Michael Gove warns one of Brent's leading housing associations over 'severe maladministration' findings

 

Wembley Matters was contacted by a Sovereign Network Group (SNG)  leaseholder in Brent who was at the end of his tether because, despite  appealing to the recently merged housing association (Sovereign Housing Association plus Netwrok Housing), his MP and others, has been unable to get satisfaction with a series of complaints about the state of his building, service charges and a £800 excess.

He is clearly not alone. Michael Gove's letter above shows equal frustration and there are clearly other cases.  SNG also features in Barry Gardiner's documentary on leasehold released today LINK.

Closer investigation reveals many complaints over the last year or so LINK:

 

Utterly poor service by this company, it does not care for its clients. I ordered fob keys a month ago and paid for them but they still have not produced them. incompetent staff and a lot of useless bureaucracy to get simple things done. Any new customers avoid this company

 

Missing CCTV cameras for four months. Still paying full service charge for CCTV. Network Homes refused to take accountability for it. And said "it's a mystery". Quick to take the service money though.

 

I would not recommend Network Homes. In the past week we have had no water at all. The fobs haven’t worked in months, homeless people are gaining access and sleeping in the stairwell and service charges have gone up thousands of pounds within a year.

When you call the ‘emergency line’ nothing is done.

They are incompetent.

 

Disgusting organisation, demanding money for services not carried out or carried out in a totally unacceptable way. Check your service charges, they try to charge for things that dont apply. Threaten with court action to force payment out of you, yet are in breach of their own lease for refusing to show proof of work carried out. Avoid buying or renting a home under their management at all costs.

 

 

Network homes have been withholding information on the estate accounts for 4 years. I chase and I’m ignored. What are you hiding, over charging lease holders for work that has not been carried out seems to be a favourite.

 

So it is puzzling that SNG is so well embedded in Brent with the biggest project 1,600 homes in Northwick Park, 654 of which are in phase 1. They also have properties in Electric House in Willesden, Rosemary House, Wood Court and Greenfield  Court;  Print Works in Neasden and Wembley High Road.

In Northwick Park they are partners with Brent Council, Westminster University and the NHS through the government sponsored 'One Public Estate'. LINK

Brent Council used them for feasibility and design processes in Kilburn Square, Windmill Court and Watling Gardens. LINK

Current leaseholders ask if they are fit partners for the Council given the above issues.

 Network Homes moved out of their building at the junction of Olympic Way and Engineers Way into a new HQ  closer to the London Designer Outlook. The vacated building will house a new building for the College of North West London.  The College of North West London Olympic Way/Bridge Road site will be redeveloped as will their Dudden Hill site. Brent Council did a financial deal with United Colleges (who own the college and its land) by offering a bridging loan of £50 million in 2019 LINK.

Since then a rather cryptic note has appeared on Brent Council's Forward Plan indicating a revised sum but that is restricted.  Decisions are left to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Deputy Leader of the Council.

 Note. My ward map indicates that the Wembley Park campus of CNWL is in Wembley Park ward

 

Whether SNG is embedded or enmeshed with Brent Council there are clearly questions to be answered about the Council's involvement with an organisation that is under such heavy criticism.

Mass Covid19 NHS Vaccination Centre to open in Wembley Park next week

The former Network Homes HQ (test centre is entrance is round the corner from the main entrance)

A large scale vaccination site in Wembley Park is to be opened by North West London NHS at the former Network Homes headquarters in Fulton Road at the corner of Olympic Way. The building is awaiting redevelopment as the new site for the College of North West London.

The NHS Vaccination Centre will open next week to vaccinate people aged 80 and over abd health and care workers.

Brent Council said:

The large-scale site in Wembley is capable of delivering thousands of the life-saving jabs each week and offers a convenient alternative to GP-led and hospital services that are already set up across NW London.

Letters are being sent to people aged over 80 who live up to a 45 minute drive from the new centre, who have not already been vaccinated, inviting them to book an appointment either by phone or online through the national booking system.

People should wait until they receive their invite letter and should not call their GP but use the booking line, when their invite arrives. If an appointment has already been offered by the GP, please keep this appointment.

More Vaccination Centres will be launched in NW London in the coming weeks to increase the numbers of people who can be conveniently vaccinated each day.

The NHS vaccination programme, the biggest in the health service’s history, is being delivered as health service staff are treating record numbers of seriously ill patients with COVID, caused by rapidly rising infection numbers.

Please don’t contact the NHS to seek a vaccine, the NHS will contact you. When you are contacted, please attend your booked appointments. And whether you have had a vaccine or not, please continue to follow all the guidance to control the virus and save lives – that means staying at home as much as you can, and following the ‘hands, face, space’ guidance when you can’t.

Invites to book at the centres are being sent to people aged 80 or over who have not yet been vaccinated and live within a 45 minutes’ drive from the site, with more sites opening in the coming weeks.

The letters will explain how they can book a slot over the phone or online through the national booking service, and NHS leaders are urging people not to turn up at the centres or try to book without receiving them.

The new vaccination centres will each be capable of delivering thousands of vaccinations each week, scaling their operations up and down according to vaccine supplies and demand.

People who book in to a vaccine centre should note marshals will be on hand to help people to the right place. Bookings are staggered to allow social distancing and please don’t arrive until five minutes before your appointment time. Travel information will be available from Monday at www.tfl.gov.uk/jabs

£10m bill to rectify safety issues at Network Homes' Grand Union Heights in Alperton

 

Grand Union Heights

Network Homes, whose Head Office is in Wembley Park,  have written to residents of Grand Union Heights, Alperton to tell them that the cost of remedying safety issues in  the development will be £10 million.  The development was subject to a fire 'waking watch' until earlier this year when fire alarms were installed according to local sources. One guard remains.

Network Homes have requested that residents who use their flats for 'financial gain' (landlords?) should submit their own claim for government funds:

We’ve submitted the application for the remediation work at Grand Union Heights to the government’s £1bn Building Safety Fund. This does not guarantee that the government will approve the application. Even if we’re successful, the fund does not cover every cost incurred at Grand Union Heights. You need to fill out a state aid form if you ‘use your property for financial gain’. We are unable to do this on your behalf so please spend some time going over the documents to ensure you understand if you need to fill it out. We’ll let you know the outcome when we hear back from the government – we expect it will take them about a month. Whatever the outcome, we’ll hold a webinar where we’ll go through the next steps and you’ll be able to ask us any questions you may have.

Given the developments in Alperton, South Kilburn and Wembley Park we can expect similar claims to be submitted.

Network Homes warns leaseholders they may face £100,000 cladding bills

Inside Housing reports LINK that Network Homes, which has an office (due to be redeveloped) in Fulton Road Wembley and owns and manages homes in Brent has warned leaseholders that they may face bills of up to £100,000 for the removal of non-aluminium composite cladding material (non-ACM).

Network say that this is the higher end of their estimates but their charitable status limits how much they can pay towards the work.  The article does not state how many, if any, Brent properties are affected but out of Network's 20,000 homes 4,000 are owned by leaseholders.

Inside Housing reports Helen Evans, CEO of Network Homes as stating:

This is a challenging situation and we are working on solutions that remediate affected buildings as quickly as possible. 

We are pursuing all alternatives to passing costs onto leaseholders and treating this possibility as a last resort. However, as registered charities, housing associations cannot make a blanket commitment to pay costs that are legally leaseholders’ liability.

If we cannot recover costs from others and the government does not fund the work in the way that it has with ACM cladding removal, we have no alternative but to put our leaseholders on notice that they could be liable for some of these costs.

A week before Christmas Network Homes put this notice on their website:

The government has released a document called Advice Note 14, which tells owners of tall buildings to do a new investigation to ensure the ‘external wall system’ has been properly installed and maintained. The external wall system means cladding, insulation or any other material on the outside wall of your building.

The government advice notes are not clear and confusing even to experts, so we, alongside other large housing associations, are asking the government to clarify their advice. In the meantime, we’ve already started these investigations on some of our tall blocks (the advice note directs us to look at ones over 18 metres – around six storeys). This is for buildings with non-ACM cladding – the type on Grenfell Tower – as those buildings have already been investigated. For buildings that we haven’t started yet, we’re getting a schedule in place to do the investigations.

Investigations must be done by trained professionals and in some cases the system will need to be tested in an accredited test centre. Once investigations are complete, we will be issued with a report to confirm compliance or with some work that needs to be done to make the building compliant.

If you live in a tall building over 18m and you’ve not yet received information about the investigations, please bear with us while we confirm our schedule. We hope to write to you with more information in the new year. Please note, your buildings are still safe – where issues are found we will put any necessary interim measures in place and advise you of these at the time.

If you have any questions regarding your tall building, get in touch with our dedicated Building Safety Team who will be able to help. You can email them at buildingsafetyteam@networkhomes.org.uk.

Some mistake, surely? Brent Council wins planning awards while complaints about housing escalate

Chase House, South Kilburn

Guest post by Pete Firmin, South Kilburn Estate resident

Legend has it that emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Brent Council leadership seem to be staging a modern re-enactment when, while receiving baubles for its planning team, it turns a blind eye to reports of the poor standard of housing being built.

The Council website proudly proclaims LINK 

Brent scoops planning award 

A UK planning industry award was handed to Brent council's planning team yesterday (24 April) in recognition of the projects and plans and commitments made by the team to borough.

The RTPI [Royal Town Planning Institute] awards for planning excellence is the longest running and most high-profile awards in the industry and celebrates the teams and projects that transform economies, environments and communities all over the UK and internationally.

Brent scooped the Local Authority Planning Team of the Year award ahead of nine other shortlisted authorities.

The judges noted how Brent's planning team excelled in all areas of work. They were impressed with their desire to continually reflect on their performance and look for ways to develop and improve their service.

Cllr Tatler, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Highways and Planning, said:

"This is a great achievement and one that we should be proud of. We were up against some of the best nationally to win Planning Team of the Year and it just shows that we are on the right path with what we are doing here in Brent for residents, creating new homes, opportunities and building a better borough.

In stark contrast, about the same time, Catalyst Housing announced that all residents would have to leave Merle Court in Carlton Vale within 18 months. Not only has the flammable cladding on the building to be removed, but Catalyst say that the need for major internal works mean residents have to move out.

In recent months local Councillors and the MP, Tulip Siddiq, have received many complaints from residents of Argo House in Kilburn Park road of major problems, including poor ventilation, internal mould, intermittent hot water and heating, loose cables and loose cladding. Residents also say they are getting little or now support from the property managers or Home Group Housing association.

A few weeks ago, residents of Chase House in Hansel Road tweeted photos of the state of their bloc, including mould. This week the Kilburn Times picks up on that LINK but with the additional facts this concerns not just Chase House, but also Franklin House (Carlton Vale) and Hollister House on Kilburn Park Road. The common factor to all three is that they are all managed by L & Q. Their common problems are like those of Argo House.

Such problems are not new. Like Merle Court, Swift House and George House (managed by L & Q) on Albert Road, have flammable cladding and have had 24-hour firewatch since shortly after the Grenfell tragedy. L & Q is currently in the process of removing the cladding on Swift House, which means residents are surrounded by ugly scaffold for an extended period.

George House also needed a new roof after the previous one leaked. It still has flat roofs which collect water.

Kilburn Quarter (Network Homes, Cambridge Road) had to have their balconies waterproofed after it was discovered they were leaking.

These problems come on top of a myriad of lesser issues (though not to the residents…) that have been reported for years, as well as issues of rocketing service charges imposed.

What all these properties have in common is that they have been built as part of Brent Council’s regeneration of South Kilburn. All are new, and the problems are common to both “social” and market-price residents.

Before this latest award, Brent won several plaudits for its “flagship” regeneration and refused to listen to those residents and community activists, including the local Kilburn branch of the Labour Party, who tried to raise these issues.

Clearly the problems are common to several different property developers and housing associations. Despite the awards (which never seem to involve local people among their judges), builders and housing associations have been taking advantage of Brent’s enthusiasm for regeneration to build sub-standard housing.

Brent appears to want to disclaim any responsibility for these problems, referring all enquiries from journalists about Merle Court to Catalyst without comment. However, not only was Merle Court built in partnership with Brent Council, but Brent gave panning permission for all these blocks (which replace previous Council housing). They are all part of the Council’s regeneration of South Kilburn, and social tenants in them were referred on by Brent after their Council housing was demolished. Brent shares some responsibility for this situation beyond simply being the Local Authority in which poor quality housing exists.

The concern is that, with South Kilburn regeneration to continue for many years, and Brent wanting to “regenerate” St Raphaels estate, we can see further similar problems.

South Kilburn residents and community activists are, however, getting organised. As well as calling for current faults to be rectified, we must call for a halt to regeneration until Brent and the community, are satisfied that housing is build to a decent standard and housing associations and property managers take real responsibility for their buildings.

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Network Homes tenants in Northwick Park face uncertain future

The Phase 1 site between the park footpath and the road

Network Homes have told their assured shorthold tenancy(AST)  tenants in Northwick Park, part of the proposed One Public estate regeneration between themselves, Brent Council, North West London University Healthcare NHS Trust and the University of Westminster; that their tenancies could be ended with two months notice after a fixed period.

Network Homes say that they do not intend to do this until they have to remove the present housing as part of the redevelopment and that this will not happen until at least 2021.

They recognise this announcement could cause concern but promise they will work with residents over the next few years to listen to concerns and keep them informed about the development.

Network stop short of any firm promises about the future stating that tenants will want to know if they will be offered a home in the new development and how their rents will be affected.  At present a substantial numbers of the homes are allocated to NHS staff and Network have stated that they intend to prioritise NHS staff wherever possible.   They go on to say until designs are finalised and planning permission granted they are unable to provide exact details of homes that will be available.

Network Homes have purchased the land to the north of 'Northwick Park Village' from the NHS Trust and plan to build new homes as Phase 1 of the regeneration. I understand that this is the land between the incinerator and the social club, including the car parks, and 1,300 new homes are planned. They will be a mix of what Network call 'genuinely affordable' and homes for private rent and private sale. Early artist impressions of the redevelopment showed high-rise homes on  this stretch of land.

Outline proposals will include rebuilding the existing homes on Northwick Park Village but 'this is some years away' as part of Phase 2 and won't start until the new homes have been built as part of Phase 1.

As with other developments much will rest on the 'viability assessment' in terms of the balance of affordable homes versus private rent  and private sale that will give a 'sufficient' financial return to the developer. This is what will impact on the rehousing propspects of existing tenants.

Network Homes promise to consult with local residents in advance of submitting a planning application.

Northwick Park redevelopment takes another step forward at Monday's Cabinet

Property owners/leaseholders

The One Public Estate plan for Northwick Park will take a step forward at Cabinet on Monday February 12th when it is expected that a revised Memorandum of Understanding LINK between the partners will be approved and a timetable agreed.

The One Public Estate (OPE) is a government initiative aimed at rationalising and realising the potential (including financial) of public land by bringing together all the various public sector owners for redevelopment.  In the case of Northwick Park this includes Brent Council, Network Homes, the University of Westminster and the London NW Healthcare NHS Trust. LINK

Various options are considered in a feasibility study (embedded at the end of this article) and the favoured one is Option B2:

Click on image to enlarge

This includes the highest density of housing and reprovision of the existing university accommodation. On the issue of the proportion of affordable housing proposed the feasibility study notes '50% affordable [is at] the margins of viability, before any consideration of the value of existing uses'. The Option B1 included the provision of a new secondary school which may have provided a site for the proposed North Brent Secondary School LINK.

The plans are at an early stage but may include provision of much needed lift access at Northwick Park Metropolitan Line Station and work to improve the present narrow tunnel exit to the hospital and university, and improved pedestrian access to South Kenton station on the Bakerloo and Overground lines.  There is the possibility of a new road being built to take traffic into the area.

The Officers' report puts forward this timetable:

·      Prepare a planning brief for the site. (Feb 18- Dec 18) 


·      Commission further transport studies. (Feb 18- Dec 18) 


·      Maximise OPE funding. (ongoing) 


·      Commission energy feasibility studies. (Jan 18- July 18) 


·      Consider potential for inclusion of a secondary school. (Jan 18 – July 18) 


Network Homes Ltd and LNWUH to conclude negotiations on NHS owned 
land. (June 2018) Timescales are indicative. 

These are early days but local residents will want to look into the plans carefully for any impact on the Metropolitan Open Land that surrounds the site and which they have fought so hard to preserve in Harrow-on-the-Hill.

South Kilburn Fire Safety Meeting July 4th

From Brent Council website:

George House, Albert Road, South Kilburn, London, NW6 5BR

L&Q has been informed that the cladding used on its block at George House in South Kilburn, built in 2012, has failed the Government’s testing of their cladding samples. The London Fire Brigade has since carried out a site visit and have advised that they do not believe that George House is at high risk, as all fire safety systems required in the building are in place. They have also advised that no risks were identified that would warrant decanting the premises.

Brent Cabinet to discuss Northwick Park One Public Estate Memorandum

Controversial 'One Public Estate' plans LINK for Northwick Park will be discussed at the Cabinet on May 22nd (at the earlier time of 6pm) in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding between the four partners: London Borough of Brent, London NW Healthcare NHS Trust, University of Westminster and Network Homes.

Consultation revealed resident fears over impact on transport, existing infrastructure including schools, flood and drainage and the need to consult with Harrow Council.  I would also add the potential impact on public open space as being a concern.

The Memorandum of Understanding stresses improvements for all the partners but also has an underlying theme of reducing costs and maximising receipts and land values:

The Key Objectives

The aim of the Project in general terms is to work together to rationalise services and resources between the Partners and Associate Partners  and unlock development land to facilitate hospital redevelopment, new homes and improved services for the community.

Common visions for partners;

·      Place making 


·      Central hub(s) 


·      Improved infrastructure (road network and Highways, cycle ways etc.), and transport connections, (Underground, overground rail and buses), and private 


·      Utility and boundary review. 


·      Energy strategy 


·      Shared facilities and services. 

 
The specific aim of Project is to:

·      to generate capital receipts. 


·      to reduce running costs 


·      to create jobs, 


·      to create homes, 


·      to integrate services 
These aims are referenced in Brent’s July 2016 Phase Four OPE MOU 
 

Key objectives for Brent are; 


·      More affordable homes 


·      More school places 


·      Growth 


·      Increased revenue from homes and businesses 


·      Employment and skills opportunities within the Borough. 

 
Key objectives for London Northwest Healthcare NHS Trust 


·      Maximise income for the Trust in order to support its deficit and sustainability plans

·      Ensure accommodation requirements are met 


·      Improve access to the hospital 


·      Protect existing clinical services from distribution or delay (e.g. Blue light 
vehicles, clinical activity) 


·      Improve civic values of the development 


·      Address requirement to re-provide services currently on the land, whilst 
ensuring continuity 
 

Key objectives for The University of Westminster 


·      Maintain and increase student satisfaction levels 


·      Upgrade teaching spaces 


·      Increase critical mass and create a sense of place 


·      Create additional student accommodation 


·      Maximise value of landholding 


·      Create staff accommodation. 
 

Key Objectives for Network Homes Ltd. 


·      Phased redevelopment of Northwick Park working collaboratively with other 
land holders to maximise the potential opportunity 


·      Delivery of new affordable and mixed tenure housing as well as commercial 
uses 


·      High quality design and place making, including the main gateway into the 
site from NWP tube station, serving all land holdings 


·      Improved infrastructure and transport connections to help ensure a 
sustainable future for Northwick Park residents, service providers and hospital patients 


This is project outline as first published in One Public estate (Local Government Association/Cabinet office) February 2017 (click on image to enlarge)