Assisted Dying Campaign Group launches in Brent on Tuesday September 25th - Willesden Green Library

A new group campaigning to change the law on assisted dying is due to launch in Brent on Tuesday 25th September 2018.

The group is encouraging local people to come along and get behind their campaign to allow terminally ill people the right to die on their own terms. They meet for the first time on Tuesday at Willesden Green Library at 7pm and anyone is welcome to attend.

Brent is the latest group to join a network of 40 across the country which supports Dignity in Dying in campaigning for a change in the law to allow terminally ill, mentally competent adults the option of an assisted death.

Dignity in Dying has been supporting Noel Conway, a 68-year-old man from Shropshire who is living with terminal motor neurone disease, to challenge the current law on assisted dying. He fears that without a change in the law he may be forced to suffer against his wishes, and hopes his case will be heard at the Supreme Court in the coming months.

Francesca Hall, Campaigns and Outreach Officer at Dignity in Dying, said:

We believe that terminally ill people in Brent and beyond should be able to die on their own terms, peacefully, at a time and place of their choosing – but right now, they can’t. People are taking drastic measures at home and abroad because the law denies them true choice and control over their death.

If you agree that this is unacceptable, please join us and come along to our first local meeting on the 25th of September at Willesden Library to find out more about Noel’s case, the campaign, and how you and your community can be part of it.

When: Tuesday 25th September at 7pm
Where: Willesden Green Library, 95 High Road, Willesden NW10 2SF

Why aren't we worrying more about global warming? Meeting with Natalie Bennett Tuesday September 25th

Natalie Bennett will be speaking at this timely meeting organised by Kensal Kilburn A Better 2018 on Tuesday September 25th  7.15-8.45pm at St Lukes Church, Fernhead Road, W9 3EH.

In 2017/18, the Arctic had its warmest winter in the last 40,000 years. The old frozen Arctic is gone, and will never come back for centuries. We know this, but we do not seem to be talking about it, or what it may mean for our future. Are we reacting by going into denial? What are the facts? What are the implications? And what can and should we be doing, and asking our politicians to do now?



SPEAKERS

Natalie Bennett was the leader of the Green Party of England & Wales from 2012 to 2016. As a scientist, journalist, activist and politician she has been deeply involved with these questions over many years. She will share her insights with us, and engage in discussion and debate.

Dr. Nicholas Smith from the University of Westminster explores social representations of climate change. He has also worked as post-doctural researcher with the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the Liveable Cities Project.

Roger Hallam is a climate activist and theorist and was an organic farmer for 20 years. He has most recently been involved with campaigns such as Kings College Climate Emergency, Stop Killing Londoners and Vote No Heathrow.

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You can book for the meeting on Eventbrite HERE

Nearest Station Queens Park (London Overground and Bakerloo)

GREAT NEWS! Pensioner's power is back on

Shortly after I posted the story below that John Healy was still without power and tweeted the link to Wates Group and Brent Council an electrician from Jaylec visited John late tonight and has restored the power. John had made the appointment before the South Kilburn Housing office closed at 5pm.

John told me, 'That should be the end of my 'leak saga' which lasted exactly three weeks. The kitchen is almost dry but my carpet will probably take a week to dry out. It is nice to have everything working, even though my fridge is empty.

I am glad for John but I do hope that councillors will review this case with Brent Council and Wates Living Space to see how their communication and procedures could be improved in such an emergency.

48 hours after leak repaired pensioner still without power

Disabled pensioner John Healy is still without power in his flat in William Dunbar House in South Kilburn 48 hours after the leak which flooded his kitchen was repaired.

He was expecting a visit from Brent Council's out-sourced repairs service, Wates Living Space, to assess the situation and hopefully restore the power but they have not called.

He is without full power in his kitchen and also in his sitting room and bedroom.  He first reported the leak more than two weeks ago.

Foxy mystery in Willesden Green

A friend in Willesden Green has told me about mysterious goings in in her garden. In a clearing in her woodland garden, frequented by a local fox, she has found over a number of days a soft toy where she leaves out eggs and Vegemite sandwiches for the fox.

When she told me that a toy rabbit had been left I said, 'You watch, it will be Eeyore next.' It was.

The soft toys have that distinct smell of fox and when I visited today Eeyore and Rabbit had been washed and were hanging out to dry on a very blustery day.

I am hoping that a grateful fox won't be dragging Christopher Robin into the garden next.

Speaking exclusively to Wembley Matters the recipient of the foxy gifts said:

I think this is the fox's way of saying 'thank you' for the food and leaving me with a gift in exchange. Rather than mangling the soft toys it is obviously holding them very gently in its jaws as there is little damage. The arm of one of the bears has been torn a little but that may have already been done so, apart from the smell, they are fine.

It may be that a lonely fox has been taking them from a child's garden as companions although it does seem to get on well with the local cats.

There may be a child in the neighbourhood who is sad and missing her much loved soft toys. Now that they have been washed, they are ready to be returned to their owner and I hope his or her parents will see this story and get in touch with Martin.

If you think that the toys belong to your child please get in touch with me at martinrfrancis@virginmedia.com with a note giving some clue of a name etc on the label of one of the toys.

Brent Council should reinstate the role of Allotments Officer to tackle overgrown plots and poor billing

The overgrown allotment next to my plot at Birch Grove, Kingsbury

I was pleased to see Cllr Janice Long take up the issue of Brent Council's allotments at the recent Full Council meeting. It is a subject that has been covered on Wembley Matters several times.

Cllr Long said that she was receiving a lot of complaints about the state of our allotments: the billing process is disorganised, the council does not therefore know who no longer requires their allotment and the result is that many are left overgrown - 'a mess.'

She went on to say that the Council had got rid of its Allotments Officer (something I campaigned against) and the work had  'been dumped on someone in the parks department.'

Long mistakenly said she thought that allotments had been converted to self management, in fact allotment holders except for one site turned this down but the Allotments Officer was nevertheless made redundant. There are however allotment representatives who can liaise between allotment tenants and the council.  There used to be an incentive of free plot rental for people taking on this role but I am not sure this is still the case. My allotment site at Birchen Grove has recently elected a new representative and I hope this will result in some improvement. However I think the problem will only be resolved if Brent Council decide to reinstate the Allotments Officer position - there is a lot of potential income in those plots that are not currently being cultivated.

Cllr Krupa Sheth, lead cabinet member for the environment, responding to Cllr Long said, 'We definitely want to get the best out of our allotments. I'll take this back to the parks team and make sure the billing is done properly as well.'

Watch out for major traffic delays in Wembley area Saturday evening

Major emergency works to a collapsed sewer at the junction of Wembley Park Drive and Wembley Hill Road and Joshua v Povetkin boxing at the stadium (gates open 5.30pm) means that there are likely to be major delays to traffic, including local buses, during the evening, restricting local residents' ability to move around the area,

Event Day parking restrictions will apply.

UPDATED: Brent Civic Centre, or Quintain billboard?

Brent Civic Centre from Olympic Way (from the 2018 Open House website)

This weekend (22 and 23 September) it’s the annual London “Open House” *. One of the buildings you can visit and tour as part of this event is Brent Civic Centre, but if you rely on the outside view of the building shown on their website, you may be in for a disappointment. 

(Contributed)

 

The reality of the view, as shown by this photograph taken by a local resident earlier this week, and shared with me (thank you), is rather different. Parts of Brent’s highly praised Civic HQ may not be the most picturesque architecturally, but do they really need to be covered up with a huge advertisement?

The advertisement, for Quintain’s Tipi Rental flats, makes a striking addition to the area, but is this what public buildings are meant to be for? For some reason, it makes me think of the Soviet Union during the Stalin era. Is that an appropriate image for our Civic Centre to project?

You may, like me, wonder how this use of a prominent Wembley Park landmark was allowed to happen. The answer lies in application no. 17/4177, which was dealt with by Brent’s Planning Officers, not its Planning Committee, in October 2017. This was an application for advertising consent, for the ‘installation of a non-iIlluminated advertisement banner to the side elevation of the Brent Civic Centre.’

The application drawings showed that the proposed banner would be 30.25 metres high and 9.45 metres wide. They also included an elevation drawing, showing what the proposed banner advertisement would look like:-

 

I have researched the law on advertising consent recently, in connection with the adverts which have covered the tile murals in the Bobby Moore Bridge subway, at the Wembley Park Station end of Olympic Way, since 2013. The law is set out in the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007.  Regulation 3 says that:

‘A local planning authority shall exercise its powers under these Regulations in the interests of amenity …’ and that,

‘… factors relevant to amenity include the general characteristics of the locality, including the presence of any feature of historic, architectural, cultural or similar interest.’  

By inviting visitors to the Civic Centre for Open House week-end, Brent Council would appear to claim that the building is a feature of, at least, architectural interest, but this does not seem to have carried much weight when it exercised its powers ‘in the interests of amenity’.

That does not come as a surprise to me, however, as when it considered a similar application LINK , it failed to take into account the historic and cultural interest of the tile murals, a major piece of public art welcoming visitors to Wembley Park, which it allowed to be covered with adverts! I may write more on that subject, another time.

The decision letter of 20 October 2017 on application 17/4177, was addressed to a Mr Welbourne of Leeds (who I presume was acting as agent for Quintain) and signed by Brent’s Head of Planning. It granted consent for an advertising banner on the side of the Civic Centre for a period of 5 years. The reasons for giving consent were:

‘The proposed development is in general accordance with policies contained in the:

Brent’s Development Management Policies (and)
Council’s Supplementary Planning Guidance 8.’

I have not checked through all of those planning policies, so can’t say whether or not I agree!

You may think that at least Brent Council is getting some income from allowing this advert to be displayed on the side of the Civic Centre. But perhaps not. I have heard (unofficially) that the part of the building with the advert attached actually belongs to Quintain, as part of the deal with Brent for building the Civic Centre. Can anyone confirm whether that is true or not? Is it our Civic Centre, or just a Quintain billboard?

* See the Open House website LINK  for details of all the interesting Brent buildings and architecture available to visit this week-end.

UPDATE

Asked for a comment on Philip's article a spokepserson for Brent Council said:

“With Government funding to Brent being cut in half, we’re having to find new ways to generate income to help meet that shortfall, which can then be spent on protecting services that matter most to residents, so this isn’t just an adverting sign, it’s a sign of the times.

“To get the most out of the space on the side of the building, we are partnering up with Wembley Park who, as well as having excellent contacts with Wembley event organisers, also offered the council the most amount of money in a competitive tendering process to use the space, under an agreement which will also ensure that adverts displayed there are in line with Brent values.”