Brent Council accused of double standards over Barham property rents

Cllr Paul Lorber has returned to the issues revealed in the Barham Park Trustees accounts in an email to Kim Wright, Brent Coucil Chief Executive Officer:

You will recall that last year when challenging the accounts and the poor way officers were managing the Charity’s property and finances, I made the specific point that rent reviews in line with Leases in place were not implemented as a result of Trustee and Officer failures to notice.

 

I raised and pursued this issue despite knowing that this would cost Friends of Braham Library (an organisation running a Community Library in Barham Park of which I am a Trustee) substantial amount of money.

 

I was proved to be right and the Property Unit eventually addressed this oversight and pursued the rent reviews and backdated the collection of the correct amounts due. The extra amount due to the Trust up to 31 March 2024 came to around £20,000.  Friends of Barham Library’s rent increased by around £750 a year and we paid over almost £2,000 backdated amount.

 

I get the impression that one of the large tenants has not yet paid the extra £15,000 or so due to them because of the failure to uplift their rent from 2019. 

 

The Barham Park Trustees have now agreed to embark on a commercial approach in dealing with the buildings in Barham Park. The intent is to renew leases which the Council Officers decided to run out - deliberately or by oversight - for a limited number of years only. 

 

The new approach will have a serious impact on some of the small charities operating in Barham Park including the Barham Veterans Club who were originally set up by a partnership between Wembley and Middlesex County Council as far back as 1947. The days when the Veterans could use their premises free of charge and were supported with a £4,000 a year grant are long gone.

 

I will pursue the issue of commercial rents another time. My concern in this email is the double standards employed by Brent Council when dealing with itself as compared to how they deal with the voluntary sector and charities.

 

The affairs of the Barham Park Trust are managed by Brent Council Officers. While ultimate responsibility lies with the Trustees - currently all Labour Councillors including the Leader - they have effectively washed their hands of responsibility and delegated virtually everything to officers.

 

Any arrangements between the Trust and the Council have to be at “arm’s length” and not on any favourable terms.

 

The Council has been allowed to lease one Unit in the Barham Buildings for a Children Centre. That Children Centre was closed many years ago and the supposed replacement use and activities of the unit is highly questionable.

 

The Lease prepared by Council Officers between the Trust and the Council is highly unusual.

 

While Leases with 3rd party charities or community organisations have an upward only rent review every 5 years - and I have high lighted extra rent this generates above - surprisingly the Lease with the Council has no such clause and no rent increase has been applied.

 

This is clearly very odd and very unfair. While expecting charities to pay more the Council has ensured that it does not have to. The Council has a clear conflict of interest but has also clearly failed to follow the simple ‘arm’s length’ rule to ovoid it.

 

Officers also ensured that the Council benefit is amplified allowing the lease to expire while continuing to pay the old rent rather than a newly and independently determined market rent.

 

So, while imposing market rents on others the Council has ensured that the impact of pursuing a market rent policy is avoided by the Council itself.

 

This clearly is not right. The Barham Park Charity has lost out as a result of this cavalier approach while Charity tenants have been treated less favourably while also being threatened with eviction if failing to agree to pay market rents.

 

As I was denied the right to speak at the recent Trust Meeting, I am making my concerns public.

 

I look forward to an equal public explanation and justification as to why in relation to the Unit the Council leases from Barham Park Trust the Council is not treated the same as everyone else.

 

Paul Lorber

 

 

Average Brent rent has rise by more than a third since 2023

According to My London Office of National Statistic data shows that Brent has seen the steepest rise in rents over the past 12 months of any local area in England or Wales.

The average rent is now £2,121 per month - a rise of 33.6% since 2023. This compares with a London average rise of 9.6%.

Deputy Mayor gives profuse apologies over row with parking warden that breached Councillor Code of Conduct

Brent's Deputy Mayor, Cllr Diana Collymore, has offered apologies to Brent Council, and a face to face apology to a Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) more commonly known as a parking warden, following an argument over a parking infringement in London Road, Wembley. She was issued with a PCN (Penalty Contravention Notice).

An investigation using video and written evidence found that Cllr Collymore had been in breach of several provisions of the Councillor Code of Conduct.   The councillor who holds a Blue Badge  had not realised there were parking restrictions that applied in that area, even to a Blude Badge holder, as there is a No Loading restriction. However, the double yellow lines were barely visible. I understand the lines have been repainted since the incident.

Cllr Collymore, who before becoming a councillor was a local community activist, apparently lost her cool in the heated outburst.

9. 9. The Complainant alleged Councillor Collymore:after asking why a ticket had been issued, did not permit the CEO the opportunity to explain why the ticket had been issued,

       stated “the officer got married to a woman in order to regularise his [stay] in the UK”. Implying that the officer got his immigration document through an illegal means.

       repeatedly stated she did not require a response from him.

       informed the CEO that he “does not know how to carry out his duties, that she will speak to someone higher in the council and, that she will report him to the immigration services.”

       repeatedly stated she is a councillor and will report the CEO to council officers.

 The complaint was backed up by video evidence which has been sent to Cllr Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council.

In considering sanctions for the breach Brent Council's Monitoring officer  took into account Cllr Collymore's actions to remedy the breach, namely her written apology to the Council and her personal apology to the CEO. The following sanctions were imposed:

Censure or reprimand by way of a report for information to the Audit and Standards Advisory Committee, which has responsibility for oversight of Member standards issues, with a summary of this decision. 

It was also suggested that Councillor Collymore be given the information again about appropriate use of her blue badge.

Request that Councillor Collymore undertakes refresher Code of Conduct training and refresher equalities training.

Providing a copy of the transcript of the headcam recording to the Leader of the Labour Group so the group can consider its relevance to council positions.

The last point is significant because Cllr Collymore apart from being Deputy Mayor also has positions on the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee, Corporate Parenting Committee, Regulatory Sub-Committee and the Service User Consultative Forum for Pensioners.

The Labour Group in considering removal from any of the positions will presumably take into account the findings in the Monitoring Officer's Report and the sanctions already imposed, as well as any advice from the London Region of the Labour Party.

Cllr Collymore, along with many other councillors, was not present at last night's Full Council Meeting. A request for a statement from the Mayor by Liberal Democrats was refused.

The full report can be read HERE

No sole developer yet for South Kilburn as number of social homes set to reduce

 

 

South Kilburn Masterplan (The Guardian)

 

Guest post by a South Kilburn resident

Report of South Kilburn Regeneration meeting held on the 18th September 2024.

 

The council announced that they have not appointed a sole developer yet for all the remaining sites of the South Kilburn Regeneration programne.

Currently there are  3 sites being developed with:

(1) 46 social homes for rent out of a total of 328 homes at The Peel site 

(2) 72 social homes for rent out of a total of 209 at the NWCC`sit

(3) 18 homes for social rent at the Granville/Carton site but I do not know the total number of remaining homes.

 

(NWCC is Neville, Winstanley, the Carlton Centre and some of Carlton House).

The South Kilburn Promise was to provide a 50\50 ratio of social homes to other tenures but at these 3 sites the numbers of social homes has fallen way below the 50% ratio.  Also the overall aim of the South Kilburn regeneration is to increase the number of social homes in South Kilburn by 800 by the end of the programm but this target may not be achieved either.

The next site to be developed will be The Hereford & Exeter site but not until 2026 as the council are still discussing with the GLA over funding issues and it would also need the sole developer to be appointed to develop the site.`

All the remaining sites are waiting to go to planning with the next one being The CCZ site being submitted in 2025. (CCZ is Craik, Crone & Zangwill House.)

Finally, there are still 284 tenants waiting for a new home in South Kilburn.

The council also reported on anti- social behaviour issues at Unity Place which only opened in 2019. They have appointed two Block Champions to monitor Unity Place, which has over 300 tenants and leaseholders living there.

Before the first Masterplan was published in 2004 the council said that developing the South Kilburn estate would eradicate all the anti-social behavour elements living there at the time. Something seems to have gone wrong as antisocial behaviour issues are rampant across the estate.

Appointing unpaid tenants as Block Champions to deal with all the issues affecting South Kilburn blocks  will not solve the problem and what we need is more police to visit the estate, along with council safety teams on a regular basis.

Brent Council urged to divest for Palestine as 2,000 signature petition presented

Supporters of the petition gathered outside Brent Civic Centre were joined by some councillors

 The presentation and response

Supporters of the campaign to 'Divest for Palestine' gathered outside Brent Civic Centre yesterday afternoon ahead of the presentation of a 2,000 petition calling on the Council to divest its local government pension fund from any companies deemed complicit in the current attacks on the Palestinian people, Israel's illegal occupation and the apartheid system.

They were joined by a number of Labour councillors and a small pro-Israel Government counter demonstration was joined by Cllr Michael Maurice.

Apart from a battle of loudspeakers the demonstrations were peaceful. 

There was some heckling by the pro-Israel supporters when the petition was presented and more serious disruption when people began to leave after the presentation.

In her response to the Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity Campaign petition,  Cllr Mili Patel siad the Council did not 'activelyinvest directly' in UN considered occupied territories nor does it 'actively invest directly' in arms companies.

She has asked the Council's Chief Finance Officer to conduct a full audit of all the Council's allocations in line with the UN's principles for responsible investment.

The phrase 'actively invest directly' recognises that that may be indirect investment via fund managers or the London Collective Investment vehicle.  The need to trace those investments was encapsulated in the similar Camden campaign with their slogan 'Disclose, Divest'.

The response did not include a commitment from Brent Council to work with other London councils in putting pressure on the London CIV.

When the Palestine Solidarity Campaign asked Brent Council recently to list its investment they responded that they were unable to do so.

They did supply details when PSC made a similar request in 2020. These were the top five of their complicit investments at the time and a check on whether they still have such investments would be a starting point:

HSBC £4,663,056

HSBC invests over £830million in, and provides financial services worth up to £19billion for, companies arming Israel. These investments include up to £100million worth of shares in the company Caterpillar, who supply the Israeli army with bulldozers which are weaponised and used to demolish Palestinian communities, build Israel’s illegal settlements and apartheid infrastructure including the apartheid wall and military checkpoints. For more info: https://www.palestinecampaign.org/campaigns/stop-arming-israel/

Barclays £1,252,342

Barclays is a British multinational bank and financial services company. Barclays hold approximately £1,167.6 million of investments in companies that are known to supply the Israeli military. This includes Babcock, BAE and Boeing, Cobham and Rolls Royce. More information available in War on Want’s 2017 ‘Deadly Investments’ report.

BAE Systems  £970,233

According to CAAT, “BAE Systems is the world’s fourth largest arms producer. Its portfolio includes fighter aircraft, warships, tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery, missiles and small arms ammunition. It has military customers in over 100 countries. BAE has a workshare agreement with Lockheed Martin producing the US F-35 stealth combat aircraft. Israel, for example, took delivery of its first F-35 in 2016. According to Investigate, a project by the American Friends Service Committee, BAE has worked in cooperation with Lockheed Martin and Rafael to produce and market the naval Protector drone used to maintain the siege of Gaza along the Mediterranean coast.

Smiths Group £316,811

According to CAAT “Smiths Group is a global technology company with five divisions: John Crane, Smiths Medical, Smiths Detection, Smiths Interconnect and Flex-Tek. Smiths Connectors is part of Smiths Interconnect and comprises Hypertac, IDI and Sabritec brands. Products include connectors used in fighting vehicles, unmanned vehicles and avionics systems.” They have applied for a number of military export licences to Israel.

Rolls Royce £294,535

Rolls-Royce is a British manufacturer that produces military aircraft engines, naval engines and cores for nuclear submarines. Despite arms comprising only 26% of its total sales, it is still the world’s 17th largest Arms trade. In 2014, the year of Israel’s arial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza, which killed over 2,200 civilians, nearly a quarter of them children, Rolls-Royce was granted export licenses for engines for military aircrafts to Israel.

 

LETTER: Transparency needed on Peppercorn Rents vs Market Rents for Brent Council properties

 Dear Editor,

Following widespread public interest and concern, including on Wembley Matters, regarding the impact of Brent Council's Strategy Review on the voluntary and community sector, I have written (below) to the  appropriate council officer:

I am writing in my capacity as a Councillor concerned about the potentially damaging impact of the new Property Strategy and it’s implementation on the Brent voluntary sector.

The Property Strategy agreed by Cabinet last week indicates that expired rents will be charged based on market values and that Section 25 Notices will be issued as part of the process to achieve this.

As you know your officers started issuing Section 25 Notices to a number of community organisations in Brent and you officers suggested a completely off the wall (some people may say off their heads) figures.

In the case of the East Lane Theatre Club in my Sudbury Ward a new rent of £75,000 Per year has been suggested.

I know of other organisations in Sudbury subject to the same Property Unit approach.

What assurance can you give that this approach will be applied consistently and that community organisations will be treated fairly and equally.

The Leader of the Council has suggested that “ELTC has been in the fortunate position of being able to have space since 1992 for the sun of £1,500 ….and I can assure you that there are many organisations past and present that would love to have been in that position of having had that space”.

He than also claims that “we must start at open market rents”.

He is clearly ignorant of the facts or has not bothered to find out or has not been briefed properly. As you know there a number of organisations in Brent - many occupying larger premises and since before 1992 - that do not pay any rent for properties which belong to Brent Council and for which the Council is the landlord.

As you know one of these properties is The Kiln Theatre (formerly Tricycle Theatre) with a much larger Theatre building of which Brent Council is the freeholder the rent for which is £1 peppercorn.

You have and should be able to publish the full list of all the Brent Council owned buildings where £1 or nominal rent is paid.

Is it the intention of the Corporate Property Policy to review all these subsidised rents too so as to put all  community organisations on the same basis or is it the intention to penalise some with a Market Rent while favouring others with no rent at all?

You will appreciate that will all look very odd to any independent observer who may question the fairness of an approach the aim of which seems to be to deprive long standing organisations of their premises while others continue to receive favoured treatment. 

Perhaps if the Cabinet were informed of this strange situation they may have asked some questions and perhaps even made a different decision.

Because of the public interest in this matter I am publishing this email and will also publish your response.

 

Cllr Paul Lorber

UPDATE: Full road closure for c5 months from October 21st: High Road between Cecil Avenue and the Triangle including the Triangle

 This has been forwarded to me. Unfortunately the web link for further informations does not work and the mobile phone is unavailable. I have emailed for further information and the map. I will update when received.

UPDATE: The website has been updated but has less information than already supplied!

Wembley High Road closure (www.brent.gov.uk/wembleyhighroad )

Significant upgrades are being planned for Wembley High Road. We are working with TfL to coordinate a date for the upgrades to start, as it will impact bus routes and diversions will be required. We will update this webpage with information on when the upgrades will be taking place once this is agreed.  

This is so a much-needed upgrade of the road can take place between Cecil Avenue and The Triangle, completing the transformation of Wembley High Road.

Diversions will be in place and more information will be made available on this webpage.

Warnings re hedgehogs in Autumn and contacts for injured animals

The hedgehog drank some water before being taken to the vet

Following my social media post yesterday regarding an injured hedgehog found at the back of my house, Brent Parks Forum has sent the following information. Suzanne from the Forum took it to a vet but unfortunately it was too badly injured to treat. The hog was very wobbly and staggering in a circle and surrounded by flies when found.

Hedgehogs in Autumn:  

We have had 3 hedgehogs die within 2 weeks that we know of in Brent.   Two died from suspected strimmer use, which seems to have been used under hedges where hedgehogs were hiding/sleeping.  One hedgehog had been run- over in a Brent Parks field (Barham Park). 

If anyone finds a hedgehog in their garden or in a local Brent park or on the street that is staggering, circling in a disorientated manner, also if the hog has flies settling on wounds.  [If you see a lot of little white/cream coloured maggots/eggs there will be a wound].  

There are a few vets that will go the extra mile to save injured hedgehogs.  

1. Hendon Medivet -  89-91 Watford Way, Hendon NW4 4RS   

    Tel: 020 8202 6344  Badly injured Hogs.  

2. Lulubells Rescue - also rehab. of badly injured hogs, if they have

    volunteers.   

    Become a volunteer for Lulubells Rescue  -  Volunteer | Lulubells Rescue

3.  Please call the BHPS (British Hedgehog Preservation Society).

    - 01584 890 801 for further advice and numbers of local carers/rescues.
    If out of hours there is an answerphone, press option 1.  

    [However,  their recommended vets may not be fully prepared to

    rehab badly injured hogs].  

• Pick them up with gloves, wrap in a towel and place in a high sided box.  
• Make sure you take the box inside and leave in a quiet room away from loud noises.  Do NOT leave it outside.
• Provide them with a hot-water bottle (Not scalding hot, just warm) or even better if you have a pet microwavable heat pad.  Allow extra space inside the box to allow them to move away from the heat source if they become too hot.
• Provide water - never milk.   Meaty cat food, not bread or grains.

 

Do check piles of leaves, compost etc before setting fire to them.