Saturday 20 May 2017

Voters urged to ask GE2017 candidates to pledge opposition to school cuts



Fill in the above to find the cuts faced by your local school and to see which candidates have signed the pledge to oppose the cuts

From Brent NUT

At the last General Election, the Conservatives promised to protect the money ‘following your child into school’. This promise was broken and we are now seeing the worst cuts to school budgets in a generation, with schools facing cuts of up to £3 billion a year by 2020.

Brent faces larger than average cuts. The table below shows how the cuts affect local constituencies:


The NUT, ATL and NAHT have updated the Schools Cuts website – www.schoolcuts.org.uk – so voters can email each Parliamentary candidate asking them to oppose funding cuts. By putting a postcode into the website, candidates in your area will appear and you can send an email to each one, asking them to oppose the real terms funding cuts for schools.

Lesley Gouldbourne, Brent Secretary said:
Already head teachers are saying that they cannot cope with the current levels of funding. This is a situation that will only get worse if the previous Government’s National Funding Formula is implemented.

It is vital that all candidates standing in the General Election for Brent promise to increase school funding. Failure to do so will see our schools continue to be desperately under resourced, teacher posts cut and drastic measures, such as closing schools earlier, may be considered.

Parents and children in Brent deserve better and our politicians should be standing with us in demanding investment in our schools.
You can see the funding reduction in each school by following these links: (you will need to open the file in Excel)

Brent Central

Brent North

Hampstead and Kilburn

Additional comment by Martin Francis:

It has emerged that in addition to these cuts Brent schools will also be hit by increases in employer contributions to the Brent Council Pension Fund over the next 3 years. This is to ensure the Fund is solvent and raises questions about the management of the Fund compared with other local authorities. Schools will need to find the money to pay increased contributions for support staff including teaching assistants and adminstrative staff. Source LINK


Greens to tackle the big issues for young people: housing, work and education

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The Green Party will launch its youth manifesto today, promising to crack down on unpaid internships, protect renters and cancel student debt. Co-leader Jonathan Bartley, the Young Greens and the party’s young candidates will outline a series of pledges at an event in London.

The Green Party’s youth policies will include:

  • Interns and trainees entitled to the national living wage
  • Introduce a living rent for all through rent controls and more secure tenancies for private renters
  • Abolish tuition fees and cancel all student debt 

Jonathan Bartley, Green Party co-leader, is expected to say:

The Conservative Government has launched a war on young people, taking public debt and hanging it around the necks of the next generation - cutting their housing benefit, increasing tuition fees and scrapping education grants. 

Young people matter and a political party that fails to work with and listen to young people, that ignores them in favour of older voters, that thinks of the future only in terms of their tenure in office not the lifetime of today’s youth, is not a political party at all but a closed-off clique.

The Green Party wants to make schools and universities a springboard for life. We’re offering young people a better future, whether it’s a quality education, secure job, or a warm, safe home.

The Green Party will build a raft for young people negotiating the Brexit storm. Young people have the most to lose from an uncertain future outside the EU, and we’re promising a referendum on the final Brexit deal, with the chance to stay in the EU if voters don’t like the Government’s deal.

Friday 19 May 2017

No room for critics in Butt's key committee appointments

The Annual Meeting of Brent Council allocated committee places.  Those who follow the machinations of Brent Labour may be interested in the fate of those councillors who have challenged or fallen out with the leadership as well as the allocation of places to the two Conservative groups:


Thursday 18 May 2017

Now a 26 storey block in Ealing Road to match the Wembley 'twin towers' !

Click on image to enlarge
The next Planning Committee will consider an application for a development at Minavil House (opposite the bus garage in Ealing Road) ranging in height from 10 to 26 storeys. In 2009 Brent Council Planning Committee refused an application for a 1-8 storey building on the site as being of an 'unacceptable scale and design'. However in 2012 it approved a 1-11 storey application.  The latest is the same height as the larger of the 'twin towers' on the site of Chesterfield House currently being built at the corner of Park Lane and Wembley High Road despite vociferous opposition from local residents.There is an application in for 28 storey blog at Apex House, Fulton Road, near Wembley Stadium.

This will be far the tallest building in Alperton and will dominate the area but planning officers state:
The proposal is substantial in terms of height, and objections have referred to this. Since submission the building has increased in height, and the assessment has been made based on the revised drawings. It is 26 storeys in total and it needs to be acknowledged that the Alperton Masterplan identifies some buildings of up to 17 storeys being appropriate. This clearly exceeds that, and would be taller than anything else nearby. Despite concerns suggesting that this would set a precedent for tall buildings, there are already tall buildings nearby: the context includes 243 Ealing Road (up to 14 storeys), Peppermints Heights (18 storeys) and Atlip Road (13 storeys). Minavil House is nearer to the station than the others, and the inevitably slightly better access to public transport does imply that this is where the greatest density should occur, which is a function of height. It is not within a town centre, but is near to a district centre.
 As is now 'normal' the amount of affordable housing is significantly less than Brent Council's and the Mayor's policy requires but after a viability study planning officers say:

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 London Plan Policy 3.12 requires boroughs seek the maximum reasonable amount of affordable housing 
when negotiating on private and mixed use developments, having regard to a number of factors, including development viability. Policy CP2 of Brent’s Core Strategy sets a strategic target that 50% of 
new homes delivered in the borough should be affordable. Brent’s DMP15 reinforces the 50% target set by policy CP2 and the need to seek the maximum reasonable amount of affordable housing. It also notes that 70% of new affordable housing provision should be social/affordable rented housing and 30% should be intermediate housing in order to meet local housing needs in Brent. London Plan Policy 3.11 sets a ratio of 60% social/affordable rented housing and 40% intermediate housing for new affordable housing across London. 

Presuming the proposals are considered acceptable on all other grounds, Officers take the view that the affordable housing proposals on the scheme should be supported. Notwithstanding the failure to comply with local and regional affordable housing tenure policy, the wider context is of delivering a key housing site in the Alperton area which has been allocated for development since 2011. Given the departure from policy and very large number of shared ownership units, it is recommended Genesis Housing Group be a party to the s106 agreement in order to ensure the scheme is deliverable. An appropriate Shared Ownership Nominations Agreement should also require a ring-fenced marketing period for the shared ownership units to local people, and that priority be given for applications from local people after that ring-fenced period expires, in order that the scheme endeavour to best meet local housing needs. 


Affordable rent in this scheme is 60% of market rent

Learn about our Eastern European community and celebrate their contribution to Brent


Welcome initiative from Brent Council:
 
Brent Eastern European Fair - 17th June 2017 

Brent Council is celebrating its first Eastern European Fair on 17 June 2017 from 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. at Sudbury Primary School. 

The FREE event will include cultural entertainment, a traditional food market, along with advice and information sessions. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to meet and engage with members of the Eastern European communities living in Brent and to learn more about the positive contribution they make.

Sudbury Primary School, Watford Road, Wembley,  HA0 3EY View Map

Free - Register on EVENTBRITE

Wednesday 17 May 2017

Welsh Harp Centre provides community activities during half-term

It is good to see the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre reaching out into the community with half-term activities. The Centre was saved from closure as a result of campaigning by local schools, pupils and residents LINK and is now run by the Thames21 charity.


You can do your bit by taking part in conservation activities at the Welsh Harp Centre:




Toxic air shock for Brent residents

David Wardle and Pam Laurance (Brent Friends of the Earth) at Sustainability Day at Colindale Public Health England
 On 5th May 2017 the government released its plan for improving air quality and is a call for action from Brent Council and the Mayor of London.  
The plan underlines the importance of the work being carried out by Brent FOE which has contributed to the evidence base indicating the illegal and dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide in the air in Brent. 
Brent FOE took measurements of the levels of nitrogen dioxide in February this year at 9* locations in Brent, using Friends of the Earth Air Quality kits (available at foe.co.uk).  The locations included playgrounds, schools, high streets, tube stations, and areas that have a significant footfall.   
Nitrogen dioxide is one of many air pollutants.  It is a smelly gas which contributes to smog and respiratory problems.  Nitrogen dioxide inflames the lining of the lungs, and it can reduce immunity to lung infections. This can cause problems such as wheezing, coughing, colds, flu and bronchitis.
Increased levels of nitrogen dioxide can have a significant impact on people with asthma, due to the fact that it can cause more frequent and more intense attacks. Children with asthma and older people with heart disease are most at risk.
The EU legal limit for nitrogen dioxide concentrations is 40µg/m3.  The readings at the 9* locations ranged from 64.81µg/m3 to 94.16µg/m3.  The evidence indicates that all locations had nitrogen dioxide concentrations that were above the EU legal limit, and some were more than double that limit.
FOE is demanding the introduction of a Clean Air Act and a generous scrappage system for diesel vehicles that will significantly reduce emissions.  Contact your local General Election candidates (Contact details HERE) and the Mayor of London to ask them for their views.  If you would like to join Brent FOE or find out more about our campaign, please contact info@brentfoe.co.uk.

*9 locations: Fryent Medical Centre, NW9 9PE; Kingsbury tube station NW9 8XG; 5 Berkeley Rd NW9 9DJ;Roe Green Park, Children’s playground NW9 9DT; 14 Craven Park Road, Housewife Cash+ Carry NW10 4AB; Harlesden Library NW10 8SE; Opposite Greenhill Park Medical Centre NW10 9AR; Harlesden Primary School, Acton Lane NW10 8UT; Shakespeare Avenue Open Space (Nr. A404) NW10 8NG