LETTER: Cllr Mashari responds to SKPPRA letter

 

Dear Editor

 

As many people will know, I continue to suffer with long Covid after having been infected with Covid 19 twice in 2021. I became very ill at the end of last year and correspondence during my illness at this time may have been missed. It may have been more helpful (and kinder) if Mr Rushe had chosen to enquire about the status of his response with me upon my phased return to work rather than deciding on this course of action, which could run the risk of being perceived as a partisan move so close to the local elections. 

The allegations and tone of Mr Rushe’s letter attempt to undermine and erase the significant personal and professional investment I put in to listening to library campaigners and working with them to find a way for the libraries to stay open- efforts which could be verified by those involved with the campaigns at the time. I have always acted with integrity and heartfelt solidarity in my dealings with each of the community library campaigns in Brent. 

I stood against the then cabinet member with responsibility for libraries, Cllr James Powney, in an internal election precisely because I believed that the council needed to change its direction and take a more collaborative approach to working with communities impacted by the library closures. Upon my election as cabinet member I met with all library campaign groups face to face and worked tirelessly alongside them to secure the conditions for successful volunteer-led community libraries. I will not take credit for the fantastic and exhausting work so many inspiring community activists have undertaken to establish community libraries but I believe most of the library campaigns would agree that my taking over as cabinet member at the time changed the tone between campaigners and the council and that I played a not insignificant role in the journeys of the community libraries. I was also responsible for initiating the Councils’ first ever Community Asset Transfer strategy to ensure local residents could have much more democratic choice and ownership over the fate of public buildings.

I am sorry that Mr Rushe (who I understand does not represent the Preston Community Library group or speak on their behalf) is frustrated by the actions of the council but it is unreasonable to attempt to lay blame personally at my door for these frustrations. 

I am not able to comment on discussions between the cabinet and library campaigners since I resigned from the cabinet, and have not been privy to all communication and discussions between both parties. I am also not able to comment on what circumstances and events may or may not have legitimately changed or come to light since my own discussions with the Preston Library campaign all those years ago.

What I do know is that the Preston Community Library group will be moving into their brand new library premises in April 2023 and are currently in discussions with the Council on the layout and fittings of the building. Brent Council has also provided a temporary home to the community library free of charge at Ashley Gardens. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate and personally thank the Preston Community Library Campaign for coming so far and for successfully securing a space for the community library in the face of savage local authority cuts from central government, which ultimately have been the root cause of library closures right across the UK.

I hope this assists in providing a more accurate record and context of my personal involvement with the library campaigns in Brent and I look forward to the new community library opening early next year. 

Cllr Roxanne Mashari

 

Preston Library wins 3 month licence extension and Council community library strategy

 Statement by Cllr Butt  (Leader) & submissions by Cllrs Harrison, Hossain & Warren*



Submissions by Michael Rushe & Philip Bromberg, statements by Cllr Pavey & Cllr Southwood*
 


Cabinet discussion and decision

Brent Cabinet agreed to a 3 month extension of Preston Community Library's licence tonight to enable the Council to formulate a Community Library Strategy which would cover all Brent community libraries. The situation will be reviewed in January 2017.

The Cabinet was addressed by Michael Rushe of SKPPRA and Philip Bromberg of Preston Community Library. They presented a closely argued evidence based case for the continuation of the library and for rejection of the officers' report.

Cllrs Harrison and Hossain, Preston ward councillors, spoke on behalf of the library with Harrison calling for the Council to keep its promises to the Preston volunteers. Hossain spoke of the library's key role in facilitating a place for the area's diverse community to meet and socialise.

Cllr Pavey, lead member for Stronger Communities and Libraries rejected the report's terminology of a 'pop up library' to describe Preston Community Hub.  The bookcase at Willesden Green station was a 'pop up' - Preston with its shelves of books, classes and cinema was much more than that. He argued for the primacy of social value in any procurement process rather than financial value. The financial equivalent of the volunteers' efforts should be included in a calculation of social value. Pavey suggested that in any design for the new building the library space shoudl come first and the flats second.

Cllr Muhammed Butt said that the group, if it got part of the redeveloped building, would  not be expected to pay the £51,000 commercial rent mentioned in the officers' report but he did not specify a peppercorn rent either.

He emphasised that he did not want to be in a conflict situation with the volunteer libraries but wanted to work with them. The libraries complemented the six Brent Council libraries and did not replace them.

During the discussion it was clarified that the report granted the Council permission to start a dialogue with the owner of the garage neighbouring the site about possible purchase to develop the garage's corner plot alongside the library. No approach had been made as yet.

There was a cautionary note from Gail Tolley, Strategic Director for Chldren and Families. She said that although the possible provision of a Primary Pupil Referral Unit on the library site was being dealt with separately and there were enough spaces for Reception pupils in the area, the Council were still getting 'in year' demand from families moving into the area from other parts of London, the UK or elsewhere. There was particular pressure on Years 3 and 4. There was no way of predicting the numbers or age groups of children who would arrive between now and next July.  More would be known by the end of the 3 month period,  in terms of the possible use of the site for bulge classes for those children,  but beyond that was still unpredictable.

* Video date should be September 13th NOT August 13th. The hottest September day for a century got me confused!