About the council

How the council is structured

Political structure

We have 57 councillors (also known as members) who are elected across 22 wards. Your councillors are responsible for making sure that the services that the council provides meet the needs of residents and those who work in Brent. They do this by setting the overall policies and strategies for the council and by monitoring the way in which these are implemented.

The people who stand for election as councillors may belong to one of the national political parties or to a local political party, or they may be completely independent of a political party.

The current political make-up of Brent is as follows:

Labour: 49 Councillors
Conservatives: 5 Councillors
Liberal Democrat: 3 Councillors

The political structure of The London Borough of Brent following the May 2022 Local Elections

The breakdown of the wards in Brent following the May 2022 Local Elections.

The council has a Leader who comes from the majority party.

The Leader is responsible for forming a Cabinet which is responsible for implementing the council's policies.

The Full Council is responsible for agreeing the main policies and priorities for all services, including the council's budget. They meet eight times a year and meetings are open to the public.

Each year, the members also choose a Mayor for Brent, who promotes Brent locally, nationally and internationally.

Council structure

The council is led by the Chief Executive and supported by six Corporate Directors, who lead the council's departments.

The corporate departments are:

Community, Health and Wellbeing: delivers excellent adult social care and public health services, the department leads the work across the council and with health partners to improve health and well-being outcomes for all our residents.

Children and Young People: works with children, parents and carers, schools and settings, Family Wellbeing Centres and a wide range of partners to improve the life chances of children and young people, particularly the most vulnerable.

Neighbourhoods and Regeneration: focus is on delivering projects related to the quality of Brent as a place, to improve the lived experience of residents, visitors, and businesses. It ensures that planning and regeneration facilitate the provision of new housing and job opportunities, that the public realm is looked after, environmental enforcement takes place, and the highway is managed.

Finance and Resources: is made up of four divisions; Finance, Property and Assets, Assurance and Resilience and IT Shared services. The directorate provides a wide range of services, shaped by the needs of our internal and external customers. This enables the council to achieve its corporate priorities by providing specialist and assurance support, which facilitates and enables other service areas to deliver their priorities effectively and efficiently.

Partnerships, Housing, and Resident Services: is responsible for the council’s Customer Access, Communications Insight and Innovation, Housing Needs and Support, Housing Services and Communities and Partnerships. Its role is to make all of our services easier to access, to ensure that residents have access to secure, safe and decent housing, to ensure that support is available for those residents who are most in need and to lead work with our partners and communities.

Law and Governance: provides specialist support and ensures good governance and high standards in relation to procurement, management of human resources, provision of legal support and the operation of the council’s democratic processes.

View the Senior Leadership Team Structure Chart (updated November 2024). You can request an accessible version of this document by contacting us.

Senior Management team

The Chief Executive and Council Management Team are responsible for ensuring that services are delivered in accordance with strategies and policies agreed by Council and in the best interests of the community.

They also play a fundamental role in determining the strategic direction of the council and to ensure we reach our goals.

Chief Executive

Kim Wright is Brent Council’s Chief Executive, having taken up the position in May 2023.

Prior to her appointment, Kim was Chief Executive at Lewisham Council for three and a half years where, amongst other things, she lead the Council’s response to the global Covid pandemic. This was preceded by her role as Corporate Director, Community Services in Hackney Council where she was the statutory Director of Adult Social Services (DASS) for 11 years and lead on work related to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games before moving on to the role of Group Director, Neighbourhoods and Housing in 2016.

At Brent, she is the principal policy advisor to the council and the senior manager with responsibility for running the council on a day-to-day basis, including overseeing the council's gross annual expenditure.

Kim works to deliver leadership and strategic direction to the whole organisation through close working with both officers and elected Members.

Kim also has a number of pan-London roles, including being Deputy Chair of the London Resilience Forum and Chair of the Tackling Structural Inequalities subgroup of the London Partnership Board.

You can contact the Chief Executive by:

Writing to:

Chief Executive
Brent Civic Centre
Engineers Way
Wembley
HA9 0FJ

Email:

chief.executive@brent.gov.uk

Corporate Director - Community Health and Wellbeing

Rachel Crossley Corporate Director of Community Health and Wellbeing

Rachel Crossley is the Corporate Director of Community, Health and Wellbeing. The Department comprises adult social care, public health as well as the Council’s leadership of the Integrated Care Partnership. It contributes to improving health and well-being outcomes for our residents, particularly better targeting resources towards support for vulnerable people.

Corporate Director - Neighbourhoods and Regeneration

Alice Lester headshot

Alice Lester is the Corporate Director for Neighbourhoods and Regeneration. The Department focus is on delivering projects related to the quality of Brent as a place, to improve the lived experience of residents, visitors, and businesses. It ensures that planning and regeneration facilitate the provision of new housing and job opportunities, that the public realm is looked after, environmental enforcement takes place, and the highway is managed.

Alice is a qualified town planner and Fellow of the professional institute. She has worked at Brent since 2016 and took on the role of Corporate Director in November 2023.

Corporate Director - Children and Young People

Nigel Chapman Corporate Director of Children and Young People

Nigel is a qualified social worker with nearly 25 years’ experience in both statutory and voluntary sector children’s services roles in the UK and overseas. Nigel first joined Brent Council in 2013 as Head of Fostering, Adoption and Looked After Children.

In 2016, Nigel was appointed as the Operational Director, Integration and Improved Outcomes, with overall operational responsibility for the delivery of statutory social work services, early help, youth offending and support to children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who are at risk of school exclusion. During this time, Brent has significantly improved outcomes for children. This progress was recognised by Ofsted, who judged the council’s children’s social care services to be good with outstanding features for the first time in 2018.

In 2019, the Youth Offending Service was judged to be ‘good’, and in the same year services for children with SEND in the local area received a positive inspection outcome. With a wealth of front-line experience and strategic expertise, Nigel assumed the role of Corporate Director, Children and Young People from September 2022.

Corporate Director – Partnerships, Housing and Resident Services

Peter Gadsdon Corporate Director of Partnerships, Housing and Residents Services

Peter Gadsdon has worked at Brent for ten years, firstly as the Assistant Chief Executive, then as the Strategic Director for Customer and Digital Services and then Corporate Director for Resident Services. He became Corporate Director for Partnerships, Housing and Residents Services in April 2024.

Peter also has three company directorships in Council owned private companies.

As Brent’s Corporate Director for Partnerships, Housing and Residents Services, Peter has the lead role in ensuring the council delivers services which meet the needs of residents and provides effective housing. He also leads work on partnerships, climate change, community safety and a range of corporate services including communications, policy and performance. In addition, as the Council’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), Peter has a solid understanding of technology and how this can be deployed to improve services and outcomes for residents whilst increasing productivity and delivering cost efficiencies through implementing the Council’s Digital Strategy.

Corporate Director – Finance and Resources

Minesh Patel Corporate Director for Finance and Resources

Minesh Patel began his career in Local Government in 2002, in his time at Brent he has held multiple positions across the full breadth of Finance functions and is now the Corporate Director for Finance and Resources. He is the Council’s statutory Section 151 Officer ensuring that there are the correct arrangements in place to administer the Council’s financial affairs.

The Finance and Resources department is responsible for the financial administration of the council, Assurance and Resilience, Property and Assets and the councils IT Shared Service.

Corporate Director – Law and Governance

Debra norman Corporate Director of Governance and Law

Debra Norman is the Corporate Director of Law and Governance. Debra is by background a lawyer, although she has managed a range of governance related services for a number of years.

The Law and Governance Department brings together a number of services providing specialist support in the achievement of council objectives, while ensuring good governance and high standards in relation to management of human resources, provision of legal support and the operation of the council’s democratic processes.