Brent Council sets up Task Group on avoiding Strathcona redundancies after successful strike ballot

From Brent National Education Union

Following many days of strike action in the Autumn term at Roe Green Infants to try to save their Strathcona site, the NEU has announced a successful ballot result for further strike action to fight redundancies.

In the wake of this successful ballot, Brent Council have set up a task group to work on avoiding redundancies at the school.

Jenny Cooper, District Secretary of Brent NEU, said, “This shows what can happen when staff stand together, united, to protect each other. The council did not engage with the school or its union members until this further ballot was announced.”

Brent Council is to close the successful Roe Green Strathcona school site in a phased closure beginning in September 2020. 

Meanwhile the NEU has had sight of a letter sent to Brent primary governors inviting primary schools to open additional sites for alternative provision due to a shortage of school places for children with EHCPs. Roe Green Infants were presumably included in this mailing.

Cllr Jumbo Chan has once again offered his “complete solidarity” with the NEU members at the school.

QPR coaches deliver free Saturday football sessions for Brent youngsters at Ark Elvin

From Zaffar Van Kalwala

I’m organising free football sessions for Brent boys and girls aged 9-13 years old with Queens Park Rangers. 

Please could you also include the link below.

Really pleased to be organising  Free football sessions for children in Brent with Queens Park Rangers Football Club.

Please sign-up HERE - Open to all boys and girls aged 9-13 years old (regardless of ability) living in Brent.

Just turn-up and play!

Delivered by qualified QPR coaches, sessions will take place on 3G astroturf (children should wear appropriate footwear and clothing).

A big thank you to London Blues for supporting the project.

Green's performance in the Brent by-elections

Thanks to everyone who voted Green in the Brent by-elections and to those who came out to help us leaflet. We were disappointed not to do better but getting more than 8% in two of the wards was an achievement.

Liberal Democrats win Alperton council seat from Labour

After deluging the ward with thousands of leaflets and fielding up to 80 canvassers the Liberal Democrats tonight gained Alperton from Labour.

Anton Georgiou won 1,699 votes, followed by Labour at 1,304.  The Labour candidate had been suspended by the party while investigations were made into alleged Islamophobic tweets. Andrew Linnie achieved 373 votes for the Greens and the Tories won 900.

Labour held the other contested seats in Wembley Central and Barnhill.

The Conservatives had been very active in the byelections spurred on by the General Election win and are likely to be disappointed by their performance.

Georgiou will be the sole Liberal Democrat on the Council but promises robust scrutiny of Council decision making.

Greens were disappointed not to make a breakthrough into the Council chamber but will continue to provide robust opposition and scrutiny from outside.

Election result from Brent Council

Alperton
The results for each candidate are:

4,303 residents in Alperton ward cast their votes, marking a turnout of 33.99%.
Barnhill
The results for each candidate are:

2,751 residents in Barnhill ward cast their votes, marking a turnout of 21.97%.
Wembley Central
The results for each candidate are:

3,602 residents in Wembley Central ward cast their votes, marking a turnout of 27.57%.

Together in Brent Winter Festival - Saturday - Brent Civic Centre 11am to 5pm

Before you vote this evening in #Alperton #Barnhill #WembleyCentral Brent by-elections READ THIS!

Brent clarifies confusing Neighbourhood CIL consultation survey

Brent Council has clarified the Neighbourhood  Community Infrastructure Levy consultation survey. The drop-down menu on each of the areas is labelled 1 to 9. Some people had thought 9 would be the highest priority as it is the highest number. In fact the highest priority is 1 and 9 is the lowest.

This afternoon the Counncil said:

Based on the data and comments received, we are able to confidently assume that most people used number 1 to rank their highest priority. However, just to be sure we will be emailing all respondents to this consultation to clarify the ranking order and they will be invited to submit a new response which will be counted separately.

The Council amended the relevant page thus:

The closing date for the consultation is confirmed as February 5th. Link to consultation HERE

In answer to a separate query on the Annual CIL report the Council said:

To clarify, the 'n/a' which appears in some of the tables means 'not applicable' rather than 'not available'. For the avoidance of doubt we have included a clarification point at the end of the document which has been republished online. In addition, the third table of the Report includes the name of the item of infrastructure that CIL was used to fund in 18/19 - Olympic Way Pedestrian Improvements - which is linked to footnote 3.

The Olympic Way Pedestrian Improvements expenditure in 2018-19 totalled  £4,632,929 in  addition to the £815,114 Wembley Neighbourhood CIL payments.

'It ain't over yet!' Granville Carlton demonstrators expected at Planning Committee on Wednesday as planners wave aside loss of Rumi's Cave

Demonstrators will be assembling outside Brent Civic Centre tomorrow at 5.30pm  to before attending the 6pm Committee to oppose the planning application  for the Carlton-Granville Centres.

The proposals will see the charity Rumi's Cave lose its premises. Planners express sympathy in their report to the Committee but state: 
Whilst some material weight can be given to the charitable work and benefit to the community Rumi’s Cave and other organisations utilising the existing space offer, planning decisions are generally informed by the proposed land use and the development plan rather than a particular occupier of a building/land at the time of an application. The development plan should be given significant weight by the decision maker.

 A digitial petition attracted 2,199 signatories and 623 pro-forma letters were received which stated residents' views on the application.

The Report LINK states:

A digital petition at the time of the submission to council held 2,064 signatories, latest review of the petition found 2199 signatories. Signatories come from across the world, the majority outside of the South Kilburn area. 

The petition was titled: Would you like to see Rumi’s Cave continue? 

The petition web page describes how the community centre is to be closed down and turned into flats. The stated aim of the petition is “it is vital that we save our building or are given an alternative building to continue all of the work we do.” 

Rumi’s Cave is described as providing the following services: 

Food bank, Soup Kitchens and community lunches, Breakfast Clubs for school children and local residents, Night Shelter for the homeless, Tea & Chat sessions for the elderly, IT support for the elderly, Martial Arts and Yoga (Children & Adults), Language Courses, Music Lessons, Knitting & Crochet club, Mental Health support groups, Open mic and poetry sessions, Free Community movie nights, Interfaith music nights, Herbal medicine Training, Alternative Medicine Treatments. 

No planning reasons are suggested in addition to the stated objection. It is clear there is objection to loss of space for use by Rumi’s Cave/ULFA Aid, this seems to be based on the suggestion the Carlton building is to be turned into flats which is not the case. The space which Rumi’s Cave/Ulfa Aid currently occupies on a temporary short term lease is to be refurbished to primarily serve as an enterprise hub to serve the local community and was formerly an adult education centre. 

CS Policy CP23 seeks to protect existing community facilities. Whilst there is some overall loss of floorspace in community type uses, a range of facilities is proposed, and those facilities are to be redeveloped and improved. Overall the small scale loss is considered to be mitigated by the rationalised and modernised facilities. The proposals would offer significant improvement in layout, access and usability enabling much more efficient use of the community type uses on site and is considered a significant benefit of the proposals. It is therefore considered that the community facilities would be significantly improved despite the reduction in floorspace. 

Some public comment has been concerned with the net loss of community type floorspace. However, it is important to note the specific policy wording. Policy CP23 refers to the protection of community and cultural facilities or their loss mitigated where necessary. The policy does not specify that there should not be a net loss of floorspace and it is important to consider the type and nature of facilities that are proposed. In this instance there is a comparatively smalls scale loss of net floorspace within the new community facility provision. Some of the floorspace is changing. For example, the multi-use community floorspace and the community focused affordable workspace is increasing in size. The nursery and children’s centres are also increasing in size.

The space that was used as an adult education centre and has been used by Rumi’s cave in 2018 and 2019 is not being reprovided. However, overall there the community facilities are considered to be improved, benefitting the community as well as supporting the wider regeneration benefits of the South Kilburn masterplan area. 

The petitions received by the Council centred on the potential loss of space for the Rumi’s cave organisation. Rumi’s cave entered the site on a temporary arrangement in 2018. This part of the site was formerly used as an adult education centre. The South Kilburn masterplan clearly identifies the site for a range of uses including an enterprise hub, education, community space and residential development and the proposal looks to deliver those uses. The South Kilburn masterplan SPD was recently endorsed by a significant majority in a local referendum (72% of eligible resident’s voted, 84% voted in favour of the masterplan). 

Whilst some limited weight can be given to the charitable work and benefit to the community Rumi’s cave provides as a community facility use, planning decisions are informed by the proposed land use and the development plan rather than a particular occupier of a building at the time of an application. The development plan should be given significant weight by the decision maker. 

Some objection comments cite that office space demonstrated as part of the proposals fall outside the scope of community type uses. While this would be the case for standard office space let on the private market, the office space is proposed to serve a community function, with a management plan submitted which sets out how the space will be operated. A condition is proposed to secure a management plan which would ensure this space continues to serve and support the community and improve local engagement, employment and enterprise opportunities which is consistent with the objectives of the South Kilburn Masterplan SPD for this site and the Local Plan. 

Whilst some objections have focussed upon the specific parameters of the D1 use class, the policy is not referenced in terms of D1 use class. It is possible for buildings to serve a community/social infrastructure purpose without strictly being within the D1 use class as defined by The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987. The broader site has a mix of uses present currently and flexibility in the specific uses is considered to be appropriate. 

CS policy CP2 requires to plan for additional housing, which this development would contribute towards, in particular affordable housing, all units are to be affordable (affordable rent) units, which is a significant benefit of the proposals. 

Whilst officers do sincerely empathise with the challenges of finding space for charitable organisations, planning decisions are required by law to be based upon the adopted development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. 

It is notable Rumi’s cave have a short term lease arrangement, understood to expire in 2021. The Local Planning Authority (as a distinct authority from the Council, although sits within the Council) has a legal requirement to objectively assess the application on its planning merits. 

Whilst some material weight can be given to the charitable work and benefit to the community Rumi’s Cave and other organisations utilising the existing space offer, planning decisions are generally informed by the proposed land use and the development plan rather than a particular occupier of a building/land at the time of an application. The development plan should be given significant weight by the decision maker. 

Given the retention of a mix of community and social infrastructure based uses on site, plus delivery of housing the principle of development is considered acceptable and in accordance with the objectives of the development plan.