The confused Conservatives of Brent North

Well, look what popped through my door from Brent North Conservatives today! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery of course, but that's not really what caught my attention.

Tories sell themselves on the basis of their efficiency  so I was struck by the fact that the front page ad for what's inside the four page paper got both items wrong: 'Reducing litter and flytipping in our neighbourhood Pg2'  was actually on Page 3. 'Our streets peppered with potholes and broken pavements Pg 4' does not appear at all on any page.,

An item on Roe Green villages battling a commercial Powerleague pitch says it is on the 'Bacon Lane campus' but does not mention the school's name (it is Kingsbury High). However, the article is illustrated  rather unhelpfully with a picture of Roe Green infant and Junior School.

I live in Barnhill ward but there was no  mention of any issues in the ward.  I am not sure what the residents of Chalkhill Estate will make of it.

Caroline Pidgeon and Sadiq Khan's exchange on Cricklewood Aggregate Terminal

Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat Assembly Member,  has also written to Sadiq Khan about the Cricklewood Aggregate Terminal:

It is my understanding that planning permission was granted by Barnet Council last week, however, there are a number of reasons why I believe it is vital that you now carefully examine this planning application.
The reasons why I believe this is necessary include:
1) The Barnet Council planning committee decision was made by a majority of only 1 vote: 6 councillors were in favour and 5 were against.
2) The London Borough of Barnet was both the planning authority and the joint applicant
3) The votes in favour appear to have been cast on party lines with all 6 of the ‘aye’ votes being by Conservative Councillors (and with no Conservative Councillors voting ‘no’).
4) The neighbouring boroughs of Brent and Camden both posted objections to the applications and councillors from those authorities spoke against the development at the meeting, along with London Assembly Member Navin Shah.
5) The development has the capacity to impact profoundly on the wellbeing and amenity of residents in three boroughs (Barnet, Brent and Camden) in terms of air quality, congestion on the already-over-used A5 and traffic safety. It is predicted by the applicants that there will be a further 452 HGV movements per day on the busy A5 (with consequent NO2 emissions and traffic impact) and PM10 emissions from the proposed stockpiled materials.
6) The impact on air quality report presented by the applicants was formulated by comparison with a baseline scenario gleaned from an inaccurate/non-representative traffic recording for previous use of the site (for example the traffic count included about 200 bus movements when the site was being temporarily used as a bus park whilst Cricklewood Bus Garage was unable to accommodate the buses in the usual way).
7) The broader previous use of the site was as a result of uncontrolled/illegal subletting and so, even if the counts had been accurate, they represented a scenario unfit for comparison with a proposed permitted development. Proper bases for comparison would be the current situation or, arguably but sub-optimally, the existing section 73 permission.
8) The applicants had previously released (informally and to only one residents’ association during the consultation process) an air quality addendum, which contradicted the results of the addendum that they later relied upon, but they did not publish the previous report on the planning portal. That previous report suggests that there may be ‘substantially adverse’ impact on air quality from the development.
9) There is good evidence that the traffic data is flawed in relation to both junction safety and the overall capacity of the A5.

For all the above reasons I would urge you to call in, review and then reject this planning application.
Yours sincerely,

Caroline Pidgeon AM

 Sadiq Khan replied:

Reminder: Comedy at Ark Elvin Saturday April 7th

Peer Support Group at Chalkhill Community Centre - next meeting April 6th

Click on image to enlarge

Green AM urges London Mayor to reject Cricklewood Rail-Freight Facility

Caroline Russell, Green Assembly Member for London, has written to the London Mayor urging him to reject the planning application for the Rail-Freight facility in Cricklewood.

Her letter is below (click on bottom right square to enlarge)

'Brent is no place for hate' - Islamophobic letters condemned by Council & Brent MPS

Brent Council has issued the following annoucement

Recent threatening, Islamophobic letters sent to addresses in towns and cities have shone a spotlight on the national conversation around hate crime and the targeting of faith-based communities.

Brent Council and the Metropolitan Police Service have condemned the Islamophobic threats made in letters encouraging violence against Muslims.
 
Cllr Tom Miller, Cabinet Member for Stronger Communities said:

Brent is no place for hate. Let me be clear: these disgusting messages and their attempts to normalise hatred towards Muslims will absolutely not be tolerated. We are in close contact with the Metropolitan Police Service and are working hard to support residents to feel safe in Brent.

We are proud to be home to one of the most diverse communities in the UK and if anyone believes they have been the victim of a hate crime or knows someone who has, I would urge them to contact the local police force on 101 or 999 for emergencies. Reports can be made by community advocates or faith groups on behalf of those involved

In 2016 Brent Council launched the Time to Talk Campaign, giving people the space to talk openly about difficult issues.

Since then, the council has widened the remit of referral services and its community support officer to include hate crime and has commissioned a hate crime manual. An online portal has also been developed to learn and report different types of hate crime.

Advice and guidance on what to do if you are the victim of or witness to a hate crime is available here.
 
You can also report Islamophobic hate crime to TELL MAMA, an organisation dedicated to recording anti-Muslim incidents and bringing them to the attention of the police.

Meeting convened on College Green Open Space March 22nd

There will be a meeting about the College Green Outdoor Space at 7pm Thur 22nd  March at St. Mark's Church, Bathurst Gdns NW10 5HX. Brian Grady, Brent Council's Operational Director of Children and Families, will be attending.

A meeting about the future of the Green had been requested at the last Full Council meeting where it was proposed that the Council convene a meeting of the College Green Preservation Society, the nursery, scouts and local residents to sort out the issue of the screening of the open space. LINK

Brent Council's response to Islamophobic April 3rd letter

In a welcome move Cllr Tom Miller, Brent Council lead member for Stronger Communities, has written to all councillors setting out his response to the Islamophobic  'Punish a Muslim' 'April 3rd' letter which has received much publicity on social media.

Cllr Miller writes:


The letters sent are just one example of a swathe of Islamophobic material reported and made more widely available by Tellmama, who are a partner organisation in our own anti-hate crime drive. For those members who have not come across Tellmama’s work in cataloguing incidents like this, more information can be found here: https://tellmamauk.org/

The letters concerned involve a general threat of violence against Muslims on April 3^rd. Thus far, I have not received any indication from members, police, Council officers or members of the public about people receiving the letters in Brent. I have also received no information about any other threats, specific or general, made against targets or communities in Brent. It would be unusual if a police investigation into the letters is not underway.

I would be very keen to hear about any specific incidents or threats (including receiving this letter) if they have taken place. This should also be reported to Police immediately.

I’d stress that the council has also invested in a number of measures to tackle hate crime which can help people to report, make sure that cases are dealt with appropriately and that victims are represented, and that people receive the support they need. You can find information for reporting and the rest of the activity we have undertaken by using the link below:
https://www.brent.gov.uk/your-community/stronger-communities/hate-crime/

In addition to making sure that any incidents are reported, I would be very happy to hear of any specific preventative actions residents are keen on us adopting, and will pass them on to Police colleagues, who are also copied in here and may be able to update further.

On the issue about Prevent, far right activity certainly falls within its scope, but Prevent is really about flagging radicalisation during its development, and in Brent is specifically about safeguarding its victims. The kind of threat made in this letter is in my view clearly a criminal threat of violence and is therefore more seriously developed than we would expect Prevent to deal with, as well as being anonymous. Prevent doesn’t give us powers to detect extremist threats, for example; in a case like this, Prevent would aim to reach the person who wrote the letters before they had carried out any kind of criminal activity and offer interventions such as counselling, usually because of a concern highlighted by professional they are dealing with, for example social workers. So, although Prevent covers the far right, in this particular case the anonymity and criminal aspect means that this will usually fall within the ‘Pursue’ or ‘Protect’ parts of the government’s CONTEST strategy, being dealt with through the Home Office and Police