Brent to be hit by tube line closures over Bank Holiday weekend

The Bank Holiday and Carnival weekend promises to be fraught with travel problems for Brent residents:. This is the message from TfL:

Metropolitan line There is no service between Aldgate and Harrow‑on‑the-Hill on Sunday and Monday while we carry out track replacement work.

Jubilee line On Sunday and Monday, trains will not run between Willesden Green and Stanmore while we replace track on the adjacent Metropolitan line.

Piccadilly line There is no service between Acton Town and Rayners Lane while we replace track at North Ealing. (this means no service from Alperton)

To assist travel, the Metropolitan line will run an enhanced service, with trains every 10 minutes, between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge.

London Overground  If the planned industrial action goes ahead, on Sunday and Monday there will be no trains between Willesden Junction and Richmond/Clapham Junction as well as no service between Gospel Oak and Barking.

That leaves the delights of the Bakerloo and the Euston Watford Overground for Brent residents.There will of course be replacement bus services on the other routes so we can look forward to crowds of confused and dazed tourists from nearby hotels at Wembley Park station on Sunday and Monday - puzzled as to why transport closes down in London for the celebration of a Bank Holiday and Europe's biggest street Carnival.

Jenny Jones claims Mayor's Office incinerator approval an 'environmental disaster'

The Mayor’s office today granted planning approval for the Viridor Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) incinerator in Sutton for the treatment of four London council’s waste (Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton and Sutton. In Boris Johnson’s absence, Edward Lister the Mayor of London’s Deputy Mayor for Planning made the decision on behalf of the Mayor of London.

The decision does not bode well for any appeal to Boris Johnson on the proposd Harlesden incinerator which means campaigners will have to redouble their efforts to get it over-turned at the reconvened Ealing Planning Committee.

Earlier this month the Mayor's Office decided not to intervene in the Welsh Harp/West Hendon development.

As you will see the Beddington issue contains elements relevant to both the Harlesden Incinerator and the West Hendon Development.

Jenny Jones said:

The Mayor’s decision is an environmental disaster for south London and the recycling and composting industry. The Mayor has failed to observe his own planning and waste policies which state that incineration is the least desirable form of waste management. Instead he has put the interests of big business first, before legitimate environmental concerns and the interests of local residents that will be affected by his decision

Jenny Jones' letter of objection:

Beddington Farmlands Waste Management Facility Planning application No: D2012/66220

I am very concerned at the type of waste facility proposed at the existing landfill and recycling site in Beddington. Specifically, its detrimental impact on the natural environment, on local air quality, and on undermining the waste hierarchy. 

Metropolitan Open Land:

This is an inappropriate development on Metropolitan Open Land and contrary to London Plan policy 7.7 which gives MOL the strongest protection.

Air Quality:

Contrary to London Plan policy 7.14, the development proposal will lead to further deterioration of local air quality from both vehicle movements associated with the delivery of waste and removal of ash, and from the flue gases emitted through the chimney stacks, particularly as this is already an Air Quality Management 

Area. Biodiversity and conservation:

The site is of exceptional importance for birds in London, with nationally important populations of several species and one of the longest species lists in London (82 bird species were recorded at the Beddington SMI during the 2011 breeding season). As a Metropolitan wildlife site, it is part of the key strategic framework for biodiversity described in policy 7.19 and is in the Mayor’s Biodiversity Strategy. The scheme will result in the permanent loss of wildlife habitat and a change in absolute character of the Beddington Farmland. It also does not address the issues of the failed Conservation Management Plan and current decline in the conservation target species. It is therefore contrary to London Plan policy 2.18 and 7.19. 

Waste issues: 

The Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) is a combined heat and power incinerator proposed by Viridor, the South London Waste Partnership’s preferred bidder for the treatment of four London council’s (Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton and Sutton) with a maximum waste capacity of 302,000 tonnes per annum (tpa). According to Viridor they expect to incinerate 200,000 tpa of residual municipal waste collected from households from the partnership area. Type of waste facility:

The Mayor’s London Plan (para 5.86) policy on energy recovery from waste states that ‘energy recovery should be carried out through advanced conversion techniques, ie gasification, pyrolysis or anaerobic digestion’. The ERF is therefore contrary to this policy. 

Residual waste:

Only genuine ‘residual waste’, the element that cannot be recycled or composted, should be considered for energy generation. However, as the South London Waste Plan has not set out plans to maximise recycling/composting targets, which according to the Scottish Government and Welsh Assembly are in the region of 70 per cent, or even 80 per cent according to the Friends of the Earth, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of recyclable and compostable material will be incinerated over the period of the contract. The resolution passed in May 2012 by the European Parliament calling for a limit on incineration with energy recovery to ‘non-recyclable materials only’ by 2020 needs to be taken into consideration. Particularly as it is likely to pave the way for far more ambitious and stringent incineration polices in the forthcoming review of the EU Waste Framework Directive, and within the lifetime envisaged in this application. 

Waste capacity and 30 year contract:

Whilst incineration may offer the easiest alternative to landfill and avoiding escalating landfill charges, this short term solution, will have long term detrimental consequences. It won’t provide incentives to maximise recycling/composting rates, nor will it discourage unsorted residual household black bag waste. Instead, vast amounts of climate changing carbon dioxide and pollution will be produced and valuable natural resources that could be recycled will be incinerated.

Greenhouse gas emissions and carbon intensity floor assessments (CIF): 

Viridor’s ERF plan does not offer significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Their ‘Needs Assessment and Carbon Balance’ document only compares the ERF to the landfill site, not other available waste treatment options such as recycling, reuse or other renewable energy sources. The Working out of CIF is based on the displacement of gas, however, well within the lifetime of the plant renewable energy is very likely to outstrip gas as the major supplier. There is a good chance the ERF could be displacing and preventing energy that could come from more environmentally friendly options. For the reasons set out above, I strongly urge you to direct refusal. 

Jenny Jones Green Party Member of the London Assembly

Civic Centre shenanigans

Shanice the £12,000 hologram assistant installed at the new Civic Centre has received widespread publicity and not a little controversy. Some have hailed it as a 21st century innovation while others said if Brent Council was really concerned about local unemployment rates they should have employed a real person - and not on a zero hours contract.

Others have been scathing about the basic lack of signs at the Centre. On Monday evening strategically placed security men had to guide us to the boardroom where the Executive meeting was being held. There are no signs to these rooms where meetings, ostensibly opn to the public to ensure transparent democracy, are held.

Every new building has its teething problems and the  Brent Civic Centre is no exception.

Unusually you are instructed to keep your finger pressed on the button to summon the lift and once inside you must kept your finger pressed on the button to ensure you stop at the requested floor. I am not sure what happens if you lift your finger off - perhaps the lift stops between floors or whizzes back down again.

Staff have complained of feeling hot and cold due to what appears erratic climate controls and the automatic  ambient light sensors don't always give enough light to enable comfortable reading.

The one fault that has resulted in farcical scenes is the poor mobile phone signal (staff are equipped with mobiles for their hot-desking). This has resulted in the open plan offices in a cacophony of shouted telephone conversations reverberating around the room leaving staff with splitting headaches at the end of the day.

Not to mention the IT...

But the restaurant does now serve tap water, albeit slightly warm if they don't run the tap first.

Kensal Green Cupcakes against UKBA,

We like diversity!

  Guest blog

We’re a group of local Brent residents and we’d like you to join us for a free cup cake session in protest of the UKBA’s recent actions in Kensal Green and other London boroughs. We appreciate the diversity of our neighbourhoods and do not want racial profiling in the area.

Cup cakes will be available for all, while stocks last, at:

Kensal Green Tube Station

on Friday 23 of August -  from 5pm onwards.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Peace .

Mapping deprivation in Brent - a useful tool

Click on image to enlarge

Ben Goldacre has helpfully tweeted a link to the Open Communities Interactive map which shows comparative deprivation in the country LINK

You are able to drill down into particular areas and the above illustration shows Brent and surrounding area with Harlesden at the centre.

The map should be useful for the campaigns around housing, health and hospital closures.

Barry Gardiner faces Wembley protest over Modi invitation

Guest blog from South Asia Solidarity Group

Stop mass murderer Narendra Modi from visiting the UK!

Barry Gardiner: Withdraw your invitation to the 'butcher of Gujarat'! 

Protest:­­­  Monday 9 September 2013, 11:30 AM - 1 PM, at Barry Gardiner’s MP’s surgery, Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley HA9 0FJ

Nearest Tube Station: Wembley Park (see map)

·         Narendra Modi is the Chief Minister of Gujarat, the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and an avowed admirer of Hitler and his policies.

·         In 2002, Modi presided over the genocidal attacks in which over 2,000 men, women and children from Gujarat’s Muslim minority community were systematically killed.

·         This is the man whom Labour MP for Brent North Barry Gardiner has invited to come and address the House of Commons on the subject of 'The Future of Modern India'.

What happened in Gujarat in 2002 has been amply documented and there is clear evidence (1)(2)(3) that the violence was orchestrated and sponsored by the state. The police had been instructed not to intervene while Hindu supremacist mobs linked to the BJP murdered and raped, selectively  targeting the addresses occupied by Muslim families . According to a leaked report by the British High Commission in India the violence 'had all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing and that reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims is impossible while the chief minister [Narendra Modi] remains in power’ and that 'far from being spontaneous' it was 'planned, possibly months in advance, carried out by an extremist Hindu organisation with the support of the state government.'(4) 

Modi is currently making a bid to become India's next Prime Minister and has launched a campaign using openly fascistic and anti-minority rhetoric. At the same time he is claiming that he has been absolved of wrong doing in connection with the massacres of 2002 by the Supreme Court of India. This is untrue, see for example (6). 

While in the wake of the 2002 genocide and the clear evidence and documentation of  Modi’s role in coordinating and sponsoring it, the UK, EU and US were compelled to distance themselves from Modi, more recently the British government is  rehabilitating him. At a recent meeting with Modi in Ahmedabad,  the Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Hugo Swire made it clear that this was in 'the UK's national interests', meaning the interests of British big business (7) (8).

Now Barry Gardiner on behalf of the 'Labour Friends of India' has invited Modi to come and address the House of Commons on the subject of 'The Future of Modern India'. The Conservative Friends of India have supported this invitation. This is purely an attempt to help British corporates sell their products and services in Gujarat in the interests of larger profits.  It makes a mockery of human rights  and ignores the three British citizens who were murdered  during the genocide and whose families are yet to receive justice.

Modi's past visits to the UK have been used to raise extensive funds and support for communal violence. A visit at this time is particularly dangerous and must be stopped. 

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.

Notes

(1) See Human Rights Watch: ' “We Have No Orders To Save You”

State Participation and Complicity in Communal Violence in Gujarat’,  April 30, 2002

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/04/30/we-have-no-orders-save-you

(2) Amnesty International: ‘India: Justice -- the victim in Gujarat’ [Full Report] 27 January 2005 http://www.coalitionagainstgenocide.org/reports/2005/ai.27jan2005.gujarat.pdf

(3)‘Threatened Existence: A Feminist Analysis of the Genocide in Gujarat’ Report by the International Initiative for Justice (IIJ) December 2003

http://www.gujaratfiles.net/files/iij.dec2003.report.pdf

(4)bbc.co.uk: UK report censures Gujarat rulers (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1951471.stm

(5)Amnesty International: ‘A decade on from the Gujarat riots, an overwhelming majority of victims await justice in India’ 29 February 2012

http://www.coalitionagainstgenocide.org/reports/2012/Amnesty-International-A-decade-on-from-the-Gujarat%20riots.pdf

(6) Sahmat – Citizens for Justice and Peace: ‘Press Release- Supreme Court clean chit to Narendra Modi ?’  http://www.kractivist.org/press-release-supreme-court-clean-chit-to-narendra-modi/ which explains in detail how the Supreme Court has NOT in fact absolved Modi of responsibility for the 2002 genocide as he has falsely claimed.

(7) See The Hindu ‘Embracing the Darkness’ October 23, 2012, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/embracing-the-darkness/article4023194.ece

(8) bbc.co.uk: UK India envoy to visit Gujarat for first time since riots http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-19907453

Organised by South Asia Solidarity Group.

Supported by:

Council of Indian Muslims

Foil Vedanta

Islamic Human Rights Commission

Southall Black Sisters

IWA, Birmingham

South Asian Alliance

Asian Rationalist Society

Freedom Without Fear Platform

https://www.facebook.com/events/627193123981006/627481417285510/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity

Some prickly characters seen in Wembley

I was cheered up on seeing these hedgehogs late last night on my way back from the Wembley Green Man. They were on the lawns in front of the flats on King's Drive, opposite the former Town Hall Library.

It is estimated that the population of hedgehogs in the UK has declined from an estimated 36 million to just 1 million affected by loss of habitat and increased traffic fatalities.


Readers of the BBC Wildlife magazine recently voted for the hedgehog to be the nation's wildlife symbol which the Green Party welcomed as appropriate as it represents the threat faced by many species.

Caroline Lucas will be leading a session at our forthcoming conference on the RSPB State of Nature report LINK

Hundreds urge Brent to exclude Veolia from Public Realm contract

Around 40 human rights demonstrators gathered outside Brent Civic Centre last night as a petition signed by hundred of Brent residents was presented to the Brent Executive calling for Veolia to be excluded from the Public Realm contract procurement process. The contract worth up to £250m over 16 years will be awarded by the Brent Executive at their October 14th meeting.

Exclusion is sought on the grounds that Veolia in its operations in the occupied territories of Palestine is colluding in the maintenance of illegal settlements and this infringing the human rights of Palestinians.

Veolia has been short-listed alongside Enterprise and Serco for the contract.

After hearing the speech from Liz Lindsay, Secretary of Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity and an activist in the Bin Veolia in Brent Campaign, the Executive referred the petition to FionaLedden, head of procurement for consideration.

Liz Lindsay's speech was warmly applauded from the crowded public gallery.

THE CASE AGAINST VEOLIA'S INCLUSION IN THE 

BRENT PUBLIC REALM PROCUREMENT

Just as pension funds are concerned about ethical investment we believe the council should be concerned about ethical procurement. 

The public would not want the council   to give contracts to companies involved in the exploitation of child labour or the arms trade.

Veolia who are bidding for the Public Realm contract are serving the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The UK Govt and UN do not recognise Israel’s annexation of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Veolia helps support Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land by

• Supporting the Jerusalem Light Rail between West Jerusalem and an illegal settlement
• Running bus routes along the Apartheid road 443 that link illegal Israeli  settlements .
• Owning  the Tovlan landfill site that takes refuse from illegal settlements and Israel.

Veoila therefore profits by actively supporting Israel’s continued violation of international humanitarian law

 

Under Public Contracts Regulations, a public body may exclude a bidder or reject a bid where it is found the organisation has ‘committed grave misconduct in the course of their business’

In 2009, the UN General Assembly called on Israel to cease the dumping of waste  in occupied Palestinian land.

In 2010, UK was one of countries that voted in support of the UNHR Council resolution that stated JLR operated by Veolia is in clear violation of International Law and relevant UN resolutions.

In 2012, Richard Falk UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the OPT concludes that

– Veolia’s grave breaches of the UN Global Compact make it an inappropriate partner for any public institution, especially as a provider of public services.

Also, Veolia was forced to withdraw JLR recruitment advertisements because they discriminated against Palestinians.

Locally,  WLWA, Ealing, Harrow, Richmond did not select Veolia as the preferred bidder and all had been involved in discussions with anti-Veolia campaigners.

Veolia withdrew after 2 years from the final stages of the £4.5bn NLWA procurement when they were one of only two bidders left.

As Veolia has become the target of worldwide campaigns, Veolia  has tried to waive responsibility, claiming in 2011 for example that it had sold Tovlan. 

However,  on the 17^th Jan 2013, the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection –in response to FOI by a Women's Peace Group in Tel Aviv confirmed that Veolia is the sole owner and operator of Tovlan.

We informed Brent Council of this on the 14^th March but Veolia repeated its claim on 21^st May 2013.

The Council does not appear to have challenged this misrepresentation. 

In June 2013, an Israeli Court fined Veolia 1.5 million shekels for burying mixed waste to avoid higher fees and for keeping inconsistent records.

Brent Council should seriously question any information that Veolia provides in its defence in its bid to win the contract.

One argument used against exclusion has been that Veolia in Israel and in the UK are separate entities. There is ample evidence available that Veolia is one commercial entity. 

Also, Justin Brazier, Tory MP, facilitated a meeting between Veolia Executive, Robert Hunt and Canterbury Campaigners at which Robert Hunt confirmed that Veolia was one commercial entity. 

Francis Maude on the 23^rd May, 2012 stated explicitly,  regarding illegal settlements that companies that have committed ‘an act of grave professional misconduct in the course of their business may be excluded from a tender exercise’

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR BRENT COUNCIL?

Brent Council is particularly proud of representing a diverse population and is committed to equality and opposed to racism as demonstrated recently by their stand against the 'racist van' and the UKBA raids. 

Human rights issues are at the core of the Council's values.

Our campaign has been supported by members from many religions and non-religious residents, by members of the Labour, Lib Dem and Green parties, by Brent TUC, trade unions,  GCs of Brent Central,  and Hampstead and Kilburn Labour Parties and local members of Jews for Justice for Palestinians.

We call on the Executive to take a principled stand on the issue of Veolia's collusion in the abuse of the human rights of Palestinians in the occupied territories and to take action by excluding Veolia from the £260m Public Realm contract.

Bishop Tutu said what he saw in occupied Palestine could describe apartheid South Africa.. Nelson Mandela, now a Freeman of Brent, said he would not be truly free until the Palestinian people are free. Respect them -  BIN VEOLIA!.