Councillor accuses Brent Council/Kingdom Securities of 'bounty hunting' over littering fines

Cllr John Duffy has condemned the Fixed Penalty Notice Littering Scheme run for Brent Council by Kingdom Securities as 'bounty hunting' and 'entrapment of the worst type:

My understanding is that these tickets should not be issued until the resident have had the chance to pick up the  litter.  I believe this whole scheme is a con , these officer will not investigate dumped bags, only hang around outside fast food  bookies and pubs looking for smokers, instead of approaching the premises and asking them to place a receptacle for smokers.

This is bounty hunting  the poorest residents  and in the case of Kilburn High Road is entrapment of the worst type.

Duffy visited Victoria Road and McDonalds to see for himself and wrote to Carolyn Downs, Brent Chief Executive Officer: 

I visited the area last night.  I spoke to someone from McDonald's  and some residents .

No one seems to understand why Brent would remove the bins from outside a major fast food retailer , with a high foot fall, a young demographic  and a strategic location.

One resident asked were they removed to increase the numbers of litter tickets issued by KS.  As I cannot think of any other reason for the removal, can you confirm the day they were removed , who made the request to remove  them and were any FPN issued in that area during the time the bins were removed .

This morning  (10mins ago) I heard of KS issuing tickets on  Kilburn High Road, without  giving the person an opportunity to pick it up.

I realise this a serious issue  removing litter bins when we have an enforcement process going on.  If we are trying to entrap residents into committing a offence , that is unacceptable. I believe we need to get to the bottom of the issue immediately. 

I have always had concerns about the policy of paying for bounty hunters to issue tickets , which was promoted by Cllr Southwood and Cllr Mashari, now I believe we should suspend the service until we have sorted out clear rules of engagement with public.

In the meantime I demand to know why they were removed and who requested there removal , with a full email trial of the instruction. I also need to know the number of tickets that were issued in Kilburn high road during the period the bins were removed.

In an earlier email to Brent Council officers, Cllr Duffy asked for answers to a series of questions:

I understand from the local paper, that the private firm introduced by the cabinet, Kingdom Securities (KS),  has issue 1200 FPNs.I therefore would like the following information.

(1) Can you also tell me how many FPN were issued for offences other than Littering( list below provided by DEFRA )

·       littering

·       fly-tipping

·       dog control offences

·       graffiti

·       fly-posting

·       nuisance parking (people selling or repairing cars on the road)

·       abandoned vehicles

·       leafleting without permission on land where leafleting is restricted (‘designated land’)

·       failing to nominate a key holder or give the council key holder details in an alarm notification area

·       failing to provide a waste carrier licence (for businesses transporting their own waste)

·       failing to provide a waste transfer note when moving non-hazardous waste

 or are KS employed exclusively for littering.

(2) What percentage were issued outside Tube stations, bus stops for discarding cigarette butts or similar before they enter a tube station or get on a bus.

(3) How many of these were issue following the searching of dicscarded waste under section 87 and section 88.

(4) Were any of the 1,200 offenders offer a chance to pick the offending litter as per the guidance laid down by Defra "that strictly speaking the unintentional dropping of litter is an offence , however DEFRA advise that a notice should only be issued if, after drawing the matter to the person’s attention, and he then fails to pick it up. Can you confirm you have followed Defra's guidelines that you have allow the offender to pick it -up and therefore only cautioned them if they did so, instead of issuing a FPN.

(5) As you may be aware Defra also say that in practice, the overwhelming majority of environmental offences are ‘summary offences’, this is to say they are criminal offences that are tried summarily, in front of the magistrates.  Also it is a requirement that records should be kept of the number of fixed penalty notices issued, the resulting receipts and the number of cases pursued through the courts. This information is legally required on an annual basis by Defra for monitoring purposes.Therefore can you confirm how many cases have been referred to the legal section for prosecution.

(6) How many have been paid within the 14 days required? (please change the question below to your anwser)

(7) I am assuming  we have received 70% payment and have been  paid = £67200 we have paid KS £55200 and therefore we have received £12k extra revenue to deal with appeals and taking legal actions against the outstanding offenders,can you confirm that is the case. Can you  also estimate the cost of the legal department of dealing the outstanding unpaid FPNs.

(8) Can you give me the on costs for the office space per month for the six members of staff , which was  circulated in your report to scrutiny and has KS incurred and other costs like the use of IT, use of pool cars , free car parking,  could you also give me the cost of collecting the fines by Brent.

 (9) It is clear the only fixed cost is the £55k income we have paid KS, can you confirm we have stopped cost for any item in part (8) above.

Cllr Southwood working on improving bulk waste collection service times with officers

A few minutes after I tweeted an update of my story on the long service times of Veolia's bulk waste collections LINK Cllr Eleanor Southwood tweeted that she shared frustrations at the service times and said that she was working with officers to improve the service.

Opposition to Tory Trade Union Act given top priority at Green Party Autumn Conference

Green Party Trade Union Group at Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival last month

Trade Unionists in the Green Party, organised as the Green Party Trade Union Group (GPTU), have successfully put Trade Union issues at the top of the policy agenda for this year’s Green Party Autumn Conference.

GPTU’s first motion opposes the Tory Trade Union Act, passed into law earlier this year, and has been voted by members as the top priority in the “C” section for policy motions.

The second, calling for legislation to make it easier for Trade Unions to organise in new workplaces, has made it to fifth place (out of 25) on the agenda for policy motions.

Kieron Merrett, Green Party Trade Union Group Secretary, said,

As Trade Unionists in the Green Party, we’re delighted that Trade Union and workers’ issues have been voted as the very top priority for policy discussion at this year’s Autumn Conference.

Well done to all those Green Party members who voted in the prioritisation ballot. It is clearly no coincidence that the Green Party has the most pro-worker and pro-Trade Union policies of any major party.

We’ve shown that the Green Party is the party for Trade Unionists and working people.

£96k levied in litterering fixed penalty fines in first 6 weeks of Brent Council trial

On Sunday I posted a blog LINK on the 7 week wait that Paul Lorber experienced for a bulk collection by Veolia. In passing I wondered how the new litter enforcement trial was working. The scheme was out-sourced to Kingdom.

Lo and behold on Monday Brent Council issued a press release announcing that more than 1200 people have been spot-fined in the first 6 weeks of the trial. That gives an income of £96K plus from which wages and overheads have to be paid.

This is the council press release:

More than 1200 litter bugs have been fined within the first 6 weeks of placing dedicated patrol officers on the streets of Brent.

There are few things that can affect the look and reputation of a place more than litter. Whether it’s fast food wrappers, cigarette butts or dog fouling, it’s a blight that should not be tolerated anywhere. And here in Brent, our fight against litterbugs is well underway.

Kingdom, the company whose dedicated officers are patrolling the streets in Brent, have issued over 1200 fines since the pilot scheme began 6 weeks ago.  Officers have been deployed to hot spot areas in the borough with the purpose of issuing £80 Fixed Penalty Notices to anyone caught in the act of committing a waste offence, including littering, paan spitting and not cleaning up after their dogs.

Residents or visitors who do not pay the fine could end up in court, where they face the prospect of being named and shamed, and landed with a much heftier penalty.

This innovative 12 month pilot scheme has been put in place to help keep our streets clean and litter-free, and supports the efforts of our existing Enviro-crime Enforcement Team, who work tirelessly to investigate littering and illegally dumped rubbish offences and prosecute offenders.

Cllr Eleanor Southwood, Brent Council’s Cabinet Member for the Environment, said:

Dropping litter is the kind of anti-social behaviour that really gets people’s backs up, and rightly so. It’s thoughtless, selfish and ruins shared spaces for everyone. Not only that, clearing and disposing of litter costs millions of pounds each year, and this money could be better spent in different areas.

The majority of residents here in Brent love where they live and take great care of our streets and parks, which is why we are determined to take action against those whose behaviours are spoiling Brent for the rest of us.
We want to make it as easy as possible for everyone in Brent to get rid of their waste legally, to recycle more and to take greater care and pride in the local area. These activities are part of our Love Where You Live campaign and send a clear message to residents and visitors that littering will not be accepted here in Brent.

You can do your bit to help make Brent a cleaner and greener place to live and visit, by reporting illegally dumped rubbish or graffiti with the Cleaner Brent App or organising your own clean-up day. You can also download the new recycling app for clear guidance on what you can recycle, and where.

This afternoon the Kilburn Times posted a story in whicb residents complain that the enforcement officers use 'underhand practices' to catch residents out. There were complaints of officers hiding to pounce on offenders and the lack of litter bins etc. LINK 

At Scrutiny Committee in April Cllr John Duffy warned that the enforcemment officers would oook out for 'easy pickings'. LINK

Duffy pointed out that Kingdom would  be motivated to issue a high number of tickets as this would boost their profits. Operatives were likely to go for the easy option of targeting 'rich pickings', such as smokers outside tube stations, where they could issue many tickets in a short time, rather than areas where real action was needed on street litter
 

People who embrace multiculturalism are less stressed research suggests

People who embrace multiculturalism are less stressed, fit better in Britain’s mixed society and don’t lose their national identity, research suggests.

As reports rise of post-Brexit racist attacks, a study shows that British people who reject multi-culturalism experience more stress and fail to fit in. Psychologists at Brunel University London studied how immigration affects the daily life and well-being of 800 British, American, German, Chinese and Indian nationals.

They found people who live in their home country and connect with their national culture had higher life satisfaction than people who don’t. And those who embrace other cultures around them experience less stress.

"We found that the more you interact and identify with other cultures, the more you become interested in your own culture,” said Dr Katharina Lefringhausen.

As of the beginning of 2016, an estimated nearly nine million people who live in the UK were born in other countries, including some British nationals.

This psychological study is the first to investigate how multi-culturalism reshapes the cultural identity, beliefs and behaviour of people in the host communities. It also asked interviewees if they felt they benefited from cultural diversity.

For Europeans and Americans, the results, in published in Cross-Cultural Research, showed adapting to other cultures and therefore embracing immigration, actually strengthened national cultures.

The online research rated how much people identify, interact and endorse their own culture and how much people identify, interact and endorse other cultures.

The team also measured life satisfaction, the psychological impact of adapting to a new culture and how people reacted to cultural differences.

 “Far right groups claim different cultures are a threat, globalisation is taking over and you either get sucked into it or separate yourself from it,” explained Dr Katharina Lefringhausen.

 “This shows from a psychological perspective that like migrants, nationals can simultaneously embrace their own culture and other cultures surrounding them in their own country.

“This is the first time it has been supported statistically and across different countries.

Dr Lefringhausen calls for a shift in focus: “Especially now in the light of Brexit and growing far-right movements across Europe, politicians, educators and the media need to support the integration of locals alongside the integration of migrants. People thrive more by having both.”

“It knocks on the head the notion that immigration threatens conservative values by diluting national identity, traditions and beliefs,” she added.

The researchers now recommend that there should be more studies to look at ways to encourage people who were born abroad to integrate in local communities, education and at work.

Vacancies at Brent Mencap

We currently have 3 vacancies at Brent Mencap.

The closing date for the advocate post is this Friday 5th August at midday with interviews next week on 10th August. Application forms for this post need to be sent to Brent Mencap.

The closing date for the care navigator posts is Wed 24th August (9am) with interviews being held all day on Tuesday 30th & Wednesday 31st August. The recruitment for these 2 posts is being co-ordinated by Brent CVS so please contact Fuad at Brent CVS with any queries first and not Brent Mencap.

The details of all these posts can be found at the link below.

http://www.brentmencap.org.uk/index.php

Some of the issues lurking beneath the surface of the Green Party leadership election

Line up at a hustings for leader and deputy. Amelia Womack was on holiday.

Written in individual capacity 

As the great Labour leadership battle storms on amidst thunderous roars, flashes of lightning and torrents of abuse, in a comparatively calm but neglected corner of the political firmament another leadership contest is taking place - for the leadership, deputy leadership and Executive of the Green Party of England and Wales.

News Thump: 'Green Party picks worst possible moment to hold leadership election' LINK takes a well-aimed satirical swipe at the Greens' failure to get even minimal coverage of their election but it is worth looking at some of the issues that are lurking just below the surface.

Some are not specific to this election but reflect longer term issues. An obvious one, now reflected in the Labour leadership contest, is the relationship between the Greens as part of a wider campaigning environmental and social justice movement and the Greens as an electoralist organisation.  The reduction of the party's campaigning (non election) budget to zero means that there will be few, if any, campaign materials available at the Autumn conference.  The recent emphasis on a 'progressive alliance' with other political parties, strongly supported by Caroline Lucas, raises all sorts of issues about electoral pacts, red (green?) lines, and what is meant by the slippery term 'progressive'. Much will depend on the outcome of the Labour leadership election where Labour support for proportional representation will be deal-breaker.

As Caroline Lucas is standing for the leadership on a joint ticket with Jonathan Bartley the progressive alliance has featured in many of the hustings. Concerns have been expressed that this concept has not been fully debated by the membership and rather than emerging from the party's very comprehensive policy making process has come from 'on high'.  Deputy leader candidate Shahrar Ali has called for full internal party consultation on the issue.  It is complicated by the fact that the Green Party is not a top-down organisation with centralised direction but one where local parties have autonomy. Final decisions on whether to contest seats or stand down in favour of an agreed 'progressive alliance' candidates rests with them.

In terms of joint campaigning with other political parties, independent socialists and environmentalists, trade unionists  and community groups this already happens on many issues including fracking, austerity, local government cuts, housing, union disputes, academisation, public transport, library closure and much else.  When we take part in such actions the lack of Green Party campaign material is a weakness.

There are those in the Green Party who view the progressive alliance with scepticism and others who go further in arguing that Greens should stand on their own policies which are inimical to Labour's commitment to economic growth.

The jibe that Ukip is more diverse than the Green Party has enough truth in it to require the Green Party undertake some serious self-examination.  The hustings photograph above illustrates, with the exception of Shahrar Ali (standing) the all-white nature of candidates for the leadership and deputy leadership of the party.  There is also a gender imbalance in the leadership contest with Caroline Lucas the only female although three of the seven deputy candidates are women.

Class is an area when the Green Party has come under attacks as an essentially middle class institution and although the membership is changing with the recruitment of ex-Labour activists and a thriving Green Party Trade Union Group, the public face of the Green Party is still middle class, white and largely London-based.

There are candidates in this election with working class roots or a record of activism in working class communities including Martie Warin from the ex-pit village of Easington in County Durham, and Cllr David Williams  now in Oxfordshire but originally from Salford.  Among the deputy contenders Andrew Cooper has represented the Greens on Kirklees Council since 1999.

The candidiates' views on working with trade unions can be read HERE

Turning to issues specific to this election the one to emerge early on was the joint candidature of Caroline Lucas and Jonathan Bartley LINK. In giving up the leadership previous Lucas had said she wanted to open up the way for more voices to represent the party. Critics immediately suggested that standing for the leadership in 2016 as well as being the sole MP would effectively reduce the number of voices.  Party rules state that if co-leaders are elected then there will be only one deputy (Shahrar Ali and Amelia Womack were previously male and female deputies).  A further criticism was that by announcing their co-leadership bid early on Lucas-Bartley effectively discouraged other candidates. Given Lucas' prominence and well-deserved reputation, others were unlikely to come forward as they would expect Lucas to win.

The issue of workload is also being discussed by activists. Previously Natalie Bennett, Amelia Womack and Shahrar Ali shared the official leadership positions supplemented by Caroline Lucas and the Green MEPs.  If Lucas is elected co-leader the official leadership is reduced by one. In addition she will have to combine leadership with the role of MP. As the leader spends a lot of the time touring the country, speaking to local parties and attending events this aspect of the role may suffer although the counter-argument is that Bartley will do the bulk of this work.

Although there is a strong case against the media dictating our leadership structures it is worth considering how the media, especially TV and Radio, will cope with co-leaders. It was a feature of the General Election that interviewers did not really understand that in the Green Party the leader is a spokesperson for policies decided by the membership.  They often expected Bennett to be an expert on every aspect of policy or to make up policy and initiatives on the spot. Combine that with a preference for one recognisable face and voice then we can expect Lucas to dominate the media with a blurring between her leadership and MP roles. Policy and strategy expectations will be deepened by her parliamentary role so on issues such as the progressive alliance she will be pushed to comment beyond existing policy.

Members' deciding policy is a jealously guarded principle in the Green Party and members are likely to oppose any erosion of that role.  Given the growth in party membership there are issues around managing larger conferences (at present any member can attend) and the possibility of switching to a delegate conference. Although the Green Party trumpets its democratic structures the current right of anyone to attend is counter-balanced by the issue of affordability. Despite differing charges for conference admission according to capacity to pay, fares and accommodation are expensive, so those economically disadvantaged are less able to afford to attend.

The concerns outlined above along with members who want to see Ali and Womack continue as deputy leaders has led to some members advocating a vote for RON in the leadership elections. RON stands for Re-open Nominations.  They argue that a  winning vote for RON would both enable a wider and more diverse field to come forward for the leadership and potentially allow Ali and Womack to continue as deputies.

Others argue that RON is extremely unlikely to win, if it did it would be an embarrassment to the party, and despite misgivings Lucas-Bartley is the only real show in town.


Declaration of interest: I have backed Shahrar Ali standing as deputy leader on the grounds of his effective communication skills  and his commitment to internal party democracy. We do not of course agree on everything!

Marcus Garvey at Brent Museum, Willesden Green Library Centre

Friends Of Marcus Garvey Bust Collective and Brent Museum and Archives are glad to announce that the Marcus Garvey bust will be unveiled as a permanent display in Brent Museum  (Willesden Green Library Centre) on Marcus Garvey's birthday August 17, 6-7.30pm.

In addition to the unveiling, there will be an audio-visual presentation by local history consultant Kwaku on Marcus Garvey, plus short speeches by dignitaries and Garveyites.

Book to express your interest in attending the first of what's expected to be an annual event.

Produced in association with Friends Of Marcus Garvey Bust Collective @ WGLC. For enquiries: btwsc@hotmail.com. To book: www.bit.ly/MGBust