Composting Workshop

Gardeners may be interested in the composting workshop on 7 May.  It is being held in the Welsh Harp education centre off Birchen Grove.

School Improvements

The LGiU have recently published a study into how local authorities can help with school improvements.  Apparently, it has occurred to Whitehall that the proliferation of academies will mean that there are so many schools that Whitehall simply can't superintend them effectively.  Hence, Whitehall is thinking about creating a middle tier of authorities.  This sounds awfully like a set of local education authorities.  Let us hope that they have some form of democratic accountability (They might even think of electing people in public elections and calling them councillors).

Electric Cars

The Economist has an interesting, albeit American based, discussion on whether electric cars are really good for climate change.  At present, Brent assumes that they are and takes modest steps to promote them by requiring charging points in new planning applications or through our emission based permits.  The Economist argues (a) that it will be a long time before they become economically viable (b) that their environmental benefits are dependent on the energy mix of the grid and the time at which the vehicles are charged.

Failures of Boris

Dave Hill comes out strongly against Boris Johnson here.  What strikes me about Johnson is that his libertarian views seem to be restricted to people like himself.  When it comes to poor people, the Tory Party are quite happy to order them about.  This can take lots of different forms, perhaps the worst is in social housing where people can be forced to completely different parts of the country.  I can't imagine any Tory saying to a rich person that being housed in Westminster is a privilege not a right.

Re ward

West London Waste Authority has started a Re ward scheme to encourage re use through a kind of loyalty card for environmental businesses.  The scheme is being pioneered in Brent and Richmond, but (if it works) could be rolled out across West London.  More details can be found here.

Addison Lee and Boris Johnson

Coming rather late to Addison Lee's scrap with London cyclists, I can't help but notice that it undermines Mayor Johnson's public image as a more liberal sort of Tory.  When it comes to making life convenient for a Tory donor he seems to lose all his pro-cyclist credentials.  Undoubtedly,  our roads would be improved by rejecting Addison Lee's car only approach.  Before Johnson came to power, traffic planning worked with a road user hierarchy that put pedestrians at the top and motor vehicles at the bottom (as Brent's own Placemaking guide still does).  This would improve road safety, but could also make our Town Centres more attractive, as is the hope in Harlesden.

For those not familiar with Addison Lee's demands, the background is here.

Exporting Rent Inflation

More analysis on the forthcoming housing disaster, this time from a non-London perspective, here.  The predicted strains on social infrastructure may well lead to increased tension and help extremist parties.  However, Boroughs like Newham really don't have much choice under the rules the government has devised.  If Grant Shapps wants to prevent this, he needs to heed the calls of those like Ken Livingstone who call for rent control. 

Worse then the 1930s

The sheer scale of the government's incompetence is well conveyed by Paul Krugman here.  The choking off of the economic recovery was of course wdely predicted as a consequence of the government's strategy of austerity without growth.

Housing and the London Mayor

Inside Housing has a survey of the housing ideas of the Mayoral candidates.  There are quite a number of good ideas there, but what strikes me is that the incumbent, Mayor Johnson, seems to offer pretty much nothing except a bit of misleading spin.  As with other Johnson promises, we can assume nothing will happen as a result.

Meanwhile, Grant Shapps simply denies the existence of a problem in London.  London Councils are exporting people outside London, because the government's housing benefit cap gives them no choice.  The entirely predictable result of this will be more unemployment as people are moving to areas with existing job shortages, more political unrest as local communities in poor areas blame newcomers for joblessness  and "social cleansing" in richer parts of the country.

More detail can be found on how the Conservative Government has engineered this crisis can be found here.

Street Cleaning in Wendover Road

We have been devoting a lot of effort to trying to improve the cleanliness of the streets around Tubbs Road and Wendover Road.  Many residents find the state of these streets frustrating, but I think improving them will be a matter iof gradual progress, because they are what some people call a wicked problem.

The central problem is the high footfall of people going to Willesden Junction, coupled with the ease with which litter can blow off Harlesden High Street.  Currently, the streets get cleaned once a week with a second round of litter picking.  The Junction Association are organising a community clean up day, which is partly paid for by ward working money. 

In the longer term, the Council is looking at how to improve the cleanliness of Station Road and HJarklesden High Street, which should have knock on benefits for the streets immediately off them.  The new bin collection system should have improved the litter problem, since the blue bins have lids whereas the old green boxes did not.  Hence, litter could blow out of the green boxes more easily. 

How Long Can Hunt Last?

For the moment, David Cameron appears to be sticking to Jeremy Hunt, but I suspect the Culture Secretary will go before the local elections on 3 May.  He is appearing before the Commons, and (if the reports in the Guardian are true) I don't see how his continuation in office can fail to be a liability for the Conservative Party.

Conservative Government Leads to Disaster

It appears that the present Tory Government and their Liberal Democrat underlings have led the UK into the first double dip recession this country has had since the 1970s.  This means we are significantly worse off than the USA, and even than the Eurozone.  Surely proff that George Osborne's austerity programme has fundamentally failed.

Leadership

One of the more bizarre musings on leadership skills I have read can be found here.  Recently, as part of the entirely artifical concern over regulating leaflet distribution, Brent Council has been accused of being Stalinist.  I thought this was a term of abuse, but given that the accusation came from someone on the extreme left perhaps it was intended as a compliment.

It came up again at the Executive last night, when a number of attended about Willesden Library and the leaflet regulations.  These people then left before hearing the reports on such minor issues as school places or the increasing numbers of homeless in the Borough.  The BBC reported this morning that Newham has been trying to send people to Stoke on Trent.  This is going to become increasingly common as local authorities (including Brent) struggle to cope with the housing benefit changes.

Fryent Country Park

I gather that the last Willesden ACF was told of a mysterious plot to build on Fryent Country Park.  I always wonder how these rumours get started, and why people believe them so readily.  Every so often some one invents a story about a park being built on, as they did a while ago about Hazel Road Open Space.  In fact, it is so difficult to build on a park in terms of political controversy and planning law that it would be virtually impossible.  Certainly, no one is going to build on Fryent Country Park, but why do people believe these stories so readily?

The Irresistible Lure of Libraries

Tonight Brent Council's Executive is meeting which is unfortunate since it probably means I wion't be able to attend the celebration of World Book Night at Willesden Library Centre.  I gather we are likely to have speakers on Willesden Library, despite the fact that we aren't having a report on the subject.  It really is amazing how the topic of libraries seems to engross so much attention.

How to Invent a Campaign

The last few days have seen a flurry of concern around Monday's proposals to tighten up regulation of leafleting.  It is a striking example of how misinformation can be used to invent a campaign out of nothing.

The actual report merely adjusts the existing rules.  The Council has a system to license people leafletting in certain busy locations.  Previously the fee was 66 pounds, the proposal is for the fee to go to 75 pounds. The legislation regulating this has an exemption for charities, religious organisations and leafletting for political purposes.

The mischief started with the Willesden & Brent Times leading with a story that gave the impression that this was an entirely new set of rules, and glossing over the exemptions.  What is striking is that I personally spoke to the reporter and told her that "political purposes" meant a variety of political campaigns, not just political parties.  Martin Francis is therefore misinformed when he suggests otherwise.  Of course, as the exemption is written into the Act of Parliament concerned, Brent Council can't change it even if it wanted to.

YouGov Poll Gives Labour a 13 Point Lead

Good news for Labour supporters in the latest poll.  This is the biggest lead Labour has had in any poll for five years. 

Public Lending Right and Libraries

The bookseller reports on a problem with volunteer run libraries that I had not thought of in my previous post; they don't pay public lending right.  Who would have thought that a Conservative government would want to promote copyright infringement?

Rucklidge Avenue Anti-Social Behaviour

The corner of Rucklidge Avenue and Park Parade has been the focus of anti-social behaviour for some time, but I think the two planning applications coming up for the Green Man and the old Willesden Social Club might have the potential to help. 

Reducing the number of flats at the Green Man (as the plans propose) should reduce its potential to have overflowing bins, and hence.  Having a building on the site of the old Social Club will rob squatters and ne'er-do-wells of a place to congragate.  It should also help create nature overlooking for the area by DesignWorks, where there have been complaints of people hanging around.  Progress on both these sites has been slow.  I first started a petition to sort out the Willesden Social Club back in 2005.  If the current applications are rejected it is likely to be a long time before any new solution comes forward, so it is important to look at both of them carefully and in a spirit of compromise.

Community Libraries Failing in Lewisham

Figures from Lewisham continue to show much reduced activity at their "community libraries".  They contrast with a broadly static picture for the Lewisham Library service as a whole.  My suspicion is that the library services in these buildings will gradually decline, and they will be taken over for other purposes.  If so, it seems like a very slow and expensive way to transfer buildings to the private sector.