Wembley Olympics - summer jams ahead?

With Lorraine King at the Kilburn Times managing to get Transport for London to admit that they have rephased traffic lights ahead of the Olympics LINK, resulting in tailbacks; road closures on Wednesday for the Torch procession, and Olympic lanes around venues, advice to residents not to use Wembley Park station, we can expect some confusion in the weeks ahead. 

The video below attempts to explain the restrictions.  It has collected a number of critical comments, including some suggesting that the arrangements are really for corporate sponsors, rather than athletes and officials as the video claims. 

Brent MPs under pressure to take up hospitals fight

Sarah Teather, Barry Gardiner, and Glenda Jackson have been targeted by campaigners against hospital closures and privatisation of the NHS in a petition launched this week. The petition reads:

To: NHS NW London, Sarah Teather MP, Glenda Jackson MP, Barry Gardiner MP,

NHS NW London is consulting on proposals which would mean the accident and emergency department at Central Middlesex Hospital, already closed at night, closing for ever. This could be the first step in the downgrading of the hospital, which serves some of the most deprived wards in Brent with the greatest health needs.

We the undersigned demand: 

· The reopening of A & E at Central Middlesex Hospital to provide a full 24 hour emergency service with all necessary back up.

· No cuts to community, mental health or other services. The government can find money for the banks, they should restore the £1billion they are cutting from NW London Health Services.

· An end to privatisation which provides an inferior service for patients and cuts in jobs, pay or worse working conditions for staff, creaming off profits for private companies.

Campaigning organisations will be collecting signatures over the summer and into the autumn. You can run off your own copy using the link below and collect signatures in your workplace or neighbourhood.

Exciting race to get Wembley Central ready for Olympics

Will it be ready for Wednesday?

The refurbishment of Wembley Central station has been dragging on for years and this blog has frequently called attention to its state of dilapidation and suggested it makes a poor Olympic gateway.

Last week suddenly scaffolding was erected on the exposed and rotting shed like structure above the station and it looked like something was happening.  Alas, yesterday afternoon  at 3pm when this photograph was taken, no work was going on.

It is possible that one of those pinkish-purplish Olympic banners that are going up all over Wembley will be strung across the façade to hide the sins beneath, or will a glossy new station sign be erected in time?

The torch procession will be coming along the High Road outside the station at 10.45am on Wednesday morning. It looks like an exciting finish - will Wembley Central station be ready in all its refurbished glory?

Persuade Brent Council to campaign on Central Middlesex A&E Closure

Could local hospitals cope with something similar after closures?

 Local resident Carol Foster has launched the e-petition below: Anyone of any age who lives or works in Brent can sign the petition. Follow this LINK

We, the undersigned, petition Brent Council to do all in its power to prevent the closure of the Accident and Emergency Department at Central Middlesex Hospital. This will include making the case against the closure and seeking support for this position on all appropriate bodies on which the council is represented.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

•  North West London NHS is consulting on proposals in 'Shaping A Healthier Future' which would mean that Central Middlesex Hospital's Accident and Emergency Department, already closed overnight, will close for good. This is likely to be the first step in the complete down-grading of the hospital and its potential closure in the long term.
• The hospital serves some of the most deprived wards of South Brent which have poor transport links with Northwick Park Hospital, the likely alternative A & E.
•  The area is the location of major roads including the North Circular and the Harrow Road; railway lines including the Euston-Birmingham main line, Overground, Bakerloo, Chiltern, Metropolitan and Jubilee lines, a major industrial area in Park Royal; as well as waste management and other potentially pollution causing processing plants in the Neasden area. The area also includes the major venues at Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena.
•  All of the above are potential locations for major incidents necessitating ready access to an Accident and Emergency facility.
•  Ealing Council has already committed itself to actively fighting the proposals and Brent Council should do the same.

Wembley's re-cycling graffiti wall ready for Olympics

Readers may be interested in this press release from Seneca, a subsidiary of Careys:

Waste management company Seneca has unveiled a 508-foot long recycling–inspired mural at its materials recycling facility (MRF) in Wembley, North West London, in a bid to tackle a graffiti problem at the site.

The company was approached by the Brent Graffiti Partnership, which includes Brent council, British Transport Police, Network Rail and the Brent Police, to address problems it had been having with vandals spray painting the side of its materials recycling facility (MRF), after it opened in May 2011.

A series of recycling-inspired images havebeen installed to tackle the graffiti problem at Seneca's Wembley MRF

The facility processes residual waste collected from the West London Waste Partnership, and produces refuse derived fuel that is exported to Europe.

Graffiti

On researching the issue Seneca discovered that graffiti artists consider it bad manners to tag or paint over someone else’s art, and so the idea of creating a street art mural was chosen as a suitable solution to the problem, with all the artwork created using spray paint and stencils.

Artists from across the globe as well as school children from from Harlesden Primary School, Barham Primary School, St. Robert Southwell Catholic Primary School, Roe Green Junior School, Gower House School and Vernon House School have contributed designs and artwork to the project, which includes a sculpture made entirely from material received at the MRF.

The mural overlooks the Jubilee and Metropolitan London underground lines running between Neasdon and Wembley Park and is created entirely from spray paint and recycled materials.

Unveiling the mural, Michael McLarnon, operations manager at the Seneca MRF, said: “The project was created after we had been approached by Brent council’s Graffiti Partnership. The MRF has been targeted by vandals and with the Wembley area highlighted because of the Olympics we thought it was appropriate to do something that engaged with the local community.

“We came up with the idea to create the mural and we are honoured to have artists come from all over the world to take part in this worthwhile project.”

Mural

The mural has taken over 6 months to create, and is thought to be one of the largest outdoor art installations in Europe.

Simon Egbor, Brent council community safety project officer and member of the Graffiti Partnership Board said: “Over three years ago graffiti crime was costing the council in excess of £400,000. This was a real problem and the formation of the Graffiti Partnership Board has managed to focus both council and external partners in not only cleaning graffiti but setting up operations to identify graffiti vandals and enforce action.

“We approached Seneca with this idea as the use of murals in graffiti hot spots has proven to be a successful deterrent. This is illustrated by past murals that we have commissioned including one on Harley Road, Harlesden.”

Gove to go in September? Will Truss take over?

Elizabeth Truss

I've been doing the round of end of terms concerts and graduation ceremonies at local schools and as usual have been impressed by the talent displayed by Brent children, their confidence and sheer zest for life.  Their teachers are by this time, in the helter skelter of report writing, open evenings, sports days, outings and productions are frazzled, just waiting for Friday.  I wish them all a wonderful summer holiday and the weekend change in the weather should raise their spirits,

Something else may also raise their spirits over the holiday if they have kept their eyes in the rumblings from Whitehall.  There are rumours that the cabinet reshuffle in September may see Michael Gove moved to the Home Office to replace Theresa May.

Initially, the tip off that in this public school educated cabinet, his successor may be a working class woman who was educated at a comprehensive school, may raise spirits even more but a closer look at Elizabeth Truss may make them pause for thought. She has lambasted her own comprehensive education and spoken against 'soft' A level subjects and modular assessment, Both her parents were public sector workers, left-wing and CND supporters and many of her teachers at her Leeds comprehensive were left-wing.

She rejected all this to become an admirer of Margaret Thatcher, completing a GCSE project on her downfall entitled 'End of an Era'.  Will it be the end of an era for some of Michael Gove's obsessions or will Truss take up his baton with relish?

Watch this space.

Thanks to the News Statesman for some of this information. See the full profile HERE

Save Hopscotch Nursery - sign this petition

The Hopscotch Nursery Campaign are asking Brent residents and people who work in Brent to sign their e-petition, lodged with Brent Council.  The petition is self-explanatory and signing is easy. Follow this LINK

The petition:

We the undersigned petition the council to allow Hopscotch Nursery to continue providing its much needed nursery and drop-in services. We demand that Brent council gives Hopscotch a secure future in Winkworth Hall or helps to locate alternative premises in same vicinity and undertakes not to evict Hopscotch until such premises are found.

Hopscotch is a much loved nursery that has been serving the local community for nearly 30 years, providing nursery education for the under 5’s, and a low cost drop-in for carers and children. Hopscotch was rated ‘outstanding’ in its last two Ofsted reports and is the only outstanding full time nursery in NW6.

Brent Council, which owns Winkworth Hall in which Hopscotch is based, has said that the building is “surplus to requirements” and expressed the intention to evict Hopscotch in 2013 in order to sell off the site.
This is despite its statutory duty, under the 2006 Children’s Act, to ensure sufficient childcare for working parents. The area that Hopscotch serves (Kilburn, Brondesbury Park, Mapesbury, Queen’s Park) is the least well provided for in the whole borough. The council’s recent assessment of childcare provision (February 2011) stated that:

“The availability of childcare may be more of an acute problem faced by families in Kilburn than it is for families in the rest of Brent.”

Hopscotch, which is run by a charity for the benefit of the community, addresses these needs. Its nursery and drop-in serve have served 100s of families in the local area. Without it these families simply have no childcare provision available. At a time of cuts a charity like Hopscotch is all the more precious; providing a valuable local service available to all parents without council funding.

 The campaign has a blog HERE. At the time of writing the petition has 355 signatures. It closes on August 1st.

Romayne will be a vigorous, campaigning Green Party leader

This is my personal choice as the next leader of the Green Party.