Teather must stand up for Brent children

 

Brent children were involved in the Playbuilder consultation on playground improvements

Coalition cuts have again hit Brent children with Michael Gove's announcement of a stop on Playbuilder schemes for new and improved playgrounds. Sarah Teather, MP for Brent Central, will be under renewed pressure as Gove's cuts have already stopped building improvements in four Brent secondary schools, although articulating the Coalition's bias towards academies, he has announced that the Crest Academies building works will go ahead. Teather as 'Children's Minister' is having to defend the indefensible.

I declare an interest here.  I am passionately committed to enhancing children's opportunities for play.  Only one third of 7-14 year olds now play outside compared with 90% of their parents in their own childhoods. In our local election manifesto Brent Greens pledged a 'good local school and safe play facilities a for every child'. Play is vitally important for children's psychological, emotional, social and physical development.  I am a trustee of the Brent Play Association, a member of Play England, a governor of a primary school and run Brent School Without Walls which provides activities for children in Fryent Country Park.  I was one of the facilitators for the children's consultation which took children around Brent's play areas to put together ideas for the implementation of the government's Playbuilder scheme.  The enthusiasm of the children and the range of their ideas was absolutely amazing and inspiring.

All that is now threatened with the Department for Education's bland statement: "The coalition inherited unrealistic spending commitments for 2010-11. Play is important - but investment has to be affordable."

The council's Park Strategy makes it clear that the priority is to provide play facilities in areas where there are deficiences but one of the first areas to be hit is Harlesden and the Bramshill Road site. Two weeks ago I attended another consultation, this time at the Chalkhill Community Centre, where local residents put forward their ideas on play equipment for the new Chalkhill Park which is due toe be built on the old Chalkhill Health Centre site. Local people have already lost the Wembley Park  playing fields now occupied by the ARK Academy, will these cuts mean that they will lose their promised new park?

195 reception pupils without a school for September?

Recently Sarah Teather visited 10 Downing Street with a group of pupils from Braintcroft Primary School to urge the government to do more to ensure every child in the world received an education. Back in Brent the council is wrestling with the problem of rising pupil rolls which at present mean that 193 4 and 5 year olds need a reception school place in September with only 21 vacancies - so 172 Brent children may not be receiving education The council attribute the rise in demand to an increasing birthrate, new housing, inward migration, parental choice and rising standards and achievements in primary schools.

Some schools such as Robert Southwell and Park Lane are due to expand and others will have temporary 'bulge classes' which may not be able to move forward through the school.  The chart below sets out clearly the problem the council is facing. FULL REPORT HERE

Plans for the Quintain regeneration area around Wembley Stadium at one stage included a new primary school and further housing is due to be built there. No Section 106 agreements have yet been triggered by building milestones although Wembley City is now occupied. A new primary school there seems to be something worth urgent consideration.

Brent to introduce high emissions-high charges parking policy

Tomorrow's Brent Executive is due to discuss a proposed emission-based charging regime for parking permits in Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs).  Currently there is no charge for vehicles below 1200cc registered before 2001 and no charge for vehicles in DVLA bands A,B and C registered after 2001. All other vehicles are £50 for the first permit, £75 for the second and £100 for the third. Visitors' permits are £100 each. The proposal is seen as a way of combating climate change and raising revenue.  In addition to the new charges it is suggested that residents could be awarded a 'permit surrender prize' and car club users could have a free permit allowing them to park in any CPZ in the borough.

The proposed new charges are set out below:

Currently 25% of Brent is covered by CPZs and the estimate of vehicles in each band based on renewals and new permits in July 2010 are (Above Brent Bands):
1-6%, 2-6%,  3-21%, 4-31%, 5-22%, 6-11%, 7-3%

After consultation the charges would be introduced from April 1st 2011 or as near to that date as possible.

FULL REPORT HERE

Brent envisages fortnightly waste collections

 What will be the impact on fly-tipping?

A Briefing Note for Brent Council's August 11th Forward Plan Select Committee suggests substantial changes in the Council's Waste Strategy.  The aim is to save £500,000 annually and increase recycling rates to 50% by 2020, reduce reliance on landfill and reduce the carbon footprint of waste collection services. It will mean that most households will now have three bins. The 'savings' will presumably include job losses as a result of the move to fortnightly collections.

They propose for low rise properties:

• Alternate weekly collections using existing wheeled bins with a 'no side waste' policy( Nothing left next to the bin will be collected.  The health and safety implications of fortnightly collections will have to be examined)
• A new bin to collect mixed dry recyclable materials to include cardboard on alternate weeks
• Green bins for organic waste to be retained for 60,000 properties and extension of the weekly scheme to cover the remaining 28,000 properties. New properties to receive food waste collection only (What will happen to their garden waste?).  Cardboard will no longer be collected from green bins as it will be included in the new dry recycling bin All 88,000 households to receive a kitchen caddy.

For high rise properties:

• Extension of the scheme to cover all flatted properties (something Brent Green Party has been pressing for)
• Delivery of some estate  refuse directly to a MRF (material recycling facility) for sorting and subsequent recycling
• Organic waste to be collected from suitable properties only (what will be the criteria?)

The compulsory recycling policy will be retained and there will be targeted work to remove trade waste from the household stream and to minimise contamination of kerbside containers. (Contamination means that the contents cannot then be recycled).

If the paper is approved there will be public consultation from August until October 2010. Interestingly one of the channels  listed for consultation  is BRAIN which the council has decided to close down in September.

FULL REPORT HERE

Brent Open Spaces Win Green Flag Award

 An appreciation of Fryent Country Park

Fryent Country Park and the Welsh Harp Open Space have both won Green Flag Awards for 2010/11 and join several other Brent parks in the category. Earlier this year the Welsh Harp Open Space was threatened by housing development which was seen off by a spirited cross-party, community-based campaign.

Fryent Country Park is a surviving remnant of Middlesex countryside and contains the remains of Repton's Wembley Park landscape work.  It is a Nature Reserve and its hay meadows have organic farm accreditation. Horses are still stabled on the site of Bush Farm.

Brent Parks Service and the volunteers of the Barn Hill Conservation Group deserve recognition for the great work that they do in the park and congratulations on gaining the award. I hope the award will help Brent people realise what wonderful open spaces they have and encourage them to use and preserve them.

CHILDREN TO BE UPROOTED AT SHORT NOTICE RATHER THAN DETAINED

The decision to end the detention of children in immigration centres, more than 1,000 in the last year of the Labour government,  was one of the few made by the Coalition government that I welcomed. The detention of children and the physical and psychological damage done to them was a national scandal.

However the Guardian reports today that the UK Border Agency is launching a scheme to deport families within a two week period, preventing them from having enough time to organise the move, seek legal advice, settle their affairs and prepare their children for the move. The UKBA document leaked to the Socialist Worker expresses fears that ending detention could result in more community campaigns against deportation supported by the media and MPs.

In a previous post  last year I put forward the view that the authorities preferred to detain children because if they attended school there was a possibility of campaigns in their support:

I believe that one of the reasons that detention is favoured by this Government, and previous ones, is that schools as institutions have become highly effective at mounting campaigns against the deportation of pupils as well as supporting their needs. Schools are legally required to support racial equality and often have policies committed to social justice. Refugee and asylum seeker's children establish friendships in the school and their families begin to make links with the local community. These friendships and connections challenge negative stereotypes as refugees and asylum seekers become real people, with names, characters, emotions and histories and earn the respect of the host community.

The Guardian confirms this view:

'Nicola Rea (the author of the document and head of service, asylum, refugee and immigration services),  also raises concerns that children will continue to attend school once a family has been warned of removal, which could cause problems with other children and teachers campaigning to stop the deportation'

Too right!

Coalition of Resistance to challenge the Coalition of Cuts

Caroline Lucas, the first Green MP has joined Tony Benn and many others to call for  resistance to Con-Lib Dem Coalition cuts. Full list and statement HERE  After outlining how the cuts will hit women and the poor the most, and calling for the withdrawal of troops from.Afghanistan, the cancellation of Trident replacement, taxes on the rich and the democratic control of banks, they go on to state:

An alternative strategy could use these resources to: support welfare; develop homes, schools, and hospitals; and foster a green approach to public spending – investing in renewable energy and public transport, thereby creating a million jobs.

We commit ourselves to:

• Oppose cuts and privatisation in our workplaces, community and welfare services.

• Fight rising unemployment and support organisations of unemployed people.

• Develop and support an alternative programme for economic and social recovery.

• Oppose all proposals to "solve" the crisis through racism and other forms of scapegoating.

• Liaise closely with similar opposition movements in other countries.

• Organise information, meetings, conferences, marches and demonstrations.

• Support the development of a national co-ordinating coalition of resistance.

They urge those who support this statement to attend the Organising Conference on 27 November 2010 (10am-5pm), at Camden Centre, Town Hall, London, WC1H 9JE.

Brent loses its BRAIN

Brent Council has pulled the plug on the community website BRAIN Brent Brain has been a site where voluntary organisations are able to publicise their activities and ask for help from volunteers, helping to provide the glue that holds our community together. Importantly they have managed their information page themselves rather than have it filtered through a third party. In addition forums have provided an arena for open discussion that have helped inform the work of councillors and hold them to account.

Brent Council has won awards for its internet work so it is a shame to see this lively semi-autonomous community website ended. The Council says that it will absorb some of the content into its official website but this misses the crucial matter of participant independence. This is the official Council Press Release - judge for yourselves whether it explains WHY the site has been closed. If anyone can translate the last paragraph into everyday English I would be obliged (and please let me know if you experienced any 'external stakeholder engagement' - I certainly didn't!):

Following a complete review undertaken of the council’s main website and BRAIN site over the last few months, Brent Council has taken the decision to merge the two sites transferring all relevant content from BRAIN to the council’s main website.

The aim is that the transfer will be complete by Friday 24 September 2010 and the BRAIN site will no longer operate from this date.

The review involved an internal and external stakeholder engagement process being conducted, with the consensus and overall aim to now provide a more co-ordinated website that operates more efficiently, better meets the needs of the council, and provides an improved online service for all local people.

Brent Libraries are looking at the possibility of  training people to set up their own community website via Talk Local Meanwhile as a precautionary measure, in case people want to continue Brain's work, I have registered New Brent Brain with two blog providers. Please get in touch if you are interested in following this up.