Is a council tax rise to protect services an option?

Local government is faced with real dilemmas regarding funding cuts imposed by the Coalition which they then have to pass on by cutting public services. Implementing cuts but 'protecting vital services' or 'protecting the most vulnerable' became the policy of many councils . When it was pointed out that the scale of the cuts made that impossible and they should refuse to make the cuts, they said that if they did that the cuts would then be made by people less sensitive to local needs. Early on Brent Council seemed to be arguing that they were making the cuts so cleverly that people would not notice the difference. However recently they have painted a much bleaker picture and admitted that the cuts threatened the very existence of viable local government.

No council, including the Green led Brighton and Hove City Council, have yet refused to make the cuts or set an 'illegal budget'. Clearly such a policy has to start somewhere and will only really be effective if it is a start of a movement by many councils. Someone has to take the lead and perhaps Brighton should have done. I have argued that Brent Labour should initiate such a campaign amongst London councils. Whilst not advocating refusing to set a budget  Cllr Ann John, leader of Brent Council,  recently conceded that if there was a groundswell of opinion there could be a joint approach to the Coalition government.  There is little time now for such a campaign ahead of the 2012-13 budget setting.

However, some councils, starting with Brighton and Hove, have taken a different step to protect services, albeit still implementing some cuts. The have decided to spurn the government's grant for freezing council tax, and gone ahead and tabled increases. The Budget Report that went before Brent Council, warned that a council tax freeze over several years would seriously erode the Council's revenue base. Cllr Muhammed Butt,  lead member for resources, said that the government grant was a 'trap' and would result eventually in a loss in revenue but Ann John said that Brent Labour had made a manifesto commitment to keep the council tax low. She noted however that some Tory councils were now in revolt and things might change.

According to Brent's figures the impact of raising the Council Tax by 2.5% would be significant (figures in bold in brackets below):

Budget Gap	2012-13 £m	2013-14 £m	2014-15 £m	2015-16  £m
Annual	4.4 (4.4)	6.4 (1.1)	22.5 (19.7)	16.1 (13.1)
Cumulative	4.4 (4.4)	10.8 (5.5)	33.3  (25.2)	49.4 (38.3)

Brighton and Hove has led the field with a council tax rise of 3.5% but have been followed by Darlington Borough Council. Leicester City Council. Middlesbrough Council. Nottingham City Council, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, Stockton-on Tees Borough Council and Stoke-on -Trent City Council who are all Labour authorities. They have been joined with lower increases by Tory authorities, Chelmsford (2.46%), Peterborough City (2.95%) and Surrey County Council (2.99%).  Whilst losing the government grant the rise enables them to have a net increase in revenue and this safeguard some services.

Eric Pickles, Communities and Local Government Secretary, has lost no time in denouncing these councils. He said that 'a vote against the council tax freeze is a vote for punishing tax rises.....councillors have a moral duty to sign up to keep down the cost of living'. Councils also have a moral duty to maintain services for their residents. A council tax rise can be seen as a different way of shifting the cost of the economic crisis on to ordinary people and it is not a particularly progressive tax, but at the same time it shares the cost of preserving services for the most vulnerable amongst all residents.

It is certainly a strategy that deserves debate and Greens in Brighton and Hove have had an extended consultation with local residents about its budget which was opposed by the 'Purple Opposition Coalition' of Labour and Conservatives.

Breaking ranks with Labour,the GMB in Brighton which represents many council workers, has given its approval to the Greens' council tax proposals.


Branch secretary Mark Turner said:

The GMB agrees that the plans to increase council tax by 3.5% this year are in the best long term interests of the city.

The Coalition government offer of a freeze in council tax is a bribe that would quickly leave the city much worse off, and less able to provide the services that residents expect and need.

It seems that Brighton Labour and Conservative parties have not grasped the financial realities of the long term damage taking the council tax freeze would create.

The city already faces extreme challenges because of the Coalition's huge reduction in the grant to the council - taking the freeze offer would make the situation even worse.

While the increase may seem unfair to residents, the truth is that we will all be much worse off without it, not just the council staff who will lose their jobs, but the whole city would suffer as services deteriorate needlessly.

Because Brent Council made a decision to freeze council tax before putting forward a budget we have not been able to have a debate about this in Brent. A decision to raise council tax can be seen as still making ordinary people pay for the economic crisis caused by the bankers and hitting them when incomes are frozen and inflation rising. It can also be seen as the only way to preserve vital council services and spreading the load across the population.

Next year I believe Brent Council should have a full and open debate about the options available as the Brighton Greens managed recently. Formulating a 'needs led' budget with local people, trades unionists and voluntary organisations would give a firm basis for going out and campaigning against Coalition cuts and would be a way of preserving local democracy.

An independent comment on the Brighton budget process can be seen HERE

Brent Council Meeting on Monday January 23rd

There is a full Council meeting tomorrow at 7pm at the Town Hall (Link to Agenda on side panel).
 The Council Executive  will be reporting on:

1. Willesden Green Redevelopment Project
2. Cross borough working on sports and leisure facilities
3. Waste and recycling
4. School places
5. Update on Customer Contact Project
6. New Civic Centre

Brent Labour takes on fight for community schools as secondaries consider academy options

The academies battle field

It was a busy day on the academies front in Brent yesterday.

At lunchtime a joint meeting of unions at Alperton High School voted unanimously for strike action if the school's governing body decided to apply for academy status. They called for the governing body to support the unions' opposition to academy or trust status. If the decision was to consider academy status they demanded a fair public debate and a secret ballot of staff and parents.

In the evening the Alperton governing body decided not to go ahead with academy conversion at this stage but instead agreed to invite the Cooperative Trust to handle a consultation process with five options:

1. Seek other partners to become a Cooperative Education Partnership which would require no change in the school's status.
2. Become a single school Cooperative Trust School which means that the school would remain maintained but change from a Foundation to a Trust school.
3. Become a Cooperative Trust in partnership with other schools (eg neighbouring primary schools). The schools would remained in the maintained sector with one Trust Board bur separate governing bodies.
4. Become a Cooperative Trust as a lone school or in partnership with others with a view to moving on to Cooperative Academy conversion. This would gain the 'benefits' of academy status but embed Cooperative values and ethos.
5. Maintain the status quo, maintained Foundation school.

In the South of Brent, Queen's Park Community School governing body, is concerned that it will be the only secondary school not looking at academy status, but has made it clear that it would like to stay as it is - a community school in the Local Authority. Though they are keeping abreast of the Coop moves in the borough they will have been heartened to hear that Alperton has not decided yet whether to go down that route.

While the Alperton Governing Body was meeting, down in Stonebridge, Labour Councillors and Labour nominated governors were meeting with some local teachers to discuss the current issues in school organisation with particular reference to academies. I attended at the invitation of Cllr Mary Arnold, lead member for children and families.

Melissa Benn, who is the parent of a child at a local community secondary school, gave an over-view of the current situation and some of the contradictions of Coalition policy. Academies had been able to boost their results by using vocational qualifications but Michael Gove had criticised such qualifications. By changing the rules to convert 'good' and 'outstanding' schools to academy status, the government had made academy results look better. Michael Wilshaw had been appointed as an independent chief of Ofsted but was also linked with academy provider ARK. She suggested the long-term aim was destruction of local authorities with a substitute unelected 'middle tier'. Academy chains were likely to move in to fill that space with 'for profit' schools not far behind. Labour had been stuck for 18 months, failing to react. She quoted an overheard conversation between Labour MPs 'we don't have an education narrative any more'.

Mary Arnold said that they had to recognise the pressure for academy status for short-term gain. It was important to recognise the impact on the whole Brent community of schools of fragmentation and the financial loss to the authority through top-slicing of the budget. The latter would affect the LA's ability to provide viable services. She said that present academies cooperated in the Brent 'family of schools', one less so than the others. She said that the role of the LA was essential and needed to be publicised by governors. These included:

• strategic planning of school places
• tackling underperformance of schools and particular groups of pupils
• meeting the needs of vulnerable children including looked after children, those with special education needs and those who had been excluded from school

In a key passage in her briefing paper she said:

The local authority believes that there will be overall adverse effects on children and young people if strong collaboration and collective responsibility is not maintained and if the LA education function reduces to the extent that statutory responsibilities cannot effectively be fulfilled.

Cllr Arnold said that she expected a good take-up of the council's traded services for schools in 2011-12 . (Schools 'buy-in' these services but can also go to other providers). I pointed out that it was hard to back-up calls to remain with the local authority when they were cutting their services and staff reductions were making them less efficient. The campaign against academies and campaign against cuts were part of the same struggle.

Hank Roberts said that the issue was one of democracy and the right of staff and parents to have a secret ballot on academy proposals, with the unions taking strike action if the demand was not met. I added that schools did not belong to individual headteachers or even governing bodies, but to the whole community. In a sense academy conversion meant that our schools were being stolen from us. The need to involve parents and inform them of the negative issues association with academies was stressed by a number of contributors with calls for joint meetings of parents and governors. I asked if the database of parents held by Brent Council could be used to initiate ballots of parents if schools refused to hold one.

Among the suggestions to make Labour more proactive on the issue were:

1. Support for the right to hear a balanced debate pro and anti-academy and a right to an indepenent ballot, for and against, or parents and staff. Governing bodies would be expected to take the result into consideration. There was also a sugegstion that student actionm such as that at Kingsbiry High, hould also be supported.
2. A leaflet about the issue for distribution to parents.
3. Lobbying by councillors of schools where there was no nominated Labour governor if they were considering conversion.
4. Promotion of the services offered by the education authority.
5. A Brent Governors' One Day Conference on the academies and free schools issue with a 'for and against' debate and information available.
6. The relaunch of an Association of Brent School Governors
7. The formation of a broad-based campaign to defend community schools in Brent.

Caroline Lucas on Question Time tonight

Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP, will appear on BBC Question Time at 10.35pm this evening, alongside Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, co-chairman of the Conservative Party, Stephen Twigg MP, Labour's shadow education secretary, Germaine Greer, feminist writer and academic, and Charles Moore, columnist and former editor at the Telegraph and the Spectator.

The programme will be available to watch again here once it has been broadcast: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01b3cdw

Preston Library Campaigners Fight On

A great message on a gloomy day:

Pay London Living Wage, supermarkets told

Darren Johnson, Green Party London Assembly Member,  has called on supermarkets, the Mayor and Government to make work pay for all workers in London, following an investigation by the Fair Pay Network into low pay in the four largest supermarket chains.

Last year the National Minimum Wage fell further behind the cost of living in the capital, rising 2.5% while the London Living Wage – calculated to cover basic living costs in the capital – rose by 5.7%. The higher rise in the London rate was attributed to benefit and tax credit cuts, and rises in food costs, average rents and public transport fares.

Darren Johnson commented:

The minimum wage isn’t keeping up with the rising cost of living in London, forcing more parents to work two jobs to make ends meet. The Government needs to ramp the minimum wage up to be a genuine living wage, but instead they are letting the gap grow wider.

The Mayor of London needs to get on his bully pulpit and call for all employers in London to prioritise pay rises for the lowest paid above bonuses for chief executives. In this age of obscene inequality we cannot leave it to employers to make sure they pay their staff enough for a basic standard of living.

Jenny Jones calls for St Paul's Camp to Stay

Responding to news reports that the City of London Corporation has won its High Court bid to evict protesters from outside St Paul’s Cathedral, Jenny Jones, London Assembly Member and Green Party candidate for London Mayor, has made the following statement:

The Occupy camp outside St Paul’s has for the last three months given a voice to the frustrations felt by many over the current economic situation. The protest has forced issues up the agenda and into the news, such as high executive pay. It’s a pity a completely peaceful protest drawing attention to the inequality in our society is not allowed to continue. 

The Occupy Camp may have lost their court case but they have succeeded in changing the debate – they have drawn attention to ideas such as the introduction of Tobin Tax, abolishing the City of London and sensible banking regulation. When I joined the camp I met articulate young people concerned about the current economic situation with ideas for a different way of doing things. The Mayor has made some harsh and unfair criticisms of the Occupy protesters, and I believe that we should allow this camp to remain rather than stifle protest because it’s inconvenient.
 

Spread the word on Willesden Bookshop - Area Forum tonight

I am unable to attend the Willesden Area Consultative Forum this evening as I am attending another meeting. The Forum is at 7pm, College of North West London, Denzil Road. I hope others will get there early to book a Soapbox to speak on Willesden Bookshop, the regeneration of Willesden Library Centre, and the loss of the locally listed Victorian Willesden Library, a much appreciated local landmark. Cllr Crane told the Brent Executive on  Monday that none of the developers who submitted bids could find a way to incorporate the listed building into the new development,.

As I write there are 186 signatories on the Willesden Bookshop e-petition. Please encourage people to sign and circulate the link. E-PETITION LINK

Many thanks.

'Scrap the whole Brent Cross Regeneration Plan'- Brent Cross Coalition

The Brent Cross Coalition has  welcomed the collapse of what they call  'the grotesque, car-based Brent Cross scheme'. However. they say it is totally unacceptable to still go ahead with the 'easy-profit shopping centre expansion', which they have been told  told is a 'possibility'. Neighbouring Brent Council fought this successfully in the late 1990s, and is likely to again. 

The Coalition for a Sustainable Brent Cross-Cricklewood Plan say:

We demand the whole plan is scrapped, and the arrogant local developers, and their ineffective PR company, are removed from the project.

Measures in the new Localism Act mean that over-bearing property companies, in alliance with the conceited Barnet Council, cannot get away with “business as usual”. This is a great day for people-power – not Hammerson plc and not Mike Freer (former Barnet leader, now MP).

We want development based on people’s aspirations for a sustainable, low-carbon, exciting regeneration of the area. This means starting from scratch, and will also obviously have to wait for improvements in the economy.

The developers have wasted many years – not ONE home has been built, not ONE transport improvement. Barnet Council has also wasted many hours of work in promoting something nobody wanted - their web site still estimates 29,000 extra cars every day in the Brent Cross area, which would cause traffic misery.

The developers have just received planning permission for a small building at Brent Cross – but have resorted to making the application from a tax haven in the Channel Islands. They have no shame, and are behaving no better than bankers.

Lia Colacicco, Co-ordinator of the Brent Cross Coalition, said:

“The regeneration was always a mirage; despite the PR spin, the developers were only ever committed to building a few hundred new housing units anyway. In return for cheaply purchasing large swathes of public land, their main return to the local population would have been gridlocked traffic. I hope the next deal is more transparent, and involves a stretch of light rail to link to local tube lines.”

Alison Hopkins, Dollis Hill resident, said:

“What we are being offered now is little different from the rejected shopping centre planning application of 13 years ago. We will still get lots of extra traffic, but no transport improvements. The developers want to 'pick the low-hanging fruit' of what pays out quick profits. The Brent Cross Waste Incinerator seems to be a dead project now, but we will continue to campaign, to make absolutely sure.”

David Howard, Chair of the Federation of Residents Associations of Barnet, said:

“The Brent Cross Cricklewood development would have had a negative impact on the infrastructure and the environment of much of North London and for generations to come. Brian Coleman cannot quote my phrase of “hobbit homes”, since he has done nothing to stop the scheme, and we have. We need the public land at Brent Cross to be kept out of the hands of the developers, and corridors across it reserved for future light railway to Brent Cross Northern Line station, and to other local areas.”

Councillor Shafique Choudhary, London Borough of Brent, said:

"Unfortunately, this probably means that the developers and Barnet council are trying to get what they wanted all along, which is the expansion of their Brent Cross 'out-of-town' shopping centre, with no other benefits. This is something that my borough, the neighbouring London Borough of Brent, fought long and hard, but successfully against, in the late 1990s. That included making a convincing case at an appeal inquiry to a Planning Inspector, who found in our favour. The Brent Cross Coalition and Brent Council may have another fight on their hands!

Willesden Observer on Willesden Green Library and Bookshop

Follow this LINK

Burying Brent Council at the Wembley Consultative Forum

In what at times seemed to be a valediction for Brent Council, Cllr Ann John told the Wembley Area Consultative Forum, that by 2014 the Council would be much smaller. It would have withdrawn from the provision of many services, schools would be out of local authority control and school services would be greatly reduced or have gone completely. In what she said was a 'bleak picture' she said the Housing Benefit Cap would move many families out of the area.

In reviewing the cooperative arrangements with other West London boroughs through the West London Alliance, she said that this opened the way for some to press for much bigger local authorities, a London Borough of West London, which would put local democracy as we know it at risk in the future.

There will be a further £14m cuts in the next financial year following the £42m this year. 540 council jobs have gone in the last 18 months. Ann John said that although the Budget Report had said that the freeze in Council Tax was undermining the long-term council finances but Labour had a manifesto commitment to keep it low and no London borough planned an increase. There were signs that attitudes may be changing with some Tory councils in revolt.

Challenged from the floor that given the Coalition cuts the Council was not able to deliver the services required by Brent residents and that the Council needed to campaign against the Coalition, she gave the example of cuts in the popular park warden services. She said that this contributed to children's and women's safety and had led to an increased use of parks but it was an optional rather than core service and so had been cut. She said that we needed a groundswell of opinion  to approach the government.

Asked about whether the new Civic Centre was now too large for the much diminished Brent workforce she said that it was much more than office space for council bureaucrats and would provide library, arts and retail space.

What's the point of Nick Clegg - Captain SKA

I thought we better have some political balance!

Thinking of leaving Labour? Go Green

A timely article by Peter Cranie who has moved from the Greens to Labour and is now back with the Green Party  LINK to his blog:

So the disappointment has begun. Ed Balls and Ed Miliband, both in this together. We've been here before, or more specifically I have.

I was a member of the Greens from 1989 to 1991, but didn't renew my membership. Back then there was a lack of organisation or actual politics in what appeared to be a friendly, but slightly disorganised social club. It was my natural political home in terms of the global issues that faced us, but in the 1992 election, I reverted to the party I had been brought up to support, Labour.

In Scotland, supporting Celtic and Labour was seen as a constant. They were your team. Celtic represented your heritage, Irish Catholic. Labour represented you, as a member of the working class. Ignoring the fact that my mother was in fact, English and Protestant, I was pretty much expected to follow this tradition, and my membership of the Greens was a "youthful error".

Like most people, I went to bed on the 9th April 1992 expecting to wake up with a Labour government, the party I'd voted for. Like many others, I was stunned by the result. When John Smith became leader, I joined Labour. While my uncle disagreed profoundly with John Smith's politics, he essentially said he was a decent man. After the death of someone I believe would have made a good Labour leader, I didn't vote for Blair, but I stayed in the party.

As a young activist, working in a marginal constituency in London in the run up to the 1997 election, I met Blair and Brown. I listened as they explained how it would be different this time. While they pledged that they would match Tory spending plans in opposition, I convinced myself that when Labour did win the 1997 election they would look at the needs of everyday folk around the country and realise that we needed to transform our society. Once elected, with an overwhelming mandate, the timidity and the fear of change quickly left me disillusioned. I didn't renew my membership and I'm glad that I was not still in the Labour Party when a Labour leader decided to side with the most right wing American president in history to invade Iraq.

2010 was the closest election since 1992 and for me there are similarities. Many people who had left Labour in the previous 13 years, for a variety of reasons, were angry and frustrated by the return of a Conservative to 10 Downing Street. Some rejoined Labour, quickly forgeting the mistakes and the anguish of seeing what was once the party for working people. Just like in 1997, those good people are trying hard to ignore that the Labour Party increasingly takes for granted the very many good Labour activists, supporters and voters who still try to hold true to Labour's roots.

I rejoined the Greens in 1999 after returning from a year of travelling and seeing Greens elected in Scotland and to the European Parliament. It is the best decision I ever made. I became an activist after George Bush became US President. Since then I've put whatever I could into the party, in terms of my personal efforts in Liverpool, the North West and our national party, and I am proud of the progress we've made across the country.

While I recognise my party is far from perfect (nor am I), there is not a week that passes by that I don't look at the work done by our local Green councillors in Liverpool, the North West Green Party, our leader and first MP Caroline Lucas and by the very many Greens doing great things around the country.

The Greens are a party that is making progress. We stand for something different. We are the last party standing against the cuts and the last party that advocates radical redistribution of wealth in a country that grew increasingly unequal during 13 years of Labour government.

A few ex-Labour people are joining us. For now it is just a trickle, but there will be many more to come in the next decade. Leaving Labour is not an easy thing to do for people. There are feelings that you betraying your side or your corner, but for many people in Labour, it the party leadership that has left them as a residue from a previous era, taken for granted but no longer respected.

Leaving Labour is also hard because people who you have worked alongside and socialised with stop being your friends. If your whole life and your whole social network is tied to a political party, that makes it very hard. But it can be done and in fact, life after Labour can be even better. The Greens are the redistributionist social democratic party Labour used to be. We still have a way to go in finance and campaigning capability, but each additional activist makes our work easier.

Thinking of Leaving Labour? Then think about Going Green.

Greens tell Unite, 'We are the alternative to Labour'

The Guardian article by Len McCluskey, General Secretary of the trade union Unite, has reaffirmed Labour's failure to stand up for ordinary people. Labour's biggest financial supporter has publicly acknowledged their party's abject failure to oppose neoliberal austerity.

All three main parties now seek to protect the vested interests of deregulated financial capitalism - and in doing so they endorse an economic model that squeezes the poorest in society to sustain their broken system.
The public sector pay freeze will strip £2,600 off the wages of a teaching assistant. Pension reforms will see the average pension for a female public sector worker slashed to just £4,000. And cuts to education force students to pay £9000 a year, placing an entire generation in systemic debt.

Opposition to unfair and economically illiterate austerity must now unite around a Green New Deal for Britain. Green Quantitative Easing is needed to act as a direct stimulus to fund the jobs that create long term assets in the real economy. The UK needs a plan to reverse the unemployment that is driving up the welfare bill, and which instead gets people back into work and paying taxes.  

The Green Party calls on Trade Unions to back the Green alternative that is now the only voice standing up against an economic system designed to place the tab for 2008 on the UK's public services.

Budget discussion at Area Forums tonight and tomorrow

Ann John, leader of Brent Council and Muhammed Butt, deputy leader and lead member for resources, will be speaking on the 2012-13 budget at Area Consultative Forums this evening and tomorrow. Their appearance takes place against the background of Labour's U-turn on cuts, the council's determination to 'consider all options' including privatisation, the Audit Commission's strictures on council reserves and the likely shrinking of the council to offer only the minimum of statutory public services.

The Wembley Forum is this evening at Patidar House, 22 London Road (off Wembley High Road) at 7pm and the Willesden Forum tomorrow at the College of North West London, Denzil Road, NW10

You can speak at the Forums on budgets, Willesden Green Library Redevelopment, Willesden Bookshop, street litter or any other relevant topic. Get there early and fill in a Soapbox Form or book on-line LINK You will get 3/5 minutes to speak early on the agenda.

Democracy Village removal won't stop the movement for democracy

The late Brian Haw at his Anti-War protest

Police last night removed the tents of the 'Democracy Village' from Parliament Square LINK. It is a symbolic  move in this 'Decade of Democracy' which has seen the Arab Spring and the Occupy Movement.

However pristine the Square will now be it cannot conceal the cockroaches that inhabit the area.

The February 2011 Willesden Green Library consultatation that you missed!

The furore over the Willesden Green Library Regeneration had led many people to ask me about the earlier consultation on the proposals. The Council discussed the proposals on February 15th 2011 and then consulted two focus groups on February 21st and February 28th. Blink and you missed it!

We were all busy with the library closures, budget meeting and academies at the time but I did put a short post about the plans on Wembley Matters HERE

Details of the February 2011 consultation process can be found here HERE

Executive approve Willesden Green Regeneration Report but plenty to fight for

Brent Executive unanimously passed the Willesden Library Regeneration Report this evening. Representations had been made on the lack of consultation, particularly over the Brent Archive; a suggestion that the Cricklewood and Kensal Rise libraries should be reopened during the rebuilding; a plea for more study spaces to be opened up during rebuilding; and my request that the Willesden Bookshop be allocated space in the new Cultural Centre that will replace the Willesden Green Library Centre.

The first two representations were not responded to by Cllr Crane who leads on regeneration. Cllr Powney said that council officers were actively looking for more interim study space for students in the area. Cllr Ann John, sidestepping the demand for allocation of retail space in the new development, tried to prompt Cllr Crane into making a response, 'I am right in saying aren't I that the bookshop is being helped to find new premises?' She was assured there were a large number of empty properties in the High Road and the officers would be helping the bookshop. She pressed further, 'The bookshop isn't under any long-term threat then is it?' Apparently satisfied by the grunted response she said, 'We do want the bookshop to continue.'

The issue is of course that we want the bookshop allocated space in the Cultural Centre if it goes ahead and that the high rents in the High Road and not very suitable premises, may mean the Willesden Bookshop will have to close if this is not done.

I print below the speech I prepared for this evening which sets out the case for the Bookshop. The sections in italics were not delivered in order that I meet the 3 minute speaking limit. I retain them because they strengthen the argument with other voices.

I am speaking to you as a Brent resident and as someone who, working in Brent schools, has been a literacy coordinator, children’s librarian, class teacher, reading recovery teacher and a headteacher and is now a school governor who volunteers to help children gain pleasure from their reading.

In all these roles I have found the Willesden Bookshop’s wide range of books tailored to Brent’s diverse population, and their amazingly knowledgeable staff,  hugely useful.

I am not the only one.  There has been consternation in Brent’s educational community at the potential loss of the bookshop. Last year they dealt with 1,000 orders (invoices not individual books) from Brent schools that get a 10% discount and free delivery.

A review in PaperTigers (Children’s International  Book Review) said:

 I have been a frequent visitor to the Willesden Bookshop over the years. It's a veritable honey-pot for anyone looking for "Children's Books from Around the World": they stock many books it is difficult to find elsewhere in the UK.

Local author of children's books, Odette Elliot says: 

Willesden Bookshop 'celebrates the rich cultures and languages of its community'

The Bookshop has been invited to provide bookstalls for three Spring events at the Centre for Staff Development which unfortunately coincide with when they have to pack up and quit their premises. So that will be another loss to education. The Runnymede Trust and National Literacy Campaign recommend the Willesden Bookshop and the Guardian said:

 A wonderful bookshop, great selection including large stock of children's books, and really friendly and helpful staff.

The Report before you on the Willesden Green Library Centre redevelopment states categorically that space will not be provided in the new Willesden Cultural Centre but gives absolutely no reason for this. At the same time space is allocated to a café when there are lots available on the High Road.

A well-established local bookshop would add to the ‘offer’ at the Cultural Centre, in the same way as bookshops add to the attractiveness of the much larger offer at the South Bank.

As well as contributing to the education of our children, the bookshop with its wide stock, reflecting the many cultures of Brent, helps with community cohesion and its support and promotion of local authors raises local aspirations.

The mother of a now internationally famous local author sent me this message:

If they close the bookshop and the library, they will effectively rip the heart out of Willesden.  Both serve people right across our communities. We need a hell of lot of signatures.  What about standing in the street, outside supermarket etc and getting people's signature I am happy to stand there for entire Saturdays or Sundays if that is what it takes.

Yvonne Bailey Smith (Zadie Smith’s mother)

 Nicolette McKenzie wrote to me:

I am most concerned about the proposed redevelopment of the Willesden library.  When six libraries were closed last year it was not made clear at all that the main library would be closed for two years.  This is unacceptable.

Also, the lack of provision for the bookshop, a real local asset, is scandalous.

The lack of publicity about this, and the 'unfortunate' lack of access to the e-petition  all over this past weekend, I consider appalling.

Please do what you can to have this disaster pulled back from the brink of a planning abyss.

Always on the lookout for ‘below the line’ reasons for Council policies I have checked with the Bookshop and they tell me that they have always paid the rent required by the Council and paid it on time – so that’s not the issue.  It can’t be that you can’t cope with businesses on the site as you are planning a café  here and the new Civic Centre has retail space -and anyway, shouldn’t  the Council be championing successful small local businesses that add value to the community?

I call on the Brent Executive, at this early stage in the development of the Cultural Centre, to ensure that Willesden’s Wonderful Bookshop has a place there,

Loss of Willesden Bookshop would be a 'tragedy'

Before tonight's meeting a Willesden Bookshop customer sent this message to Brent Executive members:

Dear Councillor,

As a member of the Executive who will be attending this evening's meeting I am writing to you to register my dismay at the proposed redevelopment plans for Willesden Green, which currently do not accommodate The Willesden Bookshop. 

As a Brent resident for the last ten years I have valued this establishment and with each year I use it more and more.

I am not sure if you are aware of the invaluable resource that the bookshop provides, supplying stock to countless individuals and schools in the borough and beyond, cognizant of the diverse cultural community which it serves and reflecting those needs in the books that it sells. The depth of knowledge of the staff there is comprehensive impressive and provides a great service for those of us who prefer to browse and have a face to face conversation about a title or genre with someone whom we know will help us. It is efficient in ordering books for customers when they do not carry the titles on their own shelves, and are always courteous and helpful. My primary school aged children and secondary school aged son spend hours selecting books there and would be devastated not to be able to couple their visits to the library with one to the bookshop. There are numerous local authors whose work is regularly and prominently displayed. It's one of the few beacons of cultural success in Willesden Green and is a successful small business that we as individuals as well as local and central government should be championing. 

The current cafe space in the Library Centre area has always been unsuccessful. This may be down to the fact that there is a great deal of competition when it comes to cafes in the High Road and yet the redevelopment has plans for one. Willesden doesn't need another cafe. It needs to keep its only general bookshop, and I would like the developers to explain to Brent residents how one can have a Cultural Centre without having a bookshop, reflecting the culture of the area and the needs of its residents, at the heart of it.

I would please ask you to reconsider the plans in order to accommodate the Willesden Bookshop. It would be a tragedy for it to be lost.

We may have let 'too many staff go to soon' - Cllr. Butt

Muhammed Butt, deputy council leader,  introducing the Audit  Letter at tonight's Executive said that in hindsight the Council may have 'let too many staff go to early'. The Council had to pay an additional audit fee of £50,000 because they had, according to the auditor. 'struggled for complete compliance and timely completion'.  This resulted in both council officers and the auditor  having to undertake additional work.

There had been errors in the council's figures but these resulted in 'no signficant changes' in the reported out-turn figures. The auditor had been asked by the public to investigate Blue Badges and compliance with teachers' pay scales and she had found no issues that required her to use her powers,  

She repeated her warnings about the councils responsibility to ensure there was an adequate level of reserves and this will doubtless make an impact on the forthcoming budget setting.

Caroline Lucas: Balls calls into question the very purpose of the Labour Party

Caroline Lucas, Green MP, made this response to Ed Balls' retreat on cuts in the Guardian:

In his interview with your paper on Saturday, Ed Balls effectively holds up a white flag and admits that Labour has given up any attempt to set out an alternative economic agenda (Beyond the hair shirt: Labour party can give Britain the tough love it needs, insists Balls, 14 January).

His capitulation before the Tory-led coalition's definition of economic credibility as meaning ever more fiscal austerity, and his jaw-dropping statement that "we are going to have to keep all these cuts" calls into question the very purpose of the Labour party.

Moreover, the choice he poses between higher public sector pay or growing unemployment conveniently ignores the fact that many public sector workers are on very low incomes, and falsely suggests that we can't afford to fund both. It is investment in decently paid jobs that generates income, and thus the tax revenues to pay for credit or borrowed money, not the other way round. Instead of trying to outcompete the government in some kind of masochistic virility test to see who can threaten the greatest austerity, an opposition party worthy of the name would be making a far stronger case that austerity isn't working, and offering a genuine alternative.

A combination of more progressive taxation, a crack down on tax evasion and avoidance and, crucially, Green quantitative easing to deliver investment directly in the new jobs and infrastructure the UK urgently needs to make the transition to a more sustainable economy, would do far more to challenge the government than the Tory-lite policies set out by the shadow chancellor.

Lack of provision for Willesden Bookshop 'scandalous'

I've just had this message from Nicolette McKenzie who has agreed I can share it with my readers.

Dear Martin Francis,
I am most concerned about the proposed redevelopment of the Willesden library.  When six libraries were closed last year it was not made clear at all that the main library would be closed for two years.  This is unacceptable.

Also, the lack of provision for the bookshop, a real local asset, is scandalous. 

The lack of publicity about this, and the 'unfortunate' lack of access to the e-petition  all over this past weekend, I consider appalling.

Please do what you can to have this disaster pulled back from the brink of a planning abyss.

Yours sincerely,
Nicolette McKenzie

Willesden Bookshop Petition available again

The whole democracy section of the Council's website became inaccessible this weekend. I won't make any comment about the symbolism of this!

It is now up and running again and you can sign the Willesden Bookshop petiiton by following this LINK. The petition calls on the Council to allocate retail space to this well-used and much appreciated local bookshop in the new Cultural Centre which will replace the Willesden Green Library Centre. The Centre currently houses the bookshop which has been told to quit their premises by April 17th.

Audit Commission warns Brent Council of 'significant risks'

A year ago I reported that Brent Council's reserves were the lowest of the London boroughs. LINK As the Council implemented cuts last year they also, controversially, began to build up the reserves. The Audit Commission's Annual Audit Letter 2010-11 on Brent Council's financial position, which is tabled for tonight's Executive, gives the Council only an amber rating based on their 'traffic light' system. The level of Council's reserves continues to give the Audit Commission cause for concern as well as the Council's capacity to deliver the planned savings. The Council is likely to use this Letter as justification for not using reserves to mitigate some of the most damaging cuts.

Andrea White, District Auditor. in a key passage states:

My overall conclusion is that the Council has adequate arrangements to secure, economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources.

 

My value for money conclusion is based on evidence that confirms the Council has sound financial planning and monitoring arrangements in place, and it has the leadership and governance structures to enable it to deliver its plans. 

However, there are significant risks to achieving the scale of savings required. The Council's medium term financial strategy has identified the need for a further £65 million savings over the next three years. These substantial savings will have to be delivered against a background of increasing demand for council services and reduced management capacity. Clear focus on delivering operational and financial priorities will be needed to ensure financial plans are delivered and the effectiveness of services is maintained. 

The Council’s general reserves are low and earmarked reserves are falling while pressure on the Council’s resources in the coming years is significant and unprecedented. The maintenance of strong financial control will be essential if the Council is to achieve its plans. When setting its budget for 2012/13, the Council must continue to have regard to the increasing level of risk in setting its reserves.

In unguarded moments councillors lament the 'almost impossible' position they have put in by the level of cuts demanded by the Coalition's reduction in their budget.  They are now contemplating a massive reduction in the role of local government, and a consequent withdrawal from some service provision and the privatisation of others. As the Auditor says "These substantial savings will have to be delivered against a background of increasing demand for council services and reduced management capacity." Cuts in provision will occur as demand for provision is increasing.

In shrinking the role of the Council they are in a way contributing to their own demise. A very real question is now being asked about exactly how many people will be left to move into the Civic Centre in 2013.

Brent councillors disappear

Someone else has contacted me regarding problems with Brent Council's website.  They wanted to find their ward councillors' details and having clicked through were confronted with this:

• Find your undefined
• Your undefined alphabetically
• Your undefined by political party
• Your undefined by
• Full list of contact details
• Member attendance summary
• View undefined in a table

None of it works. We are being represented by the 'undefined' and the unreachable. Call this participatory democracy?

The battle for Brent schools - which side is Labour on?

The battle against academies and free schools has reached a tipping point, author and campaigner Melissa Benn told the AntiAcademies Alliance AGM yesterday. The battle being waged by teachers, parents and governors of Downsides Primary School against enforced conversion to an academy had exposed  the contradiction between Michael Gove's rhetoric of freedom and autonomy and his actual use of coercion.

Benn said that the over-funding of 'good schools' converting to academies or of parents setting up free schools was the government 'empowering the affluent'.  She said that there were three main element's in Gove's programme:

1. A fundamental change in the provision of state education with the academies' links to outside bodies separating them from the local community. Despite government denials the long-term aim, via the 'educational chains' such as E-ACT, ARK and Oasis was privatisation and profit-making. She said that there was no evidence that autonomy itself led to improvement. Where there was improvement it was probably due to increased funding, however that was drying up and the Financial Times recently revealed that the DfE had to bail out eight financially failing academies at the cost of £10m to the tax payer.

2. Gove wants to preserve and expand all forms of current non-LA provision including the expansion of grammar schools via 'satellite' schools and changes in the Admissions Code. This will increase selection and social class and religious segregation.

3. Fundamental changes in the learning culture of schools. She contrasted the broad and creative curriculum and relaxed learning culture of Eton and Wellington public schools which she had visited recently  with the narrowing of the curriculum in academies (depth replacing breadth) and a coercive ethos producing a climate of fear. Academies had in effect 'captured' children for longer hours (often 8.30am until 5pm) and teachers, parents and pupils were often frightened of the management as the school pursued its aim of 'results at all costs'. Anyone arguing against this culture was told that they were supporting failure.

Melissa Benn advised the audience to keep an eye on the US Chartered Schools which served as a model for Gove. We need to argue that some of the most successful schools internationally are non-selective and make the case for increased government funding, small classes, time for teachers to prepare lessons and ongoing teacher assessment rather than SATs.  Subsequent discussion focused on how Ofsted was being used as a political weapon against local authority schools  with the appointment of ARK adviser Sir Michael  Wilshaw as Chief Inspector.

A group of parents from Downside Primary School started by extolling the virtues of a school that did not just concentrate on SAT results but had a broad and enriching curriculum in a child-friendly atmosphere. The children had recently won a national art prize. They were shocked at the enforced academy move by Michael Gove based solely on SAT results but quickly organised, speaking personally to members of the different communities of the school, publicising the issue and using social media to spread the word, They have been lucky in that local MP David Lammy was an ex-pupil of the school and although pro-academy had been against enforcement and had spoken at their public meeting attended by more than 600 people LINK as well as raising the issue in the House of Commons. LINK The parents said that the under-funding of Haringey schools compared with neighbouring boroughs was of fundamental importance and a campaigning on the issue would appeal to parents. There will be a demonstration on Saturday 28th January at noon in support of Downside. I will post details when they are available. It seemed to me clear that primary schools with their strong parent links, good school gate communication opportunities and community ethos will be in a good position to fight academy conversion compared with the more isolated secondary schools.

In my contribution from the floor I drew the meeting's attention to the importance of making the link between cuts and academy conversions. Conversions took money away from the local authority while the cuts in services made by local authorities made arguing  for the benefits of remaining a local authority school harder.In Brent the council in planning to set up a 'public enterprise' provider along the lines of the Cooperative Trust offer, was undermining its own existence.

Alasdair Smith, National Secretary of the AAA, said that Gove was pursuing a full 'for profit' agenda. The shortage of school places was being used as an argument for more 'energetic providers' (private chains) to move in. He felt Downshill was a turning point with Michael Gove worried about the slow down (perhaps because of forecasts that extra money was drying up) in conversions that had taken place since October 2011. He said that he had addressed 50 meetings on the issue over the lasy year but that we now needed a mass movement against Gove's policies.  He praised the Green Party for its consistent anti-academies policy.

The last session was devoted to a discussion on the Labour Party and Academies.  There was recognition of the divergence of local Labour group's attitudes with some fiercely for academies and some militantly against (The Brent Executive has both within its ranks). Stephen Twigg, the Labour shadow had avoided the issue by saying that he did not want to 'get into a hackneyed debate about structures' while Labour was not saying the same thing bout the NHS. Labour needed to live down its pro-academy history and think again, adopting a clear policy against academies and free schools. A Labour councillor said that we should beware of 'friends' such as the Cooperative Trust with their ethical cooperative claims when schools had always been cooperative institutions. Local authorities needed to come out and defend their role rather than be supine in the face of the Coalition's attacks.

Richard Hatcher (joint author of No country for the young: Education from  new Labour to the Coalition- Tufnell Press) said that Labour needed to fight on both structure of education and content of education, support campaigns against academies and free schools , and debate what a Labour government would do with what it will inherit in 2015 if elected. One speaker from Unison said that she had joined the Labour Party in  order to influence their education policy. Other speakers aid there was a need to focus on the huge salaries paid to academy headteachers and chief executives as well as the amount of public money being spent of academies and free schools as a whole.

All these issues are extremely pertinent as Brent Labour has organised a meeting for Labour nominated governors and anti-academy teachers on Wednesday, 7.30pm at the Stonebridge Hub which will be addressed by Melissa Benn.

Melissa Benn, School Wars-The Battle for Britain's Education, Verso

Emergency! Bookshop petition disappears

I have received e-mails to tell me that the links to the Council's e-petition site do not work. Sure enough, when I checked via various routes I got either an error report or a page stating that there are no current petitions.

It may have crashed of course because hundreds of people were trying to sign my petition on the Willesden Bookshop and the site got overloaded, it may have been sabotaged by the Brent Council stasi , or most likely there is some weekend maintenance of the Council website that has messed it up.

I rang the Council's emergency weekend  number and they had a look and came back to say that there was no one available to deal with it but, 'Someone may know about it and be trying to fix it so keep trying and it may come back.' Not quite up to the IT Crowd advice but on the way. When I said it was very frustrating and I was keen to get support for the Willesden Bookshop the emergency woman (you know what I mean) said, "This may be an emergency to you but...."

Keep persevering and do let me know if it starts working for you.

By the way Willesden Green Library campaigners, Cllr Powney says you have got it all wrong. POWNEY BLOG

Community Channel airs Brent Libraries report on Monday

London 360 airs on Community Channel Monday 16th January - 7am, 12pm and 7pm.

The Community Channel will be airing a report on Brent Libraries on Monday just before the Council considers the Willesden Library Regeneration report.  The Community Channel team of young volunteers were unable to interview Cllr Lesley Jones when they attended the demonstration at Willesden Green Library last week because she was 'too tired' after her morning surgery to talk to them.

Programme Notes: Libraries
There’s been some controversy around the state of local libraries all over London. With several under threat due to redevelopments and budget cuts. Christinah Adegasoye went down to the borough of Brent to investigate what impacts these cuts are having on local residents.

The Community Channel is available on Freeview Channel 87, Sky 539, Virgin 233 and BT Vision

Let's see Michael Gove teach this!

There are certain topics in primary teaching that can leave both us and the children floundering in a morass of mutual incomprehension. Explaining the movement of the earth around the sun and its relationship with the seasons is one - another is telling the time (analogue). I often refer to Dave Allen's sketch about this when talking to teachers about the difficulties and pitfalls of primary teaching. Always watch out for the deceptively simple topic and even worse the deceptively simple question, "Why?" particularly when being observed by Ofsted!

This sketch still makes my head start aching after a couple of minutes as I relive some similar experiences.

Chalkhill kids let down yet again by park delay

The park site - no 'New Dawn' here

Cllr Powney has accused me recently of being 'grumpy' but the latest news from Brent Council has transformed me into the full Victor Meldrew: 'I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THE NEW CHALKHILL PARK HAS BEEN DELAYED YET AGAIN.'


In October 2011 I blogged LINKthat after a meeting with Cllr Powney (lead member for the environment)and Gerry Kiefer, head of Sports and Parks, we were assured that the delayed Chalkhill Park would be ready by May 2012.  Earlier in the year children from Chalkhill School Council had lobbied ward councillors after repeated delays and this was taken up by the wider community of children and youth on the estate during the summer holiday. They were all angry that once again Chalkhill young people had been deprived of a park during the long summer holiday. They were determined that they would have a park by Summer 2012.

When I saw that no work had started after the forecast delay of 4-6 weeks I started nagging the ward councillor in my role as Chair of Governors of Chalkhill Primary School. 

Chris Walker, head of planning wrote to all the interested parties yesterday to say that it had been anticipated that work would start in December 2011/January 2012 (more than 4-6 weeks behind) but that now the contract will be not be awarded until March 2012 with a six month contract to completion. On my reading this means that the park will not be completed until at least September 2012 leaving the local kids with no park for yet another summer.

Mr Walker explains that this is because all the tenders submitted in the autumn were unaffordable without reducing the park specification and that it became apparent that they did not fully comply with the Council's internal standing orders - so they are going out to tender again 'and hope that this time we will receive affordable and suitable tender submissions'. Even that sounds pretty uncertain...

Chris Walker  says he realises the situation will be a big disappointment but says that the Council is doing all it can to minimise delays.

All sorts of questions are raised by this debacle, not least over whether the Parks Service itself, if it hadn't been drastically cut, could have got a park up and running but also what this means for the Council's current Parks Review which, amongst other options, is looking at the possibility of privatisation of the Service.

After last summer's events across the nation Brent Council had better takes positive steps to ensure it is not a long hot summer on Chalkhill. They could at least get the BMX track cleared at St. David's Close and fast-track plans for a possible skateboarding installation.

The councillors who represent Chalkhill (which is part of  Barnhill Ward) can be contacted via their website BARNHILL-NEW DAWN (sic). No mention of this news there.

You can write direct to the councillors at their e-mails below:

 cllr.abdifatah.aden@brent.gov.uk; cllr.judith.beckman@brent.gov.uk; cllr.shafique.choudhary@brent.gov.uk;

Teachers-inspire your kids on Martin Luther King Day with these songs

Monday is Martin Luther King Day in the US. As a gift to all my primary teacher colleagues out there here is a great link which Nick Grant of the NUT drew to my attention.The Nation has uploaded songs (some with visuals) of the 10 Best Civil Rights Songs. Save yourself a bit of planning, load them up on your whiteboards and inspire the kids!

LINK

Brent IS London's Dirtiest Olympic Borough

When street sweeping was cut I predicted the Brent could become 'London's Dirtiest Olympic Borough' and sadly my prediction appears to have come true. Alongside the litter there appears to have been an increase in the number of mattresses dumped on the street. I suspect that some of these may be the result of evictions from short-term property lets. All these images were taken recently.

Brent CAB appeals for Winter Warmth donations

Brent Citizens Advice Bureau, in conjunction with the Tricycle Theatre and with the support of Joanna Lumley, is asking generous Brent pensioners to donate their winter fuel payments to the CAB’s Winter Warmth Fund.

This year, Brent pensioners aged over 80 will receive a winter fuel payment of £300, while those aged under 80 will receive £200. The payments are not means-tested, so go to all pensioners, irrespective of their wealth.

Brent CAB’s Winter Warmth Fund has been running since 2008 and helps vulnerable Brent CAB clients each year with by giving them a donation of up to £200 directly payable to their fuel supplier.

Over a period of three years the bureau has allocated a total of £7,300 to 38 families and individuals in need.

The beneficiaries are people who are affected by fuel poverty: in particular those with a long-term illness, elderly people and families with young children. Brent CAB assesses the impact the money will have on their financial difficulties before choosing a client to donate to.

Nationally, celebrities such as Sir Terry Wogan and Helen Mirren are supporting a similar campaign – the Surviving Winter appeal - which calls on those who do not need the money to donate it to a fund for those in greater need over the winter.

Fuel poverty (people spending 10% or more of their income in heating) is a growing concern in Brent. Every year 50 people die in Brent because of the cold weather. This is more than three times the national average. This is why Brent CAB has opened their Winter Warmth fund for a fourth year running and is urging Brent residents for donations.

You can donate by sending a cheque payable to “Brent Citizens’ Advice Bureau” to Winter Warmth Fund, Brent Citizens Advice Bureau, 270-272 High Road, Willesden, London, NW10 2EY. Alternatively you can contact Fernando Ruz on f.ruz@brentcab.co.uk or 0208 438 1214.


A Brent student with a young child who received a Winter Warmth donation last year said, “The grant was extremely helpful as I live on a ground floor flat with my child and it is very very cold. Without the money I would not have been able to pay my heating bills”.

Another recipient last year had been waiting 4 months for HMRC to pay her owed Child Benefit and Tax Credits and was in severe financial difficulties. She said, “I would like to thank you for helping me pay my gas bill, it is great that people in need can turn to you. I am very happy that I could pay for heating for me and my seven children.”

One recipient of the award last winter was a single parent working part-time supporting three young children including a baby. He had a fuel bill of £745 which he was finding very difficult to pay and was therefore very grateful for the grant. Another recipient had a 7 month old baby and had no money for her prepayment meter to heat her flat. So she was immensely grateful for the £200 grant, which was paid directly to the meter, as otherwise she would have had no heat.

Save Willesden Bookshop - sign this epetition

Waiting for the bulldozers

Readers will be aware that Brent Council is planning to redevelop the Willesden Green Library Centre and has allocated no space in the new development for the Willesden Bookshop which is the gateway to the present site.

I will be speaking on the issue at the Brent Executive on Monday and have set up an epetition calling for Bookshop, who have been given notice to quit by April 17th, to be allocated pace in the new development.

Signing the petition is an easy process - just follow this LINK

We the undersigned petition the council to to include retail space for the Willesden Bookshop in the proposed Willesden Green Cultural Centre which is to replace the Willesden Green Library Centre.

Plans for the new centre make provision for a cafe so why should there be no space for a bookshop? Alongside any proposed café this would provide a similar mix on a smaller scale to that provided at the South Bank Centre.

The Willesden Bookshop is:

• A successful small business with an excellent record in serving the needs of the local community and providing employment.
• An invaluable resource and support to local schools with nationally recognised expertise in catering for a diverse pupil population
• A positive cultural force in the borough through its encouragement of local authors and events such as Black History Month
• Able to enrich activities at the Cultural Centre, linking its stock with particular events and reflecting the diversity of the local community. 
• An exemplary long-term tenant of Brent Council.

Started by: Martin Francis

This ePetition runs from 12/01/2012 to 21/02/2012.

Green Party Slams HS2 Decision

John Whitelegg, Green Party spokesperson on sustainable development, has posted this on the Huffington Post:

The government has finally announced its decision to proceed with a new high speed railway line between London and Birmingham known as HS2. This is a brand new railway line that is designed to run at 250mph/400kph and because of the high speed which means the need for straight sections and avoidance of curves it is especially destructive of the countryside though which it passes. This remains the case in spite of additional tunnelling.

The whole project is characterised by overblown rhetoric about economic growth, reducing the north south divide and making the nation more prosperous. It is of course nothing like this at all. It is a very expensive, very environmentally damaging, very badly thought through transport project. It is one of the most expensive transport projects supported by any government over the last three to four decades and has the weakest justification, business case and rationale.

The project relies on the incredible notion that the time savings for high income passengers translate into huge economic gains and in some mysterious way propagate prosperity and happiness along the viaducts, through the tunnels and along the 75 metres swathe of concrete, overhead wires, access roads and electrical gear that race though Oxfordshire and Warwickshire.

Credibility levels are under more pressure still when it becomes clear that the monetary value of time savings amounts to such a big number because of the assumption that the time spent on these trains is non-productive time. In the parallel universe of high speed rail no one uses lap tops, mobile phones and other technology to get on with work. The forecasts of future demand levels for business travel take no account of the rapid spread of video-conferencing and other technologies that substitute electronic communication for physical travel.

The deeply offensive consultation on HS2 gives the game away. The most important things were not consulted on at all. The massive scale of the environmental damage caused by HS2 is the result of a design that specifies 250mph/400kph running. Faster running requires more engineering and straight lines than a lower design speed. We were not consulted on the route when there are other options that could be used e.g. following motorways. We were not consulted on more fundamental options e.g. if we want to create jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions then how does a complete electrification of the UK railways system stack up by comparison?

Supporters of HS2 have linked the project to a low carbon transport future and then revealed the true nature of the project which is simply about encouraging more long distant travel and more carbon emissions. HS2 sits alongside an assumption that long distance car travel will increase 44% by 2033 and air travel by 178% by the same year. The new line will produce an 8% shift away from air and the same away from car. This is just not good enough for such an expensive project and does not deliver climate change or sustainable development objectives.

The starting point for any large transport investment is how it sits within a vision of what kind of society and economy we are trying to shape. The Green Party is very clear on this and we want strong city regions with highly integrated transport systems as good as Zurich or Basle or Frankfurt stretching for at least 50kms around all our major cities. We want excellent inter-city linkages between places like Liverpool,Manchester and Leeds, Liverpool and Glasgow and Exeter, Bristol and Birmingham.

We want excellent rural public transport so that there is a real choice between the car and its alternatives. We want a transport system driven by social justice and fairness and providing high quality choices to all income groups and all localities. HS2 is a rich person's railway and the government knows that spending public money on something that simply will not be used by the bottom 50% of income bands is a reverse Robin Hood strategy. It is a socially regressive project.

At a time of massive cuts in public expenditure and a desperate need to upgrade our big city public transport systems so that they can stand comparison with Frankfurt, Zurich and Vienna the support given by labour, conservative and lib dem politicians to this large scale vanity project is obscene. I challenge all those politicians who support HS2 to go out onto the streets and ask real people to choose between spending £17 billion on reducing the journey time for wealthy rail passengers between London and Birmingham by 23 minutes and all the other things we could do for that pot of money.