In Brent Labour wants you to forget about the closure of half the borough's libraries, the cuts in street cleaning, the failure to secure affordable housing in new developments, the summonsing of thousand of needy residents for non-payment of council taxes, their failure to support Gladstone Park Primary School and Copland Community School against forced academisation - and much else.
Lib Dems locally shrug off any responsibility for the Coalition cuts in local authority funding that have deprived Brent of cash and, with a few honourable exceptions, have failed to mount an effective opposition to the Labour adminstration. The Conservatives locally are confused and barely exist on the ground.
It is time to get fresh voices and fresh approaches on Brent Council. This is what the Greens stand for:
Safeguarding local services
Brent has already lost millions in funding under the Coalition. The
2015-2016 Brent budget is likely to require cuts that will cause untold
damage to the local population. The Green Party is anti-austerity and
pro-social justice and so opposed to the Coalition’s attack on the poor
and vulnerable. We will oppose any such cuts.
Accountability and Transparency Many
residents have experienced being ignored, bulldozed or mislead by Brent
Council. We will make sure the Council is accountable for its actions
and transparent in its dealings with the public. We’ve signed up to Keep
Willesden Green’s pledge to submit ourselves, if elected, to recall by
51% of the votes cast in a ward at this election.
Climate Change
Greens are working at a national and international level to combat
climate change. We will also press for local action including,
encouragement of green jobs through a Brent Green Industries zone with
start-up subsidies, a programme of energy efficiency in council and BHP
properties including double glazing, insulation and solar panels and a
pilot Low Carbon Zone.
Clean Air Air
pollution is not just an irritant, but an unseen killer, strongly
linked to asthma, lung cancer and cardiovascular illness. Over 4000
Londoners die early each year as a result of it. We
will work with Green Assembly members for action at the London level to
tackle high polluting vehicles and reduce dependency on cars. Locally
we support the London Cycling Campaign’s ‘Space for Cycling’ initiative,
will press for better public transport to reduce car use, especially
the ‘school run’, and encourage a diversity of shops in our local high
streets to encourage ‘walkable’ local shopping.
Housing
We will support local developments on viable brown field sites that
include at least 50% genuinely affordable housing and that are
accompanied by infrastructure improvements including health and
education facilities to support the additional population. We will press
for the urgent delivery of the delayed family housing in the Wembley
Quintain development. We will oppose evictions of tenants who have
defaulted on rent payments because of the unfair bedroom tax.
Education We
would strengthen the role of the local authority and its accountability
in terms of school improvement and Special Educational Needs provision
and campaign for it to be able to build new schools where needed, rather
than rely on the costly and undemocratic free schools and academies. We
will support the emerging collaborative arrangements between schools
that aim to improve the quality of teaching and learning across the
borough.
Green Spaces Brent’s
increasing population makes green and urban open space even more
important and extreme weather requires flood management for Brent’s
streams and rivers. We will defend those green open spaces where they
exist and insist on their sustainable maintenance as well as supporting
the creation of new pocket parks and town squares. New developments will
be required to provide play spaces for children and growing spaces for
residents. The new Chalkhill Park has shown what a major impact a green
space can make on a community both environmentally and in terms of
bringing a community together.
Libraries We will press for restoration of accessible local libraries across the borough.
