Register by Tuesday May 6th to vote on May 22nd

There is still time to register to vote in the vital Euro and local elections on May 22nd. To be included in the Register you must be at least 17 years old and a citizen of the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, a Commonwealth country, a British Overseas Territory or any European Union state. Print out the form below and take it to Brent Civic Centre.

Green Party policies for Brent - May 22nd 2014

Your Green candidates for Brent Council elections May 22nd

Some of the candidates with Jean Lambert MEP

The Green Party will be standing a candidate in every Brent ward in the local elections on May 22nd, except for Willesden Green where there are two candidates.

Here are the candidates in ward order:

Alperton - Yusuf Akram,

Barnhill - Giovanna Dunmall,

Brondesbury Park- Rai Shamon,

Dollis Hill - Pete Murry, 

Dudden Hill - Simone Aspis,

Fryent - Claire McCarthy,  

Harlesden - Simon Erskine,

Kensal Green - Sally Ibbotson,

Kenton - Graham Allen,

Kilburn - Nas Belazka,

Mapesbury - Scott Bartle,

Northwick Park - Mimi Kaltman,

Preston - May Erskine,

Queensbury - Adlen Biloum, 

Queens Park - Alex Freed,

Stonebridge - Brian Orr,  

Sudbury - Manish Patel,

Tokyngton - Khalid Akram,

Welsh Harp - Jafar Hassan,

Wembley Central - Kolos Csontos,

Willesden Green - Shahrar Ali,

Willesden Green - Martin Francis

Brent Council prepared to act to ensure safety at Michaela Academy Free School

Responding to the story below about Brent Teachers' Panel's fears for the safety of childrren and staff over asbestos  at the Wembley Park Michaela Academy Free School, lead member for Childrren and Families, Cllr Michael Pavey has made the following statement:

Children must be absolutely safe in school. I look forward to the Michaela School clarifying these concerning points raised by local teachers. 

The Council has already supplied the Trade Unions with a full briefing on this important matter and we are very prepared to take further action if necessary.

Michaela Free School asbestos fears demand answers from Birbalsingh and Gove

The scene at Arena House earlier today

Brent Teachers' Panel has written to Katharine Birbalsingh, headteacher designate of Michaela Academy Free School and Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, seeking information on the asbestos removal programme at Arena House, the ex-College of North West London's Wembley Park building, which was built at a time when asbestos was widely used.

Their concern has been heightened by the fact that Michaela's website says that the contractor Willmott Dixon is working to tight timelines:

Willmott Dixon is our appointed contractor and a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes such as site surveys, detailing of designs and securing planning permission. With all of this now in place, the team is currently preparing to start work on site in just a few weeks’ time.Our contractors have a great deal of experience in preparing free schools to open (often on shorter timelines than ours) [My emphasis] and the Education Funding Agency is involved every step of the way to ensure that everything required will be in place for us to welcome our first intake in September.

Over the next few months in the lead-up to the opening of the school, Willmott Dixon will be stripping out the existing building,  [My emphasis] creating new spaces that meet our specific requirements and installing new IT systems and furniture in preparation for our new school. The work on site will then be the end product of months of planning and we will keep you updated as Arena House undergoes its exciting transformation.

The Teachers' Panel's concern was heightened when they discovered that Willmott Dixon was one of three firms, along with Marks and Spencer, fined for unsafe removal of asbestos during refurbishment works at the M&S store in Reading: LINK

The principal contractor at the Bournemouth store, Wilmott Dixon, failed to plan, manage and monitor removal of asbestos-containing materials.

It did not prevent the possibility of asbestos being disturbed by its workers in areas that had not been surveyed extensively.

 The court heard that the client, Marks and Spencer plc, did not allocate sufficient time and space for the removal of asbestos-containing materials at the Reading store.

There was a considerable amount of debris evident  in the stripped Arena House classrooms today

 The Brent Teachers' Panel letter reads:

Dear Ms Birbalsingh and Mr Michael Gove,

I am writing on behalf of Brent Teachers’ Panel, representing teacher unions in all types of Brent schools (community, grant maintained, independent, academy and free schools) to request information regarding the management and/or removal of asbestos at the site which is being refurbished for use as Michaela Academy Free School.

Our reason for requesting this information relates to my rights as appointed safety rep and elected health and safety adviser for the NUT representing some 1700 member teachers in Brent, some of whom may work at this school. As you will know, under the Safety Reps and Safety Committee Regulations 1977, an appointed safety rep has the right to see documentation and reports associated with works in a building which may affect the safety of his or her members. In addition to this, and as Brent teachers, we are also genuinely concerned for the safety of children and others in our community.

Please could you therefore provide me with the following:

·        A copy or sight of the asbestos refurbishment/demolition (Type 3) survey carried out for Arena House with associated material and priority risk assessments

·        A local asbestos management plan for the school which will be used when it opens in Arena House in September

·        An explanation as to the choice/selection/tendering process of the contractor Willmott Dixon, bearing in mind that they were found guilty in court of contravening sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 between 5 February 2007 and 28 February 2007, and bearing in mind also that when they took this to appeal on the grounds of small risk to health, the appeal was lost in May 2012.

I would like to assure you of our best intentions and that we only have our members’ and pupils’ safety and wellbeing in mind with this request. The Brent Teachers’ Panel has had to deal with the death of a school pupil and enforcement notices for poor asbestos management in the past, in Brent schools, so we always have safety foremost in our minds.

I look forward to hearing from you on this matter.

Jenny Cooper,

Brent NUT Health & Safety Adviser,

Health & Safety Adviser to Brent Teachers’ Panel

Elected London Representative on the National NUT Health & Safety Working Group

Brent Appointed School Health & Safety Representative

Although free schools are independent of the council, Brent Council does have overall responsibility for the health and well-being of Brent pupils and so should intervene to make sure that this will be a safe environment for pupils and staff.

Brent needs healthy local newspapers to hold Council to account

I have written about the importance of the local press for democracy before on this site. Here in Brent we have the Brent and Kilburn Times, owned by the Archant group and the Wembley and Willesden Observer, owned by Trinity Mirror. In some parts of the north of the borough the Harrow Times also circulates.

The number of reporters on the Brent ands Kilburn Times has reduced from the paper's heyday and readers will have noticed that the number of pages has also been reduced. It is sold in newsagents but also distributed free at some supermarkets, estate agents and elsewhere. It does not always contain a letters page which is often a good indicator of a newspaper's engagement with readers.

The Wembley and Willesden Observer is rather different as it is a local edition of the Harrow Observer series and despite having a great local reporter in Hannah Bewley is usually dominated by news about Harrow. A reader has to double check on stories beginning 'The Council...' to see which Council is involved - more often than not it is Harrow.

The paper's  door-to-door distribution in Brent is very patchy and its price of 90p where sold is unpopular with readers when they discover it contains very few Brent stories.

Trinity Mirror has gone through a difficult period and earlier this month told West Londoin staff that the Fulham and Hammersmith Chronicle, Westminster Chronicle and Kensington and Chelsea Chronicle were to close.

Trinity also  announced that their titles in Uxbridge, Hounslow and Ealing are to switch from door-to-door to 'pick-up' only. The Harrow Observer will remain distributed door-to-door but as I mentioned earlier this does not cover the whole borough of Brent. The newspaper's office is being moved to Watford.

Trinity are going through the process of making staff including reporters, photographers and sales staff redundant and the outcome for the WWO is awaited with some trepidation.

Clearly this is a gloomy picture, not only for the staff concerned, but for the health of local democracy and the important role local newspapers play in holding local councils to account.

Laura Davison, national organiser of the NUJ said about Trinity's closure announcement:

This announcement has come as a terrible shock to the hardworking staff of these titles.The speed of it means there is little time to look at meaningful alternatives to closure.Trinity Mirror should not simply be able to shut down these titles and lock them away after years of starving them of resources.It will leave some communities with no local paper, depriving them of a way to access information and hold local power to account. Readers and the Trinity Mirror journalists who serve them, deserve better.

Martin Shipton, chair of the Trinity Group chapel (NUJ branch), said:

These closures would leave many communities in the outer London area without a local paper, as well as Fulham, a significant and densely populated part of the capital. There is a compelling need for journalistic scrutiny of the budget of local authorities which cover the circulation of these papers. Instead of shutting them down, Trinity Mirror should be investing in quality journalism, for which the public undoubtedly retains an appetite.

I agree.

Brent Council leader reiterates opposition to fracking

In a letter to Ian Saville and Pam Laurance, Joint Coordinators of Brent Friends of the Earth, Brent Council leader, Muhuimmad Butt, has reiterated his oppositon to fracking. He was responding to letters and postcards sent from residents.

Thank you for your letter of 15 March 2014 and the postcards that you enclosed. It’s heartening to know that so many Brent residents passionately oppose hydraulic fracturing as much as the Council does; as you say, “Fracking is a dirty word”.

I’m sure you’ve been as dismayed to read that the ConDem Government now intend to overhaul trespass legislation to make it easier for fracking firms to gain access without permission of landowners. We are currently exploring what new legislation regarding planning law gives us the opportunity to prevent contractors by law.

As you know, Brent has no intention whatsoever to grant contractors with licences to carry out shale gas extraction in our borough. I agree that a council motion would make a statement to communicate our opposition to all, inside and outside of Brent. Thank you for your draft wording, which will be considered by Executive Members.

In November, we decided to go beyond the standard motion. Hitting the headlines wasn’t just a stunt though – we are obligated to protect our residents from harm. When so many charities and organisations, including yourselves and Public Health England, were voicing loud concerns, the Council had no choice but to speak out. We will use what legal power we can to defend local residents, their homes and neighbourhoods against the dangers of fracking.

‘Letter to Brent Council? That’ll be £6.40, please.’

(And a reply? Priceless)

Guest blog by 'Elvin Impersonator' 

On Wednesday this week letters were sent to Brent Council nominating, under the provisions of the Localism Act 2011, the extensive green space of Copland’s playing fields as an ‘asset of community value’. The Act requires local authorities to maintain a list of sites and amenities which are used by the public and are part of local life. The letters were signed by representatives of local residents and Copland staff and students.

When it came to posting the letters, however, the bill came to £25.60, or £6.40 per letter, extortionate even by privatisation standards. Why so much? Well it’s the price of experience really. Last year Brent claimed to have no knowledge of a petition posted to them by first class post and signed by hundreds of Copland students opposing the forced academisation of their school. As a result, another petition opposing the Ark takeover was signed by over 400 students and copies posted to all 63 Brent councillors. Again it appears that up to 60 of these must have been lost in the post as replies were received from only three of our elected representatives. Dozens of additional letters written on the subject and sent to those looking for our votes on May 22nd have similarly met with no response whatsoever. As a result it was decided this time to utilise the Post Office service which registers the sending of the letter and effectively tracks it to its recipient. But at a cost.

Whether it was a price worth paying will soon become clear. But if Brent Labour, Lib Dems and Conservatives had sat down and tried to plan how to alienate this group of ordinary voters and drive them into the arms of Farage and the Fruitcakes, they couldn’t have done a better job than they’re doing already. Interesting to see whether the strategy changes over the next few weeks.

Meanwhile at Copland a ‘special meeting’ for staff has been called next week to introduce the new school uniform. Whether this will be the students’ uniform or the one the teachers will have to wear (shiny estate agents suits, gel, blusher etc) has not been made clear. Early booking recommended.