Brent Council reported to intend to rent out space commercially at new Willesden Cultural Centre instead of providing a One Stop Shop

A Brent Council officer told a recent meeting of the Willesden Green Town Meeting that there would be no One Stop Shop at the new Willesden Cultural Centre.  Instead the Council would be looking for a commercial tenant for the space.

This follows the Council's decision to let two floors of the Civic Centre to Air Francis and squeeze Brent staff into the remaining space.

During the controversial planning application process for the WG Cultural Centre the Council made great play of the benefit to the community that would accrue from the development of unafffordable private flats (later sold on the Singapore market). The developement would finance the Cultural Centre and the One Stop Shop, along with council offices to serve the local area and this  out-weighed the loss of the old library, car park and open space according to  ex Executive member Cllr George Crane, then lead member for Regeneration and Major Projects.

This is an extract from Andy Donald's (Director Regeneneration and Major Projects) report:

4.6 The Council is currently driven by the overarching concept of One Council. This aims to provide excellent public services and deliver these in the most efficient way but also to build strong relationships and better communications between the Council and citizens ensuring local priorities are addressed and that local potential is nurtured. A redeveloped WGLC will play an important role in this strategy supporting both the One Council Library Transformation Project and the One Council Future Customer Service Project.

4.8 The Future Customer Service Project aims to improve efficiency and clarity of the services offered to citizens. The strategy is dependent on developing a new customer contact centre at WGLC providing a service for the south of the borough, an area where many of the Council‟s high need customers reside.

The Council appeared to have been driven, through the Council's budget crisis caused by Coalition cuts, to reneage on its promises to local people, especially those who formed the Keep Willesden Green campaign.

Residents were angry and asked if the Council intended to put these changes to what was supposed to be a local amenity to further consultation.

I understand that Andy Donald has replied that no decision on customer services at the Cultural Centre has been made but 'the Council’s cabinet will be considering a report in October in respect of the overall approach to customer access for the Council as a whole, which will then inform the shape of the customer access offer at the Civic Centre and Willesden going forward.'

He has promised that residents will be informed about any proposals as part of the dialogue over the use of the  new building.

Clearly an issue that residents will be monitoring.

Meanwhile someone who lives on the front line of the development told me earlier this week that a construction worker on site had told her that the open space between the flats and the Cultural Centre, offered in compensation for the lost open space in front of the 1980s library, was just going to be an 'ordinary road'.

I would be interested if anyone else had heard this.

Ledden claims Brent Council tweeted in 'error' to 8,000 followers inviting them to speak at Monday's Full Council meeting - then bars Martin Francis from speaking

Regular reader will know about the issues around democracy and Brent Council (refresher course: LINK ) and these came to a ahead wsith the Labour landslide  with proposals to limit questions to the Cabinet and have just one 'super' Scrutiny Committee. At the same time Muhammed Butt tried to get a change in rules which would have meant the Labour leadership only being contested every four years.

A concession made to the public was that they would be allowed to address full Council.

On Friday August 29th Brent Council sent out this tweet: (Screen grab)

Clear enough you might think and having posted about the opportunity on this blog and on Facebook I sent in a request on Monday morning to have a deputation on the issue of the appointment of a Permanent Chief Executive.

The previous adminstration had accepted a report from Fional Ledden (Chief Legal Officer) to continue with Acting Chief Executive, Christine Gilbert's acting appointment until after the May 2014 local elections. According to Ledden this was in order to ensure a smooth transfer to the Civic Centre, continuity during the election and because market conditions were not right for recruitment.

The then Liberal Democrat opposition had opposed this and called for an open and transparent recruitment process. LINK

I was surprised to receive a belated response from Fiona Ledden refusing my request as it had not been received by the  'deadline of August 29th'.

I replied (attaching the screen grab of the Tweet):

Thank you for your letter informing me that I cannot have a deputation to Full Council because my email was sent on Monday September 1st and the deadline was Friday August 29th.

I sent my email in response to a Tweet from Brent Council which quite clearly stated that the deadline was Noon on Monday September 1st. The Tweet was sent out by the Council on August 29th.

I therefore repeat my request to speak to full Council on the issue of appointing a Permanent Chief Executive.

I received the following letter  from Fiona Ledden in response:

Thank you for your email in response to my letter. 

Please accept our apologies for the confusion. The Tweet you refer to was published in error and this is something I shall follow up. 

I refer you to Standing Order 39 in Part 3 of the Council’s Constitution “Any person wishing to make a deputation shall give written notice to the Director of Legal and Procurement of the title and summary of the content of the deputation not less than 5 days before the date of the meeting”. The deadline for deputations was 29 August 2014. 

As stated in my original response to your email, you will receive a written response to your question in due course.

Brent Council has about 8,000 followers, some of whom will have retweeted the notice, so that is some error!

I am used to Fiona Ledden's method when challenged, she basically seeks to grind you down and then eventually close down any correspondence.  There are several guest blogs on Wembley Matters that testify to this method.

Undaunted I replied again this morning:

Dear Ms Ledden,

I am afraid that i am not satisfied with your response.  An invitation that went out to almost 8,000 followers of Brent Council on Twitter, and was then further distributed by some of them, cannot simply be dismissed as an 'error'.

Furthermore even the 5 day's notice in Standing Orders does not say '5 working days'.  Even if we take that to be what is meant, a deadline of Noon on Monday would give 5-1/2 days between the deadline and the evening meeting on September 8th. That is Monday afternoon, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and the following Monday.

I therefore ask you to reconsider my request to speak as a delegation to the Full Council on September 8th on the issue of appointment of a permanent Chief Executive.

 You may not be surprised to learn that I have had no reply.  

If Muhammed Butt and his Cabinet were genuine in their commitment to give the public a voice in representation and decision making, it seems that their desires are being thwarted.

In the Standing Orders approved by the Council at their first meeting Fiona Ledden granted some fairly draconian powers over selecting delegations to speak at full Council meetings. No one from any party questioned these powers although they were commented on here:

Any deputation must directly concern a matter affecting the borough and relate to a Council function. Deputations shall not relate to legal proceedings or be a matter which is or has been the subject of a complaint under the Council’s complaints processes. Nor should a deputation be frivolous, vexatious, or defamatory. The Director of Legal and Procurement shall have discretion to decide whether the deputation is for any other reason inappropriate and cannot proceed.

So if I complain the issue will get caught up in the complaints procedure and therefore cannot be raised by me or anyone else.  If I make a fuss then it could be labelled vexatious. And if I suggest that perhaps something is being hidden or avoided, or someone being protected, then that could be defamatory.

If all else fails then Ms Ledden can refuse the deputation on the the grounds that it is inappropriate for 'any other reason'.

Regular readers will remember that Ms Ledden wrote to  Wembley Matters 'requring' us to remove documentation about the Audit and Investigation team's report on allegations against Brent's Acting Head of Human Resources LINK We refused to comply on grounds of public interest.

Is there any councillor out there who will stand up and question this nonsense?

Michaela parent interviews cancelled as school remains a building site

Guest post by Violet Potter

This morning a small group of Teacher Union Officers representing the ATL, NASUWT and NUT arrived at Arena House the 'new' venue for the Michaela Free school to welcome the teachers and explain why it was so important to be in a union especially in a free school.

But it still looked like a building site. 

We checked to see if there were any entrances we had missed. But no, there was only one way in and that definitely looked like only builders should enter wearing the required hard hat. On the Michaela website it had announced that staff would be in from today and parents would be invited in over the next two weeks for interviews. 

On checking the website again today it now says the parent interviews have been cancelled. Oh dear. Does that mean those much vaunted behaviour contracts won't be signed before children are allowed in the school? Will children arrive with the wrong socks and different coloured shoe laces and be sent home before they get a chance to set foot in the door? 

Well, as you can see from the photo there may not be a door ready for them to come in. Wondering what was happening, I checked with the foreman. No-one was expected on site and no-one had requested permission to do so. He was confident that everything would be ready on time for the children in two weeks time (but actually it's only 8 days away) well at least a few rooms on the first and second floor. But ready in what sense? No playground area for sure, not that there will be much of that anyway even when it is finished.  

Parent survey of Local Authority role in education shows potential support for Green Party policies

I print below the full press release from London Councils on the YouGov poll they commissioned on parents' views of the role of local authorities in education.  Green Party policy adopted at our Spring Conference is for the restoration of LAs power to build new schools where they are needed and for the integration of academies and free schools into the LA system.  Labour Party policy, especially on academies and free schools, has not broken free from Coalition policies.

The survey shows that we have a potential audience amongst parents for these policies.

• Leadership: 41 per cent of parents would turn to their council first if they had governance and leadership concerns – only 28 per cent say Ofsted.
• Free schools: 68 per cent feel that local authorities should have powers to intervene in these schools, an increase of 6 percentage points from last year.
• School places:  81 per cent support council influence over school places, up from 76 per cent last year.

London parents would turn to their local authority first if they had concerns about their local schools, a new survey reveals.

In the first survey of London parents since the Birmingham ‘Trojan Horse’ scandal, the highest proportion, 41 per cent, of parents said their first point of contact if they were concerned about governance and leadership in their child’s school would be their local authority - 28 per cent said Ofsted, 4 per cent said central government.

The poll, carried out by YouGov on behalf of London Councils, which represents London’s 33 local authorities, also found rising support from parents for councils to have a role in underperforming free schools.  Of those polled, 68 per cent of parents considered that local authorities should have power of influence over free schools, up by 6 percentage points from last year.

Asked whether they support councils having influence over all schools in their area (including free schools and academies) to find more school places or expand, 81 per cent of parents agreed – up from 76 per cent last year.

Cllr Peter John, London Councils’ Executive member for children and young people, said: “If you’re a parent and you’re worried about leadership or staff issues at your local school, it’s only natural you’d turn to your local council where they know the local issues. But councils don’t have formal oversight over free schools and academies, which is evidently confusing for parents, as this survey reveals.

“What’s more, parents increasingly support a council role in influencing schools to expand, if there is clear local need to build more places. This isn’t surprising given the scale of the shortage in London.
“Of course head teachers should run schools day-to-day, but it’s clear from this survey that on the wider issues, parents want a council role. The government should listen to mums and dads and allow councils to act in parents’ interests.”

Pressure on school places continues to rise in London due to a recent baby boom. London needs to create 133,000 primary and secondary school places by 2018, according to recent London Councils’ analysis (1). Councils are responsible for providing a place for every child, but cannot open schools themselves or direct academies to expand in areas of need.

83 per cent said there is an important council role in ensuring education standards are high in schools, up slightly from 82 per cent who said this last year.

The poll also revealed that 51 per cent of parents thought the education system was more under central government control than they had previously assumed.

There was also a modest 3 per cent rise (from 29 per cent in 2013 to 32 per cent in 2014) in parents opposed to the idea of moving toward more academies and free schools.

New English Language Class at Chalkhill Community Centre

Want to improve your English? ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) class 4 hours a week starting 23rd September in Chalkhill Community Centre with a free crèche for young children age 0-5 years (subject to availability)

To join the class you first need to do our ESOL test on Wednesday 10^th September 10am-4pm at Chalkhill Community Centre, Welford Centre, 113 Chalkhill Road,  HA9 9FX (5 minutes walk from Wembley Park tube or there’s parking 300 yards away further in from the main road).

When you come to the test please bring:

         Proof of benefit

        Proof of immigration status (if you have not lived in the EU for the last 3 years)

The class itself runs every Tuesday and Thursday from 12-2pm starting 23^rd September.

Preference may be given to Chalkhill residents. The course is usually free if you’ve lived in the European Union for 3 years and are on benefits and unemployed and want to get a job.

For more information contact Sally Wasser 020 8937 6560/3890  Sally.wasser@brent.gov.uk   or   Nita Lewis    on nita.lewis@brent.gov.uk

Brent Green Party's Shahrar Ali becomes male deputy leader of the party

Shahrar Ali and Dawn Butler at 2010 hustings

Shahrar Ali, of Brent Green Party was elected male deputy leader of the party yesterday. Amelia Womack was elected female deputy.

Ali contested Brent Central in the General Election and was both a GLA and European candidate.

In the live YouTube deputy leadership hustings he described himself as at the centre of a left-wing party. He lives in Kingsbury with his young family and lectures in philosophy.

Shahrar Ali is a confident media performer and has a lively debating style which is likely to raise the Green party's profile ahead of the General Election.

He narrowly beat Will Duckworth, the incumbent deputy leader, who is a member of Green Left and the Green Party Trade Union Group.

Duckworth was the first Green Party councillor in the Black Country with strong roots in the local  working class community.

Amelia Womack is a Young Green who campaigned on a clear ecosocialist platform. The Green Party is polling well in the 18-24 age group and Womack's election is likely to strengthen our appeal to many who are looking for an alternative to the neoliberal parties.

Derek Wall, a Green Party veteran and a former Principal , was elected International Co-ordinator.  Wall runs the popular and influential Another Green World blog and also writes for the Morning Star. He is an ecosocialist and a member of Green Left. A passionate advocate for indigenous peoples Wall advocates non-violent direct action to effect change alongside electoral politics.

Romayne Phoenix, another Green Left and GPTU member, was re-elected as the Green Party's Trade
union Liaison Officer. She has worked assiduously to build the Green Party's links with trade unions and was a leading member of the Coalition of Resistance to Austerity and is currently co-chair of the People's Assembly.

She brings energy and passion to the activist campaigning work of the Green Party and has played a major role in bringing together anti-austerity eco-socialist in Europe.

Together, alongside Natalie Bennett who was elected unopposed as Green Party leader, this is a team with wide appeal and a range of strengths and skills that should serve the Green Party well in the year ahead/

FULL RESULTS

These are the election results announced yesterday. In Green Party elections, locally and nationally,  members can always vote to Re-open Nominations (RON) if they are not satisfied with the candidate/s standing.

Party Leader: Natalie Bennett was elected 2618 Re-Open Nominations (RON): 183
Party Deputy Leaders:
In the first round – Amelia Womack was elected with 1598, Will Duckworth's 1108
In the Second round – Shahrar Ali was elected 1314 to Will Duckworth's 1277
Gpex Chair: Richard Mallender was elected 2640 to RON 101
Campaigns Co-Ordinator: Howard Thorpe was elected 2546 to RON 181
Elections Co-Ordinator: Judy Maciejowska was elected 2631 to RON 161
External Communication Co-Ordinator: Penny Kemp/ Clare Phipps/ Matt Hawkins were elected 2586 to RON 147
Management Co-Ordinator Mark Cridge was elected 2636 to RON 82
International Co-Ordinator: Derek Wall was elected 1416 to Anna Clarke’s 891
Trade Union Liaison Officer: Romayne Phoenix was elected 2639 to RON 94
Policy Co-Ordinator: Sam Riches and Caroline Bowes were elected 1786 to Rachel Featherstone and Anna Heyman's 839
Publications Co-Ordinator: Martin Collins was elected 2468 to RON 249

Parents 'want councils to have powers to act on failing free schools'

With Michaela  Free School due to open on September 15th and Brent Council committed to talks with free schools providers to create  extra school places in Brent, parents may be interested in this report from today's Evening Standard:

Report by Anna Davis

Growing numbers of London parents want local authorities to step in if standards drop in free schools, new research reveals.
There is confusion among parents with children at free schools about who exactly is responsible for intervening if there are problems, according to a poll carried out by YouGov.

More than half of parents with a child at a free school in London said they believe local authorities have the power to intervene if it is underperforming.

But in fact local authorities have no powers over free schools, which are independently run and accountable to the Department for Education 

Parents were then asked which schools local authorities should have powers over — and 68 per cent said free schools. This is six percentage points higher than when the same survey was carried out last year. Sixty three per cent of parents said councils should have control over academies, which are also independent.

It is the first survey of London parents since the so-called “Trojan Horse” takeover plot in Birmingham schools and was carried out by London Councils, which represents all local authorities in the capital.

Peter John, London Councils’ Executive member for children and young people, said: “If you are a parent and you are worried about leadership or staff issues at your local school, it’s only natural you’d turn to your local council. Of course head teachers should run schools day-to-day, but it’s clear that on the wider issues, parents want a council role.”

The survey found that 81 per cent of parents want councils to be able to ask free schools and academies to expand to fit more pupils in. This has increased from 76 per cent last year. Councils are responsible for providing a school place for every child, but cannot open schools themselves or direct academies to expand.

London Councils predicts that 133,000 new primary and secondary school places are needed by 2018 to cope with growing demand.

Mr John said: “Parents increasingly support a council role in influencing schools to expand, if there is clear local need. This isn’t surprising given the shortage in London.”

A Department for Education spokesman said: “We have consistently demonstrated that we are tough on underperformance in all types of school. When we have concerns about academies or free schools, we act quickly. The introduction of Regional schools Commissioners and Head Teacher Boards will further ensure swift action in the small number of cases where academies struggle

Demonstrations on September 10th as A&E departments close