WEMBLEY MATTERS News and views on local politics, the environment, climate change, culture and local history
Please do not travel to Wembley unless you have a ticket for Sunday’s game. We are asking residents to avoid booking COVID-19 testing at Brent Civic Centre on match day. Alternative testing sites can be found on our interactive map. Ticketholders should check the UEFA website for the latest information.
BBC information earlier this week:
Year 11 school students from Ark Elvin Academy today helped open the controversial Wembley Steps ahead of the first Euro2020 game at the stadium.
Raheem Sterling who attended Copland High School, the predecessor to Ark Elvin before an equally controversial decision to academise the school sent a message to the students.
Growing up in Brent, I could see the arch of Wembley Stadium from my home. A short walk away and a lot of work later, I’ve got to do what I love in the stadium and representing everyone who calls Brent home. I am so proud of where I grew up – our community and the growing number of new, accessible spaces for younger members of the community to play and discover their skills and passions.
Reacting to the announcement of a delay in implementaion of the NHS Digital GP Data sharing scheme, Robin Sharp, Chair of Brent Patient Voice said:
This is a small step in the right direction but the plans need a radical overhaul if they are to maintain confidence in the GP/patient relationship. Opting out is still advisable.
Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, responding to the news of the pause that the college had campaigned for said:
We’re pleased that the Government has announced a delay to the GPDPR programme following the concerns that the College, the BMA and others have raised over the past few weeks.
It is essential that this time is used to properly communicate with the public and with clinicians so that patients and GPs have trust in the programme. In principle, improved and more secure sharing of data for healthcare planning and research purposes is a good thing. We have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic just how important the appropriate use of GP patient data is in responding to a health crisis, but it is also important in normal times to plan for better overall service provision and public health strategies, and enhanced understanding of diseases and treatments for serious illness.
We want to see a comprehensive campaign, led by NHS Digital and accessible to all members of the public, which should include every patient being communicated individually with, clearly articulating the benefits and risks of data sharing so that patients can make a genuinely informed decision about whether they are happy for their data to be shared - and if they are not, how they can opt out.
The safety and confidentiality of data in general practice is paramount to GPs and our teams. Surveys show that most patients are happy for their data to be used for legitimate planning and research purposes, but this must be built around trust. What data will be shared, with which organisations, how and why this will be done - and in particular, what safeguards that are in place to ensure data is not used inappropriately - must be communicated effectively with patients and healthcare professionals, so that they have trust in the programme.
Euro 2020 signs are going up throughout the borough (The Paddocks) directing coaches to Fryent Way
An initial crowd limit of 22,500 at Wembley Stadium may well be increased for later dates depending on the progress of the Delta Covid19 variant and feedback from test events that were held over the last few weeks.
Welcome mural at Wembley Park station
13 June 2021
Wembley Stadium event - England v Croatia
13 June 2021, Kick off: 2pm, Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London HA9 0WS
England v Croatia will take place on Sunday 13 June 2021 at Wembley Stadium. Event day parking restrictions will be in place until midnight.
18 June 2021
Wembley Stadium event - England v Scotland
18 June 2021, 8pm, Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London HA9 0WS
England v Scotland takes place on Friday 18 June 2021. Event day parking restrictions will be in place until midnight.
22 June 2021
Wembley Stadium event - England v Czech Republic
22 June 2021, 8pm to 12am, Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London HA9 0WS
England v Czech Republic takes place on Tuesday 22 June 2021. Kick off is at 8pm and parking restrictions will be in place until midnight.
26 June 2021
Wembley Stadium event - Round of 16: 1A v 2C
26 June 2021, 8pm to 12am, Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London HA9 0WS
Round of 16: 1A v 2C takes place on Saturday 26 June 2021. Kick off is at 8pm and parking restrictions will be in place until midnight.
29 June 2021
Wembley Stadium event - Round of 16: 1D v 2F
29 June 2021, Kick off: 5pm, Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London HA9 0WS
Round of 16: 1D v 2F takes place on Tuesday 29 June 2021. Kick off is at 5pm and parking restrictions will be in place until midnight.
06 July 2021
Wembley Stadium event - Winner Quarter Final 2 v Winner Quarter Final 1
6 July 2021, 8pm to 12am, Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London HA9 0WS
Winner Quarter Final 2 v Winner Quarter Final 1 takes place on Tuesday 6 July 2021. Kick off is 8pm and parking restrictions will be in place until midnight.
7 July 2021
Wembley Stadium event - Winner of Quarter Final 4 v Winner Quarter Final 3
7 July 2021, 8pm to 12am, Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London HA9 0WS
Winner of Quarter Final 4 v Winner Quarter Final 3 takes place on Wednesday 7 July 2021. Kick off is 8pm and parking restrictions will be in place until midnight.
The mural beneath Bobby Moore Bridge, Olympic Way, Wembley Park
Dear Mr Grant,I have spoken to both the Leader of the Council and Councillor Nerva before responding to you, as you requested.The Council has taken your representations on this matter very seriously. It is not just Brent’s lawyers but also external legal advice which aligns with that of the council regarding Quintain’s right to advertise over the football mural.Because the Council values the mural very much and because we have requested of Quintain that it remain on view, and because they too value it, it has now been on display for a considerable period of time and has not been covered by advertising. Furthermore Quintain have confirmed to me in writing that they do not intend covering the mural for the remaining period of the lease.I concur with Ms Norman that we have spent enough time corresponding with you on this matter particularly given that the mural will remain on view and that is what you have sought to achieve.Yours sincerely,Carolyn DownsChief Executive
Congratulations Philip!
Kilburn Square potest over over-development threat to green space
An article in last Wednesday's Guardian LINK on growing opposition to London council's plans to meet housing quota by building on green space and playgrounds rang a bell with campaigners opposing plans to increase the amount of housing on the Kilburn Square Co-op council estate by over 80% with the potential loss of much valued green space.
Keith Anderson, Chair of Kilburn Village Residents' Association, was moved to write to the Guardian on how such proposals affected this corner of Brent close to the traffic laden polluted Kilburn High Road.
This is the letter that is awaiting publication:
Harriet Grant’s article (“London councils under fire for plans to build homes on play areas” June 2) struck a strong chord here in the South-Eastern corner of Brent.
I’m Chair of a Residents’ Association that includes the Kilburn Square Co-op – a mature, well-balanced, sociable estate with 246 flats. Council-owned, but managed by residents. Two-thirds Council tenants, one-third Leaseholders.
Last October, Brent announced to some residents a Plan for an extra 180 Council flats in an “Infill” development. Infill may be accepted jargon to housing insiders; but it’s a laughable euphemism in this case. Together with a new block completed last year, this Plan would increase the number of flats by over 80% compared with the original estate.
A 17-storey tower (right by the highly-polluted A5 Kilburn High Road), plus four further medium-rise blocks – removing green space and a number of mature trees, encroaching on a playground – does that sound familiar…?.
Our Association has been arguing that this would be serious over-development; the draft Local Plan had a suggestion, with limited elaboration, of a project on less than half this scale. This Plan would transform the Estate’s character and there’s no clear evidence that it would respect norms of amenity space per resident. We have so far been denied sight of any of the surveys and analyses on which the Plan is supposedly based. An extract from a pre-Covid parking survey showed it had wrongly assumed Brent residents can park in neighbouring Camden!
As elsewhere in London, Brent cites housing need and its ownership of this land – but how does that justify ignoring the wellbeing of all the current residents?
The project team’s attempts at pre-consultation on the estate have been ineffective: poor uptake for “Resident Panels” and a low response rate to a questionnaire; and questions merely about design details, with the overall scale a taboo subject.
Unlike the Southwark project, this one is not yet at formal Planning Application stage. So is there a ray of hope? Brent’s Cabinet Housing Lead has assured a local paper that “no decisions have yet been made” and the Director of Housing told a recent Scrutiny Committee meeting that Brent “would not want to force homes on anyone”; but there’s no sign of a resident ballot. Consultation with the wider community has been postponed while the Project team “review the designs”. That hardly sounds like a major rethink on the project scale…
Yours truly
Keith Anderson
Kilburn Village Residents’ Association
For full information about the Kilburn Square proposal see https://save-our-square.org/
The first proposals from the Boundary Commission on revised parliamentary constituencies are published today. The constituencies that will cover parts of Brent are now Kenton and Wembley West, Hendon and Golders Green, Brent Central and West Hampstead and Kilburn. The red lines above are constituency boundaries and green the borough boundary. Only Brent Central is wholly in Brent. We would have four MPs rather than the present 3. A significant part of Kingsbury becomes part of the Hendon and Golders Green constituency. Harlesden becomes part of West Hampstead and Kilburn.
An 8 week consultation period ending on August 2nd starts today LINK
The proposals. Click bottom right square to enlarge.
Follow these links for detailed zoomable maps:
Kenton and Wembley West https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-06-08-London-Initial-Proposals-46.-Kenton-and-Wembley-West-BC.pdf
Hendon and Golders Green https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-06-08-London-Initial-Proposals-37.-Hendon-and-Golders-Green-BC.pdf
West Hampstead and Kilburn https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-06-08-London-Initial-Proposals-73.-West-Hampstead-and-Kilburn-BC.pdf
Brent Patient Voice
has written to the Brent Representative on the Governing Board of the North
West London Clinical Commissioning Group calling for a pause in the current
process that would see the NHS accessing GP’s confidential individual patient data. This is the letter:
There is great concern among patient groups about NHS Digital’s new scheme for taking confidential patient data from GP records, with patients having only until 23 June to notify any wish to opt out and the vast majority having no inkling that this is the case. We understand that concerns on these lines were voiced at yesterday’s NWL Info Governance meeting, when members heard that doctors in NE London were refusing to co-operate with NHS Digital in view of the lack of information so far shared with patients about the effects of GPDPR and their options. There also seem to be practical issues for already overloaded GPs who are supposed to process confusing opt-out applications to be made on paper within a time window of 7 days between the closing date for patients to apply and the start date for extracting data of 1 July.
In our view 99% of patients would be unable to comprehend the information about this scheme and the opt outs currently displayed on the NHS Digital website. The interaction of a Type-1 opt-out with a National Data opt-out is obscure and, despite the alleged three years during which this scheme has been prepared in secret, does not appear to have been thought through. It leaves many questions in the air, including the relevance of any opt outs from personal data sharing which patients have made previously under the “Extraction” scheme or care.data. Nor is it clear how the paperwork is to be signed if it can be sent electronically. The ‘explanation’ looks as if it has been written by a committee, not all of whose members agree with each other.
What it does say is that personal data is to be “pseudonymised” which means that the person to whom it relates can be re-identified. This is inherently risky and no good reason is given for it. If the data is wanted for planning there can be no need to re-identify individuals. Furthermore we are told that the data collected and passed to NHS Digital will not be used “solely for commercial purposes”, which means that it can be used partly for commercial purposes.
We cannot see how such a distinction can be monitored. In any case this rushed secretive exercise risks not just the hugely trusted confidential GP/patient relationship, free to all, that is the jewel in the crown of the NHS and its success as a valued healthcare system, but it undermines trust in any properly legitimated data collection. Surely it is madness to put this at risk by arranging for the mass irretrievable transfer of sensitive personal data out of the control of GPs to commercial interests, particularly without the direct consent of the patient?
Can we therefore please ask you, the CCG, its PCCC and Brent GPs to send an urgent message to NHS Digital, NHSE and local MPs demanding a significant pause in the current process:
a. to allow for a complete rethink on the scope and design of the scheme, noting that there is a fundamental difference between census-type data which is anonymised for 100 years and continually updated data relating to individuals;
b. to require NHS Digital to prepare a proper information campaign about the benefits and safeguards involved, which can then be the subject of Parliamentary and public debate;
c. to clarify and simplify the opt-out process;
d. to give GPs the necessary support for informing all their patients directly and for handling the administration aspects of the process?
EDITOR'S ADDITION The current form to send to your GP to opt out of sharing your data can be found HERE
