Councillor pledges to arrange talks on community concerns over 'counter-productive' Prevent Strategy

Cllr Harbi Farah pledged to arrange talks between community organisations concerned about the Prevent Strategy and Cllr James Denselow (lead member for Stronger Communities) or Cllr Muhammed Butt (leader of Brent Council).

The pledge was made at a public meeting where strong objections to the Strategy; which makes it a statutory duty for the Council, schools, colleges, health and social services to report anyone thought to be in danger of becoming an 'extremist' to the authorities; were voiced.

Cllr Michael Pavey, who was attending another event sent a message to the meeting:

I think Prevent is completely flawed. At best it is patronising to our Muslim communities and at worst it is utterly alienating and therefore completely counter-productive.

Cllr Margaret McLennan had also indicated her opposition 'for obvious reasons' while Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North, told the meeting on Syria a few weeks ago that the Labour Party was critical of the government's Prevent programme. It was a top-down model rather than the bottom0up approach that could harness forces at a community level.

However, Humera Khan of the An-Nisa Society, which has run a Muslim Sunday School at Park Lane Primary School for 30 years, told the meeting that they had repeatedly asked the council to arrange a meeting with headteachers to establish a meeting where a constructive dialogue could take place with headteachers about the issues involved. There had been no response and eventually An-Nisa had given up. This was despite the fact that the Strategy was supposed to be 'community led'.

Humera juxtaposed the impact of the Prevent Strategy on the Muslim community with the requirements of Brent's 2015 Equality policy. The default position of Prevent was that Muslim=Violent Extremism, the whole community was being stigmatised and marginalised.

Khalida Khan, of the An-Nisa Society, emphasised that teachers were not a branch of the Intelligence Survey.  Reminding the audience of institutional failures over child protection she suggested that there was a huge potential for institutional failure on Prevent and gave the example of a primary school where the first names of pupils felt to be in danger of 'radicalisation; were publicly released.

The danger is that the Prevent Strategy is helping fuel Islamophobia. A recent Public Attitudes Survey had found that 71% of those surveyed thought that Islam was incompatible with British culture and 45% of Britons think there are too many Muslims in the country.

Khalida said that Muslim parents were now worried about the normal 'wierd or funny' things that all children say might now get them into trouble.  Sympathy for the plight of refugees could now be seen as extremist.

She spoke of the effect on the Muslim community, which already felt excluded, of their children and young people being monitored. It would affect mental health and feelings of exclusion and negatively affect parenting.  Making people afraid to speak out would damage the Muslim psyche and undermine self-respect and sense of belonging.

The Strategy put communities against each other and the promulgation of 'British Values' implied that only the British had these values, while in fact they were universal.

Khalida suggested that the ultimate goal was to abolish the Prevent Strategy, for the Council to work with others to pressure the government for its abolition, and meanwhile find ways of legally working around it. There was a need to adress the needs of Muslims as citizens.

Rizwan Hussain, speaking for Brent Anti Racism Campaign and the community organisation Jawaab, gave the example of a young man, Abdul, and how he was experiencing the present climate.

Abdul had been stopped and searched on the way to his mosque. This was an invasion of what he thought of as his 'safe place' - a place of solace and a constant in his life which offered protection and role models.

Abdul was scared about the attitudes he was now encountering which included attacks on his hijab wearing sisters. His personal and social spaces were being invaded by Islamophobia.

Rizwan said that in Jawaab's work with young people discussions of foreign policy figured but there were also  major concerns over mental health and unemployment that needed to be addressed. Young people needed safe spaces where they can gain empowerment to become leaders, develop the skills to tackle difficult situations, develop self-empowerment to make change in their own lives.

These spaces could not be created under Prevent, because people like Abdul won't engage with that strategy, but created by organisations experienced in this area. Facilitators would help youth use their experience to create resilient young people, educating them but giving them power to make decisions.

Bill Bolloten, from Education Not Surveillance, welcomed the meeting as a 'conversation about Prevent' and a way of arriving at strategies to deal with the issue.  There were different experiences at different ages in the education system with Prevent starting at the Early Years Foundation Stage. The Ofsted requirement that schools should pay 'due regard' to the Strategy  and that this was part of the Ofsted inspection, meant that nursery and school staff had to monitor children for extremism/radicalisation and provide evidence that staff had been trained in the Strategy.

Training materials were not openly available and there was no empirical evidence justifying the theory behind the 'signs and indicators of radicalisation'  that trainers gave.

Counter-terrorism experts had said that the Prevent Strategy indicated a 'shallow understanding of the radicalisation process'.

Despite the short-comings referrals to Channel (the conduit for passing on concerns about individuals and families) had gone up from 20 in 2012 to 424 last year, half of which had come from education.

Bill agreed that prevent was fuelling anti-Muslim prejudice. A survey of 6,000 pupils had found  widespread anti-Muslim feeling. Pupils had estimated an average figures of 36% for the Muslim population of the country whereas it was actually 5%.

Bill concluded with the recommendation that we should ensure schools are safe places for Muslim pupils. We should make sure that they feel they belong. A dialogue with school headteachers and governors should be established. We need better ways of understanding our duties under the Equality Act.

Rob Ferguson of the NUT and Newham Stand Up to Racism said that Prevent also applied to supplementary schools and classes and was a bridgehead to attack the whole community through young people. The Newham statement (see below) had been conceived at a local level by Muslim and non-Muslims to put pressure on the council to break with the Prevent agenda.

Rob said that both Newham and Brent were in the top 10 for attacks on Muslims on London. There had been a 300% increase in attacks.  He spoke about the fire bombing of the East London Mosque and how hate crimes were being unreported. Muslim teaching staff were avoiding using public transport and not wearing the hijab in public. Parents were telling their children to keep silent in class - 'Don't mention the War' was no longer a joke.

After the softer Post 9/11 versions of Prevent where organisation took government money to promote social cohesion the Counter Terrorism and Security Act in February amounted to state promotion of Islamophobia. He warned that the next round of legislation citing 'reasonable justification' could be widened to a whole group of other issues.

Kiri Tunks speaking for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign on the impact of Prevent on education about the issue said, 'If you can't talk about Palestine, there's something wrong with our society'.   A film about Palestine for classroom use had been attacked as being anti-Semitic as a way of silencing discussion. Now in the current situation  students tended to be silent and teachers frightened. Tis emphasised the need for schools to provide 'safe spaces'  for children to talk about contemporay issues.

Hank Roberts, of the ATL, speaking from the floor commented that even during the worse of the IRA bombing campaign teachers had not been asked to spy on Irish children in the classroom for signs of IRA sympathies.  We need to see through this nonsense, and incidentally reclaim the term 'radical' - 'there's nothing wrong with Radical. 'I'm a radical'.

Malia Bouattia from the National Union of Students was unable to attend but send this message:

We're encouraging Student Unions and student officers to take up a stance of non-compliance with PREVENT and working with academics and staff to undermine the implementation of the Prevent duty and essentially, make it unworkable in practice.

We've had over 30 Student Unions now pass policy to this effect.

The NUS Black Students' Campaign have produced a student handbook to PREVENT and campaigning against it which is available online.

We're also encouraging students to lobby their university/college to come out against PREVENT but so far we're at early days of the campaign and are prioritising raising students' awareness of PREVENT and getting them to build opposition amongst students and academics on their campuses.

Shahrar Ali,  deputy leader of the Green Party told the meeting that the Prevent Strategy was counter-productive on its own terms. he said, 'You can't fight injustice by perpetrating injustice'.

Commenting that  the Secretary of State can direct universities to comply with the Prevent Duty he asked,  'How can you not encourage contestation of ideas in universities? Students must be free to explore and discuss.'

Shahrar described the Prevent Strategy training he had undergone and the spurious video example of of extremism.

He concluded by pledging the Green Party's opposition to Prevent.

Cllr Harbi Farah, who attended after Cllr James Denselow (Lead member for Stronger Communities) and Cllr Liz Dixon (leading on Prevent) had been unable to attend, stressed that he was not t the meeting to defend Brent Council. He said that the Muslim community itself was diverse and many in it do not even know what Prevent is. The Council had a statutory responsibility to operate the Strategy but because secondary schools were now all  academies (MF or faith schools) the council had little influence over them.

Harbi committed himself to try and improve the relationship between the voluntary sector and the Council and arrange a meeting with Cllr Denselow or Cllr Muhammed Butt.

In addition to the proposed meeting with councillors it was also decided to formulate a statement similar to that from Newham (see below) and develop the Monitoring Prevent in Brent Facebook so that people could report what is happening on the ground.

What will McDonnell say about Brent Council cuts on Sunday?

From the current Kilburn Times

On Sunday at 1pm  John McDonnell MP, the anti-austerity Shadow Chancellor, will hold a street meeting at the Jubilee Clock in Harlesden with Labour councillors and activists before they go off to canvas for the Labour candidate in the Kensal Green by-election. (Kensal Green ward covers a large part of Harlesden)

On Monday at 7pm Brent's Labour Cabinet will be setting in motion consultation on the latest round of cuts and increased charges and fees as they implement the Conservative's austerity agenda.

Rather than challenging the cuts agenda they will be operating a bidding war where supporters of different services compete with each other for survival - rather than unity against the Tories attack on local government this will be divisive. According to Michael Pavey's comment it could be those with the loudest voice who will win out : 'If the public is up in arms about any one of these issues we will talk it through and if necessary we will change it.' On the surface this sounds reasonable but leaves those who are most vulnerable and lack a voice at a disadvantage.

There appears to be little appetite for a change of policy in the Labour Group. There are only one or two who have lined up with the recently formed Brent Momentum  LINK while others have joined the anti-Corbyn Labour International. Brent Momentum is urging its members to attend Sunday's event and canvas for the Labour candidate but the effect will be to elect a 55th Labour councillor (out of a total council of 63) who will vote for cuts. If he wins they will hail this as a victory for Corbyn's Labour - all rather contradictory.

This is why the election of Jafar Hassan as a single Green councillor pledged to oppose cuts and hold the dominant Labour group to account would be a much better outcome in Kensal Green.

Sudbury Primary School staff call for formal ballot on strike action

Statement from teaching and non-teaching unions at Sudbury Primary School

On Wednesday a packed meeting of staff from Sudbury Primary in Brent, expressed anger that, after their overwhelming vote of no confidence in their Headteacher LINK  the governors had not acted. They voted to call on their unions to move to a formal ballot for strike action. The vote was 43 in favour and 2 against.

The meeting also agreed that parents should be properly and fully informed. It was agreed that an open meeting should be called by the unions to which all parents, staff and governors would be invited to enable full discussion to take place.

UPDATED; What on earth is happening in King Eddie's park?

Local residents have contacted me to ask if I know what is happening in King Edward VII Park in Wembley where the sports field remains a churned up soggy mess surrouneed by fencing.

One resident wrote:

The main field of King Edwards Park is STILL fenced off (nearly 4 months now, despite a notice saying some disruption for up to 5 weeks) The West side of the park smells really bad….(drainage still an issue??)  Lots of the regular users  the joggers, walkers, dog owners, have stopped using it, and its getting quite ‘creepy’ walking in itdue to the big pile of sand, and the fence you can’t really see  whats around the corner…..especially on these dark afternoons and mornings…

Also there has been a particularly unsavoury character hanging around the ‘bunker building’  who shouts and spits at passers by.

I’ve tried Brent Council, Parks dept.  the local councillor but no response…so I was just wondering if you had any suggestions? 

The short reply is that poor drainage is being replaced but why the delay is a mystery. Weather may be blamed but actually it has been unusually mild or perhaps a spring has been discovered under what used to be a meadow. Whatever the answer what is not in doubt is that this is costing a considerable sum of money.

An FoI request got this response from the Council:

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The total cost is approximately £300k of which £93k is grant funding from the Mayor of London (via The Football Foundation) sports facilities fund and Sport England ‘s Protecting playing fields fund.

Which leaves £207,000 from Council funds.

UPDATE

Since publication Cllr Sam Stopp (Wembley Central) has written to the appropriate Brent Council Officer as below:

I have previously made enquiries (although not directed to you) about the situation in King Eddie's Park, Wembley Central. Several residents have brought to me concerns about developments in the park and I am asking that the Council clarifies matters.

Residents have raised a number of concerns, including the unexplained fencing off of the main field in the park, as well as a foul smell in the west side of the park (associated with drainage issues).

Please could we have some information about what on earth is going on? Ward councillors have not been informed and residents deserve to know. It was not that long ago that we saved the park from being built on - I had hoped its importance to the community would be better recognised as a result.

BRENT’S INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES (Don’t mention a ’C’ word unless you’re asking for a cheese sandwich)

Guest blog by Peter Murry
 

As a disabled Brent resident, I was invited  to the International Day For People With Disabilities event held in Brent Civic Centre on 3^rd December 2015. Attending this event was my second visit to the Civic Centre since its opening in June 2013.

The event gave certain Brent Councillors, (Cllrs Butt, Hirani & Pavey), an opportunity to grandstand Brent Council’s achievements for People with Disabilities. Perhaps because many in the audience may not have understood some of the speeches, or were attending as paid carers for other audience members, the councillors were able to express their concerns for People with Disabilities without anyone asking any awkward questions, like:

·       How will the London Borough of Brent implement central government austerity policies without harming People With Disabilities or other vulnerable Brent residents?

Or

·       Will Brent Council make any effective attempt to resist these central government austerity policies or even visibly protest against them, in view of the fact that these policies are now forcing even more severe cuts than those that Brent has already carried out?

We heard a lot about ongoing improvements to Brent Civic Centre, which was apparently still the ‘greenest public sector building in Europe’. It is indeed an impressive edifice, but I suspect, most Brent residents use it even less frequently than I have; still it’s nice to think about the council workers having such a wonderful warm spacious atrium to sit and eat their lunches in, instead of being outside on cold, wet, winter streets.

The various stalls from a variety of organisations at the PwD event were quite useful although the display table shared by Unison and the GMB, didn’t seem to have many anti-cuts leaflets on it.

The Choir and Dance group, both featuring performers with disabilities, were good and it’s nice for a diabetic like me to get a few sweet biscuits  once in a while; however once I’d had my free cheese sandwich lunch, I’d had enough, so I never found out if the elephant in the Civic Centre trumpeted and stomped on Councillor Pavey during his closing address

Brent councillors join criticism of Stop the War Coalition and Lucas steps back from involvement

Brent Labour councillors Neil Nerva, Bernard Collier and Sam Stopp have signed an Open Letter to Jeremy Corbyn launched today by a new organisation called Labour Internationalists.

The letter LINK urges Corbyn to pull out of the  Stop the War Coalition dinner he is due to attend on Friday and states;

We believe that StWC stands apart from the Labour movement’s values of Internationalism, anti-fascism and solidarity. The vast majority of Labour MPs who heard Hilary Benn’s powerful speech in parliament last week (regardless of how they voted), supported his broad argument that fascism must be defeated, and that the UK must be prepared to join coalitions to do this.

and concludes:

We urge you to distance yourself from this organisation. We believe that Labour Party unity, and electoral credibility in the face of a Conservative government that is pursuing a right wing domestic agenda, would be advanced if  you pulled out of this event.

Meanwhile it was announced today that Caroline Lucas, Green MP, had stepped back from her involvement with Stop the War Coalition a few weeks ago.

The spokesperson said:

Caroline stepped back from the Stop the War Coalition a few weeks ago. Her busy parliamentary and constituency schedule means that she doesn’t have time to fully engage with the role of a Patron and, in light of some recent StWC positions that she didn’t support, she felt standing down was the responsible thing to do. Like the Stop the War Coalition, Caroline is opposed to British bombing in Syria because it will neither keep Britain safe nor help bring about a lasting peace in Syria.

Caroline was specifically troubled by some Stop the War Coalition statements after the Paris atrocities. Though the pieces were subsequently taken down she felt unable to associate herself with them. 

She was also concerned that some Syrian voices were not given an opportunity to speak at a recent meeting organised by the StWC in Parliament.

StWC has played an important role in building the anti-war movement in Britain, and Caroline will continue to work in support of peace.

That view is not necessarily the view of the Green Party as a whole. Policy is made at its twice yearly conference rather than by its MP or leader.

Many Green Party members support the StWC through attending its demonstrations and meetings, although this is not uncritical support.

Shahrar Ali, Green Party Deputy Leader,spoke at the Stop thr War 'Don't Bomb Syria' demonstration at the end of November. LINK

Whatever criticisms we can make, Stop the War Coalition remains the single strongest anti-war organisation in the country and I don't doubt governments, both Labour and Tory, would have engaged in more military adventures if it had not been for StWC's ability to mobilise large numbers in opposition.

Stop the War, as its name states, is a Coalition, and contains people of many different parties, religions and philosophies and is a vital part of a movement that challenges increasing aggression and militarism. It has come under attack from media and right-wingers as a means of undermining its fundamental challenge to the flimsy basis of  Cameron's.

At such a time they deserve our support.

Lucas differs from Labour Internationalists in her anti-bombing position. She said in a recent Huffington Post article:

I listened carefully to the Prime Minister make his case for why the UK should join the bombing campaign against Isis. The debate in the House of Commons was thorough, and the horror and revulsion at recent atrocities in Syria, Paris, Beirut and elsewhere is shared by MPs from across the political divide. 

Yet I have still to see any evidence to suggest that UK bombing Isis targets in Syria is likely to increase our security here in Britain or help bring about a lasting peace in the region in question - to the contrary, the evidence appears to suggest it would make matters worse.

Nerva, Collier and Stopp appear to be supporting military intervention, if not the bombing operation itself.

Is the Prevent Strategy protecting our liberty or threatening it? Have your say on Thursday

Prevent is the government strategy aimed at preventing young people becoming 'extremists'. It requires workers in education, health and social services to report them if they show signs of extremism. It hs been criticised for targeting the whole Muslim community and having the effect of closing down free expression in schools and colleges. Children as young as three years old have been reported for 'extremist' views.

There are fears that the strategy will be counter-productive, create suspicion and division and undermine the trusting relationship between teachers, parents and students.


The meeting will include speakers from education, the local community and anti-racist campaigns. Shahrar Ali will be speaking from the Green Party.

It is at London Interfaith Centre, 125 Salusbury Road, Queens Park, NW6 6RG. Queens Park or Brondesbury Park station or bus 206. 7pm-9pm December 10th

"Extreme weather is the 'new normal' " says Pentland Centre chair from Paris

Commenting from COP21 on the floods in Cumbria, Lancaster University Professor Gail Whiteman says:

“Liz Truss’ comment about how the flood defences in Cumbria were only breached because of extreme weather conditions is rather short sighted. Thanks to climate change, extreme weather is the new normal.  And that is hugely problematic.  The Cumbria floods are a personal reality check here in Paris, everyone is talking about it and Al Gore specifically mentioned the floods in Cumbria and Chennai in his speech. Mr Gore was speaking to over 600 executives at the Council Member meeting of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

“Unless serious commitments are made here in Paris, extreme weather will increase with global warming and thus climate adaptation measures, like flood defences, need to constantly be updated. What may be appear to be sufficient to withstand a 1/100 year event can become quickly out of date as the incidence of extreme weather ramps up and becomes more unpredictable.”

Professor Whiteman is the Chair of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University.

 

Green Party challenges government on DEFR cuts in wake of Storm Desmond

The inadequate level of funding of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has been called into question by the Green Party after intense flooding in the North West of England.

Green Party leader, Natalie Bennett also says that the damage caused by Storm Desmond is a stark reminder that the effects of climate change are not only restricted to “far-off places.

Bennett said:

I offer the Green Party's sympathy and best wishes to the many hundreds of people forced to take emergency shelter over the weekend and the many thousands more who have seen their homes and businesses damaged. I also offer our thanks to the rescue teams who've been working tirelessly to help those at risk.

Any individual event is of course weather, not climate change, but we know that scientists say that climate change will mean more frequent and higher level occurrences of extreme weather. The extraordinary Storm Desmond is a reminder that climate change is not something that will affect the distant future in far-off places, but an already existing reality that is impacting on all of our lives.

Bennett added:

Storm Desmond also brings into serious question government plans to cut funding for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, as well as its failure to announce exactly what it will spend on repairing flood defences, which should be a clear priority. LINK

Cumbria County Council should be reconsidering the call from fossil fuel divestment campaigns to take the £108 million it had invested in 2013/14 in fossil fuels into investments that tackle climate change, rather than exacerbate it.

Mansfield slams NW London hospital plans: Brent Patient Voice responds with proposals and asks 'Why is the NHS silent?'

 From Brent Patient Voice

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Brent Patient Voice welcomes the findings of the Mansfield Report. BPV Chair, Robin Sharp, said: “We are pleased that Mansfield endorses the extensive evidence that we and many other independent people submitted. Why has the NHS greeted it with silence?”  

The Report of the Independent Healthcare Commission for North West London under Michael Mansfield QC was published on 2^nd December. It brings no comfort for the NHS chiefs in our area – and none for patients either.

The Report says that the Shaping a Healthier Future programme is “deeply flawed”. Launching the Report Michael Mansfield said that the planned reforms provide “no realistic prospect of achieving good quality accessible healthcare for all and any further implementation is likely to exacerbate a deteriorating situation.”

The Commission calls for the programme to be halted, for the decisions to close the A&E Department at Central Middlesex Hospital and the Maternity Unit at Ealing Hospital to be reversed, for the increasing size of the population in NW London to be properly established and factored into future planning, for the so-called “Implementation Business Case” to be published and for there to be a new public consultation on the plans which they believe to have changed significantly. They suggest that the local authorities should consider seeking judicial review if the NHS press ahead with the programme in current circumstances.

However we are deeply disappointed that neither the eminence of Michael Mansfield nor the extent of public concern revealed by the evidence have moved the NHS authorities responsible for Shaping a Healthier Future to be sensibly open about the current state of the programme or its likely costs.

Commenting further, Robin Sharp said “Our fundamental criticism of the whole initiative is that the NHS in NW London has broken its promise in the consultation document that out of hospital services will be in place before changes are made to hospital-based services. Two A&Es and one Maternity unit have closed. Where are the openings to take their place?”

In order to be constructive we propose:

·      That the NHS should publish an intelligible version of the Implementation Business Plan for Shaping as it now stands, with outline costs, as is normal for any major public project;

·      That full consideration of the future of Central Middlesex Hospital be resumed, including the option of restoring its acute status with a fully-functioning A&E, bearing in mind the inadequacy of a stand-alone Urgent Care Centre there and the continuing intolerable situation at Northwick Park;

·      That Council officers be instructed to work with GLA statisticians to provide reliable estimates of the size of the current Brent population and growth rates, taking account of births, deaths, net migration and planned major developments;

·      That in collaboration with all partners Brent CGG produce a clear account of their Out of Hospital Strategy, including the role of the new GP networks, to restore confidence in this vital missing element of the Shaping programme;

·      That full and meaningful patient consultation and involvement should be integral to all future consideration of these proposals.

Brent Patient Voice  5^th December 2015

Visit the Brent Patient Voice website HERE

Oakington Primary School academisation meeting tonight

A meeting to discuss Oakington Manor Primary School's proposed conversion to academy statius will be held thos evening.

The meeting is at Tokyngton Community Centre, St Michael's Avenue, Wembley, HA9 6SA at 6.15pm

Officers recommend approval for Wembley French School swimming pool

Officers are recommending that Brent Planning Committee at their December 16th meeting grant permission for the private French School, now housed in the former Brent (and Wembley) Town Hall, to build a swimmng pool at the front of the site on Forty Lane. This is presently a grassed area with around 18 trees,  including two memorial trees.

The swimming pool building will be lowered by creating a basement and thus not conceal the frontage of the listed town hall building.

It is proposed that two memorial trees will be planted in Chalkhill Park to make up for the loss, and other replacement trees planted in the school grounds. Green space will be lost but the new swimming pool building will have a green roof.

The new build will also affect the current bus stop serving the 83, 182, 206, 245 and 297 buses. The stop will be relocated but the precise site will have to be negotiated with TfL.

As part of the deal the Lycee will provide some community access to the pool which will be managed externally by a facilities company:

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• The swimming pool will be open during the week for use by local schools for four half day sessions 

• Community use of the swimming pool and studio facilities is anticipated to be before school use on 
weekdays, between 7 and 9am, and after school, between 7 and 9.30pm 

• Community access for swimming lessons is anticipated on two early evening sessions per week, as 
well as weekend mornings. General community access to the pool facilities is expected on weekend afternoons and during holiday periods. However, the opening times for the facilities during these periods are yet to be defined. 
  

Details

Butt: Brent Council being forced to cut to 'the muscle or even the bone'

Brent Council released the following statement on the 2016-17 budget yesterday.
 
Brent Council is having to cope with a halving of central government funding. We are working hard to keep the negative impact on the services you value the most to a minimum by squeezing the most out of every last penny of taxpayers' money. However these tough times are forcing us to face some difficult choices.

Cllr Muhammed Butt, Brent Council Leader, said:

"The recent spending review handed local authorities the most severe cuts of any government department. This comes on top of five years of progressively harder funding settlements since 2010. During this time our main core government funding has already been reduced by over £80m and there will be further significant reductions in the years to come.

"After taking account of these revenues falling by more than a half over the next four years, and the money we generate ourselves, overall funding is expected to fall by another quarter in the next four years. As a result, we are working harder and harder every year to balance our budget without cutting into the services and facilities that Brent residents value the most. All the while we have tried to recognise that local people have been facing hard times too, which is why we've frozen Council Tax levels for the last six years.

"The proposals we're publishing today try to squeeze the very last penny out of the money we have to spend on services, by being more efficient and modern in our approach, driving down costs, and maximising income from our commercial assets. We are doing our best to keep the negative impacts on front line services to an absolute minimum but there will be significant changes given the budget position."

"It's time to face the fact - the easier savings can each only be achieved once, and when the following year brings the need to cut more money, our options become narrower. We can only sell our buildings and consolidate onto one site once to save money. We can only create digital channels to save money over more expensive face to face ways of working once. We can only cut out any element of waste once to save cash. After cutting the fat year after year, sooner or later you get down to the muscle or even the bone."

"I agree with Lord Porter, Conservative Chair of the Local Government Association, who said just recently:

"It is wrong that the services our local communities rely on will face deeper cuts than the rest of the public sector yet again, and for local taxpayers to be left to pick up the bill for new government policies without any additional funding.

"Even if councils stopped filling in potholes, maintaining parks, closed all children's centres, libraries, museums, leisure centres and turned off every street light, they will not have saved enough money to plug the financial black hole they face by 2020."

"I'm confident that we're not in the position in Brent of having to make cuts like that - not yet at least. But it really is getting harder and harder every year, and there are years of this to come. It is just as well that the people of Brent are so strong, united and resilient, as we are really being tested."

Have your say

We have arranged five public consultation meetings to discuss the budget with local people, and will be arranging two additional budget specific public meetings in January. These five Brent Connects meetings are:

• Brent Connects Wembley: Tuesday, 12 January 2016
• Brent Connects Kilburn and Kensal: Tuesday, 19 January 2016
• Brent Connects Willesden: Monday, 1 February 2016
• Brent Connects Harlesden: Tuesday, 2 February 2016
• Brent Connects Kingsbury and Kenton: Wednesday, 3 February 2016

All meetings above start at 7pm.

• Read the detailed budget report here

Traffic safety measures installed at Asda/Forty Lane in Wembley

The Yellow Box has now been installed at the junction of Asda slip road/Forty Lane/King's Drive following concerns over pedestrian at the crossing.

Pedestrian lights and a yellow box have also been installed further along Forty Lane at The Paddocks junction which should ensure a safer crossing from the bus stop outside the French School (formerly Brent Town Hall) and the Chalkhill Estate.

Serious scrutiny requires review of how Brent works with residents on regeneration

This is the full version of Pete Firmin's presentation to Brent Scrutiny Committee tonight. Not all of it was delivered due to the time limit on presentations.

I’m the chair of Alpha, Gorefield and Canterbury tenants and Residents Association on the South Kilburn Estate behind Kilburn Park tube station.

We welcome the opportunity to raise our concerns about many aspects of the South Kilburn regeneration. While we thought it rather late in the day, we were pleased when the previous chair of Scrutiny, Dan Filson said there would be a task force set up to look at the issues involved and that residents would have substantial input into that.

He contacted us mentioning many issues which should be looked at, including:

how the decanting process has gone so far, and 

what lessons can Brent (and maybe other authorities too) learn from the project and apply in future schemes. 

whether the properties should have had greater internal usable space  

the disruption during building works  

the amount and nature of external social amenities like play space, open space, doctor surgeries, primary school facilities, community hall facilities or general circulation  

In addition, one of our Kilburn Councillors, Rita Conneelly, suggested to himand us additional issues:

What was delivered and was it the best we could have ?

Whether choosing Catalyst and Willmott Dixon was best for this phase of the development and whether Scrutiny feels Catalyst and Willmott Dixon have breached significantly enough of their contract for Scrutiny to recommend they not be used in future commissions (remembering that Willmott Dixon failed to remain enrolled in the Considerate Constructers scheme, failed to manage their site and minimise impact on residents and failed to deliver the project any where near on time; for example).

What concerns were raised by residents when the regeneration plans were first publicised- and how have these borne out- and most importantly, still not been resolved in cases (e.g. pressures on parking and community cohesion)

Who has been chosen for future phases and how have we insured we will not have the above problems with them?

whether perfectly good blocks which could have provided good homes into the future with a good refurbishment program were sacrificed so that developers could build private flats on prime land? Whilst the blocks in most disrepair have been left until later phases of the programme leaving many families and children in substandard housing for years unnecessarily. 

The report in front of you says under 6.0:

However it is also considered timely to refresh the Master-plan. Therefore, inconjunction with Planning colleagues it is proposed to consult local residentsand tenants on a revised and refreshed master-plan and accompanying SPD.

Brent will appoint master-plan architects, Cost Consultants and also engagewith the local community in regard to proposals. These proposals will considermatters such as, infrastructure, density, mix and range of accommodation, phasing and also the possibility of incorporating additional sites into the Master plan area.

But it is not just a matter of appointing expensive consultants anddrawing up new plans. They should not be drawn up without critical appraisal with real input from residents. That’s why we hope you will press ahead urgently with the task force which Dan Filson proposed.

Missing from the report in front of you is virtually any mention of problems with the regeneration of South Kilburn. There is just  a passing mention to `slippage’ under 5.0 `Current position’.

Of particular concern for us is that there is no mention of the Kilburn Park Catalyst/Wilmott Dixon development. Yet this is not complete even though it is already over a year late. And there are still several important aspects to deal with, such as the recent discovery that not enough refuse storage was planned to cope with both the new and existing residents. While Brent and Catalyst are arguing over whose fault this is, we are the ones suffering with frequently overfull storage bins.

This is just the latest of the relentless problems we have had with a building site next to us. I’ve given you each a copy of the summary we drew up on April so you can see the scale of the problem at least.

While the last 2 paragraphs in the report highlight contractors working with local residents, our experience on the ground has been the opposite.

For instance, under `Green Space’  (page 3) the report says “there is also a communal garden space, provided as part of the CatalystDevelopment, which will also be available to local residents.” Has it been forgotten that this space is only communal because we had a very long and sometimes bitter row with catalyst who were insistent that it would be only for the residents of the new blocks?

We have wider concerns than just the way in which developers impact on those neighbouring their sites, and have attempted to raise them.

The other document I’ve passed you is a resolution passed by our Tenants and Residents association annual general meeting in July of last year. The issues there fall into 3 categories – the attitude of Wilmott Dixon/Catalyst towards us, but also issues around planning – such as the closeness of new blocks to existing ones, which we raised at the planning stage, and have become more obviously dreadful with construction, and our concerns about what regeneration has meant for South Kilburn in general. We have attempted to get these at least addressed by the lead member for regeneration, but despite frequent requests (and promises by her) she has not engaged with us in the 15 months since it was sent to her.

One small example of the issues which have not been addressed – regeneration has significantly increased the population of South Kilburn. The proposed new  `health centre’ has been given much publicity by the Council, yet this is the bringing together 3 existing GP practices. It is not an increased in GP facilities for an increased population.

The section of the report under 5.0 headed “Salusbury Road Car Park Site” reads as if the siting of the vent shaft is settled (in favour of Canterbury Works). It isn’t and won’t be at least until after Parliament has heard the several petitions residents have submitted against the shaft being sited next to a primary school and in the middle of a residential area. Quite honestly. people in the area are shocked that neither HS2 or Brent even attempted to engage with us while arguing for the site to be changed, even though the opposition of school parents, governors and local residents was known to Council officers.B

Which brings me to my final point - the Council has not ensured that developers listen to and respect residents . Indeed Brent Council itself has declined to enforce its own standards with developers and has failed to seriously consult and involve residents in decision-making. For instance, the report says under `Sports provision’ (4.3) that Land was provided for the construction of a new sports hall facility. Built by Westminster City Council, primarily for the, expanded, St. Augustine’s Secondary School. The Council secured reduced rates for South Kilburn residents as part of the deal”. I checked with other members of our TRA before coming here and no-one can recall having seen this advertised anywhere. At the same ti8nme, we have been arguing for years that residents should have use of the Multi Use games Area attached to St Mary’s school in South Kilburn, which was partly funded by the Council and we are still unable to achieve this. Similarly the Council has said residents were consulted about what should go in the new urban park on Albert Road( where HS2’s lorries will incidentally be passing for years). None of us can remember seeing a consultation.

If you want serious scrutiny and a serious appraisal of how regeneration has gone so far, you could start by arguing for serious change in how Brent works with, involves and respects local residents. A proper task force which looks at the problems and pitfalls would be a useful start to that.