Young Greens support ULU and Sussex University protests

Near Senate House, Bloomsbury, London this evening

The Young Greens have strongly condemned the ‘brutal’ treatment of protesters by police at the University of London on Wednesday, as well as the suspension of five students at the University of Sussex following a campus occupation.

The Young Greens National Committee, which represents thousands of Green Party members, has written to Sussex Against Privatisation in support and will be writing to the Vice Chancellor today, as well as to the University of London Union activists and management.

The Sussex campaigners were fighting the outsourcing of Sussex services to private companies and in support of fair pay following a national strike by university staff, with the suspensions taking place after an occupation of Bramber House.

At the University of London, students were occupying Senate House on Malet Street against the forced closure of the students’ union by UoL management, as well as pushing for decent conditions for outsourced cleaning staff. Three students at were arrested after more than 100 officers armed with batons broke up the sit-in.

Siobhan MacMahon, Young Greens Co-Chair, said:

 “The heavy-handed actions by police against University of London students standing up for their union are a disgrace. Punching and dragging young people to the ground over a peaceful occupation must be utterly condemned as wholly disproportionate, brutal and wrong.

“At the same time, we wholeheartedly back those protesting as the University of Sussex in opposition to outsourcing of services and staff and in support of fair pay for staff who have faced years of real-terms pay cuts.

“The suspension of five students over their involvement in the occupation is a shocking and unjustifiable decision by management and we call on them to reinstate those suspended immediately, joining with the hundreds protesting for justice for the ‘Sussex Five’.

“The Young Greens express our total support and solidarity for students defending their right to protest across the country and oppose the worrying trend in recent months towards disproportionate action against peaceful protest on campuses.

“We have seen police attempting to recruit students to spy on each other in Cambridge, the arrest of Michael Chessum – the President of ULU (as well as the arrest of Vice President Daniel Cooper) and even violent police responses to students using chalk to spread their message. Young people must resist the clampdown on democratic dissent.

“The Greens are the only party standing up to these attacks and are proud to back actions everywhere against the education system being run as a private enterprise instead of a public good.”

Council MUST extend Council Tax Support consultation deadline

With just one day before the closure of Brent Council's consultation on the Council Tax Support scheme, the Council has only just this afternoon sent out notice of the consultation to Forum and Panel members,

Clearly this is not long enough to consider the quite complex issues involved and with such inadequate publicity and notice the Council must end the consultation.

Any other decision would reveal the consultation as a travesty.

How much has Brent House lost council taxpayers?

Brent Council purchased the leasehold of Brent House in Wembley in 2008 for £17.1m. Shortly after due to the financial collapse and the resulting property crash it was revalued in 2010 on an 'owner occupier use value' at £8.375m. The current depreciated  Net Book Value on the Council's Asset Register is £4.519m.

Brent House is now surplus to requirements following the move of council staff to the Civic Centre but Air France still occupies part of the building and it has Vodafone and Airwaves masts on the roof. The combined income stream for the council ois£363k. This is likely to be lost on sale of the leasehold as Air France will have to vacate the building.

Brent Council borrowed £17.695m for the leasehold purchase with an annual debt charge of £1.031m. This combines principal and interest and was forecast for repayment over 40 years. (I'll leave you to work out the total cost!) The outstanding principal of the original borrowing  is £16.886m - more than 3 times the Net Book Value.

The council now proposes to dispose of the leasehold but has not released the purchase figure. They do state however that the capital receipt offer is in excess of the 'property's Net Book Value on the Council's Asset Register but lower that the outstanding principal on the unsupported borrowing'.

We are left to work out that the bidder's unrevealed purchase  figure is between £4.519m and £16.886m. A wide range by any stretch of the imagination and surely residents ought to be told the extent of any loss on the sale? Details are restricted and the relevant Appendix to the report no published.

The Brent Executive will decide on Monday their preferred bidder  for the leasehold sale. Officers are recommending one from Stoford Ltd.

Stoford intend to convert and extend the premises to provide a 158 bed hotel, (Premier Inn) 66 homes of which 'around 22' would be affordable and 465m2 of retail with 165 parking spaces.

If that does not progress the reserve bidder recommended is Henley Homes which officers, whilst impressed by Henley's track record,  questioned deliverability'.

This is a new build bid with 269 homes of which 80 would be affordable and with a bigger retail space of 1,580m2 but no hotel.

Anong the rejected bids were:

• One Housing Group, rejected as too low financially.
• Bellway Homes - scheme for 327-346 homesm rejected as over-development
• Criterion Capital - unconditional bid for conversion of exisiting building to 135-140 homes, Theye did not submit a second bid.
• Quatar Property Group - conversion of existing building to an unspecified number of homes, rejected due to relatively low value.

Although the Council claim that a hotel meets with the Wembley Plan I would question whether the borough needs yet another hotel and most of the new Wembley hotels are closer to the Stadium, Arena and Wembley Park station.

It does seem to me that the Council has missed yet another opportunity to build affordable homes. A hotel is also planned at Bridge Park on the other side of the North Circular with a minimum affordable home quota of only 5%.

The retail fits in with the Council's plan to have a retail corridor all the way from Wembley Central station down to the Stadium, incorporatng the London Designer Outlet.  The redeveloped Elizabeth House, next to Brent House, already includes retail space which as far as I know has not yet been let. The jury is still out on the viability of the LDO.

Hopeless Clegg fails to address Sulivan Primary School scandal

Hammersmith and Fulham Council plan to close successful Sulivan Primary School to hand the site over to Fulham Boys' Free School. Surely something the Lib Dems wouldn't approve of?

Sorry,to disenchant you but the video speaks for itself: Clegg continue;s to be Cameron's poodle. And does Michael Gove look even remotely interested?

Greens put the heat on energy companies and the three main parties

The Green Party today accused the Coalition and Labour of “political point-scoring” in the energy bill debate, arguing that meaningful measures to address the problems of cold homes, fuel poverty, and soaring bills are being sidelined.

In a new briefing paper outlining its vision for a low-carbon, affordable energy future, the party calls for a major nationwide programme to make all homes energy efficient.   If funded through ‘recycled’ carbon taxes this could bring an estimated nine out of ten homes out of fuel poverty, quadruple carbon savings, and create up to 200,000 jobs across the UK.   

It also argues for a transformation of the energy market to allow community energy firms priority access to the Grid, and for greater financial support for renewable energy companies.

The paper criticises the Coalition’s changes to the Energy Company Obligation, arguing that “watering down efficiency commitments at precisely the time they are most needed

In a section on Labour’s policy, the Green Party says it welcomes the relief that a short term price freeze would bring, but questions why Labour is not pushing for greater local ownership and democratic control over our energy infrastructure.  

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said:

It’s a scandal that the big energy companies are making large profits whilst many people are struggling with high bills and cold homes.  Sadly, by focussing on headline grabbing schemes, both main parties are sidelining  meaningful solutions to the energy bill crisis.

The failure of both main parties to seriously get behind serious energy efficiency measures is a key reason that energy bills remain high.   

We need a nationwide programme to make all homes super-energy efficient – with full insulation, modern boilers, and renewable energy sources.  By funding this through carbon tax revenues, the Government could bring nine out of ten homes out of fuel poverty, and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

View the briefing paper HERE

'Help us help the environment' Harlesden business plea to Brent Council

The owner of Jai Electronics at 155 Harlesden High Street, has written to Brent Council complaining that his request for a loading bay outside the shop, so that customers can unload their heavy electrical equipment, has been ignored.

Instead customers have been given  parking tickets when bringing in TVs for repair or collecting them.

Mr Mehta of Jai Electronics wrote:

We have been a local small business fore over 30 years and provide a valuable service to the community helping repair electronic items to stop them being thrown away and thus helping the environment. 

You as a council are trying to promote how green you are and spending millions on promoting environmental issues; yet when a simple and genuine way to help with the environment comes up, you do nothing to help.

I am not sure if this is because you feel you profit from handing out these parking tickets at no extra cost to the council or you genuinely do not care about helping the environment and people within your borough?

He calls for a written response in the timescale set out by the Council's Customer Charter so that a quick resolution can be achieved.

When is a Brent consultation NOT a consultation?

2014-15 Budget a cut too far for at least one Brighton Green councillor

On Sunday I wrote about how difficult it was becoming for councils, of whatever political complexion, to keep to their promise to protect the most vulnerable in the face of sweeping Coalition funding cuts.

Coincidentally a Brighton People's Assembly sponsored Community Conference  was being held in Brighton home of the minority Green adminstration. Their 2014-15 budget is based on a £22.5m cut.

Councillor Ben Duncan who represents Queens Park ward, told the meeting that he woudl reject the proposed budget and would urge other Green and Labour councillors to join him. Duncan praised the fair and environmental principles which his colleagues had used when setting the budget, but went on:

We’re already seeing the impact of these cuts locally and it’s only going to get worse until local authorities say enough is enough and we’re not going to accept this.

We need to start that movement in Brighton and Hove as people elected the Greens on an anti-cuts platform.

 It is expected that Cllr Duncan will be joined by other Green councillors but the overall picture of the distribution of forces is still unclear.

Brighton People's Assembly LINK on their website outline the position:

Brighton & Hove City Council is facing a further £23 million reduction in its budget for 2014-15. 

The initial proposals for the budget have now been published on the council's website.
The proposed budget includes cuts to many vital local services, including:

• Residential care, home care and employment support for adults with learning disabilities
• Day centres for older people
• Social workers for children who need support
• The homelessness prevention service

Here's a longer list we have put together.

Brighton People's Assembly called a Community Conference on December 1st, bringing together councillors, council workers and local citizens, to discuss ways in which we can campaign for more funding and against these damaging budget cuts.

The meeting heard from local residents who depend on some of the services facing cuts.
For example, 800 local residents with learning disabilities receive support from the council to help them find employment. This is essential to help people fill in complicated forms and negotiate suitable job placements with employers. There is already a long waiting list for this support, but the budget proposals say the funding for the service will be cut by £100,000 - 45% of the total funding.

 Last night Green Left, of which I am a member, issued the following statement:

Green Left  supports both Ben Duncan and Alex Phillips who have said they'll vote against Tory cuts, and any other Green councillors considering doing so.