Questions are asked as Brent's key worker housing in Wembley Park opens for applications

 Still from Virtual Tour (see links below)

I've long been an advocate of key worker housing provision in the borough having seen young teachers forced to move out of Brent as soon as they start a family because they can't afford high local rents. I am sure the same applies to health workers police etc and the result is a loss of valuable staff and recruitment problems.

Developments in the borough did not include key worker housing and in the infamous Willesden Green Library case were marketed by agents (in Singapore!) with the selling point that buyers  DID NOT have to share with affordable or key worker tenants. LINK

I welcomed the news that Brent Council had purchased a block in the Wembley Park development from  Quintain for key worker housing despite a deal in which details were not readily available.  That housing is now open to applications.

However doubts have been expressed in emails to Wembley Matters about the affordability of the units to key workers as well as questions over inclusions and exclusions in the list of eligible workers. Why for example are some of the workers now seen as key in the face of the pandemic not included - refuse workers, delivery workers and those working in essential retail?

One correspondent pointed out a current Brent advertisement for Home Care Assistants well outside the income level needed. LINK

In order to assess the offer here are two tables for background:

Weekly council house rents under the current HRA budget proposals in consultation

 

London Mayor's definitions of affordable housing

The monthly rent for one bedroomed keyworker housing is £992 (including service charge) and the equivalent average council rent is £450. For two bedroomed keyworker housing the comparison is £1,122 and £519.30.

The London Housing Allowance (To calculate Housing benefit and the gap between that and local rents can be accessed here - just type in you post code) LINK

The Key Worker offer from Brent Council website LINK

 

Brent Council’s wholly owned housing company, i4B, has negotiated the purchase of a brand new apartment block in Wembley Park which will provide much-needed affordable accommodation for key workers across the borough and beyond. 

 

The building is due to open in January, and applications are now open for our 1- and 2-bed apartments for those that are eligible. 

 

Virtual tours

Please see the links below to go on a virtual tour of the apartments. These are best opened in Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. Please note that not all apartments are the same layout or size.

• Take a tour of the one-bedroom apartment
• Take a tour of the two-bedroom apartment

 

Rent levels 

Monthly rent levels will be £992 for a 1-bed apartment and £1,122 for a 2-bed apartment. This includes service charge, but does not include bills such as electricity, broadband or water usage.

 

Eligibility criteria 

 

As part of the process, supporting information will need to be submitted to confirm the eligibly of tenants on the below areas. We will be carrying out independent verification and referencing checks to confirm the information provided. 

 

Key Worker Status 

 

At least one member of a household must be in a key worker post, and at least one eligible key worker must remain on the tenancy at all times.

 

The nomination policy, agreed by the Council and the i4B board, identifies two tiers of key worker roles. Tier 1 roles are the key worker roles that are most in demand for recruitment and retention. Tier two roles are key worker roles that are still in demand, but not to the same degree as tier one roles.

 

Applications from people in Tier 1 roles will be prioritised. However, if you are in a Tier 2 role you should still apply. 

 

Details of eligible key worker roles are below, the roles are listed in no particular order. 

 

 Tier 1

• Qualified Social Worker (excluding ASYE)
• Occupational Therapist
• Educational Psychologist
• Planner
• Commissioning Employee (Adult Social Care)
• Surveyor
• IT Architect
• Public Health Specialist
• Specialist IT Engineer
• Health Visitor
• Nurses – Bands 5 and 6
• Midwives at Band 6
• Physiotherapist
• Occupational Therapist
• Speech and Language Therapist
• Doctors in the following specialties:
• Acute Medicine
• Haematology
• Pathology
• Anaesthetics / Critical Care
• Dermatology
• Cardiology
• Care of Elderly
• Respiratory
• Medicine

Tier 2

• Armed Forces
• Council/Government Staff
• Fire Officers and Retained Fire Fighters
• NHS Staff
• Police Officers
• Prison Service and Probation Service Staff
• Social Worker
• Teachers in schools, further education or sixth form colleges
• Any other worker agreed in writing by the Council (this will be reviewed yearly to reflect the needs of the Council and the list will be published online) 

 

Contract Status

The key worker in the household must be employed on a permanent contract or be employed on a fixed term contract where:

• They are due to remain in employment for a further 6 months from the date the tenancy is due to commence and;
• The initial term of their contract was at least 12 months. 

 

Household Income 

 

The Key Worker Housing scheme is designed to provide accommodation to households who may otherwise have difficulties affording to rent in London. Therefore, household income limits have been set. Please note that this is based on household income i.e. the total annual income of all household members over 18, not the key workers annual income. 

• To be eligible for a one bedroom property household income must not exceed £65k a year.
• To be eligible for a two bedroom property household income must not exceed £90k a year.
• Household income must also be a minimum of £31k. 

 

Citizenship 

 

All household members must be either a British or EU/EEA citizen with a Settled Status by December 2020 or have indefinite leave to remain in the UK. 

 

Property Ownership

 

No household member can own or part own a property.

One eligible key worker must remain on the tenancy at all times

• View the nominations policy for further information 

 

Before applying 

 

Make sure you have the below documents to hand as you will not be able to complete an application without them. 

 

You will also need to collect all of the below information for any household members who are over the age of 18:

• Passport or documents proving an indefinite right to remain in the UK
• You last 3 months payslip
• Contract of Employment
• Contact details for current landlord (if applicable)
• Birth certificates for children under 18 

 

Please read the above information carefully on the eligibility criteria for the scheme and have the supporting documentation ready before starting your application.  

 

 

Brent Central Labour condemn Starmer's stance on school closures and praise Dawn Butler for her support of the NEU and Unison

Spot the Leader of the Opposition
 

Brent Central  Constituency Labour Party last night passed a motion condemning Keir Starmer's position of pressing for schools to stay open as cases rose during the pandemic. Secen members of the CLP voted against the motion on the grounds that the leader of the party should not be publicly attacked. They agreed with the demands of the of the motion. Starmer's failure to hold the government to account was contrasted with the robust efforts of Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain.

The motion:

Brent Central CLP congratulates Dawn Butler and others in supporting the coalition of trade unions – particularly the NEU and UNISON – and other organisations which called for learning to be shifted to remote teaching and learning, and for schools to be physically closed except to key worker children and those deemed vulnerable.

We condemn Keir Starmer's failure to oppose the government stance of keeping all [schools] physically opened, contrary to the scientific evidence that supported closure. This led to millions of primary children attending school on 4 January 2020 before the government was compelled by the weight of scientific evidence, the unions, Labour councils, MPs and wider public pressure to close them. This one day of mixing is likely to have risked teachers, support staff, parents, grandparents and other members of the community to coronavirus.

Currently early years and nursery schools continue to be pressured by the government to stay physically open or lose funding. Brent Central CLP urges Keir Starmer and the Labour Party to now oppose this with utmost urgency, and to demand that the government does not tie funding for early years and nursery schools – Dedicated School Grant (DSG) – to the headcounts of attending students. Staff are being unnecessarily exposed to danger, and parents are already rightly keeping their children away from early years and nursery schools. These settings deserve state support, not threats of punishment.

Harlesden’s Public Art – an update (and request for further help!)

 Last month, I wrote about the public artworks installed in Harlesden as part of the City Challenge project in the 1990s. There was one I definitely knew about, the Sundisc in the community garden outside the beautiful and historic Victorian villa at 1 Morland Gardens (which Brent Council plans to demolish!). 

 

The Sundisc sculpture, in the City Challenge community garden outside 1 Morland Gardens.
(Photo by Irina Porter)

 

I asked for your help, with any information and photos that you could provide about other public art dating from this time (1993 to 1998) in the Harlesden and Stonebridge areas. Our intention is to put together an illustrated record of all those artworks, which could be made available online for anyone to view, read and enjoy. We have received some responses, which I will share with you here, but I still need your help, please, to fill in some gaps!

 

I have been sent copies of some photos of two Harlesden artworks that I wasn’t aware of before. These were taken more than a decade ago by Robert Russell, and had been posted on the Willesden Local History Society Facebook pages. Many thanks for these! Because of “lockdown” and staying at home, I have not been out to see these myself yet, but I look forward to when I can.

 

The first two pairs of photographs show a variety of views of two remarkable mosaic columns, situated by the corner of Mordaunt Road and Winchelsea Road, not far from Harlesden Station in Acton Lane. The collage of mosaic pictures really captures the vibrancy of Harlesden life. Can anyone tell me please (via the “comments” box below), what this artwork is called and who was the artist who created it?

 

 

                        

Views of the Mordaunt Road mosaic columns. (Photos by Robert Russell, 2007)

 

The second artwork appears to be a mosaic mural, along a wall beside Church Path, just behind the Brent Samaritans building in Leopold Road. It depicts a street scene showing a range of adults and children from Harlesden’s diverse community, going about a variety of everyday activities. Again, I have not seen this vibrant piece of public art before – have you? I hope it is still there, brightening the lives of anyone who walks past it. 

 

I would be grateful if anyone reading this, and seeing the photograph below, can tell me and other readers more about this mural, including what it is called and who designed and made it. Thank you!

 

 

The Church Path mural, near Leopold Road. (Photo by Robert Russell, 2010)

 

After my first article, someone suggested that I try to contact Gerry Davis, who was the Chief Executive of Harlesden City Challenge, to see whether he could help with any information about the artworks. Luckily, a friend was able to let me have his address. I sent Gerry a paper copy of last month’s article, and he kindly supplied the following reply:

 

‘The provision of Art was done under the City Challenge "Art in the City" project at a cost of just over £150k in the early 1990's. 

 

I regret that I no longer have details of all the Art Works funded by HCC, but I am happy to let you know what I remember.

 

There should be a plaque at each HCC art site, like the one next to the Sundisc. Other Art Works were:

 

·   THE HEAD - outside TESCO in the car park.

 

·   Sculptures in front and alongside the building which was called "The Design Works " on the corner of Rucklidge Avenue and Park Parade.

 

·   Raised Bed Garden and Pavement art, at the roundabout at Craven Park / Craven Park Road

 

·   There were Giraffes at the corner of Scrubs Lane and Harrow Road, but I think that they were removed during the new development

 

·   The murals on the bridge (at Acton Lane, see photo in previous blog) may be HCC art works, but I do not remember.

 

There must be more but I regret that I do not remember them. However, the area was devoid of artworks when HCC started, so any works which are there now are most likely from HCC.’

 

I have managed to “find” one large sculpture outside “The Design Works” building in Rucklidge Avenue by looking on Google street view. Again, it’s an interesting piece, and my guess at its name would be “Men at Work”. Here is an image of it, and any information on it that you can provide would be appreciated, thank you. 

 

 

The sculpture outside “The Design Works”, at the corner of Rucklidge Avenue.
(From Google street view)

 

“The Head” in the car park outside Tesco in the centre of Harlesden was apparently stolen! I understand that this was during a time when thieves removed a number of metal sculptures around the country, to melt down for their scrap value. Can anyone tell me more about this artwork, or send a digital photograph of it (c/o Martin Francis at: martinrfrancis@virginmedia.com ), please? The same request goes for the pavement art on the roundabout at Craven Park / Craven Park Road. 

 

 

Gerry suggested that one of the artworks, at the corner of Scrubs Lane and Harrow Road, may have been lost during redevelopment. I have now read that the giraffe heads were a sculpture by Rebecca Nassauer, and that they were removed (or stolen?) during the construction of a new church building around 2009. Surely a piece of public art showing giraffe heads, and 5.5 metres tall, must have caught the attention of passers-by? Has anyone got a photograph of these missing giraffes, please (even a pre-digital one, which could be scanned)? 

 

 

All of the artworks I’ve mentioned are part of Harlesden’s Public Art heritage, and it deserves to be preserved and recorded so that future generations can enjoy it too. Let’s take this opportunity to celebrate the efforts made in the 1990s to brighten up Harlesden with public art that enriches the lives of residents and visitors. Thanks in advance for the photos and details that we look forward to YOU sharing with us!

 

Philip Grant.

UPDATED WITH DATA SETS & METHODOLOGY: Department for Education releases data on the impact of coronavirus on the school workforce

 Rate of infection school staff

From the National Education Union 

The Department for Education has finally released data on the impact of coronavirus on the school workforce in “Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.” 

The dataset includes the number of teachers and school leaders, teaching assistants and other staff absent with a confirmed case of coronavirus.

Using this data we have been able to calculate an estimate for the rate of coronavirus infection amongst school staff.

The data shows that there are much higher COVID rates of infection amongst teachers and other school staff than for the general population. This finding is in contradiction to the reassurances regularly given by the Department and by Public Health England, including by Dr Jenny Harries giving evidence to the Education Select Committee this morning.

• On average the rate of COVID infection is 1.9 times higher amongst primary and secondary teachers than the general population. It is 2 times higher for special school teachers.
• For teaching assistants and other staff, the rate of COVID infection is three times higher in primary schools and almost seven times higher in special schools.

The Government has been collecting this information since early October.

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: 

“These shocking figures raise further very serious questions about the handling of coronavirus in schools.

“What investigations have the Department for Education made into these figures?

“Why have the ministers repeatedly told school staff and the public that there was no reason for concern when these figures indicate that there should have been real concern about the much higher COVID infection rates of teachers and other school staff?

“Why did ministers deny clinically extremely vulnerable staff the right to work from home?

“Why has it taken ministers so long to release this data?”

"What mitigating measures will ministers now propose?"

1. Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak
2. Teachers and school leaders chart 
3. Teaching assistants and other staff chart 
4. Spreadsheet 
5.  UPDATE Published January 22nd 2021 by Education Policy Institute: Covid related teacher and pupil absence over 2020 Autumn Term: https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/covid-related-teacher-absences/

DATE SETS AND METHODOLOGY (Click bottom right square for full size)

 

 

 

Disappointing Scrutiny Committee discussion on Brent housing needs

The section of the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee devoted to discussion on the Brent Housing programme has just finished. Given the importance of the subject it was disappointing.

 Most discussion centred on the infill housing programme which is additional housing built on existing estates on spare land or land freed by demolition of garages that have been allowed to run down.  There were attempts to clarify what was meant by 'affordable' (see my earlier post) that were not very successful.

There were no questions on the large amount of shared ownership housing planned across Brent.

The zoom sound  quality was not very good but recommendations adopted by the Committee included :

1. A request in any ward where infill housing is proposed housing should write to members (councillors) and draw their attention to the proposal.

2. Information on the different types of 'affordable' housing and the different levels of rent should be supplied to the Committee.

3. In future plans for any new-build site should include a community centre to develop greater community inclusion plus proposals on how they would be financed. If not on the site itself in the immediate neighbourhood.

4. A report on government plans to end Section 106 that has been used for housing and  the implications of its possible replacement by a new scheme.

During the discussion an officer commented that even social rent levels were not affordable for some people.  The council building itself ,rather than through developers, meant it could match provision more closely to local need. More older and single people had come forward for housing during the Covid period. Parking continued to be a problem on estates.

I think a more in-depth discussion is required in future on the issue - or perhaps a task group would do a more thorough job.

Greens reveal loss of 13,500 social and council homes, in London boroughs, including Brent, since 2003

In a report relevant to this afternoon's Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committe  a new report by Sian Berry, Green Party Assembly Member and Mayoral candidate  reveals London is set to have lost more than 13,500 social and council homes in estate redevelopment schemes since 2003 if currently approved projects are completed.

 

The report, Estate redevelopment in London, reveals that completed demolition schemes on sites with existing social housing have led to the net loss of 6,748 social and council homes since 2003. It also shows that a further 6,791 will be lost if currently approved schemes go ahead.

 

Estate redevelopment schemes funded by the Mayor now cannot involve demolition without residents approving schemes via a ballot. This is part of a new policy finally introduced by the Mayor in July 2018, after a long campaign from estate residents and Sian Berry.

Today’s report reveals that this policy has yet to take full effect. It also describes how the losses have been worsened by the Mayor quietly agreeing to fund dozens of schemes in the months ahead of the new ballot policy coming into force. This allowed many thousands of potential home demolitions to slip under the wire of new rules.

 

The new research found that 1,430 social rented homes will be demolished and not replaced in schemes given planning permission since April 2018 alone.

 

Sian Berry AM said:

 

London simply cannot afford to lose 13,539 council and housing association homes through demolition. Waiting lists of Londoners in urgent need of housing continue to grow and people are more squeezed than ever by the housing crisis.

 

My research today shows we have already lost thousands of social housing homes, and that thousands more are under imminent threat. Demolishing estates in this way not only reduces the amount of housing for families in need, it also breaks up communities at the heart of life in the city.

 

The Mayor’s decision to sign off on dozens of redevelopment schemes in 2018, allowing them to dodge incoming rules for resident ballots, has prolonged the damage to our city. I have found that the new ballot policy is not yet making a significant impact on schemes that have reached the planning stage as a result.

 

And now estates are under even more threat from the Government’s proposed new national planning rules. These would force councils to define whole areas for rapid or automatic planning approval and do not give a single mention to the rights of people already living in these areas to have a say.

 

Key findings from the report 'Estate Redevelopment in London: Have things improved under the current Mayor?, are shown in the tables below.

 

Total impact of London estate redevelopment schemes: -13,539.
A map showing boroughs' net loss of social housing in estate redevelopment schemes (all schemes on sites with existing social housing) granted planning permission since 2003, overall.

 

Total impact of completed schemes: -6,748.
A map showing boroughs' net loss of social rented housing in estate redevelopment schemes granted planning permission since 2003, where construction has been completed.

Total impact of schemes in the pipeline: -6,791.
A map of boroughs set to lose social rented homes in estate redevelopment schemes granted planning permission since 2003, for which construction has not started, or has begun and not yet been completed:

 

 

FULL REPORT