Now Watford Road joins the Brent Festival of Roadworks February 25th - July 1st 2025

 

Affinity Water have warned residents that they will be replacing the water mains along the A404 Watford Road between Northwick Park Roundabout and John Lyon Roundabout.

They say they have been in contact with the Highway Authority and local transport teams at London Borough of Harrow and London Borough of Brent to minimise the
impact of these works:

We’re doing this work to improve our infrastructure to help us continue supplying you and the local community with high-quality drinking water to you and your local community long into the future.

 • Working dates: Tuesday 25th February 2025 – Tuesday 1st July 2025.
• Working hours: 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday & various timings on
weekends.

These works are part of a larger Scheme, which will be taking place in phases and are due to be completed by December 2025.

How will this affect you?

• Traffic management: There will be rolling multi-way traffic lights in place to manage the traffic flow to avoid any major disruptions in the area.

Brent Safety Officer withdraws objections to K-Pop Festival after additions to conditions

 The Brent Safety Officer has withdrawn their objections LINK to the K-Pop Festival planned to be held in Northwick Park after the organisers put forward additions to the licence conditions. 

Amagalmated conditions are HERE. Changes are in Red.

Further changes are likely after discussion with the various parties.

K-Pop Festival licence application to be heard Tuesday February 4th 10am Brent Civic Centre

 The controversial application will be heard at the Licensing Committee on Tuesday. at 10am.  Currently it is not going to be livestreamed so interested residents will need to attend Brent Civic Centre in person.

Documents

Here are two key maps as background. Click X at bottom right corner for full view.:

 

Many of the documents related to the Licence Application have been restricted from public view by Brent Council. These will relate to the financial arrangements between the Applicant and Brent Council which are of obvious interest to Brent residents. 

 

Brent Council issue pictures of Wembley High Road restructure works progress

 From Facebook

 They say:

 

Wembley High Road progress💪 We have exposed the following so we can check & repair👇 🚿Water 🔌Electrics ⛽️Gas 📞Telecommunications 🔴The running lane, between Oakington Park Manor & St Joseph’s Church is for the sole use of buses and emergency service vehicles only

 

Certainly residents report fewer private vehicles trying to get through the portion of road reserved for buses and emergency vehicle since the Council publicly announced they would be fined. 

A burst water main in the High Road main this morning added to the problems.

 

Residents invited to public meeting on drug and knife crime - Monday 27th January 6.30-9pm Brent Civic Centre and online

 

  From Brent Council

 

Local residents are invited to a public meeting on Monday 27th January to discuss ongoing efforts to reduce drug and knife crime in Brent. 

 

Chief Superintendent Sara Leach will speak about the steps the police in Brent are taking to cut crime and build trust within the community. She will outline how the police are working alongside the council, local partners, and the community to make Brent a safer place for everyone. 

 

Brent’s commissioned support services will also explain how they help adults and young people who are worried about their own or someone else’s drug use. 

 

The meeting will provide community members with the chance to share their views, voice their concerns and discuss ways everyone can work together to improve safety in the borough. 

 

Attendees will also have an opportunity to meet and ask questions of local police sergeants, police officers, council officers, addiction recovery advocates, and support workers. These representatives will share their ongoing efforts to tackle drug and knife crime and invite feedback on how they can better connect with local communities.

 

This is an opportunity to hear what has already been done in Brent on these community safety priorities, find out how organisations and individuals can help reduce drug use and knife carrying, and suggest ways forward.

 

The public meeting is organised by the Brent Safer Neighbourhood Board (SNB) which is made up of community members and partners, including the council. Its role is to scrutinise the police and enable the community to engage with the police. Following the meeting, the SNB will work with the police to ensure action is taken on the issues raised by residents. 

 

The meeting will take place on Monday 27 January, from 6.30-9pm at the Grand Hall in Brent Civic Centre. Refreshments will be provided, and there is no need to register in advance. The event will also be webcast online.

 

'We rescued a dozen people from the Kilburn Job Centre fire.' claim locals. Premises still wide open to intruders.

 

A gaping hole in the Job Centre wall at 4.30pm today

 

I went to  site of the fire at the disused Kilburn Job Centre this afternoon and found the Cambridge Avenue side of the building open to the elements - and any intruders. It was burnt out except for a table and the twisted metal guards that had been torn down.

A security guard hung around while I was taking photographs and I was approached by an onlooker, Jamie.

Jamie told me that he and his friends Ezra and DJ had seen the building was on fire and rushed in to get people out. He had given their names to a newspaper reporter but their account had not been published:

'We didn't stop to think we just ran ino the building. There were six people on the ground floor, four on the first floor, and two at the top.  They didn't hang around, they just scarpered, because it's arson isn't it?  By the time the para medics came they were mostly gone.

My throat hurt from the smoke. My mate told me that I should have got a wet towel and wrapped it around my face but we acted on impulse -  I wasn't going to waste time my searching for a towel and water, was I?'

The hole is just yards from the bus stop and passengers stopped to look when they alighted. It is quite a sight:

At the back of the building, in Coventry Close, it appears that work has been done to keep out intruders and squatters, although doesn't make much sense when Cambridge Avenue is wide open. Perhaps the contractor did not know about the other entrance...

 

Attempts at securing the building

Abandoned belongings indicate a hasty exit

The side of the building (above) looks less secure as does what appears to be a first floor balcony (below)

 

Having  escaped what could have been fatalities in the fire, though not responsible for the building, I understand that Brent Council is now contacting the owners with more energy than hitherto. They had been warned several times by residents over many years.

I hope the Council thanks Jamie, Ezra and DJ.

How will our MPs vote on a Third Runway for Heathrow?

 Keir Starmer voted against a Third Runway for Heathrow back in 2018 but has changed his mind as part of Labour's growth, growth and more growth agenda.

But how did our MPs vote in 2018? 

Bob Blackman MP for Harrow East at the time defied a three line Conservative whip and voted against as did Dawn Butler ( Labour - Brent Central),  Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North) and Karen Buck, then Labour MP for Westminster North.

That constituency is now largely Queens Park and Maida Vale represented by Georgia Gould, who is very close to Starmer.

How will they all vote this time?  Will they forget the climate emergency out of loyalty to Keir Starmer?

Bee kind! – grow some winter flowering plants if you can

 Guest post by Philip Grant

A buff-tailed bumblebee in a Kingsbury garden, 24 January 2025.

 

If you were watching the BBC Winterwatch programme on Thursday evening, you will have seen a film about a buff-tailed bumblebee, and its need to find flowers to feed from after emerging from its hibernation burrow. A sudden rise in temperature and some sunshine, like we had on Friday after several very cold weeks, can make them think that Spring has arrived.

 

Plants that are in flower can be hard to find at this time of year. It is several weeks too early to find snowdrops or crocuses in bloom. The bumblebee in Bristol was lucky enough to find some Mahonia bushes in flower, a winter flowering evergreen shrub that can have yellow flowers between November and March.

 

Mahonia flowers. (Courtesy of the RHS website)

 

But if you have a garden, or even a small patio or balcony, and can grow some suitable plants, you may be rewarded with sights like the buff-tailed bumblebee above, which I saw feeding on a patch of winter-flowering heather in the sunshine on Friday morning. Bee kind, if you can – nature needs our help, and can also give us so much pleasure.

 

Don't forget it is the RSPB Garden Watch this weekend! See my post from last January HERE.

 

Philip Grant.