Engagement Event at former Bowls Pavilion, King Edward VII Park, Wembley on Saturday 12.30pm to 4.30pm

 

The group who have taken over the disused Bowling Club Pavilion at King Edward VII Park are holding the above event on Saturday. to discuss how it will serve the community.

Great idea, but unfortunately it falls on the Rugby Challenge Cup Event Day with other matches starting in the morning. Expect the usual parking restrictions and bus diversions with the additional complication that the Bakerloo and Lioness Lines are not running  at Wembey Central and Wembley Stadium station will be closed.

Wembley Central and Wembley Stadium stations closed this weekend despite Rugby Challenge Cup on Saturday and Women's FA Cup on Sunday - expect disruption

 

BAKERLOO LINE: Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 May, no service between Queens Park and Harrow & Wealdstone. There will also be no LIONESS LINE service between Euston and Watford Junction. A very limited SOUTHERN service will continue to serve Wembley Central early and late on Saturday and on Sunday, and LONDON NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY trains stop at Harrow & Wealdstone. If travelling to Wembley for the Rugby League Challenge Cup Finals on Saturday or the Women's FA Cup Final on Sunday. Special bus service 718 operates

 

For safety reasons, Wembley Stadium Station will be closed during the following event days:

• Rugby Challenge Cup – 30 May
• Women’s FA Cup Final – 31 May

 

Why are we doing this:

 

Engineering works between London Euston and Birmingham New Street means we need to increase the frequency and length of our trains between London Marylebone and Birmingham Moor Street on the above dates. As a result of this, our capacity is limited to serve Wembley Stadium Station for the events.

 

For safety reasons, Wembley Stadium Station will be closed on the above dates. Those travelling via public transport to or from Wembley Stadium should travel via Wembley Park underground station, or relevant bus routes. 

 

As usual buses will be on diversion 

 

Harlesden Says No to Waymo - read and sign the petition if you agree with the reasoned argument put forward

 

We petition the Mayor of London to:

• Implement an immediate moratorium on the expansion of the Waymo pilot until a transparent safety audit is completed.

• Publish a full log of all safety breaches, "near misses", and traffic violations involving autonomous vehicles in London to date.

Why is this important?

Over the last few weeks, American company WAYMO has been testing autonomous vehicles in Harlesden and across London. On 22 April, a WAYMO vehicle drove through a live police cordon on Harlesden High Street while officers were investigating a double stabbing.


We, the undersigned, call on the Mayor of London and Transport for London (TfL) to immediately suspend the trial and roll out of Waymo autonomous vehicles on London’s streets. We further request a police investigation into near misses and other incidents where public safety was at risk. 

REASONS FOR THIS PETITION

The current rollout of Waymo autonomous vehicles (AVs) across London, and specifically within the Harlesden area, is proceeding without adequate democratic oversight or proven safety protocols for complex urban environments. Our concerns are based on the following:

1. Breach of Police Cordons: Footage has emerged of a Waymo vehicle in Harlesden breaching a live police line. Such actions constitute "wilful obstruction" of the police. If a driver of a regular vehicle had committed this act, they would likely be under investigation and could face criminal prosecution. We cannot allow a "two-tier" justice system where corporate AI is exempt from the laws that govern Londoners.

2. Unresolved Safety Risks: Autonomous vehicles are struggling to navigate the "edge cases" of London’s busy streets, including responding to emergency sirens, physical police barriers, and the unpredictable movements of pedestrians and cyclists in high-density areas like Harlesden.

3. Lack of Community Consent: Residents in Brent have not been adequately consulted on this trial. Public streets are being treated as a laboratory for unproven technology without a clear framework for liability when things go wrong.

4. Extra traffic on our roads: if Waymo or any other autonomous vehicles are allowed on the streets of London, that will lead to extra traffic on our roads. It will further compromise the Mayor of London's traffic reduction aims, led by Sadiq Khan, focus on reducing overall traffic volumes by 10-15% by 2041 and cutting car kilometres by 27% by 2030 to meet Net Zero and health targets. We need more accessible and affordable public transport, instead of more cars on our roads.

5. Vision Zero Compromise : The Mayor’s "Vision Zero" strategy aims to eliminate road danger. Introducing vehicles that fail to recognise and respect police cordons is a direct contradiction of this safety goal.

 

IF YOU AGREE SIGN HERE 

Brent's 'RESISTANCE HQ' - an exhibition and film telling the story of this historic building and its political, social and cultural importance

 

 

As well as the exhibition at Willesden Green Library a new film has been  produced by Platform Films exploring the heritage of the Willesden Trades Hall and London Apollo Club.

The film  RESISTANCE HQ will be shown for the first time  on Saturday June 6th at a special special screening at 375 High Road, Willesden.

This new film has been produced as part of the current project to revive the Willesden Trades Hall and London Apollo Club. It brings together archive footage and interviews with key people connected to both the club and the hall, to tell the story of a building of significant political, social and cultural importance.

Celebrate the heritage of this extraordinary building and the people connected to it. 

At present tickets are shown as sold out but a waiting list should be available. LINK

Arrival - 4pm

Film screening - 4.30-5.15pm

From 5.30-7pm - CELEBRATION EVENT. Stay to enjoy short speeches, find out even more about our special heritage at the pop-up exhbition and celebrate with us as this phase of a project to revive the site draws to close (with refreshments).

Produced by Platform Films

Music by Jon Klein

Archive material and historic information from Christine Coates

This film and the screening has been organised by the Willesden Trades Hall Charity with support from London Historic Buildings Trust.

This project has been funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Architectural Heritage Fund.

Accessibility - the Willesden Trades Hall and London Apollo Club is in an old building and there is no level access or disabled toilets. To find out more about accessibility at the site, please contact rosie@londonhistoricbuildings.org.uk.

London Mayor's Inquiry into Robotaxis - Call for evidence. Deadline June 26th 2026

 

Discussing the Waymo issues in Harlesden Town Centre

 

The London Mayor's Office has launched a short investigation (one month) on the issue of autonomous vehicles in London. These have been in the news recently with a demonstration in Harlesden over Waymo vehicles supported by Brent Green Party, the App Drivers and Couriers Union and Pull the Plug.

 The campaign is being spearheaded by Councillor Amandine Alexandre, who represents Harlesden, alongside Councillor Suzanne Gallagher, who represents Kilburn. 

They were joined byby Councillor Stephen Malonga from Kilburn and Ahmed Ahmed, who recently stood for election in Harlesden.
 

The campaign is growing rapidly across the capital. From safety incidents to the massive threat that unregulated corporate automation poses to the livelihoods of London’s 105,000 private hire drivers, they are  refusing to accept a tech first, people last experiment.

They are demanding that the Mayor of London puts a pause on the rollout until transparent safety standards and strict protections for workers are guaranteed.

SIGN THE PETITION 'SAY NO TO WAYMO' HERE

 

THE MAYOR'S INVESTIGATION

 

Investigation aims and objectives (Terms of Reference)

Several trials of autonomous passenger vehicles (more commonly known as driverless taxis or robotaxis) are underway in London in 2026, with operators aiming to launch commercial services by the end of the year. In this investigation, the Committee will: 

• Explore whether and how autonomous passenger vehicles could be licenced for commercial operations in London, and what role the Mayor and TfL should play in this.
• Understand the impact of autonomous passenger vehicles, particularly in regard to employment in the taxi and wider private hire vehicle sectors, interactions with other road users and the ambitions in the Mayor’s Transport Strategy, including ‘Vision Zero’, a traffic reduction of between 10 to 15 per cent, and the target for 80 per cent of all trips to be made by active modes or public transport.

Key issues

• In June 2025, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced that it would fast-track “small scale ‘taxi- and bus-like’ services without a safety driver” to take place in spring 2026 before a wider potential roll out in 2027. Several companies, including Uber and UK company Wayve, are seeking to obtain regulatory approval to transport passengers in automated vehicles in London as soon as this year.
• Waymo, an Alphabet-owned company, which is also seeking approval for passenger trials, began testing on London roads without passengers and with a driver at the wheel this year. Its current fleet comprises 24 vehicles. Other operators have not confirmed how many vehicles they are planning to deploy.
• Autonomous passenger vehicles are a common sight in some US cities. Waymo has reported that it is currently providing approximately 500,000 paid rides every week, using over 3,000 vehicles deployed across ten US cities. The company’s average weekly trips have grown tenfold over the last two years. Estimates from 2025 suggest that Waymo accounts for around one in four ride-hailing trips in San Francisco, surpassing the market share of Uber and Lyft.
• Research carried out by automotive data firm HPI found that while Londoners were the most trusting of self-driving technology of respondents from all UK regions, its survey of over 2,000 UK adults found that 79 per cent of Londoners would not trust a driverless car or feel comfortable about travelling in one, while only 21 per cent of Londoners would. The results also showed that 35 per cent of all those surveyed had concerns about the reliability of the technology.
• Some experts have also raised concerns around entrusting key elements of London’s transport system to private companies, resulting ‘proprietary lock-in’, whereby transport in a city could become overly dependent on (in some cases foreign) private companies. The Government in 2022 found that CAVs are attractive targets for cyber attacks and that ensuring cyber security is essential when developing them. There is a risk of terrorist attacks causing large-scale chaos across the transport network and cyber attacks targeting a vehicle’s hardware with the aim of disabling it until a ransom is paid.

Key questions

• Who is responsible for licensing autonomous passenger vehicles in London and what role do the Mayor and TfL play in this?
• How close are commercial operators to deploying autonomous passenger vehicles for hire in London?
• Are autonomous passenger vehicles compatible with London’s strategic transport goals in the Mayor’s Transport Strategy?
• What are the principal risks associated with autonomous passenger vehicles in London, and can they be mitigated?
• To what extent are autonomous passenger vehicles accessible to all Londoners?
• Are there any benefits that autonomous passenger vehicles could offer in London, and how likely are those benefits to be realised in London?
• What lessons can London learn from trials and deployments elsewhere?
• What role should TfL and the Mayor play in the development and oversight of autonomous passenger vehicles?
• What do Londoners think about autonomous passenger vehicles?

1. Call for Evidence

As part of this investigation, the Committee has launched a Call for Evidence, inviting those with knowledge of this topic to respond. 

If you are responding on behalf of an organisation, in a professional capacity, or have knowledge of this topic, please send your submissions to scrutiny@london.gov.uk. Please use ‘Transport Committee call for evidence’ as the subject title.

The deadline for submission is 26 June 2026.

Drop-in Exhibition on redevelopment of the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre June 3rd 4pm-7pm at the Centre

 I am looking forward to this exhibition to find out what space will be available to continue the primary school provision of the Environmental Education Centre.

 

 

Ex-Brent Labour councillor amongst those seeking to end Labour London Region's undemocratic 'culture of control'

Former Brent Labour councillor Jumbo Chan is among the signatories of a move to restore democracy to the London Region of the Labour Party through standing for its Executive Committee. Signatories from different traditions within the party will stand to 'restore party democracy and our historic pluralism, and by returning Labour to our roots, put us back onto a course to power':

We will ensure that there will be no more blocking of dedicated and capable Labour representatives, no more casting away of members' democratic rights, and no more culture of control.'

London Region was behind the imposition of external selection of candidates for the Labour slate at the Brent 2026 local election and the de-selection of many councillors that led to some defecting to the Green Party. This was followed by the NEC  vetoing any attempt by Brent Labour to reach an arrangement with the Green Party after the election resulted in No Overall Control. Instead a deal was done with Brent Conservatives that is already beginning to unravel.

The different Labour traditions consulted by the initiative include Momentum, Mainstream and other organisations. Members are asked to back the Divisional candidates at their CLP meetings before June 19th ahead of the London Regional Conference on 18th and 19th July.

 

Formal Complaint issued over 'unacceptable situation' at L&Q's Bigler Court, in Alperton

 Bigler Court

Brent Liberal Democrat Leader Anton Georgiou, has issued a Formal Complaint to L&Q (London and Quadrant Housing Trust) over 'unacceptable conditions at Bigler Court, a block managed by the Trust in Alperton.

The block hit the headlines in January 2024 when a disabled grandmother was left stranded on the 8th for two months due to a broken lift. LINK  

Things clearly have not improved. Cllr Georgiou writes: 

For years, residents and councillors have repeatedly raised concerns about disrepair, lift failures. heating and hot water outages, flooding incidents, poor maintenance standards, security issues and the overall management of the block. Despite numerous complaints and reports, residents continue to experience the same problems time and again, with little confidence they are being properly resolved.

The stories coming fom residents are deepy concerning. People have been left for months without reliable heating or hot water, repairs repeatedly fail to resolve issues, and the lift has been out of service for extended periods. In recent days, two residents became trapped in the lift despite assurances that repair works had been completed. This ongoing situation is having a serious impact on residents' physical and mental wellbeing. Many feel ignored, exhausted and badly let down. 

Bigler Court is not the only L&Q building in Brent to be the subject of complaints. Bourne Place, in South Kilburn has many similar issues and was the subject of a guest post by Lucie Gutfreund in August 2020.  LINK The then L&Q Chief Executive, David Montague, stepped down a month later. LINK

Plaque at Bourne Place, South Kilburn

 

Cllr Georgiou is calling for a meeting with L&Q senior management to discuss the ongoing failures at Bigler Court and the immediate action L&Q will take,

In addition he expects:

• A full review of outstanding repairs and maintenance issues at the block.
• Clear timescales for resolving ongoing problems.
• Improved communication and accountability from L&Q staff.
• Meaningful engagement with residents and local councillors moving forward.