Have you say on the future of food growing in Brent

Watering a seed bed at Birchen Grove last week

I had ear-marked today for working on my allotment, especially watering the seed beds...  So today's rain means that I can look at Brent Council's 'Food for Thought-A Draft Food Growing and Allotments Strategy'.

Few Brent Council documents start with a quotation from Gandhi,

To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves

and this sets the tone for an unusually thoughtful, well-researched and imaginative document.  However, as I read it I could not help but have a nagging voice at the back of my mind asking, 'but will they have the staff to make it happen?'

The report lists the benefits of local food growing, each one supplemented by a Case Study:

1. Supplying a sustainable source of food
2. Improving health and wellbeing
3. Acting as a valued community resource
4. Allotments and food growing as an educational tool
5. Delivering a resource for improving biodiversity
6. Establishing an link between gardening and engagement with the arts
7. Providing open space amenities for all residents
8. Contributing to climate change and energy reduction objectives

Raised vegetable beds at Chalkhill Primary School

Working as I do with children from Chalkhill Primary School on their school and community allotment I was pleased to read:

It is widely recognised that there is a strong need for children to be taught about here food comes from and the valuable contribution of fruit and vegetables towards attaining a healthy lifestyle.

Absolutely, not to mention the sheer pleasure children get from sowing, nurturing, harvesting and eating their own produce.  This unsolicited letter from a parent whose son visited my Birchen Grove allotment testifies to the enthusiasm that can be generated:

All evening H could not stop telling me and his dad about his trip to the allotments. it was very interesting to hear what a good educational experience it had been for him. He was telling us things about flowers, fruits and vegetables that we did not even know. I am very pleased that H had the opportunity to go to the allotments and widen his knowledge in a 'hands on' way and it is good that the school are able to make use of local area resources in such a way.

The strategy suggests extending the provision of temporary food growing spaces for community groups where land is available in spaces awaiting development such as South Kilburn and Wembley. Working with Capital Growth and Brent Sustainability Forum they will provide an umbrella structure for the coordination of food growing spaces and initiatives across Brent and will liaise with Transition Town Kensal to Kilburn and Transition Willesden  to encourage local communities to grow food as part of improving the local environment. They suggest utilising ward working money for food growing projects in areas such as Queensbury and Sudbury and for raised beds at Eton Grove and Grove Park. They suggest the provision of growing spaces in new developments such as the Willesden Green Cultural Centre.

Reviewing current allotment provision in Brent  the report notes the increased demand for plots nationally at 57 people per 100 plots, with 265 confirmed applicants on the Brent waiting list. Based on average turnover it is estimated that the current applicants on the waiting list could be accommodated in approximately three years.  However, as with school places, available plots may not be near enough (or good enough) for some applicants and waiting lists for some plots will be longer, while less popular plots may have vacancies.

Allotment fees in Brent went up substantially last year with some concessions removed, and will increase again from this month. Brent allotments are now more expensive than any of our neighbouring boroughs and the third most expensive in London.

Borough	Standard Charge 2012/13	Standard Charge 2012/13	Concession Charge 2012/13	Concession Charge 2012/13
	5 poles	10 poles	5 poles	10 poles
Brent	£78.75	£157.50	£39.40	£118
Camden	£46.50	£78.00	£23.25	£39.00
Harrow	£21.00	£42.00	£11.50	£23.00

The steepness of the rent rise provoked a revolt by allotment holders last year and I challenged Cllr Powney on the method they had used to set the new rents. LINK Contrary to claims last year  that the increased rents still meant plots were subsidised, figures show that the standard 5 and 10 pole plots involve a small net contribution to the Council.

The report's analysis shows that the profile of those on the waiting list now constitute more people in full-time employment (42% against 24% of plot holders) and more women (54% against 40% of plot holders). In order to meet the rising demand the Council suggests that plots can be split when they become vacant with 10 poles converted into two 5 pole plots and a higher proportion of 2.5 pole allotments.  46% of plot holders agreed with this strategy but 33%  strongly opposed. Plots that have been abandoned often remain uncultivated for some time because of cumbersome checking and re-letting arrangements and it is suggested that this could be streamlined. However the effectiveness of this may be hindered by lack of staffing.

The combination of increased charges and smaller plots could change the demographic of allotments considerably in the long-term with fewer retired males with large plots which they tend regularly.  The report acknowledges the social side of allotments and I can vouch for the fact that for many retired men it provides a kind of 'work substitute' with many almost clocking on and off and banter about 'are you doing the late shift today?'. The importance of this in providing structure, sociability and purpose to post-retirement life should not be underestimated.Interestingly 55% of the waiting list but only 26% of existing plot holders stated that the main reason for growing their own vegetables is for healthy easting and exercise and a choice to grow organically.

Respondents are asked to comment on the Vision and Objectives of the Draft Strategy:

The vision of the Food Growing and Allotments Strategy is to provide a range of food growing opportunities accessible to all parts of the community and to promote the benefits of a healthy lifestyle within a greener borough.

Objectives:

1. To provide efficiently managed allotment sites that provide good value for money and are accessible to all
2. To develop and broaden the range of food growing opportunities available though increased partnership working.
3. To promote the benefits of food growing as part of a healthy lifestyle within a greener borough.

The consultation lasts until May 31st. Documentation (substantial) can be found HERE

Sign today to delay the destructive Willesden Green redevelopment

After Brent Council's dismissal of the petitions to allocate space in the proposed Willesden Green Cultural Centre for the Willesden Bookshop and to retain the Old Willesden Library building, it is understandable that people are cynical about the usefulness of petitions when the Council is clearly not prepared to listen.

However, we must continue to ram the message home and the demand of the 'Pause, listen and reflect' petition on the Willesden Green Library Regeneration is perfectly reasonable. Citizens should have the right to a say in major new developments and the Council cannot be allowed to get away with sham consultations that merely tick a statutory box and are subsequently ignored.

The lamentable performance by Cllr Crane at the Dollis Hill Hustings and Cllr Ann John's uncertainty over some of the processes and detail at her meeting with Keep Willesden Green campaigners, and the massive majority rejecting the plans at the Galliford Try consultation, show that it is to everyone's benefit to pause and reconsider plans that will impact on the area for years.

Today is the last day of the 'Pause' petition so if you have not done so please go on-line now and sign up.LINK.

THE FULL PETITION TEXT

We the undersigned petition the council to Pause the Willesden Green Library Centre regeneration plans to allow for full consultation with residents in order to ascertain their views on how the area should be developed and the amenities that should be provided or retained.

Brent Council is handing over public land worth £10.4 million to a property developer in exchange for rebuilding the Willesden Library Centre. The original 1894 library building on the High Road will be demolished, The Willesden Bookshop is likely to be driven out of business, the public car park will be reduced to 8 spaces and a children’s play area will be lost. Over 18 months, three five-storey blocks of 90+ luxury flats will be built behind the existing Library Centre.

We all want a thriving, welcoming and dynamic library and cultural centre, but the current deal has been sealed with virtually no public consultation and very little available information, ignoring the wishes of over a thousand local residents who have expressed opposition to these plans in two Brent e-petitions.

While the developers get a healthy profit from the sale of luxury flats and Brent councillors get some fancy new offices, the cultural and financial cost to rate-paying citizens is disproportionately high. It smacks of ‘profits before people’.

Borough residents need to have a say in the content and design of the library centre redevelopment, but we have not yet been given the chance to do so.

The Council says: Plans for the development of the library centre were raised at the executive committee in February 2011, and quickly followed by two public consultations to ‘test the market’. The council had to abide by commercial confidentiality, so no detailed plans could be made public until a deal was signed with the developer on 15 February 2012.

We say: Did you know about this in 2011? Not a single local resident or tradesperson we spoke to knew about the plans until Jan 2012, and only then through word of mouth. The Feb 2011 consultations were conducted with, respectively, 5 and then 7 people. One person present recounted that they were asked for their opinion, then shown plans for the centre that were drawn up before the meeting. This does not conform to the generally understood definition of a ‘consultation’

Ann John: I know best on Willesden Green Redevelopment

Keep Willesden Green activists have provided reports on their meeting with Ann John, leader of Brent Council, to discuss the proposed redevelopment of Willesden Green Library. LINK

It seems clear from the reports that Cllr John was not as well briefed as she might have been and this follows Cllr Crane's floundering on detail at the KWG hustings for the Dollis Hill by-election.

Despite being disconcerted by some of the evidence Ann John stuck to her guns and insisted that she knew better than local residents what was good for them.

Campaigners who attended the meeting concluded that local people could have a say about where shelving in the new building was positioned, but little else despite not being properly consulted in the first place.

Further one to one consultations will be held by Galliford Try and Remarkable PR on April 17th. Full details HERE

Brent Labour's consideration of free schools confirmed

Brent and Kilburn Times, April 5th, 2012

This week's Brent and Kilburn Times carries front page coverage of the story I initially broke on March 6th LINK about Brent Labour considering setting up a free school to address the shortage of school places. They don't give an account of  the row I reported within the Labour group on March 9th LINK but quote lead member for Children and Families, Cllr Mary Arnold, on the dilemma facing the Council.

Although no decision has been made as yet, Arnold fears that free schools could be forced 'upon us' and states that the council wants free schools to have a connection with the local authority: 'we are taking a responsible look at providing places for our children. A lot of councils are looking for partners'.

Labour's stance on this hasn't been helped by Michael Gove's Labour shadow, Stephen Twigg's ambivalence on he issue. He told the BBC on March 20th that more places to address the shortage should be funded, rather than building of free schools, stating that these would not necessarily be provided in the areas of greatest need. LINK  However he went on to say that some of the schools built could be free schools.

This still leaves unanswered the issue of democratic accountability, selection by the back door, and the undermining of the local authority's ability to coherently plan school places provision.

I wrote on March 9th:

This debate need to move outside the Labour Party so that Brent teachers and parents have a say in the future of educational provision in the borough. Free schools do not have the democratic accountability of local authority schools, take a disproportionate amount of funding and open the way to experimental teaching and curricula with a potentially damaging impact on children. As with the ARK Academy the first free school in Brent will open the way for others to follow, producing an ad hoc competitive system where working class children may well lose out.

This view is echoed in the Brent and Kilburn Times editorial this week:

Not only do the teaching unions and their members need to play an integral part in the decision-making process, but parents must be allowed to air their concerns too. After all, it will be their children who will be expected to attend any free school that opens in Brent.

We must ensure that this is one issue on which the Council must be fully transparent.

Brent Labour's poor geography

Comments are closed on the Brent Labour blog LINK otherwise I would have posted a correction on the site.

They state that Labour Barnhill by-election candidate, Michael Pavey is 'the Chair of Wembley Primary School in Barnhill'. In fact of course Wembley Primary is not in Barnhill but in the heart of Preston ward. Michael lives in Kilburn.

Brace yourselves for visits to Brent by cabinet ministers

David Cameron at the Swaminarayan Temple

If the Independent  LINK is to be believed Brent residents need to brace themselves for visits from Tory cabinet ministers looking for the ethnic vote.   Learning from the 'success' of the Conservative Canadian government  they are seeking to build on what they claim is a fit between Conservative values on the family and law and order in an effort to prise them away from Labour. In the 2010 General Election only 6% of BME (black and minority ethnic) voters voted Conservative against 37% of white voters.

Action is now seen as urgent following the collapse of the Conservative vote in Bradford West. Conservative co-chairman, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said:

We need to learn from centre-right parties in other countries how to attract votes who share our values but haven't traditionally voted Conservative. And we need to go out and persuade those voters that a Conservative government is the best way of fulfilling their aspirations for themselves, their families and their communities.

However this strategy may not be welcomed by all Tories. Warsi herself has been under attack from the party's right-wing.  An article in the current New Statesman LINK states:

Judged by the intensity and sheer volume of the anti-Warsi vitriol, it is difficult to come to any other conclusion that her critics don't like her because she ticks three very un-Tory boxes: she is female, Asian and Muslim. Since it is 2012 and they can't say as much in public, her right-wing opponents target instead her alleged lack of 'competence' and 'ability'.

Interestingly in the same edition of the New Statesman Salma Yaqoob, reviewing the Bradford West result, remarks that the Labour Party has for generations 'relied on and reinforced the corrupting influence of biraderi - clan networks - that so disfigure south Asian politics'. The by-election result marks the community's break with Labour.

Although the Conservatives will have their eye on Brent North, held years ago by right-wing Tory Rhodes Boyson, the reality is that the local Conservative Party is very weak, with just a rump left on the council, and Barry Gardiner, helped by boundary changes, strengthened his grip on the constituency against the trend at the General Election. At 62.3% Brent North has the 4th highest BME population and Brent Central is 7th at 53%.

There are pitfalls in this strategy, not least the reaction of right-wingers. The YouTube videos of Cameron's 2008 visit to the Swaminarayna Temple attracted many racist comments as well as, somewhat oddly, anti-Muslim rants. The Daily Mail, even more bizarrely, for the April 2010 visit by the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown, focused on the poor state of Mrs Brown's feet, revealed when she took her shoes off to enter the temple! LINK

Jenny Jones 'breath of fresh air"

"Jenny Jones, the Green party mayoral candidate for London, came out of the first hustings in the election campaign on Tuesday smelling of roses, or daffodils, or some other kind of green and verdant plant.

While Boris and Ken blustered and argued the toss over figures and tax affairs, Jones came across as the voice of calm - and Twitter certainly seemed to find her a breath of fresh air."

 For more of the Huffington Post interview with Jenny Jones follow this LINK

London Mayor candidates' income and tax details here

Following Jenny Jones' intervention in the Newsnight debate, when intervening in the boorish clash between Boris and Ken Livingstone she got them to agree to publish their income and tax details, the information has now been published.

Readers can make up their own minds by viewing the PDF below:

Majority reject Willesden Green plans in Remarkable Consultation

The 'Keep Willesden Green Campaign' have just released the results of the Galliford Try-Brent Council consultation on the Willesden Green Library Regeneration which was managed by Remarkable PR.

The result, coming as it does on top of Labour AM Navin Shah's support for the retention of the historic Old Willesden Green Library building is indeed 'remarkable'.

Remarkable PR had 220 responses to the public consultation (both on line and on paper). The breakdown was:

Supporters of the scheme  15
Partial supporters              24
Undecided                        10
Objections                       171

Remarkable will be contacting the people who took part in the 50 1:1 consultations with revised plans but these are not expected to include the retention of the old Willesden Green Library building.  These meetings are likely to take place the week after next. A revised flyer will also be sent to residents.

Lib Dem mystery in Barnhill by-election

There is no Lib Dem candidate listed for the Barnhill By-election according to Brent Council's website. I will be standing for the Greens, Michael Pavery for Labour and Ratna Pindora for the Conservatives.  There is another candidate named Venilal Vaglela with no party or other description. Vaglela stood as a Conservative candidate in Queensbury ward  in 2002 which Labour won.

Unless Venilal has made a clandestine switch to the Lib Dems this means there is no Lib Dem candidate for the seat which Labour unexpectedly won from the Conservatives in 2010.

In Dollis Hill some reckoned that tactical voting by Tories for the Lib Dems enabled Alison Hopkins to win. The Tory candidate's voted was slashed. Lib Dems won 16% of the vote in Barnhill in 2010 with Labour only 10% ahead of the Conservatives at 44%.  Where those 16% of votes go will be of crucial importance.

Cllr Krupesh Hirani has  tweeted that this may be a Lib Dem tactic to help their Coalition partners but two Tory candidates (or one current and one ex-Tory)  looks like a shot in the foot.

Gareth Daniel calls for Cultural Revolution

Extracts from Gareth Daniel's latest Newsletter to council staff. Gareth Daniel is Chief Executive of Brent Council.

One Council, One Building, One Culture

The next twelve months provide Brent Council with an exciting once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to re-define itself and the way it does business.  Our new civic headquarters in the heart of the Wembley regeneration area is visibly taking shape and remains on course to be fully completed in December this year.  The complex £100 million project is on schedule, on specification and on budget – and staff will start to occupy the building in just over a year from now in April 2013.  This will mean that all our departments will be able to operate from a single site for the first time ever and around two thirds of our non-schools workforce will be in the same state-of-the-art building.  In every sense, this will be an important landmark in the organisation’s history.  

By consolidating many of our services and staff into a single building, we will be able to vacate at least fourteen separate office blocks and other workplaces including the Town Hall, Brent House, Mahatma Gandhi House and Chesterfield House.  We will obviously vacate the buildings that we currently lease and thereby avoid lease costs and repair liabilities.  In those buildings that we own, we can look at possible alternative uses for these premises, dispose of them for hopefully substantial capital sums to re-invest in services or use them to facilitate the regeneration of the borough (or perhaps a mixture of all of these).  By moving into a modern, efficient and sustainable building, we will also be making a substantial contribution of at least £2.5 million to our annual revenue savings target - so the Civic Centre will therefore help us to save money at a time when we need to be careful about how every pound is spent.

----

There is of course no point moving into a brand new building if we simply import our old working practices and behaviours into the facility.  The opening of a modern technologically advanced building is an opportunity to overhaul outdated business practices and to streamline our working arrangements and this is precisely what we intend to do.  The building itself will be one of the greenest public buildings in the country – it may even be the greenest public building in the UK.  Single site operation means that flexibility and multi-disciplinary working will be incorporated from the outset.  The boundaries between departments and services will become much more fluid and staff will work ever more closely with their colleagues in other service areas and partner agencies.  And we will introduce an enhanced IT offer with much greater use of electronic document storage and management.  There will also be masses of meeting rooms and break out areas of different sizes, fantastic community facilities including a 1000 person assembly hall, a programme of exhibitions and displays in and around our new central library, improved catering and retail facilities both in the building and nearby and a small leisure suite for staff.

As with moving house, we need to take this opportunity to de-clutter and get rid of the junk that we all tend to accumulate at work as much as at home.  I know many staff have already started to do this and I would encourage everyone to keep up these efforts.  We will be operating a strict clear desk policy in the new building – everyone will have some limited storage provision for personal items and the like but equally everyone will be expected to clear their desks at the end of each working day so that it is available and in a good condition for others to use if necessary the next day.  For many of us, this will be a very different way of working but I am sure everyone will quickly get used to it.  Evidence from elsewhere suggests that initial qualms are quickly dispelled once people get to know their way around and to see the potential that the new building has for working more efficiently and collaboratively.

Getting the culture right

However well executed the construction work is and however well planned the transition, there is another key ingredient we need in order to make the Civic Centre the successful and productive working environment that it is designed to be – that element is culture.  If we maintain mental and professional barriers between services and teams, we will limit the benefits we can secure from the new building.  If we ignore or undermine council-wide standards and procedures, we will increase costs and the likelihood of additional cuts being made to frontline jobs and services.  I am confident that the vast majority of staff understand the huge potential for working better in our new building but everyone of us will need to do our bit to secure the benefits on offer.  I am also pretty sure that, after a few months of working differently, most staff will be wondering what all the fuss was about in the first place!

But culture is also about values, attitudes and behaviours – the things that are emotionally important to us and which make us want to come into work each day with a positive outlook and a desire to contribute.  Feeling valued and being recognised by other people is a big part of this – this is something we all want and expect but it is also something that we all need to demonstrate as well.  Being supported and helped by your employer in difficult times is obviously important and I hope that most staff recognise that we are doing our utmost to avoid compulsory job losses and damaging attacks on terms and conditions.  Working in an efficient, transparent and professional way and showing respect and integrity in our dealings with others are all important factors in the public sector and I firmly believe that our new building will help to foster these fundamentally non-negotiable values.

Underpinning all of this is a debate about what our core values are or should be.  What do you think are Brent’s driving values and how if at all should they change in the future?  Does our rhetoric as a ‘One Council’ organisation match our real life behaviour?  How do we describe the way we do business around here and can it be improved?  Are we proud of the council, what it does and how we contribute to it? Does everyone feel valued and respected or do some of us feel left out?  How will the new building and new ways of working help or hinder our goals?  These are some of the questions on which I would welcome your reflections over the next few weeks.  The Corporate Management Team will be discussing these issues at the end of April so let me have your thoughts before then – all contributions will be gratefully received.

PLEASE ALSO FEEL FREE TO COMMENT ON THIS BLOG

South Kilburn: we need affordable and secure housing

GUEST BLOG FROM PETE FIRMIN,  A SOUTH KILBURN RESIDENT

The press release from Brent Council LINK about the planned demolition of Bronte and Fielding houses on the South Kilburn estate reminds me of those government press releases announcing more money for some good thing or another, only for a journalist to discover that they announced the release of exactly the same money several months, or even years, previously.

The demolition of the tower blocks in South Kilburn was announced as part of the "Masterplan" for regeneration in 2004 (!). Like much else in the Masterplan, it has taken a lot longer to come to fruition than originally intended.

No-one should really object to the pulling down of 18-storey tower blocks and their replacement by six and seven- storey blocks. Apart from other problems, the tower blocks have been plagued by failing lifts, meaning residents often faced hauling themselves and possibly shopping, children and buggies up many flights of stairs, or, alternatively, being isolated in their flats because they couldn't face the long walk down.

But why has it taken 8 years since the publication of the Masterplan for this to happen, and what is happening with the rest of the regeneration of South Kilburn? What does it say about the housing situation in Brent?

From the start the Masterplan for the regeneration of South Kilburn had problems, not least that it was dependent on a deal with private finance whereby in exchange for knocking down some dwellings and building some social housing, they were also able to build dwellings either for sale or for renting at "market rents". One of the most ridiculous aspects of this is that the two storey blocks on Cambridge Avenue, perfectly sound architecturally, are to come down in order to build private flats. Surely nothing to do with the fact that these flats will be facing away from the estate and situated very close to the tube and Kilburn High Road? Oh, and those dwellings will have gardens, unlike nearly everyone else on the estate.

There were (and still are) other issues, such as that the South Kilburn area (slum housing until the estate was built) is already densely populated and the regeneration scheme makes it even more so, with an extra 2,400 homes planned. Some of the little green space there is in the area is to be lost.

Personnel issues have also dogged the regeneration scheme from the start. One of the earliest issues was the sacking of the independent "tenants' friend", apparently because he became too close to tenants in his criticisms of the scheme. Then the Chief Executive of South Kilburn New Deal for Communities and his deputy left following the revelation in 2008 that they had shared a two bedroom maisonette loaned rent free by Brent Council to the NDC to be used as office space. Allegations have constantly circulated about how "tenants representatives" on various bodies have become divorced from tenants' interests, and have merely become tools for the Council to push through it's agenda. As with other Brent consultations (regardless of who controls the Council) the concerns of residents have been brushed aside, whether at planning committee or exhibitions organised by the planners.

As elsewhere, tenants have also had to transfer either to Brent Housing Partnership or a Housing Association for the plans to go ahead. Unfortunately tenants' and residents organisation on the estate is too weak and fragmented to be able to resist this as has happened elsewhere. Certainly Brent Council, whatever political colour it's leadership, has never objected to having to use private finance or insisting Council tenants transfer. Indeed, they all seem to have welcomed this.

Does any of this matter? New homes are needed, and surely residents are pleased to get new flats or refurbished bathrooms and kitchens?

Of course, but what level of disruption balances that out? The constant building work, noise, dust, road closures etc over many years (and many more to come) do not make life easy. More than that, for instance, during one spell of building work residents were advised to keep their windows closed because of the dust and noise. Yet when, as a consequence, some flats developed mould, those who have bought their flats were told it was their problem and they would have to pay to get it fixed. A constant problem has been the lack of oversight by Brent Council over contractors and how they treat residents and their property. And that's all before they put the HS2 tunnel under the estate.

The people who will gain most out of the South Kilburn regeneration are not the residents, but the building firms. They will get lots of shiny new flats to sell at inflated prices.

The biggest losers will be those who rely on Council housing - the price of the private dwellings will be well above what the average resident of Brent - let alone South Kilburn - can afford, whether to rent or buy. And the overall number of Council dwellings is drastically reduced in the process. Just look at the figures in the Council's press release "229 new flats and maisonettes, ....... 103 of which will be allocated to South Kilburn tenants". This is a pattern reproduced elsewhere in the borough - the flats that it is proposed to build as part of the new Willesden Green Cultural Centr will sell at £300,000 each with no "affordable" housing at all.

This at a time when the Council's own figures show that around 40,000 (!) households will be affected by the government's attack on benefits, meaning in many cases that they will no longer be able to live where they do currently. yet the Council does not seem to see the connection between this and its willingness to reduce the amount of Council housing in the borough.

What Brent - as everywhere else in the country - needs is housing which people can afford and which is secure.

Bodega critique of the Green Party. Act now!

I hope that we will have time to discuss the Bodega Brothers' proposals at our Green Party election strategy meeting tonight!

Brent Housing Partnership Talkback meeting and surgery tonight

Brent Housing Partnership, Brent Council's 'arm's length' social housing provider, is holding its first  ever Residents' Talkback Forum tonight at Brent Town Hall. The BHP's Chief Executive Gerry Doherty, will be there as well as senior managers and other staff. The 7-9pm Talkback session will be preceded by a 'Surgery' between 5.30 and 7pm where residents can ask about repairs, anti-social behaviour, rent, leasehold or estate services. The meetings will be held upstairs at the Town Hall in Committee Rooms 1,2 and 3.

The BHP faces an uncertain future with the possibility that Brent Council will bring social housing back in-house in the future.

How Greens will support our local high streets

Paddy Power have now opened a large new betting shop on Bridge Road, Wembley making it the third in the immediate vicinity. It replaces a bar/restaurant that struggled to succeed. I have argued before not against betting shops as such but for policies to improve the diversity of our high streets and thus encourage local shopping and small businesses.

The London Green Party and our Mayoral candidate Jenny Jones have been publicising our policies on these issues today and they may be of interest to those concerned about the impact of parking restrictions in Bridge Road and Preston Road.

The policies include:

1. Using planning policy to ensure that by 2020 all neighbourhoods will have a range of essential local services such as chemists within walking distance, and we will use planning policy to achieve this.

2. Increasing small business representation in the community by ensure micro and small businesses are properly represented on London's Local Enterprise Partnership.

3. Working with boroughs and trade bodies to Encourage Londoners to "buy local" and commission research into "buy local" schemes.

4. Ensuring small and local businesses aren't disadvantaged by congestion and parking and consulting them on the future of the congestion charge and a ‘pay as your drive' scheme, which would reduce time and money spent in traffic jams.

5. Preventing the construction of purpose-built car parks for supermarkets wherever possible and ensure local shops aren't disadvantaged by parking standards.

6. Lobbying the Government to give local authorities much stronger powers to prevent chain stores taking over independent shops, and to control the saturation of certain business types such as takeaways, betting shops and payday loan companies.

Improved Brent pupil attainment highlights important role of local authority in school improvement

 Last week's Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee received a report that should stop advocates of the breaking up of the local education authority in their tracks. Enemies of democratically accountable community schools often talk of 'freeing them' from local authority control. An alternative phrase would be 'depriving them of local authority support'.

The report set out the academic standards in Brent schools in 2010-11. It shows that despite the borough having high levels of deprivation and pupil mobility that it achieves at or above national averages in many areas.  This an achievement of which pupils and schools should be proud. It should also be shouted from the roof tops of Chesterfield House and the Centre for Staff Development because the education authority and the School Improvement Service have contributed a great deal to that success. The report sets out the range of local authority support and how it challenges nurseries and schools to do even better.

This success is now threatened by schools opting out of the local authority and changes in the School Improvement Service which may see it drastically reduced, or even end, after April 2013.

In the Early Years and Foundation Stage the gap between Brent children and the national average narrowed to only two percentage points.  Indicating that Brent is making progress in overcoming the impact of poverty the permanence of children entitled to Free School Meals improved significantly and was above the national average. In terms of ethnicity the performance of Black Caribbean children has had a steady upward trend since 2008 and the gap between them and all children nationally is 6 percentage points. Somalian children performed strongly with a 19 percentage point improvement this year (39 over the past 5 years) to within 7 percentage points of the national cohort.

Few people would quarrel with the Service's priorities for the current year which are to:

• Intensify the levels of support and challenge to settings requiring improvement.
• Intervene more vigorously in private, voluntary and independent settings causing concern.
• Promote the sharing of effective practice.

For this to continue there will need to be  adequate finance to fund quality staff in the future.

At Key Stage 1 attainment at Level 2+ (the main national benchmark) was in line with the national average in reading and writing and just below in mathematics. Brent standards rose in reading, writing and mathematics while national figures were static or in decline. There has been a steady improvement over the past 5 years.

Level 2B+ which predicts attainment at Level 4+ (the national expectation) at Key Stage 2, remained below the national average but the gap narrowed. (Reading 71/74, Writing 60/61, Mathematics 72/74).

Free School Meals pupils achieved better than FSM nationally in reading writing and mathematics at all levels. Again Somali pupils improved significantly across the subjects with girls accelerating at a faster rate than girls. Black Caribbean pupils were largely static and in line with the group nationally.  Special Educational Needs pupils with and without statements attained better than the national average.

The report attributes the improvements to the local authority's emphasis on raising standards at this key stage which started three years ago. They have put a number of projects in place in schools include Communication Language and Literacy Development (early literacy), Every Child Reader (this increases the impact of the Reading Recovery programme - expensive but highly effective) and Every Child Counts (this focuses on child thought in danger of not reaching Level 2 at the end of the key stage).

The authority has set out key priorities which include running successful literacy programmes, tailoring support to schools' individual needs; securing more Level 3 grades in mathematics and extending opportunities for speaking and listening in the subject.

Things were a little different at Key Stage 2 where there were unusually high results in the previous year. Attainment at Level 4+ was in line with national averages for English and mathematics combined and mathematics on its own was higher than the national average. Performance at Level 5, higher than the expectation for the average 11 year old, was above the national average for English and mathematics combined, and much higher in mathematics alone (40/35) with figures for boys of 43/37.

Pupils on Free School Meals performed better than FSM nationally in all subjects at Level 4+ and Level 5. I terms of ethnicity Indian origin pupils outperformed Indian pupils nationally for the second year running.  However there was a disappointing result for Black Caribbean pupils (-3 percentage points), Pakistani heritage pupils (-4) and Somali children (-8).

Support will be provided to schools to improve performance and will include action research projects and targeted support in both English and Mathematics. It will include central and school-based training.

The monitoring that the authority does is clearly vital in pointing up areas of under-performance and enabling it to devise specialist support quickly.  Local authority coordinated action research on issues such as the decline in achievement outlined above will be able to compare results in different schools, investigate good practice and provide staff development on proven successful strategies. The demise of the local authority and increased 'independence' of schools could deprive children of the benefits of this challenge and support . If there is no local authority will under-achieving children be over-looked?

I would be first to say that all is not perfect but there is a tremendous danger in throwing the baby out with the bathwater when schools are tempted by short-term financial benefits to go it alone and short-term expediency persuades the Council to reduce the School Improvement Service.

How local firms lose out in procurement process

Spawning frogs Fryent Country Park March 1st

We should soon hear the results of the Council's internal deliberations about the possible privatisation/out-sourcing of the Brent Parks' grounds maintenance service.  The Council have refused to answer my Freedom of Information request about the matter but I hope the results will be subject to meaningful consultation.

If the result is a decision to out-source several issues need consideration. Firstly, such decisions often leave the current workers at a disadvantage. Although they have expertise in the actual job they are unlikely to have it in the arduous and complicated task of putting in a detailed bid at the procurement stage if they decide to make a bid as a group of workers. They may also not be able to give the financial guarantees that a large firm will be able to provide. Large firms, used to procurement, will have the back office expertise to make a bid as well as low pay rates that will undercut an internal bid.

Secondly, we need to ask about the quality of external contractors: their skills and the empathy they have with the local environment.  Brent rightly has great pride in its Green Flag winning parks and particularly the precious Welsh Harp and Fryent Country Park spaces.   Having seen some of the grounds maintenance work done by contractors on our housing estates, as well as some undertaken in the Country Park, I am very concerned that maintenance will be of the 'cut and slash' variety. Rather than pruning and reducing trees sympathetically to encourage balanced regrowth, they will be sawn back. Shrubs will become rectangular and cut back at convenient times for the contractor rather than at the appropriate seasonal time. There is a danger that habitats will not be nurtured and will be subsequently lost.

Maintaining and enhancing biodiversity is one of Brent's priorities and success stories. We must make sure this is not lost in the rush to save money.

Similar issues arise with attempts to use local small firms for building projects in schools. With high levels of unemployment in Brent it is essential that we try and give them work. However they again often lack the back office staff and financial guarantees necessary to meet the procurement demands of Brent Council and contracts instead go to large companies, often multinationals, with workers travelling from outside of Brent. As part of a strategy to combat unemployment in Brent we need to look at  how we can support small building and construction businesses that are part of a community and will want to deliver a good job for that community.

Navin Shah backs retention of Old Willesden Library

Close behind Ken Livingstone's distancing from Brent Labour's library closures the Labour AM for Brent and Harrow, Navin Shah, has told a constituent that he favours the retention of the Old Willesden Library on local heritage grounds:

With regards to Willesden Green Library, as an architect by trade I feel preserving Willesden Green Library is extremely important. In Harrow, I have fought long campaigns to keep locally listed buildings and am on the board of Harrow Heritage Trust, which take matters such as these extremely seriously. I want to keep Willesden Green Library building and am actively pursuing this issue.

Shah's full statement can be read on the Keep Willesden Green blog HERE

Jenny Jones explains her policies to BBC London panel

Follow this LINK to see a confident appearance by Green Mayoral candidate Jenny Jones. So refreshing after the three male candidates.

Don't stop me now!

Warning: Strong language but it is about the Tories...

Make your voice heard at Consultation Forums starting next week

The Spring Area Consultative Forums start next week.  The complete list with agenda is:

WEMBLEY - Tuesday April 3rd, 7pm at Patidar House, 22 London Road, (off Wembley High Road)

• Establishing ward working priorities for 2012/13

• Olympic Route Network (ORN) - update from TfL and LOCOG
• A consultation on Allotments and Food Growing Strategy - have your say!
• Brent celebrates the Diamond Jubilee

KILBURN AND KENSAL - Wednesday April 4th,7pm at Kensal Rise Primary School, Harvist Road, NW6 (note change of venue to that previously advertised)

• Brent Council agreed budget for 2012/13
• Olympic Route Network (ORN) - update from TfL and LOCOG
• Establishing ward working priorities for 2012/13

• Site within Albert Road, South Kilburn - a proposed redevelopment 
• Brent celebrates the Diamond Jubilee

 HARLESDEN - Tuesday April 10th, 7pm All Souls Church, Station Road, NW10

• Establishing ward working priorities for 2012/13
• Next steps for Harlesden Town Centre 
• A consultation on Allotments and Food Growing Strategy - have your say!
• Brent celebrates the Diamond Jubilee

WILLESDEN - Wednesday April 18th, 7pm College of North West London, Denzil Road, NW10

• Agenda not yet published

Get a,long and have your say. Remember you can book a 'Soap Box' slot to talk about a subject of your choice by arriving early and filling in a form or booking online.

Five candidates to fight Brent and Harrow GLA seat

The complete list of nominations for the Brent and Harrow GLA constituency has now been published on the London Elects website. LINK

The candidates are:

• ALI Shahrar - Green Party
• HENRY Charlotte Alexandra - London Liberal Democrats
• McGOUGH Michael Jack - Fresh Choice for London
• RAJPUT Sachin - The Conservative Party Candidate
• SHAH Navin - Labour Party Candidate

'Fresh Choice for London' is UKIP's election guise.  The lack of 'novelty' candidates means that this should be a relatively straight-forward contest.  George Galloway's victory in Bradford may help ignite the GLA campaign which so far has been relatively low key.

2008 Result

Election Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Navin Shah	Labour	57716	37%	Elected
Bob Blackman	Conservative	56067	36%	Not elected
James Allie	Liberal Democrats	19299	12%	Not elected
Shahrar Ali	Green Party	10129	7%	Not elected
Zena Sherman	Christian Party	4180	3%	Not elected
Sunita Webb	UK Independence Party	3021	2%	Not elected
Pat McManus	Left List	2287	1%	Not elected
Avind Tailor	English Democrats	2150	1%	Not elected

Drought impacts on Brent's country park

In the West End last night the pavement cafes were crowded with people enjoying the balmy evening - t-shirts and sleeveless dresses abounded.  However, my companion voiced an unease that is becoming more common as the unseasonal weather continues: 'This is lovely but it's not right in March is it?"

Meanwhile, on my doorstep in Fryent Country Park, the impact of the drought is increasingly evident. Some of the clay paths are already dried and creviced and some ponds are completely dry.

 

Corresponding with an officer in the Parks Department I was told:

Many of the ponds are at their lowest winter water level on record.  In a typical year the ponds will fill with water once the ground has saturated: depending upon the autumn and winter rainfall that can be any time between summer and December.  However, ponds are invariably full of water by late January and remain so for several months. This year several ponds have not re-filled and many are below their typical summer water levels.   There have been a few relatively dry winters since local records commenced in 1983, but this winter fewer ponds are holding water than in the previous driest.  

The  immediate impact is on the amphibian life cycle with doubts over whether some will complete their life cycles this season.  The photograph below shows the edge of the pond (above top) where some recently hatched frog tadpoles have already died after the water in which the frogs spawned receded. The black areas are masses of tadpoles stranded in shallow water. Some tadpoles are stranded in tiny pools of water created by the paw prints of dogs and foxes which will dry up quickly without rain.  Tadpoles in shallow water are easy prey for predators and crows have been very active on the fringes of the ponds.It is generally reckoned that normally out of 2,000 eggs only 5 adults will survive to breed - the odds this year must be much lower.

I have seen no necklaces of toad spawn at all in the Fryent ponds this year. Newts will also be affected because they wrap their single eggs in the leaf of a water plant and these are lacking in the residual water left in the centre of the pond.

The Fryent ponds are clay lined and it is possible that some garden ponds which have rubber liners will not have lost so much water, and of course their owners are able to top them up (until the hose pipe ban comes in) The 'amphibian crisis' this year means that it is important that those of us with our own ponds make a special effort to support any tadpole populations that we have.

Pond insect life will also suffer and it will be interesting to see if we have a reduction in the dragonfly and damselfly population, for example, this summer.. The Lombardy poplar trees on the crest of Barn Hill, a local landmark,  have been looking sickly for some time, with one falling last year, and I would expect further casualties if the drought continues.

Meanwhile down on the allotment my fellow gardeners are preparing for the worse, installing additional additional water butts and other rain home made rain capturing devices (eg old baths!), and thinking about drought resistance plants.

Sod's law probably means that having written this  by Monday the heavens will have opened and the conduited hidden waterways of Brent will have over-flowed.

Quintain and Brent Council unwilling to help Wembley visitors to spend a penny so residents suffer

Local residents have sent this letter to Brent Council and call on other residents to support them:

Wembley Stadium, our national treasure and home of football (probably better known around the world than the Taj Mahal!) has no public toilet facilities in the area surrounding it. So what do people do when they need the toilet?

A recent residents meeting with the Met. Police revealed that local residents whose houses are near the Stadium have to suffer people urinating and defecating in their front gardens and also on the streets. This disgusting practice has been going on for a long time and no-one has done anything about it, despite constant complaints.

The Met Police have done their best by apparently first contacting Brent Council, who claimed it was not their responsibility, as the land is privately owned by Quintain. They are a large company which is undertaking the building of Wembley City, which will be a whole new town around the Stadium.

The Police then apparently approached Quintain themselves, who flatly refused to put any toilets on the grounds around the stadium as they claim they needed the space for more vending kiosks, which of course will bring them extra revenue, (at the expense of the residents). The few existing toilets have been damaged and are now closed. Quintain are always claiming they want to work with the residents, so this is hardly an example of their good intent.

Finally, the Police went to the London 2012 Committee, who said they would be pleased to fund the cost of the toilets, as they obviously have a vested interest. Quintain was informed that London 2012 would fund the cost of these toilets, but they still refused to have them on their land!

This is a ridiculous and intolerable situation and as residents of Brent, we feel it is incumbent on the Council to take action and mediate between the parties, so that this matter can be resolved immediately, as it is a mere 4 months before the Games begin.

It is also an Health and Safety issue and it is the duty of the Council to care for and to protect its residents from contamination and infection due to a lack of hygiene. Children play in these self same gardens and on the streets, which people have used as a toilet.  Also residents and the many visitors we have, walk on these streets, which have been contaminated with urine and faeces and worst of all, the council workers actually have to clean up the mess, which also puts them at risk.

Surely it is a basic human right for residents to expect to be provided with an adequate number of public toilets, especially as some of the thousands of visitors who so often descend on this world famous venue, are the main cause of this revolting behaviour.  Dog fouling is against the law and yet the Council is willing to turn a blind eye when humans do the same! What will the visitors to the 2012 Olympics, (who come from all over the world) think if there are no public toilets provided for them once they leave the Stadium?

Quintain and Brent Council have a very close and long-standing partnership and we have no doubt that the Council can persuade Quintain to do the right thing and allow London 2012 to put as many toilets as necessary on their land for the Games, at least as a temporary measure. As time is short, installing an adequate number of portable toilets is a possible solution.
Once the Games are over, it is Brent Council's duty to ensure that some permanent solution to this unacceptable  problem is found. Some residents are very angry for having to put up with this for so long and still be ignored. Consequently, they have been forced to consult a solicitor with a view to suing the Council for compensation, if a permanent solution to this problem is not found.

Residents who live around the Stadium have been very patient and tolerant for years. Our lives are blighted in some way almost every day, as there are also many events at the Arena and now at the Fountain Studios. We are greatly inconvenienced and have to plan our lives around Stadium events and we certainly do not get any Council tax rebate for all this disruption! To add insult to injury, we are also expected to put up with the results of a lack of public toilet facilities.

 I have been asked to contact you by residents of Empire Way, Dagmar Avenue, Linden Avenue and Mostyn Avenue, who are the most affected.   Many have lived in Wembley most of their lives and some are elderly and infirm and are very distressed and ashamed by this, as we all should be. I ask you, would you put up with people urinating and defecating in your front garden?

We look forward to hearing from Brent Council and expect the Council to accept our reasonable request for adequate and permanent toilet facilities around the Stadium area, to cope with all the visitors.

Zerine Tata
On behalf of the residents who live around the Stadium.


If you agree write to the following with a short note saying that you endorse the above letter: 

gareth.daniel@brent.gov.uk
comms@quintain.co.uk
info@gamesmaker.london2012.com
 

Consultation: Kilburn Times hits nail on the head

Hats off to the editorial team at the Brent and Kilburn Times. This editorial sums up what many Brent residents are feeling at the moment:

Livingstone supports fight to keep Cricklewood Library Open

This is an extract from the Q and A session at the London Federation of Green Parties meeting on Monday when we discussed whether to urge voters to give Ken Livingstone their second preference mayoral vote. At 14.00 mins I ask Ken, noting Brent Council's library closures, whether he will provide leadership to London councils, and particularly Labour London councils, on the cuts issue:



All the videos from that meeting can be found HERE

Ann John to meet with Keep Willesden Green campaigners

The Keep Willesden Green campaign, which has been very successful in gaining broad public support over its opposition to the Willesden Green Redevelopment has arranged a meeting with Cllr Ann John, leader of Brent Council on Wednesday April 4th. The campaign will be represented by members of its committee.

Campaigners are opposed to the loss of the Old Willesden Green Library building and the loss of the open space in front of the current library, want to see the Willesden Bookshop relocated in the proposed Cultural Centre and most importantly want the Council to call a halt to the development while a full consultation, involving the full participation of local people, takes place.

Child Prisoners meeting on Thursday

Ken 'far from perfect' but we must prevent four more years of Boris

Green Party Mayoral candidate Jenny Jones said: "The voting system gives Londoners a chance to make a positive Mayoral first choice for a more equal, healthier and affordable London.

“However, should I not be counted among the top two candidates after the first round, then I want a Mayor who will work with Green Party Assembly Members to deliver on pay equality, less pollution and cheaper fares.

“Ken Livingstone is far from perfect, but we know from his last time as Mayor that we can work with him to make positive changes in a way that would be impossible with either Boris Johnson or many other senior Labour politicians.”

Livingstone said: ”What we are seeing is that as we get closer to the election a broadening alliance of people wants a fairer London.

“The Green endorsement for second preferences is a key building block to winning change on May 3rd. I am very pleased that the Green Party has decided to encourage their supporters to cast their second preference votes for me.

“I look forward to working again with Green Assembly Members, including tackling air pollution, creating a fairer London, and improving pedestrian and cyclists’ safety.”

Discussions focused on the clear desire among members to help prevent a further four years of Boris Johnson’s Mayorship, and the clear differentiation between recommending the Labour Party and Livingstone as a candidate, the man himself frequently opposing Labour Party policy.

Members emphasised that the priority of the campaign was to increase the number of Greens elected to the London Assembly in order to best hold the successful Mayor candidate to account.

Members raised particular concerns over Livingstone’s record on road building, the poorly regulated financial sector and air pollution.

However, the meeting meeting voted to support the recommendation after hearing pledges to curb top pay at City Hall, help the lowest paid workers, end cheats and evasions over air pollution used by the current Mayor and Government and financially support boroughs wanting to introduce 20mph zones.

Greens make Livingstone second preference for London Mayor

Following an address by Ken Livingstone on Monday evening at the Federation of London Green Parties and a full, good-natured debate, London Greens voted to recommend a second preference vote for Livingstone by 45 votes to 19.

I am quite sceptical regarding Ken and totally disenchanted with Brent Labour's performance over cuts, but in the end was swayed by the argument that Ken's election would provide some political space for Green and progressive policies.

During the Q and A I asked Livingstone about the cuts and whether he would provide leadership for London councils in opposing them. He distanced himself from Brent Labour stating that he was opposed to the library closures and spoke about the disproportionate cuts to London council funding. I was not left convinced that he would lead a huge campaign on the Save the GLC model but would hope that the left of the Labour Party would put additional pressure on him during his mayoral campaign.

There was not time in the debate to examine in depth the financial implication's of Livingstone's policies and I still have to be persuaded about their viability - particularly the details regarding the funding of a revived Education Maintenance Allowance.

Among the arguments against endorsing Livingstone were the toxic impact of Labour's cuts in London, the public asking if we were giving Ken second preference and the Green's had no chance of winning why not make him No.1, his cosiness with the city in his previous administration, his continuing commitment to road building, and his questionable support for reactionary homophobic clerics. It was also argued that the Greens with their own MP and a Green led council, were strong enough to stand on their own record without reference to Labour.

Should London Greens endorse Livingstone as second preference candidate? Decision on Monday.

The London Green Party will on Monday evening decide whether to recommend Ken Livingstone as their second preference candidate in May's Mayoral election.

The decision will be informed by an analysis by the Green campaign on how Livingstone's pledges and record tally with the Green vision for London.

In the analysis, the former Mayor was awarded a score of 5 out of 10. A summary can be found at: www.jennyforlondon.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Candidates-comparison.pdf
 
Campaign Manager and London Assembly Member, Darren Johnson, said: On Monday, the London Green Party will democratically decide whether Ken Livingstone's policies and record warrant the Party's endorsement as our second choice for Mayor.

"Our campaign is focused on getting Jenny Jones elected Mayor and ensuring as many Green candidates as possible are elected to the Assembly.

"Our objective is to ensure that after the election City Hall is as Green as possible, tackling issues like fair pay, safer roads and improving air quality. The supplementary vote system allows voters to make a second choice for their Mayoral candidate. We are happy to work with other parties and groups wherever their policies will address the needs of ordinary Londoners."

The decision will be made by a special meeting of the London Green Party on Monday evening.

Representatives from local Green Parties in each borough as well as any other members in attendance will vote on the decision.

The analysis of Livingstone focused on key areas of policy for London. While receiving full marks on opposing aviation expansion and housing, he received nothing on the areas of policing and crime because of his ‘simplistic focus on police number officers' rather than ‘civil liberties or community relations' as well as 0 on road building owing to his championing of the failed Thames Gateway Bridge scheme.

Livingstone received half marks on pay inequality, Green jobs and local business, health, traffic reduction, walking and cycling, fares and transport investment and the environment and climate change.

By comparison, current Mayor Boris Johnson received just 1 out of 10, receiving half marks on health and Green jobs and local business.

Vote for clean air for our children

With the North Circular streaming fumes across the borough, the dust and emissions around the waste hanbdling and processing sites of Neasden and Park Royal, and the number of children and adults suffering from respiratory illnesses, we in Brent are very much aware of issues around air quality. Things will get worse if there is any further airport expansion.

The Green Party is making air quality a major issue in the GLA elections:

Libraries will survive!

Many thanks to Linda Green for this link. Great fun...

Narrow win for Lib Dems in Dollis Hill

Alison Hopkins, the Liberal Democrat candidate, beat Parvez Ahmed (Labour) by only 37 votes in the Dollis Hill by-election.

RESULT (2010 local election total for each party  in brackets)

Alison Hopkins (Lib Dem) 1205  46.49% (41%)
Ahmed Parvez (Labour)     1168 45.06% (39%)
Samer Ahmedali (Conservative) 140 5.40% (17%)
Pete Murry (Green) 79 3.05% (3%)

Rejected papers: 21

Turnout: 29.8% 

Lib Dems to win Dollis Hill by-election?

With only minutes to go until the polling stations close I will hazard a prediction on the Dollis Hill by-election front.

Despite the irritation of many at the deluge of leaflets that have gone through letter boxes this week and last,  I expect Alison Hopkins of the Lib Dems to win. Not many will have taken in the fact that many of the red and blue leaflets were not from Labour or the Tories in the  few seconds it takes to consign them to the recycling bin. If you look hard at my photograph you can even see the Liberal Democrats symbol on the small (but long) yellow leaflet.  W poor old Greens were not even honoured with a Lib Dem leaflet in our colours!

Lib Dems  have been out in force with Paul Lorber and Bob Wharton toiling away but I saw much less of the Labour Party and nothing of the Tories. The Lib Dems are likely to pick up some of the Tory votes. Alison Hopkins does have a local reputation at the Ox and Gate end of the ward for her community activism and that will add some votes to her advantage in standing in a ward that the Lib Dems held previously and the sympathy vote for her predecessor who was well and fondly regarded. One left-wing activist told me that he was voting for her on the basis of her community politics despite rejecting the Lib Dem's Coalition policies.

My colleague Pete Murry fought a straightforward and honest campaign on policy issues and I hope to see him get a decent vote in this closely contested Lib Dem-Labour battle.

Fund school places not free schools, Twigg urges

The following news report from the BBC should be of interest to Brent Labour Councillors and the local Labour Party who are currently debating whether the Council should go into partnership to promote a free school:

The government should tackle the growing crisis in primary school places rather than building more free schools, says shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg. The equivalent of 2,000 primary schools' worth of children - some 450,000 - need to be found places in England's schools by 2015, he says. Cash should be allocated where it is needed the most, he added.

 The government says it will spend £4bn on easing the pressure. This sum includes £1.9bn already announced for 2011-12 and an extra £600m announced in the autumn. It also includes a further £800m for the coming two years, which the Department for Education is expecting to be allocated. Mr Twigg accuses the government of "ignoring" what he says is a growing crisis. He highlights the fact that much of the money promised for new places has been ear-marked for free schools - the majority of which are secondaries where pupil numbers are falling.

 As free schools are parent-promoted they do not necessarily emerge where the population pressure points are. Mr Twigg says it would make more sense to spend the money on tackling the shortfall in primary school places, but that this could include some free schools. He says: "Across England we need nearly half a million more primary places - the equivalent of building an extra 2,000 primary schools between now and the general election.

"At the moment, the government has only promised an extra 100 new free schools, many of which will be secondaries. The government seems oblivious to the problem, preferring to focus on pet projects rather than real need. If we are to improve the number and quality of our primary schools, the government needs to start rolling up its sleeves."

 Mr Twigg is not saying that 2,000 primary schools need to be built, and readily acknowledges that many of the children could be accommodated in expanded primaries. But he urged ministers to address the issue head-on in the Budget, "allocating all its education capital to meeting real need, not salami slicing some off for pet projects".

He added that if the government did not address the real need the effect on pupils' education would be dramatic, with many "squeezed into temporary bulge classrooms in Portakabins".

The problem is particularly acute in London with 100,000 places required by 2015. Extreme measures are being taken to tackle the problem. In Barking and Dagenham, where an extra 8,000 places are needed, the council are proposing to rent out an empty Woolworths and an empty MFI store. And in Sutton, the council leader has asked for permission to end the infant class size limit of 30. In Brighton, where 2,000 more places are required, there are plans to teach children in a football stadium, a bingo hall and redundant churches. And in Lancashire alone a whopping extra 14,000 places are needed and predictions show 11,000 places are needed in Birmingham, Leeds, Hertfordshire and Hampshire.

 Hannah Richardson BBC New March 20th

Brent teachers to strike over pensions on March 28th

 

Teachers in Brent schools will be coming out on strike again on Wednesday March 28th in further action over the pensions issue.  They will be distributing a leaflet to parents and carers setting out their case:

 

Why are teachers going on strike?

A message to all parents and carers in Brent

Teachers across Brent will be taking strike action on Wednesday 28^th March.

We know this may be inconvenient for you but we hope you will understand why we are doing this and that you will support us.

Teachers do not like taking strike action but we believe we have been given no choice by the government.

We are striking because the government won’t listen to us and insist on making unnecessary changes to our pensions. We believe these changes will be damaging for teachers and for education.

Below we list some of the facts about our pensions we think you should know. For more information please talk to teachers at your school.

FACT ONE

Teachers, and other public sector workers, are being asked to pay 50% more for their pensions, work longer and get a smaller pension when they retire.

FACT TWO

Teaching is an all consuming and tiring job and can be stressful. We do not believe it is reasonable to expect all teachers to work until 68 to get a pension.

FACT THREE

The government says our pensions are unaffordable but their own figures show that this isn’t true.

FACT FOUR

Many private sector workers have no proper pension scheme. The government should do something about this, not cut the public sector pensions.

FACT FIVE

Cutting public sector pensions will just make more pensioners poorer and put the cost of supporting them on to the State and taxpayers.

Town Hall Hotel in Wembley?

From 'The Caterer and Hotel Keeper'

Conversion to a hotel is a possible option for the future of Brent Council's Town Hall, which is soon to be put up for sale.

The Grade II-listed 1930s building, which sites on a five-acre site with views over London, is to be sold as its life as a town hall will end with the opening of Brent's new Civic Centre in June 2013. It is hoped that a new owner, who will preserve the heritage of the building, will be found before the council leaves.

Property agent Colliers International has helped the council prepare a planning brief, in conjunction with a heritage report, which says the building could be converted to a hotel or be used as a residential, healthcare, leisure or retail development.

A precedent for the conversion of a Grade II-listed former town hall to a hotel was created with the £20m opening in Bethnal Green of the Town Hall Hotel and Apartments, in 2010. The hotel went on to win the RICS London Award for Building Conversion.

Barn Hill by-election on May 3rd

The offiicial notice announcing a by-election in the Barn Hill ward has been posted on the council website. The by-election follows Cllr Judith Beckman's resignation following her move out of London.

Dollis Hill shenanigans continue with scurrilous leaflet

Following the controversy over the Lib Dem leaflets with a near invisible imprint which was last week  raised in Parliament via a Labour attack on Sarah Teather, a leaflet emerged this weekend with no imprint at all.

Printed on one side of A5 in black and white it is is headed  GUILTY . Beneath that word are portraits of Sarah Teather and two Lib Dem councillors and a list of their alleged misdemeanours it goes on to urge 'Vote for whoever you want. Don't vote for Lib Dem losers'.

I am not sure of the legal situation regarding this particular leaflet but it does not state who has produced it nor have any details of the printer.

As the leaflet makes a couple of environmental points I should make clear that it has nothing to do with the Greens and we disassociate ourselves from its contents.

We have distributed the London Green News in some parts of Brent, including Dollis Hill, but are delivering only one A5 leaflet for the by-election.  This is at the most 1/20th of the Lib Dem's distribution per household!