Brent Green Party backs Cllr John Duffy on waste services

Fly-tip in King's Drive, Wembley

Brent Green Party has announced that it backs Cllr John Duffy’s call for a public consultation on improving Brent Council’s environmental services.


A spokesperson said:

‘Leaving aside Cllr Duffy’s difficulties with the Labour Group we believe it is in residents’ interests to review environmental services, particularly waste collection and fly-tipping, with a view to improving efficiency and value for money.

'We know from speaking to residents that their daily experience of Brent as a ‘dirty borough’ littered with discarded mattresses, clothing and much else, is demoralising and degrading.

‘Cllr Duffy has expertise in this area that the Council should utilise rather than ignore.’

Cllr Duffy's waste strategy is outlined here
 

Justice Now: Make it right for Palestine - March and Rally on Saturday

National March and Rally 

Saturday 4 November 2017 Justice Now: Make it right for Palestine

Assemble 12noon Grosvenor Square W1K 6LF London - March to Parliament Square

Members of Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Brent Stop the War and other local activists will be taking part in this march on Saturday marking the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration on November 2nd which built the path for the dispossession of Palestinian rights.

Speakers at the rally will include"

Dr Mustafa Barghouti / Ken Loach / Andy Slaughter MP / Mick Whelan
General Secretary ASLEF / Gail Cartmail TUC /  Matt Wrack
General Secretary FBU /  Margaret McKee  President Unison /
 John Pilger  / Senator Paul Gavan Sinn Fein / Leanne Mohamad / Hugh
Lanning PSC / Asad Rehman, War on Want / Reem Kelani / Philipa Harvey NEU-NUT
Section / Daoud Abdalah BMI / Ajmal Masrour Imam & broadcaster / Prof
Manuel Hassassian / Tariq Ali / Salma Yacoub / Dave Randall /  Hawiyya
Dance Company / John Nicolson SNP – And many more to be announced.


Organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB), Friends of Al Aqsa (FOA), Stop the War Coalition (STW), Muslim Association of Britain (MAB).

Supported by Unite the Union, UNISON, National Education Union- NUT Section,GMB, ASLEF, RMT, FBU, UCU, PCS, CWU, Europal Forum, CND, Pax Christi, APCUK, Kairos UK, Friends of Sabeel UK, ICAHD UK, Amos Trust, APCUK.

The march is scheduled to set off at around 1:00pm from Grosvenor Square along the following route:

• North Audley Street
• Oxford Street 
• New Bond Street
• Clifford Street
• Cork Street
• Burlington Gardens
• Old Bond Street
• Piccadilly
• Regent Street 
• Pall Mall
• Cockspur Street
• Whitehall
• Ending on Parliament Square

Bus diversions on Wembley High Road starting tomorrow

Transport for London has kindly supplied me with the following information as a result of closure of Wembley High Road between Wembley Triangle and Park Lane due to major works by Thames Water:

The bus diversion for the closure starting tomorrow are:

Routes 18, N18 towards Euston or Trafalgar Square From High Road (Park Lane), left Park Lane, right Wembley Hill Road, left Harrow Road, line of route.

Routes 83, 92, 182, 223 or N83 towards Golders Green, St Raphael's, Brent Cross or Harrow From High Road (Park Lane), left Park Lane, right Wembley Hill Road, left Empire Way, line of route.

Route 224 to Wembley Stadium From High Road (Park Lane), left Park Lane, right Wembley Hill Road, line of route for stand. (Alight Passengers on Stand)

Route 483 towards Harrow From High Road (Park Lane), left Park Lane, left Wembley Hill Road, line of route.

Cllr Duffy calls on Brent to remove 'insensitive' littering posters from Kilburn

Cllr John Duffy (Labour, Kilburn) has written the following letter to Carolyn Downs, Brent Council Chief Executive,after a resident complained about the above poster displayed on Kilburn High Road:

Please find attached sign that has been place on Kilburn High Road.

A resident approached me claiming, in her view, that the sign was racist.

Whereas I would not go that far, until I hear the full motive behind the cabinet agreeing the signs, I would say I agree with her general concerns. 

I believe the signs are inappropriate and could be seen as an attempt to stereotype persons of colour as the culprits of crime and it is also conceivable that used a mug shot of a young black man against a background commonly used by LAPD ( who are widely believe to be the most racist American police-force) as offensive to many people. 

I am asking you to remove these signs forthwith from Kilburn - other councillors can make their own minds up. I do not wish to see rows of these along Kilburn High Road as I believe they give the wrong impression to the public about how to care for the environment and who is responsible for environmental crime.  

I am concerned this is another display of the Cabinet devotion to the failed Zero Tolerance policy, which is in fact is a reactionary policy. This policy has stigmatised many innocent residents, because of the bounty hunting approach of issuing tickets and now this dubious awareness campaign.

Bearing in mind you as the CEO accept that the Kingdom Securities contract had no negotiations, equalities training or monitoring concerning the issuing of the 6000 Fixed Penalty Notices. I again ask you to independently audit the FPNs to ensure they were issued fairly and were not issued using the person’s colour or mental health conditions as the main factor.

Ms Downs, I am sure you read the Prime Minster’s race audit, which pointed out "Black people are more than six times more likely to be stopped and searched by police than White people". I cannot help thinking this type of subliminal stereotyping being produced by Brent is not helpful to those who wish to see this figures reduced.

I hope you will confirm ASAP:

(1) Removal of these signs from Kilburn forthwith.

(2) How many of these signs went up and where they went -up.

(3) How much the signs cost.

(2) Could you furnish me with the reason behind these signs, as they make no sense to me as they do even mention the fine.

(3) Confirm you will haves an independent audit of the 6000 FPNs issued

Keith Taylor MEP: 'Airport expansion remains a climate-wrecking decision that is bad for the British people and the planet'

The World Meteorological Organization's findings that concentrations of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere surged to a record high in 2016 must rule out any airport expansion, according to Keith Taylor, Green MEP and a member of the European Parliament's Environment and Transport Committees.

Responding to the news that last year's increase in CO₂ emissions was 50% higher than the average of the past 10 years, Mr Taylor, the European Chair of the Climate Parliament, said, in light of the Government's relaunched Heathrow expansion consultation: 

"The Government's analysis on air pollution alone must rule out a third runway at Heathrow. But before the Gatwick airport PR machine leaps into action, today's shocking news about the levels of CO₂ pollution in our atmosphere is a timely reminder that the only climate-viable option is no new runways."

"Aviation is a top ten global polluter and emissions from the heavily subsidised industry are set to balloon by 300% if action is not taken sooner rather than later. Not accounting for any airport expansion, emissions from aviation are already expected to use up more than two-thirds of the UK's carbon budget by 2050. At the same time, the Government's so-called 'Clean' Growth Strategy just this month revealed that the UK is already set to miss its legally-binding carbon targets under the Climate Change Act. Again, without building any new runways."

"Despite what the exceedingly what well-funded PR machines of Heathrow and Gatwick airports would have politicians believe, the UK doesn't have an airport capacity crisis. Britain is already amongst the most frequent flyers in the world, in fact, more passengers fly in and out of London than any other city in the world. Every airport but one is operating under capacity. And the cases put forward by Gatwick and Heathrow to solve the manufactured 'crisis' rely on vastly inflated job creation predictions and hinge on a dubious demand assumptions."

"Nine of the ten most popular destinations from Heathrow involve short-haul flights. In fact, almost half of all flights in Europe are 300 miles or less. Existing rail services could offer genuinely workable alternatives on most of these routes. As trains are less polluting than planes, by a factor ten, this would help reduce aviation emissions, and free up landing slots for longer haul flights."

"Three-quarters of international passengers are disproportionately wealthy and travel for leisure. The vast majority of the UK’s airport capacity, 70% of flights, is used by a minority of frequent flyers, 15% of passengers. The current taxation system means those who don’t fly and those who fly even just once a year are subsidising the jet-setting lifestyles of a privileged few. We must, instead, reject the ‘crisis’ myth, and work to reduce demand while making the industry fairer."

"Airport expansion remains a climate-wrecking decision that is bad for the British people and the planet. By continuing to back a new runway, the Government is displaying a shocking disregard for the UK’s legal and moral obligation to tackle the very worst effects of climate change. Expansion will breach Britain’s carbon budgets and make a mockery of Theresa May’s legal-binding commitments under the Paris Agreement.”

"As Greens, we support a fairer frequent flyer levy that would help reduce demand driven by the privileged few and reduce costs for the average UK holidaymaker."

Update on Stop Haringey Development Vehicle court case

Photo from Inside Housing

Update from Gordon Peters first published on the HDV fundraiser page LINK

Heartfelt thanks to all supporters who have contributed to this campaign so far and you will see that we have surpassed our current target for funds. This allows us to cover fees and court costs to date, and be ready for any appeal should that be needed.

The Judicial Review concluded on Thursday 26 October with David Wolfe,QC, summing up after the three barristers representing Haringey Council and Lendlease had opposed our four grounds of the HDV being unlawful - that it was a commercial venture and should be a company not a LLP, that public consultation had been lacking, that the Public Sector Equality Duty had not been upheld, and that as a plan or strategy it should have gone to a full Council. They further opposed the granting of Relief [a cap on awards] and said the claim was out of time. They took up the detail of expert advice given to the Council's Housing Regeneration Scrutiny Panel and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommendations which were strongly critical of the HDV as if to say how open and consultative the Cabinet had been, although the Cabinet had gone ahead despite these.

David Wolfe was then able to show, through their own documents and business plans - much of which, over 700 pages in fact, had been redacted from any public view - that the HDV was indeed a major commercial venture, that it put social as well as affordable housing at risk, that poorer and vulnerable people in households both in estates scheduled for demolition and in leaseholds were not protected, and that this could not be called anything other than a strategy. He asked that the HDV be declared unlawful and relief on costs granted, rejecting the defence claim of being out of time as the whole process had been left undecided and kept changing its terms until the July 2017 Cabinet decision was made.

The judge, Mr.Justice Ouseley, then straightaway concluded the hearing and said that he would make his decision as soon as he could. We understand that this could still take some weeks.

Meanwhile I am very glad to say that the HDV is going nowhere right now, and it increasingly looks like this fundamentally flawed joint venture should not proceed.

To the HDV 'we say not so'.

Blooming marvellous! Double award for Barn Hill Conservation Group



Barn Hill Conservation Group are celebrating a double award from London in Bloom.

The Roe Green Walled Garden won Gold in the small Conservation Area category.

The garden is one of the gems of Brent, lovingly tended by volunteers, and replete with vegetables and flowers and fascinating installations dedicated to giving a home to wildlife.

You can visit on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays between 10.30am and 2.30pm.







The second award, also a Gold, went to Fryent Country Park and was the overall winner in the Best Country Park Category.

The Conservation Group worked with Brent Council and Barn Hill Residents Association to clear rubbish and the remains of camps from the 250 acre park deposited about 2 years ago.

There is now a dedicated team of residents who collect litter whilst working in the park and leave it a collection points for the Council to collect.

The Conservation Group work in the park every Sunday not only clearing litter and flytips but undertaking conservation work including keeping footpaths clear,  carrying out new planting and surveying the park's wildlife.

Further information can be found on their website HERE

Brent Tories sink their differences ahead of May 2018 local elections and trigger Extraordinary Council Meeting

The long running feud between the two rival Conservative groups on Brent Council appears to be over with Councillors Colwill and Kansagra (formerly the Conservative Group) joining the Brent Conservative Group. Councillors Maurice and Davidson had already joined the Brent Conservatives, led by Cllr John Warren.  Carol Shaw remains deputy leader of the group.

The move necessitates the revision of committee places and as the next Council Meeting is not scheduled until the new year an Extraordinary Council Meeting has been arranged for Monday November 6th  to allocate places.  Who serves on which committee will be a test of the solidarity of the expanded group.

This is the new distribution of the main committees (Details:LINK)

I wonder how much this extra meeting will cost?