Civic Centre - No Comment! No Copying...

Brent Council has uploaded a 'Virtual Tour' of the new Civic Centre to YouTube.  Unusually both the 'Comment'  button and the 'Copy Embed Code' facility have been disabled by them.  This means that I cannot put a copy on this blog and that nobody can comment on it.

I wonder why?

Anyway, in the belief that we citizens of Brent, and farther afield, should be able to comment on this £100m project at a time when Brent is cutting basic services, please follow this LINK to see the video and return to Wembley Matters to make a comment below.

Libraries, Civic Centre, Wembley Youth Club, Waste, Allotments, Rats - all discussed but anything gained?

The Wembley Area Consultation Forum was considerably enlivened last night when 20 or so members of the Wembley Youth Club turned up.  They had heard rumours that their club may be closed as a result of cuts and wanted the council to know how important it was to them, and what a positive contribution it made to the lives of youth in the area. They told the audience about the sports available at the club and how taking part enabled them to focus and achieve, with those attitudes transferring into other aspects of their lives.

Cllr Ann John, leader of Brent Council, said that indeed there was a review of the youth service under way and she could give no promises. During the interval Youth Centre supporters crowded round councillors making their case, exchanging contact details and arranging further meetings.  Another battle is on its way!

Their presence was a refreshing change from the usual fairly stodgy (but often valuable) meetings with a cast of regular speakers, mainly of my generation or older. It was good to see a 13 year old stand up and speak his mind directly to councillors and the public.

A member of the Brent Youth Parliament later spoke about the increased  importance of libraries as a place for young people to congregate, borrow books and study,  now that the Education Maintenance Allowance is due to be abolished.

Cllr Ann John made a presentation on the difficulties that the Council had in implementing the 28% expenditure reduction required by the Government. This amounted to £100m over four years, front-loaded so that £37m of that must be cut in the first year. This was on top of the £85m capital grant lost from the scrapping of the Building Schools for the Future programme. Since the election other grants amounting to £6 had been lost.  She said that 350 council posts, mainly in management, had already been cut through voluntary redundancies, non-filling of vacant posts and retirement. A further 350 posts would now have to go and the process of compulsory redundancy had begun. Further savings would be made by making procurement more efficient but all these measures only amounted to £21m. This left £16m still to be found and the council was looking at reducing some services and stopping others: "There is nothing we are not looking at."

With income streams from Central Government reduced and the Council Tax frozen the Council  had to look at cuts in services and increased fees and charges for services in order to balance the budget.

In the question and answer session my suggestion that the Labour Council was finding itself in the unpleasant role of bailiffs, for the Coalition rogue landlords, wasn't well received by the platform. I noted the coincidence of £100m cuts needed and the £100m cost of the new Civic Centre. I recognised building had already started on the Centre but suggested that it had been designed in better times and should now be scaled back. My suggestion that it resembled Brent's own version of Stalin's Palace of Culture also was even less well received.

In response Ann John said that the Civic Centre had been agreed by all parties on the Council, that it would make savings in the long term and that the People of Wembley deserved something back for the inconvenience of  the regeneration of the Wembley Stadium area (if they has asked us we might have asked for something else!) She said that the cost would be recovered over a 25 year period by disposal of other buildings, reduced outgoings and increased efficiency. She claimed that projected revenue savings had increased to an estimate of £4m annually. She emphasised the green credentials of the building.

On the 127% increased allotment fees and the introduced of a £95 fee for rat infestation treatment she said that allotment fees had been very low and were still affordable. She claimed that the previously free rat infestation service had been misused with residents calling that service for other infestations (which they would have paid for) because the rat service was free. The new charges had been introduced as a result of comparison with other 'benchmark' boroughs and private providers. There was support from the audience for my claim that this would worsen the borough's rat problems particularly for multi-occupied houses and flats above shops. One resident called for reduce charges for pensioners who may otherwise be reluctant to call pest control.

Other residents suggested that the new waste strategy was an area where savings could be made - particularly on the cost of new bins. There was also claims that the salaries paid to the top executives of the Council were excessive in the present climate. Cllr John denied that they were out of line with other public sector salaries.

In response to a question from the floor Ann John pledged to continue to fund the Freedom Pass.

Cllr Powney's session on the Libraries Transformation Project was a slow simmer, boiling up at the end in comparison with the roasting he had at the Town Hall. Members of the audience stood up with a Save Our Library banner and there was close questioning of the figures behind the closure plans as well as declarations of the importance of libraries as centres for the community to mingle, as well as for reading, learning and other activities including classes, courses and homework clubs.Speakers emphasised the importance of having a library within walking distance for children, young mothers and the elderly. Cllr Powney got into a spat challenging one young mother who spoke about the difficulties of transporting several children on a bus, including a very young one. He said that loads of people used buses everyday to go to shopping centres as well as libraries and that wasn't a problem - he did it with children himself. Cllr John intervened to say that people who had a library near them should count themselves lucky and very few people had that luck. She said books were much cheaper now than previously and available at more outlets including supermarkets like ASDA.

More hackles rose when James Powney said that there was evidence that many people preferred to go to a bigger library with a 'better offer' and ignored their small local libraries. He rejected suggestions that the proposed Civic Centre mega-library could be scaled down to make money available for local libraries.  He also dismissed suggestions that all libraries could have reduced hours. He said this would mean more librarian redundancies and wouldn't release capital to invest in the service, and having a library open only two days a week wouldn't really amount to keeping it open in most people's eyes.

Asked about what would happen with closed buildings he said that two would revert to their Oxford Colleges; Barham would revert to the Barham Trust, Neasden could be leased to new users, which left Tokyngton and Preston to be sold. He said that without the revenue from the sales money would not be available to invest in an 'improved offer', including e-books. That got a response from a publisher in the audience who said that book sales were on the increase and that traditional books were not on their way out. Other residents questioned whether the service should get into the e-book business at all.

Cllr John, sounding rather more like David Cameron, expressed interest in groups and organisations of volunteers, particularly in trust and covenanted buildings, running the libraries themselves. She said she wanted to hear from them and meet to discuss options.

Sometimes the bailiff's find themselves in such a difficult position that they begin to sound like the landlords. 

Brent's Cuts and Library Closures Face Public Scrutiny Tonight

Cllr Ann John, leader of Brent Council, will face an audience of residents tonight to answer questions on the Council's cuts strategy which includes the loss of another 300 jobs, closure of day centres for people with learning disabilities and for those with mental health problems as well as increased charges for allotments and pest control.

Cllr James Powney, AKA Flakman, will again present the 'Library Transformation Project' which will close six libraries. This includes three libraries in the Wembley area: Preston, Barham and Tokyngton.


The meeting begins at 7pm at the Patidar Centre, London Road, Wembley (off Wembley High Road), just round the corner from Wembley Central Station. 


Residents who want to speak in a 'soapbox' to air local issues that they are concerned about should arrive a little early to complete a 'Soapbox' form which should be handed to an officer. Soapboxes are held at the beginning of the meeting. Ann John's session will run from 7.15pm until 8pm and the library presentation will be from 8.15pm until 9pm.

Teather on Library Closures - Wembley Consultation Tomorrow

Sarah Teather spoke on Radio 4's Any Questions? about Brent library closures LINK. Her views don't  seem to quite chime with those of Brent Council  Lib Dem Group. Thanks to More than Books for this link.

Brent residents can make their voices heard about the cuts, closures and increased charges at the Wembley Area Consultation Forum tomorrow, 7pm Tuesday January 18th. It will be held at Patidar House, 22 London Road, Wembley Central (just around the corner from the station).

'Soap boxes'  (individual 3 minute slots for residents to raise concerns) are held at the beginning of the meeting. Get there early to fill in a slip and hand it to an officer at the start of the meeting. You will need to give your name, telephone number, address and the topic you would like to speak about.

The leader of the Council, Ann John, will speak about Brent's budget and the impact of central government cuts from 7.15pm to 8pm. She will answer questions about the cuts. From 815pm until 9pm there will be a consultation on the Libraries Transformation Project/Closure Programme.

Does Ed support Brent Library closures?

From today's Independent:

The Labour leader Ed Miliband said yesterday his party would back campaigns to save libraries as "a place where community is built, as families get to know each other and form friendships".

Save ALL Brent Libraries

X marks the wards where libraries are due to be closed

Despite the Council cuts being caused by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition policies, Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors are getting behind campaigns to save local libraries. Kenton Conservatives have a local petition going to save Preston library with an eye on the forthcoming by-election on February 17th and the Lib Dems are also petitioning.  At the same time some Labour councillors are unhappy with the proposals and some Brent Labour Party members are campaigning to keep all libraries open.

At the recent Brent Fightback Meeting on 'Are the Cuts Necessary' a pledge  to occupy Cricklewood Library was enthusiastically applauded as was a call for a borough-wide campaign to save all Brent libraries.

The Kensal Rise campaign has a Facebook page LINK and one has also just been set up for Preston library LINK  There are campaigns for all the threatened libraries except Tokyngton (as far as I know).

This week there are Area Consultation Forums in Wembley and Willesden where the closure proposals (officially 'Transformation Project") will be discussed and where council leaders will answer questions on the cuts in general:

Wembley ACF, Patidar House, London Road, Wembley - Tuesday 18th January 7pm
Willesden ACF, College of North West London, Denzil Road, Willesden - Wednesday 19th January 7pm

The 'Additional Paper' outlining the options considered by the Council and the financial implications is available HERE

Carline Lucas Backs EMA Campaign

Parliament will be voting on the Education Maintenance Allowance on Wednesday. This is an allowance that is absolutely essential to give secondary pupils from low income homes a chance to continue their education.

More on the Save EMA WEBSITE

STRENGTHEN THE FIGHTBACK - come to Thursday's meeting

Join the Great Debate on  Thursday January 13th  7.00 pm Willesden Green Library Centre 95, High Rd Willesden NW10 2SF. John McDonnell MP will be debating with a leading Lib Dem ARE THE CUTS REALLY NECESSARY?  

There will be plenty of opportunity for contributions from the floor. This debate has been organised by the Brent Fightback Campaign on a date that was suggested by Sarah Teather the Lib Dem MP for Brent Central who is a minister in the Con Dem government.  However she has withdrawn from the debate as she has ministerial business elsewhere in the country. 

As she withdrew from a previous meeting also on a date that she had suggested, the debate will go ahead in her absence with another Lib Dem speaker.