Harrow Road Footpath

I have written to LOROL, the train operator at Willesden Junction station, asking whether an electronic noticeboard can be put at the top of the steps on Harrow Road (where you access the footpath). This might save people the trouble of going down to the ticket office only to find the trains cancelled, as has happened to me occasionally

Newspaper Silence

Bertha Joseph's elevation on the London Fire Authority (LFEPA) hasn't attracted the notice it deserves.

There is some mention on blogs. Brian Coleman (aka Mr Toad) reports on it here. Tory Troll has a piece here. However, the press at large don't seem to have covered it. Even the Evening Standard haven't reported the actual result of the meeting. It demonstrates how threadbare newspaper coverage of local politics is. Given Boris Johnson's monstering of Ken Livingstone over sleaze, his support for these disgraced appointees is an outstanding act of hypocrisy which I would have thought any good journalist would want to cover.

Going Green in Kensal Green?

In the Summer Bobby Thomas persuaded Louis Theroux to help us advertise some “Going Green in Kensal Green” recyclable bags. This was another proposal under Neighbourhood Working. The idea was to encourage people to stop using plastic carrier bags as well as to encourage the use of local shops in Harlesden Town Centre.

It is certainly a popular idea. Everyone I explain it to likes it. However, I don’t see too many of the bags themselves in use. Now, we are having to decide whether or not to go ahead with a second stage, distributing them on a much bigger scale. Was the small scale of the pilot the problem, or is it just the kind of idea people like in theory but not so much in practice?

Harlesden Town Centre Update

Yesterday I went to a meeting of the Harlesden Town Centre Partnership, chaired by my Harlesden Labour colleague Cllr Janice Long.

It appears that Brent Council is likely to get some money to consult on finding ways to moderate the traffic problems in Harlesden. The actual works would not take place until 2012, so it is going to be one of those long drawn out things. The sort of ideas that might be considered might include removing the Harlesden City Challenge Buildouts, removing railings, greater uniformity in street furniture and improvements to the pavements.

One of the more radical ideas that might be considered would be shared surfaces. This means removing the distinction between pavements and roads entirely, and relying on drivers to make eye contact with pedestrians and deferring to them. I am not sure that would work in a Harlesden context. Shared surfaces have also drawn a lot of criticism from various disabled groups who are concerned about safety.

One other minor improvement is that apparently the ATM "privacy boxes" are going to be repainted, which should reduce robbery.

Liberal Democrat Neglect

Krupesh Hirani, who is standing in Dudden Hill ward for Labour, comments on Liberal Democrat neglect in the Church End area here. Not by coincidence, one of the Lib Dem councillors is Cllr Pawan Gupta, who I heard saying at a recent meeting that he had only tried to contact the Dudden Hill Safer Neighbourhood Team twice in three years, without success.

Navin Shah on Buses

Navin Shah, the London Assembly member for Brent & Harrow, is asking for people to write to him if they spot worsening bus services anywhere in the Borough. This follows Boris Johnson plans to cut bus journeys in London by 26 million kilometres and reduce funding by 37%. This while ramping up fares.

Navin can be written to at Navin Shah, City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, London, SE1 2AA, called at 020 7983 4377 or emailed at navin.shah@london.gov.uk

Kensal Green Tube Alterations

I have been asked about the building works at Kensal Green Tube (i.e. the Bakerloo station, not the Overground at Kensal Rise). The contractors are strengthening the overrail bridge. They will not be installing disabled access, and the green space they currently occupy will be restored once they finish.

Hazel Road Open Space

Yesterday's post about Gladstone Park has reminded me about a rumour I heard a while ago that Hazel Road Open Space was going to be built on. If anyone still believes this, don't. There is no application. Any effort to build on public green space would cause mass opposition. Finally, the park is located immediately above two tunnels carrying the Bakerloo and DC lines from Kensal Green Tube station. The cost of strengthening the tunnels would put any project out of the running.

Boris' Dynamic Team

Conservative Home has a rather different perspective to mine on the recent coup in the London Fire Authority HERE. Among other things it says:

"As part of Boris' dynamic team Brian is determined to ensure that this opportunity is used to progress crucial modernisation programmes, some of which have fallen foul of political wrecking tactics by the Lib-Lab pact in recent months. London Fire was the first fire authority to secure an emergency cover contract after government abolished army support and the Green Goddesses, and as the first fire chairman to advocate a pay freeze for members and officers Brian and London Fire were ahead of the curve when David Cameron proposed the same at the recent party conference. Other programmes, such as the modernisation of shift patterns, are now able to be progressed."

There are so many issues here that is it is hard to know where to begin. There is no mention of Bertha Joseph's suspension as a councillor, or her venial character. The stuff about "political wrecking tactics" seems pretty rich coming from a party exploiting a defector and two suspended councillors to maintain a one vote majority. The description of Brian Coleman as "the first fire chairman to advocate a pay freeze for members and officers" made me laugh out loud given his record of expense claims, but best of all was the description of the said Brian Coleman as "part of Boris' dynamic team."

I attach a picture of the dynamic one below.

Steve Reed on the London Fire Authority

Steve Reed, the Labour Leader of Lambeth Council, has posted on the London Fire Authority shenanigans here.

Gladstone Park Town Green

A few weeks ago, Brent Council finally responded to a 2007 request to make Gladstone Park into a Town Green. A Town Green is exempt from being built on. Happily no one is planning to build on Gladstone Park, unless you count any minor works required in an upgrade of Dollis Hill House. What surprised me was the grounds of refusal. To create a Town Green, you need to prove that the area has been used for sports and recreation for at least twenty years. I hadn't realised that the permission of the landowner was important. The Council refused the Town Green request on the ground that Brent Council had given permission for recreation and sports in Gladstone Park ever since the Park was opened in 1900.

Liberal Democrat Publicity Bills

To relieve the gloom of those worried by Brent Council sliding down the league tables under its Liberal Democrat "leadership", I decided to link to another Taxpayers Alliance story here. No doubt that Cllr Paul Lorber will be proud that he has put Brent Council fourth in the whole country for the rate at which the local authority he leads is increasing the rate of spending on publicity. It is all a bit of a change from when the Liberal Democrats were in opposition, as you can see from this (rather crumpled) Lib Dem leaflet from 2005/6.



Featuring the late Rocky Fernandez, who at the time appeared slated as a Liberal Democrat candidate in Queens Park, it implies that cutting back on Council publicity will lead to more money being spent on clearing up dumped rubbish. I take it that means that the Liberal Democrats' decision to increase Council publicity is leading to more flytipping and dumped rubbish in the Borough.

Council / Police Co-operation

As mentioned earlier, I went to a Council / Police Co-operation meeting last night. The most surprising aspect of this was when a Liberal Democrat councillor annonced that in his three years as a councillor, he had twice phoned the local Safer Neighbourhood Team and they had not responded.

How on earth can he have been a councillor for three years without talking to his Safer Neighbourhood Team? I am constantly talking to the Kensal Green Safer Neighbourhood Team _ about problems in Hazel Road and Bramston Road, street drinking, needles on Avenue Road, problems around school kids on Park Parade, and so on. I see them at the ward panels, residents' meetings, the Area Consultative Forums, street surgeries and walkabouts.

What does he do as a councillor that he can contrive to avoid them?

Sleaze at the London Fire Authority

Boris Johnson's cronies at the London Fire Authority (LFEPA) get ever more unedifying. A Labour defector and two suspended Tory councillors (including Brent's Bertha Joseph) have used their votes to give the Tories a one vote majority.

Brian Coleman, who is possibly even more revolting than Bertha Joseph, will use this majority to push through various controversial measures in defiance of workforce opposition. This includes changing shift patterns, removing beds in fire stations, removing diversity officers, and installing a new private entrance at the LFEPA headquarters at I don't know what expense. Only yesterday, I went to a meeting with the police where they emphasised the necessity of understanding diversity issues when dealing with a community like Brent.

Bertha's payoff in all this is get appointed Deputy Chair, where she will will recieve an enhanced allowance to partly make up for what Brent is no longer paying her following her suspension.

Tubbs Road Allotments

I have come across a potentially big problem with the proposed food growing project between Tubbs Road and Willesden Junction. The Well London project was intending to use the land for a series of grow bags. Unfortunately a soil test has shown heavy metal contamination. I am still trying to find out whether this is fixable. There are lots of sites in London with previous industrial or railway uses, so it is not out of the question. The other problems with the Council taking over the site are mainly legal and money based, although apparently there is also some Japanese knotweed there.

Bertha Joseph and the LFEPA

The Evening Standard covers the continuing membership of the London Fire Authority here. It is obviously all about raw politics of a knife edge majority. After all if Bertha Joseph is judged unsuitable to exercise the office of Borough councillor, how can she be an appropriate person to be on the London Fire Authority?

Liberal Democrat Council Tax U-turn

The Taxpayers Alliance has an interesting view on the Liberal Democrat led Brent Council HERE. Apologies for the elderliness of the link, but it still holds interest. Normally, I would be reluctant to quote from this organisation which I suspect is a Tory front, but the story is based on the Evening Standard story HERE.

Since the Council Tax is one of the few parts of their income that Councils actually control, there are plenty of good reasons why any sensible Council Leader would want to retain flexibility. Indeed the Tories' decision to more or less impose a freeze makes David Cameron's professed belief in localism meaningless.

Nevertheless, not so long ago Cllr Paul Lorber and other Brent Liberal Democrats embraced a different attitude to freezing the Council Tax as you can see from this piece of 2006 election literature.

Tubbs Road: Some Sort of Answer

The answers to questions at Brent's Full Council meeting back in July have finally been put on the web site. Among them is a question covering Tubbs Road.

Unfortunately, the answer suggests that Tubbs Road is used "mainly by local traffic" and that the width restriction is widely known about. I think both these convictions are wrong. I think a lot of the traffic is going through to get to the A40. I also have been told be residents that heavy lorries routinely get stuck at the width restriction, as they don't realise it is there. Possibly downgrading the road from an A road to a B road might get it off peoples' GPS systems (apparently it is incorrectly identified as a through route without any width restriction.

Still, it is heartening to learn that the Harlesden Town Centre traffic scheme is being put in for next year. I will be interested to see the details.

Brent Council Drifting

I often complain that the Liberal Democrat / Tory coalition running Brent Council suffers from a sense of drift. One example of this is recycling. When the Liberal Democrats tried to form a coalition in 2006, they circulated a proposal that prioritised waste minimisation. That policy was quietly forgotten.

The officers decided to introduce compulsory recycling instead. The compulsory element is something of a red herring, as the most effective part of the policy is the doorknocking to educate people on what and how to recycle. The very high turnover of the population in Brent implies that this education programme will have to be regularly renewed, although the Lib Dems and Tories don’t seem to have acknowledged this yet.

A second thing that I only recently heard Cllr Irwin Van Colle (The Tory in charge of Environment policy) admit was that Brent Council might very well fail to meet its 40% target for recycling next year. He seemed quite unconcerned that this might happen, and had no plan to avoid it. All that I could get was a promise from one of the officers to come up with some options by the middle of next year (i.e. after the local elections). It looks awfully like just loading problems on to your successors, in the same way the Lib Dems are with the Crest Academies.

Comments Policy

Following the furious comments left about disgraced councillor Bertha Joseph, I have restored the ability to comment on each post. At least for the moment, I am going to moderate the comments before publication to make sure nothing libellous or grossly offensive gets published. Essentially, I will be like the Editor of a newspaper letters page. I won't necessarily agree with comments that are posted but I will block anything that is grossly offensive.

Also, it would be rather more courageous of the individuals (or individual?) posting to sign with a name rather than just "anonymous".