Kingsbury pub ordered to tighten security

The Kingsbury pub in Church Lane where police found Kinder Eggs filled with drugs hidden inside bins, bricks and in a man's underwear has been warned to tighten its security - or face further action from the council.

Brent Council's Alcohol and Entertainment Licensing Sub-Committee on Thursday ordered Jono's Bar, to improve security by alarming its doors, using doormen, carrying out regular toilet checks and by keeping a detailed log of incidents which can then be made available to police and the council.

The pub was also ordered to display proper signage of its no-drugs policy and staff, including the licence holder, Mr Kenneth McCormack, were told to undertake training to help ensure the prevention of crime and disorder on the premises.

The new security measures ordered are part of twelve additional conditions to the pub's licence which were requested by police.

All twelve conditions were approved by Brent Council's Alcohol and Entertainment Licensing Sub-Committee after details from the police of their raid on the premises and a number of reports of disorder were heard at the meeting.

Cllr James Denselow, Brent Council's Cabinet Member responsible for licencing, said:

"Using children's confectionery to conceal illegal, Class A substances is an extremely sinister and shocking thing to do, so I am of course delighted that the committee have taken action to help ensure that this kind of activity by individuals at Jono's Bar is stamped out for good.

"We are committed to making Brent a safer borough and we will not hesitate to take further action should these new licence conditions be breached or this criminal activity continue at the pub."

Vitality North London Half Marathon - Road Closures

We have received the following communication from the organisers of the Vitality North London Half Marathon which will affect a number of roads in Fryent on Sunday 20th March.
We have copied the details and relevant roads affected in Fryent below, contact detail of the organisers are also below.

The  Vitality  North  London  Half  Marathon  is  returning  for  its  second  year  on  Sunday  20th  March  2016.    This  exciting  event  takes place  across  the  London  Boroughs  of  Brent  and  Barnet  and  expects  to  attract  up  to  8,000  runners,  many  of  whom  will  be fundraising for local and national charities.   The  event  continues  to  be  supported  by  both  Brent  and  Barnet  Councils,  and  by  working  in  partnership  with  a  strategic  long-term aim,  the  event  will  continue  to  support  a  number  of  public  health  and  active  lifestyle  initiatives,  by  encouraging  local  residents  of both  boroughs  to  get  involved  in  sport  and  physical  exercise,  as  well  as  by  offering  a  number  of  volunteering  and  community engagement opportunities.    Using  the  roads  of  Brent  and  Barnet  for  the  race  will  cause  some  changes  to  usual  traffic  routes  for  a  limited  period,  during  the morning  of  Sunday  20th  March.   In  planning  this  event,  every  effort  is  made  to  minimise  the  disruption  caused  due  to  the  closure of  these  roads.    The  route  has  been  carefully  considered,  and  we  are  working  in  close  consultation  with  the  London  Boroughs  of Barnet  and  Brent,  Transport  for  London  and  all  emergency  services.    We  are  now  contacting  local  business  and  organisations  to provide a copy of the 2016 race route, along with the list of road closures that will be in place.     We  will  be  operating  a  dynamic  reopening  schedule  to  ensure  that  roads  are  reopened  as  soon  as  possible,  once  runners  have completed each section of the route, and when it is safe and feasible to do so.

Roads to  be  closed,  or  partially  closed,  on  Sunday  20th  March:
Fryent Way (between The Paddocks and Valley Drive).
Valley Drive
Kingsbury Road (between Valley Drive and Roe Ggreen)
Roe Green.
Hay Lane.
Slough Lane
Salmon Street.

The  majority  of  roads  around  the  route  will  close  at  7.15am,  except  where  shown  otherwise  above*.  A  number  of  local  access points  will  be  kept  open  to  allow  traffic  to  cross  the  route,  until  approximately  8.15am.  Further  information  regarding  these crossing points will be provided in subsequent communication in early March.     The  race  is  due  to  start  at  8.45am  and  the  reopening  schedule  will  begin  from  10.00am.   The  majority  of  roads  will  be  reopened by  1:00pm,  with  Brook  Avenue  and  Bridge  Road  being  the  final  roads  to  reopen,  by  1.30pm.    Parking  suspensions  will  also  be  in place  on  a  number  of  the  above  roads  -  further  information  regarding  these  will  be  provided  on  subsequent  communications and displayed in the affected areas nearer the event date.  Please  do  allow  extra time  for  your  journey,  and  where  possible,  avoid  driving  in  the  area during  the  closure  period.   If  you  do need  to  drive  on  the  morning  of  Sunday  20th  March,  please  consider  parking  on  an  alternative  street  on  the  evening  of Saturday 19th March, to enable you to carry out your journey.

We are very grateful for the support of local residents and hope that this advance notice helps with your planning around the closures. We appreciate your understanding with any inconvenience experienced due to these restrictions, and if you would like to discuss further please get in contact by emailing northlondon@go2events.org.uk or calling 0845 308 4002.

http://www.northlondonhalf.com/sites/northlondonhalf.com/files/nlhm_16_resident_comms_1_-_online.pdf


Fryent Councillors

Changes to Waste Collection in Kingsbury Road.

The Council is about to change when your waste is collected if you live or have a business along the Kingsbury Road.

The next stage of timed waste collection will be implemented at the end of February.

The following sections of the road will be involved:

·         235 – 289 Kingsbury Road (odds and evens)
·         417 – 660 Kingsbury Road (odds and evens)
·         1-5 Fryent Way

 The times for the collections will be 7.00am -8.00am in the morning and 6.30pm to 7.30pm in the evening.

The intention of timed waste collections is to make streets cleaner and free of dumped rubbish by restricting the times shops and those living above shops can put their waste out for collection.

Currently, there are no restrictions and bags are placed on the street from morning to night.
Under this scheme, which operates in many of our Town centres, bags can only be collected between two one-hour time slots per day. Residents and businesses can only put their bags out in the half hour before these time slots. This will be monitored and will mean the streets are free of bags at all other times.

It also means that residents here will get many opportunities to have their waste collected, i.e. twice per day, every day of the week. They will also enjoy cleaner streets as a result.

The initiative was agreed with our contractor Veolia as part of their task to achieve their main contract target commitments, i.e. reducing residual waste and making streets cleaner.

This change will come into affect on Monday 22nd February. Veolia will spend two weeks prior to this date talking with businesses and residents who will be affected, making sure they understand the new rules and helping them with any questions they may have.

The Council will vigorously monitor and enforce the new requirements from this date.

You can find out more information from the link below.

http://www.brent.gov.uk/timedcollections

If you have any queries please send an e mail to timedcollections@brent.gov.uk


Fryent Councillors.

Brent Connects - Kingsbury and Kenton Forum

The next meeting of the Kingsbury and Kenton Brent Connects will take place on Wednesday 3rd Febuary at 7pm. The venue will be Kingsbury High School, Princess Ave. NW9.

The main item for discussion is likely to be Brent Council future budget and wether the Council should increase Council Tax as Government Chancellor George Osborne is suggesting or make further cuts to services to residents.

These decisions affect you and your opinion is important, please try and come along and listen and take part in the debate.

Fryent Councillors

Should Brent Council increase Council Tax?

This is the question that your Councillors will have to consider over the next few months. Should the Council increase Council Tax by more than the permitted 2% to 4% or more? A Council Tax increase of 2% generates approximately £1.8 million pounds. This level of increase would cost a band D resident £21 or just over 40 pence per week.  The Government have ruled for many years that Council tax increases above 2% without a local referendum would not be allowed.

In Chancellor Osborne recent Autumn statement he is now encouraging and allowing Councils to increase Council Tax to pay for the care costs of the elderly. The elderly population is growing as their life expectancy grows but this puts additional burdens on Council spending. 

Brent Council tax has been frozen for the last 6 years - no increase since 2009.

Your Fryent Councillors have argued for an increase in previous years because our base budget is years out of date. The Government has given the Council 1% in the past to freeze Council tax but this has not kept pace with funding additional or even existing services.

This is not an easy decision, we realise that it will impact some residents adversely. The Council will have to review its Council Tax support scheme to protect the most vulnerable residents. The Council will still have to make cuts and make huge savings because of continued Government austerity measures.

So why should Council Tax increase? Any public service has to be paid for - if the Government reduces the grant it previously gave to the Council the money has to come from somewhere. Brent has cut £145 million from its budget - this is money the government has taken away from Brent residents over the last 4/5 years. Brent has made efficiencies, transformed services, shared services with other boroughs, cut jobs and some services and increased and added new charges, the payment for collecting Green waste , is an example. The cuts are so severe that the Council is now faced with cutting services which will adversely affect people lives, particularly the elderly housebound, residents with a disability, and environmental services such as street cleaning and repairing pot holes.

You can have your say, either post a comment on this blog or come to the next Kingsbury and Kenton Brent Connects. It takes place on Wednesday 3rd Feb at Kingsbury high School, Prince Ave, Kingsbury And starts at 7pm.

Your views are important - be part of the discussion.

Cllrs George Crane, Ruth Moher and Shama Tatler.