Buses contribute to dangerous air pollution in Kensal Rise claims campaigner

It seems counter-intuitive that clean air campaigners should aim some of their fire at buses - after all isn't good public transport one of the ways of addressing traffic pollution?

This is why I asked Fiona Mulaisho of Kensal Rise Residents Association to explain the issues for Wembley Matters  readers after she made a presentation at the last Council meeting:

1) There is an air related Public health crisis in Kensal Rise - in the Station Terrace locality which is most exclusively used by thousands of TfL diesel buses;

2) For the above area where Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)emissions from TfL diesel buses only were found to be almost triple the European Union's legal limit deemed fit for humams. This area  is heavily patronized by residents, shoppers, schoolchildren, bus users etc as there is a Tesco in the vicinity. These people are being involuntarily exposed to illegal levels of bus induced NO2.

Ark Franklin Academy on Chamberlayne is 1 of 50 worst polluted schools on London's most polluted roads in the Mayor of London's Air Quality Audit for schools 2018.

3) Brent Council needs to address this public health crisis immediately as exposure to pollution causes asthma, cancer, lung deformation, heart attacks with children and the elderly being the most vulnerable.

4) The Kensal Corridor Improvement scheme (KCIS) mentioned by Clkr Krupa Sheth in her response, and to be funded by TfL has no credible air pollution of congestion reduction measures, a real missed opportunity to address the longstanding and illegal air quality environment in the local area. There will still be 70,000 vehicles and nearly 12,000 diesel buses using Chamberlayne Road weekly.

5) The Kensal Rise Residents' Association, Clean Air for Brent, Brent Cycling Campaigb Group, Kensal Rise residents and local business are against the KCIS proposal to increase bus stands in the Station Terrace area - more bus stands = more diesel buses. 350 residents have signed petition opposing this bus stand proposal; 

6) 30 local Kensal Businesses have sent a letter to Brent Council and 3 Queens Park ward councillors objecting to the bus stand proposal and demanding for action on the very toxic and perilous air quality conditions along  the high street. (see below)

7) Instead residents and business want the Station Terrace area to be used for initiatives they would benefit the community, businesses and local economy and air quality environment I.e a weekly farmers market. They do not want the heart of their high street to be turned into a mini depot for TfL to increase and store more of its diesel buses, many of which travel to and from Kensal Rise more or less empty.

8) What I didn't say but implied is the Council is keen to get the KCIS money from TfL. However, given what we know about the serious air quality problems caused by TfL's 12,000 diesel buses, we are of stand strong that "Kensal Rise residents and businesses' lives, health and wellbeing are not for sale to TfL". And the Council should never put it's residents in this position. And it needs to take action on the bus induced air related Public health crisis.

Regarding Cllr Krupa's response:

1) There has been no evidence of analysis proffered with KCIS on how and by how much "congestion and associated pollution be reduced". We have asked for thus data and analysis but nothing forthcoming other than the response that "They just know!"

2) The highly illegal NO2 emissions were found to be coming from some of the newer supposedly cleaner buses  - Euro VI - in the Station Terrace area. Think diesel-gate but for buses.

3) There is a false belief within Brent Council that TfL is going to magic up a whole load of cleaner buses / electric. The fact of the matter is TfL has less than 250 electric buses and operates over 700 routes daily in London, each route assigned with 12 buses... do the maths! As at March 2019, TfL had a fleet of 9,142 buses of which:

A) 5,298 were 100% diesel;

B) 155 Electric; (it's got about 70 more since);

C) 2,669 Hybrid (Diesel and Electric)

4) The majority of TfL fleet will be diesel right up to 2038 when all buses will have to be zero emissions so we are in for the long haul with TfL!

OPEN LETTER TO TFL AND BRENT COUNCILLORS (Click bottom right for full page version)

London Global Climate Strike video: These young people means business - and it's not business as usual!

The sheer verve and vitality of the children and young people at Saturday's Global Climate Strike demonstration was exhilarating. I've captured just a few moments here and included a few frames of  some carefully disposing of their satsuma peel - just to prove how carefully they look after the environment!

Brent launches their participation in Global Climate Strike with rally at Civic Centre

Brent launched its participation in the Global Climate Strike today with a rally outside Brent Civic cemtre addressed by school student Sean Bradley; Brent NEU co-secretary, Jenny Cooper,; Dawn Butler MP; Cllr Krupa Sheth, Lead Cabiner Member for Environment; Richard Lynch, President of the Hendon branch of the GMB and Brent Friend of the Earth's Andrew Lawrence.

Dawn Butler paid tribute to Brent Friends of the Earth confessing that many had been slow to heed their warnings, over years, of the dangers of Climate Change.

Evening Standard coverage of the event:

Sean Bradley (Centre) with Richard Lynch (Left)

All the speeches from the Rally:

Join the Global Climate Strike rally outside Brent Civic Centre tomorrow - then on to Millbank

Brent environmental activists, politicians and trade unionists will be joining Council staff demonstrating solidarity with the Global Climate Strike on Friday morning with a rally outside Brent Civic Centre in Wembley.

They are answering the call from Greta Thunberg and other young climate activists for the older generation to support the campaign  for urgent action on the climate emergency.

Brent Council has given permission for Brent Council workers to join the rally with manager’s permission as long as their attendance does not affect service provision.

Brent citizen’s who recognise the threat posed by climate change are invited to join the Rally from 9.30am to 10am to show their support and to hear speeches from a broad range of speakers including a local school student.  Home made placards particularly welcome.

After the rally many of those attending will move on to the main solidarity event in Central London at Millbank, Westminster.

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Climate Strikers invite you to Green New Deal workshop September 26th Preston Library

The youth climate strikers would like to invite you to attend a workshop about the Green New Deal on Thursday 26th September as part of their national week of climate action. The UK Student Climate Network are organising this workshop for local people and grassroots organisations in London in order to:

1. Explain what the basic principles of the Green New Deal are
2. Discuss how we can spread knowledge of a GND within our organisations and communities
3. Brainstorm ideas about what a GND could mean for us - both on a national and local level

The workshop will be taking place at Preston Community Library (Carlton Avenue East, Wembley, HA9 8PL) from 6-8pm on Thursday 26th. If you would like to attend this workshop, please RSVP by purchasing a FREE ticket on our Eventbrite page below. We ask that tickets are limited to 2 per organisation, as we want to make sure we have a good variety of different groups.

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/green-new-deal-workshop-brent-tickets-72784810327

Consternation at threats to health provision in Brent voiced at Council meeting

Dawn Butler MP for Brent Central took the unusual step of addressing last night's Council meeting on the threat to cut the overnight hours of the Urgent Care Centre at Central Middlesex Hospital. A 24 hour UGC had been promised to compensate for the closure of Central Mid's Accident and Emergency service. She spoke about the distances that would have to be travelled by people needing urgent treatment at night time and the dangers involved.

Cllr Ketan Sheth, chair of Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny, spoke about his Committee's attempt to hold Brent and Barnet Clinical Commissioning Groups to account over their proposals to close the Cricklewood Walk-In Centre and other councillors referred to the Pembridge Hospice closing its doors to new admissions and the financial difficulties of the St Luke's Hospice.

Cllr Nerva said that he was a keen supporter of the NHS but could not stand by while the service was whittled away in front of our eyes. It was unacceptable that people had to wait for more than a year for an operation or that access to a consultant was being reduced. He said other areas were not being affected to the same extent and called for an explanation of how the NW London NHS Trust had got into this predicament.

The motion proposed by Cllr Mary Daly (Sudbury) was passed unanimously:

Our Community. Our Health Care 

This Council notes: 

·      The Government has presided over the longest funding squeeze in the NHS’ history; deepened by cuts to Public Health Services and Adult Social Care. 


·      There are currently over 100,000 staff vacancies in NHS England, including 41,000 nurses and nearly 10,000 doctors. This figure could easily rise to 350,000 by 2030 according to research conducted by The King’s Fund, the Health Foundation and the Nuffield Trust. 


·      There are similarly 17,000 fewer hospital beds now than in 2010. 


·      The impact of Conservative cuts to public services and rising poverty are evident in the new Long Term Plan, with NHS England calculating that socioeconomic inequality causes £4.8 billion a year in greater numbers of hospitalisations. 


·      Nine years of austerity, cuts and privatisation have resulted in nearly 2.8 million people waiting over 4 hours in A&E last year, over 540,000 patients waiting over 18 weeks for treatment and NHS waiting lists growing to over 4.3 million. 


·      The underlying deficit of nearly half of the NHS trusts which provide secondary care to patients referred by a GP is close to £5 billion. 


This Council further notes, the consequences of these swingeing cuts: 


·      North West London Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) face a significant deficit in the forthcoming year, with a projected deficit of £112m. The clinical commissioning group for Brent represents £9m of this debt. 


·      While North West London’s population has grown by 5%, funding is stagnant, and worsened by unplanned emergency care rising by 25%. 


·      In 2018, London North West Healthcare Trust received a second Requires Improvement report from the CQC. 


·      Proposals to merge eight CCGs in North West London into one CCG by April 2021 will lead to yet more re-organisation, change and ultimately disruption to residents. 


·      Public Health funding for Brent services such as smoking cessation and alcohol recovery 
treatment have again been cut by the Government, by £0.5m for the next year.

·      Age UK states there is a “perfect storm” in the Adult Social Care sector with parts facing “total collapse”; with £8 billion needed to stabilise the system and tackle increasing complex care. The latest promised Government green paper on the sector has been delayed at least six times over the last 18 months. 


·      According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Mental Health Trusts have less money in real terms to spend on mental health now than in 2012 and the number of mental health nurses has fallen by 4,000. 


·      IFS analysis indicates that if we leave the EU, the public purse is likely to lose enough money each year to fund the whole of NHS England for 3 months. 


This Council believes: 


·      The NHS belongs to the people; it is Labour’s proudest achievement, designed for universal healthcare for all on the basis of need, free at the point of use - the NHS should always have the resource to provide a comprehensive system, where everyone counts. 


·      The NHS should work across organisational and geographical boundaries, to facilitate services for every resident. 


·      The Government has passed the buck with cuts to public services delegated to our local NHS, resulting in a hollowing out of services in Brent and the surrounding area. 


·      Residents and members of the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny committee are concerned about the stymieing of access to GP services across the borough and upon its boundaries: with Cricklewood GP Centre under consultation to cease its walk-in provision; and Central Middlesex Urgent Care Centre consulting to curtail its hours of operation; and Pembridge Hospice in Ladbroke Grove closing its doors to new admissions. 


·      The reduction of services from Central Middlesex UCC will impact on our poorest residents, without access to their own vehicles, with alternative services involving lengthy journeys by public transport at night, upwards of an hour. 


·      These changes will be felt far and wide across the health economy, as more residents seek support through accident and emergency or via their general practitioner. 


·      The sustained reduction in the ability of the NHS to provide essential services affects everyone, young to old and certainly those most vulnerable.

The Council resolves: 


To work with Brent’s Members of Parliament, to voice our opposition to any future arrangements in which alterations to local NHS services threaten the safety of patients or residents alike, and re- affirm the need for health services to put people at the heart of any future plans. 


Performing for the Environment - Harlesden, Friday 27th September - workshops and performances

Brent-based voluntary organisation BTWSC is calling on local organisations, projects, and youths to get involved in The Environment & Performance Session event. This free community event, which takes place Friday September 27, 6.15-9.30pm at Tavistock Hall in Harlesden, is an opportunity for organisations to take a stall or the microphone to publicise what they do, whilst young people can either join a workshop to prepare performing the 'Look Around The Environment' song on stage with rapper/singer Kimba, or perform a family-friendly song in the open mic slot.

The event aims to repeat the nice community atmosphere generated at the July 1 International Reggae Day event at the same venue by bringing back lovers rock singer Melo D, reggae veteran Prince Jahkey and local gospel singer Patreecia, plus The Brent Factor will be singing their soon to be released anthem, and author Shaun Cain will conduct a reggae quiz.

Kimba will be performing songs from BTWSC's It's Cool To... environmental projects, which creatively engage young people with environmental issues, particularly recycling, littering and flytipping. Workshop participants can learn the song by watchingwww.bit.ly/LookAroundDraft (above) and Kimba's rap version at www.bit.ly/LATEKimba.

For more details, contact Awula Serwah, btwsc@hotmail.com, and to bookAfricanHistoryPlus.eventbrite.com.

Brent Council nows faces further strikes as well as Call-in Scrutiny over Roe Green Strathcona closure decision

Encouraged by the support of Brent councillors who, as reported first here, have called-in the Cabinet's decision to close Strathcona School for further scrutiny, determined NEU members voted unanimously today to resume their strikes.

In the background both groups have been heartened by the support of Barry Gardiner MP who write to Brent Council back in July opposing the proposed closure LINK. This is a key section of his letter:

If council officers had actively been trying to prepare a case for the closure of the school, these are precisely the measures they might have taken. First ensure nobody knows about the place and even when they live next door, refer them to another school. In fact the head teacher has said that she has several reports of prospective parents who asked for their child to come to the school actually being told by council officers that the roll at Strathcona is full and they can take no more children. I would ask that the cabinet investigate these allegations which, if true, represent a serious breach of trust on the part of public officials.

Of course much of this might be more understandable were the school underperforming. In fact despite all the problems it has experienced, Roe Green Strathcona School is an excellent School, with their first cohort of Year 6 students achieving progress in the top 3% of Schools in England this academic year. This is particularly remarkable when one considers the extent of mid year admissions. In the public meeting held at Roe Green Strathcona on 6^th June 2019, which was attended by local councillors, many parents testified to the quality of teaching and the quality of pastoral care that the school provides.

Just 3 years ago Council officers made an urgent recommendation that Roe Green Strathcona School become permanent by September 2016. They are now trying to persuade councillors that the school is not viable. What was then a saving is now said to be a financial drain on the council. What was then required to cope with the primary admissions crisis is now said to be part of an unnecessary and unsustainable surplus. What was then said to provide parental choice into the future is now having its very existence airbrushed from the Council admissions website.

Teachers and staff at the Roe Green School are rightly proud of the progress that has been made since the creation of the Strathcona school five years ago. In a borough where children had been out of formal education for many months, the School has added significant value to the educational development of every child that has entered its classrooms. They have served the council well. If the cabinet were to rubber stamp the proposal to launch a formal consultation for the closure of the Strathcona School site. I believe they would be betraying that service and acting arbitrarily.

Brent Council did launch a formal consultation. In over 300 responses only one supported closure but the Cabinet have gone ahead with closure plans.  Brent North's Labour Party MP is rightly holding his Labour colleagues in the Brent Cabinet to account.

For the NEU this is a much wider issue than just Brent. It is the first attempt at urban school closures since the 70s and 80s when falling school rolls led to school closures and amalgamations and indirectly to some of the super-sized schools that we see today. Brent Labour Council is setting a precedent that if successful, other councils may follow. This is why it is important to win this particular battle.