Cabinet 'review' leaves £18m Olympic Way proposal unchanged

If you'd had a fit of sneezing at the Brent Cabinet meeting yesterday you would have missed the decision to go ahead with the £17.8m public realm improvement to Olympic Way using Community Infrastructure Levy monies.

The officers' report included the phrase 'Re-examine the funding decision for Olympic Way improvements.' There was no re-examination in the meeting just a reiteration of the report's recommendations in the event of new stadium owenership and a 2 minute address by backbencher Cllr Shafique Choudhary (Labour, Barnhill) who asked why the Council had to spend the money to the benefit of  Quintain and not to the that of the majority of Brent residents.

It is hard to believe that he was the only one of Brent's 57 Labour councillor with doubts about the scheme and willing to represent residents who would rather have the money spend on much needed improvements to Brent's deteriorating roads and pavements

Cllr Tatler, Lead Member for Regeneration, Highways and Planning, (Labour, Fryent) said that the scheme was not just about the replacement for the pedway but for the whole walkway from Wembley Park station and that the business plan involved would involve Brent Council benefiting from a share of the net income generated by the scheme.

The contribution is contingent on:

Quintain not pursuing development of the site next to the Civic Centre to the extent previously given outline permission by the council. Instead the council want Quintain to help 'deliver a development that better complements the role and setting of the Civic Centre, in particular creating a significant new square outside the Civic Centre Library.'

A business plan between Quintain and the council (as above) for future sharing and reinvestment of the net income generation through 'assets' on Olympic Way.

Securing up to one third funding ccontribution from the Wembley Stadium owners.

Rather than coming back to Cabinet  a decision on the adequacy of the level of funding from the Wembley Stadium owner was delegated to the Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment in consultation with the Cllr Tatler. It is significant that despite this attempt to secure funding the report notes that 'it is confirmed the total contribution to Olympic Way improvements will be up to £17.8m. Caolyn Downs, Brent CEO, confirmed that this amount was inclusive of VAT.

The whole cabinet meeting, including other decisions  on appointments to committees, NNDR rate relief, introduction of a flexible car club to Brent (cars can be left anywhere rather than designated spaces) and a contract for children's mental health services, took only 20 minutes in total.

It seems clear that the new cabinet will have even more of a role rubber stamping decisions made elsewhere than even the previous ones. The holding of the meeting at 4pm on a Monday afternoon reduced the possibility of any significant public attendance.

The decisions notice for the meeting is HERE

The landslide local council election victory has clearly given the cabinet, to paraphrase the slogan on the stadium above, the go ahead to 'dare to do', whatever residents may think.

On a related matter I have been in correspondence with Cllr Tatler about Neighbourhood CIL, monies that community groups can apply for to improve their area. A consultation about CIL ends tomorrow and I have been pressing the council for details of the schemes that were awarded grants in Round 2 of applications. A process that has been completed but the results not published. The reason given for the delay is that the final agreement for one project has still to be drawn up:

From Cllr Tatler:

The survey went out on 9 May.  The survey will close on 23 May.

The list of round 2 projects shouldn't  really have any bearing  on the survey (round one is currently available on the web) - we ask if the priorities are correct, feedback on the application process, feedback on the criteria etc vs have we funded the right projects.

In any case, the list of projects should be published now. We were waiting on one organisation to complete the legal paperwork.

I replied:

Thanks for your response.  I think the Round 2 list is pertinent to the survey. As you say yourself 'feedback on the criteria etc have we funded the right projects.’ To see whether the right projects have been funded we need to know what projects have been funded and whether Round 1 is representative of future funding. Round 2 would provide that evidence.

I have checked the CIL website and Round 2 has not yet been published.

Cllr Tatler asked me to let her know if there are any groups that need extra time.

I am concerned that the Round 1 list of projects funded include many that are really internal applications from Brent Council or semi-independent bodies partly funded by the council or working in close partnership with them, rather than autoomous communoty groups. See the list HERE

Village School strike tomorrow to secure conditions under the MAT

NEU members at The Village School, Kingsbury have voted unanimously to strike tomorrow. Despite various verbal agreements reached last week the teachers are seeking a written trustee agreement and scheme of degation for the Multi Academy Trust (MAT) to ensure the retetention of their pay and  conditions of employment including trade union policy and HR policy.

The NEU says that the strike is going ahead because as yet there is no guarantee on these matters or even a draft proposal in writing that matchs the verbal agreements made.

Cllr Jumbo Chan said:

I would like to offer my complete solidarity and support to the outstanding NEU teachers and support staff at The Village School, who have been forced to take action once again today to safeguard the long-term security of their jobs

How big a problem is traffic noise in Brent's parks?

The Campaign to Protect Rural England published a report today on traffic noise in London parks.
There is a PDF for each London borough. I have published the Brent report at the end of this article.

The research

· Noise maps were created for all the main parks in London, a total of 885, and set out in a separate document for each borough

· Using official, publicly available data, the noise levels were assessed for each park depending on the proportion of the park which was impacted by noise. Each park was categorised accordingly and the data was collated 


· A note was also made where parks were completely free from noise; where the whole park was noisy; and where the noise was particularly loud 
The findings 


· Almost a third – one in three – (29%) of the 885 London parks surveyed are severely impacted by traffic noise (defined as meaning that 50% to 100% of the park is impacted by traffic noise of 55 decibels or above) 


· The results were wide-ranged. Sutton has the fewest parks (7%) severely impacted by traffic noise and Enfield has the most (57%) 


· South London parks are quieter. All South London Boroughs except one, Lambeth, have a figure below the median for percentage of parks severely impacted by noise (see Table 2 p23) 


· Being an Inner or Outer London borough does not mean and having noisier or quieter parks 


· Fewer than half (44%) of the London parks surveyed are completely free from traffic noise 


· Around one in five (18%) of the parks surveyed are completely noisy i.e. traffic noise of 55 decibels or above can be heard everywhere in the park 


· A quarter (25%) of London’s parks are impacted by particularly loud noise defined as being where at least one quarter of the park is impacted by noise of 60 decibels or above 


Noise in parks matters because: 

· People are less likely to use parks when they are noisy, so benefits are lost 


· The key amenity benefit of access to tranquillity is lost when parks are noisy 


· There is strong correlation between noise and air pollution from traffic, so where 
people are exposed to noise, they are also exposed to air pollution 


· Noise contributes towards a range of physical and mental health problems 


· Noise impacts negatively on wildlife 


· Where the local park is noisy, local communities will de facto be experiencing a 
deficiency in green space which does not register in assessments

RECOMMENDATIONS


London Boroughs, the Mayor and Transport for London need to work together to: 


· Permanently remove traffic from roads impacting parks by re-routing traffic; by introducing traffic filtering (e.g. resident access only, or cycle access and emergency vehicle access only) and speed limits; or by pedestrianising streets near to parks, to reduce traffic levels 
 

 

·      Introduce regular, temporary road closures, like Sunday closures of the Mall in St James’ Park 


· Investigate ways to mitigate noise, for example by the use of noise barriers, noise reducing road surfaces and natural features, including planting hedgerows 
Assessments of deficiency / sufficiency in greenspace should include an assessment of the amenity or quality of the green space, including taking noise levels into account. 
London and National Policy should be revised so that assessments of deficiency in greenspace take account of whether the amenity or quality of the space is seriously impacted by noise (and concomitant air) pollution, rather than simply assessing the amount of space and its distance from residents/users. 
Green Flag Awards assessments should consider giving more weight to noise reduction and mitigation for parks severely impacted by road noise. 


Click bottom right corner to view full size:

Stop Universal Credit: Harlesden Job Centre May 24th 11-12

From Unite Community

Please join the local protest to Stop Universal Credit, the damaging (and expensive) new benefits system this government has been trying to introduce.

Universal Credit will extend the use of benefit sanctions to those receiving in-work benefits (housing benefit, working tax credit and child credit) - a target driven agenda to remove people from the survival benefits they are entitled to. 

11am -12 midday, Thursday 24th May, Harlesden Job Centre, 161-163 High St, NW10 4TL

Read more here

http://www.unitetheunion.org/ca…/stop--fix-universal-credit/

Despite knowing Universal Credit causes serious problems for claimants, the Tory government is pressing ahead and rolling it out to thousands of people who will have to wait weeks to receive any money.

Claimants are descending into debt, relying on food banks, getting into rent arrears and in many cases getting evicted from their homes because of in- built problems with Universal Credit.

Who gets Universal    Credit 
 
Universal Credit replaces five benefits – child tax credit, housing benefit, income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance, income-related employment and support allowance and working tax credit.

Seven million households will be affected, including over one million low paid part-time workers. For the first time ever people in work could face being sanctioned (having their benefits stopped) if they don’t prove to the job centre that they’re searching for better paid work or more hours.

10 reasons why Universal Credit should be stopped

• Unbearably long waits for claimants to receive money
• People can only apply for Universal Credit online making it inaccessible for many
• Not enough help for claimants when the system fails them
• Rent paid directly to claimants instead of Landlords causing people to get into arrears and even to lose their homes 
• Letting agents are already refusing to rent to anyone claiming Universal Credit
• Cruel sanctions for both in-work and out-of-work claimants 
• Payments only go to one named member of a household
• Universal Credit takes 63p in every £1 people earn 
• Universal Credit leaves many working families much worse off than the old system
• People in part-time work could be forced to give up work that suits their disability or family life in order to take up worse paid full-time work or risk sanctions.
  

Young people of Brent : Change the Story - with Momtaza Mehri, May 24th Willesden Green Library

Aged 13-25? Want to have a say in what happens at your local library?

Come and meet Young People's Laureate for London, Momtaza Mehri, for an informal evening of poetry and chat. Talk about the issues that affect you and help shape activity for young people in your borough.

Momtaza is a 24 year old British-Somali from Kilburn.

Refreshments provided.

BOOK HERE or just turn up on the day

Academisation: How to turn the tide June 16th

Welsh Harp Sailing Open Day Tomorrow

Birchen Grove NW9 LINK

UPDATE I popped in this afternoon and the entrance was not well sign-posted. You enter the Sailing Club through the car park which is to the right at the end of Birchen Grove NOT the entrance on Birchen Grove itself.

Unite to replace cladding on Olympic Way student building

Following local rumours concerning the cladding on the huge Unite student building on Wembley's Olympic Way, Unite have issued the following statement to Wembley Matters:

In line with the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government’s (MHCLG) high-rise building cladding testing regime conducted with the Building Research Establishment (BRE), Unite Students has been working closely with independent fire safety and engineering experts to ensure our buildings are as safe as possible for our students and employees.

Following extensive investigations by these experts, we have taken the decision to replace the exterior cladding on our Olympic Way property in Wembley, London. The building will be closed over the summer holidays while this work takes place, limiting the impact on our students, and the building will reopen in time for the start of the 2018/19 academic year.

Given the numerous fire safety systems and comprehensive fire strategy we have in place for this building, as with all of our properties nationwide, independent fire safety experts have confirmed that Olympic Way continues to be safe for occupation until the works are complete.

The safety of our students and our properties is of the utmost importance to us and we take our responsibilities very seriously. We have closely followed MHCLG advice, and believe replacing the cladding on Olympic Way is the most responsible thing to do for our customers in the long term.

In August last year, in the wake of the Grenfell fire, the Kilburn Times LINK reported a Brent Council letter to councillors in which they said that wall system of the building  in BRE tests was shown as inadequate to resist the spread of fire.

Unite say that they have moved many of their summer bookings to other properties and have been working closely with their university partners on the issue. They were unable to comment on who would be responsible for paying for the cladding removal. In July last year Unite said the cost of replacing cladding on six of its building could be £2m plus up to £1.5m in lost revenue. LINK

The 475 bed building cost £47m in a venture funded by the London Student Accommodation Vehicle, 50% owned by Unite and 50% by the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.

A spokesperson for Middlesex University, whose students use the accommodation, echoed Unite's statement and said, “The safety of our students is of the utmost importance to us and we take our responsibilities very seriously. We are fully supportive of Unite Students’ decision to replace the cladding on Olympic Way.”

Elsewhere on the Wembley regeneration site Forum House is having cladding replaced LINK. It is clearly a matter of concern that at least two buildings in the extensive new build have issues over cladding.