Residents accuse Brent of 'playing games' over Kilburn Square infill project and launch petition for smaller plan

 

From Keith Anderson, Chair, Kilburn Village Residents Association

Brent is playing games with both local neighbours and estate residents over the huge “Infill” project for extra housing on Kilburn Square

·       After superficial “consultation” on the Estate for months, Zoom meetings with local community groups were due in early May…

·       … then postponed for two months while the project team “reviewed the designs”

·       They led us to expect that a smaller Plan B, which they clearly now have in the drawer, would be what we discuss next week

·       But no, the meetings will be based on the original Plan A

·       Cynics are connecting this with the likely shortfall in the GLA money they can spend, and the net extra units that will be achieved there; I make no comment

·       But we have now launched a petition for a smaller project: http://chng.it/xwxLyYcDhP

·       Please sign and share!

 

And if any reader lives in Kilburn (Brent), Kilburn (Camden) or Queen’s Park Wards and would like to get involved, please email me at streetgroups@mistral.co.uk

 

This is the wording of the petition:

 

Brent wants to build an extra 180 council homes on the existing site in North London, including:
•          A second 17-storey TOWER, next to the highly polluted Kilburn High Road
•          A 5–7 storey Extra Care building
•          Three more new 5-storey blocks, removing mature trees, a playground, a football pitch and open green space
 
Including a new block just completed, this would be an increase of over 80% on the original estate population – on exactly the same footprint. 

This would mean real overcrowding, huge impact on the skyscape and light and privacy for both residents and neighbours, damage to our neighbourhood’s precious Green Lung, concerns about security, more on-street parking, pressure on local services, huge noise and disruption for the whole area during construction.

This simply does not make sense!

We have seen no supporting surveys or analyses, and it’s NOT in the Local Plan. Estate residents are being ‘consulted’ on details; but not on the scale of the scheme. They have worked hard to create a friendly, well-balanced and crime-free estate. A plan on this scale would completely transform its character and the sense of place built up over decades, and impact the local community as a whole.

We recognise Brent has an acute housing need, but this plan is much too big. The Council should revert to the smaller plan being studied last summer, while prioritising the improved housing units for current tenants.

Brent’s Director of Housing told a recent Scrutiny Committee meeting Brent ‘would not want to force homes on anyone’ – we ask that he honours these words.

So, we call upon Brent Council, and the Greater London Authority, to
1.     Reduce the size of the development to 70–75 units and protect the open space for the resident and local community, to meet GLA and Brent best design practice.
2.     Set the housing proposals within the wider context of the plans for upgrading the Kilburn High Road frontage.

 

 
 
Please join us and sign our petition! HERE

 

To find out more, visit https://save-our-square.org or email us at savekilburnsquare@gmail.com to join the campaign. See also: https://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/kilburn-residents-against-over-development-7979330

 

Labour's Annual Women's Conference calls for future Labour Government to re-establish community control of schools through LAs

 A welcome development given Labour's ambivalence over academisation but we can't afford to wait for implementation by a Labour Government - the campaign must begin now.

The Socialist Educational Association (SEA) won a stunning victory at Labour’s Annual Women’s Conference on 27^th June when the Conference agreed that a future Labour government should end the academisation of schools in England and re-establish community control of schools through local authorities and the involvement  of parents, education staff and students.

The SEA’s motion, tabled with Thirsk and Malton Constituency Labour Party, also called for co-ordinated action and resources to challenge sexism and gender-stereotyping in schools and colleges which research from UK Feminista and Ofsted have confirmed is widespread.

Composite Motion: Early Years and EducationDownload

Pam Tatlow, the SEA’s delegate to the Conference, said ‘A fractured, fragmented school system dominated by Multi-Academy Trusts and edicts from the Department of Education will not deliver the progressive agenda that students deserve or the collaborative framework that schools need to tackle the deep-seated and historic problem of sexism in schools.’

James Whiting, General Secretary of the SEA which is the Labour Party’s only education affiliate, said ‘We warmly welcome the support of the Women’s Conference for our “Give us back our Schools” campaign.

The long-standing issues of disadvantage and discrimination that impact on opportunities and life chances of women will not be resolved by the marketisation and privatisation of education or the unaccountable academy system which have been features of the Conservative government’s education agenda for the last decade.

Our call for the return of local authorities and an end to sexism in schools was supported by over 96% of Labour women at the Conference but also by trade unions such as Unison, Unite and GMB which represent thousands of education staff, many of them women.

We hope that Labour ‘s shadow front bench team will now commit to bring schools in England into an integrated, cooperative, transparent and non-selective education system under the aegis of accountable local authorities.’

Independent SAGE: The unequal impact of Covid-19 on women. Is 'herd immunity' the policy for school children?

 

 

The June 25th edition of the Independent SAGE  breifing was particulalrly valuable and interesting so I am sharing with Wembley Matters readers.  In addition it covers other forms of inequality and refreshingly also looks at the political background, including the impact of increasing centralisation of the NHS and its lack of internal democracy. One telling points waas that if 1% of DDP was invested in the social care sector it would produce more jobs than if the same amount was invested in construction.

Well into the session there is a discussion about the rising number of Covid-19 Delta variant in schools and in answer to a question about whether this was a policy of developing 'herd immunity' through children a scientist replies that they don't know if it is intentional, but  if that is what she wanted to do, that is how she would do it.

Another contributor mentions that there are 250,000 children missing school at present because of Covid and of those 8% are absent due to school closures. 

Disbelief in expressed that more is not being done to ensure proper ventilation in schools and a contributor mentions that in New York, a website gives parents the ventilation status of every classroom in every school which is vital given that this is an aerosol spread virus.

There is concern that the government has said secondary children do not have to wear face coverings in schools any more ,whilst advice is still that adults should wear them inside and outside.

On Tuesday because of the 5pm Euro2020 match kick-off thousands of fans will be arriving at Wembley Park by public transport just when pupils from Michaela, Ark,  Preston Manor and  Lycee Winston Churchill will be crowding on to the tube and buses to go home.

'This is not OK', as Independent SAGE might say.

Twitter reacts to reports of a possible Labour leadership bid by Brent Central MP Dawn Butler (Later denied)

UPDATE FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

 

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Stepping up the campaign for the NHS in Brent on its 73rd anniversary - important events next week

 

Next Saturday, July 3rd there will be local demonstrations across the country in support of the NHS and its workers.  The Brent demonstration will be a static demonstration outside the Willesden Centre for Health and Care.

There is also a Central London demonstration outside UCL Hospital on the Euston Road starting at 11.45am.

 

Ahead of the demonstration there will be a meeting on July 1st to relaunch the Brent branch of Keep our NHS Public with Cllr Janice Long, Cllr Neil Nerva  and Dr Jonathan Fluxman speaking.

Brent KONP Time: 1^st Jul 2021  17:30h Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84178644772?pwd=bExBR1VVak1zZFlzb1plUmdUYTlmQT09

Meeting ID: 841 7864 4772  Passcode: 923609

The Green Party at its most recent conference passed a motion in support of the NHS pay claim for a 15% restorative pay award and the Green Party Trade Union Group  held a useful  briefing on how to support the NHS15 campaign and the background to the threat to the NHS.

Bullying and Racial Discrimination Safely Incubating in Northwick Park Hospital’s Maternity Unit

Guest post by Nan Tewari resident of Brent, and former Commission for Racial Equality officer.

 

Northwick Park’s maternity unit is once again in the news for all the wrong reasons.  One inquiry after another, going back decades - the most recent covering 2002-2005 and 2008 - has recognised ‘poor culture’ as a particular issue.  Yet none of these reports has made direct reference to how the absence of good staff management practice (also called human resource management) has adverse impacts on patient safety, patient experience and patient outcomes.

 

My own experience over a number of years of advocating individual patient cases at the London North West Healthcare Trust, has been one of the same mistakes being repeated with impunity, meaning that the Trust is content to just get by with paying lip service to learning the lessons of incidents.  There is a complete lack of will to tackle the underlying systemic issues, relying instead on sticking plaster solutions to cover over the cracks just long enough for the serving senior management incumbents to move on up the NHS greasy pole or collect their pensions.

 

In the face of the funding and resourcing cuts facing all areas of the public sector, it is unacceptable for staff to have to labour under the added burden of being bullied and racially discriminated against.  I have personally witnessed visible minority staff at Northwick Park being spoken down to by white colleagues and having their judgement openly questioned.  This means that staff will be reluctant to speak up for patients if they believe those higher up the food chain will hold it against them. 

 

Poor culture arises in any organisation from poor management – at all levels from board downwards.  It suggests nothing good of the honesty and transparency of the NHS that enforcement of these tenets is required by Freedom To Speak Up Guardians.  It suggests an ingrained penchant for lying that the NHS has to be told it has a ‘duty of candour’, i.e. someone had to actually tell them they need to tell the truth.  

 

BACKGROUND TO BULLYING CULTURE IN NURSING LINK

 

 Extract:

A bullying culture contributes to a poor nurse work environment, increased risk to patients, lower Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) patient satisfaction scores, and greater nurse turnover, which costs the average hospital $4 million to $7 million a year.  Addressing nurse bullying begins with acknowledging the problem, raising awareness, mitigating contributing factors, and creating and enforcing a strong antibullying policy.

PREVIOUS INQUIRIES AT NORTHWICK PARK 

 Investigation into 10 maternal deaths at, or following delivery at, Northwick Park Hospital, North West London Hospitals NHS Trust, between April 2002 and April 2005 LINK

 

An independent review of serious untoward incidents and clinical governance systems within maternity services at Northwick Park Hospital 2008 LINK

 

Care Quality Commission finds 'poor culture' at Northwick Park's Maternity Department amidst multiple allegations of bullying. Emergency Dept more positive but the hospital still requires improvement

From the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust that it must make improvements at Northwick Park Hospital, following an inspection of the maternity service and the emergency department.

CQC carried out an unannounced focused inspection of the maternity service in April in response to information of concern received about the care of mothers and babies in the department. Following the inspection, the overall rating for the maternity service went down from requires improvement to inadequate. The ratings for the safe and well-led domains also went down from requires improvement to inadequate. The caring, effective and responsive domains were not rated during this inspection.

Inspectors also carried out an unannounced focused inspection of the emergency department to follow up on concerns regarding the quality and safety of the service and found that significant improvements had been made. At the time of the inspection in April, the department was under adverse pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergency department was not rated during this inspection, so the previous rating of requires improvement remains in place.

The overall rating for Northwick Park Hospital remains unchanged and is requires improvement.

Nicola Wise, CQC’s head of hospital inspection, said:

“We were very concerned by our findings at Northwick Park hospital’s maternity department. There was a poor culture overall and there were multiple allegations of bullying amongst the staff. This is completely unacceptable. Nobody should have to work in an environment where they feel intimidated.

“Staff told us about one consultant who refused to help a junior midwife when asked, and other consultants who went home instead of discharging patients. We were also told about staff shouting at each other, and a midwife shouting at a patient because she could not understand English. A member of staff shouted at one of our inspectors, after mistaking them for a colleague.

“Some staff said they had raised concerns about the poor attitude amongst the senior management team, but that leaders did not listen. Other staff said they were frightened to speak out, for fear of repercussions, and some claimed they had been told by management only to say good things when asked. The knock-on effect of working in such an environment, is that when things go wrong, the fear of being blamed prevents people from raising concerns and reporting incidents, so lessons are not learnt and shared amongst the wider team.

“The executive leadership team is aware of the concerns our inspectors highlighted and we are assured that the team is implementing improvements while seeking support from stakeholders in the local healthcare community. We will keep a close eye on progress and will reinspect to ensure that improvements have been made and fully embedded.

“The situation in the emergency department was more positive. In general, it was well run, with enough staff with the right skills, qualifications, training and experience to keep people safe and provide the right care and treatment. However, nursing vacancies remain a challenge, although the leadership team was in the process of recruiting staff in order to improve the situation. We also pointed out a potential risk in the department that senior leaders were not aware of and need to address.”

Inspectors found the following areas of concern in the maternity department:

• The leadership team of the maternity service at Northwick Park Hospital had been recently established and because they had only been in post for a short time, the new team did not yet have a proper governance structure in place, and was therefore unable to provide assurance that they had the skills and abilities to run the service, or to implement meaningful changes that improved the safety of the service
• Not all leaders were aware of challenges to the service. Some did not know what was on the risk register and there were some longstanding issues that had not been addressed. Staff reported that not all leaders were visible, and they felt leaders did not act in a timely way to address the issues in the service
• The trust reported 13 serious incidents between March 2020 and March 2021, which included eight perinatal (baby) deaths over a five-week period, during July and August last year, which is a very high number over such a short period. The trust escalated this to the North West London Integrated Care System (ICS) for an external review and the trust had an improvement plan in place to address issues identified in the ICS report
• Doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals did not always work well together as a team or support each other to provide good care. Most staff that inspectors spoke to had concerns about staffing levels and the high use of agency staff. Staff often had to miss lunch breaks as a result of insufficient staff cover
• The trust was unable to provide assurance that it had effective systems in place to ensure that medical and midwifery staff had the competence, skills and experience to safely care for, and meet the needs of, women and babies using the service
• Mandatory training did not meet the trust’s target. Although staff understood how to protect women from abuse, safeguarding training compliance was not always meeting the trust target and domestic violence assessments were not always documented
• Staff did not always complete and update risk assessments for each patient and did not always remove or minimise risks
• The service did not always manage patient safety incidents well. Incidents were not always reported in a timely way or lessons learned shared amongst the wider service
• During the inspection, concerns were raised regarding delays in the induction of labour for women and an allegation that some women were waiting more than 72 hours to be induced. The trust had completed an audit of patient records in April which showed that half of the women were induced within 48 hours, but the other half experienced delays.

In the emergency department, inspectors found:

• Leaders had the skills and abilities to run the service. They understood and managed the priorities and issues the service faced. They were visible and approachable in the service for patients and staff
• The service had enough nursing and support staff with the right qualifications, skills, training and experience to keep patients safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right care and treatment. The service had enough medical staff to ensure safe care was provided at all times
• Staff felt respected, supported and valued and they were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. The service had an open culture where patients, their families and staff, could raise concerns without fear
• Staff understood how to protect patients from abuse and the service worked well with other agencies to do so
• The service generally controlled infection risk well. Staff wore the right personal protective to keep themselves and others safe from cross infection. Patients had an assessment of their infection risk on arrival at the department and staff allocated them to the correct areas
• The service managed patient safety incidents well. Staff recognised and reported incidents and near misses. Managers investigated incidents and shared lessons learned with the whole team and the wider service
• Patients could access the service when they needed and were able to access treatment promptly. The trust had significantly improved its patient handover and treatment time performance
• However, senior leaders were not aware of all the risks in the department. Staff were responsible for changing the filters on masks, but the leadership team did not monitor, or have oversight of this. In addition, patient safety checklists were not consistently filled all records that were reviewed.

Food for thought in the NEU's response to White Working Class under-achievement report

 Commenting on "The forgotten: how White working-class pupils have been let down, and how to change it", a report by the House of Commons Education Committee, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said: 

 

"It is important to understand that social class is the biggest determinant of educational success or failure. Too many children and young people are disengaged from the curriculum. It is time to acknowledge the link between our current curriculum and assessment approach and the de-motivation of thousands of students. 

 

“We believe the experiences of working-class students in education do merit much greater focus. They suggest a case for an overhaul of the assessment system and bold thinking on issues such as extended schools and restoring the services around a school which families need. We need to extend youth clubs, boost mentoring programmes, and think about vocational pathways and getting a much better balance back into the curriculum. 

 

"With 4.3 million children trapped in poverty, the report should do more to acknowledge the impact of poverty and the huge challenge that poverty poses for schools. Whilst schools can make a difference, they can't make the difference on poverty. 

 

“The NEU believes that experiences and stereotypes around class and ethnicity are inter-related, and we must therefore support schools to think about sex, class and ethnicity. Indeed, from the report’s own evidence, it is Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children whose attainment and entry to higher education needs the most attention, and findings for Black Caribbean children on Free School Meals are insignificantly different to white children on FSM. 

 

"Making critical statements about teacher quality in poorer areas, as this report does, obscures the real discussion about what heads and teachers in high-poverty schools actually need in order to champion and empower learners. The school accountability system must understand the context for different schools. We certainly don't support more punitive sanctions as a route to retain teachers. 

 

"The report should have explored whether an average of £50 per pupil will be enough to support their recovery. This does not match the commitment our international neighbours are making to their children - the Netherlands and the United States are investing £2,500 and £1,600 per pupil respectively. 

 

"We are worried about the stealth cuts to Pupil Premium funding that will leave almost all schools struggling financially, with pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds being the hardest hit. This will undermine the life chances of working-class students. 

 

"It is deeply unhelpful to try and make it harder to talk in schools about racism, which seems to be one intention of the report. Racism is endemic across society and in workplaces and nearly half of Black children are living in poverty. Racist content is being targeted at young people online in working-class areas across the country and so all schools must talk proactively about racism, including tackle racist bullying, in age-appropriate ways. We think a proper role for Government would be to share good practice about how to tackle racism using education, and how to develop teachers' skills around poverty-proofing the school day. The NEU has published guidance on this. 

 

"Both challenging racism and empowering all working-class students should be at the heart of this next phase of recovery education, after Covid. We should be prepared to ask big questions about how to redesign education to respond to these inequalities."