Notting Hill Housing residents meet tonight over merger plans

Your rights as a Brent citizen

 

Click on image to enlarge

I will let readers decide whether this works in practice. Source Brent Constitution changes LINK
 

-->

Citizens’ Rights 
The Council welcomes participation by its citizens in its work. Citizens have a number of rights in their dealings with the Council. Some of these are legal rights, whilst others depend on the Council’s own processes. The local Citizens’ Advice Bureau and Community Law Centre can advise on individuals’ legal rights. Citizens have the right to:

·      vote at local elections if they are registered; 


·      contact their local councillor about any matters of concern to them; 


·      obtain a copy of the Constitution; 


·      attend meetings of the Council and its committees except where, for example, confidential or exempt information would be disclosed; 


·      petition to request a referendum on an elected Mayor; 


·      contribute to reviews conducted by the Scrutiny Committees and/or their task groups; 


·      find out, from the Forward Plan, what Key Decisions are to be decided by the Cabinet, Cabinet Committees or officers, as well as other decisions to be taken at a meeting of the Cabinet or Cabinet Committees and when; 


·      attend meetings of the Cabinet or Cabinet Committees, except where exempt or confidential information is being discussed; 


·      see reports and background papers, and any record of decisions made by the Council and the Cabinet; 


·      complain to the Council about its service provision; 


·      complain to the Ombudsman if they think the Council has not followed its procedures properly. However, they should only do this after using the Council’s own complaints process; 


·      complain to the Monitoring Officer if they have evidence which they think shows that a councillor has not followed the Council’s Code of Conduct; and 


·      inspect the Council’s accounts and make their views known to the external auditor. 


Brent Council approve £26m contracts for primary school expansions

Amar Dave, Strategic Director Regeneration and Environment, will use his delegated authority to approve  Stage 2 Design and Build contracts for Phase 3 of Brent's Primary School Expansion with the next few days.

The plans have been controversial for varying reasons, not least because doubts have been raised about whether the extra places are needed in the light of of unfilled places in some of our local schools and the potential impact of Brexit on the number of EU families in Brent.  Aditionally there are issues around 'mega primaries' being inappropriate for young children and the impact of expanded schools on suburban locations. In the case of Stonebridge Primary the expansion proposals (and associated house building) led to the demolition of the much valued Stonebridge Adventure Playground.

The cost of the expansion and whether contractors could deliver the Council's specifications at the stated costs became an issue but the public were unable to access information on this as the details were deemed commercially sensitive.

The figures have now been revealed:

Byron Court Primary School £11,872,271. (Graham Construction)
Stonebridge Primary School £7,222,848. (Mid Contracting and Consulting Limited)
Uxendon Manor Primary School £6,784,437 (Lakehouse Contracts Limited)

Total:  £25,879,556.

The Council will be required to use £1.7m of its programme contingency.

How to support the McDonald's strikers #McStrike

 McDonald’s workers balloted at Crayford (south east London) and Cambridge stores have voted by an incredible 95.7 percent for strikes, and their BFAWU bakers’ union has now named Monday 4 September as the first strike day. 
 
A strike committee of workers met and decided to go for the date for their historic action–the first ever strike at McDonald’s in the UK.

The workers taking this bold step need the URGENT solidarity of the wider trade union movement. Please give generously now to their strike fund HERE

Please also rush messages of support, encouragement and solidarity for the workers to fastfoodrights@mail.com 

Already, just by voting to strike and organising in the union, the workers have gained an impressive shift from McDonald’s–who have stated only now after the strike vote that by the end of 2017 they will implement the twice promised offer of a guaranteed hours contract to every UK McDonald’s worker. The workers and BFAWU rightly want this signed off, but it is a major victory for the some 80,000 workers at McDonald’s and shows what getting organised, joining a union and taking action can do.

The strike remains on, over a number of grievances at the two workplaces, and the workers are also fighting for £10 an hour minimum wage now, union recognition, and for the demand on scrapping zero hours contracts to be implemented.

What’s happening and how you can support?

Pass this #McStrike MODEL MOTION to back the strike

Give urgently and generously to the #McStrike Fund

On the Saturday before the strike, 2 September, BFAWU is holding a protest at McDonald’s HQ in East Finchley, north London. We are calling on solidarity from the wider movement on this day, with banners, collections etc, brought along in support. Join and share the Facebook page for the protest HERE.

On the day of the strike, Monday 4 September, workers at the Cambridge site will picket from 6 – 7am, while workers at the Crayford site will picket from 6 – 7.30am.

The strikers and their supporters will then come together outside parliament at 10.30/11am for a rally, speakers include Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell. Stay posted for details of what will be happening after the rally. We are asking for maximum support possible with banners and supporters gathering at the rally, and for local activists and anyone who can to show their support at picket lines where possible too.


#McStrike #McSolidarity protests on 4 September:

LONDON
McDonald’s @ King’s Cross / Pentonville Road
At lunchtime, 12PM-2PM, there will be a McStrike solidarity demonstration with friends and comrades from different unions and community campaigns across Central London. It will be outside the McDonald’s in King’s Cross (302-304 Pentonville Road, Kings Cross N1 9XD). Come along to show some solidarity, to inform workers, customers and passers-bys about the strike. Together we can make this strike powerful in our communities too, and let McDonald’s workers know there is a strong movement with them! Join the Facebook page for the event HERE

The challenges facing our local NHS hospitals - top managers address public meeting

From Brent Patient Voice 

I’m writing to extend a warm invitation to a forthcoming BPV PUBLIC MEETING on 12 September at 7pm at the Learie Constantine Centre, Dudden Hill Lane, NW10 2ET. (Refreshments from 6.30pm.)

The topic will be a presentation on the challenges facing the London North West Healthcare NHS Trust (i.e. Northwick Park, Ealing, Central Middlesex and St Mark’s Hospitals). As you will be aware these challenges are daunting. The flow of thousands of patients through the doors does not decrease. While some highly commended clinical  services are being provided, waiting times in A&E and for some types of appointment are falling seriously short. In addition the Trust is required to close a deficit of around £49.5 million. We are fortunate to have secured two members of the top management team to tell us how the Trust is coping. They are Dr Nigel Stephens, Deputy Medical Director and leading cardiologist, and Simon Crawford, Director of Strategy. We are also asking a GP, Prof Paul Thomas, Editor-in-Chief of the London Journal of Primary Care, to comment on how links between hospitals and GPs can be improved to benefit patients.

After the presentations and an interactive discussion, we’ll move for the last half-hour to the BPV AGM, including elections.

We very much hope to see you there.

Robin Sharp

Chair Brent Patient Voice

King Eddies park in better days

Guest blog by Philip Grant
 

A recent blog LINK  told of the sad decline of Wembley’s King Edward VII Park, but this reminded me of some information and old photos that I could share with you from the park’s early years.

Wembley as a place has existed since Saxon times, with the first documentary record of “Wemba lea” (Wemba’s clearing in the forest) dating from AD825. My late Wembley History Society colleague, Len Snow LINK  was fond of saying that football fans, singing their way to Wembley Stadium, had actually got the name right! But it was not until 1894 that Wembley became a separate local government area, splitting off from Harrow as Wembley Urban District, and although small in population (only around 4,500 people lived here in 1901), it had some big ideas.

One of the schemes to provide a better place to live for its residents was to open its own municipal public park, and in 1913 it bought 26 acres of farmland in Blind Lane (not far from its developing High Road) for £8,050. By the next summer the park was ready, and on 4 July 1914 it was officially opened by Queen Alexandra (by then the Queen Mother), and named King Edward VII Park in memory of her late husband.

These first two photos were taken on the day of the opening, with many of Wembley’s citizens there in their “Sunday best” clothes to enjoy the event. The musical entertainment from the bandstand was almost certainly provided by the Wembley Town Band, which had been set up in 1910, with its smart green and silver uniforms paid for by local benefactor, Titus Barham. The school next to the park had opened in 1911 as Blind Lane Council School (the first set up in the area by Wembley Urban District Council, rather than Middlesex County Council), and with the change in the name of the road to mark the opening, it became Park Lane Primary. Like every good park, King Eddie’s had a children’s playground!

Some WM readers may recognise these photographs from Geoffrey Hewlett’s  “Images of London” book on Wembley (Tempus Publishing, 2002), and they are from a remarkable collection built up by Wembley History Society from the 1950’s onwards, including many donated by an important local photographer before he died in 1958, which is now held at Brent Museum and Archives.

These pictures were almost certainly taken by that photographer, Kuno Reitz, who was born in Munich in 1876, but moved to England in 1911, spending most of the rest of his life as a freelance photographer in Wembley. Just a month after King Edward VII Park opened, and these excellent photos were taken, England declared war on Germany, entering the “Great War” a week after it had first begun, because Germany had invaded neutral Belgium. Reitz was classed as an enemy alien, and spent at least part of the war years building roads, possibly for army camps and training grounds, in Northumberland.

Luckily, he returned to Wembley after the war, and the last photo is one he definitely took, for a “Wembley Guide” booklet published by the Urban District Council in 1930. The clothes may have changed a little by the inter-war years, but it was still a great place for children to play. Let’s hope that, despite the decline caused by cost-cutting and contracting out, the people of Wembley can still enjoy King Eddie’s Park for another century or more.

The Torch reviews security for Tottenham home games

Spurs fans at the Torch in April for the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea

I understand that the Torch Pub is to review its security for Tottenham home games following skirmishes in the pub and outside at the weekend.

The Torch management company are meeting today with Brent Council officials and the police.

The pub is designated a 'Tottenham' venue for home games and fans have adopted it as their own. I understand that locals were refused entry at the weekend for their own protection.

Football University campus planned for First Way, Wembley

Cole Waterhouse and Topland Group have revealed plans for a £100m university campus close to Wembley Stadium.

The two firms aim to transform the 0.6 ha First Way site into a campus featuring academic facilities, flexible workspace and student accommodation.

At the centre of the development will be a 682-bed student village, split across four buildings ranging from six to 12 storeys in height.

The campus will also include a 300-person auditorium, seminar rooms, a gym, a library and an IT suite.

Cole Waterhouse chief executive Damian Flood said: “After being known for years only for the Wembley Arena and Wembley Stadium, the area is becoming increasingly popular with students, start-ups as well as being a great place to live.

“We saw this potential before acquiring our previous scheme in the area back in 2015 and continue to look for new opportunities in this and the surrounding areas.”

A planning application for the scheme is expected to be submitted in the next few months, with completion slated for mid-2019 if the project is given consent. 

The development will be occupied by  the University of Football Business who site a recent lack of space at their present Wembley Stadium campus and mountaing demand for places as reasons for the new development. 

This joins other planning proposals for First Way which includes Latif House and Access Self Storage. LINK  LINK

Details of the Football University proposals can be found HERE