Brent academies propose new free school and special schools a new free special school

With the present government snot allowing local authorities to build new schools to meet growing demand for school places, Brent Council has said it will pursue options with academy and free school providers.

As all local secondary schools are academies it is unable to force them to expand on existing sites. Now local academies that are not part of a chain have claimed they have been backed by Brent Council in proposing a new secondary free school in the north of Brent.

Separately a consortium of special schools have forward a bid for a new special school to meet growing demand. This also claims to be backed by the Council.

In both cases a headteacher will be appointed from an existing school and will head up the new school in addition to their present post.

Both bids will have to be approved by the DfE.

The secondary proposal is for Brent North School in the north of Brent/Wembley area and is backed by Terry Molloy, headteacher of Claremont High School; Mike Hulme headteacher of Queens Park Community School and Gil Bal, Executive headteacher of Wembley High Technology College. Gil Bal would me headteacher of the new school in addition to her role at Wembley High.

The proposers have no site in mind at the moment and readers will know the difficulties various free schools have had in finding a site in Brent. A site in the north of Brent will add to the imbalance of schools between the north and the south of the borough.

Wembley already has Ark Elvin (previously Copland), Ark Academy, Michaela Free School,  Preston Manor and Wembley High with the new 1,000 plus private French School also in the area. Elsewhere in the north of the borough there is Claremont, Kingsbury High and St Gregory's RC - the only non-academy. The Jewish Free School, situated in Kingsbury, takes few pupils from Brent.

Despite not having a site the school intends to open in September 2018 with 180 places for Year 7 pupils. It promises to admit children of 'all faiths and none, giving priority to siblings and children at local primary schools'.

The proposers  justify the need for a new school on the basis that Claremont, Queens Park and Wembley High collectively received over 3000 applications for Year 7 in 2016, including almost 1,000 first preferences for the 670 available places.

This is their brochure:


The second proposal is for a new special school and is led by Woodfield Special School Academy, Manor School and the Village School. This may prove to be controversial as there are many who want to see special needs pupils integrated into mainstream schools rather than segregated into special provision. This is dependent on resourcing that ensure high quality provision.

The school would be sited at the junction of Christchurch Avenue and Brondesbury Park NW6 which is possibly the same site that Marylebone Boys Free School had their eye on. LINK

It would provide 100 places for children aged between 4 and 18 with complex needs including ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder). The proposers say that the school is needed because the existing special schools are full.

Ms Jardine, Head of Manor School, would be headteacher of the new school in addition to her existing post.

This is their brochure:

Good News and Bad News on Under 5s Public Health in Brent

Tomorrow's Cabinet meeting will be discussing the 2015 Public Health Report on Under 5s and their mothers. Brent has been responsible for the public health of under 5s since October 2015 and the report gives a mixed picture.  Tooth decay and obesity are high but fewer mothers smoke in pregnancy.  The number of Unders 5s in the borough that has been rising in recent years and produced a crisis in school places, is flattening out and perhaps declining.

However the general fertility rate remains higher than the Inner London, Outer London and England average. In ethnic terms the number of white births is the highest but it is not broken down into different groups as other births are. Teenage conceptions are lower than the London and England rates and in long-term decline. Worryingly, Brent infant mortality is on the increase against the London and England trend.

Obesity rates in Reception classes are rising and well above the England rate. Tooth decay in under 5s is the second highest in London and the most common reason for non-emergency hospital admission for 5-9 year olds.

A note of caution, although the charts give a summary it is also important to read the commentary. The full report is HERE.

Pertussis better known as Whooping Cough

A further item on the Cabinet agenda is the commissioning of Health Visitor and Family Nurse Partnership and a promise to review current arrangemtns and consider future models. Clearly the School Nurse service should also be included in any review.

Cllr Moher at a loss over Oakington Manor/Furness academisation

At last night's Council Meeting Cllr Kelcher,  speaking on behalf of  Furness Primary School parents, asked Cllr Moher, Lead Member for Children and Families, what the Council had offered parents as they battled the headteacher's plans to turn Furness into an academy. Furness is in a federation with Oakington Manor Primary School with one headteacher and one governing body.

Kelcher said he had been approached by Furness parents  who could see no compelling reason for it to become an academy and could not see why the great progress the school has made should be put at risk.

They wanted to know if the Council would stand by them in their fight.

Ruth Moher said that it was difficult to know what the Council could do other than what they had done already. They had indicated to the governors that they would prefer the schools to remain community schools within the family of Brent schools.

Moher said she was happy to talk to parents to give them information about what was happening and how it had come about. However, the difficulty was that there had been consultation meetings which had not been particularly well attended and no alternative views were given.

Cllr Moher said that she understood the academy application from the governors had gone to the  government. Once that was done the school would become an academy unless the governors could be persuaded to withdraw the application.

She finished:

I don't actually know if there is anything that could be done unless there is a real groundswell of opinion from parents to make the governors think and change their mind but I've had no sense of that happening.

She offered to talk to Cllr Kelcher about the issue.

I would suggest that if the consultation meetings were small and alternative views were not given that the ward councillors, or the Council itself,  should hold a well publicised community meeting for parents and prospective parents to give information and debate the case for and against academisation. This would be followed by an independently administered ballot of parents.

Scrutiny Chair objected to fly-tipping edit in strongest terms

Cllr Matt Kelcher in his first report a Chair of Brent Scrutiny Committee at Full Council tonight  referred to the editing of the fly-tipping report LINK which had been raised in the blogosphere and subsequently mentioned to him by colleagues.

He said that he had objected in the strongest terms to the editing of the report in the CEO's paper for Cabinet, whilst also recognising that the full version of the report was also on the agenda.

He said that he hoped such a thing would not happen again without consultation.

The editing of the report had removed a statement critical of the previous Labour administration, a fact that did not escape Cllr John Warren's notice.  He launched a barbed side-swipe about 2013 at Cllr Muhammed Butt later in the meeting.

The webcast of the meeting is HERE

Marylebone Boys' Free School to continue wandering around North West London

The itinerant Marylebone Boys' Free School is moving again and further away from Marylebone. It is currently sharing a site in the former College of North West London building in Kilburn with Kilburn Grange Primary Free School and will now move to a second site in Brondesbury Park. It will eventually (possibly?) go on to its final site in 2018. Not that the planning application has been submitted and has not yet been approved.

We are delighted to announce that a planning application has been submitted for our second site which will be a brand new, purpose-built modular school building in Brondesbury Park. It’s on the site of the former Swiss Cottage Special School located on Brondesbury Park between The Avenue and Christchurch Avenue.



Although the location is not as close to our final site as we might have wished, we are delighted that it is on a plot which allows for modular construction (which is quick) and that there is good outside space on site and nearby.



There are good transport links via buses 98 (bus stop Christchurch) and 206 (bus stops N and S, Brondesbury Park/The Avenue), Queens Park station on the Bakerloo Line, and Brondesbury Park station on the London Overground.



This site has been planned so that if there are delays to our permanent site – which now looks certain not to be ready in time for September 2017 but will be completed during the school year 2017-18 – four year groups can be accommodated at Brondesbury Park.

Good turnout for show of solidarity with Heathrow 13 in Willesden today

There was a great spirit of comradeship, vitality and determination at the Plane Stupid solidarity demonstration this morning at Willesden Magistrates Court where the Heathrow 13 are currently appearing.

Independent local environmental campaigners

Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, deputy leader Shahrar Ali and other Green Party activists

After Paris Climate Rising meets to discuss individual, community and workplace action on Climate Change

From Friends of the Earth, PCS and This Changes Everything UK
 

Please join us on  January  30^th at Friends House, London for Climate Rising,  a day of workshops, inspirational speakers and updates from the Paris talks.

Find out how to take action individually, together in our communities and workplaces; and link up with others across the globe who are on the frontline facing the threat of climate change.

In the morning we’ll hear stories from the Paris talks, including insights from:

Jagoda Munic, Chairperson, Friends of the Earth International 

Daniel Macmillen Voskoboynik, Coordinator, This Changes Everything UK 

Shehroze Khan, Campaigns Manager, MADE

Chris Baugh, Assistant General Secretary, PCS 

Sheila Menon, Activist, Reclaim the Power

Caroline Lucas MP will then chair a panel discussion on the next steps for the climate movement. She’ll be joined by the likes of:

Alice Bows-Larkin, Professor of Climate Science & Energy Policy, Tyndall Centre 

Mark Serwotka, General Secretary, PCS 

Yeb Sano, Climate Change Activist

With more speakers to be announced.

Naomi Klein, renowned journalist and author of This Changes Everything, will join us by video link from Canada in the afternoon.

And a host of exciting worshops including:

Deregulating the planet: trade, big business and the climate

Art, Fossil Fuels & Colonialism

Working for a low carbon economy: One million climate jobs S

topping fracking – frontline battles

Climate, migration and refugees

And many many more...

Rounding off the day we will hear from:

Alana Dave, Education Officer, International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) 

Asad Rehman, International Climate Coordinator,

Friends of the Earth  Francesca Martinez, Activist and Comedian

Everyone is welcome. Whether you’re new to the climate movement or a seasoned campaigner you’ll leave feeling inspired, motivated and connected with the climate community.

Timings:

Registration: 09:15 - 10:00 Ends 18.00

Friends House - 173-177 Euston Road London NW1 2AX GB - View Map

Tickets on Eventbrite £7.27 and £4.13 (concessions) LINK

Powney is not alone as questions raised over Flytipping Report

'Am I alone in finding this change of wording interesting?' asks James Powney LINK , drawing attention to a discrepancy between a report  on the Scrutiny Task group on Flytipping from the Chief Executive going to Brent Cabinet on January 20th and the actual body of the Task Group's Report (which is also included in the Cabinet papers).

Spot the difference:

Chief Executive's Report LINK

The Task Group Report LINK

So 'Why the mysterious change in Scrutiny wording?' as James Powney asks. Could it be that someone (who?) has decided the critical second sentence in 22 should be deleted? Why and on what authority?

I quoted the whole section so that readers could see that the other points are identical so this is no simple editing of the entire report.

It could be argued that it makes no difference because the original report is also included in the Agenda but then the Cabinet is actually voting on, and adopting, the version in the Chief Executive's Report.

James Powney was  Lead Member for the Environment at the beginning of 2013 and was succeeded by Cllr Roxanne Mashari at the AGM. In 2014 Cllr Keith Perrin was elected to the position but resigned in September 2014. Cllr George Crane was appointed in his place after an interval in which there was no one in the post.  LINK  Cllr Eleanor Southwood is the current Lead Member.

It is not quite Stalin removing Trotsky from the photographic record but intriguing all the same. Is there someone at Brent Council who cannot tolerate criticism or is it just a harmless tidying up exercise?

Will Brent Labour Group bite back over last year's Council Tax decision?

I confess I am guilty of neglecting fellow blogger and ex-councillor James Powney's writings and I missed a posting last week  LINK on the likely Council Tax rise.

In his piece James Powney draws attention to the situation last year when the Executive over-ruled the vote of the Labour Group for an increase just below the referendum trigger.  He hints that this may affect Cllr Butt's leadership position at the AGM in May :

I hear that Brent Council is likely to go for a Council Tax rise this year.  This has seemed to me to be the only sensible course for some time.  The rise will still only make a modest contribution to protecting Council services but it is better than nothing.

It also helps to protect the longer term finances of the Council.  Each year the Council Tax has been frozen, the base revenue of the Council has been reduced not just in this year but for future years.  With the government talking about abolishing central government grant altogether, a continued freeze would simply run the Council into the ground.

One might ask why Cllr Butt has been so bitterly opposed to a rise for so long.  Even to the extent of ignoring the vote of the Labour Group altogether, which was such an undemocratic measure that I am sure no previous Labour Group would have stood it.  I wonder whether it will come back to bite him in May.

Certainly, his reasons can not have been to protect vulnerable residents, since he was fully behind the Council Tax Support Scheme which inevitably hits those least able to pay.  Indeed the rise for those residents in the first year was so large it would have been impossible to raise the Council Tax by that much across the tax base as a whole. 

See the powerful 'India's Daughter' at Preston Library on Sunday and discuss it with producer

India's Daughter from Leslee Udwin on Vimeo.

India's daughter will be shown at the Preston Community Hub (the old Preston Library) on Sunday evening. Doors open 7pm and the film starts at 7.30pm. Riddhi Jha associate producer  of this powerful and influential film will be present to talk about the film and answer questions.

INDIA’s DAUGHTER is the story of the short life, brutal gang rape and murder in Delhi in December 2012 of an exceptional and inspiring young woman. The rape of the 23 year old medical student by 6 men on a moving bus, and her death, sparked unprecedented protests and riot throughout India and led to the first glimmers of a change of mindset.

Interwoven into the story line are the lives, values and mindsets of the rapists whom the film makers have had exclusive and unprecedented access to interview before they hang. 

The film examines the culture of rape and violence against women that exists in India and throughout the world and makes an optimistic and impassioned plea for change.

Public support for Junior Doctors outside Northwick Park Hospital

Junior doctors strike in the UK from Husain Akhtar on Vimeo.

Quintain gobbles up another chunk of Wembley as Fountain Studios sold off

Fountain Studios, Wembley Park Road

Local landmark Fountain Studios has been sold to Quintain for £16m. The studios have been used for Britain's Got Talent and the X Factor and excited queues of fans, some on step ladders to see over the fence, are a familiar sight in Wembley.

In the year to the end of September,  Fountain made a loss of £300k on sales of £5.3m, around 4% of the parent company, Avesco's, turnover.

It is likely that the Studios will eventually close with the loss of local jobs, although it is reported that a leaseback agreement has been agreed for a unspecified period. Presumably that will enable the Studios to fulfill any contracts already signed.  Local businesses, including restaurants and pubs, will also lose out with the loss of custom from the production audiences.

Quintain is likely to build housing on the site with some retail on the lines of the ALTO development further down the road.  Given the location and Quintain's aims to maximise profits these are highly unlkely to be social housing.

Quintain itself was taken over the Texan Lone Star Real Estate last year for £745m.

The Green Party will support Plane Stupid activists at Willesden Magistrates' Court on Monday

 Image from Zed Books LINK

The 13 members of activist group Plane Stupid accused of "aggravated trespass" during a protest at Heathrow Airport in July last year have the full support of the Green Party of England and Wales.

The trial of the activists, who occupied the northern runway of Heathrow, begins at Willesden Magistrates’ Court on Monday January 18th. Natalie Bennett, Leader of the Green Party, Dr Shahrar Ali, Deputy Leader of the Green Party, and Sian Berry, Green Party candidate for Mayor of London, will all attend a demonstration outside the court to underline the Party’s solidarity with the non-violent climate activists.

Speaking ahead of the trial, Natalie Bennett said:

Our party applauds the determination of the Heathrow 13. We stand up for the activists just as they are standing up for our planet.

Bigger airports make no climate sense. The UK cannot make its contribution to cutting carbon emissions whilst expanding its airports and increasing emissions from aviation.

If this government is in any way serious about delivering climate-sensitive policies then airport expansion plans must be immediately shelved and other measures - including encouraging short-haul flight passengers on to existing rail services and introducing a frequent flyer tax - must be explored.

Shahrar Ali, a long-time supporter of the activists and a Green Party candidiate on the GLA List said:

We stand in solidarity with the activists who, like the Green Party, recognise that urgent action is needed to protect us all from the threat of climate change. Endless growth of our aviation capacity is incompatible with the UK meeting its climate change commitments. 

If airport expansion gets the go-ahead at Heathrow, local residents will suffer enormously from increasing noise and air pollution, the ‘silent killer’ of thousands of Londoners each year.”
London has already breached annual pollution limits for 2016 LINK. A report commissioned by Mayor Boris Johnson last year found that nearly 9,500 people die prematurely each year because of the capital’s dirty air LINK.


The demonstration starts at 9am.

UPDATE: Muhammed Butt confirms 4% rise in Brent Council Tax

At a very poorly attended Budget Consultation meeting at Brent Civic Centre this evening Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt confirmed that he would be seeking an annual 4% Council Tax rise over the next 3 years  This would have raised an additional £20m by the end of the period.

In the first year this would be an increase of £42 a year (81pence a week) for Band D householders.

Questioned on the Council Tax Benefit scheme and whether it would be reviewed to protect vulnerable people from the impact of the increase he said that a review would take place but it would not be completed in time for this year's increase.

Cllr Pavey asked about using the reserves to preserve services said that he was undertaking a considered review looking at what could be done with the reserves via an investment strategy that would deliver useful financial benefit.

Questioned about maximising revenue from the Civic Centre and Willesden Green Library Cllr Michael Pavey conceded that the council historically had not been very good at raising revenue. The new 'Civic Enterprise' approach marked a genuine change that along with procurement savings could, if successful, contribute 25% towards closing the gap in the council budget.

Brent CEO Carolyn Downs responding to a question about the restricted opening hours of the Willesden Green Library and the danger that it would fail as a cultural centre,  admitted that Brent Council at present did not have the expertise to market it. The council were seeking to recruit someone with an arts and cultural background and  social enterprise experience to be a commercial director to raise revenue. She said that she was familiar with the argument that the restricted opening hours limited use of the Library/Cultural Centre.

Conrad Hall commenting on raising revenue through the Civic Centre said that the council was looking at the possibility of renting out a third floor of the Centre on a commercial basis.

He said that the projected savings were not yet enough to balance the budget by 2018-19 but successful revenue could help reach that target.

Cllr Butt said that the council workforce had been reduced from 2,900 to under 2,300 and that the propsoed cuts had redundancy implications. Answering a question about the number of highly paid managers in the council Carolyn Downs said that there had been a substantial reduction in managers. Those that remained had been allocated extra roles and responsibilities. The council was now operating efficiently with a smaller worker force and slimmer management.

Asked to report on his meeting with a junior minister at the Department of Communities and Local Government, Muhammed Butt outlined the areas that they had covered in the 30 minute meeting. These included the disproportionate extent of the cuts imposed on  Brent, the steps the borough was taking to deliver additional housing, the loss of the Revenue Support Grant by 2020, the loss of two year's worth of the New Homes Bonus, and the fact that funding for new schools was just for buildings and not for furniture, equipment and IT.

The minister said that the government did not intend to change anything: 'That's how much they care about the people of Brent."

Commenting on the meeting Cllr Pavey said. 'It was the biggest waste of half an hour I have ever spent!"

They had spoken to a subservient junior minister who was subservient to a senior minister who was subservient to the Treasury.

Asked about 'Red Lines'  LINK Cllr Pavey said it was an unashamed Labour Party attempt to unify Labour Councils in order to put pressure on the government to change its economic policy. Brent had been a founding member.

Their initial focus had been about the impact of the cuts on young people who had been first hit when they were at primary school and were now being hit as youth.  In February the campaign would centre around Adult Social Care and the injustice people were suffering under the capitalist system.

He finished by saying that other parties were welcome to join amidst jokes about the 'Green Line'.

A member of the audience, supported by friends, made several contributions detailing the impact of cuts and declining services on him as a deaf and almost blind person. He also called for more training of council staff in British Sign Language and catering for residents with those needs.  As the signer relayed his concerns the silent Conference Hall found itself facing the profound reality of the cuts. Both officers and councillors offered to communicate with him about the issues he had raised.

There were only 3 members of the public present at the beginning of the meeting, compared with 6 Brent officers in the audience. By the end of the meeting, which finished an hour early, there were 6 members of the public, 6 officers in the audience and Conrad Hall, Michael Pavey, Carolyn Dows and Muhammed Butt on the platform.

UPDATE

In a report going to the General Purposes Committee Conrad Hall updates the 'Council Tax Base' - the basis on which the Tax itself will be calculated:

The proposed council tax base for 2016/17 of 89,254 represents an increase of 6,455 over the figure for 2015/16. This will form part of the overall calculation of the Council’s budget. The increase is due to a combination of factors: a significant reduction in the total claimed for Council Tax Support (which pushes up the taxbase figure) new properties coming in to rating (including the allowance for 2,000 additional properties in the next year), and the increase in the collection level assumption of 1.0%. It is unlikely that there will be a similarly large increase in subsequent years. The increase in the assumed collection percentage will be a one-off, and it is unlikely that CTS will fall much further.

DON'T FORGET YOU CAN VOTE ON THE PROPOSED RISE (SEE SIDE PANEL) OR COMMENT BELOW.

VOTE ON WHETHER BRENT COUNCIL SHOULD INCREASE COUNCIL TAX

Please see the side panel to take part in this poll.

You can add a reason for your vote as a comment below this posting.

'Straight Outta Syria' young rappers tell it how it is

From 'A World At School'
 

Samir, Abdulrahman and Mohamed are brothers who share a passion for music.  We can help share their story, their talent, and their potential.

But without education, the potential of hundreds of thousands of talented young Syrian children, refugees of the conflict, risks being lost.

Their potential needs your support: back our petition LINK  to secure the funding necessary to get 1 million Syrian refugee children into school - and back their futures.

Sign today and we’ll take your message to world leaders at the the Syrian Donors Conference in London in February.

Every child has potential - and every child deserves the chance to realise it. 

To world leaders: 

Please do what’s needed to ensure that Syrian refugee children can go to school, fulfil their potential, and build a peaceful future for themselves and their country. Give Syrian children hope. 

How can we get the most out of the Library At Willesden Green?

I would start by changing the present restricted hours opening hours so that the 'Cultural Centre' (as it was marketed initially)  is open beyond 8pm on weekdays and 5pm at weekends. - without the present surcharge to pay for extra security. This would enable more people to attend after the working day, attract more events and greater community use. It could also raise more revenue to pay for the longer hours.

There is a real danger that restricted opening hours and poor marketing could undermine the potential of the centre. This is of course what happened to its predecessor.

Wembley Lycee swimming pool planning application turned down again

Brent Planning Committee refused planning permission for a swimming pool at the Wembley French School last night.  It had returned to the agenda with a report from officers that continued to recommend the granting of planning permission but gave the committee grounds on which they could refuse the application. LINK

The officer's report also contained warnings about the possibility of an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

The Lycee is housed in the former Brent Town Hall building.

The planning application for a mixed redevelopment of the Red House site near Wembley Stadium station also returned to the agenda after the refusal of the planning application. This item was deferred.

What is to be done about Brent Council's Tory imposed cuts?

There was a wide ranging and amicable discussion at tonight's Brent Fighback meeting on local government cuts.

The meeting agreed that there should be continued principled opposition to the council implementing government cuts. 

There were different views points on the possible 4% Council Tax rise (2% to protect adult social care and 2% to protect some (but not all) vital services).

One view was that the proposed rise still accommodated cuts through making the poor pay more. Another was that support among some in the Labour Group for a rise was a significant shift from last year when Cllr Duffy’s call for a 2% rise was strongly opposed - that shift should be supported. This was qualified by a demand (also in the Scrutiny Budget Panel report) that any rise should be accompanied by changes in Council Tax Benefit to protect the most vulnerable from the increase. 

Information is needed on how much would be raised by the increase (The Scrutiny Budget Panel said £12m by 2018/19) and what that could achieve in terms of protecting services. Also what changes in Council Tax Benefit would be needed to offset the imapct of the Council Tax rise for the most vulnerable?

There was also discussion on the possibility of using some of the council’s reserves to avoid cuts. This was something that Cllr Michael Pavey promised to review at the Scrutiny Committee. In the past the Audit Commission ruled that Brent did not have sufficient reserves and more has been added over the last 2-3 years.

Although the visit of Muhammed Butt and Michael Pavey to government ministers to argue that the cuts to Brent’s budget were unfair was welcome, there needed to be much more mobilisation of the public and joint work with other councils to mount a national campaign against the cuts.

 Cllr Butt reports back on his meeting with ministers

Brent Fightback would be keen to help campaigns of organisations or services which will be hit by the next round of cuts. Although ultimately unsuccessful the Stonebridge Adventure Playground campaign had a big impact in terms of public knowledge of how the community was affected by cuts.

There is a Budget Consultation Meeting at Brent Civic Cente tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7pm where these issues can be raised.

Open Letter: Greens support the Junior Doctors' Strike

WE support the junior doctors’ action because they deserve to be treated decently and because a rested and fairly paid NHS workforce is essential to sustain high clinical standards and patient safety.

The threat of strike first came about because the Government refused to drop their imposition of these contracts. Now ministers are failing to address doctors’ serious concerns surrounding safe working conditions, and aren’t offering proper recognition for those working unsocial hours.

We know that doctors take the Hippocratic Oath extremely seriously. They have, reluctantly, been forced to strike because they are not being heard. They have been telling the Health Secretary that this contract change is not just unfair on them but potentially unsafe for patients too. That’s why many consultants are backing the junior doctors too.

If this unfair contract is imposed, we risk more NHS trained doctors leaving for places like Australia where they feel more valued.

Today’s junior doctors are tomorrow’s leaders of the NHS, yet this Government’s intransigence – and their campaign of misinformation- has left junior doctors at the end of their tether. Sadly doctors aren’t unique in suffering because of this Government actions – our health service as a whole is under attack. Student nurses have had their grants snatched away – and the costly marketisation of our health service is continuing at speed.

The Government must rethink the way they’re treating our NHS. As a start they should negotiate with the doctors in good faith, and put forward the offer of a contract that is fair and works for staff and patients alike. Until then we’ll continue to stand in solidarity with the junior doctors as they fight for what’s right. 

Natalie Bennett, Green Party Leader
Caroline Lucas MP
Baroness Jenny Jones AM
Sian Berry, Green Party Candidate for Mayor of London

Daniel's Den 20th Anniversary invite to 'Share our Story'

Leading Greens, rallying to the Junior Doctors' cause, joined picket lines this morning

Leading Green Party politicians joined Junior Doctors on the picket line at St Thomas’ Hospital in London this morning.

Caroline Lucas MP, Natalie Bennett, Baroness Jenny Jones and Sian Berry, the Party’s Candidate for Mayor of London, joined doctors who are taking industrial action over proposed changes to their contracts.

Caroline Lucas and Natalie Bennett

Ahead of joining the picket Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, said:

We fully support the action being taken by junior doctors today.  These dedicated professionals must be treated with the respect they deserve– and the people who use the NHS have a right to being looked after by a rested and fairly paid workforce.

I know that Junior Doctors have not taken the decision to go on strike lightly but they simply don’t feel like they have any other option than to take this action.”

This strike is happening because the Government is failing to address very serious concerns around safe working conditions, while failing to offer proper recognition for those working unsocial hours. Ministers have treated Junior Doctors with contempt and subjected them to a campaign of misinformation – it’s no wonder they’re at the end of their tether.

This contract change is part of a wider Government assault on our health service. Student nurses have had their grants snatched away – and costly NHS marketisation is continuing. Now healthcare professionals are standing up to the bully boys around the Cabinet table.

Junior Doctors should be offered a contract that’s fair to them and guarantees patients the treatment they deserve. Until they get that recognition the Green Party will stand side by side with Junior Doctors in their campaign.

Sian Berry, the Green Party’s candidate for Mayor of London, said:Natalie Bennett, Jenny Jones,

We all know that junior doctors do not take strike action lightly, so if they feel they have no option because the government isn’t listening to them, we all ought to believe them. We don’t let lorry or bus drivers carry on working when they’re too tired to perform their jobs safely, so it seems senseless that the Department of Health is ignoring doctors’ own concerns in the same regard.

This is a short-sighted move in every respect: doctor fatigue has been found to cause a 15 percent increase in the likelihood of medical errors, and the overstretched National Health Service will end up under even more pressure if we force junior doctors to jeopardise patient safety by working longer hours.

Dputy Leafer Shahrar Ali in the frame

 Green Party leader, Natalie Bennett said:

We know that doctors don't want to strike, but they have been driven to this position by the actions of Jeremy Hunt, who from his own testimony has clearly failed to listen to their concerns, and certainly failed to act on them."

With junior doctors set to go on strike and nurses having already marched on the streets on Saturday against the replacement of training bursaries with loans, the way in which the government has mismanaged, indeed deliberately torn apart, the NHS, is becoming apparent to all.

Campaigners have been highlighting for years the way in which privatisation has been fragmenting and damaging our health service, but it is now becoming evident to all that the government's desire is to hand our public service over to the profit-driven health multinationals, one part of which is cutting the pay and conditions of staff.

Baroness Jenny Jones said:

I am extremely pleased to be able to support junior doctors.

Though no-one – including the doctors themselves – ever wants to see people forced to strike, it is time the government recognised the vital job junior doctors and other health service professionals do for us all. They are part of the front-line working to keep us healthy and helping us face and overcome illness and injury.

The people of the UK recognise the vital work that they do, and that it is a risk to us all – doctors and those they treat – to remove safeguards against them working dangerously long shifts. No-one wants to be treated by exhausted doctors and no-one should have to be.

That’s why I am standing with our junior doctors. Because they – and their patients – deserve to be protected from bad policy which will increase risk to all.

Sian Berry: Cameron's estate policy is all about social cleansing

Responding to news that the government wants to bulldoze so-called sink estates in London, including Broadwater Farm in Tottenham, Green mayoral candidate Sian Berry today condemned this policy of “social cleansing” and pledged to oppose estate demolitions in the capital.

Sian Berry said:

In the great majority of cases, demolition is not the right thing to do. Unless an estate is beyond repair, it’s much better to work with the community to improve housing stock than to demolish it completely.

The Greens’ housing policy for London is based on a presumption against estate demolition, especially where the local community is opposed to it. As Mayor, Sian Berry would use her powers to call in planning applications where councils want to demolish communities:

My guiding principle would be to explore all the options and let the tenants decide. I would put resources and staff into a new Community Homes Unit at City to support community-led housing schemes, especially in estate regeneration. It would help residents all over London develop their own masterplans for the kind of refurbishment and redevelopment they want for the areas they call their homes.

That’s very different to the social cleansing the Prime Minister clearly favours, which is a short-sighted as well as an ugly way to run a city. Whenever estates are demolished, they are replaced with a much smaller number of homes affordable to people on average salaries. That either forces people further away from where they work, putting more strain on the transport system, or out of the city altogether. We will eventually find that central London is a depopulated island of ‘investments’ that can’t actually function at all.

Dee Searle, former Green candidate for Tottenham and currently running for a seat at City Hall, added:

It's depressing that David Cameron persists in repeating tired, inaccurate stereotypes about Broadwater Farm.

The area has a vibrant, diverse community that successfully challenged Haringey Council's plans to demolish part of the estate earlier this year and runs many valuable local projects. Like many council estates it would benefit from investment. But this should be in consultation with residents.

Lots of activities available at the Yellow Pavilion, Wembley Park

The Yellow Pavilion is providing a useful function in its temporary site. I am assured it will be relocated to another temporary location when building work starts on the theatre and the activities will eventually be housed in a permament community centre on the Alto site.

MORE HERE

Stop the closure of Brent's London Overground Ticket Offices

Ticket offices marked for closure

London Overground is proposing the closure of ticket offices on the Brent section of the line. This follows the closure of London Underground ticket offices last year.

These station serve both the Bakerloo line and London Overground. Harrow and Wealdstone and Wembley Central also serve Southern (East Croydon to Milton Keynes) and some London Midland services (Euston to Milton Keynes). In addition tickets can currently be booked for through onward journeys further North and South including Birmingham and Brighton.

Apart from the issues around safety which Dawn Butler has taken up LINK, remembering the murder at Kensal Green station some years ago, these closure would seriously affect passengers'convenience.
Journeys accessing the rail network are much more complicated to book, involving peak and off-peak fares, changes, choices of routes, and use of various rail cards, reduced rates for children etc.

A booking office clerk confirmed to me today that current ticket machines would not be able to offer all these options. With only a limited number of fares on offer passengers may well lose out being unable to book the cheapest fare for maybe a grandparent and child travelling together. All the permutations are likely to mean frustrating queues at the machines.

This is the announcement on London Travel Watch

London Underground are consulting on proposals to close the ticket offices and carry out improvement works which will include installing new, improved ticket machines at the following London Underground stations, which are covered by the National Rail, Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (Schedule 17):

• Gunnersbury
• Harlesden
• Harrow & Wealdstone
• Kensal Green
• Kenton
• Kew Gardens
• North Wembley
• Queen’s Park
• South Kenton
• Stonebridge Park
• Wembley Central

To comment on these proposals and how you might be affected as a passenger, please write to London TravelWatch, 169 Union Street, London, SE1 0LL or email
enquiries@londontravelwatch.org.uk, with ‘London Underground ticket office changes’ in the subject line. The consultation will close on Wednesday 27 January 2016.

London TravelWatch will review all comments received, and will make a recommendation to the Department for Transport based on these and other information received.
Further information on consulations and closures can be found in the consultations section of the website.
You can also read the letter we received from TfL about the proposed closure of Regulated Stations ticket offices.

Learning from the recent past on how to live sustainably in the 21st century

Rob Hopkins, co-founder of the Transition Network, will be attending a special open meeting of “Transition Kensal to Kilburn” on Wednesday January 20th at 7.30pm at Willesden Green Library, as part of an exhibition on sustainable living.

The exhibition “Old Stories for New Times” has hosted a series of events at the Library in Willesden Green. This special open meeting on the 20th January will focus on what we can learn from the recent past to live more sustainably in the future. Transition Kensal to Kilburn will draw on the exciting research for their exhibition, which gathered stories from people who've lived in the area from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Carol Low, Kilburn resident, who organised the exhibition, says, “We now want to hear from community members and from Brent Council about actions that residents would like to be part of to build a sustainable future locally.”

The evening will start with drinks and nibbles from 6.30pm on the 2nd floor in the Education Room, when people will be able to view the exhibition in the Gallery and visit stalls run by Transition Kensal to Kilburn and Transition Willesden. On the night there will also be an opportunity to buy "21 Stories of Transition", the latest book by Rob Hopkins, and have a copy signed by the author himself. The meeting itself will start at 7.30pm until 9.30pm and will be held downstairs in the Performance Space. The aim is to identify new projects on sustainability and deepening community connection.

The exhibition, “Old Stories for New Times”, which ends on 24th January, is dedicated to day-to-day life and community life in Kilburn, Kensal Green, Brondesbury and Mapesbury before cheap oil and consumerism took the world by storm. More details of the exhibition  which was put on in partnership with Brent Museum and Archives are HERE .