Core Team elected

(Originally posted on 26 July, after the meeting)

On Monday 26 July, we had another successful and engaging Town Team meeting. We voted for our Core Team and we now have a great team to help guide and work with Brent Council, TfL and others.  

Congratulations to:

Leroy Simpson, Chair, Harlesden Town Team

My name is Mr. Leroy Simpson; I was born in 1961 at Central Middlesex Hospital (Park Royal). I went to school in Brent, played football for a local team, lived and worked most of my life in the Brent.

At present I am a Board Member of SAHA.

Liz Carter, Vice-chair, Harlesden Town Team

I was brought up in Devon, went to boarding school in Reading and to University in Swansea, South Wales. I have been living in London since 1972, of which the last 25 years have been in Brent, currently Craven Park, Harlesden.

I worked in computing in the City until 2002 and in parallel have refurbished property in Kensal Rise, Harlesden and Stonebridge, taking great pleasure in seeing new life breathed into old, neglected properties. I was actively involved in the consultation and review of Brent Council’s 10-year Unitary Development plan in the 1990s and had high hopes, very sadly not realised, for the regeneration of Harlesden as a result.

I love the cultural and ethnic diversity of Harlesden, and the range and quality of those independent shops that reflect this. I am fascinated by its history, from Domesday Book village to the present day, as reflected in it layout and architecture. After years of neglect, I am very pleased that a new opportunity has arisen to enable Harlesden to become the place it so richly deserves to be. I look forward to working with the Town Team to turn our common vision into a reality.

Rupert Mikely, Secretary, Harlesden Town Team

(Short bio forthcoming)

Angela Clarke, Vice-secretary, Harlesden Town Team

Angela Clarke has been associated with Harlesden for almost 30 years. During this time she has attended Open Door Ministries Church at Tubbs Road, Harlesden NW10. Through the church Angela has been involve in many initiatives involving children, young people and Senior Citizens. Her most recent projects have included running play schemes and co-ordination of a Winter Homeless shelter at Open Door.

As a qualified psychologist and counsellor, she continues to use her knowledge and experience to benefit her local community.

We look forward to working on next steps with the Core Team in delivering our Town Charter, which will be available to you at our next meeting in late September or early October. Below is an overview of this past Monday's Town Team meeting, by Rob Cowan, fellow director at UDS.

Enjoy the rest of the summer and we look forward to real work in seeing some early results in Harlesden!

Kind regards, Scott Adams
Project Manager for the Harlesden Town Charter project
 

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Harlesden Town Team Meeting: Monday 26 July 2010, 6.30pm – 9.00pm, at Salvation Army Hall, 32 Manor Park Road, Harlesden

This was the last meeting of the Harlesden Town Team before the topic working groups get down to work to focus on projects related to

• quality of place;
• cultural activities;
• health and safety; and
• image and perception.

It was hard going: a number of people had not been to the previous meetings and had to be brought up to speed. We had to elect the Town Team’s officers and representatives from the council. But eventually that business was completed, and now we can get down to the work that the members of the Town Team really want to get stuck in to.

  

An overview of the developing Charter was presented by Scott Adams and a few copies of the final draft were distributed so that Town Team members could understand the look and feel of the soon-to-be published Harlesden Charter. Scott asked for additional individuals to sign up to the Charter and stated that copies of the printed Charter would be available at the next meeting.

David Caroll from Brent Council’s planning department then presented a planner’s perspective. While he had been pessimistic about what planning could contribute to Harlesden, it was useful to know how things stood. The whole point of the Town Team is to help make things happen differently in future.

As Albert Einstein said (not at the town team meeting, of course – he had not been able to find a babysitter): ‘We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.’ One of the town team said to David Carroll: ‘let us know how we can help you and your fellow planners to be more effective. That’s what we are here for.’ Carroll promised to come back and discuss how the planning department and the Town Team could work together to make the best use of the council’s planning powers, and how the Harlesden Charter can be embedded in the planning process.

There was considerable discussion about whether – as is usual in Town Teams that have been organised in other places – there should be a councillor on the Town Team. Would that not cause a conflict of interest? Eventually it was agreed that there should be a councillor on the team. The town team does not see itself as being in opposition to the council: it wants to work with it, and with every other organisation that has a stake in the future of Harlesden, in making good things happen.

The meeting concluded with a Culture and Arts update from Aida Esposito, who offered a range of next steps to assist with the cultural arts portion of the Town Charter.

The next meeting will be held in late September or early October.