Brent Cabinet set to approve of purchase Gloucester & Durham blocks from Telford and Notting Hill Genesis for c£92m

Brent Council's Cabinet will decide on July 15th to pay circa £92million for a site sold on leasehold to Telford Homes PLC and Notting Hill Genesis in May 2018 for £3million. REPORT

The Gloucester and Durham blocks will contain 235 housing units and Brent Council will purchase the leasehold interest, merging the leasehold title with the freehold. The units will be let as affordable homes. As they will be counted as new affordable homes they will attract a grant from the GLA towards the cost of acquisition and the remaining costs will be be via borrowing based on the Housing Revenue Account which is no longer capped.

Officers claim that if the homes are let at London Affordable Rents the finance will be paid back in c50 years.

The financial details are in Appendix 1 which is withheld from the public under the Local Government 1972 because it contains 'information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).' The sum of £92m is not mentioned in the report and is presumably in the Appendix but is mentioned in the notice to Matt Kelcher, Chair of Resources & Public Realm Scrutiny (above).

A request for information to the Brent Council Press Office and Amar Dave, Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment went unanswered last week.

Turkey & Cyprus - New Threats & Old Wars Monday July 8th Brent Trades Hall

College of North West London's Dudden Hill Campus to be sold off for housing & everything moved to Wembley Park

The College of North West London, now part of United Colleges after its merger with Westminster College, is getting involved in another property deal after selling off its Kilburn site some time ago LINK and one of its Wembley Park buildings to the Education Funding Agency for Michaela Free School.

The latest move is to sell the Willesden campus on Dudden Hill for housing development, vacate the remaining Wembley Park building for redevelopment, and move everything to what is currently the Network Housing building on Olympic Way.

Colleges are not now part of the local authority but have Corporation status.

The present Wembley Park building, together with the shopping precinct, McDonald's and the ex-TV studio, temporarily the Troubadour Theatre, together make a prime development site close to Wembley Park station.

Brent Council is proposing that it provide United Colleges with a bridging loan facility of £50million to  facilitate the process as UC have been unable to get a loan from other sources due to the period involved.

A report to the Cabinet LINK sets out the rather complex deals involved:

In order to consider the loan transaction being proposed this report now sets out the essential features of the overall transaction. In summary: 

 

•       United Colleges would swap the former CNWL site at Wembley with Quintain for the site currently occupied by Network Homes. This latter site would in turn be redeveloped to provide the long-term, and substantially enhanced educational facilities for United Colleges, and the former CNWL site for housing, in line with the existing masterplan for Wembley Park. 


•       The current Willesden site would be developed to provide new housing, including affordable housing. This would happen in stages, so that there would be continuity of educational provision during the development. 


•       United Colleges would use the proceeds from the sale of their Willesden site to fund the development of what is currently the Network Homes site. Since this will, be before the whole of Willesden is sold, United Colleges need the bridging finance set out in this report.

•       On agreement of the terms between United Colleges and Quintain the development would commence, with the approximate expectation that the permanent facilities in Wembley Park (the current Network Homes site) would open in July 2023 and the two stages of the Willesden site would complete in July 2020 and July 2023. The former CNWL site in Wembley Park would be developed by Quintain by after it is vacated by United Colleges in July 2023. 


•       In order for United Colleges to be able to sign their contracts ‘and any other agreements with Quintain they would need to be sure that they had access to a loan facility to enable them to fulfil their construction contract (i.e. to develop the college facilities at Wembley Park). They therefore require reasonable certainty from a lender that these funds will be available. This report proposes that the Council provide such a facility 


The report admits that there are risks involved and nothing can be done before thorough due diligence is done and planning permission will be involved, although one can be for forgiven for thinking that such permission is a foregone conclusion.

According to the council the risks are outweighed by the benefits of building 1,500 new homes at Dudden Hill (the report actually says Willesden Green but we can't expect local geography to be planners' strong point) with a further 250 at Wembley Park, the enhancement to the Wembley Park area through a state of the art further education establishment improving the mix of development, an improvement in the actual education offer to local young people and the provision of employment opportunities.

One factor not mentioned in the report is that this further centralises facilities on Wembley Park with Kilburn and Willesden losing out in terms of neighbourhood further education facilities.  The suggestion of a former Brent Council Chief Executive that the London Borough of Brent should be renamed the London Borough of Wembley appears to be coming close to reality - although I personally favour the London Borough of Quintain!

A pertinent question from an ex-CNWL lecturer: 'Is the college's primary role now that of a property developer?'

South Kilburn to get Brent's first regeneration ballot

Guest post by South Kilburn resident John Healy reflecting on the latest developments in the South Kilburn Saga

It all began in 1999 when the residents of South Kilburn made a bid for NDC (New Deal for Communities) money, which they got in 2001.  Some of the money was used to start building new homes, with Thames Court* being the first one to be developed, followed by a Regeneration Masterplan of the whole estate in 2004.  

The residents worked in partnership alongside the Council to draw up the terms of the regeneration, including an offer of one new home to every secure council tenant required to move out of their current home when it was due to be demolished. That is still the case with the publication last Friday (5/7/19) of our landlord's (Brent Council) latest offer that can be found in the papers going to Cabinet on July 15th LINK There will be a Needs Assessment a year before any move to confirm any medical needs, change in circumstance or other preferences:

Before any more regeneration can go ahead in South Kilburn, the council has to hold a ballot for the residents of the seventeen remaining tower blocks. There is only one question on the ballot paper:

 Are you in favour of the proposal to continue with the regeneration of South Kilburn? 

YES / NO

 If the council get a majority (50.001%) of yes votes, out of all the total votes cast, then all the blocks will be demolished. The council have not said yet what will happen if they were to lose the ballot.

Over 1,000 residents  will be allowed to vote, including secure tenants & leaseholders and one possible contentious group of residents,namely the 235 residents living in temporary accommodation across the South Kilburn estate.  My understanding is that they will need to vote 'Yes' in the hope that the council will eventually give them permanent housing although this may take several years.  However, if they do vote 'yes', this will ensure that the council win the ballot although  it appears the council are confident of winning even without their votes.

* Thames Court was supposed to be the most environmentally built structure in England at that time, 2003.  I cannot remember the actual costs but it came in several millions over budget and the 'green materials' took the blame. The result was that council decided that there were not going to to be any more 'green buildings' in South Kilburn because of the extra costs incurred.

Mystery Chalkhill woman on ITV tomorrow night

Posters have been appearing around Chalkhill Estate in Wembley of a mystery woman who is going to be featured on Long Lost Families on Monday evening - 9pm ITV.

I can reveal that the woman is a former Labour councillor, previously a lecturer at the College of North West London and a stalwart of the Chalkhill Residents Association.

Watch tomorrow to find out more.

Kiln's 'A Friendly Society': Community Project or Exploitation?

Guest post by Anne Aktar

 

I've noticed that the Kiln theatre, which is subsidised by public money from Brent council, the lottery, arts council are paying to employ a writer and director to write a community play about Brent from stories from residents. 

They have a cast of 100 who are doing this for free. LINK

Where this may be construed as getting the community involved in the theatre and giving those an opportunity to work in a professional theatre, I do feel that if this is a professionally made production, it should warrant professional pay. 

I feel these free workers are being cynically exploited by the theatre who are not displaying a duty of care and explaining fully those getting involved about their working rights, including payment, and their intellectual property rights to any of their stories and should be paid accordingly. 

It's billed as a community project for the community, however, the writer and director being employed, do not live in the locality or the borough.  There are plenty of professional writers and directors locally and throughout the borough who appear to be overlooked. 

This sets an alarming precedent for a publicly funded professional theatre to encourage the use of free workers for a professionally made profit making production. 

 

There is already exploitation within the acting world where actors are expected to work for free and this can only lead to more professional theatres following suit. 

Acting is becoming a hobby for those from backgrounds who are financially secure and this only adds to exclusion. 

Unfortunately, I am socially excluded from maintaining my Equity union membership as I cannot afford the annual subscription, so am voiceless in the trade union movement. 

 

I had been a member since 1978, in the good old days of the closed shop. 

I'm experiencing financial destitution due to the fact that many productions that used to pay performers, no longer do so, promising exposure, as payment. 

 

 

Equity are running a campaign LINK:

Equity members are professionals: skilled individuals who bring their experience and their talent to every job. They deserve to be treated with the respect workers in other industries take as a given. They deserve decent pay. That's what Professionally Made Professionally Paid is fighting for.

Low and no pay is a major issue for many Equity members. Too often performers and creatives are expected to give their time and energy for free, exchanging hard work for 'exposure' or 'CV points'.

This particularly affects members at the start of their careers, and those without savings or economic support also find themselves priced out of the industry.

I encourage new methods of including people in the arts and I agree that people should be given a chance, especially those who cannot afford drama school fees. 

 

However, I do also feel that those taking part should be paid professional rates for this invaluable work experience, of which the fundamental aspect should include wage experience. 

As working class people, work is embedded in our DNA, it comes naturally. 

The main barrier to working class people sustaining a career in the arts is exploitative practices such as no pay. 

I have contacted Equity head office and the local branch and I'm reaching out to the wider trade union movement to make aware of this exploitation. 

As far as I'm aware, this is a professional production not aligned to Brent Borough of Culture 2020.

I do feel the general public should be made aware that they will be buying tickets to an exploitative production.

Brent Council moves to adopt APPG definition of Islamophobia at Full Council on Monday

Brent Council is due to adopt the All-Party Parliamentary Group's definition of Islamophobia at Full Council on Monday July 8th if a a motion from Cllr Ahmad Shahzad (Labour - Mapesbury) is adopted. The definition is not without its critics, including claims that it too closely mirrors the controversial IHRA definition of Anti-Semitism and confuses race and religion.  LINK  The motion claims that the Council has adopted the IHRA definition and its examples, but does not mention that it accepted an amendment to the examples that was contradictory. LINK

Standing up to racism, discrimination and prejudice in Brent 

This Council notes: 

Brent Council adopted the definition of antisemitism in September 2017, including its examples, set out by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and now, seeks to adopt the definition of Islamophobia, including its examples, as set out by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims. 

The charity Tell Mama reported that in the week after 50 innocent, Muslim worshippers were massacred in the Christchurch New Zealand terror attack, Islamophobic incidents increased by almost 600 per cent back in Britain.

This Council believes:

That words have consequences within political discourse. 

We unequivocally condemn all forms of pernicious racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism, pregnancy and maternity discrimination, ableism and sexism and reaffirm our commitment to fighting against them.

This Council resolves:

To adopt the APPG on British Muslims – Working Definition of Islamophobia as follows:

 

“Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”

Contemporary examples of Islamophobia in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in encounters between religions and non-religions in the public sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to: 

·      Calling for, aiding, instigating or justifying the killing or harming of Muslims in the name of a racist/ fascist ideology, or an extremist view of religion. 


·      Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Muslims as such, or of Muslims as a collective group, such as, especially but not exclusively, conspiracies about Muslim entryism in politics, government or other societal institutions; the myth of Muslim identity having a unique propensity for terrorism, and claims of a demographic ‘threat’ posed by Muslims or of a ‘Muslim takeover’. 


·      Accusing Muslims as a group of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Muslim person or group of Muslim individuals, or even for acts committed by non- Muslims. 


·      Accusing Muslims as a group, or Muslim majority states, of inventing or exaggerating Islamophobia, ethnic cleansing or genocide perpetrated against Muslims. 


·      Accusing Muslim citizens of being more loyal to the ‘Ummah’ (transnational Muslim community) or to their countries of origin, or to the alleged priorities of Muslims worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations. 


·      Applying double standards by requiring of Muslims behaviours that are not expected or demanded of any other groups in society, e.g. loyalty tests. 


·      Using the symbols and images associated with classic Islamophobia (e.g. the Prophet Muhammed being a paedophile, claims of Muslims spreading Islam by the sword or subjugating minority groups under their rule) to characterize Muslims as being ‘sex groomers’, inherently violent or incapable of living harmoniously in plural societies. 


·      Holding Muslims collectively responsible for the actions of any Muslim majority state, whether secular or constitutionally Islamic.

Brent Labour seeks to declare a Climate Emergency and Tories move to protect diesel drivers

The much anticipated Climate Emergency Declaration  motion has now been published (full version below) and will be moved by Cllr Roxanne Mashari (Welsh Harp) an ex Environment Lead Member at Monday's Council meeting. It is seconded by Cllr Kieron Gill (Brondesbury Park).

The action points for the Council are:

·      To join our Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan in declaring a Global climate emergency. This is essential to protect our only planet, not only for us, but for all the life on it and, hopefully, all the generations of life to come. 


·      Do all reasonable in the Council’s gift to aim for carbon neutrality for 2030 and work with government to achieve the national 2050 target. 


·      Develop a Carbon Offset Fund and strategy, to enshrine the principle that developments, could and should fund projects that reduce carbon emissions elsewhere in the borough. 


·      At every opportunity, redirect our investments into renewable energy projects and carbon free or carbon neutral technologies. 


·      To continue delivering reductions in greenhouse gas emissions via the development of district energy networks and support for renewable alternatives 


·      Request that the appropriate scrutiny committee review the actions taken to reduce carbon emissions in Brent and the Council at the end of the municipal year. 


·      To empower a Lead Member to take responsibility for tackling climate change in Brent and charges that person with the responsibility to produce a report on this subject within 6 months, one that emphasises and promotes the importance of local biodiversity.

·      Make representations to national government to urge them to provide the power and resources to the Mayor of London and local authorities to hasten the pace of carbon reduction and to immediately end the £10.5 billion of hidden subsidies with which central government supports the Fossil Fuel industry in this country.

·      Explore the viability of there being an annual Green summit for interested parties, where issues can be discussed, good practice shared and ideas promoted

The Brent motion can be compared with Islington's HERE

More details is needed on how the policy would be implemented. Would the Carbon Offset Fund just take a slice of CIL money? Would the Lead Member empowered on tacking climate change just be the present lead member for the environment with this added to her portfolio. If an additional member of the Cabinet, which woudl seem preferable, it could only be implemented at the Council AGM next May.

Meanwhile the Tory motion, moved by Cllr Maurice, the shadow lead member for Parking and Car Drivers, seeks to cancel the CPZ surcharge on diesel drivers.

Click bottom right for full size version. Climate Emergency is the 2nd Labour motion.


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