Willesden Green Library Planning Update

Boris Johnson has approved the planning application to rebuild the Willesden Green Library Centre, so the last remaining obstacle is the Town Green application.  Although the inspector has recommended against this, the decision is not yet made.  If the application is rejected, work can finally begin on rebuilding the Library Centre.

Kilburn Library Garden

I was recently alerted to some ongoing issues around the garden at Kilburn Library.  I hope these will get resolved fairly easily, as they seem to consist mainly of minor building works.  Altogether, I think the Kilburn Library refurbishment has been a huge success.

Sieghart Review on Lending

I am glad that the Sieghart review on elending is out , and that it is so concise and sensible.  Affirming the importance that electronic lending be both free and possible remotely are both major steps forward.  It is also to be welcomed as an official statement that ebooks are an essential part of a modern library service.  Of course, it hasn't solved the problem of what is the model for lending, and how do you ensure an adequate return for publishers, but the suggestion that the market needs to experiment seems a sensible one.

Altogether, the review strikes me as unalloyed good news.

Universal Credit Failing Already

The BBC reports that the pilots for universal credit are being delayed.  My understanding is that the software for the system has not even been tested yet, which makes implementation almost impossible.  However, government ministers has invested so much political capital in this doomed scheme that they don't feel able to draw back.

Clearing Trains at Queens Park

A number of residents have raised the issue of trains being cleared at Queens Park.

The old system was that station staff would clear the trains that terminated there.  This was ended recently, and tannoy announcements relied on.  There were complaints that as the trains were not specifically cleared, people were sometimes driven into the sidings, and I have heard anecdotes of people getting out of the sidings and walking on to the tracks.

The train drivers thought this was so dangerous that they started clearing the trains themselves.  However, this led to operational delays. The whole thing was escalating with threats of industrial action.

With the help of Navin Shah, I have been investigating this.  I understand that the RMT and ASLEF are now working with TfL to get possible solutions together rather than go to industrial action.

However, I think all this is very concerning.  The amount of money that TfL hope to save cannot compensate for reduced safety, or probably even the disruption to the network.

Libraries Promoting Reading

There is some interesting research on how bookshops promote a reading culture.  It argues that browsing is essential to getting people to read books, and seldom occurs online.  This seems counterintuitative, as an Internet search engine should be the perfect mechanism for serendipitous discovery.  I suspect that there is something about the physical feel of a book that makes physical browsing attractive in a way that sitting in front of a computer is not.  The article also argues that the demise of a bookshop does not mean that it's sales migrate to other channels; most of them just stop.

This seems to me to have an important message for libraries, where you can browse all day for free.  Currently, some writers and publishers seem to assume that leading cannibalises their sales, but it seems quite possible that municipal libraries are actually doing exactly what their Victorian founders intended, promoting reading among people who would otherwise not.  If so, the book industry should be trying to think of ways to promote libraries and forge links with them.

UPDATE

In response to the comment:

The Willesden bookshop was a business which was suffering from the same pressures as other bookshops, not least its sister outlet on Kilburn High Road.  As a frequent user of bookshops, I greatly regret the decline of physical bookshops, but it seems to me that many of the attractions of a good bookshop can also be seen in a library.  One reason that bookshops are said to be in decline is that people browse a book in the shop, but buy it on the Internet.  Why not browse and try out books via libraries?

Incidentally, the juxtaposition of the Willesden bookshop next to Willesden library for so many years is a point against the Terry Deary argument that they are in competition.

The fact that the bookshop was struggling, the cinema closed and the cafe also closed suggests to me that the existing building is not well designed for retail use.  I have remarked before that the frontage does not entice people in.

Continuing Cuts in Local Government

The Guardian has extensive coverage of cuts in local government today.  I notice that the only people arguing that the cuts make no difference are Tory government ministers.  Tories actually in local government are frank that the sector cannot cope with even more battering.  What makes it worse is that the incoherent plethora of welfare changes that the government has unleashed is about to hit organisations that are already reeling.

Polly Toynbee argues that creating chaos in local government is actually Tory policy, and I believe her.

Brent Libraries Online

A recent DCMS study found that the number of adults physically visiting public libraries is falling very sharply, while the number visiting library web sites is going up.  In other words, the online side of the library service is becoming more and more important too its users.

This was one of the things we sought to address in our Libraries Transformation Project.  The Brent Council web site has been dramatically revamped.  Brent libraries have online options to search the catalogue, borrow an ebook, read a variety of periodicals, practice for driving test theory or the UK citizenship test, access reference works, check up the Brent book blog and other social media, or use the archives services.

Most of this is all pretty traditional library functions, but made more accessible by being online, so it is frustrating that some people still seem to see improved online services as a threat, and want everything to remain as it was in their childhood.

Update on Former Willesden Social Club

A new application has been put in for the former Willesden Social Club.  However, it is very similar to the permission already granted, as can be seen here.  I do find it frustrating that this land has been derelict for so long, and that the new application requires another delay.

Borrowing Without Walls

The debate around libraries seems to be moving on bit from just being about buildings at the expense of books, but I still don't get a sense that people realise how library services are now being accessed outside the actual buildings. Using the book issue figures up to the end of February, we can see that almost one in four issues by Brent library services does not involve stepping inside a building at all.

Online renewals account for 11.6% of total book issues.  The outreach service _ that brings books to all kinds of other events and institutions _ accounts for a further 6.3%.  Phone renewals make up a further 2.7%, and our home delivery service for severely disabled people a further 2.6%.  Whilst ebook lending gets lots of hype, it actually accounts for only 0.5% of loans.  Of course, it is important that libraries engage with ebooks as they become the dominant form of book provision, but we also need to recognise that library services outside Council owned buildings is now part of the conventional model.

Wrottesley Road Traffic Lights Restored

I am glad to see that the power failure at the Wrottesley Road traffic lights has now been repaired.  Well done to TfL for getting on to the fault quickly.

Archbishop 105

I keep hearing the BBC refer to the new Archbishop of Canterbury as the Church of England's 105th head.  I would have thought that Thomas Cranmer was the first head of the Church of England in that sense (and the last to get papal approval, oddly).  The new Archbishop would therefore fall well short of 105 as head of the Church of England, although he may well be the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury.

Willesden Junction Station Approach at last

Willesden Junction Station Approach finally has work under way.  Unfortunately, this means that the 487 and 220 buses have to be diverted.  The 220 is stopping outside Harlesden Job Centre Plus.  The 487 stops at Station Road.  The work is expected to take about three months.

Having campaigned on this issue for literally years, I am glad an end is in sight.

Climate Change Conference at CNWL

In the end, I didn't attend the whole of the student climate change conference as I had intended.  However, I think the whole event was very positive and I hope we do something like it on an annual basis.   I suspect the format needs refinement, and we we will have to look at participants' feedback to inform that, but I would particularly like to thank all the Council officers and others who did so much to organise such a successful event.

Cardinal Hinsley Close

Yesterday, Cllr Bobby Thomas and I attended a meeting with Catalyst Housing, London and Quadrant and Brent Parking down at Cardinal Hinsley Close off Wrottesley Road.  Residents have raised concerns there around rubbish collection and parking.  These issues are very hard to sort out. With several residents appearing, we decided to go forward with some options for consultation and see what peoples' views are.

I suspect this is the kind of issue where you simply can't please everyone.  All we can do is talk to people about options and ask which they prefer. Each option will have a downside as well as an upside.

Most of the rest of today, I will be going up to the College of North West London In Denzil Road for a school pupil conference on climate change.

Wrottesley Road Traffic Lights Power Failure

Earlier today, I noticed that the traffic lights at the junction of Wrottesley Road and Harrow Road NW10 have failed.  It does not appear to be a general power cut, just the lights.  In view of the safety implications, I asked Brent's transport people to raise it with TfL as a matter of urgency.

UK Recycling

UK recycling has climbed at a faster rate than our European counterparts, although we still only just ahead of the European average, according to the Guardian.  Still that is good progress over the past decade.

The Loony Left Alternative

I attended a Labour Party meeting where we had for some reason invited a speaker from "Brent fightback", a group whose main activity seems to consists of attacking people in the Labour Party.

During the discussion it was suggested that the Council should just ignore its responsibilities and refuse to ameliorate the effect of the Tory cuts in any way.  I think that there is both a human and a political answer to that.

The human answer comes from imagining someone suffering from the cuts. Let us say an able bodied person who works for a low income and struggles to make ends meet. Let us suppose the cumulative effect of the various cuts, inflation and so on are to push that person below the waterline.  The Fightback position appears to be that they be left to sink, so that Fightback can demonstrate that the cuts come from the government, and Fightback disapproves of them.  This allows Fightback to preen itself on the warm glow of ideological purity whilst other people pay the human cost.  Personally, I find that unacceptable.  As a human being, I am going to do what I can to help people in need even though I know what I do is inadequate to the scale of the task.

The second part of the answer is: would such a political strategy work? I think not. I think most people would look at a Council doing nothing and say: "You bastards.  You are not even trying to help.  You are just trying to score points politically."

At least as it is, I can argue, that we are doing our best but the Tory/Liberal Democrat coalition is making it impossible.  Of course, that is different from the likes of Sarah Teather who voted all these nasty policies through as the price of a ministerial job.

UPDATE

The Fightback speaker has responded below.  Unusually, she accuses me of failing to voice opinions, which is not a fault I am generally accused of.  I think most people at the discussion were interested in the cuts the government was making to the NHS and to welfare benefits (which was also the focus of my own contribution).  I think that is certainly the main thing we should all be worrying about.

ANOTHER UPDATE

The latest comment appears to be slightly off the subject of this post, but I'll respond anyway.  The report sent in by Brent's health scrutiny committee is cross party, and scrutiny committees are not whipped.  The opinions in the Report are therefore those of the committee, not necessarily those of one party. The documents recording their discussions are here.  Anyone who wants to understand their logic can read the report, the minutes or contact the committee members directly.

Sarah Teather and her Record of Dishonesty

I have suggested before that Sarah Teather has a remarkably flexible record when it comes to political principles.  Recently, she dropped out of a meeting with parents seeking to prevent Gladstone school from becoming an academy.  I thought it worth reminding myself of what she was saying when she was still being paid a ministerial salary.  In the process I found a quote from the then minister on benefit cuts:

"I am on record as having concerns about the benefits cap, but I am also pleased to see the changes that were brought in on the back of those concerns, my job is sometimes to take points and suggestions about things that other departments are doing that affect children and families. That's the job that the prime minister asked me to do and I take it seriously."

A little while later, the Prime Minister asked her to give up her job so that he could give it to David Laws to take seriously.  

This seemed to change her views somewhat:

"There are all sorts of things you have to do when times are tight that have negative consequences but you do them for good purposes. But to do something for negative purposes that also has negative consequences – that is immoral," says Teather. She praised Nick Clegg for showing "immense courage" in limiting some of the effects of welfare cuts and urged her party to fight as hard as it possibly could to prevent more. She said many people in her constituency, which is one of the most ethnically diverse and deprived in the country, did not realise what was about to hit them next April."

Local Elections 2014

It looks as if the next London elections will be on 22 May, according to the LGiU.  Whilst it is annoying the way these things get knocked about, holding them together does help raise turnout in the European elections.