Homes and Our Health: Renters and Refugees in Brent 2.30pm - 5.30pm
The
London Renters Union and English for Action are hosting this Public
Education event to raise awareness of the housing and public health
issues facing renters and refugees.
With experts by experience
from our organisations, campaigners, and experts in health, law and
journalism - this event is open to all Brent residents and those
working on these issues elsewhere.
Jordi López Botey, Economic Justice and Health campaign lead at Medact
Renters and Refugee representatives from LRU and EFA
There will be workshops on two campaigning issues:
1. # Not Another Winter with Damp and Moulde Brent branch of the LRU's campaign
is aimed at educating local renters about their rights when facing
disrepair, and pressing the council to step up to the scale of the
problem with an enforcement regime that holds landlords responsible.
Around
500 new refugees in Brent are real difficulty finding homes - and
street homelessness - in many cases. After waiting years for a decision
on their asylum claim, they have a matter of days notice to leave their Home Office accomodation.
The Council takes no action until the day of eviction, and only with
support (and the threat of legal action) are the most vulnerable housed.
This workshop - with asylum seekers, charities and campaigners - will
discuss the situation and what next steps we can take.
Address: 113 Chalkhill Road, Wembley Park, HA9 9FX
Whether
you are a renter or a refugee, a concerned community member or
representaive, a professional working in the fields of housing and
health, this event is for you.
Together, we can make an impact on the lives of those facing housing challenges in Brent.
In my capacity as a Brent resident I asked Brent Council a written question for Monday's meeting on the actions they have taken to comply with the Building Safety Act. This followed concerns expressed by tenants who suggested that Brent was lagging behind other London boroughs. It would be interesting to hear from tenants whether the answers allay their fears.
The questions and responses are below.
Question from Martin Francis to Councillor
Promise Knight (Cabinet Member for Housing,
Homelessness & Renters Security)
The following list of questions
pertain to the Building Safety Act that received Royal Assent in April 2022 and
the requirements for landlords, including local councils, therein. ‘Buildings
in Scope’ refers to those buildings under the Building Safety Act, that are
high-rise residential buildings that are 18 metres tall or higher, or at least
seven storeys, with two or more residential units that are defined as
‘higher-risk’.
Across England there are
approximately 12,500 of these buildings and the new regulator required all of
them to be registered from April 2023, with a named person responsible for
maintaining their safety. The registration process is a crucial stage in
setting up the new building safety regime. Registering buildings in scope
will be a legal requirement and owners and managers who fail to comply by
October 2023 will be investigated and may face prosecution.
On this basis, could the Cabinet
Member for Housing, Homelessness and Renters Security address the following
questions in relation to the Council responsibilities:
1.Does the council know the details
of the residents who cannot evacuate without help, or those whose first
language is not English as part of any emergency arrangements in each of the 40
buildings in scope?
The council has previously undertaken work
to proactively identify tenants living in our high-rise blocks who cannot
evacuate without assistance in event of an emergency. The information the
council received as part of this work is currently being reviewed. When tenants
whose first language is not English are identified, the council records this
and will make reasonable adjustments.
2.Can you describe the details of the construction methods in each
of the buildings in scope?
The construction method for each of the High
Rise blocks is in the Fire Risks Assessment (FRA) for the property and is
included in the Building Registration information provided to London Fire
Brigade (LFB) and the Building Regulators. Furthermore, this information is
contained in our asset database.
3.Can you provide the access and means of escape, including travel
distances, in all the buildings in scope?
The access points and means of escape are
clearly set out in all of the buildings. Travel distances in the buildings
complied with the Building Regulations current at the time the building was
constructed. We also have wayfinding information conspicuously displayed
in all our blocks that provide access and means of escape information as well
as direction/fire escape routes out of the property.
4.Can you identify all the Building
Safety risks in each of the buildings in scope?
The Fire Risk Assessments for each building
identifies all safety risks which are being actioned in the required
timescales.
5.Can you provide the maintenance and inspection schedules for every
building in scope using The Golden Thread of information? LINK
All maintenance and inspection schedules/records
are on our New Compliance asset compliance management database. All new build
blocks in scope are following the Gateway process.
6.Can you set out the emergency plan for each building in scope,
including their evacuation strategy?
All information in regard to emergency plan and
strategy are provided as part of the building registration with LFB and the
fire strategy for each block is displayed in the lobby area in each block.
7.Please set out your complaints system and that how you will
operate an effective mandatory occurrence reporting system?
The Council’s principal accountable person
for our occupied higher-risk buildings is working on establishing and operating
a suitable system for the investigation of relevant complaints. Mandatory
occurrence reporting is designed to help report structural flaws and fire risks
that might arise at any point throughout the life cycle of a building and can
cause catastrophes.
We are working to develop a suitable system(s) that will cover the
following requirements:
·Introducing a more reliable reporting system that complements RIDDOR and
voluntary occurrence reporting regimes.
·Strengthening the golden thread (or the digitally stored collection of
information about a building and its safety).
·Boosting residents’ engagement to improve the accuracy and frequency of
fire and structural risks.
8.Are you now able to publish a risk assessment for each of the
buildings in scope?
All our Fire Risks Assessments are
available for each resident upon request
9.Do all fire doors in every building in scope meet the full
standard of fire prevention?
We carry out quarterly inspections of all the
communal doors as well as service cupboard doors in each block, and a yearly
inspection of the flat entrance doors to ensure all doors meet the full
standard of fire prevention.
10.Do you know if any of the buildings in scope have any structural
issues and can you provide full details of the utilities they use and if any of
them impact on common parts of the building, or evacuation plans? Does fire
stopping meets the appropriate standard so that compartmentation is not
compromised?
We have carried out FRA4 inspections on
all of our buildings in scope and we have identified any structural defect or
issue in our buildings and we are confident that the fire stoppings in all our
High-Rise properties meet appropriate standards of compartmentation.
11.Have you identified the
'responsible person' for each block?
All our FRAs has the detail of the responsible person for each block.
The
Petition signed by 1,170 people will be presented to at the full Brent Council
Meeting on Monday 18 September held at the Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way,
Wembley starting at 6p.m.
The
Petition calls for Barham Park to be protected from development so that it can
continue to provide "recreation for the public" as Titus Barham
intended.
Local
people are angry at Brent Council for granting planning permission for extra
houses on the site of two cottages despite the Sudbury Neighbourhood Plan specifically
forbidding this. They are also angry at the Council leadership considering
lifting a covenant which the Council put in place itself just over 10 years ago
to prevent more house building on the site.
Lastly
local people are amazed that Labour Councillors spent £25,000 on an architects
study and are now considering kicking out long established community groups
operating from buildings in the park so that they can go ahead with a £3 to £4
million "hypothetical" scheme to build hotel rooms or convert spaces
for Airbnb accommodation for visitors to Wembley Stadium.
In
doing this the Labour Leadership are ignoring the wishes of Titus Barham who
gifted his home and gardens in 1937 so that local people could have a Public
Park for their enjoyment and recreation. Barham Park is the 3rd most visited
Public Open Space in Brent.
While
the original buildings may not be special, they do have important historical
connections which are of interest.
1.
Part of the buildings date back to 1780s and are known as Crabs House after
their owner.
2.
In 1801 the land and the House were bought by John Copland who was a bursar in
the Royal Navy and served with Horatio Nelson in 1805 when Nelson lost his eye.
3.
In the years up to his death in 1843 John Copland acquired around 350 acres of
land in Sudbury/Wembley which stretched all the way from the site of the former
Copland School (now Ark Elvin Academy) all the way to Harrow on the Hill.
4.
John Copland is buried in one of the inaccessible vaults at Kensal Green
Cemetery.
5.
His only son was killed while also serving in the Royal Navy and his land was
inherited by his two unmarried daughters.
6.
The daughters were big local benefactors and over the years they paid for the
building of St John's Church in Harrow Road Wembley (George Gilbert Scott was
the architect), a local village school, a cottage hospital and a workers’
institute used to train apprentices, and which contained the first local
library. They lived in Sudbury Lodge - a large house built in the middle of
what is now Barham Park. They too are buried in Kensal Green.
7.
On the death of the sisters in the early 1870s their House and lands passed on to
General Robert Fitzgerald Copland-Crawford. The adding of the name Copland to
Crawford was one of the requirements. The General was a son of a soldier who
served with Wellington at the battle of Waterloo and in his later years General
Robert Fitzgerald Copland-Crawford claimed that he was the last man alive who
could remember the sound of British guns as they were defeating Napoleon Bonaparte.
8.
Two of his sons (educated at Harrow School) were great sportsman and played
both cricket and football. They represented Scotland in the first 4 friendly
Scotland v England football internationals that took place between 1870 and
1872. One of them scored the very 1st Scottish goal against England.
9.
Most of the family died out in the mid 1890s and there is a family monument to
them in the grounds of St John's Church.
10.
Sir George Barham, the founder of Express Dairies acquired Sudbury Lodge and
most of the lands in 1895. An express Dairies Farm existed in the current area
of One Tree Hill Open Space, Chaplin Road and Farm Avenue. Barham Primary
School stands on part of the old farmland.
11.
Sir George Barham is credited with modernising and cleaning up the milk
industry. He was at the forefront of improving hygiene and many inventions -
including the introduction of milk bottles.
12.
On his death in 1913 the land passed on to his two surviving sons George
(always known as Titus Barham) and Arthur. Arthur later became a partner in
United Dairies (formed during the 1st World War) which later became Unigate.
13.
Titus Barham continued to grow Express Dairies which in the years after his
death became the biggest operator of Supermarkets in the UK under the name
Premier.
14.
It is however because of this involvement in community causes that Titus Barham
deserves to be remembered. He was a successful and wealthy businessman who used
his wealth to support good causes. He supported the building of Wembley
Hospital, donated money to buy the Tennis Club in Sylvester Road, welcomed
local people to his home for his "Rose Sundays". In 1936, a year
before his death, 8000 local people attended his open house event.
15.
Titus Barham is referred to as "Wembley's greatest benefactor".
16.
In 1937 Wembley received its Charter to become a Borough Council. Titus was due
to become the Wembley 'Charter' Mayor' and donated £4,000 (around £300,000 in today’s
money) for the purchase of the Mace and Chains of Office regalia. Sadly, he
died in July 1937 on the same day that Wembley was officially due to become a borough and he its
Mayor. The ceremonywas postponed until October.
17.
Titus was keen to ensure that all Wembley residents had an opportunity to
celebrate the creation of the Borough Council and he had paid in advance for a "tea
party" for the tens of thousands attending the old Wembley Stadium on 2 October
1937:
18.
Even more importantly on his death Titus Barham decided to gift his home (now
renamed Barham Mansion) and his beloved gardens to local people for "the
recreation of the public". With the house came his 'eclectic' collection
of items collected over many years which eventually formed the founding
collection of items used for the creation of the Brent Museum at the Grange
(now in Willesden Library)
19.
His gift eventually became Barham Park. While Barham Mansion, used during the
2nd World War by the military, fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1955
the Park and the original buildings remain. They have been home to the Barham
Veterans Club since 1946. The Barham Park Public Library was opened on 31 May
1952 and served local people for almost 60 years - but was sadly closed by
Labour Councillors in 2011 when half of Brent's libraries disappeared.
20.
On a sunny day Barham Park is full of people enjoying themselves. The old
buildings are a hive of activity - with the Community Library, run by
volunteers, serving our local community.
I
hope that this brief summary - highlighting the lives and contribution of the
people who lived in Barham Park - explains local people believe that Barham
Park should continue to be used for the "recreation" of local people
and not to for developers profit or commercial interests.
Local
people love their local park and will fight to preserve it to be enjoyed by
local people now and in the future.
The
views of local people should not be ignored. We do not want more house building
in the park or hotels which only benefit developers and not local residents.
Please support us.
From Quintain website (present and future buildings) £2.7bn+ has been invested in the site
Quintain Press Release yesterday:
Quintain, the developer behind Wembley
Park, announces that it has completed the refinancing of the company’s
existing corporate facility and infrastructure loans. The new agreement,
totalling £780m, is backed by J.P. Morgan and Cheyne Capital and
replaces a previous facility, which was agreed in 2016.
Since breaking ground on Wembley Park nearly 20 years ago,
Quintain has completed more than 5,000 homes, invested £2.8bn and
continues to grow with two further Build to Rent schemes underway and on
track to be delivered in 2025, plus a major new public park. The new
agreement with J.P. Morgan and Cheyne Capital will support the ongoing
development of Wembley Park in the years ahead.
Clare Morgan, Head of Corporate Finance & Treasury at Quintain, commented:
We’re delighted to have secured a new lending facility with
our partners, J.P. Morgan and Cheyne Capital. The new facility
consolidates our existing debt exposure and strengthens our balance
sheet to ensure a stable platform for ongoing excellence at our Wembley
Park site.
The terms of this new facility reflect our attractive portfolio
of stabilised, high quality, Built to Rent residential assets, the
quality of our remaining development land, as well as record levels of
BtR leasing activity over the past 18 months. Our retail leasing is also
going from strength to strength with London Designer Outlet breaking
monthly year-on-year trading records for nine consecutive months as we
celebrate the tenth anniversary of the outlet centre.
We’re looking forward to working together with our partners at
J.P. Morgan and Cheyne Capital to deliver our plans and take Quintain to
the next level. With two significant new buildings moving forward at
great pace, we are well into our next phase of development at Wembley
Park.
Rahul Sule, Head of J.P. Morgan EMEA, APAC Real Estate Finance, commented:
It’s
exciting to team up with Quintain and Cheyne Capital on this landmark
transaction. The size and complexity of the transaction could not have
been addressed without Quintain’s operational expertise and
best-in-class track record in managing the Wembley Park project against
an unprecedented market backdrop. This is one of the largest
refinancings executed in the UK so far this year and highlights J.P.
Morgan’s deep expertise in executing large transactions involving
multiple parties while providing execution certainty in volatile capital
markets.
Arron Taggart, Head of UK Real Estate at Cheyne Capital, concluded:
We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Quintain and
to be part of the innovative Wembley Park project which has undoubtedly
had a positive impact on London’s housing supply. We have been involved
in funding Wembley Park for a number of years now and continue to be
impressed by the vision, delivery and quality of the project. Quintain
has created a product and community that has been both accretive to the
London townscape and will be a lasting legacy – they should be very
proud of that achievement.
The
battle against the Government's Anti-Boycott Bill will be hotting up
this Autumn as opposition builds across the trade union, human rights,
religious, anti-arms trade, peace and climate movements.
The
bill would prohibit public bodies, including universities and councils
from supporting BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) on issues not in
line with government foreign policy.
This would directly impact on Brent Council's freedom to make ethical decisions on its investment decisions, including the staff pension fund, and procurement decisions.
It
does not prohibit individuals and other organisations from advocating
BDS but could well have a chilling effect, particularly if extended to
other issues as the film Boycott shows in the US context. There will be a local showing of Boycott followed by a discussion on Wednesday September 20th.
This
is the Trade Union Congress motion that was moved by the National
Education Union and seconded by UNISON that was passed yesterday:
The
current right-wing Israeli Government, having launched its biggest
military incursion in the West Bank in two decades, is announcing new
illegal settlements, expelling Palestinians from East Jerusalem and
Masafer Yatta, demolishing homes and schools, and failing to
prevent armed settlers from rampaging through villages killing and
attacking Palestinians, destroying homes and agricultural lands.
The Israeli military has this year killed more than 180 Palestinians.
Congress further notes:
The
Government’s Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill
would undermine ethical investment and procurement by public bodies by
restricting the consideration of human and workers’ rights,
international law and environmental concerns, linked to the behaviour of
a foreign state. It damages freedom of speech, local democracy,
devolution and pension scheme members’ rights.
The
legislation would shield the Israeli government from accountability,
alongside companies complicit in its occupation, by legislating to
silence those trying to achieve change.
Congress believes:
Any
attempt to delegitimise the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions and to suggest that Palestinians should be denied the
right to appeal to people of conscience for support, must be rejected.
The
ability of public authorities, including public sector pension funds,
to divest from companies responsible for violations of human rights
should be defended.
Such legislation could have blocked the boycott of goods and companies complicit in Apartheid South Africa.
Congress resolves to:
Reaffirm
support for Palestinian rights, including our commitment to “boycott
the goods of companies who profit from illegal settlements, the
Occupation and the construction of the Wall”.
Support the Right to Boycott coalition Campaign with affiliates against the Bill.
Mover: NEU Seconder: UNISON
On Wednesday 20th September Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Camden PSC and Brent Friends of Palestine are joining together for a free showing of the film Boycott that reveals what happened when similar rules were introduced in the US.
The film will be followed by a discussion led by Ben Jamal, Director of Palestine Solidarity, on the implications for the UK.
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.
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