Bus stop closed by redevelopment provokes fury in Willesden Green

Willesden Green residents are furious that a bus stop has been closed at the site of Willesden Green Library development, the centre of Willesden Green, leaving them with a long walk from the next alternative bus stop.

Local resident Martin Redstone wrote to the council officer who managed the development application:

I am writing to express my concern about the disppearance of the 52 bus stop outside the (Willesden Green Library) building site. The first I heard of it was when the bus intoned 'the next bus stop is closed' leading to the realisation that there is no bus stop between Sidmouth Parade and Hawthorn Road.

This is a distance of more than one kilometre.

Of course when we were debating the scheme to build 93 luxury flats on the  library, many people stated that they were concerned about disruption during the building works, these concerns were swept aside as were the concerns of local shoppers about the loss of their municipal car park.

Once again the needs of the local community (who actually live and work here) have been swept aside for the convenience of the developers constructing flats to be sold to foreign investors who are not concerned about the needs of local key workers and other nearby community members who rely on a a convenient public transport system.

The office replied that the complaint would be forwarded to the council's highways department but ultimately it was the responsibility of Transport for London. The officer was no longer working on the project.

Redston responded that the council did not care once the project had been steamrollered through and that residents had been treated with nothing but contempt throughout. He concluded, 'You don't have to live with the mess. We do.'

Another local resident, Mrs Mc said:

It is totally crazy.  Some buses do stop just before they turn up Staverton Road but others just drive past people trying to stop them.  It is a long walk up to the stop at Sidmouth parade if you are with children, shopping, elderly etc.  Why can't they just put a temporary one a few metres along Brondesbury Road avoiding the roadworks outside the site entrance.  There is no logical reason why they couldn't.

I went along to have a look for myself this afternoon. The bus stop that was resited for the building works was closed with instructions to passengers to walk to the next stop.  A few yards down the road a woman was waiting at the original bus shelter which now has no bus stop attached. The live destination boards were working and a 302 bus was indicated in one minute. I put my hand out to stop the bus but the driver ignored me. The bus sailed past only, infuriatingly, to stop at the red traffic light and disgorge passengers from the back door. The driver did not open the front doors for passsengers to board the bus.

This may seem trivial but for the elderly, infirm, pregnant and those with small children it is a major inconvenience and Brent Council and Transport for London need to sort it out quickly.

Sixth formers fight for classmate's right to stay in UK

Reblogged from BuzzFeed (Alan White) LINK

 

Yashika Bageerathi (right) fled Mauritius in 2011, seeking asylum with her mother in the UK. She's currently in Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre.

Via change.org

This week she was detained by the Home Office and is set to be deported on Tuesday. Bageerathi’s mother has said they left Mauritius because of death threats from a family member and violence from local gangs. She claims that if deported, Bergeerathi will have to go back to a place where she still fears for her life.

Her classmates have started an online campaign to stop the UK Home Office from deporting her months before she completes her education.

ambs @amberdowness

Is this the face of a criminal? #FightForYashika #saveYashika @SaveYashika 

Twitter: @nehharoyce

Abigail Faith @abigailcichosz

#saveYashika

And this afternoon, the protesters have gone to the Home Office in Whitehall.

Save Yashika @SaveYashika

#FightForYashika Hundreds of supporters!!! Showing the love for Yashika!!

 

Koos Couvພ @KoosCouvee

Enfield students are @Home Office protesting deportation of Oasis Hadley student Yashika Bageerathi @NrthLondonNews

 

Proud Immigrant @ourstweets

Proudest moment. Seeing our students lead the chants outside the home office. Justice for Yashika #FightForYashika

Her local MP has expressed his support.

David Burrowes @davidburrowesmp

@OAH6thform am doing all I can to #FightForYashika and support her. Have made contact with Home Office to try and urgently stop deportation

She is enrolled at Oasis Academy Hadley in Enfield and the school’s deputy head is helping to run the campaign.

In a press statement, Zoe Thompson says:

Since enrolling at Oasis Academy Hadley, Yashika has made an outstanding contribution to the life of the academy. Not only is she an incredibly talented mathematician, she has spent considerable time helping to train, teach and coach younger students in the subject, transforming their learning experience. On top of all of this she has poured herself into voluntary activities, helping the Academy to win a national award in recent months.

To deport Yashika at any stage would cost the UK a valuable member of society. To do so just weeks before she is about to complete her education would be an uncompassionate and illogical act of absurdity. We are fighting to give her the right to stay until June to finish her A levels, and ideally to allow her to remain with her family indefinitely.

The Home Office has said it will not comment on individual asylum cases.

Greens join those standing up to racism and fascism

Hundreds marched from Parliament Square and rallied in Trafalgar Square today to demonstrate against racism and fascism ahead of the local and Euro elections. Many speakers expressed concern about how, in the wake of Ukip, the three main parties were pandering to racism and xenophobia.  Jean Lambert Green MEP urged everyone to vote for whatever progressive party, although she herself was a Green, to keep the extreme right from increasing their representation in the European Parliament.

Young Greens and an 'Old Green'

Jean Lambert MEP on the big screen

March 22nd Stand Up to Racism and Fascism 11am Parliament Square

Stand up to racism and fascism demo 22 March 2014 marking UN Anti-Racism Day

- No to scapegoating of immigrants
- No to Islamophobia
- Yes to diversity

Rally and Demo marking UN Anti-Racism Day
11am, Saturday 22nd March 2014
Central London

A day of action against racism has been called for across Europe to coincide with UN Anti-Racism Day. With eyes on the European elections in May parties in most countries of the right, centre and even the traditional left are allowing politics and the media to be dominated by racism and xenophobia. Islamophobia and antisemitism and the scapegoating of minorities – immigrants, Roma, Black and Asian communities – have become the norm. In Britain the fascist and far right are seeking gains, but there is an even greater immediate threat.

No to scapegoating immigrants

That is the increasing tendency of mainstream political parties to tail-end the right-wing, populist UKIP. They are out-vying each other in calls for draconian ‘antiimmigration’ policies and generally promoting a ‘Little Englander’ anti-foreign, anti-European mentality, most recently seen with the hostility and racism whipped up towards the projected arrival of Bulgarian and Romanian migrant workers.

No to Islamophobia

In particular it has become acceptable to promote fear and hatred of Muslim people and Islam as a religion. This racism creates a climate of Islamophobia, leading directly to more attacks on the Muslim population, including murder and violent attacks on mosques.

Remember Mandela – YES to diversity

In remembering Nelson Mandela we too should cherish “the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and equal opportunities”. UN Anti-racism Day commemorates the victims of the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, when 69 peaceful demonstrators against apartheid were killed by South African police forces.

Many organisations and communities have come together to call for this parade and rally. Join us in rejecting racism and showing that migrants are welcome. Let’s celebrate diversity by expressing our cultures and identities. Let’s demonstrate our confidence in a future free of scapegoating, racism and hatred.

Organised by the TUC and sponsored by CWU, GMB, NASUWT, NUT, PCS, Unison, Unite the Union

Why the Green Party should support the March 26th teachers' strike

At our recent Spring Conference the Green Party adopted the following policy on Teachers as a section of our Education Policy:

Teachers are the key resource within the education system. They neeed first class initial preparation, continuing professional development and appropriate salaries.

Every teacher should be taught by a teacher with Qualified Teacher Status and Principals and Headteachers of state funded schools should have QTS.

A Green government will work with the teaching unions to reverse the process by which teachers have gradually been deskilled and their professional autonomy eroded and will review pension arrangements and retirement age with them.

The Green Party opposes the introduction of performance related pay in education.

The Spring Conference also adopted policy on the abolition of SATs and a new partnership body to replace Ofsted. Our existing curriculum policy gives a broad entitlement but leaves detail to be devised by schools according to their local circumstances. Conference backed calls for local authorities to have the right to build new local authority schools in areas oif increased demand for school places.

On 26th March, members the National Union of Teachers will take national strike action.The strike is part of the campaign by teachers to protect pay, pensions and to ensure a workload that means children receive the best possible teaching. The strike follows a series of regional strikes in the autumn, which were very well supported and saw teachers getting a lot of support from parents.

Members of the NUT are concerned that government changes will have a damaging effect on education, these include:

•            Teachers working until they are 68 or beyond

•            Increasing pension contributions by 50% and reducing the pension package

•            Introducing performance related pay

Recent figures published by the government show that teachers in primary schools are working 60 hours a week – the NUT believes that this is too much and is one of the reasons why so many young teachers are leaving the profession.

In addition to this strike action the NUT has launched a major campaign, Stand Up for Education, through which teachers are fighting to ensure that:

Every classroom in every school has a qualified teacher

Local authorities can open new schools where needed

Changes to the curriculum and exams are positive and well planned

New teachers are encouraged into the profession

Schools work together and are properly and equitably funded

The NUT claim that the Stand Up for Education campaign has been getting huge support from parents and politicians all over the country who share the NUT’s concerns about government education policy.

Locally  Brent NUT Secretary, Lesley Gouldbourne, said:

Teacher workload is unsustainable and the thought of doing the job until 68 is driving many away from the job. Teacher morale is at dangerously low levels. Children need teachers who are fresh and well motivated not tired and demoralised. All the polls show that Michael Gove is out of touch with teachers and parents – he must listen and change direction. This strike is his fault - teachers do not like taking strike action but they are prepared to lose pay to stand up for education. We do apologise for the inconvenience to parents but we hope they will support us.

 

 It is clear that there is a great deal of overlap between Green Party policy  and what teachers are striking for and the aims of the Stand Up for Education campaign. The Green Party should support next week's strike and work with the NUT, parents, governors and school students in  support of the Stand Up for Education campaign.

Greens denounce budget that ignores the needs of ordinary citizens

Responding to the Budget announcement, the Green Party today said the Budget was yet again ignoring the needs of ordinary citizens. With its focus on tax breaks for the rich, lack of concern over climate change, discriminatory childcare policies and economically illiterate housing schemes, the budget is not delivering solutions to problems facing us today, says the Green Party.

Green Party Leader, Natalie Bennett, said:

This was not a budget for a resilient economy but for a fantasy economy that exists only in Mr Osborne's head. It does nothing to address the need to transform the British economy for a low-carbon future that ensures everyone has access to a decent quality of life. Instead this budget clings to the dinosaur idea that growth towards a new model of 'Britain 2006' will not lead to even further economic and environmental disaster.

The budget promotes what can only be dead-end smokestack industries, the export loans are likely to benefit most notably the arms industry, and the offerings on ISAs will further expand our already dreadful levels of inequality.

The claim that this would be the 'greenest government ever' has long been a sick joke.

The Green Party is calling for an increase to the amount of social housing and commonly owned housing

  

Green Party Finance Spokesperson, Molly Scott Cato, commented:

A garden city built in a quarry and growth built on a re-inflated housing bubble are hardly reassuring evidence of the economy based on "more economic security and economic resilience" that Osborne claims to be his objective. While on the issue of finance, we should also tell George that his desperate attempt to re-inflate the housing bubble through extending the life of Help to Buy is storing up exactly the sort of catastrophic financial collapse that put us in this economic mess. It also does nothing for those who are most in need of reasonably priced housing, since it will only support mortgages they cannot afford and encourage house prices to rise even further beyond their reach.

Osborne claims that more people are in work under the Coalition, but many of these are low paid, low skilled and subject to zero hours contracts

Green Party Welfare Spokesperson, Romayne Phoenix, said:

Where we could have decent properly paid jobs for many thousands of experienced workers and those looking for their first paid employment we have unemployment, under employment, exploitation through zero hours contracts and low pay. The cost of living is rising, there is no genuine social security when job seekers can be sanctioned for minor errors.

Lib Dems challenge Brent Council: 'Whose side are you on?'

Councillor Paul Lorber, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Brent Council, has protested to Christine Gilbert, Acting Chief Executive, over a Brent Council leaflet that uses the same political slogan, 'On Your Side', as a Labour Party leaflet distributed in the Tokyngton ward.

I have criticised the Liberal Democrats in the past for what I saw as 'dodgy leaflets'  LINK and they are no angels in this regard, but this connection between the Council itself and a pre-election party campaign is something new.
 
Paul Lorber wrote:

I did think it very odd that so much of Council Staff  time was being spent on the week of action in Tokyngton Ward just over 2 months before the local elections.

The Sudbury ward working officer seemed to be taken off normal duties to concentrate preparing for the event. Clearly Council Officers could not possibly afford to get things wrong in the Council Leaders’ ward.

I am sure that you will have a very  logical explanation as to why thousands of pounds of officer time and Council resources are used in this way.

However I do not believe that you will have a valid explanation as to why Labour election slogan then get used in Council paid for publicity for this event.

Needless to say the Labour Party could not miss the opportunity to put out their own leaflets at the same time taking advantage of the thousands spent by the Council.

Please confirm the total cost in officer time and all direct costs on this ‘political’ week of action and explain why it was allowed to be hijacked in this obvious and unacceptable way.

Then please explain the action you will take with the individuals responsible for this abuse.

Thanks

Paul

The earlier 'Willesden Green Week of Action' also encountered criticism and led to a FoI request about costs but officer time was excluded from the information  provided by the Council LINK

'Give us space to cycle' demand Brent Cyclists ahead of the election

Brent Cyclists, the local group of the London Cycling Campaign  launches its Space for Cycling campaign this Sunday (23 March) with a short ride round the borough, meeting at 10:30am at Gladstone Park railway bridge (at the foot of Parkside), and at 11:00am at the café in Roundwood Park, then riding through Willesden and Harlesden to the Grand Union Canal in Park Royal, and back again. Anyone with a working bike is welcome to join in.

The Space for Cycling campaign is timed to coincide with the run-up to the local elections in May, to bring home to local politicians the changes that need to be made to Brent’s roads to make them cycle-friendly. It is part of a London-wide Space for Cycling Campaign being run by the London Cycling Campaign.

Brent Cyclists coordinator David Arditti said: 

Brent has great potential as a cycling borough but is held back by the poor routes and infrastructure for cycling compared with other parts of London. We need a network of safe routes on minor roads and protected cycle tracks on bigger roads, which would allow everybody to make daily journeys by bike and especially allow children to cycle to school, but these can only come about if there are more restrictions placed on where motor traffic can go. 

We’ll be cycling along Park Avenue North, which is a road which, if it ceased to be a through-route for cars, would make an excellent way to access Gladstone Park by bike. In other places, to get a safe network, we need bikes to be excepted from one-way systems. This is what we would like built into the new design for Harlesden Town Centre, but Brent doesn’t seem to have considered this need. 

Our ride will draw attention to these measures that would make cycling in Brent so much better, in advance of the local elections, and we will be asking the candidates to pledge support for our specific demands, ward by ward.

Declaration of Interest: I am a member of the London Cycling Campaign.

Another free school makes its pitch in Brent

Another free school has emerged in Brent. The One Degree Academy  wants to set up an all through school in the borough. Like most free schools its website is short on detail including staffing and site. It is derived from the One Degree charity that offers 1:1 mentoring to underachieving GCSE students and claims to have helped 200 in the past 6 years based on 'personalised support and inspirational role models'.

Clearly it is a big step to running a school for ages 5-19 and it is not clear from the website LINK how many of the staff will be qualified teachers,  They are having an Open Day on Saturday from 12-3pm at Harlesden Methodist Church.

Gladstone secondary free school has still not got a permanent site although they are having discussions with the Education Funding Agency and the DfE on a Foundation site.

It has emerged that the 'innovative' writing method promised by Gladstone, 'Do it WRITE'  LINK is the product of a company LINK owned by Jim Gatten, Gladstone's Project Director, a governor of the school and partner of vice chair of governors Marie Evans. They are both directors of the Gladstone school company. So far, according to the records, the company has yet to make a profit.

Vital Brent health issues to be discussed tomorrow

Brent Council's Health Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee meets tomorrow, Tuesday 18th March 7.00 pm in the Boardroom at the Civic Centre. The agenda can be found HERE:

Among the items on the agenda are: Mental Health Services in Brent; a report from the working group on Violence Against Women and Girls especially FGM, domestic violence and forced marriage; the Future of Central Middlesex Hospital and Willesden Centre for Health and Care and Diabetes Services.

Library closures: how will you vote in May?

Alert after fatal dog poisoning in Fryent Country Park

Police are alerting the public, and particularly pet owners, of a poisoning danger in Fryent Country Park, Kingsbury.  Three dogs have died after ingesting organophosphates in what appears to be intentional poisoning.

Pet owners and parents should be aware of any foodstuffs which contain blue colouring or any tablets or pellets left on the roadside, paths or in undergrowth.

If you suspect your dog of eating the poison immediately seek veterinary assistance.

Contacts: Peter Rowntree at Harlesden police Station 0208 733 3804
Brent Council Animal Welfare Officer 0208 937 1234

Demonstrate for a People's Budget: Downing Street Wednesday

The Queensbury Pub planning commitee voting record

Readers have asked for details of the Planning Committee vote which saves the Queensbury Pub in Willesden Green from development for the time being. I am grateful to the Kilburn Times for this list:

Voted for the plans: Cllr Ann John (Stonebridge) and Sandra Kabir (Queensbury).

Against: Cllr Abdi Aden (Barnhill), Michael Adeyeye (Queens Park), Mark Cummins (Brondesbury Park), Sami Hashmi (Mapesbury), Dhiraj Kataria (Welsh Harp) and James Powney (Kensal Green).
Abstained: Cllr Ketan Sheth (Tokyngton).

Cllr Powney has written a comment about his vote against the plans on his blog LINK which mentions his participation in many planning decisions regarding the Mapebury Conservation Area. The selection of a new Labour candidate for Mapesbury Ward is taking place after the withdrawal of one of the three candidates for personal reasons. Cllr Powney was not reselected for his present Kensal Green seat.

Ain't no use to sit and do nothing, babe... U3A is all right!

The Kenton and District branch of the University of the Third Age (U3A)  will have its first meeting is on Wednesday 26th March, 10am at the Century Bowling Club in Logan Road, Wembley (off Preston Road). 

The U3A is a member run, self financing organisation that runs courses, activities and social events for those who have finished with full time employment.

The new group will initially have groups for current affairs, genealogy and family history, cookery, music, board and card games and more.  Additional interest groups will be set up according to demand from members.

The video below gives more information on U3A

 

People's Assembly makes itself fit for purpose

Today's recalled People's Assembly Against Austerity  began with a warm minute of standing applause for Tony Benn and Bob Crow which seemed to set the tone for a serious but friendly day in which the organisation sorted out its  aims, structure and priorties in an atmosphere refreshingly untainted by sectarianism.

I could have been there wearing one of several different hats but settled for the Green Party Trade Union Group which had put forward a resolution committing the PAAA to campaign for effective action against climate change. Natalie Bennett's moving of the resolution linking austerity, neoliberalism and clinmate change was well received and the resolution was passed overwhemingly.

The Assembly adopted the People's Charter for Change which states:

We need a government to reverse damagaing austerity and replace it with a new set of policies providing us with a fair, sustainable and secure future. We can no longer tolerate politicians looking out for themselves and for the rich and powerul. Our political representatives must start governing in the interests of the majority in the direction outlined by this statement of aims.

The aims were:

1. A fairer economy for a fairer Britain
2. More and better jobs
3. High standard homes for all
4. Protect and improve public servies
5. For justice and fairness
6. For a secure and sustainable future

Supplementary motions were passed adopting the People's Charter; supporting the  nationalisation of those firms and banks that do not invest to build a high-skilled, high-wage, high employment economy; supporting house building, rent capping and opposing fixed term tenancies and 80% market rents in Council and Housing Association properties and supporting regulation of rents, conditions and tenancies in the private rented sector;  stepping up campaigns to defend the NHS and abolish the NHS and Social Care Act, brnging privatised NHS services back under public ownership and control; and resolving to campaign for money to be spent on welfare rather than warfare,

The structure that was agreed created a body to be known as 'The Assembly' which would manage the PAAA between conferences and would be made up of one representative from each signatory group and one representative for each local, national or group assembly and this will nominate a management group to be endorsed by the Assembly. The Assembly will meet at least twice a year.

A supplementary motion from  the Coalition of Resistance was approved which set out the People's Assembly's commitemnt to be a broad united campaign against austerity, cuts and proiatisation in workplaces, commity and welfare services based on general agreement on the signatories' Founding Statement. It was made clear that the PA would be linked to no political party and would be committed to open non-sectarian working.

An amendment to adopt a less formal, decentralised structure with participatory democracy and consensus decision making, on the lines of Occupy, across the PAAA was defeated.

Two slightly contradictory motions were passed on Finance with some confusion about what constituted membership and membership fees, and whether these should be paid centrally or locally. This will need sorting out in the near future.

The Assembly adopted a future programme based on mobilising hundreds of thousands of people in activity and coordinating national events, days of action and support groups,

It was agreed to work to set up new People's Assembly groups, strengthen local groups and central organisation (finance will be essential for this) to hold 'meetings, rallies, protests and actions in every locality possible' and to mobilise for the following national events:

• March 19th Budget Day Demonstration 
• March 22nd Stand up to racism demo
• March 26th Support for NUT strikes
• April 5th Day of Action Against the Bedroom Tax
• May Day Events
• June 21st People's Assembly National Demonstration (support by the NUT)
• August 31st NATO Protest Cardiff
• September 28th Tory Party Conference protest
• October 18th TUC National Demonstration

 The day ended with a rousing speech from Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT, making a strong case for community based campaigning in the form of the Stand Up For Education camaign that has seen NUT members out engaging with the public at high street and market places stalls throughout the country.

There is clearly a massive amount to do but the day left me feeling that we now had the beginnings of a structure to build a movement and the sense of shared purpose that can make it happen.

Email Fraud: Will the new broom reach into some murky corners?

Guest blogger Meg Howarth continues to press for answers in 'The Case of the Fraudulent Emails'. It should be straightforward but...

New brooms generally sweep clean, so it's to be hoped that Brent police's freshly appointed borough commander, Chief Superintendent Michael Gallagher, has already put his officers to work on a thorough investigation into this affair (WM 13 March). Brent Council may technically be the 'victim' of this email scam but it's local residents whose addresses were stolen and abused (alongside some out-of-borough suspect comments). It's they who are the real victims. 

It shouldn't be forgotten, either, that it's Brent's incompetence that allowed its IT planning system to be spoofed in this way. While the council may have now got its online act together, some of its constituents are awaiting an answer to the question: who stole their addresses in an apparent attempt to aid developer Andrew Gillick's change-of-use planning application for Kensal Rise Library? Would matters have been cleared up sooner if the council originally passed all of its information to Action Fraud (WM 27 Feb, also 4 & 6 Feb)? Residents, not procedures, must now come first.

Given the on/off, toing and froing over this business - from no inquiry on 31 January to a change of police mind, the involvement of Kensington and Chelsea police, and finally Brent - the sad reality is that it seems as if the sifting of what police have termed the 'complex' evidence of apparent fraud has fallen to the local force. If its investigation can't be completed before Mr Gillick's latest planning application - submitted on 7 March - goes before Brent's planning committee, the developer's application must be put on hold pending the outcome of its inquiry. This is in everyone's interests, including that of the applicant himself. 

To date, the council has argued that under the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 it

'has a responsibility and obligation to consider any valid planning application that is put forward from any individual(s). It must consider each on its merits in accordance with its statutory obligations'. 

As a member of Brent's Planning and Regeneration team has admitted, attempting to influence a planning decision (itself a criminal offence) through fake emails is 'not mentioned in the [1990] Act'. Bizarrely, instead of drawing what most would see as the obvious conclusion - putting an application on hold until an active police inquiry is complete - the officer concludes: 

'...consequently the LPA [local planning authority, in this case Brent] could not decide to decline any application that was submitted to it for consideration, providing that it met the validation requirements that apply to all planning application submissions'...!

Why not? Isn't an active police inquiry sufficient reason - just as someone might be suspended from a job while an  investigation into his/her conduct is underway? If Andrew Gillick is exonerated, his planning application can then be considered free from this long shadow. 

Footnote: Michael Gallagher began work as Brent's police boss on 3 March. A one-time member of Scotland Yard's Specialist Crime directorate, his previous posting was in Lewisham. Prior to that he was deployed in Lambeth.

Brilliant 'Gove Must Go' rap by Chester MC

The fight is not just against Michael Gove but against the whole neoliberal Global Education Reform Project (GERM) supported by all three main political parties, nevertheless this is FUN!

EDUCATION NOT FOR SALE: TUC report condemns profiteering from education

...

 The government's free school and academy programme has cost taxpayers nearly £80m in consultants' fees according to a new TUC report published today.

The research – which analyses official Department for Education (DfE) figures –shows how since 2010 ministers have signed off £77m of public funds to lawyers, head-hunters, accountants, estate agents and management consultants.

The report says the additional bureaucratic cost of starting up free schools and academies is diverting money away from children’s education.

The findings come as the TUC and its education unions prepare to launch a new campaign against privatisation and profit-making in schools, colleges and universities.

The report raises a series of concerns about the government’s education reforms including:

The use of private consultants – £76.7m of taxpayer funds (which might otherwise have been available for children’s education) has been paid to 14 private firms to provide additional services to free schools and academies since the government took office.

These include PKF UK Ltd, an accountancy group whose parent firm BDO UK claims on its website to offer “offshore tax planning” to “high net-worth individuals”.  PKF UK Ltd was paid more than £8m in public funds between December 2010 and June 2013.

Another company to receive millions in public money is Veredus, which is part-owned by outsourcing giant Capita. Veredus, which specialises in head-hunting, has received over 4.7m from the government.

Value for money – the government has expanded its free school-building programme despite the fact that many remain under-subscribed.

Between October 2012 and December 2013 it spent over £200m of taxpayers’ money to purchase land and property for free schools, bringing the total spent on free school-building projects to over £500m since 2010.

These purchases went through even though free school students make up a tiny proportion of school learners in England.DfE figures show that last autumn the 154 English free schools for which official data was available were teaching 21,973 pupils – the equivalent of 11 large secondary schools. This equates to just 0.3 per cent of the 7.5m pupils currently attending state-funded schools in England.

Conflicts of interest – the TUC research also reveals that at least three of the twelve largest chains of academies (schools funded and overseen directly by the government and managed independently of local authorities) have links to the Conservative Party.

Lord Harris of the Harris Federation has been a Conservative donor, Lord Fink, a director of Ark Schools, who – like Lord Harris – is a Conservative Peer and is a former Conservative Party treasurer and major donor, and the David Ross Foundation, which was set up by the co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, who has also donated to the Party.

The report also highlights how the academy sponsor and Conservative donor Theodore Agnew chairs the DfE’s academies board, an internal group aiming to boost the number of sponsored academies.

Value extraction – the report highlights how taxpayer-funded academy chains have paid millions of pounds into the private businesses of directors, trustees and their relatives.

These include Grace Academy, which runs three schools in the Midlands and was set up by Conservative donor Lord Edmiston. Grace Academy has paid more than £1m either directly to or through companies owned or controlled by Lord Edmiston, to trustees’ relatives and to members of the board of trustees.

Corporate ownership – the number of private companies applying to run free schools has tripled since 2011.

Between 2011 and 2013 applications from corporate sponsors shot up from 8 to 25 per cent. Over the same period applications from teacher-led groups plummeted from 24 to 6 per cent and applications from parent and community groups fell by a third.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The government’s education reforms are being driven by free-market dogma rather than what is best for learners.

“Money that should be spent on children’s education is instead being swallowed up by private firms and in expensive property deals.

“This report highlights how companies have been allowed to cream-off millions in profits from running schools and support services.

“Let us be under no doubt, our world-class public education system is under threat from corporate interests and our schools, colleges and universities are now less accountable to taxpayers and local communities.”

Next Tuesday (18 March) the TUC and the education unions are launching Education Not For Sale – a campaign against privatisation and profit-making in schools, colleges and universities.

Education Not For Sale calls for:

•  A commitment from all political parties that no school should be run for profit, either directly or indirectly, and for this to be enshrined in legislation.
• All publically-funded education institutions must be democratically accountable to their local communities, which includes a key strategic role for local authorities.
• All pupils at state-funded schools must be taught by fully qualified teachers and all schools must be governed by the national curriculum.
• The funding and governance of all state-funded schools should be fully transparent to enable local communities to determine how state funding is being used, and potentially misused, in all local schools. This should include requiring all schools to establish a register of interests to prevent indirect profit-making by private companies
• In further and higher education, the government should introduce a new requirement that public support must only go to educational and training organisations that are not-for-profit, and should put in place a tougher regulation for those organisations owned by for-profit companies.

 Full report is available HERE

Six page campaign booklet PDF available here: LINK

Has email planning fraud probe been downgraded?

Guest blog by Meg Howarth
 

It seems that the investigation in to the fake online email support around Andrew Gillick’s original planning application for Kensal Rise Library is now in the hands of Brent police. To date, it had been understood that the Kensington and Chelsea force - the developer’s office is sited in the borough - was dealing with the matter after it was passed evidence and information about the misuse of addresses by the City Police National Fraud and Investigation Bureau (NFIB) - Wembley Matters, 27 February.

Today, however, west London journalist Hannah Bewley is reporting that the local force is now in charge of the inquiry in to whether the allegation of fraud can be substantiated. This is allegedly because Brent Council is technically the ‘victim’ in this sordid affair - it was to the council planning department that the emails were sent. 

As the council spokesman quoted in the Local Government Chronicle on 6 November 2013 stated: ‘It is clear that a number of the emails came from bogus email addresses but, unfortunately, it is not so clear that this necessarily constitutes a criminal offence’ LINK

Evidence of misuse of addresses was first brought to the council’s attention in September of last year, and today’s update suggests a police decision is likely to take some time yet: ‘Due to the complex nature of the evidence, the [Brent police] review may take a while for a decision to be arrived at’. It is six months since the matter was reported to the council, How much longer must local residents wait? 

To some local residents the handing over of the inquiry to Brent police appears like a downgrading of the affair. If Brent Council is the victim, why was the matter ever sent over to the Kensington and Chelsea force? Was this incompetence by the NFIB or a misunderstanding?

Meantime, Andrew Gillick submitted a revised change-of-use planning application for the Kensal Rise Library site on 7 March...

Queensbury Pub in Willesden Green Saved

Community, councillors, Assembly Member and MP rally behind Queensbury Pub campaign -decision tonight

Making community representations to the Planning Committee

Brent's Planning Committee will tonight decide whether to accept the officer's recommedation to approve Fairview's planning application, subject to Section 106 conditions*, to demolish the Queensbury Pub in Willesden Green, and replace with a 10 storey block, or to refuse planning permission.

At the time of writing campaigners have not yet heard how many of the public will be allowed to speak and it could be limited to just two. Local councillors are also likely to speak.

These are the most frequent obkections made by local residents (number of objections in brackets)

Loss of the Queensbury Pub and Busy Rascals which are both important local community facilities (140)

Height of replacement building too tall with surrounding area and modern design out of keeping the character of the area (105)

Replacement building is inappropriate and detracts from the character of the Mapesbury Conservation Area and setting of nearby heritage assets including Willesden Green Underground Station (69)

Demolition of existing building (68)

Designation of pub as Asset of Community Value should require its protection and be a material planning consideration (43)

Loss of existing pub will affect the wider regeneration of the area. Reference made to loss of the Deli on Walm Lane and loss of other community facilities including the Spotted Dog Pub and Willesden Library (41)

Replacement community space within the new building does not adequately compensate for the loss of the Queensbury Pub and Busy Rascals (33)

Lack of residential parking will lead to further congestion on surrounding roads (31)

The site is large enough to be redeveloped whilst retaining the existing building for use by The Queensbury public house and Busy Rascals. Housing can be provided elsewhere within the site.(26)

Lack of affordable housing within the scheme (26)

The Planning Committe is statutorily independent of the Council and therefore not whipped but these are representations made by councillors representing Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative parties and a Labour Assembly Member and a Liberal Democrat MP :

 

Councillor Krupesh Hirani (Dudden Hill Ward) - objection raised based on a representation received from a constituent that wishes not to see the site replaced by flats.

Councillor Christopher Leaman (Mapesbury Ward) - Objections raised on the grounds of the loss of the

community facility (The Queensbury public house and Busy Rascals) and the design is not in keeping with the area.

Councillor Carol Shaw (Brondesbury Park Ward) - Objections raised for the following reasons:- (1) The Queensbury Pub has been listed as an Asset of Community value and therefore needs to be protected and not demolished; (2) loss of public house which is a community facility; (3) loss of building in a conservation area; (4) replacement building does not fit in with its surroundings and will adversely impact on setting of other listed buildings in the area; and (5) increased traffic, noise and pollution.

Councillor Aslam Choudry (Dudden Hill Ward) - Objections raised to the planning application.

Councillor Alison Hopkins (Dollis Hill Ward) - Objections raised on the grounds of the loss of the community facility (The Queensbury public house and Busy Rascals) and the design plans are not in keeping with the area.

Navin Shah Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow - Objections raised for the following reasons:- (1) Loss of public house/community facility; (2) Loss of a building in a conservation area; (3) Design - to tall for conservation area; (4) Substandard accommodation - lack of affordable housing and family sized units; and (5) development too dense for this location.

Sarah Teather MP for Brent Central- Objections raised for the following reasons:- (1) Out of character with surrounding area - too tall; (2) Loss of public amenity - building will overshadow area; (3) Substandard accommodation - lack of affordable housing and family sized units; and (4) loss of community asset, The Queensbury Pub - replacement ground floor use does not compensate for the loss of the pub and its status as an Asset of Community Value should be a material planning consideration.

The Save The Queensbury Campaign submitted a letter of objection and a petition with 4,011 signatures and objections were also made by the North london branch of the Campaign for Real Ale, Mapesbury Residents' Assocation and North West Two Residents' Association.
 
The meeting is at 7pm this evening at Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley.  Follow events on Twitter @QueensburySOS

* SECTION 106 DETAILS

The application requires a Section 106 Agreement, in order to secure the following benefits:-

(i) Payment of the Council's legal and other professional costs on completion of the deed in (a) preparing and completing the agreement and (b) monitoring its performance.

(ii) Notification of material start 28 days prior to commencement;

(iii) Affordable Housing - 10 shared ownership units (3 x one-bed, 3 x two-bed and 4 x three-bed) + £138,346 offsite contribution + financial review mechanism on an open book basis;

(iv)Community Access Plan - to secure a minimum of 18 hours per week for community use, requirement to find alternative accommodation for Busy Rascals (existing community use) during the construction period; and provision for the ancillary community space to continue to operate in the event that the A4 use is not occupied;

(v) Sustainability - submission and compliance with the Council's Sustainability check-list ensuring a minimum of 48.4% score is achieved. Compliance with Code for Sustainable Homes Code Level 3 and carbon reduction of 40% improvement on 2010 Building Regulation (with compensation should it not be delivered);

(vi) Notify Brent 2 Work of forthcoming job and training opportunities associated with the development;

(vii) Join and adhere to the Considerate Contractors scheme;

(viii) Provision of a Travel Plan for the site;

(ix) Enter into a permit free arrangement to remove the rights of future residents and visitors being able to apply for a permit to park on neighbouring streets

CIL DETAILS

This application is liable to pay the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). The total amount is £1,382,214.75 of which £1,167,110.71 is Brent CIL and £215,104.04 is Mayoral CIL

Natalie Bennett: Narrow schooling for a failed economic model betrays pupils

This article by Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party, was first published yesterday by the Huffington Post, LINK  under the title:

Education Reform - Why It's Time to Abolish Dictatorial, Oppressive Ofsted

When I talk to people in the schools system, there's a huge and growing concern that we are on entirely the wrong path in terms of institutional structures, teaching practice and direction. These were all issues addressed when we updated the Green Party education policy at our Spring Conference in Liverpool.
The policy calls for the abolition of Ofsted, which has become unduly dictatorial, oppressive and rigid in its views, while also being subject to political meddling.

It calls for its replacement with continuous collaborative assessment and for national council educational excellence working closely with local authorities. To further encourage local accountability and reaction to local needs, the policy calls for education authorities to encourage schools to set up parent councils or forums, providing a mechanism for direct local input, and also for representatives of older students to be able to attend governing body meetings and have input into their decisions.

This all reflects the fact that a general revolt against Ofsted is growing, with schools around the country (and their communities) saying that its processes are not fair or reasonable, its criteria arbitrary, and its inspections incredibly stressful and destructive.

From Hogarth Primary in London, to a range of Stoke-on-Trent schools; from Oldfield School in Bath to Sandy Lane Primary in Reading, and many more, there's grave dissatisfaction at Ofsted's behaviour and a failure of transparency and apparent fairness in its decisions.

Schools that serve disadvantaged communities, and community schools that the government wants to convert to free status, often despite the wishes of parents, seem particularly vulnerable to negative Ofsted inspections, despite the views of parents and their communities.

That's in part a function of the increasing pressure on all schools to produce test results at the expense of any broader quality of education, and to follow narrowly prescriptive recipes for teaching, of which perhaps the worst example is the phonics test.

The ideological attachment of our current education secretary to this single method, based on an extraordinarily narrow evidence base, is possibly the worst single example of 'goveism' - the attempts to decide the nature and content of what our children are taught according to the whims, prejudices and preferences of a single man.

It's telling that when I talk to sixth formers and university students around the country, one comment that invariably gets enthusiastic support is my call for pupils to no longer be treated like the material in a sausage machine, shoved through a series of gauges to force them into a uniform shape and size, with 'failure' penalised by them being thrown aside into the 'waste' bin. That's why we're calling for an end to the current testing regime and rigid age-related benchmarking.

Our new policy also highlights the way in which free schools, like academies, lack local democratic accountability and oversight, and calls for them to be incorporated back into the state system, with oversight from local authorities.

That reflects growing signs of collapse in the free and academies school systems, with disasters ranging from the E-Act education charity, which is to have nearly a third of its 34 schools taken off it, to the frankly incredible disaster of the Al-Madinah school in Derby.

There are huge numbers of empty places in free schools, and the lack of planning for future pupil numbers is having disruptive impacts around the country. The government certainly won't admit it, but this is an utterly failed policy. It was always clear that the free school programme was an attempt to open the way for private companies to make profits from teaching our students - threatening the same kind of destruction and chaos that companies like G4S, A4E and Atos have brought to so many other public services. But there's increasing hope now that the whole system will fall apart before getting to that point - which is great for the long-term future of our school system, but dreadful for the many thousands of pupils and parents caught up in this Govian mess.

There is an even broader problem with the nature of our education system that needs to be tackled. We're increasingly being told that its purpose is narrowly instrumental - to prepare pupils for jobs - despite the fact that many of the states we're now trying to copy - from Singapore to China - have released the limitations and problems of that approach and are frantically seeking to improve their students' creativity and general skills development.

Training pupils for jobs that often don't exist now, or may well not exist in the future, is an obvious, enormous waste. We're in a fast-moving world, and young people need to develop their ability and desire to learn throughout their life, to have flexible skills, whether intellectual or hands-on, to deal with what is going to be a rapidly changing economy and society. To prepare pupils for the narrow conditions of our failed economic model is a massive error that betrays our young people.

For more details on Green Party education policy and reforms follow https://twitter.com/GreenEdPolicy