Guest Post: Words vs. Deeds: Will Brent’s Cabinet Listen to Their Own Speeches Before Full Council Votes on "Believe in Brent"?

 

Guest post by Cllr Suzanne Gallagher

This week, Brent Council’s new four-year corporate strategy, Believe in Brent (2026–2030), came before the Cabinet on Monday (9 November), ahead of going to Full Council next week for final sign-off.

At the heart of the new plan is Priority 1: "A Borough to Be Proud Of," which promises to make Brent the best place to live, work, and build a future, underpinned by safe, welcoming, and vibrant neighbourhoods. Turn to page 37 of the Cabinet agenda pack, under the heading Healthy, active communities, and the written commitments are impossible to fault:

●      "Every resident can enjoy parks, playgrounds and leisure facilities close to home that are safe, welcoming and vibrant spaces to play, exercise and spend time outdoors."

●      "Everyone can access affordable opportunities to be active, regardless of their age, background or income."

●      "Work with communities where health outcomes are poorer... to reduce health inequalities and make it easier to get the right support early."

●      "Work with partners to encourage more residents to be active, improve their health and wellbeing and live independent lives."

●      "Improve access to affordable physical activity opportunities, particularly for children and young people."

On paper, it reads like a blueprint for thriving youth and community provision. Yet the lived reality for hundreds of Brent residents right now could not be more different.

The Community Fightback at Willesden Sports Centre

At the exact moment Cabinet members were taking turns praising their new strategy on Monday morning, local families, athletes, and coaches were desperate to stop Brent Council from ripping out the indoor athletics track at Willesden Sports Centre.

The very same day, the Council had planned to begin works to uplift one of only five indoor athletics tracks of its kind in the whole of London to replace it with a commercial gym extension.

This decision poses an existential threat to the winter provision of Track Academy, an extraordinary Brent charity founded in 2007 by former international triple jumper Connie Henry MBE that uses the indoor track three times a week to support hundreds of young people aged 5 to 23.

For around 500 young people every week in the colder and wetter months, that indoor track is far more than a running lane. As coaches, parents, and young runners told Clkr Mary Mitchell, Cllr Amandine Alexandre and me when we visited the centre on Saturday, athletics is the hook that brings hard-to-reach young people through the door. Once inside, they receive mentorship, educational support, and a safe, screen-free sanctuary during dark winter nights that keeps teenagers off their phones, supports injury rehabilitation, and boosts their mental health. Older residents, women, and adults with learning disabilities also rely on the space to stay active side by side.

What Cabinet Members Said on Monday vs. The Lived Reality in Willesden

Listening back to what Cabinet members actually said when presenting Believe in Brent on Monday makes the decision to close Willesden’s indoor track look even more irrational and contradictory.

During the discussion, Deputy Leader Cllr Gwen Grahl praised the plan by saying:

"It's so resident focused. We're trying to and endeavouring to deliver on what not only the residents have communicated to us, but also making sure that everything is with them in mind... This is a document that really showcases how each and every member of our borough can thrive through intentional investment, through the intentionality of the policies and the work that is going on behind the scenes."

If the Council’s "behind the scenes" work is truly so resident-focused, why were Track Academy, Queens Park Harriers, parents, and young athletes completely sidelined without proper consultation before the decision to scrap their indoor track was taken? In fact, an Equality Impact Assessment was only carried out after the community demanded one, and even the Council has had to admit that the proposed replacement hall is not a like-for-like facility.

Even more striking were the remarks from Cllr Liz Dixon, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Community Safety, the very portfolio overseeing the Willesden Sports Centre redesign. Speaking on the new Council Plan on Monday, Cllr Dixon told the chamber:

"The truth is when you travel sometimes from the north to the south of the borough, the diversity or the differences are very stark and there are major inequalities. I think everything we're doing as a council to address that, so that we are more inclusive, is really helpful. Everything in here and the way that we're dealing with public health and community safety, it's ticking all the boxes. Everything we're doing is around the health and the well-being of residents, which is critical as the years go ahead."

How can closing Willesden’s indoor track possibly be described as "ticking all the boxes" on public health and inclusion? Willesden sits in the south of the borough where health inequalities are acute, and the Council’s own Equality Impact Assessment explicitly admits that closing the indoor track will have an adverse impact on girls, disabled young people, ethnically diverse communities, and low-income families. Pursuing a commercially driven gym expansion at the direct expense of those groups does not reduce inequalities, it deepens them.

Meanwhile, Cllr Matt Kelcher rightly highlighted the link between environment, physical health, and mental wellbeing, noting that "happiness as a central focus is something I'm really pleased about," while Cabinet colleagues spoke at length about "taking action to tackle health inequalities" and working to "improve every child in Brent's start in life."

Closing the debate, the Leader of the Council Councillor Butt emphasised the importance of supporting young people and protecting community assets:

"Everyone wants to feel safe in their locality, in their home, in their area. And also have places and spaces which are thriving... We need to make sure we are creating places and spaces where people want to remain in Brent."

I could not agree more. Track Academy is a prime example of a thriving space that gives young people in Brent hope, ambition, discipline, and mentorship. You do not create "places and spaces where people want to remain in Brent" by tearing out a rare London-wide youth asset that already works.

A Week for Reflection Before Full Council

Nobody disputes that Willesden Sports Centre needs investment and modernisation. But rather than destroying a unique indoor track, the Council should be going back to the drawing board, working with Track Academy, Queens Park Harriers, and neighbouring boroughs like Camden and Westminster to promote and enhance this facility.

Over 1,100 people have already signed Track Academy’s petition calling on Brent Council to halt the closure.

Between now and next week’s Full Council meeting, where Believe in Brent will be put to a vote, I hope Cabinet members take the time to reflect carefully on the words they spoke on Monday morning. If they truly believe that everything they do is about "the health and well-being of residents," tackling "stark inequalities," and protecting "places and spaces which are thriving," then they must match their words with their deeds, and save the indoor athletics track at Willesden Sports Centre

Sign Track Academy’s petition and write to your councillor here: https://trackacademy.co.uk/protect-brent-athletics

 

You have until tomorrow to comment on 18 storey student accommodation block on Watkin Road, Wembley Park

The proposed block in centre of image

 From the Design and Access Statement by Claridge Architects for Seven Capital

As densification increases and every previous light industrial site is gobbled up for high rise developments in Wembley Park, existing residents are realising that their quality of life is being affected and have been getting organised.  The campaign for the retention of Samovar/Market Square open space is one part of that struggle and specific proposals another.

The replacement of two one storey workshops on Watkin Road by an 18 storey student block is encountering opposition and residents are being urged to object. The deadline for objections is tomorrow Thursday 12th November.

 

LINK TO OBJECT (Application 25/1759)

Your objection should focus on planning issues. You may wish to mention:

* Height and design: Whether an 18-storey building would be too dominant and overbearing for neighbouring homes and the surrounding area.

* Loss of light and overshadowing: How the development could affect daylight and sunlight reaching nearby homes and public spaces.

* Flood risk: Whether the proposal adequately addresses flooding near Wealdstone Brook, including future climate risks.

* Balance of development: Wembley Park already has several large student blocks. Consider whether this proposal provides the right balance of development and meets the wider community’s needs.

* Remember: Explain how the proposal could affect you, your neighbourhood or the wider community. Personal experiences and local knowledge can be very persuasive.

Has Cllr Kelcher satisfactorily answered a question on affordable housing in Brent?

 Brent Council put out this press release on November 6th 2026. Only 7 of the homes are for social rent, 30 are for discredited shared ownership,  and 86 for market sale at prices Brent residents can't afford.

  

The public are able to ask members of the Brent Cabinet questions at Full Council. The question and written answer are published on the Agenda and the member of the public is allowed a follow-up question at the meeting. Full Council is on November 16th.

  

Question from Stephen Thomas to Councillor Matt Kelcher (Cabinet Member for Regeneration & Planning):

 

Can the Cabinet Member for Regeneration & Planning advise what they are doing to address the shortfall and backlog in affordable housing supply across the borough given the level of units being delivered by private developers across Alperton, including the Beresford Avenue and Grand Union developments and all around Wembley Stadium and increase in use of buy to let and student accommodation and properties then being used as Air B&B. These developments are not felt to offer real benefit to local residents whilst also placing additional strain on local infrastructure and already stretched community services.

 

Response from Cllr Kelcher:

 

This administration is very proud of Brent’s record in delivering new homes for our local communities. Brent was recently named the UK’s number one council housebuilder by Inside Housing magazine, with 557 homes completed last year and a further 1,360 in the pipeline. Our wider approach to housebuilding supports a range of homes to meet different needs:

 

We have delivered 155 homes in 26/27 up to Q1 and we expect to deliver a further 300+ homes this financial year including in areas of need such as Alperton, Church End and Kilburn;
 
From Q1 2026-27 to date (including the number of planning permissions granted with affordable homes and across different the tenure types) – 201 LAR homes [London Affordable Rent], 61 Social Rent Homes and 10 Shared Ownership Homes
 
A range of homes for market sale.

 

A borough as diverse as Brent needs all these types of housing. Social housing is essential for residents on our waiting list, while other affordable tenures help households whose needs are not met by the market. We also need homes for the majority of our residents whose incomes place them above the eligibility thresholds for social or other affordable housing. Market-sale homes therefore also have a role in meeting local need and benefiting Brent residents.

LETTER: Local Support Group raises £80,000+ in the past 11 years for traumatised children and their families in Gaza

      

Dear Editor,

Brent Friends of Palestine (BFoP) was set up as a campaigning group for the rights of Palestinians in 2015 by a small group of like-minded people living in Brent. The group was very keen to support a project that worked with children in Gaza or the West Bank. They heard about the Palestine Trauma Centre (PTC UK) which was based in Nuseirat Refugee Camp south of Gaza City. It was founded by Mohamed Altawil who was born and grew up in Nuseirat and escaped via Egypt to begin studying for a PhD in the UK. With David Harrold, a university colleague, he set up the PTC UK. It has a team of workers in Gaza including family therapists, playworkers, sports trainers and clowns. The team seeks to meet the needs of children and young people traumatised by their experience of living continually under siege. Brent Friends of Palestine fundraises to support in particular the PTC UK Days of Joy project which provides fun and sports activities in a range of locations in Gaza on a very regular basis.

Although the outbreak of the Gaza-Israel war in October 2023 limited activities the PTC UK team has continued its Days of Joy activities but on a much smaller scale. It has also provided hundreds of food parcels to families and even tents, and the team has continued to be paid by money sent from the UK. Since the October 2025 ceasefire, the work of the Days of Joy team has expanded and more children, young people and their families are benefiting from this.

Brent Friends of Palestine, over the past 11 years, has held several fundraising events for the Palestine Trauma Centre UK. These include standup comedy, concerts, campaign meetings, street collections, the sale of original Christmas cards, and they have initiated many regular monthly contributions from supporters. Our last fund- raising event, a Jazz Evening, brought the total raised for the PTC UK by BFoP to over £80,000, an amount that the organisation is very proud of.

Your support for the Palestine Trauma Centre UK and Brent Friends of Palestine is very welcome. BFoP have a public meeting on Thursday November 19th with Richard Kuper speaking from Jews for Justice for Palestinians which could interest you.

For more details email: brentfop@gmail.com 

 

PTC UK website: www. palestinetraumacentre.uk

 

Wembley road closures & bus diversions Thursday 12th November from 3.45pm for England v Croatia match

 From Brent Council:

 

-  England vs Croatia kick off will be at 7.45 pm and road closures will be in place at 3.45 pm on Thursday 12 November.

We expect the area around Wembley Stadium to be very busy before and after this event so please avoid the area if you can, unless you have a ticket for the event.

Event day parking

Event day parking restrictions will be in place from 8am to midnight on main roads and from 10am to midnight on residential roads on Thursday 12 November.

If you have a paper permit, please make sure you clearly display it in your vehicle. If you have an electronic permit, you do not need to display this.

Drink-free zone

We want to create a safe and enjoyable experience for all visitors.

To crack down on anti-social behaviour, we will be enforcing a ban on street drinking in the streets around Wembley Stadium before this event, as part of the Public Space Protection Order (PSPO).

If we find anyone drinking on Olympic Way or in the surrounding streets, they will be asked to hand over their alcohol and enforcement action may be considered.

Road closures

As usual, the following roads will be closed to traffic starting four hours before start of the event and for the duration of the event to help keep pedestrians safe:

• South Way (Pink Car Park to Wembley Hill Road)
• Fulton Road (Empire Way to Rutherford Way)
• Engineers Way (Empire Way to Rutherford Way)

Approximately 45 minutes before the end of the event, Empire Way will also close southbound at the Esso Petrol Station on Wembley Park Drive. This will be followed by closures of Wembley Hill Road from the Triangle (Harrow Road) and the Tesco roundabout on Empire Way. These measures are there to create a safe route for spectators returning to Wembley Central Station.

BREAKING. RACE TO SAVE INDOOR RUNNING TRACK: GREENS & LIB DEMS COMBINE TO CALL ON BRENT COUNCIL TO IMMEDIATELY STOP THE REMOVAL OF WILLESDEN SPORTS CENTRE INDOOR TRACK

The track in action

 

 

THE LETTER SENT YESTERDAY TO THE CEO OF BRENT COUNCIL WORK TO REMOVE THE TRACK WAS DUE TO START TODAY,

  

Formal request to stop the removal of indoor track at Willesden Sports Centre

 

Dear Kim Wright, Chief Executive of Brent Council, and Councillor Muhammed Butt Leader of Brent Council

 

We are writing as Leaders of the Green and Liberal Democrat Groups on the Council to express our serious concerns regarding both the decision and the lack of consultation regarding the removal of the indoor athletics track at Willesden Sports Centre.

 

You are already aware of our groups’ perspectives on this from previous correspondence. However, this is our formal request to the council to pause on  the work due to begin tomorrow to enable a meaningful period of consultation to take place.

 

It is our understanding that the Council’s position is that the Cabinet decision on 22^nd June was a ‘final decision’ to remove the indoor track. However, the Cabinet paper does not make any reference to this. We also understand that this was not communicated to other parties, including Track Academy and Queen’s Park Harriers, until much later.

 

We therefore believe that the ability for Councillors to provide effective scrutiny was undermined. Had the decision to remove the indoor track been made public as part of the Cabinet papers, Councillors may have wished to call in the decision, as per the Council’s call-in protocol.

 

Our concern lies not only with your choice to remove the indoor track itself and the scant and in some cases misleading evidence that has been provided, but in the process you followed to make that decision.

 

This process has demonstrated a complete disregard for the perspectives of Brent residents as well as for Councillor input, scrutiny and the opportunity to represent our communities.

 

The fact that the decision to remove the indoor track was taken before the equality impact assessment is alarming. This calls into question the legitimacy of the decision made by officers and Cabinet.

 

The relationship between the Council and our local communities is vital. Although ceasing the planned renovation at this late stage would no doubt incur a financial cost, we believe that the cost of continuing when so many residents and users of the track feel that the Council has not listened to their concerns would incur an even more significant cost – the trust of residents across our borough.

 

There has already been significant negative press coverage of the Council’s plans for the Sports Centre and the campaign against the removal of the indoor track is growing amongst residents and has support from leading figures in athletics, include the CEO  of Athletics England. We believe that without an urgent rethink on the removal of the indoor track, you risk doing further serious reputational damage to Brent Council.

 

We strongly urge you to use your positions to cease the intended work and to rapidly embark on a consultation process that properly engages with the community around the Track Academy, Queen’s Park Harriers and other regular users of the track, with appropriate opportunities for scrutiny from elected members of the Council.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Cllr Mary Mitchell Cllr Anton Georgiou

Leader of the Green Group, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group

 

SAVE OUR MUCH USED & APPRECIATED PUBLIC SPACE IN FRONT OF WEMBLEY STADIUM. Object by November 19th & help build community amid the high rises

 

Note from the Editor. Below is the view provided by the developer for what the proposed hotel would look like from Wembley Park Boulevard. Captions added.

 

UPDATE ON SANTANDER GAMING CENTRE, KILBURN: BATTLE - APPEAL DISMISSED BUT A FURTHER APPLICATION NOW HAS TO BE FOUGHT

 The large premises of the former Santander Bank on Kilburn High Road (Instant Streetview)

 

UPDATE APPEAL DISMISSED 11.11.26           

The Brent Green Party has welcomed today’s Planning Inspectorate decision (Appeal Ref: 6011515) dismissing an appeal to convert the former Santander bank at 131–135 Kilburn High Road into an Adult Gaming Centre (AGC). Following formal submissions from all five Green Kilburn Councillors and hundreds of local residents, the Inspector ruled the venue would harm Kilburn Town Centre through an over-concentration of gambling and pawnbroker uses, upholding the Kilburn Neighbourhood Plan and Brent Local Plan.  See Inspector’s Report HERE.

However, the fight isn’t over. A fresh licensing application from Golden Slots (Southern) Limited for a "Bingo Premises Licence" at the exact same address is now live on Brent Council’s portal, requiring urgent community objections before 2 December 2026. 

Cllr Suzanne Gallagher, Brent Green Party, said:

We are thrilled the Planning Inspector backed our community and blocked the Adult Gaming Centre appeal, but with Golden Slots now pushing a 24-hour slot machine licence under the guise of 'bingo' and invasive facial recognition technology, we must mobilise again. 

Forcing residents to fight the same unit three times over is a massive distraction from the positive work our community does to make Kilburn a better place. We demand urgent reform of both planning and licensing laws so community fightbacks don't have to be so laborious and time-consuming. Until then, please submit a fresh objection before 2 December so we can beat this again.  

 

 

The Brent Green Party has launched an urgent community fightback against a fresh application by Golden Slots (Southern) Limited to open a new “Bingo” and 24-hour slot machine venue at the former Santander bank branch at 131–135 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7HS.

This latest application comes as local authorities and communities continue to wait for long-overdue statutory reform to the Gambling Act 2005—specifically the repeal of the notorious Section 153 “aim to permit” mandate, which legally pressures councils to presume approval for gambling applications. At Brent Civic Centre, the Brent Labour Party recently brought forward a Gambling Harms Emergency Motion at Full Council, finally and formally acknowledging the full scale of addiction and harm across the borough.

However, warm words and council motions do not stop predatory operators from targeting local high streets. Brent already suffers from over 80 licensed gambling premises, extracting an estimated £18 million annually from local communities and concentrated overwhelmingly in the borough’s most socio-economically vulnerable areas. Until the legal framework actually changes, Brent residents are forced, time and again, to fight every single expansion, variation, and new application from the ground up. It is in this context that the Brent Green Party is mobilising residents once again to defend Kilburn High Road.

Round Two at 131–135 Kilburn High Road: Coming Back “Guns Blazing”

Earlier this year, Macau Casino Slots applied to transform the exact same former Santander bank branch into a gambling hub. Following a powerful, multi-week grassroots mobilisation campaign led by local residents and Green Party campaigners, hundreds of formal objections flooded in. Confronted with determined, well-organised community pushback right ahead of the council licensing hearing, the applicant formally withdrew the application.

Now, the gambling industry has returned to the same site with a new applicant—Golden Slots (Southern) Limited—coming back guns blazing with a series of calculated approaches in its Local Area Risk Assessment (LARA) designed to convince Brent’s Licensing Sub-Committee that the venue will cause no harm to the community.

Despite applying for a “Bingo Premises Licence” (with bingo offered between 09:00 and midnight), the operator’s paperwork reveals plans to keep its “ancillary gaming-machine area” open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—L, operating purely as an overnight slot machine arcade between midnight and 09:00 when no bingo is even played.

Weaponising Invasive Facial Recognition Technology as “Safeguarding”

Most troublingly, in an effort to mask the severe risks of opening a 24-hour gambling venue in a high-deprivation area already saturated with at least seven other gambling premises and multiple pawnbrokers within 400 metres, Golden Slots is proposing the mandatory installation of invasive facial recognition entry screening alongside a “Verified Player Access” registration scheme.

The Brent Green Party is raising severe concerns over the deployment of biometric surveillance on Kilburn High Road:

• Biometric Mass Surveillance on Our High Street: The Green Party has consistently opposed the rollout of live and biometric facial recognition technology, both by the state and by private corporations, as a disproportionate, privacy-eroding intrusion into civil liberties. Subjecting residents to biometric face scanning and longitudinal tracking by a private gambling company raises profound data protection, consent, and human rights concerns.
• Algorithmic Bias in a Diverse Community: Facial recognition systems are notoriously prone to higher false-match and error rates across ethnic minority groups, women, and younger people. Deploying this technology on Kilburn High Road, one of London’s most multicultural and diverse corridors, risks discriminatory false alerts and unfair targeting.
• A “Tech-Wash” Distraction from Unacceptable Harm: Facial recognition is a surveillance tool, not a public health solution. It cannot prevent a person from gambling beyond their means, nor does it mitigate the cumulative impact of clustering another 24-hour slot arcade next to schools, bus stops, and cash converters.
• Unresolved High Risks & Unproven Legality: Remarkably, the applicant’s own risk assessment admits that its facial recognition system has not yet received the required Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA), lawful-processing approvals, or technical sign-offs. Even more tellingly, the operator explicitly excludes facial recognition from its own risk scoring—and still forecasts 12 separate “High” target risks across child protection, concealed gambling harm, financial hardship, cumulative exposure, overnight fatigue, and local crime and disorder.

Cllr Suzanne Gallagher, Brent Green Party, said:

We are still waiting for Westminster to deliver on its promise to reform the Gambling Act 2005 and scrap the ‘aim to permit’ rules, and while Brent Labour has finally passed an emergency motion recognising the £18 million extracted from our communities every year by over 80 gambling venues, motions alone won’t stop Golden Slots. Until the law changes, residents have to fight every single application on the ground.

Earlier this year, our community came together in their hundreds and forced Macau Casino Slots to back down and withdraw their bid for the old Santander bank. Now, Golden Slots has come back guns blazing at the exact same address, attempting to dress up a 24-hour slot machine operation as a ‘bingo hall’ and dangling invasive facial recognition technology to convince the licensing committee they won’t cause harm.

The Green Party is clear: biometric surveillance is not safeguarding. Scanning people’s faces and harvesting sensitive biometric data on a diverse high street is a deeply troubling invasion of privacy and a smokescreen that does nothing to stop financial exploitation or cumulative gambling harm. Even the operator’s own risk assessment admits that 12 separate ‘High’ risks remain unresolved. We beat this proposal once, and we are calling on every Kilburn resident, business, and community group to submit a fresh objection before 2 December so we can beat it again.

How Residents Can Object (Deadline: Wednesday 2 December 2026)

Because this is a brand-new application by a different operator, previous objections against the withdrawn Macau Casino Slots application do not carry over. Residents must submit a fresh representation before 2 December 2026:

• Email: Send objections to Brent Council’s Licensing Team at business.licence@brent.gov.uk
• Reference: Application for a Bingo Premises Licence – Golden Slots (Southern) Limited, 131–135 Kilburn High Road, London, NW6 7HS
• Requirements: Include your full name and postal address, and link your objection to the statutory licensing objectives under the Gambling Act 2005:
  • Protecting children and other vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling (citing the 12 unresolved “High” risks, 24-hour slot machine operation, local deprivation, proximity to schools and pawnbrokers, and the inadequacy of unproven facial recognition surveillance).
  • Preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder (citing the 3,238 recorded crime and anti-social behaviour incidents in the Kilburn area over the past year and the strain of 24-hour opening on the night-time economy).
  • Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way (challenging the use of a Bingo licence to run a 24-hour gaming machine venue where bingo ceases at midnight). 

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