Questions from the public to Cabinet members is now part of the FullCouncil agenda. Answers are written rather than read out and it is unusual for the member of the public to be present at the meeting to follow up the answer to their question.
These are the questions and answers on the Agenda of the September 18th meeting.
Questions
from Members of the Public Full Council – 18 September 2017
1.
Question from Mr Wadhwani to Councillor Tatler, Lead Member for Regeneration,
Growth, Employment and Skills:
My
question is specifically around Wembley Park and the regeneration currently on
where lots of old buildings are coming down to create new buildings and flats.
I would
like to know how the Council is preparing to serve all the thousands of
residents that will be living in these flats by 2020 and the pressure on local
services that this will put, i.e. Transport, healthcare, schooling, police, welfare
etc.
What are
the strategies in place or planned so along with Wembley Stadium, Arena, London
Designer Outlet (LDO) and Brent Civic Centre, the authorities are able to cope
with the pressure expected on them?
Response:
The
Council takes a plan-led approach to the regeneration of the borough, in order
to prevent development schemes coming forward in an ad hoc, unplanned fashion.
Wembley has a comprehensive planning framework, including the dedicated Wembley
Area Action Plan (adopted 2015), which sets out how development of the area
will progress. The ongoing regeneration provides and plans for infrastructure
and facilities to support current and future residents across the Wembley area,
including:
•
7 hectare public park
•
New 3 form entry primary school,
including a 2 form entry nursery school,
plus 2 additional forms of nursery
provision
•
Primary health care facility (1500m
minimum)
•
Contributions towards secondary
education in the wider area
•
6-lane 25m swimming pool available
at local authority facility rates
•
Significant investment in and
improvement to the main rail and underground
stations to improve capacity and
the environment
•
Community facility fund of £1.4m
plus to spend on community projects
•
Physical transport improvements e.g. the Triangle, Wembley High Road and
elsewhere, together with significant developer contributions to Transport for
London (TfL) for public transport, including buses
Developers
have additionally contributed a significant cash sum of Community
Infrastructure Levy, part of which will be spent on neighbourhood projects, and
the remainder on strategic infrastructure needs to support growth in the
immediate Wembley area and wider Brent Borough.
The
Local Plan and in particular the Wembley Area Action Plan sets out the
regeneration and development strategy for the Wembley area. The Local Plan is
now to be refreshed and to examine how the whole Borough will develop over the
next 15-20 years. Everyone is invited to get involved in this exercise and
various public sessions are being held across the Borough throughout September
for people to come along and contribute.
2.
Question from Ms Dowell to Councillor Southwood, Lead Member for Environment:
I am
concerned about the increase of systematic fly tipping in and around Selwyn
Avenue, Bruce and Alric Avenue.
Although
this is removed by the contractors it defeats the object. I am told by other
residents that they see vans dumping their rubbish.
We have
a high volume of rental properties which has also caused a problem.
I would
like to know how much does it cost to send the contractors out to collect and
why doesn't the council look at prevention?
I was
told by the environment team last year that would look into it.
I am fed up
with the dumping environment as I pay council tax and expect more.
Response:
The
removal of illegally dumped rubbish is covered by the cleansing service
specification within the Council’s Public Realm Contract. The cost of this
service is included in the overall circa £17m annual cost for the Contract;
this is a fixed cost and not a variable charge dependent on the number of
incidents the contractor responds to.
The
Council takes illegal rubbish dumping very seriously and through a combination
of enforcement, education and community engagement, we continue to work hard to
make an impact on this problem.
Colleagues
from Veolia (Brent’s Public Realm contractor) inspect illegally dumped waste
for direct evidence and refer their findings onto the enviro-crime enforcement
team. This evidence, together with evidence obtained through other direct
referrals to the council and investigations by the enviro-crime enforcement
team, has resulted in hundreds of fines being issued and a large number of
successful prosecutions. In 2016/17, there were 629 cases which led to these
such sanctions being imposed, and following a change in penalty level in 2016,
Brent issued the second highest number of fixed penalty notices in the country
for illegal rubbish dumping.
The
Council uses a range of tactics to assist in combating illegal rubbish dumping,
including deployment of surveillance utilising our new in-house environment
patrol team to carry out high visibility patrols and conducting out of hours in
areas known to be environmental crime and antisocial behaviour hotspots in the
borough.
These
operations include CCTV officers in the Brent Control Room, who monitor and
support the patrols on the ground. We do not advertise when, where or how we
conduct this surveillance, to ensure it is as effective as possible.
Of
course, preventing illegal rubbish dumping also requires assistance and
cooperation from local residents, as they can help us by reporting and
identifying people who they see illegally dumping waste. We encourage residents
to report any incidents of illegal rubbish dumping in as much detail as
possible online via the council’s website. All reports are logged, and as
mentioned above, waste is searched for evidence before being cleared to enable
us to take enforcement action wherever possible. Data on all reports received
is collated to enable the council to build a full picture of the problem ‘hot
spots’ across the borough, so we can properly prioritise the deployment of our
officers.
In terms
of the specific areas highlighted in the question above, the enviro-crime
enforcement team have conducted a site visit to inspect the problem and
developed an appropriate action plan for the locations to include visits by our
environmental patrol team, surveillance of the area and our contractor, Veolia,
carrying out door knocking in the area to provide information on how waste
should be disposed of and how instances of illegally dumped waste can be
reported.
3.
Question from Mr Adow & Mrs Macolin to Councillor Farah, Lead Member for
Housing and Welfare Reform:
We have
been on the social housing waiting list over 20yrs for a 4 bed property. Even
though we been living in a 3 bed flat for the last 7yrs we are not allowed to
bid for a 3 bed house and we have seen people joining the list and without
waiting a year being found permanent housing.
We can
understand if that family has very specific needs like illness or disability,
but all the others we cannot understand why they can't be placed in temporary
accommodation at least 5yrs. What is wrong with a first joined first housed
system as it is now a local system many feel is open for abuse? Please see our
bidding for the last 5 years to understand why we have pointed this out to you.
All we
are asking is for a place we can call home. Our children question this all the
time and we apologise in advance if we have expressed our feelings wrongly.
Response:
First of
all, there is no need to apologise for asking a reasonable question about the
long wait for a home. It is not always easy to understand the way the housing
system works but we hope this brief explanation will help.
To be
able to bid, applicants must fall into one of three priority bands on the
system – A, B or C, with Band A representing the highest priority, including
the kinds of medical priority mentioned in the question. Households to whom a
full homelessness duty has been accepted, as in this case, are placed in Band
C. Households within each band are then given priority based on the date they
first applied (the “priority date). To this extent, the system is “first come,
first served” and those waiting longest in each band have the greatest
priority. In most circumstances, the household in the highest band with the
earliest priority date making a bid will be accepted first. In practice, the
highest priority households will not always bid and the opportunity to do so
will fall to the next in line. There may also be cases where a property does
not become available through Locata because the council makes a direct offer,
usually to meet an urgent need. However, it should not be the case that
applicants are advised they cannot bid, unless there is a particular
restriction on a property, for example because it is only available to a
household with a wheelchair user.
There is
a severe shortage or larger affordable homes. In the five years since 2012, 122
four bedroom homes have been let, 71 of them to households in Band C. The
current shortest waiting time for 4 bedroom homes is 11 years and the longest
24 years, although it should be stressed that the upper figure is distorted by
the number of households who do not bid for a range of reasons.
Officers
would be happy to meet with Mrs Malcolin and Mr Addow to discuss their
situation and advise them how they can make best use of Locata.
