Learie Constantine Centre

A piece of good news coming up is the redevelopment of the Learie Constantine Centre which came up at the last Executive.  The plan is for a renewed centre with some additional housing which should boost that part of Willesden High Road.

Liberal Democrat Bar Charts

For those looking for light relief on this Tuesday morning, these examples of Liberal Democrat bar charts may be worth looking at.  This sort of thing is practised by the Liberal Democrats at every election.  Indeed, I suspect they have a standard handbook, which includes standard steps you always have to use, no matter what:

1) Always make personal attacks on your opponent(s). Truth is unimportant. Imply everyone else is on the fiddle in some way.
2) Always imply that your opponent(s) come from some place other than the constituency, and that you are local.  This is very much a Sarah Teather favourite.  She tries this smear even when her opponents actually live in the constituency.  Ken Livingstone once argued that Sarah Teather could be described as the most local candidate of all, since she had previously described herself as "local" in elections in Barnet, Brighton and Islington.
3) Always claim that the election is a two horse race, and that the gap is closing in the last week of the campaign.  This can be done even if the Liberal Democrats are widely recognised not to have any hope of winning.

As well as these generic, I have listed some more Brent specific examples here.

Street Trees on Buchanan Gardens

I have just walked down Buchanan Gardens on the way to an appointment at Gracelands Cafe.  The trees are well established now, but I remember the controversy in 2006 when their predecessors were removed.  The previous trees had all been London Planes, which were the subject of numerous insurance claims for undermining peoples' houses.  The new ones are much smaller.  Although it was a big kerfluffle at the time, I don't think I have had any complaints since.

Local Government Litany

Each morning I get an email summarising news reports on local government from the LGiU.  Today, even more than usual, it is a litany of woe.

The most depressing part of it is the Guardian's report on homelessness, which is rising massively thanks to the government's benefit cuts. Huge numbers of families are being forced out of their communities.  As so many people are being made homeless, the bill for the taxpayer is being pushed upwards instead of downwards.  Even more depressing than these facts, is the government minister's reaction, which is to deny that there is any problem.  He must know that this is untrue, but for this government really appears to believe what they can get reported in the papers rather than what actually happens.  It reminds me of an old joke about Brezhnev. Brezhnev was on a train that stopped moving.  He told his staff to paint all the windows black, and tell the passengers it was still going forward.

Brent Civic Centre Opening

Brent Civic Centre will open to the public from 10 June.  Council staff are moving in in a staggered process from the end of May.  The long awaited Wembley Library will be open from 17 June.  I believe the official opening of the whole complex is set for October.

Altogether, the development has taken a decade and more from conception to starting. As well as making narrow financial and environmental sense, it is a great vote of confidence in the regeneration of Wembley.

Falling Police Numbers in London

Left Foot Forward has a story on Boris Johnson's cuts to police numbers despite his promises to maintain them.  I don't understand how he is able to maintain his Teflon reputation.

Improved Waste Management in Brent

Although we are still finding new ways to improve waste collection in Brent, it is worth pausing to look back on how far we have come since 2009/10.

The amount of landfill collected by Brent has fallen by about 15,000 tons per year, which has saved the taxpayer about £1.5 million.  That is a better improvement than any of our West London neighbours.  Tonnage per household has also slipped downward, and of course the proportion of recycling is much greater at about 43%, compared to about 30% under the Liberal Democrats.

UPDATE

The comment below is factually incorrect. By 2006, when Labour left office last time, Brent's recycling rate was more than 20%.  The Liberal Democrats managed to increase it by about 1.5% a year despite much more benign circumstances.  The very big increase since 2011 is overwhelmingly down to the introduction of alternate weekly collections, which are used by almost all of the  UK's most successful recycling authorities.