Agenda and minutes

• Councillor Collymore
• Councillor Tazi Smith
• Archdeacon Catherine Pickford
• Mr Alloysius Frederick
• Jenny Cooper
• Councillor Knight

Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, the nature and existence of any relevant disclosable pecuniary or personal interests in the items on this agenda and to specify the item(s) to which they relate.

Personal interests were declared as follows:

• Councillor Ketan Sheth – Lead Governor of Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.
• Councillor Ethapemi – spouse employed by NHS

To receive and consider any petitions for which notice has been provided under Standing Order 66.

Members are asked to note that the following petition is due to be presented at the meeting:

(a)  Request that Brent Council’s Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee consider proposals to reduce the opening hours of Central Middlesex Urgent Treatment Centre.

To request Brent Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee to consider proposals to reduce the opening hours of Central Middlesex Urgent Treatment Centre

The Chair welcomed Zhenga Wellings-Longmore (as lead petitioner) to the meeting, who he advised was attending to present a petition requesting the Committee to consider proposals to reduce the opening hours of Central Middlesex Urgent Treatment Centre.

In thanking members for the opportunity to speak, Zhenga Wellings-Longmore advised of her roots within the Harlesden and Kensal Green community, where her grandchildren now lived and where she had three generations of family depending on services within the area, highlighting that she spoke from lived experience, memory, and a sense of responsibility for the future.

In outlining the petition, Ms Wellings-Longmore advised that she was speaking regarding the proposals to reduce the opening hours of the Urgent Treatment Centre at Central Middlesex Hospital by three hours a day, equating to 21 hours a week. She highlighted that, on the ground, that meant real people being turned away, longer journeys for people needing the service late at night, and more pressure on already overstretched services elsewhere. She reminded the Committee of the decision in 2014 when the A&E department at Central Middlesex Hospital was closed following a decision by the Health Secretary at the time, where residents had been reassured that the Urgent Care Centre would mitigate the loss of A&E and act as a safe alternative. Subsequently in 2019, she highlighted that the reassurance was weakened when the overnight service was withdrawn and the opening hours reduced, which had been reluctantly accepted by local residents who had been assured that the service would still meet local need. Now residents were being asked to accept another significant reduction, with proposals to close the centre at 9pm compared to midnight, which she felt was a fundamental erosion of access to urgent healthcare.

In continuing to outline the concerns of the petitioners, Ms Wellings-Longmore highlighted that residents did not stop becoming ill or injured after 9pm, and concluded that a late-evening urgent care service was not a luxury but a necessity. She further highlighted that Brent’s population was growing, not shrinking, so she felt it was difficult to understand why these proposals were being made following a 9.2% increase in population between 2011 and 2021, significantly higher than the national and London average. She added that the population was also ageing, with people living longer and having complex health needs. In addition, she highlighted the major developments coming on stream in Brent over the next few years in Grand Union, Alperton, Wembley Central and Neasden, where thousands more residents would move into the borough, but instead of planning for increased demand, residents were being asked to accept reduced access to urgent care.

In considering how the growing and ageing population would cope with reduced access, the petitioners highlighted that when services at Central Middlesex were cut, the pressure did not disappear but moved elsewhere, and Northwick Park Hospital A&E and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To hear any deputations received from members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 67.

There were no deputations received.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 November 2025 were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

There were no matters arising.

To provide the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee with an update on the Council’s emergency planning, licensing enforcement and multi-agency coordination in relation to major events at Wembley, and progress in implementing the Casey Review recommendations from the UEFA Euro 2020 Final.

Councillor Muhammed Butt (Leader of the Council) introduced the report, thanking all partners involved for being part of this process. He felt that the progress made since 2020 and the work done to improve emergency planning and protect residents and businesses through collaboration and partnership demonstrated the commitment to ensuring a situation such as the disorder of the Euro 2020 final never happened again. He added that this work would always be a work in progress as there was always new improvements that could be made, but felt that the tangible improvements being seen were a testament to the commitment all partners had made to ensuring Brent remained a safe borough for everyone, including visitors.

Jehan Weerasinghe (Corporate Director Neighbourhoods and Regeneration, Brent Council) added that the report addressed key questions in terms of what the findings of the review were and how they had been implemented on the ground. He highlighted the statutory responsibility the Council and partners had in ensuring safety to, from and during events and the commitment to ensuring Wembley Stadium was the most welcoming venue for people who came from across the world. He felt that all actions that the team had put into place in effective partnership with the Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police, FA and other partners showed the solid, singular dedication to the safety of citizens to ensure they left the world-class venue having had a great experience and left safe.

Chris Whyte (Director of Public Realm, Brent Council) introduced other colleagues present to respond to questions and asked Tom Legg (Director of External Operations, Wembley Stadium – FA) to present the improvements that had been made at the Stadium over the last 5 years.

Tom Legg then made a presentation, highlighting the following key points:

• In response to the Casey Review, Wembley National Stadium Limited (WNSL), Brent Council, Wembley Park Ltd, and the Metropolitan Police had worked collaboratively to meet the recommendations to improve the local and spectator experience within Wembley on event days, including;
  • Improved accessible pass gates on Level 1 of the stadium concourse, securely reinforced to prevent unauthorised entry and complying with Disability Discrimination Act guidance.
  • Physical external security perimeters to minimise impact on crowd flows, compliant with Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM) measures.
  • Advanced oversight of safety and security plans and identified risks, relayed to the Health and Safety FA Board representatives for discussion and approval.
  • Peer reviews by leading crowd safety experts to undertake a ‘health check’ of event day processes, with the Stadium scoring 94.3% on average, and two further independent reviews of CCTV coverage across partners and neighbouring deployments to reinforce event day measures and ensure all aspects of event day security, safety and counter terrorism were thoroughly reviewed.
  • Continued staff feedback from stewarding agencies following each event, and a permanently employed second Deputy Safety Officer for Stadium Event Days. Since 2022, the Stadium has also deployed a higher volume of security stewards compared to previous years.
• Additional measures following the implementation of the Casey  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To provide a follow-up to the previous scrutiny on poverty and cost-of-living issues in Brent, providing a detailed, evidence-based update on Brent’s progress and challenges in implementing commitments related to poverty reduction, cost-of-living support, housing and child poverty alleviation.

Councillor Gwen Grahl (as Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Employment and Education) introduced the report, which provided an update on Brent Council’s progress and challenges in implementing commitments relating to poverty reduction, cost-of-living support, housing and child poverty alleviation. In introducing the report from a children’s services perspective, she advised that child poverty was a key priority within the department as it affected everything the service delivered, and officers spent a lot of time thinking about the issue and what more could be done in the area. The Council had recently made a submission to the Government’s Child Poverty Task Force who were looking for recommendations. She highlighted that giving every child the best start in life needed to include tackling the root causes of poverty and equip children with the resources they needed to thrive. She drew members attention to the report, which outlined some of the department’s significant initiatives to do that, including Family Wellbeing Centres which she described as vital hubs where families could access an array of support including benefits advice, healthcare advice and parental guidance, which had reached over 18,000 families the previous year. She also listed Free School Meals (FSMs) as a cornerstone of addressing child poverty, with 25.1% of children in Brent eligible to receive FSMs. She felt that the Mayor’s commitment to providing FSMs to all primary school pupils in London had also been hugely impactful. Alongside FSMs, pupils were also eligible for pupil premium, which was money provided to schools to enhance those children’s education, and the Council had now set up auto-enrolment for that to ensure none of those children slipped through the net. She advised members of the holiday, activities and food (HAF) programme which she was proud of and felt acted as a lifeline for families during school holidays, as well as the voucher scheme for food which would be protected until 2027. Looking ahead, priorities would include the implementation of the National Strategy on Child Poverty, which would involve developing free breakfast clubs, extension of childcare entitlements, and expanding FSMs for all households on Universal Credit from September 2026. In detailing the steps being taken to alleviate child poverty, she added that these measures could not happen alone, as housing issues were now the main mechanism through which young people’s lives became uncertain, with one child in every class in Temporary Accommodation, statistically. The scale of this was outlined in section 7.1 of the report, which detailed that Brent child poverty rates were at an average of 41%, compared to the London average of 35%, considering housing costs within that calculation. If housing costs were removed, the poverty rate sat at 20%, showing the impact of housing costs on poverty. She concluded her introduction by expressing her desire for a national strategy to build a new generation of social housing and solutions to ending the crisis of Temporary Accommodation.

Nigel Chapman (Corporate Director Children, Young People and Community Development, Brent Council) added that one of the Council’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To present the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee’s work programme for 2025-26.

The Committee noted the Work Programme.

To present the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee’s Recommendations Tracker.

The Committee noted the recommendations tracker.

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Deputy Director Democratic and Corporate Governance or their representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60.

None.