Saturday 28 April 2012

No who, what, when, why on breach of standards

At 2pm on Monday the Standards Committee of Brent Council is holding a Special Meeting to discuss an allegation of a breach of the Council's Code of Conduct. A report has been tabled giving the results of the investigation but it is 'restricted' that means only the Committee has sight of it at this stage.

The Committee has five members: Independents -Angela Ruotolo (Chair), Sola Afuape (Vice Chair) and Cllr Beck (Liberal Democrat), Cllr Colwill (Conservative) and Cllr Gladbaum (Labour).

As a citizen very interested in the standards of Brent councillors I would like to report more along the lines of who, what, when and why, but the information above is all that we are allowed to know.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/brent_council_leader_ann_john_investigated_over_hindu_temple_claims_1_1172567

Anonymous said...

This is standard and wholly proper legal procedure for every council. It's done so that witch hunts cannot be started if allegations are fallacious and simply vexatious. If the complaint is found to be with substance it will be made public.

Just for clarity, neither the Chair or Vice Chair are elected councillors nor do they work for the council.

Trevor said...

Having grown up and lived in brent up to now I can truthfully say that standards in this borough have always been low.
particularly when it comes to council housing...it's always the same...they have flats and houses built that become nothing but havens of torment.
when one shut's their front door they should be able to live in reasonable peace...but that is impossible when your neighbours can be heard dragging chairs back and forth every other minute.
now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying people have no right to move around in their own homes, but when the sound insulation material in the flats are so minimal, it makes it impossible to not hear one's neighbours moving around.
I wish I was Long suffering but unfortunatly no matter how much I try I cannot stand hearing household noise...it is making my home life a constant misery...and according to the brent noise policy... General domestic noise
General household noise, children running, slamming
doors and people talking cannot be a nuisance in law.
Noise of this nature often results from poor sound
insulation between dwellings, advice and information is
available on how to improve the insulation in your
premises. Brent also offers a mediation service where an
independent mediator liaises between both parties. This
is often the only route available to resolution but it can be
effective.
Other sources.
if the council would only do it's best to make sure all it's housing has adequate amounts of sound proofing material, then living in brent council housing wouldn't be such a torment.
I can never forget the absolute misery of living on chalkhill estate.
not only were the flats infested with insects...but the sound proofing in the flats were so minimal, that it made living in those flats a nightmare...one night for example a neighbour of mine came up from his flat below in a absolute rage because he wrongly thought I had been playing drums when all i had been doing was watching a video tape about drumming.
but because the sound proofing in the flats were so poor, the sound of my videotape could be heard in his flat and he came up in a rage and virtually kicked down my front door.
I forgive him because he was driven by sheer frustration
however of course that could not be used as justification for kicking in one's neighbours front door.
anyway basically the council have made it easy for neighbours to get on each others nerves simply cause it is so easy to be disturbed by your neighbours because the sound proofing is quite frankly pathetic.
I don't think the council will ever get it right when it comes to housing...and therefore standards will always remain low...I don't know whether it is due to trying to keep costs low why council housing always turns out bad in this borough?
Jesus Christ...how much longer do people have to live and suffer in this borough?

The Local Don said...

The standards Committee of Brent Council is holding a Special Meeting to discuss an allegation of a breach of the Council's Code of Conduct.

What that really means, is Brent Council and its employees are investigating themselves and will come to a convenient conclusion for all employees of Brent Council.


The Local Don.

Trevor said...

Standards?
what standards?
standards in this borough have always been low...and I don't think I will ever see that change in my lifetime and I am 45 years old so I have been around for quite a while...I have become used to seeing the cracked uneven pavements being used as unofficial dustbins and ashtrays...on thursday evening I observed a man drop a plastic bag onto the pavement and just walked away without a care...and yet amazingly a wastepaper bin was only yards behind him but he just couldn't be bothered to dispose of it properly, and that is the general attitude of people that dispose of litter in the wrong way...they just don't care...and yet I bet that If that man observed a person perhaps urinating on his carpert he would hit the roof in disgust and anger...and who could blame him?
afterall if a person decides to urinate on the carpet of someone's home despite knowing when the toilet is, doesn't that reflect utter disrespect?
likewise if that man's friends started dropping litter onto the carpet of his home, it wouldn't be long before he would say something to make them dispose of the litter properly.
so the impression I get is that people only care about standards when they are at home, but when they are outside, they stop caring...that is a bad pattern of behavior that needs to be tackled...and I can assure Ann John that her proposals to charge people who wish to hand out leaflets wont go anywhere to tackling the bad attitude problem of many people that live in this borough.

The Local Don. said...

Thats the whole idea Trevor, fill a ward with enough people who don't care and watch the area decline with a 51% majority. The Council can manage an area with people who don't care because those people never complain. Look at how Willesden has declined the last 20 years, many people moved into neighbouring Queens Park and look at that area today.


The Local Don.

Trevor said...

Don
Seriously, This really breaks my heart.
I really Think we all need to come together...Those that care and those that don't care...and remind those that don't care about their responsiblity to dispose of litter properly for starters...and also use the opportunity to make them realise that this is our home...and we really ought to take much better care of it...charging people to hand out Leaflets is not the way to inspire desirable reform.

Anonymous said...

It is happening today, not on Monday.

Martin, will you be going to it and feeding back via the blog?

Martin Francis said...

Hi - sorry about the error. It is now 4.30pm and I have been at a school all day so missed it. As soon as I hear anything I will blog it.