Wembley By-election: lowest poll on shortest day?

Despite being a sunny and mild day, polling was very slow in the Wembley by-election today. By mid-afternoon a quick tour of polling stations indicated we will be lucky to see a turnout of over 25%. Some observers suggested that early darkness on the winter solstice may make people reluctant to leave their homes to vote this evening.

Different views in Wembley Central today

Rubbish in London Road that Labour councillors and canvassers walked past today

A front garden today, a rare sight amongst the 'car parks with houses attached'

I bumped into about 10 Labour party canvassers in London Road today who had just walked past a prime example (above) of the impact of Brent's waste management cuts. We were all out and about canvassing for the Wembley Central by-election to be held on December 22nd.

Afifa Pervez (Lib Dem) is campaigning on car parking charges and Madhuri Davda (Conservative) is calling for the end of traffic calming measures which deliberately 'slow down traffic', 'unnecessary bus lanes' and narrowing of the main roads. Both ignore the root of the problem which is that we have too many cars on our roads. Front gardens are paved over with two or more cars per household. Pervez claims that local people need their cars to get to work, take their children to school and do their shopping while Davda claims 'as Wembley's population grows, this problem will only get worse'. Of course it will if everyone of an age to drive insists on having their own cars and parents insist on driving their children to school rather than (horrors!) walking, or (even more horrifying!) using a bus.

There is something pretty illogical about assuming unblocked roads would make things easier if the driving population increases - not to mention longer bus journeys when buses lose priority, which would force people back into cars, and increased traffic placing children in danger from speeding vehicles on 'unblocked roads'. Then of course there is the increased air pollution from all those vehicles.

I support 20mph limits in built up areas and increased investment in public transport to get people out of their cars. Good local schools would reduce the need for all those school runs. While we are at it let's have some controls over the paving over of front gardens - our local streets are becoming nothing more than car parks with houses attached.

The Lib Dem's 'Focus' By-election newspaper states 'Wembley campaigner Afifa Pervez is leading the campaign to save Brent libraries'. Well, no. The Brent SOS Library Campaign is a non-party campaign made up of non-affiliated residents and some who are members of Labour, Green, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties. It is not owned by an political party and Pervez does not lead it.  Davda is also campaigning for the libraries but neither mention the fact that it is Coalition cuts to local government funding that has led to Brent Council's cuts.

Which brings us to Krupa Sheth, the Labour candidate who is in the unenviable position of having to defend Labour's cuts. Abracadabra - she copes with the problem in a twinkling by ignoring what the Labour Council has been doing. Instead she assures us that she 'believes in our local schools' but doesn't tell us that her parents believed in them so much they sent her to the private, fee-paying Swaminarayan School. She goes on to say that she will fight the government's 'unfair' cuts to 'Brent's schools, hospitals, police and more'. Well the Labour Council hasn't made much of a fist of that so far.

I go back to basic position: the Tory and Lib Dem candidates deserve no respect if they do not acknowledge that their Coalition government is responsible for the massive reduction in local government budgets as well as abolition of the Education Maintenance Allowance, cutting of the  Building Schools for the Future programme which affect our children;s education and the potentially devastating consequences early next year of the Housing Benefit cap which will see many of our families made homeless. Standing up for the rights of motorists seems at the very least 'inadequate' in those circumstances.

And Labour has to be honest. They have to admit that they have been forced to do the Coalition's dirty work and that Brent Council cuts are going to hurt people and damage life chances. No more hiding behind euphemisms such as 'transformation' and 'efficiencies'. There appears to be no appetite amongst Labour councillors for a united fight, alongside the community, for justice for the people of Brent but that is what would bring them back some respect.

LIB DEM 'POLICY FREE' ELECTION VICTORY

The 'Tory Car' parked outside Ealing Road Library polling station

The many expressions of support on the street and the doorstep for our Green campaign in the Wembley Central by-election failed to be translated into actual votes at the polling booth and we came fifth in the poll.

During polling day supporters of the other parties had predicted we would do well and one said that their canvassers had indicated that when people said they were voting Green this support was firm and positive, rather than a protest vote.

We will be reflecting on lessons to be learnt over the next few days but it seems clear that many people saw this election as a fight between the three main parties, and especially between the Lib Dems and Labour. Although there was a low poll of 30%, almost one fifth of the votes cast were postal votes.

The Lib Dem campaign was intensive in terms of both person power and the amount of literature produced. I lost count of the number of leaflets they produced and these were supplemented by two personally addressed letters to each household. The first was delivered in a business type envelope and was a letter of support for the Lib Dem candidate from Sarah Teather MP. The second was a photocopied, apparently hand-written, letter from the candidate on pale blue paper delivered in a matching pale blue hand-addressed envelope.

Their actual literature was almost 'policy free' and concentrated on attacks on Labour with particular emphasis on Gordon Brown, local Labour MP's second homes and the threat of higher council taxes under Labour. Amazingly they were relatively untainted by the scandal of the jailing of their former Lib Dem colleague which gave rise to the vacancy. This was helped by the fact that the Lib Dem group ejected him when the charges of fraud were first raised and he subsequently sat as an Independent. It is interesting that the public seemed more tolerant of fraud against a private company than misuse of taxpayers' money by MPs. Although some voters complained to me that they they were fed up with receiving a Lib Dem leaflet every other day the sheer volume of material ensure a high profile for the Lib Dems and they were successful in getting posters displayed in many homes and gardens giving the impression of wide support.

The Labour campaign seemed to have fewer people involved and circulated less literature. One Lib Dem remarked that the party did not seem very committed to the campaign but that certainly wasn't true of their candidate who was keen and enthusiastic. An early Labour leaflet which included a mock-up of ex-Lib Dem councillor Vijay Shah behind bars, and listed other Lib Dem councillors who had resigned for various reasons, was rejected as distasteful by some voters. Labour leaflets accused the Lib Dems of reneging on their promise not to increase Council Tax.

The Conservatives were very active on polling day itself. They produced glossy full colour leaflets which had vague promises about 'improving Wembley' but were strong, as befits a family that employs 100 local drivers in their car firm, on the rights of motorists but also highlighted congestion on Ealing Road.

The garrulous Independent, who had previously stood for Motorists and Residents, used his long-established local contacts well and ran a populist campaign against tower blocks and council tax increases and for a shopping centre and the handing back of the Copland playing field to local people.

Our campaign focused on positive policies on climate change, housing, work, schools and consultation and eschewed attacks on the other parties. The ward is not 'natural' Green territory, which was brought home to be when I had to squeeze between several gas guzzlers park in paved over front garden to deliver leaflets, but I thought that the social justice aspects of our policies would resonate with voters in some economically disadvantaged areas of the ward. Unfortunately, living as they do in short-term privately rented accommodation, they were less likely to be registered voters. Although we have a solid campaigning record in Wembley this has concentrated on aspects of the Wembley Masterplan and the Wembley Academy which are both outside the ward.

POLLING DAY ISSUES

There was camaraderie amongst tellers from the various parties and campaigns at polling stations in the face of public disenchantment with politics and absolutely horrible weather. However some issues did arise about a car festooned with Tory posters parked strategically outside Ealing Road Library and concern that some voters felt pressurised as they approached the polling portacabins. The latter was resolved by agreement that voters would only be approached for their polling card numbers after they had voted.

It would be helpful if guidelines were agreed about proper conduct of tellers and candidates at pollings stations and their environs and circulated and publicised before polling day to all involved. This would avoid any misunderstandings.

WEMBLEY RE-THINK NEEDED

Some of you may have seen the five page Wembley Regeneration Special in the Willesden and Brent Times. The 'Special' reminded me of the old Soviet Weekly which used to extol the shining achievements of the regime, complete with impressive pictures and the words of the Great Leader.

In this case the words of the Great Leader are those of Cllr. Paul Lorber with contributions from the Quintain and St. Modwen developers all under the imprint of Brent Council, The Big Lunch and the Times. The headlines give a flavour: THE REGENERATION GAME, BOLD VISION FOR FUTURE (The Wembley Masterplan), SCORING GOALS FOR RESIDENTS AS DEVELOPMENT SPREADS WINGS (Wembley Masterplan), A NEW LANDMARK EVERYONE CAN BE PROUD OF (proposed Civic Centre), ACTION STATIONS AT WEMBLEY CENTRAL (the St.Modwen development at Central Square). Anyone reading this would not realise that every one of these developments has been contested by residents, the Green Party and in the case of the Wembley Masterplan, the Labour Party.

Publication in the middle of the Wembley by-election, when these issues are being hotly debated, is questionable to say the least.

The Willesden and Brent Times stable has always had my respect for being fiercely independent of the council. It is unclear whether this is 'paid for content' and thus not under the paper's editorial control or actually reflects the paper's views.

However, it is clear that we need to look again at the plans for Wembley High Road in the light of the recession, the changes in the Copland proposals following the dropping of plans for a tower block, and the impact of the Civic Centre.

Many Brent council buildings will be replaced by the Civic Centre including Elizabeth House, Brent House, Brent House Annex, Mahatma Gandhi House and Chesterfield House. There is already much vacant office accommodation to let in Wembley High Road and nearby streets, including Lanmor House, Dorland House, 390-400 High Road, Valliant House and some of Madison House. Empty office accommodation, like Unisys House at Stonebridge, will lead to neglect and dereliction with an adverse effect on the High Road.

We need to re-open consultation on the future of the High Road and its vicinity and address the controversial issue of high rise developments in the area. Future plans should have the support and consent of local people and actually improve the area in which they live.

The above is based on a 'Soapbox' I gave at Wembley Area Consultative Forum on July 21st.