Network Homes warns leaseholders they may face £100,000 cladding bills

Inside Housing reports LINK that Network Homes, which has an office (due to be redeveloped) in Fulton Road Wembley and owns and manages homes in Brent has warned leaseholders that they may face bills of up to £100,000 for the removal of non-aluminium composite cladding material (non-ACM).

Network say that this is the higher end of their estimates but their charitable status limits how much they can pay towards the work.  The article does not state how many, if any, Brent properties are affected but out of Network's 20,000 homes 4,000 are owned by leaseholders.

Inside Housing reports Helen Evans, CEO of Network Homes as stating:

This is a challenging situation and we are working on solutions that remediate affected buildings as quickly as possible. 

We are pursuing all alternatives to passing costs onto leaseholders and treating this possibility as a last resort. However, as registered charities, housing associations cannot make a blanket commitment to pay costs that are legally leaseholders’ liability.

If we cannot recover costs from others and the government does not fund the work in the way that it has with ACM cladding removal, we have no alternative but to put our leaseholders on notice that they could be liable for some of these costs.

A week before Christmas Network Homes put this notice on their website:

The government has released a document called Advice Note 14, which tells owners of tall buildings to do a new investigation to ensure the ‘external wall system’ has been properly installed and maintained. The external wall system means cladding, insulation or any other material on the outside wall of your building.

The government advice notes are not clear and confusing even to experts, so we, alongside other large housing associations, are asking the government to clarify their advice. In the meantime, we’ve already started these investigations on some of our tall blocks (the advice note directs us to look at ones over 18 metres – around six storeys). This is for buildings with non-ACM cladding – the type on Grenfell Tower – as those buildings have already been investigated. For buildings that we haven’t started yet, we’re getting a schedule in place to do the investigations.

Investigations must be done by trained professionals and in some cases the system will need to be tested in an accredited test centre. Once investigations are complete, we will be issued with a report to confirm compliance or with some work that needs to be done to make the building compliant.

If you live in a tall building over 18m and you’ve not yet received information about the investigations, please bear with us while we confirm our schedule. We hope to write to you with more information in the new year. Please note, your buildings are still safe – where issues are found we will put any necessary interim measures in place and advise you of these at the time.

If you have any questions regarding your tall building, get in touch with our dedicated Building Safety Team who will be able to help. You can email them at buildingsafetyteam@networkhomes.org.uk.

Brent Council explains why mature Chevening Road tree felled

Adult education classes and social work team to move into Willesden Green Library

Announcement from Brent Council:

Exciting new changes will be coming to The Library at Willesden Green this year, including two new classrooms for Brent Start and the arrival of a team of social workers supporting Brent’s children and young people.

This is the start of a new era for The Library at Willesden Green. Since its opening in 2015, it has been serving the local community through its library services, teaching visitors about Brent’s rich cultural heritage through the Museum and Archives and through being a Community Hub for vulnerable residents to help them access council services.

The new improvements include the creation of two new modern classrooms for Brent Start*, an adult education college offering skills and employment training for local people. The classrooms will be located at the front of the building, showcasing to passers-by what a fantastic initiative this is. This will increase awareness of the courses on offer and encourage more to take advantage of education and training opportunities to improve the lives of Brent residents.

A team of social workers will also be moving into the top floor of the library, giving them the opportunity to be even closer to the children and young people they work with and have an office space fit for their needs. This is in line with our commitment to helping to improve the outcomes for all our young people.

These changes will enhance the services we provide in The Library at Willesden Green, a space that is already so versatile in its offering for Brent residents.

The library also boasts a number of spaces that can hired by anyone for cultural or other activities, which include a performance space, exhibition gallery, education room and reading room.
Changes are expected to be in place by Summer 2020, and in the meantime, library services will continue as normal.

*Editor's note: The Cabinet will be discussing plans to redevelop the Brent Start premises in Harlesden-Stonebridge which will require decanting of classes to the building that previously housed the Stonebrudge Primary School  Annex.

Why we await Brent's Annual CIL Report with more than a little interest

Brent Council is required to publish an Annual Report on how it has spent the Community Infrastructure Levy each year. The report for 2017-18 noted:

To ensure that the levy is open and transparent, Brent is required to prepare a short report on the levy to be published on our website by 31 December each year, for the previous financial year. This includes the details of Neighbourhood CIL.

I have been asking Brent Council why the report for 2018-19 has not yet been published. The Council website says it is now due in mid-January 2020.

The extracts below from 2017-18 show why I am interested and why scrutiny by non-Labour councillors is so important. Have a look at the overall underspend figures and the carry forwards from 2017-18 and ask yourselves why these monies have not been spent.  If we are elected Green councillors will be asking searching questions about the figures due to be reported shortly for 2018-19.

There is a consultation currently on Neighbourhood CIL priorities. You can comment HERE 

EXTRACTS FROM 2017-18 BELOW (FULL REPORT IS HERE)

Green Party candidate calls for Labour to withdraw support from their Alperton by-election candidate over anti-Muslim views

The website Order-Order.com has today published more extracts from Tweets allegedly written by the Labour Party candidate in the Alperton by-election, Chetan Harpale,

Andrew Linnie, Green Party candidate for Alperton said:

I am shocked and disgusted by the racist, islamophobic views aired by Labour's candidate in the Alperton by-election. I think it is important, given the hostility of the language used, that Labour leader Cllr Butt not only condemns these views but withdraws support from this inappropriate candidate from the election while there's still time. Mr Harpale has no place representing anyone, let alone representing an area as culturally diverse as Alperton.

Hashi Mohamed on "What it takes to make it in modern Britain" - February 11th

An event organised by Salusbury World

Hashi Mohamed, arrived in the UK as a child refugee from Somalia at the age of 9. He was raised on benefits in Harlesden and is now a successful barrister. LINK He knows a great deal about social mobility in the UK.

In his new book, People Like Us, he looks at the many barriers to social mobility in the UK where the best indicator of what your job will be is the job of your parents, where power and privilege is concentrated in the 7% who are privately educated, where is your name sounds black or Asian you will have to send twice as many job applications as a white person.

Hashi will look at the stark statistics that reveal the depth of the problem and the failures of education, imagination and confidence that compound it.

What can be done to address this seemingly intractable problem?

Tuesday February 11th 7-9pm

Queens Park Community School
Aylestone Avenue
London
NW6 7BQ

FREE but register HERE

Harlesden Climate Action - Friday January 10th

From Love Harlesden Residents Forum Facebook Group - a very welcome move.

Amandine Alexandre-Hughes

Happy New Year!

In 2020 fighting climate change is not an option anymore.

So let's roll up our sleeves and do as much as we can here in #Harlesden to cut greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience in the community in the face of a warming planet.

Brent council has started working on a new sustainability plan that will be adopted in the spring. There is also an opportunity to get some community funding via the The National Lottery Climate Action fund.

Things are moving in the right direction at borough level

- although it's not always obvious, granted! - but we need to make sure that change goes as far as possible and as fast as possible.

I want a greener, healthier Harlesden for everyone with fewer cars, lots of solar panels, less waste and lots of community orchards and growing spaces.

The more people get involved, the more things we can achieve this year and the years following.
Are you in?

Fresh air, healthy activity and useful work at Welsh Harp Centre on January 18th

You are invited to join me for our next Friends event on:
Saturday 18th January, 10.00am – 12.30pm

Each month a great group of individuals come together to do extremely useful conservation and maintenance work around the Centre using basic gardening tools, to gain skills and meet new people. This work supports the activities of the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre including over 3000 school children that attend the Centre each year and improves the biodiversity of the woodland habitat.

What will be the tasks at the next event?

• Rehabilitating a model river teaching space
• Other tasks as they come up

What else do you need to know?

• All welcome! Young people aged 17 years and under need to be accompanied by a responsible adult, each individual child under 11 years old will need an adult with them at all times as we are using sharp tools. 
• Tasks can be adapted or alternative tasks available for all levels of involvement.
• Tea, coffee and snacks, steel toe cap wellington boots, tools and gloves are all provided. 
• Wear comfortable outdoor clothing suitable for gardening.
• Please meet inside the Education Centre.

If you would like further information about the group, please email me:
Deb Frankiewicz
welshharpcentre@thames21.org.uk.
  
The Centre is on Birchen Grove, off Blackbird Hill, NW9