Three Greens Compete for London Mayor Nomination

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dame Betty on a Mission

The 21st Anniversary in 2008

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

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

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

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

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

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

Preston Manor Expansion Call-In Fails

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fury at Council Lock-Out on Cuts Decision Meeting

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

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

Arrests over allegations of financial mismanagement at Copland High School

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

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

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

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

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

Pickles condemns 'tragic' Brent Council

Exchange in the House of Commons yesterday:

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

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

Democracy in action? Cuts protesters barred from debate.

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

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

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

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

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