Wembley Stadium community engagement event on upcoming NFL fixtures - October 15th

From Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium invites you to attend a community engagement evening on Tuesday 15 October to learn about plans for the two forthcoming NFL (American Football) fixtures.

The two games are scheduled for Sunday 27 October, 5pm kick off, and Sunday 3 November, 2.30pm kick off.

The engagement evening will give local residents an opportunity to review event day transport and external operational plans, and to ask our team questions about traffic management arrangements, road closure timings, local bus diversion routes, and impacts on local underground and railway stations.

Representatives from Wembley Stadium, Wembley Park, Brent Council and NFL will be on hand to answer any questions relating to the two fixtures.

The evening will be held in the foyer of the Club Wembley Main Entrance, accessed at street level from the southern end of Olympic Way, and residents are welcome to drop in anytime between 6pm and 9pm.

SAVE THE NHS! Free showing of 'Under the Knife' October 15th Preston Library

 PRESTON COMMUNITY LIBRARY 

TUESDAY OCTOBER 15TH 7.30pm

Carlton Avenue East, Wembley, HA9 8PL (Preston Road tube)

This film is a weapon in our struggle to save the NHS. Armed with the evidence so eloquently provided here, we can win this battle." Ken Loach - Film Director 

Narrated by award-winning actress Alison Steadman, Under The Knife is a positive historical documentary unearthing how the NHS arrived at its modern-day crisis. From its stormy birth through seven decades of turmoil and political warfare, it has withstood almost everything that has confronted it, until now. 

Emmy award-winning director Susan Steinberg uncovers the covert, creeping privatisation of the NHS in the past three decades, culminating in a law which removed the legal duty of the government to provide universal health care. More than 200 MPs and Peers with vested interests voted for legislation which opened the floodgates to private companies. The democratic process had been subverted by the government.

Using interviews and archive footage, the film charts the history of the NHS which arose out of the ashes of post-war Britain to the turbulent times of today. From the influence of Neoliberal ideas on the NHS to the introduction of private finance initiatives, the film tells a ground-breaking story of complicity and survival.

Pam K Productions have partnered with Keep Our NHS Public and The Daily Mirror to host 50 nationwide FREE screenings between the 14th - 18th October. 

Register now for a free ticket! LINK

UPDATED: Brent Council set to borrow £110.5m part of which is to purchase units from Quintain for key worker housing

This article has been updated with additional clarification and correction from Brent Council.  The Room 151 article on which the original article was based contains errors according to the Council so I have removed it from this post.  Apologies for any confusion over what is a very complex proposal. MF

The Brent Council Cabinet is poised to approve a huge financial arrangement part of which would be for the purchase of units in a block which is one of four in the Quintain  development known as E01 and EO2. The particular block would cost a proportion of the proposed loan of 'up to' £110.5m.  The amount has not been disclosed publicly yet due to ongoing commercial negotiations with Quintain.

In addition there will be purchase of  shares by by Brent's investment company i4B or its housing company First Wave Housing for Phase 2 of the scheme.

The four blocks range from  12 to 15 storeys and are close to Wembley Stadium. The Cabinet paper refers to just one of those blocks.  Some of the flats would provide key worker homes for those on moderate incomes.

The Council would purchase 153 units: 63 one bedroom and 90 two bedrooms.   Key worker housing is badly needed in Brent with social workers, teachers, police and NHS staff being priced out of the borough and resulting poor recruitment and retention rates.

A £21.8m share purchase for Phase 1 was for the existing programme of purchasing homes to provide affordable housing for Brent residents who might otherwise be placed in bed and breakfast or other temporary accommodation. Brent Council says that more than 500 homeless residents have already found homes through i4B and the £21.8m is part of the financing package for these homes.

The Cabinet Report states:

 The acquisition is subject to negotiations with Quintain lead by the Operational Director of Property and Assets on behalf of i4B and FWH. Negotiations includethe timing of payments to Quintain and potential future financial obligations. The loan drawdown will be executed once these terms are agreed.

It is suggested that i4B/ FWH’s drawdown of funds to purchase the Quintain E01 02 block is contingent on the usual due diligence relating to blockpurchases and providing loans. 

It is recommended delegated authority is given to the Director of Finance to determine when the due diligence is adequately completed. For example, the Director of Finance’s considerations would include:(i)the robustness and affordability of operating assumptions relating to theblock; and(ii)the adequacy of protection for i4B/ FWH under different scenarios, including contractual default by Quintain.

A decision by the Treasury on Wednesday to increase the Public Works Loan Board 50 year new maturity loan rate from 1.81% to 2.82% may put the kibosh on the Council's plans. LINK

The Cabinet report notes the benefits and risks of the proposal: 

As lender and investor in i4B and First Wave Housing, the Council is also ultimately affected by financial implications for i4B/ First Wave Housing. These include being exposed to potential financial benefits and risks associated with owning and operating the building. For example, the Council would be impacted by 

(i) any future financial obligations entered into as part of the Heads of Terms with Quintain;
(ii) operational profits or losses associated with managing the block;
(iii) the block’s value increasing or decreasing over time (capital gains or losses).

-->
The Cabinet report to be discussed on Monday October 14th can be found HERE

How Brent could do better in responding to the Climate Emergency

Brent Council has declared a Climate Emergency. Friends of the Earth have assessed the Council's efforts and suggests changes in policy and actions which would do more to avert climate catastrophe:

The Brent area’s performance on climate change is average compared to other local authority areas. All local authorities, even the best performing, need to do much more if climate catastrophe is to be averted. Brent particularly needs to do much better on increasing renewable energy, increasing tree cover, and increasing waste recycling.

In Brent 43% of emissions come from housing, 22% from transport, and 35% are industrial and commercial emissions.²

There are different estimates of how fast the UK should reduce greenhouse gas emissions if it’s to do its fair share in combatting climate change, ranging from around 7% to over 25% per year.³

Researchers at the Tyndall Centre in Manchester University say that Brent should reduce emissions by at least 13% per year.⁴

What can local authorities do?

All local authorities, even the best performing, need to do much more if climate catastrophe is to be averted. The government needs to provide them with the powers and resources to do so, and it needs to do much more itself. All local authorities should adopt an ambitious local climate action plan, and they should join with Friends of the Earth and others in urging more government action. Each local authority should declare a climate emergency as a sign of political intent.

The people most vulnerable to climate change are often those on lower incomes, despite having done the least to cause it because of their lower levels of consumption. For example, people with lower incomes are less able to replace and repair damage from flooding or insure against it. This inequality is called climate injustice.

Researchers have identified over 10,000 neighbourhoods across the UK where people are particularly vulnerable to flooding due to their location and factors such as income.⁵ Brent has 117 of these neighbourhoods with high social flood risk for surface flooding, taking account a range of vulnerability factors. The local authority needs to target these areas for support in order to help people living there prepare for extreme weather and respond and recover when it occurs.

Housing

Only 41% of homes are well insulated in Brent.⁶ This represents a shocking waste of energy, high greenhouse gas emissions and unnecessarily high energy bills. 13% of households in the area are in fuel poverty, which means they can’t afford to heat their homes properly.⁷ Poor insulation contributes to this problem.

Upgrading the insulation of 5,809 homes per year within the Brent area will ensure all homes are properly insulated by 2030, lifting as many people as possible out of fuel poverty.
We also need to switch from gas central heating, which is a major source of greenhouse gases, to eco-heating (such as heat pumps), which doesn’t burn fossil fuels. The government provides grants for installing eco-heating. There are only 15 government funded eco-heating systems in the Brent area, yet the UK needs to fit around 1 million per year. A fair share for Brent would be fitting 3,638 eco-heating systems every year.⁸

Transport

Transport is the biggest source of greenhouse gases in the UK, and emissions continue to grow. Research suggests that to deliver the greenhouse gas reductions needed will require car use to be reduced by between 20% and 60%, depending on factors such as the speed of the switch to electric vehicles.⁹ This means that the UK should more than double the proportion of journeys by public transport, cycling and walking.¹⁰

In Brent only 57% of people commute by public transport, 3% cycle, and 7% walk. In the best performing similar local authority area, the proportions are 68%, 4% and 17% respectively.¹¹
Much more is possible. Research shows that 27% of commuter journeys in Brent could be by bike (assuming good cycling infrastructure, such as segregated cycleways and the uptake of E-bikes¹²), better walking routes can encourage more journeys on foot and improve health, and 6 in 10 drivers would shift to public transport if its quality improved.¹³

Friends of the Earth suggests Brent has a target of 80% of people commuting by public transport, cycling, and walking by 2030.¹⁴

When cars are needed, they should be electric and shared as much as possible. Only 7% of commuters share their car when commuting in the Brent area.¹⁵ According to social enterprise Liftshare, best in class employers have 40% of their staff sharing journeys to work.

According to research published in April, the Brent area has 52 electric vehicle charging points (EV chargers).¹⁶ The Committee on Climate Change, which advises the government, says there should be 1 EV charger for every thousand cars by 2030. This suggests that in Brent there should be at least 92 EV chargers.¹⁷ But we need a much faster transition to electric cars, which means many more EV chargers than this.

Energy

The proportion of our electricity produced by renewable energy has increased massively over the last ten years to around a third, and the cost of solar panels and wind farms has plummeted. But we need to produce up to 8 times more renewable electricity if the UK is to wean itself off climate-wrecking oil and gas, including for our transport and heating. Much of the additional renewable energy will come from offshore wind, but there’s also a need to significantly increase onshore wind and solar power.

Currently the Brent area has 3MW of renewable power.¹⁸ If the Brent area matched the best of similar local authority areas it would have 28MW.¹⁹ This is a minimum target to be achieved rapidly, and all local authorities should look to exceed it.

To give an indication of what this means in practice, the average onshore wind turbine in Europe is 2.7MW and a 25-acre solar farm will produce about 5MW of electricity. On average 1MW of renewable power produces enough energy for around 125 homes.²⁰

Trees

Trees play an important role in sucking the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it as carbon. They also provide a home for nature, clean up air pollution and reduce flood risk.

According to the Government's National Forest Inventory (NFI) 3% of the Brent area is woodland. The highest proportion in similar areas is 13%.²¹ The NFI is known to significantly under-report tree cover in urban areas, so Friends of the Earth is carrying out further research which we will publish later this year.

All areas should aim to double tree cover as soon as possible.

Those areas with very little tree cover (less than 10%) should make an additional commitment to increase tree cover to 20%.

The Brent area should aim to increase tree cover to 20%.

For those few areas with already high levels of tree cover (30% or more) it may not be feasible to double tree cover. However, even in these areas some more tree planting will be possible.²²

Waste

Making the stuff we buy, using it, and throwing it away all contribute to climate change. Buying less stuff is an important step in cutting greenhouse gases.

For the stuff we do buy, we should reuse, recycle or compost it. Brent reuses, recycles and composts 37% of its household waste.²³ This compares to the best figure of 49% in similar local authorities, while Wales has set its local authorities a target of 70% by 2025. English local authorities should aspire to the same figure, and all local authorities must aim even higher on a path to achieve zero waste (e.g. aiming for zero waste by 2030).

Divestment

Local authorities across the UK invest billions of pounds in fossil fuel companies, the very companies that have caused the climate emergency.

Working out which local authority has what investments is not straightforward, because local authorities often pool funds. An analysis of UK local authority pension funds suggests that on average local authorities invest many millions of pounds in fossil fuels. Along with many others, Friends of the Earth is calling on local authorities to stop investing in fossil fuels.²⁴

Summary of targets for the Brent area

---

Cease supporting or promoting new high carbon infrastructure, such as roads or airports

Annual emissions reductions – 13%

Homes to insulate per year – 5,809

Number of eco-heating systems, such as heat pumps, to fit each year – 3,638

Proportion of commuters walking, cycling or using public transport by 2030 – 80%

Increase lift-sharing – major employers should aim to have 40% of their staff who travel to work by car doing so by lift-sharing

Electric vehicle charging stations by 2030 – at least 92 stations

Renewable energy – at least 28MW

Trees – Aim for 20% tree cover

Household waste reuse, recycling and composting by 2025 – 70% (on path to reach zero waste as soon as possible)

Divestment – zero investment in fossil fuel companies as soon as possible.

Post-scrutiny report rejects additional provision proposals for Strathcona school site

The response from the Strategic Director of Children and Young People to Scrutiny Committee has now been published and it does not make happy reading for campaigners trying to save Roe Green Strathcona from closure.

Scrutiny requested reconsideration of the closure decision and the proposals that had come forward in relation to alternative and additional education provision on the Strathcona site.

The response considers each proposal made by campaigners in turn and rejects them all as not needed and some as not serving to increase the number of primary pupils on the site.

It does not go into pupil projections as these were not included in Scrutiny's request. Strategic Director Gail Tolley had put forward a proposal at Scrutiny to use the site after closure of primary provision for Special Education Needs pupils and those with a Disability aged 19-24 years. The report argues that as a former adult training centre the site is particularly suitable and puts this forward for further consultation with stake holders, local providers and special schools.

The report publishes figures seeking to justify the claim that school places cost more at Roe Green Strathcona because of the extra allowance given to the school to compensate for being on two sites. Redistribution of the £200,000 saved equates to £8 per primary pupils across the borough and £6,600 for a four form entry school and £3,300 for a 2 form entry. (Note para 6.2 of the report wrongly states £6,600 for a 3 form entry school).

The Cabinet has the choice of amending its original closure decision or confirming it. In the latter case it would take immediate effect.

The full report is below. Anyone wishing to speak at Cabinet on Monday should apply to via  an online form at https://www.brent.gov.uk/firmstep/forms/request-to-speak-at-a-meeting/ or email  Thomas.Cattermole@brent.gov.uk Requests will then be considered by Cllr Muhammed Butt.

Click bottom right corner for full page version.

Urgent call for Strathcona supporters to protest at Brent Civic Centre on Monday as Cabinet rushes decision on Strathcona

The Scrutiny Committee's recommendations on the Cabinet's Roe Green Strathcona closure decision has been rushed on to the agenda of Monday's Cabinet, which already has an over-loaded agenda.

There is no report of the Scrutiny's deliberations and recommendations on the Council website - they are 'to follow' - this gives the public little or no time to prepare any representations to Cabinet which surely undermines democracy and transparency. On such an emotive and controversial issue you would think the Council would be careful not to alienate people further.

I queried this and was told,  'A covering report and report from the Strategic Director of Children and Young People will be made available in due course.'

The meeting, like all Cabinet meetings currently, will be held at 4pm which means people working normal hours will be unable to attend and Roe Green Strathcona staff and parents will be hard put to get to the meeting in time after work.

Anyone available is asked to get to the Civic Centre for 3pm to make their feelings known before the meeting.

Housing benefit freeze: 9 in 10 homes unaffordable for families - NHF report

Research by the National Housing Federation shows just how inadequate Local Housing Allowance now is for the 1.3million families who rely on it to cover the high cost of private rent.

This is contributing to children living in overcrowded and poor quality accommodation, as well as increasing levels of poverty and debt; with families who can’t find anywhere affordable to rent likely to end up homeless. The number of homeless children in temporary accommodation has increased by 83% since 2011 to 126,020.

The National Housing Federation, which represents housing associations in England – social landlords to over 6 million people, analysed 75,000 rental homes advertised on Zoopla in July 2019. It compared the cost of rent for each property with the rate of Local Housing Allowance that a family requiring that sized property would be entitled to.

Local Housing Allowance was initially designed to cover bottom 50% of market rents in any area. However this was reduced to 30% in 2011. Rates were then divorced from market rents altogether in 2013; and finally frozen in 2016, so they stopped keeping up even with inflation.

There are now parts of the country where less than 1% of private rented properties are covered by the Local Housing Allowance rate, at a time when record numbers of low income families have no other option for finding a home, due to a severe lack of social housing.

The most unaffordable places include:

Area	Total properties advertised for private rent	Not affordable	Affordable	% affordable
Huntingdon	227	226	1	0.44%
Thanet	217	216	1	0.46%
Stevenage & North Herts	159	158	1	0.63%
Ipswich	390	387	3	0.77%
Milton Keynes	508	504	4	0.79%
Peterborough	627	621	6	0.96%
Dover-Shepway	176	174	2	1.14%
Central London	3,747	3,703	44	1.17%
Outer East London	865	854	11	1.27%
Bury St Edmunds	227	230	3	1.30%

The National Housing Federation is urgently calling on the government to:

• End the freeze and increase LHA payments so that they cover at least the bottom 30% of private rent homes in any local area.
• Commit to investing £12.8bn annually in building new social housing, so that fewer families have to depend on unaffordable and insecure privately rented accommodation.

Kate Henderson, Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation said:

Low income families in England are being punished two fold, no longer able to access social housing because of the dire shortage of it, they now can’t access enough housing benefit to rent privately either.

The crippling effects of the housing crisis and significant cuts to benefits have forced thousands of parents into impossible situations in order to keep a roof over their children’s heads, many having to choose between crippling debt, overcrowding or homelessness.

The time to act is now - government must increase LHA payments in line with at least the bottom 30% of rents; as well as investing in building more social housing so we can ensure there are secure and affordable homes for these families in the future.

Case study 

Emma Langdon is 30 and lives with her two young sons in a private rented property in Plymouth. After splitting up with her partner, Emma had to move out of their shared home, and struggled to find anywhere affordable to live. After looking for several months, she could not find a single property covered by the rate of Local Housing Allowance she is entitled to.

To avoid being made homeless, Emma had to move eight miles away from her children’s school. She still has to find an extra £60 each month to pay for the rent. She said: “It’s a nightmare. As well as trying to afford the rent, I’m now spending £50 a week on fuel to get the children to school and back.”

After a year of looking, Emma is still unable to find anywhere more suitable or affordable for her family to live. She said: “It’s practically impossible to find anywhere affordable that accepts people on housing benefit. If we lived nearer the children school it would cost an extra £100 each month in rent, but at least I would save money on petrol and they would be near their friends. There are so many families like us in this situation. I’m lucky to have my father as a guarantor or we wouldn’t have been able to find anywhere to live.”

Momentum mounts event aimed at 'transforming' Brent - Saturday October 12th, Kensal Rise Library

Tickets: https://brent-transformed.eventbrite.com

Although I am a Green Party member I certainly agree that Brent needs to be 'transformed' although that has to be in the right direction (remember the Libraries Transformation project in which our Labour Council closed half our libraries!) Ironically the venue, Kensal Rise Library, is one of those the Council closed. It is run by volunteers after a long struggle to safeguard the building and raise funds.

The event has been mounted by Brent Momentum. This is the description of the event on the Eventbrite page. I will be contributing to a panel on the media and politics

An exciting day of interactive talks and workshops discussing the ideas and policies that can transform Brent for the many, not the few.

About this Event

Inspired by ‘The World Transformed’ festival held alongside the Labour Party conference since 2016, Brent Momentum is holding a day of discussion, debate, and organisation on practical ways to make Brent and the wider world more radically equal, just, democratic and sustainable.Brilliant panel members, including...

James Meadway (Former advisor to Shadow Chancellor)
Kerry-Anne Mendoza (The Canary)
Hilary Wainwright (Red Pepper)
Rebecca Newsom (Head of Politics, Greenpeace)
David Wearing (Author of Angloarabia)
Lara McNeil (Labour NEC Youth Rep)
Emma Dent Coad MP (Kensington)

A great set of topics, including...

Climate crisis and climate justice
Workers in the gig economy
Corbynism
Global Brent / Internationalist solidarity
Municipal Socialism
Media and politics
Youth politics
Inadequate, over-priced housing
Standing for office