A tale of 'Towerblock Tatler' and 'Taylor's Towers' as Shama Tatler makes bid to become Labour parliamentary candidate for Watford

 

As mentioned by Wembley Matters on May 1st LINK Shama Tatler has her eyes on becoming Labour's parliamentary candidate for Watford and so did not stand for the deputy leader of Brent Council's Labour Group.

Today she launched her campaign for the nomination  on twitter with links to a pretty slick campaign website LINK and announced backers including David Lammy MP.

She will find herself in the strange situation where she will be standing for a local Labour Party that has campaigned against the Liberal Democrat Watford Mayor on the basis of the building of tower blocks in the area. They even call them 'Taylor's Towers'.  In Brent of course in her role as Lead Member for Regeneration Shama Tatler has strongly supported the building of tower blocks in Alperton, Wembley, Stonebridge and South Kilburn earning herself the nickname  'Towerblock Tatler.' 

These are examples of the Labour campaign in Watford:

 The image is hard to read so this is it says:

• The Liberal Democrats have taken their eyes off the ball here in Watford and have spectacularly failed to reduce the housing targets for our town.
• They shamelessly blame everyone else for their disastrous decisions which are all of their own making. They've allowed these towers
• UNLIKE neighbouring Three Rivers Council, the Lib Dems here have failed to bring in policies that prevent high developments, but we get more and more Taylor's Towers springing up here, there and everywhere.
• The Liberal Democrat's biggest failure yet is a 24 storey tower block. That's just the start if they get in again. They'll be yet more and more ever higher and higher 'Taylor's Towers.

IS THAT WHAT YOU REALLY WANT?

  You can have some fun substituting Labour for Liberal Democrats, and Brent for Watford and Tatler's Towers for Taylor's Towers and see if it makes sense.

 It will be an interesting selection meeting.  Perhaps they should invite Peter Taylor to be a guest panellist?

On her website Cllr Tatler highlights her 6 years' experience as Cabinet member for Regeneration, Property and Planning and includes an image of South Kilburn but not any tower blocks...

 

 

Many allotments likely to be at risk after Farm Terrace court judgment

Goodbye Farm Terrace

A four year battle LINK to save the Farm Lane allotments in Watford from development ended last week when a judge found against the campaigners. BBC London News showed an 80 year old man weeping in despair at the loss of his beloved allotments.

As campaigner Sara-Jane Trebar explains below the judgment that said that 'exceptional circumstances'  allowed the Borough Council to take over the site, could have wider implications for allotment holders across the country:

Unfortunately our fight to save our allotment site and protect others has ended.

We the Farm Terrace allotment holders are bitterly disappointed that the Judge did not find for our case against the government and Watford Borough Council.

This has been a very long, very emotional battle for us. We feel that at very stage where we have won the rules have been changed to make it increasingly difficult for us. 

This judgement is in our view, is a developers charter for development on any allotment site and could wipe out urban allotments forever. We are extremely worried about the ramifications of this case for all allotments. We still believe that the remits of ‘Exceptional Circumstances’ have still not been clarified nor explained. If there is no bench mark for what is an exceptional circumstance. We feel the term can and will be applied to get rid of many other plots and sites.

There is evidence almost weekly of sites losing land to development or like us losing their whole site.

We are very frightened about the future of urban allotments, unfortunately as our case has shown, they can now be offered as a ‘blank cheque’ to cash hungry developers and councils. Farm Terrace plots are and always have been in demand. This point was not questioned in court and yet permission to dispose of it was given. Watford Borough council have now been given the opportunity to do whatever they want with this land, be it a car park, expensive housing or yet more flats.

After consulting with our loyal legal team, we have come to the very difficult decision not to appeal against this decision. This is the end of the road for us. We have got to give up the keys to Farm terrace on Friday the 4th. Give up keys to plots that are still being worked, still growing fruit and vegetables and still very much loved so that bulldozers can move in. Needless to say it is heartbreaking. 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our supporters near and far and of course our prestigious legal team, who could not have worked harder for us or for the protection of all allotments. We now leave the defence and protection on England’s Allotment sites to the National Allotment Society who we hope will work hard to safeguard other sites.

We could not be prouder of ourselves and our supporters who have battled so tirelessly against this immoral and illogical act. We feel we have done ourselves proud. It is a very sad day for everyone involved.

We would like to thank everyone at the National Allotment Society who have supported us over the past 4 years, particularly allotment holders and sites up and down the country. We also now leave the Society to take forward the issues raised in the judgement for the sake of all allotment sites in the country.

I have now closed donations to the gofundme account.

We would like to thank all those who donated to our crowd funding site, no matter how little or large an amount you helped us take this fight as far as we could and we remain thankful for that opportunity.

Judge rules Brent Council Employment Tribunal Appeal has 'no reasonable prospect of success'

In a letter sent to Brent Council Legal Services on December 4th, the Employment Appeal Tribunal rules that all grounds of Brent Council's appeal against the Watford Tribunal have 'no reasonable prospect of success'.

The Watford Tribunal had found that Brent Council had discriminated against Rosemarie Clarke on grounds of race, victimised her and constructively dismissed her. Controversially the Council decided to appeal and take no action against the personnel involved.

On the Watford Tribunal Judgment, the Honourable Justice Lewis finds that Brent's Notice of Appeal 'discloses no reasonable grounds for bringing the appeal':

This is a carefully reasoned and thorough analysis by the employment tribunal. The tribunal set out the relevant law, made its findings of fact and reached conclusions open to it on the evidence before it.

He finds no reasonable grounds for the appeal against the finding of victimisation. On the race issue and the finding that Rosemarie Clarke was treated differently to a white male he states:

...the tribunal found that there was a material difference, no adequate explanation of the differential treatment had been given and inferred that the reason for the differential treatment was race. The reasons are clear and disclose no error of law.

On constructive dismissal although he found an incorrect reference to the Council pursuing the claimant during a period of sickness Judge Lewis finds that was not the basis of the finding ands states that the tribunal was entitled to reach the additional conclusion that there was a cumulative course of events amounting to a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence.

Technically the respondents could seek leave from the Court of Appeal to appeal Judge Lewis's decision but this would involve more expenditure of council taxpayers' money when the Council is implementing massive cuts to services.

The Remedies Direction hearing, when the amount of compensation is decided, is scheduled for December 22nd, 2014.

Meanwhile Cara Davani and the Human Resources Department, named in the original Judgment, are engaged in the restructuring of the senior management team of the Council and will be implementing cuts in staffing, including 40% reduction in central staffing, as a consequence of the 2015-17 budget.

It is difficult to see how staff can have confidence that this will be done fairly in the light of the above.

The Council has refused an independent investigation into the working practises of the Human Resources Department and the Corporate Management Team and instead set up an narrow internal investigation by Deputy leader Cllr Michael Pavey.

I have recently been contacted by ex-council employees who think that their testimony should be heard although some are subject to so-called 'gagging clauses'. 

Brondesbury Conservatives have joined others including Brent Green Party, Brent Trades Council and Brent Against Racism Campaign in calling for an independent inquiry.

They have tabled the following motion for Full Council on Monday stating:

This Council notes the loss of a recent high profile Industrial Tribunal case involving a Brent staff member.

This Council agrees the following:

1.To regret appealing this Tribunal decision.

2. To terminate with immediate effect the Cllr. Pavey- led inquiry into issues resulting from this case.

3. To recognise the importance of transparency and the need to improve morale amongst Brent staff by holding an independent inquiry.....details to be agreed by Council party leaders.

4.To reinforce our support for the Brent staff code of conduct,notably" provide a working environment that is free from any form of discrimination,unfair treatment,bullying or harassment"

5.To note the irony of Brent holding an anti- bullying week between 17 and 21 November.

Round 1 allotments victory: that's the way the Pickles squirt!

The Farm Terrace allotment campaign was celebrating this weekend after Eric Pickles was forced to admit his department had made a legal error when approving Watford town council's plans to build on the site. His department failed to explain why it had approved the decision despite the allotments still being in heavy demand.

The decision will now have to be reconsidered and although this may still eventually result in approval of the plans, the campaign to save the allotments is celebrating a 'Round 1' victory. Allotment holders had applied for a judicial review and raised more than £6,000 for a fighting fund through the GoFundMe LINK crwod funding site.

The news brought congratulatory messages from a wide spectrum of supporters with some hailing a victory for 'people power' and making connections with the Lewisham A&E Campaign and the campaign against the Bedroom Tax.

This is good news ahead of next week's National Allotments Week but a government report in 2011 revealed that 50,000 allotments had been lost in the previous 15 years.  Allotees will have to remain vigilant. Some councils have provided additional allotments in the face of growing demand recently and there have been schemes to provide temporary alloments on land awaiting development as well as in 'common areas' of  social housing estates. However pressures on sites will continue as developers seek new land for housing and retail development and hard-pressed councils look for a cash boost.

Brent Council recently advertised vacant plots at seven allotment sites but there are significant waiting lists at others.

Although I have not heard of any sites under threat currently, the new tenancy  agreement circulated to allotment tenants last week does include clauses giving Brent Council the right to terminate the tenancy at a minimum of 12 month's notice 'where the Council requires the Allotment for any purpose for which it was acquired by the Council...or has appropriated them to another purpose under any statutory provision, or if the Council requires the Allotment for building, mining or any other industrial purpose, or for roads or sewers necessary in connection with any of the aforementioned purposes...'

Spare a tenner for crucial challenge to government on allotments sell-off

I donated this morning to the Farm Terrace Allotments Fighting Fund. Here's why in the Campaign's own words:

Farm Terrace Allotment site Watford has existed since 1896. It stands in the centre of the hugely urbanized town of Watford. An oasis in an Urban Jungle. However we are in the middle of a bitter war with our council and central government who want to build housing on our site. This is becoming an epidemic, as more and more councils see selling off precious allotment sites as a way of generating cash. Since 2007 there have been 132 separate applications to close down allotments under section 8 of the 1925 Allotments Act. Out of these 132 applications 97% were approved (128 cases) and only 4 cases refused. Plot holders feel powerless to protest about these closures because the government have such power – until now.

Our case shows that the Secretary of State has not applied his policy lawfully and we are going to take legal action to prove it! If we win, not only will we save farm terrace but we will strike a blow for the protection of allotments all over England as it will make it much harder for them to be developed on! As far as we are aware no decision to close an allotment site has been legally challenged before and if won would be referred to in future allotment closure applications.

Leading counsel who specialises in public law has advised that the Secretary of State’s decision is unlawful! Following this advice we have decided to challenge his disturbing decision in court but to do this we desperately need your help.

We need to raise money quickly to prove that we can fund our case. The British Government knows this and as they have shown this by agreeing to the change of use of the land even though we met all the criteria to keep it as an allotment. They didn’t take us seriously then so let’s make them take notice of us now!

Please donate as much as you can, we believe that if all our supporters gave only £10.00 each we could reach our goal very quickly. We need to do this very soon or our window of opportunity to bring it to Judicial Review will close.

If we do not raise enough money to go ahead, or if we raise more money than we need, all donations will be divided between various charities and other environmental and allotment campaigns - which have yet to be decided, unless you indicate that you would prefer your donation to be returned to you when you donate. If you do ask for this, we will be in touch to return your donation should we not use it in pursuing this legal challenge.

The allotment movement came out of a belief that everyone should have the possibility to grow their own produce near to their homes. Historically allotments are intrinsically part of the British landscape and British tradition. We believe in democratic decisions, and allotments are still needed now, more than ever. If all allotment holders keep quiet and do not stand up and be counted alongside us it is our very real fear that allotments will, in the very near future, be assigned to the history books.

Please help Save Farm Terrace. Please help save ALL allotments.

DONATE HERE

Designated pubs for this weekend's football in Wembley

The Met Police have asked the Football Supporters Federation  to pass on information regarding the Championship and Champions League finals at Wembley on Saturday 25th and Monday 27th May. Pubs in the area of Wembley Stadium will be designated to specific sets of supporters. If you're travelling to Wembley check out the information below to avoid any pub-based confusion.

Watford/Borussia Dortmund have been given the east side of the stadium, those pubs include:

The Torch - 1-5 Bridge Road, Wembley, HA9 9AB
Crock of Gold - 23 Bridge Road, Wembley, HA9 9AB
Moore Spice - Wembley Retail Park, Unit 2, Engineers Way, HA9 0EH
Watkins Folly - 1 Empire Way, Wembley, HA9 0EW
Blue Check Café - 12-13 Empire Way, Wembley, HA9 0RQ
Alisan Bar - The Junction, Wembley Retail Park, Engineers Way, HA9 0EG
Crystal Club (Silverspoon) - South Way, Wembley
The Parish - 120 Wembley Park Drive, Wembley, HA9 8HP
First Class Sports Bar - 125 Wembley Park Drive, HA9 8HG
The Wembley Tavern - 121 Wembley Park Drive, HA9 8HG
Cheers Bar - 45 Blackbird Hill, NW9 8RS
 Crystal Palace/Bayern Munich have been given the west side of the stadium, those pubs include:

The Green Man - Dagmar Avenue, Wembley, HA9 8DF
Blue Room - 53 Wembley Hill Road, Wembley, HA9 8BE
JJ Moons - 397 High Road, Wembley, HA9 7DT
Thirsty Eddie’s - 412 High Road, Wembley, HA9 6AH
Flannery’s - 610 High Road, Wembley, HA0 2AF
Innisfree  - 30-32 Harrow Road, Wembley, HA9 6PG
Mannions - 313 Harrow Road, Wembley, HA9 6BA
The Copper Jug - 10 The Broadway, Wembley, HA9 8JU
Fusilier - 652 Harrow Road, Wembley, HA0 2HA
Powerleague - Olympic Way, Wembley
The Greyhound - 324 Harrow Road, Wembley HA9 6PG
Liquour Station - 379 High Road, Wembley, HA9 6AA

For updates - follow the Met's Football Unit on Twitter @MPSFootballUnit

Pitched battle for unique Watford allotments

Farm Terrace allotments in the summer

 In a battle that foreshadows many likely to take place in the future, allotment holders in  Watford are battling to save their allotment site. Earlier this month Lib Dems approved plans to build 600 houses on the site but the allotees have vowed to fight on.

The Farm Terrace allotments are close to the town centre and provide a green oasis and because of their unique terraced structure can be seen by the public.

The campaign has been supported by local Labour councillors and a petition launched on 38 Degrees: LINK

Campaign Website