Barnhill Election Petition goes to the High Court on February 19th

More than a year after the Barnhill ward by-election a court hearing in relation to the Election Petition submitted by Stefan Voloseniuc and Kanta Mistry (Conservative candidates) is listed to take place on the morning of February 19th at a time not before 10.30am at the Royal Courts of Justice, in the Strand,

Carolyn Downs, Brent Returning Officer, has applied to the Court to request that the Election Petition be determined by special case and to effectively approve the outcome of the by-election.  The application will be considered by two High Court judges in the Queens Bench Division of the High Court on the morning of February 19th.

A recount of the by-election took place at the Royal Courts of Justice on July 16th 2020 and the provisional result of that recount cannot at present be divulged.

The Defendants in the case are Carolyn Downs (Returning Officer) and Mansoor Akram and Gaynor Lloyd the Labour candidates who were declared the winners of the by-election and are currently sitting as councillors for Barnhill ward, alongside Shafique Choudhary. 

The by-election was caused by the resignations of  Labour councillors Michael Pavey (former Deputy Leader) and Sarah Marquis (former Chair of the Planning Committee).

 BACKGROUND

 

Declaration of interest I was one of the Green Party candidates in the by-election (the other was Peter Murry). We are not parties to the petition.

Barnhill by-election result could be over-turned by Courts. Hearing starts tomorrow.

The two day recount hearing for the Barnhill by-election starts tomorrow and as a bombshell curtain raiser the Kilburn Times today LINK  reveals that sacks of votes went astray at Clock Cottage, Kenton, which is one of the Council's storage depot.

The Barnhill Conservatives launched a petition to the High Court alleging that 100 votes were moved from the Conservative pile and transferred to the Labour pile. These were double votes - votes for the two Tories. If the recount transfers 100 votes to the Conservative they will be declared winners.  However the Council confidently told the Kilburn Times that they think the result will be upheld by the courts.

The Count is taking place in Room 73 (largest room) at the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. 

The real issue has changed with the discovery of the missing sack which only emerged when the Court asked for the ballot forms.

As readers will know I hold no brief for the Conservative Party but I do believe that elections should be conducted fairly so welcome this hearing to clear up the matter. I was a Green Party candidate at this by-election along with my colleague Pete Murry.

This is the statement made to Wembley Matters by Stefan Voloseniuc who with Kanta Mistry was a Conservative candidate for the ward.

On 23 January this year, we had three by-elections in the London Borough of Brent and I was one of the Conservative candidates for Barnhill Ward, alongside my colleague Kanta Mistry. We worked extremely hard and managed to do well; however, on the evening of the elections during the count, a bundle of our 100 votes had been unduly moved to the Labour Party’s candidates votes, leading them to win by a small margin. Despite our persistent requests on that evening for a recount and a flick through the bundles the Returning Officer (RO) Chief Executive Officer Carolyne Downs rejected our requests entirely. 

After the election I spoke to the Electoral Commission about the RO’s behaviour at the count. I was informed that the RO ought to have allowed a recount and flick through of the bundles on the day. The sacks are supposed to be sealed as per the People’s Act 1983, which states that the RO has a duty to ensure that each sack containing the ballot papers must be sealed and stored securely, to avoid any interference with the ballot papers by any parties. As such, in order to have a recount, we needed to file a Petition at the High Court, asking for a recount. We followed this process and we managed to obtain a hearing to seek an Order for a recount to take place at Court with the Court giving permission for the seals to be removed and the recount to take place in the High Court itself.

To our surprise, a few days before the hearing the RO’s legal representatives informed us that the seals (of the Barnhill Ward alone, and not the other two wards) were found to be broken. We requested evidence in the form of pictures and witness statements. We were informed that further evidence will follow. Upon receiving this evidence in the form of witness statements on behalf of the RO, we discovered that they could not find the seals on the sacks You  will find upon reading the  statement made by the Head of Executive and Member Service, there has been serious breach in following the prescribed lawful procedure. 

Once we came to learn of this significant breach, we requested for the recount (which is listed to take place on 16 and 17 July 2020) to also include a count of all unused ballot papers in order to reconcile the total ballots printed (used and unused), particularly as the sacks were not sealed, open to interference by anyone. 

The RO refused our request for the recount and reconciliation of the unused ballot papers; however, the RO willingly agreed to a recount of the unused ballot papers ONLY IF the recount result went against the Labour Party candidates. I am sure you agree that this clearly points towards partiality in favour of the Labour Party, despite a duty by the RO to remain neutral.

The  witness statement made by Thomas Cattermole, Brent Council Head of Executive and Member Services to the Court sets out the events surrounding the seach for the missing Barnhill papers. 

The storage room at Clock Cottage was visited several times before they were found in a sack labelled "23/5/19 EU elections BP's' in pen. It had no seal and it was dirty on the outside.  It was upright and it was surmised that nothing had fallen out and nothing was found on the floor on checking. Cattermole said that he could only assume the papers were placed in a sack that already had the EU elections label on it. Photographs were taken in accordance with the Judge's Order.

The sack along with others from Barnhill ward is now secured in a locked, limited access area in Brent Civic Centre.

Barnhill By-Election recount fixed for July 16th and 17th

I understand that the High Court has fixed the date for the disputed Barnhill by-election count will take place on July 16th and 17th at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand. Numbers of attendees will be limited due to social distancing measures being in place.

The by-election was held on January 23rd following the resignations of Michael Pavey and Sarah Marquis and was won narrowly by the Labour candidates.

The petition submitted by the Conservative Party under the Representation of the People Act sets out the case for a recount.  The gap between the lowest Labour vote and the highest Conservative vote was just 70. The petition claims that at the count, which went on into the early hours of January 24th, 100 Conservatives block votes were wrongly placed in the Labour bundle and that the Conservative candidates should have been duly elected as the candidates with the highest number of votes.

Green's performance in the Brent by-elections

Thanks to everyone who voted Green in the Brent by-elections and to those who came out to help us leaflet. We were disappointed not to do better but getting more than 8% in two of the wards was an achievement.

Liberal Democrats win Alperton council seat from Labour

After deluging the ward with thousands of leaflets and fielding up to 80 canvassers the Liberal Democrats tonight gained Alperton from Labour.

Anton Georgiou won 1,699 votes, followed by Labour at 1,304.  The Labour candidate had been suspended by the party while investigations were made into alleged Islamophobic tweets. Andrew Linnie achieved 373 votes for the Greens and the Tories won 900.

Labour held the other contested seats in Wembley Central and Barnhill.

The Conservatives had been very active in the byelections spurred on by the General Election win and are likely to be disappointed by their performance.

Georgiou will be the sole Liberal Democrat on the Council but promises robust scrutiny of Council decision making.

Greens were disappointed not to make a breakthrough into the Council chamber but will continue to provide robust opposition and scrutiny from outside.

Election result from Brent Council

Alperton
The results for each candidate are:

4,303 residents in Alperton ward cast their votes, marking a turnout of 33.99%.
Barnhill
The results for each candidate are:

2,751 residents in Barnhill ward cast their votes, marking a turnout of 21.97%.
Wembley Central
The results for each candidate are:

3,602 residents in Wembley Central ward cast their votes, marking a turnout of 27.57%.

Before you vote this evening in #Alperton #Barnhill #WembleyCentral Brent by-elections READ THIS!

Brent Council by-election candidates announced

Following the closure of nominations at 4pm this afternoon Brent Council has published the  statement of persons nominated:

The candidates are:

ALPERTON WARD (ONE VACANCY)
Anton Georgiou (Liberal Democrats)
Chetan Harpale (Labour Party)
Andrew Linnie (Green Party)
Harmit Vyas (Conservative Party)

BARNHILL WARD (TWO VACANCIES)
Mansoor Akram (Labour Party)
Michael Brooke (Liberal Democrats)
Martin Francis (Green Party)
Gaynor Lloyd (Labour Party)
Kanta Mistry (Conservative Party)
Peter Murry (Green Party)
Larry Ngan (Liberal Democrats)
Stefan Voloseniuc (Conservative Party)

WEMBLEY CENTRAL WARD (ONE VACANCY)
Sai Karthik Madabhushi (Conservative Party)
Jyotshna Patel (Liberal Democrats)
William Relton (Green Party)
Sonia Shah (Labour Party)

Polling Day os January 23rd 2020

Current Council:

LABOUR 56
CONSERVATIVES 3
GREEN  0
LIBEREL DEMOCRATS 0

Third Brent councillor resigns - now a Wembley Central by-election

Former Brent Labour Councillor James Powney has revealed on his blog that Cllr Luke Patterson has resigned.  This brings to three the number of Labour councillors who have resigned.

Brent Council has now posted this statement:

Councillor Luke Patterson, a local Councillor for the Wembley Central ward in the London Borough of Brent, has resigned today.

Councillor Patterson notified Carolyn Downs, Returning Officer and Chief Executive of Brent Council, of his decision to stand down with immediate effect. His resignation creates a vacancy for the office of Councillor for the Wembley Central ward. Two electors have contacted the Chief Executive to request a by-election which will take place on 23 January 2020.

The Notice of Election will be published on our website on 13 December 2019 and nominations will be accepted from 16 December to 24 December 2019.

Further information will be available after the General Election on 12 December 2019.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact our Electoral Services team.

Brent Council by-election will take place on January 23rd 2020

Barnhill ward

The by-election for the two vacant seats in Barnhill ward will take place on Thursday 23rd January 2020.

The vacancies follow the resignations with immediate effect of Sarah Marquis and Michael Pavey.

The notice of election will be published on the Brent Council website on December 13th 2019 and nominations will be accepted from December 16th to December 24th.

A busy time for Brent Electoral Services...

Cllr Sarah Marquis joins Michael Pavey in resigning from Brent Council

Cllr Marquis

From the Brent Council website

Councillor Sarah Marquis, a local Councillor for the Barnhill Ward in the London Borough of Brent, has resigned today.

Councillor Marquis notified Carolyn Downs, Returning Officer and Chief Executive of Brent Council, of her decision to stand down with immediate effect due to family and personal reasons.
Her resignation creates another vacancy for the office of Councillor for the Barnhill ward, alongside the vacancy opened up in the same ward earlier this week due to the resignation of Councillor Michael Pavey.

In order to trigger a by-election, two local government electors in Brent must write to the Chief Executive’s Office requesting that an election take place.

Two letters are required to fill each vacancy. On receipt of the requests to fill this vacancy, the Returning Officer will set a date for an election to be held within 35 days.

All requests / letters regarding these vacancies must be sent to: Chief Executive’s Office, Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley, HA9 0FJ or by email to: Carolyn.Downs@brent.gov.uk or Chief.Executive@brent.gov.uk.

Cllr Marquis is a former Chair of Brent Planning Committee where she often displayed a principled independent streak. LINK

Cllr Michael Pavey resigns - By-election in Barnhill ward in January

Cllrs Butt, Choudhary, Marquis & Pavey

 I had to miss tonight's Council meeting but I understand that a by-election was announced to take place in January 2020 as a result of the resignation of a sitting councillor. The ward is currently held by three Labour councillors - Cllr Shafique Choudhary, Cllr Sarah Marquis and Cllr Michael Pavey. Michael Pavey resigned for personal reasons.

Pavey is a former Deputy Leader of the Council who stood against Cllr Muhammed Butt for the Labour leadership.LINK

The by-election is likely to be held in mid to late-January when two ward electors have asked for an election.

Plans for bungalows on Kings Drive garage site to be decided on Wednesday

The trees behind the garages are in the gardens of Barnhill residents

The car park, eventual access to the bungalows

The 'poor quality' trees on the boundary

3D view of the development, note the absence of the Barnhill garden trees behind the bungalows

Ariel view. Expensive private Barnhill houses on left, Kings Dricve council estate on the right

Site at present with garages

Proposed site plan

I have to state an interest on this issue as I am a resident on the King's Drive/Pilgrims Way estate although not in the immediate vicinity of this planned development. The proposal to build four affordable bungalow homes on the current garage site is part of a Council strategy to find space for new homes on Brent estates on under-utilised or redundant areas. Details of schemes across the borough can be found HERE.

This scheme aroused a lot of opposition on the estate and hence the referral to Planning Committee for their consideration. The issue is one of balancing the need for new affordable homes with potential loss of amenity to current residents. In particular estate residents felt that the garages had been deliberately run down and not marketed for rent which enabled the Council to declare them not needed.  There was also concern at the potential loss of parking spaces and the loss of the trees. The garages form a sort of barrier between the expensive private houses of Barnhill and the council house blocks with the mature trees in the Barnhill gardens screening the view of the blocks.

There was no detailed survey of the Barnhill garden trees but the report, answering concerns about the trees overhanging the bungalows, says that under common law they can be cut back to the boundary.

A parking space will be provided for each bungalow and an additional 25 'communal' parking spaces will be provided. When I visited this evening there were 25 cars parked on the site.

A potential problem is difficulty of access. This is already a problem on the estate's cul-de-sac roads with parked vehicles blocking access to delivery lorries. Residents on Saltcroft Close suffer from many missed blue and grey bin collections because of this issue. They were not collected this week.

Full report HERE

Change to Barnhill polling station site

The temporary polling station

Brent Council has made a last minute change to one of the polling stations in Barnhill ward.  Voting used to take place in the Town Hall which is now being converted into the private Wembley French School.  Poll cards advertised a temporary polling station in a hut on King's Drive but that proved impracticable and voting will now take place in a hut on the corner of King's Drive and Greenhill Way.

Annexation attempt on Barn Hill?

The new houses from Barn Hill open space

 Further information has come to my attention regarding the 'Battle of the Yellow Lines' .  Apparently the houses that front the newly built houses in Beverley Gardens are former police houses and were all bought up by the same man who then built two new houses on the former police car park at the back of the houses.

The road was used to access those car parks as well as the open space and that would be clear at the time of purchase and development. It begins to look like an attempted annexation of a corner of Barn Hill estate.

Meanwhile Cllr Michael Pavey has written to the Council on the issue:

I am writing to object to the addition of double yellow lines to the service road at the top of Uxendon Hill/Beverley Gardens.

I understand that one positive response has been received to this proposal. Against this the residents' association is implacably opposed. I have been contacted by a number of other residents who I have encouraged to make representations. Parking restrictions are a very contentious issue, particularly in the Barn Hill area. A single positive response is an insufficient mandate when the local residents' association is so opposed.

I understand that the service road predates the houses built at the top of it. On this basis the landowner would have been fully aware of the access issues when choosing to develop the site. I would be interested to see any evidence that the road is now more congested with visiting traffic than at the time of development.

I understand that the service road is intended to facilitate access to the Barn Hill Open Space. Adding double yellow lines would restrict this, compromising people's ability to ensure this beautiful area.

I have been contacted by a resident in another part of the Barn Hill estate who has been advised by your Department that the Council cannot consider additional double yellow lines projects at the current time due to budget constraints. If money is tight, double yellowing this service road should certainly not be a priority.

I strongly believe that the community is opposed to this scheme. I trust that if the consultation generates more critical than positive responses, the Council will reject the proposal?

Best wishes,
Michael.

Cllr. Michael Pavey
Labour Councillor for Barnhill, Brent Council

Dollis Hill-Lib Dem, Barnhill-Labour, Dudden Hill?

A game of cat and mouse between Labour and Lib Dems over a possible by-election in Dudden Hill seems to be developing. The Rev David Clues holds the seat for the Lib Dems at present but he has been living in Brighton for 6 months and the Brent and Kilburn Times hinted last week that he might resign soon.  Seems a bit of a waste of money when the by-election could have been held earlier this month alongside the GLA and Barnhill by-elections.

New Executive member Krupesh Hirani tweeted earlier today that he was off door-stepping in the ward for Labour and according to his blog LINK he saw Sarah Teather there and a couple of residents said they had been canvassed by Lib Dems.  I suspect the Lib Dems are just testing the temperature and will make a decision on whether Clues should hold on for the time being based on their canvassing returns.

With their current poor position in the polls and their failure to stand in the Barnhill by-election they are likely to be ultra-cautious and willing to endure the embarrassment of having a semi-detached councillor rather than face losing the seat.

Poor David Clues must be longing to be able to get on with his new life in Brighton....

Dollis Hill By-election likely on March 22nd

It appears that the Dollis Hill by-election  will be held on Thursday Match 22nd but this is subject to confirmation over the next few days. A by-election in Barnhill will be on Thursday May 3rd if Cllr Judith goes ahead with her resignation in March and yet another 'hill', this time Dudden, will come up if the Rev David Clues reisgns after moving to Brighton.

Barnhill by-election on May 3rd

The Brent and Kilburn Times is reporting LINK that there will be a by-election in Barnhill Ward after  Cllr Judith Beckman said that she would resign in March, The by-election will be held on May 3rd, the same day as the GLA elections. The ward went Labour at the last local election after being held by Conservatives.

Pressure is now on Cllr Rev David Clues (Lib Dem-Dudden Hill) to resign. Both councillors came under pressure after it was revealed that they had moved out of Brent.

Chalkhill kids let down yet again by park delay

The park site - no 'New Dawn' here

Cllr Powney has accused me recently of being 'grumpy' but the latest news from Brent Council has transformed me into the full Victor Meldrew: 'I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THE NEW CHALKHILL PARK HAS BEEN DELAYED YET AGAIN.'


In October 2011 I blogged LINKthat after a meeting with Cllr Powney (lead member for the environment)and Gerry Kiefer, head of Sports and Parks, we were assured that the delayed Chalkhill Park would be ready by May 2012.  Earlier in the year children from Chalkhill School Council had lobbied ward councillors after repeated delays and this was taken up by the wider community of children and youth on the estate during the summer holiday. They were all angry that once again Chalkhill young people had been deprived of a park during the long summer holiday. They were determined that they would have a park by Summer 2012.

When I saw that no work had started after the forecast delay of 4-6 weeks I started nagging the ward councillor in my role as Chair of Governors of Chalkhill Primary School. 

Chris Walker, head of planning wrote to all the interested parties yesterday to say that it had been anticipated that work would start in December 2011/January 2012 (more than 4-6 weeks behind) but that now the contract will be not be awarded until March 2012 with a six month contract to completion. On my reading this means that the park will not be completed until at least September 2012 leaving the local kids with no park for yet another summer.

Mr Walker explains that this is because all the tenders submitted in the autumn were unaffordable without reducing the park specification and that it became apparent that they did not fully comply with the Council's internal standing orders - so they are going out to tender again 'and hope that this time we will receive affordable and suitable tender submissions'. Even that sounds pretty uncertain...

Chris Walker  says he realises the situation will be a big disappointment but says that the Council is doing all it can to minimise delays.

All sorts of questions are raised by this debacle, not least over whether the Parks Service itself, if it hadn't been drastically cut, could have got a park up and running but also what this means for the Council's current Parks Review which, amongst other options, is looking at the possibility of privatisation of the Service.

After last summer's events across the nation Brent Council had better takes positive steps to ensure it is not a long hot summer on Chalkhill. They could at least get the BMX track cleared at St. David's Close and fast-track plans for a possible skateboarding installation.

The councillors who represent Chalkhill (which is part of  Barnhill Ward) can be contacted via their website BARNHILL-NEW DAWN (sic). No mention of this news there.

You can write direct to the councillors at their e-mails below:

 cllr.abdifatah.aden@brent.gov.uk; cllr.judith.beckman@brent.gov.uk; cllr.shafique.choudhary@brent.gov.uk;

CYCLE TRACKS IN FRYENT COUNTRY PARK?

Sustrans is currently consulting on possible cycle routes for the North West London Greenways. Part of their proposals concern routes around Wembley.

Illustrated (in green) are possible routes in Fryent Country Park. Fryent Way is the road running from left to right down the centre of the map and the Jubilee line can also be seen. This would mean the construction of tarmac paths over meadows and grass paths.

Although, as a 'Greenie' and a member of the London Cycling Campaign I support the construction of more cycle routes and the promotion of cycling for commuting, exercise and leisure, I have reservations about these proposals because of their impact on the unique environment of the Park which includes woodland, hay meadows, wetland and many ponds. As well as being a certified organic farm the Park is also a haven for wildlife and has remained relatively unspoilt for many years. It is one of the last remaining examples of Middlesex countryside. I am also concerned that the cycle paths will disturb the peace and tranquility of the Park and will reduce the pleasure of visitors, including those primary school children who accompany me on nature walks there as part of my work with Brent School Without Walls.

Barn Hill Conservation Group, which is a voluntary organisation that helps maintain the Country Park is also concerned about the impact of the cycle paths. They are proposing that the pavements either side of Fryent Way, which are currently under-used and in poor repair, should be upgraded for use by cyclists instead. Their are also proposals for other parks and roads in Brent which can be seen on the Sustrans consultation website.

The consultation, which has received little publicity in Brent and has not been discussed in Area Forums, ends on March 6th, 2009. For documentation and to fill in a questionaire go to:
http://www.sustrans.org.uk/

Pictures and information about the park can be seen on Barnhill Conservation Group's website:
http://bhcg.btik.com/
or Brent Schools Without Walls website:
http://brentschoolwithoutwalls.btik.com/