Brent comes together to challenge the Trade Union Bill

Brent Central Labour Party and Brent Trades Council will be holding an event against the Conservative Government's  Trade Union Bill on Thursday 29th October, 7.30pm at the Learie Constantine Centre Dudden Hill Lane (Nr Dollis Hill) tube. Speakers to include Dawn Butler and Ian Hodson (President of the Bakers Union).

This is what Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said on the issue on Huffington Post back in July:

The government last week set out its proposals to further reduce the rights of our trade unions, already labouring under the most restrictive laws in Europe, to cut away at rights that the Tolpuddle martyrs, who were being commemorated over the weekend, fought so hard for in the 19th Century.
These plans are dreadful, and must be fought tooth and nail, which the Green Party will be doing. And so will many others, I believe, with a swell of support already evident around the country. The strong support for TUC leader Frances O'Grady from the BBC Any Questions audience on Friday (17 July) night was encouraging.

But in raising this debate, the government is also opening up an opportunity - a chance for a debate about what unions are for, how important they are to economic stability and to an effective, productive economy and safe workplaces - a chance in short to argue for the reverse proposal, to call for the strengthening of the power and influence of unions, for the benefit of our economy, society and environment.

This debate is also a chance to tackle lazy stereotypes about unions so often promulgated by the right-wing media about "extremism", and "greed". The sort of stereotypes that the government wants to perpetuate, yet don't reflect the experiences of communities around Britain.

And it is a chance to highlight - as the Blacklist Support Group campaign has been doing - how even legal union activities and essential whistleblowing has not been protected by the state but instead been illegally repressed and spied upon by the authorities, a misuse of power reflected in the behaviour of undercover police operating against the environmental movement.

The debate comes at a time when we are seeing a resurgence in union activity, a growth in new areas - and when - perhaps most usefully of all in campaigning terms - Chancellor George Osborne has left some real chinks in his armour in his portrayal of the state of our low wage economy.

For even the Chancellor has identified low wages as a problem, and is calling for businesses to pay their workers more - £9 an hour by 2020. (The Green Party in the recent election was calling for £10 by 2020, and that had a lot of Tories I was debating with spluttering.) Osborne's acknowledged that the minimum wage should be a living wage, that workers should be paid enough money to live on, even if what he's proposing isn't really a living wage.

He's saying this at a time when organisations as apparently unlikely as the IMF and the World Bank are acknowledging that economic inequality, the rising wealth of the 1% while the rest of us get poorer, is a threat to future economic stability.

Yet it's those industries where unions have maintained their strength, and held together against the odds, that wages have best been maintained. Conversely, it's in industries where unions have been weak and membership low - the retailing sector leaps to mind - where wages have remained at or very barely above the minimum wage. If Osborne wants to see wages rise and be maintained, he needs strong unions.

And the Chancellor is calling for a big rise in the productivity of our economy, up towards German levels - in the very economy where unions have far more legal powers and rights, where their partnership with management is seen as essential in the levels of productivity that have proved so elusive in Britain.

Further, the government proposals come at a time when the need for health and safety in the workplace - the maintenance of which is an important role that unions can play when corner-cutting management fails to live up to its responsibilities - is being dreadfully demonstrated.

There have been far too many horrific workplace incidents recently: in the last few days two factory explosions left six dead, the horrific death of a Crossrail construction worker under tonnes of concrete, the tragic death of an inexperienced young worker on the Crick Institute beside St Pancras station.

That calls into question the government's slashing of health and safety provision, but strong unions could help to stand up for worker protection. No worker should die as a result of safety lapses anywhere, but particularly here in Britain, an advanced, wealthy economy that has the capacity to ensure safety. As the Hazards at Work campaign says, "Better red tape than red bandages".

It's clear that a healthy society, an economically stable and balanced society, needs strong unions. This government has given us a chance to put that case, and it is time to do it loudly and clearly.

Yellow box junction to be installed at Wembley Asda crossing

Asda junction at quiet time - in morning peak the junction is blocked with traffic (Google View)

In a twitter response to posts on Friday LINK and Tuesday LINK Brent Council has promised action on the Asda crossing (above).

Initially this will be installation of a yellow box junction and further proposals are being developed. These proposals should also cover the junction of Bridge Road/Forty Lane/ Forty Avenue where multiple pedestrian crossing places used by school children present a hazard.

Forty Lane, Bridge Road, Forty Avenue, Barn Hill junction

 Videos of the Asda junction danger are available HERE and HERE.

Controversial Tory choice for Brent and Harrow GLA seat

The Conservatives have selected Joel Davidson as their constituency candidate for the Brent and Harrow GLA constituency. Davidson is a Brondesbury Park councillor and belongs to one of the two Conservative groups on Brent Council.

Davidson is often controversial. Apart from his campaign against a homeless hostel in Brondesbury Park he called for Brent Council to stop funding the Tricycle Theatre as a result of their decision not to accept Israeli Embassy funds for the Jewish Film Festival (a decision later reversed) LINK

He is a contributor to Conservative Home and as a newly elected councillor turned down the ipad and iphone distributed to all councillors. LINK

I have not heard whether he will resign as a councillor as he is standing for the GLA. Meanwhile Twitter warned  me that a tweet about Davidson contained 'sensitive material'.

 

HS2 and South Kilburn – stitched up by Brent, but fighting back

The leaflet distributed outside the school

Guest blog by Pete Firmin, chair, Alpha, Gorefield and Canterbury Tenants and Residents Association

On Monday 12th October, HS2 – the proposed London to Birmingham high speed rail link – deposited “additional provisions” with parliament with the proposed siting of a vent shaft at Canterbury Works in South Kilburn. LINK

Originally, HS2 proposed that this be on the car park next to Queens Park station, but under pressure from Brent Council it proposes to build on this new site. The  issues involved have previously been spelt out on Wembley Matters.

The Canterbury Works site is next to a junior school (St Mary's) and close to many homes.

Throughout this process neither HS2 or Brent Council has attempted to consult with those who would be most affected by the decision.

HS2 sent residents letters several years ago saying their property might be subject to a Compulsory Purchase Order, but this was only in relation to the fact that HS2 will go under or close to our flats. The only meeting HS2 has attended with residents was a “Brent Connect” forum several years ago when this issue was raised with them. They have never followed up on the inadequate response given at the time.

But all that was well before the issue of the moving of the proposed vent shaft arose. Since then, one letter from HS2 about an “information event” (see below), nothing else.

While HS2 has failed to consult in any way, Brent claims to have done so, although this does not stand up to serious scrutiny, and in fact stinks of hypocrisy and duplicity.

Unlike HS2, Brent has never sent information round to all residents in the area about HS2.

While Council Officers have held meetings with Councillors and the (Hampstead and Kilburn) MP, they have never held meetings with either representatives of local residents or parents of children at the school, let alone open meetings which all could attend.

On the contrary, they have put out misinformation implying there has been consultation where there has been none.

So Council Officers have circulated a letter which says that the headteacher of the school and the Diocese are not opposed to the siting of the vent shaft next to the school. Not surprisingly, this fails to mention that this (new) headteacher refuses to consult with parents on the issue. Under the previous head teacher (replaced over the summer) the board of governors were opposed, the head was opposed, and they worked with parents to show their opposition. All this is well known to Council Officers, but they choose to pretend it never happened. Conveniently for Brent Council the board of governors has been scrapped in favour of an Interim Executive Board. The new head says she is only interested in the education of the children and not what is happening around the school. Clearly the welfare of pupils is low on her agenda and that of the Diocese.

The South Kilburn Trust is also reported as being neutral on the issue. While the Trust is reported in many Council documents as “representing the interests of all South Kilburn residents”, the only contact it has with us is over use by residents of a school playing area. It has certainly never asked our views about the vent shaft.

In the same letter Council Officers say that Peter Jones, chair of the Tenants Steering Group, is not opposed to the siting of the vent shaft in South Kilburn. Those not in the know (like HS2 and most Brent Councillors) reading that will think it means local residents have been consulted. Far from it. The Tenants Steering Group is a forum for those tenants being rehoused under regeneration. That does not include most of those closest to the proposed vent shaft site (including in our 3 blocks). In fact when 2 members of our TRA found their way to a meeting of the Tenants Steering Group they were told the meeting was not for them but they could stay as long as they did not say anything! There is no pretence that the chair of this group (who does not live near to the proposed site) even consulted the forum he is chair of, let alone anyone living close to the vent shaft.

What is known to Council Officers is that our TRA passed a motion unanimously opposing this proposed siting of the vent shaft. Mysteriously, this information has not been passed on.

Worse, when Brent Council considered the issue of HS2 and the siting of the vent shaft at full Council in March 2014, our TRA was refused the right to address the Council on our concerns. We were told that these would be taken into account. They weren’t. And Brent has made no effort to inform residents of developments since, even though it has been pushing at every opportunity to change the proposed siting of the vent shaft.

Latest development – on Thursday 8th and Monday 12th October, Brent, together with HS2, held an `information event’ in South Kilburn studios. Such events have been likened to car salesrooms, at which you are given glossy leaflets and surrounded by people keen to sell your their wares. If this was meant as some kind of `consultation’, then it has to be asked why it was planned to submit the proposals to parliament on the Monday when this event was still going on. Clearly there was no intention to take the responses of residents into account.

To reassure us, we have been told there would be proper monitoring of vehicle movements to and from the site, times of working etc. By who? Brent Council, precisely the people who have failed to do anything about the abuses by developers on neighbouring sites for the last 4 years and a big reason why we are opposed to the siting of the vent shaft here. Very reassuring.

At the Thursday of this event, one residents’ representative asked why no Brent Councillors were present to justify their decision, rather than leaving it entirely to Brent and HS2 employees. Subsequently, all Brent Labour Councillors were written to, asking them to attend. Only 5 of the 50 even bothered to reply. Whether this shows an unwillingness to justify something they voted for, or a total ignorance of the issues, I will leave readers of Wembley Matters to decided. It does rather reinforce the view that it is senior Council officers who make the decisions, not Councillors.

When leafleting residents and parents of the children at the school against the proposal we have yet to find anyone who thinks it a good idea. Though the headteacher did come out and shout at us about “lies” in our leaflet, an allegation which she was not able to sustain. Incidentally, the head is so acquainted with the area that she had to be told where SK studios is, even though it is less than 3 minutes walk from the school gates.

A Council officer has now apparently said he will organise a meeting with school parents, though he seems to think he can do this through the school head who is totally uninterested. If such a meeting should take pace, it will be to report a fait accompli rather than take the views of parents into consideration.

It will be reported that not many residents (around 100 in total) visited the `information event’. Could this be because they feel the decision has been taken and there is not a lot they can do about it?

Residents and parents of children at the school have until 13th November to petition parliament against this proposal, and we will be out trying to get as much support as possible. I’m pleased to say we have the support of our 2 active Kilburn Councillors in this, and our MP, Tulip Siddiq, has raised our concerns in parliament.
 

Brent Council, Met Police and TfL fail to take action on danger to children

There is increased frustration amongst local residents in Wembley Park over the fact that the combined forces of Brent Council, Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police to tackle the traffic danger in what is known as the Forty Lane, Bridge Road, Forty Avenue corridor.

This is a letter written by local resident earlier this month which has so far received no response.

Safer Schools Partnership

Wembley Police Station

603 Harrow Road

Wembley

HA0 2HH

1 October 2015

Good morning –

I’m a Brent resident who uses the roads around Wembley Park Station on a daily basis in my commute to my office.  I’ve been increasingly concerned about the traffic over the last 10 months, my first email to Brent Council on 6 February 2015, my latest in the last week.  I see traffic violations on a daily basis and there are large numbers of Students in the area, travelling to Preston Manor, Ark Academy and the new Lycee Winston Churchill crossing busy roads.  Brent Council inform me there will be a Transport Study in progress envisaged to commence from Summer 2016, but I am extremely concerned that there will be a serious accident if not fatality in the area before then involving pedestrians.  I’m attaching a copy of the emails between myself and members of Brent Council, notably Sandor Fazekas from which I hope you will note my comments regarding the problems I see on a daily basis.  This has also been taken up by Martin Francis on his blog Wembley Matters, a copy of the relevant page is also attached to this letter.

Just yesterday I was on an 83 bus travelling from my home to Wembley Park Station and with the weight of traffic the bus I was on blocked the pedestrian green man crossing at Asda, with children trying to find their way around vehicles to get to the traffic island.  On Tuesday, again on the bus, I witnessed four cars in a row drive down Kings Drive (with the main entrance to the Lycee) and continue straight across (5 lanes of traffic) into Asda’s and do a U-turn onto Forty Lane against the left turn only signs.  This is a shortcut to avoid The Paddocks queue, drivers looking for quick short cuts and it happens on a daily basis.

I really would appreciate any assistance you can provide in this matter -

Yours faithfully

Ann Fitzgerald

Cc Inspector Peter Weaver, Barnhill Safer Neighbourhood Team

Brent Friends of the Earth fracked off with Barclays Bank

Brent Friends of the Earth members campaigned outside Barclays in Cricklewood on Saturday 10th October to tell the bank to stop backing fracking. The group used placards, bottles of 'fracking water'and leaflets to raise awareness, and a petition to put pressure on the bank over its investment in the dirty fossil fuel extraction in Ryedale, Yorkshire.

Barclays bank owns 97% of Third Energy – a company planning to frack very close to the North York Moors National Park. Barclays has a long history of funding dirty energy, but this would be the first time a major High Street bank is directly investing in fracking in the UK.

Members of the public signed a petition to Barclays' Chairman, John MacFarlane, to withdraw proposals of Third Energy and Barclays Natural Resource Investments to carry out exploratory fracking in North Yorkshire. Fracking in this area of the country carries a wide range of risks including:

-Risks to groundwater from chemicals injected into the ground and extracted as part of the fracking process.
-Risks to surface water, particularly given the area's location in a flood risk area and as an area renowned for its pristine rivers.
-Risks to the community from increased traffic and noise impacting on mental and physical health.
-Risks to the local economy which is largely dependent on agriculture, tourism and fishing.
-Risks to the global climate from further extreme extraction of dirty fossil fuels.

Viv Stein, spokesperson for Brent Friends of the Earth says, “Fracking poses unacceptable risks to our health, homes and environment, and goes against everything we need to do to tackle climate change. Brent residents were concerned to find out that Barclays – a retail bank – is investing in dirty fracking in a beautiful part of our country. We hope that our action, alongside others up and down the country, will persuade the bank to stop their plans which gamble with our health and the environment.”

“Our dirty 'frack water' highlighted concerns that the extraction uses vast quantities of water, making it no longer safe to drink. Surprisingly the Cricklewood branch was closed on the day of our action. We had hoped to meet the Bank Manager and express our concerns.”

Brent Friends of the Earth's actions were part of a national day of action on Climate Change on 10th October. See what other groups did on Twitter at #StopBarclaysFracking. To sign the petition to Barclays go to https://www.foe.co.uk/act/tell-barclays-stop-fracking-north-yorkshire.

Fly-Tipping at Brent Civic Centre Tonight - Meeting at 7pm

There is a public meeting this evening on fly-tipping at Brent Civic Centre (Boardroom) 7pm-8.30pm before the Scrutiny CommitteeTask Group reports on the problem.

A farewell and celebration for Charlie Pottins

Charlie's Google Profile Picture

Charlie Pottins - Funeral Details Announcement from friends

The funeral of our comrade and friend, Charlie Pottins will take place at 1pm on WEDNESDAY 21st OCTOBER, at Northwood Cemetery, Chestnut Avenue, Northwood, HA6 1DE.
Nearest tube: Northwood Hills (Metropolitan Line)
Buses: 282, H11

Immediately after the funeral we will hold an informal celebration of Charlie's life, with refreshments, at a private room in a pub in the area. Now that we have a time, date and location for the funeral, we are researching this and will give information when this is a available.

We very much hope that many of Charlie's friends and comrades will be able to attend. Please pass this information on to anyone you think will want to be informed.

You can see Charlie's blog Random Pottins HERE which demonstrates the range of his interests and the depth of his knowledge, but most importantly the sheer humanity of the man.