Spring flowers and rubbish in the historic Old St Andrew's churchyard

 

I always enjoy a stroll through Old St Andrew's churchyard in Kingsbury at this time of year as the first signs of Spring emerge. Naturalised snowdrops and crocuses mix with lesser celandine and the first leaves of bluebells.

The flowers  had lifted my heart but the amount of litter was truly depressing: beer cans, plastic bottles, fast food packaging  and items of clothing were everywhere, even on the less walked paths. Full black plastic bags of rubbish were thrown into the undergrowth and as you can see below even furniture had been discarded.

Walkers on the Capital Ring often take a detour to see Old St Andrew's Church, Brent's oldest buiding and Grade 1 listed. 

It is not just the churchyard that suffers there is also regular fly-tipping in the shrubbery outside the Riverside care home and on the verge opposite the Welsh Harp Sailing Club on Birchen Grove. People in cars parked along the road adjacent to the allotments in the evening leave fast food packaging, cans tissues and even used condoms.

 

Brent budget for 2024/25 agreed: Council Tax +4.99%, council rents +7.7%, communal heating +90% and £8m in savings

 The Brent Cabinet yesterday approved the Council budget for 2024-25 with Deputy Leader Cllr Shama Tatler saying it was the worse situation they had encountered yet: 'We didn't come into politics to make these sorts of decisions.'  Cllr Butt stressed that they had to be honest with residents about they decisions they had been forced to make.

The budget includes a council tax rise of 4.99% (2% ring-fenced for Adult Social Care), 7.7% increase in council rents and £8m in 'savings'.

Cllr Anton Georgiou addressing the Cabinet said that the Liberal Democrats would come forward with a 10 point alternative budget. 

Council Tax Bands including GLA Precept

Council rent rises will be at the maximum (CPI+1%=7.7%)

 

Council Service charges including 90% rise for  communal heating and hot water

 

Council garage rents will also rise by 7.7%

 

Michael Gove warns one of Brent's leading housing associations over 'severe maladministration' findings

 

Wembley Matters was contacted by a Sovereign Network Group (SNG)  leaseholder in Brent who was at the end of his tether because, despite  appealing to the recently merged housing association (Sovereign Housing Association plus Netwrok Housing), his MP and others, has been unable to get satisfaction with a series of complaints about the state of his building, service charges and a £800 excess.

He is clearly not alone. Michael Gove's letter above shows equal frustration and there are clearly other cases.  SNG also features in Barry Gardiner's documentary on leasehold released today LINK.

Closer investigation reveals many complaints over the last year or so LINK:

 

Utterly poor service by this company, it does not care for its clients. I ordered fob keys a month ago and paid for them but they still have not produced them. incompetent staff and a lot of useless bureaucracy to get simple things done. Any new customers avoid this company

 

Missing CCTV cameras for four months. Still paying full service charge for CCTV. Network Homes refused to take accountability for it. And said "it's a mystery". Quick to take the service money though.

 

I would not recommend Network Homes. In the past week we have had no water at all. The fobs haven’t worked in months, homeless people are gaining access and sleeping in the stairwell and service charges have gone up thousands of pounds within a year.

When you call the ‘emergency line’ nothing is done.

They are incompetent.

 

Disgusting organisation, demanding money for services not carried out or carried out in a totally unacceptable way. Check your service charges, they try to charge for things that dont apply. Threaten with court action to force payment out of you, yet are in breach of their own lease for refusing to show proof of work carried out. Avoid buying or renting a home under their management at all costs.

 

 

Network homes have been withholding information on the estate accounts for 4 years. I chase and I’m ignored. What are you hiding, over charging lease holders for work that has not been carried out seems to be a favourite.

 

So it is puzzling that SNG is so well embedded in Brent with the biggest project 1,600 homes in Northwick Park, 654 of which are in phase 1. They also have properties in Electric House in Willesden, Rosemary House, Wood Court and Greenfield  Court;  Print Works in Neasden and Wembley High Road.

In Northwick Park they are partners with Brent Council, Westminster University and the NHS through the government sponsored 'One Public Estate'. LINK

Brent Council used them for feasibility and design processes in Kilburn Square, Windmill Court and Watling Gardens. LINK

Current leaseholders ask if they are fit partners for the Council given the above issues.

 Network Homes moved out of their building at the junction of Olympic Way and Engineers Way into a new HQ  closer to the London Designer Outlook. The vacated building will house a new building for the College of North West London.  The College of North West London Olympic Way/Bridge Road site will be redeveloped as will their Dudden Hill site. Brent Council did a financial deal with United Colleges (who own the college and its land) by offering a bridging loan of £50 million in 2019 LINK.

Since then a rather cryptic note has appeared on Brent Council's Forward Plan indicating a revised sum but that is restricted.  Decisions are left to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Deputy Leader of the Council.

 Note. My ward map indicates that the Wembley Park campus of CNWL is in Wembley Park ward

 

Whether SNG is embedded or enmeshed with Brent Council there are clearly questions to be answered about the Council's involvement with an organisation that is under such heavy criticism.

Barry Gardiner fronts new documentary on leasehold giving leaseholders a voice at last

 

Barry Gardiner. MP for Brent North, has long fought for leasehold reform and has been frustrated by lack of government action.

He has taken the unusual step of presenting and taking part in a 42 minute documentary on 'Leasehold -millions unable to move or sell'. 

The documentary can be viewed HERE

 

LEASEHOLD is the new 42-minute documentary which tells the story of the millions of leaseholders now trapped in their own homes, unable to sell or move apartment. The programme examines the need for better rules to govern apartment management and construction.

 

Since the Grenfell disaster, the government has introduced legal changes which have meant many homeowners are now unable to secure a mortgage on their property and face mounting new costs.

 

The show is presented by Labour MP Barry Gardiner and visits residents across the UK from London to Manchester meeting those affected by years of uncertainty, building misery and increased bills.

Have your say on Neasden Town Centre Action Plan

 

From Brent Council

Be a part of shaping the future! Join us in developing the Neasden Town Centre Sustainability & Placemaking Action Plan.

Your input will help us create a thriving, vibrant and greener town centre.

Take our quick survey and let your voice be heard. Together, let's make Neasden the best it can be!

Have your say https://haveyoursay.brent.gov.uk/.../neasden-town-centre....

 

The Neasden Town Centre Sustainability and Placemaking Action Plan is an initiative supported by the Mayor’s Civic Partnership Programme (CPP), London’s new regeneration funding programme. It targets areas of need where local authority regeneration objectives align with Mayoral priorities, to address inequalities and support positive change.

Neasden Town Centre is a priority town centre in Brent. Acknowledging its potential to enhance support for residents and contribute to the local economy, Brent Council is collaborating with Sanchez Benton Architects, Rumi Bose, and Concept Culture consultants to develop the Neasden Town Centre Placemaking and Sustainability Action Plan.

The Action Plan will set the foundation for potential improvements in Neasden Town Centre. Answer our survey and help us shape the future of Neasden Town Centre! 

**If you need translated materials, please send us a request via bruna.varante@brent.gov.uk.

There will be workshops on February 13^th and February 17^th DETAILS

 

Will this finally get rid of the Private Eye image of Neasden?

New building on the Preston Road Library site – and a famous name!

 Guest post by Philip Grant in a personal capacity

The new building on 2 February 2024.

 

It was September 2016 when Brent’s Cabinet decided to redevelop the former Preston Road Library site in Carlton Avenue East for a block of flats, with space for a community library on the ground floor. In November 2022, a Council press release celebrated the topping-out ceremony, “New community library and 12 council homes rise up out of the ground”, attended by Cllr. Muhammed Butt, who ‘accepted an engraved trowel on behalf of Brent Council gifted to him by John Bolton, director of Kier Construction’, and some of his Cabinet colleagues.

 

Now it finally looks as if the building, which has a controversial history, is nearing completion! However, it is not that history, or the architectural merits (or otherwise?) of the new block in its 1930s suburban setting, which is the main point of this article. It is the name of the building that I want to share with you - Henry Cooper House.

 

Why name the building after a famous British boxer? I’m sure it must be because he lived in the Preston Road area for fifteen years from 1960 to 1975, a time which included the height of his boxing career. He is mentioned in Part 4 of The Preston Road Story (published on Wembley Matters in 2020), along with information about the library and Preston Community Library, which began with the support of the hundreds of local residents who had objected to Brent Council’s plans to close six of its twelve public libraries in 2011.

 

Henry Cooper in 1966. (Photo from “Henry Cooper – the authorised biography”)

 

Back in November 2018, Wembley Matters shared the news that a blue plaque to Sir Henry Cooper hand been unveiled above the shop at 4 Ealing Road, where he’d owned and run a greengrocer’s shop between 1965 and 1968.

 

Henry Cooper at his shop, and the blue plaque now above it.

 

As a result of Wembley History Society being asked to support the efforts of a local resident, who was successful in commemorating Sir Henry with this blue plaque, I researched and wrote about his life and local links, and also gave an illustrated talk about them last year, to commemorate the 60^th anniversary of his legendary boxing match against Cassius Clay (now better known as Muhammed Ali).

 

A ticket for the Clay v Cooper fight at Wembley Stadium in June 1963. (Image from the internet)

 

But Henry did not only live in Wembley, at 5 Ledway Drive, for fifteen years. With his wife, Albina, they raised a family here. I wonder whether they took their sons, Henry Marco and John Pietro to their local Preston Road Library, after it opened in 1964? 

 

Albina and Henry at home with their sons in, late 1960s. (Image from the internet)

 

The naming of the new building as Henry Cooper House was news to me. I only found out last week, when a local resident tipped me off about it, but it came as a pleasant surprise. I hope that all twelve of the new Council homes there will be let to local people in housing need at genuinely affordable rents!

 

And I wonder if Brent Council will invite Henry and John Cooper to the official opening of the building named after their father?

Philip Grant

Arabs and Asians Comedy Show for Aid in Palestine, Stonebridge, Saturday 10th February

 

Actually in Harlesden/Stonebridge rather than Wembley. BOOKING  

Tickets from £15.87 

The show is in English

Brent Council to go ahead with formal consultation on halving the size of Leopold Primary School despite overwhelming parent opposition - Gwenneth Rickus site to close

 

Site proposed for closure

Brent Council Cabinet on Monday is set to launch a formal consultation on the closure of the Leopold Primary School Gwenneth Prckus site, Brentfield Road, despite overwhelming opposition at the informal consultation stage. LINK

The Governing Body of the school opposed the proposal as did 86.7% of the consultation respondents.

Brent Council's rationale is based on the need for forward planning as pupil numbers drop and the additional expense involved in running a school on two sites.  They admit that parents' perception is that despite a shared senior management team and governing body, it runs as a separate school from the Hawkshead Road site. 

Certainly it seemed a school in its own right when I visited several times a few years ago and I was bowled over by its ethos and the vitality and talent of the diverse staff and pupils. It was (is) very special. Leopold School (both sites) had a period of difficulty which saw the appointment of an Executive Headteacher to stabilise things and came through with flying colours and improved pupil achievement. It made a postive contribution to the Black Achievement project.

Considerable capital investment was made into the building when it was decided to refurbish what had been  the Brent Teachers Centre into an annex to Leopold Primary to accommodate the 'bulge' of pupils that was moving through the system at the time. 

The Cabinet paper states:

The Local Authority remains of the view that the proposal is required to address the level of spare places in the local area. While concerns raised by parents would need to be taken into consideration if the proposal was implemented, officers are of the view that the Council should move to consult formally on the proposal to cease provision on the Gwenneth Rickus site of Leopold Primary School.

The building would be used for other educational purposes according to the Cabinet paper but there is no mention of it as a possible site for the Islamia Primary School which is under notice to quit its Queens Park site. SEND and alternative provision are mentioned as possibilities so building expenses would remain.

The closure would lead to job losses and proposals are put forward to manage this process involving talks with trade unions and possible re-location of some staff to the Hawkshead site or re-employment elsewhere.

I embed below officers' responses to the consultation.