Solving Flytipping Problems

Brent has seen a surge in flytipping incidents recently.  I spoke to someone yesterday who gave me an example of how the new waste & street cleaning contract can make these things easier to deal with.

Under the former contract, there was a rigid system of zones with required number of cleans per week.  Most of the Borough fell under a "zone 5" (residential streets).  Town Centres fell into a different zone, and had a much more frequent cleaning service to reflect the much higher footfall, and therefore the higher rate of littering.  The disadvantage of this system for areas such as the streets off Ealing Road, Harlesden High Street and Willesden High Road was that those streets were counted as "residential" even though they had much worse littering than most of the Borough.  The intention of the new contract was to allow for a greater flexibility of response than the old.  

The example I was given was of Bertie Road just off Willesden High Road.  I go down this road quite frequently, and the corner of the High Road and Bertie Road has indeed been a problem for a long time.  The Willesden resident I spoke to assured me that it has recently improved which is down to (a) more frequent, responsive cleaning and (b) some of the flats above shops being provided with bins where previously they had none.  This seems to be the kind of incremental and piecemeal improvement which too often gets lost in political debates. 

Brent and Lambeth Libraries

I see Lambeth have been going through a major review of their libraries.  Their overarching strategy seems to be to concentrate resources on a smaller number of improved and more flexible buildings with good transport links.  In other words, very similar to Brent's Libraries Transformation Project.  Since Lambeth is also a densely populated urban authority with good transport links I would expect such an approach to be successful (as it has been in Brent).  Lambeth have the advantage that they can look to how libraries have progressed in Brent over the past four years to see how their approach might work.

Where they currently differ from the Brent approach is in their attitudes toward the sites that will cease to be proper libraries.  This must have been a subject of considerable angst I am sure.

In Brent we considered going down the Big Society route only to decide that it would not have been viable on the proposals put forward.  This was a major part of the legal challenge put against the Council, which the Council comprehensively won.  The issue is given extensive coverage on the very good Brixton Buzz blog site. 

Lambeth Council appear to be considering keeping the buildings to be run by Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) as "healthy living" centres.  I can see the logic of that.  It nods to the idea of libraries becoming more joined up with the public health agenda as indeed local government in general is becoming.  It may have benefits in bringing the sport service in Lambeth and libraries closer together.  It ensures the management is done by an established service provider that the Council has a long standing relationship with. It also, which I suspect is the main driver of the policy, keeps the buildings as Council owned assets.

That last point is one I see as wrongheaded.  I don't think that keeping buildings in Council hands should be an end in itself.  Building cost time and money to maintain and manage. If they are not being used for Council services, it would be better to dispose of them, and use the money to make the existing buildings fit for purpose.  Look at our experience in replacing the old Brent Town Hall Library with Wembley Library and watching the number of visits increase sixfold.

The dangers of trying to cling to the old buildings and use them to provide services are:

• You start to design your services around protecting buildings rather than actually meeting community needs.
• You may get into a procurement middle as in Lincolnshire and be subject to legal challenge.
• You may give an unwarranted soft deal to one provider.  Brixton Buzz suggests that GLL is getting those buildings on a 25 year lease at a peppercorn rent.  If true that does not sound to me like a good use of a public asset.  I suggested in another case that such deals may not even be lawful for the Councils concerned to enter into. 
• Anecdotally, I have been told that where inexperienced volunteers have taken over libraries, they often expect advice and support from the Council library service which under pressure Council services struggle to provide.  This can easily turn into a negative relationship where the staffed service feel that they are constantly having their energies draining away into supporting volunteers and that the Council's own services suffer as a result.  Conversely, the volunteers often feel that the level of support given is inadequate, leaving neither side happy.

This will be a potential danger in the recent decision to awarda contract to the organisation led by former Lib Dem councillor Paul Lorber in the Barham Park complex, although disposal of that building was never an option in that case.

One final point of interest is the proposal to adopt the Merton model of volunteers.  This retains Council buildings and some Council staff, but with a much wider role for volunteers.  Given the fashionability of volunteering in the library sector, I am surprised that it does not get more coverage as it seems more viable than the "Big Society" stand alone model.  

Barham Saga

The final part of the Barham building complex is apparently to be leased this afternoon.  Reading the report, it sounds like the process has been excessively convoluted, which is very much in line with the whole saga. 

Early Success for The Library at Willesden

The immediate success of Willesden Library in its new form is obvious from the early visit and loan figures.

	Willesden Library Visits, July to September 2015	% Change
July	21,143	3.9%
August	31,003	60.7%
September	38,496	95.4%

The percentage change is compared to the same month last year.  The loan figures also show a big jump.

	Willesden Library Loans, July to September 2015	% Change
July	10,972	21.0%
August	17,181	110.6%
September	18,219	110.6%

Altogether, encouraging early success.

Brent and Lewisham Libraries

Brent and Lewisham were the first two London Boroughs to seriously tackle their library strategy as the Tory/Lib Dem cuts began to bite.  The two took very different approaches, with Lewisham going for a volunteer or community based model.  I suggested before that Lewisham seemed not to have had the success that they may have hoped.  Nonetheless, they seem to be extending the volunteer model to more branches.  This is a fairly controversial route. 

Brent's more old fashioned approach of maintaining staffed, extended libraries at fewer locations seems to have resulted in higher user satisfaction and better performance in terms of key metrics. 

Brent Library Loans and Visits Up Yet Again

The latest half year figures for Brent libraries are now out.  Once again both loans and visits are up.  Loans for the half year ending 30 September 2015 were 532,951 (3.2% increase) and visits were 1,199,815 (12.4% increase).  They therefore follow the upward trajectory one might expect from the full year figures. 

Charging for Plastic Bags

In Harlesden Tesco recently, I saw they have big signs up reminding people about the new 5p charge for plastic bags.  This already seems to work quite well in Scotland in reducing waste, which is an important part of the waste hierarchy concept that underpins most waste policy in Europe.  In the past, people seem to have been very resistant to abandoning disposable bags, but habits can change.

Stop the Tax Credits Cuts

Seema Malhotra MP has launched a campaign to stop the Tory cuts to Tax Credits this morning.  Just in Brent Central, there are more than 12,000 families claiming tax credits and they account for more than 17,000 children.  The average cut in income under the Tory plans is said to be £1,300/year.  That is a huge impact on a big number of people. 

I certainly hope that Seema's campaign forces the Tories to move on this.

New Photography Exhibition in Willesden Green

The art gallery at Willesden Library has a new photography exhibition officially opening tonight.  Following on from the Urban Loneliness exhibition

The piece I liked best was actually a piece of sculpture:

The Queensbury Listing

The Save the Queensbury group is continuing their campaign to have the building locally listed.  I really don't understand how it is that they come away from meetings thinking it has, only to find that the commitments are not pursued.  The campaigners are certainly entitled to feel aggrieved if councillors tell them that something will be done, but then don't do it. 

In the case of the Queensbury, it was previously rejected for listing as you can see here.

What worries me about the whole local listing thing, as I have pointed out before, is that it does not actually have all that much relevance in planning terms.  If there is an application, local listing will be noted in the report, but it generally hasn't had much weight in the Planning Committee deliberations.  It tends to give false hope, I think because it often get confused with statutory listing, which gives a very substantial measure of protection. 

The Shared Surfaces Around The Library at Willesden

On Monday I commented on how the area around Wembley Library and Brent Civic Centre was coming into its own.  I think there is similar potential for the share surface spaces around Willesden Library.  Most obvious is the area at the back which was unfairly derided as a "muggers' alley" by some of the objectors to the planning application.

When I was up there on Sunday, it was already being used by some lads for skateboarding.  I think it could have a lot more potential once the cafe on the Brondesbury Park side opens.  This is especially true when one considers that the Grange Road space is pretty extensive as well. 

In front of the library there is a small pedestrianised space by Willesden Post Office, with a larger street behind, that could be adaptable to other uses.  Indeed, there were some stalls there during the recent official opening of the library. I think it is probably too residential for regular use but some occasional use might be possible.

Finally, even the Brondesbury Park side has a fairly good stretch of pavement.  Certainly it is better than the unwelcoming side of the old Willesden Library Centre. 

Fire at Harlesden Primary School

I was shocked to learn of the fire at St Joseph's Primary School in Harlesden.  The press reports seem to suggest that no one was hurt.  I hope the damage is less than it appears.

PC Usage in Brent Libraries

Now that the opening of Willesden Library effectively finishes the Libraries Transformation Project, it is worth thinking about how Brent Libraries can progress further, especially in terms of PC usage.  The Brent case, and a case subsequently in Lincolnshire, confirmed that this is now part of the statutory duty for public Libraries. 

The current arrangement in Brent is that people can use their own devices on WiFi for an unlimited period, but the use of desktop PCs is limited to two hours per day.  In Wembley Library, I believe the staff have discretion to extend this to three hours if it is not a busy period.  Once you use your time that is it for the day.

Why not instead have (say) a weekly time budget?  You could roll over your allocated time to spend it all in one day or eke it out day by day.  It would certainly give users more flexibility that way.  I can see it might also create problems at peak periods, which I would imagine would include week ends and perhaps exam periods as the sheer volume of people might lead to congestion, but it is worth thinking about, and might broaden usage of libraries to a wider number of people.

What Not to do about Flytipping

I mentioned the rise in flytipping in Brent a little while ago.  I was glad to see that Brent Scrutiny are taking the issue up.  I hope they will have a thorough look at whether the increase is down to flaws in the waste and street cleaning contract, failure to monitor well now that the Environment and Neighbourhood Services Department has been abolished, or some other factor. 

The abolition of the department comes at the same time as a change to a completely different kind of contract, and it would not surprise me if the two together have led to balls being dropped.  If Brent keeps on top of the contractor, the changes might actually led to improvements, despite the reduced spending.  The new waste and street cleaning contract has new time bands on town centre collection, more waste reduction, a more hands on approach by the contractor in communications and so on.   One thing that I am pretty certain will not work is signs telling people not to dump.  As you can see from this recent example, they seem to actually encourage dumping. 

Wembley Market Square Coming into its Own

On Saturday I up near Wembley Library for the first time in a while and I saw that a food market is finally coming to the Wembley Market Square just by the Library.

This is excellent, and effectively enhances the co-location that I have seen as one of Wembley Library's main selling points.  It also fits in well with the philosophy of the Libraries Transformation Project to try to concentrate libraries in centres of other activities.  This also fits well with siting the new Brent Civic Centre where it is as part of enhancing the regeneration of the Wembley area.  The people in the Civic Centre will themselves form a hefty source of potential customers for the traders in the market.  I notice that the short stay parking is also finally in operation. 

David Cameron and Housing Failures

The past week of controversies over anthem singing etc.  have been dispiriting not so much because of the natural of the controversies covered as because of the things not covered.  There was little coverage of the infamous Trade Union Bill or the cuts in tax credits that not only break Cameron's election pledge, but drastically affect the lives of millions of people for the worse.  That is before you get other areas, such as the tottering state of the NHS and social housing and the forthcoming death of Council Housing.

The Tory government's plan is to force Councils to sell off housing to pay for more Housing Association housing at the same time as forcing Housing Associations to sell off their housing as the Right to Buy is extended to the Associations.  It seems that no thought has been given to how this will destroy the ability of housing associations to plan their finances.  One of the effects, I imagine, will be a seizing up house building as Associations become reluctant to commit to housebuilding in such a climate of uncertainty.  I doubt whether David Cameron has any understanding of this, not least because he referred at the last PMQs to Housing Associations as "part of the public sector". 

They are not of course; they are free standing organisations running their own businesses.  Imagine the outcry there would be if the government simply ordered private sector businesses to reduce their income levels.  Any free market conservative would be up in arms.

Rather than trying to solve the housing crisis, especially of affordable housing, the present government seems to be actively stoking it.

Building Continues at the Old Dust Club

Building work is still going on at the former Willesden Social Club.  I suppose given the length of time it took to get the site back into use, I shouldn't get impatient, but I am.  As well as turning the site from derelict land into actively useful land, it will also add some affordable housing in the area, which is something need across London. 

Incidentally, it was nice of the building firm to put their hoarding around the street sign so that it can still be read.  Willows Terrace is hard to find if you don't know the area.

Wembley Central up for Sale

I see that Wembley Central shopping centre has been put up for sale.  My memory is that the development was rather less golden than described in the articles, being plagued by delays as a result of being built over Wembley Central Tube Station. 

Willesden Library Again

Going into Willesden Library on a wet evening yesterday, I was pleased to see the Willesden History Society being given a tour of the new Brent Museum.  I was also glad to see that the junction in front of the Library was not as flooded as it has often been in the past.  At times it could be impassable if you wanted dry feet.  During the planning application for the new Willesden Library I specifically raised this flooding point with the Committee, and I hope it had some effect.  Unfortunately a lot of the rest of the High Road remains fairly washed out in bad weather.

Cuts to Public Health in Brent

Cuts to public health in West London have not had the kind of attention they deserve since they were announced in June.  If they are implemented on a pro rata basis, which appears to be the Tory government's intention, Brent will lose out to the tune of £1.34 million.  The whole thing rather undermines David Cameron's pledges to protect the NHS budget.  He has redefined NHS spending as local authority spending, in itself quite possibly a good idea, and then reduced the budget.  Whatever the cuts are, they are likely to increase the burden on the NHS.