Thames Water will continue to flush Wealdstone Brook over the summer months to prevent the build-up of smells

 Following reports on Wembley Matters about the problems in the Wealdstone Brook, Neil Levy, Thames Water field operations specialist said: 

 

We were made aware of suspected pollution in Wealdstone Brook and have been working hard to clean up the watercourse.

We first received reports of odour from the brook in March, however due to location of the watercourse, its steep banks and the large operational equipment and tankers we needed to use, we first had to ensure our engineers could safely carry out the work before they were able to flush and clean the river on Monday April 4th.

During the clean-up, our team found and removed waste including rotten food and bird seed and objects from the river, which we don’t believe came from the sewer system. There was also evidence of pollution from misconnected pipes, which allow household waste to get in to the surface water sewer rather than the foul network.

 

Over the summer months we’ll continue to flush the brook to help prevent the build-up of smells and we’ll continue to work with local councils and residents on tackling misconnected businesses and properties.

 

For information 

 

• Over the last eight years, Thames Water has spent over £500,000 in catchment investigations, sewer maintenance and repairs to reduce the pollution to Wealdstone Brook.
  
• Wastewater can unintentionally crossover from the foul to the surface through various methods, such as through defects in the sewers that can lead to wastewaster escaping through tiny holes and cracks, blockages or misconnected properties (when a residence incorrectly connects foul drains into a surface sewer).
• All household goods should be plumbed into the wastewater sewer network, so the water can be taken away and treated. Misconnected pipes from household appliances can allow wastewater to get in to surface water sewers, which are designed to hold rainwater and drain into natural watercourses. Find out more information about misconnections and how to avoid them.

Hard-hitting school leaders' Open Letter to Secretary of State condemns 'continued failure to respond to the genuine and increasingly acute experience of our members'

 School leaders concerned about the current pressures on the education system have issued an Open Letter to  Nadhim Zahawi Secretary of State for Education. They do not mince their words.

 

Dear Secretary of State

 

As the trade unions and professional associations representing the vast majority of school and college leaders across the UK, we are deeply concerned about your government’s apparent lack of concern and support for the pupils and staff in our schools and colleges as we move into the next phase of the pandemic.

Our members tell us that Covid-related disruption has been greater in many schools and colleges over the last few weeks than at any previous point during the pandemic. The latest government figures on attendance in education settings showed that Covid-related pupil absence on 17 March was 2.5% (up from 0.7% the previous fortnight), and teacher and leader absence was 9.1% (up from 5.8%). Almost a quarter of schools had more than 15% of their teachers and leaders absent. Anecdotally, our members tell us that the situation has worsened further in the intervening period.

In the face of this extensive and ongoing disruption, the government’s decision to remove free access to symptomatic and asymptomatic testing for almost all pupils and staff feels reckless in the extreme. The government has also provided no evidence for its suggestion that children who do manage to obtain tests should only isolate for three days, rather than the five days recommended for adults. Together with a large number of other education organisations, we wrote to you on 9 March asking for tests to remain available to those working in our schools and colleges with possible symptoms of Covid, in order to reduce disruption to education. We have not received a response to that letter.

This ongoing disruption also makes the government’s decision to publish Key Stage 4 and 5 performance tables this year, and to share the results of Key Stage 2 tests with Ofsted, even more inappropriate. As we have pointed out on many occasions, this plan seemed misguided when it was first announced; given the current situation in our schools and colleges it now feels frankly absurd.

These decisions have consequences. Failing to control the transmission of Covid in schools and colleges is making it increasingly difficult for leaders to keep their settings open, and to ensure pupils receive a high- quality education when they are there. This is compounding the educational disruption children and young people have already suffered over the last two years, which will affect their future opportunities.

 

Allowing large numbers of staff and pupils to contract Covid, often multiple times, also has implications for their long-term health.

Refusing to recognise the impact on leaders, teachers, schools and communities of publishing inaccurate and meaningless data on school performance adds to the extreme stress under which education staff have been operating for more than two years now, and will exacerbate the recruitment and retention crisis that has been building for several years. Many members are telling us that this is the final straw which is leading them to step down from school or college leadership. We simply cannot afford, as a society, to treat leaders and teachers in this way.

 

If the government wants to gain the support of school and college leaders as it starts to take forward the policies in its recently published schools white paper and SEND green paper, it needs to do much more to support them with the current situation they face. It must reconsider its premature decision to end free access to Covid tests for symptomatic staff and pupils in schools and colleges, and it must commit to not publishing performance tables, or using this year’s Key Stage 2, GCSE, A level or vocational exam results for any form of accountability, this year.

We have consistently made representations to you on these issues during our meetings with you, your Permanent Secretary and your senior officials. You will have noticed that these representations have become stronger and more frequent as a result of your continued failure to respond to the genuine and increasingly acute experience of our members.

Given the strength of feeling from our members on these issues, we are therefore taking the unusual step of making this an open letter. We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Geoff Barton, General Secretary, ASCL

 

Paul Whiteman, General Secretary, NAHT

Hurray! Thames Water turns up to flush sewage from the Wealdstone Brook

 

Sewage pouring into the Wealdstone Brook

Local residents were delighted today when Thames Water turned up to flush out the Wealdstone Brook. The action followed weeks of campaigning and complaints to both the Environment Agency and Thames Water.

Households and care homes backing on to the brook were experiencing their 6^th week of continuous pollution with the pungent bad egg odour evident to all. Residents were unable to open their windows because of the potentially dangerous gases filling their rooms. Brent Council had told the Environment Agency that one gas could be hydrogen sulfide LINK . Campaigners had suggested that a criminal negligence case could be possible over the lack of action by Thames Water, despite a total of at least 7 complaints over the problem.

 

Thames had promised to begin work on cleansing the brook at the weekend. Both cleaning the river and testing of the gas with specialist equipment costs money which the the Forum thought Thames appeared reluctant to spend LINK.

 

They suggested air samples could be taken from conservatories and the rear communal lounges of care homes as well as bedrooms. With children at home for the school holiday and families celebrating various religious holidays together it was  important that any illnesses and potential gas poisoning should be reported.

 

Brent Parks Forum also feared that any wild life that had been in the brook at the important microbial level has probably been damaged beyond repair.

 

The action was long overdue and Wembley Matters hope that the flushing works and we are able to update readers with far more pleasant images of the brook.

Call for heat network protection as government’s backstop fails to protect these customers - price rises of up to 700% reported

Wembley Matters has publicised the difficulties ahead for residents whose new blocks are linked to a District Heating Network. These include blocks in South Kilburn and Wembley.  Because there is a single heating source for all the flats in the block  the gas is counted as commercial rather than domestic and thus the cap on bills is not applicable. In addition residents do not have the option of changing their heating supplier as that can only be done by the managers of the block.

Huge bills are anticipated giving rise to great anxiety, particularly those residents of South Kilburn who are being moved from Brent Council properties with their own domestic heating to housing association blocks on District Heating Networks.

There has been next to no information on how this will affect residents although one pensioner anticipates that heating bills alone will be more than his total income.

The Heat Trust issued this statement on Friday:

As approximately 22 million customers brace themselves for Ofgem's price cap rise today, more than half a million households on communal and district heating networks remain locked out of any protection – leaving them exposed to even bigger, unrestricted price rises.

Consumer protection body Heat Trust is warning that urgent government action is needed to support those living on heating systems that are not protected by the price cap.

Heat Trust, the independent national consumer protection scheme for heat networks, says those living on communal or district heating systems are set to be amongst the worst affected by the soaring cost of gas – with residents facing the prospect of being unable to afford to heat their homes.

The government’s price cap does not currently apply to the heat network market, where operators buy gas on the commercial rather than the regulated domestic gas market.

The Director of Heat Trust, Stephen Knight, has written to Kwasi Kwarteng, Secretary of State at BEIS, to request that 500,000 households are not overlooked as the government looks to ease the financial pressure on families and has been promised a meeting with the Secretary of State, alongside others from the sector, later this month.

Heat networks are seen as a major part of the UK’s decarbonisation plans, and can deliver low-carbon, low-cost energy to homes. However, as the market is currently unregulated, consumers are not protected in the same ways as other energy markets. 

The wholesale gas price, which until last autumn had averaged around 1.5p/kWh for decades, peaked at 27p/kWh at the start of March and has averaged around 10p/kWh in recent weeks. This means that when heating operators renew their commercial gas contracts, they are seeing massive increases, which are often passed straight on to consumers.

Consumers and landlords operating heat networks are already reporting examples of price rises of up to 700% - the equivalent of the price of a pint of milk rising from 60p to £4.80.

Heat Trust is calling for government intervention to include:

• Ensuring heat network operators and their consumers receive government support to ensure that their bills rise no faster than those of domestic gas customers.
• Bringing forward its plans to regulate the heat network market via Ofgem which were confirmed in December last year,
• Bringing forward plans to help heat networks improve their efficiency to reduce heat wastage.

Stephen Knight, Director of Heat Trust, said:

The government is committed to making heat networks a key part of its energy policy, and must not leave families living on these schemes behind.

Heat networks have the potential to offer low-cost, low-carbon heat, but without intervention, hundreds of thousands of families are facing horrendous and unaffordable heating bills.

Heat network operators are keenly awaiting further news of the government’s Heat Network Efficiency Scheme (HNES) aimed at improving the performance of communal heating projects.

The HNES Demonstrator £4.175m grant scheme has already supported a number of communal networks to improve their performance, but the full scheme is not currently due to be launched for another 12-months (spring 2023), and Heat Trust wants to see this scheme brought forward and expanded to cut bills by reducing heat wastage.

Heat Trust is also calling for changes to the Landlord and Tenant Act rules which currently make it difficult for landlords to buy gas more than 12 months in advance, making them vulnerable to price fluctuations. If they could buy gas for longer periods of time, it might protect consumers from market volatility.

Knight added:  

Our mission is to protect heat network customers.

Commercial gas price increases of this magnitude are simply not sustainable for heat network customers. They are driving up household bills in unprecedented ways – many people will have to choose between heat and food.

Heat networks are commonly used in blocks of flats and are becoming increasingly common with social landlords, meaning the most vulnerable people in society are the ones most affected by the current crisis. We can’t let that happen.

Chess Club returns to Wembley after 68 years absence - opportunities for all ages

 

Website: www.willesdenchess.co.uk

Email: FULTON790@aol.com

Willesden and Brent Chess Club started a chess night at Chalkhill Community Centre early last month and is looking for new members.

Wembley had its own Club from 1921 until 1954 but the Willesden and Brent Club concentrated on the south of the borough and admit that Wembley has been poorly served.

That is all going to change now with the group effectively now running a Wembley Club every Wednesday that will introduce the game to a new generation of players.

The new venue is in stark contrast to one of Wembley Chess Club's previous homes:

 

Chalkhill Community Centre/Welford Centre 113 Chalkhill Road, Wembley Park, HA9 9FX

Photograph from 'A History of Chess in Brent'

Generally, the accepted age range for Juniors is a minimum of 6 years old  and a a maximun  age of 17. If there is a history of chess in the family the absolute minimum could be 5 years old depending  on the ability of the child to concentrate on increasingly complex games. 

Membership normally runs from early September until late June the following year (January until June this year). Membership entitles you to attend club nights every week and to play in league matches and club tournaments.

Tuition is offered by a certified DBS chess trainer, for juniors as well as adults.

Beginners and players of all abilities are very welcome.

First three visits are FREE!

The Chess Club will be a welcome addition to the many varied activities that take place at Chalkhill Community Centre.

The Chalkhill Community Centre is an short walk from Wembley Park Station (cross the road at the Bridge Road exit, turn left and then right at Paddy Power).

Buses 83, 182, 206, 297 stop on Bridge Road.

Thames Water has not yet started cleaning of sewage in Wealdstone Brook

UPDATE FROM BHRA:  Cleaning and wash down of the Wealdstone Brook sewage pollution  did not start on 31st March nor on 1st April as had been promised.  No works have started to date. Thames Water is aware of the food packages that hopefully are picked up ahead of the rats.

Two locations causing the sewage that are most likely the cause(s) is (are) Rosslyn Crescent and Elexus garage and offices close to Rosslyn Crescent in The Hawthorne Crescent. Thames Water mentioned that no further sewage flow is apparent at the moment, but observers within Brent and Harrow Rivers Alliance (BHRA) have continued photographing the  pollution that is increasing in the very slow moving water.

We await confirmation from Thames Water that the cause has been found - nothing yet. All the the photographs are being kept on file and timed dated.

Arrest made after Wembley Asda stabbing

 From the Brent Metropolitan Police Service

Detectives investigating at stabbing in Wembley have made an arrest as they continue to appeal for information and footage of the incident.

A 33-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday, 30 March on suspicion of grievous bodily harm [GBH] with intent. He was taken to a north London police station where he was later bailed to return on a date in late April.

Detectives are appealing for information as a man in his 20s remains in hospital following the attack.

Detective Constable Dawid Ratajczak, from Wembley CID is leading the investigation, he said: “Firstly I want to thank all the people who have come forward so far to speak to us about this shocking incident. Despite today’s arrest I am still keen to hear from anyone who has information or footage.”

Police were called at 17:29hrs on Thursday, 24 March to reports of a stabbing at a supermarket on Forty Lane in Wembley.

Officers attended along with the London Ambulance Service and found a man, aged in his 20s, with stab injuries. He was taken to hospital where his condition was assessed as not life threatening. His family are aware.

DC Ratajczak continued: “The victim’s injuries are not life threatening, however they were serious and he remains in hospital receiving treatment.

“We are aware that this violent incident will send shockwaves through the local community and residents can expect to see a continued increased police presence in area while we continue with our enquiries.”

A crime scene remains in place and enquiries are ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call 101 quoting CAD 5453/24Mar or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

A date with the young Jane Austen – courtesy of Brent Culture Service

 Guest post by Philip Grant

 

Karin Fernald as Jane Austen

 

Jane Austen is one of our great British women writers, who more than 200 years ago had a number of novels published (anonymously, at first). Many of you will recognised the opening words of “Pride and Prejudice”, either from reading the book or seeing it portrayed on TV or film:

 

The opening line from an early edition of “Pride and Prejudice”.

 

But even great authors (as well as much lesser ones who write blog articles!) have to develop their writing skills over time. Jane’s father, the Reverend George Austen, recognised his young daughter’s joy in writing. When she was a teenager, he gave her a notebook in which to write down her stories and short plays. He inscribed at the top of the first page:

 

“Effusions of Fancy by a very young Lady,
consisting of tales in a style completely new”.

 

Jane performed many of her stories to entertain her family. Now local residents have the chance to enjoy some of them too, in an event put on by Brent Culture Service at Willesden Green Library. “We fainted alternately on the sofa – Jane Austen in the Making”, performed by actor and writer Karin Fernald, is on Tuesday 26 April, from 6.30 to 7.30pm. Tickets are £3, and can be booked HERE