Caroline Lucas Speaks At St Paul's Anti-Capitalist Camp

Food, Floods and Climate Change - Public Meeting

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Willesden Green Library Report Missing From Executive Agenda

It appears that officers are going right up to the line over the proposals for the redevelopment (and thus a two year closure) of Willesden Green Library. The Executive Agenda lists the item and states:

This report summarises the procurement process undertaken by the Council to procure a developer partner to redevelop the Willesden Green Library Centre site and requests delegation to the Director of Regeneration and Major Projects in consultation with the Director of Legal and Procurement to award and enter into a Development Agreement with the preferred developer partner.

No report is attached despite the meeting only being a week away.  Other councillors and the public will have little time to peruse the document and prepare any submissions they might wish to make to the Executive. At the same time delegation to officers means little further involvement by our elected representatives.

Dogs not consulted on new Control Orders

Details of the proposals on Dog Control Orders have now been published. They will be going to the Council Executive for approval on November 14th.  There has been some opposition from professional dog walkers to the restriction on the number of dogs walked to six per person, with some walkers and the people who employ them arguing there should be no restriction at all. However other respondents suggested a limit of four dogs per person.

The document notes that this is not the same as a limit on the number of dogs walked together. This means that several individuals walking together could have a combined total of more than six dogs. There is a possibility that professional dogs walkers could avoid the restriction if they got a friend or two to accompany them. Clearly this will need to be monitored but overall the restriction seems to be sensible and a way of maximising the enjoyment and safety of open spaces such as Fryent Country Park and the Welsh Harp.

The control order instructing that dogs be kept on a lead in some areas mainly applies to children's playgrounds, sports areas and special areas such as the Roe Green Walled Garden. The report makes it clear that dogs do not have to be kept on a lead in the whole of Gladstone Park s some had claimed.

There is a lovely straight-faced sentence in the consultation report:

It is not possible to consult directly with dogs that may be affected.

The Impact Needs Assessment, including details of the consultation response can be found HERE and a list of the parks and playgrounds where dogs will be required to be kept on a lead in part of the space or the whole area can be found HERE

Save Treetops and Harmony Nurseries

SIGN THE PETITION HERE (More than 160 signatories so far)

FA offer cheap tickets for England v Sweden to Brent residents

The Football Association are pleased to announce an offer to Brent residents to purchase special price tickets to see England take on their UEFA EURO 2012 rivals Sweden at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday 15 November at 8pm.

Brent residents can purchase tickets at a special price of £20 for adults and £10 for children.

How to claim this offer

To claim this offer, Brent residents should bring a Council Tax or utility bill such as gas, electric or telephone, which shows their address in Brent to the Wembley Stadium ticket office between Wednesday 9 November and Sunday 13 November.

The ticket office will be open each day between 10am and to 7pm and this offer is available to personal callers to the stadium ticket office only.

The Long March to Kingsbury Library Plus

Library campaigners from a few months old to people in their 80s took part in a long march from South Kenton to Kingsbury Road today to demonstrate how far they had to go to a library now that Preston Library has been closed. Liberal  Democrat and Conservatives councillors were on the march along with Green Party candidates and dissident members of Brent Labour Parry but the majority of people were simply residents furious at losing their valued local library and incensed at how they have been treated by Brent Council.

The march took about an hour, excluding a short refreshment stop.  As one of the slower ones said, "By the time we get there our books will be overdue!"

International solidarity at South Kenton

Pause at the boarded up Preston Library 'Wall of Shame'

A message for councillors on the 'Wall of Shame'

Children are one of the groups most affected by the closures

We stopped for refreshments....

...and caught up on the latest campaign news

Even the famous suburban privet came out in sympathy!

Kingsbury Library at the end of the long march

When we got to the Kingsbury Library some campaigners popped in to look at the facilities. Many were surprised by how small it was and it certainly looked crowded with just the addition of a few of us. One campaigner fondly remembered the 'long table' at Preston Road library which fostered conversations and community solidarity.

A mother with two young sons said it just didn't feel like her 'local library'. At Preston she had known all the staff and felt comfortable to let her children explore the library without close supervision. She had known most of the users by sight.  Localism and feelings of safety and ease would be missing if she had to use this library.

The Transport for London Journey Planner gives two routes from South Kenton to Kingsbury Library Plus. The first is a train to Kenton and then a 183 bus and the other a 223 bus to Wembley Park and then the Jubilee line to Kingsbury. Not exactly user friendly.

Should we de-designate industrial area around Wembley Stadium?

The industrial area around Wembley Stadium

 The consultation on the future of the industrial area around Wembley Stadium ends on Monday. The document is HERE and the consultation website is HERE . The consultation includes the possibility of restricting the number of waste management facilities in the area.

Key points from document re waste management (NB there are also sections on transport etc) SIL=Strategic Industrial Location):

Whilst it is acknowledged that there will be a continuing need to retain the vast majority of SIL in the borough, it should also be recognised that the de-designation of some employment land could be beneficial in promoting jobs growth locally if land is redeveloped for mixed use development, as with key parts of the regeneration area to the west. In addition, there are concerns that the proximity of industrial sites, and associated bad neighbour uses, to key regeneration sites is harming their development prospects because of the potential environmental impacts upon them. There is a particular concern that the juxtaposition of the industrial estate with proposed sensitive uses, such as a proposed new primary school on Fulton Road, will have an impact on the attractiveness of the school.

Options BIW 1

1. Leave the extent of the SIL as currently defined.

2. Introduce policy whereby development proposals adjacent to SIL should have regard to the potential effectiveness of these locations

3. De-designate SIL immediately adjacent to key sites identified for regeneration which will include residential or other sensitive uses.

4. De-designate substantial part of the SIL to facilitate wider regeneration and environmental improvement

There is a general view that if a significant proportion of land is occupied by uses such as open storage, aggregate depots and waste management, this will have a negative impact upon the regeneration potential of the wider area and will provide only a limited number of jobs. One way of dealing with the problem, especially to prevent it getting any worse,is to put a limit on the amount of land devoted to such uses.

Options BIW 2

1. No limit on the proportion of the SIL devoted to waste uses or open storage.

2. Allow no further waste management or open storage uses in the SIL.

3. Consider individual proposals on their merits and only restrict such uses if  evidence of detrimental impact.

4. Actively promote the re-location of existing, badly located waste management sites.

De-designation could mean that the West London Waste Authority's ear-marking of a site in the area for waste processing (technology unstated but incineration feared) will not succeed.