Neither the Kilburn Times nor the Wembley and Willesden Observer published a letter sent a few weeks ago on the issue of Veolia and the Brent Public Realm contract. In the light of the barring of discussion of a Lib Dem motion on the subject at the last Brent Council meeting and subsequent coverage in the Times of Israel LINK I publish the the letter below.
Despite a Freedom of Information request Brent Council have still not answered two of the three questions posed LINK They have confirmed that the three short-listed companies for the £250m 16 year contract are Veolia, Enterprise and Serco.
LETTER TO EDITOR Human rights and the public realm contract
Despite a Freedom of Information request Brent Council have still not answered two of the three questions posed LINK They have confirmed that the three short-listed companies for the £250m 16 year contract are Veolia, Enterprise and Serco.
LETTER TO EDITOR Human rights and the public realm contract
We
are writing to ask your readers to support our campaign to persuade
Brent Council to act to defend justice and human rights. The Council is
about to award a contract worth more than £250m over 16 years for the
collection and recycling of waste, street cleaning and parks
maintenance. This is money paid in general taxation and
council tax by Brent citizens that could go to a firm accused of grave
misconduct in its abuse of justice and human rights in the occupied
territories of Palestine.
Veolia, one of the bidders for the contract supports Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, which are illegal under international law, by:
- Sharing in the building and running of the Jerusalem Light Railway between West Jerusalem and the illegal settlement in Pisgat Zeev.
- Running bus routes that link illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank to Israel and that discriminates against Palestinians.
- Owning and operating the Tovlan landfill site that dumps rubbish from Israel and its illegal settlements on to Palestinian land.
We
have presented legal evidence on these issues to Brent Council in a
campaign to persuade them to exclude Veolia from the current procurement
on the grounds of its ‘grave misconduct’.
This
included a statement from Richard Falk of the UN which said: “Veolia is
an inappropriate partner for any public institution, especially as a
provider of public services.”
However,
Brent Council has gone ahead and short-listed Veolia, along with Serco
and Enterprise for the contract. Council officers have refused to answer
our questions on the procurement process the most important of which
are:
1. Why did you decide not to exercise your discretionary power to exclude Veolia?
2. What legal or other advice led you to this decision?
3. Have the allegations of grave misconduct been put to Veolia and if so what was the response?
We
think these are reasonable questions that deserve an answer. In a
number of recent procurement cases Veolia has withdrawn from the bidding
process when the third question has been put.
Our
campaign is cross-party and community-based and involves people of many
faiths and none. Readers can get involved by signing our petitions on
line or on paper which are available at http://www.brentpsc.blogspot.co.uk/
Brent
Council, representing a borough with a diverse population from many
ethnic and religious backgrounds, should stand up for human rights and
social justice and exclude Veolia from the procurement process.
Beryl Maizels
Leon Rosselson
Sheila Robin
Jews for Justice for Palestinians on behalf of the Bin Veolia in Brent Campaign.
