Betrayal of library closures

From e-mail correspondence on libraries today:

The upsetting thing were the people who were utterly aghast at Neasden being shuttered. One young man - who spoke fluent Arabic, Farsi and Dutch, and who was desperate to improve his English, was appalled. He loves reading, lives in Neasden. Those are the people being betrayed.

Crowds defend Kensal Rise Library

From a Labour Party member:

There was some good coverage of Kensal Rise library on the BBC1 local news at 6.30pm (,last night). There has been a vigil outside the library and local schoolchildren explained why they oppose its closure.  I was there this evening and there were some very angry people - including local Labour members, who were asking how to deselect the local councillors who supported the closures.

Build on the commitment and perseverance of library campaigners

The old adage that "you don't value what you've got until you lose it" clearly does not apply to Brent library campaigners but it will surely hit home to many others who were not involved now that the Council has decided the six libraries will not re-open.

Of course it is mainly a matter of a place to read, enjoy and borrow books, educate yourself - but there's also so much more in terms of the social usefulness of a library as a provider of information, a place to meet, a safe public space in sometimes alienating areas, somewhere to relax and enjoy the company of your young children, a place where old people are welcome and not ghettoised.

As these community functions go they impact on the local area - everything else costs money: shops, betting shops, pubs, cafes - libraries were free and therefore open to everyone to use and enjoy.  Their demise marks another reduction in the social good of society, in cooperation and mutuality.

However although their loss represents a loss of mutuality and cooperation, the struggle against their loss shows how strong those values remain in our community, albeit not in our council representatives.  Whether an appeal goes ahead or not, or here it succeeds or not, we must continue to build on those values.

The upcoming Brent People's Assembly gives us precisely that opportunity.  I salute the Brent SOS Libraries campaigners for their commitment and perseverance in mounting one of Brent's largest and most energetic community campaigns and hope that they will join in with others in the numerous hard struggles ahead.

Library campaigners determined to appeal

The BBC quoted campaigner Margaret Bailey on the next steps:

Margaret Bailey, a spokesperson for the Brent Libraries SOS campaign, said: "We are obviously disappointed with the decision given by the judge today. We are determined to appeal."
She said: "We believe that there are important points of principle at stake which an appeal court will decide differently.

"Our campaign will redouble its efforts to expose the senselessness of Brent Council's decision to close half of its libraries.

"In the meantime, we demand that in light of the serious concerns raised by local residents, Brent will take the time before closing the doors of any library to properly consider the options proposed by local groups to preserve local library services, and open a dialogue with those groups to find constructive solutions for our communities.

"Brent Council has already spent over £70,000 of residents' money on this legal case and they should not waste any more money in pursuing a library closure policy that the vast majority of Brent residents oppose."

Paul Lorber, leader of the Liberal Democrats on the council, said: "We are determined to save our libraries in Brent irrespective of what the Labour administration is doing."

Shahrar Ali, Green Party GLA candidate for Brent and Harrow, said: "Let the People of Brent unite in their common endeavour to safeguard our community from this assault on our local libraries. We can despair, but we shall also regroup - with the same practical intelligence and determination we have already shown, to find a better way forward."

"This is a sad day for Brent; but also a day on which the Citizens of Brent who give a damn about lifelong education and protecting the vulnerable from abandonment should hold their heads up high. Just not in the High Court."
The Department for Culture Media and Sport said it was considering the judgement.

Brent Council: "Six libraries will not open again" but campaigner pledge to fight on

Brent Council has wasted no time! The Willesden and Kilburn Times reports that the council will close the six libraries threatened with closure immediately following the High Court decision:

Following Mr Justice Ouseley decision to dismiss a judicial review launched by campaigners challenging the proposals Brent Council revealed that Barham Park, Cricklewood, Kensal Rise, Neasden, Preston and Tokyngton library will never open their doors again.

Fiona Ledden, Brent Council’s director of legal services, said: “Following the decision from the High Court the six libraries in question will not open again.”

The  Evening Standard reports:

Campaigners were set to learn later today whether they will be given permission to appeal. In a statement issued by Brent SOS Libraries Campaign, campaigners said: "We are obviously disappointed with the decision given by the judge today.

"We will be consulting with our lawyers on our legal options. We are determined to appeal if allowed to do so. We believe there are important points of principle at stake which an Appeal Court will decide.

"Our campaign will redouble its efforts to expose the senselessness of Brent Council's decision to close half of its libraries."

Library defeat but a battle worth fighting

I was unable to make the High Court this morning to hearing the ruling on Brent library consultation because I had commitments in a local school. However, I am pleased tp reproduce below the item posted on Brent Greens Blog by my colleague Shahrar Ali:

Today the People of Brent learned the sad news that they had not succeeded in their High Court battle to overturn the Council's plan to axe half of the borough's libraries (background).

I could sense the anxiety amongst my fellow Brentonians before the judgement was delivered. I reassured my neighbours that we did not know the result yet, but it seemed most of them did not dare believe that we would hear good news today, simply to protect against greater disappointment of a frustrated hope.

The truth is that whilst Justice Ouseley's judgement must be respected for what it is, his written judgement strikes me as a piece of legal casuistry in the main. Of course, points of law must be attended to, but in their attention one is always left with a judgement to make, whether on balance of probability or the spirit of the law as drafted. Even the most impartial observer could be left wondering whether arguments had been won, as opposed to counter-assertions (in this case the Council's) simply affirmed by the judge.

The Judgement (Case No. CO/4957/2011) summarises the main pieces of law in contention then itemises the grounds which Justice Ouseley takes to have not been demonstrated in law:

1. Unlawfully ignoring the role which community libraries and groups could play in fulfilling the s7 duties (Public libraries Act 1964)
2. Unlawful failure to consult
3. An unlawful failure to assess needs
4. Breach of the public sector equality duty

However, many of the judgements appear, in reason, to be question-begging:

"I cannot see that it is unlawful for the Council to start the process by warning the groups, as in effect it did, that its approach would be that alternatives had to achieve the same level of savings for the same level of service as the Council's own proposals." (para 77)

But no piece of law is going to circumscribe consultation down to this level of detail. The question is whether this was a fair constraint, to effectively debar solutions that did not conform to a pre-decided lowest common denominator budget.

Later still, the Judge writes: "The Council's approach was entirely consistent with the requirement in s7(2) that the provision of library services by other menas be "appropriate"." (para. 80)

That sounds more like an assertion than an argument.

By some textual anomaly, moreover, the following appears in the introduction without any qualification, simply stated as fact, not as an argument from our side:

"The public consultation had been unfair since the Council had not told the public what it needed to know about the running costs of libraries so that groups could make informed responses in support of voluntary arrangements, and had not been told the basis upon which the Council would appraise their alternative proposals." (para. 4)

Yes, I agree that this is true Justice Ouseley.

Overall, I am bound to say, this was a very disappointing and dispiriting judgement. I salute the people of Brent for bringing this case. My fear now is that Brent Council will feel itself emboldened in this course of action, obviously they will feel vindicated, but the reality is that they have lost the confidence of the people they are meant to serve.

Let the People of Brent unite in their common endeavour to safeguard our community from this assault on our local libraries. We can despair, but we shall also regroup - with the same practical intelligence and determination we have already shown, to find a better way forward.

This is a sad day for Brent; but also a day on which the Citizens of Brent who give a damn about lifelong education and protecting the vulnerable from abandonment should hold their heads up high. Just not in the High Court.

House of Lords should be wholly elected, say Greens

The Green Party said today that it  believes that the House of Lords should be a wholly elected Second Chamber and as such the Appointments Commission should be abolished.  Stuart Jeffrey, Policy Coordinator on the Green Party Executive said, “Whilst we are content with the proposed size of 300 members, consideration should be given to a ten year term, with 50% of the House elected each time.  This would ensure a more proportional result.”

The Green Party would wish to see a fully proportional electoral system using an open list system with the Sainte-Laguë system used to allocate seats as is used in many countries around the globe.¹

Stuart Jeffrey continued,” An open list system ensures that the electorate can override the list order selected by the party, which places more power in the hands of the electorate.  Should smaller constituencies be used then we would wish them to be multi-member constituencies large enough to ensure that elections are proportional, for example current Euro region boundaries and that the Single Transferable Vote is used.”

The Green Party wishes to see an elected House introduced following the 2015 election.  300 members should be elected in 2015 with 100 serving for 15 years, 100 for 10 years and 100 for 5 years. 

The Green Party does not wish to see Bishops or hereditary peers as of right in a second chamber.  Britain is a multi-cultural society and should Bishops or any member of other leading religions wish to represent the electorate, they should seek election via the ballot box.

The Green Party does not the support the proposal that the Government should be able to appoint extra members to serve as ministers.  Stuart Jeffrey said, “This would override the result of the election by giving the governing party extra members who had not been voted in by the electorate.  This would be open to abuse and accusations of cronyism, precisely the sort of things that these reforms are supposed to end.”

The Green Party believes that those that are elected should be entitled to same financial entitlements as current sitting members in the House of Commons.

:

1. The Sainte-Laguë method is one way of allocating seats approximately proportional to the number of votes of a party to a party list used in many voting systems. It is named after the French mathematician Andre Sainte-Lague.  The Sainte-Laguë method is quite similar to the D’hondt, but uses different divisors. In most cases the largest remainder method delivers identical or almost identical results. The D'Hondt method gives similar results too, but favours larger parties compared to the Sainte-Laguë method.

The role of education in preventing violence against women and girls

Caroline Lucas, Green MP, has written an interesting article regarding the issue of violence against women and girls. The full article can be found HERE but below is an extract focusing on he role of education:

All over the UK, women's organisations, many of which are struggling with funding in the face of the government's savage spending cuts and reductions in legal aid, are doing innovative work with young people to help change attitudes. For example, the Brighton and Hove based charity RISE delivers a PSHE (Personal Social Health and Economic) preventative education programme on healthy relationships to schools across the city.

Yet work to prevent violence against women and girls cannot be left to occasional campaigns or women’s organisations working in partnership with a few good schools. So in my debate in Parliament today, I want to discuss the role which schools can play as a primary forum for this work. Educational programmes about violence against women and girls, which challenge entrenched attitudes and highlight the gravity of the issue, must be an integral part of the curriculum in every school.

We must also do more to empower young people to cope with the sexual images they are bombarded with everyday. The announcement by the prime minister of a range of measures to tackle the commercialisation and sexualisation of children is a welcome sign that the government is prepared to tackle the kind of imagery which contributes to gendered violence. But it's important that any strategy goes beyond consumer and parent power and include young people from the outset.

If the government is really serious about addressing failing support for its policies amongst female voters, it should begin by doing far more to protect the organisations delivering crucial support for women and girls, and look to prevent gendered violence through education policy.