Claremont Announces Academy Conversion

The unions opposed to Claremont High School are currently deciding on future action on what they regard as a flawed consultation process which denied parents the right to a debate about the issue and a secret, independently run ballot.  Meanwhile the school has posted the following notice on its website about the Governing Body's decision to convert to an academy.

The Governors of Claremont High School have written to staff and parents at the school informing them of the decision expressing their thanks for the range of responses that they have received both for and against the conversion.

The Governors have clearly stated the principles that they applied in reaching their decision. These were:

• The decision must be made with the pupils at the centre of the process so that their happiness at school and continued success should be assured.
• Governors will take full advantage of the opportunities that conversion will bring and also know and act on the new responsibilities.
• Governors will support current staffing levels and ensure that resources are in place to recruit the best teachers and support staff.
• Governors will work closely with the school's leadership team to ensure continued strong financial management so that its students continue to have access to excellent resources and excellent opportunities to enrich their learning.
• Claremont high School will not change its name or its ethos; it will not change its admissions criteria without due process and it will remain within the Brent family of schools.
• Claremont High School will continue to offer the breadth of subjects that it currently offers to ensure that all of its pupils, regardless of their backgrounds or abilities, will reach their full potential.

We believe that whilst this is a significant decision for our school it is one that will bring many opportunities, benefits and advantages to our pupils. We will remain focused on creating a harmonious learning culture; developing our approaches to care, guidance and support; challenging our pupils to achieve and grow and our teachers to be at the top of their game in teaching and learning. In short, all those things that have made us Outstanding.

The  statement does not directly address the concerns of parents and unions and ignores any mention of the impact conversion will make on Brent's overall education budget. Basically Claremont will get  additional money taken from the budget for all schools. There is no mention of the loss of democratic accountability to the wider community. At the briefing meeting for headteachers and governors held last year after the local elections, Councillor Mary Arnold, lead member for Children and Families, made her opposition to academies clear but Krutica Pau, Director of Children and Families said her department would adopt a neutral position.

The headteacher of Claremont has already stated that the school is already in a 'market' situation and the question now arises about what action other Brent secondary schools will take. There were reports last year that the secondary headteachers had informally decided that the schools would all convert at once, to avoid damage to those who didn't convert or converted later. Recently it has been said that the rest were waiting to see  what happened to Claremont before acting.  A mass conversion (sorry about the religious overtones) would mean Brent council would only be responsible for nursery and primary schools which would operate on  significantly reduced  funding with the education budget top-sliced by the new academies.

Lorraine on the Bus - Why You Should Join Us on March 26th

Consultation Under Fire

Way back in Winter 2008 I wrote in Brent Green News about concerns about consultation in Brent. As complaints multiply about recent consultations it is worth returning to the topic.

Brent Council's website states:

Consultations give you the opportunity to get involved with decision-making in Brent.

We consult with the public on proposals and plans and take responses into account when deciding our policies for the borough.

Many residents now think that consultations do not enable them to get involved in decision making - decisions have often been made before the consultation ends. Some major decisions are not consulted about at all. Residents often also feel that their responses are not taken into account.

Some residents thought that if  there was enough opposition to a Council proposal then it might be abandoned. Cllr Ruth Moher.  in the case of the adult day centres when users were overwhelmingly opposed to closure, clearly stated that this was not the case.

The question then arises about what the point of consultation is. A cynic may respond that it is to enable a box to be ticked in documentation - and no more than that. Let's look at some variations in consultation.

1. NO CONSULTATION - The Council does not consult at all but just goes ahead, often on the most important issues.  This includes not consulting on the principle of academy schools in the case of the Wembley Ark Academy. Consultation was about the plans and the name, not whether we should have academy schools. Similarly the Council did not ask whether Brent residents wanted a grandiose Civic Centre, but we could comment on the design. Currently the Council is going ahead with an all through school at Preston Manor without consultation on whether this type of school is wanted, again consultation has been limited to planning issues.
2. DECISIONS MADE BEFORE CONSULTATION ENDS - This appears to be the case with the closure of Brent libraries. The Council budget setting meeting, and Cllr Ann John herself, assumed the closures would go ahead despite consultation still having some days to run and no report available on the outcomes.
3. CONSULTATION NOT TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT BECAUSE OF THE NEED FOR SPEEDY DECISIONS - This is a new development and linked to financial deadlines such as the front-loading of cuts this year and the need to spend school places safety valve money before August 2011. In cases such as the Charteris Sports Centre and the libraries insufficient time is given to the search for alternatives solutions and the closures go ahead anyway. With school places there is not sufficient time to change the location of Preston Manor Primary School to reduce its impact on traffic congestion 'because the plans are already in place' and no time to discuss incorporating the Mission Dining Club into the new building at Newfield Primary School.The Council applied for planning permission for the Preston Manor Primary School before the Executive had considered submissions on the statutory consultation and approved it. 
4. HALF-COCK CONSULTATION/PARTICIPATION - The residents raising issues with the planning committee on Preston Manor had two site visits with the planning committee on which keys to the site were not available. On the last occasion some councillors wandered away while residents were trying to talk to them and one clambered back onto the bus.  A further problem has been the illegibility of poorly scanned documentation on the Council website. The library campaigns have taken up the inaccuracy of library visit statistics that formed a key part of the Council's case for closures and the figures on children without school places in the vicinity of Preston Manor have been challenged.
5. RESPONDENTS QUESTIONS/COMMENTS NOT ANSWERED - Again in the Preston Manor case some questions remained completely unanswered in the Council's response undermining the legitimacy of the decision.
6. PROPOSALS/QUESTIONNAIRES DISGUISING THE REAL ISSUES - The most obvious one here is the Library 'Transformation' Programme which some library users through was about redecoration and not closures! The Brent Magazine questionnaire on the Waste Strategy was less than clear that it involved a switch to fortnightly residual waste collection.
7. INFORMATION GIVING MASQUERADING AS CONSULTATION - The recent allotment 'consultation' on the rise in  rents was held after the Council approved the rise and when it had been announced before Christmas. Allotment holders were really just told why rents had risen in the context of the Council's financial difficulties and not asked whether they should have been put up or whether there were any alternative proposals.
8. RESIDENTS NOT INFORMED OF CONSULTATION - A regular issue, particularly with planning applications. It arose over Preston Manor when many residents living nearby the school were not told about expansion proposals. After initially saying that what they had done was adequate the Council did send out additional letters. Under the last administration similar complaints were made about the Wembley Masterplan.

All this really riles residents and contributes to a distrust of politicians. More importantly, it discourages active citizenship and participation at a time when local government needs all the friends it can get.

Lock Down as Academy Forced Through

The governing body of Claremont High School approved the school's conversion to an academy  after campaigners claimed the headteacher had doors padlocked, brought in extra security and made areas of the school no go areas to prevent lobbying by parents and staff unhappy with the what they see as lack of consultation and accountability. The decision is controversial because nearly three quarters of all staff, teaching and non teaching, at the school had voted NO in an independently overseen secret ballot. The school has now written to parents to say the school will be an academy from April 1st.

Parents who turned up to a meeting organised by the unions on Wednesday had voiced concerns that they had not had the opportunity for proper consultation. There had been no meeting where they could have heard pros and cons, asked questions and debated the issue. Therefore the next day the Headteacher received many emails from parents asking for a delay in making a decision until consultation in the form of a meeting for all parents had taken place and some asking for a ballot similar to the staff one. 

Comments from the emails included:

“We are concerned that there has been no consultation with any parents or any concrete information indicating what implications these changes would have for the future.”

“As parents, we think it would be democratic if there was a meeting and a ballot with the parents of the school before any final decisions are made.”

“An e-mail … voicing our concerns ... you failed to respond, thereby confirming our suspicions that there would be no meaningful consultation over these plans.”

“As you are aware the majority of staff have objected to this application .  There must a very good reason as to why so many of them feel so strongly.”

“I do not feel I have been properly informed about this change and DO NOT wish for this important change to happen without more discussion.”

Parents were astounded that they were not allowed into the school yesterday to make these points in person. They told staff outside the school gates, who earlier had been banned from lobbying the meeting or even delivering letters appealing for a delay, that it was appalling that parents could be treated in this way. They felt it was undemocratic and demeaning to treat the parents of the children who have made Claremont an outstanding school in such a manner.

The unions had written to the Headteacher and Chair of Governors stating that there would be industrial and legal action unless the decision was delayed as the governors had not followed the proper legal processes during consultation.

Claremont Teaching Unions' Appeal to Governors HERE

Allotment Holders Revolt Against Rent Increases

More than a hundred Brent allotment holders crowded into the Town Hall last night for a 'consultation' about the recent rent increases. Several people stopped me after the meeting to ask me what the point of consultation was when the increases had been announced before Christmas and approved at the February 28th budget meeting. Good question.

Councillor Powney was again in the firing line and faced a barrage of passionate and eloquent speeches from the floor which surpassed speeches made at other cuts protests. Alongside the fiery speeches there were also closely argued contributions challenging the legality of the increases and referring to case law.

Many speeches dwelt on the iniquity of rises of more than 100% and pensioners having to pay for their allotments for the first time - the concession will be 50% of the rental with the first five poles for £37.50. The average plot is 10 poles. Pensioners told the Cllr Powney (lead member for Environment) and Shaun Faulkner (Head of Brent Parks Service) how important the allotments were in enabling them to keep fit, get out and about, eat healthily, and socialise. "I can't afford the increase from my little pension and I don't want to get old and sick. We keep ourselves going, struggling to pay our bills. Why do we have to be left hungry?." said one pensioner.

Shaun Faulkner said that the Council were committed to the allotment services and recognised the many benefits t that accrued apart from the actual growing of crops. He claimed that even with the rent increases the allotments would still be subsidised and that improvements would be made from additional funds such as Section 106 money and the formation of partnerships. He said he didn't want to go back to the poor service that used to exist in Brent. In the past there was only a 30% to 40% uptake of plots but now there was a waiting list of more than 1,000 people. The rent rise might mean that some present allotment holders would reduce the size of their plots releasing more for people on the waiting list. He said his department was saddened by the increase and sympathised with allotment holders but 'a process had been gone through'. He added that he knew allotment holders were not making money out of their allotments, that they had to pay for tools, seeds and fertilizers; that they were not just about gardening but also a sense of community; and emphasised that he wanted to be honest with allotment holders.

Cllr Powney outlined the process, saying that a rental  comparison had been made with other London boroughs before the increase was fixed and that this process had been followed for other services. However I challenged him on this because earlier he had admitted that the Brent charge was the second highest in London. I suggested that if this was done on a comparative basis than it would have been fairer to set the rate at the average London level. He replied that it had been hard to get the figures out of other London boroughs and to make exact comparisons because of different rates and services.  He said the most expensive borough, Wandsworth was charging £20 a pole. In  response to the steepness of the increase for pensioners who had previously paid no rent he undertook to see if the increase could be staggered as it was a 'hardship issue', but warned that the money required would have to come from other provision.

The legal issues centred  around law which states that allotments are a recreational activity, should be subsidised and any increases should be in line with other recreational activity charges. Dr Franklin quoting case history from 1981 said that the increases were a tax on the poor and vulnerable. He said he was prepared to take the council to the High Court if necessary.  He urged those present to refuse to pay the increase and just pay their old rent when the bills arrived. Cllr Powney advised allotment holders not to take legal advice from a non-lawyer and stressed that the increases had been approved by the Council's legal department and that the Borough Solicitor was considering Dr Franklin's e-mail. He said that this was the fourth threat of legal action he had received in the last week. Challenged about the possibility of further increases Cllr Powney said he 'would be surprised if there were any further charges over the next few years".

Many of the audience complained about the lack of facilities on their allotments including toilets, footpaths and robust fencing. Those from the Dog Lane plots were particularly vociferous about the difficult conditions they faced on their waterlogged site. Cllr Powney suggested there was a contradiction in that the audience were opposing rent increases but also demanding better facilities. However, it does seem that forced to pay much more in rent there will be rising expectations of the service from allotment holders.

Declaration of interest: I cultivate an allotment at the Birchen Grove site, near the Welsh Harp and when I lived in Harlesden had a plot at Bridge Road.

Accountability behind locked doors

There's a notice on the Claremont High School website saying that consultation on conversion to an academy ended on March 9th and that comments would be considered at last night's governing body meeting. This morning there is no news about any decision made by governors.

However, I am told that things were far from normal when parents and staff arrived to lobby the governors last night. In an echo of the Council's budget setting meeting on February 28th there was increased security at the school, doors were padlocked and lobbyists were not allowed in.  At the last governors' meeting on February 9th, Mr Malloy, headteacher, told governors that if the school became an academy it would be accountable to the community at at a much 'higher level' than at present. Hmm.

Meanwhile the school should have received letters from the trades unions about legal action and some parents are also looking at the possibility of legal remedies to inadequate consultation.

Charteris Meeting on Saturday

A message from the Charteris Sports Centre Campaign:

Public Meeting on Saturday the 12th of March, 4.30 at Charteris.

The future of Charteris is at stake.

Please come and be part of the future:

Please bring your friends, neighbours, local residents, Charteris users.

Demand a General Election - This government has no mandate for cuts

Guest blog from Mike Shaughnessy of Haringey Green Party

From what I hear about advance coach and train bookings, it appears that the TUC demonstration on Saturday 26th March is going to be very well attended, with some predictions that a million people will join the march through central London. But, let’s not be complacent, and everyone who can possibly attend this event should resolve themselves to do so. A huge show of opposition to the ConDem government’s attack on public services and the welfare state itself, is necessary to display for all to see, the strength of feeling aroused by these damaging slash and burn policies. This is no less than an attempt to turn back the clock to Victorian era social policies.

I know that there is some cynicism amongst the public about single set piece demonstrations after the massive anti-war march in 2003 was pretty much ignored by the Labour government, but a low turn-out will be easily dismissed as a ‘vested interest’ protest by public sector employees. Communities (service users) need to show solidarity with the unions on this, and to be quite frank, to encourage the often ‘conservative’ minded union leaders to escalate the battle and call coordinated strikes which they can do legally, over things like the proposed changes to occupational pensions.

I also expect this protest to be a bit different from other large scale marches, in that I expect there will be perhaps hundreds of smaller direct action type protests surrounding the main demonstration, where organisations like UKUncut have led the way with sit ins at high street banks. It is important that large numbers attend the main protest to make the smaller flash mobs more difficult for the authorities to contain. There are hundreds of legitimate targets for protest in London which given a large main demonstration, will be impossible to police.

The establishment has been busy lecturing the population that there is no alternative to the cuts, but there is indeed an alternative to this devastation of our communities, it just doesn’t get much publicity from the mainstream media, so we must make them listen, and this protest can be the beginning of the process.

We could start by ditching the ridiculous white elephant that is the Trident nuclear weapons system, saving billions of pounds. Then there is increasing income tax and National Insurance contributions for high earners (those on more than £44k per year pay only 1% NI on earnings above this figure, whilst everyone working pays 11% below this amount). It is further estimated that £120 billion is lost in tax revenue from wealthy individuals and corporate bodies to tax avoidance and evasion, these loop holes should be closed. Investment in energy efficiency measures like insulation would save millions of pounds. And the tax exemption for private schools must end and the savings be channelled into state schooling. That’s a starter for ten anyway.

The UK deficit is not even all that large by historical standards and we have the sixth largest economy in the world as measured by GDP, so why the urgency to cut public provision so savagely? Well, that’s because these cuts are ideologically driven by a government that wants to shrink the state, whatever the level of public debt, and they want to try and get the pain out of the way now. So in four years’ time they can call a general election and hope everyone has forgotten what they did to country.

Now is the time to stop the ConDem government dead in its tracks, and we should demand a general election immediately, because this government doesn’t have a mandate to inflict these policies on the people, since most were not in the Tory or Lib Dem manifestos at last year’s general election. Mubarak said there was no alternative in Egypt, and look what happened to him.




LINK to Haringey Green Party blog

Parents Demand a Voice in Claremont's Future

Despite short notice and a clash with a school production, concerned parents  of Claremont High School students attended a meeting tonight at Kenton Methodist Church Hall about the possible conversion of the school to an Academy.

Parents reported that they had heard little about the proposals and were surprised to hear that a decision may be made tomorrow. One parent reported that he had e-mailed the school with six questions on the issue but had received no response. He had rejected sending his child to Wembley ARK Academy because he had reservations about the academies programme only to hear that the school where he had eventually sent her may itself become an academy.  Another parent commented that 'surgeries'  with senior staff and governors on the issue had been held when other meetings were taking place. There were also complaints about the difficulty of accessing the academy documents on the school's website. One document had a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) with no answers. A letter that had been sent to parents on February 1st had not reached all the parents present and was not seen as even handed in its presentation of the case.

An exchange of opinion and information took place during the meeting and Hank Roberts of the NUT and ATL, two of the unions that had called the meeting, said this was precisely what the education unions wanted.  All they were asking was that parents should have the same opportunity as staff:  to hear both sides of the debate, time to make up their own minds, and then have the chance to express their views in a ballot. A teacher remarked that if the school leadership was so proud of what they were doing in seeking academy conversion why had they not proclaimed it, rather than be secretive. A parent asked why the school hadn't used recent parent meetings to inform them about the issue.

There was general agreement that parents should contact the school by e-mail to say they had not been properly consulted and asking for a delay in the decision so that parents could research the issue, attend a debate representing the case For and Against the proposal, and then cast a ballot. Some parents would attempt to speak to governors before the meeting.

Hank Roberts said that if there was a fair debate and a ballot that went against the unions' point of view they would accept that was the view of parents. The governing body would have to weigh up the views of staff and parents in considering whether to convert. He emphasised that it was all about democracy and that there was the possibility of legal action to ensure the fairness of the process.

Claremont Well On the Way to Academy Conversion

It appears that the governing body of Claremont High School has moved further along the academy road than I had realised. The Additional Governing Body meeting of February 9th heard representations from the education unions, which mainly focused on changes in pay and conditions and school governance.  The issue of the impact on other schools and the Brent education budget as a whole does not appear to have been addressed

After the union representatives left the governing body went on to discuss conversion to an academy in more detail.  The governors decided not to enter into an open debate between the school leadership and the leadership, in front of staff,  with both taking questions from the staff, as this would give the impression that 'the staff would be voting for or against the conversion and effectively making the decision'.

On salaries and conditions of service,  governors were told that there was no intention to move away from national agreements but no 100% guarantee could be given that this would not happen in the future. It was pointed out that the school had already lost staff to a local academy because they were offered better salaries and conditions: 'the market force is already in evidence and teachers are taking an active part in it'.

Addressing financial aspects Mr Malloy, headteacher, told governors that on initial calculations the school was facing a deficit out-turn of £179,000. When cuts had been made but staffing levels maintained the deficit would be £53,000. He went on to claim that if the school converted to academy status it would receive an additional £657,000 top-sliced from the Brent schools' budget.  In addition there would be a £25,000 one-off start-up grant.  There is no record of any discussion about the impact on other schools. Indeed earlier in the meeting the governors agreed  that they could not predict or influence the government's agenda  and 'their only focus is Claremont High and what is best for the future of the school'.

The governors considered a paper on the next steps in the conversion process that had been drawn up by a firm of lawyers experienced in advising schools converting to academy status. The governing body agreed to delegate authority to a committee to work with the legal team on employment, finances, Trust and articles. Legal fees were expected to be between £12,000 and £13,000.

Governors decided to defer decisions about membership of the Academy Trust until roles and responsibilities were clearer and advice had been sought on the levels of liability members would have. The first meeting of the Trust was scheduled for March 10th when the governing body meets. This meeting would decide on membership.  It was suggested that the funding agreement might be ready by March 10th, to be implemented by April 1st 2011.

Since the governing body meeting, governors have been circulated with Articles of Association of  Claremont High School Academy Trust and were asked to send comments in by last Friday so that it could be registered with Company's House yesterday or today.

Tomorrow's meeting at Kenton Methodist Church should be very interesting!

Documentation on Claremont's Academy Conversion can be found on the school's website HERE

Willesden and Brent Times Stands Up for Our Rights

At a time when much of the local press is in decline, doing little more than copying and pasting council press releases, the Willesden and Brent Times is going through a strong period. In its previous incarnation as the Brent Chronicle, the paper was known locally, half affectionately, and half in exasperation,  as 'The Chronic'. That description no longer applies.

The WBT has managed to keep a team of reporters covering Brent while the Wembley and Willesden Observer has to make do with one extremely hard-working reporter, and as a result it is usually dominated by Harrow news from its parent paper. The WWO to its credit launched a campaign to save Brent libraries but the WBT's coverage of the cuts has been exemplary, going well beyond the Council's sanitised version of events.

This week the WBT had coverage of the cuts on page 1, page 2, page 4, page 6 and the letters page. It had a long editorial on the cuts, the conclusion of which is worth quoting:
 While the budget is bleak the community should be proud.

Proud that they have launched such vociferous and sophisticated campaigns to save their libraries, sports and youth centres, which have forced council chiefs to rethink their plans.
Proud to be part of a society which questions its councils and Government and challenges them when they think they have got it wrong.
And proud of their capacity to rally round and support each other to find a way through this crisis in public services. 

We are fortunate to have the WBT with us as this crucial time.

Claremont becoming an academy? What do parents think?

Education unions are holding a meeting for Claremont High School parents on Wednesday 9th March at 7pm  ahead of a governing body meeting on Thursday which may take the first steps to the school seeking academy status. Mr Malloy, the headteacher, tried to make the move last June but was thwarted. LINK

The unions claim that the outcome of a ballot of school staff (teaching and non-teaching), overseen by the Electoral Reform Society,  has not been notified to parents. They say this is wrong and that parents should be told what staff think and have notified parents of the ballot result - 70% of staff against conversion to an academy - in a leaflet given out at the school gate today.

The leaflet says that children have been told academy status is a 'good idea' but they have not been given both side of the argument. It goes on to claim that Mr Malloy, headteacher, has threatened staff with 20 redundancies if academy status does not go ahead.

The unions say that there should be proper consultation with parents and that they too should have a ballot on the issue. They believe that the governing body cannot make an informed decision until this has been done. There will be a lobby of the governing body at the school on Thursday at 7pm.

The meeting, at Kenton Methodist Church, Woodgrange Avenue, Kenton will be an open meeting and the headteacher and governors have been invited to attend. The unions promise that they will engage in open and factual debate.

The Claremont decision is vital as there is claimed to be an agreement amongst secondary headteachers in Brent that if one school goes for academy status, then they all will. They claim this will avoid competition and the decline of non-converting schools that happened in a previous era when some schools decided to go for grant-maintained status, achieving a degree of independence in management and admissions. This led to the destabilisation of Wembley High School and Willesden High School  which did not convert, with both receiving disproportionate numbers of refugee pupils and new arrivals. Willesden High School was declared a failing school and converted to a City Academy and Wembley struggled, eventually succeeding brilliantly, against the odds.

When schools become academies they get additional funding which would be taken away from Brent's main school budget. If all the secondary schools became academies Brent's funds would be drastically reduced impacting on primary school budgets and the central support services provided by the Council.  In addition all secondary schools in the borough would be out of local democratic control.

Note: The unions holding the meeting are ATL, GMB, NASUWT, NUT and UNISON.

Brent Library Consultation Figures Wrong, Admits Council

With a consultation that closed AFTER the Council had set its budget assuming library closures and Cllr Ann John, leader of the Council stating that six libraries will close BEFORE the results had of the consultation had been considered, you would think that Brent Council could make things much worse. Oh, yes they can!

Sue McKenzie, Head of Brent Library Service, has written to local save library campaigners admitting that the Libraries Consultation is riddled with errors. In a written response to Graham Durham of the Save Cricklewood Library campaign,  Ms McKenzie today admitted that the consultation figures for library visits per year were wrong.The consultation closed on 4th March but this error has only just been acknowledged.

Graham Durham commented:

Local campaigners have asked about the quoted figures for caller  numbers for over four weeks without receiving a reply from Ms McKenzie or Chief Executive,Gareth Daniel. It is appalling that the Council has only acknowledged their error today - after the public consultation has ended and the Leader of the Council,Ann John, has publicly stated that six libraries will be closed.

Campaigners noted that of the twelve library caller figures quoted in the Council consultation - one was an estimate (Harlesden) and two were rounded up to the nearest thousand (Kingsbury and Ealing Road). Now the Council has voted to close the libraries and closed the consultation it has agreed that the figure quoted for Kingsbury was wrong - although it still claims that Ealing Road receives exactly 261.000 callers - 'a remarkable coincidence' according to campaigners.

It is also clear that leading councillors are unclear about their own consultation and decision making. Defending the closure recently Councillor Butt, Deputy Leader, stated that 'the six libraries with the lowest caller numbers are being closed'. This is simply untrue based on the Council's own consultation as Neasden library, recently refurbished at a cost of £355,000,is proposed for  closure  despite being in the top six most used libraries.

Graham Durham added:

When leading councillors have not bothered to read their own two page consultation the library users of Brent have every reason to continue to campaign against these closures

All library campaigns have written jointly  to Councillor Powney, lead member on Libraries, on a range of matters including why a  saving of   £1.3 million is being put forward by the council - which is £293,000 more than the budget target and seeking clarity on the over £1 million management costs for running the library service

Campaign against Claremont becoming an academy

Anti-academy activists will be leafleting outside Claremont High School tomorrow (Monday) from 3pm until 3.20pm ahead of an emergency parents' meeting on the issue.  They will welcome anyone who can join them.

ADDRESS
Claremont Avenue,
Kenton,
Middlesex HA3 0UH

Cuts - where do we go from here?

There is an organising meeting of Brent Fightback tomorrow Monday March 7th, 7.30pm at the Trades Hall/Apollo Club, Willesden High Road and Brent Friends of the Earth have a meeting on 'The recession and its impact on the environment and the green agenda' at the Rising Sun, Harlesden Road,  7.30pm on Tuesday March 8th. Fightback will be assessing the effectiveness of the lobby of Monday's Council meeting and the current position regarding cuts, planning for the March 26th demonstration, and reviewing future strategy.

The upshot of the Council's decisions is that there were some concessions after community campaigning:  reprieves for the Wembley youth clubs (albeit with two merging), restoration of funding (with 12% cut) for the Law Centre, Citizen's Advice and Private Tenants Rights Groups; reprieve for the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre (with 50% private funding from a local builder).

There may be a temptation to attribute these successes to effective campaigning  but libraries, where campaigning was most vociferous and got national coverage, are still likely to close. Campaigners are rightly asking how the council can set a budget which assumes their closure before the consultation ended. Cllr Powney tries to answer that point HERE  There are also murmurs amongst some councillors that the reprieves are more to do with the Labour leader's 'pet projects' than pressure from rank and file Labour councillors.

Apart from the library campaigns feeling let down by the Council there is also unhappiness in the Charteris Sports Centre campaign where the Council led them to think there was a possibility of a 'Big Society' option (the Campaign was notably absent from the lobby on Monday)  but they have now been told them the Centre will close at the end of March. The issue of the Council stemming/diverting opposition by dangling 'Big Society' possibilities and then going ahead with closure is likely to rankle for some time. This goes alongside the short-term impact of the Council's barring of the public from  the budget meeting and the joking and bantering behaviour of some councillors during the meeting.

Only one Labour councillor abstained on the budget.  Other potential rebels, as I predicted, were brought into line by the concessions. We need to re-assess our future relationship with Labour councillors and the potential for joint campaigns after Monday's decisions.  In terms of the Labour Party generally there has been little lead from Ed Miliband, or the London-wide party, on fighting the cuts.

As far as school budgets go, in the two schools where I am a governor we have been looking at the budget for 2011-12. As predicted although the budget figures are stable they disguise the fact that more services will now have to be bought in at higher prices and there will also be inflation in the price of resource and utilities. In my schools, because of relatively high numbers of children on free school meals, there is some cushioning from the pupil premium, but schools with lower numbers of FSM will face budgetary constraints and may have to make staff redundant. These are likely to be classroom assistants, school meals supervisors etc. There will also be pressure to employ contractors for cleaning etc, who pay lower hourly rates than the Brent Council rates - without pension contributions and holiday pay.  At a broader level as central services provided by the Council are reduced, cut or charged at higher prices, there are likely to be more calls for schools to end their links with the local authority and apply for academy status.

So we are likely to see  libraries and the Sports Centre being closed at the end of March, some redundancies/non-renewal of contracts in schools from April, and the national measures (VAT increase, child benefit freeze, public sector wage freeze, cuts in childcare element of the Working Tax Credit) kicking in at the start of the new financial year.  The latter will see an increase in child poverty and problems for families in finding the cash to pay rent/mortgages (council rents are also going up). There will also of course be a rise in local unemployment as public sector job losses mount. The Housing Benefit cap does not now come into force until 2012 but already private landlords are serving eviction notices on tenants they anticipate will not be able to afford the  rent under the cap.


The Friends of the Earth meeting is relevant as it brings a wider perspective which raises the issue of the wider economy. There is now a developing consensus that the post-Big Bang domination of the economy by the financial sector must come to an end but the Coalition, with its anti-state intervention stance, has little to say about the necessary re-structuring. Ed Miliband in his speech to the Resolution (not Revolution!) Foundation on February 28th admitted that the Labour Party was wrong not to focus more on the type of economy they were building, the need to 'break out of the low-pay, low-skill cycle' and the need for high quality jobs. He also supported the introduction of a living wage.  We would go further in wanting to discuss the restructuring of the economy to gear it towards sustainability with the creation of skilled, socially worthwhile employment that both combats climate change and tackles inequality and poverty.

The question now is where does the anti-cuts campaign go from here?  What should be our objective/s? How can we be pro-active, putting forward alternatives, rather than be merely reactive?

Three Greens Compete for London Mayor Nomination

The Green Party in London will be selecting its candidate for Mayor over the next two weeks. Here are the candidates' statements (in alphabetical order):

Shahrar Ali
I'm standing for selection as the Greens' Mayoral candidate to provide voters with a strong, Green, alternative to business-as-usual politics. As a lifelong Londoner, I advocate radical, Green solutions to the everyday problems faced by us all. Elected Greens thrive on service to the people, whether by investing in public transport, holding the police to account, or realising sustainable jobs in renewable energy and waste - to promote quality of life for all without harming the planet. There's more to politics than a rerun of the Ken and Boris road show: we need Greens!

I want to get elected not for its own sake, but in order to pursue the Green Party's noble aims. I'm not afraid to take on government administrations, opposition politicians or big business, or to form alliances when strategically necessary.

Siân Berry, the Green Party's Mayoral candidate in 2008, says: "Running for Mayor is tough: it's an uphill battle competing for space and attention with the other candidates. I have no doubt that Shahrar's drive, personality and detailed knowledge of London's issues will do the job of standing out for the Greens and standing up for our values."

Farid Bakht
I want Greens to move beyond their comfort zone and build a coalition around students and young people, the one in three Londoners of foreign origin and over a hundred thousand small businesses starved of credit by banks.

My priority is to widen our appeal to people from all communities including the working class within London". Why is it that white working class people don't generally vote for us?

I want to demolish the myth that we are a white, middle class party interested only in a narrow agenda not in tune with people's everyday lives.

We need to demonstrate we are the real opposition to three very similar parties by playing a central role in the anti-cuts movement.

We need to attract Londoners with our message of environmental and social justice, our humane approach to immigration and our commitment to free education, health and council housing.

Half Basque, half Bengali, and born in Hackney, I was brought up in London. I am married with a nine-year old daughter and live in West London.

Jenny Jones
My vision for London is of a sustainable city with less inequality between rich and poor. To achieve sustainability, we must introduce measures to tame the traffic, create a planning system that enables small businesses to thrive and encourages green measures such as affordable zero carbon housing, develop a single waste authority that rejects incineration, and reduce total carbon emissions by 90% by 2050 with annual targets.

To lessen inequality we must commit to reducing poverty to a less shameful level through policies such as the London Living Wage for all companies, decreasing pay ratio differentials in regional and local government, and increasing affordable housing. This can be done through strong partnership working with the boroughs, and with campaign and community groups, and by lobbying the government to stop tax loopholes and guarantee that the richest pay their fair share of taxes.

Finally we must ensure the police are fully accountable to their communities as well as fully representative. The May 2012 election will be an opportunity for us to explain our alternative to the disastrous cuts programme of the coalition government and explain that going green creates jobs, saves money and protects the planet.

Dame Betty on a Mission

The 21st Anniversary in 2008

Dame Betty Asafu-Adjaye denounced the Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday after they refused to reconsider the case for closure of the Mission Dining Club in Harlesden which has served the community for 23 years. Dame Betty is a founder of the club that offers a social eating experience and other activities to the elderly, disabled and socially isolated of Harlesden.

The Council wants the land on which the Club is built in order to expand Newfield Primary School. The Club was supported by Brent Law Centre and other advocates.

The familiar objections were a failure to consult, failure to communicate, the lack of an Equalities Impact Assessment, and a failure to consider alternatives. This appears to be a developing pattern with Brent Council actions to which one can add the case of the libraries where Monday's Council Meeting appeared to confirm the closures before the consultation had finished on Friday.

There was also the usual Council confusion over its properties: whether the Mission Dining Club owed rent, the precise meaning of the original agreements with its clause about the right of the council to claim a commercial rent,  and a general vagueness.  The Council claimed that it had done an Equalities Impact Assessment but councillors couldn't agree on whether they had seen it or not and it certainly hadn't been seen by Dame Betty.

There was discussion about whether the very small footprint building could be re-sited on a section of  the green open space next to the school. Officers claimed that there would be protests from residents about the loss of open space and Councillor Crane suggested Brent Green Party would object. In fact when I lived in  Harlesden and used to collect a child from Newfield, I remember the green space as being virtually unusable because of the amount of dog excrement on it. It may have changed over the past 10 years of course, but anyway the building's footprint is very small.

The Planning Committee had deferred hearing the application because of the lack of consultation. Surely it cannot be beyond the wit of the Council to come up with a solution in the meanwhile - perhaps incorporating space in the new school building for the Dining Club which would have multi-generational advantages. The space could be used by the school when not being used by the Club.

Preston Manor Expansion Call-In Fails

The Executive's decision to approve the  Preston Manor school expansion into primary provision was discussed at Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday March 2nd after a call-in by Councillor Harsh Patel.  I made a presentation on the educational and equality issues involved and residents spoke about poor consultation, traffic, planning issues, impact on neighbouring schools and covenants on the land.

Krutica Pau poured out a torrent of statistics in attempt to prove there was demand for a new primary school in the area including a 30% rose in Brent's birthrate, 89 additional births in Planning Area 2 (where Preston Manor is situated) between 2006 and 2009 and other primary schools in the area being currently full. Curiously she claimed that the current temporary school in Ashley Gardens had been designed to accommodate 40 children and was full, when throughout it was always said to be for two receptions classes (60 children). Reliable sources inform me that even 40 is an over estimate for number currently in the school.

My argument is that the imbalance between the number of schools in the north and south has an impact on the ease of access to secondary schools for pupils from the south as priority is given, after special needs, looked after children, and sibling connection,  to applicants who live nearest the school.

Unfortunately the councillor scrutineers  just don't have enough knowledge to ask the right questions and provide sufficient challenge to officers.  Krutica Pau said that she was committed to having an educational debate on the merits of all-through schools but that couldn't take place now because of the urgency of the situation and she and councillors were completely silent on the issue of equality between the south and the north of the borough which I had raised..

The south has four schools open to all pupils (counting Crest as two) while there are seven in the north, three of which wish to expand into primary. I reminded councillors of the 1980s Two Kingdoms Report into Brent secondary schools by Jocelyn Barrow.  This was an investigation into parental perceptions of inequality between the then largely Black south and White/Asian north. Although the boundary and ethnic make up may have shifted a little there is still a residual issue.  I  twice written to the local press trying to raise this issue as the council has failed to respond but my letters have not been published. I am not sure if this is because the issue is felt to be too irrelevant, too complex  or too dangerous.  

No mention was made of the existence of an Equalities Impact Assessment which I would argue should have been carried out. EqIAs look at the following.:

• identify the needs of each equality target group
• identify gaps in our knowledge
• identify the positive impacts
• identify the negative impacts
• identify what needs to be done to reduce negative impacts and add to positive ones
• amend what is being done accordingly.

As Preston Manor will give priority to pupils from its primary school who are likely to be recruited locally pupils from further afield will have less chance of getting into the school. Preston Manor intents to reduce the number of secondary places available to pupils from  other primary schools by 60. If they are followed by other secondary schools wishing to open primary schools (currently Alperton and Wembley High) then access will be further reduced for pupils from the south.

Councillor Helga Gladbaum agreed on the  necessity for an educational debate about the merits of all through schools but because of the urgent need for the Authority to fulfil statutory responses to provide places said that the Preston Manor expansion should go ahead. From personal experience she did however support my criticisms of Watts the builders who have been given the lion's share of the contract overseeing the primary expansion at Preston Manor and other schools. The Executive had taken the decision to employ them without putting the work out to tender. Watts had project managed a simple re-roofing project at Chalkhill Primary School where I am chair of governors. Governors had eventually declared lack of confidence in Watts and the contractor Breyer after 15 incidents of flooding resulted in damage to classrooms, pupils' work and teachers' equipment. The school has still not had adequate compensation and making good of the damage.

The equality of access issue will come up again when Preston Manor seeks to amend its admissions criteria to take into account the adjoining primary school. There seems to be a potentially good case for the involvement of the independent Schools Adjudicator.

After questions about the covenants that have been found which forbid building other than housing on the school site the public and press were excluded while the Committee was briefed. The Council has to appeal to the Upper Tribunal to get the covenants nullified or modified but appear confident of success. Residents, however, are considering legal action on the issue.

Eventually only Cllr Harsh Patel voted for the Executive to reconsider its decision.  It was hard to see how many abstentions there were as a number of councillors seemed intent on scrambling around their documents and searching under their chairs while the vote took place.

Fury at Council Lock-Out on Cuts Decision Meeting

The Wembley Observer has posted this video of the anti-cuts protest at Brent Town Hall on Monday.

Some interesting (and rather depressing) comments from inside the Council Chamber on the Save Kensal Rise Library blog HERE

Arrests over allegations of financial mismanagement at Copland High School

Three people were arrested today in connected with the long-running financial scandal at Copland High School. Newspaper sources suggest that those arrested were Sir Alan Davies, former headteacher, Dr Richard Evans former deputy headteacher, and Lesley Evans his wife who was also employed at the school.

Brent Cuts Go Through - Reprieve for Youth Centres, Law Centre and Welsh Harp

There is an excellent account of the Council discussion on the I Spy in Queen's Park blog HERE 

Basically the youth centres were reprieved, partial funding restored for the Law Centre, Citizens' Advice and Private Tenants Rights Group and part private funding found for the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre from Careys.. Otherwise all the cuts went through unamended.

Willesden and Wembley Observer coverage HERE
Willesden and Brent Times coverage HERE

Pickles condemns 'tragic' Brent Council

Exchange in the House of Commons yesterday:

Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con): Will my right hon. Friend join me in condemning Labour-run Brent council, which at tonight’s budget meeting proposes to close six libraries and all its day care centres, introduce fortnightly refuse collections, and hammer street cleansing and the voluntary sector, while taking the £2.5 million grant that was meant to freeze council tax and applying it to balances?

Mr Pickles: What a tragic council that is. All it needs to do is take a short ride on the tube to see adjoining authorities in London that are protecting libraries, expanding their services and protecting the front line. No doubt it will get its come-uppance.

Democracy in action? Cuts protesters barred from debate.

A group of protesters entered the Town Hall while others continued to protest outside

I am unable to bring you a report on tonight's Brent Council meeting, which was voting on a cuts package that will seriously damage the people of Brent,  because police barred me, and many others, from attending the meeting of the Council. Admission was by ticket only with a limited number issued. There were empty seats in the chamber and on other occasions the public have been allowed to stand. Not tonight.

I was told by the police that they had been called by the Council and instructed to remove me from the building  (Brent Town Hall)  because I was trespassing.  When I said that I was there to see democracy in action I was told that democracy was voting in elections and protesting was nothing to do with democracy. When I said that I wanted to report on the debate and the arguments for and against the cuts, I was told that it was for the Council to decide whether they wanted their proceedings reported and that Parliament  didn't let the public into all their debates.

Frustrated campaigners continued to protest outside the Council chamber for some time until they left in orderly fashion. They left having made their point that they were not prepared to accept the supine position of Labour councillors who appeared prepared to damage the very people that they had been elected to serve and protect. 

Groups from a variety of campaigns had lobbied outside the Town Hall from 6pm in a good-humoured but determined show of solidarity.

Why you should join the anti-cuts protest at Brent Town Hall tomorrow

Labour Brent Council promised to protest the most vulnerable from local government cuts, particularly as these groups had already been hit by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition cuts in benefits and the housing benefit cap, with children hit by the ending of the Building Schools for the Future Programme and the scrapping of the Education Maintenance Allowance.

But the Labour Council's cuts and increased charges will hit the same groups:

•  £2.25m cuts in Children's Centres with reduced staffing and three centres that will not now open affecting the futures of children in poorer families
• Cutting the portage service which helps families with children with disabilities
• Reduced funding for children's social care affecting child in care and payments to adopting families
• Reduced funding for services for children with special educational needs and disabilities including the end of the Easter Play Scheme
• Cutting the funding of the Young Carers who provide support and respite for young people who look after older siblings or parents
• Cuts in the School Improvement Service which supports schools in difficulty and ensures the quality of provision is maintained
• Closure of the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre which generations of Brent children have used to get hands on experience of science and environmental education (negotiations are in progress with a private sponsor to take over funding)
• Closure of 6 out of 12 libraries with, in addition, Willesden Green Library Centre closed for two years if a private developer can be found

• The closure of the Charteris Sports Centre which is the only community resource in its area
• The closure of Youth Clubs in Wembley and St Raphaels which have enabled youngsters to train in sports and other activities giving them self-confidence and motivation, and cutting Connexions which gives support and guidance to young people on the way to education, training and employment
• Increased council rents hitting families already hit by the economic recession
• Closure of day centres for people with disabilities and mental health problems

• The sacking of park wardens who keep our parks and open spaces safe thus increasing their usage by children and older people, replacing them with a mobile patrol visiting less frequently 

• Closure of the Brent Law Centre which gives advice and support to precisely those people who are being hit by Coalition, and now Council, cuts.
• Loss of many jobs in Brent Council and in the longer term in schools,  increasing local unemployment  and the number of children living in poverty. 

This will be disastrous for the people of the Brent and the long-term impact will be much more expensive to put right than the money saved in the short-term. But it is not just a question of money - we know from past experience that early intervention works but if problems are left too long the result is ruined lives, lost potential and a community under siege.  We cannot let that happen.

"Those who created the crisis should pay for it" - Caroline Lucas

Caroline Lucas spoke about the cuts and the Green New Deal at the Green Party Conference in Cardiff this weekend.

Support Grows for Monday's Cuts Protest Outside Brent Town Hall

As Council's across the country face protests as they vote on drastic cuts packages the various single issue campaigns across Brent are readying themselves to join the Brent Fightback demonstration tomorrow (Monday 28th February) outside Brent Town Hall. The demonstration will start at 6pm.

The Labour group will be meeting before the full Council and it is likely that there may be a few minor concessions from the leadership in order to keep some dissident councillors in line. However the vast majority of the cuts, despite the leadership's claims to the contrary, will go ahead and hit the most vulnerable of Brent residents, including falling disproportionately on children and young people and those with disabilities.

If Labour councillors are to remain true to their principles they should really vote against the entire package and ally themselves with trades unions and community groups fighting the Coalition's slashing of public services.

If you want to identify your local councillors so that you can speak to them tomorrow, follow this LINK which includes portraits as well as contact details.

This is what community action looks like!

Determined campaigners brave the rain for a photo-shoot

(Click on images to enlarge)

 Lots of local families crowded into Cricklewood Library today for a 'read-in' which showed the breadth of opposition to library closures. Guest story-tellers and some on the spot volunteers read to more than 70 children who attended throughout the 'read-in' and we even managed to have some parachute games despite the confined space.

Graham Durham of the Save Cricklewood Library Campaign everyone to attend the demonstration against the cuts at 6pm at Brent Town Hall on Monday. Cllr Shafique Choudhary, the only councillor to attend, was thanked for turning up and urged to vote against ALL the cuts on Monday.

Ken Livingstone said that there were two main arguments against the cuts the government were imposing. Firstly President Obama had decided not to make cuts while the economy was still weak and that decision had seen the US economy recovering quicker than that of the UK. Secondly there was an alternative to the cuts and that was to take action against tax avoidance and tax evasion by big business.

Cut Benefits to Bankers - Not Public Services

Lucas: Greens are the REAL opposition

Green Party leader Caroline Lucas has positioned herself as "the real opposition" to the coalition Government.

Speaking from her party's spring conference in Cardiff, she said: "How can they oppose the market in the NHS when they first introduced it?

"How are they opposing tuition fees when they first introduced it? How do they oppose the selling off of the Royal Mail? That was (former business secretary) (Lord) Peter Mandelson."

Ms Lucas added: "I've always been a bit ambitious, but I do think the Green Party is the real opposition.

"The Lib Dems are part of the Government - they can't speak out about proper constitutional reform or nuclear weapons or nuclear power or many of the things they stood for.

"Labour is utterly contaminated by the fact they pursued many of the policies which now the coalition Government is simply taking to their logical conclusions, so I think people are looking for a genuine opposition - and you won't be surprised to know I think that's the Green Party."

Local Press on Council Cuts

Here is another round-up of the local press on cuts. Don't forget there is a demonstration against Brent Council cuts organised by Brent Fightback from 6pm on Monday February 28th outside the Town Hall. WWO is the Wembley and Willesden Observer and WBT the Willesden and Brent Times. These are only brief notes so do buy the papers for the full story.

CUTS     - CHILDREN
LIFELINE FOR SPECIAL NEEDS UNDER THREAT WWOp1  KIDS HIT BY LATEST CUTS WBTp1 Contrary to the Council's commitment to protect the front-line the portage service, which aims to give children with disabilities an equal chance in life is to be cut. A council spokeswoman admitted the service was important but said it was not legally required.
'RESTRUCTURING WON'T HARM CHILDREN'S SERVICES' WBTp2  PROMISE NOT TO CUT SURE START, BUT NO TO NEW CENTRES WWOp10  Despite cuts of £2.25m in children's centres, and not opening those at Sudbury, Cricklewood and Kingsbury. Denise Burke, Brent early years and childcare manager,  maintains that they will not affect the service and Cllr Mary Arnold says that young people are the victims of 'right-wing slash and burn attitudes to the welfare state' but expresses pride that 'we have found a way to protect all our centres'. However Sarah Teather MP, says that the government has put the same amount of money into the Sure Start pot but Brent Council has withdrawn £2.25m. She says children centres, services and staff are at risk.

CUTS - LIBRARIES
LIB DEMS: WE CAN SAVE LIBRARIES WBTp2, OPPOSITION'S ALTERNATIVE BUDGET TO SAVE LIBRARIES AND CENTRE WWOp11  Lib Dems propose an alternative budget to the one being voted on on Monday. They propose axing the regeneration budget and using £2.2m Labour were going to put into reserves. the would not replace the director of housing, reduce the administration costs of the neighbourhood working scheme and remove the London Weighting from Hay Grade salaries.  Cllr Muhammed Butt says that the £2.2m put into reserves is a one-off grant: "If we use it this year what do we do next year? This is not spare cash." The Lib Dems claim their budget would enable libraries to stay open for a year while alternative plans are formulated to keep them open, they'd reinstate green zones, cut £1m from the CPZ charges, save the Welsh Harp Centre and reverse the children centres cuts.
MP ATTACKS PLANS TO AXE HALF LIBRARIES IN BOROUGH WBTp4 'CUT SALARIES BEFORE YOU CLOSE LIBRARIES' WWOp5  Speaking at the Save Preston Library public meeting, Barry Gardiner MP attacks Cllr Powney over library closures and says libraries are essential to any civilised society. He questioned why there are 50 people in Brent Council who earn as much as Eric Pickles.
WE BACK THE LIBRARIES BATTLE WBTp17 Brent Arts Council backs the Save Our Libraries campaigns.
CLEAR SUPPORT FOR ESSENTIAL PUBLIC SERVICE WBTp17 A Queens Park residents calls on the Council to listen to residents and adapt their policy on libraries accordingly.

MP'S VIEWS ON LIBRARY POLICY QUITE RIGHT WBTp17 Richard Cross attacks Cllr Ann John for suggesting that libraries not so important now that books are available at supermarkets, second hand and from Amazon.
NEW TORY COUNCILLOR WILL FIGHT TO KEEP BRENT LIBRARIES OPEN WWOp10 Suresh Kansagra, who won the Kenton by-election. pledge to keep fighting against library closures.

CUTS - SPORTS FACILITIES
'USE IT OT LOSE IT' BID TO SAVE SPORTS CENTRE WBTp5 Simon Rogers of Brent Eleven Streets Residents Association seeks to save Charteris Sports Centre, the 'only community space' in the area and calls for the community to take it over. He says the worst scenario would be if the council gave them the centre without support 'but the most important thing for us is to keep the doors open'.
ANGER OVER THREAT TO LEGAL CENTRE WBTp7 After 'transformation project' as the word for library closures Brent Council has coined 'decommissioning' as the term for closing the Brent Law Centre. Former  Labour and Conservative councillors as well as current Lib Dems combine to criticise the move and say it will store up problems for the future. OUR VIEW WBTp17 Editorial making the case for the Law Centre and saying Monday's council meeting should not vote to cut it.

CUTS - PARK WARDENS
FEAR OF 'NO-GO AREAS' IF PARK WARDENS CUT WWOp13 PARC (Park Area Residents Campaign) are fighting to save the warden of Brent River Park (Tokyngton Rec. Monks Park) and fear that without the warden it will not be safe for families. Ten people will lose their jobs in park warden cuts and will be replaced by mobile teams.  Cllr Ann John campaigned for wardens eight years ago but says she has been forced to cut the funding and has no choice but to balance the books. She says if funding increases, wardens will be top of the list for reinstatement.

Unequal Access to Education in Brent

There is increasing disquiet in Brent about the perceived shift of the  borough's centre of gravity towards Wembley. Nowhere is this clearer  than in the distribution of secondary schools. There are only four schools open to all pupils south of the North Circular Road (counting Crest girls and boys as two schools) which include three academies. In the north there are seven, including one academy; five are in the Wembley area.  After special needs and  sibling connection the main criterion for admission is distance from the  school which clearly disadvantages pupils from the south when applying  for schools in the north.

This inequality will be exacerbated if Preston Manor, Wembley High and Alperton follow the ARK in opening a primary school and giving priority  to those pupils in gaining access to their secondary departments. Preston Manor has already stated that it will reduce the number of  places in its secondary school available for external applications by 60.

Despite my best efforts I have not been able to persuade the council to make the case for  all-through schools or to provide an equalities impact assessment of the expansion plans. It seems that the pressure of  providing additional places in the short-term has blinded the council to the long-term implications.

The danger is that secondary schools  seeking primary provision in the face of the all-through competition from the ARK Academy, will also seek academy status on the same basis. The local education authority, already weakened by cuts, will lose further funding and will relinquish its role in ensuring fair admissions procedures and an equal distribution of school places.

The paucity of secondary places in the south of the borough will provide a rationale for private providers to seek to set up a free school (a school set up by individuals or a charity, using tax payers money, but outside the control of the local authority) in the area with a further loss of funding to the local authority. A 'bare bones' authority would offer so little to primary schools  that there would be little incentive to them resisting going it alone and seeking academy status.

This would mean the end of democratic accountability of our schools.

Primary Expansion Programme to go to Scrutiny on March 2nd

Cllr Harshadibha Patel has 'called in' the Executive's decision of February 15th on primary places expansion. This particularly relates to the controversial Preston Manor Primary School project.

The meeting will be held in Room 4 at Brent Town Hall on Wednesday March 2nd at 7.30pm.  Anyone who wishes to speak on the issue should contact Brent Council via Toby Howes on 020 8937 1307

Rally to Defend Our Public Services on Monday

NO CUTS! NO CLOSURES! NO REDUNDANCIES!

DEFEND OUR SERVICES!

Lobby Brent Council's budget fixing meeting 

MONDAY 28th FEBRUARY

Bring your placards and banners, bring your friends and your neighbours.

Be on the steps of Brent Town Hall

Forty Lane, Wembley HA9 9HD

From 6 pm.

TELL BRENT COUNCIL TO RESIST THE CONDEM CUTS!

Spread the word. 

Please forward this link to everyone who will be affected by cuts to libraries, the Law Centre, Charteris Sports Centre, Voluntary services, children's centres, services for children with special needs, services for the elderly, services for people with disabilities &/or learning difficulties, parks, council workers who will lose their jobs, council workers who will have their pay cut, council workers whose working conditions will get worse, people with mental health problems whose services are being cut and rents are going up, young people whose youth centres are being closed or cut, people with allotments, people who need to bury their relatives ..........

 

Support Cricklewood Library on Saturday and Bring Your Children

From the Save Cricklewood Library Campaign

What happened to the Mayor's cat, Ken ?
 
Local and London authors are sharpening their story-telling skills for the Read-In at Cricklewood library on Saturday
26 February (10.30-2pm,152 Olive Road NW2)

Supporting our story telling local resident  Ken Livingstone,candidate for London Mayor in 2012, by contributing their tales  are :

John Simmons - internationally known writer and teacher of writing for business and the contributing co-editor of 'From Here to Here' - 31 stories inspired by London's Circle Line amongst his numerous other books

Martin Francis - famous 'Wembley Matters' bloggist and organiser of environment education scheme 'Brent School Without Walls'

Anna Dolezal - well-known University of the Arts trained   local artist who has written five poems specifically for the  day

Jan Palmer -  retired local primary school teacher and artist whose children 'loved the library'

Graham Durham -  special educational needs expert consultant and secretary of the Save Cricklewood Library campaign

The event is open to all and is part of the campaign to prevent Brent Council closing Cricklewood Library and five other Brent libraries.

Preston Manor Primary School Approved

Brent Planning Committee tonight unanimously agreed the application to build a 420 pupil primary school on the Preston High School site despite 81 different objections from residents. To the last there were complaints about lack of consultation, disputed claims about the need for a school in this particular area, concern over the impact on local primary schools, worries about traffic and a general sense that this was a 'done deal' whatever representations were made..

Carmen Coffey, for the children and families department, continued to insist that there was a demand for reception places in the 'immediate area' (in earlier consultations we established she meant by this the HA9 and HAO postal codes!), but later said that only 40 places of the 60 place temporary school at Wembley Christian Centre had been filled.

When Cllr Bobby Thomas asked if the addition of a primary school meant that there would be fewer places at the secondary school for children from other primary schools she did not answer directly, instead she said that children from these schools often went to other secondary schoolssuch as Wembley and Claremont. In fact because children from Primary Manor Primary School will get automatic admission Preston Manor High School does propose to reduce  the places open to other schools by 60 places. She did state that children from the south of the borough would be unable to get into the school if it was over-subscribed.

Cllr McLennan asked about the impact of the housing benefit cap on pupil numbers as families were forced out of the borough. Carmen Coffey said that an assessment was being made but suggested that the families may be replaced by those forced out of inner London boroughs. This raises the question of why rents would be affordable to inner London families on capped housing benefit and not Brent families with the same cap.

The applicant suggested that residents' worries about traffic and parking would be answered by staggering the start and finish of the primary school in consultation with the secondary school and that children arriving by car from the west would be met at Ashley Gardens by a member of staff and escorted to the primary building. She conceded that in the first year because of the backlog of unplaced children there would be a number coming from the south of the borough by car but expected that by 2016 most of the children would be coming from the local area.

The issue of the covenants was raised by Councillor Cummins but he was told that this could not be considered by the Planning Committee and was a 'separate issue'. One that doubtless residents will be following up.

There is also the possibility of an appeal to the Schools Adjudicator when the admissions procedure to the secondary school is published.

Academy staff vote to strike against proposed redundancies

Staff at Crest Girls Academy in Brent were shocked to hear that 21 staff redundancies were being proposed. At an emergency joint unions meeting last Thursday, 79 staff (with 3 against) voted for strike action in the event that the current "business plan", which basically means the redundancy of 21 staff members, goes ahead.

Crest Girls is run by the academy group E-ACT and last year Crest Boys took successful strike action to prevent any compulsory redundancies at their academy.

A group from Crest Girls joined by other anti academy campaigners and ATL, NASUWT and NUT union officers from Redbridge who face E-ACT academies there, had a demonstration outside E-ACT's HQ in London. E-ACT were left in no doubt the strength of feeling felt at Crest Girls and particularly in the circumstances where their Director General (!) Sir Bruce Liddington earns over £265,000 plus bonuses per year.
 

Residents fight for park wardens

Local community rally to keep their park warden

Park Area Residents Campaign (PARC) has been formed to fight for the retention of a full-time park warden in Brent River Park. The Park covers Tokyngton Recreations Ground (Monks Park), St Raphael Open Space and the wild area around the Stadium Trading Estate.

PARC are a  broad  non-political alliance who fear that the area will degenerate and become unsafe if the warden is removed.

To find out more and to support the campaign go to their website HERE

Brent Parks consult on dog control orders

Brent Council Parks Department is currently running a consultation on Dog Control Orders. They are seeking to balance the  protection of children with the need of dog owners to have areas where their dogs can run free. One major measure is a restriction on the number of dogs being walked by one person at a time to 6. Professional dog walkers currently often have more than 10 dogs at a time. The proposals follow similar measures on Hampstead Heath. They also list areas where dogs will be completely excluded and where dogs must be kept on a lead.

The consultation ends on February 28th and the document is available HERE

Ken Livingstone Tells Stories

Latest news from the Save Cricklewood Library Campaign:

Confronting the Council

Yes local resident and former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone,will be telling stories at the Cricklewood Library  Fun Day and  Read - In on Saturday 26 February 10.30 am - 2pm.

This is part of the campaign to stop Brent Council closing Cricklewood and six other Brent Libraries as proposed by the Council.The full Council meets on 28 February to decide the libraries fate.

Ken said ' I shall be dashing from my Saturday morning radio show on LBC  to read to local children in support of the library. The proposed closure of libraries across the country is wrong '

Brent Council has admitted that Cricklewood Library receives over 1,000 visitors a week and that Brent libraries received an astonishing 1.85 million visits in 2009/2010.

Graham Durham ,Secretary of Save Cricklewood Library Campaign, said

"Whilst everyone knows that 27% cuts are being forced on all councils by the Tory/Lib Dem coalition it is wrong for Labour councils to meekly slash library and other services at the behest of government. Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North and Ken Livingstone  are the two most respected figures in the Labour Party in Brent and oppose these closures..This week it was revealed that if Barclay's Bank alone paid corporation tax at  the average rate for developed countries then all 521 libraries threatened across the country could be fully funded for the next 50 years."