Butt vows to go full-out on Central Middlesex A&E campaign

Cllr Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, has told Labour Group members that he is determined to get behind the campaign to Save Central Middlesex Accident and Emergency.

Butt and some of his colleagues took part in the Brent Fightback march against the closure but they cited lack of Liberal Democrat and Conservative support as the reason they could not take an official Brent Council stand on the issue. They claimed this  meant that they could not mount a campaign such as that by Ealing Council that mobilised thousands of the local population.

In addition Brent Council's Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee failed to take a strong stand in defence of the A&E, accepting many of the arguments for closure, and then defeated a motion to join Ealing Council to refer back the reorganisation.

Butt now wants to take a much stronger position and has challenged his colleagues to give him full backing.The issue has already been mentioned by several of the candidates for the Brent Central parliamentary candidate nomination.

The leadership of Brent Labour will again be up for challenge at the May Annual General Meeting. A challenge to Butt's leadership fizzled out in February when his opponents were unable to muster enough support to table a no confidence vote.

Cllr Revd Clues must resign after attending only one meeting in 6 months

Rev David Cues, Liberal Democrat councillor for Dudden Hill, now resident in Brighton, has attended just one council meeting or committee in the last six months out of eight that he was supposed to attend.

Councillor Gavin Sneddon, another Liberal Democrat, who has also moved out of the borough -  albeit not so far, attended 5 out of 8 meetings.

The best attender was Cllr Pat Harrison (Labour) with 19 out of 19, closely followed by Cllr Lesley Jones (18/18) and Cllr Janice Long (17/17).

Former Labour leader Ann John managed only 8 out of 13 meetings. However Pat Harrison attended 19/19 with one extra meeting, closely followed by Lesley Jones 18/18 and Janice Long 17/17. Ketan Sheth appears to have over-stretched himself managing only 16 of 3 expected attendances.

Liberal Democrats Paul Lorber and Barry Cheese both attended 8 additional meetings out of personal interest or to represent their constituents.

Obviously the number of meetings is not necessarily a guide to how effective a councillor is. If they sit there like a bag of potatoes and make no contribution except to rubber stamp decisions and do little case work they are not doing a good job.

However, Clues' 12.5% attendance rate is an insult to democracy and a betrayal of the electorate, and must reinforce the call from Brent Green Party that he should resign with still a year to go before the next council election.

Full attendance details for all councillors can be found HERE

'A breath of fresh air' and 'a real person' to fight it out with Dawn

The fight for Labour's nomination for Brent Central looks set to gain national prominence as The Voice LINK profiles the three front runners: Patrick Vernon ('a breath of fresh air'), Amina Ali  ('a real person') and Dawn Butler for whom The Voice gives no details except that she is a former MP.  An indication perhaps of the paper's assessment of the candidates.

Neither of the local candidates, Cllr Zaffar Van Kalwala or Sabina Khan are mentioned, nor the leader of Islington Council, Catherine West LINK said to have been approached by some local Labour Party activists.

The Voice quotes a local Labour source as suggesting the selection process could begin as early a September which could see the selection process for Labour council candidates running concurrently. A number of veteran councillors are expected to stand down.

What might be an excellent testing ground for the parlaimentary as well as the council candidates would be getting out on the street for a by-election and seeing how they go down with the electorate.

With a year to go before the council election won't the Reverend David Clues currently enjoying life in Brighton do us all a favour and resign, opening the way for a mini-contest in Dudden Hill?

Brent Cyclists propose an achievable cycling revolution in the borough

Crossing the Welsh Harp

Brent Cyclists have issued an incredibly  thorough and imaginative 'Draft Cycling Plan for Brent' which aims to improve cycling across the borough and cycling links with central London, as well as tackle the major barriers to cycling in Central and North Brent. If their vision is realised it would not just be a cycling 'improvement' but a cycling revolution.

They argue that a 'mini Holland' is required in Central Brent:

The plan required to tackle these barriers to link the communities of mid-Brent with practical cycling and walking routes will be a major piece of work in itself. Brent Cyclists’ suggestions for priority changes needed for the mini-Holland in Wembley and Neasden are as follows:

A)

Alterations to the Neasden north and south roundabouts, to the cycle / pedestrian underpass at Neasden (or complete replacement) and to Dudden Hill Lane, Neasden Lane North and Blackbird Hill to create a viable cycle route to Wembley Park and the north of the borough, from the south and from central London. This will be discussed later under the heading “Jubilee Line Quietway”. This will be a completion of a Quietway using main roads and needs to be entirely segregated. This is a very large scheme in itself.

B)

A new link between Wembley park and Neasden spanning, or going under, the Metropolitan Line to fill in the long gap between the North Circular Road and Bridge Road crossings. This already features in the Wembley area Masterplan, but needs to be a priority step, before extensive redevelopment.

C)

A new link across the Chiltern Line between Wembley Park and the Harrow Road area, at Sherrans Farm Open Space

D)

Extension and improvement of the cycle route on the Brent River Path in both directions. At the north end, quality links to both new crossing A) above and to Bridge Road via North Road. At the south end, an improved, more efficient crossing of Harrow Road and an improved, safer linkage to the Stonebridge/ Abbey Road cycle bridge.

E)

Segregated cycle tracks along Forty Avenue and East Lane, or, where there is insufficient width, mandatory cycle lanes with removal of all parking.

F)

Prioritisation of cycling, walking and buses on Ealing road by removing the north-south through route for cars, forcing them to use Bridgewater Road instead, which is a more suitable route.

G)

Closing the through-route via St Johns Road and Llanover Road to cars to create a bike priority route parallel to the West Coast Main Line and opening up a route through the North Wembley Industrial Estate from there to Windermere Avenue, with appropriate crossing facilities at East Lane, to extend this route northwards.

H)

Linking Neasden Recreation Ground with Welsh Harp Open Space with a new path built in collaboration with the Canal and River Trust (who control the reservoir) which would either use the dam or a new bridge across the Brent. This should also, with the cooperation in addition of Barnet council, become part of a circular leisure cycling and walking route all round the reservoir. Brent Cyclists have already suggested several detailed options for this scheme.

I)

Replacing one or both of the spiral pedestrian footbridges across the North Circular Road at Kenwyn Avenue and the St Raphaels Estate with wide cycling and walking bridges with long, straight ramps. There is enough space in both these locations for this. These bridges must be connected with good, wide paths to the minor roads at either end.

Extensive proposals are also made for North Brent:

A)
A N-S route from Blackbird Cross on the A4140 via Salmon Street, Fryent Way, and
Honeypot Lane. Segregated cycle tracks or mandatory cycle lanes with no parking all the way are needed. On Fryent Way where there is the obvious opportunity to create cycle paths between the existing road and footpaths, and this could be the first part of the scheme. This route requires the collaboration of Harrow in Honeypot Lane, and it should be taken by Harrow all the way to Stanmore. Kingsbury Circle is currently a dangerous interruption on this route and needs either signalising or replacing with a Dutch-style roundabout (which TfL is currently experimenting with at the Transport Research laboratory in Berkshire).
B)
An E-W route on the A4006 (Kingsbury road and Kenton Road). These roads are wide enough for general segregation if the whole width of the road is redesigned. This requires the co-operation of Harrow on Kenton Road, and the route should link to Harrow town centre. Radical changes to the very dangerous Northwick Park roundabout (shared with Harrow) would be necessary, with cycle tracks on the roundabout, and signalisation.
C)
A new cycle path through West Hendon Playing Fields, N-S, along the Brent-Barnet boundary (to link with B) above) and with the existing path through Welsh Harp Open Space and to Birchen Grove, linking with the Jubilee Line route (see later).
D)
The LCN route on Draycott Avenue, Windermere Avenue and Grasmere Avenue needs cutting as a through-route for cars.
E)
A N-S route from Burnt Oak to Wembley is needed. Slough Lane /Salmon Street is already low-traffic due to aggressive traffic-calming, it being easier for cars to use Church Lane for that stretch, but the northern continuation in Roe Green and Stag Lane is too busy. The Stag Lane / Roe Green route needs cutting for motor through-traffic (buses could be allowed). The general traffic on this route should be on the A5 and A4006
F)
An route E-W route from Colindale to Queensbury via Holmstall Avenue and Beverley Drive is needed. Beverley Drive is wide enough for segregated cycle tracks,
G)
Cycling in Roe Green Park needs regularising, with widened paths and a proper link to the road at the Roe Green / Kingsbury Road junction.
H)
Church Lane (B454) is an important link road between Kingsbury and Neasden, but is  hostile to cycling because of high vehicle speeds combined with chicaines created by traffic islands and intermittent parking. The islands and hatching should be removed and replaced by zebra crossings, and on-street parking should be removed and replaced with cycle lanes or tracks.
I)
Old Church Lane (which has one of the better cycle facilities in Brent, a two-way track at its western end already) serves no function in the traffic system and should be closed to motor traffic. It is a cut-through for traffic turning left on to Blackbird Hill, but traffic can make that turn from Tudor Gardens 

These proposals merit serious consideration and would contribute enormously to Brent's Climate Change Strategy by encouraging more people to leave their cars behind and take to their bikes, secure in the knowledge that safe and secure routes are in place. As well as making commuting cycling more attractive it would also increase leisure cycling improving health and tackling obesity.

Brent Cyclists deserve congratulation and thanks for this far-sighted and thorough report which must have required an enormous amount of work by a small voluntary organisation.

It has not been possible to do the full 25 page report full justice in this summary. The full report can be found HERE

Teather: 'Some families are being targeted over and over again' by welfare changes

This article by Patrick Wintour appears in the Guardian today:

Almost 440,000 families will see their income cut by £16.90 a week as they are hit by both the “bedroom tax” and the changes to council tax benefit, according to research by the New Policy Institute.

The cumulative impact of the welfare changes prompted a former Lib Dem minister, Sarah Teather, to urge the coalition to review its reforms. She said: “My concern is that some families are being targeted over and over again.”

The MP for Brent Central added: “Hitting the same people repeatedly means it adds up to a very significant cut in income. I am not sure how they are supposed to manage, where they are supposed to live, or whether the government has looked at the cumulative impact.”

Her warning came as the chief executive of a leading social housing provider warned some tenants were panicking as the reality of the bedroom tax began to bite.

Research by the New Policy Institute reveals that of the 660,000 families hit by the bedroom tax, or spare room subsidy in ministers’ parlance, 440,000 will have their council tax discount reduced as well. It adds that, on average, this group will be £16.90 worse off a week.

The three main reforms introduced this week are:
• The replacement of council tax benefit by council tax support, estimated to cost 2.4 million families in England an average of £2.60 per week. The coalition says the council tax benefit bill rose by 50% under the last government.
• An under-occupation penalty (commonly known as the bedroom tax) is expected to cost 660,000 families an average of £14 per week. The government says 1.8 million people are on council house waiting lists.
• An overall household benefit cap, set at £500 for a family with children, is expected to affect 56,000 households with an average cut of £93 per week.

In addition there has been a below-inflation rise for those on tax credits and benefits. The NPI estimates a total of 1.3 million families will be affected by the lower-than-inflation benefit uprating, council tax changes and the bedroom tax. It said it had been impossible to calculate precisely which categories of people will also be hit by the absolute cap on housing benefit, due to be introduced later this month in four pilot areas and then phased in nationwide in the autumn.

Teather says the benefit cap is the single reform that worries her most in her north London constituency, adding that larger families are already preparing to move out of the area.
The NPI estimates that around 63% of families affected by one of the cuts are already in poverty. This rises to 67% for those affected by both council tax benefit and the bedroom tax. In total 1.6 million families already in poverty – as officially defined by the government – now have to cope with further reductions in income.

The NPI said: “Three-quarters of those affected are out of work. When their benefits are cut, they do not have other sources of income to fall back on. To someone receiving jobseeker’s allowance of £71.70 a week, even the smallest of these cuts (for council tax) represents a 3.5% drop in disposable income.”
Just under two-thirds of families affected by the bedroom tax include a disabled adult. It has been argued that the bedroom tax is particularly unfair on disabled people who require adapted accommodation. While not all disabled people will require specialised accommodation, the NPI says its figures suggests that the dilemma facing the disabled will not be uncommon.

Meanwhile, the chief executive of social housing provider Riverside – which owns or runs more than 50,000 homes – has also warned of the fear felt by some of its 7,000 tenants affected by the bedroom tax.
In an open letter to David Cameron and Nick Clegg, Carol Matthews warns that “most of those affected are precisely the people government should be helping ‘get on’ rather than ‘get out’”.

Matthews goes on to say that those who will be worst hit are: “Families with teenage children who need their own bedrooms to enable them to study; fathers who have split from their partners and are trying to do the right thing by sharing responsibility for bringing up their children; grandparents who are helping their own children to work by providing low cost childcare for their grandchildren.

“In addition there are the thousands of tenants who are now deemed to be able to share, when the reality is that they need to sleep in separate rooms as a result of disability or illness.

“These are not minor exceptions that can be regulated away, or helped with small amounts of discretionary payments. Rather they illustrate that the line has been drawn in the wrong place.”

R4's Any Questions? Brent broadcast will include Caroline Lucas

 Caroline Flint, Sir Menzies Campbell and Caroline Lucas

Radio 4's Any Questions? is coming to Brent on Friday 26th April. The show will be broadcast from Claremont High School and panellists include Caroline Flint MP (Labour Shadow Secretary for Energy and Climate Change) Sir Menzies Campbell (Liberal Democrat) and Caroline Lucas MP (Green Party).

Questions are picked on the evening of the broadcast but with the two Carolines on the panel are likely to include issues relating to energy policy and climate change including the issue of nuclear power.

The programme follows the 8pm News on Friday and is rebroadcast after the 1pm News on Saturday followed by Any Answers at 2pm.

For FREE ticket ring Box Office 0844 850 0093

Shelter publishes updated housing statistics for Brent

Shelter today published its detailed housing figures for the fourth quarter of 2012  LINK a selection of which are printed in the table below. The situation will become much worse as a result of benefit changes introduced from this month.

Some figures from 2011 are also relevant. Brent's working age unemployment rate in 2011 was 12.10% compared with a London average of 9.3%. In 2011 Brent had 2,370 vacant properties registered for council tax purposes. In 2011-12, 850 affordable homes were built in Brent (London 17,260)

Average weekly council rents in 2011-12 were £95.43 in Brent and £89.17 across London. In 2011 weekly housing association rents in Brent were £101.46 (London £97.46) and are set to rise towards the private level. The average price of a home in Brent in Q4 2012 was £325,000 compared with £315,000 in Q3 2011 (London average £305,000).

The home price to annual income ratio for the lower quartile of house prices and income in 2011 was Brent 11.75 and London 8.96. For all incomes and house prices  the average ratio was 10.79 Brent and 8.54 London. The annual average gross income in 2012 was £28,703 Brent and £32,509 London.

Category	Area	Q4 2011	Q4 2012
Families with children accepted as homeless	London	2398	3118
	Brent	107	120
Households accepted as homeless	London	3460	4213
	Brent	136	154
Households in temporary accommodation	London	35920	38856
	Brent	3078	3220
Households on council waiting list	London	366613	380301
	Brent	14443	16735
Households with dependent children in temporary accommodation	London	27855	28393
	Brent	2620	2704
Number of children in temporary accommodation	London	54200	5490
	Brent	5930	5934
Possession claims by landlords	London	10260	12163
	Brent	415	589
Possession claims granted to landlords	London	6580	7780
	Brent	350	477
Housing benefit claimants council and housing assn	Brent	20000	20430 (Q3 2012)
-ditto- private tenants	Brent	16820	17290 (Q3 2012)
Mean private rents	London	£1281	£1369
	Brent	£1287	£1364
Median private rents	London	£1100	£1196
	Brent	£1200	£1250

Organising to develop a strategy on the housing crisis

With the Bedroom Tax protests at the weekend and publicity over the benefit changes, the press, TV and radio have at last woken up to the issues involved.

On Tuesday April 9th there will be a meeting in Brent to discuss next steps in a  local housing campaign. A report of the inaugural meeting follows:

Around 25 people attended the initial Housing Strategy meeting called by Brent Fightback, on Tuesday 19th March at the Brent Mencap offices in Willesden.

Attendees included the lead member for Housing for Brent Council, the Somali Advice Centre, the Counihan Family Housing campaign, Mencap campaigners, a tenants representative, a housing worker, and a high school teacher concerned about the cases arising at her school. Apologies were received from the Brent Law Centre and the Brent Private Tenants Rights Group and from some who attended the Health Scrutiny Committee.

It was a constructive and serious meeting, with information and experiences shared about the current situation and the general background to housing in Brent. Potential strategies and targets for campaigning were discussed, including:

GLA powers to set Rent Caps; advice and signposting training; "Bedroom Tax" strategies; the Right to Buy discounting; helping residents speak out and organise; mutual exchanges on properties; resisting evictions; linking up with other campaigners.

Janice Long, lead member for Housing has agreed to provide current local information of how changes are expected to affect people locally.

We agreed a next meeting time: 7pm, Tuesday 9th April, Brent Mencap offices, 379-381 High Road, Willesden. We will consider the actions that were suggested at the intial meeting and any further priorities, and estabish the name and aims of a local housing campaign.

Please forward widely.

Robin Sivapalan robsivapalan@hotmail.com 07974 331 053
Ken Montague kenmontague@msn.com