URGENT: Support the anti-incinerator campaign Saturday morning

It appears that the Harlesden Incinerator proposal will go back to Ealing Planning Committee on November 6th, following its postponement at the August meeting.  Anti incinerator campaigners will be assembling near the proposed site in Chanel Gate Road (turn left from Willesden Junction station and on the opposite side of the road) at 11.30am to demonstrate their continued opposition.  Supporters are urged to bring placards and banners.

This information is from the Stop the Incinerator website LINK

Q and A’s about the application and the story so far

What is the application for?
The application by Clean Power UK Ltd is for an Energy Recovery Centre.It will handle 195,000 tonnes of waste per year
Where is the site?
The site is in Chanel Gate Road, NW10 6UQ. This is technically in Ealing Borough but is within a ¼ mile of properties in Brent. The site is within 150 yards of a densely populated area of Victorian houses. The facility would also be close to a primary school
Why should Brent residents be concerned?
There will be approximately 67 HGV lorries going to and from the site every day. This will add to the already congested road network in Harlesden and on Old Oak Lane. Apart from the noise, vibration and possible smells from the waste, the exhaust emissions from these vehicles will cause severe damage to the air quality in the area
There will also be gases such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emitted from the waste plant itself, from the FOUR 25metre high chimneys
The polluted air will drift across homes in Ealing, Brent and even Hammersmith and Fulham
What have residents done so far to object to the scheme?
Residents from a wide area have sent over 700 letters of objection to Ealing Council about the application, raising the issues of damage to the air quality and to their residential amenity, noise and smells. A petition has also been forwarded hy HEART of Harlesden with 1324 signatures of objection
What stage is the application now?
Ealing Council are required to make a decision on the application. They have discussed the application already, on 14 August, 2013, but could not reach a decision due to several of the councillors on the planning committee demanding more detailed and concise information about the impact that the facility would have on local residents
It is possibly that they will discuss the application again on 6 November 2013, BUT THIS DATE IS NOT YET CONFIRMED. We will keep this page updated, and notify you by email as soon as we hear
What can residents do now?
Keep spreading the word about the scheme so that as many people as possible in the area hear about it. If the planning meeting does go ahead on 6 November 2013, then there will be a SITE VISIT on 2 November 2013. This is when residents should turn out in force to show the members of Ealing’s planning committee that there is colossal opposition to the plans
If they don’t think that WE CARE – why should THEY CARE!
Why do they call it an Energy Recovery Centre and NOT an Incinerator?
Essentially because it sounds a lot better! The 2 processes that would be used at the facility are pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion – decomposition of food materials in sealed containers to release gases plant. Pyrolysis – thermal decomposition of waste material.  Whilst it can be argued that the anaerobic process is not incineration, the pyrolysis IS considered in many countries to be a form of incineration for more views on this go to
http://park-life.org/2012/12/heard-about-the-new-incinerator-a-very-dangerous-neighbour/
How is the west London Waste Plan involved?
The West London Waste Plan was drawn up by six London boroughs, including Brent and Ealing to agree a waste strategy and identify suitable sites. They are required by Boris Johnson, to have a strategy in place for dealing with waste. Clean Power and Ealing think the WLWP has no weight and but Brent does. Clean Power uses the mayor’s London Plan, which wants to promote so-called green businesses (waste treatment plants) as its guide
What have the local councillors been doing to help?
Brent councillors have been a huge support to residents. Cllr Claudia Hector and Cllr Van Kawala have worked extremely hard to raise awareness and object to the plans,  Similarly Ealing councillors have supported residents in the campaign against the scheme, and Cllr Kate Crawford spoke in support of Ealing residents at the last planning meeting in August
What is Brent Council’s position on the application?
Both Brent Council and Hammersmith and Fulham Councils are strongly opposed to the plans and have sent their objections to Ealing
What about HS2? Surely that means that the Incinerator cannot be built?
Firstly there is no absolute certainty at this time that the rail link WILL go ahead. There are still consultations and legal challenges taking place
Secondly there is a chance that even if the HS2 rail link was built, the Incinerator could still be built on the site. It would depend on the actual route of the HS2 and, for example, if the link to Northolt is overground or via tunnel
Lastly what does Boris Johnson have to do with the application?
It has been agreed that whatever decision Ealing Council reach, the application will then be passed to the Mayor. He will then make the final decision. This does not bode well as Boris recently approved a similar facility in South London, and the location there was a nature reserve!
So can we win?
Absolutely YES – it is possible for Councils to refuse these applications
A few months ago the residents in Brierley Hill, Dudley, West Midlands fought a long battle against Clean Power and – thanks to the support of their councillors – they won!
We can win too, but we must keep up the fight and show we care about the area we live in

Have your say on Brent health services

Make Willesden Campaign hits the ground running

Willesden Green residents active in campaigns over the Willesden Green Library redevelopment, the Willesden Bookshop, Gladstone Park Primary School, council cuts and the Queensbury pub gathered together last night at the launch of the Make Willesden Green local election campaign.

Alex Colas, the candidate for MWG, spoke about how residents felt unrepresented and unsupported by local councillors and others talked of Willesden Green becoming a backwater as Wembley became the focus of the borough. There were fears that Willesden would lose its sense of community as the public realm was degraded and housing became unaffordable for ordinary  families. Recent developments were reducing the area to a dormitory.

Alex said that his campaign would be carrying forward values which had started with the library campaign but would look at the bigger and broader picture in order to influence the council. He said that it would be a local campaign but not a parochial one. The Coalition clearly had a major responsibility for the current situation but the campaign would not let the Council off the hook.  We must fight for a democratic, representative Council.

Alex's agent said that Labour were trying to distance itself from the present administration, which began with Ann John's library closures by choosing new, young candidates for 2014, but the policies remained the same. In Willesden Green, Cllr Lesley Jones, who was part of the Ann John regime, was standing again.

The Make Willesden Green campaign has people responsible for four main areas of policy: education, housing, public realm and local democracy and is welcoming policy ideas from supporters.  It was hoped that people would come forward as 'street reps' to further the campaign.

The Make Willesden Green blog is HERE   Twitter @AlexWG2014

Exciting Black History Month events coming up in Brent and Harrow

Guest Blog from Kwaku

This is to remind you that Harrow Mayor Cllr Nana Asante will be hosting an extra African History Season event at her Parlour this Friday Oct 25, 5-7pm: From Martin Luther King To Paul Stephenson in 1963. From Race Riots In Chicago To Cardiff in 1919. How Far Have We Come? with Chicago jazz musician Ernest Dawkins talking about the US history behind his band's latest compositions, and Kwaku giving the UK experience during the corresponding period. So if you are aware of, or interested in hearing more about the impact of Martin Luther King's 'I Have A Dream' speech, don't miss this event!

Motivational speaker Andrew Muhammad aka The Investigator will be doing his thing on Tuesday Oct 29, 6.30-8.30pm at Word Power: Together We Can! in the Harrow Council Chamber, which includes a creative workshop for young people: www.harrowBHM.eventbrite.com.

Tuesday's event will be in memory of the recently departed Jessica Huntley, an inspirational octogenarian, community activist, wife and business partner of Eric Huntley, both of whom have been special guests at our previous events.

On Saturday Oct 26, 7.30pm, the Mayor will be in the London Borough of Brent of Brent for the The Group @ St John's Black History Dinner, where after a lovely meal (I can vouch for that, as I was there in the summer & enjoyed the meal!), I'll be talking about education and overcoming obstacles. If you don't want to hear me, come for the food anyway, and support a worthy community project - it is an austerity-friendly £5 adults (£3 children)!

Peace,

Kwaku

Black History Month

Jean Lambert welcomes scrapping of racist van campaign

Speaking after Home Secretary Theresa May announced the government would be scrapping the use of an advertising campaign condemned as racist and misleading, London's Green MEP Jean Lambert said:

It's to be welcomed that the Government has, eventually, agreed to scrap the much-criticised and xenophobic campaign telling undocumented migrants in London to 'go home or face arrest'.

The call to 'go home' is an ugly reference to a traditional racist taunt, and given that some of London's foreign-born population have fled regimes threatening therm with arrest for their racial, sexual, religious or national identity, deeply offensive.

In July two advertising vans drove around the London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge, Barnet, Brent, Ealing and Hounslow, some of the most diverse areas of the capital, displaying a picture of handcuffs and the slogan: "In the UK illegally?... GO HOME OR FACE ARREST."

The advert said there had been 106 arrests in the area in the past week and encouraged illegal immigrants to contact immigration officials for information on how they could be helped to leave the country.

The adverts were widely condemned as offensive and racist at the time, and the Advertising Standards Authority, which condemned the ad-vans as 'misleading' earlier this month, received more than 200 complaints about their use.

Jean Lambert, who is the Green Party's spokesperson on immigration, said:

I know from discussing the campaign with some of London's migrants and bodies working on their behalf that it has caused real stress to Londoners

I'm only sorry it took criticism from the advertising watchdog finally to persuade the coalition government to scrap the use of the ad-vans, which were deployed across London earlier this year - mainly in areas with a high proportion foreign-born residents.

I would argue that it was not  the ASA who forced the government to abandon its plans but the huge campaign against it launched on Twitter and then taken up by organisations, campaigns, councils and local activists.

Make Willesden Green launch tomorrow at Queensbury Deli

Alex Colas will be launching his independent Make Willesden Green campaign for the 2014 local election in Brent tomorrow. He will be standing in the Willesden Green ward and his launch is at the Queensbury Deli, 68 Walm Lane, Willesden Green (right out of the station and on the left hand side.

The meeting is from 6pm until 7pm.



This is  Alex's platform:

 Make Willesden Green is an independent, grassroots platform that aims to:

•    Make Willesden Green more Democratic: local residents have been poorly represented by local Councillors and mainstream parties. The demolition of  Willesden Green Library Centre serves as a perfect example of how Brent Council put profits before people, ignoring widespread local opposition whilst promoting interests other than those of our neighbourhood. Local democracy requires better representation and more participation. If elected as an independent Councillor, I won’t be under any Party’s whip and will fight incessantly for participatory democracy in our ward and beyond. 
•  Make Willesden Green more Equal: the absence of affordable housing among the 92 luxury flats that will be replacing the Library Centre is a slap in the face to our community. Instead of addressing the chronic housing shortage for ordinary residents, the Council is inviting wealthy investors to speculate in our neighbourhood. In education too, the Council has been complicit in the privatisation of our state-funded schools. Public housing, education and free healthcare are key to achieving a more equal and democratic society. If elected as a Councillor, I will fight relentlessly for a public NHS, for quality state-funded and democratically accountable schools, and for properly designed affordable housing near people’s workplaces. 
• Make Willesden Green Safe: a busy neighbourhood is a safer neighbourhood. We need to protect and create public spaces and amenities where all people (especially children and the less mobile) can walk, rest, play or cycle safely and comfortably. The Library Centre redevelopment has swallowed up the only breathing space we had on the High Street, while other open spaces (like the one opposite Kingsley Court on St Paul’s Avenue) are left derelict. I believe traffic-calming measures and a public realm that is friendly to children, cyclists and pedestrians will make for a safer, more vibrant Willesden Green. 
•   Make Willesden Green Thrive: we need to support independent retailers and businesses in our neighbourhood. A pub like the Queensbury, which serves the community (as well as food and drink); or a shop like the sorely-missed Willesden Bookshop are much more than simple commercial outlets. They act as community hubs, facilitating the interaction between diverse residents, offering valuable services and ultimately encouraging local people to spend on our High Street. They also create sustainable and meaningful employment for many local people. As a Councillor for Willesden Green I would campaign for policies that promote the use of our High Street and champion neighbourhood-oriented enterprises.   

Copland own goal over football coach redundancy

Local press coverage some time ago

 'Fourth Official' writes a Guest Blog

Just 3 months after their ‘postponement’ (ie cancellation) of the school’s  long- planned annual Sports Day in July, the new management at Copland  are planning another spectacular sport-related own goal by proposing to sack  the school’s long-standing and widely-respected football coach Paul Lawrence, who has done so much for the school, for the development of boys’ and girls’ football  in north London generally, and even for the England national team in the shape of new 18 year old  star and ex-Copland student, Raheem Sterling, (coached from age 10 by Paul and  who recently joined Roy Hodgson’s squad in England’s successful qualifiers for next year’s  World Cup in Brazil).         

 This latest public relations disaster by Copland and Brent is likely to go national when Monday’s edition of the Independent carries the story of coach Lawrence’s inclusion in a list of 32 Copland mentors, caretakers, support staff and librarians who are the subjects of a redundancy ‘proposal’,  an axing of key support staff aimed at cutting the school’s debt in order to make Copland easier to flog off to some dodgy academy chain looking for a prime-site bargain. (The school’s debt dates from the recently-convicted Sir Alan Davies’s  ‘false accounting’ days.)

 The London Borough of Brent, whose ‘light touch’ approach to auditing and ostrich-like attitude to the nepotism and dodgy dealing in the school at the time contributed to the budgetary black hole, have always refused to cancel the debt or even to attempt to retrieve for the school the missing money, estimated at the time at up to £2million).         

 While the Copland management were drawing up their hit-list of who was to receive the early Christmas present of 32 red cards, Greg Dyke, now head of the Football Association, was announcing the setting up of a special Football Commission to try to find out what is wrong with football in this country; why we underachieve internationally; why top English clubs have to import foreign players,  and so on. 

With immaculate timing worthy of Theo Walcott at his best, Copland was simultaneously planning its own uniquely helpful answer to some of these questions; which is that, while at one end of the system the sports minister and the FA are spouting aspirational bromides about grass-roots, academies and excellence, at the other end, in the real world,  Brent’s  benighted bean-counting administrators, anxious to satisfy the demands of Gove’s ‘forced academy’ policy, fail to see the irony in casually sacking  a successful football coach who has made a huge contribution to community cohesion, let alone to the enjoyment of the ‘beautiful  game’ itself,  at a school situated  a few hundred yards from our national sport’s national home.        
  
 Meanwhile, Heather Rabbatts, now an FA director, on Saturday criticised Greg Dyke’s all-white Football Commission for its lack  of ethnic diversity. She said: ‘we are not only failing to reflect our national game but we are also letting down so many black and ethnic minority people - players, ex-players, coaches and volunteers, who have so much to offer and are so often discouraged and disheartened by the attitudes they encounter.’  Paul Lawrence could be forgiven for yelling ‘Tell me about it!’ when he read those words.      

Greg Dyke’s  reply to Ms Rabbatts  was this:  ‘The aim of the Commission  is to ensure that talented English kids, whatever their ethnicity or creed, are able to fulfil their potential to play at the highest level in English football, something which currently we are not sure is happening. We still want to see people with relevant experience from the BAME community on the Commission.’  

Well, the people of Brent might know one of those people you say you’re looking for, Greg. Time to call  Paul, maybe?  Perhaps the Commission would  appreciate his contributions more than a Wembley school’s management seem capable of doing. Perhaps Copland’s  loss could be English football’s gain.          

  But, of course, what Paul Lawrence would really like to do at the moment is to simply carry on doing what he’s done so successfully up to now: coaching Copland’s ordinary kids and its prospective England stars to fulfil their potential, so that they may  ‘have that true sense of self-worth which will enable them  to stand up for themselves and for a purpose greater than themselves, and, in doing so,  be of value to society.’          
                                                                                                     

 Just like it says in the ‘Welcome’ message on Copland Community School’s website, in fact.

Previous coverage of Raheem's connection with Copland and Wembley  LINK

Youth tribute to striking teachers

ICTstrikeOUT from Mattia Pagura on Vimeo.