Shapps warns Brent Council over extended B&B stays

Coalition policies having exacerbated the housing crisis, the Housing Minister has now lambasted local councils, including Brent, on the way they are dealing with the consequences.  The following item is from the Inside Housing website LINK

The housing minister has warned 20 councils to improve the way they deal with homeless people. Grant Shapps wrote to the local authorities in England on 23 April after becoming worried about the amount of time they were leaving families languishing in bed and breakfast accommodation. The minister is concerned councils are breaching rules barring them from placing families in B and Bs for more than six weeks.

Hammersmith & Fulham, Bromley, Westminster, Brent and Wandsworth councils in London, as well as Cornwall Council are among those singled out.

Mr Shapps wrote: ‘While this government has removed targets… this does not mean I am relaxed about local authorities placing families in B and B for extended periods.’

He urged councils to ‘prioritise this issue’ and offered the help of his officials to reduce B and B use. ‘I am writing to you privately about this at this time, but we will be monitoring the statistics closely,’ he warned.

Nigel Minto, head of housing at London Councils, said the government’s welfare reforms, including caps to local housing allowance, have led to a reduction in affordable available private rented stock.

Communities and Local Government department figures released in March show a 37 per cent increase in B and B placements from 2,310 households in the last quarter of 2010 to 3,170 in the same period last year.

A spokesperson for Bromley Council said the authority is experiencing a significant increase in households placed in temporary accommodation.

‘This is due to a number of factors, including a very competitive private rented sector furthering the gap between housing benefit levels and market rents, fewer households able to become owner-occupiers and the impact on households of the present economic situation,’ she said.

Under the Labour government’s Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) Order 2003, councils must not place families in B and Bs for more than six weeks and must only place families with children in B and Bs when there is no alternative.

Mr Shapps told Inside Housing that breaching the six-week barrier is ‘clearly against rules and regulations that have been in force for nearly a  decade’. Councils that fail to follow the 2003 order can be subjected to a judicial review.
 
Campbell Robb, chief executive of homelessness charity Shelter, said: ‘This is yet another indication of our fraying housing safety net, which is struggling to catch all those who are now in need of it.’

Brent faces 'difficult decisions' on Council Tax support

Brent Council will be consulting in June on the level of Council Tax payment for those on benefits. It is likely that many families and individuals will have to pay more.

From the Brent Council website:

The Government is abolishing the Council Tax Benefit scheme and is asking councils to replace it with their own locally run service called Council Tax Support. To ensure we have a scheme that suits our borough Brent is consulting with residents on its proposals. 

As well as having to create a local scheme that is suitable for Brent, the council will also have to work within a budget that has been reduced by ten per cent.  Early estimates suggest this represents an initial reduction of at least £3.5 million, but this gap will increase if the number of people claiming benefit goes up, which already appears to be the trend.  

This shortage in funding means we have to make some difficult decisions about who gets financial support and how much.  

To create a system that is as fair as possible and in line with the needs of the community, Brent Council is putting together proposals for a new system and is consulting with residents to see how you feel this would work in our borough.

• Why is the Council Tax Benefit scheme being abolished?
• What the changes mean
• What happens next? 

Why is the Council Tax Benefit scheme being abolished?

The benefit system is facing a radical over-haul which was kick started back in 2011 with changes to Housing Benefit For the most part reform has meant the amount of money available to councils has been reduced.

At the same time, the Government has introduced the Localism Bill, much of this bill involves the government handing over control of budgets and decision making powers to local councils. One of the many benefits to be affected by these changes is the national Council Tax Benefit scheme which will be replaced by local Council Tax Support in April 2013.

What the changes mean

• Every single council will have their own local Council Tax Support scheme, with its own eligibility criteria.
• Next year Brent will have ten per cent less money for Council Tax Support than it currently spends on Council Tax Benefit.  It will also have to manage what it spends on helping people within this budget, even if more people start to claim benefit.
• The government has specified that certain groups such as pensioners will be  protected and should see no changes to their entitlement - however, it's up to each council to consider whether to protect other groups - and how to fund any extra protections.
• The government wants councils to incentivise people to find work, by making the system support them better when they move into work.

• Brent has to decide whether to change the current rules for claiming Council Tax Benefit in order to operate the new scheme at a lower cost. However, if a council decides to keep the current scheme and continues to assess people as the government does now, then it will have to make cuts to other services in order to make up the reduction in funding.

What happens next?

Consultation starts in June and ends in early August.  A decision - taking account of your feedback for a localised version of the scheme - will be made later in the year.

Brent Council to act on wild animal abuse

Brent Council will adopt a formal policy regarding the use of animals at events in the Borough's parks and open spaces in a report going before the Executive on May 21st is approved. The policy reflects current concern, spear-headed by the RSPCA, about the use of wild animals in circuses and other events. The report states:

In the past the Council has received requests to hold events in its parks from circuses with performing animals as well as events which have included animal rides, dog shows and falconry displays. More recently there has been a significant increase in the number of events which local community groups want to organise and host on Council owned land. In 2011 the Parks service received a request to have elephants, tigers and camels included in large community events.

 

The Report suggest a policy that:

a.  Does not permit animals that come under the Schedule ‘Kinds of Dangerous Wild Animals’ in the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 (Modification) (No.2) Order 2007, to be allowed to be part of any event including circuses and funfairs on the Council’s parks and open spaces.

b.  Does not permit the provision of live creatures as prizes at any event including circuses and funfairs on the Council’s parks and open spaces.

c.  Does permit animals that do not come under the Schedule ‘Kinds of Dangerous Wild Animals’ in the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 (Modification) (No.2) Order 2007 to be part of an event including circuses and fun fairs on the Councils parks and open spaces. This would therefore allow for example dog shows, performing horses and falconry displays to take place.

Three weeks to save Willesden Green. Meet May 15th

Leafleting Licensing Scheme Call in on Wednesday

The Call In Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be hearing a motion on the proposed leafleting licensing scheme on Wednesday May 17th, 7.30pm at Brent Town Hall.

The Minutes of the February 1st Call In on the Willesden Green Redevelopment are now available. LINK

Begone you pesky petitioners! Brent downgrades petitioner power.

In a constitutional change to be discussed at the Council meeting on May 16th Brent Council is proposing that petitions of 5,000 or more valid signatures should no longer be debated by full Council and that those containing 2,500  valid signatures should no longer require a senior Council officer to give evidence at an overview and scrutiny committee.

Although the Council says its proposal is  a result of the Localism Act 2012 repealing the requirement for councils to adopt a petition scheme and leaving it to the discretion of each authority, there can be little doubt that the Labour Council has been irritated by the petitions organised by the Hindu community over festival funding, library campaigners over the closure of half of Brent's libraries and Keep Willesden Green over the Willesden Green Library Regeneration proposals. The latter was particularly controversial when Democratic Services  refused to hold a Full Council meeting on the issue.

The Council argues that this change will 'make the process more transparent' and will 'direct petitions to the decision maker as set out in the current Standing Order 68(e).

That Standing Order refers to petitions with 50 or more signatures and refers the petitions on upcoming decisions  to the Executive or the General Purposes Committee who can 'make recommendations concerning the petition to Full Council'.

As far as I can see this continues the erosion of democracy in Brent Council removing further citizen's ability to make representations to Full Council rather than the rubber-stamping Labour Executive.  If I was a backbench councillor of whatever political party I would be asking some awkward questions on the issue.

Old Willesden Library demolition proposals published

The proposed development

Most of the planning documents for the proposed Willesden Cultural Centre are now available on the Brent Council website.  They are numerous and will need careful study. There is a main planning application for the demolition of the Victorian Library, 1980s Library, bookshop etc and the building of 92 flats and the Cultural Centre and an application relating to the Conservation Area. Most of the documentation is replicated on both sites.

Main Planning Application HERE

Conservation Area Application HERE

The future of the Old Willesden Library is of particular interest to many and the Heritage Statement is available below.

One key section states:

The loss of the Old Library is to some extent mitigated through ‘preservation by record’ and the undertaking of the historic buildings survey to English Heritage Level II standards, and which has been used in this report to understand the building’s significance. Should consent be granted for this or future schemes affecting historic fabric, it is recommended that additional recording be undertaken during demolition in order to supplement this report with further details of the building’s history.

It is also recommended that specific elements of the architectural fabric are retained, and where possible, reused within the new building as architectural details, art installations and/or exhibits within the museum space. While it is recognised that the scheme represents the total loss of the Old Library, the retention of certain elements would evoke the cultural memory of the building and help preserve the historic narrative of development on the site. Those pieces that should be considered for retention are as follows, though further elements may be revealed during the demolition process:

· Shell-hood above the former entrance way on the north elevation;

· Parge work on the north elevations and around the tower;

· Plaque commemorating the building on north elevation; and

· Weather-vane on summit of the tower

The remaining historic fabric and fixtures such as window frames should be considered for salvage, and where suitable, deposited in a suitable store such as the Charles Brooking Collection currently housed in Surrey.

Lucas: "I completely support today's strike action"

Caroline Lucas MP,  speaking at a Brighton union rally at midday today in support of today's public sector strikes, said:

"As Vice President of the Public and Commercial Services group in Parliament, I completely support today's strike action.

"This Government's drive to slash jobs, slash pay, and now slash pensions as well  is both socially devastating and economically illiterate.

"The best way to tackle the deficit is to invest in jobs, not to destroy them - and the fairest way to do it is to make those responsible for the financial crisis pay the highest price.

"It cannot be right to demand that ordinary workers up and down the country pay more, work longer, and get less in their pensions.

"The cynical changes to indexation from RPI to CPI inflation means pensions fall by up to 20%.

"Equally worrying, this indexation change will also apply to a number of important benefits, including Disability Living Allowance and Incapacity Benefit.

"That's why it's so important that civil servants, lecturers and other public sector workers come together today to defend each other, demand real negotiation with Government, and to demand no more cuts."