LETTER: Transparency needed on Peppercorn Rents vs Market Rents for Brent Council properties

 Dear Editor,

Following widespread public interest and concern, including on Wembley Matters, regarding the impact of Brent Council's Strategy Review on the voluntary and community sector, I have written (below) to the  appropriate council officer:

I am writing in my capacity as a Councillor concerned about the potentially damaging impact of the new Property Strategy and it’s implementation on the Brent voluntary sector.

The Property Strategy agreed by Cabinet last week indicates that expired rents will be charged based on market values and that Section 25 Notices will be issued as part of the process to achieve this.

As you know your officers started issuing Section 25 Notices to a number of community organisations in Brent and you officers suggested a completely off the wall (some people may say off their heads) figures.

In the case of the East Lane Theatre Club in my Sudbury Ward a new rent of £75,000 Per year has been suggested.

I know of other organisations in Sudbury subject to the same Property Unit approach.

What assurance can you give that this approach will be applied consistently and that community organisations will be treated fairly and equally.

The Leader of the Council has suggested that “ELTC has been in the fortunate position of being able to have space since 1992 for the sun of £1,500 ….and I can assure you that there are many organisations past and present that would love to have been in that position of having had that space”.

He than also claims that “we must start at open market rents”.

He is clearly ignorant of the facts or has not bothered to find out or has not been briefed properly. As you know there a number of organisations in Brent - many occupying larger premises and since before 1992 - that do not pay any rent for properties which belong to Brent Council and for which the Council is the landlord.

As you know one of these properties is The Kiln Theatre (formerly Tricycle Theatre) with a much larger Theatre building of which Brent Council is the freeholder the rent for which is £1 peppercorn.

You have and should be able to publish the full list of all the Brent Council owned buildings where £1 or nominal rent is paid.

Is it the intention of the Corporate Property Policy to review all these subsidised rents too so as to put all  community organisations on the same basis or is it the intention to penalise some with a Market Rent while favouring others with no rent at all?

You will appreciate that will all look very odd to any independent observer who may question the fairness of an approach the aim of which seems to be to deprive long standing organisations of their premises while others continue to receive favoured treatment. 

Perhaps if the Cabinet were informed of this strange situation they may have asked some questions and perhaps even made a different decision.

Because of the public interest in this matter I am publishing this email and will also publish your response.

 

Cllr Paul Lorber

Brent Faces of Climate Change

 

 If you missed today's Climate Action Take Over at the Kiln Thetare in Kilburn I have posted the film that was shown above.

 

Kiln's 'A Friendly Society': Community Project or Exploitation?

Guest post by Anne Aktar

 

I've noticed that the Kiln theatre, which is subsidised by public money from Brent council, the lottery, arts council are paying to employ a writer and director to write a community play about Brent from stories from residents. 

They have a cast of 100 who are doing this for free. LINK

Where this may be construed as getting the community involved in the theatre and giving those an opportunity to work in a professional theatre, I do feel that if this is a professionally made production, it should warrant professional pay. 

I feel these free workers are being cynically exploited by the theatre who are not displaying a duty of care and explaining fully those getting involved about their working rights, including payment, and their intellectual property rights to any of their stories and should be paid accordingly. 

It's billed as a community project for the community, however, the writer and director being employed, do not live in the locality or the borough.  There are plenty of professional writers and directors locally and throughout the borough who appear to be overlooked. 

This sets an alarming precedent for a publicly funded professional theatre to encourage the use of free workers for a professionally made profit making production. 

 

There is already exploitation within the acting world where actors are expected to work for free and this can only lead to more professional theatres following suit. 

Acting is becoming a hobby for those from backgrounds who are financially secure and this only adds to exclusion. 

Unfortunately, I am socially excluded from maintaining my Equity union membership as I cannot afford the annual subscription, so am voiceless in the trade union movement. 

 

I had been a member since 1978, in the good old days of the closed shop. 

I'm experiencing financial destitution due to the fact that many productions that used to pay performers, no longer do so, promising exposure, as payment. 

 

 

Equity are running a campaign LINK:

Equity members are professionals: skilled individuals who bring their experience and their talent to every job. They deserve to be treated with the respect workers in other industries take as a given. They deserve decent pay. That's what Professionally Made Professionally Paid is fighting for.

Low and no pay is a major issue for many Equity members. Too often performers and creatives are expected to give their time and energy for free, exchanging hard work for 'exposure' or 'CV points'.

This particularly affects members at the start of their careers, and those without savings or economic support also find themselves priced out of the industry.

I encourage new methods of including people in the arts and I agree that people should be given a chance, especially those who cannot afford drama school fees. 

 

However, I do also feel that those taking part should be paid professional rates for this invaluable work experience, of which the fundamental aspect should include wage experience. 

As working class people, work is embedded in our DNA, it comes naturally. 

The main barrier to working class people sustaining a career in the arts is exploitative practices such as no pay. 

I have contacted Equity head office and the local branch and I'm reaching out to the wider trade union movement to make aware of this exploitation. 

As far as I'm aware, this is a professional production not aligned to Brent Borough of Culture 2020.

I do feel the general public should be made aware that they will be buying tickets to an exploitative production.

Candlelit vigil at the Kiln (Tricycle) Theatre's White Teeth first night

Production photo - White Teeth (Kiln Theatre)

Opponents of the change of name of the Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn are organising a candlelit vigil at Monday's first night of Zadie Smith's White Teeth LINK.

Martin Fisher of the It's our Tricycle Not Your Kiln campaign told Wembley Matters:

Out of respect for our local author, we decided on this rather than a noisy demo. 

To be clear, this campaign has no argument with the artistic direction of the theatre but we - and nearly all of the thousands of people we have encountered over 6 months - strongly object to the change of name. 

The Tricycle was loved locally and hugely admired abroad. The change and the high-handed manner of the Kiln has alienated a significant part of its former supporters and most of the local community.   

The vigil will begin at 6,15pm on Monday.

UPDATE: Don't trash the Trike! Petition set up following name change.

I have reported on the social media backlash over the rebranding of The Tricycle Theatre as The Kiln although the rebrand does have its supporters. For a full account of the change see LINK

Now John Duffy fighting Kilburn as an independent in the local election, has thrown his weight behind a petition calling for the retraction of the name change.

Duffy said:

I urge everybody from Kilburn and Brent to sign the petition below to ensure the Tricycle Theatre retains its name.

I have lived in Kilburn all my life and during that time the Tricycle Theatre has played a major role in the lives of  many Kilburn Residents.

I was on the board of the Tricycle in 1987 to help rebuild the theatre  following the fire in  1987 , which burn a large part of the Theatre to the ground. At the time it seemed like it  we would be unable to rebuilt the theatre, because of the lacking of funding. However with the help of the Arts Council and local residents we did. At the time I remember the fund raising slogan was the “ Tricycle has Risen from the Ashes'.

The name the Tricycle is important as a landmark for Kilburn, everybody knows “The Trike” I think the brand name of the Tricycle is a good brand  and the Theatre will always be known as “The trike” whatever whatever  the ad-men say.

The idea that marketing men , Brent Council and the board, can change tradition and history without any consultation with the residents is fundamentally wrong. Local residents pay for The Tricycle via Brent Council grants and should have a say in any name change.

The petition set up by the Brondesbury Next Door group can be signed HERE. As yet there is no rival petition supporting the name change.

The petition blurb says:

The name of the theatre and cinema that the local community has loyally supported for many years has been changed, without consultation, from ‘The Tricycle’ to ‘The Kiln’. The attempt at re-branding is unnecessary, costly and squanders the established reputation of The Tricycle. The loss of loyalty may lead to the theatre closing - already many local people have declared their intention to boycott it when it reopens. In addition the name ‘The Kiln’ has unfortunate associations to a fire in the eighties, when the theatre burned to the ground. Please support us by signing the petition for the name to be changed back to The Tricycle - It only takes a moment...

Whichever side of the debate is correct I can't help but think the name change has garnered much more publicity than a simple re-opening after refurbishment would have done. 

Clever?

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A FACEBOOK GROUP HAS NOW BEEN SET 'OUR TRICYCLE, NOT YOUR KILN' LINK

Kilburn's Tricycle goes potty

Indhu Rubasingham, Artistic Director of the Tricycle Theatre, , announced this morning that the well known and respected Tricycle Theatre, known affectionately as 'The Trike' by locals, has been renamed the Kiln Theatre. She said:

This is an opporunity for us to be really proud. A name can't do anything itself. It goes hand in hand with our ethos, or mission statement and our programme. This is the time to do different things.

The theatre has reopened its doors after an extensive refurbishment and fundriasing programme.

Kiln Theatre website HERE

UPDATE Friday April 13th

Since the announcement there has been much criticism of the change on social media.

A petition to reverse the name change can be found HERE