Work on Chalkhill Park to start on Monday?

The site of the new park

 Cllr Shafique Choudhary reports on his Barnhill New Dawn blog that work is to start on the Chalkhill Park on Monday to be completed by mid-November.


I can hardly believe it after all the delays and there are many doubters on the estate who are still convinced the site is earmarked for housing,

I look forward to seeing rapid progress and hope that the giant rats rumoured to have made their homes there don't hold things up.

Chalkhill Primary School pupils will be jubilant when they see work has started

Muhammed Butt ousts Ann John as Brent Council leader candidate

Well informed sources tell me that following a challenge to Ann John's leadership that her deputy, Muhammed Butt, will be put forward as leader of Brent Council at next week's Annual Council Meeting.

The Labour Group voted for Butt by 21 votes to 19 and their decision has to be confirmed by Full Council. It is a very narrow margin...

Muhammed is currently lead member for resources and is councillor for Tokyngton ward.

The way cuts, and particularly library closures, have been handled by Ann John, appear to have been the motivating factor in the challenge. At the meeting Butt said he wanted to mend relations with the local community.

The leadership change, if confirmed,  is likely to lead to other changes in the Brent Executive at Wednesday's meeting.

Schools in crisis - assurances needed from Children and Families

There's lots happening regarding schools in Brent at the moment so it is a bit of a surprise to see that no report from the Children and Families department has been tabled for the Executive Meeting on May 21st LINK

Brent Council was featured in the Times Education Supplement on May 4th LINK in an article entitled 'Financial scandal continues to plague Brent Council'. This was followed up a front page story in the Brent and Kilburn Times this week.

The TES links four stories of financial mismanagement commencing with the Copland High School allegations of unlawful bonuses which has resulted in the arrest and bailing of seven staff and a governor , the sacking of the head of Furness Primary for 'serious mismanagement' and the suspension of the head of Kensal Primary for 'alleged breaches of financial regulation'. They are joined by Malorees Junior School this week where it is claimed that the school spends 101% of its budget on staffing compared with the 80-85% of most schools and is heading for a deficit of £0.25m within the next two years.

The TES states:

The school's chair of governors, Brent councillor Patricia Harrison, resigned in April after parents called for her departure and accused her of incompetence. One letter from a parent said the governors at Malorees Junior had "spectacularly failed the children in this school, their families and can only have left the teaching and support staff feeling vulnerable, professionally bruised and demoralised".

Presumably the Children and Families Department is undertaking some kind of investigation which will establish the facts of the matter. It should also ask why Brent Council's monitoring and auditing processes, despite the Copland case now being three years old, still seem to fail  to unearth such problems and deal with them quickly. It appears that the Malorees staff will suffer the consequences with teachers being reduced from 16 to 12 and others losing their allowances. Councillors surely need to know how the quality  educational provision will be maintained in this situation.

Another matter deserving of  discussion is the possible academy conversion of four more Brent high schools and the teaching unions' threat of strike action to secure secret ballots of staff and parents over the issue. The financial consequences to the overall education budget of such a move is a matter of great concern, particularly as the Council has warned schools about the flat budget settlements to be expected over the next three years. The possibility of Brent Council forming a partnership with a free school provider to create a new school in Brent should also be reported on.

Diminishing school budgets and the withdrawal of the authority from provision of all but core educational services have put also put the future of the borough's School Improvement Service in the balance. It is quite likely that the Service will not exist in its present form by April 2013.  This will impact on monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning in our schools. Schools in danger of failing may not in future be quickly identified and remedial action taken.

It would be disastrous if cuts in experienced staff that have already hit the financial management section of Children and Families and may have contributed to the situation of Malorees and other schools, are compounded by cuts that will reduce the school improvement expertise that has raised standards across Brent.

There has rightly been a sharp focus on the provision of additional school places to cater for the increase in the borough's pupil population and this has been led by the Major Projects and Regeneration Department. Children and Families need to be assuring councillors and the public that the urgent and serious  issues outlined above are under control and  receiving the attention they deserve.

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