Helga Gladbaum pays tribute to Tayo Oladapo

Helga Gladbaum has asked me to publish this Guest Blog

 

Tribute to the late Cllr. Tayo Oladapo

I am dismayed that the late Councillor Tayo Oladapo, representing the Labour Party in Kilburn ward for six years and who died at an early age at the end of January of this year has still not been given a decent burial nor a mention in any local publication.

I therefore would like to give my own tribute to Tayo. He was elected to be a Labour councillor in 2010 and he was one of much younger councillors at the time.

Tayo was a member of the Education Scrutiny committee which I chaired for a number of years. He always attended the meetings of that committee and would walk over to me at the end of the meetings to talk about education and other matters. He was very respectful and I had great hopes that he would eventually make an important contribution to the work of the Council.

I remember a number of Brent councillors passing away over the years, notably Cllr. Paul Daisley, leader of Brent Council and MP for Brent Central, Cllr. Reg Freeson, MP for Brent Central for many years and Cllr. Tom Taylor, chair of education for a number of years and leader of the Conservative group. They and others were always honoured for their contribution to the political life of Brent.

I fail to understand why these long-standing traditions have been broken in the case of the late Cllr. Tayo Oladapo. I will remember you, Tayo.

Helga Gladbaum

Councillor for Harlesden ward 2010 to 2014

Wembley Champions turn to poetry to make their point about 'Twin Towers'

Wembley Champions website LINK has published this poem about the Wembley 'Twin Towers' - it is not quite John Betjeman but shows how much they care for where they live. They are asking the Mayor of London to call in the application which was approved by Brent Planning Committee with 4 votes for, 2 against (including the Chair) and two abstentions.

Wednesday's Brent Planning Committee to go ahead

Brent Council Democratic Services confirmed today that Wednesday's Planning Committee wil go ahead.  The meeting was in doubt after the Chair, Sarah Marquis, moved a deferral at yesterday's Planning Committee. Her motion, informed by legal advice, was based on the fact that two meetings in one week, considering major planning applications, with long term impact on Wembley would not be made by a fully informed committee given the amount of paper work involved, including much that was online, and thus would not deliver fairness and justice through due process. LINK

Committee members were not willing to discuss the motion in public and met privately after the public left.

Democratic Services said:

I can confirm that the meeting scheduled for Wednesday 11 May 2016 will go ahead.
I am not aware that a proposal to defer tomorrow night's meeting will be tabled.

It would still be possible for the Committee to defer some of the items even if the meeting itself is not deferred.

The Reports Pack for the meeting is 248 pages long LINK

This is a summary of just one of the agenda items. LINK It includes up to 4,000 homes, an 1,800 space 10 storey car park,  hotel, more student accommodation, a three form entry primary school on the site of York House, retail and lots more. It is in Tokyngton ward (as are all the other applications tabled for Wednesday) where Muhammed Butt is one of the three Labour councillors. Apart from the car park this is Outline Permission but obviously will affect the shape of Wembkey for decades to come.

I undestand the Football Association will speak on this application. Cllr Sam Stopp is also due to address the Committee.

PROPOSAL:

22 December, 2015 Tokyngton


Brent Connects Wembley 

Olympic Way and land between Fulton Road and South Way including Green Car Park, Wembley Retail Park, 1-11 Rutherford Way, 20-28 Fulton Road, Land south of Fulton Road opposite Stadium Retail Park, land opposite Wembley Hilton, land opposite London Design

Hybrid planning application, accompanied by an Environmental Impact Assessment, for the redevelopment of the site including;-

Full planning permission for erection of a 10-storey car park to the east of the Stadium comprising 1,816 car parking spaces of which 1,642 are for non-residential purposes, up to 82 coach parking spaces and associated infrastructure, landscaping and vehicular access.

And

Outline application for the demolition of existing buildings on site and the provision of up to 420,000 sqm (gross external area) of new floorspace within a series of buildings comprising:

Retail/financial and professional services/food and drink (Use Class A1 to A4) up to 21,000 sqm; 


Commercial (Use Class B1) up to 82,000 sqm; 


Hotel (Use Class C1): up to 25,000 sqm; 


Residential (Use Class C3): up to 350,000 sqm (up to 4,000 homes) plus up to 
20,000 sqm of floorspace for internal plant, refuse, cycle stores, residential 
lobbies, circulation and other residential ancillary space; 


Education, healthcare and community facilities (Use Class D1): up to15,000 
sqm; 


Assembly and leisure (Use Class D2): 23,000 sqm; 


Student accommodation (Sui Generis): Up to 90,000 sqm. 
And associated open space (including a new public park) and landscaping; car and coach parking (including up to 55,000 sqm of residential parking and 80,000 sqm non-residential parking) and cycle storage; pedestrian, cycle and vehicular accesses; associated highway works; and associated infrastructure including water attenuation tanks, an energy centre and the diversion of any utilities and services to accommodate the development. 


UPDATE: Butt resigns from London Councils equalities post

Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council has resigned from his post as Equalities lead at the 32 borough cross-party London Councils.

Although Jewish News and Brent and Kilburn Times have attributed this to the Facebook controversy there has been no official confirmation that this was the case and there may well be another reason.

I have put in a request to London Councils and Brent Council asking for a statement about the reasons for the resignation.

UPDATE - I have received this from the London Councils Media Officer:

A London Councils' spokesperson said: "We can confirm that Cllr Muhammed Butt has resigned as equalities lead for London Councils. A new equalities lead will be appointed by our Leaders' Committee in due course. I can also confirm that his resignation is linked to the post that was shared on Facebook."

Marquis attempts to defer the second of this week's Planning Commiittee meetings

At the end of an arduous Planning Committee which went on well beyond the normal 10pm deadline the Chair, Sarah Marquis, made a statement about the controversial decision to hold two Planning Committee meetings this week. LINK

She said that as Chair she was disappointed that the Committee had been put in the position of deciding important applications,  in a short space of time, that would deliver the new Wembley not just in the immediate future but for generations to come.

She said that the Committee had a duty to be fully informed and deliver fairness and justice through due process.   Members needed to feel comfortable with the decisions that they made.

Given that,  as well as the weighty meeting documentation, members had 385 supporting documents to read on line, she wanted to move that meeting due to be held on Wednesday should be  deferred and moved to the next available Planning Committee meeting date.

Cllr Marquis' proposal seemed to throw the Committee members into a state of panic with Cllr Agha questioning whether such a discussion should be held in public - although only three of us had had the stamina to stay until the end of the meeting.

The Committee's legal adviser suggested that Wednesday's meeting go ahead as the date had been set and documentation provided  but that the deferral motion be heard at the beginning.

Cllr Maurice suggested that the Committee meet in private immediately after tonight's meeting with the legal adviser to discuss the motion.

As far as I know that meeting may still be going on...

Complaint after 'flood' of pupil comments on Kingsbury High Lucozade Powerleague Planning Application

Roe GreenVillage Residents' Association have asked Nicky Morgan MP, Seceretary of State for Education, to intervene over the involvement of Kingsbury High pupils in the Lucuzade Powerleague planning application for the school playing fields.

The Residents' Association note a deluge of support for the application lodged on the Brent Planning Portal by pupils and ask whether it is appropriate for pupils not to have had a balanced presentation about the issues involved in a controversial development.

I think the pupils are old enough to be able to express a view but agree with the residents that a balanced presentation should have preceeded any writing - perhaps a debate at the school involving representatives of both sides.

Pavey: I want to lead a 'political, campaigning Council'

James Powney has published the email Cllr Pavey sent to Brent Labour Group regarding his leadership challenge LINK

I reproduce it here:

Dear friends,

It's been a tough couple of years in Brent.

We have the most fantastic community in London. Warm, diverse and dynamic.

But it is under sustained assault from a truly heartless Government. 

What are we doing in response?

Too often Brent Council is cold and bureaucratic. 

The Employment Tribunal finding of race discrimination was a hammer-blow to everything we hold dear.

And too often our political response has been to blame the Government - but to offer no alternative, no resistance. 

We can do so much better than this. 

We've lost our sense of purpose. We've lost our conviction. We've lost our heart.

In two years we all face an extremely difficult local election. Now is the perfect time to refocus and reinvigorate. To make a fresh start. And that requires new leadership.

That's why I'm standing to be your Leader.

Our Group is divided and unhappy. I believe that's because we've lost sight of the Labour values which we all share: breaking down injustice, building equality. 

I want to lead us in developing a fresh new vision we can all unite around.

Let's then deliver this vision together. Let's stop moaning about the Government and actually stand up to them. 

No more submissive delivery of cuts: let's be a political, campaigning Council. Let's work with our community and other Labour councils to mobilise a major campaign to change Government policy. 

This is a huge change from where we are today. So we need a new kind of leadership. 

I will be more inclusive, more democratic, less fearful of debate.

These aren't just vague aspirations. I have a range of detailed ideas which I'm really looking forward to discussing with you in the days ahead.

Things can be so much better than they are today. 

Let's work together to build something we can all be truly proud of.

Let's reunite around our shared Labour values. 

Let's harness the immense talents of our Labour Group to become a political, campaigning Council. 

And let's choose a Leader with the skills and values to make it happen.

Best wishes,

Mikey

Propriety of Butt's conduct on double planning meetings questioned

Claims emerged over the weekend that Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt sought the agreement of his allies on Brent Planning Committee before timetabling two Planning Committee meetings this week ahead of the Labour Group AGM on Saturday.

A reader commented:

It is totally unreasonable to expect Planning Committee to be able consider properly two full agendas, involving major proposed developments, within the space of 48 hours!

Rumour has it that the Chair of Planning Committee, Sarah Marquis, objected to having two meetings so close together, but that the Leader of the Council went behind her back and persuaded some of the other Committee members to agree to it.

The question arises as to whether the Committee can make informed and robust decisions in the limited time available on proposals that will make an impact on Wembley for decades to come and have major repercussions for the country's national stadium.

As the Planning Committee is statutorily independent questions also arise over the propriety of Muhammed Butt's intervention.  I would think that the chair would be entitled to seek independent advice on whether the double meetings are reasonable and enable the Committee to cary out its statutory duties effectively and fairly.

The Members Code of Conduct and Planning Code of Practice are relevant LINK