Mayor's Fun Day with health checks and much more, Saturday 16th September 11am-4.30pm Century Bowls Club, Wembley

 

Brent Fights Back: Focus on Refugees Tuesday 19th September 7pm

 

The discussion will be about refugees and asylum seekers; we have speakers from Patients Not Passports, Care4Calais and English for Action.  We are excited to talk about local campaigns in Brent and how we might support them.

Please see the Zoom link for the meeting below:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81643387117?pwd=TjhmMm1MMHgrOW50V0YycityVUxWQT09

South Kilburn council tenants are facing huge electricity bills in deteriorating blocks and Housing Managment fail to turn up to a meeting they arranged to discuss the crisis

 

 

Following on from the Wembley Matters story about over-charging for gas bills on the Stonebridge Estate by Switch2 LINK,  this weekend a story broke on Twitter about council tenants in South Kilburn getting into difficulties over very high electricity bills in the buildings due to be demolished. Apart from the energy crisis some of the blame for higher bills was attributed to the Council’s failure to maintain the fabric of the deteriorating buildings.

 

Wembley Matters has talked to tenants in the various affected buildings. One said:

 

When l first moved into Blake years ago l was shocked to realised that l had to top up £10 a day to keep electricity going. I learned that this was the case for other flats like mine heated by storage heaters. We had the old generation heaters really expensive to run and obsolete. The property was hot in the morning when families are in school or work and then at 5pm when everyone is home, they would be cold. Even by using the input and output switches correctly. Totally inadequate. £300 a month was hard enough. The bills increased when we got a smart meter installed and then further during the cost of living crisis. Heaters were replaced but nothing changed. Surveyors and electricians came but could not find the issue and blamed it on the state of building.

 

 Tenants claim that now bills are between £600 and £1000 a month for a three bedroom flats and between £300 and £600 for two bedroom flats on the estate. Tenants in Austen, Wordsworth, Masefield and Dickens all have the same issue. Many in over £5k debts. These are figures for summer bills.. Wembley Matters was told that people are now terrified when they think about winter, ‘Everyone is cold and yet they are required to pay thousands. We applied for the resident fund to cover the debts but were soon billed hundreds again.”

 

A tenant in Austen has a £500 a month direct debit set up for electricity (£380 for usage and £120 for debt repayments) and is struggling with other bills and necessities. A tenant in Blake was told she owes over £9k to electricity providers and another owes over £6k.

 

A tenant concluded:

 

What are people supposed to do? Some chose to turn everything off in winter to try and control the bills but end up with mould and damp because the properties are not heated. This affected their health and damaged the property and bills were still high. The council has a duty of care and families on low income are being pushed into further destitution and fuel poverty. These bills are the result of old and unfit for habitation properties and residents should not be forced to keep paying like this.

 

Unfortunately,  I heard as I completed this article that Brent Housing Management failed to turn up at a meeting at William Dunbar House today that had been arranged for 4pm – 6pm. The meeting was arranged as a result of tenants raising high electricity charges and issues around squatters and cleaning issues that the South Kilburn Regen Team could not help with.

 

Exhibitions this week on Ujima House plans

 

Wates are putting on an exhibition aiming to improve the Ujima House outline planning consent at St John's the Evangelist Community Centre at 1 Crawford Avenuen, Wembley, on Thursday from 4pm to 8pm and Saturday 10am to 1pm.

For background see Philip Grant's guest post HERE

The '100% affordable housing' (which Brent's Cabinet agreed in August 2021 would be all London Affordable Rent) has now been amended to 32 flats at London Affordable Rent, and 22 "Intermediate" flats (either shared ownership or Intermediate rent, suitable for people / households with an annual income of around £60k).Brent Council has recently itself admitted that shared ownership is not affordable for most Brent residents.

After exhibition see ujimahouse.co.uk

Mayor of Brent and Brent Council Leader make statement after Islamophobic incident on 260 bus in Harlesden

 

There was a flurry of concerned activity on Twitter at the weekend when a tweet (above) appeared to show Cllr Orleen Hylton the Mayor of Brent ignoring an Islamophobic incident that has just occured. Comments were made yesterday and this morning calling for Brent Council to pay more than lip-service to challenging anti-Muslim abuse.

 

 

After confirmation that the photograph did show Cllr Hylton, Brent Council took to Twitter with an explanation and a commitment to challenge Islamophobia LINK:

 

Cllr Orleen Hylton, Mayor of Brent, says:

 

It is horrifying that a young women, with her child, could be verbally abused just because of her faith in a packed TfL bus in broad daylight.

 

I didn't witness the full situation unfold although I did hear raised voices when I was sat at the front of the bus. It was at the stop before mine, as I was preparing to get off, that I moved to the exit doors.

 

As a single female travelling alone, I know the victim must have felt very intimidated – as I did too.

 

I do sincerely hope that the victim is ok and that the Police and TfL are investigating thoroughly so he can be brought to justice.

 

Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of the Council, said:

 

There is absolutely no place for hate crime anywhere in the UK, but especially in one of most diverse boroughs in the country.

 

We would like to thank the individual who has highlighted this terrible case of Islamophobia in our borough. We have been in touch with the Police and TfL and trust that a thorough investigation will take place.

 

Islamophobia is a blight on our communities, it is a vile and unacceptable form of discrimination that has no place in our borough we will continue the fight to make sure that Brent is an inclusive and accepting place for people of all faiths and backgrounds.

 

This November, for the second year running, we will host and support a range of events to mark Islamophobia Awareness Month to show that we are all united and that any form of discrimination will not be tolerated in our community.

 

We will continue our work to raise awareness of Islamophobia in all its forms.

First reactions to the Council tweet remained critical:

 

 

 

Brent Renters petition Brent Council over 10,000 homes in the borough with serious health hazards

 

From London Renters Union (Brent)

More than 10,000 private rented homes in Brent have a serious health hazard. Damp and mould are making us sick, leading to asthma, respiratory issues, skin conditions, and  mould poisoning. 

Our children’s health is in crisis because landlords are being allowed to get away with not keeping our homes safe. Damp and mould mean people can’t use some rooms, and are overcrowded in the others. This meant that Church End had the highest Covid death rate in the country. 

Brent council has a legal duty to make sure our homes are safe but their current plan isn’t good enough. In the areas of Brent where housing is most dangerous, they’re only promising to deal with 10% of the most serious problems this year. What about the other 90% of renters left with unsafe homes?

It doesn’t have to be like this. Members of the London Renters Union in Brent have come together to create an action plan for how the council can hold landlords accountable and keep us safe. Add your name to our campaign. Together we can win safer homes for everyone. 

If you are part of an organisation, please ask them to support the campaign by sharing this petition, and by signing the open letter here.

For background info, see our factsheet here

 

 

https://londonrentersunion.org/notanotherwinter-brent/

 

 

Cllr Tatler takes over as Deputy Leader of Brent Coucil while Cllr Mili Patel is on maternity leave

 

Cllr Tatler

 

 

Kingsbury councillor Shama Tatler has become Deputy Leader of Brent Council while Cllr Mili Patel is on maternity leave. Cllr Patel was congratulated on the birth of her baby at the Brent Cabinet meeting this morning. Cllr Tatler is now Deputy Leader, Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources & Reform and Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Planning & Growth.

 

At today's meeting Leader Cllr Muhammed Butt extolled the benefits of regeneration for Brent residents when the Cabinet approved Strategic CIL projects in Alperton, South Kilburn and Harlesden.

EuroBioBlitz at Welsh Harp September 30th - walk + training in making records via iNaturalist

 

Welsh Harp EuroBioBlitz Biodiversity Walk

Help us put the Brent's biodiversity on the map! 

 

Brent Parks Forum & Brent Young Wildlife Recorders are running a biodiversity walk around the Welsh Harp to try and record as many organisms and species as we can!

 

Where: Meet at Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre

When: Saturday 30th September, 2-4pm

 

Bonus info:

- hedgehogs may make an appearance

- pretzels will be provided.

 

This is our little event to contribute to the Europe-wide event running from the 29-30th September 

 

For more information about the EuroBioBlitz: EuroBioBlitz 2023 | 29 - 30 September | The Natural History Consortium (bnhc.org.uk) 

 

And check out the iNaturalist project: EUROBIOBLITZ 2023 · iNaturalist 

 

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