Brent disturbances round-up

Also see this speech made by local black woman in Hackney yesterday calling for youth to fight for a cause (strong language) LINK

Here is a round-up of news appearing on the Willesden and Brent Times website LINK

A pawnbrokers on Harlesden High Street came under attack yesterday afternoon and most of the neighbouring shops had closed defensively by early evening. In Wembley early this morning a policeman was run down when a group attempting to rob the Comet store drove away in haste.

The England-Holland match scheduled for Wednesday at the Stadium has been cancelled. It appears likely  that Brent  police may impose Section 60 powers in the borough. This will enable them to stop and search people without having to state any grounds. There are dangers that used  insensitively such powers could make matters worse.

Ann  John, leader of Brent Council said:

If this is the young people of Brent telling us that they are angry about unemployment or poverty in the area then we are prepared to listen. But if this is just organised criminals using new technology to commit mindless act of opportunistic theft then that needs to be investigated and got to the bottom of a soon as possible.

Age UK concerned about more fuel povery deaths

From an Age UK Press Statement

When the Warm Front scheme ends in 2013, England will have no publicly-funded scheme to help households in fuel poverty, says Age UK

In 2009, 5.5 million UK households lived in fuel poverty. With every one per cent rise in energy prices adding 60,000-70,000 households to the numbers in fuel poverty, the recent announcements from major energy companies regarding price hikes make tackling fuel poverty ever more urgent. At the same time, the policy landscape is changing significantly.

From 2013, when the Warm Front scheme ends, England will have no publicly-funded scheme to help households in fuel poverty. Having been re-launched in a slimmed-down form in April, the scheme is likely to reach about 50,000 households in each of the next two years; a significant number but vastly short of the increasing numbers of households experiencing fuel poverty. The scheme no longer offers a benefit entitlement check, which in the past picked up many households who were entitled to a qualifying benefit and, as such, improved family incomes.

Of particular concern to many people in later life is the lowering of the Winter Fuel Payment back to its 'normal', first set in 2003. Pensioner households this year will receive £200, while households with one person aged over 80 are entitled to £300. The new Warm Homes discount, replacing social tariffs, will make a payment to qualifying households by way of a discount of £120 on their electricity bills. Rising energy prices are likely to wipe out much of the value of these benefits for older people, who spend disproportionately higher percentages of their incomes on fuel than the general population.

The current Energy Bill will give the government powers to introduce the Green Deal by late 2012 through more detailed secondary legislation. We believe that advice about the Green Deal for customers must be as transparent as possible, particularly with regard to handling of complaints. The government should clarify measures eligible for the Green Deal and should take into account consumer choice and preferences.
Later this year, Age UK will be launching its annual winter campaign, focusing on excess winter deaths. We will be calling on local authorities to develop strong partnerships with communities, business and the voluntary sector to coordinate efforts to prevent excess winter deaths. At the same time, we will be highlighting the contribution of fuel poverty to excess winter deaths to national government and calling for an increase in the funding available for initiatives that provide targeted support to counteract fuel poverty for households on low incomes. We will also be working directly with older people at highest risk, providing targeted information and support.

Brent lagging behind on home insulation

A council by council area breakdown of how many British homes have been insulated by the Government’s energy saving scheme is published today. Kirklees Council where the Green Party spear-headed a systematic scheme is the top performing local authority.

Lagging lofts and filling cavity walls can save households over £100 in fuel bills every year. The figures, published by the Energy Saving Trust (EST), are released on a regional, council and constituency basis. They show how much loft and cavity wall insulation was professionally installed under the Government’s Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) up until 31 March 2011. The CERT places requirements on energy companies to help consumers cut their emissions through energy efficiency.

Energy companies have been told by the Coalition Government to increase the help they make available to people to insulate their homes and save money. A total of 3.5 million homes are set to benefit by December 2012 as a result of a tougher CERT.
Key statistics include:

• Over the last year (April 2010 to March 2011), the largest number of insulation measures were installed in Birmingham (12,079); Leeds (11,244); Bradford (9,078); Fife (8,163); Wiltshire (7,872).
• The lowest number of insulation measures were installed on the Isles of Scilly (0); Westminster (39); Kensington and Chelsea (177); Hackney (272); Shetland Islands (349).
• The top five performing local authorities under the CERT scheme over the past three years, in terms of percentage of housing stock insulated, are Kirklees (24.8%); Isle of Anglesey (22.5%); Carmarthenshire (19.2%); South Ribble (19%); Wyre (18.2%).
• The five local authorities that have seen the lowest percentage of the housing stock insulated over the past three years through CERT are City of London (<0.1%); Westminster (0.3%); Kensington and Chelsea (0.8%); Hackney (1.3%); Hammersmith and Fulham (1.6%).

How does Brent compare?

Over the 3 years, starting April 1st 2008 the figures for Brent's 100,177 homes are:
Year 1 152 cavity wall insulation, 752 loft insulation
Year 2 1,985 cavity wall insulation, 2,319 loft insulation
Year 3 358 cavity wall insulation,  913 loft insulation


In total 6% of homes have been treated compared with 24.8% in Kirklees. Although this is a higher figures than many London boroughs the decline in numbers this year is concerning. With energy bills again on the rise and the need to tackle climate change it is clear from the example of the higher performing authorities that Brent could and should be doing much more. Brent Green Party has called for a street by street programme of insulation measures on the Kirklees model in its Green Charter submission to Brent Council.

Described by the BBC as "unique to the UK" Kirklees Council, covering the Huddersfield area,  has achieved much with its Warm Front scheme which has been strongly pushed by the Greens. Kirklees' approach has been: let's get the whole job done and in the last 2 years the Council has filled 9,000 homes with cavity wall insulation and 18,000 homes with loft insulation.


Warm Front reduces bills for people by an average of £150 a year per home and makes a huge dent in fuel poverty. The scheme also gets unemployed builders back into work - it has created an estimated 200 jobs locally - and cuts carbon emissions - with "No catch!"

The long term benefits mean Kirklees Council is saving people £4.5 million a year. The scheme is so impressive that Scotland's Greens has been trying to bring it in nationwide.

LINK to main reports

Brent Green Party's submission on the Green Charter can be found HERE

Government must take some blame for Tottenham - Jenny Jones

Brent youth at the February Town Hall protest

Green Mayoral candidate and member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, Jenny Jones, has reacted to last night's riots in Tottenham by calling for swift action to restore vital youth services and a review of communications failures between the police and the community.

Jenny Jones said:

"We urgently need to examine all the factors that led to last night's events in Tottenham, a community suffering from one of the highest deprivation levels in the country [1], and take appropriate action to prevent repercussions.

"We need a full investigation into the shooting of local man Mark Duggan which seems to have been the trigger for last night's riots, and an urgent review of stop and search and what communications failures there were between the police and Tottenham's community. Violence and looting, and smashing up your own streets is not the answer. It's bad for the old, the poor, and those who run the small businesses people rely on.

"The Government must take some of blame for what went wrong last night. Cuts to local services, especially youth services [2], played a role in fomenting tensions in the area. With one of the highest unemployment rates in London, Tottenham urgently needs help. Emergency funds to stop youth centre closures and a review of policing must now be a priority."

In Brent the Council proposed cuts to youth provision, particularly in the Wembley area, but were forced to back down when youth mobilised first at the Wembley Area Consultative Forum and then in even greater numbers at Brent Town Hall at a meeting with Ann John, leader of the council and her deputy.

At the time Brent Green Party said:

Brent Green Party have always pressed for enhanced youth provision as a vital community resource and strongly back the participation of youth in the democratic process through school councils, youth councils and youth parliaments.  We welcome the mobilisation of Wembley youth over this issue and support their campaign. Their speeches last night at the Town Hall meeting were clear, confident and convincing and challenged many of the current stereotypes of young people.

Full account of the meeting at the Town Hall HERE


[1] Residents in Haringey claiming Job Seekers Allowance rose for the fourth consecutive month in February to 10,159, according to the Office for National Statistics. The figures show eight per cent of the adult population of Tottenham are on the dole, a fifth of which is under-24-year-olds.
SOURCE

[2] The local youth services budget was reduced by 75% after the Government's cut of £41m to Haringey council's overall budget.
SOURCE

Users Speak Out For Six Threatened Libraries

From Your News UKTV FACEBOOK

One of the arguments used by campaigners at the High Court was that the Needs Assessment and the Equalities Assessment carried out by Brent Council were inadequate. In just a few minutes this video shows how the closures will impact on the community.

The result of the High Court action is expected to be announced this month and there is a possibility that we will hear next week.

Watch this space.

Time for a 'Consultation Charter'?

There was an interesting exchange between Cllr Helga Gladbaum and Fiona Edden the Borough Solicitor at Monday's Scrutiny Committee. Cllr Gladbaum said that the Council seemed to be involved in a large number of consultations and asked about the statutory requirements.

Edden replied that consultation can mean a huge number of different things. She said that detailed requirements were  not clear on issues other than those such as individual care and day care and that statutory requirements were few. She remarked that three month consultations did not necessarily produce anything useful. Requirements were flexible and often nebulous and the Council tried to be as practicable as possible.

I have discussed the confusion over consultations on this blog before and how residents are often disenchanted with the results LINK . Certainly controversy over the timing and extent of consultation is a regular feature of the local press (this week over parking charges in Preston Road and Bridge Road).  Fiona' Edden's response does indicate a lack of clarity and because of the lack of statutory guidelines this may not be the Council's fault. However a 'Consultation Charter' might be useful setting out what the Council will consult about and who it will consult, and how the consultation results will be evaluated and used, may help make things a little clearer.

More support for Kingsbury student strikers

Kishan Parshotam

It was good to see Kishan Parshotam, chair of Brent Youth Parliament put Tim Loughton, parliamentary under-secretary of state for children, on the spot at the UK Youth Parliament last weekend.

Kishan questioned Loughton about academies consultation and highlighted the recent strike and protest by Kingsbury High School students.

Meanwhile Brent Fightback issued a statement of support for the Kingsbury students:

Brent Fightback, the local campaign against cuts and for  democratically  accountable public services, applauds Kingsbury High School students who  took part in the recent strike. Fightback recognises that this was a  strike for democracy by school students who had been deprived of any  voice in the decision by school governors to seek academy status.

We believe that such decisions should be made only after a full and open debate where both sides are heard followed by a ballot of staff, students and parents and taking into account the views of other schools and community organisations. It must be wrong for a school governing body to make a decision based on short-term financial expediency to the detriment of a well-funded, equitable and democratically accountable  local education system.

Europe Against Austerity takes off

 With the heebie-jeebies spreading across world stock markets and talk of more failures of both banks and sovereign states it seems apt that supporters of alternatives to this failing system have got themselves organised across Europe.

A new website has been set up called 'Europe Against Austerity and Privatisation and in Defence of the Welfare State'. Not exactly a snappy title but one that describes exactly what is is about.

A European conference has been organised in London on October 1st to begin a fresh round in the battle against solutions that penalise the poor.


LINK