Harlesden Mums Who Cycle: Family Ride Sunday 23rd February Roundwood Park to Paddington Rec

 

Baroness Berger of Barnhill

 

Following the adoption by Luciana Berger of the title Baroness Berger of Barnhill, locals have been having some fun on Facebook giving themselves titles named after local streets and landmarks.

Baroness Berger is, to put it mildly, no stranger to controversy LINK but does have Brent credentials having been brought up in Wembley.

Whether her title will have any impact on house values on Barn Hill remains to be seen.

 Meanwhile, will we see a future Baroness Fraser of Chalkhill to add a little balance?

Four days left to have your say on proposed Cycle Docking Bays in Brent - full list of sites

 

Brent Council is consulting on the siting of 43 Cycle Docking Bays across the borough following concern about the problems caused by poor parking of Lime Bikes.

They say:

Brent Council is working to improve cycling facilities to encourage residents to adopt active and sustainable travel. By promoting cycling, the Council aims to enhance public health, reduce traffic congestion, and improve air quality throughout the borough.

 

The cycle hire bay, which has the capacity to store eight bicycles will allow users to rent or return the bicycles at any time.

Each site has its own survey. For some reason the consultation site LINK has the sites listed in reverse alphabetical order. For readers' convenience I list them in alphabetical order below. There are only 4 days left to respond.

C

Cambrudge Avenue, Christchurch Avenue, Church Road, Coventry Close, Curtis Lane.

D

Dollis Hill Lane, Donnington Road (East), Donnighton Road (West), Doyle Gardens, Dyne Road,

E

Ecclestone Place, Exeter Road.

H

Hamilton Road, Harlesden Road, Hartland Road, Harvist Road, Hazel Road, High Street (Harlesden).

K

Kendal Raod, Keslake Road, Kingswood Avenue.

L

Lancelot Road,  Lansdown Grove, Llanover Road, London Road.

M

Mordaunt Road, Neasden Lan, Oakington Manor Drive, Old Norh Circular Road, Oxgate Lane.

R

Rucklidge Avenue.

P

Park Lane.

S

South Way, St Pauls Avenue, Station Approach, Station Terrace, Strode Road.

T

The Avenue, Tokyngton Avenue.

W

Waxlow Road, Wembley Park Drive, Wrentham Avenue.

 

Full Licensing decision notice on K-Pop Festival at Northwick Park. Details on how to Appeal.

 The decision notice from the Licensing Committee contains full details of the representations made and the conditions imposed at Stage 1. There is now time for those who oppose the Committee's decision to support the application at Stage 1, to appeal.

EXTRACT

MIK, 133 The Fairway, Wembley, HA0 3TQ - Hearing Decision Notice This is the decision notice for the hearing held on 4 February 2025 for the above application. Please note that an appeal against this licence decision may be made by the applicant, a person who made relevant representations or the Chief Officer of Police as applicable, to the magistrates' court at: Willesden Magistrates Court, 449 High Road, Willesden, London NW10 2DZ, Tel: 0300 303 0645 within 21 days from the date of receipt of the notification of the decision.

 

LETTER: Council Tax Support - when is a Consultation NOT a Consultation?

 

 Segment of Brent Cabinet dealing with Council Tax Support (Apologies for poor sound quality on Brent Council recording)

 

Dear Wembley Matters

When is a Consultation NOT a Consultation?

When Labour Brent Council calls something a "Consultation", asks people to express their views and....then ignores them.

A few days ago Martin reported on the drastic CUTS in support to around 17,000 individuals and families in Brent currently receiving support with their Council Tax bills.

In simple terms the Labour Leadership is proposing to cut £8 million from the Council Tax Support Scheme and set up a £1.5 million hardship fund to help the people most impacted and facing the greatest hardship.

Hundreds (possibly thousands) of Brent residents now face having to pay up to £600 a year (£50 per month) more than before. 

At the same time the Brent element of the Council Tax is going up by another 5%  and in 2025/26 the Band D Council Tax will be £2,133.

Brent officers admit that even with the £1.5 million hardship fund in place many residents will not be able to pay, will fall into even greater debt and the Council will be forced to write off many of those debts. 

I went to the Cabinet on the Monday morning 10 February to argue for two changes to the Labour proposals:

1. Doubling of the £1.5 million hardship fund to £3 million 
2. Reject the proposal to use Universal Credit rules of only allowing backdating of Council Tax Support Scheme for just 1 month - for the simple reasons that Universal Credit is far too complicated and that most people are unaware of the Council Tax Support Scheme and will inevitably claim too late - and lose out on what they were entitled to.

I made the point that extra support was needed this year because the CUT was being rushed and the people impacted had very little time to get help, advice or an opportunity to take steps to manage their income or expenditure to be able to afford the extra cost that will hit them from 1 April 2025 just 7 weeks away.

Needless to say my suggestions were rejected out of hand after the usual Councillor Butt rant totally unrelated to the issue. 

Oh, yes Consultation?

In his previous article Martin also published a response to the consultation from the Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB). Their research and a number of case studies highlighted the hardship and impact the drastic Labour Cuts will have on real Brent residents.  The CAB also made some recommendations as to how the worst impact could be mitigated.

Paragraph 10.4 of the Council Report on the issue that went to Cabinet makes the intent of the Brent style "consultation" very clear:

"Given the scale of the budget challenge, the Council’s preferred option was to consult on the proposal which resulted in the saving level needed."

What exactly was the point of the 8 week consultation exercise? Was there any intention to listen to the CAB or anyone else? Of course NOT! 

This was another case of a SHAM Labour Consultation of which we have had many over the years.

So next time you hear a Labour politician shed crocodile tears over the cost of living crisis feel free to point out how much harder they have made things for thousands of Brent residents as a result of their decision.

Yours

Paul Lorber

Educators making an impact with the Zero Carbon Schools programme

 

 

14 teachers from Brent schools recently completed 'carbon literacy' training run by Brent Council. LINK

 

The above video and the Impact Report shows the value of work carried out by  the Green Schools Project  in schools across the country:

 

Last academic year was our biggest and best yet at Green Schools Project. Consequently, this Impact Report is our most comprehensive to date, and we’re really proud of it!

 

Here are a few of our highlights:

 

• 115 schools and 4,677 pupils across the UK took part in our Zero Carbon Schools programme last year.
• 98% of teachers and 90% of pupils would recommend the programme to others.
• 95% of teachers agree that their pupils feel more positive about their role in tackling climate change as a result of Zero Carbon Schools.
• 95% of teachers said that Zero Carbon Schools had influenced their school’s response to climate change.
• Schools reduced their carbon emissions by an average of 27 tonnes where we have year-on-year data.

 

We firmly believe that this shows the power of our work to transform the way that schools and young people respond to climate change. 

 

What next?

 

We are always keen to talk to organisations in our network about how they can partner with us to support climate education and sustainability in schools.

 

If after reading this Impact Report you are interested in collaborating, I’d love to have a conversation, and now is a great time to get in touch.

 

info@greenschoolsproject.org.uk

Butt boasts of squeezing Lime: Consultation and the first Resident Cycling Forum

 

From Brent Council

It is your turn to have your say on new parking bays for Lime bikes which will be popping up across the borough this year. 

Since 2019 over 100,000 people have used Lime bikes with nearly 2 million cycle trips taken across the borough. With rising demand, many residents raised concerns about the bikes, such as poor bike parking and safety.

Lime agreed to a number of the council's demands last year and will be implementing them this year, these can be read in full here, and include: 

• immediately reduce the size of the fleet in Brent by a third-  from 750 to 500 bikes - while other improvements are made and consult closely with the council before increasing bike numbers again
• introducing and funding towards the creation of 200 new parking bays, in priority areas. These designated parking bays will be implemented and enforced in phases and we aim to have all locations will be up and running by 1 July 2025
• implement zoning to prevent poor bike parking in certain areas. 

The consultation on the location of the 200 dedicated parking bays is now open for residents to give their views.

Councillor Muhammed Butt, the Leader of Brent Council, said:

I am pleased we have been able to squeeze concessions out of Lime, since most residents are simply tired of the minority that park their e-bikes badly.

We are working with Lime to address this with a borough-wide network of mandatory parking bays which will make cycling around the borough easier and also set stronger expectations of riders. Decisions are shaped by those that get involved, so I would encourage residents to have their say on the new locations proposed.

The first Resident Cycling Forum will take place on Monday, 24 February in the Civic Centre Conference Hall at 18:30. This forum will provide an opportunity for residents to hear directly from Lime about the scheme and raise any issues or concerns they may have.

Until the new parking bays are introduced, Lime bikes will still be able to park anywhere on a pavement, but users must follow Lime's rules to ensure bikes do not obstruct pathways. If you find a badly parked or abandoned Lime bike, you can report it directly to Lime via email or online.

Brent Council is also in talks with other e-bike operators, such as Human Forest, to explore formal arrangements for their bike hire schemes in the borough.

Alperton By-election candidates

 The Green Party decided no to stand given the circumstances of Anton Georgiou's resignation and urged the Labour and Conservative parties to do the same. See LINK

The by-election, ususually,  takes place on a Tuesday: February 18th 2025.