Harrow Crown Court to close?

Harrow Crown Court

I understand that staff at Harrow Crown Court were told yesterday that it might close. The proposal is at the consultation stage.

Cases currently take up to a year to be heard. Closure would mean that local victims of crime would have to travel to other parts of London for their cases to be heard.

I have asked the Court for a comment.

Brent Council needs to publicise parks barbecue ban & step up patrols to avoid fires

This was Barn Hill Open Space yesterday after an apparent fire. Luckily the grass had been cut recently otherwise it could have been more serious.  50 yards away a family had lit a barbecue.

It is clear, not withstanding the controversy over parts of parks remaining uncut as part of the Council's meadows policy, that Brent Council needs to step up publicity over the danger of fire and especially a ban on barbecues. At present there is no warning on its website. In addition it should consider asking Veolia to re-deploy some of its staff to patrol parks to enforce the ban.

Fun and Buns at Preston Community Library August 12th

Family Funday 12 noon to 4pm Sunday August 12th at Preston Community Library, nearest tube Preston Road (Metropolitan line)

Hammerson put Brent Cross expansion on the back burner

Hammersons have announced that its £1.4bn Brent Cross Shopping Centre development has been put on the back-burner, perhaps until 2023, reflecting the current poor performance of the retail sector.

The proposals are now more than 10 years old and throughout the period have been hotly opposed by the cross-party Coalition for a Sustainable Brent Cross Cricklewood Development.

Doubts have emerged over the viability of the scheme following many recent failures in the retail sector and the public's move to on-line shopping.

Shareholders' basic earnings per share was 7p in June 2018 and 36.2p in 2017 - a reduction of 81%.

Hammerson said:

Given the current turbulence in the UK retail markets and whilst alternative uses of capital offer higher short-term financial returns, we have decided to defer the start on site at Brent Cross.

Whilst we have decided to defer the start on site of the scheme, it remains an important strategic project and we continue to recognise its role as one of London’s leading retail destinations.

It also forms part of the wider Brent Cross Cricklewood regeneration plans encompassing improved road and rail infrastructure and significant residential development and we remain engaged with retailers and stakeholders towards the future delivery of the scheme.

Andrew Dismore, Labour Assembly Member for Camden and Barnet said:

 Due to the nightmare market conditions for retailers, the developers for Brent Cross- Hammerson and Aberdeen Standard Investments- say they need more certainty before they can commit to going ahead with the project. Brexit and the possibility of leaving the EU with no deal is a genuine fear for businesses.

This delay is also a disaster for the local community, as it delays the creation of much needed jobs, and will have an impact on the rest of the huge regeneration scheme.  More immediately, given Barnet Council’s reliance on projected business rates in its future budgeting, this decision could really impact on  the Council’s solvency.

Company press release HERE

Hello Barnet Council, anyone there? Can you hear us? Do you keep your promises? Yes, we're from Brent but we also matter...

Ex-Liberal Democrat councillor, Alison Hopkins, has written to Barnet CouncilChief Executive after officers and others have failed to keep their promises to makie contact:


Dear Mr Hooton

I am writing to you as a former Brent councillor and organiser of a major residents organisation in Dollis Hill in Brent. I am also Co-ordinator of the Coalition for a Sustainable Brent Cross Cricklewood Regeneration. 

Over the past several years, I and many other residents have attended consultation and engagement meetings about the Brent Cross redevelopment, as many of us are seriously worried about its impact here. 

On each occasion, we have raised concerns and issues, and then followed those up in writing. Each time, we have been faithfully promised contact by officers from Barnet, and staff from Capita and G L Hearn. Most recently, we attended a session at Crest Academy, were we were told contact would be forthcoming within days. Despite numerous phone calls, emails and contacts with Barnet, Soundings, and G L Hearn, there has been NO engagement from yourselves. 

We simply want answers to the questions we have repeatedly raised and we want officers to meet with us and explain why certain decisions have been taken. Frankly, Barnet’s attitude comes across as dismissive of a neighbouring borough and its people at the very least. It is discourteous and shows no empathy with how deeply worried people here are for their future wellbeing and our environment. 

Can you please ask your officers to make contact, and keep their many promises over the past years? I do intend to raise formal complaints if needed, as well as utilising those contacts I have within the London Assembly, as well as local and national media. However, I would like to offer Barnet a chance to put matters right.

Alison Hopkins

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Sneaky government statement reveals lack of action on Carillion

I receive regular updates from Construction News and felt this editorial was woth sharing:

The Carillion story so far… Liquidated with debts of more than £7bn. ‘Catastrophic losses’ passed on to 30,000 subcontractors. Stalled work on more than a £1bn-worth of major projects. And an estimated £200m cost to the taxpayer. MPs on the inquiry into the liquidation recommend an overhaul of the regulatory tools that let this happen, and suggest throwing the book at those responsible. The government’s response… A nine-page document published at 4:30pm on a sweltering Friday afternoon. This was the definition of sneaking something out. As if attempting to bury its response on the eve of the school holidays wasn’t shameful enough, the content was scant and was effective only in passing all responsibility to the regulators. For example, on the topic of director liability and punishment for failure, the government said the Financial Reporting Council, Insolvency Service and Financial Conduct Authority were working “to improve their current practices”. On the committee’s recommendation that it should beef up the FRC’s powers, the government’s response was that a memorandum of understanding had been agreed between the three regulators. But perhaps this should come as no surprise. Our leaders in Whitehall were all too happy to offer bold statements about Carillion and how its failure exposed poor corporate governance and inadequate accountancy checks. But when it comes to action? Well, apparently that’s for the financial watchdogs. It’s unlikely that the £16.8m in wages that Carillion directors pocketed will ever be recovered, although the government has the power to do so. But at the very least it could make an effort to stop another such fiasco happening again. What Carillion exposed was that there is barely anything to stop executives of failing construction firms paying themselves huge bonuses. Nor are there sufficient deterrents to the use of accountancy tricks to obscure huge debts – often affecting thousands of suppliers. The government seems happy to close its eyes and hope nothing like this happens again. It makes you think: what would it take for them to actually take action? Another Carillion? Another four Carillions? On the evidence of Friday’s response, you could have a hundred Carillions and the politicians would still refer you to the FRC.  Zak Garner-Purkis, news editor, Construction News

Willesden Green Library will remain closed until Thursday at least

From Brent Council

The Library at Willesden Green remains closed due to loss of water supply. The earliest we will be able to reopen is Thursday 26 July. We will keep you informed and post any updates as soon as we have them. 

It will take more than PR to restore faith in Brent's planning process

The above video has been issued by Brent Council titled 'Watch video of the Committee decision' - I expected to see footage of members of the Planning Committee asking  informed and pertinent questions, seeking further details of the application and its impact on the local area. I was interested to hear what Planning Officers had to say about the application and even state what definition of that slippery concept 'affordable' had been used.

No such luck!

Unfortunately this turns out not to be a genuine attempt to increase transparency and accountability at a time when the sacking of Cllr Abdirazak Abdi from the Committee LINK  continues to reverberate around both Hampstead and Kilburn CLP  LINK and Brent Central CLP. There are still many unanswered questions, including why official Council papers stated that Cllr Abdi had resigned when this was not the case.

Instead the video turns out to be soft soap public relations with no record of the deliberations of the Committee that would help the public understand their decision.

As it happens the proponents of the scheme have made much more effort to involve the local community than other developers and there are positive aspects to the development but this does not take away from doubts about the integrity of the planning process as a whole.

The Council issued the following press release with the video:

A proposal to redevelop an industrial estate in Alperton and build thousands of new homes, new business space and new community facilities has been approved by Brent Council’s planning committee.

Property firm St George’s Developments have been given unanimous approval to redevelop Northfields Industrial Estate in Alperton, which will see the remaining buildings removed and replaced with new workspace, retail premises, restaurants, a community centre, health clinic, children’s nursery, public open space and 2,900 new homes - 1,015 of which will be affordable - all on the twenty-one acre site, which is located just off the A406 North Circular Road, by the Ace Café.

Under the plans, the Grand Union Canal-side of the site will be developed first, with new homes and buildings ranging between one and eight storeys in height along with improvements proposed to the public realm along the waterside.

The rest of the brownfield site extending to Beresford Avenue and the River Brent, which is ten minutes from Alperton and five minutes from Stonebridge London underground stations, will be developed in later stages, where the maximum height of the scheme will be 25 storeys, on the north-eastern corner of the site.

The plans also include public transport improvements with new bus routes, improvements to Beresford Avenue and better-lit pedestrian and cycle routes through to Stonebridge Underground station.

Employment workspace will be enhanced and will also include a new multi-storey building called ‘The Generator,’ south of the River Brent.

Cllr Shama Tatler, Brent Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Highways and Planning, said:

This scheme will breathe new life into a worn-out and redundant industrial estate and transform the area between Alperton and Stonebridge while bringing new homes, jobs, and improvements to the public realm and local transport networks.

It’s brilliant news for those looking to start-up a business or those looking for work, not to mention it being fantastic news for those needing a place to live, with nearly three thousand new homes to be built, over a thousand of which will be affordable.

It’s a great scheme and one that through the extensive consultation work that the applicant has undertaken, is one that carries the support of local residents, businesses, politicians and now, the council’s planning committee. I very much welcome the committee’s decision to grant approval to this scheme.