LA planners under pressure from staff shortages and subsequent unmanageable workloads

This Press Release from the  Royal Town Planning Institute may explain some issues in Brent.

A quarter of planners left the public sector between 2013 and 2020. Meanwhile, the private sector experienced an 80% increase in the number of employed planners, according to today's analysis from the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).

Budget reductions are leading to unmanageable workloads and overstretched workers in Local Planning Authorities (LPAs). Working within these conditions is taking its toll on LPAs, which are struggling to recruit and retain staff.

Responding to a survey by the RTPI, 82% of local authority planners said their employer had difficulties hiring planners in the last 12 months. 68% see competitive salaries as a key difficulty for local authorities.

Sue Bridge, President of the Royal Town Planning Institute, said: 

Budget reductions in local authorities and other public sector agencies are leading to unmanageable workloads, insufficient staff, and overstretched workers. Without a sufficient arsenal of qualified, well-resourced planners, Local Planning Authorities are unable to deliver the affordable homes, public services and critical infrastructure individuals, families, and communities need and which are so vital to our economy.

More must be done to provide adequate resourcing to the planning system. While increased planning fees would be an important first step, we do not see them as a silver bullet to meeting the capacity requirements.

Victoria Hills, Chief Executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute said: 

The planning profession faces challenges to its public image. Political narratives on both left and right frame it as a barrier to the solution to the unfolding housing crisis

There are calls for ‘planning reform’ on the national level and widespread abuse and mistreatment of planners at the local level. It comes at a detriment to the mental health and working conditions of planners.

Michaela headteacher's anti-woke rant at National Conservatism Conference

 

How much do you love your country?

Enough to tweet under your own name?

To change your child's school to one that is less woke?

To do more than chat to your friends who already agree with you at dinner parties?

For heaven's sake, man, stand up and be counted.

-@Miss_Snuffy pic.twitter.com/e3UQWoBdGg

— National Conservatism (@NatConTalk) May 15, 2023

 

The new far-right grouping headed by Suella Braverman, worryingly named 'National Conservatism' has recently attracted media attention. Suella Braverman was one of the founders of the Michaela Free School in Wembley and she invited her school co-founder Katharine Birbalsingh to speak at the conference. Braverman, daughter of an exTory councillor in Brent, was the school's first Chair of Governors.

Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre Saved?

 

Some years ago: Brent teacher unions, Brent Friends of the Earth, Brent Greens and Brent Campaign Against Climate Change fight to keep the WHEEC open 

 

A paper going to the next Brent Cabinet from officers puts forward a cross-council plan that could ensure the future of the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre after several years of doubt as to its future. Officers deserve credit for an imaginative scheme that could deliver a much enhanced programme and a new building to replace the current classrooms that are well on thew way out. There are more details to come including the future of the chapel, currently leased out, and the specific site of the new building. The papers says the classrooms will be demolished and returned to open space. The £3m capital cost will be funded from the High Needs Capital Grant.

The proposal is part of a Post-16 SEND offer:

 

It is proposed that the Post-16 Skills Resource Centre operates from two sites. The Welsh Harp Centre would be developed to provide a horticultural facility with work experience and volunteering opportunities. The second site would be based in new facilities on the Airco Close site in Kingsbury, alongside an expansion of the special school provision that is delivered by the Compass Learning Trust. An expansion of special school places had previously been planned at The Village and Woodfield Schools. Use of the Airco Close site would facilitate the Compass Learning Trust developing 14+ pathways to employment for children with SEND. The intention is that the Compass Learning Trust also operates the Horticultural Facility at Welsh Harp to bring cohesion to the offer across the two sites. However, the lease would remain with the Council which would oversee the use of the site by third sector and community organisations, including the Scouts who have shown interest in operating from the site in partnership with the Council.

 

The detailed proposals for the Welsh Harp:

3.11 The proposed Welsh Harp Horticultural Facility would provide training in horticulture, work experience, periods of volunteering and employment and enterprise development. This facility responds directly to the Borough Plan objectives ‘The Best Start in Life’ and ‘A Healthier Brent’. The proposed facility would also respond to the Council’s Climate Emergency Strategy 2021-2030, as it would provide opportunity for residents to be better connected to nature and enhance green spaces and biodiversity.

3.12 The Welsh Harp Facility would re-provide with input from the third sector the existing Environmental Education Centre that works with schools and volunteers, operating in tandem with the Welsh Harp Joint Consultative Committee and supporting development of a biodiversity centre. The facility would also support pupils from across Brent schools to engage in environmental science. It would also be able to support Brent in Bloom and the delivery of commercial contracts, again increasing the economic activity and visibility of
younger residents with disabilities.

3.13 The Welsh Harp Centre could operate as a training centre for 5 days per week and at weekends and the evenings would open to the public for wider programme of activities including supporting residents to grow their own food and learn about heathy meals alongside wider environmentally based activities.

3.14 The current building is in poor quality and at the end of its lifespan and requires significant capital investment to replace. This proposal would enable the Environmental Education programme to schools to continue to be delivered as part of the wider building use alongside the Post-16 horticultural use. The capital project to replace the building is estimated to cost £3m. This would be funded from the SEND Capital Grant (see below).

3.15 Table 1 below proposes the high-level milestones to deliver the Welsh Harp new building. More detail will be included in the capital project business case for the project.

 

  

3.16 As a revenue invest to save proposal, the Welsh Harp Centre would provide activities focused on contributing towards the following objectives, with funding allocated to activities that would directly impact on outcomes for Brent residents that can be tracked and reported on annually:

a) Independent life and work skills training and support for the post-16 SEND population resulting in a reduction in HNB expenditure through, for example, a reduction in the number of EHCPs that are maintained as young people receive training that helps them to secure employment.

b) the Public Health Outcomes Framework, and in particular indicators that improve the wider determinants of health / health inequalities, for example increasing employment opportunities for young adults with learning disabilities, addressing social isolation and loneliness and supporting the wider public to make healthy lifestyle choices. These indicators would be measured for young people and adults accessing the Centre.

c) Adult Social Care measures, specifically the proportion of adults with a learning disability in paid employment, the proportion of people with a learning disability living in their own home or with family and the proportion of people who use services who have control over their daily life.

d) NHSE outcomes including the employment of people with long-term conditions or who feel supported to manage their condition and the NHS Learning Disability and ASD long term plan.

 

Lib Dems seek more effective and independent scrutiny in Brent

 The Liberal Democrat Group have tabled an a constitutional amendment for Wednesday's Council AGM aimed at improving the independence of Scrutiny in the Labour council:

Effective Scrutiny in Brent

 

The House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee investigated the issue of “effective scrutiny” during the 2017/19 Parliamentary term.

 

Their remit of their work is in the title of the report they produced, “Effectiveness of local authors Scrutiny and Overview Committees”.

 

The Committee report: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcomloc/369/369.pdf

 

Discussed and expressed views on a number of topics including:

 

Importance of Council culture and attitude to Scrutiny

Scrutiny independence

Appointment of Chairs

Resources for Scrutiny

Officer attitude 

Reporting of Scrutiny findings & recommendations

Public perceptions

 

One of the key conclusions was that Scrutiny should be as independent of the Executive as possible and the fact that this independence should be both real and visible.

 

Councillors can read the House Commons Report and come to their own conclusions.

 

To safeguard the effectiveness and independence of the Brent Scrutiny Committees we propose the following changes to the Brent Council Constitution:

 

1. Reports of the Scrutiny Committees and Task Groups are reported to the Full Council (and not to the Executive) and if decisions are required these are taken by a vote of all Councillors present.

 

2. To ensure that individual Scrutiny Committees are not overloaded and more able to cope with the required workload. The Council will establish a Scrutiny Committee to mirror the Departmental Structure of the organisation to cover the work and responsibilities of each of the Executive Directors including the Chief Executive. If this structure is achieved the Chairs of these Scrutiny Committees will be shared between all the Groups on the Council with every Opposition Group being allocated at least one Committee to Chair.

 

3. To emphasise the independence of Scrutiny from the Executive the Chairs of Scrutiny will come from the Opposition Groups (rather than being selected the Executive or the Majority Group) and either shared between the Opposition Groups or voted on at a Full Council meeting.

Campaign launched for a low-rise sustainable development as an alternative to Ballymore's tower based proposal at Ladbroke Grove Sainsbury's site

 

We have covered several major developments on the borders of Brent because they will affect our local residents  including Brent Cross, Old Oak and O2 Centre at Finchley Road.  Now a major development of the Ladbroke  Sainsbury's site is the subject of a campaign by Kensal Triangle Residents' Association under the banner of Keep Kensal Green.

The Association wants a low rise sustainable development as an alternative to the tower blocks proposed by Ballymore and cite the Unity Place development in South Kilburn as a potential model. The campaign say that nearby residents in Brent should have been consulted:

Climate change threatens every part of the planet. The solution at local level requires collaboration between council, planners and residents.

Our mission is to promote an alternative proposal that provides affordable housing, more trees and green spaces; a plan that our local community can get engaged with that meets environmental standards

This campaign is being organised by KTRA (Kensal Triangle Residents Association) co-ordinating with the wider community in North Kensington, Ladbroke Grove and Notting Hill Gate.

We need 30,000 signatures to stop Ballymore’s existing large scale development in favour of a smaller, low rise, sustainable alternative which has the potential to provide North Kensington with attractive affordable canal-side accommodation which could be the pride of the community. (See our website for details)

 

The proposal

 

Campaigners' illustration of a possible lower rise development

Jude Allen, petition organiser and producers of the above video said:

In 2021, Ballymore announced a strategic partnership with Sainsbury’s to build “Project Flourish”, a £1.7 billion regeneration scheme with 3,500 housing units on the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s last remaining brownfield site.

This large scale development which stretches over 18 acres from Ladbroke Grove to North Kensington, features a bigger Sainsbury's surrounded by 20-30 storey high tower blocks, completely at odds with the low rise residential housing of the surrounding area. 

As a local resident, I made the video to provide more information about the development and raise awareness about its potential impact on our local community and the environment.

If we don't stop this development there will be increased traffic, more pollution, 10 years of noisy construction work and following the Southall Gasworks health scare reported in the Guardian on 27, April 2023, potential health risks to local residents from digging up contaminated land on the historical Kensal Gasworks site.

We only have 2 months left to object to this development before Ballymore submit their planning application to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea at the end of June.  

 PETITION SITE

Lib Dems propose new Consultative Group for Barham Park to scrutinise Trustees' decisions

The Barham Park Trust Committee has often been under scrutiny, most recently  over its role in the current proposal to build 4 3 storey houses in Barham Park.  Currently the Committee is made up of Cabinet members, chaired by Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt,

The Brent Liberal Democrat Group is proposing an amendment to the Brent Council constitution, to be heard at the AGM on Wednesday, that would make the Trustees more accounable to local people and improve transparency.

 

Barham Park used to be the home of a number of local benefactors - from 1801 until 1872 by the Copland family and from mid 1890s until 1937 by the Barham family.

 

The Copland sisters built a local cottage hospital, a local church school, a training institute and library and paid for the building of St John’s Church on the Sudbury end of Wembley High Road.

 

The Barham family, who created Express Dairies, owned farms and businesses in the local area and throughout London. Titus Barham contributed land and money to the Sylvester Road Tennis & Squash Club, a Snooker Club in Harrow Road (both are still active 100 years later), raised money and provided the land for Wembley Hospital. Barham Primary school sits on former Barham farmland.

 

Titus Barham was to be the first Charter Mayor of newly formed Wembley Borough Council but sadly died on the very day the Charter was due to be awarded in July 1937.

 

His greatest bequest to our area was however the gift of his substantial Home and Gardens for the “enjoyment of local people”. That gift became Barham Park, and it is where the Barham Veterans Club was created in 1946 and Barham Park Library opened in 1952.

 

The Veterans Club still exists but the public library was closed in 2011.

 

Most of the rest of the buildings have been leased to ACAVA for 29 artist studios. Barham Community Library run by volunteers moved into part of the building in 2016 and Nepalese ex Gurkha organisation now occupy another part.

 

The Council holds the Charitable endowment through the Barham Park Charity. The 5 Trustees of this charity are members of the Council Executive.

 

The Park and its buildings are part of the Council’s Parks portfolio. Because of the bequest the Council holds the Park on Trust for the benefit of local people.

 

The Park and its buildings are in need of investment. In recent years there have been long running deliberations on what needs doing with very little progress.

 

The Barham Park Trust Committee meets infrequently, and decisions made by officers under delegated authority are in effect dealt in secret without any effective scrutiny.

 

Despite the Park being gifted for the enjoyment of local people - local people are not involved and feel neglected.

 

To address this we resolve to:

 

Create a Barham Park Consultative Group with the role of oversight and scrutiny of the management of the Park and its buildings.

The Group will be supported by officers of the Council and meet 4 times per year.

 

The membership will be chosen from representatives of local residents and current tenants of the building. Local Councillors will be able to attend but not have any voting rights. The chair of the Group will be elected from the resident members.

 

The main purpose of the Group will be to scrutinise the running and management of the Park and its buildings, review decisions proposed by the Trustees and Officers and to make suggestions and raise any issues.

 

The full terms of reference for the Group to be drafted by legal officers and agreed at an early meeting of the Constitutional Working Group.

 

Proposed by the Brent Liberal Democrat Group

The Left and the Labour Party After Jeremy Corbyn - Kensal Rise Library, Saturday May 20th 2pm-3.30pm

 

 

Dr Mike Phipps will be in conversation with Professor Alex Colas about Mike’s book Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow: The Labour Party after Jeremy Corbyn (OR Books, 2022).

With time for Q and A and contributions from the floor.

 

 

 

Much has been written about the four and a half years of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party, but far less analysis has appeared on the tumultuous events since. This discussion will consider the reasons behind Labour’s 2019 defeat, from longer term factors like the international decline of social democracy and the loss of long-held Labour seats in the post-industrial ‘red wall’, to more immediate issues such as the leadership of Corbyn, the role played by Brexit, and Labour’s policies and campaign. We  will also look at how the left stands since then and what it needs to do to regain its sense of purpose.

 

Time; 2pm – 3.30pm

 

Date: Saturday May 20th

 

Venue: The Dave Williams Room, Kensal Rise Library, Bathurst Gardens, London NW10.

Nearest stations: Kensal Green; Kensal Rise. Buses: 187, 6, 52, 302, 18.

 

Refreshments provided.

 

Mike Phipps is a member of Brent Central Labour Party and of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy Executive Committee. He is co-editor of the Labour Hub website.

 

Alex Colas teaches international politics at Birkbeck, University of London and is political education officer for Brent Central Labour Party.

 

Signed copies of the book, which can also be ordered at https://www.orbooks.com/catalog/dont-stop-thinking-about-tomorrow/, will be available on the day.

Brent Tory Councillor puts a brake on ULEZ protest

 

A senior Conservative councillor, well known as the 'motorist's champion', has slapped down a proposal by Brent North Conservative members to stage a protest about the ULEZ extension, at Brent Council's Annual General Meeting, on Wednesday.

They were told in no uncertain terms that the AGM, dominated by the formal induction of a new Mayor and Deputy, was an occasion where a demonstration was not the 'done thing'.

The Ultra Low Emission Zone expansion is due to come into effect on August 29th,