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| To request to speak on any of the applications contact: Contact: Joe Kwateng, Governance Officer Email: joe.kwateng@brent.gov.uk; 020 8937 1354 |
To: Dawn Butler MP, Tulip Siddiq MP, Barry Gardiner MP, Councillor Mili Patel, Councillor Matt Kelcher, Councillor Tom Miller
Safer kids - Radical increase in muggings and violent assault on children in our neighbourhood
We demand immediate solutions to the daily threat our children face through:- More police/security details patrolling the Kensal Green, Kensal Rise, Queens Park and Harlesden area, especially at key points in the day- More CCTV in key locations- The creation of a positive action network consisting of schools, residents and local businesses that raises awareness and encourages positive, social behaviour within the community.We also demand long-term solutions such as investment in local youth centres and helping the youth committing these crimes to become part of the community, rather than fighting against it.Why is this important?We the undersigned residents of Brent demand our streets be made safe for our children. We are writing to you to demand you immediately address the radical increase in muggings and assaults on children in our local area. Lawlessness is rampant and impunity is now rife in our neighbourhood.Our streets feel like the Wild West - anything goes, and no one can do a thing about it.Muggings and assaults on children are now occurring daily, often between 2pm and 7pm on the peripheries of schools, in parks and around the Chamberlayne Rd area. These crimes are committed by youth, at times in balaclavas, often using knives, sometimes using steel bars as a threat, other times using direct violent assault - and all this in broad daylight.In the cases where adults have tried to intervene, they too have been violently assaulted. One parent was recently punched in the head in Roundwood Park numerous times in front of his son, and another parent had a plank of wood smashed into his face, losing several teeth in the Queens Park area - also in front of his children.Sadly, many cases go unreported as the victims are fearful if they tell, they could be putting themselves in more danger. Moreover, parents at times fear nothing will be done as the police rarely turn up, or if they do it's 30 minutes late, when the perpetrators are long gone.At an age when our children should be cherishing a newfound independence, they now have to fear for their safety. They must ask themselves: Will I be attacked on the way home from school today? Is it safe to take my phone? Do I have to walk in a big group to be safe? What should I do if I get assaulted? Will they knife me?No child should have to ask him or herself these questions. We want our children to:- be able to walk to school and home from it
- go the the park/skatepark
- walk to a friend's house
- go to the corner shop
- catch a bus/ the tube etc...without having to worry that they will be assaulted or mugged.The effect of daily fear in these young minds, if not addressed, is likely to lead to a dramatic increase in anxiety, depression and isolation in our local community.May we remind you, in 1991 the UK signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child, one of the nine core UN human rights treaties. The CRC protects the rights of children in all areas of their life, including their rights to "freedom from violence, abuse and neglect".It is tragic that almost three decades later, in this supposedly civilised society, our children are not protected from violence or abuse in their very own neighbourhood.It is tragic, that due to austerity, our society is now one in which crime is rampant, impunity rife and our children - our future - are the ones having to suffer the devastating consequences.It is tragic that they must now live in fear in their own community.We demand you make our streets safe for our children. We demand action and we demand it now.
Councillors and senior council officers have agreed to meet with local residents to discuss their policy on tree removal and pavement renewal. The recent campaign to save eleven condemned trees in Furness Road has been extremely successful and has resulted in the council reducing the number of condemned trees to just three. The purpose of the chaired and curated January meeting is to push for a fundamental change in the council's current policy on trees and pavement renewal (replacement of flagstones with asphalt across the borough) so that it complies with the climate change emergency that Brent council has itself declared.
There is no way I'd support Brarry Gardiner for Leader. His pro-Modi stance, his stirring with the Indian community over Kashmir and his inability now, despite getting involved in Indian politics, to condemn Modi and the Citizenship Amendment Act is too much.On the other hand Ben Jolly tweeted:
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The thought of him being Leader is a total kick in the teeth for Asian members like me.
Dawn Butler has already announced her bid for the deputy leadership which raises the possibility of a Brent (rather than Islington) national Labour leadership.Barry Gardiner cut through the lies about Jeremy Corbyn beautifully. His intelligence & clarity reaches over the noise of every journalist or Tory MP he faces. He is well briefed on Party policy & extreme passionate for change. This is why he gets my vote.
A week before Christmas Network Homes put this notice on their website: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.
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.
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