Cheers as Keep Willesden Green petitioners refuse to give up

Outside Brent Town Hall yesterday evening

The public gallery

There was standing room only at Brent Town Hall last night when the Keep Willesden Green Campaign presented  their petition to the Brent Council Executive.

Miki Berenji, in a speech frequently interrupted by prolonged applause, accused the Council  of treating residents as if they were little children who didn't know what was good for them. After detailing the issues including poor consultation, loss of the old Victorian Library, public space and the the Willesden Bookshop she said that residents wanted a say in what was to be their Cultural Centre. Compared with the current library centre there was no gain for residents.

Miki said that campaigners knew that as far as the  Council is concerned it is a matter of come along, say your piece, but our minds are already made up.  Clearly the Campaign was not going to let the matter rest there.


The audience was infuriated when Cllr George Crane, lead member for Regeneration n Major Projects, said that his personal view was that the Victorian Library had no architectural merit. His concessions on the possibility of a 'bookshop space in the cafeteria' , a small increase the outdoor space, and a 'celebration of the Victorian building' within the new building were greeted with derision.

Crane said that he saw no useful purpose in stopping and reflecting (he missed out the word 'listen') and said that the planning period would give an opportunity to reflect. 

Two Liberal Democrat Councillors spoke on opposite sides of the debate. Cllr Gavin Sneddon supported the petitioners and said that the current disillusion with the Council could happen under any administration. He contrasted the fait accompli regarding Willesden  Green development with the grass roots, from first principles involvement of local people with the  Harlesden Town Plan.

He asked Ann John, as Brent Council has instigated the project, that no pressure (which is illegal) would be put on councillors on the Planning Committee to approve the developer's planning application.

Cllr Ann Hunter said that the petitioners represented only one side of local opinion and that there were other residents who were in favour of the scheme and wanted to look forward to the future.  She had been told by previous councillors for the area that the 1980s building was itself a compromise because of the strong feelings local people had over the retention of the Victorian Library.

Ann John did not take the opportunity to give the assurance requested by Cllr Sneddon.

The value of local libraries

Leafleting licence a 'daft idea'

Pete Murry, concerned about the Council's leafleting proposals, wrote to his councillors. Here are the responses received so far:

I too agree this is a daft idea and can't understand the logic behind this.  

I have not read the full report on this, but initial thoughts based on the below information is how do they intend to enforce this, if someone distributes leaflets? Are they going to police shopping areas like Neasden and issue on the spot fines? Surely this will cost more than what they intend to receive. 

This is not a sensible idea and I have never heard of anything like this before. I hope the 10 Labour Executive members who make the decision use common sense and not pass this proposal. 

Regards
Javaid Ashraf

Can I make it very clear that this is not a proposal which has been made by any of the councillors for Dollis Hill.

 

The proposals are contained in a report which is being put forward by officers to the Executive of Brent Council. Like you, I was unaware of it until I read the report in the Times. The Executive is led by Cllr Ann John and has nine other Labour members.

 

I share your concern, as I too have campaigned publicly on many occasions, including on behalf of the Coalition for a Sustainable Brent Cross and the Save our Six Libraries campaign. Whilst I am sure we all wish to discourage litter, the fact that the order does not seem to exclude such campaigns is disturbing.

 

I understand that there will be a consultation period.  I believe you may also be able to speak at the meeting, by contacting Anne Reid. Full details here: http://democracy.brent.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=123&MId=1573

 

As and when I get more information on this, I will contact you again,

 

best regards,

Cllr. Alison Hopkins

Liberal Democrat Councillor for Dollis Hill

 

 

Farce or Fascism? Brent approves restrictions on free distribution of literature

Needless to say Brent Executive rubber stamped the proposal on licensing leafleting on designated land this evening but were left in doubt that that their decision was based on a poorly researched and imprecise report with no detail on interpretation and every sign of having dangerous implications for free speech.

I can honestly say as a school governor that a document like that would have been thrown out by a governing body.  I told the Executive it was hard to decide whether their proposal was farce or fascism, but it was likely to fall between the two.

Despite Tara Brady of he Brent and Kilburn Times circulating a copy of the actual e-mail from the Brent Council which stated 'Charities would be exempt from these new rules and political parties exempt during  election times' Cllr James Powney insisted that all along they had meant all activities for political purposes would be exempt.

Cllr Powney dug himself further into a hole when he claimed the proposals were not just about the Olympics but long-term and across the borough, despite the report stating 'These controls are being sought now to assist with the effective control of literature distributors anticipated during the Olympic period in an attempt to reduce the amount of waste printed material deposited in certain areas of the borough'.

Those designated areas include streets far away from the Wembley Olympic venues such as Shoot Up Hill, Station Road Harlesden  and Edgware Road.

As Sarah  Cox said on behalf of Brent Fightback we should not have to rely on Cllr Powney's interpretation of phrases such a 'political purpose' but have precision and clarity in the documentation.

Small businesses and people organising  cultural events,  jumble sales and fund raising activities will be faced with high fees and restrictions on their activities.

There will now be a 14 day consultation but this is only about the Council's proposal to designate certain areas or roads where the licence will be required rather than the scheme as a whole.

Cllr Powney failed to answer a question from Cllr Helga Gladbaum on whether Brent Council had the capacity to enforce the proposed regulations.

Shahrar Ali, Green Party candidate for the London Assembly Brent and Harrow constituency said:

I can think of little more pernicious act than for a council to impose upon its citizens a requirement to seek advance approval for the dissemination of their literature, whatever was written upon it. It is no business of the council to restrict the free exercise of speech or to charge people for their exercise of it or to prevent readers from making up their own minds about whether they want to receive it or not. This is a dark day for Brent and surely one of the worst instances of this administration's evident contempt for the people.

You can read Brent Fightback's leaflet by click on the PDF below:

Fire in Central Wembley

Fire fighters have been tackling a warehouse blaze near Wembley Central station. No casualties have been reported but there are road closures to give access to emergency vehicles and for public safety,

Check out the Brent and Kilburn website for updates LINK and Harrow Observer LINK

The Tale of Two Tories

Certainly the most colourful by- election leaflet

I bumped into Venilal Vaghela the former Conservative council election candidate who is standing as an independent yesterday.

We chatted about interests that we have in common (he is a member of Brent Sustainability Forum) and then turned to the reasons he is standing against the official Conservative candidate in what could be seen as a marginal ward.

Although his leaflet says he is 'fed up' with the Labour Council he told me that he is also fed up with Brent Tories. Apart from neglecting Barnhill ward, which they should have been nursing as they held it prior to 2010, ("It used to be ours") he also blames them for ineffectual leadership, failure to turn up at crucial meetings and community events, and incoherent contributions to Council debates - with the possible exception of Reg Colwill.

Vaghela is campaigning on issues such as too many shops selling alcohol, too many betting shops and the need for a crematorium in the borough.

I have not met the official Conservative candidate whilst canvassing yet, but it is a big ward so that is understandable. I hope to meet her so that she can tell me what she thinks about Venilal's  candidature. have seen many of her leaflets rain sodden on the pavement and in the front gardens of the ward - I am not sure if the new powers Brent is seeking means that it could force her to pick them all up!

Council target children's library membership - but where are the libraries?

From Preston Library 'wall of shame'

The drastic drop in library visits and books borrowed since the closure of half of Brent's libraries has challenged fundamentally Brent Council's claim that the 'Libraries Transformation Project' would improve the service and increase uptake.

The department has now written to primary schools urging them to sign children up for library membership and offering class library visits. The children's poet Michael Rosen recently advocated a library ticket for every child when they start school to foster a love of books and this is something I strongly support.

However, the problem is that for Brent primary aged children and for primary classes this will only work if they have a neighbourhood library within reasonable walking distance. Because of the closures this is not the case for many schools and I doubt, given the numbers involved, that outreach staff would be able to cope.

When the Town Hall Library moves to the Civic Centre it will put the library out of reasonable walking distance of children on Chalkhill - not because they can't walk but because the time taken to walk to and from the library would eat into other learning time in an already crowded curriculum. With half an hour in the library this would make an hour and a half out of school - we can hardly expect schools to start booking coaches to take their children to the library!

The aim of encouraging children's membership is laudable but is this also an attempt to boost the visits and borrowing figures?

Dear English Subject Leader,

Every Child a Reader / Every Child a Library Member

As part of Brent Libraries commitment to help develop and foster a lifelong love of books and reading in all Brent children, we would like to encourage all schools to sign children up for membership under our new libraries’ membership  drive. The process of doing this is very simple. If you can provide us with the names of all the children in your school, we will complete library membership forms and issue each child with their own library membership ticket.  This is a special school library ticket that will be kept at the library ready for school class visits.   Borrowed books can be used at school and taken home.  The child’s address will be care of the school address with the school administration email address for communication.  May we stress however that the school will not be liable for any book losses.  Emails will be sent to the school once books have gone three months’ overdue but these emails printed in hardcopy format just need to be brought to the library so that staff can sort out any problems.  There will be no fines to schools.

This is a wonderful opportunity for all Brent children and we would like to encourage you to contact your local library or myself to arrange for library tickets for all your children and of course book regular class visits to the library.  Regular class visits include the opportunity to borrow books from a great range of children’s picture books, graphic novels, fiction and information books, develop information skills and enjoy some lovely storytelling with library staff.  Brent Libraries also offers computers for learning, and some wonderful storytelling, cultural and learning events delivered by some of the best authors and artists in the UK.  There are also after school homework clubs with a qualified teacher to support children’s learning.

We look forward to receiving the list of names from your school for library membership and booking a library visit.  If distance is a problem for visiting your local library, an outreach visit to your school by library staff can be arranged.

Yours sincerely,

 

Sarah Smith

Libraries’ Development Manager

Chalkhill children need summer activities

St David's Open Space very early Sunday morning

I was pleased to see that football posts have now been installed at St David's Close Open Space on Chalkhill. This was one of the requests made by local people and Chalkhill Primary School children at a meeting held with the head of Brent Parks and Sports and Cllr Choudhary in October 2011.

Because of the further delay in the building of Chalkhill Park in my role as Chair of Governors I have backed the request by Chalkhill Pupil School Council for the refurbishment of the BMX track at St David's and installation of a skateboarding area.

The overgrown BMX track

With the new Chalkhill Park now not likely to open until November as work has not yet started (see below) we have asked for the BMX track and skateboarding area to be ready for the summer holiday. Along with activities at Poplar Grove Youth Centre this would give children and youth from Chalkhill some facilities during the break.

The Chalkhill Park site two weeks ago

I understand but have not had confirmed that a contractor has been found to build the Park. Brent Council Parks and Sports department are employing Bike Track to consult with the people of Chalkhill on the possibility of a BMX track or alternatively/additionally a skate boarding/scooter park area.