was to support neighbours in need during the lockdown to counter the Covid pandemic, it has of necessity meant that people not necessarily in direct contact with one another before now have the ability to communicate quickly when issues come up.

This is exactly what happened in this case. WhatsApp messages and tweets went out on Friday evening. Emails were sent to local councillors and officers that evening and over the weekend, protesting that the tree was not "dead” as the signs claimed. One councillor, Faduma Hassan, asked for her email address to be circulated so that residents could contact her and she could show the strength of opposition to the plans and contacted the lead member for environment. Others contacted residents in nearby streets - put in touch via the street level groups - who had some experience of dealing with the council over tree preservation. 

Monday morning rolled around and when one of the residents went to talk to the contractors who had arrived, they discovered that the council had indeed changed the work order. The trees at one end were to be pruned and a stay of execution of two weeks place on the tree scheduled for removal. Further good news came the following day, with an email from the council tree officer. Gary Rimmer said they now thought that the tree could be saved and would be pollarded, not removed. He included a welcome apology for the lack of notice too.

So this was a great result, with Brent being pushed to re-examine their plans and change them, in less than 48 hours. 

It would not have happened but for the ability to circulate information so fast, without excellent and timely responses from Councillor Hassan and Gary Rimmer, taking residents concerns seriously - and perhaps being aware of the pressure from previous incidents, thank you Furness Road campaigners and Harlesden Area Action for acting so fast back in November 2019. It’s also worth noting that in that instance too, the local councillor, Jumbo Chan was quick to back residents concerns LINK .

There are two concerns remaining, however. A new housing development, at the other end of Algernon Road is nearing completion. These photos show how many trees were removed to make way for it:

 

(Photos courtesy Stuart Fry)

When the building is completed, Brent needs to be held to its commitment to replace the lost trees with ones on the same spot or, in this case, nearby. Brent needs to acknowledge that replacing a mature tree, wide canopy and all, with a young sapling, is not really replacing anything at all. See LINK . 

Brent declared, rightly, a climate emergency. We need to make sure their actions on this are as serious as their warm words. It may well be that local mutual aid groups, set up to support isolated neighbours needing shopping and having prescriptions filled have a longer term role in the maintenance of local democracy, too.

Warning over leaving out Mutual Aid payments

A reader has contacted me to say that money he left out by his front door for a Covod-19 Mutual Aid volunteer to pay a bill was stolen before the volunteer arrived. It was inside a housing block and the reader said that he had never before been a victim of crime and now he had been while shielding with possibe Corona-Virus in his own home.

He wanted to warn other vulnerable people via Wembley Matters. The local Mutual Aid  group told me that the procedure should be that the volunteer rings the intercom or the telephone to say they are outside before the recipient puts the money out.

The Mutual Aid group have clubbed together to make up for the loss.

Please be careful.

Brent Council issues urgent call for more volunteers to help residents during Covid-19 pandemic

Bridge Park Food Delivery Hub (Photo: Brent Council)

As readers will know there are now Covid-19 Mutual Aid groups in most Brent wards that were set up more than two weeks ago  LINK  Brent Council yesetrday lauched a campaign to recruit more volunteers and said that they would like to hear from community groups that are already 'up and running.'

This is the appeal that was made on the Council website yesterday.

We know lots of you want to volunteer and help in this crisis - so here’s your chance.

We need even more exceptional people to step forward and help with the borough’s efforts to provide a safety net for our vulnerable residents during this pandemic.

We’ve already got plenty of eager volunteers signed up to help their neighbours as well community groups to provide support to those who need it most – but we need more.

We’re working in close partnership with the voluntary sector, and through the CVS, who will help match your strengths, skills and attributes with the jobs that need doing now.

Volunteers can sign-up now on the Council’s web pages at: https://www.brent.gov.uk/your-community/coronavirus/volunteering/. Just fill out the Volunteering sign up form;

We would also like to hear from community groups who are already up-and-running. Would you like to receive our help and support just like our partners in our mutual aid group? Then sign-up to volunteer at: Community Group form.

Anyone who volunteers will be appropriately matched to roles that have been identified as really important as we fight this disease.

And don’t be put off if you haven’t got a current DBS check. Even if you don’t have a current DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) we can apply for one for you.

Councillor Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council, said:

We have already reinforced the safety net in Brent by redeploying council staff into different roles. For example, we’ve transformed Bridge Park Leisure Centre into a new food delivery hub, staffed by teams from across the Council, which is delivering much-needed supplies to the most vulnerable, receiving things like pasta, cereal, fruit, tea bags and toilet rolls.

But more community support would be very welcome and I urge anyone who feels they could give their time and energy over the coming weeks, or even months, to register their details on our website as soon as possible.

 Working with our partners, the faster we act now, the more lives we can save.

Your help could make such a huge difference to the lives of so many people in Brent and from the bottom of my heart, we thank those that are already signed up, for making such a difference already.

Zoom's a boon for Alperton Covid-19 Mutual Aid group

After a successful group meeting on Zoom the Alperton Covid-19 Mutual Aid Group has decided to utilise the video conference facility to overcome social isolation in the ward and beyond.

A virtual coffee morning is planned for April 12th 10.30am-11.30am LINK and there is a possibility of a quiz in the future.

Zoom is free for the first 40 minutes.

Doug Lee of Brent Play Association, which is based at Peppermint Point in Alperton, said:

The Alperton Mutual Aid group held a meeting via Zoom which was very productive and it was suggested that more people could get involved via the Zoom app which is totally free and easy to use. People could use it as we did to discuss ways of helping and volunteering efforts, but also to connect with family members. Just get the app, agree on a time, and away you go!

It could be used for special interest groups, quizzes and  all sorts of gatherings.

ZOOM LINK

IMPORTANT NOTE - Fears have been raised about security on Zoom. Read more HERE