All Brent Healthy Neighbourhood schemes are expected to be operational by mid-December

There is an ongoing debate on local social media on the Healthy Neighbourhood proposals. Monday's Full Council Agenda inccludes this question and answer on the scheme:

Question from Councillor Janice Long to Councillor Shama Tatler, Lead Member for Regeneration, Property and Planning:

In May 2020 the Government published statutory guidance in response to the Covid-19 pandemic stressing the urgent need to reallocate road space to facilitate safe social distancing and embolden residents to walk and cycle during and after the pandemic.

Similar schemes across London have decreased levels of air pollution and increased the life expectancy of their residents; taking inspiration from these, Brent Council is delivering on its plans to create more Healthy Neighbourhood schemes, to reduce traffic on residential streets and encourage sustainable modes of transport to address our climate change commitments.

In light of a new national lockdown, will the Lead Member for Regeneration, Property and Planning provide an update on the roll-out of the Healthy Neighbourhood’s scheme and apprise full Council of the work undertaken to facilitate feedback from residents; bolster communications; and engage local people on the future benefit of these schemes in their areas?

Response:

As members will be aware, we have implemented (5) Healthy Neighbourhoods schemes using Experimental Traffic Orders with notification letters sent to residents explaining the aims of the schemes and encouraging the community to provide their comments during the trial period as well as informing that the schemes would be evaluated after six months of implementation. This was necessary to meet TfL and DfT requirements to deliver these schemes quickly and a similar approach has been taken by many other London boroughs.

This is a significant variation of the usual process used by the Council for highway improvement schemes, and unfortunately, while it has always been our intention to engage with the local community, this resulted in some misconceptions that schemes would be made permanent without taking fully into consideration their views. Due to the number of objections that we were receiving, and as we were awaiting guidance from TfL on access for the emergency services, schemes were paused in September.

Further to the Extraordinary meeting of the Full Council on 16th October to discuss Healthy Neighbourhood schemes, we have focussed on improving communications and engagement with our communities and a collaborative approach.

A community engagement plan has been drafted which sets out our approach to providing information and regular updates to residents and stakeholders, and listening to their feedback.

The plan includes;

Web pages – We have reviewed and will bolster information on the Brent Council website; www.brent.gov.uk/activetravel which will be used as a hub for providing up to date information to residents and stakeholder groups. This will be regularly refreshed with new meeting dates, monitoring data and materials.

Resident updates - In addition to the formal consultations, hosted on Brent’s consultation hub, residents in affected areas will also receive information letters / questionnaires 2, 4, and 6 months after the new measures go in, as well as on their introduction. A Cabinet Member covering letter will also be provided explaining the reasons for the introduction of these schemes, how they support the strategic objectives to respond to climate change, improve air quality and public health. This will allow us to track whether and how resident’s views change as the trial progresses, as these schemes often take time to become fully effective (as travel habits adapt).

We will also hold monthly meetings with ward councillors and residents for each area where a scheme has been implemented, throughout the six-month trial period. This shall include socially distanced walkabouts where needed to discuss the scheme operation and suggested improvements. We are also looking at the option of procuring community engagement specialists to support these sessions and to ensure they are useful for residents.

Information leaflets - We have produced an information leaflet to be included in the documents sent to residents, which provides further information on the aim of these schemes, how they are beneficial and information on traffic congestion and emergency service access to address concerns.

Improved signage - We will improve signage around the closures, including advanced warnings of the closures on approach to the road to reduce the amount of traffic driving up to the barriers and turning, as well as temporary explainer signs to explain the new measures and signposting people to the consultation using a QR code and green ‘active travel welcome here’ signs on planters.

Officers have recently received feedback from the London Ambulance Service and made amendments to remove lockable bollard closures to two of the schemes:

(i) PM 26 - Dollis Hill Area; Oxgate Gardens, concerns raised as route used by ambulances travelling to Health Centre – The closures to be implemented without lockable bollards only plastic barriers to be used, CCTV at a later date.

(ii) PM 32 - South of Princes Avenue Area; Berkley Road and Brampton Road Kingsbury, concerns raised about potential traffic on Kingsbury Road. The closures to be implemented without lockable bollards, when CCTV cameras can be installed.

Officers continue to liaise regularly with the London Ambulance Service, with fortnightly meetings arranged as well as the MPS and Fire Services during the experimental period.

The Healthy Neighbourhoods programme will now resume in two phases:

(i) For the 5 Healthy Neighbourhoods schemes that have already been implemented, but are not fully operational, we are aiming to send out residents update letters and information leaflets the week commencing the 16th November with additional bollards and signs installed the week commencing the 23rd November.

(ii) For the remaining Healthy Neighbourhoods schemes, notification letters and information leaflets are planned for the week commencing the 23rd November with implementation the week commencing 4th December.

It is therefore envisaged that all schemes will be fully operational by Mid- December.

Brent Council should reinstate the role of Allotments Officer to tackle overgrown plots and poor billing

The overgrown allotment next to my plot at Birch Grove, Kingsbury

I was pleased to see Cllr Janice Long take up the issue of Brent Council's allotments at the recent Full Council meeting. It is a subject that has been covered on Wembley Matters several times.

Cllr Long said that she was receiving a lot of complaints about the state of our allotments: the billing process is disorganised, the council does not therefore know who no longer requires their allotment and the result is that many are left overgrown - 'a mess.'

She went on to say that the Council had got rid of its Allotments Officer (something I campaigned against) and the work had  'been dumped on someone in the parks department.'

Long mistakenly said she thought that allotments had been converted to self management, in fact allotment holders except for one site turned this down but the Allotments Officer was nevertheless made redundant. There are however allotment representatives who can liaise between allotment tenants and the council.  There used to be an incentive of free plot rental for people taking on this role but I am not sure this is still the case. My allotment site at Birchen Grove has recently elected a new representative and I hope this will result in some improvement. However I think the problem will only be resolved if Brent Council decide to reinstate the Allotments Officer position - there is a lot of potential income in those plots that are not currently being cultivated.

Cllr Krupa Sheth, lead cabinet member for the environment, responding to Cllr Long said, 'We definitely want to get the best out of our allotments. I'll take this back to the parks team and make sure the billing is done properly as well.'

Leak in pensioner's flat spreads into sitting room

As councillors gather for tonight's Full Council, meeting I have just heard from John Healy that the saga of his flooded flat on South Kilburn Estate continues.  Despite the best efforts by Cllrs Long and Abdi, discussion at last week's Housing Scrutiny Meeting and visits from housing officers and Wates, the leak has not yet been repaired.

John tells me hat the leak is still in the kitchen but in a worsening of his situation has now spread into his living room as well.

He says that nobody from the council has been in touch today even though on Friday they said they would contact him today to offer him temporary accommodation.

I really did hope for better from Brent Housing now that it has been brought back in-house. The Council took over from BHP on the 27th September, 2017 promising big improvements in their performance targets, especially regarding repairs.

Latest on pensioner without power in Brent Council flat for 10 days

The case of pensioner John Healy who has spent 10 days without power in his flat at Dunbar House on South Kilburn Estate has been taken up by Cllr Janice Long and will be raised at Housing Scrutiny Committee tonight and Cllr Abdirazak Abdi is also pursuing the issue with the Council.

Nadia Khan, Communications and Marketing Manager at Brent Housing Management has emailed me for details and promised to look into the matter first thing tomorrow.

Meanwhile John has written to me late this afternoon:

Hi Martin, it has still not been repaired and it may be a long time before it is.

I spoke with Marc, the council's surveyor face to face in the South Kilburn office and he says they think the leak is on the 'dry riser', which is located between flats.

Oakray have restored my heating and microwave but they say not to use them until the Wate's electrician has checked them over and he has not arrived yet.

Mini expenses revolt by two Labour backbenchers

Labour backbencher and former Executive Member Keith Perrin told Full Council last night that he could not vote for an increase in councillor expenses at the same time that the Council was putting up Council Tax. He voted against the proposal and was joined by Cllr Long. They are two of a total of 56 Labour councillors.  I understand that Cllr Helen Carr, Lib Dem, also voted against the increase.

Staff and parents press for secret ballot on Furness academisation

The audience at the academies meeting

 

 

Statement from ATL, GMB, NASUWT, NUT, UNISON

Parents and staff from Furness Primary School, Harlesden, London gathered[1] to voice their deep concerns as to why their school was proposed to be turned into an academy. The Governors of Furness and Oakington Manor, federated schools, have made an application to turn the two schools into a sponsored academy trust without having first consulted parents and staff.

The question asked by everyone at the meeting was why? Furness school received a good rating by Ofsted in June this year. Oakington is currently rated as outstanding. The two schools federated three years ago to prevent Furness (which was then in special measures) closing or being taken over by an academy chain such as ARK.

The audience listened to Bridget Chapman, Chair of the Anti Academies Alliance, explain what academisation was all about – privatisation of state education and ultimately schools to be run for profit. She spoke about the evidence from research that showed that 13% of sponsored academies were classed as failing yet on 3% of state schools were in this Ofsted category. Further, the data shows a higher rate of exclusion among black and minority ethnic children in academies and there are fewer children with special educational needs. 99 academies had received warnings from the DfE about their financial dealing and 11 academy chains had received multiple warnings. The percentage of primary schools that have become academies is still very small and many of those have been forced to by the DfE despite there being no evidence that academies improve education for children, in fact the opposite.  Analysis of primary school results indicates that academy conversion actually slows progress” (Local Schools Network research).

Jean Roberts spoke on behalf of the education unions and told the audience how the unions had been stopped from making any presentation to staff at the so called consultation meetings held at both schools the previous week, as to why the education unions are united against the proposal. Staff who wanted to hear them, were shushed and told to be quiet by Mr Jhally, Chair of Governors of the Federation, when they protested. A motion of support for a campaign against the academy which had been passed by the Kensal Green Labour Party group was read out to much applause.

Mrs Libson who is the Executive headteacher of the federated schools had told the staff consultation meetings it was because Brent had done “nothing for the schools”. Brent LA dispute this most strongly. Jean Roberts had been sent a copy of the Brent Audit Report for Oakington Manor in June 2015. Auditors were unable to say that its accounts and accounting procedures were fully in order[2]. The report stated, “The key areas of weaknesses related to high value expenditure, income administration, stock management and pension administration”. One of the criteria Ofsted inspects in schools is the Governors oversight of school finances.

Janice Long a local councillor, who sent a message of support for the campaign against an academy, asked if the imminent Ofsted may be a reason for this rushed application.

Euton Stewart from GMB explained that in his experience the support staff were the first to be made redundant in academies. Academies can employ unqualified teachers, another concern of the teaching staff there. Parents spoke about the good teachers and the education they provided for their children at Furness and how all this change was unnecessary now the school had been given a good by Ofsted.

There was a clear commitment to continue to seek a secret ballot for parents and staff so that the Governors would fully know their views. Parents will continue to collect signatures on the petition. Staff are looking to hold meetings to discuss what they will do in response.

---

[1] Meeting held on 12^th November at St Mark’s Church hall, Kensal Rise, London.

[2] Reporting Definition of Limited assurance: Weaknesses in the system of internal controls are such as to put the client’s objectives at risk.

The level of non-compliance puts the client’s objectives at risk.

Butchery at the Civic Centre as Labour closes playground and approves £54m cuts

Demonstrators held these signs up at the meeting

No 'rebellion' emerged at tonight's meetiong of Full Council and the cuts were voted through by the Labour majority.

I spoke to Stonebridge Adventure Playground before the meeting and they told me that they would not be attending. They had thrown themselves into a campaign gaining massive support from the community that they have served for almost 40 years, had been lied about by Cllr Margaret McLellan and had passionately put their case to the Cabinet last Monday.

They said that attending tonight would have been like going to their own execution.

They were right.

Now they have to make staff redundant and break the news to the children.

There was a demonstration outside the Civic Centre before the meeting protesting both at the Coalition's cuts and Brent Council's implementation of them.

The only real sign of revolt came from Cllr John Duffy who initially protested at the lack of democracy in the allocation of time to councillors in the debate. The administration and opposition leaders got 15 minutes and back benchers only 3 minutes.  He said this was not enough to deal with the complex issues involved in the budget.

Labour leader Muhammed Butt and his Deputy Michael Pavey basically made the same 'dented shield' speeches they had made at Cabinet. Butt said his heart was with the demonstrators outside but they council had to obey the law. Pavey said that he respected those Labour members who wanted a rise in Council Tax and this might be something to consider next year.

Conservatives proposed a Council Tax reduction of 2.5% but at the same time wanted to save Stonebridge Playground. Labour challenged their 'sums' which seemed to be based on raiding the reserves. It was hard for me to judge as the detailed Conservative budget was not available to the public. Public scrutiny is meaningless in such circumstances. Cllr Warren said that the budget consultation was more about scaring the people of Brent than really getting their views.

Cllr Nerva (Labour) quoted the Conservative leader of Buckinghamshire County Council who had said that there was no more room for deeper cuts without damaging services and claimed, 'we can;t go on cutting year after year. We face difficult decisions about how to protect Brent residents.'

One 'difficult decision' may be to raise Council Tax. Cllr John Duffy claimed that his Labour colleagues  were making  £2m more cuts than Eric Pickles required. He was referring to the £1.7m that would be yielded over 2 years by a 1.99% rise in Council Tax which would have saved some of the services being cut tonight including the Adventure Playground, Energy Resources and the Welsh Harp. He said that the Council had lied to local people by claiming that the consultation would make a difference.

On Stonebridge Cllr Duffy said that the Council was behaving like a bad landlord by mixing funding cuts up with development proposals, throwing the Playground out of its site to make way for housing.

However Duffy, to the disappointment of the public gallery, then said that nonetheless he was staying with Labour and would 'fight from inside the tent'.

Veteran Councillor Janice Long (Labour) warned that the Council's Scrutiny was inadequate. Backbenchers hadn't known when the meetings were and had no access to the papers.  She said, 'If we don't scrutinise properly the cuts will go wrong and we'll end up having to cut even more.'

Certainly the report the chair of Scrutiny presented was a mere echo of what the leader and deputy leader had said.

She called on the Council to set an example by making councillors pay to park at the Civic Centre and ending the provision of food at meetings.

This all seemed small beer compared with  the cuts that were then voted through by the Labour group as demonstrators staged a silent protest holding up the 'Only Butchers Make Cuts' posters.

Muhammed Butt, who had been barracked through by former Labour Councillor Graham Durham for doing the Coalition's dirty work and putting vulnerable children at risk, finished by listing all the services that had been 'saved' some of which will be farmed out to the voluntary sector.

Certainly his claim that the council had 'listened't o residents and was protecting the vulnerable  rang hollow when they had ignored 3,000 people who had signed the petition to save Stonebridge Adventure Playground.

He did not mention that the original list of cuts put out to consultation amounted to £60m over two years and that actually 'only' a  £54m  cutwas required. As mentioned on this biog before, there was always £6m to play for that could then be used as PR to give the impression that the Council had listened and thus put a gloss on the massive £54m cuts that had actually been made.

On the Stonebridge Adventure Playground Facebook Page, Glynis Lee posted the following message tonight:

At tonight's Council meeting Brent (Labour) voted NOT to save Stonebridge Adventure Playground...they all turned their backs on Bridge.....and will go ahead and sell the land to property developers, and give even more to Stonebridge school.....

So we must close at the end of this month.

So very sorry...we fought hard and long, and had tremendous support especially from the local paper and from the local community. I don't think we could have done any more.
We nearly made 40 years and thats an achievement in itself...

Brent Cabinet finding it hard to find cuts to bridge £54m budget gap

See last paragraph

According to a posting on the Brent Fightback Facebook page Muhammed Butt told Brent Central Labour Party members last night that Brent Council would have to make cuts of £54 million 2015-17 (2 year budget) that is equivalent to 20% of the revenue budget.

Every Cabinet member had been asked to find deep cuts - and they were struggling. The Labour Group will meet to discuss the recommended cuts on Saturday November 29th.

Butt told the meeting that he would ensure that new housing in Park Royal will have 50% affordable housing.  However members were disappointed that his definition of affordable rent was 80% of market rent - far too expensive for most ordinary Brent families.  He was asked to go back to officers and challenge this.

I understand that the issue of Stonebridge Adventure Playground was raised by members unhappy about recent developments over its proposed closure. LINK Muhammed Butt told them that a decision would be made in January.

Other sources suggest that the problem regarding the possible barring of three councillors under the 6 month non-attendance rule may be resolved next week.  LINK  Cllr John Duffy is due to attend Alcohol and Licensing Committee on Monday afternoon and Cllr Zaffar Van Kalwala Audit in the evening. 

Cllr  Ahmad Shahzad  has been unwell so may be exempted on those grounds.

The problem was caused by the sudden movement of the Full Council Meeting from 17th November to December 8th. This was explained as necessary in order to discuss the Brent Plan which is currently being consulted on. Many feel this an indequate excuse as the Council calendar, including consultations, is set up months in advance.

Apparently last night Cllr Janice Long mystified many Labour Party members by asking Muhammed Butt, rather cryptically, if he was planning to set off the Civic Centre fire alarm.

Brent's Super Scrutiny found wanting

Last night's first meeting of the 'Super' Scrutiny Committee of Brent Council, which replaces several specialist scrutiny committees, revealed the weakness of the new system.

Firstly, committee members seemed unclear of their remit and their powers, with only Cllr Mary Daly appearing well-briefed and prepared to ask awkward questions.

Perhaps because of time constraints in the over-crowded agenda, the chair, Aslam Choudry, limited questions from members of the committee, although he did allow the public to speak. On the Garden Tax he was reduced to asking Cllr Keith Perrin, lead member for the environment, and the officer, if they truly believed the waste collection changes were a good thing. Of course they did!

The outcome of the Central Middlesex A&E closure, local health reforms and the Garden tax discussions were anodyne proposals about monitoring and returning to the committee later,

Cllr Janice Long, a former member of the Executive, and one of those calling in the Garden Tax tweeted:

 Signed the call-in on Garden waste, sat through mtg but not allowed to ask questions. Had to email officers. Appalling lack of scrutiny.

The public gallery was crowded for the meeting and the general consensus was that the Committee would have to do a lot better in the future if the Cabinet is to be held to account.

Dawnites strengthen position in Brent Central CLP

Michael Calderbank

Supporters of Dawn Butler, made an almost clean sweep in elections to Brent Central Constituency Labour Party  General Committee last night.

Michael Calderbank, who was banned by Brent officers from the local election count in May, becomes Secretary. Terry Hoad was elected Chair but Cllr Janice Long survived as Vice Chair and Membership Secretary. Ivor Etienne was elected Vice Chair, Campaigns.

Cllr Ketan Sheth, former chair of Brent Planning Committee had already resigned. Karin Barrett, a powerful figure in Brent Central did not stand again  and Graham Barrett was ruled out for Treasurer by the GC gender balance rule.

Cllr Tom Miller defeated Graham Durham for the Trade Union Liaison post. Araz Moiz is the new Treasurer.

I understand that former councillor James Powney, who has been very concerned about leaks from the Labour Party to Wembley Matters, was rather perplexed by the rules, but all was sorted out eventually.

Former councillor Jim Moher, who recently had a  run in with the news editor of the Kilburn Times, will be Dawn Butler's election agent for the 2015 General Election.

Brent Council reports one third increase in rough sleepers in borough

Guest blog by Scott Bartle
 

In a report to the executive dated 16/06/2014 Adam Salmon, Street Population Coordinator and Andy Donald, Strategic Director for Regeneration and Growth report an increase of a third in verified rough sleepers recorded in Brent for the year 2013/14. Salmon & Donald report that whilst the national average increase in the number of rough sleepers is 23% with a London average increase of 43% Brent’s increase was nearer 500%. Salmon & Donald go on to report that Brent has not traditionally had high numbers of people ‘living on the street’ but put the increasing trend down to the impact of the recession and welfare reform.

The impact of Welfare reform and implementation of the Bedroom Tax on homelessness is something that the charity Crisis warned about in May 2013. It was reported by Randeep Ramesh, social affairs editor of the Guardian that Leslie Morphy chief executive of Crisis said: 

Without enough one-bedroom homes to move into, tens of thousands are powerless to avoid the anxiety, debt and arrears caused by the bedroom tax. Our fear is that many, through no fault of their own, will in the end become homeless as a direct result of government policy. Ministers must accept these facts and rethink the bedroom tax now.

The Green Party has been united in its opposition to evictions due to the bedroom tax. Councillor Liz Wakefield of Brighton described the bedroom tax as ‘yet more immoral and harmful legislation from a morality-free coalition government’.

Whilst Caroline Lucas MP told parliament that: 

The bedroom tax is a cruel and counterproductive measure from a Government that is intent on punishing the poor.  There is no evidence that all this will save the Government money, but what it will do is lead to mass evictions and homelessness, and all the related problems that brings to our communities.

Despite this, Brent Council’s Labour Executive pressed on and when Councillor Janice Long, now representing Dudden Hill ward, made the eviction threat via the Brent and Kilburn Times in March 2013 it is clear that they meant it. During the local elections Brent Labour announced that their ‘Manifesto is their contract’ and it is signed by our Labour Councillors. They promised ‘better backing to get through tough times’, ‘better care for our most vulnerable residents’ and ‘better connected communities’. Unless they recognise how immoral and harmful this policy is to people experiencing financial hardship and stop the evictions, they’ve already broken their promises. 

Brent Green Party has campaigned consistently against the Bedroom Tax and will continue to oppose evictions of tenants who have defaulted on rent payments because of this unfair tax.

 

References

1)      Salmon & Donald (2014) Authority to tender a contract for Rough Sleepers Outreach and Housing Advice and Resettlement Service. Brent Council. http://democracy.brent.gov.uk/documents/s24259/rg-rough-sleeping.pdf

2)      Ramesh, R. (2013) Bedroom tax ‘could make thousands of poor people homeless’ http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/may/27/bedroom-tax-poor-homeless

3)      Brighton Greens (2013) Greens say no to Bedroom Tax  Evictions http://www.brightonhovegreens.org/news/greens-say-no-to-bedroom-tax-evictions.html

4)      Walker, M. (2013) Eviction threat for brent residents hit by bedroom tax. Brent & Kilburn Times. http://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/eviction_threat_for_brent_residents_hit_by_bedroom_tax_1_1993763

5)      Brent Labour (2014) Manifesto. http://www.brentlabour.co.uk/manifesto_2014

Labour's Brent Central ups and downs

I'm a little behind with the Brent Central Labour nominations as busy burning my bridges - or at least my energy bills, yesterday.

The hot news, or the news causing some heat, is that Janice Long ordered a recount at Harlesden after Zaffar van Kalwala lost to Bobby Thomas by only one vote. Following the recount she awarded the male nomination to Zaffar.

Meanwhile Dollis Hill ward nominated  Dawn Butler as the female candidate and Liaquat Ali as the male. Word is that this result also had a one vote margin, while there are rumours of a recount at Willesden Green.(See comments)

The position so far (subject to recounts):
.

Ward	Female nomination	Male Nomination
Tokyngton	Dawn Butler	Zaffar Van Kalwala
Stonebridge	Butler	Kalwala
Harlesden	Butler	Kalwala
Willesden Green	Sabina Khan	Imran Ahmed
Kensal Green	Khan	Parmijit Dhanda
Dollis Hill	Butler	Liaquat Ali
Mapesbury (Nov 6th)
Dudden Hill (Nov 7th)
Welsh Harp (Nov 7th)

The Stunner slips out of Brent. Mission accomplished?

Jack 'The Hair!' Stenner, Muhammed Butt's political adviser, is off to pastures new. Stenner has been busy since he left university in 2009 working for the Yes To Fairer Votes campaign, joining Ed Miliband's leadership campaign team, working for Barry Gardiner as Communications and Campaign Officer and managing Labour's Brent North General Election campaign. His association with Gardiner led him to become Director of Labour Friends of India.

Stenner became Muhammed Butt's political adviser, heading up the Leader's Office, just a month after Butt ousted Ann John as leader in May 2012.

His job appeared to be to remove Brent Labour's toxic image after the library closures under the Ann John administration which caused concern in senior Labour circles nationally.  A new approach was developed which promised dialogue with the community and  campaign groups but with the Labour Group committed to a 'No ifs, no buts; we must make cuts!' position very little actually changed except the mood music.

Butt, who is not a great public speaker, began,  as a result of Stenner's role as both minder and mentor, to make more coherent set piece speeches, although these were often derailed when he lost his cool during opposition interventions. Labour's public relations was improved by the appointment of James Denselow to head up communications for the party.

The group around Ann John, which included some experienced Executive members, continued to be a threat as Butt had only won by the narrowest of margins. In early 2013 there was a flurry of activity as Stenner found himself in a central role in Brent's version of the Thick of It as the John faction appeared to be ready to move a vote of no confidence in Butt's leadership. This failed to materialise when it became clear the votes didn't add up and instead an anodyne motion committing the factions to be nice to each other was adopted.

By the time of the May 2013 Annual General Meeting of the Labour Group plans were well advanced for a number of challenges to some of the Executive and Cllr James Powney, deeply unpopular over library closures was defeated along with Janice Long, Lesley Jones and Mary Arnold. A very new, but ambitious councillor, Michael Pavey joined the Executive along with Roxanne Mashari and James Denselow.

Perhaps rather insensitively this was spun to the local press as the victory of the young, dynamic, energetic and talented, perhaps by a young, dynamic, energetic and talented political adviser!

Some further tidying up is nearly complete over Labour candidates for the 2014 local elections and of course the selection, from an extremely crowded field, of a Labour candidate for Brent Central has still to take place, but Jack Stenner will perhaps be leaving Brent claiming 'mission accomplished'.

If that mission was to make Brent Labour more electable, and to bury the Ann John toxic waste so deep underground that the public will forget about it, we will only be able to judge in May 2014.

Meanwhile Barry Gardiner may well be feeling rather contented with what The Stunner has accomplished.

New look for Brent Council Executive after AGM

Muhammed Butt was elected leader of the Labour Group on Brent Council unopposed today at the AGM. Contenders for the various contested positions were all elected changing the age profile and ethnic composition of the Executive to younger and more diverse.
 

Cllr Powney was defeated by Roxanne Mashari for Environment and Neighbourhoods;  Lesley Jones by James Denselow for Customers and Citizens; Janice Long by Margaret McLennan for Housing and Mary Arnold by Michael Pavey for Children and Families.

Aslam Choudry took the Crime and Public Safety post defeating Wilhelmina Mitchell-Murray for the position vacated by Lincoln Beswick.

The first meeting of the new Executive will be on Monday May 20th 7pm Brent Town Hall.  The agenda can be found HERE

Margaret McLennan - Housing

Roxanne Mashari - Environment

James Denselow - Customers

Michael Pavey - Children

Aslam Choudry-Crime

Cllr Revd Clues must resign after attending only one meeting in 6 months

Rev David Cues, Liberal Democrat councillor for Dudden Hill, now resident in Brighton, has attended just one council meeting or committee in the last six months out of eight that he was supposed to attend.

Councillor Gavin Sneddon, another Liberal Democrat, who has also moved out of the borough -  albeit not so far, attended 5 out of 8 meetings.

The best attender was Cllr Pat Harrison (Labour) with 19 out of 19, closely followed by Cllr Lesley Jones (18/18) and Cllr Janice Long (17/17).

Former Labour leader Ann John managed only 8 out of 13 meetings. However Pat Harrison attended 19/19 with one extra meeting, closely followed by Lesley Jones 18/18 and Janice Long 17/17. Ketan Sheth appears to have over-stretched himself managing only 16 of 3 expected attendances.

Liberal Democrats Paul Lorber and Barry Cheese both attended 8 additional meetings out of personal interest or to represent their constituents.

Obviously the number of meetings is not necessarily a guide to how effective a councillor is. If they sit there like a bag of potatoes and make no contribution except to rubber stamp decisions and do little case work they are not doing a good job.

However, Clues' 12.5% attendance rate is an insult to democracy and a betrayal of the electorate, and must reinforce the call from Brent Green Party that he should resign with still a year to go before the next council election.

Full attendance details for all councillors can be found HERE

Organising to develop a strategy on the housing crisis

With the Bedroom Tax protests at the weekend and publicity over the benefit changes, the press, TV and radio have at last woken up to the issues involved.

On Tuesday April 9th there will be a meeting in Brent to discuss next steps in a  local housing campaign. A report of the inaugural meeting follows:

Around 25 people attended the initial Housing Strategy meeting called by Brent Fightback, on Tuesday 19th March at the Brent Mencap offices in Willesden.

Attendees included the lead member for Housing for Brent Council, the Somali Advice Centre, the Counihan Family Housing campaign, Mencap campaigners, a tenants representative, a housing worker, and a high school teacher concerned about the cases arising at her school. Apologies were received from the Brent Law Centre and the Brent Private Tenants Rights Group and from some who attended the Health Scrutiny Committee.

It was a constructive and serious meeting, with information and experiences shared about the current situation and the general background to housing in Brent. Potential strategies and targets for campaigning were discussed, including:

GLA powers to set Rent Caps; advice and signposting training; "Bedroom Tax" strategies; the Right to Buy discounting; helping residents speak out and organise; mutual exchanges on properties; resisting evictions; linking up with other campaigners.

Janice Long, lead member for Housing has agreed to provide current local information of how changes are expected to affect people locally.

We agreed a next meeting time: 7pm, Tuesday 9th April, Brent Mencap offices, 379-381 High Road, Willesden. We will consider the actions that were suggested at the intial meeting and any further priorities, and estabish the name and aims of a local housing campaign.

Please forward widely.

Robin Sivapalan robsivapalan@hotmail.com 07974 331 053
Ken Montague kenmontague@msn.com