Chalkhill Community Growers ready for Spring planting and sowing thanks to Metropolitan Housing and Pinnacle

Gardeners at the Chalkhill Community Allotments beside the Metropolitan Line on Chalkhill Estate are delighted at works being undertaken by Metropolitian Housing Thames Valler who manage the estate and their maintenance team Pinnacle.

The allotments have been in existence for a number of years but were limited to some extent by the fact that the growing beds were made out of builders' bags that dried out quickly, limited the numbers of worms in the soil,  and collapsed without support.

Using rescued  decking Pinnacle have been constructing raised beds to replace the bags and compost has been provided.  At the same time the maintenace team have removed rubbish, cut the grass and cut back brambles and other vegetation.

The Chalkhill Community Growers* that now include the Lounge Cafe,  Daniel's Den and Chalkhill Primary School are very pleased with the results.

 

Before - the sack beds with one wooden experimental raised bed

 

Raised beds under construction (Photo: Amanda Rose)

 

After - this bed has wheelchair access

* Declaration of interest: I am chair of Chalkhill Comunity Growers Group

Brent Council urges residents to make Covid testing part of their weekly routine - information here

 FROM BRENT COUNCIL

Brent residents are being encouraged to get tested twice a week as part of their regular routine as the national lockdown in England loosens further.

 

From today (April 9) everyone in England, including those without symptoms, is eligible to take a free rapid COVID test twice a week to do their bit to ensure they are not spreading COVID. 1 in 3 people with COVID show no symptoms at all so could be spreading it without knowing if they don’t test regularly.

 

Alongside the rollout of the vaccine, getting tested regularly is vital to help control the spread of the virus – including variants – as more shops and services start to open up again.

 

Dr Melanie Smith, Brent’s Director of Public Health, says:

 

Testing is the only sure way to know whether you are carrying the virus as around a third of people with COVID don’t show any signs at all so could be spreading this deadly virus to loved ones and around the community without knowing. Rapid testing does exactly what it says on the tin – providing a result in less than 40 minutes. This means positive cases can be detected quickly and infected people can slow the spread by immediately self-isolating.

 

From Friday, residents will be able to access rapid lateral flow tests (LFDs) for themselves and their families to use twice a week. Rapid testing had been limited to those most at risk and people needing to leave home for work. Now rapid testing will be offered to everyone – not just frontline NHS workers, care home staff and residents, and schoolchildren and their families.

 

Since rapid testing was introduced over 120,000 positive cases have been identified. These would not have been discovered without the widespread use of LFDs. By extending their use still further, even more cases will be detected and we can break the chains of transmission and save lives.

 

Updates will also be made to the NHS COVID-19 app in England to coincide with the offer of rapid testing for everyone. Since its launch in September, over 22 million people have downloaded the app. 

 

Over 100,000 businesses in England have registered their interest to provide rapid tests to their employees, and the offer of free testing is being expanded to companies with over ten workers where on-site testing is impossible. 

 

The expanded testing offer for people without symptoms will be delivered by:

 

·       A home ordering service, which allows people to order lateral flow tests online to be delivered to their home

·       Workplace testing programmes, on-site or at home

·       Community testing, offered by all local authorities – there are five locations in Brent

·       Collection at a local PCR test site during specific test collection time windows

·       Testing on-site at schools and colleges.

 

A new ‘Pharmacy Collect’ service is also launching which will provide an additional route to regular testing. People aged over 18 without symptoms will be able to visit a participating local pharmacy and collect a box of seven rapid tests to use twice a week at home.

 

The best route for testing can be found at NHS.UK/get-tested. If testing at home, individuals will need to register their results online, or by calling 119. After any positive LFT test, they will also need to self-isolate and order a confirmatory PCR test. 

 

 

For more information about testing go to: www.brent.gov.uk/testing

 

Symptom-free tests are available at the following locations seven days a week from 9am-6pm:

• Brent Civic Centre - Engineers Way, Wembley Park, Wembley, HA9 0FJ
• Ealing Road Library - Coronet Parade, Ealing Road, Wembley, HA0 4BA
• Harlesden Library - Craven Park Road, Harlesden, NW10 8SE
• Kingsbury Library - 522-524 Kingsbury Road, Kingsbury, NW9 9HE
• The Library at Willesden Green - 95 High Rd, Willesden, London, NW10 2SF
  

NHS Covid-19 app updates

 

To coincide with the offer of free rapid testing for everyone, there will be updates to the NHS Covid-19 app in England from 8 April:

 

·       Everyone in a group must check in – In line with new regulations, when a group enters a hospitality venue, every individual must check either by scanning the official NHS QR code poster with the NHS COVID-19 app, or by providing their contact details. Previously, only the lead member of the group needed to provide contact details to check in.

·       Venue history sharing – if an app user tests positive, they will be asked to share their venue history in a privacy-protecting way via the app. This will allow venue alerts to be generated more quickly, and improve the ability to identify where outbreaks are occurring and take steps to prevent the virus spreading.

·       Additional venue alerts – if a person has been at a venue on the same day as several other people who have since tested positive for Covid-19, they may receive an alert, advising them to book a test immediately, whether they are showing symptoms or not. This is to support finding asymptomatic cases who may have caught the virus but are not displaying symptoms.

·       New QR code posters – There will be new posters displaying QR codes for hospitality venues in England. Work has taken place with the industry to make the posters clearer and easier to use. All venues in England in scope of the regulations are legally required to display an official NHS QR code poster. 

 

Please support campaigners' vision for the Welsh Harp

 

A group of campaigners for the Welsh Harp (Brent Reservoir)  have published a 15 point vision for its future. There has been a problem with littering around the Welsh Harp for a long time   but the recent lowering of the waterline, so that dam repairs could take place,  have revealed what was in the water itself. A truly shocking revelation.

 

Only one metre below the surface. Debris and contaminated alluvium build-up on the protected East Marsh, revealed during lowering of water levels, January 2021
© Ben Watt

 

The vision for the 170 acres of the area and its Site of Special Scientic Interest would require the Canal and River Trust (owners of the reservoir and shoreline), Brent and Barnet Councils (owners of the open areas), Environment Agency (overseers of the two inflowing rivers and the reservoir's flood control function, and Natural England (who advise on environmental issues and adjudicate on SSSI status), to work together. 

 

That is a tall order but if anyone can achieve that it will be this band of determined, hands on campaigners.

 

Please get behind them by reading the full vision, written by Ben Watt, and making your voice heard. LINK

We wish them well and ultimate success so that a healthy and thriving natural resource will be available for future generations to treasure.

Action meeting: TFL/Network Rail's destruction of habitat 7.30pm tonight

 

We are holding an open meeting for people to share their experiences of TFL and Network Rail's destruction of habitat in their local area.

 

We will then discuss ideas for action to change their behaviours and policies. 

 

REGISTRATION 

The Green's Emma Wallace tops GLA Hustings straw poll after Brent Friends of the Earth hustings

 

Emma Wallace of Harrow Green Party, and out GLA constituency candidate for Brent and Harrow, convinced many environmentalists yesterday evening at the hustings organised by Brent Friends of the Earth.

Labour's Krupesh Hirani slumped to 26% after the hustings compared with 54% before he had spoken.  Emma Wallace gained 11% to take the lead and  Liberal Democrat Anton Georgiou quadrapled his vote from a meagre 4% to 17%.

The Conservative  candidate was invited but did not attend.

Brent commits to work with Brent Friends of the Earth/Divest Brent towards divesting its Pension Fund from fossil fuels

 

 

From Divest Brent/Brent Friends of the Earth

For over 3 years campaign group Divest Brent have been working to persuade the Council to divest its Pension Fund from fossil fuels. On April 6 Councillor Matt Kelcher presented the 1,400-signature petition (including 1,200 Brent residents) to the Cabinet on behalf of Divest Brent.  

 

Coming as it did immediately before the Cabinet discussed its 10-year climate strategy Councillor Kelcher’s hard-hitting presentation carried added weight. Following campaigning by Divest Brent the draft strategy, which was agreed at the meeting, included a section on the Pension Fund’s investments.

 

Responding to the presentation, Council Leader Muhammad Butt, Deputy Leader Margaret McLennan and Environment lead, Krupa Sheth all spoke positively and in particular Councillor McLennan looked forward to working with Divest Brent and Brent Friends of the Earth to take the agenda forward.

 

In 2019 the Council declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency and specifically agreed to redirect investments to renewable, sustainable and low carbon funds. Indeed some investments have been made in this area but the majority of the Pension Fund is still invested in funds which include fossil fuels.

 

Simon Erskine, Co-ordinator of Divest Brent, said “We welcome any moves by the Pension Fund to invest sustainably and to help with the transition to renewable energy – but the fact is that whatever green investments the Fund may have, while it continues to invest in fossil fuels it is part of the problem. We therefore look forward to working with the Council to develop a road-map for divestment in the short term.”

 

The presentation of the petition comes hot on the heels of a report entitled “Divesting to protect our pensions and the planet” which gave a comprehensive breakdown of the extent that UK Councils were invested in fossil fuels. 3% of Brent’s Pension Fund is thought to be invested in fossil fuels - £26 million. Compared to the £40 million invested in 2017 this looks like an improvement – until it is realised that much of the reduction is due to a fall in value of fossil fuel investments.

 

The Council has admitted that, while much of the Stock Market has suffered from Covid 19, they have lost £8 million by failing to divest from fossil fuels before the pandemic. They are not alone in this – with UK Councils having lost £2 billion altogether over the last 4 years – but £8 million is still a serious loss compared to the Pension Fund total of £800 million.

 

With the outlook for fossil fuels never worse as the electric vehicle revolution starts to kick in and governments look to move away from gas as a means of heating our homes, Pension Fund committee members could find themselves in breach of their duties to protect the value of the Fund if they do not start to move seriously towards divestment. Said Mr Erskine, “We look forward to Brent joining Lambeth, Southwark and Islington Councils (to name just a few) in committing to divest its pension fund from fossil fuels.”

 

 

UPDATE: Join the Mayoral Environment Debate. Let's speak out for London's parks! Re-scheduled to Wednesday April 21st

 

Fryent Country Park, Kingsbury

 

 From London Friends of Green Spaces Network

Update from the organisers: *CHANGE OF DATE* Due to the pause in political campaigning following the sad death of Prince Philip we have had to postpone the Mayoral Environment Debate. The debate will now take place from 7pm to 9pm on Wednesday 21st April: https://www.wcl.org.uk/mayoral-environment-debate.asp

 
Wednesday 21st April, 7pm – 9pm
Chaired by presenter & environmentalist Julia Bradbury 

The debate will allow Mayoral candidates to forward their policies on nature and climate to London’s voters. If you want cleaner air, thriving parks, more abundant wildlife and new foot paths and cycle ways, this is your chance to ask the next Mayor for them. 

To attend, please register through this link [No need to re-register if you already have done so].

The More Natural Capital Coalition are a group of environmental charities who share a common vision for a greener London. 

We are joining forces with climate and transport groups in London to host the Mayoral Environment Debate. Organisations supporting the Environment Debate include:  RSPB, Open Spaces Society, The Orchard Project, CPRE London, Woodland Trust, Butterfly Conservation, London Friends of Greenspaces Network, WWT, WCL, London Gardens Trust, Ramblers, Trees for Cities, London National Park City, Living Streets Group, London Wildlife Trust, Sustain, The Conservation Volunteers, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, A Rocha UK, Badger Trust, Born Free Foundation, British Mountaineering Council, Institute of Fisheries Management, Four Paws UK, Tranquil City, Wildlife Gardening Forum, London Greenpeace groups, London Friends of the Earth Groups, Haringey Clean Air Group

All the best, 
Dave Morris, Chair LFGN
Alice Roberts and Laura Collins at CPRE London 
CPRE London is working with LFGN to bring more support to London's friends groups

 

Brent Planning Committee approves 9 additional non-sporting events at Wembley Stadium - 2 pilot Covid19 safety monitoring events to be held in April before Cup Final