“The Beggars Roost” plaque comes home to Kingsbury

Guest post by Philip Grant, local historian

Thirteen months ago I posed the question ‘Where was “The Beggars Roost”?’ in a local history guest blog LINK. I was writing about a photograph I had been sent by a lady in Nashville, Tennessee, of a hand-painted coat of arms she had bought in a charity shop there. It appeared to have been created for Wembley’s A.R.P. (Air Raid Precaution) Warden Post 12 during the Second World War.

I still don’t know exactly where Post 12 was located, or why it was named “The Beggars Roost”, but further research has suggested that it was probably somewhere in the Roe Green area of Kingsbury (though not in Roe Green Village itself, whose wardens had Post 11). However, last summer an amazing piece of generosity happened – Cheryl, who had bought the plaque for her own home, decided that its proper place was back in Wembley, so that people here could see and enjoy the coat of arms in its historical context. 

Cheryl donated the plaque to Brent Museum, and it now forms the centrepiece of a small exhibition which has just opened at Kingsbury Library:

A.R.P. – Wembley’s Air Raid Wardens in the Second World War.

For the past few months I have been working with Alison, a Brent Museum volunteer, and Museum staff, to put this exhibition together. It includes objects and pictures from the Brent collections, and some loaned by fellow Wembley History Society members, and tells the story of Wembley’s A.R.P. Service (wardens, first aid and rescue teams) from 1938 to 1945.

It is a story of thousands of local men and women who gave their time, and in some cases their lives, to help protect their neighbours from German bombing raids. 

This was a very difficult period in our history, and one that those of us born after 1945, including young people to whom it is just something that happened long ago, could benefit from understanding better. Residents whose families have come to our area in recent decades, sometimes from countries which themselves have suffered war, could also see that people here have had that experience too. One of the air raids that the A.R.P. Service had to deal with, and which is pictured in the exhibition, happened within sight of Kingsbury Library.

The exhibition will be on display every day, during library opening hours, until around the end of May 2018. I will be giving a “coffee morning” talk, linked with the exhibition, at Kingsbury Library (522-524 Kingsbury Road, London NW9) on Tuesday 24 April, 11am to 12noon.

I hope that you will take the opportunity to visit Kingsbury Library, to enjoy one or both events. This is the official Brent poster for them:

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For anyone who would like to know more about this subject, but won't be able to attend Philip's talk on 24 April, there is an online local history article available on the Brent Archives website LINK

Stump up for the Sheffield Tree defenders

The perils of PFIs of local authority services, out-sourcing and the pitfalls of poor contracting have been illustrated to devastating effect by the battle going on in Sheffield over the Amey contract for tree 'maintenance' which has seen healthy trees being felled and the transformation of a once leafy streetscape into arid avenues.

Local residents and activists, including from the Green Party, have been desperately trying to save the trees via peaceful protest and have met with rough treatment from the contractors and their security as well as being pursued by bailiffs acting on behalf of the Labour Council.

Several local Labour Parties in  the area have come out against along with Sheffield Momentum. This is the resolution passed by Gleadless Valley Labour Party:

Gleadless Valley Labour Party branch opposes the consequences of the PFI deal for street improvements in Sheffield which has led to both the widespread removal of trees and the failure to meet timescales for road improvements. If this work had been delivered in house by a council service, it is inconceivable that the opposition to tree felling would not have led to changes. 

As it is, the actions of Amey plc have both failed the council’s road improvement ambitions and undermined the reputation of Sheffield’s environmental credentials. 

We reaffirm our support for our G.E. Manifesto’s opposition to PFI deals and call on our sisters and brothers in the Labour Group to support an immediate, mediated settlement to the felling of our street trees.

A Crowdfunder Appeal has been set up to help pay the legal costs imposed by the heavy-handed Sheffield City Council (SCC). You can donate HERE.

The Crowdfunder page sets out the issue:

Calvin Payne and Alastair Wright committed no crime, but in defence of our street trees, they both fell foul of a court injunction pushed through by SCC to force its felling programme on its own citizens. Not satisfied with their punishments for contempt of court, the Council is seeking inflated costs from Alastair and Calvin of £11,000 and £16,000 in costs respectively.

We want to raise £27,000 to pay Alastair and Calvin's legal costs with your help, and the support of Pulp's Nick Banks and Richard Hawley, actor Maxine Peake, and Caroline Lucas, co-leader of the Green Party, George Monbiot, author and environmentalist, along with Ken Loach, activist and film maker, and many others,  all offering support and endorsing this Crowdfunder.

We will not stand by and watch legitimate peaceful protest and civil disobedience being extinguished by an anti-democratic SCC with its taste for expensive legal action. For every injunction hearing brought before the judge, SCC is deliberately paying £16,000 a day for London based legal representation so as to intimidate protestors by emptying their wallets and savings accounts.

Tree campaigners in Sheffield, like Calvin and Alastair, are simply asking that the council complies with current urban forestry good practice. A perfectly reasonable request. The council has responded with threats, force, and an army of private security guards to intimidate the many protestors that now attend felling sites on a daily basis. It has ignored experts on all sides, and even ignored the findings of its own 'Independent Tree Panel'.

In this long-running and increasingly bitter dispute, SCC and its principal contractor, Amey plc, have resorted to increasingly desperate measures and unsafe working practices to fell healthy street trees. Their relationship is underpinned by a confidential Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deal, a form of financing which is widely discredited; it has led to the privatisation of Sheffield streets and street trees.

The Council has mounted dawn raids, has tried (and failed at great cost) to have a serving Green councillor imprisoned, has smeared and slandered campaigners in the media, while its representatives have repeatedly lied to the people of Sheffield.

Funders Fair Thursday Chalkhill Community Centre

We are delighted to confirm that CVS Brent is organising a Funders' Fair on Thursday, 15th March 2018 12.30pm-4pm  The much-awaited event will enable local organisations to get to know the funders and get information about their priorities and application procedures. It is an excellent opportunity for the local voluntary and community sector organisations and groups to engage with a range of funders to gain guidance on how to bid successfully and have their questions answered.

Different funders will give presentations and run information stalls at the event so Brent voluntary sector organisations will have the opportunity to hold face-to-face discussions with funders and funding advisers.

The event will take place in the Vernon Hall of the Chalkhill Community Centre. The fair is free to attend for Brent organisations so please reserve your place. BOOK HERE

For a detailed programme of presentations, please see the leaflet. 

For further information email info@cvsbrent.org.uk or call 020 3011 1690.

Funders that have confirmed their participation include:

• Big Lottery Fund
  
• Brent Advice Fund (BAF)
  
• Chalkhill Community Trust Fund
  
• Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) - Brent Council
  
• Heritage Lottery Fund
  
• John Lyon’s Charity
  
• The London Community Foundation
  
• Trust for London
  
• Wembley Stadium National Trust

Chalkhill Community Centre
113 Chalkhill Road
Wembley
HA9 9FX
View Map

£267,983 CIL grant to Preston Community Library for 'fitting out'

Brent Cabinet last night approved the granting of a larger than usual Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL) grant of £267,983 for the fitting out of Preston Community Library.

The community library is housed in the building which used to be the council run Preston Library, closed by a former Labour administration as part of the so-called 'Libraries Transformation Project'. After closure the building became an annexe to Preston Park Primary School but is no longer needed by the school.

Under the management of the volunteers in the Preston Community Library campaign, the building has become a well-used community hub with a cinema and classes as well as an adult and children's lending library.

The site is ear-marked for redevelopment so the grant is subject to receipt of formal approval for the 'wider development' of the site which would include room for the community library.  Brent Council's Property Team would be responsible for construction and Preston Community Library for internal fixtures and fittings.

Former councillor James Powney, architect of the Libraries Transformation Project,  has signalled his opposition to the deal, stating on his blog LINK,  'I think this raises a number of legal issues and I have written to the officers to that effect.'

Possible fraud over Queens Parade consultation responses checked out by Brent Council

Mapping consultation respondents

Guest blog by Scott Bartle, Secretary of Brent Green Party

As detailed in Wembley Matters last week  LINK the proposal to demolish Queens Parade is due for a decision to be heard on Wednesday March 14^th. The developers seek to replace the 12 units that have been used as business incubators with a staggered 8 story building comprising of 117 student accommodation units and just 5 commercial units. The Queens Parade (with the support of Mean While CIC) has offering opportunities to more than 25 start-up businesses, 6 charities and voluntary organisations creating job opportunities and apprenticeships for 67 people and enabling 47 people to test their products and ideas from a visible space. It has hosted 242 public events, including hosting Green Party meetings. 

Residents in Electric house are understandably concerned about the environmental impact a development of this size will have upon natural light to their properties. One resident reports a projected drop in light from 12.17 to 0.91 citing a Right to Light protected under common law, adverse possession and the Prescription Act 1832. Although The Right to Light has an arbitrary 20 year time limit placed on its acquirement and Electric House is a new build, this does not meant that those elected to represent residents and make planning decisions should not respect it anyway. What might also be of concern to residents is the loss of so many commercial units on our high street, by more than half and the opportunities for small business that would have been presented. Particularly given Brent has a third of people living in poverty, almost a third of people earning less than the London living wage and above average rates of unemployment (link). 

The officers’ report recommended approval based upon ’50 letters in support of the development’, which is a rarity for a development to muster. In fact, the ‘letters of support’ on the online system consists of the same copy/pasted statement attributed to neighbours within Yates Court, 228 Willesden Lane, NW2 5SJ and another copy/pasted statement attributed to multiple house numbers within Walm lane, each ending with a statement beginning ‘as a local businessman in Willesden Lane’. The odds are of course pretty slim that each person who has registered support from addresses in Walm lane is actually a ‘local businessman’. 

I requested Amar Dave (Head of Brent Regeneration) to investigate as I’m aware there are many people who have been convicted of various fraud offences for writing fictitious letters to a council in support of planning applications. Amar stated that they take allegations of fraud seriously so asked Alice Lester (Head of Planning) to investigate. Amar reported that Alice created a map of where the letters originated (see image above) and checked the names of some of the supporters from residential properties and they were listed as the addresses given. They said it's not possible to discount a ‘campaign’, but one consisting of ‘local businessman’ in support of less commercial space and student accommodation seems a bit strange to me. 

Thoughts from readers?

 Officers' Report
Application on Planning Portal

Brent Easter Egg Hunt March 24th St Rapahel's Children Centre

New cemetery asbestos public meeting

The Friends of Paddington Cemetery have arranged a new public meeting on Wednesday evening (March 15th)  at the Kilburn Housing Co-op, Kilburn Square, NW6 at 6.45pm.

The meeting will  deal with issues around the discovery of asbestos in the cemetery, how it arrived there and whether Brent Council responded in a transparent way.

Unlike the last meeting, where the chair was Amar Dave, head of Brent Regeneration, this meeting will have an independent chair.

Cllr Duffy, who has been pursuing the issue for months,  has requested that at least one of the panel from the previous meeting takes part, and is also asking for a trade union representative to be present.

Why is Brent Council fixing a South Kilburn council property rent at 'up to' 80% of the market rent?

Click on image to enlarge

I've been banging on about the meaninglessness of  'affordable housing' when used by the planning officers in the 'London Borough of Brent and Quintain' for some time and you're probably bored with it.

However, the term is used again in LocataHome, the free sheet of council and housing association homers available in five West London boroughs. Locata guidance says:

At the moment Housing Associations rent most of their homes out at Social Rents. Housing Associations will now be allowed to offer some tenancies at higher rents which could be up to 80% of a market rent. This is called “Affordable Rent”. 

Housing Associations will be able to charge the “Affordable Rent” on new build homes and will also be allowed to let some of their existing properties to new tenants at Affordable Rents. Tenants will still be able to claim housing benefit to help with their rent.

The 2 bedroomed flat advertised in the March 12 edition of LocataHomes (No 529) advertises a two bedroomed flat in Gorefield House, South Kilburn at a weekly rent of  £249.23 per week and adds 'Only applicants in employment should bid for this property.' The landlord is NOT a Housing Association - it is Brent Council. It is NOT new build.

As you can see in the above advertisement a similar property at social rent is just under £100 cheaper.

Brent's Draft Housing Strategy of 2017 had an appendix LINK which looked at what people in Brent could afford.  This table shows the gross income required to pay rent at a level of 40% of income.

So at 80% of market rent for a 2 bedroom flat the family would require an income of £54,971 per year. Incidentally 'up to 80%' in rent terms is the reverse of the 'up to' used for broadband speeds. For housing 80% is most likely while the broadband speed is rarely, if ever, reached!

The London Mayor is quoted in the draft strategy document as giving these figures for the London Affordable Rent and you will see that for a 2 bedroomed property is £152.73, around the same level as the Leighton Gardens flat above.

So I have three questions for Brent Council:

Why are you advertising council housing property on South Kilburn at a rent which does not meet the Mayor's affordability criterion and clearly envisages the tenant has an income well above the Brent median income?

On what basis are you charging a so-called 'affordable rent' for a property which is not new build and where you are the landlord?

What Council policy allows you to stipulate that the prospective tenant must be in employment?

Caroline Lucas challenged the whole concept of 'affordable' on Channel 4 News last night:

"The idea that affordable should mean 80% of market rent is nothing less than obscene."

Green MP Caroline Lucas gives her view on what she calls the UK's “housing crisis”. pic.twitter.com/D3KfBVfoim

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) March 6, 2018