Ealing Council opposes casualty closures and calls for fightback

Julian Bell, leader of Ealing Council, has publicly opposes plans to close four casualty departments in  North- West London Hospitals, including that at Central Middlesex and called for a public fightback against them.

He told the Evening Standard yesterday:

When these half-baked plans were announced, all our worst fears were realised. It beggars belief that essential keath services like A and E could be cut nearly in half without damaging health care.

The council is committed to fighting these proposals but we need people power.  I want local people to join our campaign and to tell their friends and neighbours, relatives and colleagues to do the same. With a powerful single voice we can save our hospitals.

There were promising signs yesterday that Brent Council may follow when Cllr Krupesh Hirani, lead member for Adult Care and Health, released a series of tweets on Twitter:

• This hospital serves the poorest part of the Borough 
• The Tory Liberal move to close A&E at Central Middlesex Hospital is bad for Brent 
• If we were redesigning NHS services in Brent from scratch, we would have an A&E service at Central Middlesex Hospital

Area Consultative Forums start tonight

The latest round of Area Consultative Forums starts this  evening. Remember to get there early to register to speak at a Soapbox or e-mail consultation@brent.gov.uk


TUESDAY JULY 3RD 7pm  KILBURN AND KENSAL (Wards: Brondesbury Park, Kilburn, Mapesbury, Queen's Park) Kensal Rise Primary School, Harvist Road, NW6

WEDNESDAY  JULY 4TH 7pm WEMBLEY (Alperton, Northwick Park, Preston, Sudbury, Tokyngton, Wembley Park) Patidar House, 22 London Road, off Wembley High Road, HA9

TUESDAY JULY 10TH 7pm HARLESDEN (Harlesden, Kensal Green, Stonebridge)
All Souls Church, Station Road, Harlesden, NW10 (next to Lloyds TSB)


WEDNESDAY JULY 11TH 7pm  WILLESDEN (Dollis Hill, Dudden Hill, Welsh Harp, Willesden) College of NY London, Denzil Road, Willesden NW10


TUESDAY JULY 17TH 7pm KINGSBURY AND KENTON (Barnhill, Fryent, Kenton, Queensbury)
Kingsbury High School, Princes Avenue, Kingsbury, NW9

Labour's Denis MacShane backs Kensal Rise campaigners

From yesterday's Evening Standard LINK

Emboldened by the success of the campaign to save Gaby’s Deli in Charing Cross Road, Labour MP Denis MacShane has a new cause, the Kensal Rise Library. MacShane wrote some blistering letters about Gaby’s to its landlord, the Marquess of Salisbury, saying it was the only place he could buy a decent salt beef sandwich.

Now he has chosen a similar tactic by writing to Sir John Vickers, currently in the news as chairman of the Independent Commission on Banking. Sir John is also Warden of All Souls College, Oxford, which gifted the building to the north London community 100 years ago when it was opened by the great American writer Mark Twain.

The library has many champions, notably Alan Bennett, Zadie Smith and Tim Lott, but somehow MacShane is the one who goes for the goolies. “I write on behalf of one of my oldest friends, Maggie Gee, the novelist,” writes the former Minister for Europe, showing her how to write a letter combining praise with threat. “She was at Somerville and myself at Merton in those far-off days and have been friends ever since. The college is a community of scholars, of readers, of page turners and this historic connection to a community of readers in a poor part of north London should not be terminated just because the finance people say so.

“I hope All Souls can work with Friends of Kensal Rise Library and keep it alive. I will copy this to one or two colleagues and friends who are Fellows.” That should do the trick. 

Meanwhile Preston Library campaigners met with Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council yesterday.  After the meeting they released the following statement:

This afternoon campaigners from Friends of Preston Library met Muhammed Butt, the new leader of Brent Council, at his request. In what was a very friendly meeting, we spent an hour or so discussing the future of Preston Library and agreed to meet again in the very near future to continue the discussion.

U-turn if you want to - this gent is not for turning!

"I will not bend"

The Newsletter of Brent Council's Chief Executive always makes fascinating reading - particularly between the lines:

The June 21st Newsletter exalts in the close relationship between officers and councillors and gives this insight into Gareth Daniel's view of decision making. It sounds as if he has formed his own version of the 'No Turning Back' group which was formed to prevent any change of mind on Margaret Thatcher's 'reforms'.:

Gareth Daniel in 1982

Once any necessary consultation has taken place, we should always move confidently into action mode and when we make a decision we need to stick to it.  Nobody respects an organisation that bends to the demands of every pressure group or the inevitable special pleading of sectional interest groups.

Presumably this is what he is saying to Muhammed Butt, the recently elected  'official' leader of Brent Council.

I guess people who believe in the importance of libraries are a 'sectional interest' group, as are those who believe in the importance of early childhood provision, or even those who think it is quite nice if people have a roof over their head...