Community Hub for Neasden: Consultation Saturday March 9th

Barham Library Table Top Sale Saturday

St Lukes Hospice call for your support to protect their patients from intrusive development

Our local hospice, St Lukes, is calling for residents to support their campaign opposing the development of the historic Clock Cottage stable block which is next to the hospice.

 St Lukes Hospice said::

COUNCIL DEVELOPMENT THREATENS WELLBEING OF HOSPICE PATIENTS.  

 

Ask Brent Council to stop their development plans now!  

Brent Council plans to build a controversial new development just 10 metres from patient bedrooms, and just 5 metres from the patients' gardens (pictured above).

St Luke’s has been serving our local community for over 30 years. Last year we provided specialist end of life care to 1,628 people in Harrow and Brent.

Because of closure of beds at two neighbouring NHS Hospices we face a significant increase in demand for our care. The noise and dust from building work of this magnitude, so close to rooms where people at the end of their life are being cared for, will give us no choice but to close at least one third of our in-patient services when it’s needed most.

With the wellbeing of our patients and their families in mind, we strongly object to the proximity of the proposed building to our hospice patients’ beds. People at the end of life need highly specialist care. If we are forced to close at least one third of the Hospice beds, where will people go?

Today, we desperately need your help to protect our patients and defeat these plans.

The badly planned proposed development is intended for people with learning difficulties. People who have passed away at the hospice are taken from a place that will be easily visible from parts of the new development. This, along with the direct views into patient rooms, may cause residents to witness scenes very distressing for them. It also violates the privacy of patients and their families.

We need your support. Please tell the Planning Committee to stop their plans today!

Follow this link to send a message to councillors. All you need is your postcode. LINK

St Lukes Facebook page HERE

South Kilburn: When is a tenant not a tenant?

I wasn't sure when I saw this what exactly a 'Tenants' Steering Group' is - is it tenants steering themselves or some other organisation steering the tenants? I asked a South Kilburn tenant and he said:

"Open to all secure council tenants within the regeneration area"? Not if the regeneration area is South Kilburn, whether your block is due to be regenerated soon or not. Members of our Tenants & Residents Association committee who went to one of the meetings were told it was not for them, but they could sit quietly at the back if they wished.

It is not a "Tenants' Steering group" (i.e. run by Tenants), but an organisation run by the Council at which people can raise their particular housing situation. The information people can get at these meetings is no more "independent" than if it was provided directly by Mo Butt.

Communities First LINK

Three worthwhile projects to get Brent Neighbourhood CIL grants

It is a pleasure to give details of three Brent projects that, subject to Cabinet approval on Monday, will receive funds from the Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy. Cabinet has to approve any NCIL grants above £100,000. Extracts below are from the report to Cabinet

Citizens Advice Brent (CAB) 
 £248,000

CAB seeks to refurbish and transform its current premises to deliver a new Community Hub resource for residents of Brent. The Hub will be open to CAB partners and all residents of the borough; particularly the most vulnerable who form the majority of users. 


The refurbished hub will provide: 

·      Expanded space - the space will be reorganised to offer public access 
PCs, brighter and more inviting interview rooms and a welcoming 
reception area 


·      Reorganisation of facilities - including terminals for people to make 
online benefit and other claims, assisted by Digital Assistants to navigate 
a number of websites 


·      Improved facilities - this will create a pleasant working environment for 
users and staff and improve the client experience 


·      Improved Health & Safety- The refurbishment will make the premises 
fully compliant with Health & Safety and equality requirements; and 


·      Environmental efficiencies - The project will be energy saving and 
improve the office carbon footprint. 


CAB is based in the Willesden CIL Neighbourhood but provides services to all Brent residents. It is a registered charity (no. 1049632) and company (no. 3091835) where people access advice and support to manage a range of issues including welfare benefits, housing and homelessness, debt, 
employment and immigration. The Hub will also develop the skills of volunteers. 

The Sickle Cell Society 
£133,958

The Sickle Cell Society has operated in Brent for 40 years from 54 Station Road, Harlesden. This project aims to refurbish the current premises and create a new, fully accessible, ground floor space which will be used for sickle cell support and focus groups, events, and for individuals and families to drop- in for confidential support and advice. It will also be available for any local community organisations to meet. This will fill a local void in amenities for these groups. 


Works will include: 

·      Lease of the neighbouring ground floor shop space and connecting this 
new space to the existing ground floor space 


·      Developing the ground floor to offering expanded community access of 
the facilities; and 


·      Creation of a new modern ‘shop front’ across both properties which will 
help to enhance the visual appearance of Station Road. 


The Sickle Cell Society has secured the lease for 56 Station Road from its own resources and submitted a change of use application for the ground floor. Consent was granted in December 2018. 


The Sickle Cell Society is a registered charity (no. 1046631) and company (no. 2840865). The current headquarters play a key role in educating people about the sickle cell and management techniques. Services delivered from the building enable those affected to better support themselves, empowers carers and provide peer forums. In addition to local visitors, the expectation is that the refurbished premises will be used to host growing numbers of visitors from the wider London community, across the UK and other parts of the world 


 

St Catherine’s Hall 
 £150,000

St Catherine’s Hall, Neasden was burned down in a major fire in September 2018. Prior to that it offered one large community hall, which was used by seven regular hirers 


An insurance payment will fund the restoration of the building as it was. NCIL funds are requested to increase the capacity of the building to accommodate more spaces for local community groups and to improve the visual presentation of the building on Neasden roundabout. 


This project will provide the following additional facilities: 

·      Creation of a second floor - providing a second large flexible hall which can 
be divided in two with its own toilet and refreshment facilities 


·      Creation of a new toilet and refreshments facilities, which will free up one 
room for two new small group meeting rooms; and 


·      Creation of a visually striking foyer area which will make use of the hall 
easier but will also enhance the look and feel of the Hall site on Neasden roundabout. 


·      All the new spaces will be available for hire by local community groups seven days a week. 

The hall is based in the Willesden CIL Neighbourhood but the expanded community facilities will benefit the whole borough. 


NOTE

St Catherine’s are holding a community consultation on Saturday. The is the message that the vicar, Rob Harrison posted on The View from Dollis Hill Facebook LINK
Last September, St Catherine’s Church Hall was burned down in an arson attack. This year, we will be rebuilding it as a Community Hub for Neasden.

The key question is: what kind of Community Hub does Neasden need?

On Saturday 13^th March there is an open Consultation Day to hear and share suggestions about what kind of facility we should build to serve Neasden for the coming decades.

If you would like to take part in this consultation, please reply to this post. 

The Consultation day begins at 10.30am on Saturday, and will finish at 3.00. Lunch will be provided for those staying for the whole event.

The morning session will focus on the kind of building that Neasden needs. The afternoon session will focus on the kind of resources that will be needed in that building.

The voice of local residents is vitally important to helping us build what Neasden most needs.

He added the following note today:

A call to Polish and Romanian members of our community. 

At present, over 40 people of our local communities have booked in to take part in the Community Hub Consultation at St Catherine’s Church on Saturday (10.30am - 3pm). Looking at the list of names, there is no representation of the Eastern European communities who are an important part of our Neasden Community. As we seek to build a Community Hub for Neasden, it is important that as many local needs as possible are expressed and heard. If you know people who could bring a perspective from those parts of our community, I would be delighted to include them in our consultation.

Brent drivers face £40 fine if they don't comply with request to stop engine idling

From Brent Council

Motorists in Brent are being encouraged to switch off their engines when parked for over a minute to reduce air pollution in London. Engine idling creates toxic air in London which damages the health of people in Brent. Drivers who are parked in in the borough, and idling for over one minute, will be asked to switch off their engines by Brent Council’s Clean Air officers. If they refuse, the drivers can be issued with an on-the-spot fine of up to £40.

Toxic air leads to 9,000 people dying prematurely every year in the capital and a child born in London in 2010 will lose two years of life expectancy because of air pollution.

Brent Council is working hard with residents to improve our air quality, including: providing free cycle training courses for residents, increasing the number of electric street charging points in Brent and encouraging the use of car clubs with electric cars.

Cllr Krupa Sheth, Cabinet Member for Environment said:

Engine idling damages the health of people living in Brent by increasing the amount of toxic air we breathe. I urge everyone who drives in Brent to help us clean up London’s toxic air by reducing the time their engines idle while they are parked. If drivers who have been parked for over a minute refuse to switch off their engines they may be issued with an on-the-spot fine. Let’s reduce engine idling to make Brent healthier.

Housing, waste & road repairs lag in Brent Council performance

Brent Council's Cabinet will receive data on the Council's performance at its meeting on Monday March 11th. Performance is recorded as a RAG (Red, Amber & Green) rating, often known as the traffic light system, according to performance against targets.

The report includes comments on the reasons for good or poor performance. The majority of ratings are Green or Amber but discussion centres on the Red areas and the action officers are taking to improve performance.

Some of the stand-out Red items are (target in brackets):

Proportion of waste recycled (Year to date) which is up to Quarter 3): 38% (45%) In 2016-17 the London average was 33% with Brent at 36.4%. Bexley was top at 52.1% and Newham bottom at 14.1%.

Residual waste collected (YTD): 51,283 tonnes (49.489). The more residual waste collected and the lower amount recycled increases the Council's landfill costs.

Timeliness of repair of highways defects(YTD): 56% (98%) See notes on document below.

Times taken to re-let empty council homes with minor defects to be addressed (YTD): 39.1 days (24)

Time taken to re-let council homes with major defects to be addressed (YTD): 90.4 days (76)

Tenants' satisfaction with council housing repairs (YTD): 75.6% (82%)

Waste and highway repairs are both out-sourced, Council housing has been brought back in-house but repairs are contracted out.

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Wembley & Alperton Residents' Meeting March 18th