Preston Library Development Controversy

Interesting take from Martin Francis on the proposed "Preston Library" development.  It sounds like a stormy and difficult meeting, not least because of the inaccurate statements being made.  In particular Cllr Hirani should know better than to condemn the Brent Libraries Transformation Project since as a member of the Labour Group at the time he repeatedly voted for it. Cllr Kennelly's position is more forgivable since he was not a councillor back in 2011 and is presumably relying on inaccurate reports.  However, his reported comments seem to be somewhat inconsistent.

Turning Down the CLG
Also interesting to have the CLG SoS ask the Planning Committee not to decide that night.  That seems like an ultra low level for an SoS to operate on.  It can't be based on the DCMS duty of supervision of libraries duty since (a) the Preston building is not part of the Library statutory service (b) that would be the job of the DCMS Secretary. 

It could be based on a planning ground, but I can't imagine what.  I think it is unhelpful if the Committee did, as in Martin's report, tell the public it was some kind of provisional decision which wasn't binding as I don't think that is really arguable under Brent's own rules (in which case he may have exposed the Council to a judicial review).

The final possibility I can think of is that someone at the CLG thinks that there is something decidedly about the way this whole development is being handled.  The relatively small group running the "Library" has been given £258,000 grant by the Council, which dwarfs most of tits budget, and is reported to be expected a 49 year peppercorn rent.  The amount of money going into such a small organisation seems to be disproportionate since the only publicly available figure about the number of users suggests that it managed 663 users in one month in 2015.  I have suggested that this might be annualised to about 8,000/yr.   Compare that to the usage of Brent public library at (say) Kilburn of about 200,000 per year.

Decline in Behavior
The reported raucous behavior of the audience is sadly a return to the way the library litigants behaved at various previous hearings and decision meetings.  There were a num,ber of incident when they just shouted at people.  In that respect, the 2011-12 process was somewhat reminiscent of the increasingly nasty behavior being normalised on twitter.  Of course, it did no good when the case was decided in the Council's favour by the High Court. 

I am saddened, but not surprised to find that Committee members made no effort to stick up for officers, who are just giving professional advice, and should not be subject to abuse as a result.