Chicken shops and betting shops - how can we diversify our shopping streets?

The Green Party supports small shops and high street diversity but clearly times are hard and many businesses are failing to thrive.

One type of business which seems to do well in recession is bookmakers, with money short and few ways to increase income, gambling becomes attractive. Anecdotally that seems clear from the increased number of people buying lottery tickets in the local newsagent.

There are about 34 shops on Bridge Road/Forty Avenue near Wembley Park station and although many are well established there are a few which frequently change hands as businesses set up optimistically only to close a few months later. A Polish shop was rapidly followed by a French cafe which is now shuttered.

On the corner of Chalkhill Road and Bridge Road the Piri Piri Sports Bar has struggled to attract custom with frequent changes of cuisine. In the past it has offered pizza and pasta and then Indian food. Now Paddy Power bookmakers are applying to open a large shop on the premises despite there being a Corals a couple of hundred yards away and a Ladbrokes on Grand Parade.

There are already quite a few takeaways in the immediate area with at least three offering fried chicken. What can we do to diversify our shopping streets?

Seasonal confusion in the churchyard

Snowdrops in Old St Andrew's Churchyard on Sunday

I was chatting with some fellow gardeners at Birchen Green allotments in  warm sunshine yesterday about the current strange behaviour of plants.  I picked the last of my tomatoes about 10 days ago and still have chillies flowering and fruiting in the cold greenhouse. Nasturtium seedlings were growing healthily at our feet as we spoke.

To add to the confusing  picture as I walked through the churchyard at Old St Andrew's I spied these snowdrops in full bloom with daffodils not far behind. Snowdrops before all the trees have shed their leaves...

Copland and Queen's Park Community schools not intending academy conversion at present

More is emerging about current discussions among Brent schools about academy conversion.  There are four options under consideration as far as I can ascertain:

1. Conversion to an academy
2. Forming a federation of Cooperative Trust schools with academy conversion
3. Forming a Cooperative Trust without academy conversion.
4. Remaining as they are

Wembley High and Preston Manor are considering the second option along with some Wembley primary schools. Copland Community School is interested in a discussion around the third option with no decision or statement of intent planned.. Queen's Park Community School does not want to consider the cooperative trust option and governors issued a statement in May 2011 stating that they had 'no immediate plans to apply for academy status.'  This leaves Alperton High School and I would welcome any information readers may have about their position: mafran@globalnet.co.uk

Meanwhile a joint union meeting at Preston Manor All-through Foundation School (apparently the school's  new name) is said to have overwhelmingly passed a motion rejecting academy conversion.

SUN-BATHING WAR Riotous Scenes on the Banks of the Welsh Harp

Indignation was rife among local residents during the weekend at the proceedings of sun-bathers in a field near 'Sandy Cut', Cool Oak Lane, Kingsbury, and spirited protests by Hendon and Kingsbury householders culminated in violent scenes on Saturday evening and Sunday.

The sun-bathers, who are, for the most part, non-residents in this are, are members of the Sun-Ray Club and the New Life Society.  They sun-bathe on the grass near the edge of the Welsh Harp reservoir in various states of semi-nudity, while notices are chalked in surrounding trees stating, 'Sun-bathing ground. Please keep away.'

On Saturday a number of nude women women bathers were present with the men, and so strong was the objection of a hostile crowd that the followers of this cult were ultimately attacked, and found it necessary to seek police protection.

A resident of Wakeman's Hill Avenue wrote to Kingsbury Council:

Why is nude bathing permitted in the Welsh Harp Reservoir without some enclosure, where sexual maniacs can perform out of view of the more respectable members of the community? On Sunday evening last and myself were walking across from Old Kingsbury Church to Edgware Road, and were half-way over when we came upon a bunch of stark naked men hanging around the water side. Hardly a pleasant sight for a man to have to pass with his wife!

The attack on the sun-bathers commenced on Saturday, when some 40 men and women lay on the grass near the water's edges. Some wore no clothes; others wore slips or bathing drawers, Passers-by tooking objection, particularly on the ground that there were children in the vicinity, and soon a large crowd gathered, excitement growing until jeers and insults gave way to blows but no one appeared to be seriously injured.

Captain H.H. Vincent (secretary of the movement) was attacked by a woman but evaded her blows. There were cries of 'Duck him in the lake!' 'Drive them out of Hendon!' and Mr F.G.Biddle of Bell Lane, Hendon declared that he would 'get the lot of you locked up for indecent behaviour in public.' When the sun-bathers managed to get partially dressed they left the field.

A cartoon comment at the time

 Captain Vincent afterwards stated that the crowd appeared to take objection to one of the women, who wore nothing above the waist.

We put up notices warning people that sun bathing is taking place but they will come and stare at us, and some of them even take photographs. Dress or undress is optional with us. The objectors are ignorant people, with whom it is useless to argue.

The above events took place on 28th and 29th June 1930 and this is an edited account  from the Hendon and Finchley Times. My mother, who died earlier this year, and lived in Church Drive close to the the Welsh Harp, told me that she and her her sister, when children, used to hide in the bushes and spy on the sun bathers. It was their only sex education...

Thanks to Phil Grant for digging up the press coverage. There is an account of  the riots in a beautifully illustrated  new book entitled Welsh Harp Reservoir Through Time by Geoffrey Hewlett. The Welsh Harp has a colourful past including horse and greyhound racing, water skiing, motorboat racing, regattas, rowing competitions between neighbouring boroughs, ice skating and even an escaped bear!


Welsh Harp Reservoir Through Time, Geoffrey Hewlett, Amberley Publishing, £14.99 Available from the Willesden Bookshop

I'm on my way to Wembley Central (again)

He was green until Coca Cola came along and turned him crimson

 Well, here we go again. Let's all look forward to a green Christmas!

I'll be standing as the Green Party candidate in the Wembley Central by-election which takes place on December 22nd.

The other candidates are:
Madhuri Davda (Conservative) who was an unsuccessful short-listed candidate for the Brent North parliamentary seat at the last election.
Afifa Pervez (Liberal Democrat) who won the last by-election in the ward but lost her seat in the Labour sweep at the 2010 Council Election
Krupa Sheth (Labour) who at 20 is the youngest candidate.

I am the oldest and the only man, oh well, should be interesting!

Turnout at the 2009 by-election was 29.3% compared with the 2010 Council election turnout of 50%. With polling day in the middle of winter and close to Christmas turnout will be a major consideration.

These are the arrangements for postal and proxy votes:

Anyone not already a postal voter and wishing to vote by post must submit a completed application form to the Electoral Services office by 5pm on Wednesday 7 December.

Alternatively electors may appoint a proxy person to vote on their behalf in which case the deadline for applications to be submitted is 5pm on Wednesday 14 December.

 electoral.services@brent.gov.uk

Community Payback covers council cuts in street sweeping

On top of concerns over unpaid youth labour in supermarkets comes the news that Brent Council is using Community Payback to cover the service gaps created by its street cleansing cuts and the impact of Autumn leaf fall.

The Kilburn and Brent Times this week (p6) reports a council spokesman as saying:

Brent Council focuses its resources on the road which are more affected, such as tree-lined streets, as residents would expect.

In areas of Kilburn, Queens Park and Brondesbury Park wards the council has worked with the probationary service to organise teams from Community Payback to clean up leaves in the area seven days a week for the past four weeks.

Community Payback is the scheme where offenders do community work from 6 hours a week to compensate the community for crimes they have committed.  It is usually done for charities and other causes nominated by local residents.

Looking at the Community Payback website there is no mention of local councils deciding what they should do and certainly nothing about them being used as unpaid labour to make up for council cuts.

The London Community Payback website states::

To be considered, your project must meet the following criteria:

• It must benefit the local community
• It must not take paid work away from others
• No one must make a profit from the work
• It must be challenging and demanding
• It must be worthwhile and constructive
• Offenders must be seen to be putting something back into the community.

Is this a misuse of the scheme?

Labour chooses their Wembley by-election candidate

Krupa Sheth, aged 20,  has been chosen to fight the Wembley Central by-election for Labour. Polling takes place on December 22nd.

The by-election has been caused by the surprise resignation of Labour councillor Jayesh Mistry.

Brent Greens are likely to finalise their selection tomorrow. 

Now we are all free workers for supermarkets

The Guardian recently publicised the plight of young workers forced to work up to 30 hours a week for no pay for Poundland, Argos, Sainsbury's, Tesco and other business. Ostensibly for work experience this does not necessarily lead to a job and can last for up to two months before others are brought in to replace them. If they express an interest, and don't stop work during a week's cooling off period, they are liable to lose their benefits if they leave.

Free workers for profit-making supermarkets!

But I'd like to focus how we are all becoming 'volunteer workers' for supermarkets. I always avoid  self-service checkouts because I think they take away people's jobs. Yes there's someone there at a bank of six automatic checkouts to help out - but that's not the same as six cashiers.

However I am finding it hard to exercise my choice of being served by a human being who gets  wage. At Wembley ASDA those people holding up a green pointing hand to show you to a checkout, also try and persuade you to go to the self-service checkouts - especially if you just have a basket.

I got into quite an argument the other day when the 'persuading' turned particularly pushy.  It turned into an argument about preserving jobs at a time of high unemployment and attracted quite a lot of interest.

 But worse was to come. In the last couple of days I have been in shops where you can't exercise the choice at all as there was no cashiers at their desks at all.

At the Coop in Central Square there was just the self-service checkouts available and a single member of staff flitting about and available occasionally to help wrestle with the computer.  At Tesco in Neasden shopping precinct at 4.30pm in the afternoon there was just the security guard and shelf-fillers with customers all lined up at the self-service and having a one sided conversation with the robot voice: 'Unknown item in the despatch area' kept ringing out across the store. There was no one to help any elderly or confused unable to handle the technology. For the lonely one more source of human contact has gone.

We have become more free workers for profit-making supermarkets!

I feel a campaign coming on....