Grants available for developing outdoor spaces in Brent

From Groundwork

I wanted to bring to your attention a funding scheme - Tesco Bags of Help that will help fund projects focussed on developing outdoor spaces or encouraging the use of outdoor spaces.

The funding can cover capital or revenue projects for Community Groups/Organisations, Schools, Friends of Parks, NHS Trusts & the Local Authority. For example (not exhaustive list):

• Developing nature trail in a local park or nature reserve
• Purchasing bee hives and seeding wildflower meadow on a community allotment
• Providing forest school sessions in a primary school for 12 months
• Developing a garden in a hospice, purchasing plants, benches and pergola
• Supporting artist in residence to work with the community to develop an art trail
• Setting up a growing project for sheltered accommodation residents
• Supporting a gardening project which helps local isolated residents form a gardening club
• Supporting practical training for young people learning horticultural skills
• Funding a series of summer events in a local park
• Supporting community run summer sports and leisure activities in parks
• Helping Friends of Groups, purchasing plants, planters, forks, spades and compost
• Developing a community garden or orchard
• Supporting local football club with the purchase of nets, balls and coaching sessions for under 12’s

At present we are undersubscribed in the Brent region and so we are encouraging community groups and organisations to access the funding. I would be very grateful if you're able to highlight the funding to groups or organisations you know or work with that might be interested in applying. Please do feel free to put them in touch with myself via email or the below contacts details. 


The application form is fairly straight forward and guidance notes, eligibility checker and application can all be found online HERE


Bags of Help is a rolling funding programme so applications can be made at any time. However, if applications are submitted before Monday 9th January 2017 there is an increased chance of going to the public vote in February 2017.  

Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or queries about the funding and wishing you happy holidays and a New Year!


Kind regards,

Alex


Alex Forrester    

Programme Manager

Groundwork London

Tel: 020 7922 1230

Mob: 07955508472

Farewell to Wembley's Fountain Studios

Guest blog by Phiip Grant
 

While Brent’s Planning Committee were approving more big development schemes on Wednesday evening (see Martin’s “Public denied access …” blog below), a party to celebrate 60 years of TV production at the Wembley Park Studios was taking place nearby. I was lucky enough to be invited, as a (very minor) contributor of material to a film about the history of the studios, which was shown as part of the farewell gathering of staff and television people who had worked there over the years.

Martin broke the news in January that the studios had been sold to Quintain LINK . Like other TV facilities in London before it, rising property prices had made Fountain Studios more valuable as a redevelopment site, despite being a popular and profitable venue for independent production companies to make their programmes. Before it is forgotten, I would like to share some of the studio’s story with you.

After the British Empire Exhibition closed in 1925, new uses had to be found for its huge site and the numerous reinforced concrete buildings it contained. Cinema was a fast-growing business, and some of its leading lights suggested that the 13-acre Palace of Engineering or slightly smaller Palace of Industry should be converted to film studios, as Britain’s “Hollywood”.

Eventually, in 1928, it was the former Lucullus Restaurant, the BEE’s poshest eating place, where dinner for two (at 25/- a head) cost as much as the weekly wage of the labourers who constructed the building, which became the studios for British Talking Pictures Ltd.

 

By the 1930’s, the Wembley Park Studios had been taken over by (20^th Century) Fox Films. As part of laws to protect the British film industry from American competition, they had to make as many films here as they imported, so Wembley turned out one low-budget “B” movie drama every three weeks. These “quota quickies” provided a start in films for many British actors and actresses who would go on to become famous, and even win “Oscars”.
 

After being requisitioned during the Second World War for making Army and RAF training films, a small number of independent films were made here up to 1954. By that time television was the big new source of entertainment, and the start of Independent Television saw the studios converted to be the production centre for the London region’s weekday ITV channel, Associated-Rediffusion, which went on air from Wembley Park in September 1955. The old building had enough room for four small TV studios, but something bigger was soon needed, and Studio 5, the largest purpose-built TV studio in Europe, opened in 1960.

Apart from two short periods in the 1970’s and 1980’s when the studios were unoccupied, and seven years in between when they were mainly used for feature films again (including The Elephant Man, Quadrophenia and Time Bandits), Wembley Park has produced top quality TV programmes. If you have watched television during the past 60 years, you will almost certainly have seen some of them, even though you may not have known they were made locally.
 

If drama is your thing, the detective series “No Hiding Place” or period saga “Upstairs, Downstairs” were filmed here, as well as a famous 1960’s production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (with Benny Hill as Bottom). Britain’s first quiz programmes with cash prizes, “Take Your Pick” and “Double Your Money” were made here, as were the first series of the mega money doubling show, “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” Older fans of popular music will remember “Ready, Steady, Go!” (yes, I was a teenager in the 1960’s), while younger readers may recognise “The Word” and MTV’s “Unplugged”, all made at Wembley Park.

Comedy series that were filmed at our local studios include “On the Buses”, and Wembley’s own stellar TV family “The Kumars” (at No. 42). Satire has also featured on the production schedules over the years, from “The Frost Report” (including Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett and John Cleese) to “The Day Today” (an early outing for Steve Coogan), along with “Bremner, Bird and Fortune” and the early years of “Have I Got News For You”. But in more recent years it has been the big light entertainment shows, which make good use of the studio’s huge size, which have dominated the output of what became Fountain Studios in 1993, including “Pop Idol”, “The Cube” and “Britain’s Got Talent”.

Fountain Studios literally had “The X Factor”, and the 2016 live semi-final on 4 December was the last programme ever to be filmed there. Its closure means the loss of a number of highly skilled technicians’ jobs, a loss of business for the nearby shops and restaurants which served those making the TV shows and the audiences who came to watch them, and the loss of a special place with an almost 90-year history of producing films and TV programmes in Wembley Park. Joni Mitchell was right when she sang ‘you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’ (showing my age again!). Perhaps the site will become a “parking lot” for a few years, then Quintain will probably put up more blocks of flats, to add to Wembley’s new “City of Concrete”.

To mark the passing of Wembley Park Studios, I will be giving an illustrated talk about its history on 20 January 2017. Watch out for more details in the New Year, if you would be interested in coming along, and please feel free to add any memories you have of the studios in the “Comments” section below.

Philip Grant

Don't be fooled by Brent's claims on 'affordable' housing

Following Wednesday's Planning Committee Brent Council's communications (public relations) team were quick off the mark hailing the decisions as 'Hundreds of new homes given the go ahead by Brent Council' what they omitted was that these new homes are not ones that Brent residents can afford to buy.

The press release quoted Cllr Margaret McLennan

Cllr Margaret McLennan, Deputy Leader of Brent Council, said:

"We're serious about making this borough an amazing place to live and are working hard to build the homes that people need. We know that house prices are a massive issue and are pressing developers to deliver as many affordable units as possible.

"This is a huge development and we're proud that once completed, Wembley will have over 11,500 new homes, with around 32% affordable housing across the Wembley Masterplan area.

"The approval of these plans shows that we are serious about regenerating the area, creating the much-needed new homes, jobs, apprenticeships and economic opportunities for local people and demonstrates that Brent is very much open for business."

Monthly rents in Quintain development

The word 'affordable' is the misnomer here as affordable in this context means 'up to 80% of market rent including service charges'.  Landlords will go up to that maximum to get the highest return possible on their investment.  Developers in Wembley have time and again attempted to reduce the amount of affordable housing in their projects on grounds of financial viability so it is clear they will go for the maximum.

Cllr McLennan heralds 32% affordable housing (80% market rent) but Brent's Core Strategy CP2 states that 50% of new homes in the borough should be 'affordable':

'the maximum reasonable amount of affordable housing will be sought when negotiating on individual private residential and mixed use schemes, with due regard to a number of factors, including development viability'

The key is in the last three words, each of the schemes have external viability studies that claim to show that they will not be viable without a reduced proportion of 'affordable' housing.  Viability studies are controversial and in the past Cllr Marquis, chair of the Planning Committee, has attempted to challenge them.They were labelled a 'dark art' by the former Mayor of London. LINK

There is an additional 'intermediate category' that is often added to the 'affordable' category for public relations purposes.  The definition is vague:

'intermediate houses for sale and rent provided at a cost above social rent but below market level'

Even 'social rent' is problematic with housing associations becoming developers in their own right and adopting the 'up to 80% of market rent' policy.

Having established the context does the detail suggest that the press release is no more than Brent Council doing Quintain's public relations for them?

Planning officers argue that there is no necessity to provide affordable housing on the Arena Square/Powerleague site because affordable housing to meet requirements is provided elsewhere in Quintain's development. Whether this is achieving the 'maximum reasonable amount of affordable housing' is a matter for debate.

Bedrooms	Private	Up to 80% market rent	Intermediate	Social
APEX HOUSE
1	56	11	12	0
2	77	9	4	0
3	18	4	4	0
ARENA SQ
Studio	36	0	0	0
1	138	0	0	0
2	157	0	0	0
3	9	0	0	0
COTTRELL HOUSE			Shared ownership
Studio	6	0	0	0
1	13	2	1	0
2	15	4	3	0
3	8	3	0	0

It is worth noting that all of these developments are in Tokyngton ward where Cllr Butt, leader of Brent Council, is a councillor along with Cllrs Ketan Sheth and Hylton.  None of them made any representations at the Planning Committee  or submitted comments on the applications.

FURTHER NOTE

A point made on Facebook discussions of this posting is that the 'up to  80%' definition of affordable is the former London Mayor, Boris Johnson's fault and not that of Brent Council.  My gripe is that the Council's press release and Margaret McLennan's flag waving, perpetuates the myth that this is genuinely affordable by residents and therefore good news.  Cllr Mashari does recognise the reality.

Former councillor James Powney has posted this on his blog LINK:

A lot of controversy is generated by the term "affordable housing", since in London especially, it is often far from affordable.  Here is a quick summary of the main types of housing sent to me by a senior housing officer:

Affordable Rent- for family units are usually 60-65% of market rents or the LHA (whichever is the lower), whereas 1-2 bed units are up to 80% of market rent or LHA (whichever is the lower).

 

Social Rent - averages out at 50% of market rent, may be slightly higher (usually 5%) above Social Rent target rents.

 

Intermediate Rent- above both Affordable or Social Rent, but will be below the market value, approx. 90% of market rent.

Cllr Mashari resigns from Brent Cabinet

I understand that Cllr Roxanne Mashari has resigned from the Brent Cabinet.  The resignation follows the controversy over the Granville South Kilburn development when she appeared to have been made the scapegoat for lack of consultation when the actual decisions had been made by Cllr Butt who holds the property portfolio. LINK

Neither Butt nor Cllr McLennan, deputy leader, were at the Scrutiny Committee where Cllr Mashari had to answer critics, including Cllrs John Duffy and John Warren.

Cllr Butt, in addition to his own duties as leader, is currently temporarily holding the Children and Families portfolio.

Public denied access to brook side walk after police advice

Impression of new development

It emerged last night at Brent Planning Committee that the public will be denied access to a walk beside the Wealdstone Brook which forms part of the redevelopment of the Amex House site in North End Road, Wembley.

There has been a long-time aim of naturalising the brook and increasing public access but the police have advised that because it does not provide a 'natural thoroughfare' (ie leaves North End Road and moves in a loop around the development and then rejoins North End Road) it could be liable to anti-social behaviour.

This would seem to put other potential access as a result of redevelopment at risk as the same argument coud be used as brooks and rivers meander and don't provide straight A to B thoroughfares. The police seem to have ignored walking for pleasure as something that nearby residents may want to pursue in an area with sparse greenery.

The Wealdstone Brook eventually joins the River Brent where there is a riverside path down to Monks Park and the North Circular and this is a recognised local amenity.  There is also a walk along the Brent and the canal feeder between St David's Open Space and Neasden Lane/Blackbird Hill. It is hard to know why these are fine but Amex House is not.

Councillors were concerned about potential flooding of the site and the level of pollution in the brook. The Environment Agency has opposed the development wanting it further away from the brook and this means that despite it being passed last night it will have to be referred to the Secretary of State.

The Committee also passed development applications for the Powerleague site next to Wemblety Stadium and Wembley Arena, Cottrell House, Warranty House (Dudden Hill Lane) and extensions to Ealing Road Library.

There were no public representations against any of these schemes - just speeches in favour from Brent Planning Officers and the developers' agents.

Note: I suspected there was an issue regarding public access to the brook side walk when the officer's report was vague about it. I received no answer when I contacted the Planning Department by email  and phone asking for clarification. The police advice is not included in the report to the Planning Committee.

Bid for £513m for NW London CCGs to be submitted to implement STP

Just after the Kilburn Times LINK published a story about the potential impact of the Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) on Brent, the NHS Brent Clinical Commissioning Group held an extraordinary Governing Body meeting at lunchtime today. The Times story pointed to a difference in emphasis on the STP from Cllr Krupesh Hirani, lead member for community wellbeing who said he would sign up to the STP, and Carolyn Downs, Brent CEO who has led on the STP, who repeated the caveats made at Brent's October Cabinet meeting*. The STP got very little detailed mention at today's meeting.  Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham boroughs have refused to sign the STP at present.

The chair said that in seeking £513m investment the area CCGs were following through the controversial Shaping a Healthier Future  (SaHF) and the Sustainability and Transformation Plan . The investment was necessary to deliver these plans and the meeting considered the Strategic Outline Case (Soc 1) for the investment. 

The majority of the funding (£304)  would go to acute hospitals, most of it to Ealing Hospital. £69m to improving GP practices, and £141m to out of hospital hubs.

 

The £304m hospital share would:

• support Ealing's changes to become an excellent local hospital
• expand A& E and provide more beds at West Middlesex Hospital
• expand A & E and maternity at Hillingdon Hospital
• provide more primary and community care services at Central Middlesex Hospital
• provide more post-op recovery and critical care beds at Northwick Park Hospital and improve some existing buildings

The £69m GP practices share would:

• make it easier for patients to physically get in and out of practices
• make better waiting rooms and more consulting rooms across all 8 boroughs

The £141m allocated to Out of Hospital Hubs would:

• modernise 11 existing community hubs
• build 7 new ones
• increase capacity and enable people who have multiple health and care needs to have those dealt with in one place 

The overall aim was better health care and preventing unnecessary hospitalisation.

At the public question time Robin Sharp speaking for Brent Patient Voice said:

I thank the Governing Body for making 30 minutes available for public comments or questions during this session. I am afraid that the rest of what I have to say will be more critical.

Sadly we are presented with yet another example of flawed procedure and a flawed case for change on the part of our NHS.

To begin with procedures, it is farcical that the Governing Body are set to approve a complex 250-page submission only 8 days after it was put into the public domain. Doctors on the Governing Body are very busy people with important clinical jobs. How can they have had time to read and understand these proposals?

It is also disgraceful that 7 out of the 8 NW London Healthwatches which make up the PPRG (Patient and Public Representative Group) for SaHF have offered quasi-endorsement for the document even though they admit that the public they are supposed to represent have not seen it.

We are told there will be public engagement in future, but is not this the wrong way round? Engagement should have been before the document goes to the Treasury.

Turning to the clinical case for change, it has been over 3 years since the “Better Care Closer to Home” strategy set out in SaHF was launched. It was supposed to be all in place by 2015. Where is the assessment to show that more care in the community has stopped people being admitted to hospital and reduced the need for acute beds?  It is certainly not in the NW London STP (Sustainability and Transformation Plan). “If Better Care Closer to Home” works why are our A&Es among the most challenged in England. Why are Referral to Treatment (RTT) times on a downward trend?

We were told in the slide presentation that 27 Hubs across NW London are at the heart of this Business Case and that St Charles off Ladbroke Grove is an example of a fully functioning “Hub”. Can we please see a paper giving details of how this is working? As a patient of a nearby Brent practice who uses the Urgent Care Centre at St Charles I have to say that the existence of a Hub is a well kept secret. No-one has told me or my Practice PPG about it.

Maurice Hoffman asked if only a limited amount of the monies claimed was available how would it be distributed?  He asked if  a 'local A & E' would meet London standards. He was told that the CCG had made it clear to the NHS that all the proposals were inter-connected and they were pitching for the full amount.  He was told that a Charing Cross A & E would not take 'blue light' case and NW London CCGs were looking at what services for the frail and elderly could be best placed there.  He was assured that 'until we have the capacity we will not change anything.'

As the presentation had mentioned voluntary organisations as providing services in the hubs, I asked how this would work when NHS England and NHS Estates were saying that market rents had to be paid. There was a momentary silence while the governing body members looked at each other and then Sarah Mansurali replied that they were looking at giving grants to voluntary sector organisations so they could afford the rent, offering sessional space or try to integrate voluntary organisations into new models of care.

The Governing Body noted the scope of the SOC and approved Part 1 for submission to NHSE and NHSI for approval and asked for the following points to be considered prior to approving subsequent related Outline Business cases (OBCs):

• further public involvement is undertaken where appropriate
• the OBCs continue to justify the capital requirement set out in SOC part 1
• opportunities to accelerate the delivery of the benefits are explored
• opportunities to further improve the income and expenditure position of proposals are explored

It is worth noting that this meeting took place during the day on a weekday so opportunities for the public to attend were clearly limited.  

*Cabinet Minutes October 24th 2016:

1.     Cabinet noted the STP submission for North West London. 


2.     Cabinet welcomed the principles adopted within the STP of prevention, out  of hospital care, dealing with the social care funding gap and the need to work across the public sector to maximise benefits from changes to the NHS and other public sector estate. 


3.     Cabinet noted that the STP will need formal sign off by the end of December and that between October and December the following issues need to be clarified both within the submission and through other NHS processes, in 
 order for the council to give full support for the plan:

a.     That the IMBC on which delivery area 5 is based is released, debated and understood; 


b.     That the flow of monies from acute to out of hospital settings are clarified; 


c.      That the specification for out of hospital settings, in particular social care, are clarified
based on an agreed model of out of hospital care; 


d.     That a full risk assessment for the plan and relevant mitigations are included.

Sharp surprise in store for bottoms relaxing on a Wembley street

Fed up with people sitting on their boundary wall and dropping litter into the grounds, landlords of Kings Court, Kings Drive, Wembley have turned to nature for a remedy.

Planting of pyracantha shrubs all along the low street wall has now been completed. Pyracantha is known for its sharp thorns so once the shrubs have grown a little more anyone sitting on the wall will get a sharp jab up the backside.

Meanwhile just around the corner, the Winston Churchill Lycee, occupying the old Brent Town Hall, has planted the more benign English privet along its boundary wall with Forty Lane.