UPDATE: It is time for Veolia's Public Realm Contract performance to be scrutinised

"Love where you live'

Brent Council's bulk collection service before the Public Realm contract was handed to Veolia used to take about a fortnight from request to notification.

I have received a number of complaints about how long it now takes for goods to be collected. 

This is an example sent in by reader Paul Lorber with a 7 week gap.

From Brent Customer Services June 15^th 2016
Thank you for your Special Collection enquiry. Your request for:
Item 1: Freezer
Item 2: Non Metal Bed Frame
Item 3: Other Household Waste
Item 4: Other Household Waste
Item 5: Other Household Waste
To be collected has been logged and your unique reference number is  XXXXXXX
Your items will be collected on 08 August 2016.
Please ensure the items are placed together in the front garden ready for collection.
If you have any queries or wish to change the week of your collection please telephone the Customer Services on 020 8937 5050.

 Lorber has asked what the service timescales are but remarks that if this service has been commissioned by Brent Council and is acceptable to them it is clearly poor value for money, although representing plenty of profit for Veolia.

 Lorber is fortunate in having a front drive in which the items can be placed but many residents have extremely small front gardens or none at all and is is surely no wonder that mattresses, sofas, fridges, gas stoves, lavatory pans and broken gym equipment all end up on the pavement attracting further fly-tipping.

Brent Council promised an improved service when Veolia took over but I pointed out what I saw as a weakness in the contract:

One aspect that may concern councillors is that Veolia will be responsible for monitoring itself:

The contract will be self-monitoring, meaning that the contractor is accountable for measuring, monitoring and improving their own performance with the council carefully auditing their performance. This, along with Key Outcome Targets set for each of the different services will ensure that the Contractor is motivated to deliver the services.

Veolia will also be dealing with complaints from councillors and residents in the first instance thus 'placing responsibility on the Contractor to ‘own’ and be accountable for service complaints'.

I think it would be useful for the Scrutiny Committee responsible for Public Realm to review Veolia's performance by inviting Veolia executives to answer questions from councillors and the public about the service.  Cllr John Duffy has raised a number of issues on his own blog LINK and on Wembley Matters  LINK  LINK

This should cover the grounds maintenance of BHP estates and parks maintenance which were handed over to Veolia along with street cleansing, cemeteries, sports centres and much else.  When the Council gave the Public Realm contract to Veolia they withdrew from the Green Flag scheme for parks and open spaces which had provided a widely valued external audit of parks maintenance.

One matter we have heard little about is how the litter enforcement contract, awarded to Kingdom, is working.  This was also criticised by Cllr Duffy LINK and an update on it would be useful as it was seen as a trial.  At the same time Veolia's promised role in spotting fly-tipping and acting upon it included  working with Brent's enforcement team. Is this happening?

From the original Officer's report to Cabinet on the Public Realm contract:

Fly tips will be cleared promptly. That is a key requirement. Veolia have committed their operatives to becoming “the eyes and the ears” of the council, trained to identify, report, and manage all day-to-day fly-tips using mobile devices. The initial role on all enforcement will be Veolia. Enforcement investigations will be managed as far as possible by the Veolia supervisors and managers who will ensure photographic evidence and pocket notebook records are taken to secure evidence. Once a case is correctly and sufficiently built, Veolia will work with Brent’s enforcement team to bring final prosecution. 


UPDATE; The day after this article was published Brent Council issued a press release on the Kingdom fixed penalty litter enforcment trial. LINK

Boris Johnson praises Michaela Free School: 'rote learning, discipline and memorising'

Morning Star on Michaela: Schools versus communities

Click on image to enlarge

Watch this powerful video on Ahmed and the refugee crisis by Lowkey

Brent Council and Cara Davani - at last some answers, but ...

On 21 July we published a guest blog from Philip Grant LINK , which asked some questions of Brent Council and its Leader, Cllr. Muhammed Butt, about the pay-off last year to its former Director of Human Resources, Cara Davani.

I am pleased to say that, unlike her predecessor Christine Gilbert last year, Brent Council's Chief Executive, Carolyn Downs has written to provide brief answers to the four points which Philip raised. A copy of her letter is shown below, and readers are invited to consider the information given, and to add any comments they wish to arising from what we now know about the pay-off arrangements.

Residents call for support for demonstration against Heron House development on Monday

 MONDAY, 1st AUGUST AT 6.30 P.M.

AT HERON HOUSE, 109 - 115 WEMBLEY HILL ROAD WEMBLEY HA9 8DA

Residents opposed to the planned redevlopment of Heron House in Wembley will demonstrate at the site on Monday and are calling for support from other local people. They claim that the redevelopment plans are inappropriate for what is a residential surburban area and a sign that the high-rise Quintain development around the stadium is encroaching on their homes.

They say:

This large redevelopment of Heron House will adversely affect every one of us  and it will be too late to complain if we get no support and the redevelopment goes ahead!  Your street could very well be next the speed with which these smaller developments are going up all over the Borough!

If this large monstrosity at Heron House is allowed to go up, traffic will increase and the parking situation will get even worse, if that is possible.

Many of us will be overlooked from the higher levels and in 2 years they are buying St Joseph's Social Club  to build yet another higher monstrosity to complete "The Gateway to Wembley"!  

Do we really want that right on our doorstep in our still very residential area?  We cannot do anything about the massive regeneration of the Stadium and High Road areas, but we can certainly try to stop these smaller developers, if we have the support

Inside Birbalsingh's Boot Camp - How Michaela Free School 'supports' pupil behaviour

'What's the problem?'   Headmistress Katharine Birbalsingh

Many thanks to the reader who sent me a link to the Michaela Secondary Free School's Behaviour Policy.

It is full of unfamiliar terminology such as 'SLANT-ing' - (apparently a 'good thing') and enough misdemeanours to keep most normal children in detention for weeks. Remedies, including 'self-quizzing' and 'Internal Isolation', remind me of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

However, it is in its attitude to families that we can see a clue to the approach revealed in the school meals controversy LINK.  Families are subject to discipline through their childrem.

The policy states:

Families who choose not to support the school


If a pupil misses one day of Internal Isolation (II) either because the pupil or the family is deliberately avoiding the punishment, the pupil will spend two days in II. The period of II will double in line with the number of days that the family or pupil chooses to stay away from school. So missing two days of II will result in four days of II, missing three days of II will result in six days of II, and so on. There is no upper limit to the number of days of II that could be imposed. We need wholehearted support from all families to maintain our high standards of behaviour and academic progress. In choosing to attend Michaela, families are making the choice to follow our behaviour systems. We have a system of zero tolerance. We ask that all families respect our rules and follow them.

And, just an any good dictator does, Birbalsingh reserves unlimited powers for herself:

Discretion 

No behaviour policy can cover all eventualities. The Headmistress reserves the right to use discretion to help Michaela pupils make better choices and learn the right lessons.

This is the 2016-17 Behaviour Policy it is signed off by the Chair of Governors, Suella Fernandes who is Conservative MP for Fareham and a member of the Hosue of Commons Education Select Committee:

Preston Community Library Saturday: Freedom in South Africa the struggle, the film and the book

Preston Community Library will be showing a film about the struggle for freedom in South Africa on Saturday evening.

After the showing there will be two speakers, South African editor Mary Omond, and publisher Geraldine Cook, who were involved in the production of a book tied in with the film, and who are acquainted with personalities depicted in the film. 

They will be discussing what is involved with film tie-ins and the particular case of this book which proved to be a hair-raising experience taking place against against the rapidly imploding situation in South Africa when the world was tense with expectation of mass insurrection and bloodshed.

The discussion will be of interest to those who were involved in the anti-apartheid struggle as well as the new generation who are using lessons from that struggle in current international campaigns.

Films are for library members, but if you are not joined up already you can join at the door. Screenings are free but donations are needed in order to put on more films.

The doors open at 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start.