A letter to Brent Council CEO
Dear Kim,
I hope you are keeping well.
I am writing to raise urgent and ongoing concerns regarding health and safety in Brent’s parks and open spaces. While this issue affects many green spaces across the borough, I want to highlight a particularly distressing experience I had on the morning of Thursday 15 May 2025 at One Tree Hill.
Although this park is not within my ward, many Alperton residents utilise this space. I have copied in the local ward councillors in Wembley Central for awareness.
As I have mentioned in previous Full Council meetings, I have often had to travel to a park in Ealing to allow my Guide Dog, Wendy, safe access to essential free running. This is far from ideal and requires coordination with family, as I cannot independently ensure her safety due to my visual impairment.
During my initial training with Wendy in 2021, Guide Dogs staff took us to One Tree Hill for her first supervised free run. Unfortunately, the park was found to be littered with food and waste, which posed a direct risk to her safety. At the time, I was advised to avoid the park, and since then have relied on cleaner, better-maintained spaces outside the borough.
On this morning in particular, due to time constraints, my husband and I decided to give One Tree Hill another try. What we encountered was shocking and upsetting. The park was strewn with hazardous litter — broken glass, drug paraphernalia including needles, food waste, cans, bottles, and various debris. Within moments of letting Wendy off-lead, we realised the environment was dangerous. My husband had to urgently secure her while I called for her in distress, fearing serious injury.
On our way out, we noticed a lone worker attempting to clean the area. It was immediately clear that one person, without proper equipment, cannot realistically manage such an extensive and hazardous space.
To make matters worse, we then encountered yet more broken glass on the pavement at the Clifford Road crossing just outside the park. When we arrived home, my husband had to carefully check Wendy’s paws for glass or needle punctures. Thankfully, she appears to be unharmed - this time.
It was an extremely distressing experience. It confirmed that, despite my efforts to raise these concerns previously, our green spaces remain unsafe and unsuitable for residents — including disabled people and families with children.
Residents in Alperton have also raised concerns about similar issues: unsafe parks, broken glass on pavements, and the impact of street drinking and antisocial behaviour. Many now avoid local parks altogether, choosing instead to travel outside Brent for cleaner and safer environments.
I am therefore calling for the following urgent actions:
- Immediate deep clean and clearance of One Tree Hill and other known impacted green spaces, including proper cutting back of grass and shrubs to remove hidden hazards like glass and needles.
- Increased frequency of maintenance across all Brent green spaces, especially in known problem areas.
- More street and park bins to help tackle littering at the source.
- Enhanced enforcement presence, particularly in hotspots, to discourage antisocial behaviour and hold individuals accountable for public space misuse.
As both a councillor and a resident directly affected by these failings, I am deeply frustrated that these issues persist despite multiple attempts to raise them formally. I hope we can now begin to see meaningful progress.
I have attached photos from this visit to One Tree Hill for your reference - we were in a hurry to get Wendy out of the park safely so were unable to get enough photos to demonstrate how widespread this was and the grass was quite long so couldn't clearly capture the broken glass and needles.
I would welcome the opportunity to discuss what practical steps the Council can now take to address these concerns.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best regards,
Hannah
Councillor Hannah Matin