Shocking report on impact of Covid19 on Brent's BAME residents will be scrutinised on Tuesday

 

With warnings of a second wave of Covid19 infections a report going to the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday September 15th (Virtual 6pm) assumes great importance LINK. The committee continues under the chairmanship of Cllr Ketan Sheth but with some changes in personnel including the inclusion of veteran health campaigner Cllr Gaynor Lloyd, elected at the Barnhill by-election. They will have the huge responsibility of assessing lessons from the way the pandemic has been handled so far, preparations for dealing with a second wave, and addressing the health and social inequalities revealed by the disproportionate impact on Brent’s BAME population. A task, I would suggest, much more of  a priority for Brent Council than the renaming of a local park.

 

These are some key extracts from the report:

 

BAME populations in England and Wales are younger than white populations and as age is a strong influence on death rates, it is important to take account of age. When this is done:

·Black males are 4.2 times more likely to die from a COVID-19-related death than White males;

·Black females are 4.3 times more likely to die from a COVID-19 related death than White females

 

As BAME populations tend to be more deprived, it is important to adjust for the influence of deprivation in looking at the impact of ethnicity. Doing so allows us to compare the risk for a black male living in an area of deprivation compared to one living in an affluent area: 

 

·Black males are 1.9 times more likely to die from a COVID-19-related death than White males;

·Black females are 1.9 times more likely to die from a COVID-19 related death than White females.

 

After taking into account age and socioeconomic circumstances or deprivation:

 

·Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnic group males are 1.8 times more likely to die from a COVID-19-related death than White males;

·Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnic group females are 1.6 times more likely to die from a COVID-19-related death than White females

 

Possible reasons for the disproportionate impact

 

There are three possible reasons for the disproportionate impact of COVID on BAME communities:

1.Increased exposure to the virus

2.Increased susceptibility to severe disease

3.Access to and use of health care

 

Exposure to the virus

1.Brent BAME population are high users of public transport. Buses in particular remained crowded during the pandemic as did bus stops in the Wembley and Harlesden area.

2.Brent BAME communities have high levels of inter-generational living with those at risk including the elderly and those with long-term conditions being exposed more than those in smaller households.

3.BAME communities have high attendance to temples, churches, mosques and other places of worship with large communal activities such as services, weddings and funerals. These were implicated in spread elsewhere and it is likely were these were factors in the early part of the epidemic

4.BAME community members are less likely to be working from home and often in zero hour contracts or cash in hand situations therefore less likely to be able to social distance or self- isolate.

5.BAME community members are more likely to be frontline workers and less likely to be managers and able to influence their working conditions.

 

Susceptibility to severe infection

1.While levels of adult obesity are relatively low in Brent (compared to England), 50% of residents are overweight or obese. It is estimated that over 11% of the adult population has diabetes, compared to an England rate of 8.5%. Diabetes is more prevalent in Black and South Asian patients, and our high levels of diabetes may be one reason for the higher death rate seen locally.

2.Fewer patients are recorded on their GP records as having high blood pressure than is the case for England (12.4% compared to 14%). While this may indicate a lower prevalence, the size of our Black and South Asian communities who would be expected to have higher rates of hypertension might suggest under diagnosis. Of those who are diagnosed, significantly fewer patients have their blood pressure controlled in Brent than nationally.

 

Access to and use of health services

1.It has been hypothesised that more deprived communities may have poorer access to health care and that this could have played a part in the pattern of mortality (the inverse care law). Early in the pandemic, NHS England instructed primary care to move away from face to face appointments in favour of telephone and on line access. There was a concern that this model of care may have disadvantaged the digitally excluded.

2.There is some evidence from elsewhere that Black men were particularly unwell on presentation to hospital and more likely to be admitted direct to ITU. This could indicate a reluctance to seek help earlier or a more rapid progression of disease in this group of patients. There is no evidence of poorer outcomes for BAME patients admitted to secondary care locally. However the completeness of recording ethnicity limits our ability to analyse this.

 

Themes from the Church End and Alperton community engagement events

 

Church End

 ·Participants praised Northwick Park Hospital’s response to the pandemic.

·People are still afraid to visit public buildings.

·Some of are not fully informed of information/advice therefore educating residents is crucial.

·Many people are not wearing masks, particularly on Church Road. Messages around facemasks need to be clear without offending people.

·Question of whether health services play a key role for self-care and those with long-term conditions (such as diabetes and hypertension)

·Need to invest in Church Road and the local community, as the area is unappealing. This is reflected by local drug dealing, crime, poor employment opportunities and run down businesses.

·Many people face multiple issues even before the pandemic including stress and financial issues.

·New people are approaching foodbanks.

·People tested for Covid-19 are not reflective of the local community – question of what we are doing to encourage people to take tests.

·Young people face mental health issues, which is a primary reason for large gatherings and house parties in the area. Young people are aware of the risks but they are battling with their mental health. Need role models/influential people from area through to communicate through songs and messages. Need to think about education, prospects and access to networks.

·Access to GPs online has been difficult, especially for those whose first language is not English. Confidence in services is low.

·Older people are more isolated now.

·Worry that people are being forgotten about if they need medical help but don’t engage with health services or local support. A helpline was suggested so people’s needs can be explored to signpost them to support and services. Need to build local people’s knowledge.

·Concern over people who are not eligible for support services but housed in HMOs.

·Educating and raising knowledge of landlords will help maintain hygiene standards.

·Need to hear from those who have lost people. ·Attendees are happy to be a part of the solution by working with us as community champions.

 

Alperton

·Messaging needs to be reinforced and shaped for people who do not speak English as their first language.

·Channelling tailored messages through places of worship and Asian radios would be effective. Could work with the Multi-faith forum.

·Measures are not being followed on high road - displays and signboards are insufficient. Signs on shops are usually handwritten. Some shops are doing well which could be replicated by other shops.

·Need to work with community leaders to identify vulnerable people eg create register of HMOs.

·Strategy needs to focus on prevention and long-term outcomes.

·Community is pessimistic as opposed to central government, which changes guidelines frequently.

·Many organic community groups exist which need to be engaged with.

·More enforcement needed where people aren’t following measures.

·Easy to get GP appointments, however many people are nervous. They need health services but uptake is low. Lack of internet and no phone line is another issue.

·National Covid-19 test system was down and busy highlighting the barriers to securing a test. Testing may not be reflective of local communities – may need to encourage people to take tests and raise awareness of sites.

·Issue of people having symptoms but not getting tested due to risk of losing job or income.

·There are opportunities despite the negatives – people are walking and being active whilst maintaining social distancing measures.

·Attendees look forward to working with us to find solution

The meeting can be observed here: https://www.brent.gov.uk/your-council/democracy-in-brent/local-democracy/live-streaming/

 

The Welsh Harp Reservoir Story – Part 4

Fourth of the guest series by local historian Philip Grant

The Welsh Harp Reservoir Story – Part 4

Thank you for joining me again, as we sail towards the finishing line of our local reservoir’s story. If you missed Part 3, you will find it here.

1. A sailing race on the Welsh Harp Reservoir, 2011.

Sailing became an important use of the Welsh Harp in the years after the Second World War. Several large companies, such as Handley Page and Smiths Industries from Cricklewood, set up their own sailing clubs for employees. Others were local organisations, such as the Wembley Sailing Club (formed in 1953) and the Sea Cadets. The various clubs have since come together under an umbrella organisation, the Welsh Harp Sailing Association, based at Birchen Grove, which leases the reservoir for all water-based sports and leisure activities.

2. Sir Frederick Handley Page (left) at a dinghy naming ceremony for his company's sailing club, c. 1954.
    (Photo courtesy of the Handley Page Association)

The reservoir had come into public ownership in 1948, as part of the post-war Labour Government’s nationalisation of transport industries, which eventually saw it managed by the British Waterways Board. Under another environmental innovation from that time, the reservoir and its shoreline were made a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1950, particularly for their importance to rare bird species, but also for the plant life at the water’s edge.

Most of the land around the Welsh Harp was still in a mixture of private and local authority ownership. I mentioned in Part 3 that Willesden Urban District Council had purchased 40 acres of land on the north side in 1928. We saw in the articles on Church End and Chapel End that Willesden had opened a new cemetery in 1893, but because of the district’s large population, this was already filling up. It planned to put a cemetery here, but Kingsbury Council objected, saying that it wanted the area used for housing. After a public inquiry, the Government agreed to loan Willesden the money for a cemetery, but said it must sell Kingsbury 14 acres nearest to the reservoir for recreational use. This later became the Welsh Harp Open Space.

3. Willesden's 1950 plans for its Kingsbury Lawn Cemetery, and Garden of Rest. (From the National Archive)

After Kingsbury merged with Wembley in 1934, Willesden’s plans were further delayed, as the new council tried to buy the land from it, for its own cemetery needs. The only thing that the two councils managed to agree on, when war came in 1939, was that they could both use what is now the Birchen Grove allotments site for mass civilian burials, if the need arose (thankfully, it didn’t!). Under the new post-war planning regulations, Willesden applied again in 1950 to use their land as a burial ground. Approval was eventually given and their Kingsbury Lawn Cemetery was consecrated in 1954, with the superintendent’s house and chapel built by 1956. Despite this, the ornamental gates at the top of Birchen Grove have never welcomed a funeral! 

 

4. Sculling finalists and the British eight at the Women’s European Rowing Championships, 1960.
    (Source: Brent Archives – Willesden Chronicle photographers’ negatives)

On some websites, you will read that the Welsh Harp was the venue for the rowing events at the 1948 London Olympic Games. That’s incorrect (in fact, they were held at Henley, on the River Thames), but the reservoir did host the 1960 Women’s European Rowing Championships (“click” for a detailed article on these). That event was organised by Willesden Borough Council, and the competitors were accommodated at the then recently opened John Kelly Girls School (now part of Crest Academy), just up Dollis Hill from Neasden Recreation Ground.

5. Brent Regatta ad. from 1966, and the 1969 inter-Council rowing race. (Brent Archives online image 9787)

The Council had run a Whit Monday Willesden Regatta on the reservoir for many years, and this continued as the Brent Regatta after it merged with Wembley in 1965. One of the highlights for the crowds was watching teams of local councillors from a number of London Boroughs taking part in rowing race over a 500-metre course. The photo above shows the Brent boat winning the 1969 race – I wonder who would be in the crew if the race was still held today (any nominations?). This annual bank holiday regatta ended in the early 1970s.

 

 6. Two views of activities at the Youth Sailing Base. (Images from Brent Archives)

It was not just adults who could enjoy water sports on the Welsh Harp. In 1964, the year before it was disbanded, Middlesex County Council opened a Youth Sailing Base on the northern arm of the reservoir, where thousands of young people learned to sail or canoe safely. Another important facility for local youngsters came in 1973, when Brent Council opened the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre (“WHEEC”) on part of the proposed cemetery site. A large nursery, to grow plants for Brent’s Parks Service, also opened on the site in 1977.

 

 7. The 1956 cemetery chapel building, later used by the WHEEC and (here in 2011) by Energy Solutions.

The importance of the Welsh Harp for nesting water birds had long attracted ornithologists to the area. When proposals for a marina, close to a key nesting area near the Welsh Harp public house, were put forward in the early 1970s, a number of them came together to oppose this. The Welsh Harp Conservation Group was formed in 1972, and their volunteer members have helped to look after the habitats on and around the reservoir ever since (in a similar way to the Barn Hill Conservation Group, featured in my Fryent Country Park Story).

 8. Welsh Harp Conservation Group volunteers at work, winter 2008 and summer 2011. (L. by Roy Beddard)

As well as looking after nesting rafts and bird hides, and the wider vegetation of the area to encourage wildlife of all sorts, the group has played an important part in recording the natural history of the reservoir, and sharing this with visitors. From a first guided walk on a bank holiday in 1976, they expanded this to provide monthly wildlife walks. When my children were young (in the late 1980s or early 1990s) our family benefitted from one of these walks. For the first time in my life I got to see beautiful Great Crested Grebes, an unforgettable sight!

 

9. Great Crested Grebes, courting and nesting on the Welsh Harp. (Photos by Roy Beddard and Leo Batten)

While there was relative peace and quiet for the bird nesting grounds at the eastern end of the reservoir, there were major developments taking place not far away, at Staples Corner. The narrow roadway under the Victorian railway viaduct was causing major traffic problems on the North Circular Road, especially when it was planned to start the M1 motorway from here. A massive Brent Cross flyover was built in the 1960s, to carry east-west through-traffic over the top of this bottleneck. You can see this in the photo below, and I have added part of a 1921 image to help show the line of the viaduct, which you can just see in the modern picture.

 

 

 10. Staples Corner, with North Circular Road flyover and the railway viaduct (including 1921 comparison).

You may be wondering what happened to the Welsh Harp public house, which featured in Part 2 of this story. It had been replaced by a more modern building in the 1930s (the fate of a number of historic inns in our area), but it fell victim to more roadworks when the north-south A5 flyover was built over Staples Corner in the 1970s. It was demolished in 1971, and its site was where the north-bound slip road, from Staples Corner towards West Hendon, passes the entrance to Priestley Way, a service road for a small industrial estate. What a sad epitaph for the inn which gave the Brent Reservoir its more popular name!

11. The 1930s Welsh Harp public house in 1971, and the site as it is now. (1971 photo by Geoffrey Hewlett)

Going back to the reservoir, this does have to be drained occasionally, both for major maintenance work on the dam and to remove the rubbish which unfortunately gets dumped in it. One remarkable feature when this happens is that the original winding course of the River Brent can still be seen, just as it was when it marked the boundary between Kingsbury and Hendon parishes to the north, and Willesden parish to the south, when the land was first flooded to create the reservoir in 1835.

 

12. The River Brent flowing through the drained reservoir in 1974. (Photo by Leo Batten)

In 2012, responsibility for the reservoir was passed to the Canal and River Trust, a charity set up when the Government abolished the publicly-owned British Waterways Board. Questions were raised about how safe the reservoir might be in the event of a severe storm, after a similar Canal Age dam at Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire was in danger of collapse in 2019. Luckily, it emerged that as well as regular checks, further reinforcement of the dam with concrete had been carried out in 2005-07, following detailed studies of how extreme heavy rainfall might affect the Welsh Harp reservoir, and the river downstream of it. Brent Council also issued a statement following the Toddbrook Reservoir emergency, with links to information for anyone who feels the need for reassurance.

Earlier, I mentioned facilities that had been set up for young people near the reservoir. Sadly, Barnet Council closed the Youth Sailing Base, which they inherited from Middlesex County Council, in 2004, and sold off its site to a developer for building luxury waterside apartments. Instructors from the Base went on to set up the Phoenix Canoe Club, so that there is still a place on the Welsh Harp where youngsters can enjoy this sport.

13. Pond dipping at the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre. (Photo courtesy of Harry Mackie)

The Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre went from strength to strength. Back in the 1980s, my daughters were among the thousands of local school children each year who have enjoyed learning about nature in a hands-on way, from enthusiastic experts. But the squeeze on local authority spending has also hit the former cemetery site. By the 1990s, Brent Council had closed its Parks Department nursery, which later reopened as the private Greenhouse (now Birchen Grove) Garden Centre. 

During the past ten years, cuts to funds allocated to youth services first saw the WHEEC receive financial support from the Careys construction group, then its threat of closure. Luckily this environmental “jewel in the crown”, celebrated in a 2015 Council video, was saved when Brent passed the Centre to the Thames 21 charity, under a Community Asset Transfer in 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed discovering more about “the Welsh Harp” in this series of articles. With all Brent’s Libraries now open again (with restricted hours), you can find even more information and pictures in Geoffrey Hewlett’s 2011 book, “Welsh Harp Reservoir Through Time”, in the local history section at ref. 942.185. 

14. The reservoir in 2010, and the cover of Geoffrey Hewlett's book. (Photo: London Canal Museum)

But it’s also a place to visit and enjoy, on our doorstep, if you can do so safely, whether for a walk, some wildlife watching or perhaps to learn to sail or paddle a canoe. After all, it is (officially) the Brent Reservoir!

Philip Grant

Next weekend we’ll take the No.32 northbound from the Priestley Way bus stop (by the site of the Welsh Harp Inn) for a one-off special article, then ride the same bus route southbound for a new local history series. Hop aboard “Wembley Matters” to find out where these journeys will take us.

Last Rights: The Case for Assisted Dying - NW London Virtual Book Tour September 16th

We’re taking our new book, Last Rights: The Case for Assisted Dying, on a virtual book tour. On Wednesday 16th September we'll be speaking to supporters in North West London.

Register today to hear Lloyd Riley, co-author of Last Rights: The Case for Assisted Dying & Policy and Research Manager at Dignity in Dying, discuss the ins and outs of writing the book and campaigning for assisted dying.

When: 18:30 - 19:30, Wednesday 16th September
Where: Online (register here)

RSVP here →

Lloyd will shed light on the book's findings to supporters of the campaign in the North West London area and what you can do locally to help. In this hour, we'll answer your questions, discuss ways to influence local decision makers and in particular invite any local people who have experience of terminal illness to speak out.

Last Rights: The Case for Assisted Dying is a call to arms for society to take an honest look at how we die in the UK. As the pandemic has exposed everything that is wrong in our relationship with dying, our assisted dying laws must be re-examined as the country begins to recover.

If, like us, you feel that we've been getting dying wrong in this country for far too long, please join us for this frank, insider discussion.

RSVP here →

Looking forward to seeing you there!

All the best,

Fran Hall 
Dignity in Dying

P.S. Join us for this fascinating discussion - register today!

Brent Council Cabinet, Scrutiny,and Planning Committee appointments

The full list of appointments to Brent Council committees has now been published ahead of Monday's Council AGM and can be viewed HERE

It confirms the unofficial list published by Wembley Matters earlier.  The Lib Dems remain unrepresented on any committee. The nominations will be rubber-stamped at the meeting.

Brent Planning Committee proceedings told in Tweets

 I tweeted proceedings of Monday's Planning Committee in real time and reproduce the three main items below to give you a flavour of the proceedings. The latest tweets appear first for each application.

The meeting started late, presumably this was the reason. Cllr Deneslow will be replaced at Monday's Council AGM by Cllr Kelcher.

 

CLAREMONT HIGH SCHOOL 3G PITCH
 

 

(Last tweet bove should be Claremont not Kingsbury. Kingsbury High School withdrew a similar application after opposition from residents)

BRIDGEWATER ROAD, ALPERTON

 

WATKIN ROAD, WEMBLEY PARK