WEMBLEY MATTERS News and views on local politics, the environment, climate change, culture and local history
New: Michaela head told inspectors the school did not teach music in year nine mainly because pupils “are not really interested in the subject”.https://t.co/pECQEien1L
— Warwick Mansell (@warwickmansell) November 10, 2023
Long read piece on the inspection notes on Michaela Community School,which I FOI’d following its recent report.
I used to do a daily return trip by cycle for work between Harlesden (St Johns Avenue) and Park Lane, Wembley Central. To say it was more dangerous than going over the Berlin Wall would be an exaggeration, but I was often surprised to still be alive at the end of the day.
Next year it will be 5 years since Brent Council and TfL began working on safer cycling and pedestrian routes for the Wembley Centra to Harlesden journey and the long-awaited TfL consultation opens today and closes just before Christmas on December 21st.
TfL say:
We have been working closely with Brent Council since April 2019 to develop a project that would make it safer and easier for local people to walk and cycle between Wembley and Willesden Junction.
We are developing the project in phases, and the first phase will focus on the area between Wembley Central and Harlesden stations, where we propose to provide a new high-quality Cycleway and improvements for pedestrians.
The changes would make streets in the area safer and more pleasant by enabling people to walk and cycle more and drive less.
The proposals include a protected two-way cycle lane on the A404 Harrow Road and Brentfield, new and improved cycle and pedestrian crossings over Harrow Road, better street lighting to help make the area feel safer and more trees and plants more welcoming.
This would help us to reduce air pollution and carbon emissions, which could improve local people’s health. It would also address congestion, and help support new developments(External link) (External link) planned across the wider area by providing better walking and cycling links to local businesses and stations.
The changes we would like to make are:
- Introducing a new protected two-way cycle lane on the A404 Harrow Road and Brentfield between Sylvia Gardens and First Drive, with separate low level cycle signals at junctions, new cycle crossings and better connections to other local cycle routes
- Introducing bus stop bypasses for cyclists at bus stops C and K, with the two-way cycle lane behind the bus stop island for cyclist safety
- Improving the quiet road cycle connections to Wembley Central and Harlesden stations
- Improving the route for pedestrians by adding a new crossing over Brentfield near Bridge Park Community Leisure Centre and making existing crossings at the A406 junction more direct, which will reduce crossing times
- We’ll add measures to slow traffic speeds, add better street lighting and drainage, and new areas of planting and trees where space allows along the route
- Improving the service for bus passengers by extending bus stop D so two buses can stop here at a time, and moving stop B in line with the traffic lane so that buses can pull away easily after passengers board
- Other changes to allow us to make these improvements include closing the left turn filter lanes from the A406 onto Harrow Road and Brentfield, making Sylvia Gardens exit only for motor vehicles (currently entrance only), shortening a parking bay on Harrow Road and reviewing parking restrictions on the quiet road connections. We would also move bus stop ‘Sunny Crescent’ 90m to the eastern side of Wyborne Way to make space for the new cycle lanes
The maps below will give you a more detailed idea of the proposals:
Two drop-in events are planned to discuss the proposals:
Public
drop-in event 9th December
Bridge Park Community Leisure Centre, Brentfield, Harrow Road, London NW10 ORG (10:00 - 14:00)
Public
drop-in event 12th December
Bridge Park Community Leisure Centre, Brentfield, Harrow Road, London NW10 ORG (15:00 - 19:00)
You can find the full online consultation here including further information:
https://haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk/wembley-harlesden
I have embedded the consultation form below in case you would like to preview it before responding or perhaps prefer to answer offline.
A question from Cllr Jayanti Patel, who is shaping up as one of the more incisive members of the Scrutiny Committee, elicited the revelation that the Council has a pilot project using artificial intelligence to assist in answering complaints from residents.
Its use would be part of the council's digital transformation programme where residents will be expected to go on-line as much as possible, athough Muhammed Butt assured residents that telephone, email and calling into the Civic Centre would still be possible.
The committee were told by a senior officer:
As part of the Digital Strategy we are looking at AI, There are a number of ethical issues around all of it. Our first venture isto the AI world is to pilot the development of an AI tool that will take a complaint, read the complaint, investigate all of the systems to draw out all the information about that complaint, and then compose a response tht is empathetic, that answers all the questions and would meet all of what we expect to be a good standard of response.
That would not just go off to the individual [complainant]. It would go to an officer to double check that the information is accurate and correct.
We should have the first prototype built by the end of the month. It is an AI product that would connect to our systems and we are doing it in a very controlled way. If it works it would be deployed in July 2024 at some point.
Cllr Tatler chimed in to say that AI is still very new and Brent was one of the first councils to make sure that ethics was built around it:
There are still a lot of unknowns and we don't want to lose the human element of how we deal with residents, so it is absolutely right that we do this bit by bit rather than go full swing into digital systems.
Brent football tournament for the Gaza emergency - to fundraise vital funds for those enduring pain & conflict in Gaza. All proceeds go to charity@IslamicReliefUK who have a team on the ground. You can sign up here: iruk.co/footballforgaza.
Join us for a 7 a-side football tournament in support of our Palestine Emergency appeal.
Taking place on Sunday 26th November 2023 at the Stonebridge Recreation Ground in London from 12-4pm.
Parking: NW10 8LW / Milton avenue / Albert end of the road car park
Nearest train station: Stonebridge Park station
Food and refreshments will be available on-site.
Contact 07710 389317 for more information
£100 registration per team.
A selection from many posts on Next Door
After seeing many posts like those above, as well as Tweets and Facebook posts I wrote to Brent Council:
Social media is awash with complaints about blue bins being rejected, petitions and protest meetings. Someone said Veolia workers were fed-up with the system and deliberately rejecting some bins as a protest.
Is there any message that the Council would like published re what appear to be teething problems?
Brent Council's response:
Councillor Krupa Sheth, Cabinet Member for Environment, Infrastructure, and Climate Action, said:
Whilst it is too early to know the full picture of how the changes have affected recycling rates, our trial of over 5,000 properties last year showed an increase in recycling, which is better for the environment and our planet.
We have also seen a 50% increase in the last fortnight in the amount of cardboard and paper recycling compared to the first two weeks of October, showing that compliance is increasing as residents get used to the changes to how their recycling is collected.
Veolia fully supports the service changes and their staff are trained to reject bins that have incorrect items in them, we do this so that recycling doesn't get rejected as this would be worse for the environment.
Thank you to all residents who are separating their paper and cardboard. More information is available on the council's website, where you can also order a replacement blue sack.
Judging by the number of young people on the national marches and at local events the situation in Gaza is rapidly becoming their 'Iraq War' when thousands of students walked out. Since then there has of course been the example of Greta Thunberg's climate strikes.
I know little more than what is in the poster above and that support from parents and teachers is welcome. It refers to a school/schools in Harrow of course, and not Harrow the public school!
Photo: Pete Firmin
With the child death toll rising daily many Brent and Harrow residents have been horrified by the pictures coming out of Gaza and feel a desperate need to do something about the situation. Bringing people together to respect the child victims and emphasise their humanity by naming them and their ages, was a moving act of empathy and solidarity. The call for a ceasefire was heartfelt from a peaceful crowd that represented the diversity of Brent.We will be joining hundreds of thousands on Saturday at the march to the US Embassy calling for a ceasefire. The killing of innocent children must end.
The National March for Palestine: Ceasefire Now assembles Hyde Park at 12 noon on Saturday and marches to the US Embassy in Nine Elms, avoiding the Westminster area. Details of meeting up points for local people from brent2harrowpsc@outlook.com
The Palestine Trauma Clinic after the bombing
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