Brent fails to connect with residents on budget

In January 2012 Ann John and Muhammed Butt toured the Area Consultative Forums to speak about the Council budget. LINK One year on, after Muhammed Butt ousted Ann John promising greater openness and engagement with residents, no budget discussion has been included on the agendas so far published for next month's forums.

Pleas to formulate a needs based budget as a campaigning tool to challenge the Coalition's unequal slashing of local government expenditure have been ignored. An opportunity to engage with local residents and mobilise them in defence of vital services appears to have been rejected.

Now known as Brent Connect Forums they meet on the following dates. I include the agendas that have so far been published. 

Brent Connects Kilburn and Kensal
08.01.13 7pm Kensal Rise Primary School, Harvist Road, NW6
Brent Connects Harlesden 
09.01.13 7pm All Souls Church, Station Rd, NW10

• Update from representatives of TfL, Network Rail and London Overground (LOROL) on the planned improvements for Willesden Junction Station approach

• The latest news on the Willesden Energy Recovery Centre (incinerator in Ealing)

• Plans for the development of a Neighbourhood Forum covering parts of Stonebridge, Harlesden and Dudden Hill

• Proposed improvements to parts of the Brent River Park (Phase 2)

• Local Policing update

• Doing more locally with Residents' Association Groups

Brent Connects Wembley
15. 01.13 7pm Pattidar House, 22 London Road, HA9
Brent Connects Willesden
16.01.13 7pm College of NW London, College Road, NW10

• Government welfare reforms (including Discretionary Housing Payments) - how this will affect you and the benefits you receive

• Customer services at the civic centre - what's on offer

• Local policing update

Brent Connects Kingsbury and Kenton
06.02.13 7pm Kingsbury High School, Princes Avenue, NW9

Pitched battle for unique Watford allotments

Farm Terrace allotments in the summer

 In a battle that foreshadows many likely to take place in the future, allotment holders in  Watford are battling to save their allotment site. Earlier this month Lib Dems approved plans to build 600 houses on the site but the allotees have vowed to fight on.

The Farm Terrace allotments are close to the town centre and provide a green oasis and because of their unique terraced structure can be seen by the public.

The campaign has been supported by local Labour councillors and a petition launched on 38 Degrees: LINK

Campaign Website

The key findings in CIPFA comparative study of Brent Library service

The Kilburn Times LINK is reporting  the CIPFA Report on a comparative study of Brent Library Service and that of 15 neighbouring services.

CIPFA state:

The analysis is simple and non-judgemental. You will not find any quartiles, traffic lights or subjective commentary. Instead the report seeks to visualise the data and to enable readers to draw their own conclusions.

 In that spirit I too will resist a 'subjective commentary' and leave readers to make up their minds from the graphs reproduced below. The boroughs are (s) Brent, (e) Haringey, (a) Lewisham, (d) Lambeth, (x) Southwark, (t) Hounslow, (w) Merton, (f) Croydon, (h) Greenwich, (k) Wandsworth (z) Enfield, (g) Waltham Forest, (m) Hackney, (u) Redbridge, (n) Newham. (BRENT IS BLOCKED IN BLACK)

The full report is available via the link at the foot of this posting.

Above - survey of Under 16s

Fly-tipping is hard work compared with ringing for a bulky collection

Barn Hill pond

I took advantage of the 'lighter shade of grey' skies and temporary cessation of rain this morning for a brisk walk around the perimeter of Fryent Country Park.

The park is waterlogged at present with a number of temporary streams and ponds. In contrast with the Spring the ponds are full which bodes well for a better year for amphibians in 2013.

Barn Hill Conservation Group LINK who do so much to conserve and enhance the park have picked up  320 large black bags of litter as well as bigger items since January this year.  It never ceases to amaze me what lengths people go to in order to dump rubbish.

This morning in the field below the pedestrian bridge to Shakespeare Drive a huge suitcase had been dumped into the hedgerow.  This would have required parking a car by Michael Sobell Primary School, trundling the case up the tarmacked  slope to the bridge, down the steep grassy slope on the other side and then bumping it across the meadow. The case had been opened and the contents scattered across the grass. This included dozens of pairs of trainers, a Gok Wan fashion book, a guide to embroidery, an exercise book of poetry  and items of clothing.

The clothing could have been bagged and left out with the recycling, the shoes at one of the street side collection banks (the nearest is on the corner of Valley Drive/Kingsbury Road) and the books donated to a charity shop or one of the community libraries. I took advantage of the sunshine on New Year's Day to clear the dump.

The recent figures on the big rise in private rental accommodation does perhaps point to one of the reasons for the increase in fly-tipping. With tenancies changing frequently new tenants throw out stuff left by the old tenants and these are frequently left in front gardens or by the road side. This accounts for the number of mattresses scattered throughout the borough.

One idea I would like the council to consider is issuing leaflets to Letting Agents to go to  new tenants about the recycling services and particularly bulky collections. It would be helpful if this could be translated into Eastern European languages and any others felt appropriate.

Here is a reminder about what can be picked up through the bulky collection service:

Item	Such as	Items must be
Furniture-plastic, wooden or metal	Beds, mattresses and bedframes, sofas, tables (larger tables may count as 2 or more items due to their size), wardrobes, armchairs and chairs.	Small enough to be carried and loaded on to a vehicle by no more than two workers
Flooring	Linoleum and floor tiles	Bagged or bundled. Wooden flooring or ceramic tiles are not accepted.
Metal	Metal filing cabinets less than 40kg and fire guards.
Carpets		Manageable by two people, otherwise it must be cut into smaller sections, rolled and tied. Each section counts as a separate item. Underlay is also classed as a separate item.
Large electrical goods	Washing machines, cookers, microwaves, fridges, freezers, dishwashers, dryers and vacuum cleaners.
Small electrical item	TVs, monitors, Hi-Fi systems and radios
Glass or mirrors	Glass top table, mirrored parts of doors or cabinets and fish tanks.	Wrapped in a safe and secure manne

Thanks for your support for Wembley Matters

It has been gratifying to receive a number of messages from readers over Christmas thanking me for Wembley Matters.  I can't promise to keep it up forever but as the blog appears to be meeting a need I'll keep going as long as I can.

Meanwhile I hope all my readers have a restful break and come back with renewed vigour to fight for environmental and social justice in 2013.

Greens celebrate double victory over Veolia and incinerator

Greens and others fighting a proposed  incinerator in Pinkham Way and campaigning against Veolia being considered for a valuable waste contract by the North West London Waste Authority, got some good news yesterday.

The NWLA have withdrawn their planning application for a mechanical and biological waste treatment plant in Pinkham Way. Originally this was to be one of two sites but it now appears that only one will go ahead and subject to a successful planning application, that will be the Edmonton site. It is likely that a campaign will continue against this site too.

Greens have also supported the No2Veolia Action Group (NO2VAG) which has sought to get Veolia rejected as a possible bidder for the NWLA waste contract on the grounds of its abuse of human rights in the Occupied Territories of Palestine. Veolia announced yesterday that it was withdrawing from the bidding process for the £4.7bn contract.

Andrew Newby of Barnet Green Party said:

Barnet Greens welcome the withdrawal of Veolia and the scrapping of the Pinkham Way plan. We call on the NLWA to abandon the disastrous procurement process -- ie privatisation - and to keep its waste services in house while it researches the various viable alternatives now available to incineration of waste or dumping of rubbish to landfill.

The NO2VAG campaign which has been energetically spearheaded by Yael Kahn and Rob Langland  stated:

For two years the No2VAG has vigorously campaigned for Veolia to be removed from the list of bidders due to its grave misconduct in providing infrastructure to illegal Israeli settlements. Despite this involvement and its dire financial, health, safety and environmental record, Veolia was shortlisted for the final bids in February 2012.

This extraordinary withdrawal of Veolia comes after an intensification of the campaign against the company. The No2VAG staged twelve protests over the last two months at each council contributing £600m to the £4.7bn contracts.

The procurement process was shrouded in secrecy and campaigners faced a wall of denial when it came to Veolia’s unethical practices, environmental and technical shortcomings and financial instability. Engineer Rob Langlands and secretary of No2VAG said:

 North London residents want an environmentally responsible and cost effective solution to waste disposal. The Veolia technical proposals were not on track to provide this. I am especially delighted because of the ongoing Veolia involvement in the illegal Israeli settlements that the Veolia bids have now been consigned to the rubbish bin.

 Yael Kahn, chair of No2VAG said:

Our strategy to force councillors to seriously consider and publicly debate the issues at stake and the further actions planned No2VAG played a critical role in achieving our aim of eliminating Veolia from the NLWA procurement process.

'Green' Civic Centre to be surrounded by huge car park

Brent Council has been boasting about the controversial new Civic Centre's green credentials but one green credential - accessibility based on use of public transport - has been unpopular with councillors themselves and with many staff.

Anyone seeing the packed car park at Brent Town Hall for the recent full Council Meeting, and the overflow on King's Drive, could see that it might be hard to prise councillors out of their cars. Watching the area around the Civic Centre being levelled may have aroused suspicions amongst locals.

Muhammed Butt promised grumbling Labour councillors that he would see what he could do and 'Hey Presto!' the council has received a planning application for a temporary 1,350 space car park in the land surrounding the Civic Centre (the unnamed rectangle on Engineers Way below):

 The original plans for Quintain's redevelopment area did include 3,000 plus car parking spaces in the area although the Stadium was sold as a public transport destination. The nearby multi-storey car park is being demolished as part of the Designer Outlet development. The car park above would only be temporary while another parcel of Quintain land is developed and the developers argue that it does not increase the overall number of parking spaces.  Clearly the car park  will occupy a large and lucrative site that Quintain will eventually want to build on.

The plans will keep councillors quiet for a while but they will not be able to get too comfortable with their new parking facility.

Nearby businesses and schools currently make money from event day car parking and this income  is likely to be hit by the new car park which will be much more accessible. It remains to be seen how much councillors and council workers will have to pay for their parking and whether Quintain will offer them a reduction compared with the general public.

The application is dated 27.12.2012 and will be decided no earlier than 17.01.2013 Details: LINK

French parent voices doubts about Wembley Lycée

French parents in Central London have not been too impressed by the possibility of a  Lycée in Wembley.  A  French parent sent me this statement:

We were all surprised by the decision because it does not reconcile with Wembley regeneration plans with the creation of jobs for the Wembley local community nor the creation of school places for the local Wembley kids !! Basically it will be a rich kids school for parents living in Westminster and Chelsea. Although the last Brent Executive meeting suggested that they needed the money for the new Civic Centre (last Brent Executive minutes on the net).

Indeed a French school will provide jobs for builders for a while and a few 'dinner ladies'. The rest of the staff lives in Central London. The French children going to school in Wembley will be transient i.e. go into the borough for school and go back home to their Central London homes. Most French families live in the vicinity of the current schools. 

The French community is not happy with the choice of Wembley because they will be imposed Wembley for their children regardless of their home address in London. 

In France and in the UK, the school for your children is normally decided upon by your home address. This means that for those French parents who have three children at different school  locations (South Kensington, Kentish Town, Wembley) will be expected to do the school run between South Kensington,. Kentish Town and Wembley simultaneously for 09.00am by tube!!! 

When asked about this, the French Embassy dismissed the parents' concerns. with a 'take it or leave it' attitude.

Moreover French parents are very worried at letting their 10-11 years old children commute on their own from Central London to Wembley and back. The timings of the French school day is anything between 08.00 and 18.00 (unlike the UK). Furthermore, it appears that the children might have to walk 15 minutes or so, on their own, from Wembley Park station into a tunnel/motorway to reach Brent Town Hall. Again the Embassy does not seem to be concerned about the safety or welfare of kids nor about the time that these kids will need to spend in commuting  from their home in Central London to go to school and back.. The Embassy is treating children as though they were adults going to a new place of work.

Another problem? What will happen when there are no tubes to get from Central London to Wembley? bus? car? What time of the morning will these kids need to get up if taking a bus from South. Ken or Battersea to go to Wembley for 09.00!? Again the French Embassy did not seem to care too much.