Transcript
Okay, good morning everyone and welcome to today's cabinet meeting. Okay, can we just
go through apologies for absence? Okay, I've got apologies from Councillor Jake Rubin,
he's been taken into hospital to have some procedures on his feet, but he'll be back
on his feet shortly. Oh, okay, and we have Shirley standing in for Nigel and is there
anybody else? And Claudia stepping in for Rachel, thank you. And Marsha stepping in
for Deborah, thank you very much. Okay, declarations of interest, please do make sure that you
do declare them as you go along. Okay, minutes of the the previous meeting, can we just go
through that for accuracy? Okay, page one, page two, page three, page four, page five,
page six, page seven, page eight, page nine, and page 10. Okay, any matters arising? Okay,
and we do next item petitions, we do have one petition, and we ask we have Mr. Philip
Grant, who's here to, to present the petition in relation to the item on the Bobby Moore
Bridge and the and the advertising lease. Okay, Mr. Grant, if you can come forward. Okay,
you will have up to five minutes, just just to assure you, we have been given your presentation
right that was also that was received last week. We've also had various pieces of correspondence
from yourself, corresponding with with with the officers, and and want to thank you for
for coming here today and presented the petition as well. Your time will start whenever you're
ready. Before it starts the clock. Have you all got this copy in front of you of the document?
Thank you very much. I had hoped the images could be shown on the screens so that everyone
could see them in the room. But unfortunately, I was told that wouldn't be allowed. So if
you're all ready, I'll begin. Today, you'll decide on the new advertising lease for Bobby
Moore Bridge. The petition asks you to award the lease only for the bridge parapets, that's
option A, so that the tile mirrors on the subway walls can be put back on display. You'll
see from the photos in my presentation, why those murals does he deserve to be seen again,
and permanently. Bent commissioned this public artwork, and it was specially designed to
welcome visitors with colourful murals celebrating Wembley's sports and entertainment history.
Eleven mural scenes have been hidden away since 2013, including the Olympic torchbearer
and flag of the Start-Up Olympic Way, an important reminder of Wembley's 1948 Olympic Games.
Other hidden scenes cover a variety of subjects, including famous concerts at the stadium,
and the Horse of the Year show, ice skating, and the Harlem Globetrotters at the arena.
Wembley History Society has been campaigning to have the murals returned to public view
since 2018. Its efforts saw the footballer's mural, with its plaque unveiled by Bobby Moore's
widow, uncovered the following year. We joined the Mayor and the Leader in welcoming the
temporary display of three mural scenes in Olympic Way at the start of borough of culture
year in 2020 when the Council acknowledged that the tiles are part of Brent's heritage.
Quintain put those scenes just outside the subway back on permanent display in 2022.
Option A is the opportunity to allow every resident and visitor to Wembley Park to enjoy
all of the beautiful murals, as Brent originally intended.
The tile murals don't have legal protection, but they are a heritage asset with historic
and artistic merit. Brent has a commitment to value heritage assets.
Good lighting in the subway, and the safety of everyone using it, is very important. When
improvements were made to Olympic Way a few years ago, Brent gave 17.8 million CIL money
towards the work but allowed Quintain to organise it.
The lighting design for the subway was based on the LED advertising panels that Quintain
wanted to install, even though they knew those panels had to be removed when the lease expired.
There will need to be changes when the panels are removed. I'm sure the Council can work
with Quintain and its lighting designer on those, though it may mean a short delay in
taking down the LED panels and possibly some extra CIL funding. And using the advantage
of reflected light off of the ceramic tiles could actually reduce energy consumption.
The social value benefits mentioned in the Leader Four Word will be provided by the supplier
under the new lease, whichever option you decide on.
A lease under Option A will guarantee the Council a minimum rent in excess of £90,000
a year. Option B would pay slightly more, but the amount involved is a tiny part of
Brent's budget. The financial difference would be less than the cultural, social, educational
and heritage value of putting the tile murals back on public display.
I commend Option A to you and ask you to vote for it. Thank you.
Mr Grant, thank you very much for your contribution and for talking to the PowerPoint presentation
that you sent in and thank you for making the case. Thank you very much.
OK, just going on... We will also have another speaker, Councillor Janice Long, talking on
the travel plan as well. OK. And I've not been notified of any other items that we referenced
right from the Scrutiny Committee. OK. And I will take Councillor Jackson first so you
can respond back to Mr Grant. I just wanted to say thank you very much, Philip,
for your representations. I know you care deeply about heritage in Brent and I'm really
glad of your participation also in some of our other heritage projects and also the Wembley
History Society. So, thank you. Thank you very much. OK. And before we go
on to the substantive reports, Councillor Long, you'll have up to three minutes in order
to make your presentation in relation to the travel implementation plan.
Morning, everybody. I'm speaking to Item 10, the Brent active travel implementation plan
or the cycling plan as it actually seems to be. And I'm asking you the question, what
is in it for pedestrians? We walk down the footway or the pavement, but one of the barriers
to walking is pavement clutter, A-boards, fly tips, poles for traffic signs, electric
vehicle charging points. Other buses put them in the road. Why doesn't Brent? One of the
big issues, why does the report lump cyclists and pedestrians together? We both need different
things. And I know cycle routes where traffic islands used by pedestrians have been removed
as cyclists don't like them, but now these roads aren't safe for pedestrians. So how
will this plan improve things for disabled pedestrians? You mentioned disability to cyclists.
They focus on the disabled person who wants to cycle, but not the disabled pedestrian
who wants to walk on the pavement. The disabled cyclist on page 33, 35, is it a Brent resident?
It's a stock picture. The disabled person on page 33 will not be able to cycle given
her disability. I'm visually impaired, so I cannot cycle. I need to walk on the pavement.
I need safe pavements are crossing points. What are your plans? Fixed pavement clutter
can be learned by a blind person, but movable clutter is more of a problem. Ellie from Wilsdon
complains she has a permanent bruise from walking into dockless bikes parked on the
pavement. The memorandum of understanding has low standards, which are not being met.
There's more than one dockless bike operator in the UK. Why aren't we ending the MOU and
deciding what standards we want then looking for a company that will provide them? Why
are we sticking with the operator with the worst reputations. Pedestrians walk to bus
stops to use public transport. Wheelchair users will need the ramp to get on the bus
and we will need to get on and off the bus safely, but Patrick from Wembley is worried
he will not be able to safely use the bus stop and pavement by Bridge Park when the
bus stop arrangements are changed to help cyclists. So what is Brent doing to help disabled
pedestrians to use public transport? Pavements for pedestrians. We cannot walk in the road,
but they need to be clear so they can be used for walking. I cannot see what this plan is
doing to make walking on the pavement better than it is now. Walking is the greenest form
of active travel. It doesn't require lithium batteries and if people don't feel safe walking
some of them will keep using their cars. This plan wasn't at the Brent Connects forums,
the Brent Disability forum or the Brent Pensioners forum. If you weren't invited to a face-to-face
meeting, I'm not aware that you were able to have one. So it's not been open to any
public scrutiny, so what scrutiny are you going to give it? But how is this plan actually
going to work for pedestrians? Thank you. Thank you very much for your contribution
and for always standing up for the residents of Brent and especially some of the more less
able residents in our borough and it's always great to have people like yourselves who are
great advocates for those individuals and your comments are absolutely welcomed and
we'll make sure that they're taken into account. Councillor Scheipf, we do have the formal
report further down the agenda and we'll make the formal comments as and when we get to
those reports as we take them in the agenda. Okay, the first item on the agenda is the
authority to award the contract for the Bobby Moore Bridge advertising lease. As the report
sets out, we have the opportunity to revisit the lease arrangements and to take a look
at the income that can be generated and how we work with the contractors to make sure
that one, the work that we do in order to generate the income and make sure some of
those sites are protected in relation to the heritage element and also how the contribution
that Mr. Philip Grant spoke about in relation to the sill benefits the borough and the wider
regeneration elements. I do need to point out, the sill is not free money, it comes
from the work of developers and the contributions that need to be made. I think sometimes people
need to be aware, right, they can't just go against regeneration, can't go against planning
applications and then expect money to come in from thin air. A lot of work goes into
making sure regeneration kick-starts and helps develop rent into the place that it is today
and individuals who make the effort to bring forward the elements around regeneration and
benefit the borough in its difficult financial situation like this as well where we've lost
over £210 million from austerity for the last 10, 14 years and the government continues
to actually penalise boroughs like Brent who are progressive, forward-looking and for us
there's a whole host of considerations that need to be taken into account and I want to
assure residents that this cabinet, this administration, is on the side of residents to make sure that
we continue to provide those services that every single resident needs and depends upon.
This report also is part of that work to make sure that we work with all developers and
all partners, all stakeholders, in trying to achieve the best outcomes for our borough
and our residents. I'll open it up for comments from cabinet members. Anything else? Thank
you very much. I will go to the recommendations. And the recommendation part of 2.1 is option
B to advertising on the parapet walls of the bridge plus the underpass excluding the mural
with the plaque. OK. Can I take this in agreement from cabinet members? Agreed? Thank you very
much. Can I thank the speakers as well? There's no further.
No. No. No. No. Thank you very much. Mr Grant, can I thank you for your contribution? Mr
Grant, thank you very much for your contribution. There is no further. Mr Grant, thank you very
much. Mr Grant, thank you very much. Mr Grant, thank you very much for your contribution
and thank you for taking the time. Thank you very much. Mr Grant, thank you very much.
Why are you embarrassing yourself? I'm truly disappointed in yourself. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. We will move on. The cabinet has agreed the recommendations and
the recommendations as laid out with option B. Thank you very much. We'll move on. OK.
Next item on the agenda is the Brent Household Support Fund. Councillor Donnie Jackson, over
to you. Thank you. Bear with me one moment. So in the recent spring budget, after much
delay and pressure from countless local authorities, the government finally announced that they'd
be renewing the Household Support Fund from the 1st of April. Brent received an allocation
of just under 2.8 million for the period from the 1st of April to the 30th of September
- And this paper sets out what this grant will be used for and seeks approval from cabinet
for the allocation of funds. Before I outline how we've proposed to best utilize this allocation,
I first want to recognize that we received no communication from central government about
extending the Household Support Fund beyond September 2024. Since 2010, local government
has been underfunded and kept alive by stopgap payments like HSF. This model of funding has
not only been disappointing, but incredibly dangerous and fails to effectively address
the conditions many residents find themselves in as a result of economic mismanagement by
central government and a subsequent cost of living crisis. Unfortunately, the lack of
clarity and complete ambiguity around what will be happening with HSF is what we've come
to expect from this government. Nevertheless, we will continue to pressure the government
into extending or replacing the Household Support Fund. We'll also continue to support
our most vulnerable with our resident support fund, ensuring that no one is left behind.
So just to briefly itemize what we'll be doing with this funding, we will be providing support
to families currently receiving free school meals during the half term and six weeks on
holiday and this will ensure that 10,000 children across Brent are supported. We'll also provide
440 care leavers with £50 vouchers and 6,500 disabled houses with 25 vouchers to support
with food, fuel, additional costs and household bills. Two hundred thousand will be allocated
to our credit union to support households with multiple debts and through our incredibly
successful credit union, applicants have been able to receive interest free loans from 2020
to 2024 with the credit union supported 306 households with over 1.1 million in interest
free loans. 90,000 will be allocated to fantastic community projects including advice for renters
and sufferers community wellbeing project and the remainder of the allocation will be
used to top up the resident support fund and residents will be able to proactively apply
to this fund for support with food, energy, water and wider essentials. In Brent, we will
continue to support our most vulnerable households and do our best to reduce financial burden
and the cost of life, cost of living crisis. I would just like to very much thank all officers
who contributed to this report and who continue to support our most vulnerable households,
so thank you.
Councillor Jackson, thank you very much for that. OK, Councillor Knight.
Welcome to your choice.
I just want to thank Councillor Fleur Dunnely-Jackson for this paper. As you highlighted, quite
rightly it's not ideal in terms of a funded model because it's piecemeal, but I'd like
to thank you and the team for particularly bringing this forward at a time where a number
of households in the borough are struggling. I'd like to welcome the credit union support
proposal in 4.8, which will certainly assist a number of residents who are struggling with
household costs despite being in work and also note the funding for advice renters who
are key partners with helping us assist those who are in the private renter sector in this
borough.
Councillor Grodin.
Thanks, yeah. I'd like to thank Councillor Dunnely-Jackson's team as well for allocating
all the funds and in particular the provision of vouchers to families who are struggling
with the cost of food during school holidays. I think it's a really sad indictment of our
current government that so many families across the borough are going hungry and we should
be a borough that wants to not just address food poverty but completely eliminate it.
And I also agree that I think the complacency with which the Tory government have treated
this fund, which is basically a lifeline for lots of families constantly leaving the funding
announcement to the very last minute just shows that they've completely lost their grip
on the cost of living crisis. And with over 35,000 families set to benefit from it, it
shows that, you know, we've put some really meaningful action in place as a Council. I
just want to highlight as well that our 440 care leavers are also going to benefit from
this funding, so it shows that we're taking our role really seriously as corporate parents
team. Thanks. Thank you very much.
Councillor Tulla? Yeah, thank you very much Councillor Dunne-Jackson
and to the team as well. And it's difficult because I know that your team are facing residents
on a daily basis when they're applying for support and you're seeing it, the coalface
about struggles many of our residents are facing. It's a damning indictment on the government
to show that they're only going to extend it till September 2024. The work I do at the
IGA with the Cost of Living Steering Group and work I've done with sort of the front
bench around kind of lobbying for extension of the household support fund seems to have
fallen on deaf ears. And in the hope of a new government in July, we'll hopefully get
some better support for our mostly news residents. Thank you very much. Okay, looking around
anybody else? Thank you. Okay. I think this is a positive outcome, right? It just shows
that some of the work that we've been doing with the lobbying of the government and making
sure right that we're highlighting the impact of what austerity and the cost of living crisis
is having on our residents. And these measures will go a long way in supporting some of those
residents going forward as well. Okay, we have the recommendations on page 28. Can we
agree these recommendations and dates forward? Great. Thank you very much. Okay, colleagues.
Next item on the agenda is the review of rents, conservation areas, my much loved topic, can
I talk over to you? It is an important topic. Yes, so the work that we do a statutorily
to review our conservation areas, and it's an important piece of work. And I'd like to
thank our officers, particularly Mark Price on the work that he's done conducting this
review, making sure that we've got a variety of buildings in a variety of architecture
across the borough is really important. And it's important that we hear from residents
in those areas about what constitutes a conservation area and what doesn't. I'm pleased to say
that we've had some really good responses to the consultation with some areas being
extended, some being de-designated, and some kind of being reviewed on the borders. Happy
to take any questions, but it's here for a paper to be approved for the next iteration
to support planning policy. Okay, open it up. Any further comments? It
has been through a very detailed consultation. I've had various representations from residents
and groups across the areas of Brent where the conservation areas are. And I wish we
could take into account a lot more of those representations, but some of them were out
of the scope of what was being consulted upon. Councillor Nurburg?
Yes, as a councillor from the South of the borough, I would like to thank officers and
Councillor Tatler for an incredible amount of work which has gone into this. It sounds
easy, just re-designating conservation areas. The review's been long awaited and I'm really
pleased that the authority has reached out to resident organisations. I would just like
to highlight two really positive things about the new Kensal Rise conservation area. One
is Clifford Gardens which is a very interesting architecture and residents took it upon themselves
to reach out to the authority and this has been a real bottom-up process. And I'm really
pleased that Kensal Rise Chamberlain Road actually now will have its designation as
a conservation zone, some really interesting, historical Victorian Edwardian architecture
at the entrance to the borough from the south there. So, it's really good news to see this
that I know that conservation officers, it's a difficult area of recruitment, it's really
difficult for the authority and when we're looking at all sorts of other issues in terms
that the authorities spend, I'm really pleased that the authority has been able to invest
in this. The next step is to ensure, of course, that where there are breaches, serious breaches
of conservation planning rules, that we are able to actively respond and I know that residents,
you know, we're looking for where there is really big issues is that the council is able
to respond on behalf of local residents, thank you very much.
Just to say I really welcome this report and the fact that in some areas conservation areas
are being extended, but it is of interest to note that where something is being de-designated,
you can see at 3.48 for example, that actually we've had the support of Historic England
around that and actually looking and noting that there are areas where there's better
examples that would be part of the conservation area.
Anybody else? I was going to say that if Mr Grant had stayed, he would have seen the work
we're doing around heritage and conservation and he could have made comments on the positive
work that we are doing considering the comments he was making, but obviously some people only
choose to sort of fixate on single items, absolutely fine okay.
I do want to say that the work that has been done has been good right, as I said earlier,
have been approached by residents who have made contributions and I think the situation
we end up in is considered a position that we're in and I think some of the conversations
we've been having with some of the residents where they've been talking about energy conservation,
solar panels and air source, ground source pumps and everything else has been a positive
conversation and that will absolutely continue and I think one of the comments, speaking
to Mark Price, he was talking about is that the technologies moving forward in such a
manner where it will allow the solar panels to be installed in front because the tiles
are now becoming of such good quality and they fit into the character and the existing
tiles as well. So a lot of work has been done by the officers in order to help support residents
and to make sure some of these conservation areas right do protect the heritage and the
culture of the areas as well. Music to some people's ears here but okay okay just let
me put my glasses back on okay and we do have the recommendations okay on page 76 can we
agree with these recommendations and take the good work forward is that agreed thank
you very much okay and the next item on the agenda is item 10 the Brent active travel
implementation plan. Councillor Sheth how would you?
Thank you leader the report provides an update on the development of the active travel implement
implementation plan 2024 to 2029. It is recommended for cabinet to agree to minor amendments to
be made to strengthen the plan and to adopt a final version of the plan incorporating
these amendments. The plan identifies measures and interventions that will be prioritized
by the council to enable more people to walk wheel or cycle. Over 650 people from a wide
range of locations backgrounds and different age groups responded to the recent consultation
on the plan. We have listened carefully to this feedback. The plan aims to address the
barriers to active travel by making our streets safer and more inclusive for walking and cycling
improving the quality and visibility of our walking and cycling infrastructure and equipping
our communities with the skills and means to walk and cycle. Following on from Councillor
Long's comments pedestrians and walking are at the heart of our active travel plan. We
invested 20 million in the last administration and another 15 million in this administration.
We also looked to declutter our streets where we can and you have seen that the leader and
I recently wrote to lime highlighting a disappointment in the service they are providing. We are
also looking to strengthen the MOU and we are having discussions on the best way forward
in looking at other operators too. If you have any particular issues on any streets
please drop me an email and I will work with officers to see how we can address them. The
plan links and aligns with our priorities and other key council plans such as inclusive
growth strategy, joint health and wellbeing strategy and the Brent local plan. Thank you.
Okay opening up to cabinet members okay Councillor Grall, Councillor Jackson and then Councillor
Patel can I take the others on? Yeah I just think we need to be really aware of the context
in which this strategy has come forward and it's under a government who really don't seem
to care less about climate change. We've seen really limited investment from our national
government in green technology, opposition to Yew Les, a lot of Sunac's own climate change
ambitions have basically been abandoned. So I think for Brent council to be delivering
really strong policies in that context is something to be commended and I want to mention
in particular the school streets policy. We constantly get really positive feedback from
that and it's an example of how you can merge kind of different ambitions around behavioural
change, air pollution reduction and also making our streets a lot safer whilst keeping communities
on board. So I know there's still a lot of work to be done but I want to thank the environment
team for everything they've done and for being so ambitious. Councillor Dunluck Jackson.
I mean for the same reasons that Councillor Grall has set out I very much welcome this
report and in particular for example the Healthy Streets corridor. I just would like to thank
Councillor Long for her comments around accessibility and they are really important points to raise.
The report does discuss accessibility so at page 179 it talks about closing the accessibility
gap and the fact that plays a critical part and at 218 accessibility and also at page
167 about street audits and footway and decluttering as part of town centre improvements. I'd also
just like to note as somebody who's worked for quite a long time campaigning around disability
in particular with charities on site loss that there are also groups of people with
site loss that do tandem cycling and I wonder whether that's something we could look to
explore. I know we brought in the cargo bikes but maybe we need to do something to actually
encourage cycling or support it for other groups who are less represented too.
Yeah, Councillor Miles. I just wanted to just sort of echo what Councillor
Gras said around the school streets because this really builds on the work that we're
doing there and behavioural changes really work in the areas that we have actually installed
school streets. So this paper is really timely and I think that it will help and build on
the back of that. So thank you very much. Councillor Neve.
Yeah I'd like to thank Councillor Sheth and the transport team for an incredible amount
of work which has been undertaken on this. I'm really pleased as it's been commented
on despite indifference at best and opposition at worst from a national government context
to supporting and enabling active travel. Brent is actually really pursuing active travel.
I don't want to repeat what's been said. Oh I'd just like to make three points. One
is that active travel is about walking and it is about cycling. It also probably results
in fewer car journeys and which improves air quality and I would not want to see cyclists
and pedestrians played off when the big issue is persuading people to reduce the number
of motor car journeys being made and for us to be able to work with freight suppliers
on an awesome, awesome challenge around freight. Both about last mile, but also about in the
context of Brent where we know the North Circular Road which has got incredibly difficult air
quality challenges is a arterial, is a very, very significant route for freight which never
reaches any Brent residents as such. I'll just add two points. One is about exercise
and there's a real link between active travel and exercise and we know that in Brent there
are some real exercise challenges across the population, not least among, apparently according
to the stats, amongst school age children and I would really highlight what's been said
about school streets and urge people, if you haven't been to a school street recently,
go and see one and you will see behaviour change taking place and it's that behaviour
change which will carry forward with adults and for children. And secondly, we shouldn't
ignore the regeneration factor of active travel. Active travel encourages people to buy local
and buying local is good for the local rent economy. So I'm really pleased to commend
this document. I'm really pleased it actually incorporates measures around health and wellbeing
and that we look forward to implementation and appropriate funding from TfL and National
Government. Thank you very much. - Thank you very much to everyone. Looking
around, any further comments? Okay, I just want to say thank you Raj, to Councillor Long
as well for her contribution. I also want to say thank you to every single person who
actually took part in this consultation. I think there were about 650 people who turned
up and looking at the responses received, there was a residence association that represents
over 3000 residents. And so this consultation has been far reaching and people always say
there's always more we can do, absolutely. And we can build upon this work and the work
that's been set out in this report. The conversation that we've been having with the likes of TfL
in order to make sure that the cycle highways are part and parcel of the conversation, asking
them for safety improvements around junctions and the work that we're doing to invest in
our roads and pavements, actually, so that people who do walk on our pavements, I do
have a fairly safe environment to walk upon. As I said, but when you take into account
the £210 million that's been taken out and stripped out from this organisation by this
government and the impacts of their decisions, it does mean that there is absolutely more
we need to do and the commitment and the ambition and the aspiration is in this paper that we
will try to do as much as we can with the limited resources that we have, but continue
to support every single resident in this borough who needs our help and support and we will
take into account the needs of disabled individuals as well going forward. Colleagues, we have
the recommendations on page 135 and 136, can we agree with these recommendations and take
this plan forward? Thank you very much. Okay, and the next item, another one of my favourite
topics, the draft Staples Corner Growth When Master Plan and Design Code Supplementary
Planning document. Over to you, Councillor Allam.
Thank you very much, we like to call it Staples Corner SPD for short. We're very excited to
bring this forward. Last year, or two years ago now, we launched our local plan, identifying
key areas of opportunity throughout the borough and showcasing our ambition for Brent residents.
The regeneration of Brent is clear to see in every part of the borough and today's report
on Staples Corner growth area is no exception, delivering on growth, high quality homes,
job creation and boosting infrastructure, community facilities, as well as intensifying
much needed industrial land. As well as community investment and enhancement, this plan is estimated
to generate nearly between 1.1, 2.2 million pounds of additional council tax per year,
working, whilst not kind of addressing the council tax deficit or kind of funding deficit
that we get in the borough, it is something that we can contribute towards. Business growth
in the area will also strengthen the Staples Corner's existing economy and provide space
for emerging sectors, opening up Brent as an attractive spot for investors as well as
residents. The master plan has also been developed from the outset with environmental sustainability
embedded in its proposals with innovative energy and sustainable strategies, striving
to meet our environmental commitments. We've also been very lucky to work with DELUC around
making sure there's a good design code around this as well. Our work with Barnet on the
Brent-Cross-West station over the years has improved Staples Corner's public transport
connectivity into central London and beyond, unlocking regeneration opportunities and ensuring
no one in Brent is left behind. We continue to work with Barnet to make sure that their
side and our side work together connectivity and cohesively. I'd like to thank Kieran Chauhan
and the rest of the regeneration team on this work and all residents and particularly the
ward councillors who have been involved in helping formulate this master plan. So I'm
pleased to present this report to cabinet today.
Alice, anything?
There's just one very technical matter, if I can, because there's something in the report
I need to correct, just for transparency purposes. So paragraph 3.2.5, the final sentence says
about the imagery that will be added to the design code chapters prior to publication
and statutory consultation. In fact, we haven't secured copyright yet, so we won't be publishing
those images, so just for clarity.
I will just do it. Okay, Councilor Donnie Jackson.
Just to say, you very much welcome this report. The vast majority, and I'm sure for a lot
of councillors, their casework is housing or the fact that we need housing. So reading
that we'll be able to potentially secure 2,200 new homes in this area, it's just something
that we really need. So thank you very much for the work that's gone into this.
Councilor Lerman?
Yes, I would just like also to add, building on what Councilor Tatler said, and also what's
just been said about housing, it's really good to see that by assistance Brent, Barnet,
and TFL were able to ensure that we have got public transport railway station built on
site and open in advance of development and not after development. And of course, I would
say it's not for the first time I've mentioned West London Orbital, which I'm pleased to
see appears in the report, that of course, the whole site would be enhanced and the whole
regeneration opportunity would be increased if Network Rail were given funding with TFL
to build the West London Orbital, which of course doesn't require tunnelling and is literally
spayed and spike and sickening ready to be operated. And one would look to see a government
which was committed to growth, to seeing this as a quick win opportunity. Thank you.
Okay, anybody else? Thank you very much. I just want to say just sort of adding on, I
know the amount of work that's been done has been immense, and the conversations we've
had, I think it was 300, 400 individual sort of landowners in that locality hasn't been
easy. And the opportunities for that locality are immense as well. And the opportunities
to improve that area and to, as Councillor N livelihood just pointed out, the opportunities
around, say, the West London Orbital around the Neesden stations development as well.
Not forgetting, we also have the church in development, which is not too far away. And
also, I think for myself, the opportunities around, say the Neesden goods yard, it's all
linked in. And it just shows the ambition actually, that we have in the borough about
continuing to make sure growth continues in the borough because one of the things I think
we always need to be mindful of is once things stop, it truly is hard in order to restart
things. And this paper, the conversations we're having are about encouraging partners
and stakeholders to take a look at Brent in a positive light and take a look at what we've
done, not just in Wembley, but in Alberton, in South Kilburn, Wilsden, Neesden, and see
the ambition that we have to make sure we continue to deliver for all our residents.
And hopefully, with this master plan, and the design code, we'll continue that aspiration
of continuing to deliver the best that we can for Brent's residents and businesses going
forward as well. Okay, just one second. Okay, we have the recommendations on page 270. Can
we agree these recommendations with the amendments Alice said as well? Can we take this forward?
Agreed. Thank you very much. Okay. Okay. And over to Counselor Grohl now for the outcome
of the formal consultation for Leopold Primary School.
Thank you, yeah, this report concludes our consultation into the closure of the Gwyneth
Richer site at Leopold Primary School. So I think we've spoken in cabinet on quite a
few occasions about the pressures in primary school numbers at the moment and in particular
the effects in one area, Planning Area 4, which is comprised of Roundwood, Stonebridge
and Harlsden and Kensal Green Wards. The latest round of primary school applications for September
2024 shows those pressures are still very acute, so there were 531 spare reception places
just in that area. It's incumbent upon the local authority to take measures in that situation,
because if there's ongoing vacancies they will start to translate into financial risk,
staffing challenges and eventually they can start to limit educational outcomes for some
of our pupils. This proposal forms part of a package of different steps designed to ease
those pressures and make our schools financially resilient so that they can provide the best
education for children in Brent. Our priority has always been to mitigate against the complete
closures of schools. We want to future proof our school communities for the next generation
of children. Leopold Primary School was expanded onto a second site in 2015 and it therefore
has the greatest amount of flexibility in terms of reducing its size with the least
amount of disruption to staff and pupils. I do want to pay tribute to all the staff
at Leopold School who have put in a phenomenal amount of work to develop that into a really
flourishing second site and it is always a heartbreaking decision to reduce the size
of a school. We do recognise that Gwyneth Rickus has developed a distinct identity and
is much appreciated by the local community. The decision however is aiming to protect
other schools in the area from further tough decisions and we know that all the hard work
that those staff have put into the school will not go to waste because it will have
a legacy in the work that is done at the rest of the school. We have listened really carefully
to the responses from the informal consultation and we will enact a phased closure right up
to September 27 and that's going to minimise disruption and hopefully give the school a
lot more autonomy about the way that the site closure is going to be managed. I want to
thank as well the Chair of Governors for their detailed submission to this consultation and
I want to highlight that these pressures have been massively exacerbated by ongoing Tory
cuts to the educational sector and that's forced schools and local authorities to make
really tough decisions like this. And the Tory government has also overseen the worst
housing crisis of my lifetime and it's heartbreaking repercussions are now being seen in urban areas
where families can no longer afford to have as many children or to settle in the areas
that they would like. I really look forward to seeing a Labour government elected on July
the 4th, one which is going to invest in our schools, which is going to reward teaching
staff properly and to address some of the really deep-seated issues in Brent that have
put us in this situation.
Councillor Gravel, thank you very much. Shirley, do you want to add anything else? Thank you
very much. Okay, opening up, any comments? Thank you very much. I think when any decision
is made in relation to schools, I think it is highly charged and it does sort of worry
parents and staff as well. And any decision that is taken is absolutely taken with thought
and just to make sure that we have had all the difficult conversations within ourselves
actually and just to make sure we challenge ourselves, to make sure that we're making
the right decision and is based on the evidence in front of us and the conversations we've
had at the school. I do want to thank the governing body for their contribution as well.
I know any decision that impacts on a school or potential closure does worry the school
and everything else, but I want to assure everyone in this room that we have had the
conversations amongst ourselves and that any decision is not taken lightly and it's taken
with a view to make sure we achieve the best outcomes for all children across all our schools
across Brent as well. And sometimes it does mean having to take some difficult, painful
decisions that we may not want to take, but in the interests of all the children across
all our schools, we have to be strong sometimes in some of our decision-making. And this is
one of those times where we do have to put aside our emotions, but it's not that we
haven't taken them into account. It's about just making sure we are absolutely mindful
of everything that needs to be considered as part of the decision-making process. I
want to go to the recommendations on page 291. 2.1, the cabinet agrees to the variation
of Leopold Primary School's published admission number from 120 to 60 from 2025. And then
part B, the face closure of provision on the growth record site of Leopold Primary
School between 2025 and to the end of July 2027. So is there agreement on that? Thank
you very much. Okay. Item to the exclusion of the present public has been considered
as part and parcel of every report that we've considered of not being notified of any other
urgent business. The next cabinet meeting will be on Monday, the 17th of June. Thank
you very much, everyone. And thank you for attending.
[end of transcript]
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