Kilburn Regeneration Finally Under Scrutiny

I have been worried by the lack of public engagement in the South Kilburn regeneration before, so it is good to see that the public are at last demanding a say.  But why has it taken so long?  Possibly the Scrutiny Committee, who have this as an upcoming item, might have some answers.

Butt Sticks out on NHS

In a recent dialogue with Cllr Muhammed Butt, I discovered a reason why Brent Council is apparently so relaxed about the NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP).  In his view, it is going to enhance service at Central Middlesex Hospital.  

This is, to put it mildly, not a commonly held belief.  Even the STP's defenders think it is being driven partly by expenditure cuts and involves shifting resources away from Central Middlesex, Charing Cross and Ealing Hospitals in particular.

NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP)

It always strikes me as remarkable what attracts controversy and what does not.  Brent Council normally has enormous rows over buildings that, whatever there merits often affect fairly small numbers of users.  By contrast, big policies that affect thousands of people like taking BHP properties back in house get little comment. 

An even more striking example is the NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan for North West London.  The Cabinet minutes show little concern over this.  Yet, it is likely to see a substantial downgrading of Central Middlesex and Charing Cross Hospitals, which affects a large part of the southern part of Brent.  Why the reticent response?

Brent Council Finally Updating Air Quality Plan

I am glad to see that the most recent Forward Plan for Brent Council finally includes an update of the Air Quality Action Plan.  I must say it does seem to come rather late in the day.  The last one became due for an update some years ago.  As I have pointed out before, Brent Council's main influence on air quality is through reducing transport emissions.  Its parking policies are not always consistent in this.  Let us hope they sharpen up.

Brent Tory Shambles Deepens

The Brent Tories appear to have issued a sort of clarification of their earlier "deselection" remarks which really just muddies the waters further.  I am not sure what it all means, other than leaving me with the impression that they all, perhaps understandably, loathe each other.  In particular, I am struck by Cllr Davidson's quote:

"He added: “Originally it [the party fallout] was about money, it was about allowances and that was a problem.  Now we have the allowances we should be one group.”

It is unusual for a politician to suggest that he and his colleagues just want the money.  Generally politicians of all parties try to sound (and I think are) a bit more high minded.

Ealing Road Library Redevelopment

I have been learning a bit more about the proposed development of Ealing Road Library.  It is a more interesting development than I thought earlier. 

Firstly there is obviously some thought into how to develop the site in a way to help the Town Centre.  I think all Brent libraries have this potential to some extent, with Willesden and Wembley being perhaps the best examples.  I like the way the author is trying to get the open space to fit in with the buildings and be part of a wider vision for the future of Ealing Road in what he calls a "gem chain strategy".

The picture above shows a kind of stylised Ealing Road with the library as one of the gems. The plan for the library itself is to have two wings, one with a cafe and one with some sort of " rentable community and enterprise hub".

The space between is a courtyard that can be used for outdoor events. According to the developer: "The public space will be truly public and accessible to all. The intention of the space is that for the majority of the week the space will act as an informal gathering and meeting space with adequate permanent public seating and cycle parking to service the existing library function and support the proposed new uses. The cafe will use the space for outdoor seating with furniture that is removed in the evenings. The library might also choose to run some of its activities in the space from time to time."

 The whole thing is an interesting concept, and would help connect the public building to the public realm in an interesting way.  I hope the designer, Mark Projects, doesn't mind me using both photo above and his rather old school model:

Further details can be found here. 

Tory Shambles at Brent Council

The shambles of the Brent Tories continues.  Half the Tory councillors in Brent are now deselected.  Does the group really merit having a leader, deputy leader and whip for a group of only three councillors?  Do they still get an office and a political assistant?

UPDATE (2.11.16)
It seems that there was more to this story than I immediately realised.

Reviewing Kilburn Plans

The next Brent Council Cabinet has important documents on South Kilburn.  Among other things these include changes to the Carlton and Granville Centres, which have generated controversy.  Some controversy on such matters is, I suppose, inevitable. 

Yet I can't help but feel that the Council should be concerned at its failure to engage the public, or indeed their elected representatives.  I have remarked this before.  I am sure that some of the reasons for this are understandable.  Putting these questions in an accessible format is not easy, and people often have other things to do than respond to Council consultations, but in a situation when even the local councillors feel somewhat removed form the process surely something is wrong somewhere? 

Inconsistent Parking Policy

Predictably, former Cllr Paul Lorber is attacking Brent Council's parking policies here.  Cllr Southwood explains the broad reasoning behind the strategy.  Essentially the reasons for the charges (and the whole principle of regulation) are to do with the need to regulate traffic, rationing very limited space and environmental benefits particularly in terms of air quality.  Before winning office in 2006, Paul Lorber and Liberal Democrat colleagues were promising free CPZ parking, a promise they reneged on in office. 

However, if the Council supports the use of charges, and very steep rises in charges, for the purposes cited, how does that square with the free parking policy at certain sites in the run up to Christmas?  Doesn't that encourage car use in the way that raising car parking charges is designed to discourage?  Isn't following both policies at once rather contradictory?

In fact, I don't believe that the free parking policy is going to be much use to Brent Town Centres, and my reasons are these:

• When I was looking at changes to Harlesden Town Centre, I was assured that only about 15% of shoppers to an average London Town Centre came by car.  Most travel on foot or by public transport.
• To some extent, the free parking policy will encourage negative factors such as poor air quality and traffic congestion that make the centres less attractive to shop in.
•  Thirdly, the free parking only forms an attraction where there are Council parks that are part of the scheme.  Places like Kilburn High Road lose out from any supposed benefit because it has no Council owned park.

It all seems to be a rather unclear set of policies.

Willesden Library Debacle?

Several points come out from a recent account of a Willesden Connects meeting here.  A small group of Chandos Road residents are unhappy about highway works in their road under the policy change I referred to here.

Essentially, in what I guess is a largely savings driven exercise, Brent committed to greater use of tarmac to replace paving.  There are circumstances, such as where there a large number of trees, where this may give a better walking surface.  Anyone familiar with the extremely uneven paving of Furness Road pavements will know what I mean.  This kind of unevenness if often the result of  tree roots.  The description is not very clear.  It implies that all the trees are being destroyed, although Brent's policy as far as I know is to replace trees one for one as close to the original tree as possible.  Of course, this will generally be with a younger tree and often involves  a different species either to avoid subsidence or because a different species is judged to have a greater chance of survival.

The report also includes a personalised attack on Cllr Janice Long implying that she doesn't take an interest in highway matters, although she is actually the Brent councillor with the greatest knowledge of and interest in highway matters on Brent Council.

The report is also notable for suggesting that Cllr Butt disclaimed knowledge or responsibility for the policy.  As I have observed before, this is his standard approach.  I am more surprised to find people accepting it apparently at face value when several previous episodes suggest that Cllr Butt simply agrees with whoever he is speaking to at the time.  In this case, his audience said they didn't like the surfacing and he played along.  Apparently his interlocutors don't notice that in previous meeting he has been one of the people voting through the policy they disagree with.

Willesden Green Library
However, what really caught my eye in the piece is the reference to the "Willesden Green Library debacle".  I would guess this phrase comes from Martin Redstone, who is a member of the tarmac group and a lead opponent of the new Library at Willesden Green.as well as a long term critic of any changes to Dollis Hill House.

How could Willesden Green Library reasonably be described as a debacle?  In terms of the library user visits and loans are up, as is public satisfaction.  A number of the objections to the building have been proved to be untrue, and the objectors don't seem keen on returning to them.  

Moving beyond the library, I would say the permanent exhibition is impressive.  The recent Grunwick exhibition strikes me as just the sort of display that a good local history museum should aim at.  There is also the archive service, which is a service available in fewer and fewer Boroughs, since (like the Museum) it is non-statutory.

The spaces around the Library proper have hosted a broad range of film, dance, theatre and other events, including a number of book readings.  Some of this is referred to on the Libraries Taskforce web site.  There is also a good range of exhibitions in the art gallery.  To my mind, all this vindicates the Libraries Transformation Project, and I really don't see how any one can refer to it as a debacle.  

Driving in Parks

I have discovered the reasons for the new kissing gates into King Edward VII park.  Apparently, it is to prevent moped drivers from using the park as a cut through.  It reminds me that several years ago, car drivers would also drive through between the Sports centre and Treetops nursery.  Why can't people see that is not something you should do in a public park?

Brent Libraries Finally Blowing its Own Trumpet

I am glad to see that Brent Library Service is blowing its own trumpet on the web site of the Libraries Task force.  In my view, Brent Libraries don't do that enough.  The piece concerns the wider promotion of arts in public libraries and Willesden Library in particular.  This was an important part of the Libraries Transformation Project, which liberated the Culture service to expand in new ways.

As well as being valuable in themselves, these services help to bring the libraries into use for more traditional purposes, the promotion of reading and writing.  Just as with the libraries' digital offer, this is too often seen as a zero sum game whereas these other activities can actually bring people into libraries who might not normally go. 

Why are Bigger Libraries Better?

I have suggested that, at least for urban areas with good transport links, fewer but bigger libraries tend to be better.  This goes against the grain of many people, who want as many library buildings as possible.  It also has not been a policy generally pursued.  I suspect because of the sheer controversy associated with consolidating the numbers of libraries, many authorities, such as Lambeth and Islington have gone to great lengths to keep their buildings open.

Let us look at the example of Willesden Library, which has sixty odd PCs.  Some of these are drop in, some are bookable, and some have special facilities such as scanners.  If you go into a building with that many PCs, the chances are some will be free at any one time.  If the same number of PCs were scattered across more than one building, your chances of turning up and finding all the PCs occupied would be greater.  Where you are looking at specialist equipment such as accessibility software or scanners the total number in even a big library like Willesden might be quite small.  If a smaller library has such facilities at all, there may be only one PC available when you want to use it.  In that sense the bigger library becomes inherently more accessible.

A similar logic applies to book stock.  The bigger library is more likely to have multiple copies of a given book, so that if demand is enormous (for say text books in the run up to exams), the bigger library is more likely to have them to hand. 

This is also true if there are break downs.  If say a printer gets broken, the big library with multiple printers can help you get round that.  A smaller library with only one would just have to wait for an engineer.

Islington
When we were going through our Libraries Transformation Project in 2010/11, it was pointed out to me that Islington was keeping a dozen libraries open in six sets of pairs.  Each pair would keep a library open three days a week and the pairs would alternate.  That is ingenuous in terms of avoiding building closure, but doesn't make the maximum use of resources since half the PCs and books would be in a closed library half the time.

Other Advantages
Another advantage of bigger libraries is that the wider number of activities in a bigger library such as Willesden can draw in a bigger audience, and the sheer size of the building has greater flexibility, so you get more flexibility for different activities.  For instance a noisy children's group can take place simultaneously with quiet study on the top floor.  That is harder if the space is constricted.

Nationalisation and Privatisation

I remarked a while ago on the phantom privatisation of Council Housing in the shapes of ALMOs, it is equally striking how little comments there has been on the nationalisation of housing associations by the present Conservative government. 

What is striking about this is that it was just announced by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) one day that Housing Associations had become public corporations.  A useful paper from Northern Ireland explains the process.  I think the ONS were quite right.  If the government starts telling you that you have to sell off your assets, how you reinvest the capital, what rents you can charge and so on you are effectively nationalised. 

Nonwtheless, no one seems to have publicly reacted to this new fact.  I suspect the Tory ministers that did it literally had no idea what they were doing.  Given that their great objective since election in 2010 was supposed to be getting getting public debt down, the effect of taking on the liabilities of the Housing Associations on to the public books is pretty embarrassing.  I would have though just wiping out the business plans of these organisations at a stroke also sat very ill with traditional Tory philosophy.  It must be the biggest nationalisation since Stephen Byers took over Network Rail, maybe bigger.

The Labour Party has also been surprisingly reticent on the subject, but even more striking has been the silence of the Hard Left.  It is, after all, an indication that the problems of a sector don't necessarily just fall away with a change of ownership.

Helen Milner and Digital Engagement

Some of the commentary on Helen Milner's views on library strategy appears to be unaware of how involved she is in the sector.  A recent report from her organisation on digital involvement and public libraries can be downloaded here.

A Modern Mission for Libraries

Helen Milner of the Tinder Foundation has rather bravely suggested that public libraries have to move on from the "never close a library position".  For that she deserves praise, and she gets a balanced review from Public Libraries News which first alerted me to her post.  It is striking how the public libraries debate has never moved beyond demands that Building X should never close, or it sometimes feels, even change.

Helen sees another side of things, where must be acutely aware of the need for a large part of the population to engage digitally.  Failure to do so risks greater social division and lack of opportunity as both public and private organisations are increasingly organised around digital technology.

Libraries can play a huge role in meeting these needs, but too often seem to get bogged down in autobiographical arguments about some celebrities' childhood.

Brent's Libraries Transformation Project was a serious attempt to tackle these issues at a local level, and one that was markedly successful. 

Why Aren't Local Authority Libraries Better?
Why don't more authorities do this if it is so important?  I suspect that is down to a combination of failing to understand how modern libraries can feed into a digital agenda; the fierce resistance of a vocal minority and sheer lack of ambition.

The first of these is summed by those celebrities.  Time and again, I have read articles and interviews that speak nostalgically about childhood in a public library but seem to have no awareness of how libraries can be used to broaden peoples' access to knowledge, which was their original Victorian purpose.  One can also read a minority of articles arguing libraries are redundant.  Again, this is based on the assumption that they have no capacity for change.  Essentially, one has to get across the argument that the modern version of the traditional mission of encouraging people to read (and write) now includes reading and writing digitally.  That means making modern IT and forms of social media less frightening for many people, making other people more aware of technology's limitations as well as possibilities and also how to navigate online in what can be quite basic ways.  That is a really big, bold mission which public libraries are uniquely placed to perform and it is not widely realised.

The second strand here that is actually becoming an obstacle here is the vocal campaigns that always seem to be framed in terms of the status quo.  Helen Milner is right to try to say the starting point should be what are the strategic aims of a library service and how might it achieve them.  I would not quite start with a blank piece of paper as she suggests, but an awareness of how society has changed since the libraries were built might be useful.  That means where the population is, how people get around, what they expect of services, how they access what they need and all sorts of other things.

That kind of analysis seems to get blanked out by two other things.  One is a kind of "just say No" approach.  In Brent, we saw campaign groups shouting (often literally) that there must be no change of any kind.  That is actually an oddly authoritarian position.  It assumes that whoever made decisions in the past chose not just the best distribution of resources for that moment but also for all time.  In a case like Brent, where some groups have devoted huge energy to denouncing public libraries as a total disaster, I think some people find themselves psychologically unable to accept any evidence of success, including the opinions of people who actually use libraries.  That seems a great pity, coming from people whose very desire to defend libraries has led them where they are now.

The second area which I think has really played into the decline of the libraries is the idea of volunteers keeping a library open.  This is in many ways an easier option for councillors.  Compared to the rows Brent went through, you can see that keeping a building "open" for shorter hours, but with not much in them is a hell of a lot easier than going through the difficulty of actually reforming a public service with most of the pain immediate but the benefits years down the line, and perhaps invisible even then.  Just quiet piecemeal cutting makes for a much quieter life, and with many councillors under so many other pressures, and often failing to understand the potential of libraries to change the lives of people they represent for the better, you can see why they opt for the quiet life.

Which brings me to the final point.  Local authorities, battered by cuts, are losing the ambition to really shape their areas for the better.  This is true not just of libraries but in general.  Ambitious schemes seem pie in the sky when you struggle to keep your head above water, but sometimes ambitious schemes are the only way to keep your head above water.  Clinging to the safe and reliable as the tide wash over you may be more likely to lead to drowning than a difficult scramble up a cliff.

Dynamism in the Libraries Debate

A comment here wonders what I make of the proposals to reduce Walsall's libraries to just one.  I am no expert on Walsall, but it looks like another local council doing its best to cope with central government cuts that are frankly unsustainable.  George Osborne's economic strategy was counterproductive, constantly missing its targets, and Philip Hammond has been pragmatic enough to accept that.

Provided they have good transport links, urban areas may be in a position to follow a Brent type strategy of fewer buildings open for longer with more in them.  In Brent that has seen both usage and borrowing go up, as well as higher levels of public satisfaction.  This kind of thing has also worked in other praised authorities,  

The other thing that strikes me about the Guardian piece is its similarity to many other pieces I have read.  It is frustrating that journalists appear not to be able to get beyond these staples: cuts to budgets, closures (never any diffrentiation between closing different kinds of library), personal anecdotes about libraries in the past.

The famous legal duty to provide libraries has been effectively rewritten by first the Bailey case and then the Draper case in Lincolnshire.  The Sieghart Review's emphasis on Wifi provision further strenghens the case for IT facilities being considered as part of the overall library provision.  Yet the government still seems to have failed to catch up with these developments. 

Chi Onwuroh had an IT background, and Tom Watson _ who now covers the DCMS portfolio _ is enthusiastic about the digital economy and how it is changing our society.  I would have thought this plays into a pro-library agenda quite easily if only campaigners would engage in a more persuasion orientated mode.

Likewise, I think it a great pity that there is talk about parts of libraries being used as cafes, but this tends to be discussed simply in terms of commercial rents.  Such a use could also have a big impact on how libraries are used more generally.  Hence my frustration at the slow progress in Willesden. 

Then there is a whole other debate about what is a community hub, and how can such things be managed most effectively, which is perhaps a subject for another post.

NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan

Tonight's Brent Council cabinet is going to consider the proposed NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan for the NHS in this part of London.  The plan strongly implies the closure of various facilities.  Were there a wider public understanding of this, I think it would be hugely controversial, but I suspect the controversy will only start once the individual decisions come in. 

Housing ALMOs

I was interested to read the account given of recent suggestions that Brent's Housing ALMO (Brent Housing Partnership, or BHP) be taken back in house.  The history of these matters is interesting, especially given the contrast between Brent and Camden.

Both Councils were considered to have good housing departments and considered forming ALMOs at the same time.  This was back when the Labour government was making massive investments in local government (about 2003/4).  The debate in Brent Labour Party was pretty short and simple.  The then Lead Member for Housing, Cllr Richard Harrod (now sadly died), told us that if we formed an ALMO Brent would get about £5,000 per property to do them up.  Aside from a few hard left people, everyone thought that was pretty much a no-brainer and we went for it and formed BHP.

In Camden, there was a campaign led by the Camden New Journal telling tenants that this was privatisation and urging rejection.  A referendum by Council tenants rejected the money and the formation of the ALMO.  The tenants were then surprised to learn that without the ALMO, they would get no money and there was a long stand off with central government where the government refused extra money without the formation of an ALMO.  It was one of those episodes where I felt that misinformation (Both the privatisation accusation and the illusion of choice) led to an unnecessary confrontation and a very poor outcome for local tenants.  Eventually, Camden has gone down the route of selling off some of its properties to pay for repairs, which in Brent were done through government grant.

Other authorities, such as Islington, formed an ALMO, took and spent the money, and then took the service back in-house.

It is interesting to read that the tenants at the Brent meeting actually prefer the Brent ALMO in some form.  Possibly BHP should consider a Co-operative model, of which there are many round the country, that would preserve the more democratic ethos that at least that meeting seemed to prefer.

Oddly, I can't seem to find much information through searching the Camden New Journal web site on what was a campaign that arguably swung the decision. 

Grunwick Commemoration at the Brent Musuem

An exhibition commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Grunwick Strike has opened at the Brent Museum.  The strike took place in the mid-70s at what is now Grunwick Place, but was then a photo processing plant by Dollis Hill Tube in Willesden Green ward.

UPDATE

In answer to the comment below, no.  As a matter of fact, at least one of the people credited with organising this event is a very long standing member of Brent Labour Party.  I did however state that we need to be sure that the funds raised towards this cause went to a Grunwick commemoration, not anything else.