Standing Up for Climate Justice

Several thousand  people did just that today when they marched from Blackfriars Bridge to the Houses of Parliament midway through the Durban Climate Change talks. It was important amidst all the devastation of cuts, unemployment and the euro-zone crisis to remember the even larger environmental crisis engulfing our planet.

A 'new look' education authority for Brent?

Following moves by various Brent schools towards Cooperative Trust status or Cooperative Academies, the Children and Families department of the Council  has put forward some proposals to headteachers for a possible  'new look' education authority. This would reduce the services provided  by the authority to a small statutory core with many more being provided through collaborative arrangements between schools. The collaboration could be formalised into a social enterprise.

I understand that this is based on:
1. An expectation of a sharply reduced central education budget.
2. A recognition of the enormous amount of expertise that exists within the schools.
3. A recognition that schools want more autonomy.

Although this addresses the attraction of the Cooperative model's ethos and criticism of the deteriorating quality of some LA services, it does not deal with the short-term financial gain some secondary schools hope to get through academy conversion.

In this week's Brent and Kilburn Times (see below) I called for an open debate on the future of the Brent education system. The initiative from the Council makes this even more necessary.

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Plans for new waste sites in Brent dropped

The draft West London Waste  Plan in October 2010 proposed 4 new possible sites in Brent for redevelopment for processing residual waste, as well as two existing ones . The revised list, following consultation, only includes the two existing sites: Twyford Waste Transfer Station and Veolia Transfer Station, Marsh Road. The site in Hannah Close.Great Central Way is now occupied and so is no longer proposed. Careys. the waste management company, who are contributing to the running of the Welsh Harp Outdoor Education Centre, now have an MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) in Hannah Close.  Brent Council says that the other three sites are now 'for one reason or another, considered too difficult to deliver'.  The sites were at Asia Sky, Abbey Road; rail sidings, Premier Park Road, and Alperton Lane industrial area, Marsh Road.

This will be a relief for Brent residents but Ealing does not fare so well and some of their sites are close to the Brent border.   Three existing sites are listed including one at Quattro in Victoria Road, Park Royal as well as two new ones in Park Royal (see below).

The Brent Executive will be asked to approved a revised WLWP for publication at its meeting on December 12th. Once the document has been approved by all 6 WLWA boroughs it will be made available for a further six weeks consultation in February 2012. Authority will then be sought from each borough to submit the Plan to the Secretary of State for Examination in Public. This is likely to take place in late 2012 and the plan adopted in early 2012.

In tandem with this the WLWA will be completing the selection of the new contractor for the multi-million 25 year residual waste contract. As posted previously this includes controversial Veolia who run the Marsh Road Transfer Station in Brent.

No technology has yet been put forward for the new sites, this will be done at the planning station, and environmental groups will be monitoring for any incineration or other potentially harmful processes.

Stand Up for Climate Justice Tomorrow

The Brent contingent going to the Climate Justice march will meet at 10.45am tomorrow at Willesden Green Station.

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Victoria Brittain on 'The Meaning of Waiting' Wembley Dec 13th

Join IHRC on December 13th for an evening with Victoria Brittain discussing her play The Meaning of Waiting where eight women tell their stories using their own words of the unseen fallout of the war on terror in Britain. These are stories of real women, from cultures as varied as Palestine, Senegal, Jordan, Libya, St John's Wood, and the English Midlands that all came to the UK as refugees, or married refugees. After 9/11 the world they loved here vanished almost overnight. One after another they were engulfed by isolation and private terror.

Entry is free to book a place please call 020 8904 4222 or email events@ihrc.org, or leave your name and details in store.

Date:                                 13 December 2011 (Tuesday)
Time:                                 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Venue:                              IHRC Bookshop, Gallery and Information Centre
                                          202 Preston Road, Wembley, HA9 8PA
Nearest train / tube:        Preston Road (Metropolitan Line), South Kenton (Bakerloo Line, London Overground)

A fun day with a serious message for the Coalition

 

My home-made placard for today's National Strike disappeared at Lincoln's Inn Field today only for me to spot it later being sported by a young student. She was disarmingly unapologetic so I decided the fact that my efforts had been taken up so enthusiastically by the next generation  was a tribute to my artistic expertise!

The earlier rally at the Torch in Wembley had standing room only and with more than 50 Brent schools closed there was a great spirit of solidarity and some fantastic speeches. Labour councillors Janice Long and Mary Arnold were in the audience. The march itself was high-spirited, comradely and lots of fun with women in the majority.

HS2 vanity project a 'disgrace' at time of massive cuts

Last night's meeting sought to re-galvanise the High Speed Rail 2 campaign ahead of the decision on whether to proceed with the project which is expected to be announced by Justine Greening MP on December 20th.

Among the issues that were discussed were:

• The fact that the carbon emissions from the trains will be higher per passenger than car travel.
• The project is a standalone one sponsored initially by Lord Adonis without any links with a strategic transport development plan.
• The lack of connectivity of HS2 (especially with HS1) and the lack of any concrete plans/station locations north of Birmingham.
• The economic case assumes time travelling on trains is 'wasted but we all know people work on trains.
• The costing of £32bn for the whole project does not include the many farm bridges that will be required, works needed as a result of the Environmental Impact Assessment, and the rolling stock.
• In places under Kensal the roof of the tunnel will be less than 10metres below some houses and there is no assessment of the noise and vibration that will be made by 250mph trains as they brake going into Old Oak Common.
• Because Euston will lack platform space we will lose the Overground link with Euston.
• Technology does not exist as yet for running 18 trains per hour in each direction at these speeds.
• The ongoing subsidy for HS2 will benefit the richest in society and no figures have been published for the eventual fare.
• The Transport Select Committee Report on HS2 raises so many issues around context, finance, environmental impact, number of trains per hour that it amounts to requesting that they go back to the drawing board.
• A Westminster Council report, although ostensibly against the project, is aggressively challenging on the route and other issues.

In discussion it was suggested that campaigners should not be duped into concentrating on the detail but instead focus  on what the £32bn could be spent on instead of HS2 at a time when public services are being cut and other railways need investment. A leaf should be taken from the St Paul's Occupiers and the project exposed as a ' @$*&%£#' disgrace'.

The meeting agreed that a bullet point update was requested that could then be used to write to MPs, including' off-route' ones, as well as London Assembly Members.

The Green Party passed this motion on HS2 at its Cardiff Conference:

The Green Party believes that long-distance service provision should not concentrate on high speeds where this will affect local service provision or take up and excessive amount of limited resources.

 Current proposals for a new north-south high speed rail route are based on assumptions about continuing growth in mobility, energy use and CO2 emissions which are not compatible with green party policy.

The Green Party does not support the current (2011) high speed rail proposals known as HS2 but will review this policy if and when evidence emerges that HSR is embedded within an overall policy context that can deliver reductions in the demand for transport, energy use, land take and CO2 emissions.

Further information:
www.stopthetunnel.blogspot.com
www.ktra.co.uk
http://pancamdenhs2alliance.org/

Osborne’s failure on Green Economy and Jobs’

• Cash boost for big polluters shows Osborne ‘dangerously colour blind on the green economy’; Britain needs a Green New Deal
• Chancellor reveals plan to ‘rip up environmental and social protection laws’
• ‘Government failing to address UK’s biggest crisis: the jobs deficit’
• Ruling out Robin Hood Tax on financial sector is ‘huge mistake’

Chancellor George Osborne delivered his Autumn Statement today, setting out the Coalition Government’s strategy to deal with the UK’s stagnatingeconomy. The announcement coincides with a number of pessimistic predictions which set the British economy on course for a double dip recession next year

Responding to the Statement, Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion and leader of the Green party of England and Wales, said:

Today’s budget announcement exposes just how dangerously colour blind the Chancellor really is when it comes to the green economy and the low carbon industries which can help lift us out of recession.

And the fact that the Osborne is taking £250 million away from hard pressed families to fund a big cash boost for some of this country’s most polluting industries – whilst also rushing through major cuts to the flourishing solar industry – simply beggars belief.

Why agree on a much needed carbon tax to drag the UK’s energy intensive industries into the 21st century and pay for their contribution to the climate crisis, but then be scared into giving millions back because a few vested interests like Tata call your bluff?

This backwards and expensive merry-go-round shows that the Government is completely clueless on how to manage the low carbon revolution – and risks relegating the UK to the backseat when it comes to climate change and renewables.

Furthermore, the decision to scrap the 3p rise in fuel duty is scandalously short sighted and will set back our efforts to tackle transport emissions and air pollution. Instead, the Government should reverse the increase in VAT brought in at the beginning of the year – a better way of helping those finding it hardest to cope, as well as helping the economy to recover.”

‘Threat to our natural heritage’

Lucas continued:

What is also clear from today’s statement is that our valued countryside and environmental heritage is now seriously under threat from this Governmen’s bias towards big business. The Chancellor’s intention to scrap the so-called ‘red tape’ which protects the UK’s forests and fields from over-development, and reform the planning laws in favour of developers, is a call to arms for anyone who cares about conserving our natural heritage.

On inequality: ‘Nothing to see here’ 

This budget package – which looks suspiciously like a panicked Plan B rather than a Plan A Plus – does nothing to address the deepening inequality which is harming hard working people up and down the country.

Osborne refuses to address the vast gulf between the haves and the have-nots, and the persisting culture of entitlement in the financial sector that has allowed the earnings of top Barclays executives, for example, to increase by a stratospheric 4899.4% since 1980, whilst wages for the average worker have only seen a threefold increase.

The fact that the Government has confirmed it will not support a financial transactions tax such as the Robin Hood tax, or offer anything new to tackle tax avoidance and evasion, tells us all we need to know about the commitment to social justice amongst the Cabinet’s millionaire ministers.

And ripping up social protection laws is not the way to value our workforce and generate new jobs – indeed, industrial relations experts have shown that there is no ‘clear-cut link’ between employment protection and levels of unemployment.

On public infrastructure spending: ‘Missed opportunity to switch to green
quantitative easing’

Construction and road-building corporations are lobbying for more Government spending rather than austerity cuts – but the Chancellor lacks the courage or political vision to channel this billion pound spend into the job rich, green industries of the future.

If we invested heavily now in a major Green New Deal programme to create new state-owned renewable energy and an increase in energy efficiency measures to help bring down bills, we could create hundreds of thousands of jobs, as well as remain internationally competitive in the green technology race.

The jobs deficit

The Green MP concluded:

Ultimately, the constant downgrading of the UK’s growth forecasts is the clearest proof we need that the Coalition’s cuts plan is completely failing even on its own terms – with the Chancellor merely tinkering around the edges on our most urgent problem: the jobs deficit.

With unemployment at its highest rate since 1994, and more than one million 16-24 year olds out of work, the myth that the private sector would step in when the Government scaled back public spending to magic up jobs out of nowhere has been exposed as nonsense.