Brent Central Hustings on Austerity Saturday December 7th

Please sign the petition to improve the Quainton Street Open Space and Brent River/Feeder Walk - Deadline December 1st

Quainton Street Open Space (top right) -the trees trace the route of the River Brent towards St Davids Open Space

Quainton Street Open Space is one of the hidden delights of Brent - when it is not covered in litter... A section of it is on the Brent Green Walk I devised LINK

Now there is a great proposal to request Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure funds to improve the Quainton Street Open Space and the rive/feeder course from the Welsh Harp. The deadline is December 1st. Please sign HERE

From Brent Rivers and Community Project

On 21 November 2019, we went to Quainton Street Open Space again for the second event of the series. The objectives this time were to pick litter from the park area and surroundings, and to open access to the river. But, we did much more than that… In addition to the proposed activities, the group of eager volunteers cleared the towpath making it safe for passersby to walk on.

In this cloudy and breezy autumn day, we started to work at 10.30 am, and stopped at 2.30pm, despite the call from volunteers to continue.

Many peculiar items were collected, this time we found a collection of vintage bottle tops, a funny hat and other unusual pieces. It seems that there are small abandoned camp sites in the park, each of them containing huge amounts of litter. We are looking to have them all cleared after the third event on 30 November 2019.

The aftermath: 58 bags of litter, 2 mattresses, as well as many clothes and shoes - and this cleared space!

During the event, there were also wildlife occurrences, and two were noteworthy: the presence of toads near the pond area, and a kingfisher. “It is great to see these organisms at Quainton Street Open Space, I couldn’t imagine that they would live here”, said a volunteer. We will continue to spot and report wildlife in and around the River Brent, highlighting the importance of biodiversity.

In the next events that will happen on the 30^th November and then in January and February, participants will have the opportunity to help the river and park area further, to expand their knowledge on the River Brent, meet other people, share experiences and expand their network. As well as building dead hedges and bird nesting boxes.

CLICK HERE MORE INFORMATION

Building on the great start of the Brent Rivers and Communities project at Quainton Recreation Ground, we’re pulling together an application for Brent Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL) funding to extend riparian improvements and create a riverside walk in the park just downstream of the Welsh Harp reservoir..

Community support with make a BIG difference to this application!

The deadline is Sunday 1^st December.

Walk the riverside & discover nature safely: Wembley to the Welsh Harp SSSI

Please Sign! Forward and Share this petition LINK

You can also tweet LINK

Everyone’s signature will help to make a real difference! 

Furious residents confront Brent Council officials over tree removal and win some concessions

Chris Whtye, representing Brent Council, confessed that tonight's meeting outside Furness Primary School in Furness Road about the removal of 11 trees, was much bigger than he had anticipated. He was given the unenviable task of both giving the Council's case and responding to questions. Brent Council leader Cllr Muhammed Butt and Lead member for the Environment, stayed silent for the first part of the meeting, leaving Officers to take the brunt of the crowd's passionate criticism of Council policy on removing trees and asphalting of walkways.

Eleven trees were to be removed from Furness Road and Chris told the crowd that five would now stay after review, three would be removed because they were diseased, dead or dying and three would be removed because contractors could find no way of laying the new footway around them.

This did not satisfy the protesters and nor did a further concession that the trees would be replaced by semi-mature plantings rather than saplings. They pointed out the widely different contribution to reducing air pollution made by different sizes of trees and the carbon cost of fossil fuel based asphalt compared with replacing cracked paving. Officers pointed out their duty to protect pedestrians from tripping hazards and falling branches.

The Council were reminded of the battle over asphalting in Chandos Road and the removing of very old specimen trees in Old Paddington Cemetery.

 Cllr Butt, Leader of Brent Council, responds

The meeting did not so much conclude as tail off in a series of arguments with Muhammed Butt furious in certain exchanges. However a cool intervention by Cllr Jumbo Chan won a promise of a properly chaired meeting of residents and the Council in early-January.

It was hard to be absolutely certain in the chaos but I believe the Council undertook to carry out no work in Furness Road until the meeting has taken place.

Brent Council accused of mendacity over trees/paving policy

Salmon Street, NW9 - August 2019

 From an email sent to Brent Council:

RE: Brent Council Announces Climate Emergency And Then Chops Down All The Trees

Are you still insisting we hold a meeting outside in the dark today, at rush hour, before most residents have got home ?

I am unsure exactly what you propose to convey to us with your "brief discussion" in these conditions; we obviously will not be able to see the trees you mention.

Is it your intension to try to confine this discussion only to these remaining eleven trees on Furness Road ?

As you know the systematic destruction of Brent’s wonderful & varied stock of mature trees has been ongoing for a decade. 

Many of us have correspondence with the council going back several years regarding the tragic culling of mature and healthy trees outside our homes.

Amid repeated broken promises of them being replaced, line upon line have been erased from our streets. Furness Road has suffered terribly. And it continues.

We would like them back.

Who is sending these chainsaw gangs around the borough and why?

Similar action by another council in a recent case was described by Michael Gove (then Minister for the Environment) as “Ecological Vandalism’.

At an impromptu gathering outside Furness Rd School last Monday, a council representative claimed that it is Brent Council’s intention to replace ALL paving stones throughout the whole borough with asphalt.

Can you confirm if this is true ?

If so, what volume of asphalt in tonnage is likely to be purchased by the council ? 

I’m sure rough estimates by quantity-surveyors were calculated before such a decision was made.

What calculations regarding carbon offsetting, to cancel-out the use of such a large quantity of petroleum-based bitumen/asphalt have been completed ?

And, how does the felling of thousands, of mature trees help in this offsetting?

Clearly, in spite of recent claims by Brent Council, that they are in some way concerned with the environment, their actions (historic & ongoing), and recent decisions regarding pavements and canopy cover (without consultation) demonstrate the opposite. Indeed, it shows utter contempt.

This amounts to a public relations disaster for Brent Council & current MP, and yet further anger & frustration for the borough’s long-suffering residents.

Finally, I understand Krupa Seth will be attending today.

I do look forward to Counciller Sheth's answers to our previously unanswered questions and outstanding FOI requests sent to her under separate cover.

And a response to the above email from a resident with whom it was shared:

Thank you for an intelligent and insightful email which rightly centres on Brent Councils casual disregard for its tree stock and the profligate waste of money caused by this approach to pavement works, that is compounded by the damaging use of the extensive amounts of a fossil fuel derivative.

Brent Council has a corporate responsibility to reduce the amount of fossil fuel use in the borough – not increase it steadily.

This is for obvious reasons – obvious to everyone else, except the officers of Brent Council.

Brent is fortunate in that it appears to have many intelligent, engaged people who really do care about their borough and the way it is managed – it is deeply shameful that Brent Council continues with its ruinous pursuit of degrading the public realm facilitated by a Council that views its environmental responsibilities as a minor inconvenience.

I see again, the mendacious line trotted out again that a replacement sapling is in anywhere near a reasonable replacement of a mature tree as regards the large environmental benefits provided by a mature tree.

It will take decades for the replacement sapling to reach the same amounts of carbon sequestration, the production of oxygen, reduction in solar gain and the ecological benefits for wildlife.

Anyone with common sense can see the lunacy and ignorance of that statement – any honest arborist would tell you exactly the same thing. 

You would think it should be incumbent for the officers of Brent Council to be aware of this basic fact – this is not a difficult of overly complicated concept.

If not, they are either ignorant or incompetent or just plain dishonest.

This is a borough wide issue regardless of Brent Council's opinion and residents will continue to fight this environmental degradation everywhere in the borough.

How is Mallard Way's asphalt faring 3 years on as policy comes under scrutiny?

Brent Council's justification for asphalt replacing paving - 2016

With the current controversy raging in Mapesbury Conservation Area over the replacement of paving with asphalt I thought it worth checking on the current state of Mallard Way, in Kingsbury NW(, which was asphalted 3 years ago.

For the most part the walkway is smooth although there are some shallow indentations in places which accumulate rainwater. The photos below suggest that there is some cracking beginning and mould/moss. which becomes a slipping hazard in wet or icy weather, is beginning to form in places.

Next to a tree pit

Cracking beginning

Moss/mould

Preston Library Fundraiser Party Sunday December 1st - with the Silvertones

Brave the rain to save the trees - Furness Road, 5pm tonight

Rainy Day With Umbrellas Painting by Natalja Picugina

It is not the best time for an outdoor meeting but residents are expected to gather outside Furness Primary School in Furness Road NW10 at 5pm tonight to meet Brent officers and councillors to try and find a solution to the issue of 11 trees in the street which the Council has scheduled for felling.

The trees on Furness Road from above

As word has got around the community people from elsewhere in Brent have also expressed concern about the fate of trees in their local area.  Pedestrian safety and insurance claims are set against concerns that healthy mature trees that contribute to combating pollution and enrich the urban scene are being lost.

Cllr Michael Pavey resigns - By-election in Barnhill ward in January

Cllrs Butt, Choudhary, Marquis & Pavey

 I had to miss tonight's Council meeting but I understand that a by-election was announced to take place in January 2020 as a result of the resignation of a sitting councillor. The ward is currently held by three Labour councillors - Cllr Shafique Choudhary, Cllr Sarah Marquis and Cllr Michael Pavey. Michael Pavey resigned for personal reasons.

Pavey is a former Deputy Leader of the Council who stood against Cllr Muhammed Butt for the Labour leadership.LINK

The by-election is likely to be held in mid to late-January when two ward electors have asked for an election.