Brent FoE's 'critical friend' presentation at Scrutiny on the Climate Emergency Strategy wins support

 Sheila Simpson made a presentation at tonight's Scrutiny Committe on behalf of Brent Friends of the Earth, ahead of the Committee's consideration of progress on the Council's Climate Emergency Strategy. Three members of the Committee declared an interest as members of Brent FoE and it became clear that several members of the Committee led by Cllr Tom Miller (not a member of Brent FoE) shared many of the concerns Sheila had expressed. The Strategy was too patchy and ignored some major areas.  It lacked any effective means of measuring local progress in terms of emissions and of comparing progress with other London boroughs.

There was diligent questioning of officers and Cllr Krupa Sheth, Lead Member for Environment, and the Committee made a number of recommendations. (Exact wording will be finalised by officers):

1. The provision of a framework and dashboard to enable assessment of progres.

2. As lack of resources was a major factor in making progress to lobby the government on the issue,

3. A review of progress to be brought to the Committee.

4. Every service in the Council should include a climate action impact statement in their reports as they do with equality assessments.

5. Explore ways that Strategic CIL could be used to deliver the infrastructure necessary to to tackle climate change.

 

Sheila Simpon's Presentation

 

 

Good evening, I’m Sheila Simpson a member of Brent Friends of the Earth with over 200 people on our mailing list. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on their behalf.

 

Deep concern about the urgency of the climate and ecological crisis and lack of government action is growing.  Our members were amongst many thousands of people on the streets of Westminster last weekend hoping to raise awareness, work on solutions and open dialogue with Parliament. 

 

Locally, too, we must work in partnership to make progress. No-one is outside the effects of climate change.  In this spirit, I’m sharing some of our comments, concerns and suggestions in relation to the Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy Update: Delivery Plan & Green Neighbourhoods. The aims are rightly ambitious.

 

The rationale for a narrower focus of resources on the selected Green Neighbourhoods is clear. Maximising impact and testing solutions in this way makes sense, but also risks taking time we may not have and leaving the majority of Brent untouched.

 

The commitment to consulting and co-designing plans with residents is welcome and key to creating a sense of community ownership. At a workshop for Church End and Roundwood Greener Neighbourhood, I saw how elements of our discussion were fed into the plan.

 

The resulting ‘patchwork’ of multiple, small-scale, individual projects can have some effect on carbon emissions within the area. But it is not clear which actions would be prioritised given limited resources, and some key proposals don’t appear.  

 

For example, increasing active travel: bicycle hangars will be of practical immediate help to some, whereas the longer-term vision of creating safe cycle/pedestrian friendly Green Corridors, is more tenuous, dependent upon feasibility studies, although it is more likely to get results. (Cyclists who feel themselves at risk from traffic are not bothered if the cars that present a danger use fossil fuel or electricity).

 

Aside from increasing the number of School Streets there is little action or clear aspiration to actively discourage or limit car use, this is effective in shifting behaviour away from harmful travel choices. Perhaps more action is envisaged, see para. 5.18 where the feasibility study may ‘consider potential for more ambitious interventions in the healthy streets agenda’?

 

Evidence grows for low traffic neighbourhoods improving safety and the quality of life for residents.

 

Supporting car clubs can provide affordable access to a low-emission vehicles and reduce demand for on-road parking. (see Dept. of Transport guidance)

 

Kingsbury Greener Neighbourhood focuses on schools Though a small number of schools are involved their enthusiasm and energy is promising; students have potential to be influencers at home, reaching diverse communities where extended families may well be living now with the consequences of our choices here.

 

We see further scope for quick wins with wider long-term impact.

 

Could the council be working more closely with Brent Pure Energy to get Solar Panels installed on school roofs?

 

Over-consumption of meat and dairy products as a major source of emissions, is not directly addressed in the plan. Work could start now to encourage plant-based diets in schools, (learning from the success of other local authorities, linking with organisations like ProVegUK and Plant Based Universities) leading to life-long switches to healthy low-carbon eating.

 

The Development Led Pilot with greater potential to impact the environment, is less formed and harder to comment on. Brent Friends of the Earth and individual members submitted considered and detailed views on plans for South Kilburn expressing many concerns including loss of tree cover, biodiversity and open space, and risk of flooding.

 

Brent’s 2021-2030 C.E.E. Strategy sees members of Brent’s Environmental Network as key to community-led behaviour change. Residents and businesses outside the green neighbourhoods also need to be informed and involved in these issues. The B.E.N. website is not always up to this task, (for example if you look at the section on Solar Power it leads to finding there is no current programme of support on offer or any signposting elsewhere.  It is also unclear how often the ‘regular’ newsletter can be expected)

 

Friends of the Earth distribute information and engage in climate conversations with the public; it would be good to be able to point them to council sources of up-to-date advice and information.

 

We will meet Cllr Donnelly-Jackson to discuss ongoing plans for meaningful Brent-wide public engagement.

 

Brent won’t monitor the effect of interventions, relying on UK government statistics to benchmark and demonstrate progress. This makes it almost impossible to see what the result of the planned actions is, and what is attributable to more general national and local trends. Without information linked to reduced emissions how will competing demands for resources be prioritised or effective action targeted towards net zero?

 

Public engagement needs credible feedback demonstrating results to avoid burnout or cynicism.

Friends of the Earth’s ‘Near You’ online database enables comparisons with similar local authorities, and we’ll follow progress closely.

Only 6.5 years to 2030. You have a vital task to keep the council on target to reach net zero emissions.  Given the urgency, size, and complexity of the problem we suggest this committee form a sub-group to focus on climate emergency issues.

 

We wish you every success.

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

If you go down to Roundwood today, you're sure of a big surprise...

 Aerial view of the southern edge of Roundwood Park (Bowling Green in centre)

I certainly got a big surprise when I visited the Gardening Club and other activity areas on the edge of Roundwood Park on Thursday at the invitation of Katie Mills of social enterprise Forest and Family. Full of passion and energy Katie has a vision for this space that already includes an independent gardening club, a Nature Connection Centre where events, talks and half-term activities are held and a Forest School area in a woodland glade. Working with children and their families from diverse backgrounds they reconnect with nature in an era of keyboards and screens.

 

The Gardening Club, made up of volunteers, even have their own resident poet in the person of Susan Carberry and I arrived just in time for a tea break and Susan's reading of one of her poems from her booklet Eternal Ephemera. (On sale in the Roundwood Cafe to raise funds for the Gardening Club)

 Susan told me of the benefits of the Gardening Club. It combines physical hard work, poetry, and socialising and in the process opens up new horizons for participants. People with little previous exposure to poetry become interested in Susan's poetry and that of other poets that she shares with the group, leading to a developing interest in literature.  Susan said that being: 'It fires me up to write!'

The hard work was visible in the garden area with its recently planted orchard, herb and strawberry raised bed and other beds being prepared for planting.

A toddler investigates the orchard

Raised beds

Weeding the herb and strawberry bed

Getting out the compost for use in the potting shed

Seedlings were being hardened off outside

Also in the Cafe compound is the Nature Connection Centre that can be used for events, work with children and all sorts of other possibilities.

A woodland garden is being developed behind the cafe. 

Beyond the Cafe area, walking towards Longstone Avenue, a tall fence and shrubbery conceals a bowling green and pavilion. Like that at Edward VII Park in Wembley it has fallen into disuse. The green has recently been mown and I understand that the pavilion, although currently full of rubbish, has a kitchen, centre space, toilets and changing rooms attached. It clearly has great potential, and it is a pity to see, in a borough lacking in green space, that it is unused.

But there is hope. Brent Council intend to lease it out and a consortium consisting of Forest and Family, the Scouts and others are interested in making an application.

The Bowling Green

The Pavilion

Walking on from the bowling green you come upon an asphalt path which used to be a vehicle entrance to the bowling green and next to it the children's playground currently being refurbished with the rather garish equipment common to most Brent Parks.

However,there is another surprise at the end of the asphalt path. The rustic entrance to semi-woodland that is used as the Forest School with visits from local primary pupils, enabling them to get in touch with nature and immerse themselves in activities. Katie Mills has brought the previously abused area back into positive use and given the right arrangements with Brent Council it could have a fully sustainable future and contribute to the Council's Climate Emergency Strategy and engagement with young people.

What child would not be thrilled to enter through this gate?

Another of Katie's projects, which has become a national outdoor campaign but runs locally with the cooperation of Brent Libraries, is Stories by Moonlight. Participants get an outdoor story book sack of activities to do at home with parents and carers on summer evenings, but even better, a network of participants has been formed. Children can come in their pyjamas to a park or green space and take part in storytelling and read books surrounded by fairly lights or lanterns in a magical space as day becomes dusk and night.

Looking again at the aerial view,  you can see that taken together the area around the cafe with its edible woodland gardens and meeting space, could be linked with environmental projects on the disused bowling green, and linked on again to the Forest School woodland area. This would be a tremendous facility that could serve as a model for other Brent spaces as well as further afield.

It just needs people to match Katie's passion and vitality and get behind the vision to the benefit of all.

I'll leave the last word to Katie: 

This is a big vision project about how Nature connects us to better health, wellbeing, and each other. I wanted to show how parks can become dynamic and innovative centres for Nature connection, outdoor wellbeing, green prescribing, and community cohesion in Brent. 

 

With support from NCIL funding we're achieved that; we're impacted so many people through the project and create an ambitious template with huge potential to be scaled. We're shown a huge appetite alongst local residents, schools and families for what we're doing. 

 

This work is urgent and vital, especially in Brent, and it needs a joined up, strategic and multi-partner approach. The council's buy-in to this vision is critical and if we can get the right level of support and momentum the benefits for all are huge.

 

LINKS

 

https://www.katiemills.co.uk/business/stories-by-moonlight/

 

 

https://www.katiemills.co.uk/business/forestandfamily/

 

 

 

Phil Porter to leave Brent for Chief Executive post in Sefton

 Phil Porter

 

Brent Council Announcement

 

Phil Porter is leaving his role as Brent's Corporate Director for Adult Social Care and Health to become the new Chief Executive of Sefton Council just north of Liverpool.

 

Phil has worked for Brent Council since 2011 in a number of senior management roles culminating in his current role overseeing adult social care, public health and the council’s leadership of the Integrated Care Partnership.

 

During his time in Brent, Phil has played a key role in improving health and well-being outcomes for residents, including better targeting of resources to vulnerable people and playing a significant role in the council’s successful housing building programme and Covid response.

 

He is due to take up his new post in the summer.

Trial of bin provision for paper and card recycling rather than sacks delayed until September 2024

 

In October Brent Council will be introducing changes in its waste and recycling collection. This will include providing each eligible household with a sack for paper and card collection. During the trial there were complaints that the sacks were not robust enough. As a consequence the December 2022 Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee recommended Brent Council undertake a feasibility study on the potential for introducing a mixed approach to paper/card recycling collections, to explore whether any recycling collection rounds in the borough would be more suited to the use of bins rather than sacks.

 

The Council’s response (below) indicates that any such trial will only take place after the new scheme has been operating for almost a year and will only take place if that operation is unsuccessful. It also refers to the potential impact of the bottle Deposit Return Scheme to be introduced by October 2025.

 

 

Veolia will introduce a 1 year wheelie bin trial for around 6,000 street level households in total, divided into the five Brent Connect Areas, to start in September 2024. Veolia’s feasibility study did not enable them to accurately calculate the split between those properties that could receive an additional wheeled bin for paper/card and those that could only accommodate a reusable sack. Veolia concluded from their study that to minimise disruption to households and to measure the impact of introducing a wheeled bin for the
paper/card stream, a trial should take place. The rationale for the timing of the trial in September 2024 is summarised below:

· Allows for the introduction of the alternate weekly twin stream dry recycling collection service to fully settle down

 
· May reduce the impact of contamination from introducing wheeled bins as residents would have been segregating streams for a year allowing a more robust comparison of the data from the trial

 

· It could be the case that after a year, if the reusable sack is proven to be working and successful, then the bin trial wouldn’t be needed, resulting in cost savings for the Council

 
· Allows a full 12 month period of data for the new service, including seasonal variations relating to volume, participation and contamination

 
· Allows time for any legislation changes to be accounted for – the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for beverage containers will be introduced in England by October 2025. Drinks containers made from PET plastic, steel and aluminium cans are covered by DRS. This could lead to a migration of some volume of material streams away from the kerbside to the DRS. This migration could open up a number of possibilities for the Contract including but not limited to; switching streams for the paper/card sack and container mix wheeled bins, and downsizing residual bins and using existing residual bins for paper/card etc. Whilst this could be done earlier, undertaking these changes once the impact of DRS is known would be beneficial, this would include limiting the number of containerisation changes undertaken during the contract period.

 
· Allows for a significant period of time for the Council’s ECO team to carry out targeted communication, education and enforcement with those residents not using the service or not using the service correctly e.g. contamination etc.

 
· If the trial was to take place sooner, e.g. March 2024, a further disadvantage is that the planning for the rollout of the trial would take place during the mobilisation period for the new alternate weekly collection service, which would significantly add to the workload of Council staff and the Veolia Contract Management Team which could take the focus away from the key objectives of the new contract and services.

Will Bob Blackman offer teachers brunch on Thursday?

 

Thames Water responds to some of Brent Scrutiny's requests for information - others remain unanswered

UPDATE Kilburn Life tweet on Monday April 25th

 

With recent experiences of flooding in the Brent area and the prospect of extreme weather events increasing, along with the large number of new developments in the area, Thames Water has been questioned at the Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee. There appearances have resulted in more questions and requests for information. The Tracker table for the meeting on Tuesday April 25th includes updates for information requested at the February  22nd Meeting. LINK

Responses are still awaited on these important requests:

 

Below I list the Committee's requests and the answers received:

9^th February 2023

To receive a copy of the independent review into the events of and response to the floods experienced across London in July when published and Thames Water’s response to the review.

 

Thames Water: All reports can be found here - London flooding response https://www.thameswater.co.uk/about-us/investing-in-our-region/london-flooding-response

 

Remainder requested  22^nd February 2023

 

In relation to the Belsize Road burst water main incident in December 2022, provide detail on how Customer Guarantee Scheme (‘CGS’) compensation is calculated; the criteria for residents to receive compensation; and detail on how many residents’
compensation claims remained outstanding.

 

Thames Water: Where flooding has occurred, we have not paid out compensation directly.

However, as part of their insurance claim customers are entitled to pursue a claim for distress and inconvenience as part of their claim settlement.

For customers who lost their water supply, we have in place our Customer Guarantee Scheme (‘CGS’).

 

This is a scheme by which we automatically pay money into a customer’s account if they lose water for a 12 hour period. If someone is without water for 12 hours, then we will credit their account £30 without them having to contact us. For every extra 12 hours, we will credit another £30. Ofwat’s CGS is entitled in the below scenarios:

i. CGS 2 – Emergency interruption over 12 hours in duration
ii. CGS 6 – Planned un-warned interruptions over 4 hours in duration.
We defined a ‘planned job’ as a job that Thames Water have been notified of but not attended for over 24 hours.
iii. CGS 8 Overrun of a warning. Any duration if the interruption continues after the time we said the water would be restored.

Our process is to use the data available to determine the earliest start time of an interruption. This can either be valve operations, pressure telemetry data from assets such as Critical Pressure Points, Pressure Reducing Valve and various others, customer contacts advising of No Water or NST site feedback such as a 0 pressure reading. There are various systems for our team to gather this information, which we collect as evidence for audit purposes so each reportable interruption has an evidence pack to prove our reporting is accurate. Ofwat also have a rule called precautional principle, this is where we have 2 sets of data given us different results, such as 2 different times recorded of a valve operation. In these scenarios we have to take the worst case.

The average time people were out of water was 7.5 hours but as a number were out for over the 12 hour period, we have made 538 payments. We have written to more than 300 other properties which qualified as they are listed in the name of a housing company or local authority so we are finding out who will receive the payment.

 

With regards to recommendation 3 in the London Flood Review (LFR), provide further information on how many planning applications Thames Water had commented on/objected/challenged/made a recommendation for additional mitigation to avoid flooding over the last 5 years.

 

Thames Water: We do challenge planning applications, especially where they fail to meet London Plan / Local Plan policy requirements, although we can only object where there is clear evidence of not meeting existing planning policy requirements.

 
Planning applications reviewed in Brent over the last 5 years:

i. 214 sites reviewed
ii. 321 planning applications relating to those 214 sites
iii. Of those 321 planning applications, we received 213 applications direct from the Council, the other 108 we identified ourselves.

iv. Of the 241 sites, 42 sites had planning conditions requested
v. 63 specific conditions sought on those 42 sites
vi. Of the 27 sites where we sought conditions and planning has been granted, 20 sites have had them attached but on 7 occasions the council chose to approve without our requested conditions.

 

Provide detail on the investment in flood risk management in the Brondesbury Road area as this area has been prone to flooding.

 

Thames  Water: Regarding Brondesbury Road, our reports don’t extend pre-2008. We have the following reports of flooding:

• 2021 - Hydraulic (very heavy rain)
• 2013 - 1 Blockage
• 2009 - 2 Blockages

As such with only one internal flood reported due to heavy rainfall, this Road is not high on the priority flood action list. If Cllrs are aware of any unreported flooding, their assistance in encouraging its reporting would be much appreciated.