First pictures of the Wembley bomb

British Army Phootographer Rupert Frere has circulated these pictures of the Wembley bomb via Twitter (@Rupert_Frere #WembleyBomb).  Work is going on to defusethe bomb which was found on a building site close to the Civic Centre yesterday.

The Civic Centre will be closed on Friday with skeleton services run from the Bridge Park Leisure Centre.

This is a map of where bombs fell in the area during the London Blitz 7th October 1940 to 6th June 1941. There was additional bombing outside this period of course.

Source LINK

Kilburn councillors 'disenfranchised' claims Cllr John Duffy

Amid the Tory Party infighting last night at the Brent Council Annual General Meeting there was a protest from Cllr John Duffy (Labour, Kilburn) that Kilburn ward councillors had not been given one committee place on the Council.

He claimed that this meant Kilburn residents had been disenfranchised.

Muhammed Butt, Labour leader of Brent Council replied that 'previous conduct' of councillors had been taken into account when selecting committee members.

Duffy attempted to persuade the Council to raise Council Tax earlier this year in an effort to save Stonebridge Adventure Playground,  the Welsh Harp Environment Education Centre and Energy Solutions from closure.

Brent Civic Centre closed tomorrow for controlled explosion of World War 2 bomb - residents' rest centre at Chalkhill Community Centre

Brent Council has issued the following statement about the unexploded Worls War II  bomb found near the Civic Centre:

You may have already heard that Police were called at around 3pm today to a building site on Empire Way, Wembley, to reports of an unexploded device believed to be from World War 2.

It was discovered by builders working at the location and it is believed to weigh approximately 50kg. Road closures along with a 400m cordon is in place around the site which includes the Civic Centre, whilst work is underway to make safe the device.

As a precaution, a number of residential and business addresses have also been evacuated, including residents of Alexander Court and Ada Lewis House. At this stage we do not know exactly how long this incident is likely to last however, a rest centre has been set up at Chalkhill Community Centre for affected residents.

Brent Civic Centre will be closed all day on Friday 22 May as the council has been advised that bomb disposal experts are planning a controlled explosion at some stage tomorrow morning. Business continuity plans are being activated to ensure vital council services keep running although these may be skeleton services in some cases.

Employees who are able to work from home are being advised to do so, unless your line manager has told you otherwise. Some core staff will need to be based at Bridge Park Community Leisure Centre on Friday and your line manager will talk to you if are required. If you are unable to work from home on Friday you are advised not to come to the Civic Centre as it will not be open.

A gold group, chaired by the Chief Executive, has been activated and we will update you with more information about the impact on services when we know more. An emergency phone line is also being set up and live updates will be available on the council website and twitter feed as we get them.

Follow @Brent_Council on Twitter for updates

Final outcome of Tory showdown at Brent's OK Corrall uncertain

Last night's Full Meeting of Brent Council must have left the new Chief Executive Carolyn Downs wondering about the tough task ahead in getting the Council out of its slough of despond, while Christine Gilbert could be forgiven for celebrating her forthcoming liberation by performing  cartwheels in the Civic Centre atrium.

The showdown between the two groups of Tory Councillors dominated the business part of the meeting but when the gunfire died down no one could agree on the final outcome.

The 56 Labour councillors may have decided to recognise the Kenton Tories as the principal opposition with the status and funding that goes with that or the decision may have been  handed over to a constitutional working party to negotiate on before the next meeting of the General Purposes Committee.

CLARIFICATION (sic) These are the responses I got this morning:
 

Brent Council Press Office:

The group led by Cllr Kansagra was voted in as the principal opposition last night.  

Cllr Michael Pavey (Deputy Leader - Labour)

As it stands Kenton are the principal Opposition. There is a meeting of the constitution committee next week which will review the situation,  but only a vote by Full Council or a change in the number of members in either Tory Group can change this.

The next challenge is to try and allocate Committees between the two.

Cllr Joel Davidson (Briondesbury Park Conservatives)

What happened is that Mo Butt has chosen the Kenton Group to be Principal Opposition, that's what he got his Group to vote for last night. That means that Kansagra and Colwill will once again draw the allowances - 12k and 8k - that come with being Leader and Deputy Leader.

The constitutional working party, if there is one, is supposed to negotiate between the 2 Opposition Groups - Brent Tories and Kenton/Butt Group - as to who sits on the 6 main committees - GP, planning, equalities etc. 

If we can't agree, as seems very likely, then Council will again vote to give all the main committee posts to the Kenton/Butt Group.  It's another sad day for democracy in Brent when a Dear Leader can hand-pick a pliant Opposition which has no political affiliation and is committed to giving him as easy a ride as possible.  As I asked Butt last night - is 56 Labour Cllrs not enough that you need to co-opt 3 more AND make them the 'Opposition'??  

Meanwhile the tweets can tell the story: