Labour launch petition on fares and ticket office closures

The message below comes from a Labour Party source but I thought worth sharing with Wembley Matters readers. HOWEVER A WARNING There is a major reservation that I have concerning the petition. By signing it you leave yourself liable to be contacted by the  Labour Party or its elected rpresentatives and can only opt out by writing to a very small print postal address. I think it would be much more ethical to enable signatories to opt out electronically. There have been some concerns about people's names appearing on Labour Party websites locally, interpretable as endorsement, without their knowledge.

On Monday it was revealed that Boris Johnson plans to close every ticket office at TFL stations in London. It will mean no ticket offices at Wembley Park, Wembley Central, Northwick Park, Kilburn, Queens Park, Queensbury etc.

The effect will be dramatic. Firstly it will mean no human presence to help out when things go wrong – ticket machines out of order, Oyster Card lost or stolen etc. Secondly it will make stations less safe, particularly for older commuters and travellers. Thirdly it will make access to travel for disabled passengers in Brent even harder than it already is. Fourthly it raises serious questions over whether there will be enough staff at stations to cope in an emergency situation and lastly it will result in up to 6,000 job losses. Disastrous all round!

On top of this the Mayor looks set to raise fares above inflation yet again for 2014. Under Boris Johnson fares have become the highest in the world. A single bus journey is 56% more and a zone 1-6 travelcard is £440 a year more expensive. The Mayor is asking Londoners to pay more for less.

Sadiq Khan, Shadow London Minister has launched this petition – www.GreatToryTrainRobbery.co.uk and given the statement below:

Boris Johnson has an abysmal record of hiking fares year on year that has contributed enormously to the cost-of-living crisis in London. London fares are now the most expensive in the world. Since Boris became Mayor the cost of a single bus journey has increased by 56% and the price of a zone 1-6 travel card has increased by £440 a year. He must recognise that Londoners are struggling and that their budgets can’t keep stretching forever and freeze fares at least at the rate of inflation for 2014.The Mayor can afford to do this; all that is missing is the political will.”

On top of this, the Mayor plans to give Londoners a worse service for their money. On Monday his secret plans to close every ticket office in London were revealed. His plans mean you will get no help if your oyster card doesn’t work, or is lost or stolen. There will be no help for tourists who need advice or disabled passengers who need assistance. It raises questions about whether there will be enough staff at stations to deal with emergencies and will result in 2,000 job losses. This is one of the worst examples of breaking a manifesto promise I have ever seen in London politics. No wonder the public are so cynical of politicians.

What future for the Brent Town Hall memorial plaques?

Memorial garden outside Brent Town Hall

Brent Council is due to come back to me regarding the future of the memorial trees and plaques in the garden area outside the Town Hall now that it is to be refurbished as the Wembley French International School (see below).

The Council's attitude towards heritage and posterity has been under scrutiny in the light of the fate of  Dollis Hill House,the Old Willesden Library, the Palace of Industry and Oxgate Farm.

These plaques have been neglected and are in poor shape but nonetheless represent Brent Council's concerns with our wider history and as such merit some consideration.

Still time to comment on Wembley French International School plans for the Town Hall

School plan with Annex

Plans for the Wembley French International School which will occupy the redundant Brent Town Hall have largely met with approval from heritage organisations as they preserve many of the features of the Grade 2 listed building.

The prefabricated buildings and garages  at the back of the Town Hall will be demolished along with the print room, a former mortuary which was added to the original building. A new L-shaped annex to the north east (dark orange on plan) will be constructed with a canopied link to the main building and entered via The Paddocks.

Changes of use include the Mayor's Parlour becoming the headteacher's office, the Paul Daisley Hall a gymnasium, the Council Chamber a lecture theatre, the stage a drama studio and the committee rooms a study and exam space. Th retractable walls and parquet flooring of the committee rooms will be retained.

Two MUGAs (Multi-use Games Areas) are planned for the area north of the building but what is likely to be controversial is a running track in front of the Town Hall. Also controversial the plans will  require the removal of some trees. Some of the trees at the front of the Town Hall  have been planted as memorials and have plaques attached, It is not clear whether these will be retained or transferred to another site.

The small primary school (one form entry) will be in the East Wing and will largely be segregated from the secondary school sharing only the dining room, sports hall, studio and adminstration.

The secondary school of 900 pupils (11-18) will be in the West Wing.

The current Town Hall Library will be retained as the school library and it is proposed that it could be used by neighbouring schools. It will retain its Kings Drive entrance.

The existing bar will be demolished to expose the walls but the glazed roofing pavilion will be retained after a plea from English Heritage. The refreshment room will become a cafeteria.

It is envisaged that Institut Francais will provide after hours language classes for local schools and adult learners at the school.

The school will be fee paying and run by a board of trustees.It will follow the French curriculum and pupils will be taught in French and English.

The hours will be from 7.30am until 6.30pm with sports activities restricted to 8.30am until 6.30pm. A breakfast club will run from 7.30am.

Car parking will b reduced from the current 107 spaces to 46 with 78 cycle places.

The Planning Application can be found HERE It will not be decided before August 22nd, 2013

'Failing' Copland gets much improved A level results

The Kilburn Times LINK reports improved A Level results at Copland Community School. Copland was labelled 'Inadequate'  by Ofsted last term, its headteacher and governing body sacked, an Interim Executive Board imposed by Brent Council, forced academisation process started by the Department for Education, and the new management took competency procedures against many teachers.

Black vote decisive in Brent Central and Hampstead and Kilburn parliamentary contests

There was a ripple of amusement at Ealing Planning Committee last night when the Ealing Planning Officer referred to Cllr Zaffar van Kalwala as 'the Brent MP'.

Van Kalwala's hat is indeed in the ring for the Brent Central parliamentary candidate selection as is that of Dawn Butler and many others include Patrick Vernon. This afternoon Butler is co-facilitating a Voice Editor's Forum in Wembley on the issue of 'Is Labour losing the Black vote?'.

This follows the survey carried out by Operation Black Vote LINK on how Black and Ethnic Minority voters could influence the outcome of the 2015 General Election.

Dawn Butler lost against Sarah Teather in 2010 in the third biggest national swing against Labour despite Labour winning back seats on Brent Council to take control. Barry Gardiner increased his majority in Brent North in a campaign which played more to his personal prominence and following than to his Labour affiliation. Both Brent Central and Brent North have a majority of BME voters.

The OBV analysis for Brent Central in summary is: Brent Central MP: Sarah Teather Party: Lib Dems 2010 Majority: 1,345 (Ultra Marginal) Nearest challenger: Labour BME Voters in 2015 - Adjusted Figure: 61,609 Majority Seat: BME Voters 57.9% Total BME Population: 84,180 (61.2%) Asian Voters: 24,186 Black Voters: 28,591 Largest BME: African BME Impact: Very Significant

Clearly the BME vote will be of vital importance and will be a consideration when Labour starts the Brent Central parliamentary candidate selection process after the Labour Party Conference in September.

Hampstead and Kilburn where Glenda Jackson has a majority of only 42 and has stood down is also labelled an 'Ultra Marginal):   MP: Glenda Jackson Party: Labour 2010 Majority: 42  (Ultra Marginal) Nearest challenger: Conservative BME Voters in 2015 - Adjusted Figure:32,802 Total BME Population: 44,819 (34.5%) Asian Voters:12,491 Black Voters: 11,764 Largest BME: African BME Impact:  Very Significant

The report describes Brent North, which at 70.6% has the third highest BME population in the country, as 'Safe' for Barry Gardiner:  MP:Barry Gardiner Party: Labour 2010 Majority: 8,028  
Nearest challenger: Conservative BME Voters in 2015 - Adjusted Figure: 69,015    Majority Seat: BME Voters 70.6% Total BME Population: 94,300 (73.4%) Asian Voters: 49,261  1Black: Voters 12,836 Largest BME: Indian

BME Impact: Very Significant

The full report can be downloaded HERE

Now Home Office advertises 'Return Home' in shop windows

This Home Office poster was seen in a Cricklewood shop window this morning and seems to mark another stage in the Home Office 'Go Home' campaign albeit with a slightly modified message.

Thanks to Paul Edgeworth for the image

Speaking from HEART on Harlesden Incinerator

Rita Taylor, speaking yesterday on behalf of HEART (Harlesden Environmental Action Residents and Traders)addressed the issue of the West London Waste Action Plan and the fact that the site chosen by Clean Power was NOT one of the 6 sites earmarked by the Plan for possible use for a waste facility. The Ealing Planning Committee deferred a decision pending further information

Barry Gardiner caught in August storm over Modi visit

Brent North Labour MP Barry Gardiner has upped his profile in India considerably as can be seen on the many versions of the above interview on the internet and the highly partisan comments it has attracted.

Reaction to the invitation he submitted in his role as Chair of Labour Friends of India to Narendra Modi, leader of the BJP, is also building in the UK. Modi is a controversial figure because of his role in the 2002 communal riots in the Gujerat and he is only just becoming rehabilitated with Barry Gardiner, who counts himself a friend, leading the process. Indeed the India Times called him Modi's 'biggest fan'. LINK

The Conservative Friends of India have joined Gardiner in issuing the  invitation for Modi to speak on the 'Future of India' but the Labour Party is divided on the issue.

John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington, told The Hindu that he was “deeply shocked that Mr. Modi has been invited to meet British Parliamentarians, given the continuing concerns in India and across the world at his record on human rights and the sectarian politics of his party.”

He said the invitation

....should certainly not be seen as an endorsement of Modi by the British Labour Party or the British Parliament. I do not believe Modi should be associated with by any true friend of democracy or India.

He added that he “along with others” would “boycott any meetings or events with Modi present.”

Kamaljeet Jandu of BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) Labour has written to Ed Miliband slamming the invitation LINK :

....So, to my dismay I have learnt that Narendra Modi, who is still the Chief Minister of Gujarat, was invited by Barry Gardiner, Chair of Labour Friends of India, to speak at the House of Commons.

Mr Gardiner believes that since Britain does more business with Gujarat than with the rest of India put together, and he could possibly be India’s next Prime Minister, this is enough to whitewash Mr Modi’s past

Kalpana Wilson, of the South Asian Solidarity Group, strongly disagrees with the invitation.

[They] have invited somebody to address the House of Commons who has been responsible for what can only be called genocidal attacks in which more than two thousand members of the Muslim minority community in Gujarat were targeted for the most horrendous forms of violence and were murdered,

Women and children were particularly targeted, and this is something which South Asian communities in Britain simply are not able to forget.

We're not prepared to see Modi being rehabilitated as a respectable leading politician, which is what this invitation seems to suggest.

The Islamic Human Rights Commission Bookshop, based in Preston Road Wembley, has tweeted a link to the IHRC Report on the riots  in which more than 2,000 people, mainly Muslims, died LINK

A Change.Org petition LINK which has only been up for a day or so has already attracted more than 2,000 signatures calling for the invitation to be withdrawn. It reads:

Stop the Visit of Narendra Modi to the UK! Remember the Gujarat genocide of 2002

We the undersigned write to express our concern at the invitation to address the House of Commons issued to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi by the Labour Friends of India and the Conservative Friends of India. We strongly believe that Narendra Modi, who is responsible for the 2002 genocidal attacks in which over 2,000 men, women and children from Gujarat’s Muslim minority community were systematically killed, must not be allowed to visit the UK. Modi’s past visits to the UK have been used to raise extensive funds and support for communal violence, and a visit at this time when Modi is launching a campaign to become India’s next Prime Minister, and continues to try to gain votes using openly fascistic and anti-minority rhetoric, would be particularly dangerous.

In the wake of the 2002 genocide and the extensive documentation of Modi’s role in co-ordinating and sponsoring it. the UK, other EU, and US governments were compelled to distance themselves from Modi and the Gujarat government. However recently we have seen the British government take steps to rehabilitate Modi, as evidenced by meetings between the British High Commissioner and Modi in Ahmedabad. This puts the interests of British corporates wishing to invest in Gujarat ahead of any concerns for human rights and justice, and makes a mockery of the rights of the three British citizens who were murdered during the genocide and whose families are yet to receive justice. We condemn this collusion in Modi’s attempts to deny his role as a mass murderer. We demand that the invitation to Modi is withdrawn and he is refused a visa to the UK.