The People United Against Austerity Today in London

Thousands marched today in London against the Coalition's austerity policies and for an alternative. Romayne Phoenix of the Coalition of Resistance and the Green Party was on the platform as the MC and Caroline Lucas received  great applause for her speech.

Here are some images from the day:

Christine Blower (General Secretary NUT) and Kevin Courtney (Deputy General Secretary) review the Green Party's Reclaim Our Schools flyer, 

Greens on the march against austerity tomorrow - please join us

The Green Party will join forces with Russell Brand, journalist Owen Jones and others tomorrow (June 21) in calling on the government to end its policies of austerity.

In a demonstration organised by the campaign group the People’s Assembly.  Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, will join thousands of campaigners taking to the streets of London to protest against what they see as the government’s damaging and needless austerity measures.
Caroline Lucas MP, said:

The Peoples’ Assembly shows that there are alternatives to the cruel and counterproductive austerity agenda, and that the people are prepared to fight for them.

Romayne Phoenix, the Green Party’s Welfare Spokesperson, member of Lewisham Green Party and Co-Chair of the People’s Assembly said:

It’s galling to see how the government continues to march ahead with its austerity measures, flagrantly dismissing the destructive affects they are having on our society. Inequality is on the rise.The number of food-bank meals needed to feed hungry families across the UK has doubled in the past year. Britain needs an alternative – sheer human decency demands it.

Dave Plummer, London Green Party activist, said:

It is fantastic to see the incredible range of people and campaign organisations that have turned out today to support the March Against Austerity. Whilst on the one hand it shows just how badly affected so many people have been by the cuts it also demonstrates that there is now so much agreement and collaboration in the fight for change. The Green Party is immensely proud to be one of those organisations calling for an end to austerity and for investment in an economy that puts people first.

The People’s Assembly is a coalition of campaigns, unions, writers, politicians and performers united in the goal of bringing an end to the government’s austerity programme. It was founded in February 2013 and is supported by a range of prominent political activists including Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite, the writer Owen Jones, and the comedian Francesca Martinez. The late Labour politician Tony Benn and General Secretary of the RMT Bob Crow were also amongst its founding members.

Tomorrow’s demonstration will see thousands of campaigners march from Portland Place/Oxford Street to Westminster/Parliament Square, led by speakers including Lucas, Brand, and Christine Blower of the NUT.

Details for People's Assembly March Saturday June 21st

Brent Council consults on new Local Plan and development management

Following the story below on the South Kilburn Queen's Park Place development, readers may be interested in this from Brent Council:

We are updating our planning policies to shape the future of Brent.

We are consulting on the draft Development Management Policies Document, which will guide how we determine future planning applications.

Once adopted it will form part of the Local Plan, and supersede saved UDP policies.
The policies deal with important issues such as:

• promoting strong town centres by setting limits on the number of takeaways, betting shops, pawnbrokers and payday loan shops
• limiting takeaways and shisha cafes near schools
• seeking the quality, size and type of homes the borough needs
• boosting the economy, protecting open space and community facilities.

This is an opportunity for local people and organisations to say what you think about the proposed policies.

The period for consultation runs from 20 June to 31 July 2014. During this period we are also consulting on the accompanying Sustainability Appraisal, and associated alterations to the Core Strategy and Policies Map. All documents can be downloaded below.

• Draft Development Management Development Plan Document (.pdf, 3.74MB) 
• Proposed Alterations to the Core Strategy (.pdf, 456.5kB) 
• Proposed Alterations to the Policies Map (.pdf, 4.43MB) 
• Sustainability Appraisal pt1 (.pdf, 3.99MB) 
• Sustainability Appraisal pt2 (.pdf, 1.96MB) 
• Sustainability Appraisal pt3 (.pdf, 2.43MB) 

Copies of these documents can also be viewed in all Brent libraries during the consultation period.

Policy evidence base

• View the evidence base that supports the policies 

How to have your say

During the consultation period you can complete our online comment form.
Alternatively you can provide detailed comments on the document itself.
You can also email ldf@brent.gov.uk or write to: Planning Policy and Projects Team, Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley, Middlesex, HA9 0FJ.
The deadline for receiving your comments is 5pm on 31 July 2014.
There are also opportunities to find out more about the policies at drop-in sessions where council officers will be on hand to answer your questions. These will take place at:

• Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley, 19 July, 12noon - 3pm
• Sainsbury's, High Road, Willesden Green, Monday 14 July, 4pm - 8pm

All comments received will be taken into account before the Development Management Policies Document is modified and taken forward to the next stage.

South Kilburn a yuppie dreamland 'Manhattan style'?

Queens Park Place from Londonewcastle on Vimeo.

Estate agents are well known for renaming neighbourhoods to make them more socially acceptable - Shepherd's Bush as Holland Park West springs to mind.

Now a corner of South Kilburn, the wrong 'side of the tracks' from Queen's Park is being marketed as Queen's Park Place:

Queen’s Park, an urban village in North West London, is one of the capital’s better-kept secrets. Looking at its amenities and ambiance, it’s no surprise local residents like to keep the place to themselves. Just 7 minutes to Paddington and 15 minutes to Oxford Circus by direct Underground line, the area has a bustling High Street and an historic 30-acre park named in honour of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. The vibrant community spirit is evident in the eclectic shops, park, gastropubs, restaurants and especially in the weekly farmers’ market, voted the best in the UK.

Now, the secret’s out, as a new residential development is putting Queen’s Park on the map. Just a minute’s walk from the local Underground and Overground station, Queen’s Park Place is a collection of 116 contemporary apartments and penthouses designed for metropolitan living in a Manhattan style. With private balconies or roof terraces overlooking private courtyard gardens, secure underground parking and an impressive lobby with 24-hour hotel-style Concierge services, the development sets new standards in contemporary design and quality.

Beneath the super-sell is the reality of the gradual gentrification of London. The removal of poor people as developers build for the rich, especially overseas investors,  property prices and rents rise, and housing becomes increasingly unaffordable.

Just look at the video and see if it reflects the reality of Brent.

Barnet planning email fraud allegation withdrawn

Barnet Today LINK reported yesterday that a woman and her husband had their identities stolen in fake emails sent in support of a planning application for a development by Bespoke Solutions.

The case bears a strong resemblance to the Kensal Rise fraudulent email issue and raises a concern that this may be a more widespread tactic that anyone has realised. It certainly suggests that the police should give a higher priority to the Kensal Rise investigation.

STOP PRESS The report has now been removed so the link above will not work. North London Press said:

 The woman retracted the allegation and requested the story be removed

This is all very strange as the woman's allegation was specific and detailed saying that her address and email had been used in support of the development, as well as the work address of her husband, in submissions that they had not sent.

There's only one thing for it: call Miss Marple

Kensal Rise Library development decision deferred pending legal advice on fraud

The planning application by Andrew Gillick  for the redevelopment of Kensal Rise Library, closed by Brent Council, was deferred tonight at a dramatic meeting of Brent Planning Committee,

Committee membership was reduced by two members when Cllr Shafique Choudhary and Cllr Dan Filson withdrew on the basis that they had expressed strong views prior to joining the Committee.
This left 5 members, including the chair Sarah Marquis, to make the decision.

It had seemed that the fraudulent email investigation had been ignored when the meeting went ahead without any statement about deferment pending the outcome of the current police investigation into fraudulent emails that had supported Mr Gillick's last application.

Karl Abeyasekera, speaking as a member of the public drew members' attention to the fraudulent email issue saying that the 'guilty party' could benefit materially from this application. He called for the Committee to defer pending the outcome of the police investigation.

Stephanie Schonfield of the Friends of Kensal Rise Library spoke in support of the application  and said they had put their trust in All Souls College and the developer and hoped they would reciprocate by supporting FKRL to manage the community space. She regretted that they were only the preferred bidder and not the named occupant.

Horatio Chance, the Committee's legal adviser  told members that the 'binding agreement' with All Souls College was excempt from the Localism Act and had no relevance to the Kensal Rise building's Asset of Community Value status.

Following other contribututions, including a question from Cllr Amer Agha about the email investigation, and the developer's agent saying the community space had to be offered to other voluntary organisations  and ot resreved for FKRL, it looked as if the Committee was about the vote when chair Sara Marquis dropped her bombshell. She made a statement from the chair. She said that despite legal advice to the contrary she could not see why an ongoing police investigation into the previous application could NOT be a material consideration.

There followed a potentially testy but lawyerly interchange with Horation Chance, the Committee's legal adviser, on whether the Committee were legally bound to make a decision on the application on purely planning grounds, ignoring the email investigation. Chance in near exasperation declared that the legal advice  was clear and had come from no less a person than Fiona Ledden.

Marquis insisted the Committee needed further legal advice on whether the fraud investigation should be taken into account and when Chance could add nothing further she said that the Committee should vote on deferment. Various officers warned that the applicant might appeal to thre Secretary of State over the delay and seek compensation.

Cllr Roxanne Mashari, a Cabinet member and former lead member for Environment, who played a large part in brokering the deal with FKRL, made a late attempt to speak. Cllr Marquis rejected the request as the section for contributions had finished and she pointed out that the councillor had had the chance to put in a request to speak with the two days notice required of councillors.

The Committee voted on whether to hear the planning application, and only Cllr Kasangara, perhaps reflecting Conservative values, said that fraud was of no account and the vote on the application should go ahead.

The Committee then voted 3 for  (Cllrs Marquis, Agha, Hylton), 1 against  (Cllr Kasangara)and 1 abstention (Cllr Lia Colacicco) on the motion to defer the decision on the application until further legal advice had been obtained. This will mean the application  returning on the next cycle to the Committee that meets on July 16th.

This was not a vote to await the outcome of the police investigation but to decide if the investigation was something that the Committee should take into account.

It was also clear from the councillors' questions, or lack of them, that they were only concerned about minor aspects of the application itself, so it looks likely to eventually go through given the number of supporting letters. Unless there are further developments...

Cllr Sarah Marquis deserves credit for showing the sort of independence and toughness that one should expect from a Chair of Planning.

Marquis is a lawyer and specialises in fraud and white collar crime.

As a newly elected councillor, chairing her first committee, she has already made her mark.

Call to help family resist eviction tomorrow morning

A call has gone out to local housing actvists to help the Caridades family who are faced with eviction. Supporters should go to 4A Harrow Road (close to junction with North Circular) HA9 6PG at 8am tomorrow.

Kazuri Properties, a social housing group, have launched a crowd funding initiative on IndieGOGo LINK to help the family.

According to Kazuri Properties this is the background:

 Kazuri Properties came across the Caridade family after one of our Directors, met the teacher of one of Ms Caridade's children at a Mindfulness event in London. She was deeply upset and moved by their plight, so we at Kazuri stepped in to help by finding sustainable housing. Our main focus is defending the disadvantaged and speaking up for women who have no voice; raising our words, when no one will listen. We now need your help to secure this family's future, they are currently being evicted under an ‘Order for Eviction’ on Wednesday 18^th June at 08 00 hrs. To make matters worse, the Local Authority has refused to help and blocked two previous housing solutions. 

The Caridade family came to London in January 2014 from Portugal, where Mrs Caridade was promised a job in catering by her traffickers, who encouraged her move with her three children; 28, 19 and 15 in order to run away from domestic violence and a dangerous environment. Ms Caridade is now a desperate single mother of a 28 year old with Down's syndrome, a 15 year old who is now eight months pregnant and a 19 year old struggling in work at a supermarket trying to keep the family afloat.

Now Mrs Caridade is being asked to pay back  her family's passage   by being a prostitute. There was no job in catering, she is the victim of human trafficking and now subject to being sold as a sex object.   
 
The London Borough of Brent which has statutory responsibility for this vulnerable family, with many diverse needs, has done all that it can to exclude, alienate and force them to return to Portugal, by systematically neglecting their basic needs for the past five months. Brent has jeopardised their health by forcing them to live in an unhygienic environment due to   low income, ignoring the basic needs of the disabled and thus creating a hostile environment for a 15 year old pregnant child. To further make matters worse, the social worker assigned to this case has put aside all of the above, and has instead offered to pay for the family return to Portugal and falsely offering help to re-house them in Portugal.

 LB Brent should, according to their statutory duty to this family, provide a deposit and the first month's rent so this family can move safely out of the borough and start to rebuild  their lives. They are refusing to do so, for technical reasons and because they claim a License to Occupy is not a valid lawful agreement between a landlord and a tenant. 

The social worker asked why Brent should help this family. We say, because that is what you are supposed to do. She asks, “What about all the other homeless families in Brent facing homelessness?” We say, we can only change our corner of the world and Caridade has become part of that.

The housing officer tasked with disposing of this family does not consider Mrs Caridade's employment bona fide, although she has a cleaning contract with the southeast's largest lettings agency. He is deliberately misstating the DWP's own policy on employment and self-employment. This is an abhorrent misuse of power and lack of knowledge of the law, where an official can adapt and pervert the law in order to avoid supporting families in need.

 Your support will mean Mrs Caridade can start to build a brighter future, one she can control and in which she can build some security. Safe and secure housing is a huge advantage for women who have suffered trauma and violence. She's not asking for a handout, your support will help her to build her own cleaning company and stick it to The Man.