Waiting for action after South Kilburn meeting on fire safety

Tuesday's meeting in fire safety held in South Kilburn was well attended by residents despite the awkward time of 4pm. One attendee described it as understandably emotional at times. Phil Porter, Brent Council lead officer, said that every block on the estate would have their own meeting (although some blocks don't have a meeting room of their own) within the next 6 - 8 weeks.

The panel chaired by Tulip Siddiq consisted of Brent Council officers and representatives from BHP, housing associations and the London Fire Brigade. Councillors sat in the audience  with one attendee remarking that this seemed to absolve them from direct democratic accountability. Catalyst Housing had been invited but sent apologies.

Brent Housing Partnership were asked to change policy on any bicycles and push-chairs etc that blocked stairwells. Rather than give 7 days notice of their removal they should be removed immediately as they constitute a fire risk.

Cllr Duffy has been chasing up the issue of large bins filled with combustible material (see above) stored beneath balconies and netting used to keep out pigeons fixed along balconies which could act as a fire bridge. This is of particular concern as a tenant was found yesterday to be trying to store tyres on his balcony.

Duffy  told other councillors about the issues today as the CEO, Carolyn Downs, had failed to reply:

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The council looks neglectful  having a public fire -risk meeting in a block that is in the opinion of the LFB  has unsafe aspects.

The problem is the same old problem with Brent, do a lot of good work but fall at the last hurdle. One resident has agreed to help me move the bins  from under the balcony this afternoon into a safer location.

Picnic in Barham Park on Sunday to celebrate the life of Titus Barham

From Friends of Barham Library

To celebrate the life of Titus Barham 80 years ago and his gift of his home & gardens (which formed Barham Park) for "the enjoyment of local people" in Wembley, Friends of Barham Library are encouraging local people to come and have a picnic in Barham Park on Sunday July 9th in the company of their friends and neighbours. Just bring your friends and some food and enjoy our beautiful park.

We are recommending the use of the areas near the play area and the outdoor gym for the picnic (behind the building housing Barham Community Library) as another event is taking place in the main part of the Park.

We will open the Library from around 12 midday to show people around. We will also display recently painted art from the Art Group who used our Library for art classes recently. From around 1:30pm we hope to have a 'Kino Van' on site showing short films from the 1930s of local and other history.

AND from round 2:30 p.m. we will be serving afternoon tea in our Library on a 1st come 1st served basis - free of charge.

In between all of this we hope also to give short talks on the history of the Barhams and the local area.

Please come along for a bit of relaxation in Barham Park, see our Community Library (if you have not done so yet) and join us for some afternoon tea.

Ark plan new primary school in Wembley but is it needed?

Ark appears to be about to expand its schools empire in Brent adding a new primary free school at Wembley Ark, Ark Elvin and Ark Franklin Primary.

The new school would be on a site at the corner of Empire Way/Wembley Hill Road and the Royal Route with a form entry of 90 (3 classes in each year group) making a total when it is full of 630 pupils with perhaps a 60 place nursery.

The Ark Somerville Primary School would be on a busy main road which is of concern given the impact of air pollution on children and it will be important to see how much open play space will be available to the pupils.

The most important concern though is whether a new school, and such a large one, is actually required. In the immediate vicinity of the proposed school are Elsley Primary which is currently doubling in size to four forms of entry, Park Lane Primary, Oakington Manor Primary and Wembley Primary.

An important factor is the impact of Brexit and the declining value of the pound in the number of European citizens working in Brent.  There is anecdotal evidence of a reduction in numbers which affects the number of  EU pupils in local schools. Alongside this is the continuing issue of families affected by the benefit cap being forced to move out of London.

Quintain is of course building new housing in the area but this is generally not affordable to local people and unlikely to accommodate families. Brent Council will need to provide robust projections of future demand to justify a new school.

I understand that several of the primary schools that have been expanded recently are not attracting sufficient pupils to fill the new places and that some may apply to reduce their form of entry.  I am awaiting the outcome of an FoI request to see the evidence on unfilled vacancies and waiting lists.

If there is not an overall increase in demand a new school would create a 'churn' of pupil movement as parents move their children between schools. Brent Council is committed to supporting 'parent choice' by running schools with some spare capacity but the downside of this is that pupil mobility can be disruptive to the continuity of learning and undermine pupil progress. Schools with high mobility may find it very hard to meet the target thresholds set by the government for Year 6 children when perhaps only 20% of them attended the schoool in Year 2.

Local public transport is already under strain with pupils from Ark Elvin, Wembley Ark, Michaela, Preston Manor and the Lycee converging at home time and the proposed new primary would be on the same routes although one would hope that they lived within walking distance of the school.

Ark's announcement is below.

In September 2014 Ark submitted a free school application to the Department for Education to open a new primary academy in Wembley to help meet the growing demand for school places.

Following the approval of the application, Ark is now consulting on the proposal to open Ark Somerville Primary Academy, serving 2-11 year olds in Brent. It is proposed that Ark Somerville would open in September 2019 and admit 90 Reception age children each year until it reached its full capacity of 630 in September 2025; there is the potential that the school’s 60 FTE nursery might also open at the same time.

Ark Somerville will be located on the corner of Royal Route and Empire Way, next to the London Designer Outlet and will be a newly constructed building completed ready for September 2019 opening. The building is being designed and built by Bowmer and Kirkland, who will lead on a planning consultation later in the summer.

Ark Somerville Primary will be non-denominational, non-selective and mixed, serving local children. The admissions criteria will prioritise those living closest to the school. The school will have particularly strong links with Ark Academy (an all-through school), Ark Elvin Academy (a secondary school) and Ark Franklin Primary, all located in Brent. Ark Somerville will also become part of the wider Brent family of schools.

Please let us know what you think

If you would like to hear more about the schools, please join us at one of our drop-in events which will be held at Ark Academy, Bridge Rd, Wembley, HA9 9JP

There will be two events held on 13th July at:

•  9:30 - 11:00
•  17:30 - 19:00

The consultation period will run from 29 June to 15 September 2017.
If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch through our feedback form on Somerville S10 Consultation Feedback Form

As results are announced keep the SATs in perspective - schools and children are much more than a test score

  Children’s author Michael Morpurgo, in a striking phrase, has referred to the SATs taken by 10 and 11 year olds as a ‘dark spider spreading fear in primary classrooms.’

Primary school headteachers were able to access their school’s results overnight and social media is buzzing with reactions.

The TES reports:

The government also published the tables which show how many marks are needed in each subject to reach a scaled score of 100, which is the “expected standard”.

This year pupils needed 26 out of 50 in reading, 57 out of 110 in maths and 36 out of 70 in spelling, punctuation and grammar (Spag) to reach the expected standard.

This compares to 21 out of 50 needed in reading last year, 60 out of 110 needed in maths and 43 out of 70 needed in Spag. The jump in the marks needed to pass the reading test comes after Year 6 teachers had reported that the reading test this year was “kinder” than it was in 2016.

The new tests were introduced last year and could not be compared with previous years. It would be a mistake to make too much of any comparison this year as leading experts suggest that the data is ‘too fragile’ to interpret with any confidence.


The TES reports Russell Hobby, General Secretary of the National Association of Headteachers:

Currently, the methods to hold schools to account aren’t as fair or reliable as they should be. Sats data only gives parents part of the picture when judging a pupil’s success or a school’s effectiveness.

At the moment, parents and schools know these results have to be taken with a pinch of salt. This can’t be right. Just looking at data misses the majority of the real work that schools do to help young people achieve their full potential.

Schools do need to be held to account but inspectors should look at more than just data. That way, when parents are reading Ofsted reports they can have more confidence that the report properly reflects how good the school actually is.

We are seeing the signs of a more balanced approach to the use of data by Ofsted, as expressed in a recent speech by Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector, in which she said, ‘Rather than just intensifying the focus on data, Ofsted inspections must explore what is behind the data, asking how results have been achieved.’

The issue of how results have been achieved is crucial.  Schools vary in their conduct of SATs and the amount of preparation. Concern about ‘teaching to the test’ in the last year of primary school, with a resulting narrowing of the curriculum and teachers and children feeling stressed by the pressure, has been widespread. Some schools hold special revision classes during the school holiday and others have endless practise tests.  Meanwhile children in private schools and those who are home-schooled escape the SATs completely.

Whatever one’s views we can probably all agree that schools and children are far more than a school. SAT results do not capture the many facets of a rich primary curriculum that will be familiar to many parents and that teachers struggle to provide despite all the pressure of SATs ‘success’.


 

Duffy lambasts Brent Council for not holding a special democratic meeting on fire safety in the borough

This is an email sent to Brent councilors today by Cllr John Duffy (Kilburn)

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Dear All,

As you know the tragic events that took place on 14th June at Grenfell Tower has cost over a hundred lives has left a mark on our city. Over the years we have seen many similar tragic events, but normally they are in factories (sweat shops) in Bangladesh or a collapse of building on the outskirts (shanty -town) of a South American city. The only difference between this the others tragic events is the fact it happen only a few miles in a neighbouring borough right on our doorsteps do we are one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

In the early hours of 14th June I received two phone calls one from a women who was going down to the fire area to look for friends and offer them a place to stay, and another from a women crying who just wanted to talk about the tragic events she had witnessed on TV. The following day (15th) a friend of nearly 50 years call in on me and told me about his son and family, who live in one of the other twin blocks of Grenfell tower estate and who had witnessed the fire throughout the night, and how his partner was talking to her son on the  phone as the horror unfolded in that long night .

As the days passed it became clear they the fire did not only wreak death and destruction it also exposed inequalities.. Kensington and Chelsea is the wealthiest  area in London (and maybe the world) and has many high rise expensive hotels and private apartment blocks. These high rise hotels have the maximum fire protection  and have been erected using non-toxic building material etc. I do not object these people having the maximum fire protection. What I object to is the different way society treats the so called "Creators of Wealth" who stay in the big hotels and are pampered in comparative way that same society threat the "Orphans of Wealth" who they hide in Tower blocks with insufficient fire protection and there needs are ignored .

John McDonnell the Shadow Chancellor, said that politicians are guilty of murder. I am not sure if he said that just for affect. However it did highlight the fact that politicians are responsible for decisions and I have always believed apathy is not a political decision - its a cop-out. That is why I called for special full council meeting on 3th July .The meeting would have endorse a strategy for officers to follow and the officers in turn would been up-to date with local information from Councillors. Officers would have been able to explain what we're been doing , and the resource implications .This would have ensured councillors were not just observers waiting for the next bulletin, but were local representatives , representing local people. The CEO, Head of Legal, the Leader and the Mayor decided to limit discussion and to kick it to the 11th July. The decision was wrong, anti-democratic and not transparent.

Since the disaster , I have exchanged numerous emails mostly private with Officers and the CEO, here are some of them.

Time line

14th June at 09:22, I wrote  about  the visible deterioration of some of the new blocks in South Kilburn  and tried to identify short -life up  property we  could get up and running . I understand Cllr  Kalwala was doing the same thing  in Stonebridge looking for voids to be ready to help K+C . I am proud of what others and myself did to ensure Brent was ready to support the residents of Grenfell Tower if needs be.

15th June at 4-30PM, I went down to South Kilburn  to have a look  the blocks and ensure the area was cleared of any fire hazard. I understand Cllr Shazard and Cllr Colacicco were doing something similar in Mapesbury. I looked at all the blocks including George and Swift house (which are owned by a housing association) that had been of concern to residents for some time, including  issues about the failing exterior. I informed the CEO of my concerns .The CEO instructed officers to investigate  my concerns about George House.

24th June  at 11-16 AM, I requested an emergency full council  meeting ( which I later changed  to a special meeting ) the requisite number of councillors agreed to call the meeting and the CEO asked The Leader and another officer to discuss with the Mayor.

26th June at 3pm. The CEO wrote to all councillors, misleading all councillors saying that I had not got the 5 councillors you need to requisiteion a meeting naming myself , Cllr Pavey , Stopp , Warren . However the CEO, the Mayors office and the The Leader of the council were well aware that Cllr Chan  and Cllr Hector had also supported the request for a meeting by email to the Mayor, the Leader of the Council and Labour group leadership on the 24th June . 

The CEO then advise the Mayor  that he should not use his powers to call a special meeting , instead we should have a drop-in section, which would not be open to the press or public and would not be minuted, replacing a democratically called meeting. The CEO also promised time to ask questions at the drop -in , but  the Head of Legal said half an hours of questions is enough for councillors to ask questions and she would not agree to officers staying on after the 7pm deadline. 

28TH June at 11-15 am. My fears were confirmed,  just as I had alerted the CEO on the 15th June the cladding at George house failed the fire test. However the FB did not recommend immediate evacuation of the block and 24 hrs wardens are now in place to walk the scheme. 

Now because of the CEO intervention we have not got a Full Council meeting tonight, where we could publicly support and reassure residents in South Kilburn and support officers action. We have a drop-in for councillors and they are only allowed half an hour  to ask questions about the fabric and material, the short term safety,  and medium and long term solutions- while the public are banned. 

This lack of transparency shown by senior officers and the attempt to highjack the democratic process and limit debate is why I will not be turning-up tonight. I have instead arrange a meeting for 2pm tomorrow Tuesday) with the housing association who manage George House which I invite all councillors to. I am also inviting Peter Gadsdon  or one of his colleagues (he and his officers are doing a good job) if he or one of his colleagues is available to attend. I will inform the public meeting tomorrow (Tuesday)  evening (see notice above) about the outcome of the meeting and hopefully will be able to give residents an update.

There are obvious lessons to learn about fire protection, which will emerge, but there are other issues  about  how council meetings and decisions  are conducted and implemented. Over the next few months  the council will have to be more transparent and the CEO and Cabinet will have to start to listen to local councillors. There can be no more mistakes like trying to close the Granville Community Centre without understanding the consequences of regeneration on an area like Kilburn. Poorer areas also need a guarantee that they will retain all the funds they are due from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) from the related 106 income and it will not passed onto wealthier areas, who have not suffered the from the consequences of the redevelopment/ regeneration programme.

Fairness and transparency is needed if we are going to avoid creating more Orphans Of Wealth .

EDITOR'S NOTE

The Council has tabled an item on the agenda of the next Full Council meeting on July 10th (7pm Civic Centre). There are 17 items on the agenda -Fire Safety in High Rise Towe Blocks is number 15. LINK

Brent Conservatives misleading on Tricycle

The following motion has been submitted by Brent Conservative Group for the next Full Council meeting on Monday July 10th:

TRICYCLE THEATRE
 

This Council notes with dismay the recent awarding of £1m. to the Tricycle Theatre by Brent’s cabinet. 

This Council is particularly surprised at the decision in the light of.....
- apparent lack of monies in Brent’s coffers.
- failure to invite other community groups to bid for the available £1m.
- the artistic discrimination previously shown by the Tricycle in cancelling the Jewish Film Festival. 

This Council calls upon cabinet to allocate the £1m. through an open bidding process inviting applications from all community groups ....not just the Tricycle. 

Councillor John Warren


Leader of the Brent Conservative Group Brondesbury Park Ward

I have no problem with the Tories querying the bidding process for the grant but would point out that the claim that the Tricycle Theatre cancelled the Jewish Film Festival is incorrect. The Tricycle did not cancel the Festival - the UK Jewish Film Festival organisers withdrew the festival from the Tricycle. Although the Tricycle later changed its position this is what it said at the time LINK:

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We have been contacted by several patrons who have been given misleading information about the Tricycle and the UK Jewish Film Festival. We would like to set down an accurate account. 

The Tricycle has always welcomed the Festival and wants it to go ahead. We have proudly hosted the UK Jewish Film Festival for many years. However, given the situation in Israel and Gaza, we do not believe that the festival should accept funding from any party to the current conflict.  For that reason, we asked the UK Jewish Film Festival to reconsider its sponsorship by the Israeli Embassy.  We also offered to replace that funding with money from our own resources. The Tricycle serves many communities and celebrates different cultures and through difficult, emotional times must aim for a place of political neutrality. 

We regret that, following discussions, the chair of the UKJFF told us that he wished to withdraw the festival from the Tricycle.   

To be clear, at this moment, the Tricycle would not accept sponsorship from any government agency involved in the conflict. We hope to find a way to work with the UK Jewish Film Festival to allow the festival to go ahead at the Tricycle as it has done so successfully for the past 8 years.’  

Indhu Rubasingham

Reminder: Clean Air in Brent Public Meeting July 6th

Air pollution campaign group, Clean Air for Brent, and Brent Council are holding a public meeting, “The Air We Breathe: how pollution is affecting us and what we can do about it”, on Thursday 6th July at 7-9pm at Brent Civic Centre in Wembley.

Speakers include world-renowned health expert Prof. Sir Michael Marmot (UCL & Harvard) , Simon Birkett, Director of Clean Air in London, Cllr Eleanor Southwood, Cabinet Member for the Environment, Brent Council, and Elliot Treharne, Air Quality Manager, GLA. Hywel Lloyd of think tank IPPR will be chairing an interactive panel discussion.

Air pollution contributes to poor health and is responsible for premature death. In 2016 there were 1,810 deaths on Great Britain's roads, yet nearly 9,500 people die early each year in London due to long-term exposure to air pollution, with 112 early deaths in Brent in 2010. It is linked with cancer, strokes, heart disease and respiratory problems. The main pollutants are nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, particularly from diesel vehicles, being most harmful. The principal source of air pollution in Brent is road traffic, though emissions from heating systems also contribute.

Cllr Eleanor Southwood, Cabinet Member for the Environment, Brent Council said:

This event will raise the profile of air pollution across Brent and the serious impact it has on all of our lives. It's great to see residents and community groups coming together to improve things, in partnership with the Council. We can all make small changes by choosing to walk, cycle, turn our engines off and choose not to buy diesel vehicles; and by working together I believe we can make a real difference to the quality of air we breathe in Brent.

Fiona Mulaisho from Clean Air for Brent added:

Air pollution knows no boundaries, and it is not halted by tawdry promises. No one is safe from it, regardless of where you live, work and play. With thousands of unnecessary deaths and life threatening illnesses caused every year, that's why it's important for people to get involved in the fight against air pollution, - today's deadly public health crisis. This meeting will be a chance to question the experts, learn what our authorities are doing locally about air pollution, and find out what we can all do.

Clean Air for Brent is a coalition of residents' associations and community groups focused on raising awareness and changing behaviours to improve air quality in Brent for all our health.

The event is taking place on Thursday 6th July, at 7-9pm at the Conference Hall, Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley, HA9 0FJ. The Civic Centre is five minutes walk from Wembley Park tube station. Please use public transport.

This is a free event – all are welcome to attend. Doors open from 6.30pm for light refreshments and stalls. The meeting starts at 7pm.

Register for free tickets at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-air-we-breathe-tickets-35136212357 , at www.cleanairforbrent.wordpress.com or email cafbrent@gmail.com.

Gladstone Parade planning decision: This is NOT democracy

The Planning Committee in action

Guest blog by Alison Hopkins

This is a rant, and it’s long.

It’s about Gladstone Parade, the loss of our shops and the fact that the planning committee on Brent Council is a total waste of space. It never used to be like that: back in the day, the committee was impartial regardless of political composition and also had long serving members who actually understood planning matters, with an excellent Chair. Now, it changes membership constantly, and is, frankly dominated by the leader of the Council and his agenda. That agenda is the wholesale drive to build more and more flats all over Brent, just like Barnet. Now, this would not be so bad if any of those flats were real council housing, not the nonsense called affordable housing. It would also not be so bad if Brent’s Planning officers didn’t simply give in on all fronts to developers who then promptly advertise and sell said flats overseas. Fat lot of good that is to anyone here.

So, the Parade. Built with the houses in the 1920s. The grocer corner shop was there when I was a baby and long before. Hairdresser: fifty odd years. Chip shop – thirty, with a butcher before. Pub, a couple of decades. Two shops have been empty on and off for a while, and that, in my view, was deliberate. The freehold of the land has changed hands a fair bit, and the leases of the shops had lapsed.

The shopkeepers had of course been paying rent and ALL of them had been pushing hard for lease renewals for a long time. There have also been rumours flying of redevelopment for a fair while, but nothing concrete. The first real intimation was when the chip shop owner phoned me in February with the bad news that he’d had a notification letter from Brent Planning. He, and all the rest, had heard NOTHING from the freeholder of the Parade and knew nothing until the letter from Brent arrived. I’d had conversations with other shopkeepers before that and had been keeping an eye on planning applications on Brent’s website. I actually check those all the time for Dollis Hill anyway – I did it as a councillor and I think it’s good practice, as well as keeping one’s ear to the ground.

Having read the application I went and spoke to the shopkeepers, who were obviously devastated. My view from the outset, as someone who knows the area and who we are, was that this was a totally flawed application which seriously disadvantaged us. I tried contacting the developer, who was essentially – how can I put this – mendacious. I know how Brent’s consultation works. A letter to a very few neighbouring houses and a notice on a lamppost. So, I hand delivered about a thousand letters, emailed eight hundred people, and Facebooked this, and we also then went and door knocked.

In all that, I found ONE person in favour. Oh, and we put a petition in the chip shop.

We know what happened next. Lengthy detailed and well thought out objections on line. The petition in the fish shop, got over 650 signatures from all over Dollis Hill and beyond – there were more, but those were too late. A whole bunch more signatures from the hand delivered letters, which also resulted in more on line objections. There were, in the end, five pages of those! Other local people emailed and wrote in directly. Brent Planning, by the way, got those numbers wrong in the officer’s report.

On Monday, the leader of the council was supposed to come and visit the Parade to “listen to locals”, but didn’t – some kind of family emergency. This meeting was also not publicised anywhere, of course. The three councillors finally showed up, having been less than keen to be engaged up until literally the last minute. They have, as has been published here, finally replied to some emails but I am convinced their replies were not written by them. One of the councillors said they’d been talking to Planning “for some months” about the development – a shame they’d not talked to residents, isn’t it.

That same councillor also said that local people seemed less than keen on a CPZ, which may be because of Brent’s outrageous charges. One of the other councillors knew about the issues with bus drivers parking locally, but had no idea who the manager of the bus station is, or the steps they’ve taken to try and fix this. I know what those steps are, because I’ve MET the man. That councillor also claims people from the Hassop Road garages in Cricklewood are parking on our roads, but I doubt that – and I’ve had no complaints about it.

Anyhow.

Wednesday was the Planning Committee meeting. The officer’s report had already recommended passing the application as did what’s called their supplementary report – that’s what gets written after they visited the site. That site visit was last Saturday and I went along. You aren’t supposed try to nobble the committee members but I did manage to point out some of the problems, as did the shopkeepers.

So, the meeting. Some fool had decided to hold it on the same night as 100,000 people were watching Adele at the Stadium. We also weren’t heard till almost ten, as there were two highly contentious other applications before us.

Despite that, all the shopkeepers and the pub owner showed up, as did many locals, who managed to sit it out. Two locals spoke in objection, including the fact that they have right of way and use of the garages – this may yet present a problem for the developer, I hope. I spoke – or rather, I ranted.

You’re only allowed two minutes which is absurd and hardly enough, but so be it. The presentation by the planning officers lied about discussion with the shop owners and presented the development in a manner that really showed how much this was already decided. The planning officer also said you could walk to Cricklewood Station in twelve minutes – has he actually TRIED that? It’s a good half hour. He made reference to the supposed new Brent Cross station which is imaginary and to a possible CPZ, also imaginary. The real bombshell was that Brent had been talking to the developers for over a YEAR. That’s BEFORE the freehold got sold to them! The leader of Brent Council would have known about this and so, I think, would the Dollis Hill councillors.

To repeat: it’s supposed to be councillors who run things, but this whole sad sorry mess makes it clear that it’s officers, the head of so called Regeneration and the Leader who hold the power. There are a handful of councillors who dare fight back and they get both abused and side-lined.

Another local made an excellent speech about the poor living quality of the flats, the air pollution on the Edgware Road, their unsuitability for families and the parking issues. He was speaking on behalf of a statutory consultee, the Dollis Hill Residents Association, who had also NOT been properly consulted.

Anyhow, I raised two of the many issues, namely, the loss of the shops and the parking and traffic issues. The committee ignored the latter. In his summing up after, the Planning Officer blithely said that yes, he agreed the Brent Cross station would be delayed but that didn’t matter, as the transport assessment was based on what is there now. He also, equally blithely, said that the solution would be to effectively impose controlled parking in our roads. Whether that’s an answer or not, it ignores the real issues around the flats, namely high density and access. I am convinced Brent wants to impose controlled parking all over the borough: it’s a great money spinner for them. I also ranted about the flats across the road being marketed to China, and that there’s no guarantee the affordable housing level will be maintained, or that the flats won’t lie empty.

I was questioned by some of the committee members. One stated that all the shops were run down and shut, that they’d not been there long and that Lidl had taken business from them. Given that they’re open and doing well, and that Lidl has been there for what, ten years? – this is nonsense. I had pushed for regeneration, and another councillor asked which companies might do that, so I quoted several. Another asked about the petition and looked through the fish shop one. But it was all rather half hearted.

Cllr Dixon spoke. The three of them seemed, on MONDAY, to have finally got off the fence, but it all felt very half-hearted to me. They had still lodged not one objection on line. She didn’t address planning issues, which is actually what you need to do when addressing the committee, but rather talked about the community round the Parade. The gist of it was that she had only discovered in the past few weeks how strong the community is and had been unaware of how thriving. She did pick up on the low level of affordable housing, but didn’t seem aware of the difference between that and social housing – that’s council housing, to you and me. She also said that she’d been backing the plans up until she became aware of this strength of community. She did query the lack of consultation: in my view, one of the functions of a councillor is to tell people what’s going on, and they had all known about this for many months, supposedly.

The Planning Officer summed up. He again claimed the shop keepers were in discussion with the developers, to which they shouted back that they were not. He claimed consultation had been adequate: a few letters, the newspaper notice, the notice on the lamppost. He said that this was proven by the volume of objections, to which I shouted back that hand delivering a thousand letters was probably more of a reason. He acknowledged my remark about Brent Cross and the station, and called it irrelevant, then stated AGAIN that it’s only a twelve minute walk to Cricklewood Station.

This was roundly jeered at. He talked about how important it is for Brent to hit housing targets and that the developers would have to give £400,000 to Brent for “local projects”. There is, by the way, no guarantee at all that Dollis Hill will see a penny of that.

They voted and passed it, with one exception a councillor who lives in Brent North, and seemed to understand far more than the rest. The hairdresser was in tears, the pub owner is furious and the chip shop and Londis owners, stunned and bewildered.

This is not democracy in any way. This is a failure to listen to local people, yet again. It’s also not how you represent local people: the campaign against this has been grass roots, with no help at all from elected representatives. I’ve both fought and supported planning applications in the past and managed to get real improvements in them. You can’t win every objection but as a councillor, you really should fight.

So, let’s just sum that up. Over a THOUSAND written objections ignored, which represents far more.
Just remember that next May, hm?