WEMBLEY MATTERS News and views on local politics, the environment, climate change, culture and local history
Wednesday 14 March 2018
Shefffield Trees and Labour: 'They just don't get it'
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| Lobbying Labour |
Guest blog by Alan Story
When you in a very bad relationship or in a marriage that cannot be saved, the first thing you need to do is to admit to yourself: “you know what, I've made a horrible mistake.”
But nearly six years after Labour-control Sheffield City Council (SCC) signed a disastrous £2.2 billion PFI contract and on a day when the Sheffield trees crisis featured in the New York Times no less, the local Labour Party has again pulled down the shutters and refused to address the havoc that SCC’s relationship with Amey plc is causing to our now-privatised streets and privatised street trees.
The occasion was the monthly meeting Tuesday night (13 March) of the Sheffield District Labour Party (DLP) meeting. Outside, 35 picketers/ tree campaigners had come together for what was likely the largest picket ever held in front of a Sheffield Labour Party meeting.
But as delegates inside discussed the draft election manifesto it will use for the 3 May election, it was clear that most of those in attendance at the local party's highest decision-making body still did not grasp the basics of what was going wrong on the streets of Sheffield. (Those in attendance included Council Leader Julie Dore who came late and, sadly, after most of the 35 picketers had dispersed.)
Yes, there was concern raised about the contracting out of public sector jobs as a result of the work being done under the profit-making auspices of Amey plc. And yes, that is ONE problem with this PFI deal and, indeed, all PFI deals.
But what delegates failed to understand is that it is the very nature of THE WORK being undertaken which is the main problem. In other words, the planned felling of 17,500 street trees is NOT the same thing as the contracting out of NHS jobs to a US-owned healthcare corporation. Or transforming state schools into profit-driven academies.
This is what a significant number of LP members just do not get.
On one level, to bring contracted out jobs "in house" has, since the September 2017 national Labour Party convention, become National Labour Party policy. It is becoming harder and harder for the SCC to operate a PFI deal that is in direct contravention to the national policy of its own party.
But by focusing almost exclusively on the contracting out jobs issue, the local Labour Party last night again missed the big picture, they didn’t see the forests for the trees ….if you will.
As several observers at last night's meeting confirmed, most DLP delegates failed to address a wide range of issues, such as:
1) Why 17,500 mostly healthy trees were ever planned for the chop back in 2012. (It took a recent successful FOI request by Paul Selby to uncover that SCC has being duplicitous to Sheffield residents about planned tree felling number since the 25-year-long contract was first signed.) More than 5500 mostly healthy trees have already come down.
2) The value of trees for the slowing climate change. SCC cabinet minister Jack Scott, who also attended last night's session, denies they have any value.
3) Why SCC is acting with such contempt for local democratic functioning when it ignores the advice of tree experts and the wishes of local residents and simply carries on willy-nilly with its ruthless chainsaw war.
4) Why squads of South Yorkshire Police have been mobilised across the city and are at the beck-and-call of SCC, who are in a serious political fix, and Amey, who are only interested in their bottom line. (It is hardly surprising that tree campaigners now call SYP “Amey’s police.")
5) Why SCC has applied for civic injunctions to stop peaceful protest and has forced tree campaigners to raise tens of thousands of pounds to defend themselves against the actions of this profoundly authoritarian local council. (Pardon the plug: in the current campaign, 440 supporters have raised more than £11,500 in less than five days: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/stump-up-sheffield)
6) In fact, you don’t even get the sense that some of these so-called LP “lefties” really grasp what privatisation means. For example, how can it be a step toward socialism when a public agency like SYP (directed by a Labour Party Police Commissioner) protects a Spanish-owned multinational corporation (operating under a PFI deal negotiated by the free market LibDems) as it pillages a street of much-loved cherry trees on Abbeydale Park Rise (that are lit with lights every Christmas to raise funds for a hospice)?
7) The value of street trees as things of beauty, as a home for birds, and as promoters of mental health (If I hear one more Labour Party flunky tell me that working-class people "hate trees" I will scream.)
8) Why it is just so wrong to call in (or threaten to call in) social services against the parents of youthful tree campaigners, one of whom rode over on his bicycle and was with us last night.
9) Why there was a leak to the media of the preposterous tale that a 59-year-old architect served poisoned tea to three street tree fellers on her own street. Hold The Star’s front page: next thing you know they'll be telling us that Calvin Payne's backpack is stocked up with nerve gas.
The list could on and on.
What local Labour does not get is what a newspaper headline said back in October: “Look to Sheffield: this is how state and corporate power subverts democracy.”
Vacancies and waiting lists in Brent secondary schools
An FoI request has revealed secondary school vacancies in Ark Elvin
Academy, Newman Catholic College and Convent of Jesus and Mary Language
College. Crest Academy and Ark Elvin are more popular than in previous years and the
controversial Michaela Academy Free School has a large waiting list. No
secondary child is without a school place although the waiting lists
show that many would like to transfer to other schools. All Brent secondary schools are now academies or religious schools, none are under the control of the local authority.
The figures are for the January 2018 'in year' census and will have changed to some extent since then. There are plans for a new secondary school in North Brent as the previous primary bulge pupils move into the secondary phase.
The figures are for the January 2018 'in year' census and will have changed to some extent since then. There are plans for a new secondary school in North Brent as the previous primary bulge pupils move into the secondary phase.
| School Name | Round | Vacancies (unfilled places) | Waiting List |
| Alperton Community School | 2017-18 Y07 In Year | 0 | 3 |
| 2017-18 Y08 In Year | 0 | 6 | |
| 2017-18 Y09 In Year | 0 | 2 | |
| 2017-18 Y10 In Year | 0 | 2 | |
| 2017-18 Y11 In Year | 0 | 0 | |
| Ark Academy | 2017-18 Y07 In Year | 0 | 4 |
| 2017-18 Y08 In Year | 0 | 1 | |
| 2017-18 Y09 In Year | 0 | 1 | |
| 2017-18 Y10 In Year | 0 | 0 | |
| 2017-18 Y11 In Year | 0 | 1 | |
| Ark Elvin Academy | 2017-18 Y07 In Year | 9 | 0 |
| 2017-18 Y08 In Year | 32 | 0 | |
| 2017-18 Y09 In Year | 52 | 1 | |
| 2017-18 Y10 In Year | 25 | 1 | |
| 2017-18 Y11 In Year | 16 | 0 | |
| Capital City Academy | 2017-18 Y07 In Year | 0 | 2 |
| 2017-18 Y08 In Year | 0 | 19 | |
| 2017-18 Y09 In Year | 0 | 21 | |
| 2017-18 Y10 In Year | 1 | 10 | |
| 2017-18 Y11 In Year | 0 | 17 | |
| Claremont High School | 2017-18 Y07 In Year | 0 | 24 |
| 2017-18 Y08 In Year | 1 | 33 | |
| 2017-18 Y09 In Year | 0 | 30 | |
| 2017-18 Y10 In Year | 0 | 20 | |
| 2017-18 Y11 In Year | 5 | 11 | |
| Convent of Jesus and Mary Language College | 2017-18 Y07 In Year | 22 | 0 |
| 2017-18 Y08 In Year | 10 | 1 | |
| 2017-18 Y09 In Year | 11 | 0 | |
| 2017-18 Y10 In Year | 3 | 0 | |
| 2017-18 Y11 In Year | 9 | 0 | |
| JFS | 2017-18 Y07 In Year | 6 | 0 |
| 2017-18 Y08 In Year | 0 | 0 | |
| 2017-18 Y09 In Year | 0 | 0 | |
| 2017-18 Y10 In Year | 11 | 0 | |
| 2017-18 Y11 In Year | 14 | 0 | |
| Kingsbury High School | 2017-18 Y07 In Year | 0 | 27 |
| 2017-18 Y08 In Year | 0 | 32 | |
| 2017-18 Y09 In Year | 1 | 30 | |
| 2017-18 Y10 In Year | 1 | 20 | |
| 2017-18 Y11 In Year | 6 | 18 | |
| Michaela Community School | 2017-18 Y07 In Year | 0 | 47 |
| 2017-18 Y08 In Year | 0 | 48 | |
| 2017-18 Y09 In Year | 0 | 29 | |
| 2017-18 Y10 In Year | 2 | 19 | |
| Newman Catholic College | 2017-18 Y07 In Year | 46 | 0 |
| 2017-18 Y08 In Year | 12 | 1 | |
| 2017-18 Y09 In Year | 7 | 4 | |
| 2017-18 Y10 In Year | 26 | 5 | |
| 2017-18 Y11 In Year | 0 | 1 | |
| Preston Manor School | 2017-18 Y07 In Year | 0 | 19 |
| 2017-18 Y08 In Year | 1 | 10 | |
| 2017-18 Y09 In Year | 2 | 5 | |
| 2017-18 Y10 In Year | 0 | 2 | |
| 2017-18 Y11 In Year | 2 | 4 | |
| Queens Park Community School | 2017-18 Y07 In Year | 0 | 17 |
| 2017-18 Y08 In Year | 0 | 26 | |
| 2017-18 Y09 In Year | 0 | 16 | |
| 2017-18 Y10 In Year | 0 | 17 | |
| 2017-18 Y11 In Year | 0 | 16 | |
| St Gregorys Catholic Science College | 2017-18 Y07 In Year | 0 | 9 |
| 2017-18 Y08 In Year | 0 | 17 | |
| 2017-18 Y09 In Year | 2 | 14 | |
| 2017-18 Y10 In Year | 0 | 9 | |
| 2017-18 Y11 In Year | 0 | 7 | |
| The Crest Academy | 2017-18 Y07 In Year | 0 | 10 |
| 2017-18 Y08 In Year | 0 | 20 | |
| 2017-18 Y09 In Year | 32 | 25 | |
| 2017-18 Y10 In Year | 15 | 17 | |
| 2017-18 Y11 In Year | 6 | 15 | |
| Wembley High Technology College | 2017-18 Y07 In Year | 0 | 6 |
| 2017-18 Y08 In Year | 0 | 5 | |
| 2017-18 Y09 In Year | 0 | 1 | |
| 2017-18 Y10 In Year | 0 | 1 | |
| 2017-18 Y11 In Year | 0 | 0 |
Figures reveal decline in demand for Reception school places in Brent
An FoI request regarding school rolls in Brent following the January 'in Year' census has revealed a considerable number of unfilled Reception class places in the borough as well as unfilled places scattered across the primary school years. Some of the vacancies are at schools that were expanded as a result of the high primary demand of recent years. Demographic factors such as EU citizens going home post-Brexit and families being housed outside of London as a result of the Benefit Cap may have affected the numbers.
In the late 70s primary schools suffered from what was called 'falling rolls' as the population of children reduced. This resulted in the closure of some schools and amalgamation of others. In what was then the Inner London Education Authority teachers were compulsorily redeployed to schools needing teachers.
We are not at that point yet but some schools might eventually reduce their forms of entry - the number of classes they take in at Reception and then in each year group throughout the school. Each form of entry is 30 pupils, so when interpreting the figures for the number of vacancies in each school the number of forms of entry needs to be taken into account. 10 vacancies in a five form entry school is much less serious that 10 vacancies in a one form entry school.
School funding is for the most part based on the number of pupils, so schools suffering from a large number of vacancies will incur a financial loss. Budgeting becomes more difficult when the reduction in numbers is less than a whole class, so the school cannot reduce the number of teachers but has less money to spend on them and teaching assistants. I understand that some schools which have expanded may have negotiated a 'cushion; with the local authority so they are funded for a full teacher's salary even if the class has vacancies. Unfilled vacancies reduce the number of pupil in each class in a cohort so there is some educational advantage but at a time of education cuts these are undermined by the financial impact.
The core funding per primary pupil (before sums for deprivation, EAL and other factors are added) is about £3,400.
In the table below, based on the FoI response LINK, I have included vacancies throughout the school as well as Reception vacancies. I have listed only those schools with significant vacancies. St Mary's RC Primary at only 2 forms of entry is the one with one of the highest percentage vacancies.
Kilburn Grange Free School is not funded by the local authority but instead directly funded by the DfE. As a new school it only has children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. It has only filled the equivalent of 4 out of 6 classes.
The figures do raise the issue of whether the planned Ark Primary free school on the carpark of York House in Wembley is needed at its planned 3 forms of entry (90 children a year) when the recently expanded Elsley Primary School (it doubled in size) has 48 vacancies, although it will be argued the places are needed for the new Quintain developments.
In the late 70s primary schools suffered from what was called 'falling rolls' as the population of children reduced. This resulted in the closure of some schools and amalgamation of others. In what was then the Inner London Education Authority teachers were compulsorily redeployed to schools needing teachers.
We are not at that point yet but some schools might eventually reduce their forms of entry - the number of classes they take in at Reception and then in each year group throughout the school. Each form of entry is 30 pupils, so when interpreting the figures for the number of vacancies in each school the number of forms of entry needs to be taken into account. 10 vacancies in a five form entry school is much less serious that 10 vacancies in a one form entry school.
School funding is for the most part based on the number of pupils, so schools suffering from a large number of vacancies will incur a financial loss. Budgeting becomes more difficult when the reduction in numbers is less than a whole class, so the school cannot reduce the number of teachers but has less money to spend on them and teaching assistants. I understand that some schools which have expanded may have negotiated a 'cushion; with the local authority so they are funded for a full teacher's salary even if the class has vacancies. Unfilled vacancies reduce the number of pupil in each class in a cohort so there is some educational advantage but at a time of education cuts these are undermined by the financial impact.
The core funding per primary pupil (before sums for deprivation, EAL and other factors are added) is about £3,400.
In the table below, based on the FoI response LINK, I have included vacancies throughout the school as well as Reception vacancies. I have listed only those schools with significant vacancies. St Mary's RC Primary at only 2 forms of entry is the one with one of the highest percentage vacancies.
Kilburn Grange Free School is not funded by the local authority but instead directly funded by the DfE. As a new school it only has children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. It has only filled the equivalent of 4 out of 6 classes.
The figures do raise the issue of whether the planned Ark Primary free school on the carpark of York House in Wembley is needed at its planned 3 forms of entry (90 children a year) when the recently expanded Elsley Primary School (it doubled in size) has 48 vacancies, although it will be argued the places are needed for the new Quintain developments.
| School Name | Forms of entry | Vacancies (unfilled places Reception) | Waiting List | Total vacancies whole school |
| Brentfield | 3 | 20 | 0 | 44 |
| Bryon Court | 5 | 44 | 0 | 69 |
| Carlton Vale Infants | 2 | 22 | 0 | 66 |
| Christchurch CofE | 1 | 8 | 0 | 21 |
| East Lane Primary | 3 | 0 | 0 | 156 |
| Elsley Primary School | 4 | 48 | 0 | 71 |
| Harlesden Primary School | 3 | 38 | 0 | 112 |
| Kilburn Grange Free School | 2 | 13 | 0 | 62 |
| Lyon Park Primary | 4 | 8 | 2 | 20 |
| Newfield Primary | 2 | 17 | 1 | 48 |
| Preston Park Primary | 3 | 12 | 1 | 45 |
| Roe Green Strathcona School | 1 | 23 | 1 | 75 |
| St Andrew & St Francis CofE | 2 | 9 | 0 | 18 |
| St Mary's CofE Primary | 2 | 7 | 1 | 48 |
| St Mary's RC Primary School | 2 | 25 | 0 | 150 |
| The Stonebridge Primary | 3 | 57 | 0 | 85 |
| Uxendon Primary School | 3 | 16 | 2 | 53 |
| Total vacancies | 367 | 1143 |
“The Beggars Roost” plaque comes home to Kingsbury
Guest post by Philip Grant, local historian
Thirteen months ago I
posed the question ‘Where was “The
Beggars Roost”?’ in a local history guest blog LINK.
I was writing about a photograph I had been sent by a lady in Nashville,
Tennessee, of a hand-painted coat of arms she had bought in a charity shop
there. It appeared to have been created for Wembley’s A.R.P. (Air Raid
Precaution) Warden Post 12 during the Second World War.
I still don’t know
exactly where Post 12 was located, or why it was named “The Beggars Roost”, but
further research has suggested that it was probably somewhere in the Roe Green
area of Kingsbury (though not in Roe Green Village itself, whose wardens had
Post 11). However, last summer an amazing piece of generosity happened –
Cheryl, who had bought the plaque for her own home, decided that its proper
place was back in Wembley, so that people here could see and enjoy the coat of
arms in its historical context.
Cheryl donated the
plaque to Brent Museum, and it now forms the centrepiece of a small exhibition
which has just opened at Kingsbury Library:
A.R.P. –
Wembley’s Air Raid Wardens in the Second World War.
For the past few
months I have been working with Alison, a Brent Museum volunteer, and Museum
staff, to put this exhibition together. It includes objects and pictures from
the Brent collections, and some loaned by fellow Wembley History Society
members, and tells the story of Wembley’s A.R.P. Service (wardens, first aid
and rescue teams) from 1938 to 1945.
It is a story of
thousands of local men and women who gave their time, and in some cases their
lives, to help protect their neighbours from German bombing raids.
This was a very
difficult period in our history, and one that those of us born after 1945,
including young people to whom it is just something that happened long ago,
could benefit from understanding better. Residents whose families have come to
our area in recent decades, sometimes from countries which themselves have
suffered war, could also see that people here have had that experience too. One
of the air raids that the A.R.P. Service had to deal with, and which is
pictured in the exhibition, happened within sight of Kingsbury Library.
The exhibition will
be on display every day, during library opening hours, until around the end of
May 2018. I will be giving a “coffee morning” talk, linked with the exhibition,
at Kingsbury Library (522-524 Kingsbury Road, London NW9) on Tuesday 24 April,
11am to 12noon.
I hope that you will
take the opportunity to visit Kingsbury Library, to enjoy one or both events.
This is the official Brent poster for them:
For anyone who would like to know more about this subject, but won't be able to attend Philip's talk on 24 April, there is an online local history article available on the Brent Archives website LINK
Stump up for the Sheffield Tree defenders
Local residents and activists, including from the Green Party, have been desperately trying to save the trees via peaceful protest and have met with rough treatment from the contractors and their security as well as being pursued by bailiffs acting on behalf of the Labour Council.
Several local Labour Parties in the area have come out against along with Sheffield Momentum. This is the resolution passed by Gleadless Valley Labour Party:
Gleadless Valley Labour Party branch opposes the consequences of the PFI deal for street improvements in Sheffield which has led to both the widespread removal of trees and the failure to meet timescales for road improvements. If this work had been delivered in house by a council service, it is inconceivable that the opposition to tree felling would not have led to changes.
As it is, the actions of Amey plc have both failed the council’s road improvement ambitions and undermined the reputation of Sheffield’s environmental credentials.
We reaffirm our support for our G.E. Manifesto’s opposition to PFI deals and call on our sisters and brothers in the Labour Group to support an immediate, mediated settlement to the felling of our street trees.
A Crowdfunder Appeal has been set up to help pay the legal costs imposed by the heavy-handed Sheffield City Council (SCC). You can donate HERE.
The Crowdfunder page sets out the issue:
Calvin Payne and Alastair Wright committed no crime, but in defence of our street trees, they both fell foul of a court injunction pushed through by SCC to force its felling programme on its own citizens. Not satisfied with their punishments for contempt of court, the Council is seeking inflated costs from Alastair and Calvin of £11,000 and £16,000 in costs respectively.
We want to raise £27,000 to pay Alastair and Calvin's legal costs with your help, and the support of Pulp's Nick Banks and Richard Hawley, actor Maxine Peake, and Caroline Lucas, co-leader of the Green Party, George Monbiot, author and environmentalist, along with Ken Loach, activist and film maker, and many others, all offering support and endorsing this Crowdfunder.
We will not stand by and watch legitimate peaceful protest and civil disobedience being extinguished by an anti-democratic SCC with its taste for expensive legal action. For every injunction hearing brought before the judge, SCC is deliberately paying £16,000 a day for London based legal representation so as to intimidate protestors by emptying their wallets and savings accounts.
Tree campaigners in Sheffield, like Calvin and Alastair, are simply asking that the council complies with current urban forestry good practice. A perfectly reasonable request. The council has responded with threats, force, and an army of private security guards to intimidate the many protestors that now attend felling sites on a daily basis. It has ignored experts on all sides, and even ignored the findings of its own 'Independent Tree Panel'.
In this long-running and increasingly bitter dispute, SCC and its principal contractor, Amey plc, have resorted to increasingly desperate measures and unsafe working practices to fell healthy street trees. Their relationship is underpinned by a confidential Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deal, a form of financing which is widely discredited; it has led to the privatisation of Sheffield streets and street trees.
The Council has mounted dawn raids, has tried (and failed at great cost) to have a serving Green councillor imprisoned, has smeared and slandered campaigners in the media, while its representatives have repeatedly lied to the people of Sheffield.
Funders Fair Thursday Chalkhill Community Centre
We are delighted to confirm that CVS Brent is organising a Funders' Fair on Thursday, 15th March 2018 12.30pm-4pm
The much-awaited event will enable local organisations to get to know
the funders and get information about their priorities and application
procedures. It is an excellent opportunity for the local voluntary and
community sector organisations and groups to engage with a range of
funders to gain guidance on how to bid successfully and have their
questions answered.
Different funders will give presentations and run
information stalls at the event so Brent voluntary sector organisations
will have the opportunity to hold face-to-face discussions with funders
and funding advisers.
The event will take place in the Vernon Hall of the Chalkhill Community Centre. The fair is free to attend for Brent organisations so please reserve your place. BOOK HERE
For a detailed programme of presentations, please see the leaflet.
For further information email info@cvsbrent.org.uk or call 020 3011 1690.
Funders that have confirmed their participation include:
-
Big Lottery Fund
-
Brent Advice Fund (BAF)
-
Chalkhill Community Trust Fund
-
Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) - Brent Council
-
Heritage Lottery Fund
-
John Lyon’s Charity
-
The London Community Foundation
-
Trust for London
- Wembley Stadium National Trust
Chalkhill Community Centre
113 Chalkhill Road
Wembley
HA9 9FX
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