Brent Council Budget consultation dates announced

Brent Council Budget Consultation  dates were announced at Willesden Connect tonight. They are:

4th Feb 2.30-4.30 @ Brent Town Hall

7th Feb 7-9pm @ Paul Daisley Hall, Brent Town Hall

But Cllr Aslam Choudry said that there would not be much opportunity to influence the budget since it was pretty much a 'done deal'.

So that's okay then! 

Green Party opposes 'damaging' teachers' pay reforms

The Green Party has reiterated its opposition to the government’s reforms of teachers’ pay, in the wake of the renewed threat of industrial action from teaching unions.

In response to government plans to end teachers’ pay rises in line with length of service in favour of performance-related pay, the National Union of Teachers executive has agreed to “build towards strike action in the spring term,” while the NASUWT has warned that “resistance across the profession” was growing.

Will Duckworth, Deputy Leader of the Green Party, who was a teacher for thirty years at his local comprehensive school, said: 'This policy may possibly hold some very short term financial benefits, but we should be looking at the long term interests of our children.”

“The reason this is a particularly damaging measure is because it chips away even more at the status of teaching. It is a profession, but this policy treats it as if it's simply a step to be taken on the way to management.

“In a real professional career, of course you receive pay increases based on experience and expertise. But this plan removes that from teaching, meaning the only way many teachers will be able to progress is by teaching for just two to three years then entering school management.

“Others will be even less likely to regard teaching as a profession, and turn to do something else instead. It's a waste of talent that we should be harnessing for the good of our children, and society in years to come.”

Mr Duckworth added: “It's also concerning that this seems to remove one more reward for loyalty and length of service, perhaps in an attempt to make it even easier for Academies and Free Schools, which will be able to raise money from private businesses, to poach the best teachers from LEA affiliated schools by offering them more money.

“The majority of children will suffer if this is allowed to happen.”

Some questions I asked Brent Council at Wembley Connects last night

SOAPBOX QUESTIONS (Answers to be given at the next session)

1, With mattresses discarded on the street and increased fly-tipping as a consequence of short-term rental accommodation changing hands frequently, will the council consider producing leaflets on recycling and bulk collections (in appropriate languages) and require that landlords and letting agents give them to new tenants?

2. Can the Council give us an assessment of the impact on the Wembley Park area of an increase in school pupil numbers as a result of the Michaela Free School likely to move into Arena House (the ex-CNWL building) opposite Wembley Park station, an independent 1,500 place French School opening in  Brent Town Hall and Ark Academy numbers due to increase over the next few years as the school reaches full capacity? (Not to mention Preston Manor All-Through School just down the road.)

3. When are we likely to see the affordable family housing promised for the Quintain development in the Wembley Regeneration around Wembley Stadium? With 15,000 on the housing waiting list this is urgently needed. (Quintain is currently building a Designer Shopping Outlet, multi-screen cinema and private student accommodation)

4. Now that the Wembley Stadium car park is moving to the land  around the 'Green, public transport based' Civic Centre giving 1,350 parking places, will there be a parking charge for council workers, coucillors and visitors to the Civic Centre and the Library.

QUESTION TO CLLR KRUPESH HIRANI AFTER PRESENTATION ON ADULT SOCIAL CARE

1. Isn't there a tension between your statement that you will make saving on adult social care costs by 'squeezing providers' rather than change  eligibility criteriam and the Council's commitment to the London Living Wage?  Squeezed providers will save money by paying lower wages and thus reduce the quality of the service.

A. Cllr Hirani said that the London Living Wage Foundation has recognised the difficulties that councils had in paying the LLW to care workers - the cost would be millions. London boroughs were working with the Foundation to plan how to deal with the issue. He said some savings could be made by joint procurement with other boroughs.

Greens urge Government rethink on poorly funded Green Deal

The Green Party has criticised the government’s failure to implement the Green Deal with the required funding.

Nearly 1,800 jobs have been lost and another 1,100 are in danger as a result of the government’s inability to put energy efficiency policies into practise. The current insulation scheme ended a fortnight ago, and the replacement, which is funded by the Green Deal and the Energy Company Obligation, will not be properly funded for several months.

Councillor Andrew Cooper, Green Party energy spokesperson and chair of the Association of Green Party Councillors, said: “It is bizarre that the government's Green Deal is seeing a fall in the number of homes insulated and people employed in the insulation industry.” 

"Getting schemes wrong in this way is bad for the economy, doesn't tackle fuel poverty and shows a lack of urgency around the need to reduce carbon emissions.

“A positive, large-scale energy efficiency programme would generate huge energy savings which would see more money invested in the local economy, reducing peoples’ outgoings and seeing thousands in work, not to mention all the health benefits.

“The Green Party has been at the forefront of the most successful energy efficiency schemes in the country with thousands of homes insulated in schemes initiated and promoted by Green Party Councillors.

“In Kirklees the free insulation scheme that was carried out between 2007 and 2010 saw over 50,000 homes insulated and over £3million saved off peoples’ fuel bills. DECC’s own figures shows that this Green Party Initiative is the most successful in the country.

“Government should listen to the energy efficiency industry and have a major rethink about the Green Deal before it inevitably fails.”

Penny Kemp, Environment Spokesperson, said: "Failure by this Government to act on energy efficiency means that fuel poverty will increase, jobs will be lost, and the cost to the NHS will be greater.”

“The Green Party scheme is a win-win scheme. Jobs are created, fuel poverty is reduced and most importantly of all, lives are saved due to better home insulation, which also saves the NHS the £850m it spends each year on treating illnesses related to cold homes.

“Today, the Met Office tells us that we are entering a very cold spell, and each year up to 20,000 people die needlessly because of hard to heat homes."

Gove's action on Mary Seacole goes further than Thatcher

Mary Seacole's gravestone

When I first started teaching at an inner London primary school in Paddington in 1971 one of the first things I noticed was that there were very few books with any black children in them even though the school population was largely black. There were no black staff and so children had the strange experience of attending a school where curriculum and staffing did not reflect the pupils who actually attended. 

Meeting with other teachers I discovered that some schools still had copies of 'Little Black Sambo'  on their shelves amongst the Peter and Jane and Janet and John readers. Teachers, supported by parents, became proactive in trying to correct the situation, aware that if children were 'invisible' in the curriculum and materials, their motivation would be affected.  Black Bookshops began to import multi-ethnic books, mainly from the US,  Sunshine  Readers produced by Ladybird for the West Indies, became common in inner London schools. In the UK the Nippers series reflecting both black and working class life began to be published. Beryl Gilroy, the first black woman headteacher in London (and possibly  the UK) and mother of Paul Gilroy, wrote some of the Nipper series.

At the same time there was an active racist and fascist movement with the National Front targeting schools and recruiting white children at the school gates. Teachers became active in the community campaigning against the NF, particularly when they provocatively hired school halls in multi-racial areas for their meetings or marched through areas of black settlement. All Leader Teachers Against Fascism (ALTARF) and Teachers Against the Nazis (TAN) were formed and autonomous black teachers' organisations became active

However, anti-racist teachers were not in the majority at the time. When I was organising support for an anti-racist meeting.my headteacher, who was a member of the Communist Party, told me, 'This school is neither for nor against racism'    His predecessor had angrily insisted, 'I do not want these black books thrust down our white children's throats'.

A moment which reinforced my determination was when an eight year old  black girl turned to me when reading about Harriet Tubman, with amazed eyes and said, 'I didn't know black people could be famous!' 

In the black community the slogan 'We are here because you were there' was used to combat the racists. Clearly colonial history and the freedom struggle were vital to an understanding of racism and teacher activists and librarians began to write materials for the classroom. Basil Davidson worked with the London Branch of the National Association for Multi-racial Education (NAME) on an exhibition about African History challenging some of the myths of the time that included attributing the Zimbabwe ruins to some ancient non-African civilisation.

When I moved  to a primary school in Fulham, an area where the NF were recruiting, I had a 10 year NF member in the class in  which black children were a minority. It became clear to me that anti-racist education was required - not just multicultural.

In Challenging Racism - ALTARF (1984) I wrote about a black child who was in what we now call Year 5. This is what she said:

Well I think there isn't enough black books in school . They've got Pete and Jane and they're white and they haven't got any books for black kids and if they have they're just silly books - they're not sensible. So what we [she and her friends] tried to do  (which we never finished) we made our own book about jobs and racism. We did a book about jobs and drew pictures and we talked about what black people hadn't been getting jobs. Was it because of their colour or is it just because they're not qualified and we got to the decision that it was because of their colour. So what we did was we got together, we had a discussion before we started making the book, and we just started writing it down and drawing pictures about it.

Schools and the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) began to tackle the political issues involved and incurred the wrath of the right-wing of the Conservative Party including Margaret Thatcher, Norman Tebbit and the recently deceased Sir Rhodes Boyson, Conservative MP for Brent North. 

There was little need for the National Front once Thatcher was in power and her government turned on 'left-wing' teachers and on local authorities such as  the ILEA and Brent who had pioneered multi-cultural and anti-racist education. Tebbit eventually abolished the ILEA along with the GLC.  Margaret Thatcher said:

You know about political indoctrination in some of the inner cities, well, I could show you examination papers, I could show you books.....I sometimes look at the Continent, where they have not only a core curriculum but a core syllabus. That would be an enormous leap for us to take, because my generation still recoils from having a system that any government could manipulate...what we are considering is whether we should take that step.

And of course they did take that step and introduced the National Curriculum and subsequent Labour governments tightened central control even more.

The phrase about a system that 'any government could manipulate' is telling because Michael Gove is currently seeking to manipulate the NC history curriculum in the direction that some of the extreme rightwingers wanted to do back in the 80s and goes beyond any manipulation that Margaret Thatcher  or Kenneth Baker attempted. . He is removing certain black historical figures from  the NC but also changing the nature of the historical narrative. It is a political and cultural intervention

Does this statement by the Monday Club (Education and the Multiracial Society) 1985 not remind you of Muchael Gove's stance?

To say that British History, English literature, the civilisation of Western Europe should have pride of place in our schools is not to argue from a sense of superiority. It is to argue for relevance. Black and white children need to learn,and they can, of the nation in which they live and the forces that have shaped it. Britain has a great and inspiring heritage. Our chidlren need to be fed on it, to be encouraged to make it their own. Such an approach in education will unify, not divide, nurture shared pride and common loyalties, not cynicism and racial hatred.

So the removal of Mary Seacole and Oloudah Equiano from the National Curriculum is a political and ideological act with its roots in the Thatcher era. It seeks to push back the gains that have been made in education for a multi-ethnic society and perhaps aims to take us back to that period when that child could look at me with disbelief when she found there were black historical.

That is why Mary Seacole's grave stone, in our backyaed in the Kensal Green Cemetery, Harrow Road is currently my Facebook profile.  It is why I remind schools and teachers that the National Curriculum is not all that can be taught. Schools are free to teach beyond the National Currlcum and if Mary Seacole and Oloudah Equiano  are removed teachers should still carry on teaching about them. That will also be a political  act.

I strongly support the campaign that you can read about below:

Best selling authors such as Zadie Smith, Malorie Blackman and Andrea Levy, playwright Kwame Kwei Armah, Civil Rights icon Rev Jesse Jackson,  Trade Union leaders Christine Blower, Mark Serwotka and politicians including Diane Abbott, David Lammy and Stephen Twigg have all signed an open letter to the Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove, calling upon him to rethink his plans to scrap Mary Seacole and Olaudah Equiano from the National Curriculum.

Gove has stated that he wants children to learn ‘traditional’ figures such as Winston Churchill and Oliver Cromwell, and that Equiano and Seacole can be options.

Simon Woolley stated:

‘Dumping Mary Seacole and Olaudah Equiano, denies children of our rich diversity of key historical figures. It is also seen by some as the whitewashing of British history.’

Civil Rights Campaigner Rev Jesse Jackson stated:

'A nation’s history must be told by all its people for the benefit of everyone. Failure to do so invariably ends up talking about the exploits of white men.’

Zita Holbourne, National Co-Chair BARAC UK stated:

'The achievements of figures such as Mary Seacole and Olaudah Equiano in the face of prejudice are to be celebrated so that they inspire generations to come.  The broad range of people opposing Gove's proposal demonstrate the strength of our multicultural society at its best.

Patrick Vernon stated:

‘After launching the successful campaign in 2003 where Mary Seacole was voted the Greatest Black Briton by the public, Michael Grove, Secretary State for Education now wants to remove her from the National Curriculum along with Olaudah Equiano. This gives a clear message to all children and parents in Britain that we do no have a pluralist or multicultural society and thus equality of opportunity is only the preserved for the rich and privileged. Is this history we want to teach and shape future leaders in 21st century Britain?’

Juliet Alexander, broadcaster, lecturer and trustee of the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal, stated:

‘To exclude Mary Seacole from the national curriculum would be to remove a vital and important part of  the UK's rich heritage of Black, female activism and to condemn future generations to a poor and distorted history of the UK. The unprecedented response to the OBV petition and public eagerness to fund a statue for Mary, shows the UK's continuing fascination with the fighting spirit of historical heroines like Mary Seacole.’

Follow this link to sign the Operation Back Vote Petition to Michael Gove LINK

http://www.100greatblackbritions.com/

http://www.maryseacoleappeal.org.uk/

Cllr Powney promises to investigate 'Low Carbon Zone' proposal

Could it be Brent or Wembley next?

 Making a presentation on Monday the the Brent Executive,  Ken  Montague, Secretary of Brent Campaign Against Climate Change, agreed with the Green Charter Annual Monitoring Report's comment that  while “there is progress in all seven areas of work” there was “room for improvement over the next year”. In particular he sought to bring to the Executive’s attention proposals jointly being developed by BCaCC and Brent Friends of the Earth as an outcome of their Community Briefing public meeting on 21 November, which council leader Muhammed Butt attended. A report  of the meeting has  been circulated to Councillors.

The purpose of the Community Briefing meeting, which was to make local community leaders aware of the rapid depletion of the Arctic ice cap and its affect on weather patterns around the world. This had an indirect impact on people in Brent as many members of the local community have friends and families in parts of the world being devastated by floods, droughts and fires. It was also having a direct impact through its effect on the price and quality of food.

Ken addressed  two of the three proposals that came out of the briefing meeting, which aimed to develop a community response. The first of these was about reaching out to the local community to increase awareness of the seriousness and urgency of the need to mitigate climate change. The aim was to enhance and strengthen the work of the Sustainability Forum and the Brent Climate Change Steering Group, especially its Residents’ Steering Group. This meant sending speakers to meetings of tenants’ and residents’ associations, faith groups, trade unions, etc, and on occasion booking rooms for meetings. The first request to the Executive was therefore that those organisations like Brent CaCC and Brent FoE who were identified as Green Champions under the Brent Climate Change Strategy should have use of Council premises, including public libraries, free of charge.

Monatgue went on to draw the Executive’s attention to a proposal in the early stages of development by BCaCC and Brent FoE which would require support from the Council, advice from council officers, and the involvement of specific councillors. This was for a pilot scheme to establish a Low Carbon Zone in an area of the borough still to be identified in consultation with the Council. A Low Carbon Zone involved concentrating existing agencies on the area identified in order to generate awareness of the advantages to tenants and residents of implementing measures for energy conservation and the sourcing of power from renewables, to provide advice and guidance and facilitate discount buying, and to access funding to install insulation, double glazing and combined heat and power boilers. The “existing agencies” could include the Council, private companies, campaign groups including ourselves and Transition Town, the College of North West London, and the Brent TUC.

Central to the proposal was the possibility of accessing significant funds for these purposes from the Department of Energy and Climate Change under the Green New Deal. By way of an example he mentioned that a Community Interest Company in Barnet, “Energise Barnet”,LINK  was working with the Council in making a £200 million bid. A meeting of the Brent Residents’ Steering Group and council officers was being held on 22nd January to prepare a bid to DEC but this could only go ahead once the Council had decided whether to apply as a “Large Scale Green Deal Provider”, as a Marketing Partner” or a “Small Scale Green Deal Provider”. The second request to the executive was therefore that it make a decision on the form of its application in order to facilitate an appropriate bid to DEC being decided at the meeting on 22 January.

Responding, lead member for the environment  Cllr James Powney promised to designate an officer to investigate the proposal. 

Declaration of interest:  I am Chair of Brent Campaign Against Climate Change

Vulnerable to get help to find cheaper fuel tariffs

From London Councils
 

Vulnerable residents in up to 1.75million homes across London will be offered assistance by their local council to get a better energy deal and save money.  

The pioneering scheme involving 17 boroughs, including Brent,  and London Councils, the organisation which represents the capital’s local authorities, was given £686,655 by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) from its Cheaper Energy Together fund.

The initiative will help the capital’s most vulnerable residents by getting them a cheaper tariff for their gas and electricity bills.

Each borough plan to use their equal share of the funding to work with residents who could benefit most from switching their energy tariff and advise them what their options are. It is estimated that 325,000 homes in the 17 boroughs are in fuel poverty which means more than 10 per cent of income is spent on electricity and gas.

The aim of the project is to sign up as many Londoners as possible, especially those who struggle the most to keep warm, and collectively negotiate a better deal with the gas and electricity companies on their behalf.

Chair of London Councils’ Transport and Environment Committee, Councillor Catherine West said: “People who most need to keep warm to stay healthy are the least likely to make sure they are on the best energy deal. Some of the most vulnerable Londoners will not turn the heating on because they do not want to risk running up a large bill.

“This cross borough scheme will make a real difference this winter by advising residents about their options and helping them to switch to cheaper gas and electricity tariffs or suppliers.”

Kingston Council is the lead borough for the scheme. Council leader, Councillor Derek Osbourne said: “With energy bills soaring, we must help Londoners get cheaper energy deals and improve their home energy efficiency. Councils across the capital will do all that they can to help people, particularly the vulnerable and those on low incomes, keep warm at home.

“Switching collectively to one domestic energy provider to get better energy deals can benefit us all as residents.”

Progress on Green Charter but much more needs to be done

Heat loss = money wasted=global warming

 The Green Charter Monitoring Report  LINK that goes before the Brent Executive on Monday reports good progress but admits 'There is, however room for improvement over the next year'. Cllr James Powney, lead member for the Environment on a recent posting on his blog says that 'it is important that as a major employer in Brent we (Brent Council)  show the way if we are to have any credibility in getting others to follow'. LINK.

Although a lot of work has gone into energy savings in Brent buildings and Report emphasises the Civic Centre's green credential, I think the council could have done far more in terms of the existing  housing stock.  They seem to have  gained little from the funds available through the Community Energy Saving Programme aimed at areas of deprivation which ended in December 2012 or the Green Deal.  A successful bid was made to the 'Warm Homes for Healthy People Fund' which gained £150,000 to reduce fuel poverty which can be used to provide advice and pay for new boilers, insulated and other energy saving equipment.

In Brent during 2011-12 the report states:

• 54 homes with single glazed windows received new double glaxed windows
• 45 homes benefitted from additional loft or flat roof insulation
• 116 homes had cavity wall insulation installed
• 232 homes were fitted with a new, efficient condensing buildings

Although welcome these figures seem small beer compared with the number of houses and flats in the borough. By contrast this has just been issued by Energise Barnet as social enterprise in the London Borough of Barnet:

LONDON UK. 27 November 2012. Energise Barnet CIC, a social enterprise, has submitted a plan to Barnet Council to create £200 million of social, economic and environmental benefit through the installation of energy saving measures and renewables in 40,000 homes and buildings.

Under the plan, the CIC proposes that it provides the operational hub, generating leads for Green Deal Providers and other delivery partners through it's referral network of community organisations, businesses and tradespeople.

Nigel Farren, local resident and the CIC's founder, said "most of the 140,000 homes and buildings in Barnet are uninsulated and hardly anyone generates their own energy. As a result, owners and tenants spend more on gas and electricity than they need do. Barnet also has the highest carbon emissions of any London borough, some of the UK's highest energy consumption areas and there could be 50,000 residents in fuel poverty with associated health problems that adversely impact NHS costs."

He continued: "Through the Big Society Innovation Bank, the Council asked us to develop an effective approach to solve these issues and draw up a plan for delivery of the Green Deal which will enable people to improve their homes with no upfront cost and save money in the process.

Our plan will help the Council and delivery partners minimise cost and risk. It is the first of it's kind drawn up by a social enterprise and by asking us to draw up the plan, the Council has demonstrated that it wants to encourage local leadership in delivering community services in accordance with it's (sic) motto of "Putting the Community First".

 Brent Council needs to work with the Brent Housing Partnership and local housing associations to maximise their take up of the available grant schemes as well as pressurise private landlords to take action to insulate their properties. Muhammed Butt's intention to find ways of reducing fuel bills by a community procurement is obviously worthwhile but it needs to be accompanied by a large scale and systematic programme of retrofitting housing stock with double glazing and insulation.  Otherwise money will still be disappearing through roofs, thin walls and draughty windows.

Solar panels on the Brentfield Estate

Solar panels as a way of reducing fuel bills alongside such measures should also be considered and BHP has a model available in their work on the Brentfield Estate LINK

The Report covers the work on ensuring that new developments are sustainable and work that is being done in schools to reduce energy costs but I would like to see more on using the vast expanses of school roofs for solar panels for micro-generation. The extension of recycling to cover plastics and collection from flats is welcome but more needs to be done on persuading  commercial premises and industry to play their part. I have seen for myself the positive impact on children of cycling projects in schools.

Some of the entries on the RAG report raise a wry smile. The Coucil has handed out 100 free bags to encourage owners to scoop their dogs' poop and has given award packs to 4 owners who were seen cleaning up their dog's mess! 'Presence detectors' for the Civic Centre urinals sound like they could be fun...

Getting the message about Climate Change across to residents is clearly a challenge and there is mich scepticism to overcome. The Climate Change Pledge ( I confess I couldn't remember if I had signed, so I did again whilst writing this) has been signed by only 400 residents and 50 businesses. Minuscule compared with the population of the borough. The Pledge can be signed online HERE

Brent Council, Brent Campaign Against Climate Change and the College of North West London are jointly holding a Brent Students Conference on Climate Change on March 20th and there is an accompaying Competition for young people aged 11-12. Details HERE

One of the areas the Conference will look at is career opportunities in the green economy.  Given the massive regeneration project around Wembley Stadium I do feel that the Council could look forward both in terms of its climate  employment strategies, and consider setting up a Green Enterprise Zone in the area, backed up by training opportunities at the CNWL.