Be ready to help fund the HDV appeal as legal action continues

From Stop the HDV Campaign


Most readers will now know about the judgement handed down by Justice Ouseley on 8 February which of course disappointed us in this first outcome, in refusing to find in favour of our four grounds against the HDV. However it is clear from the judgement that not only are there strong grounds for going to the Court of Appeal but that much of our argument, on consultation for instance is fully justified, and the judge admits that had Haringey consulted directly on the HDV its ability to be continued may well have been quite different.

Rowan Smith of Leigh Day says “This judgment, although bitterly disappointing, is very timely, given the recent controversy surrounding the involvement of private companies in the delivery of public services. The headline point is that the court agreed with us that the Council was under a duty to consult the residents of Haringey about the establishment of the HDV, and just as importantly that such a consultation would have made a difference. Seemingly, it is a technicality around the date when that duty arose which has deprived those residents of the opportunity to express their views, which are likely to have been overwhelming against the proposals. The judge also recognised the merit in, and gave extensive consideration to, our argument concerning whether the Council has the legal power to set up the HDV as an LLP. Our client, the Stop HDV campaign group, will appeal this judgment against the political back drop of the resignation of the Council's leader, the Labour Party's [NEC's] recommendation that the plans are halted, as well as the opposition party's call for a vote to stop the HDV. Our intention is to now write to the Council to ask for confirmation that contracts with Lendlease will not be signed until the conclusion of the appeal.” 

The appeal is now being prepared for submission in seven days, and it is vital for other places as well as Haringey that the higher court can examine how a Cabinet can get away with such a blitzkrieg approach to redevelopment, undisclosed financial risk, and sale of local authority assets, without due consideration by its own Council, and proper involvement of local residents in their own future. 

There will very shortly then be another round of crowdfunding required as costs of the first action have been met, and lawyers have worked very hard as their main impulse to help this case. So please be ready for this and let others know when it comes. The political battle has of course come round very much in favour of stopping the HDV, but it remains really important for the future of social housing and of Councils decision-making - local democracy in fact - that this goes the legal distance  to reverse this means of destroying communities.

 

Superhub approved by Barnet - what's next?

From NW2 Residents' Association

Barnet’s planning committee approved the application for an aggregates/spoil road/rail site at 400 Edgware Road, after hearing the planning officer recommend approval, residents, the Barnet & Camden London Assembly member and Barnet, Brent and Camden councillors speak against it and DB Cargo’s executive speak for it. Speakers were questioned by the committee but the chair, having announced that there would be no deferral, moved to a vote without further discussion. Six voted in favour and five against, apparently dividing by political party.

The application now has to be referred to the Mayor of London “for his final decision, known as a Stage 2 referral. The Mayor has 14 days to make a decision to allow the local planning authority decision to stand, to direct refusal, or to take over the application, thus becoming the local planning authority.” The last option is known as “calling in” the application and can take a while; the Mayor would hold a public hearing and issue a decision then or later. That initial 14-day deadline for the Mayor to decide whether to intervene starts from the formal referral to him by the borough. We don’t know how long that will take; we’ve heard of it taking up to six months but it might be that Barnet were ready to refer it immediately.

We hope the Mayor will engage and we will write to him.

Hurray! London on course to be first National Park City by 2019

Having just had a very pleasant walk in Fryent Country Park I am pleased that it will soon be part of London National Park City- via Time Out


Our city is one of the greenest in Europe, and for the last few years a small group of campaigners has been working to publicise that fact by turning London into the first ever National Park City. Their ambitious plan aimed to connect Londoners to the natural world all around them, create more green space across the capital, and show our city leading the way on sustainability, biodiversity and the environment.

Slowly but surely, Londoners joined the bid. We lobbied our local councillors to come out in favour, and Sadiq Khan and members of the London Assembly also lent their support. And today the campaign has finally declared victory. The majority of council wards – 53 percent of the capital – have backed the idea. London will become a National Park City!

Now the campaigners will start working with the Mayor and others across the capital, aiming to declare official National Park City status in 2019. (Find out here if your local decision makers have backed them yet.) There’s a long way to go, but we’re one step closer to a greener, greater London.

Sign up here to get the latest from London straight to your inbox – or discover London’s best parks.

Welsh Harp Half-Term activities

'Go and play on the roof my dear, but please don't breathe' - new primary school for Wembley

 You do wonder sometimes...

A planning application has been lodged to build a three form entry primary school in the York House car park fronting the busy Empire Way main road which connects Wembley Central and Wembley Park.  The artist's impression of course shows very few cars.

The school, which when full would have 630 children plus nursery, is the Ark Somerville and would be funded directly by the government with no oversight from Brent Council. It would have rooftop play space.

It is close to Elsley Primary School which has recently doubled in size from two forms of entry (240 children) to four forms (840), round the corner is Ark Elvin Academy and along the road at Wembley Park the all through Ark Academy (3-19 years), Michaela Academy and the Lycee.

That's an awful lot of child journeys by bus and car. It will of course be argued that children will walk from the new build Quintain developments but these are not exactly family-friendly developments. Theye are likely to come from further away.

Just imagine parents dropping children off on this busy road!

Elsley Primary has not filled up and there is a danger that Ark Somerville could cream off pupils from Elsley and other nearby primary schools.  After years of rising school rolls some Brent primaries are now experiencing reduced waiting lists and even falling pupil numbers in the wake of Brexit and movement of housing capped families out of London.

 The application is HERE. A date has not yet been fixed for it to go to Planning Committee

Brent Council Tax to rise by £71 to £1,496.54 for Band D

The Cabinet will approve a 5.01% Council Tax rise at Monday's Meeting will is expected to be rubber-stamped by Full Council.  The report going before Cabinet states:

The provisional local government finance settlement unexpectedly increased the ‘referendum limit’ for council tax from two to three per cent and, like last year, the Government’s financing assumption was that all councils would act on this. The rules on increasing council tax for the social care precept were unchanged. This means that the council could choose to increase council tax by up to 5% in 2018/19 without the need for a referendum, of which 2% would be ring-fenced for adult social care (the social care precept). The previous intention was to raise council tax by 4% in 2018/19, which at the time of the February 2017 Council report was the maximum permitted by the legislation. 


Taking into account the inflationary pressures that the council is subject to (which Ministers have confirmed were a significant factor in their decision to increase the referendum limit), the financial position in the round and the results of consultation through the Brent Connects and other meetings held by the date of despatch of this report leading Members have instructed officers to prepare the budget on the basis of a 4.99% increase in the Brent element of the council tax. The Mayor of London has announced plans for an increase in his precept of 5.07% (slightly different rules on the limits for the GLA apply due to its role as the police authority) making the overall increase in council tax 5.01%. This equates to £1,496.54 at Band D, or the equivalent of £28.78 per week, and the overall increase equates to £1.37 per week.  


The Council's Budget Counsultation via Brent Connects Meetings drew a very thin response, not helped by being conducted in the winter months. Only 114 residents attended in total and only one business association  responded according to the briefing just posted on the Council's website:

Five consultation events were planned between January and February 2018 at locations throughout the borough. At the date of the Cabinet meeting on 12 February 2018 four out of five meetings were held and had the following levels of attendance: 

Date	Location	Attendance
17 January	Brent Connects Wembley	27
30 January	Brent Connects Kilburn	23
6 February	Brent Connects Willesden	44
8 February	Brent Connects Kingsbury & Kenton	20
19 February	Brent Connects Harlesden

  

1.2  At the four meetings attended at the time of dispatch either the Leader or Deputy Leader of the Council delivered a presentation outlining the overall financial position and the difficult budget choices faced by the Council. The Leader then took questions from the audience and provided answers, supported by senior officers where appropriate for matters of technical detail. 


1.3  Feedback and opinions offered from these events varied considerably. As an example of the range of opinions expressed: 

 One resident asked how the proposals affect Brent’s Council Tax Support Scheme. The question was answered at the meeting, that the scheme will not be changing. 
                              

One resident asked if the proposals have impacted on school performance. The question was answered at the meeting, that 96% of schools in Brent are good or outstanding. 


 Other points raised were generally questions of clarification rather than specific feedback on the budget proposals. For example, one resident made a statement of support for the funding provided to families with no recourse to public funds, whereas another asked about the budget used to support people with dementia. 


 A number of queries were raised about the council’s reserves and how we compare to other London Boroughs, which were answered at the meeting. The Council has relatively low reserves compared to other London boroughs but current level is deemed adequate. 
  

1.4  Feedback and views from the final meeting to be held on 19 February 2018 will be provided for the Full Council meeting on 26 February 2018.


Business Consultation

1.5  Consultation with local Brent businesses was carried out by writing to the following organisations:

                  West London Business (a non-profit business leadership forum),

                 The Federation of Small Businesses, 


                 The Town Centre Business Association, and 


                 The Business Board. 


1.6  At the date of dispatch one response was received, which asked for further clarification on the budget setting process rather than a specific comment on the budget proposal.

Brent Labour Council backs anti-academisation stand at the Village School

Key speeches from last night's Public Meeting about academisation

Press release from the National Education Union

Yesterday evening (8^th February 2018) a packed conference hall at Brent Civic Centre with parents, staff, and local residents listened to a range of contributions in a meeting hosted by Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North. He was questioning the proposal to turn The Village school in Kingsbury into a Multi Academy Trust (MAT). Mr Gardiner clearly was extremely concerned that there was a complete lack of detail in this proposal and could see no reason why Governors should agree. 
There were no benefits for the school to go down this route yet many reasons raised by the audience as to why it should not. The audience was shocked that no one from the school who is backing this proposal was present – apologies had been received from the Headteacher Kay Charles, the Chair of Governors Cllr Sandra Kabir and Gail Tolley, Strategic Director Children and Families. 

During the meeting, Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of the Council stated, “The academisation of any of our schools is the wrong process. … We want all our schools to remain within the (LA) family of schools. … How much clearer do I need to be I am on your side?” which was greeted by loud applause. Other Cabinet members and Councillors also made it clear that the Labour run Council were against the proposed academy. 

Cllr Jumbo Chan, who has been in full support of the campaign to stop the MAT since the start said after the meeting,

“I would like to thank Barry Gardiner and his office for organising tonight’s very useful, well-attended meeting at the Brent Civic Centre.

In addition to the many probing, productive questions put forward by members of the community, it was extremely encouraging to hear the council leader and cabinet members express plainly their absolute support for The Village School’s outstanding teachers and support staff, and their complete opposition to the unnecessary academisation of the school.

It would be a very positive step if parents, staff and other concerned stakeholders of The Village School can now be reassured through a public statement by all members of the cabinet reiterating their stances”.

Members from Woodfield school which is already an academy and would join The Village as a MAT if this proposal goes ahead, spoke out about the fact that there was already lots of collaboration between the two schools across a wide range of services and subjects so why change. Staff had different contracts at Woodfield and worse conditions since becoming an academy. 

There was a call from a local resident and Labour Party member for Cllr Sandra Kabir, Chair of Governors at The Village and Brent Labour Group Chief Whip, to either resign or agree with her fellow Labour Councillors and speak out against the academisation of the school. This was greeted by loud cheers. 

Finally, Mr Gardiner called on the Governors meeting on 28^th February where the decision is to be made to be open to the public to attend. He said that as the school is currently a maintained community school an open democratic meeting was essential.

Fury as Barnet Council approves Cricklewood Aggregate Superhub

I couldn't be at both the Academy and Cricklewood Aggregate Superhub meeting tonight so here is the sad news from the Barnet Planning Committee as conveyed by Twitter postings:

2. NW2 Res Association‏ @NW2_RA 30m30 minutes ago

   Barnet Council voted along party lines, 6 Conservative councillors approved the aggregate superhub, 5 Labour against. It passed. We’re furious. How dare they?

   
   
3. Fordwych Residents‏ @FordwychRA 7m7 minutes ago
This is terrible news for Cricklewood and surrounding areas. Surely it must go to appeal? There are so many flaws in the reports done by Capita and Barnet. We are extremely concerned about increased traffic and pollution. They didn’t listen to residents.


  Lorna Jane Russell‏ @lornajane2 58m58 minutes ago
Really disappointed that Barnet Tories ignored resident concerns from three London boroughs and voted to approve the Cricklewood super hub. Well done to @BarnetLabour for voting against it, and to everyone that spoke passionately against it this evening! @NW2_RA @FordwychRA


Fordwych Residents‏ @FordwychRA
Replying to @lornajane2 @BarnetLabour @NW2_RA
Thanks Lorna. We really appreciated you speaking against this proposal on behalf of Camden residents. Raising important issues on additional traffic and HGVs using Fordwych Road and other roads in our area. So disappointed it was passed.