Parents demand action on 'daily threat to their children

Concerned parents have set up a petition calling for action to make their children safe. I have reproduced it here for your information and not as an endorsement of everything that it says.

It can be signed HERE

To: Dawn Butler MP, Tulip Siddiq MP, Barry Gardiner MP, Councillor Mili Patel, Councillor Matt Kelcher, Councillor Tom Miller

Safer kids - Radical increase in muggings and violent assault on children in our neighbourhood

We demand immediate solutions to the daily threat our children face through:

- More police/security details patrolling the Kensal Green, Kensal Rise, Queens Park and Harlesden area, especially at key points in the day

- More CCTV in key locations 

- The creation of a positive action network consisting of schools, residents and local businesses that raises awareness and encourages positive, social behaviour within the community.

We also demand long-term solutions such as investment in local youth centres and helping the youth committing these crimes to become part of the community, rather than fighting against it.

Why is this important?

We the undersigned residents of Brent demand our streets be made safe for our children. We are writing to you to demand you immediately address the radical increase in muggings and assaults on children in our local area. Lawlessness is rampant and impunity is now rife in our neighbourhood. 

Our streets feel like the Wild West - anything goes, and no one can do a thing about it.

Muggings and assaults on children are now occurring daily, often between 2pm and 7pm on the peripheries of schools, in parks and around the Chamberlayne Rd area. These crimes are committed by youth, at times in balaclavas, often using knives, sometimes using steel bars as a threat, other times using direct violent assault - and all this in broad daylight. 

In the cases where adults have tried to intervene, they too have been violently assaulted. One parent was recently punched in the head in Roundwood Park numerous times in front of his son, and another parent had a plank of wood smashed into his face, losing several teeth in the Queens Park area - also in front of his children. 

Sadly, many cases go unreported as the victims are fearful if they tell, they could be putting themselves in more danger. Moreover, parents at times fear nothing will be done as the police rarely turn up, or if they do it's 30 minutes late, when the perpetrators are long gone.

At an age when our children should be cherishing a newfound independence, they now have to fear for their safety. They must ask themselves: Will I be attacked on the way home from school today? Is it safe to take my phone? Do I have to walk in a big group to be safe? What should I do if I get assaulted? Will they knife me? 

No child should have to ask him or herself these questions. We want our children to:

- be able to walk to school and home from it
- go the the park/skatepark
- walk to a friend's house
- go to the corner shop
- catch a bus/ the tube etc...

without having to worry that they will be assaulted or mugged. 

The effect of daily fear in these young minds, if not addressed, is likely to lead to a dramatic increase in anxiety, depression and isolation in our local community.

May we remind you, in 1991 the UK signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child, one of the nine core UN human rights treaties. The CRC protects the rights of children in all areas of their life, including their rights to "freedom from violence, abuse and neglect". 

It is tragic that almost three decades later, in this supposedly civilised society, our children are not protected from violence or abuse in their very own neighbourhood.

It is tragic, that due to austerity, our society is now one in which crime is rampant, impunity rife and our children - our future - are the ones having to suffer the devastating consequences. 

It is tragic that they must now live in fear in their own community. 

We demand you make our streets safe for our children. We demand action and we demand it now.

Brent youth stood up to Youth Centre cuts in 2011 under the Anne John administration see LINK butopposition to Brent youth centre closures in 2015-16 was muted LINK except for the spirited struggle over Stonebridge Adventure Playground LINK

In 2017 Green Party London Assembly Member, Sian Berry (now a London Mayoral candidate) reported on the devastating impact of youth service cuts across London. LINK

Brent youth service cut savagely with barely a whimper

The out-sourcing of the remnants of Brent's  youth services which will be left after savage cuts was approved by the Brent Cabinet tonight with barely a murmur of opposition.  It was in stark contrast to the fightback by youth in the last major round of cuts in 2011 LINK

Cllr Wilhemina Mitchell Murray from the public gallery asked why a solution had not been found similar to that for the Children's Centres which would have preserved the jobs of Brent's skilled youth workers. Cllr Butt made a rambling and incoherent response.

Cllr Roxanne Mashari hoped that the youth workers might make proposals during the procurement process.

Cllr Pavey feared for the future of the Poplar Grove Youth Centre in Chalkhill (it is in his ward) and said that he had been impressed by the high regard in which it was held by local youth.  He also praised the Brent Youth Parliament which has been spared the axe while at least two centres and possibly three are to be closed. BYP officers were present but did not contribute to the discussion, although they had attended a Scrutiny Committee discussion.

Following on from the closure and demolition of the Stonebridge Adventure Playground, whatever the gloss the Council PR team try and put on it, the decision marks a new low point for the youth of the borough.

They deserve better.

Youth Services face heavy Brent Council AND GLA cuts

Outside Brent Town Hall in Spring 2011

At the special meeting arrnged with then Brent Council leader, Ann John

In what might see a rerun of the 2011 youth campaign againstLabour Brent Council plans to cut the the youth service, the first reading report on the 2015-17 budget targets the Youth Service, along with Children's Centres for cuts.

The report states: The optiopns range from reveiwing the operating model (including management and infrastructure costs) to a reduction in the level of services provided.

In 2011 there was a large turnout of young people at the then Wembley Consulation Forum which won a meeting with the then Council leader Ann John.

She offered a meeting to discuss the cuts at Brent Town Hall and there was a large and articulate turnout. LINK  Among the most effective arguments were the relative costs of the Youth Service versus the cost of imprisonment for young[people who went off the rails as a consequence of the lack of facilities.

Very similar arguments are being raised about Stonebridge Adventure Playground. In 2011 the proposed cuts were reduced but some costs were saved through appointing one manager for several youth centres.

This round of cuts is far bigger than in 2011so young people have a real fight on their hands.

These proposals, along with the potential closure of Stonebridge Adventure Playground, will be a test for the Brent Youth Parliament and its capacity to stand up against the Council and represent young people's concerns.

Meanwhile the Labour Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow, Navin Shah, has condemned Boris Johnson's proposed cuts to education and youth services which will see the budger reduced from £22.6m in 2014-15 to £2.3m in 2016-17.

Navin Shah said:

The fact that Boris Johnson would even consider cuts of 90% to schemes designed to help some of Brent and Harrow’s most vulnerable young people tells you everything you need to know about his cavalier and uncaring approach to governing.

Projects to increase apprenticeships and support for people to stay on at school may seem like optional extras to Boris Johnson but for many young people they make a world of difference, helping them to get on in an increasingly competitive jobs market.

Boris Johnson may be focused on his next job in Parliament but he has a duty to responsibly see out his term working for all Londoners. These cuts however suggest more a policy of scorched earth, drastically cutting funding to important projects and leaving his successor to pick up the pieces.