Butt and Shah condemn Brent fire station cuts

Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council, has strongly condemned Government plans leaked from the London Fire Brigade that reveal that two of Brent’s three fire stations could be forced to close to meet drastic savings targets.

The leaked document shows that only Wembley fire station is included on the ‘safe’ list of stations that will not be considered for closure. The borough’s other two fire stations in Harlesden and Willesden are not listed and are now in jeopardy. Butt has expressed anger that he was not consulted about the future and it took a leaked document for him to find out  the closure plans.

Cllr Butt said, “These plans are absolutely disgusting.  If two of our three fire stations are closed, this will seriously endanger thousands of our residents. Everyone understands that times are tough, but you cannot put a price on a person’s life, which is exactly what the Government is doing.

“This is yet another disgraceful example of the Coalition’s clear disregard for people’s basic needs and rights. I am appalled that Brent MP Sarah Teather would allow her own residents to be subjected to such a high level of risk by endorsing the closure of frontline services that are vital to keeping a huge number of people safe.”

Navin Shah, London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow and Labour's lead member on the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority said, “We understand that savings have to be made, but the level of cuts forced on the London Fire Brigade by the Mayor and government are truly reckless. 

“They are cutting too far, too fast. They are hitting front-line services and putting public safety at risk. The Mayor needs to come clean on fire brigade cuts and tell Londoners what he is planning to close.”

Greens marching for a Future that Works

Party Leader Natalie Bennett and Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas will head the march in London on Saturday, joining union members, Party activists and thousands of others to demand A Future That Works.

The march has been organised by the Trades Union Congress in protest against the Coalition government’s economic policies and to call for a new focus on investment to spark economic recovery.

Like the TUC, the Green Party opposes the ideologically motivated cuts which are hitting public services, taking support away from society’s most vulnerable, and leaving a generation of young people unable to find work.

The policies are also failing to deliver the single achievement to which the government claims it is dedicated – instead of reducing the deficit by 4.6 per cent as promised, nearly two and a half years of austerity measures forced it to grow by 22 per cent between April and August of this year.

Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett said:

“We’re marching with hundreds of thousands of others to give the government the message that we have to invest in the future.

“The government can’t continue with its economically illiterate cuts – we must invest in decent homes, renewable energy, public services, public transport and the infrastructure we need to bring manufacturing back to Britain.

“We must also restore food production systems within this country. All of these things are urgent, and need investment and planning to deliver.

“And this investment must be used to assist young people in finding fulfilling and worthwhile work. The Princes Trust has revealed that the number of young people in the UK out of work for more than two years has increased by 168 per cent since February 2008 .

“Our young people are doing all the right things to secure a job and future, but we’re not doing right by them.”

The march leaves Victoria Embankment at 11am, and will end with a rally at Hyde Park - London Greens will be meeting at Temple tube station at 10am. For more information please see our events page. It's time David Cameron recognises that "Green is Working"

Green Party members will be bringing local party banners and placards and will be joined by the banners of the Green Party Trade Union Group and Green Left.

A message from Paul Kenny about October 20th

I will be marching with Green Party colleagues on Saturday but non-Green Party readers may be interested in joining this contingent:

Dear Martin 


Over the last 2 years we have seen one of the worst ideological attacks on our country and our economy with the governments failed austerity plan.

The economy is not growing, incomes are not rising and the gap between the richest and poorest in society is growing.

On top of all that this week the government attacked our employment rights in their Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill. A bill that is designed to protect business from third party harassment claims, that makes it easier for businesses to fire people and reduces protections for whistleblowers at work.
They have got it the wrong way round – they are protecting businesses not workers.
 TULO
It is time for us to demand a better plan to protect our jobs, our rights and our futures. This Saturday TULO are marching for an alternative to this governments failed plan – we are going out to make sure that people know there is a different way.

Will you join us on Saturday? Click here to join http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/page/signup/we-re-marching-for-a-future-that-works---march-with-us
TULO will be assembling just outside Blackfriars station from 11.15am. The march will go along embankment and up to Hyde Park where there will be a rally organised by the TUC.

We need to show everyone that austerity is not the only way. We need to make it clear that we need a new plan that includes jobs, that protects our rights at work and that ensures the future of our NHS.

We need you on Saturday to make it clear that millions of people are not happy with this Tory-led government. So please sign up here http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/page/signup/we-re-marching-for-a-future-that-works---march-with-us

I look forward to seeing you soon.
Paul
Paul Kenny
Chair of TULO

Shared Public Health post ditched but Executive goes ahead with Barnet privatisation plans

The plans for a shared Director of Public Health with the London Borough of Hounslow were withdrawn this week by Brent Council.  The plans which were due to go before the Executive on Monday had encountered opposition from Labour councillors on the Brent Health Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee. They had passed a resolution expressing concern over the plans. LINK

However a far reaching plan for a four borough out-sourcing of waste management, recycling, street cleaning and parks maintenance was approved by Brent Executive. The notorious  right-wing, privatising,  Barnet Council will become Labour Brent's partner in a move that will lead to job losses. The Barnet Chief Executive recently left the council apparently unable to stomach their policies any longer.

The Executive's decisions can be found HERE

Flaming Hell! We don't want this up our Junction!

Photo: Ealing Times

Residents from Harlesden in Brent and Park Royal in Ealing converged on Willesden Junction station on Saturday to protest against plans to build an incinerator/anaerobic digester at the Willesden Junction Freightliner Depot.

The Ealing Times LINK reported that residents were opposed to Clean Power's plans, especially as they have already been fighting for clear air since the nearby Power Day Recycling Waste plant opened.

The Ealing Times reports:

Mark Walker, 48 of Stoke Place Road, said: “It’s only over the last couple of years, with the Environment Agency working with Powerday’s management and local residents, reporting smells and incidents, that we’ve got anything like acceptable levels of odour. People aren’t happy about it.”

He is concerned the area will face a further problem of unwanted smells from Clean Power’s development, on the opposite side of Old Oak Lane to the recycling plant.

“People feel like they are hemmed in, like we’re almost a dumping ground for these big factories,” he said.

Despite the short period before the plans go to Ealing Planning Committee in November, Brent Council has said that it will review the environmental impact of the proposed plant on Brent residents; its impact on road conditions particularly in and around Harlesden town centre, and its strategic impact on the regeneration of the wider Park Royal/Old Oak Area in relation to the possible HS2 link station. Following the review they will send a response to Ealing Council.


.

Tribute to Ben Rickman who died yesterday

The funeral took place this afternoon of Ben Rickman, secretary of Brent Trades Union Council, who died suddenly yesterday..

Ben was a long-time trades unionist and labour movement campaigner and anti-racist activist well known in the borough.

He was a determined opponent of extreme right-wing groups and opposed the EDL's attempts to stir up hatred during their campaigns in Harrow and Wembley. He signed the following letter to the press when the EDL was threatening to demonstrate in Wembley:

The racist, Islamophobic English Defence League is threatening to demonstrate in Wembley on Saturday 26 June against a peace conference, organised by a Muslim charitable foundation and aimed at building understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.

The EDL is an organisation of violent, bigoted thugs with proven links to the Nazi British National Party. They should be condemned everywhere, but will be particularly unwelcome if they come to Wembley, part of this country’s most diverse borough.

We are proud of our diversity. In the London Borough of Brent, people live and work together, children study, play and grow up together in peace and mutual respect, regardless of faith or skin colour.

As residents and workers in this borough, we will not tolerate attempts to divide us or stir up hatred. We stood united to show that there was no place for racism or Islamophobia in the neighbouring borough of Harrow. We stand prepared to do the same in Brent.

Commemorating Jayaben Desai who led the famous Grunwick strike, Ben said:

Jayaben Desai destroyed the myth of passive Asian women and contributed to the advancement of Asian people in the UK. Many consider her a role model. She also contributed to unions taking the organisation of migrant workers as a campaign priority, one of her lasting legacies.

Supporting last year's Give Our Kids a Future unity march in Hackey which took place after the riots he said:

Please include the support of Brent Trades Union Council. Brent is a borough of many languages and cultures and a spectrum ranging from deprivation in Harlesden to millionaire homes in Kenton. We wish this demonstration every success. We all have a right to work, and to be valued and developed. Opportunity only exists for some, not for all and that is very wrong.

These extracts demonstrate why Ben was held in such regard as a man of principle.He will be greatly missed and perhaps the best tribute we can pay him is to join the March For An Alternative on Saturday. He would have been there.

Why Greens will be marching for 'A Future that Works' on October 20th

This article by Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales


The march for "a future that works" organised by the trade union movement on October 20th is vital to the movement against austerity.

We need to be looking to a new economic model rather than these tired, heartless false economies that hit the most vulnerable the hardest.

We should be investing in the future, creating jobs and stabilising the economy. Instead we see more of the same privatisation, casualisation and demonisation of the poor, disabled and public sector workers.

Deficit in thinking

Even in the government's own terms massive cuts to public services made no sense - and the fact that government borrowing is at a record high only underlines how economically illiterate this "deficit reduction" project has been.

Instead of hitting the target of a 4.6% reduction in the deficit in fact the deficit has grown by 22% between April and August.

You cannot put an economy back on its feet by throwing people out of work and undermining the public services that keep society ticking.

If the Coalition government was serious about tackling the gap between government spending and income it would be ruthlessly tackling tax avoidance on the part of the rich and large corporations. It would cut spending on nuclear weapons and unnescesary road building - but these cuts are ideologically motivated and are really about the privatisation and carving up of public services, we cannot allow that to happen.

Marching makes a difference
I firmly believe we need to help build a movement for a more sustainable economic system. A movement that reins in the banking and financial sector while investing in the real economy, giving us a solid foundation with which to face the critical challenges of the twenty first century.

We shouldn't simply go back to Labour's 2006 spending priorities - their love affair with the casino capitalism of international finance and growth for its own sake helped bring us to this point. We should though build alliances across the trade union movement, political organisations and campaign groups to take this government head on.

I'll be marching on October 20th, I hope you'll join me.

More discoveries in Fryent Country Park

Hot on the heels of the discovery by Year 1 pupils from Oliver Goldsmith Primary School of a water stick insect, Ranatra linearis, a few weeks ago, another class also found something unusual last week.

The pond stick insect, confusingly, is not really a stick insect and Year 4s from Michael Sobell Sinai Primary School found a worm that is not a worm.

They found a slow worm which is not a worm and not a snake. It is a lizard which through evolution has lost its legs.  The children found an adult (below) and a juvenile in a seldom disturbed section of Fryent Country Park. As ths is a protected species we will try and make sure it remains undisturbed.