Designated 'school service' buses on morning 18, 83, 92, 112 & 483 routes plus extra buses on some other routes from Tuesday - details

From next Tuesday, September 1st, Transport for London will be running some extra buses on busy routes and some 'school priority' buses.  There will be extra 206 buses from Kilburn/Harlesden to Wembley in the morning (but not in the afternoon), school priority - school service - buses (with all seats occupied) on the busy 18 route from North Paddington/Harlesden/Stonebridge to Wembley/Sudbury and they will also run on the 83, 92, 112 and 483 routes. Please check below for other routes and to see if there are school services on your route in the afternoon.

From TfL

Around 250,000 schoolchildren use London's buses to get to and from school. So, from 1 September until the end of October 2020 we're adding over 200 extra buses to the network - across low frequency routes and existing school routes.

We're also prioritising some of our bus services for school travel. Government guidance allows for all seats to be occupied on these 'school services', doubling their capacity, which is currently limited due to necessary social distancing.

These 'school services' will be clearly signed and are planned to operate on:

• All our existing school services
• Every other bus on key routes from 07:30-09:30 and 14:30-16:30 on weekdays
• Some additional buses on less frequent routes

We ask that schoolchildren travelling without adults travel on the designated school services where these are provided, in order to help ensure space for customers on other services. Customers must also wear face coverings unless exempt for age (under 11 years), health or equality reasons - including on the 'school services'.

By doing all of this we will help increase capacity and free up other buses for other customers including your staff, and also help enable London's young people to make safe and reliable journeys to and from school.

A reminder that Zip Oyster Photocards are still valid for all schoolchildren and that free and discounted travel entitlements haven't changed. Please note that if children move between 11-15 and 16+ cards they will still need to register for the next card.

Extra buses and school service prioritisation from September

We are committed to helping London's schools reopen safely in September 2020. Around 250,000 school children use London's buses to get to and from school. So, from 1 September until the end of October 2020 we're planning to add over 200 extra buses to the network.

We're also planning to prioritise some of our bus services for school travel. Government guidance allows for all seats to be occupied on these 'school services', doubling their capacity, which is currently limited due to necessary social distancing.

These 'school services' will be clearly signed and are planned to operate on:

• 600-numbered school routes

• Some of our busiest high-frequency routes in both the AM and PM peak

• On certain low-frequency routes which we forecast to have a demand that exceeds the current capacity of buses.

We ask that schoolchildren travelling without adult's travel on the designated school services where these are provided, in order to help ensure space for customers on other services.

We will continually review how our network is operating to ensure our approach is working and meeting demand as best as possible. Check this page  LINK regularly for the latest information on our services and safer travel guidance.

By doing all of this we will help increase capacity and free up other buses for other customers including your staff, and also help enable London's young people to make safe and reliable journeys to and from school.

Routes with extra buses being provided:
20, 50, 89, 110, 116, 117, 119, 122, 130, 138, 142, 152, 153, 167, 181, 186, 187, 201, 203, 206, 215, 216, 223, 225, 226, 228, 232, 233, 234, 246, 251, 255, 265, 269, 272, 273, 275, 282, 287, 289, 290, 294, 298, 300, 309, 313, 315, 317, 322, 323, 324, 325, 331, 339, 346, 352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 359, 360, 362, 367, 379, 372, 376, 377, 380, 382, 383, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 401, 405, 406, 407, 411, 412, 413, 418, 428, 434, 444, 455, 462, 463, 465, 470, 481, 484, 487, 491, 492, 493, 496, 498, 499, 533, A10, B11, B12, B13, B14, B15, B16, E5, E7, E10, E11, G1, H17, H18, H20, H25, H26, H28, K1, K4, K5, P5, P12, P13, R1, R2, R3, R4, R6, R7, R8, R68, S3, S4, U3, W5, W9, W16 and X26.

Plus school routes 601, 602, 603, 608, 612, 613, 617, 624, 626, 627, 628, 629, 631, 632, 635, 638, 640, 642, 643, 646, 652, 653, 655, 656, 657, 661, 662, 663, 664, 665, 667, 669, 671, 674, 675, 677, 678, 679, 683, 684, 685, 686, 687, 688, 689, 690, 692, 696, 697, 698, 699

Routes with school priority buses running between 0730 and 0930:
1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 18, 21, 25, 33, 34, 35, 36, 39, 41, 44, 46, 47, 51, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 70, 71, 80, 81, 83 85, 86, 87, 92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 99, 102, 103, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 118, 120, 121, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 131, 132, 133, 134, 136, 137, 140, 143, 144, 145, 147, 150, 151, 154, 155, 157, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164. 165, 170, 172, 174, 176, 177, 180, 184, 185, 188, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 197, 198, 199, 200, 202, 204, 207, 212, 213, 217, 219, 220, 221, 222, 226, 227, 229, 231, 235, 236, 237, 244, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 256, 257, 258, 262, 263, 267, 270, 271, 276, 279, 283, 284, 285, 288, 296, 299, 301, 307, 312, 316, 319, 320, 321, 326, 329, 330, 332, 333, 337, 343, 344, 357, 358, 363, 364, 366, 371, 379, 380, 381, 391, 393, 410, 417, 419, 422, 425, 427, 428, 430, 432, 433, 440, 450, 452, 453, 466, 468, 469, 472, 473, 483, 484, 486, 490, 607, B12, C10, C11, D6, E1, E2, E6, E8, E9, EL2, EL3, H10, H19, H22, H37, H91, H98, K2, K3, P4, R11, R70, S1, U1, U2, U4, U5, W3, W4, W6, W7, W8, W11, W13, W15 and W19.

Routes with school priority buses running between 1430 and 1630:
25, 33, 39, 46, 51, 54, 58, 61, 65, 80, 81, 92, 93, 95, 96, 110, 111, 112, 114, 120, 123, 124, 125, 126, 131, 132, 140, 143, 144, 147, 152, 157, 162, 163, 164, 165, 170, 184, 190, 192, 193, 200, 208, 213, 217, 221, 227, 229, 234, 235, 237, 238, 244, 248, 256, 261, 267, 270, 276, 279, 281, 284, 296, 316, 320, 326, 358, 364, 366, 371, 410, 419, 427, 433, 440, 444, 450, 469, 490, 607, C11, D6, E6, H10, H19, H22, H37, H98, K2, K3, P4, R11, R70, S1, U1, U2, W3, W4, W6, W8, W13, W16 and W19.

Vital Zoom Webinar on Climate Crisis and Education - September 13th

Good to see my union continuing to focus on climate change, pedagogy and curriculum despite  having to deal with the twists and turns of government guidance for the September school start and the lack of an effective test, track and trace system.

I met people from Rethinking Schools when researching for my MA in Urban Education during a trip to the United States  in the '80s and attended their conference that united educatators, parents and community activists. They do brilliant work and it is amazing amazing that they are still going decades later.

The Brent is YOUR river. Help restore it this Saturday. Numbers limited.

From  Thames 21

 Our next event at Quainton will be on Sat the 29^th August. See poster above, please remember that we are limiting the number of participants to make it safe for everyone, so please book in advance.

This time the plan is to continue cleaning up the river and the banks to remove as much litter as we can before we continue the vegetation management and river restoration works (after the end of the bird nesting season and all the permits are in place).

The river restoration part of the project is planned for the coming months (Sept/Oct/Nov/Dec 2020), please prepare as we need your help to restore the natural processes of this section of the River Brent for people and wildlife. See a summary of the restoration plan above.

In addition, we would like to invite you to join our citizen science monitoring program. We are continuing to recruit volunteers interested in learning new skills and in monitoring various aspects of the river Brent: water quality, physical habitat, aquatic biota, or to take fixed point photographs to help us evaluate the river’s health (both before and after restoration). Let me know if you are interested and I can send you more information on training, monitoring frequency, dates, etc..

caroline.pinto@thames21.org.uk

IOPC Director's 'deep concern' as 6 more officers are investigated for misconduct re photographing of Fryent murder victims' bodies

From the Independent Office for Police Conduct

An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation into allegations of misconduct in a public office after inappropriate photographs were taken at a murder crime scene in Wembley in June 2020 has been expanded.

Over the last two months, evidence has emerged revealing further allegations of misconduct linked to a single London police station in the North East Command.

The IOPC has been conducting a criminal investigation into serious allegations of misconduct in a public office following a referral from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 19 June. The investigation relates to allegations that inappropriate photographs were taken at a homicide crime scene in Wembley and were subsequently shared with a small number of others.

As part of this investigation, two Metropolitan Police constables were arrested by IOPC investigators on Monday 22 June and later released pending further investigation. The evidence obtained in the investigation has been passed to the Met Police for their consideration.

However, during the course of the original investigation, the IOPC’s inquiries have resulted in six further MPS officers being advised they are under investigation for misconduct.

The allegations are that the officers were aware of, or had either separately received or viewed the photographs. The six officers are under investigation for failing to either challenge or report these matters.

The investigation has also uncovered further alleged misconduct breaches of the standards of professional behaviour for a small number of officers which include honesty and integrity, and equality and diversity.  These alleged breaches are not related to the murder investigation.

A number of other lines of enquiry are still being looked at by the IOPC. The IOPC continues to liaise closely with the family.

IOPC Director for London Sal Naseem said:

I am deeply concerned by the issues emerging from our investigation.

Policing is founded on community consent, confidence and cooperation. The public have a right to expect high standards of professional behaviour from police. These allegations, if true, breach that trust and may point to more serious issues around the organisational culture, which we will also be looking at.

The evidence we have seen provides a salient reminder to all police officers to take responsibility for addressing wrongdoing and upholding professional standards in their own ranks, and their obligation to speak out if they see unacceptable behaviour.

Brent Council and L&Q Homes respond to the South Kilburn scandal

Well done to  Adam Shaw, the local democracy reporter on the Ealing Times in getting a response to the issues raised by Lucie Gutfreund about poor conditions at her South Kilburn home in a guest post on Wembley Matters over the weekend HERE.

The full report in the Ealing Times can be found HERE but this is a summary of the responses from L&Q Homes and Brent Council:

L&Q apologised for any inconvenience caused by the building issues at the new homes and said improvement works are ongoing, with the communal garden set to be reseeded in October. 

A spokeswoman for L&Q added it would meet with some residents over a recent £650 increase to charges, which it said were brought on by an undercharge by energy provider EDF and council ground rent costs. 

On the cladding issue, she said: “Unfortunately, as we own so many buildings affected by the Government guidance on fire safety, we’re not able to inspect, test, and then carry out works on them all at once. 

“Instead we must prioritise our buildings based on risk. Our highest risk buildings, defined by height, occupancy and building materials, among other factors, will be inspected first.”

She added the group is “already responding to an enquiry from residents about the building materials used in the construction of this property”. 

Cllr Eleanor Southwood, who is responsible for housing and welfare reform at Brent Council, said it is in contact with L&Q and is writing to residents to make them aware of how they can put forward complaints or concerns.

She said: “I’m really sorry that these issues persist and understand residents’ frustration. 

“It’s incredibly important to us that people feel safe and secure in their homes and we expect all registered providers operating in the borough to meet residents’ expectations of them.”

Cheaper licences to be brought in for pavement tables and chairs outside premises in Brent

Brent Council is to introduce a £100 licence fee for businesses to place chairs and tables for customers outside their premises.  This is a cheaper option that the current £81 fee and  monthly payment of £91.

The change follows government legislation aimed at supporting the hospitality industry during the Covid crisis while they recover from lockdown and to enable them to trade safely while social distancing measures remain in place.

The licensing conditions will aim to keep free pavement acess for pedestrians and particularly for people with a disability.  There will be an application process and a consultation period of one week.

There are likely to be a considerable number of new applications and the council has set the fee at the highest possible under the new legislation:

There is a risk that if no fee or a lesser fee was charged, the council would receive a higher number of applications for pavement licences. Not only would this generate a significantly increased volume of work for the Licencing Team, it may also lead to an over population of businesses offering outside table and chairs having a detrimental effect on the character and space available on our high streets and a rise in anti-social behaviour or other complaints.

The licences will not apply beyond September 2021.

The scheme will impose costs on the council:

It is proposed that additional members of staff will be required to assist with the extra work generated from the processing of these applications and it is intended to appointment two posts which would cost in the region of £60k for a six month period to assist with administering the new duties arising from this Act.

Detailed Guidance on applications and consultation process can be found HERE

NEU responds to PHE England report /Chief Medical Officer comments on return to school

 Commenting on today's report by PHE England and the Chief Medical Officer's comments on the full return of schools and colleges, Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary, of the National Education Union, said: 

 

"The NEU agrees with the Chief Medical Officer about the benefits a return to full time education will have for children and young peoples education and well being. 

 

"We believe that it is vital that the Government must take every step it can both to allow this wider re-opening and to keep the R rate below 1.

 

"Today’s report by PHE England shows that there were only a small number of outbreaks in schools after the partial wider opening in June, but as the report itself acknowledges there are limitations on the generalisability of its findings - both because there was little data from secondary schools and because in primary schools much smaller ‘bubble” sizes were possible in the summer. 

 

"It is very important that such monitoring studies are maintained during the period of wider school opening.

 

"Schools and colleges are currently doing all they can to ensure their buildings are as COVID secure as possible, as well as dealing with the fallout from the exams fiasco.

 

"However school staff, parents and pupils are being sorely let down by Government because of a lack of a Plan B and of ensuring robust track trace and test is in place throughout the country. 

 

"We believe the Government is negligent in the extreme. 

 

"Schools and colleges need to know what should happen if an outbreak of the virus occurs in individual schools or more widely with either national, regional or local spikes. Government advice needs to cover the possible self-isolation of bubbles and, in extremis, moving to rotas or to more limited opening. It needs to cover advice to heads about the protections needed for staff in high risk categories if infection rates rise.

 

"Government should be employing more teachers and seeking extra teaching spaces to allow education to continue in a Covid secure manner if infections rise. This should include employment of student teachers who have finished their courses and not yet found jobs, as well as mobilisation of supply staff."

UPDATED - SCANDALOUS! Brent Council accused of colluding in L&Q's leaseholder exploitation and neglect on 'flagship' South Kilburn Estate new build

For some time now I have seen increasingly desperate messages on Twitter pleading to  Muhammed Butt, Brent Council and L&Q Homes to do something about the state of a new building on the much vaunted regenerated South Kilburn Estate.  The pleas have been ignored so I have offered Lucie Gutfreund, founder of Homeowners of L&Q,  a platform on which to make her case.

This is Lucie's guest post:

Bourne Place with unidentified black cladding

Buying my first home in 2013 was a joyous occasion for me. I worked hard to be finally able to afford a small one bedroom flat on a 25-year mortgage. I couldn’t wait to move into the brand new and shiny Bourne Place development in South Kilburn, phase 1 of the regeneration project partnership of Brent Council and housing association L&Q. The brochure was promising: cost-effective energy through communal heating system, green landscaped spaces and a positive picture of a mixed tenure development, residents on different incomes, with the social purpose of bringing communities together.

I was very naive.

Window Panels

The shininess of my new home was quickly overshadowed by the reality. It didn’t take long before my flat was flooded from the mains; the rubber seals completely decomposed within a couple of years; something my plumber said he had never seen before. I noticed creeping wetness and mould all around the external walls of our block. Since the first winter I have battled with intermittent hot water; at best I would get about 30 seconds of hot water between November and March. I was left without hot water and heating for the majority of the last winter and even through the first months of the pandemic.

Service charges seemed reasonable at the point of sale at £1,100 a year, even though still a bit high considering I am in a ground floor flat with my own entrance and receive no cleaning or day to day maintenance of my property by L&Q. I don’t have access to communal areas of the building. Now I am being asked to pay £2,200 a year, plus  an extra £1,000 to pay this autumn due to L&Q’s overspend last year. That’s £3,200 to pay yearly on top of my mortgage, utility bills and council tax. I can’t afford this. The costs are even more obscene if your flat’s access is via communal areas; £4200 with service charge and overspend combined for one bedroom flat.

Leaks

We receive appalling service for the charges we are asked to pay. Maintenance is sporadic and often non existent. At one point we had mushrooms growing in communal areas from unattended leaks. Lift cables rusted in a mere few years and had to be changed and we were charged for it. We had rodents and ant infestation. Most landscaping died; we received a revamp of the grounds last year upon my years long complaints but by now most has died off again. Residents’ complaints get ignored and property managers, who change yearly. are nowhere to be seen. Staff on call lines are rude and dismissive and treat us like pests. Random additional amounts of £s are sometimes taken from residents' bank accounts via direct debit.

'Landscaping' 2019

New builds are sold at a premium price due to an assurance that there will be no major costs because the new build warranty is there - usually for 10 years. For years, L&Q would dismiss our concerns about building defects. A property manager would go as far as stating that leaking balconies are architect’s design. When balcony doors started falling off door frames, we were told that we are breaching manufacturer’s guidelines by leaving the doors open - i.e. that we should not be using the doors for what they are intended for. And that L&Q are responsible only for the actual door but we, as homeowners, are responsible for the frame. Eventually it became clear that neither the housing association or the warranty provider have any intention to pay for the repair of defects or do everything possible to avoid submitting a claim to their warranty partners.

Rusted Balcony

Eventually one of our neighbours paid for a survey of her leaky balcony. It finally gave us the proof that there are defects. Another one and a half years on since an estate-wide building survey was finally arranged by L&Q, we are yet to see the numerous problems fixed. We are dismayed by how our blocks could have ever been approved on completion by inspectors.

The communal heating system, promising efficiency and green energy, is another lie we were sold. Under the leasehold system residents do not actually own any communal equipment. L&Q own our communal heating system which means that we have no consumer rights to choose the energy provider. L&Q set up their own in-house energy company, L&Q Energy, and they force onto us their monopoly energy provision at any rate they please and with no service or rate explanation agreement. Worse, they also choose the supplier of electricity for the boilers and the pump as well as for the maintenance. This year they served our three blocks a bill for £138,000 for electricity and maintenance combined. This means a cost of over £1,000 per flat for the privilege of simply being connected to a communal heating system every year.  Energy charges come on top.

Rising Damp in Communal Areas

With the unfolding cladding scandal following the Grenfell disaster, we were in for a big shock last year when we found out our properties are now nil-valued, unmortgageable and unsaleable and potentially a fire hazard. We do have cladding and unknown fire safety status of our insulation and balcony materials. L&Q refuse to conduct the necessary survey, saying our block is the least of their priority being a low-rise and that it can take years for them to survey and remediate all their buildings. The costs are likely to fall in our laps too as the building warranty does not cover cladding defects in buildings completed prior to the amended fire safety regulations in 2018. We despair, realising we have fallen into a trap. We were sold a home, a product which was faulty, and we are now facing being asked to pay to make our homes safe. The new build warranty coming with our new homes is not worth the paper it is written on. We are trapped until our homes are made safe and we pay tens of thousands of pounds for it.

This year we found out that we are also affected by the ground rent scandal. The Competition and Market Authority published their report on leasehold mis-sells and abuses, with one aspect being unjust increases in ground rents. Brent council, via L&Q, sold us a lease with RPI ground rent increases, which the CMA now calls an exploitative practice and a mis-sell. If, at some point in the future, our ground rent exceeds £1,000, our homes will legally turn into assured tenancies and will become unsaleable. We are pleased to hear that the CMA will be bringing prosecutions and we hope they will shed the light on social landlords and councils as well.

Brent Council, the mastermind behind the South Kilburn regeneration project, our freeholder of land and partner to L&Q, has expressed little interest in helping us. Muhammed Butt, Brent council leader, states that our cladding problems have nothing to do with the council. Despite the fact that the council collects £18,000 a year from leaseholders in the three blocks for ground rent, making Brent our landlord, Mr. Butt doesn’t think that compels the council to even speak up on behalf their residents.

Discoloured Exterior Brickwork

A local housing councillor who visited our estate last year dismissed the majority of our defects as ‘just fine’ because her father is a builder and therefore she knows. Even though we have a building survey saying otherwise. We were promised support but a year on we have not seen any real action from the council and staff responsible for Brent’s relationship with housing associations continue to change. When we went to press in 2019 to complain about the state of our estate, Brent council stated in response in Brent & Kilburn Times, that L&Q are their trusted partner and ‘provider of quality housing’ and hence dismissing anything our residents had reported.

Despite our misery, Mr. Butt is proud to display his name on the walls of our development on a plaque celebrating our estate as a milestone in South Kilburn regeneration project. He seems to care little that behind these walls live actual residents, people who were mis-sold costly and potentially unsafe leasehold tenancies; homes with numerous defects under false promises of high-quality homes based on the South Kilburn Regeneration Master Plan. For us, our homes have become a noose around our necks and a major source of unhappiness and mental anguish when dealing daily with the rogue and incompetent housing association, the social landlord and partner of Brent Council.

From Anna O'Neill (@Annareporting)

Some residents have said they would need to look for second jobs to be able to pay for the ever increasing costs of service charges and our communal heating system. I have given up two years of my life raising awareness and fighting for our homes to be fixed and maintained by L&Q. I am getting nowhere. Some days I am finding this extremely hard. And there is no sight of end to this abuse or having our homes finally fixed.

The joint landlords of our homes, the housing association L&Q and Brent Council, continue to ignore us and exploit us financially. After all, that is what the intention of the cross-subsidy model of social housing is: sell a leaseholder a dream of homeownership, make them a mere tenant with no rights or control over their homes and use them as cash cows to fund social housing, under a threat of forfeiting their home if they don’t pay. Leasehold is abuse and councils actively participate in this web of exploitation.

Lucie Gutfreund
founder of Homeowners of L&Q

Since this article was published on Saturday it has nee folowed up by Harrow Times and the Brent and Kilburn Times and other media outlets.

The issue regarding EWS1 forms has been taken up by the LBC radio station.  These are the forms that have to be completed to indicate a property is safe before the owner can sell.  Without the form the owner is effectively imprisoned in a worthless property. LINK

BBC Radio London interviewed Lucie on Thursday August 27th in a programme about the leasehold scandal.  The main segment begins at 19.56 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08mx67k