Robber Barons Told to Ship Out in West London

Wise counsel for ‘Leaders’ everywhere.              

Guest blog by Mike Hine

Here’s an encouraging little tale for people anywhere who are fighting local government secrecy, opposing council leaders who think they’re above democratic accountability, needing a reminder of what a brief, focussed, media-savvy campaign can achieve with public backing or just happy to see a couple of smug Tory bigwigs get reminded of the limits of their entitlement. (And it’s a particularly happy one for anyone who knows the beautiful, unspoilt, undeveloped stretch of the Thames riverbank between Twickenham and Richmond).

It involves Richmond’s Tory council leader Baron True(!) and old friend of Thatcher and ex head of P&0, Baron Sterling, (who once said that his Portsmouth cruise-ship customers should have a separate terminal so they wouldn’t be forced to mix with ‘ordinary’ ferry customers who were ‘mostly semi lager louts and lorry drivers who smelt of BO’). 

Lord Sterling paid for the building of the ‘Gloriana’, the beautifully-constructed bit of royal bling you see below. It was specially built and used for the Queen’s jubilee celebrations in 2012.

The problem with a camp old bit of kitsch like this is what do you do with it after it’s fulfilled its original function? Rather like the monarchy itself in fact.

Well  Baron Sterling had a word with Baron True and they decided that they’d get local council tax payers to fork out for an enormous wooden boathouse ( a 10 by 40 metre glorified shed) on an ‘unused’ bit of the Thames embankment and they’d put it in there.  Baron Sterling would be happy, Baron True would have a ‘legacy’ vanity project, Richmond might be given ‘Royal Borough’ status and both of them might get their ‘Barons’ upgraded to something less insignificant by a grateful old monarch.

All this was secretly planned by the leader of the council 2 years ago, an architect was commissioned and a design approved by the barons was produced. In June of this year the leader deigned to let his electors know his plan, correctly assuming that his lobby-fodder councillors (whose claim to know nothing of the plans didn’t temper the desire of almost all of them to give it their immediate full backing) would raise little objection. The idea was that, after the customary fake ‘consultation’, the project would be agreed in council by September and work would go ahead; they’d start chopping down trees, destroying the habitats of bats, birds and other wildlife and bring in the development company’s excavators. It seemed to be a fait-accompli.

But then the shit hit the plan. (And that’s not a reference to the thousands of people who got involved in refusing to let the barons rob them of their heritage). The people who loved the fact that this mile-long stretch of the Thames was pretty much as it had been for the last 200 years, the people who took their kids to the small playground there, who used the friendly, scruffy café, who walked their dogs there, who just enjoyed the tranquil, unspoiled nature of the place, they got together through word of mouth, through social media, through meetings, through online petitions and referendums, through the (non-political) local ( but vastly inferior) equivalent to Wembley Matters.                                                                                                                                                            

 And, guess what:  LINK  

The Barons’ plans have been abandoned and this, in its untidy, undeveloped, characterful loveliness, has been preserved. 

For now.

What’s the relevance of this to Brent? Simply the fact that certain aspects of local  government in Richmond  might ring a bell with observers of local government in NW London.       

Baron True and Councillor Butt, in the way they conduct affairs and the way they affect our lives, have more in common than they have differences. The clandestine nature of the planning of the Gloriana boathouse vanity project has more relevance to the way councils and their leaders operate in both Brent and Richmond than do the Labour or Tory labels attached to the main players in either borough. Vanity and power (and the abuse of ‘procedure’ to lubricate the exercise of both) are seen to be their own justification. The extravagantly rewarded council functionaries who knew but kept schtum about the Barons’ plans in Richmond had no more sense of duty towards the public they served and who paid them than do their expensively ‘outsourced’ and perpetually interim equivalents in Brent. In short, the barons’ mentality, the self-serving arrogance of power, the secretiveness, the sense of entitlement about handing down prearranged decisions to the ‘ordinary’ people, these qualities are not just the preserve of the ‘ennobled’.                                                                         

 But the biggest lesson from the Gloriana boathouse victory is surely one to celebrate and to take encouragement from: it is that, no matter how ‘noble’, how well-connected, how apparently secure in power, how self-confident or how devious, the barons can be resisted and the barons can be defeated,  in Brent as in Richmond.    

 And that lovely bit of unspoiled Thames riverside with its scruffy old playground and its friendly little cafe will now remain a testament and a monument to that fact. 

Police appeal for witnesses after 2 year old killed in Wembley ASDA car park accident

The ASDA car park slip road blocked by a police car after the accident

Police are appealing for witnesses after a 2 year old girl died following an accident in the  Wembley ASDA car park last night.  Our thoughts go out to the litttle girl's family.

POLICE APPEAL

Incident Location

Asda car park, Forty Lane, Wembley

Description

Officers are appealing for witnesses to a road traffic collision in which a two-year-old girl died
Police were called at 20:40hrs on Thursday, 11 September, to Asda car park, Forty Lane, Wembley to reports of a collision between a car and a child.

London Ambulance Service were called to the scene.

The girl, aged two-years old, was treated at the scene. She was then taken to a northwest London hospital where she subsequently died.

A post-mortem examination will be arranged in due course.

The girl was with her mother at the time of the collision.

The female driver of the car - who is not the girl's mother - was not arrested.

Anyone who witnessed the collision or has information that may assist police is asked to call the Serious Collision Investigation Unit based at Alperton on 020 8991 9555.

Run to the Beat - road closures, 15,000 runners, Live DJs & much more on Sunday in Wembley

Many roads will be closed in Wembley on Sunday Details but there will be much on offer for Wembley residents who enjoy music when Run to the Beat arrives in town:

Sure Run to the Beat is London’s most unique music running event and this year we’re hosting an epic 10k at Wembley Park.

After six years hosting London’s music half marathon and helping 96,000 runners to achieve their goal, we want to give 10k runners the chance to experience the unique music filled run.

Live DJ’s will be pumping out motivational tunes all around the route, leading you to the finish where our headline act will be waiting for you to join the party. The atmosphere on the day will be like nothing you have ever experienced at a running event before.

Taking place on the 14th September 2014, 15,000 runners will make their way around a brand new 10k course starting and finishing at Wembley Park, home to the legendary Wembley Stadium and arena, that now offers great food, great shopping and great events.

It may not be the best day to choose to take the kids to change their library books.

Hampstead & Kilburn Labour calls for economic sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements

Hampstead and Kilburn Labour Party passed the following resolution on Tuesday. It was considered for submission to the Labour Party Conference but lost out on two other motions on the recent rise in anti Semitic incidents and the NHS. The NHS motion will go to Conference.

Israeli-Palestinian relations

Conference welcomes the Egyptian brokered ceasefire of 26^th August 2014 that brought to an end to fighting in Gaza.

Conference is alarmed by Israeli TV reports on 1^st September 2014 Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu told his cabinet that Israel would not be sending a delegation to Cairo to participate in further negotiations over the reconstruction of Gaza’s air and sea ports and the demilitarization of the area as stipulated in the ceasefire conditions.

Conference also notes that on Sunday 31^st August Israel announced the expropriation of almost 1000 acres of Palestinian privately-owned land, their declaration as state land and the intention to build the largest Israeli settlement on the land, being contrary not only to international but also Israeli law.

Conference suggests that this is an indication that the present government of Israel is not genuinely interested in a two state solution, despite surveys of the Israeli and Palestinian publics consistently showing majorities in favour of such an outcome.

Conference further notes that while past announcements of a similar nature have been condemned, deplored, described as unconstructive and harmful to a two state solution by the UN, the EU, the White House and UK government, the expansion of illegal settlement activity has continued, leaving the goal of a peaceful two state solution hanging by an ever thinner thread.

Conference therefore believes that these illegal settlements should be subject to not merely political censure but also economic sanction and that all commercial activity with them should be as illegal as the settlements themselves and therefore banned by a future Labour government.

Our West Hendon takes on pan-London gentrification this Saturday

Readers will remember Save The Welsh Harp, the campaign to stop Barratts building tower bocks on the banks of the Welsh Harp which had been occupied by the West Hendon Social Housing Estate. LINK

Barnet Coucil and Boris Johnson approved the scheme despite widespread oppositon and now tenants are being forced out.

This message is from Our West Hendon:

Our West Hendon are running out of time. Non-secure tenants are rapidly being forced out of their communities and Barratts has refused to negotiate 'like for like' settlements with the leaseholders.

Private tenants face yet another move and secure tenants are reluctantly due to be moved into the new but massively inferior builds. It appears the only way to deal with the council and the developers is now to take direct action. Please join us in solidarity this Saturday 13th from 7am-1pm at Marsh Drive Community Centre NW9 7QE.

We know the only way to stop this pan-London gentrification is if all affected communities now come together. Alone we are few, together we are many!

Rugby statue to be erected at Wembley Stadium to match Bobby Moore

Association football has Bobby Moore, so who will rugby have?   Brent Council has given planning permission for a  Rugby Football League statute to be erected at Wembley Stadium:

The application proposes the erection of a statue, to the north-eastern side of the outer stadium pedestrian concourse. This is a joint venture between Wembley National Stadium Limited (WNSL) and Rugby Football League (RFL).

The application seeks consent for a statue of a certain size at this stage. The detailed design is to be unveiled at a later date, though the submission does specify this to be a bronze statue place on a steel base, also that it is to be Rugby Football League themed and a tribute to the sport

The plinth would be 1.5m high and the statue itself 3.3m, making a total 4.8m from ground level. 

London Assembly backs Generation Rent manifesto

The world is their Oyster - publicity for  MIPIM

From Generation Rent LINK

London Assembly members voted this afternoon to back Generation Rent's Manifesto. This is a fantastic endorsement of the work we are doing from politicians in the heart of the country's housing crisis.

Two million people - a quarter of the London population - rents from a private landlord, and the unaffordability, poor conditions and insecurity of tenure are all high on the agenda. A poll from the Association of Residential Letting Agents today said that 43% of London's renters have had reservations about their landlord or letting agent on day one of their tenancy.

Darren Johnson AM, Green Party chairman of the housing committee, proposed the motion, which was seconded by Labour's Tom Copley AM, and passed after a debate in City Hall (available on this link).

“This Assembly welcomes the 'Renters manifesto' published by Generation Rent, which would bring considerable improvements to the lives of one in four households in London living in the private rented sector.

“The Assembly reaffirms its support for a number of Generation Rent's recommendations, which the Assembly put forward in its 'Rent reform' report in June 2013, including policies to stabilise rents, introduce longer tenancies and end retaliatory evictions.

“This Assembly supports further measures proposed by Generation Rent, including:

• longer notice periods for tenants who have lived in a home for a number of years
• banning letting agent fees
• closing loopholes on deposit protection schemes
• increasing the Rent a Room tax allowance
• scaling up the Community Land Trust model to create a large, secondary housing market affordable to Londoners

This Assembly also notes with regret the Mayor’s continued involvement with international property fairs such as MIPIM. His support for rich investors to build expensive flats for rich owners and landlords, who in turn let homes on insecure contracts in a dysfunctional rental market, is not providing for the needs of ordinary Londoners.

This Assembly therefore calls on the Mayor to set out his response to the 'Renters manifesto', to consider piloting some of the recommendations in his Housing Zones, and to require its implementation in any deals made at MIPIM.”

We'll be looking forward to Boris Johnson's response. 

Comment from Wembley Matters.  The  next four day MIPIM will be held in Cannes in March and costs 1490 Euros for each delegate plus accommodation. Brent's Director of Regeneration and Major Projects, Andy Donald, has been an attender in the past. LINK

STOP PRESS: Michaela Free School announces 'Umbrellas are acceptable' but watch out for the shoes and haircuts

The Michaela Free School still looked like a building site today but the school's website, in a not terribly friendly announcement, says pupils will start on Monday:

School Starts at 11am Monday 15^th September

Parents’ Evening is at 5pm Wednesday 17^th September

Parental Interviews Cancelled

1.School uniform: All pupils are expected in full school uniform on the first day of school: Monday 15 September at 11am.

2.Shoes should be plain, black, flat and logo-free. Be very traditional in your choice of shoe. Please avoid anything that looks like a black trainer. If in doubt send us a photograph of the shoes BEFORE buying.

3.Boots are not acceptable for school. Sturdy traditional school shoes with a good tread, suitable for winter, are advised.

4.PE Trainers, the colour and style are up to you. And yes, inevitably, trainers will have logos. They must be suitable for indoor and outdoor use.

5.Umbrellas are acceptable. These should be plain, in black or navy blue and in a telescopic style. Umbrellas must be small enough that, when closed and collapsed, they fit into the standard school bag.

6.Haircuts & Jewellery: All haircuts must comply with school policy for Monday 15th September. No make-up or jewellery is allowed. This includes stud earrings.

7.Free School Meals: If you’re already registered with Brent as eligible for free school meals that should automatically continue. If concerned contact us and we’ll check on our list.

8.Food: High quality food is prepared on site. There will be a range of options, including fish and vegetarian choices so all religious groups are treated fairly and equally.

9.Paying for food: Please send your child to school on Monday 15th with a cheque for either £159.50 for the term or £77 for the half term, made payable to Michaela Community School. Please write your child’s FULL NAME and DATE OF BIRTH on the back of your cheque.

10.Oyster Zip cards: All parents should apply for these as soon as possible. The application says that a stamp or signature from the school is required. We have checked with TFL and we are advised that this is NOT essential.

Yuppification is the name of the game, Brent Regeneration's aim is the same

OK, I go on about Quintain's failure to build the much needed and much promised affordable housing in their regeneration project around Wembley Stadium, but this really is a slap in the face for local residents.

Vulnerable children may be shipped out of Brent for schooling as Council closes Primary PRU at 3 week's notice

As the Scrutiny Committee discussed setting up a Task Group to investigate how the Pupil Premium, ear-marked funds for disadvantaged children, are used in Brent schools last night, they were leafleted by staff who care passionately for an arguably even more disadvantaged group who are about to be shipped out of the borough.

The Primary Pupil Referral Unit currently housed at Ashley Gardens is for children excluded from mainstream school.  The classrooms were previously used as temporary accommodation for the primary unit of Preston Manor All-through School.

The Primary Unit came about after the Key Stage 2 (7-11 year olds)  PRU in Stonebridge was closed down at the end of Spring Term 2014 as no longer necessary. Within weeks, there were already 6 excluded children at Key Stage 1 (5-7 year olds) and Key Stage 2 in need of education. The Ashley Gardens facility was set up for them and high quality, experienced staff were recruited on the understanding that the unit would continue through the current academic year.

Brent's Primary EBD(Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties) school, Vernon House, closed some time ago and a new school opened in its place for chidlren on the autistic spectrum.

The authority has said that the classrooms are needed for children without a school place, despite Preston Park Primary having expanded, the new primary school at Preston Manor and a four form entry primary school being built at Wembley High.

Most of the Ashley Gardens children will be placed at the Family School London, in Kings Cross. This is a free school being opened by the Anna Freud Centre, with home to school transport provided for each child.

On Thursday of last week Ashley Gardens staff were told that the Unit would close by the end of this month.

Staff have major concerns about the closure decision and the way it is being implemented. This is what they said:

1. The time scale for closure is extremely rushed and risks causing unnecessary distress to children and their families.

These are amongst the most vulnerable and emotionally challenged children within our education system. Three weeks does not give us proper time to prepare them for this major change. we have an excellent team who have worked very hard to build up relationships of trust with the children and their families and the children are now settled and beginning to thrive in the unit.

We are concerned that this hasty decision, driven it seems more by the borough's need for our accommodation than by the needs of the children, will cause unnecessary emotional trauma to children who have already had more than their fair share.

2. There has been no consultation on this decision with the staff of the unit, including the Teacher-In-Charge, nor more senior staff within the Inclusion Service, and no individual case-by-case review to assess whether the provision at the Anna Freud Family School is appropriate for all the children who will be placed there.

3. We understand the longer term policy is to provide support for chidlren at risk of exclusion with the Brent School's Partnership, with the aim of preventing exclusions. This provision is still not in place. Where will any excluded chidlren be taught and supported in the meantime? This is exactly the situation that led to the formation of the unit at Ashley Gardens.

4. What about children who are excluded in spite of all the best efforts of the new provision? The Family School has only 4 places available this year in each key stage, and 4 more available next year and demand could come from anywhere across London.

The Ashley Gardens staff make a strong and professional case which clearly has the interests of vulnerable chidlren at its heart.

Brent Council's commitment to social inclusion means that there should be proper consultation with teachers, parents and professional agencies in such a situation, and at the very least a thorough Equalities Impact Assessment should be carried out.

None of this has happened and until it does, and the resulting report has been discussed and adopted by Cabinet, the closure should be suspended.

I would add a further concern about children being bussed out of the borough. They are already excluded from mainstream schools and will be further excluded by being educated far away from their home community.

I get to speak to a Brent Council meeting!

For the record. after the Full Council deputation debacle that required 5 full working days notice for a deputation, I emailed Brent Council last night at 2 minutes to 5 asking to speak at Scrutiny Committee that evening.  Scrutiny begins at 7pm.

I was granted permission by the Chair  and spoke to the Committee about the Task Force being set up to investigate the use of the Pupil Premium in Brent schools.

All a bit mystifying.

Central Middlesex closes its doors for the last time and the community loses yet another amenity

It was significant that last night on Twitter someone reacted with shock to the news that Central Middlesex A&E will be closed today saying 'but that's my local hospital. I've it used since I was a kid!'

The remark indicates both our failure to get the message out in time to more people and thus moblise them, and also the sense of ownership that local people have for what many call 'Park Royal'.

Photo Sarah Cox

Symbolic protests took place this morning at  Hammersmith and Cen tral Middlesex A&Es to mark their closure.

On Monday the Council called for the closure to be delayed until Northwick Park A&E was in a fit state to take over Central Middlesex's role.

Yesterday evening at the Brent Council Scrutiny Committee, Cllr Mary Daly tore into the 'men in suits' behind the closure accusing them of failing in their 'duty of candour'.

Today the Central Middlesex A&E is closed.

In truth Brent Council was very slow to recognise the negative impact of the closure and while Ealing Councl was leafleting residents and advertising on buses, it was left to Brent Fightback and other campaigners to get the word out in Brent  with street leafleting and public meetings.

Campaigners attended consultations and  repeatedly pointed out the degree of deprivation of the population that used Central Middlesex; the health statistics for the area; low car ownership and poor transport links to Northwick Park; the presence of the large industrial estate at Park Royal with a high risk of industrial accidents; Wembley Stadium and major railway lines with the potential for major incidents (remember the Harrow train crash of1952 which killed 85 people?) and the strain on the ambulance service when, with only an Urgent Care Centre on the Central Middlesex site, needy patients will have to be transferred to Northwick Park.

After months of consultations and meetings none of these issues have been satisfactorily addressed and the Care Quality Commission's (CQC) report on Northwick Park and Centrasl Midddlesex Hospitals has added further doubt. Northwick Park was given a 'requires improvement rating' and Central Middlesex A&E a 'good'.

The 'men in suits' quickly moved into PR mode following that report, and before the closure, with a 'feel good' story about the new Northwick Park A&E, faithfully carried by the Kilburn Times LINK.

In fact the new unit will not be ready until November at the earliest and full operational changes until 2015.  There are concerns about the intervening period and Scrutiny called for further reports from the Hospital Trust.  Meanwhile some members of the Clinical Commissioning Group, with interests in  out-sourced services, are keen to bad mouth the hospitals and claim that they can offer something better.

Unfortunately the privatisation of health means that doctors and other staff often have private interests in health provision and there were calls from the public gallery last night for these interests to be declared at such meetings. 

I agree. 

Hospital Trust officials claimed at Scrutiny that the CQC's concerns were being addressed and that 20 new beds at Northwick Park would come into use today and help clear the backlog at Northwick Park A&E.  It would improve bed capacity by 20%.  They claimed that a new clinical and medical leadership team was now in place and would result in improvement.

In remarks that were not fully explored Scrutiny were told that the Trust would improve capacity at Northwick Park for the winter by looking for additional beds outside the hospital on other sites. This raises the prospects of the elderly being sent further afield during the peak illness periods which coincide with severe weather.

Will the next Brent Cabinet be a walk in the park?

The next Brent Cabinet meeting will be held at a new venue - the Roundwood Youth Centre, next to Roundwood Park in Longstone Avenue, Willesden.

The meeting is on Monday September 15th at 2pm and has a crowded, and potentially controversial agenda, as can be seen below.

The full Reports Pack is available on the Council's website HERE

The Press and Public can attend this meeting. Requests for deputations should go to anne.reid@brent.gov.uk Tel 020 8937 1359.

'Divorced' Tory Groups bicker at Brent Council as Labour continues to subvert democracy

The importance of effective opposition and scrutiny when Labour has a huge majority on Brent Council has been stressed repeatedly on this blog. Following my gagging last night things took an even more ludiucrous turn with Labour using its majority to determine which of the two rival factions of Conservatives would be the 'official opposition'.

Deputy Labour Leader Michael Pavey said on Twitter that the Council had been trying to get the two groups to decide between themselves which of them would take that role for three months without success.

In the event it was the 'old timers' of Kenton who Labour chose much to the anger of John Warren 'leader' of the Brondesbury Park faction.  Warren had done most of the opposing during the meeting - including opposing the Kenton faction.

Warren spoke despairingly about what the Conservatives had been reduced to in Brent and denounced as 'woolly' a motion on the Garden Tax proposed by the Kenton Tories.

The Kenton Tories joined Labour in voting for the 25% allowance increase and the Brondesbury Tories and Helen Carr voted against.

A number of Labour councillors were absent and some of those absences may have been to avoid publicly voting against their party line on allowances. We will wait and see how many donate the increase to charities.

Brent, the 'Listening Council', refuses to let me speak but answers an unasked question

Just to keep readers up to date on Brent Council's refusal to let me speak as a deputation last night.

Seconds before the meeting Muhammed Butt, leader of the Council,  came over and took me aside to say he couldn't allow me to speak but he would address my 'question' in his report to the Council.

I had never asked a question but had requested a deputation:

I would like to speak to Full Council on September 8th on the subject of the appointment of a permanent Chief Executive.

There's a touch of Alice In Wonderland here when you are not allowed to speak but the Council decides what question is implied by your request to speak, and then proceeds to answer it.

In fact I would have spoken about the background to Christine Gilbert's Acting Chief executive position and sought assurances about the transparency of the appointments process and the involvement of parties other than Brent Officers and Brent Cabinet members  in that process.

In his report Muhammed Butt gave the statement that I reported here yesterday evening.

I have received no written reply to my non-question from Fiona Ledden or Muhammed Butt although other correspodents have been told that this would be done. The only correspondence has been Fiona Ledden's attempting to justify my not being allowed to speak.

In response to Councillor John Warren (Brondesbury Conservatives) who asked about my delegation being refused she said: 'The matter has been dealt with by correspondence between myself and Mr Francis'.

The implication appeared to be that the issue was closed. 

I received this from Fiona Ledden on September 5th while I was away at the Green Party Conference in Birmingham:

Dear Mr Francis

Thank you for your response.

I note your comments in relation to the tweet, I will ensure in future that the tweet alerts go out at least 2 weeks before a relevant council meeting I am sorry that did not occur on this occasion.

In relation to the calculation of working days within the definition section of the constitution it confirms that days mean full clear working days which would mean that the deputations need to be received on the Friday before Council on the following Monday.

I confirm again the leader will write answering the question that you have raised

Yours etc

FL

Following the Council Meeting I replied this morning:

 Dear Ms Ledden,

I would like to put on record that I am not satisfied with this response as Brent Council, on its official Twitter feed,  quite clearly gave a deadline of September 1st.  As no other deadline was readily available to the public and deputations were on the agenda for the meeting commonsense, natural justice and the public interest should have resulted in a decision to let me speak.

I do not accept, as you implied in answer to Cllr John Warren’s question at Full Council, that our correspondence on this matter concludes the matter.

I am now considering how to take this further.

Appointment of permanent Chief Executive delayed until new year

I was not allowed to speak to the Full Council about the appointment of a permanent Chief Executive of Brent Council that should have started straight after the May local elections.

Instead of allowing me to speak Cllr Butt, leader of the Council addressed the issue in his report at the beginning of the meeting. He said Christine Gilbert, Acting Chief Executive, would be busy over the next few months working on the Borough Plan.  However, he said the Council was now stable and a recruitment process would start in the new year and be completed by the AGM.

This will amount to another extension of some six months or more.

When the issue of the 'tweets in error' and subsequent speaking ban was raised  by John Warren of the Brondesbury Conservative Group, Fiona Ledden told him, 'The matter has been dealt with by correspondence between myself and Mr Francis'.

Full text of Northwick Park/Central Middlesex motion for tonight's Full Council

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Northwick Park Hospital

This Council places on record its deep concern about the findings from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection of Northwick Park Hospital – which is set to become the main A&E hub when the Central Middlesex unit closes.

This Council places on record its concern at the quality of health provision for the majority of Brent residents that depend on Northwick Park.

As a Council, we call on North West London Hospital Trust to delay the closure of its A&E facility at Central Middlesex until the performance of Northwick Park Hospital is vastly improved.

The Council demands urgent assurances from The North West London Hospital Trust that they will implement the recommendations as set out in the CQC report to improve Northwick Park Hospital as a matter of urgency or else delay the closure of the A&E unit.

Cllr Daly

Latest news on water supply in HA area

Affinity Water has made the following statement following the interruption water supplies in the HA0, HA4 and HA8 areas as a result of a burst main:

We have successfully repaired the burst water main and supplies were restored last night.Should you experience any discoloured or aerated water, which is not uncommon following a mains interruption, we recommend that you leave a mains fed tap running for approximately 5-10 minutes. Discolouration of the water is caused by small particles of iron which are within the mains and disturbed during interruptions. Cloudy water is caused by air that becomes trapped in the mains, neither of these are harmful to your health. 

Where it has been necessary to excavate the area we will continue to work with the local Highways Authority to return the road surface area to normal  and ensure that the road or footway is safe for all vehicle and pedestrian traffic. This may mean that we have to maintain the site and any necessary traffic management until this is the case. 

We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this incident and thank you for your patience today.

If you are still without water tweet Leanne at @AffinityWater with details. 

Brent Labour to discuss leadership election changes

Following controversy over Muhammed Butt's bid to restrict Labour leadership elections  to every four years, Brent Labour is to hold a special meeting on amendments to Standing Orders on Tuesday 16th September.

Among the proposals, which also includes elections/appointment by the leader to council positions, is this:

The group leadership is not proposing that leadership elections shouldn’t be held at AGMs other than the first of the council term if substantial number of members (a third or more) feel there is a need for this to occur- see paragraph 2 of this section, discussed below. Rather, the suggestion is that a leadership election shouldn’t be held rigidly every year if members see no need for one. Following the recent AGM, it is clear that a number of members wish for this matter to be reviewed, and a full report on it will follow in the coming weeks. 

2. ‘An election for the post of Leader may be called at any AGM if a third or more of the group’s members write to the group Secretary to request that this occur not less than seven days in advance of the meeting. Any election resulting from this trigger mechanism will be conducted by secret ballot. Under no circumstances will the Secretary reveal the name of any member requesting that a contest take place until the threshold of 50% is reached. If this occurs, the Secretary will verify with the Chairs of both the group and the LCF that an election should be called and proceed accordingly.’ 

This paragraph has been substantially altered from that included in the group standing orderscirculated prior to the recent AGM. It was inserted in order to compliment paragraph 1 of this section, ensuring that leadership elections at AGMs will go ahead if a sizable number of members feel this should occur, and that members will feel confident expressing their preference for such an election.

As  I read it, rather than the election of leader being routinely on the agenda of the AGM a group of members will have to ask for such an election. This could be a disincentive as it might be seen as disloyalty or splitting to make such a request.

Bid to delay closure of Central Middlesex A&E

At the very last minute Cllr Mary Daly is to move a motion at Brent Full Council tonight calling for a delay in the closing of Central Middlesex A&E.

The unit is due to close on  Wednesday.A demonstration will take place outside the hospital at 10am on Wednesday to make community opposition to the closure.

There are fears that Northwick Park A&E is not yet ready to take patients who would have gone to Central Middlesex and is itself already over-crowded and suffering delays.

Possible Labour abstentions on 25% allowance increase tomorrow

I understand that several Labour councillors are considering abstaining when the report giving them a 25% increase on their basic allowance, bringing it up to £10,000 annually, is tabled at Full Council tomorrow.

The rise, coming as it does at an embarrassing time, and attacked by Labour Party activist Graham Durham, has caused much discussion in the group, with even some Cabinet members having qualms.

An alternative, suggested by some, is voting for the increase but them donating it to Brent charities that help those most impacted by Coalition welfare reforms.

Young Greens launch campaign to get young people organised

The Young Greens today launched their latest campaign 'Get Organised! Getting a new generation organised and unionised!' at a joint workshop with the Green Party Trade Union Group.

Speakers from the RMT, NUS, the Students' Assembly and the Green Party discussed the benefits of trade union membership and the need to convey these benefits to young people.

The RMT Young Members' group were keen to get into schools to talk to pupils about this as a part of citizenship education but had found schools resistant. I suggested that theatre in education, based on actual events such as the Grunwicks strike, could be a stimulating way of doing this.

There was also a discussion on reviving  the idea of  a School Students' Union  (something similar existed in the 70s)  that could give  school students experience of collective organisation and negotiation.

Greens strengthening links with trade unions

The NUT, RMT and PCS trade unions all have stalls at the Green Party conference this weekend. Max Hyde, President of the NUT , spoke at a fringe meeting organised by  the Union today, with Natalie Bennett  and Richard Hatcher guest speakers.

With the NUT's manifesto for  children's education 'Stand Up for Education' distributed, hot off the presses to a packed room, it soon became clear that the NUT and Green Party have much in common on education policies.

Both want an end to 'sausage factory' schooling and the dominance of testing, every teacher to be qualified,  restoration of LA powers to build new schools, an end to the fragmenting of the education system, halt to privatisation of education  and are opposed to performance related pay.

Tomorrow there will be a PCS speaker at a fringe on fuel poverty, the Big SIx power companies, and fracking.

There is an active Green Party Trade Union Group and a Trade Union Liaison Officer post was created last year. Both are busy building  links not just with national leaders of the unions but with  rank and file members.

The  policies of the Labour Party increasingly appear insipid in contrast to the strong anti-austerity social justice stance of the Greens.

I hope that our links and solidarity with trade unions will continue to strengthen ahead of the General election. As Max Hyde and Natalie Bennett both said, we won't agree on everything, but we are allies in the struggle.

Palestine: Greens support BDS and call for halt to military co-operation with Israel

This is the emergency motion passed with an overwhelming majority at the Green  Party Conference yesterday.

Conference condemns Israel's ground invasion, ariel and marine bombing of Gaza, and calls on Green Party members and Green Party elected representatives to take what steps they can to put existing Green Party policy into action and to ensure that the underlying causes are addressed, acknowledging there can be no lasting peace without justice.

Such steps include:

-  Reiterating our calls on the UN, the EU and the US government to ensure that Israel complies with international law

-  Supporting these calls by active participation in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign. This campaign aims to put pressure on the government of Israel to end the Occupation and to give equal rights to Palestinians. The campaign asks individuals, organisations, councils and governments to refuse to deal with companies and institutions identified as facilitating Israel's military capacity, human rights abuses or illegal settlement activity

- In particular to demand the UK government halts all joint Israeli/UK military co-operation and approval for all arms sales to Israel.

Greens show why they are different on the first day of conference

The Green Party Conference assembled in confident mood yesterday with membership growing, especially amongst young people and the party polling at its highest in recent times.

Natalie Bennett made a speech extolling the Green Party's vision of a socially,economically and environmentally just society and contrasted this with the neoliberalism  of the other parties. She was particularly scathing about the Labour Party and set out policies far too the left of that party.

Her speech can be read in full here: http://greenparty.org.uk/news/2014/09/05/natalie-bennetts-green-party-autumn-conference-speech-%28full-text%29/

In true Green Party fashion a particularly tricky debate, with lots of procedural motions, on issues of local party autonomy, was skillfully handled by a chair who while dealing with points of order was suckling her contented baby.

An emergency motion on Gaza was overwhelmingly carried. It called on the membership to get active supporting boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns and opposing arms sales to Israel.

Although it was clear that an amendment to today's Energy motion, which would commit the party to supporting nuclear power, had very little support, Conference rejected attempts to have the amendment ruled out of order. It was seen as a victory for democracy rather than for the pro-nuclear position.

Central Middlesex A&E Closure and the Pupil Premium under Scrutiny next week

There was considerable concern at the recent Health consultation at Bridge Park In Stonebridge, over the closure of Central Middlesex A&E and particularly about whether replacement facilities will be ready. There was also concern about the recent Requiring Improvement judgement on the Northwick Park A&E while Central Middlesex A&E received a 'Good'. The A&E closes on September 10th and a demonstration is scheduled to take place to mark its demise.

The Brent Council Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on September  9th, the day before the closure, will be questioning the professionals concerned.

The Agenda states: 

The Scrutiny Committee will receive an up-date on the arrangements in place for the closure of the A&E unit at Central Middlesex Hospital, and Brent changes to related services, to ensure a high quality of health care is accessible to residents.  This will reflect recent concerns raised following  Care Quality Commission inspections at Northwick Park Hospital.  Senior Representatives from the Northwest London Hospital Trust and the Clinical Commissioing Group will be at the meeting to answer questions.

After its widely criticised lack lustre perfomance at its first meeting, the Scrutiny Committee is reportedly determined to up its game.

At the same meeting a Pupil Premium Task Force will be set up. Task Forces, with a specific remit, are one of the ways the Commmittee will carry outs its work.    The Pupil Premium is the extra money schools get for enhancing the educational opportunities for disadvantaged pupils and now forms  a substantial part of the budget of many Brent Schools.

The purpose of the task group will be to focus on analysing the current use of the Pupil Premium Grant, the outcomes which are being achieved in comparison with national performance and to promote best practise.

This will include:

• How eligible pupils in Brent have been performing since the premium was introduced

• How schools in Brent have been spending, managing and monitoring the Pupil Premium

• The possible lack of correlation between schools with the highest number of eligible pupils and the schools making best use of the PPG

• Identifying good practices in Brent schools, across the UK and learning from national organisation such as the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)

• How could schools in Brent spend the premium more effectively to raise pupil attainment

• The Future of the Pupil Premium in Brent - future funding, changes for September 2014

It will be interesting to see who is on the Task Force and whether the Scrutiny Committee goes out to teachers, parents and pupils for members of the force. It would be too easy also to just see things in terms of extra 'booster classes' rather than the enrichment activities that some schools have found really increase children's enjoyment, motivation, confidence and thus their achievement.

Brent Council reported to intend to rent out space commercially at new Willesden Cultural Centre instead of providing a One Stop Shop

A Brent Council officer told a recent meeting of the Willesden Green Town Meeting that there would be no One Stop Shop at the new Willesden Cultural Centre.  Instead the Council would be looking for a commercial tenant for the space.

This follows the Council's decision to let two floors of the Civic Centre to Air Francis and squeeze Brent staff into the remaining space.

During the controversial planning application process for the WG Cultural Centre the Council made great play of the benefit to the community that would accrue from the development of unafffordable private flats (later sold on the Singapore market). The developement would finance the Cultural Centre and the One Stop Shop, along with council offices to serve the local area and this  out-weighed the loss of the old library, car park and open space according to  ex Executive member Cllr George Crane, then lead member for Regeneration and Major Projects.

This is an extract from Andy Donald's (Director Regeneneration and Major Projects) report:

4.6 The Council is currently driven by the overarching concept of One Council. This aims to provide excellent public services and deliver these in the most efficient way but also to build strong relationships and better communications between the Council and citizens ensuring local priorities are addressed and that local potential is nurtured. A redeveloped WGLC will play an important role in this strategy supporting both the One Council Library Transformation Project and the One Council Future Customer Service Project.

4.8 The Future Customer Service Project aims to improve efficiency and clarity of the services offered to citizens. The strategy is dependent on developing a new customer contact centre at WGLC providing a service for the south of the borough, an area where many of the Council‟s high need customers reside.

The Council appeared to have been driven, through the Council's budget crisis caused by Coalition cuts, to reneage on its promises to local people, especially those who formed the Keep Willesden Green campaign.

Residents were angry and asked if the Council intended to put these changes to what was supposed to be a local amenity to further consultation.

I understand that Andy Donald has replied that no decision on customer services at the Cultural Centre has been made but 'the Council’s cabinet will be considering a report in October in respect of the overall approach to customer access for the Council as a whole, which will then inform the shape of the customer access offer at the Civic Centre and Willesden going forward.'

He has promised that residents will be informed about any proposals as part of the dialogue over the use of the  new building.

Clearly an issue that residents will be monitoring.

Meanwhile someone who lives on the front line of the development told me earlier this week that a construction worker on site had told her that the open space between the flats and the Cultural Centre, offered in compensation for the lost open space in front of the 1980s library, was just going to be an 'ordinary road'.

I would be interested if anyone else had heard this.

Ledden claims Brent Council tweeted in 'error' to 8,000 followers inviting them to speak at Monday's Full Council meeting - then bars Martin Francis from speaking

Regular reader will know about the issues around democracy and Brent Council (refresher course: LINK ) and these came to a ahead wsith the Labour landslide  with proposals to limit questions to the Cabinet and have just one 'super' Scrutiny Committee. At the same time Muhammed Butt tried to get a change in rules which would have meant the Labour leadership only being contested every four years.

A concession made to the public was that they would be allowed to address full Council.

On Friday August 29th Brent Council sent out this tweet: (Screen grab)

Clear enough you might think and having posted about the opportunity on this blog and on Facebook I sent in a request on Monday morning to have a deputation on the issue of the appointment of a Permanent Chief Executive.

The previous adminstration had accepted a report from Fional Ledden (Chief Legal Officer) to continue with Acting Chief Executive, Christine Gilbert's acting appointment until after the May 2014 local elections. According to Ledden this was in order to ensure a smooth transfer to the Civic Centre, continuity during the election and because market conditions were not right for recruitment.

The then Liberal Democrat opposition had opposed this and called for an open and transparent recruitment process. LINK

I was surprised to receive a belated response from Fiona Ledden refusing my request as it had not been received by the  'deadline of August 29th'.

I replied (attaching the screen grab of the Tweet):

Thank you for your letter informing me that I cannot have a deputation to Full Council because my email was sent on Monday September 1st and the deadline was Friday August 29th.

I sent my email in response to a Tweet from Brent Council which quite clearly stated that the deadline was Noon on Monday September 1st. The Tweet was sent out by the Council on August 29th.

I therefore repeat my request to speak to full Council on the issue of appointing a Permanent Chief Executive.

I received the following letter  from Fiona Ledden in response:

Thank you for your email in response to my letter. 

Please accept our apologies for the confusion. The Tweet you refer to was published in error and this is something I shall follow up. 

I refer you to Standing Order 39 in Part 3 of the Council’s Constitution “Any person wishing to make a deputation shall give written notice to the Director of Legal and Procurement of the title and summary of the content of the deputation not less than 5 days before the date of the meeting”. The deadline for deputations was 29 August 2014. 

As stated in my original response to your email, you will receive a written response to your question in due course.

Brent Council has about 8,000 followers, some of whom will have retweeted the notice, so that is some error!

I am used to Fiona Ledden's method when challenged, she basically seeks to grind you down and then eventually close down any correspondence.  There are several guest blogs on Wembley Matters that testify to this method.

Undaunted I replied again this morning:

Dear Ms Ledden,

I am afraid that i am not satisfied with your response.  An invitation that went out to almost 8,000 followers of Brent Council on Twitter, and was then further distributed by some of them, cannot simply be dismissed as an 'error'.

Furthermore even the 5 day's notice in Standing Orders does not say '5 working days'.  Even if we take that to be what is meant, a deadline of Noon on Monday would give 5-1/2 days between the deadline and the evening meeting on September 8th. That is Monday afternoon, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and the following Monday.

I therefore ask you to reconsider my request to speak as a delegation to the Full Council on September 8th on the issue of appointment of a permanent Chief Executive.

 You may not be surprised to learn that I have had no reply.  

If Muhammed Butt and his Cabinet were genuine in their commitment to give the public a voice in representation and decision making, it seems that their desires are being thwarted.

In the Standing Orders approved by the Council at their first meeting Fiona Ledden granted some fairly draconian powers over selecting delegations to speak at full Council meetings. No one from any party questioned these powers although they were commented on here:

Any deputation must directly concern a matter affecting the borough and relate to a Council function. Deputations shall not relate to legal proceedings or be a matter which is or has been the subject of a complaint under the Council’s complaints processes. Nor should a deputation be frivolous, vexatious, or defamatory. The Director of Legal and Procurement shall have discretion to decide whether the deputation is for any other reason inappropriate and cannot proceed.

So if I complain the issue will get caught up in the complaints procedure and therefore cannot be raised by me or anyone else.  If I make a fuss then it could be labelled vexatious. And if I suggest that perhaps something is being hidden or avoided, or someone being protected, then that could be defamatory.

If all else fails then Ms Ledden can refuse the deputation on the the grounds that it is inappropriate for 'any other reason'.

Regular readers will remember that Ms Ledden wrote to  Wembley Matters 'requring' us to remove documentation about the Audit and Investigation team's report on allegations against Brent's Acting Head of Human Resources LINK We refused to comply on grounds of public interest.

Is there any councillor out there who will stand up and question this nonsense?

Michaela parent interviews cancelled as school remains a building site

Guest post by Violet Potter

This morning a small group of Teacher Union Officers representing the ATL, NASUWT and NUT arrived at Arena House the 'new' venue for the Michaela Free school to welcome the teachers and explain why it was so important to be in a union especially in a free school.

But it still looked like a building site. 

We checked to see if there were any entrances we had missed. But no, there was only one way in and that definitely looked like only builders should enter wearing the required hard hat. On the Michaela website it had announced that staff would be in from today and parents would be invited in over the next two weeks for interviews. 

On checking the website again today it now says the parent interviews have been cancelled. Oh dear. Does that mean those much vaunted behaviour contracts won't be signed before children are allowed in the school? Will children arrive with the wrong socks and different coloured shoe laces and be sent home before they get a chance to set foot in the door? 

Well, as you can see from the photo there may not be a door ready for them to come in. Wondering what was happening, I checked with the foreman. No-one was expected on site and no-one had requested permission to do so. He was confident that everything would be ready on time for the children in two weeks time (but actually it's only 8 days away) well at least a few rooms on the first and second floor. But ready in what sense? No playground area for sure, not that there will be much of that anyway even when it is finished.  

Parent survey of Local Authority role in education shows potential support for Green Party policies

I print below the full press release from London Councils on the YouGov poll they commissioned on parents' views of the role of local authorities in education.  Green Party policy adopted at our Spring Conference is for the restoration of LAs power to build new schools where they are needed and for the integration of academies and free schools into the LA system.  Labour Party policy, especially on academies and free schools, has not broken free from Coalition policies.

The survey shows that we have a potential audience amongst parents for these policies.

• Leadership: 41 per cent of parents would turn to their council first if they had governance and leadership concerns – only 28 per cent say Ofsted.
• Free schools: 68 per cent feel that local authorities should have powers to intervene in these schools, an increase of 6 percentage points from last year.
• School places:  81 per cent support council influence over school places, up from 76 per cent last year.

London parents would turn to their local authority first if they had concerns about their local schools, a new survey reveals.

In the first survey of London parents since the Birmingham ‘Trojan Horse’ scandal, the highest proportion, 41 per cent, of parents said their first point of contact if they were concerned about governance and leadership in their child’s school would be their local authority - 28 per cent said Ofsted, 4 per cent said central government.

The poll, carried out by YouGov on behalf of London Councils, which represents London’s 33 local authorities, also found rising support from parents for councils to have a role in underperforming free schools.  Of those polled, 68 per cent of parents considered that local authorities should have power of influence over free schools, up by 6 percentage points from last year.

Asked whether they support councils having influence over all schools in their area (including free schools and academies) to find more school places or expand, 81 per cent of parents agreed – up from 76 per cent last year.

Cllr Peter John, London Councils’ Executive member for children and young people, said: “If you’re a parent and you’re worried about leadership or staff issues at your local school, it’s only natural you’d turn to your local council where they know the local issues. But councils don’t have formal oversight over free schools and academies, which is evidently confusing for parents, as this survey reveals.

“What’s more, parents increasingly support a council role in influencing schools to expand, if there is clear local need to build more places. This isn’t surprising given the scale of the shortage in London.
“Of course head teachers should run schools day-to-day, but it’s clear from this survey that on the wider issues, parents want a council role. The government should listen to mums and dads and allow councils to act in parents’ interests.”

Pressure on school places continues to rise in London due to a recent baby boom. London needs to create 133,000 primary and secondary school places by 2018, according to recent London Councils’ analysis (1). Councils are responsible for providing a place for every child, but cannot open schools themselves or direct academies to expand in areas of need.

83 per cent said there is an important council role in ensuring education standards are high in schools, up slightly from 82 per cent who said this last year.

The poll also revealed that 51 per cent of parents thought the education system was more under central government control than they had previously assumed.

There was also a modest 3 per cent rise (from 29 per cent in 2013 to 32 per cent in 2014) in parents opposed to the idea of moving toward more academies and free schools.