Brent Council fights the cuts via a letter to government ministers

There has been a bit of a battle going on in the Labour Party with activists concerned that Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt, hadn't signed one of several statements/declarations on local government cuts. He appeared to be backing the most mild statement which amounted to little more than a quiet quibble.

Now a motion on the 'Breaking Point' campaign over cuts has been tabled for Monday's Full Council Meeting.  Rather than mounting a militant campaign, going out to the community and building mass support amongst those most affected by the cuts, they are going to send a letter to the government...

Even headteachers furious at school cuts managed to march on Downing Street.

We have Climate Extinction - how about Local Government Extinction?

Breaking Point

Full Council – 26 November 2018 Motion selected by the Labour Group

This Council notes that many council budgets are now at Breaking Point. Austerity has caused huge damage to communities up and down the UK, with devastating effects on key public services that protect the most defenceless in society – children at risk, disabled adults and vulnerable older people – and the services we all rely on, like clean streets, libraries, and the teachers in our schools.

•   Government cuts mean that Brent has £177m less to invest in essential and much loved public services than under the last Labour government in 2010; 


•   With an aging population and growing demand adult social care faces a gap of £3.5 billion – with only 14% of council staff now confident that vulnerable local residents are safe and cared for; 


•   Government cuts have seen local authorities left with impossible choices, and 80% of council staff now say they have no confidence in the future of local services; 


•   Brent schools will have lost out on more than £6k per pupil over the last decade, equating to a loss of an entire academic year’s funding; 


•   Northamptonshire has already gone bust due to Tory incompetence at both national and local level, and more councils are predicted to collapse without immediate emergency funding; 


•   Councils now face a further funding gap of £7.8 billion by 2025 just to keep services ‘standing still’ and meeting additional demand. Even Lord Gary Porter, the Conservative Chair of the Local Government Association, has said ‘Councils can no longer be expected to run our vital local services on a shoestring’. 
This Council condemns Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss MP for stating on BBC Newsnight on 1st October 2018 that the government is “not making cuts to local authorities”, when all independent assessments of government spending show that this is entirely false; and that this Council further notes that Prime Minister Theresa May has also claimed that “austerity is over” despite planning a further £1.3bn of cuts to council budgets over the next year. 


 This Council agrees with the aims of the ‘Breaking Point’ petition signed by Brent Labour councillors, in calling for the Prime Minister and Chancellor to truly end austerity in Local Government by: 


•   Using the Budget to reverse next years planned £1.3bn cut to council budgets; and 


•   Pledging to use the Spending Review to restore council funding to 2010 levels over the next 
four years. 
This Council resolves to: 


Support the ‘Breaking Point’ campaign, recognising the devastating impact that austerity has had on our local community.

 

 Ask the Leader of the Council to write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government setting out the funding pressures faced by Brent Council, and calling on the Government to truly end austerity in Local Government.

Brent tells Youth Parliament, never mind the cuts - we've got a nice logo

Over the year Wembley Matters has catalogued the gradual disappearance of Brent's Youth Service. As concern over gangs and knife crime mounts the Council's answer to a question from the Youth Parliament seems incredibly complacent - they are basically told there are more cuts on the way and they must rely on the voluntary sector.

Question from Brent Youth Parliament to Councillor Mili Patel, Lead Member for Children’s Safeguarding, Early Help and Social Care:

What has the Council put in place for young people in response to the severe cuts to Youth Services?

Response:

Since 2015 the focus of services for young people has been in the voluntary sector through the Young Brent Foundation. However the Council continues to run regular universal youth activities from the Roundwood Youth Centre in Harlesden. Alongside this the site provides education, employment and training support for young people through Connexions services. 

To help enable all young people in Brent to connect with other providers of youth activities and services the Council has recently launched the ‘Brent Youth Zone’, a new, distinctive and mobile friendly website. A ‘search’ facility is a major feature of the website, together with information pages about health, ‘things to do’, personal safety, and employment advice. Many of the activities and services are inclusive, welcoming young people with SEND. Young people have been included in the development of the website. The logo was inspired by designs from a young person who entered a Brent-wide competition to brand the Brent Youth Zone. The website can be found at: www.brentyouthzone.org.uk

 

The Council as a whole must take further difficult decisions as part of the next phase of budget planning for the 2019/20 – 2020/21 financial years. In Children and Young People’s Services there are a limited number of services that could be considered for future savings and our continuing youth offer is an area therefore where consideration of resource savings need to be made. 

There are proposals to change the use of the Roundwood Youth Centre that will build on the current arrangements. If agreed, the site would be used during school term time for an Alternative Provision school setting, with evening and weekend youth activities being provided by the voluntary sector. This will help meet the need in the borough for local places and preventing permanent school exclusions. Currently a number of young people temporarily excluded from their secondary school setting attend alternative provision out of borough and this will be one solution to this issue. 

We are working with the voluntary sector through the Young Brent Foundation to make sure that services to young people continue from the Roundwood site and also that the broader Youth Offer across the borough is comprehensive, updated and secures charitable funding.

Brent urged to adopt 'No Eviction' policy on Universal Credit rent arrears

At yesterday's Chalkill Community Centre meeting on Universal Credit there was a strong call for Brent Council to follow neighbouring Camden LINK in adopting a policy of not evicting any of its tenants who fall into rent arrears because of problems with the roll-out in Brent.  There is a minimum five week wait for payment.There was an additional call for the Council to persuade housing associations in the borough to adopt the same policy. It was pointed out that it would be more costly to the Council in the medium-term if it had to provide temporary accommodation for families who had been made homeless.

There are currently 2,000 Brent residents on Universal Credit who are mainly job seekers and not claiming housings costs. However 45,000 are due to move over to universal Credit of whom about half will have housing benefit.

Brent Central MP, Dawn Butler, addressing the meeting, said the she feared a big rise in evictions from private rented accommodation and an increased demand for food banks.  Butler asked the audience  to send in stories of the impact of the introduction of Universal Credit on individuals and families to inform and reinforce the campaign on the issue.  However, she did not favour the 'stop and scrap' demand saying that the Labour Party had been advised that this would cause even more harm to claimants. Instead there should be a 'pause and fix' approach.

There was particular concern that people, particularly those with disabilities or learning difficulties, or the poor without broadband and computers, would be 'digitally excluded.' 40% of people in Brent do mnot have access to their own wifi. Claiming Universal Credit does not only involve an initial on-line application, itself not an easy process, but regular access to the on-line account day to day or week to week, to correspond with the DWP regularly. If accessed through a library or cyber cafe there would be no claimant advice available. Butler said that she was seeking information from Brent Council on how it was using a government grant to help claimants with advice and access.  Butler favoured direct payment of the housing portion of Universal Credit to landlords.

There is a 'claimant commitment' in order to access benefit for those without employment to be actively seeking work for the equivalent of 35 hours a week. Those working part-time are expected  to top those hours up to 35 by seeking work.  After one year of trading the self-employed will; be assumed to be earning the minimum wage for a 35 hour week.

Unite Community will be holding a follow up meeting to organise campaigning. Check out Wembley Matters for an update.

Harlesden Massive Get Festive - December 1st

Better times ahead for Brent allotments?

Looking for improvements by next Spring

Brent officers from the Parks Department met with tenants on the Birchen Grove, Kingsbury, allotment today.

The meeting had been requested as a result of concerns over difficulties in making rental payments as well as overgrown and uncultivated plots which were not being relet and thus spreading weed seeds to neighbouring plots. LINK

The officers recognised that management of Brent allotments had not been going well for 18 months to 2 years since the  non-replacement of the Allotments Officer when she moved on to another job.  An officer is going through the process of auditing the many sites in Brent and as he toured the allotment with us today he took note of the uncultivated sites and maintenance issues and another collected photographic evidence.

We were promised better communication with updates on when plots had been allocated to new tenants and action to make the billing process more efficient. I have been trying to pay rent on one of my plots for  2 years without success!  An apprentice has been allocated to deal with the paper work. I suggested as an early essential is a spreadsheet recording all the plots, tenant's name, whether it was being cultivated and whether a bill had been sent.

The efforts of the Allotment representative at Birchen Grove, a voluntary elected position, has already helped reduce the number of unallocated plots from 25 to 10, although work has not started on some because of the colder weather. There will be another tour in the Spring to make sure that clearing and cultivation is taking place. It was pointed out than unlet plots represented a loss of income to the Council.

There is now a Birchen Grove Facebook page LINK that could be linked to a sustainability network that Brent Council is working on.

Cllr Krupa Sheth, lead member for the Environment, was unable to make the meeting but has asked officers to feed back to her on the issues raised.

TONIGHT! People's Vote on Brexit campaign meeting, Bridge Park, 6.30pm

Join local volunteers for a community meeting to hear more about campaigning in Brent for a People's Vote on any Brexit deal, and find out how you can get involved.

The meeting will also be attended by a representative of People's Vote HQ, giving you the opportunity to hear more about the next phases of the People's Vote campaign and ask any questions that you may have.

If you are able to attend, please RSVP  HERE so that we know how many people to expect.

See you there!

WHEN

November 23, 2018 at 6:30pm - 8:30pm

WHERE

Bridge Park Community Leisure Centre
Brentfield
Harrow Road
London NW10 0RG
United Kingdom
Google map and direction

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Residents angry at threat of 17 more Spurs games at Wembley Stadium flood planners with objections

There was a lot of opposition to the original change to planning conditions when Spurs moved to Wembley and wanted (and were granted by Brent Council) more full capacity (90,000 seats) events. LINK

That opposition has been reinforced and strengthened following the latest Spurs application to play an extra 17 matches until the end of the season at Wembley Stadium as a contingency on their stadium not being ready on time. It is interesting that this time there are more objections from people who have moved into the new flats in Quintain's estate.

BRENT COUNCIL SILENT ON IMPACT ON PEDWAY REPLACEMENT

A request to Brent Council Press Office for a statement on how this will affect the already tight timetable for the works to replace the Wembley Stadium pedway by steps has still not been answered. The request was made on Monday, a reminder phoned mid-week but with no response so far.

The planning portal today showed only two in favour, one being the Wembley Traders Association (although the portal has labelled it as an objection!) and another a resident.  All the 20 plus others object.

I publish them below with the house number etc of addresses removed. To make a comment in support or against the application go to LINK

COMMENTS ON PLANNING APPLICATION

Georgian Court, Wembley, HA9 6QG (Objects)

I object to the above proposal of additional 17 events taking place between 15 January 2019 and 12 May 2019 due to increase in traffic in the local area.

Parking restrictions opposed (imposed?) on the residents.

Quadrant Court, Empire Way, Wembley, HA9 0EY (Objects)

Not only spurs, think about neighbours also...

Redwood House, Engineers Way, Wembley, HA9 0FX (Objects)

I Object this proposal.

We already have almost 40 big events a year as it stands now and it excludes smaller events at SSE. This comes up to almost average of 1 event per week. Having to make travel arrangements this often is already a rather big overhead for residents.

I understand that part of what makes Wembley a great and vibrant place to live is the Stadium and the world class events it attracts. But to ADD another 17 MAJOR events within the span of a couple of months will disrupt our daily lives in a considerable way.

Event days, THFC in particular means a huge surge of intoxicated, loud and inconsiderate crowd. It will affect traffic too much too often. It affects the cleanliness of the streets and the feeling of safety on the area even after the events are finished. These additional events will definitely effect on the character of the area. It will also limit our privacy and ability to truly enjoy the area as a lot of local businesses and shops will either be too full or operate in a reduced manner during game day for local residents to use.

On game days, metropolitan and jubilee line gets so crowded that I had to often wait for up to an hour to be able to fit into the tube all the way from Liverpool Street. It delays my travel both on weekdays and weekends.

Once again I understand that events are an essential part to the borough. But the frequency at which it is proposed is going above the limit of what I believe is reasonable for residents that lives, commute and grow here.

Marathon House, 33 Olympic Way, Wembley, HA9 0GE (Objects)

I have two main objections related to the flow of crowd and traffic.

1) There is no management on the flow of the crowd. They should be restricted to just the main Olympic Way and not allowed to wander off on any other roads and streets (e.g Fulton Road, Rutherford Way etc). This will make sure that the residents in the area can leave and come back to their homes without any disturbance. Otherwise, these additional events will cause significant disruption to the residents’ daily lives.

2) The Traffic management leaves a lot to be desired as well. Engineers Way is typically close for a few hours on such event days which causes a great deal of disruption. Also, there does not seem to be any limit on the number of vehicles allowed in the area on the event day. The increase in the flow of traffic causes environmental concerns in terms of noise and air pollution. These events should be made pedestrian only with spectators not allowed to park their cars in the area.

In addition a majority of the marshals who man the barriers at road junctions for Rutherford Way with Engineer’s Way and Fulton Road have little if no common sense. They also believe that it is their God given right to prevent access to and from Rutherford Way for residents in their cars.

Kind regards etc

CLICK BELOW TO SEE MORE SUBMISSIONS

“GPs are under pressure but help is at hand” says Royal College top doctor

Speaking at a Brent Patient Voice public meeting at the Learie Constantine Centre on last Thursday 15^th November, Dr Pauline Foreman, Medical Director at the Royal College of General Practitioners, said that GPs sometimes felt like hamsters on a wheel. Patients were unhappy at long waits for appointments. The NHS wanted GPs to send fewer people to hospitals. Visits to practices from the Care Quality Commission were quite scary, even though 90% of practices were rated good or outstanding. NHS England targets to replace retiring GPs were not being met.

However GPs should be seen as irreplaceable specialists in the whole range of medical conditions. Being a GP offered an enjoyable career with a huge variety of challenges and the chance to interact with many different patients. “If GPs could be allocated 11% instead of 8% of the NHS budget under the new NHS Ten Year Plan they could do what they were expected to do,” she said. Help for struggling practices was at hand from the Royal College and others. “Any closure of a practice is a failure, both for patients and the NHS. It costs a great deal and is very upsetting.”

Her message was echoed by long-term Brent doctor and new Chair of Brent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Dr MC Patel. He explained that in Brent there are around 2,300 patients per GP, as compared with a London average of 1,670. “We want to make Brent a borough of choice for GPs and other health professionals” he said. The good news was that after Brent took a stall at a recent nursing event 76 people expressed an interest in working in general practice in the borough. The CCG wanted to see all local practices collaborating under the umbrella of the new Primary Care Homes initiative.

“This could involve some patients going to neighbouring practices for long-term care, e.g. for diabetes, but they would still have their own GP at their regular practice,” said Dr Patel.

Questions from the audience recalled the days of the TV programme “Dr Finlay’s Casebook” demonstrating the value of the one-to-one personal relationship between GP and patient. The speakers agreed that this was still very important for long-term patients but recognised that the younger generation often wanted to access services quickly online.

Thanking the speakers for their very informative contributions, BPV Chair Robin Sharp said:

We as BPV and through our Practice Patient Groups are  keen to help practices in these difficult times. We look forward to working with the Royal College and Brent CCG to secure the best results for patients in Brent.

For further information contact: Robin Sharp, BPV Chair on 020 8969 0381 or robisharp@googlemail.com

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