Liberal Democrats in Decline

UK Polling Report has an excellent analysis of the dire state of the Liberal Democrats here.  I really can't see how they can recover, despite Mark Pack's optimisim about the Oldham by election tomorrow.

Polly Toynbee and the Lib Dems

Polly Toynbee is puzzled by Simon Hughes' refusal to walk away from the coalition.  She points out the damage that the Tory led government is doing to all the things he claims to have supported over the years.  Surely, just like Sarah Teather, Simon Hughes never really supported these these apart from in rhetoric?  He and Teather have made careers for themselves by making fine sounding speeches and ignoring the practical consequences.  Why stop now?

Tory Hypocrisy

Grant Shapps has a remarkable piece of hypocrisy in this BBC story.  His government has cut Brent's grant by £37 million, and intends further cuts in future years.  Brent, along with other Councils faced with similar cuts in grants by this extreme right government has little choice but to end the below cost charging for some services.  I am, sure Grant Shapps and his colleagues knew that would be the result when they gave us the financial settlement they did.

The next Harlesden Area Consultative Forum, and indeed the other Area Consultative Forums, will have a discussion on the effect of the Con Dem government's cuts on Brent Council, presented by the Council Leader Cllr Ann John.  It takes place at All Souls Church, Harlesden High Street at 7pm on 11 January.

Brent Council and the Cuts

One of the major issues raised at the Library Consultation I went to on Thursday was the extent of the cuts imposed by the Con Dem government and how they affect Brent Council.  The Council has set up a web page explaining this here. 

Paving in Tubbs Road

This is how the contractor for Thames Water left the paving in Tubbs Road after the recent water works there.  Definitely not up to scratch in my opinion.  I have asked the Council to get them to come back to do it properly.  I believe it is the same contractor who made such a mess of the area by Kensal Green station.

Oldham By Election

Went up to the Oldham by election recently.  It looks at the moment as if Labour is likely to win, which will be another set back for the Liberal Democrats.  Essentially, they have for a long time relied on being the anti-politics party.  Now that they are in power, they don't seem able to offer anything other than going along with the Tories.

Harlesden Town Team Meeting

Harlesden Town Team are meeting on the evening of 10 January.  This will be the first meeting since the news came through that Transport for London are granting £3 million over two years to the project.  Unforuntately, I have another meeting at the same time, but I hope as many people are able to contribute as possible.

Brent Friends of the Earth: How Not to Do It

As promised, here is a second post on why I think that Brent Friends of the Earth are such an ineffective lobbying group, covering tactics.

Their campaign against our waste management plans shows a deeply misguided appraoch. Although I met them with a senior officer at Brent House, and attended on of their member meetings, they failed to voice their opposition to our scheme until 20th October (the very last day of a 50 day consultation). Their contribution proposed opening the consultation all over again, thus delaying the whole thing by at least a couple of months. This is part of a pattern of throwing in random suggestions, often with no evidential backing, very late in the day. Thus at one Executive meeting, Brent FoE suggested we adopt the system used in Sheffield, apparently oblivious that our proposals has been developed over a period of more than a year using extensive comparisions with other authorities. At the next Executive meeting, Brent FoE dropped the Sheffield suggestion and proposed the systems used in either York or Ealing. You simply can't adopt complicated systems in that kind of back of an envelope way. Thus, I think their first error is not to appreciate the intellectual rigour with which the Council's proposals have been developed.

Their second is to throw suggestions in without any warning. During this process, I have been given the imprerssion that Brent FoE do a bit of googling, produce some factoids and throw them in not so much as serious suggestions as simply attempts to derail the adoption of the new system regardless of its merits. An example of this would be their suggestion that Veolia would send waste to China to be processed with child labour, a suggestion for which they produced no evidence whatever.

A third error that an effective lobby group would not make is to take no account of the concerns of the body they are lobbying. Obviously we want to increase recycling, reduce emissions and save money. Remarkably we have a system that fulfills these three objectives. Certainly, at the December Executive they made no effort to engage with constraints such as the inevitably limited budget. Indeed their report of that meeting, makes no reference to what anybody else said at all. From their description, one would imagine that Brent FoE turned up, said their piece and we then voted our policy through without discussion, which was not the case.

Finally, Brent FoE have allowed an impression to be created that they are in the pocket of the Liberal Democrats, who as far as I can see have little or no interest in the Environment. As well as allying themselves with the Liberal Democrats over the waste issue, they have conspicously failed to criticise the Lib Dems poor record on recycling, Sarah Teather's volte face on Brent Cross, the Liberal Democrats' opposition to emissions based parking permits, the decision to cut a post from the Environment Unit, or indeed the abolition of the Green Zone scheme (which was caused by the Con Dem government's withdrawal of grant part way through the year).  They have even issued a press release criticising our abolition of the £25 charge for collecting bulky waste.  This is an article of faith among Brent Liberal Democrats, but I have never encountered this view except in card carrying Liberal Democrats.

It is hard not to believe that two or three of the members of Brent FoE are more motivated by a strong loyalty to the Liberal Democrats rather than an interest in the Environment.

Brent Friends of the Earth: What Not to Do

I guess one of the biggest disappointments I had last year was the failure of Brent Friends of the Earth to support any of the new Labour administration's (quite bold) environmental policies.  This is a great pity as it would be very useful to have an effective environmentalist lobby pushing the Council to do sensible things.  Brent FoE don't do this, partly because they pursue off the wall objectives and partly because they use the wrong tactics.

Our key policy is obviously the changes to the household waste management, where we plan the most radical restructuring the Council has ever had.  I am certain that our plans are the way of the future not just in Brent, but also across London.  The new way of doing things will allow people to recycle a greater range of materials (e.g. tetrapaks and mixed plastics), and consequently lead to a vastly greater weight of waste being recycled.  Brent FoE, bizarrely for a supposed environmentalist group, oppose this.  They argue that the quality of the recyclate will be lower, which is true, but ignore the vastly greater quantities that w2ill be produced.

If that were the only green policy they oppose, I could dismiss it as an aberration, but in fact they have either attacked us or remained indifferent to every initiative.  The emissions based parking permits, just coming to the end of its statutory consultation, is another example.  Here they don't quite have the courage to oppose it outright, but the tone of their response was so negative that they effectively do.

Again, they have shown no real interest in the passing of the Local Development Framework Core Strategy (a key part of improving conservation standards in the Borough), or the Brent "going green" project, or our objective to cut the Council's carbon emissions (still under development).

One early intervention they did make, in a rather odd way, was over the cutting of a post in the Environment unit.  This post was frozen under the previous administration and then abolished under ours.  Brent FoE stayed silent when the Liberal Democrats made the initial decision and only protested once Labour won power, which may give a clue to their real motivation. 

This is turning into rather a long post so I will split it into two.  Tomorrow, I will talk a bit more about Brent FoE's misguided tactics.

Designs on Tubbs Road Park

I have been asked what these pillars in Tubbs Road Pocket Park are for.  They are purely decorative.  The designs were done by children from Furness Road Primary School during the development phase.  Hopefully some of the children will recognise them when they use the park.

Seeing the Light

Bjorn Lomberg argues that more efficient lighting simply leads to more consumption here.  It is certainly true that making something easier makes you use more of it, in the way building roads generates traffic, but surely for lighting there is an upper limit that people don't leave lights on when they are not there, or when it isn't dark.  As electricity costs money, they still have an incentive to limit their usage even if the light bulbs are efficient so I don't think the Lomberg stacks up.

The Future

As its New Year, I thought I would make a stab at some predictions for the coming year.

Firstly, I suspect the Con Dem coalition will hang together despite the harm it is doing the Liberal Democrats.  They have lost their (always illusory) reputation for integrity.  They are attacking many of the priniciples that their long standing supporters hold dear, and there are signs that their parliamentary party is beginning to fall apart under the pressure.  They may well fail to win in Oldham, lose badly in the local elections in May and lose the referendum on the alternative vote.  Nevertheless, I expect them to continue to hang in there with the Tories, because breaking apart has too great a risk of causing a general election where they get slaughtered.  As Benjamin Franklin said: "We must all hang together, or hang separately."

Whether Sarah Teather manages to continue avoiding publicity and engagements during the year is more doubtful.  She already looks weak, as her absurd interview with Sky News "on her way out" showed.  She will start having to engage with her critics at some point, rather than just running away from them as at present.

In the Council, I hope the onset of our new waste management system will be a success.  A lot is riding on it.  We should also be able to come out with some other good environmental initiatives during the year, including in the transport field, and a strong target for carbon emissions.  The big challenge for the Council as a whole will be the budget.  We have enough savings for this year, but we need to develop some for next year's round of central government cuts, and we need to find a means to control overspend in the Social Services.  Altogether it is going to be the most challenging time that the Council has faced since the 1980s.

Brent Cemetaries

This rural field is in Brent, sort of.  It is actually part of the Carpenders Park Cemetary in Hertfordshire, which is our main open cemetary.  We will be developing a long term cemetaries strategy during the second half of next year.

Gladstone Park Allotments

Brent Council have no capital allocation for creating allotments so planning gain is probably the only realistic route for an expansion of allotment places.  The only possible site on the horizon at the moment is in Gladstone Park, close to Campbell Gordon Way.

The site in Gladstone Park is currently some derelict sports facilities. They originally belonged to a school, but the school was closed twenty years ago, back when projections suggested that London's population was falling. The sports facilities were kept but not maintained. Hence, the abandoned cricket nets disfiguring that part of Gladstone Park, as well as the astroturf pitch too close to housing to be used.

Allotments would make much better sense.

UPDATE:

Responding to David below. The stroturf pitch has been extensively vandalised, and is too near to housing to be useable at night (according to modern standards).  I understand no one has used the pitch for at least eight years.  It is being turned back into grass.

Boris on the Buses

Tory Troll explains Boris Johnson's continued war on bus passengers here.  What is curious is that Johnson still retains an image of being vaguely green at the same time as favouring the growth of motoring, the most unsustainable form of transport possible.

Harlesden Town Centre Makeover

I understand that Brent Council have now had Transport for London funding confirmed for the makeover of Harlesden Town Centre.  The total amount will be something like £3 million for the redisgning of the public realm including possible traffic measures.  Well done to the officers of Brent Transport Department for having gained such a sum at a time when most budgets are being cut back.

Con Dem Government Weakness

I see that our Con Dem government has pulled back from abolishing the Bookstart programme, only a short time after pulling back on proposed cuts to school sports. 

In itself good news, but it does suggest that Philip Pullman is right in saying that the government is making proposals that are ill considered to begin with, and that it doesn't have the courage to back those proposals against serious opposition.  Such an approach guarentees maximum embarressment, rather like John Major's appraoch to defending Cabinet Ministers who were being pressed to resign.  He would back them for months only to see them resign eventually. The media started to doubt his credibility and therefore subjected each minister to a prolonged campaign on the grounds that it would eventually get him.  The present Con Dem government risks a similar lack of respect.  Not least because the Telegraph has been publishing these stories that even government minister (e.g. Vince Cable) don't believe in their own government.

Fabric of a Nation

Finally got to see the Fabric of a Nation exhibition at the Willesden Green Library Centre, and I recommend it, particularly if you are not Ghanian.  I doubt whether the Grange Musuem is open today, but the exhibition still has some time to run.

Osborne on Ireland

Via Paul Krugman, I notice this article by George Osborne arguing that his economic policy will make us more like Ireland.  It was originally published in early 2006, but the prediction of an Irish Future seems to be getting closer every day.

Tubbs Road Park Opening

This rather splendid cake comes from the opening of Tubbs Road Park in its revivified form.  The cake disappeared during the afternoon, but the park remains.  In the Spring there will be additional planting, and a higher fence will be installed at the front.

Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA)

Seema Malhotra has unearthed some interesting stuff about the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) here. Quoting the IFS, she suggests it particularly helps ethnic minorities from poor backgrounds.  As far as I can see the Con Dem government is proposing to abolish it without replacement, which gives you an idea of how far improving educational attainment comes on their list of priorities.  The only alternative that I have seen Michael Gove suggest is that individual schools set up a hardship fund paid for out of their core funding.  This doesn't sound like an adequate substitute.  It also sounds like a way to divert "pupil premium" from funding education directly to other uses, casting doubt on whether Sarah Teather's claims to be increasing funding are in fact true.

A Coalition of Choice

Steve Richards suggests here that the alliance between the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives was not quite the forced arrangement the likes of Sarah Teather would have us believe.  He thinks that the "Orange Book" liberals took over the negotiations and that the resulting combination, mad attack on public services and all, is their ideological choice.

No Post in the Post Box

Here is a post box I saw recently. Why would someone set up a post box with that message on it. Is it post modern art?

Tyres and Pollution

Environmental Protection UK has an interesting report on the use of tyres to reduce pollution and noise in government car fleets. Something that any organisation with a large vehicle fleet should think about.

Well London

I am sorry that the Well London project will be winding up in March. It has done a lot for the Kensal Green area, especially the Tubbs Road Pocket Park. What is wasteful about these temporary projects is the whole temporary, bidding process involved. It takes a long time to get to know an area like this, and now that Well London have gotten to know it all that painfully acquired knowledge is going to be dispersed.

Blogs and Libel

Sense about Science has a guide for bloggers who face legal threats here.  I had an issue of this sort with Atiq Malik, although I don't believe his threat of legal action was a serious one.  When I started this blog I also had a problem with a number of comments posted anonymously carrying what I took to be libelous or sometimes just nasty remarks about individuals.  Although they claimed to be from several different authors, I suspect they were actually posted by two rather sad individuals.  Happily, both of them have ceased to post, but that is the reason that I always moderate the comments rather than allow instant publication.

Blue Mountain Display

One of the issues that has come up around Harlesden Town Centre is pavement displays.  Brent's licensing people are keen for better demarcation, as currently some of the displays spill on to the pavement, often with litter problems.  This could be done by painting the edges of the private forecourts, or (in the longer term) useing pavement studs. 

However, there is an argument that shops spilling on to the pavements can be good.  For instance, the fruit and veg display outside Blue Mountain in Craven Park Road could be said to add to the feel of the place.  A similar argument could be made for the little shopping parade outside the Gracelands Cafe opposite the Island pub. 

What do people think?

Buggies Off the Bus

I understand that the problem I predicted with buggies in the new double deckers on the Number 18 is coming to pass. What makes it worse is when a bus stops part way along the route. The mother concerned has to wait for several more buses because the only buggy space is occupied. Thanks Boris.

Ireland and Brent

The Irish turmoil is obviously a tragedy for the Irish people, but will it also have an impact in Brent?  When I first moved here in the late nineties, there was still a substantial Irish population of people who had come to London for work.  The Celtic Tiger years saw those people disappear as more work was to be found in Dublin.  I assume the unemployment in Ireland will see many more people come over here, looking for jobs and housing and we will need to cope with the influx.  It may also affect the funding of the Brent Irish Advice Service, which partly comes from Dublin.

Ward Working and St Marks

The Kensal Green councillors have agreed to use seven thousand pounds of their ward working money to contribute to the redevelopment of St Mark's Church Hall.  Most of the funding comes from the Church and its own fund raising, but this should allow the work to begin after Christmas.  Full details can be found on the St Mark's Church website.

Library Call In

The call in of the library report turned out to be something of a damp squib on Thursday.  With the exception of Paul Lorber, none of the people who signed the call in turned up to ask anything about.  The main points that he made were already in the strategy, so it really was not a good use of time.

Lib Dem Hypocrisy

A Liberal Democrat MP told me that he didn't want to sign the tuition fees pledge, but the party headquarters actively pressured him to do so, so he did.  I thought this an extraordinary confession.  Even though Nick Clegg had doubts about the policy, he pushed all his MPs and himself to sign the pledge.  He then made it one of the central planks of his campaign to oppose a rise in tuition fees.  The other feature of his campaign was the importance of trust and not breaking your promises.  He gets into office and does precisely that.  It really makes you wonder about his honesty, but also his political competence.  How could he not foresee the kind of difficulty he would get into?

Policing the Protest

Here is a photo of the police in Parliament Square that I took before the violence got underway.  What kind of a government needs this kind of military  operation to protect itself from its own voters?

Tubbs Road Pocket Park Officially Opened

Today, Tubbs Road Pocket Park is having its official opening, from about 2pm to 4pm in the park itself.  I am immensely relived that this project got through despite Sarah Teather cancelling the rest of the PlayBuilder programme that part paid for it.

ACME Studios Open Day

Tomorrow the ACME studios development on Harrow Road is having an open afternoon to be followed by a similar event on Sunday.  I will be going to the official opening of Tubbs Road pocket park, but I am sure the artists would welcome as many poeople as possible.

Roundwood Youth Centre

It looks as if Roundwood Youthb Centre will have the last Labour government's grant unfrozen and therefore be able to go ahead with the planned rebuild.  However, I am not yet sure whether the full grant will be given, or whether the details will show a cut.

Brent FoE and Emissions Based Parking

An anonymous commenter, who sounds as if they are from Brent Friends of the Earth, claims I was selective in quoting from their response to the Council consultation on emissions based based parking permits, so perhaps I should go through it in greater detail.

The Brent FoE response conceeds the principle of the scheme is good, but proceeds to make various objections that are politically and financially unrealistic and would effectively debar the Council from implementing the scheme at all.

The statement that really stands out is: "It is also the case that the scheme will have no effect whatsoever in the large proportion of the borough not covered by Controlled Parking Zones, as it only applies to CPZ schemes."  Obviously, the Council cannot not ask for a CPZ fee in areas that have not asked for a CPZ.  CPZs have always only been implemented with the consent of residents in Brent.  Areas which have them have opted to pay a fee in return for residents being given privileged parking rights over people from outside.  To impose fees on the whole Borough would destroy public consent by charging people who don't regard themselves as getting a commensurate beenfit in exchange. 

They also complain that it applies only to on street parking.  Indeed so, but the Council has no legal (or many would say moral) rights to charge people a fee for parking on their own properties.  Councils can restrict parking rights for private property through the control of crossover permissions, and in fact Brent has tightened its policies in this regard, but Brent Friends of the Earth seem to be demanding that the Council do something outside its legal powers.

Brent FoE also suggest that it is "unfair that only householders who presently have cars will be rewarded, rather than those who already use only public transport or bicycles."  I find it hard to work out what is envisaged here.  The Council offer is to people who give up their permits for a set period.  How would you extend the offer to people without permits to give up?  Is it being suggested that a payment be made to everyone?  If so, in what way does it incentivise behaviour. 

They are also objecting to the speed of implementation, and want a longer consultation period.  The proposals were decided by the Executive in August 2010, and, if passed, should come into effect in April 2011.  That is the best part of a year.   Personally, I am quite frustrated that things take so long to implement.  The FoE response also makes the entirely incorrect point that "Bringing the new scheme in very quickly (implementation next April), means that very few people are likely to be influenced by the incentives it puts forward." Surely, the longer you delay the introduction of the policy, the longer it will be before anyone can claim a benefit, and therefore the more you delay any influence it has.  As far as I can work out, whoever wrote the FoE response thinks that you can only claim the incentive in the run up to implementation (say 1 April) and not thereafter.  In fact, you would be able to claim the incentive on the day of implementation or at any time thereafter.

There is also some stuff about buying and selling cars, suggesting that buying newer, less polluting cars is has a higher lifecycle cost.  I don't believe that there is any evidence for that, but in any case the parking permit is a very small component in the cost of motoring.  The effect of the policy is likely to be more on people buying a car anyway, especially a highly polluting second hand car.

Finally, Brent FoE have the chutzpah to suggest that the scheme should be part of "an overall plan which makes it much easier to use other forms of transport," as if it were not already.  Of course, Brent Council, like every other local authority, has a range of policies and schemes in place to manage traffic issues.  These including pro active measures like cycle training, planning policies and fees and charges.  The fact that Brent FoE fail to understand this further diminishes their already dwindling credibility as an environmentalist group.

Plandemonium

Yesterday, I went to the Inns of Court for the launch of a book of cartoons on planning issues called Plandemonium.  I recommend it to anyone who likes jokes about Local Development Frameworks. 

Sarah Teather on Her Way Out

Sarah Teather was door stepped by Sky TV about tuition fees.  She refused to answer questions about tuition fees.  Asked why she wouldn't answer she explained: "I'm on my way out."

Indeed.

Furness Road Water Leak

There is a water leak on Furness Road just outside the pocket park, particularly bad in this time of freezing weather.  I reported it yesterday, only to find someone had been ahead of me;  reporting it at 2.05am.  I am intrigued to know what this civic minded person was doing at 2.05am.

St Mungos in Pound Lane

A while ago I went to an event in the St Mungos facility in Pound Lane.  Everyone was very gloomy about the forthcoming disaster caused by the Con Dem government's changes to housing benefit.  The changes have been sold by using atypical examples of unemployed families in central London claiming large sums, but most of the people hit by the cuts will be low paid workers claiming much more modest amounts.

However, touring the actual facility in Pound Lane was inspiring.  It cost more than £9 million, and arranges a gradual progression for homeless people towards independent living.  the idea is to reverse the kind of "revolving door" that emergency only support gives.  It is of course probably more cost effective in the long run, but also just the kind of thing the present government is likely to cut.

The centre at 115 Pound Lane is open to the public.  They have a cafe, meeting rooms and a computer room so it is worth going in just to have a look.

BFOE and Emissions Based Parking

Brent Friends of the Earth continue their decidly peculiar brand of environmental campaigning with a submission on our Emissions Based Parking Permit proposals.  For a supposedly environmental group, it is staggerly lukewarm and grudging.  It states that "we are not opposed to the principle of emissions based parking permits."

Not exactly leading the charge on Climate Change, are they?

I think I will do a further post on their ill considered and unrealistic objections at a later date.

Teather's Broken Manifesto Promise on Schools

When Sarah Teather and her boss Michael Gove decided to abolish the Building Schools for the Future programme, they defended by saying there was not enough money to pay for the new schools. The promises put out in the run up to the election were a little different.
What the Brent Liberal Democrats said in their 2010 manifesto was:

"Brent has now been admitted to the Building Schools for the Future scheme (something the previous Labour administration failed to achieve). This will fund major works at Queens Park Community, Alperton, Copland and Cardinal Hinsley schools."

Did the Brent Liberal Democrats not consult their MP before publishing the manifesto? Did she care so little about education in her constituency that she didn't bother to ask them what their plans were? Or is this yet another case of a broken Liberal Democrat promise?

UPDATE:

Responding to the anonymous commenter below.  Sarah Teather Con Dem coalition have cancelled £85 million of Building Schools for the Future money that had been allocated to Brent.  She now claims that money was not there, even though it was promised in the Brent Liberal Democrat manifesto.  The Crest Academies bid was well under way when Labour lost power.  The only thing we have to be grateful towards Sarah Teather when it comes to the Crest Academies is that she managed NOT to close that programme.  Not closing even secondary school building programme in Brent (only some of them) is not much of a boast.

Public Sector Waste

Patrick Butler has an excellent rejoinder to all those "waste" stories about public services.  These stories are promulgated by (a) journalists looking for a quick and easy story, and (b) rightwing ideologues trying to vilify any form of public spending by pretending it does nothing.  This then sets up an atmosphere where massive cuts can be pushed through to shrink the state.  Brent Liberal Democrats have been playing this game for years, and will no doubt continue to do so, but is it not odd that the private bankers whose incompetence and greed almost destroyed the world economy are allowed to get away without scrutiny?

Harlesden City Challenge Grottiness

This is the kind of grottiness, I hope Harlesden Town Centre will be able to avoid in future. The peculiar design of the street has led to it being poorly maintained. Indeed, I understand that it is often used as an exemplar of what not to do in urban design.

Carbon Tax

One of the hidden charges to local government is a new carbon tax of £12 for each ton of carbon dioxide emissions. For Brent this adds up to almost half a million pounds. The anomaly is that it is charged to those authorities that monitor their carbon emissions, i.e. those who are keener on reducing emissions.

Times Article

I gather I have had an article published in The Times on compulsory recycling, although as they have a paywall I can't link to it.  Still, one can always buy a copy.

Kensal Rise Library

I went to the Friends of Kensal Rise Library yesterday.  The numbers present certainly demonstrated the level of concern.

It was decided to form a committee to see how the library could be kept open.  I have already told Mr Butcher that I am happy for officers to meet with them to go through the practicalities of any scheme.  I think that a successful solution would need:

a) The permission of All Souls.  As they have a covenant giving the library back to them if it ceased to be a library, their permission would be crucial.
b) A clear concept of what the building is for.  I am a little worried that many of the people there want to continue with a standard library, which I don't think will work.  Inm my opinion, there needs to be maximum flexibility in how to uise the space in order to draw in partners.
c) Funding, both capital and revenue.

This is obviously a big task, but it might be doable.

There were also some misconceptions that need to be cleared up:

i)  The Council does not have an enormous pot of money to be made available after agitation.  Central government have cut Brent's grant to a greater extent than at any time in the past.
ii)  It was suggested that Brent was the only Borough in London proposing library closures.  In fact a number of closures are mooted in Camden, Lewisham and I believe elsewhere.
iii) It was suggested that reducing library opening hours by 40% would allow all twelve to be retained.  Whereas cutting hours by 40% would save a similar level of revenue, it would not generate any capital receipt for improvements.  It would lead to a much larger number of redundancies among staff, a massive fall in book borrowing and a massive fall in visitors.  In other words, it would make all our libraries unsuccessful.

Are we in this together?

The Guardian carries the story that the government cuts have been skewed to hit the most deprived (generally Labour) authorities hardest, and the more prosperous (generally Tory) less.  It is even suggested that some authorities, like Tunbridge Wells, will be given substantial rises at the same time as others are struggling to balance their budgets.

Kensal Green Tube

In the Summer, I mentioned the terrible looking state of the "green" space by Kensal Green Tube Station.  This is not actually a public park but an area of land owned by Network Rail.  The land was desolated after contractor put heavy machinery and materials on it whilst they were working on the bridge over the rail line.  The contractor is obilged to put it back into its prior state at their own expense.  Currently they seem to have compacted the earth and put so much gravel in that the plants cannot grow, but I understand we are still chasing them to get the area landscaped properly.

Harlesden High Street Bottle Bank

I am glad to see that the bringbank outside 139 High Street Harlesden has finally been cleared after weeks of overflowing.  Hopefully, the glitch in it being collected will not recur, and (if there is contamination) it will be emptied in due time.

Brent Library Consultation Launched

Brent Council has now officially launched its library consultation.  You can access it here.  Note that the first consultation meeting is tonight at the Willesden Green Library Centre, although there will be plenty of other opportunities at the Area Consultative Forums.

Lib Dems and Tuition Fees

Left Foot Forward has more on Liberal Democrat twisting on tuition fees here.  Vince Cable's admission that he only made the promise because he never expected to be in government strikes me as especially absurd.  How can he expect anyone to trust him?

Gritting the Roads

All the major road network has been gritted to cope with the snow, and the gritters will be out again this afternoon as freezing temperatures continue.

Teather Charges the Kiddies

Sarah Teather's pledge for increased charging families using Sure Start has not had the attention it deserves.  As usual, making parents pay more was not an objective she proclaimed before the election, but I was also struck at the anti-localism element.  Whilst claiming to promote local decision making, Teather wants more "payment by results".  Money would be witheld from Councils or other organisations that cannot demonstrate that they have turned the lives of children around.  That sounds awfully like the invention of a centralised bureaucratic testing regime of the kind that this Con Dem government claims to be against.

Emissions Based Parking Permits: an Islington Comparison

Following the Liberal Democrat u-turn on emission based parking permits, I thought it would be interesting to compare our proposals to the system introduced in Liberal Democrat run Islington in 2007. Islington is also an authority that retained free collection for bulky items at a time when our Liberal Democrats introduced the £25 charge.

The Islington charge levels can be found here. Like us, they have a seven band structure based on DVLA criteria with electric vehicles free and top rate polluters paying £200. Exactly what the Liberal Democrats here are now protesting so hard against.

I notice that the Islington Liberal Democrats have in the past also boasted about the effectiveness of their car club offer. One of the key strands in our proposals is to promote car clubs by allowing them to park in CPZ areas.

Perhaps we could persuade the Islington Lib Dems to do a house swap with their Brent counterparts, and get a cross party consensus on the issue?

Waste Down in West London

Household waste in West London continues to go down.  This is beneficial financially, but I would feel happier if I understood the reasons behind it.  Partly, it is linked to the poor economic performance of the UK, which leads to less waste being produced.  However, it would be good if we could track better whether any of our reducing waste projects are actually having a measurable effect.

Call Ins by the Lib Dems

There has been a slight delay to several of the reports at the previous Executive covering: Libraries, waste management, street cleaning, building round Elms Garden and the Taxicard scheme.  This is because five of the Liberal Democrat councillors signed a "call in".  This delays the report until a Scrutiny Committee has a chance to look at it.  I noticed for the first time that the Lib Dems appear to have developed a pro forma form for call ins, so their members don't even have to write them.  That is perhaps as well since they seemed badly demoralised at the Council meeting on Monday.  Only nine of their seventeen councillors managed to stay to the end of the meeting.  What puzzles me is why they continue to tolerate the egregious Paul Lorber, when he has led them into this hole.

Catalyst Development at Harrow Road NW10

I didn't report any more on the flats and studios at Plough Close on the Harrow Road that I visited some time ago.

The site is on the boundary of Brent and Hammersmith & Fulham, so that the Borough boundary actually runs along the back garden fence of the block facing Harrow Road. This meant that the same development had to apply for permission from both Brent and Hammersmith & Fulham. To make matters worse, Catalyst (the Housing Association that led the development) bought the land in 2005. In 2006, the administration in both Boroughs changed, with the HF side changing their planning policy quite drastically from one which only accepted the loss of employment land in return for 100% affordable housing to one that insisted on shared ownership for affordable housing. This was a particularly bad time for shared ownership as the housing market tanked so it has ended up being 100% affordable rented housing after all.

Firstly, it strikes me as remarkable that the development happened at all. It illustrates the unnecessary difficulties created by our illogical Borough boundaries that I have blogged on in the past. Secondly, there is quite a contrast with the Tories in Hammersmith, who appear to have bent their planning policy for ideological reasons, and our own Tories, who disagreed with most of our planning policy, but lacked the intellectual wherewithal to change it.

Bus Stops in High Street Harlesden

One of the many issues that came up in the Town Team visit to Walworth Road was bus stops. Generally bus stops are in lay bys, but the Walworth Road scheme has them flush with the street forcing cars behind to wait whilst people get off and on. Not sure how popular that would be in Harlesden Town Centre, but possibly more so than the current arrangement (pictured) at the Park Parade bus stop in High Street Harlesdeen. There is actually a build out into the road for the bus stop.

Walworth Road Reservation

One of the features of Walworth Road that I am less keen on copying in Harlesden is the reservation above. The idea behind it is to help make the street feel safer for pedestrians to cross. I don't think it would work in Harlesden High Street as our street is much narrower.

Wendover Road Car Park

I occasionally get asked about the possibility of turning the Wendover Road car Park (by the Post Office) into a multi-storey car park. I am not sure where this notion originated, but it seems unlikely to me. Aside from any other planning issues, such as the likely increase in traffic congestion, the existing car park has a very small area. By the time you had constructed a ramp in and a ramp out with associated turning space, you would have very little room for the cars to park in.

Refuse Markers

Visiting The Cut, I saw that they had markers in the pavement like the one above. The idea is that people put there waste in that specific spot for collection, giving a tidier appearence than the current ad hoc arrangements that we have in Harlesden High Street. I think this could be a very good idea for those residents of the High Street who livew above the shops.

Reckless Management

I notice that one of the Conservative MPs offering George Osbourne advice in the recent Commons debate on the Irish bail out was one Mark Reckless.  Let us hope he does not live up to his name.  He was previously noted for voting through the Budget whilst drunk.

Ireland, Iceland and Osborne

Paul Krugman makes a comparison between Ireland and Iceland that should give George Osborne food for thought.

What will Brent Council Collect for Free?

Now that the Liberal Democrats' £25 charge has been abolished, I thought it would be good to flag up what you can get collected. It is all listed on the Brent Council web site here. Basically, any sort of bulky household items. If you leave items out in the rain, it is best to cover them so that their potential for re-use is maximised.

Drainage in Harlesden High Street

One of the things that could be improved in Harlesden Town Centre is the drainage. Among other things, the current build outs trap rainwater in the loading bays. They were not designed to do this as they have drain pipes. Unfortunately, the design of the drain pipes is very hard to clean, and therefore they have become blocked up over time.

I did also wonder about the use of permable paving to help drain the area more quickly. The kind of thing I am thinking of is often used where a parking space has been created in front of a house. I imagine it is more expensive than ordinary paving, but it might be effective. Does anyone know of any public schemes that use it?

Service Station Planning Appeal

The long running saga of the old service station site in Harlesden High Street continues.  The Appeal Inspector has upheld the Council's decision to refuse permission to build flats there.  Reasons for refusal relate the effect on residents of Rucklidge Avenue, 139 High Street Harlesden and the poor amenity space for the intended residents.

More on Lib Dem Hypocrisy

This is the not very impressive leaflet the Liberal Democrats have been putting out about our emissions based parking permit proposals. Despite having advocated a similar scheme themselves, they have come out against ours (rather shredding their environmentalist credentials in the process).

The photo shows the roll of dishonour of Liberal Democrats opposing our proposals as: (left to right) Cllr Paul Lorber, Cllr Barry Cheeseman, Cllr Jack Beck, Cllr Daniel Brown, former councillor Emily Lawson-Tancred, Cllr James Allee, former councillor Bob Wharton, and Cllr Mark Cummins.

Incidentally, the photo in the bottom half shows two of my opponents from May continuing as Liberal Democrat supporters, although Robin Pagnamenta seema to have quietly dropped out.

Gladstone Park Cycling

I was asked some time ago why the bylaw against cycling in Gladstone Park does not apply in the morning. The exceedingly strange reason is apparently that in the 1940s there was a munitions factory at the bottom of the park and the workers were encouraged to cycle down to it, but expected to walk back in the afternoon. How very odd.

Streetwatchers Conference

Just been to the Brent Streetwatchers' Conference where I did a Q&A.  Lots of questions covering Streetcare, bin collections and planning but all very positive.

Free Swimming at Willesden Sports Centre

It is worth flagging up that some free swimming continues at Willesden Sports Centre despite central government cuts over the past few months. The surviving free swimming service is detailed here.

Street Furniture in Harlesden Town Centre

One of the lacks in Harlesden Town Centre is in street furniture, which is particularly important for older people. Above is a fairly good example of a bench that I photographed in The Cut. I understand that Harlesden Town Centre lost a lot of its street furniture because it was used by ne'erdowells. The above bench is obviously designed to discourage this.

Census Takers

I have been asked to publicise the recruitment of Census Collectors, who are the people who will go door-to-door to households who have not submitted their Census forms yet to offer assistance.  They are essential to an accurate census, and the census data is essential to securing funding for local services.  Most public services, including the Council and the NHS, use Census data as the basis for funding allocation from Central government.

Brent has had a long standing problem getting its population estimated accurately because of a high level of transience and diversity.  The best way to ensure that Brent gets an accurate count, with all the positive funding and planning implications that brings, is to do everything we can to fill the workforce with local knowledge, cultural sensitivity and diverse language skills. The only way we can influence this in the recruitment process is to encourage as many of our residents from all our various communities to apply for the roles.

There are roughly 190 posts available in Brent (the number recruited will depend on the overall mix of weekly hours that applicants request) and Capita are looking for 12 applicants to every post and will extend the deadline for those areas where numbers are short. This means they are looking for something of the order of 2200 applications across the Borough – no small task!

If we can fill these positions with individuals with good links with local communities, who have knowledge and understanding of some of the cultural barriers that may be present to filling in the Census, then we stand a much better chance of getting an accurate count of our population and their characteristics.

There is a short job description at the end of this post; further information can be found at http://www.censusjobs.co.uk/.


Census Collectors, Brent

Fixed Term Temporary, approximately 37, 25, or 15 Hours/Week

£10.42 p/hour plus completion bonus

There around 190 full-time equivalent Census Collectors are required across Brent. The role mainly requires going door-to-door to encourage households that have not yet submitted a completed 2011 Census form to do so, offering help as required, so knowledge of local communities and experience of working with them will be an asset. Getting your community counted in the Census will give them a stronger voice in the future.

The period of employment starts on either 21 March or 6 April 2011 and ends on 6 May 2011. Mostly the work will be when people are expected to be at home: 2pm to 9pm weekdays and 10am to 9pm at weekends, and at least 60% of you time must be worked at evenings and weekends.

Although you will apply to a role in a fairly localised area during the Census you may be required to work outside this area and do hours outside the normal times above as the operation requires, however you should not be asked to work outside of the Borough. For full details and information on these and other roles please go to www.censusjobs.co.uk.

All application for these posts must be made online at www.censusjobs.co.uk. Click on “Apply now” and then select “London” as a Region and “Brent” as an Area to bring up all the roles available in Brent; each Collector role has between 12 and 15 full-time equivalent positions to be filled.

Closing Date 13/12/2010

New West London Waste Web Site

The West London Waste Authority has a new, much more user friendly, website launched today to coincide with the start of European Waste Reduction Week. 

Grey Corduroy Paving

One of the more controversal issues around the shared surface concept is the use of corduroy paving. Guide Dogs for the Blind actually sued Kensington and Chelsea over their use of this material in Exhibition Road. Various disabled groups are afraid that the lack of definition of the pavvement may damage road safety.

I took the above picture in Walworth Road, where you can see the corduroy paving borders the carriageway. Standing on it, I think it had a distinctive feel, so I would have thought a blind person would be able to work out what it was.

The Cut: Bollards

The Cut had a kind of bollard that I haven't seen elsewhere (pictured above). I am not sure whether I prefer it to our more traditional bollards, but it would allow people to sit, which is one of the ways in which the High Street can be made friendlier for pedestrians.

Waste Management Milestone

In my annoyance at Cllr Lorber, I got distracted from reporting on the major milestone of the last Council Executive. The main one is the decision to go ahead with our new waste management arrangements to increase recycling across the Borough. This allows us to go ahead with the procurement of new bins and collection vehicles in order for a roll out later next year.

Liberal Democrat Hypocrisy on Brent Cross

Brent Liberal Democrats have shown characteristic chutzpah on the Brent Cross development. They attack Barnet Council for approving the development, and try to imply that Labour have not opposed it, despite Navin Shah's extensive campaigning on the issue.

In calling for cross party support, Cllr Jack Beck makes a curious omission _ Sarah Teather. Before the elction, Sarah Teather was happy to criticise everyone else for not opposing the scheme vigorously enough. As soon as the election was over, she lapsed into silence as Eric Pickles waived the scheme through without a second glance.

Library Transformation

I have had a lot of emails, especially about Kensal Rise Library, following a blog posting here. I think some people didn't understand that Monday's Executive decision was simply to put the proposals out for public consultation rather than to make the substantive decision. The consultation lasts until April, when the Executive will decide on what to do with the Library service. As with waste management, I will be going round the Area Consultative Forums, as well as three special library specific meetings in different parts of the Borough.

Harlesden Town Centre: Colour Scheme

Another consideration in Harlesden Town Centre's design is the colour scheme of the materials. At the moment this can appear to be rather ad hoc. I guess no one has really taken responsibility for it as a place, and therefore things have been replaced bit by bit. Above is an example I took of Walworth Road where the surfaces and street furniture are all on a grey/silver theme. In Brent, that kind of blister paving is usually beige, which doesn't seem particularly attractive.

Loading Bays in Harlesden High Street

This is a picture of a loading bay in Walworth Road. The concept is one of "shared surface". The bay is virtually flush with the road and the kerb is similarly sharply reduced. When the loading bay is in use, it is part of the carriageway effectively. When a vehicle is not using it, it becomes part of the pavement for pedestrian use. It was suggested on the site visit that for this approach to work in Harlesden, we would have to drastically improve traffic enforcement.

Harlesden Town Centre Build Outs

Both the schemes, I visited last Saturday had broadened their pavements to take up part of the carriageway. It looked to me as if that didn't do much for traffic flow in the case of Walworth Road, but Harlesden High Street is slightly different.

Here we have build outs like the above. I really can't think of much use for them as they are. If we took them away, we could either widen the road for more traffic, or widen the pavement to give more space to pedestrians.

Climate Change Steering Group

Yesterday saw the first meeting of Brent Council's new Climate Change Steering Group. This is a group of vartious businesses, public sector organisations and voluntary groups in the Borough. It is chaired by me and serviced by Brent Council officers. The idea is to help steer the Borough as a whole to meet the challenges around climate change, both in terms of reducing carbon emissions and in mitigating the effects.

Paul Lorber: An Extraordinary Performance

Another extraordinary performance from Paul Lorber at last night's Executive. Having approved a scheme to dedesignate a derelict allotment site in Sudbury in order to build decant housing from the Barham development in May 2009, he turned up claiming to oppose his own decision. He also suggested that the housing could be built on a former service station by Thomas A Beckett Close instead.

I remember dealing with the planning application to build flats on this site in 2009. Among those opposing building on the site was local Sudbury Councillor, Paul Lorber.

He really doesn't seem to have any interest in consistency or relating what he says to the facts. Later in the Executive, he claimed that he had attended the consultation on our new waste management plans and that the plans for alternate weekly collections had not been mentioned. As the person who gave that presentation I had to flatly contradict him. But given he was there, and certainly most of the councillors in the room also attended these consulations and therefore knew that they described alternate weekly collections, what was the purpose of him claiming otherwise?

What mystifies me is why his fellow Liberal democrat councillors continue to want to be led by someone so devoid of credibility.

Underwater Photographs

Remarkable underwater photographs to be found here. Nothing particular to add about them. Just thought they looked extraordinary.

Rose Garden

I see that the Salaam restaurant in Harlesden High Street opposite Tubbs Road, which had a bailiff's notice on it recently is now trading as the Rose Garden. I wonder what is going on.

Transforming Harlesden Town Centre

On Saturday, I went on an interesting visit to Walworth Road and The Cut in South London, organised by the Harlesden Town Team. The idea was to get some suggestions for how Harlesden Town Centre could be changed over the next three years. Despite the current climate, we have a good chance of getting some money to do up Harlesden Town Centre in a way it hasn't been since the Harlesden City Challenge of almost twenty years ago.

One obvious question is whether we should have distinctive street furniture as we do at the moment. The two South London schemes certainly did, but the experience with the Harlesden City Challenge has been unhappy. The railings and streetlights are more expensive to maintain, and as a result they have not been looked after properly. There is also the issue of where does the Town Centre begin and end. Having distinctive street furniture only works if you can define the area properly, and at the moment Harlesden Town Centre is ill defined. For instance, we have distinctive streetlights etc. around the Jubilee Clock, but as soon as you go on to Wendover Road you get Brent's standard streetlights.

I will do a series of posts on this theme over the next few days.

Tubbs Road Pocket Park

Delighted to see that Tubbs Road Pocket Park is shaping up so well. Here is a photo I took yesterday. Unfortunately you can't see the wooden sculptures too well, but the overall shape of the park is emerging.

Emissions and Cardiac Arrest

Another link here about transport emissions and health problems. In this case particulates causing heart attacks. Local authorities have only very limited powers on this kind of thing, but I don't think that makes it a bad idea to pursue the emissions based parking permit policy that we have proposed

Bendies Off the Route 18

Today, the bendy buses get taken off the route 18 and replaced by double deckers at great expense. Let's hope there aren't lots of delays as well as extra expense.

CCTV in Brent

I went to the control room for Brent Council's CCTV in Brent House a few weeks ago. The technology is certainly impressive, and the staff very committed. The supervisor told me about an attempted rape that had been filmed. The attacker got away, but she thought that he looked like someone who knew the route. She watched more than 12 hours of footage and eventually identified someone who was subsequently convicted and jailed. Even a small number of reults like that are worth the expense in my opinion.

New Primary School Places

I see Martin Francis continues to try to block investment in new primary school places in Brent. I really don't understand why. There is a pressing need for new places across the Borough, and not having a place for your child is a terrible position for both the parents and the child to be in. At the moment we have almost £15 million granted by the last government to provide new places. If we don't spend it by August 2011 it will be taken away by the Lib Dem / Tory coalition, and goodness knows if we will see any replacement for it. What on earth is the point of trying to wreck this desparately needed investment?

UPDATE:

Martin Francis gives more detail on his position here.

Teather Clear as Mud on Tuition Fees

Sarah Teather is reported as being unclear on the tuition fees issue here. Her spokesperson is reported to have said that s/he had "no idea" what her position was. A bit of a change from her previous clarity on the subject.

Smashing Windows

I have heard a rumour that some of the students on the protest march today have smashed windows in the Conservative Party HQ. I am not clear whether this is part of the protest or merely an application to join the Bullingdon Club.

Seb Coe at Chalkhill Community Centre

Just been to an Inspiring Brent event with Seb Coe at the Chalkhill Community Centre. He went round some of the projects that are linked in with the Olympics, met the Young Ambassadors and then had questions from a number of children from Brent Schools. Earlier he went to see the temporary swimming pool at Chalkhill Primary School.

Why Emission Based Permits?

A commenter on a previous post asks for a rationale for the policy, so here it is.

Firstly, the environmental case. By linking CPZ payments to emssions levels, we are sending a signal to people to think about their emissions. Hopefully, this will help to reduce pollution. When we were discussing this pledge before the election, I think we were thinking mainly of carbon emissions, but the public consultation has drawn up a lot of concern on health grounds as well. High carbon emissions are a good proxy for other kinds of harmful emissions, like particulates, so the policy would be similar wherever you lay the emphasis, but the original intention was certainly about climate change.

The second aspect is why this level of charges? The level of charges was based on comparison with neighbouring authorities. Since, the vast majority of Brent's CPZs are in the east and south of the Borough, it made sense to compare with the authorities immediately neighbouring them. In doing so it is important to emphasise that most Brent drivers fall into bands 3, 4 and 5 (between £75 and £125 per annum). Camden currently charges between £84 and £164. Westminster has a few small cars paying £85, but most pay £125. Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea have a £99 flat rate, so the figures for the m,ost comparable authorities are fairly similar to us (although we don't know how long they will stay at that level).

Brent Council and the CSR: The Council Budget

Brent Council's budget is cut by 7.1% every year for the next four years in the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR). That is a total of about £65 million, the worst spending settlement for decades. At the moment, we still don't have precise figures but we can estimate headline numbers.

It looks like cuts in every department, including across environment and neighbourhood services. Capital spend in the Council as a whole goes down by about £66 million (a 45% cut). Transport spending, which is heavily reliant on TfL, is likely to see severe reductions. Non-statutory spending is likely to be hardest hit.

We are also likely to be forced to look again at ways to limit demand, although the effects of recession are likely to see increasing need in terms of homelessness, family breakdown and so on.

What is so depressing is that I suspect that this suffering is not only unecessary, but actively damaging. By taking an Irish style approach of cutting as much as possible as fast as possible, The Con Dem government is likely to damage economic growth and make the deficit worse.

Willesden Hippodrome

I have always been puzzled as to how the Job Centre on Harlesden High Street, and the DWP offices, above it got planning permission. Five stories is certainly out of scale with the rest of the street. I now think I know the answer. The site used to house the Willesden Hippodrome, a music hall erected in 1907 and destroyed by bomb damage in 1940. Still, I wish the block that replaced it had been rather less brutalist in construction.