New Homes at 1 Morland Gardens – but not the ones Brent promised! Has Brent Council shot itself in the foot?

Guest post by Philip Grant in a personal capacity

 

In January 2020, Brent’s Cabinet approved proposals for a new adult education college, and 65 affordable homes, on the site of the existing Brent Start building at 1 Morland Gardens in Stonebridge. They delegated authority to make all the Key Decisions for this project to the then Strategic Director for Regeneration (in consultation with a Lead Member). His report told them that work on the new building should be completed by the summer of 2022:-

 

Morland Gardens “Delivery Timetable” from the report to Cabinet, January 2020.

 

In fact, the scheme had already been informally approved by the Leader, and then Deputy Leader and Lead Members for Education and Housing, at a meeting with the project team in February 2019. Then they were told that 89 new homes could be built on the site. That number was later reduced to 65, as even Brent’s planners would not agree that the impact on neighbouring residents (loss of light, etc.) of the 89-home design would be ‘acceptable’.

 

The proposal had started off in 2018 as an updated college and some new housing. The original design by the architects would have retained the locally-listed Victorian villa, and developed the site in phases, so that there was no need for Brent Start to by decanted. There was a viable alternative to the scheme which the Cabinet approved. However, it seems that the Council were determined to build as many new homes as they could on the college site, even though it meant demolishing a valuable heritage asset their own policies promised to protect, and that was the first of many mistakes they have made on this project.

 

Architect’s image of the proposed new building (viewed from across Brentfield Road).

 

In August 2020, the Council controversially obtained planning consent for the development, despite strong local opposition. It was soon celebrating its “award winning” Morland Gardens scheme, and the 65 new homes it would deliver. Two years later, there are new residents at 1 Morland Gardens, but in the original building, not the new one pictured above. 

 

The Brent Start college was moved out earlier this year to a “temporary home” in the former Stonebridge School Annexe. (The adaptations to the annexe cost at least £1.2m, and the building will be demolished once the college leaves, as it is on the site of Brent’s Twybridge Way 67-home housing scheme, which was given planning consent in May 2020, and should be nearing completion now!) That left 1 Morland Gardens vacant.

 

What do you do with a large empty building, when the catalogue of mistakes you’ve made means that you are still not ready to go ahead with its redevelopment? In May 2022, Brent contacted Live-in Guardians, and by early July this organisation was housing mainly young single people in the former college building.

 

An Instagram advert for Live-in Guardians at 1 Morland Gardens, July 2022.

 

I was first aware of Live-in Guardians (“LIG”) there when I attended a site meeting with Brent’s Project Manager on 26 July, to discuss my objections to the proposed Stopping-up Order for the highway outside the property. There was a sign on the gateway to say that they were providing live-in protection for the building, and a resident would not let us enter because the Officer had not arranged access in advance. 

 

I’m interested in all aspects of the Morland Gardens project, so I put in an FoI request for a copy of the Council’s agreement with LIG. This has been supplied to me, and as live-in guardianship is an idea which may be of wider interest, to single people (or couples) in need of an affordable short-term home as well as to property owners, I will include some information and extracts from it below.

 

The opening paragraphs from Brent’s agreement with LIG.

 

These “new homes” would not be for people on Brent’s housing waiting list, so who were they for? The agreement says that up to 26 “Guardians” would be provided with accommodation at 1 Morland Gardens, and gives details of the type of person and how LIG selects them.

 

It sounds from this extract that the Guardians living here will be people who do need relatively inexpensive accommodation, at a stage where they are not in a position to rent or buy somewhere more permanent. But how long can they stay in the building?

 

The paperwork makes it clear that the Guardians only have a licence to occupy the premises, subject to the right to 4 weeks’ notice to leave after the 26-week contract period. Their legal status is explained to them on the LIG website.

 

From the LIG website.

 

1 Morland Gardens has been used as a college since 1994, when it was sympathetically designed around the restored Victorian villa. Turning it into living accommodation would require some alterations, but as part of the agreement LIG paid the initial fit-out costs, for things such as installing a kitchen, 4 extra showers, and carrying out all of the necessary safety checks. The cost of this work was estimated at up to £17k.

 

It appears that Brent is getting a good deal out of allowing Guardians to live at 1 Morland Gardens. The Council would not have to pay a security company to look after the vacant property. The only expenses they would incur during the contract period would be the Council Tax or Business Rates, and any repairs or maintenance which the agreement made them responsible for. And, at any time after the 26 weeks, they could get vacant possession of the building and land within its garden walls by giving only four weeks’ notice.

 

I have to say that I approve of Brent’s decision to allow 1 Morland Gardens to be used for providing temporary accommodation, rather than remaining empty after they had moved the Brent Start college out of the building. The presence of Live-in Guardians will hopefully prevent the beautiful heritage building from being vandalised (and among the potential vandals, I include Brent Council and the contractors it has recently hired, perhaps unlawfully, to demolish it!)

 

1 Morland Gardens, the former Brent Start college, June 2022.

 

Another reason why I like Brent’s agreement with LIG (although, on refection the Council may regret it) is that the 26-week period will last until at least the end of December 2022. At a Scrutiny Committee meeting on 9 June, Brent’s Strategic Director for Regeneration justified the urgent award of a c.£38m contract for the Morland Gardens development on the grounds that if work did not begin on site by August ‘the Council stood to lose the £6.5m GLA grant towards affordable housing.’

 

The site is in two parts. They can’t build on the land outside, because there are open appeals against the proposed Stopping-up Order. Now they can’t begin any work inside the boundary, because that is legally occupied by Live-in Guardians. Brent can’t “start on site”, within the terms of their GLA grant agreement, this month (or this year), because they have no site to start on! 

 

Philip Grant.

LETTER: More time needed for rethink on waste and street cleansing proposals that could make things worse. Deadline tomorrow on under-publicised consultation is not good enough.

 

Dear Editor,

 

I thought your readers would be interested in the issue of waste management, recycling and street cleaning in Brent given your many tweets on the issue. There is a consultation in progress about possible service changes which has not received wide publicity and ends tomorrow.  I have written to Krupa Sheth asking for an extension to the consultation and expressing my concern about the proposals. I urge Wembley Matters readers to respond to the consultation here: https://haveyoursay.brent.gov.uk/en-GB/projects/future-waste-collections-and-street-cleansing-services-consultation

 

Dear Councillor Sheth, 

 

The Council’s public consultation seeking residents’ views on changes to recycling and street cleaning services in Brent will conclude shortly. I am writing with concerns about the way that this consultation was conducted and about your proposed changes to these vital services. 

 

I do not believe that enough time was given to residents to make their views known, nor do I believe that enough residents are in fact aware of the major changes the Labour Council plan to make. As such, the Liberal Democrat group is requesting an immediate extension to the consultation period and for the Council to make more of an effort to engage with local residents and listen to their concerns.

 

In the Summer 2022 ‘Your Brent’ magazine, which is supposedly distributed to all households in the borough, at a cost to the taxpayer, there is very little reference to this major consultation. Why? I would have thought including full details of the proposed changes to recycling and street cleaning should have been a priority in this communication from Brent Council to residents. 

 

·       Could you please confirm why informing residents about the recycling and street cleansing consultation was not prioritised in the Summer 2022 ‘Your Brent’ magazine? 

 

The Liberal Democrat group have been circulating information about the consultation in recent weeks. The consensus from residents is that not enough time has been given for a response. Many are also unsure why information about these major changes to services were not highlighted during the recent local election campaign. The previous Labour administration would have known decisions were needed regarding budget setting and Veolia’s contract with Brent Council, surely, this should have been explained to residents during the election campaign. The perfect opportunity to engage with and seek views from residents.

 

I am also very concerned about the proposed changes themselves. 

 

Firstly, I do not believe that the plan to ask residents to segregate recyclables, for collection on an alternate week basis, will work. 

 

·       What evidence is there that this system will lead to improved recycling rates? 

·       Have you factored in the education campaign that will be needed to ensure all residents are familiarised with this major change? 

·       What are the financial implications of this decision?

 

On street cleaning, I fear the proposals are even worse. The consultation stipulates that streets will not automatically be cleaned every week, instead they will only be cleaned “if required”.

 

·       Who will judge whether local street cleaning is “required”?

·       How exactly does the Council plan to execute this intelligence led initiative?

 

Local residents are rightly unhappy that services they pay for through their Council Tax, are being changed in this way. We believe it will lead to dirtier streets and worsening recycling rates in Brent. Both things we all want to avoid. 

 

We request an urgent rethink to these proposals and more time for local people to be consulted. I am also requesting a Councillor briefing, with yourself and Council Officers, for all political groups. I am aware you have already delivered a briefing to the Labour Group, however, the Opposition need to be consulted too and afforded the opportunity to scrutinise proposals as is proper in a democratic setting. 

 

I look forward to your response on these matters. 

 

Kind regards, 

 

Cllr Anton Georgiou

Liberal Democrat Councillor, Alperton

London Borough of Brent

 

Swan rescued in Welsh Harp but two found dead. Cause not yet confirmed.

 

 

Pictures Lulubells Rescue

A sick swan was rescued yesterday at the Welsh Harp by Lulubells Rescue and taken to a Swan Sanctuary approved specialist vet. The alarm was raised by Welsh Harp volunteers.

A dead swan was discovered on an island nearby and unfortunately  (see below) another was found dead this morning close to Cool Oak Bridge.   This has given rise to speculation that the cause may be botulism caused by algae and other factors but has not been confirmed.  Dead fish have also been found.  See Defra notes on Avian Botulism HERE.

A spokesperson for the Lulubells Team told Wembley Matters:

Our team have attended and managed to catch a swan yesterday  Our team searched the area and noticed several fish and small birds deceased 

On inspecting this swan our belief is it is botulism.

This swan is doing much better but it was touch and go as our team raced across London to get the treatment it needed urgently on route he had several mini fits due to dehydration and starvation. 

I would like to mention a special 'Thankyou' to Leila who contacted Lulubells rescue. Leila asked us to attend to rescue this swan who was clearly in distress.  Our team who are all volunteers James, Denise, Violet, and Lorraine,  attended and collected the swan 

We will do everything we can to help wildlife at the Welsh Harp and help the local community,

The Canal and River Trust  and Brent Council have been informed and there is a suggestion that the bodies be cremated to stop the spread of any disease.

 

1 Morland Gardens – Brent should rethink whether contract is lawful

Guesr Post by Philip Grant in a personal capacity 

 

1 Morland Gardens, June 2022.

 

Two weeks ago, in a guest post giving Brent Council’s response to me stating that the award of the latest contract for their Morland Gardens project was lawful, I mentioned that I had submitted a Freedom of Information Act request. This was to obtain what should have been the supporting evidence for the views set out by Brent’s Legal Director.

 

For those of you interested in the way that Brent Council carries out its business on our behalf, and in the continuing saga of the Brent’s plans to demolish the locally listed Italianate Victorian villa, “Altamira” (above), this is the latest position.

 

I have received a full response to my FoI request from Brent Council, and will ask Martin to attach a copy of this at the end of this article. The rest of this post is the full text of an open email which I sent to Brent’s Legal Director on 18 August.

 

This is an open email

Dear Ms Norman,

 

Whether the 14 July 2022 decision to award the Morland Gardens contract breached the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (“PCR 2015”).

 

In your reply of 1 August, to my email on this subject of 18 July, you wrote:

 

‘I would confirm that reference in my previous email to Regulation 33(8) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015) was indeed to Regulation 33(8)(a) and that when inviting a single contractor to bid from the Network Homes Contractor Framework (Framework), the Council complied with its obligations under Part 2 of the PCR 2015 in accordance with Regulation 37(6)(c).’

 

Later in that email, you replied to my suggestion that the award had not complied with Regulation 18 of PCR 2015 (see below), writing: 

 

‘As it is considered that the direct award procedure set out in Schedule 1 of the Framework was used appropriately, it is not accepted that the award has been made with the intention of unduly favouring one economic operator.’

 

I have highlighted parts of the quoted replies above, and would ask you to reconsider them, in the light of the following information.

 

My response to your reply, also on 1 August, included a Freedom of Information Act request. I have now received the information requested, and attach a pdf copy of the Brent Council response, and the Direct Award Evaluation Process (“DAEP”) document which was supplied with it.

 

The DAEP document makes clear that there were ten contractors within Lot 3 of the Network Homes Contractor Framework (“NHCF”), all of whom would have met the Council’s requirements for being invited to tender for the contract, if it had been a competitive tender process. 

 

Of those ten contractors, seven were also contractors under the Notting Hill Genesis Framework (“NHGF”), which had been used for the previous two attempts to award a contract for the Morland Gardens Development. Those seven had been invited to tender for the previous contracts. But there were three contractors within Lot 3 of the NHCF who had never been invited to tender for this project.

 

In your email of 1 August you wrote that:

 

‘the other contractors on the framework did not have the resources available to meet the timescales the council required in order to meet the GLA grant funding requirement to be in contract and the project beginning in August 2022 and did not have the same level of knowledge and experience of, or relationship to the project site.’

 

I would refer you to question 4 of my FoI request, about contacts with the other contractors within Lot 3 of the NHCF, to find out whether they had the resources to meet the Council’s timescale. This was the answer:

 

‘As described in the Direct Award Evaluation Process attachment as part of the response to query no.3, no other contractors on the framework were contacted.’

 

The relevant sentence in the DAEP document is:

 

‘It should be noted that the other 9 suppliers on the framework were not checked for capacity (3.1.2), previous performance (3.1.3) and resource availability (3.1.4).’

 

Even if it were assumed that the other contractors on the NHGF, who had been given the opportunity to bid in the previous Morland Gardens tender processes, in 2020 and 2021, could be discounted, by failing to contact the other three NHCF Lot 3 contractors about whether they would be interested in bidding for the latest tender process, I believe that Brent Council has failed to treat those ‘economic operators equally and without discrimination’, as required by Regulation 18 (1).

 

I also believe that the answer to question 6 of my FoI request, about Brent Council’s contacts with Hill Partnerships Ltd over a possible contract award under the NHCF, shows there was a clear breach of Regulation 18(3). This was the answer:

 

‘The Council contacted Hill Partnerships Ltd via phone call during the week of 30 May 2022. They confirmed that they had available resources to start in August and that they continued to be interested in this scheme and would submit a bid should the Council issue a further invitation to tender. They confirmed the frameworks they were on so the Council could undertake its due diligence on the frameworks as a potential route to market.’

 

This confirms that Brent Council, having discovered that it had run out of time to award a Morland Gardens contract to Hill Partnerships Ltd under the second NHGF tender process, set out to find a way to award a contract to them under a different framework. Having found out from this contractor which frameworks they were approved for, the Council’s ‘due diligence’ was to find a framework which allowed them to make a direct award of the new Morland Gardens contract to Hill Partnerships Ltd, and to make it quickly.

 

The procurement process, which Cabinet approved on 20 June, was designed ‘with the intention of unduly favouring’ one particular economic operator, Hill Partnerships Ltd.

I look forward to receiving your response to this open email, and to learning how Brent Council intends to deal with what appears to be an unlawful contract awarded for its Morland Gardens project. Best wishes,

 

Philip Grant.

 

Regulation 18 of PCR 2015:

‘Principles of procurement

18. (1) Contracting authorities shall treat economic operators equally and without discrimination and shall act in a transparent and proportionate manner.

(2) The design of the procurement shall not be made with the intention of excluding it from the scope of this Part or of artificially narrowing competition.

(3) For that purpose, competition shall be considered to be artificially narrowed where the design of the procurement is made with the intention of unduly favouring or disadvantaging certain economic operators.’

 

 

 

The new face of Wembley revealed in the view from Barn Hill

 

The tower blocks around Wembley Stadium, from Barn Hill

The 'Twin Towers' on former Chesterfield House site (Park Lane/Wembley High Road) and new blocks being squeezed in next to the Chiltern Line, from Barn Hill

 

There's quite an audience for old sepia photographs of Brent and its various 'villages'. I wonder of these might be looked back on with nostalgia one day with attention drawn to the Metroland houses in the foreground, that have long-since been demolished and replaced by more tower blocks?

New Rokesby Place homes rent set at London Affordable Rent could be over £50 a week higher than the original Social Rent!

Guest post by Philip Grant in a personal capacity

I have watched and listened to the webcast of the Planning Committee meeting for the Rokesby Place application, so can now comment on the information given by the Planning Officer about the difference between the levels of Social Rent and London Affordable Rent.

The figure she gave for London Affordable Rent, for 2022/23 for a 4-bedroom house, was £198.03 a week. This comes from the table published by the GLA on the Mayor of London's website.

  London Affordable Rent from GLA website

The figure she gave for Social Rent, for 2022/23 for a 4-bedroom home, was £183.18 a week. This figure comes from the Government's website on social housing controls, and is the MAXIMUM that can be charged as Social Rent for a home of this size.

 

 

Social Rent caps for 2022-23 from the Government rent standards website

This gives the around 8% difference between Social Rent and LAR which Planning Committee were told.

If the Planning Officer had used the latest London local council average Social Rent figure from the GLA affordable rents table (2020/21), uprated by the statutory maximum annual increases (2021/22 = 1.5%, 2022/23 = 4.1%), the comparative Social Rent for a 4-bedroom home would be £147.75 a week. That's over a £50 a week difference!

What conclusion can we draw from this? 

Do Brent Council intend that any new homes they build for Social Rent will be for the maximum Social Rent level allowed by the Government? 

Or do they take the view "why not make them all London Affordable Rent?", and charge tenants an extra 8% for their homes, but still claim they are providing genuinely affordable housing to Brent residents in housing need?

Philip Grant makes FOI request to Brent Council to try to get to the bottom of Rokesby Place tenure change

 Philip Grant, a frequent independent contributor to this blog, has submitted a Freedom of Information request on the tenure of the two new houses in Rokesby Place, following last night's Brent Planning Committee.

 Dear Mr Ansell and Brent FoI team,

I am addressing this email directly to you, as well as to Brent FoI, as you have been delegated the authority to make changes to yesterday evening's Planning Committee decision on application 22/1400 (Rokesby Place), including authority to vary conditions. I would request that you do not issue a consent letter on that application until this Freedom of Information Act request has been fully dealt with, as the answers to it may require an amendment to Condition 3, Affordable Housing.

The reason for this request is my concern about the change made to the type of affordable housing tenure for the two new four-bedroom homes at Rokesby Place, and how this came about, as there does not appear to be any justification for it in the documents for this application published on Brent's planning website.

The application form for 22/1400, submitted by Maddox Associates on 13 April 2022, clearly states for each of the two new homes:

 
'Tenure: Social Rent'.

 

The Planning Statement for this application, published on Brent's website on 19 April 2022, when describing the Proposed Development, states:

 
'Tenure
3.4 The houses are all proposed for social rent.'

 

Despite this, the proposed Condition 3 in the Officer Report to Planning Committee on 17 August was as follows:

 
'3. The residential dwellings hereby approved shall be provided as affordable housing in perpetuity, and shall be delivered as London Affordable rent units ....'

 

Freedom of Information Act Request: 

In order to establish why the tenure of the two houses was changed from Social Rent to London Affordable Rent, please let me have the following information and documents (in pdf format, please) in respect of the Rokesby Place planning application 22/1400, covering the period from 13 April 2022 to 17 August 2022:

1. On what dates in that period were there any communications (other than the Application Form and Planning Statement referred to above), in either direction, between the applicant (or its representatives) and Brent Planning Officers about the type of affordable housing tenure for the two proposed new homes at Rokesby Place?

2. Please let me have copies of all of the communications in 1 above.

3. If any of the copy communications requested under 2 above have names redacted, please provide details of the status, employer and job title of each person whose name has been redacted, if this is not shown on the copy where the name itself has been redacted.

4. If there are no communications of the type requested in 1 above, please explain when, how and why, and on whose authority, the proposed Social Rent tenure (shown in the April 2022 application documents for application 22/1400) was changed to the London Affordable Rent tenure proposed in Condition 3 of the Officer Report in August 2022.

Please acknowledge receipt of this email and FoI request. I look forward to receiving your full response to it at an early date. Best wishes,

Philip Grant.

Brent's Head of Planning has replied, saying: 'We will of course look at the questions you raise and respond shortly.'