Brent Council Meeting tonight could be lively...

There are a number of issues on the agenda at Brent's Full Council Meeting meeting tonight that could make it more lively than the usual ritualistic affair.

A 3.99% rise in Council Tax forms part of the budget along with cuts in youth provision that have rather late in the day led to protests by the Mosaic and Granville Youth Centres. The Council retained the funding of the Youth Parliament but cut the actual youth service. A bit like closing a hopsital but keeping the Patents' Forum.

Buried in the budget report is a statement  that I passed on to South Kilburn residents last week and that was picked up by James Powney on Sunday LINK

The South Kilburn Regeneration programme has slipped behind schedule in 2015/16. There is a masterplan review of South Kilburn Regeneration; this means it is being fundamentally reviewed to determine how best to deliver the programme and realise benefits of regeneration for South Kilburn and for its businesses and residents. This review will reconsider the fundamental approach, including whether it is better for the council to retain the South Kilburn Housing Assets, or continue to dispose of them.

Clearly this has far reaching repercussions and Kilburn councillors may well want further detail. James Powney suggests this is a matter for the Scrutiny Committee but an investigation into the South Kilburn regeneration is already supposed to be on their agenda. South Kilburn resident Pete Firmin made a presentation to the Committee in December LINK

The proposal to have two Scrutiny Committees with allowances for each member, as well as the introduction of conferences expenses and a 1% rise in the basic councillor allowance are likely to be controversial.
 
The removal of the deputy leader's allowance from the Brondesbury Park Conservatives and the allocation of a leader's allowance to the Kenton Conservatives will lead to some bitter exchanges between the two groups to the glee of Labour councillors.

Proposals to change the structure of Full Council Meetings  LINK deserve serious consideration but may not escape the usual Punch and Judy politics.

Self-managed allotments- local control or a cover for cuts?

Brent Council is holding a consultation meeting with allotment holders on 'Allotment Associations and Self-Management: The Future of Your Allotments?'  on March 2nd.

As part of the Food Growing and Allotment Strategy LINK tenants will be consulted on their views of self-management:

Councils across the UK are looking at different styles of management with the aim of running allotments more effectively. Having an Allotment Association os the first step to taking more ownership of your site and in its most extreme (sic) form, this means that Allotment Associations lease the sites from the Council and take on the full financial, administration and maintenance management of their sites.

In Brent one allotment site is already self-managed but other sites lack an Allotment Association.

Speakers include:

Richard King, Barnet Allotment Federartion on 'The Barnet experience'
Clare Fuchs, self-management in Hammersmith and Fulham
Richard Wiltshire, the National Allotment Society
Derek Osborne, Chair of the self-managed Old Kenton Lane Allotment Association

In my chats to fellow allotment holders there seems little appetite for self-management but I expect attitudes will vary across the borough.

'Full financial , adminstration and maintenance management' sounds like a considerable amount of work that will be transferred from council officers to volunteers.  Major maintenance such as control of trees, fencing and drainage will clearly be potentially very expensive although water bills, toilet lighting etc will be paid through regular rental income.

There are whole borough issues such as management of waiting lists where people may be interested in plots at more than one site and initiatives such as wildlife friendly gardening, sustainable and chemical free gardening, where the present Food Growing and Allotment Offfcer has performed a vital role, which would be lost if the post is abolished as a result of self-management.

I hope the meeting is well attended and the issues given a good airing.

Could you be an 'Independent Person' to uphold Brent Council standards

At long last, after nudging by Wembley Matters contributor Philip Grant, Brent Council has advertised for three 'Independent Persons' LINK  Closing date for applications is Sunday March 6th:
 

--> Background Information:
Under the provisions of the Localism Act 2011 the way that Brent Council will deal with conduct complaints about its elected and co-opted members in its area is changing.
The statutory regulatory framework has been abolished and the Council is responsible for deciding how to deal with conduct issues at a local level, including adopting its own local code and determining what arrangements it will adopt to deal with complaints. 

The Act provides that the Council must appoint an Independent Person or Persons to assist the Council in promoting and maintaining high standards of conduct amongst its members.
Independent Persons are consulted on decisions to investigate complaints and before a decision is made on an investigated complaint. The Independent persons may also be consulted on other standard matters, including by the member who is subject to an allegation.

In addition, the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) Regulations 2001 (the 2001 Regulations) and the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (the 2015 Regulations).  The 2015 Regulations, which came into force on 11 May 2015, amend the way that Brent Council will deal with the disciplinary and conduct complaints against the Chief Executive, Chief Finance Officer and Monitoring Officer. 

The decision to dismiss the officers has to be taken by the full council but not before full council has considered, amongst other things, any advice, views or recommendations from a ‘panel’ (comprising of ‘independent persons’ appointed in accordance with certain statutory rules).
The Council now wishes to appoint three Independent Persons to assist in discharging these responsibilities.  Full details of the role and responsibilities of the Independent Person are included in this Recruitment Pack.

A fixed allowance of £419 per annum is payable together with reimbursement of travel expenses. The appointment will be for a fixed term of 2 years

Skills and Competencies:

The Independent Person will have:

·     a keen interest in standards in public life.

·     a wish to serve the local community and uphold local democracy.

·     the ability to be objective, independent and impartial.

·     sound decision making skills

·     leadership qualities, particularly in respect of exercising sound judgement.

The Independent Person will:

·     be a person in whose impartiality and integrity the public can have confidence.

·     understand and comply with confidentiality requirements.

·     have a demonstrable interest in local issues.

·     have an awareness of the importance of ethical behaviours.

·     be a good communicator.

·     Be a person with unspent criminal record (Rehabilitation of Offenders Act applies)

Desirable additional criteria are:

·     working knowledge/experience of local government or other public service and/or of large complex organisations and awareness of and sensitivity to the political process.

·     knowledge and understanding of judicial/quasi-judicial or complaints processes.

Means of assessment will be by application form and interview.

NOTE:  You will be required to be contactable during normal working hours by telephone or by email and to be available to attend hearings, some of which may be held in the day time and at relatively short notice.

Eligibility for Appointment
A person cannot be appointed as an Independent Person if they are or were within a period of five years prior to the appointment:

·     a member, co-opted member or officer of the authority.

·     a member, co-opted member or officer of a parish council in the District Council’s area,

·     or a relative or close friend of the above. 

Any involvement in political activity or campaigning, particularly at local level, may affect public perceptions of independence.  Applicants are asked to indicate the nature of such activity and whether it may affect public perception of independence.  
    
Regulations do not prevent Independent Members who previously served on the Council’s Standards Committee from being eligible to apply for the role, as this can assist with continuity of experience and therefore assist in the work of the Committee.

Show your solidarity with the Heathrow 13 facing jail - Willesden Magistrates Court on Wednesday

Rob Basto is one of the Heathrow 13 who face being jailed on Wednesday for fighting for climate justice.

There will be a solidarity demonstration for the Plane Stupid activists outside the Willesden Magistrates Court  from 9am on Wednesday February 24th

TTIP: The Death of Democracy

As the EU Referendum debate gets under way and TTIP (Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership) begins to get some mentions it is worth watching this video in which David Malone reveals the inner workings of TTIP and its repercussions for democracy.

It is a long video, recorded a year ago, but I think deserves wider viewing.

Save Mosaic LGBT Youth Club From Local Government Cuts

From Mosaic LGBT Youth Club due to close at part of Brent Council's overall cuts in the youth service LINK .

 Save Mosaic LGBT Youth Centre from closing down

The Mosaic LGBT Youth Centre in Kilburn is a local government funded LGBT youth centre. It is one of few left in the whole of the capital, it supports teenagers who identify as LGBT or are questioning their sexuality and/or gender identity.

The proposed new structure of the Youth Service would mean that Centre will be closed and only youth clubs still in operation would be just local youth clubs that we never access and don't want to access as they are not meeting our needs as LGBT young people. We do not need or want a space where we have to 'come out' every time, we want space like mosaic where we can be ourselves and be fully accepted, not just tolerated.

This new proposal is a complete disregard to the needs of our community and results of consultation that clearly identified LGBT youth provision as a priority to be safeguarded in the new restructure; even third sector youth organisations agree as they recognise that complexity of that work cannot be met in just any youth club - one size does not fit all!

At the times where schools are still bastions of homophobia and streets are rife with growing homophobic hate crime and parents making LGBT kids like me homeless by kicking them out Mosaic LGBT Youth Centre is something more then just a hang out space, it is home, it is community, it is a listening ear and often non-judgemental advice that we wouldn't otherwise get.

The huge problem with the removal of this Centre would be the impact on the LGBT youth, Mosaic educates us on LGBT history, current community issues, sexual health as well as many other topics. None of these services are currently provided in schools and therefore Mosaic is a vital service which cannot be demolished.

If the Council were to remove the funding for Mosaic who would support a community where 40% of us consider suicide, who would give a community which has a high HIV rate sex education, who would help those struggling to accept their sexuality?

The answer is no-one, as a gay teenager I can tell you that school won't support LGBT students in any significant way and it seems that Section 28 is a piece of legislation that has been repealed, but it is very much alive and well in schools today.

For these and many other reasons that I can't go into here Mosaic LGBT Youth Centre cannot be closed down!

Your sincerely,

Mosaic LGBT Youth Centre Members

Petition HERE

Kensal Rise Library housing units start at £475,000 for a studio

In the same week that the Kensal Rise Library campaign announced a 'night of poetry and readings' by famous actors and writers to help raise £100,000 running costs for their community library in the Kensal Rise building, a studio flat in the building went on sale for £475.000.

The studio is one of two in the building along with one one-bedroomed duplex and 2 two bedroomed duplexes.

In pre-redevelopment attempts to sell the whole building, prices asked were between £1,150,000 and £1,120,00.

Along with the  Willesden Green Library redevelopment LINK it is clear that the 'Brent Libraries Transformation Strategy'  has been very lucrative for developers.

More information on the studio (bedsitter?)  HERE

This is the floor plan:

Foxtons do not mention the community library space in their property details.

New Brent HR Director must ensure equalities are upheld as more job losses loom

Yesterday was the deadline for applications to be the Director of Brent Council Human Relations. The post was of course extremely controversial when held by Cara Davani with the Employment Tribunal judgment finding that the Council racially discriminated against against a member of staff,  victimised her and constructivelyly dismissed her. LINK

Cara Davani later left the Council's employment and attempts to find out the amount of her pay off were unsuccessful.

The new Director will be managing further reductions in Council  staffing  which will have equality implications as this extract from the budget report  LINK shows:
 

.        8.8.  Driving Organisational Efficiency is proposed to save £4.8m. Transformation of the design and delivery of Early Help will streamline Early Help, focusing on a one family, one worker approach to help build resilience and independence, saving £0.9m. Reviewing staff structures and spans of control across Community Services will save £2.3m. Reviewing support service costs: HR, legal, IT, business support and finance for greater efficiency will save £1m. Other savings totalling £0.6m are shown in Appendix D(iii). Service user and staff consultation will of course be essential to shape the detailed plans of how to achieve these savings, but the current expectation is that they will not impact significantly on the delivery of front-line services. 


.        8.9.  Many of the proposals will have an impact on staff, especially where the majority of the saving proposals are made up of staffing costs. Given the scale of staffing reductions, there is potential for these proposals to have a significant impact on the workforce, particularly in Community Services and Resources. The majority of the workforce is from ethnic minority groups (broadly reflecting the ethnic profile of the Borough); there are also some services that due to their nature consist of predominantly female or male members of staff, and it is important that changes are not disproportionate in terms of their impact. Brent’s Managing Change Policy and Procedure provides a framework to be followed during times of organisational change to minimise the risk of a negative impact on any equality groups. The Managing Change Policy requires that staffing changes undergo EA to ensure that the restructure process is conducted in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner. 


This is the advertisement on PM Jobs for the HR post:

--> HR Director

LB Brent • to £122k

Right now, there’s no more exciting place to be than Brent. Recent years have seen an unprecedented transformation in what we do, how we do it, and even (with the completion of our remarkable new Civic Centre) where it’s done. This sustained infusion of energy and collaboration has resulted in a singularly ambitious strategic vision, making Brent Just Better: Better Locally, a Better Place, and Better Lives. With strong growth projections for the borough over the years to come, our resource position is stronger than most; and we believe there’s the potential to do more here than at any other council.

Our ambition for the HR service is similarly stretching, and we’re determined that the department will play an increasingly important part in the success of the whole organisation. The role covers the full operational and strategic gamut, and there will be some absorbingly complex issues (such as delivery models and structures) on your desk from day one. We’re open-minded about the options, and are committed to thinking differently – but sound evidence, a full business case, and total alignment with our strategic objectives must underpin everything you do.

Candidates will have been consistently outstanding in their career to date, with excellent practical and conceptual abilities, and a strong grasp of the complexities inherent in our operating environment. You should be intellectually strong, with good communication skills and the ability to forge positive working relationships with everyone from elected members to trade unions; a particular strength in communicating and embedding strategic HR priorities will be a definite advantage. Issues such as traded and shared services, culture change, leadership development and workforce planning will all come into sharp focus over the next 12-18 months, and applicants should be able to bring a demonstrable understanding of these and many other aspects.