Community rallies to Willesden Green cause

The proposed Cultural Centre building from Brondesbury Park

 The Keep Willesden Green Campaign held a well attended inaugural meeting yesterday evening which I chaired.  After a lively meeting many residents came forward to sign up for the campaign's committee and to join working groups on various aspects of the development.

It was great to see the community coming together in such a positive way.

 In a clear challenge to the Council's plans an application has been made to English Heritage to make the old Willesden Library a listed building.

A full report and more images of the proposed development are available on the Keep Willesden Green blog HERE

Keep Willesden Green can be contacted at keepwillesdengreen@hotmail.co.uk

Answer well overdue on Parks Privatisation FOI request

Readers will recall that in December last year I raised concerns about the possible privatisation of the Brent Parks Service.  I made a Freedom of Information request to Brent Council asking for information on the issue on December 30th.

Brent Council should have responded by January 31st in order to meet the statutory requirements attached to the FOI Act but have still not done so. The latest communication from the Council dated February 13th  states LINK

 We are sorry for the delay in answering your request.

Your request has been referred to the Council's Director of Legal Services who is the Council's qualified officer for the purpose of section 36 of the Freedom of Information Act.   Consideration is being given by her as to whether responding to any part of the request is likely to be exempt under those provisions. 

A copy of your complaint has been forwarded to her and she has been asked to deal with your complaint about delay at the same time as she responds to your original request.

I will keep you posted on any further response.

Barry Gardiner: The case against Brent's library closures

This is the evidence submitted by Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North to the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee Inquiry into library closures.

As you will be aware my constituency Brent North has suffered significant library closures with the closure of two libraries (Preston Library and Barham Park Library) in my constituency alone and an overall 50% reduction of the total library provision across the Borough of Brent. 

I have made it clear to the local Council that I do not support their decision to close the libraries in the borough and remain very concerned about the impact that these closures will have on my constituents. I have stressed to the Council that whilst everyone will understand that libraries should not take priority at the expense of elders’ care or child protection they should be prioritised over many other areas of the Council’s work. It is my concern that this reasoning has not been applied in the case of Brent Council. 

I have made representations to the Minister for Culture, Communications and the Creative Industries Ed Vaizey MP asking for his intervention in this matter. I asked that the Minister consider specifically whether Brent Council’s decision to reduce the boroughs’ library provision by such an extent constitutes a failure in their duty "...to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service for all persons desiring to make use thereof.." under the 1964 Public Libraries and Museum Act. 

I am therefore pleased to see that the issue of library closures and the appropriateness of the current legislation about the provision of library services are to be given attention by the Committee. 

What constitutes a comprehensive and efficient library service for the 21st Century? 

I consider this to be an integral point of review by the Committee and one that has direct implications for the Committee’s other point of consideration – the Secretary of State's powers of intervention under the Public Libraries & Museums Act 1964.

I believe that the vagueness surrounding the definition of what is considered a comprehensive and efficient library service has weakened the Secretary of State’s powers to intervene and overturn a local authority’s decision to close libraries. 

It would be helpful for the Committee to suggest criteria against which comprehensiveness and efficiency could be judged for both rural and urban areas. By setting various standards and defined criteria this will better inform the Secretary of State’s decision when making a judgement on whether the service is inadequate. In this respect I wish to focus my remarks only on proximity and demography. 

Proximity and Usage 

In Brent the Council has set out its intention to improve the service that is offered at the six remaining libraries. Their hope is that by improving the service in a reduced number of outlets, more people will be encouraged to use the service overall. In this regard I think Brent is an interesting case study in the review of what should be considered comprehensive and efficient. In particular does the service in the remaining six have to be improved before the other six cease operating? 

What has been overwhelming in my constituents’ response is the value they put on the locality of library provision and how if you remove the local element this disadvantages certain communities, irrelevant of whether the service at a library located further away is being improved. I would argue that this should be a central component of what constitutes a comprehensive and efficient library service. In rural communities this may be replicated by regular visits of mobile libraries to small local communities. 

The libraries closing in Brent serve a highly dense and often multiply disadvantaged population for whom ease of walking access is economically vital. This factor is particularly poignant for the most vulnerable library user groups such as the children and the elderly. It is these groups that are unable to make the journey to a library that is further away either as a result of the added costs or because they are physically unable to make such a journey. By removing local libraries there is an unfair impact on these vulnerable users. As such it is important that when redefining a comprehensive and efficient library provision that the ease of access for vulnerable communities should be a key criterion. 

There is a sad trend in councils up and down the country to run down service provision in what are seen as non-revenue raising areas such as libraries and allotment gardens. The argument is then adduced that the service is under-used or costs too much per capita and the case is made by Council officials to sell off the buildings or the land. This is what appears to have happened in Brent. 

The six libraries put forward for closure are said to be "poorly located and have low usage". It is clear to me that people living in Preston, Sudbury, Northwick Park and Kenton do not regard Preston or Barham Park Library to be nearly as poorly located for them as the closest alternative. Where there really is under-usage the solution should be to invest in improving the service on offer so that the locality aspect is maintained as much as possible.

A comprehensive library service must also reflect the needs of modern communications with a minimum number of computer terminals with full fast internet access where students of all ages can conduct research. The number of terminals should reflect demographic factors that will influence community demand such as age profile and household wealth. 

Poorer areas with a high school age population should be required to have a far greater number of terminals than wealthier areas with a low number of school children. 

Areas of high immigration should reflect the indigenous languages of significant local communities in their stock of books.

Make you voice heard on Willesden Green regeneration this Thursday

'Keep Willesden Green, a group of concerned residents, will be holding a public meeting about the proposed regeneration of Willesden Green Library Centre on Thursday 16th February, 7pm, Kings Hall, Harlesden Road, NW10 2BS (corner of Kings Road).

The meeting will bring people together to share concerns and will hear from Andy Donald, Director of Major Projects and Regeneration as well as campaigners on the bookshop and preservation of the Old Willesden Library. It is hoped that this will be the start of a dialogue in which residents can have a voice and help shape the future of the area.

MAP 

Photo update on Brent Civic Centre

Brent's new Civic Centre and Library

You can gauge some idea of the size  of the building from this shot

The view from the Civic Centre - imagine this space on event days

A shot to show the proximity of the two buildings

A guide to 'Brent Speak'

Proceedings at the Brent Executive on Monday got me thinking about 'Brent Speak' the rather special language that Brent Council has developed which often mystifies ordinary mortals. This is the beginning of a translation of some of the words and phrases so they can be more readily understood - translation in italics. I would welcome any more contributions from readers:

Area Consultation Forum "We'll bore you rigid with pointless Powerpoint Presentations"
Back bench councillors (Labour) "Which way did Ann say we have to vote?"
Brent Magazine Council propaganda with nice colour photographs

Buy-back services to schools Cut to school budgets through new or increased charges
Chief Executive Leader of the Council
Civic Centre grandiose vanity project 
Consultation "Say what you like, we've already decided"
Cost neutral Profits to developers
Efficiencies Redundancies

Listed building Development opportunity
Officer recommendations Automatic council decision
Personalised budget "You're on your own mate"

Savings Cuts
Standardisation of Outer London Weighting Wage cut for long established workers

Targeted offer Restriction of service to fewer people, especially children

"Three Creative Cluster Spaces which will be fitted out to facilitate an array of artist and cultural programming" (proposed Willesden Cultural Centre) Three meeting rooms (Thanks to Cllr Powney for his translation)
Transformation Project Closure programme
Transport Eligibility Criteria (revision of) Cutting transport for those with disabilities - usually accompanied by 'to encourage independent travel'
 

 

Fears over NHS services if hospital trusts merge

I have received this public statement on behalf of Brent, Ealing and Harrow Trades Union Councils

Your readers may be aware that a consultation is currently underway over the proposed merger of the NW London and Ealing Hospital trusts. The proposal is that this merger should be agreed by July of this year.

We are seriously concerned that this merger of the trusts, supposedly on financial grounds, will lead to a reduction in NHS services in Brent, Ealing and Harrow. Despite stressing that the consultation is about the merger of the trusts and not about the re-organisation of services, the consultation meetings have been told that this could lead to a “rationalisation” of services, particularly in the light of the government’s insistence that the NHS is required to make £20 billion of cuts.

We believe this merger would lead to a reduction of local services and people having to make often long and difficult journeys across West and North-West London. Already the consultation process seems more a P.R. exercise for a decision that has already been made.The bigger merged trust will be even less accountable and responsive to the needs of local people than the services are now.

We have already seen the closure of the Accident and Emergency Department at Central Middlesex Hospital at night, with growing expectation that this “temporary” closure will become permanent. There are fears that one of the 3 district general hospitals involved (Ealing, Central Middlesex and Northwick Park) will close. Such moves transfer services from where they are needed to where it is financially most convenient.

As secretaries of the Trades Union Councils in the 3 boroughs involved, we intend to closely monitor what is happening, and to campaign vigorously to defend our health service in all its aspects.

To this end we will shortly be convening co-ordinated meetings in all 3 boroughs to which we will invite health campaigners, NHS trades unionists and everyone who relies on the NHS to establish such a campaign.

Any readers wishing to be involved or to know more, can contact:

Brent: Ben Rickman ben.rickman@gmail.com

Ealing: Eve Turner eveturner@btopenworld.com

Harrow: John Rattray johnprattray@btinternet.com

Public frustration at lack of answers at Brent Executive

Cllr Ann John lost her cool at tonight's Executive Meeting after residents who had made representations on Treetops Nursery and the proposed Willesden Library Centre had left the committee rooms at Brent Town Hall.

Cllr Ruth Moher had been reading, inaudibly, a report on Adult Social Care and procurement of a framework for short break for carers. Chairing the meeting Cllr John had told her that she did not need to read out  the recommendations as councillors could read them for themselves then broke off to say:  "But that's not to say that this isn't important. This, safeguarding and the budget  are important things but I don't see people coming to talk about them. We weren't political at all tonight. Maybe we should have been.  People come for the small things, trying to hang on to what they've got, but they don't care about these things which will affect more people.  The poor people of Brent will be a lot poorer because of this government.".

The meeting began with a representation about Treetops Nursery where the council will consider it being taken over by a private provider. This was followed by a series of presentations about the Willesden Green Cultural Centre project, the fate of the Willesden by library campaigners  to provide study space during the closure period at Preston library at little cost to the council.

Residents criticised the poor consultation over the Willesden Regeneration which only saw 12 people and the ward councillors involved in the first round.One speaker accused the council of being in hock to the developers and failing to represent the interests of local people as the client in the partnership. Suggesting it was a 'done deal' another said that there were a lot of angry people who wanted their voices hard and warned that at the next election these people could make a difference when voting turn-out was so low. A local GP described the information on the council website as 'platitudes and fluffy aspirations and called for detailed and substantive plans to be published. It appeared that the future of the community was being decided by developers and not the elected local council. Another resident criticised the haste involved and called for the signing of the developer agreement to be delayed so that local people could mull over the proposals and  have a calm consideration of the issues.

Cllr Paul Lorber speaking on the motion from Scrutiny echoed previous contributions, particularly those dealing with consultation and said that he had failed to get answers from officers on the cost of refurbishment of the present building.  He drew attention to the fact that the interim arrangements for the 18 month period of closure had a budget of £2.1m and opening the closed libraries for that period would be cheaper.

Ann John from the chair had commented on several of the speeches from residents and prompted Cllr Crane, lead member for Regeneration and Major Projects about questions he needed to address. Unfortunately Cllr Crane began to read sections of the Officers' Report rather than answer the questions raised by the public and heckling began as the audience became more frustrated. Ann John in turn got irate with the public and even cited me as a model of decorum!

Cllr Crane repeated previous statements bout the unfitmess of the current building, the impossibility of finding tenants for the cinema and the bar, the unaffordable cost of refurbishment. He said that the Willesden Bookshop was valued but 'at the end of the day it is a commercial entity' .  He said that the word 'consultation' was sometimes misused ("By you!" - public cry)and that the initial small group discussions a limited consultation' was only to get ideas to put to potential developers. He said that thorough consultation would start now and there would be a 3-4 month discussion with Galliford Try the developer partner. Andy Donald, the lead officer for the project, confirmed that the developer agreement had not yet been signed, and that there would be further consultation before the project went to planning committee in July. Neither mentioned the apparent fact that the exclusion of the bookshop from the Cultural Centre and demolition of the 1894 Victorian Willesden Library would not form part of these 'consultations'.

When Councillor Powney opined that the Bookshop would not want to be relocated twice, during rebuilding and then moving into the Cultural Centre, the public shouted "Have you asked them?" In fact supporters of the Bookshop said the owner said he would be happy with two moves if it meant getting located in the new Centre. Cllr Powney then said that it would be such a high quality development that retail space within it would be too expensive for the bookshop. Responding to my claim that there were no meeting rooms in the list of 'key components' the council wanted in the Cultural Centre, something essential for local democracy, he said that there were. It turned out that Andy Donald's developer language had run away with him and that the  'Three Creative Cluster Spaces which will be fitted out to facilitate an array of artist and cultural programming" were in  fact meeting rooms. I don't really think Cllr Powney can really blame me for not being able to translate that into plain English!

The Executive then voted to approve all the officers recommendations and Cllr John said that the council would now go ahead and sigh the developer agreement.

The budget and its 28 recommendations involving major cuts across services was approved following a three minute introduction by Muhammed Butt and councillors declining Ann John's invitation to ask questions. The budget including the damaging cuts itemised elsewhere on this blog will now go to Full Council on February 27th.. Other items including the closure of Harmony Nursery and increases in council rents were also approved.