Brent Council's statement on 'secret' Scrutiny meeting on Poverty Report

Following concern expressed by myself and others on why a Scrutiny Committee Meeting on the Brent Poverty Commission Report (published yesterday) was not being held in public I asked Brent Council to respond to this question:

There is considerable public interest in the Brent Poverty Commission following the publication of its report yesterday and your Press Release on that.  Can you explain why the ‘Briefing’ being held today for members of the Scrutiny Committee is not open to the public?

Can you comment on why No 5 of the 7 Principles of Public Life does not apply to this meeting:

No 5 of the 7 Principles of Public Life 5 Openness Holders of public office should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing.

This is the Council's response:

A briefing is taking place today with Scrutiny Committee Members about the Poverty Commission report which was launched yesterday. This was not a formal Scrutiny Committee (which is not a decision making body) but a chance for members to hear about the report before it is referred on to Cabinet for formal consideration in September. The decision about how the council will respond to the Poverty Commission report will be made at the Cabinet Meeting and this will be open to the public to view as a live web stream.

'Not a penny more to Serco' - Give Track & Trace cash to local public health

On the day the government decided to restructure Public Health England, in the middle of a pandemic with a new wave expected in the Autumn ,Brent Trades Council demonstrated against plans to give 'Track and Trace' cash to Serco rather than local councils' public health departments.

FULL STORY

Demonstration Tuesday Brent Civic Centre Noon: No more 'Track & Trace' cash for SERCO - give it to Brent Public Health instead

From We Own It and Brent Trades Council

Matt Hancock needs to scrap Serco and Sitel’s failed contracts now instead of renewing them on August 23rd.


The government must give the £528 million allocated for these contract extension to local authorities and Public Health England teams instead. Privatised track and trace has been a disaster that is costing lives.

It’s time to put local public health teams in charge of the whole system. They have the tools and the local knowledge they need to do this vital work before any second wave this winter. Now they need the money.
 

Join us tomorrow, Tuesday 18th August 12 noon, outside Brent Civic Centre for a demonstration in support of a local Test and Trace system, run by the Brent Council Public Health department. Social distancing and please wear a mask.

Guest post: Our borough has been hit hard by the racist and classist algorithm used by Ofqual to decide students' grades

Just before the Government's screeching, rubber-burning U-turn on A Level results ,Macsen Brown, Brent Green Party Youth Officer and a Brent A Level student sent me this Guest Post:

Results Day in Brent has brought with it a wave of anger and despair similar to that seen across Britain. As an area with particularly high numbers of working-class communities and People of Colour - our borough has been hit hard by the racist and classist algorithm used by Ofqual to decide students' grades. Beyond that we've seen a delay in BTEC results that will impact students wanting to start or resume their courses in the next academic year, universities who are refusing to honour the offers they made to students appealing their grades and to top it all off - cheaper travel for school students in London is in danger of getting cut.

At every face of this issue, the young people of Brent will be amongst those hit hardest by the incompetence and prejudice of the Conservative government. We're more likely to be downgraded, we'll need to pay more if the Zip Card is abolished, and our schools remain fatally underfunded.

This results fiasco has been a toxic combination of the war this government is waging on the public sector and the ideological drive to inject artificial competition into places where it wouldn't naturally be found. Education is a clear example of how the state seeks to create competition to enforce a mean and reactionary vision of society down our throats. By forcing us to comply with rankings, league tables, percentages and ridiculous, manufactured bell curves the Government creates inequality and hierarchy where they simply do not belong. Exams are not a sign of any sort of personal worth, but rather how well an individual takes a test relative to their peers.

This is undeniably a competition, and in my view stands against the spirit of education and learning.

Brent Poverty Commission calls for increased investment in social housing & in-depth review of private rented sector

Brent Council Press Release

Today (Monday 17 August), Brent’s Poverty Commission delivered its findings, following a six-month review into poverty in the London borough. It points out 1 in 6 households (17%) live below the poverty line, doubling (to 33%) after housing costs are taken into account. More than 1 in 5 (22%) of children live in poverty, doubling to a startling 43% after housing costs.

The report draws on evidence from residents, politicians and expert local and national organisations and presents powerful first-hand experiences, bringing home what it means to live in poverty in Brent.

Closing the housing gap

The Commission found that the borough’s proximity to wealth and the skilled employment offered by central London has driven housing costs up without raising pay locally, creating an affordability gap which pushes people into poverty and is a key cause of homelessness. It points to an acute shortage of social housing which has forced people into the private rented sector where rents are two or even three times higher.

To address this, the Commission recommends Brent Council builds on its ambitious plans to generate more affordable homes, using its borrowing powers to build, working with housing associations and taking advantage of post-COVID opportunities to buy from developers and landlords who are exiting the market. It also urges the council to launch an in-depth review into the private rented sector, and enforce decent standards, not least to reduce fuel poverty and health problems caused by poor conditions.

Keeping the sharks at bay

With the second highest number of furloughed workers in London and high rates of in-work poverty due to low pay, the Commission highlights the importance of active labour market policies in the wake of COVID-19 to support job creation and improve local earnings.

Recommendations include using the council’s local influence and procurement powers to secure more quality apprenticeships and specialist skills training, as well as to encourage more small and medium-sized employers to pay the London Living Wage. In particular, prioritising activities to raise the aspirations of young people in the borough.

To break cycles of debt that COVID-19 is likely to exacerbate, the Commission encourages the council to take forward work recently started with credit unions to provide low-cost loans to cut down dependence on unscrupulous lenders.

Lord Richard Best, an independent crossbench peer and social housing champion, who chairs the Affordable Housing Commission, said:

Our report makes recommendations to ease poverty in Brent by raising incomes. It also shows that poverty is driven by high costs, specifically of private sector housing rents, that lead to more than 2 out of 5 children living in poverty. We call for urgent action to generate the social housing that can address this problem.

Cllr Eleanor Southwood, Cabinet Member for Housing & Welfare Reform at Brent Council, who commissioned the work said:

Because the causes of poverty are so complex, too often policy makers reach for sticking plasters. We wanted to understand how this web of problems, from wages to housing, debt and opportunity, come together to harm people’s quality of life in Brent.

I am extremely grateful to Lord Best for leading this Commission. We will offer a full response in the coming weeks, but I’m optimistic that this marks a new chapter in how we address poverty in Brent.

VJ DAY: My dad's role in the 'Forgotten Army'

Guest post by a Roe Green resident

We all celebrated the 75th anniversary of VE Day, despite social distancing, with enthusiasm. 

Our front gardens became the venue. So we put out our Union Jacks and bunting and made the most of a lovely day. People passed by and chatted, most wishing that it could have been more of a party, but agreed it was still quite good. In passing, I would mention that we would still have the 75th anniversary of VJ day to come and maybe we could party then. Rarely did anyone know what I was talking about.  The14th Army was forgotten at the time and, it seems, is still forgotten. I wonder how veterans of the campaign are feeling about that now. At Kohima, there is a huge Naga memorial stone, engraved upon it are these words : 

When you go home

Tell them of us and say

For your tomorrow

We gave our today.

The words are credited to Leonidas, the Spartan commander at the Battle of Thermopylae 480 years BC. They were known as The 300. The 300 are legendary and still remembered today, after 2500years. I can’t understand why it has been so difficult to remember those, whom that stone honours. They, who fought and pushed back the Japanese from India and then pursued them through Burma, only 75 years ago. 

My Dad Alfred Chambers was part of that army, not only forgotten, but mostly invisible. He belonged to Force 136, SOE in the Far East. Until the last few years nothing was known of them; like the rest of the SOE, they had all signed the Official Secrets Act, and have never breathed a word. 

He was called up in 1943 and posted to The Dorsetshire Regiment, where they underwent infantry training. Here he found himself, at thirty, almost ten years older than most the others. But, regardless of age, the regiment knocked you into shape. They were a mixed bunch, from a baker, like Dad, to a ballet dancer, who turned out to be the fittest man in the barracks. It was during this training that he had an accident. He had scaled a wall, in full pack, landed on hands and knees, and as he pushed himself up the following guy landed on top of him. Both his elbows were broken. So, he ended up in a military hospital for some time and after that had a lot of physiotherapy. Eventually, when they considered he was fit enough, he was returned to the regiment, to carry on with training. By then, most of the men he had built friendships with had moved on. So it was back to a new group and starting again.

It was during this time that he was ordered to make room, in the barracks, for three men. They were going on a mission and needed to rest for a couple of days. When they arrived he settled them, and their equipment in, and left. Only to marvel at the equipment they had, afterwards. There was nothing like it in the regiment. The next evening he invited them to the bar, for a drink. After a few pints, he asked which regiment supplied them with such marvellous gear. They couldn’t tell him. But said, that if he was really interested, to give them his name and number, they would pass it on. So he did. Never dreaming it was about to change his life. The following day they, and their equipment, disappeared. Life went, on as did the training, much the same for a few weeks .Then one day he was ordered to the Commanders office - On The Double!

On arrival at the office, he was asked what he had been up to. Informed that he would be leaving the Dorsetshires. He had been seconded to another unit. Go pack up his kit and sling his hook! It seemed he had volunteered for Special Training.

All we know now, is that he ended up at a stately home, in the middle of nowhere, which had been taken over by the military, for the duration of the war. Here he achieved the kind of skills he would never have thought possible, although, the infantry training he had already done stood him in good stead. When, it was considered that he was physically and mentally fit enough, he was shipped out to Kandy, capital of Ceylon, at that time. It was here that Force 136 had their headquarters and he was taken on as part of the organisation, soon to be promoted to Corporal.

Their role was to work behind enemy lines on intelligence, search and destroy missions. Sometimes they were dropped in, in small numbers, or up to forty, with a radio operator, who reported back to headquarters daily. These missions could last for weeks, with supplies dropped in by C47 aircraft. Those operating with SOE were issued with cyanide pills, for use to avoid capture or under duress by the Japanese. 

During some research at the National Archives, I read a message from a commander, in the field, desperately requesting headquarters to drop supplies in using camouflaged parachutes. The white ones, when caught in jungle trees, kept giving their positions away. It would seem obvious now, but, with the pressures they were under then, getting the desperately needed supplies off, was their main priority. If their radio operator was killed or captured it spelt disaster. Dad only ever told us once, about his time in the jungle. He said that they were up on a hill, surrounded by Japanese, searching frantically for them, and he had said to his sergeant, “I think we’ve had it this time, Sarge.” It didn’t look good. And his sergeant had replied, “No, we’ll be ok. They know exactly where we are. They’re on their way!” They were picked up and, lived to fight another day. Their radio operator had done a perfect job. We didn’t know he had been on a special mission. We just thought he’d had a lucky escape. 

Unlike in Europe, where agents could mingle unnoticed amongst the population, in the Far East a European face stood out. British, American or other Europeans could not operate clandestinely in cities or populated areas, and had to move from camp to camp in the jungle. So Force 136 trained indigenous people of the region. Amongst them, the Karens, who were loyal to the British and able to mix in without raising any suspicions. There were Indians and Afghans in Force 136 also involved in the Burma operation and, it goes without saying, the Gurkhas, who held a large presence there. Dad really admired the Gurkhas, they seemed, to him, to be absolutely fearless. 

In 1946, despite Churchill’s desire to keep it going, SOE was disbanded and along with it Force 136 and eventually, Dad was returned to the Dorsetshire Regiment, 2nd division. He used to say how beautiful Ceylon was and how nice the people were, he was sorry to leave. Once back with the regiment at Satpur Camp Nazik it was all preparation for Japan as part of The Commonwealth Occupation Forces. Arriving in Bombay on 16th March he embarked on the Arundel Castle, bound for Kure, Japan, disembarking 3rd April, almost three weeks later. He remained there until 1947. 

I write this in tribute to all those, who like my Dad fought and endured the hardship of jungle conditions and never lost their spirit.

The Preston Story – Part 4

We left Part 3 of the Preston Story in the early 60s – just before two major political changes in the area. Firstly, Preston, along with the rest of Wembley, merged with Willesden in 1965 to form the new London Borough of Brent; followed in 1974 with the creation of a new Brent North constituency which has had just two MPs since its creation in 1974: the Conservative Rhodes Boyson until his defeat in the 1997 landslide by Labour’s Barry Gardiner.

1. Preston Road, from the Carlton Avenue East junction, early 1960s. (Brent Archives online image 8620)

Preston’s population in 2001 was 12,844 – scarcely changing from the 1951 figure of 12,408 – but by 2011 it had risen by 20.48% to 15,474. The growth mainly came with the building of the Hirst Crescent estate on a brownfield site (the former GEC Research Centre) on East Lane, plus the new flats around Strathcona Road, bringing much-needed housing into the area. The Council’s analysis of changes between the two censuses can be found here.  There is continuing pressure on housing and consequent concerns over the possible exploitation of tenants in houses of multiple occupation.

2. Hirst Crescent, from East Lane. (Image from Google Maps street view)

To help me look back at the last 50 years and to bring Preston’s history up to date, I decide to canvass my neighbours and ask them what positive things had happened locally and what they saw as the changes to the look or feel of the area since they arrived.

One of the things that everyone mentioned was the increased diversity of the local population - though as we have seen, people have been moving into Preston looking for work since the early 19th century and in the 20^th to find new homes in pleasant suburban surroundings. Brent Council’s 2014 Diversity Profile for Preston is slightly dated  but shows in 2011 that Preston had a 70.1% black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) population. Each of these communities needs a history of its own experience and, as only an outline can be shown here, I hope someone will come forward to do that.

3. A Preston Park Primary School class c.1992, showing the diversity of families in the area.

Many people arriving in Preston from 1970 were of Asian heritage, expelled from East Africa, first Kenya and, after the 1971 Amin coup, from Uganda. Many were middle class families – engineers, officials and shop-owners – starting new lives and businesses, and establishing religious, social and cultural communities in the most difficult of circumstances.

In the late 1980s, Preston had a substantial Japanese population, large enough to warrant a Japanese estate agent on Preston Road. Many worked for Japanese companies in the City. During the 1990s Japanese recession, most were recalled and disappeared quickly over the school holidays, leaving children wondering where their school friends had gone. In more recent years EU citizens, particularly from Poland and Romania, have moved into the area, mainly to find work.

4. Wembley United Synagogue (rebuilt 1956), Forty Lane.  (Image from Brent Council’s heritage Local List)

The Jewish Community was perhaps the first to settle as a distinct group in the 1920s, moving from poor housing in East London to modern homes and green surroundings. A United Synagogue was established in Forty Avenue in the 1930s, followed by the Harrow and Wembley Progressive Synagogue [1948] at 326 Preston Road, on the site of what was then the Preston Lawn Tennis Club. In recent years they moved to Harrow and the site is now Blackberry Court and a Pentecostal Church. A second United Synagogue was opened in Shaftesbury Avenue in 1958. 

In the 1950s, political change in the Middle East decided many Jews in Arab countries to move to the UK. Members of this Sephardi tradition moved to Edinburgh House on Forty Avenue in 1970, while another Sephardi group, the Neveh Shalom Community with members from North Africa, India and the Middle East, moved to 27 Windermere Avenue in 1970 and then to 352 -354 Preston Road in 1983. There is still a strong Jewish presence in Preston today, though the number of active synagogue members is in decline. The Jewish Free School [est. 1732] one of Europe’s largest Jewish secondary schools, moved to new premises in The Mall in 2002.

5. The Grade II listed Church of the Ascension, The Avenue, c.1960. (Brent Archives online image 8641)

Other places of worship in Preston include the Catholic parish hall, built in Carlton Avenue East on land originally belonging to South Forty Farm in 1932. The present church dedicated to St Erconwald, a 7^th century Bishop of London, opened in 1970.  There are also three Anglican churches. St Augustine in Forty Avenue was built as a wooden church in 1913 but suffered damage during the Second World War and was re-built 1953. The 1957 Church of the Ascension [see Part 3] in The Avenue is notable for its stained glass by Carter Shapland. The Church of the Annunciation in Windermere Ave was built in 1938. There are also three more recent Christian Fellowship or Pentecostal Churches.

One of the more dynamic projects to come out of Preston was the Strathcona Theatre Company. Strathcona was set up in the late 1970s as a social education centre for young adults with learning difficulties, with an ethos radically different from the old adult training centres which focussed on preparing people for unskilled industrial work. The young, enthusiastic staff offered courses in drama, art, music, pottery, sports and training for independent living - uncovering talents and discovering skills in a different way.

6. Poster for Strathcona Theatre Company's 1999 production, "Hood".

Its Theatre Company, formed in 1982 and running for over 20 years, staged productions at the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn, at many other venues in the UK and at international festivals in Europe. In 1983, the Guardian described it as “The UK’s leading disabled theatre company”. The poster above was for their retelling of the Robin Hood legend, where a disparate group of eco-warriors band together to fight for their right to live in a better world. The play was devised and scripted by Ann Cleary and Ian McCurrach (Artistic Directors).

The Strathcona Centre was closed around 2012, and the adults who attended were sent to other services. The building re-opened in 2014 as Roe Green Strathcona School, an offshoot of an existing Junior school in Kingsbury. Despite protests, in October 2019 Brent Council voted to close Strathcona School in 2022 – the future of the building is unknown.

7. Original 1930s decorative tilework, still visible beside a shop between the railway and Elmstead Avenue.

A negative change noticed by my Preston ‘focus group’ was a perceived growing lack of variety in shops on Preston Road since the 1960s – and the untidy frontages, almost destroying the 1930s faience work between each shop. They had nostalgic memories of a specialist cheese shop, Buttons & Bows haberdashers, a drapers’, a [vinyl] record store – and the exciting new technology of Variety Videos which allowed films to be watched in your own home! A few older shops remain: All Seasons greengrocers, Gledhill hardware – and Parkway bakery, the lone survivor of a parade of Jewish shops. The introduction of the 223 bus route has eased access to both Preston and Harrow shops.

8. A parade of shops on Preston Road (east side), between Elmstead Avenue and Carlton Avenue East.

Everybody regretted the loss of the Woolworth store not just as a source of “bits and pieces”, but as a social centre where people bumped into each other. “Woolworths made it a real shopping centre”. But many welcome the new availability of Mediterranean, Indian and Middle Eastern foods in “shops that smelt like holidays” and “cafes with pavement seating - who would have thought!” In a spirit of investigative journalism, I walked the ‘mean street’ that is Preston Road and my main conclusions were that we locals must be very vain – I counted 16 hair / grooming salons [9 specifically for men] AND there must still be a healthy demand to live in Preston as there are nine estate agents. 

9. The Century Tavern, Forty Avenue, demolished for Century House. (From the Closed Pubs website)

Other losses noted were the Century Tavern [1928] named after the Century Sports Ground and built on the site of South Forty Farmhouse on Forty Avenue - and the Wembley Observer, the last really local newspaper. However, there have been some ‘cultural’ gains – The Windermere, The Fleadh and the Music Room offer live music, and the Preston Community Library has author events, a weekly film club and occasional special film seasons.

10. Preston Community Library, 2020.

The campaign to save Preston’s Library was a remarkable display of community solidarity. The area had been served by a fondly remembered mobile library until 1964, when the current library opened in Carlton Avenue East. After the Council’s decision in 2011 to close 6 of its 12 libraries, campaigners in each of the affected areas came together under the banner of Brent S.O.S. [Save our Six] Libraries to fight to save the service.  Public meetings were held, councillors, MPs and the Department of Culture Media & Sport lobbied – over 6,000 people in Preston alone signed a petition opposing the closure. 

11. Poster for the Brent S.O.S. Libraries campaign, 2011.

Brent SOS Libraries took the country’s first legal action to challenge library closures in July 2011. The High Court verdict in October 2011 went against us and the libraries were immediately boarded up. An Appeal against the decision was also rejected in December and the application to take the case to the Supreme Court was denied. A full account of the judicial review and the Appeal can be found here. The boarding around Preston Library became known as the “Wall of Shame” which, with its popular support from local artists and schoolchildren, become a major embarrassment to the Council over the next few weeks, and in January 2012 contractors pulled it down.

12. Two scenes of the Wall of Shame at Preston Library, late 2011.

The building was then restructured internally and used for 4 years as additional classrooms for local schools, who allowed some access for library activities. In 2015, the Council formalised this access with a licence and in 2016 the building was opened fully as a volunteer-run community library. The Library is the only local non-commercial and secular space that is open to all, and it now offers a wide range of classes, events and activities as well as core library services. It was “Highly Commended” in The Bookseller‘s 2019 Library of the Year shortlist. The Library is currently closed due to the pandemic – but will hopefully re-open in the autumn. The Council has plans to re-develop the site, but space for a new library is included.

13. Geraldine Cooke introduces Kamila Shamsie (seated right) at Preston Community Library, June 2018.

In June 2018, at the first public event since she won the prestigious Women’s Prize for Fiction, author Kamila Shamsie visited Preston Community Library to discuss her new book Home Fire. The event was a full house, and the windows were wide open so people could stand outside and hear her. The novel is set in Preston, and features the library campaign. Ms Shamsie told the Kilburn Times “It feels right to do it here. I want the people of the neighbourhood to feel I’ve done right by them”. 

14. A scene from the 1959 film Too Many Crooks. (Image from the internet)

Allegedly, the Preston area has been used many times for film and TV locations. I have found evidence for Preston being shown in the 1959 film Too Many Crooks – in which incompetent villains use a hearse in a kidnapping. It was filmed in Carlton Avenue East, Forty Avenue and various places on Barn Hill. The photo above shows the junction of Carlton Avenue East and Preston Road. The film starred Terry-Thomas, George Cole, Sid James and Bernard Bresslaw.  

Preston also ‘stars’ in Gourmet Nights, an episode of Fawlty Towers where Basil collects a takeaway meal from ‘André’s Restaurant’, actually the Wings Restaurant on Preston Road, and then (famously) attacks his car when it breaks down [Mentmore Gardens]. Readers may know of other films? We have had at least one celebrity - the British, Commonwealth and European heavyweight boxing champion Sir Henry Cooper lived in Ledway Drive, and had a greengrocer’s shop in Ealing Road, Wembley, in the 1960s.

15. Wrigleys chewing gum factory, now Wembley Commercial Centre, East Lane. (From Brent’s Local List)

Only a few architecturally important buildings have survived in Preston Ward and I have covered them all in these articles. Three buildings have national Grade 2 listing: The Windermere, the Church of the Ascension and the Wembley Park Lodge on Wembley Hill Road, which was severely damaged by fire some years ago. In addition, there are three on Brent’s local list: the Edwardian style houses at 299-313 Preston Road, the 1926 Wrigleys factory and the 1956 Wembley United Synagogue. For some reason, the Victorian villas, now 356-358 Preston Road – the oldest surviving houses in Preston - have not been listed. 

16. ‘The Pearl of Metroland', Forty Avenue, in 2018.

We also have one popular Open House property, the ‘Pearl of Metroland’, a 1924 house in Forty Avenue decorated in the original style, but with a ‘Mondrian’ kitchen in 3 colours. And we have great open spaces – Barn Hill, Preston Park and Tenterden playing fields – secured for public use by Wembley Council and Middlesex County Council.

Go look at all these places – and be ready to protect them if necessary. Even local listing does not ensure survival, as we have seen in the recent decision on 1 Morland Gardens. Not everything can or should be protected – and housing needs, in particular, are pressing - but some buildings do add beauty to our environment, and help to tell the story of where we live.

I hope this series of articles has encouraged people to look about them, at the shops and streets they see every day in this very ordinary suburb, and think about the 1000s of people who were here before them – how they lived and worked and where they came from.

My thanks go to Philip Grant of Wembley History Society, who helped with sourcing images for these articles and making the articles ‘online ready’, to Brent Archives for help with images, and to the PCL volunteers who gave me ideas on what should go into this final Part.

Chris Coates, Preston Community Library

This is the end of one local history series, but there will be another beginning next weekend. Will it be about an area in the north of the borough or in the south, or perhaps somewhere in the middle?