The most important item on tonight's Brent Council Agenda is probably the first reading of the budget which includes the cuts already listed on this blog
LINK
Executive members will give reports as follows:
1. The opening of the LDO and update on appointmentof Ben Spinks (Cllr Butt)
2. New Public Realm contract (Cllr Mashari)
3. The future of Copland school (Cllr Pavey)
4. Integrated Care Pioneer bid and conference on adult safeguarding (Cllr Hirani)
5. Action taken on racial discrimination by local letting agents and private rented
sector licensing (Cllr McLennan)
6. The live-streaming of Council meetings (Cllr Denselow)
7. Conference on khat (Cllr Choudry)
8. An update on parking (Cllr J Moher)
9. Regeneration tour of the borough by Deputy Mayors of London (CllrCrane)
10. Visit from the Mayor of Johannesburg (Cllr R Moher)
Each party group has tabled a motion for this evening. They are:
LABOUR
Tackling violence
against women
This Council commends the work of the members’ task group on Tackling
Violence against Women and Girls in Brent. This task group is committed to
ending harmful practices by raising public awareness of issues such as female
genital mutilation (FGM), forced marriages and honour-based violence. These
practices, and all instances of violence against women, constitute illegal,
intolerable acts and human rights violations.
This Council notes the positive influence members can wield within
communities by encouraging individuals and groups to speak out against harmful
practices, which impact on the wellbeing of women and girls in Brent. To ensure
that members are fully informed on all these harmful practices and how to deal
with them effectively, there will be a member development event held on
Thursday 21 November 2013. Sessions will be led by the expert organisations
FORWARD and the Asian Women’s Resource Centre.
Members also note the work of the White Ribbon Campaign day- a
charitable organisation started by men which seeks to end violence against
women. Members whole-heartedly support this cause and will sign the White
Ribbon pledge to affirm that they will never condone or remain silent about
violent acts against women. A Brent Council event marking White Ribbon Day –
the internationally recognised day for the Elimination of Violence Against
Women – will be held in the Civic Centre on November 25.
We call on all members to unite in the fight against these harmful
practices, and resolve to end all practices which cause physical or emotional
distress to women and girls in Brent within the 5-year target set by the
Government earlier this year.
Councillor John
LIBERAL DEMOCRAT
Cleaner streets in Brent
Council notes that
Labour councillors have targeted street cleaning and waste collection for
service reductions by:
i.
Reducing
the frequency of street cleaning in many residential streets from three times a
week to once a week
ii.
Reducing
weekend street cleaning in High Streets
iii.
Reducing
refuse collections, even in areas with poor storage facilities for residual
waste
iv.
Introducing
curtilage collections
v.
Axing the
streetwatcher scheme
Council further notes:
i.
It is
two years since Brent Council hit its target for tonnes of waste sent to
landfill
vi.
In
five out of the last six quarters Brent Council failed to hit its target for
the percentage of waste sent for recycling
vii.
Brent
Council has never (since the target was adopted as a KPI) met its target for
Flytipping Enforcement: number of inspections and investigations
viii.
Reported
fly-tipping increased after Labour's street cleaning cuts, as dirty streets
encouraged more people to dump waste
ix.
There
is considerable public concern about the cleanliness of our streets and the
amount of fly-tipping in Brent
x.
The
failure to meet recycling targets has significant financial consequences
Council calls on the
Executive to:
i.
Improve
Brent Council's recycling performance
ii.
Step
up enforcement in order to target more effectively those who disfigure our
streets with litter and fly-tipping
iii.
Use
the resulting additional finance to increase street cleaning where it is most
needed and work intensively with residents and managers of blocks of flats to
address litter, fly-tipping and waste collection issues.
Councillors Lorber,
Brown and Hopkins
CONSERVATIVE
Parking
This Council notes that the parking policy of this Labour
administration is hurting Brent's economy as high parking charges on the local
high streets and the abolition of visitor parking scratch cards continue to
drive visitors away.
This Council also notes that as a
result of these ill-thought out policies, shoppers are deserting Brent in
favour of the cheap, easy and free parking that is on offer at Brent Cross and
in neighbouring borough’s.
This Council resolves to:
-
Introduce half an hour free parking
on our High Streets
-
Ensure that event day parking
restrictions only apply for 1hour before the event at Wembley Stadium
-
Continue the use of visitor scratch
cards indefinitely,
Councillor Kansagra
You can watch a live feed of the meeting on computer, tablet or smart phone from 7pm HERE and tweet #brentlive
