Brent council keeps failing to protect the health of its residents
Brent residents can only dream of cleaner air and safer roads. Despite Covid-19, reducing car traffic is still not Brent council’s priority. Residents’ health — already very poor — will suffer as a result.
Brent residents have been hit incredibly hard by Covid-19.
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has recorded 465 deaths to May 22nd in this part of North West London. It’s the third highest Covid death rate per 100 000 inhabitants in the all of the UK.
I was hoping that, considering this toll, Brent council would do everything in its power to protect the health of its residents — in particular their lungs — as lockdown is relaxed and an increasing number of workers start their commute again.
Of course, improving the quality of air in the borough and encouraging people to walk and cycle to keep physically active should have been very high on Brent council’s agenda well before the coronavirus crisis struck.
Three of the most polluted areas in the all of the UK are located in Brent — in Harlesden and Neasden to be more precise.
Asthma blights the lives of many people in Brent. Hospital admissions for asthma in Brent are among the highest in London.
Type 2 diabetes in the borough also runs very high. Brent has the highest number of diabetic people in London and a very high percentage of its population is also obese. It goes without saying that making our roads safer and our environment more pleasant would encourage people to cycle and walk more.
Last summer, Brent council gave the impression that they were ready to take some significant steps to tackle the very poor air quality Brent residents breathe in day-in-day-out and create a healthier and safer environment. Otherwise, why would the council have gone to the expense of setting up an air quality scrutiny inquiry?
The hope of breathing better air and leading a healthier, more active life in Brent was crushed at the beginning of January when the cabinet — led by Labour leader Muhammad Butt since 2012 — barely ‘noted’ the recommendations of the air quality scrutiny and have not done any of the actions recommended in the 113 page report.
Then there is the evaluation report of the two school street pilots in the borough. We are still waiting for its publication after being promised last January that it would be published ‘shortly’.
In Brent, as in the rest of the UK and other countries who experienced lockdown, air quality has improved this spring but, instead of pulling out all the stops to prevent pollution shooting up again, Brent council has dragged its feet, yet again.
It’s a rather dull story, isn’t it? It’s also a very important one, and an infuriating one as far as I am concerned, for Brent council keeps missing opportunities to protect the health of their 330 000 plus residents, even after 465 of them died due to Covid-19.
In this context, one would have thought that Brent council would have jumped at the opportunity to get some emergency funding from Transport for London to introduce a so-called ‘transport recovery plan’.
Statistics show that obese people are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19. In the UK, the risk of dying from Covid-19 is twice as high for an obese person, according to Prof John Wilding, the president of the World Obesity Federation.
Asthmatics are also considered part of the high risk group by doctors.
Also and most importantly, scientists have uncovered a link between high levels of air pollution and the most acute cases of coronavirus.
In spite of all these reasons to act, Brent council is not.
We had to wait until Tuesday (June 9th) to get access to the Brent transport recovery plan. Meanwhile, 9 London boroughs have been awarded £6.3 millions as a whole by Transport for London. Neighbouring council Camden has received £731 995 from TFL for seven cycling and walking infrastructure schemes.
Since last autumn, I’ve been campaigning for better tree care and more trees in Brent as part of a residents’ group called Brent trees. We were told that there is no money for tree care because of austerity, even though London boroughs with similar budgets and challenges to Brent do a much better job at looking after their trees.
Budget cuts implemented by the successive governments since 2010 have hit Brent very hard. It is a fact.
It is also a fact that Brent council leadership has only been paying lip service to the fight against climate change and the necessity to improve air quality in the borough.
Money has been made available by TFL. Why was Brent so slow to put a transport recovery plan together? In the school near me, doors re-opened on Monday and cars have started flowing back into the area. Nothing has changed.
From next week, I understand that Brent residents will have the opportunity to comment on the plan.
Do we need another consultation? Can we afford to lose more time?
I have lost track of the number of consultations I have made the effort to respond to alongside hundreds of residents, only for our comments and suggestions to be ignored by Brent cabinet and no action to be taken.
Now more than ever, we need some decisive, coherent, transparent and long term action from the council, or the health of residents will degrade further.
Brent Cycling Campaign as well as other local organisations and volunteers have been telling the council how it could and should make our pavements and roads safer for the sake of everyone for years, sometimes decades. In vain.
Brent council declared a climate emergency last July. One year later, it remained just as unambitious about climate change and air quality, although we lost 465 residents to coronavirus.
I don’t live in hope anymore. I live in anger.
In 2017, 43% of Brent children lived in poverty. Very sadly, because of Covid-19, this number has probably increased dramatically.
Brent is a poor borough. Why, on top of that, would anyone want to condemn it to being a toxic one as well? We need action now.
