London Borough of Culture on hold

From the GLA

The Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries, Justine Simons, has today announced changes to the London Borough of Culture programme in response to the impact of coronavirus.  

Brent 2020 is rescheduling its programme until later in 2020, with the Kilburn High Street Party and Liberty Festival, the Mayor of London’s free festival celebrating of the work of Deaf and disabled artists, happening in the summer of 2021. Lewisham’s year as London Borough of Culture will move to 2022. Croydon will remain London Borough of Culture for 2023.

Justine Simons said: 

It’s important that we all follow the Government’s instructions to stay at home unless it is essential to leave. But we do not want Londoners to miss out on the amazing creative programmes that Brent, Lewisham and Croydon have planned, so that is why we have re-scheduled our plans. We will work closely with artists, the boroughs and all those involved to ensure they are supported during these challenging times.

Advice on allotment gardening during Covid-19 restrictions

From the National Allotment Society

Following the instructions around movement and gatherings from the Prime Minister on 23 March 2020, we are consulting with central government but as we understand the situation at the moment it is still permitted to visit your plot, ideally on your own to take daily exercise. It is vitally important that you follow all the advice about social distancing and hygiene in the points below and not gather together on site.

Any plot-holder who is self isolating because a household member is ill with corona-virus should not be visiting the site.

Associations should display an advice notice on their boards. It is important that anyone attending the allotment takes care to stay the appropriate distance from others, avoid body contact and wash hands at taps, do not wash hands or use detergents in the water tanks and please pay attention to notice boards.

It is essential that no un-authorised people are allowed onto the plots for the duration of this emergency, if you do wish to bring someone to assist with work on the plot, please ensure that that this is notified either to Secretary or Site Manager.  Careful consideration should be given to introducing anyone over 70, those with underlying illness or pregnant women.

We are living through a crisis, the likes of which none of us has experienced before, not since war time has the community spirit that exists on allotment sites been more important.  Please remember to look out for one another during these very difficult times.

Members should take the following precautionary measures :

• Keep hand sanitiser in your shed and wash your hands regularly
• Use hand sanitiser before opening and closing any gate locks
• Observe “Social Distancing” with each other 2-3 metres
• Do not share tools
• Minimise the contact with each other for example no handshakes
• Do not wash your hands in water troughs
• We recommend that all communal facilities are closed
• Click here for guidance if you do need to clean an area that has been visited by an infected person.

• Plan ahead to ensure that you have food and medication delivered to you during this time
• Stay away from vulnerable individuals such as the elderly and those with underlying health conditions as much as possible
• If you display any symptoms of coronavirus stay at home and self-isolate for at least 14 days or until symptoms have passed.

Covid-19: Brent Council sets up Wellbeing Helpline for the vulnerable who have no other support 020 8937 6589

From Brent Council

Helping the most vulnerable

For the most vulnerable, the most isolated and the most at risk of being taken advantage of, the council is working closely with our voluntary and community sector and wider health partners to arrange a more co-ordinated response.

If you or someone you know does not have the support of family, friends or the wider community, then Brent Council has set up a Wellbeing Duty phone line to make sure the most vulnerable people get the support they need.

Wellbeing Duty phone line

If you are worried about a vulnerable person and don’t think they have existing support, you can call the helpline on 020 8937 6589 between 8am and 8pm, seven days a week.
Services we can offer include:

• Shopping/meal delivery/access to food
• Help with collection/arranging medication
• Outreach and peer support for the socially isolated

Trained social care professionals are answering the new helpline number. They will ask a series of questions to establish what support the individual needs and then put in place what is required if there is no other way that someone can be supported.

We will also ensure that where people need more formal, social care support we will put this in place for them if required and as we normally would.

EDITOR'S NOTE Brent Council stress that the helpline is only for those who have NO other support and ask that it be used wisely.

Covid-19: Brent's parks stay open but children's playgrounds, MUGAs, tennis courts and outdoor gyms to close

 Kelly Eaton, Brent Parks, Policy and Projects Manager has written to Brent Parks Forum to update them on partial closures in the borough's parks.

I just wanted to update you in this time of uncertainty with the current Covid-19 situation.

You may have seen in the news this weekend, reports of large numbers of visitors to Parks and Open Spaces.  We all know how important parks are for physical and mental wellbeing, however in the current climate we are concerned that people are not heeding social distancing advice and are crowding together in playgrounds, Multi Use Games Areas and gyms.

I am therefore writing to you as ‘Friends of ‘ groups in our parks to advise that as of today (Monday), we are closing children’s playgrounds, Multi Use Games Areas (MUGAs) , tennis courts and, where possible, outdoor gyms.  Signs will be placed on gates to each facility advising that it is closed until further notice. Any toilet facilities will also be closed and we are currently in liaison with the two café’s in Roundwood and Gladstone Park as to their operating status.

We do not take this decision lightly, but it has been made in the interests of public health.

I hope that you understand our decision and please contact me if you have any further questions about this approach.

We’re glad that people are still using our parks for a breath of fresh air, but we are asking park users respect public health advice to:

•           Stay two metres away from others

•           Not touch their face

•           Wash their hands thoroughly as soon as they get home

Brent Council to ask software provider to improve public access to planning documents

Below is the outcome of my complaint to Brent Council referring to the difficulty of accessing planning documents for a major planning application in February. LINK I do not agree with the findings re availability of the reports but have decided not to take it further. In the present coronavirus crisis council officers have other urgent matters to deal with.

I do welcome the undertaking to ask for improvements  to the software for the  public access system tso as to allow users to copy and share links to specific documents. This is not just beneficial but, in terms of informing the public via this blog about major applications, of vital importance and clearly in the public interest.

Complaint about Performance Improvement

This letter is my decision on your complaint under our complaints procedure.

You have summarised your complaint as follows:

1. The unavailability of the Agenda for the February 18th Planning Committee on the Democracy section of the Council’s website on Monday February 17th 

2. The unavailability of the Deloitte Financial Viability Report (including the Strutt Parker marketing report) on the Brent Planning Portal on Monday February 17th. This referred to 18/4920 due to be discussed at the February 18th Planning Committee.

3. Inaccuracies in planning officers’ reports corrected by last minute Supplementary Reports to Planning Committee.  In this case specifically the corrected table for Major Adverse affect on Daylight for neighbouring properties, (Corrected from 5% to 23.3%)

In relation to point 2, you have said that have said that the Planning Committee chair incorrectly referred to “dead links” being used, and that you do not consider that this was the case.  In relation to all points, you have also asked for a review of staffing levels and proposals to make the website and portal more efficient.

I have evaluated the matters that you have raised.

Availability of Planning Committee agenda

The agenda for the 18 February Planning Committee meeting was published on 10 February.  We do not have a record of the web site being unavailable on the 17th and we checked the committee services pages when were made aware of the comment that it was unavailable and found that the agenda was available at that time.  I am not sure why you couldn’t access the agenda when you tried to access it on the 17th.

With regard to the Financial Viability report, we checked the planning application documents for that application on our web site and your link when you reported that the link that you had shared did not work.  We found that the web site was working and the document was accessible (i.e. it could be downloaded from our web site) but the link that you shared was not.  We tested the links that we had provided to the application, including the links within the consultation letter, site notice and the committee report.  These all worked.  The Chair was advised of this and he commented on this at the start of the committee meeting.

We have looked into this further following the receipt of your complaint.  We have found that all documents are accessible if one uses the link to the application record (i.e. the full record of the planning application).  However, we found that if one copies a link directly to a document (e.g. right clicking that document and selecting “copy link”) then this link will only work if the user is already on a web page within our planning public access system.  So, the links that we provide within consultation letters, reports, etc, do work.  However, if an individual copies and then shares the link to the specific document (as you did) then this doesn’t work.  We were not aware of this.  We tested this on other Council websites that use the same system (around 90 % of Planning Authorities in England use the same system) and found that the same issue was evident on their web site.  This is therefore an issue with the software.

The documents were available throughout this time using the links that we provided and were publicly available.  However, we understand that some users may want to save or share links to specific documents.  We have raised this with the external software provider and have asked them to resolve this issue within their system.  We will also place a message on our system notifying people that they should not share links to individual documents.

You have also raised concern regarding changes to the amendment to the daylight and sunlight figures that were updated in the Supplementary Report.  It was reported that the tables setting out the full (window-by-window) details in relation to daylight and sunlight impacts within the supporting reports were correct, but that a summary table included some incorrect information.  A revised copy of the summary table was included in the supplementary report which showed that the number of windows for which there would be a Major Adverse effect on sunlight was greater than was reported in the previous version of the table, and both the previous and the corrected results were shown.  You have commented that you consider that this would affect the public’s right to know information regarding the planning application and their ability to respond in time.

The information relating to sunlight received by each window within the supporting reports for the application was correct, and it was a part of the summary table that was incorrect.  Should a resident wish to see the level of impact on sunlight received by a window of their home, this information was correct.  When making a decision on the application, members were aware of the level of the impact on affected windows and made their decision on this basis.  While it would have been preferable for this to be highlighted earlier, it is considered that potentially affected surrounding residents were able to consider the impact of the proposal on their amenities and members properly considered the balance of impacts and benefits.

Having reviewed the concerns that you have raised, I consider that processes were correctly followed.  However, I do believe that improvements to the public access system to allow uses to copy and share links to specific documents would be beneficial and we have asked the software provider to resolve this.  With regard to your comment that a review of staffing is undertaken, we currently consider that while staff are typically busy, staff levels are adequate at present.  Nevertheless, we are continually reviewing and improving the way that we work to that staff can work effectively and efficiently.

I hope that my investigation and this letter have resolved your complaint. If you do have any remaining concerns please feel free to contact me to discuss them. If you remain dissatisfied you can ask for a final review of your complaint to be done on behalf of the Council’s Chief Executive. You will need to explain in detail why you consider that my response has not resolved your complaint. You should make your request for a review within 8 weeks of the date of this letter and address it to: 

The Complaints Service Team,

Brent Civic Centre

Engineers Way

Wembley 

HA9 0FJ

or complaints.service@brent.gov.uk.

Brent Council sets up Covid-19 Steering Group and Emergency Fund

Using her powers Carolyn Downs, the CEO of Brent Council, in consultation with the lead member, has set up a steering group framework of voluntary and community organisations to shape Brent's response to the Covid 19 (Coronavirus) crisis. The response includes the setting up of an Emergency Fund.

As can be seen above the  lead organisations in two vital areas have yet to be decided.

The report states:


The intention of our proposals is that these groups would be able to seek support from the CVS and we will fund the CVS accordingly.

1.  That the Chief Exec:
• Approve the establishment of a Steering Group made up of lead voluntary sector providers overseeing implementation of the new approach.
• Approve the setting up of thematic groups for the areas detailed in this report co-ordinated by the CVS.
• Approve the administration of small grants of up to £500 and the mapping/monitoring of the thematic groups activity across the borough by CVS Brent.
• Approve the adoption of a two-phased approach to this work.
• Approve the establishment of emergency funds.
• Agree that the council takes a more flexible approach to how it manages currently grant-funded projects.

On the Mutual Aid Groups that were set up a week ago and now serve most of the wards in Brent the report states:

Many residents have self-organised across the borough to create local groups to help support mutual aid for those communities that have been or are likely to become vulnerable. Whilst these are self-organised groups and the council would not expect to manage their activity the council has created the thematic lead to act as key conduits for sign posting, intelligence gathering and disseminating to support the activities of these self-organised groups.

John Healy of Brent Advicacy Concern commented:

Brent Council have identified 7 key groups and have already found leads for 4 of them. Unfortunately they cannot find anyone to take the lead for 'people with disabilities' or for 'older people'.  

If my charity Brent Advocacy Concerns was still in operation mode, I am sure we would have offered to take the lead for disabled people but after closing down last November, this is no longer possible.

And ironically, we had to close down because we could not afford the rent and now the council are offering to pay the rent for charities and community organisations to remain open in order to meet the challenges that we are all facing.

Also the council have issued an emergency number for vulnerable people to contact them but it is only available Mon-Friday.

The Full Report is below (Click bottom right for full page)

UPDATE-NOW STOOD DOWN Northwick Park Hospital declares 'critical incident' as Covid 19 cases soar

From hsj.co.uk 

UPDATE: Trust Press Office: 'We have now just STOOD DOWN our critical incident status at the hospital. It lasted 24 hrs. It was declared yesterday evening because we didn't have enough capacity.'


A major London hospital has declared a “critical incident” due to a surge in patients with coronavirus, with one senior director in the capital calling the development “petrifying”.

In a message to staff, Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow said it has no critical care capacity left and has contacted neighbouring hospitals about transferring patients who need critical care to other sites.

The message, sent last night and seen by HSJ, said:

“I am writing to let you know that we have this evening declared a ‘critical incident’ in relation to our critical care capacity at Northwick Park Hospital. This is due to an increasing number of patients with Covid-19.

“This means that we currently do not have enough space for patients requiring critical care.

“As part of our system resilience plans, we have contacted our partners in the North West London sector this evening to assist with the safe transfer of patients off of the Northwick Park site”

The hospital is run by London North West University Healthcare Trust, which has reported six deaths related to coronavirus, all at Northwick Park.

The potential lack of critical care beds in England has been the major concern around coronavirus, and trusts are currently repurposing wards and retraining staff to try and create more capacity. National leaders have suggested the number of critical care beds likely needs to rise by several times.

A senior director at another London acute trust told HSJ:

“Given we’re in the low foothills of this virus, this is f***ing petrifying.

“The thing people aren’t really talking about yet is that we are going to have to quickly agree some clinical thresholds for admissions to intensive care. This is what the Italians have had to do, and whether it’s set at 60 or whatever, we are going to have to do something similar. There’s no way we’re going to be able to scale up to the level we need otherwise.

“The trusts in outer London seem to be hit much worse at the moment, probably about two weeks ahead of the rest of the country. Barnet, Lewisham and Greenwich, Epsom and St Helier, North Middlesex and Hillingdon are all struggling.

“I was in denial about the seriousness of this virus a couple of weeks ago, but not anymore.

“I’m now on calls with commissioners about getting more people out of hospital and into the community, and they’re saying ’yes that’ll be done in the next week’, and I’m on the verge of screaming at them. Things are going completely nuts.

“And there’s a real problem with private care homes refusing to take patients back unless they’ve been tested for covid-19. But that’s not the national guidance currently and there just aren’t enough testing kits to do it.”

A spokeswoman for LNWHT said:

 “Critical care capacity for patients with coronavirus is being organised on a cross-London basis so that hospitals and organisations work together to deliver the best possible care for patients.

“This kind of coordinated, flexible response is one of the NHS’s strengths but with staff pulling out all the stops they need the public to play their part too, by following the expert guidance on washing your hands, staying at home and using health services responsibly.”

AT LAST! The government's key worker list for allocation of places in schools from next week

The government has made it extremely difficult for schools  to plan provision for the new era of 'in  school but not school' which begins on Monday. In Brent headteachers will be meeting early this morning with the Director of Child and Young People to plan provision in Brent which will probably be via clusters of schools.

This is the government guidelines for schools:

As a country, we all need to do what we can to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
That is why the government has given clear guidance on self-isolation, household isolation and social distancing.

And the most recent scientific advice on how to further limit the spread of COVID-19 is clear. If children can stay safely at home, they should, to limit the chance of the virus spreading.

That is why the government has asked parents to keep their children at home, wherever possible, and asked schools to remain open only for those children who absolutely need to attend.

It is important to underline that schools, colleges and other educational establishments remain safe places for children. But the fewer children making the journey to school, and the fewer children in educational settings, the lower the risk that the virus can spread and infect vulnerable individuals in wider society.

Schools are, therefore, being asked to continue to provide care for a limited number of children - children who are vulnerable and children whose parents are critical to the Covid-19 response and cannot be safely cared for at home.

Vulnerable children include children who are supported by social care, those with safeguarding and welfare needs, including child in need plans, on child protection plans, ‘looked after’ children, young carers, disabled children and those with education, health and care (EHC) plans.

We know that schools will also want to support other children facing social difficulties and we will support head teachers to do so.

Parents whose work is critical to the COVID-19 response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors outlined below. Many parents working in these sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home. And every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.

Please, therefore, follow these key principles:

1. If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.
2. If a child needs specialist support, is vulnerable or has a parent who is a critical worker, then educational provision will be available for them.
3. Parents should not rely for childcare upon those who are advised to be in the stringent social distancing category such as grandparents, friends, or family members with underlying conditions.
4. Parents should also do everything they can to ensure children are not mixing socially in a way which can continue to spread the virus. They should observe the same social distancing principles as adults.
5. Residential special schools, boarding schools and special settings continue to care for children wherever possible.

If your work is critical to the COVID-19 response, or you work in one of the critical sectors listed below, and you cannot keep your child safe at home then your children will be prioritised for education provision:

Health and social care

This includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributers of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.

Education and childcare

This includes nursery and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the COVID-19 response to deliver this approach.

Key public services

This includes those essential to the running of the justice system, religious staff, charities and workers delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, and journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting.

Local and national government

This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response or delivering essential public services such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies and arms length bodies.

Food and other necessary goods

This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines).

Public safety and national security

This includes police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic), fire and rescue service employees (including support staff), National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas.

Transport

This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.

Utilities, communication and financial services

This includes staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure), the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage), information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the COVID-19 response, as well as key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors.

If workers think they fall within the critical categories above they should confirm with their employer that, based on their business continuity arrangements, their specific role is necessary for the continuation of this essential public service.

If your school is closed then please contact your local authority, who will seek to redirect you to a local school in your area that your child, or children, can attend.

We are grateful for the work of teachers and workers in educational settings for continuing to provide for the children of the other critical workers of our country. It is an essential part of our national effort to combat this disease.