Sunday Opening at Brent Libraries

By the way, I notice that I have a letter published in the Independent here following a piece by Boyd Tonkin.  Articles like that of Mr Tonkin entirely ignore the improvements that are an inherent part of our Libraries strategy. 

These will start this Sunday, when (for the first time) Harlesden, Brent Town Hall and Kilburn libraries will open.  Along with our other three libraries they will be open from noon to 5pm.  In early November, we plan to start having Kilburn Library open on Wednesdays as well.  Thus, all our six libraries would then have seven day opening.  This is becoming increasingly unusual for local authority library services.

UPDATE

It is worth noting that the new Willesden Library not only has seven day opening, but on Sundays it opens from 10am, uniquely in Brent and very unusually anywhere.  

Library Litigation Update

I thought a quick update on the library litigation would be in order.  The litigants put in their appeal on Tuesday, and an oral hearing was held on Wednesday morning.

The litigants have been granted leave to appeal, and the situation regarding buildings is effectively frozen as of Wednesday morning.  This means that the staff redundancy notices issued on Friday remain in force, putting an end to their uncertainity.  Five of the former libraries are boarded up, with Cricklewood, Barham and Tokyngton having had their books, IT and furniture removed.  Preston and Neasden remain boarded but with the contents still inside. 

Kensal Rise library is not boarded.  The litigants have undertaken to pay Brent Council to maintain a 24 hour security guard until the case is heard by the Court of Appeal.  We are hoping to have a hearing in mid-November.

Food Waste Recycling

We have further indications on the recycling service.  It looks like the food waste recylcing has gone up by about 11 tons per day compared to last October.  In other words, we were running at about 59 tons per day then, and are doing about 70 tons now.

I was expecting (and continue to expect) that food waste would be more troublesome, as 28,000 households in Brent have not previously had a food waste service at all so they have to adjust to an entirely new system.  The tonnage will also be somewhat reduced as we are now taking cardboard in the blue top bins.

Green Disappointment at Brent Executive

Disappointed that the Greens turning up to the Brent Executive last night sounded so negative about our Green Charter and our climate change approach in general.  As I pointed out, we have had a number of strong policies on climate change since coming to power.  These include:

• Our new recycling system, that will massively reduce greenhouse gas emissions from waste management
• Changes to our planning guidance to improve the environmental performance of new buildings
• Improvements in the fuel efficiency of our transport fleet
• The introduction of emissions based parking permits
• Changes to public realm guidance for better adaptation to climate change
• The promotion of district heating schemes

I was sorry to see that they did not stay for the report on district heating in South Kilburn, which one would have thought anyone wanting to cut carbon emissions would welcome.

Charging for EBook Lending

Previously, I have complained about Nottinghamshire's decision to charge for ebook lending.  In my view, this is the biggest threat to public libraries to have emerged over the past few weeks.  As ebooks gain a greater and greater share of reading, they should become more central to a library service.  The judgement given on Thursday had a passage referring to whether electronic mechanisms fell within the "section 7" duty (to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service).

The relevant passage is:

"The Council’s reliance on mitigation measures which included the use of the internet was criticised as falling outside the scope of s7 which focussed on “facilities for borrowing books and other material”. Of course, if provision of facilities such as the use of IT and the internet fall outside the scope of s7, then some of what the Council’s service currently provides would fall outside the scope of s7, and complaint could not be made were those facilities dropped. I do not see that as the Claimants’ case. In reality, a service which includes the provision of books and other materials by technology and goes beyond the loan of books or other physical items, or the provision of reading facilities on the printed page, falls within the scope of s7, which is not confined to the loan or use of physical items." (paragraph 116)

The judge appears to be saying that they do.  If so, it is not at all clear to me that Nottinghamshire County Council would have the legal power to charge.

Costs of the Brent Magazine

Tory government minister has been busy putting out press releases claiming that Councils spend too much money on publicity.  He claims the Brent Magazine costs £1000 per month.  Given that Brent has more than 100,000 households in it, that would be less than a penny per household.  Given how important the Magazine is for key policies like increasing recycling, that is money well spent.

If you have not had your copy, please contact the Council using these details.

Decentralised Energy in South Kilburn

One of the interesting reports up for the Executive on Monday is a scheme for district heating in South Kilburn.  This has significant carbon emissions and cost benefits, but you can only really make it work in a wholesale development.  Hence , all the new blocks in South Kilburn have a planning condition to link up with such a scheme if it goes ahead.  Another indication of the centrality of planning to regeneration.

Brent Libraries Judgement: Full Text

For those who are interested in the detailed arguments in the Brent Libraries case, they can be found in the full text of the judgement here.

Brent Libraries Judgement

By now, it is well known that the High Court decided in favour of Brent Council in the Libraries litigation.  The Judge implies, correctly I think, that the arguments put forward were not really appropriate for a judicial review.  He refused leave to appeal, which implies that he believes that the issues are clear cut and that the litigants' case was weak.

It is still possible for the litigants to ask the Court of Appeal for leave to appeal directly, although I don't see what the basis of such an appeal might be.  I also question whether the Legal Services Commission would wish to pay for further litigation in the light of the unequivocal nature of the judgement. 

The judge also refused an injunction to prevent the closures temporarily.  Since he had just ruled that Brent Council had made a lawful decision, it would have been odd to injunct us against carrying it out.

I am now keen to get on with the positive elements of the transformation strategy, which include:

• Seven day opening at Harlesden, Kilburn and Barnhill libraries
• Enhanced services for severely disabled people
• An improved outreach service for children living in poverty
• More study spaces for students
• Better bookstock and IT facilities in each library
• An enhanced online offer

Unfashionable Defence

Political offices are defended here.  I am sure that the author is right that this area may come under threat in many authorities, and that this is likely to lead to poorer quality political leadership.  I suspect that Eric Pickles and the Tories would actively welcome this as eroding local government and helping to shrink the state.

Teflon Boris

Tory Troll suggests that Boris Johnson is wasting vast amounts on pet projects.  What I find puzzling is that he can do not just this, but also have a string of poor appointments (often apparently linked to cronyism, as in the unlamented example of Bertha Joseph), yet not pay a price in popularity.

Differing Philosophies

Different approaches to the problems of life in the cartoon below:

Housing Disaster

I get the impression that most people have still not realised how much damage will be done to people in London by the government's housing benefit changes.  Dave Hill has been pursuing this issue in a number of posts, but his latest on the subject seems to indicate that not even the Tory ministers know what they are doing.

Recycling Round Up

The new recycling scheme seems to be going well.  All bins should now have been delivered, and I am told that the tonnage yield looks good (although it is syill early days. 

I have come across a few frequently asked questions:

Can I get another recycling bin, or do I have to share?  The bins were allocated on an estimate of what each household would need.  When we were doing the consultation, many people were concerned that there would be too many bins. Yhe sharing of one bin between two flats was considered the best solution.  However, if you feel you need another recycling bin, you can ask for one by phoning 020 8937 5050.

What do I do with the old green box?  Whatever you like.  Brent Council suggest re-use _ perhaps as a planter or simply general storage.  If you don't want to re use it, you can phone the Council to take it away.

Can I put shredded paper in the new recycling bin? Yes.

Brent Council Transport Award

I understand that Brent Council has been given the National Transport Award as best authority for road safety, traffic management & enforcement.  This is a tribute to the huge reduction in traffic accidents in the Borough over the past few years.

Eric Pickles and Localism

Here is an additional list of why Eric Pickles is wrong on weekly bin collections.  It also raises the issue of why he is introducing a scheme that seems to cut across his various "localist" statements.  The writer is in fact much kinder than I would be.  I think Eric Pickles does as he does because he believes in localising blame but centralising control, in the same way that bankers like to nationalise losses, but privatise profits.

Tories Backsliding on the Environment

Caroline Lucas has some largely justified criticism of George Osborne's backsliding on the Environment.  She could also mention the peculiar position of Eric Pickles. 

The government has a long established policy, going back many years, of using the landfill tax to encourage more recycling.  The tax makes disposing of waste by landfill far more expensive than recycling.  For most local authorities, the best way to increase recycling is alternate weekly collections (as has just been adopted in Brent).    Yet Pickles is trying to retard this move to greater recycling by offering a cash incentive not to do it.  Were he successful, which I am sure he will not be, he would also add to the UK's greenhouse gas emissions, since waste in landfill is a major source.

Incidentally, at this time when the Tories and Lib Dems have decided to cut budgets so savagely, how did they find £250 million to pay for Eric Pickles' vanity project?

EBooks and Libraries

Whilst waiting for a date to be set for the Libraries judgement, I read that Nottinghamshire County Council are due to start charging for each time they lend an ebook. This is a fundametally unwelcome change in library provision.  To my mind an ebook is just another form of book, so charging for each loan goes against the whole ethos of a free library service.  It as if you started charging for loans of hardbacks, whilst claimi9ng that you were still providing a proper service via free loans of paperbacks.

Liberal Democrats Pick Wrong Side on Recycling

Brent Liberal Democrats seem to have finally come down against our new recycling system, according to the Willesden Times.  When the Tories put forward a motion against the collections, the Liberal Democrats chose to abstain.  Presumably, their new stance is an opportunist u-turn, rather like their change over emissions based parking charges. 

To reiterate, the new system is an improvement because it leads to more recycling, lower disposal costs and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.  When Brent's recycling rate goes up, the Liberal Democrats will be left on the side of a policy that fewer and fewer authorities defend, and presumably they will eventually have to backtrack as they did over ASBOs. 

Cllr Lesley Jones at Harlesden Library

My colleague Lesley Jones is giving a talk about her time in Nigeria at Harlesden Library on 12 October as part of Black History Month.

Brent Council Budget Cuts

Here is a fairly good stab at explaining the difficulties around local government budgets.  Council budgets sometimes seem like trying to solve the Schliesvig-Holstein Question.  As well as increasing inflation, growing demographic pressures and reduced grant, Brent also has to pay into its pension fund for an increasing number of pensioners, and a dwindling number of people in the workforce contributing.  The long term pressures are even worse than the headline figures.

Eric Pickles and Alternate Weekly Collections

Eric Pickles offer of money for us not to go aherad with alternate weekly collections fails to make sense at any level.  He has offered £250 million, which is roughly £1 million for every authority operating alternate weekly collections if they agree to switch to weekly collections.

Firstly, it does not make financial sense.  Going with our current plans should save us about £5 million over that period.  So going the Pickles route would cost us money.  Secondly, we would have to order a new fleet of vehicles and pay for the crews.  Aside from the financial cost, that would take a long time to organise.  We would also have to launch a new publicity campaign to educate the public.  Thirdly, weekly collections lead to less recycling and less waste minimisation, so we would fail to achieve our manifesto committment to increase recycling.  Finally, landfill is a major contributor to grenhouse gases, so more landfill would go against our climate chnage objectives.

It amazes me that the Tory/Lib Dem government area pushing such an awful policy at the same time as imposing huge spending cuts in every other area.

New Bin Collection Today

Brent's new bin collection system starts today.  There are bound to be teething problems, so please be patient whilst they are worked through.  Once the system is fully in place and working, we should increase the Borough's recycling rate to more than 50%. 

Brent's Parking Enforcement

Although there is a perception that Brent's parking wardens are overzealous, they are given training to be reasonable.  I frequently meet residents who refuse to believe this, but if you look at parking appeals across London, Brent has tthe second best record of the 33 London Authorities.  In other words fewer of our tickets are overturned on appeal than anywhere else.

Surface Water Flooding

I expect there will be more problems with surface water flooding over the Winter.  Many assume that this is a Council responsibility, but the reality is more complicated.  The Council is responsible for keeping the gullies clear, but the actual drains belong to the water utility.  I suspect this lies behind the not particularly co-ordinated approach.  Hopefully, we will be able to work with Thames Water to better develop a system to prevent localised flooding.

West London Libraries

At a recent meeting of the West London Waste Authority, the Tory member from Hillingdon let fall a remark about the wonderful efficiency of their library service.  This is a common trope in a number of articles; for example, here.  However, I am not at all sure that Hillingdon has actually made the savings that are claimed.

In our own Libraries Transformation report, we had a table comparing efficiency in library services across West London.  Hillingdon didn't score particularly well.  The figures used were from CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants), which is the standard way to compare local authority expenditure.

I wonder whether Hillingdon have in fact overhyped their model?

Furness Road Resurfacing

I am glad to see that work on resurfacing Furness Road has finally started.  I have been trying to get the carriageway resurfaced for some time.

Libraries Judgement

The new law term starts next week, and I hope we will finally get a judgement in the Libraries case.  However, this cannot be guaranteed as it might drag on to the next week.  This is enormously frustrating for people in the service who have to live with the uncertainity caused by the litigation.

Banned Books in Brent

Brent Libraries have joined in the "Banned Books" promotion here.  You can borrow from 100 books that have been banned at one time or another, sometimes for extremely odd reasons.

School Crossing Patrols

A curious fact about School Crossing Patrols: although Cllr Paul Lorber promised to Call In the report when he attended the Executive last week, he has not in fact done so.  The deadline for a Call In has now passed.

Brent Rewarding Reuse

Brent, through the West London Waste Authority, has been awarded some money to start a reuse scheme that incentivises users.  This should help extend reuse in Brent, which has never been as extensive as it should be, as well as giving us experience of using an incentive based  scheme.

Parking Shop

There may be some disruption to service at the parking shop in Walm Lane.  This is because the Council and the contractor have agreed some management changes at very short notice in order to deal with problems in the service.

Fairtrade Progress

Brent Fairtrade Network will be meeting tonight in Brent Town Hall, so perhaps an update on Fairtrade is in order.  One of the Labour Party's manifesto committments was on Fairtrade, and this was duly incorporated in the Council's Corporate Strategy.

Previous efforts to make Brent a Fairtrade Borough had rather run into the sand, and I think that officers had downgraded the effort as a result.  The election of a new administration helped to reboot the effort.  Essentially, to achieve Fairtrade status Brent has to get lots of non-Council bodies to sign up.  We are currently struggling to get enough cafes to sell Fairtrade goods, enough schools to register and interest and above all enough religious organisations (since Brent has so many and of so many different kinds). However, we now have a plan in place to work through these problems and I am hopeful to achieve Fairtrade staatus some rime next year.  

Sarah Teather Out of the Loop

The story about Michael Gove running a parallel department makes me wonder about Sarah Teather.  I presume she is not included in the favoured circle of Tory advisors that make all the decisions in this less than transparent way.  Should a minister really be excluded from decision making in this fashion?  Does she just sit there waiting to be given instructions to dump her election promises on Building Schools for the Future, cut funding for early years, up tuition fees or whatever?

The phrase "In office, but not in power" comes to mind>

Dollis Hill House Demolition

It has been a while since I blogged on Dollis Hill House.  Demolition is set to proceed shortly.  Once it is done, the house will be replaced with some landscaping which incorporates parts of the old building, and (I think) should enhance that part of Gladstone Park.  It is a pity that it has taken so many years to get to a solution.

Streetcare Round up

Just a quick round up on streetcare issues:

Kensal Green should now have been sprayed with weedkiller.  It takes two or three weeks to kill the plant.  After that it can be weeded out.  My own observation is that much of the weed cover in Kensal Green has now died off.

I understand that the new paving on Station Road has hit a problem with paan spitting.  This is a problem more associated with Ealing Road.  Paan is  chewing mixture popular in southern India which is very hard to clean off paving.  The Council is using a contractor to treat the slabs to make them more cleanable, but apparently the spitters get there before the contractor.  Officers are still working on a solution.  The easiest would be if people did not spit paan.

The potholes at the top of Furness Road (nearest King Edward VII park have been given a temporary patch, as the whole road surface at the top is due for replacement this financial year.

Lack of Scrutiny

Welovelocalgovernment has some fair criticisms of parliamentary scrutiny, but I suspect they would apply equally well not just to local government but also the media.  Coverage often seems to focus on minor issues that form only a very small part of the picture, instead of more substantial problems.  Why is this?

Harlesden ACF

The turnout at the Harlesden ACF on Tuesday was very poor.  This time there were no excuses over bad weather.  Clearly we need to do more to rethink how ACFs can be made into effective tools for public engagement.

Brief Executives

I see Martin Francis is complaining of the brevity of discussion at Brent Council Executive meetings _ not a complaint most councillors are used to hearing.  The reason that the Executive meetings are brief is that they are the culmination of a long process of consideration lasting (at the least) several weeks. 

Martin often writes as if the entire consideration of the process took part in a single meeting.  In fact, any report will have been circulated through various officers, cleared by the senior management team, discussed with lead members, been the focus of at least one collective discussion by all the Executive members and maybe more.  In many cases there will already have been extensive public consultation, discussion within party groups and with various interested parties.  It is difficult to see how all that consideration could be fitted into one meeting.

Big Society Procurement

A flagship Big Society initiative in Surrey has failed to win a contract.  This is not really surprising, but it illustrates how public services won't simply be taken over by voluntary start ups.  Bidding in a major procurement process is extremely hard.  Whoever is awarding the contract has detailed legal requirements designed to promote fair competition, and established companies with experience will be more likely to succeed than enthusastic amateurs.  If the awarding authority is biased in its contract evaluation, it can be sued.

I suspect that the Tories are actually well aware of all this, and the fluffy "Big Society" rhetoric is really about covert privatisation.

MPs Registering Shock

MPs are apparently shocked at the problems with the forthcoming rules on registering to vote.  These are soon to be changed so that the register is no longer filled in by one person per household, but by each individual personally.  The effect is likely to massively reduce the number of people on the register.  For areas like Brent, I suspect that as much as half the population might cease to register.  The question is: at what point does the proportion become so high that the election is no longer democratic?

UPDATE:

Brent is particularly affected by registration problems because we have a highly transient population with lots of ethnic diversity (and therefore language probelms).

Knowles House Tonight

Unusually I won't be presenting any of the reports at the Executive tonight, but there is one report of particular interest to Kensal Green.  There is a proposal to dispose of Knowles House on Longstone Avenue.  This is currently a dementia home although it has only 12 permanent residents.  The residents would have to have their provision re-supplied elsewhere if the recommendation goes ahead. 

Much of the site is empty.  The third floor cannot be used as it is not DDA compliant, and the home does not meet national standards.  Included in the site is a former nursery which has not been used since 2007.  Temporarily , this may be used to rehouse some of the activities from the youth club, which is being rebuilt.

A few Good Bankers

I enjoyed this Jack Nicholson parody on central bankers, although you probably have to be familiar with the film to fully appreciate it.

ConDem Economic Policy

I find the spectacle of government ministers slowly realising that their economic policy is disasterous fascinating.  George Osborne can't admit that his cuts really do go too far too fast, but  I suspect his hint at wanting more quantitative easing amounts to that.  Unfortunately, whatever effect QE may have (and it does not appear to have been that great so far) is likely to be offset by the austerity in public spending.  Meanwhile Nick Clegg is suggesting bringing forward public infrastructure projects.  Very sensible, but completely contrary to the deficit cutting rhetoric we have heard since he jumped into bed with the Tories.

Brent Council and the Committee System

One of the motions put forward by the Liberal Democrats at the last Council advocated a return to the
Committee system, as being more democratic than the current "Executive" arrangements.

I remember when the Executive system was introduced, the then Council Leader Paul Daisley told me that Committees really worked by himself as Leader having a series of bilateral meeting with each Committee Chair, who then delivered the Committee. So, certainly he seemed to think the old system was less democratic and transparent than many of its nostaglic advocates now claim. 

I can also see a number of other potential problems.  Firstly, given the way that decisions are now picked over, there might be greater scope for legal action.  Procurement rules now allow companies to sue Councils over quite technical infractions of procedure for large sums.  I have also seen lawyers try to pick out single sentences or brief quotes in order to overturn decisions.  I suspect the Committee system would have far greater scope for this than in the less technical times when it used to operate.

I can also see problems with unpredictability, as committees depend on who turns up and how they vote.  In terms of awarding contracts, that might lead to local authorities having to pay a "risk premium".  It might also create difficulties in the partnership working we are all so keen on. 

Finally, the old Committee system did not allow for the Scrutiny function. I think this is the big advantage of the new system, albeit one that Brent has failed to exploit fully.  It allows the Council to do high quality work on important issues _ like the recent report on youth and preventing offending _ in its own operations.  However, it also allows us to question outside bodies that spend public money in Brent, like the NHS, the rail companies or the Police.  That has huge scope to improve public services, if it is taken seriously.

New Parliamentary Seat(s)

The Tories's new plans for parliamentary seats have been published.  You can find their plans for Brent here. Kensal Green, along with a lot of the existing Brent Central, would be lumped in with the northern part of Hammersmith & Fulham to create a new "Willesden" seat.

I still have difficulty believing that these changes will actually happen.  Firstly, there will be issues up and down the land of people feeling that the proposed boundaries don't reflect their communities.  I imagine that this will affect supporters of all parties.  Secondly, what incentive do the Liberal Democrats now have to vote this through, as it seems likely that they would be the main losers.

Council Meeting

Brent's Council meeting on Monday was nowhere near as bad as I expected.  Indeed, it was quite civilised, and the Borough Commander's piece was really informative.

Ebooks and Publishing

The Economist has a short piece about the changes to publishing being created by ebooks.  Of course, these same factors are likely to have an effect on public libraries, which any forward looking authority should try to anticipate.

Historical Note on King Edward VII Park(s)

I have often wondered why King Edward VII has so many parks named after him.  Apparently, there was a nationwide scheme to create a park in every muncipality in his reign.  Brent therefore now has two, because at the time we were split into the Boroughs of Willesden (where we got the park outside Willesden Sports Centre) and Wembley, where we got the King Edward VII park that was recently awarded a green flag.

Brent Council and the Riots

Tonight, Brent Council is having a full Council meeting.  These events seem to have limited usefulness now that the full Council is no longer the deciding body for most decisions.  However, we will have a debate on the riots and what to do in the wake of them led by the Borough Commander, Matt Gardiner.

New Recycling Bins Rolling Out

The new dry recycable bins have started rolling out.  For instance, they have now been distributed to Wrottesley Road.  As well as the materials you could put in your green box, you will be able to add tetrapaks, mixed plastics and cardboard.  However, please note the actual collections start from 3 October.

Weeds on the Streets

I have been getting a lot of complaints about weeds on the streets which on some roads, for instance Bramston Road or Wrottesley Road, are unacceptably high. 

The standard process is to spray weedkiller in Spring and again in the Autumn.  Physical weeding is done during the summer, but this stops once the weeds are about to be sprayed as the plants absorb the weedkiller better then.  I understand that most of Kensal Green was sprayed last week, and that the weedkiller takes two to three weeks to work.

Willesden Times

I notice the Willesden & Brent Times is now being distributed for free in the Harlesden Tesco.  I would have thought this would severely cannibalise their sales along all the newsagents in Harlesden High Street.  If they are going to do free distributions themselves, it makes the complaints about the Brent Magazine being circulated even more dubious.

College Road Bollard

This is a photo of a bollard I took on the corner of Hazel Road and College Road a little while ago.  It is now repaired.  The Council has a legal duty to carry out these repairs (The budget comes from the revenue garnered by CPZ schemes.)  So, if you seethis kind of damage, please contact the Council, so it can be repaired as soon as possible.

IKEA Angled Ball Launch

I have been promised that the angled ball sculpture that I blogged on on Tuesday is going to be detailed on the Brent Council web site.  The artist is James Hopkins, who does a lot of work which depends on tricks in perspective.  The angled ball is designed as a set of black and white plates.  Seen from the side it looks like this:

As you drive round, you realise that you are looking at the immage of a football (which obviously ties in with the welcome to Wembley location).

Changes to Planning

The LGiU had a piece about changes to the planning regime.  It basically argues that the government is simply serving the interests of greedy developers.

In terms of what that might mean for Brent, I imagine that making it cheaper and easier to build in greenfield areas, is likely to divert resources from regeneration in places like Kilburn, Church End and Wembley.  By encouraging urban sprawl, it is likely to have varius other undesirable effects, such as increased pollution from unsustainable transport.

However, I wonder about the question implied towards the end.  Are ministers making this choice in order to help property developers, or do they simply not understand their own policies?

Public Sculpture at IKEA

This morning I am gong to see a new publc sculpture unveiled by Rachel Yankey.  The sculpture is by the IKEA store on the North Circular Road.  I recall being on the judging panel that decided which scheme to go with, so it will be good to see it fnally in place.

Falkirk Wheel

During my recent sojourn in Edinburgh, I wen toi see the Falkirk Wheel.  As an engineering project, I think it is at least as impressive as the London Eye, although far less known.

It is a 30 metre high rotary boat lift, that connects two canals in Scotland.  The whole thing is plastered with boasts about Scottish engineering, although I notice that the firm that did the engineering had an address in Derbyshire.

This is a view from the top.

Alternative Service Provision

Research is showing, unsurprisingly, that alternatives to standard public service provision do not magically make services better.  There doesn't seem to be any surprise there, but the point about accountability is worth expanding.

The whole "Big Society" idea is based on handing over public assets and money to a private organisation unfettered by the various safeguards that public sector organisations have.  If such organisations do have the same safeguards, it is supposed to limit their potential to innovate, and therefore their ability to come up with cheaper ways of doing things. 

I don't see how this squares with the government's argument that public organisations need to to be as transparent as possible over spending money.  With the enthusiastic support of Eric Pickles, local Councils now have to make invoices on quite minor spending items available online.  If that is supposed to be beneficial for for taxpayers money spent by public servants, then why not also for taxpayers money being spent by the private sector?  I suspect that if the government were to impose similar scrutiny on the private sector, it would soon be attacked as imposing an unacceptable degree of regulation.

The second issue that seems fundamental to me is what happens when things go wrong? Who is accountable? The private organisation charged with running the service or the elected politicians who gave them the money?

More Eric Pickles Populism

Eric Pickles appears to have engaged in a characteristic piece of populism according to this report in the Evening Standard.  This sort of thing is becoming a pattern.

Firstly, attack local government by mplying that everyone who works in it is an incompetent bureaucrat out of touch with the real world.

Second, cite some atypical examples that sound extreme but don't conform to the vast majority of cases on the ground.  This was particularly successful in the case of changes to housing benefit, where a small number of families recieving outrageous sums was used to justify pushing far larger numbers of people into poverty in what even Boris Johnson described as "social cleansing".

Third, pretend that you have statutory powers to impose your will on all authorities despite this being entirely against all your rhetoric about localism.  This will be famliar from the debates around Council publicity and other debates.

Fourth, use the above smokescreen to promote a rightwing agenda.  In this case, by ceasing to gather information about race (for instance) it will be far harder for anyone to monitor whether a policy either directly or indirectly discriminates against a racial group.

Back End Recycling

As well as launching a new system to improve the "front end" collection of waste from peoples' houses, Brent Council also need to look at improving the "back end" of processing the waste once it is collected.  Despite its unglamourous nature, the back end recycling is quite fast chnaging in terms of its technology and techniques, as can be seen from some of the  things Veolia is currently doing.

The main body responsible for this sort of thing in Brent is the West London Waste Authority, which has a six Borough membership.  More can be found out about West London Waste Authority here. 

Recycling and Alternate Weekly Collections

Further confirmation that we are on the right track with our recycling plans can be found here.  It is notable that Eric Pickles is no longer mouthing off about ending alternate weekly collections in the way that he used to.  Alternate weekly collection (with a continuing weekly food/garden waste service) is the system that Brent Council will start operating from 3rd October.  You can find out more about Brent Council's new recycling plans here. 

Incompetent Con Dem Ministers

Simon Jenkins suggests that ministers in the present government are plain incompetent.  It is hard not to agree as far as taking decisions are concerned.  I am told that when the Council met with Michael Gove to try to save some of the education spend promised after his decision to cancel Building Schools for the Future, Sarah Teather appeared simply unaware of the potential threat to Roundwood Youth Club.  Such was her lack of interest in the constituency that she is supposed to represent, that she seemed not to know that a £5 million investment in youth services had been frozen. 

Similarly she seems to have done nothing to resist the cancellation of Building Schools for the Future, which directly disadvantages the pupils of Newman Catholic College or Copland School that would have benefited from the investment. That is despite it being a specific pledge in the Brent Liberal Democrats' manifesto.  She also seems to be indifferent to the problems over primary school places, cuts in EMA, cuts in Early Intervention Grant and a host of other issues.

I assume that the explanation for this is that she and the rest of her party got into politics for the sake of posturing rather than achieving anything.  It comes as a shock to them that their decisions are now having consequences.

Old Oak Common

Hammersmith & Fulham have unveiled proposals for the Old Oak Common area.  From our point of view it is crucial that any development be closely linked to Willesden Junction so that Harlesden Town Centre can continue to reap the benefits.

Station Road Road Works

The road works have started in Station Road. This will be the first stage of the transformation of Harlesden Town Centre.

Scots and the Union

I was recently in Scotland, where the SNP are in the ascendant.  They are in the happy position of playing off the Unionist parties locally against the UK government, in other words having their cake and eating it.  Ironically, the SNP can only maintain this politically advantageous position so long as they fail in their overall aim of breaking up the Union.  The unionist parties, meanwhile, seem to me to fail to develop a proper case for the union _ failing to go beyond a very basic argument that Scotland gets more from the UK tax pot than it puts in.  While true, this strikes me as a very limited case, and it seems to me that both sides of the border gets things together that they could not get apart.  I wish the unionist parties would be more active in promoting pro-unionist arguments such as:

1) The value of the currency:  As I see it, an independent Scotland would have three choices.  It could keep the pound, which would mean the Bank of England would continue setting interest rates as it does at the moment.  I think that is the best system as the UK seems a near optimal currency area, but it runs completely contrary to the whole logic of independence.  Scotland could also join the Euro, but that would mean that the ECB would set interest rates, which it seems to do in a way that suits the German economy, but not most of the rest of the Euro area, including Scotland.  Finally, it could launch a separate currency, but that would have all the disadvantages of a small currency based around a small economy.  Indeed the last two options would presumably set up trade barriers with England that don't exist at the moment.  As England is likely to be one of Scotland's main trading partners whatever the political arrangements, that would be bound to be to the disadvantage of bother countries.

2) The Sovereign Debt argument:  The UK is a fairly big economy and that gave a certain stability during the financial crisis.  Despite having such a big financial sector, the UK was able to guarantee its banks without incurring the kind of difficulties that have led to a sovereign debt crisis in Ireland.  I doubt whether an independent Scotland would have been able to do the same.

3) Defence:  The UK is able to maintain a strategic defence capability, again as a result of sheer size.  The increasing expense and sophistication of defence projects like the new aircraft carriers is making this harder and harder.  It seems unlikely that an independent Scotland could maintain, for instance, top of the range fighter aircraft _ leading to a steady structural disarmament and loss of capability.  This is distinct from the "Scottish jobs" argument at Rosyth or elsewhere that is so often wheeled out.  Of course, the SNP argument might be that they want to scale back defence spending and simply do things like UN peacekeeping, but if so they need to make that clear.  A diminished UK would also find it harder to maintain high level defence capabilities, which would have implications for both UK defence and NATO.

4) Bureaucracy:  Presumably an independent Scotland would have to duplicate the apparatus of a sovereign state.  For example, I take it would have to set up a string of embassies around the world.  Is that really going to add anything that we don't get from the existing Diplomatic service?

5) Culture:  I suspect that the SNP would make an argument that independence would help the Scots overcome any "cultural cringe" that they may have towards the English.  However, I haven't noticed such a cringe, unless its comes in the form of defensive truculence.  I think Scotland both historically and currently has been perfectly capable of developing and maintaining its culture within the union.  If anything, I would have thought a separate Scottish Broadcasting Corporation would be far less effective than the BBC. 

It seems to me that all these factors, suggest a benefit for both sides of the border in continuing the union.

Ward Working Again

I see that former councillor Robert Dunwell has been attacking the ward working budget.  He shares this approach with his former Tory colleagues as well as Cllr Paul Lorber.  They all seem to see the budget as a piggy bank to be raided for their own pet schemes.  In fact, it is intended to help councillors to engage with the public, as I have explained before.

Notting Hill Carnival

The Notting Hill Carnival is going ahead this weekend.  Let us hope that it is not exploited by woulb be rioters.

Campaign Photos

The Guardian runs a short story about Boris Johnson's house being identified on a web site.  I agree that shouldn't be done, but I also recall that the Conservative Party was perfectly happy to put photographs of the Labour candidate's house on their leaflet during the 2003 by-election in Brent East.

Libraries and Blogging

Welovelocalgovernment has an update on the libraries discussion I pointed to earlier.  Essentially, it points out the very heated nature of much of the commentary, and the difficult dilemmas facing Gloucestershire.  I willl stay off commenting on Gloucestershire, as I don't know much about their situation.  However, I am puzzled that posts on this topic seem to automatically lead to often quite nasty abuse as can be seen in the coment thread here.

Youth Services and Anti-Social Behaviour

This is a report linking anti-social behaviour to the closure of youth centres; In Norfolk as it happens.  I don't deny that there is a link.  That is why Brent Council has preserved its youth centres, and is making a major new invesment in the Roundwood Youth Centre in Kensal Green.

However, I don't think the analysis is entirely satisfactory.  Firstly, I think these kind of activities appeal only to a proportion of young people.  Large numbers seem happy doing other things.  Many of those who are most likely to commit anti-social behaviour won't go near the Council Youth Service.  However, I suspect that the Youth Service probably is successful in drawing mildly disaffected people away from getting involved in criminality.  In doing so they help to isolate the hard core, who were mostly likely to commit the kind of public disorder that we saw recently.

Perhaps Nick Clegg and David Cameron should reflect on that as they preside over major cuts to youth services around the country.

Payments to Coulson

The Andy Coulson saga rumbles on.  It is surely absurd for the Tory Party to argue that someone working as the Prime Minister's chief press officer while receiving payments from a leading UK media organisation has no conflict of interest.  The sooner David Cameron launches a credible public enquiry into all this, including what he himself knew, the better.

Planning and Secrecy

Correspondence from the Prince of Wales to Boris Johnson on planning applications is being kept secret, according to the Guardian.  I find this worrying, as openess is one of the principal defences to ensure proper planning decisions.  Given the problems we have had with Parliament, the Police and the Media recently (all of which have been linked to non-disclosure), is further secrecy the best way forward?

Brent Council Recycling More

I am beginning to get more inquiries about Brent's plans to improve recycling in the Borough.  You can find out more about these here.

Library Debate Round Up

The debate over public libraries, which crosses my mind from time to time for some reason, has thrown up some interesting comments on the web.  As Brent is still in the middle of its own judicial review on the subject, I will forebear to comment for the moment, but others may be interested in this post from welovelocalgovernment.  It covers not jut libraries but also the (in)advisability of using the judicial process to make political decisions.

There is also an interesting discussion on Voices for the Library here.  The comments thread appears to include a number of comments from Brent's own litigant community, including on the viability of volunteer run libraries (which is one of their main grounds of challenge).

Finally, our own head librarian wrote to the Times some time ago pleading for libraries to be seen as a modern service, not just a throwback to childhood memories.

Road Works and Utilities

The Con Dem government has just announced a plan to "incentivise" utilities to dig up roads outside rush hour.  I must say this strikes me as more of a gimmick than a policy.  The review of the pilot scheme from 2002 to 2004 suggested it would have little effect, and Stephen Hammond hasn't explained why that review is wrong.  Any substantial roadworks are likely to take a number of days.  If instead of that work being continuous, the workmen have to stop and start all the time, it seems likely that the works will be protracted rather than speeded up.  Think of all the weekends where the Tube is closed down on this or that line.

Surely, to limit congestion you really need a set of policies based around sustainable transport.  Perhaps ministers should concentrate on that rather than their ridiculous "war on the motorist rhetoric.

Public Opinion and the Riots

There is some polling on public reaction to the riots here.  There seems to be strong support for a hardline approach, except in the question where indirect consequences are pointed out _ on evicting whole families from Council Housing.  There are already concerns over the overflow in the prison system and other longer term consequences.  I am sure that a real solution would need greater emphasis on restorative justice, community sentences and socio-economic causes than David Cameron's rhetoric currently emphasises.  Mr Cameron has in the past tried to portray himself as a "liberal" but only in cases where it looked like a vote winner.  We will see if he or anyone else in the coalition is willing to persist with that approach now that there is no immediate political advantage.

Station Road Work to Begin

I underrstand that the work on Station Road may begin as early as next week.  This is because the contractor is expecting to finish the previous job earlier.  The work will begin with paving on the east side of the road.  However, there is still no word on progress on Station Approach.

Urban Planning and Riots

Via Dave Hill, I came across this piece on urban planning and riots.  Suppressing an ignoble thought that however bad London's experience has been we don't sound as bad as parts of France, my next thought was that it sounds as if we are heading in the French direction. 

The government is making major changes to housing benefit in January 2012.  These are likely to lead to the effective expulsion of the poor from many of the richer areas of London.  Some of the changes are also likely to lead to much worse overcrowding.  The dire state of the economy, and the reluctance of the government to driving the supply of housing area also leading to an increasing polarisation.

In Brent, we are already seeing this.  Poor areas like Stonebridge are seeing poverty deepen.  There is good evidence that other parts, like Mapesbury or Brondesbury, are seeing the income profile of their residents go up (along with house prices).  This sounds like it is tending to the banlieue/rich area split that the articles describes.

Networking Web Sites

There is growing evidence that online resources are becoming a far more important source of community engaement and information.  Brent used to be quite good at this, but my feeling is that Council has lost its edge in its online offer.  Currently, Brent Council is remodelling its customer contact to be more effective online, but I think it also needs to think more about engaging with social networking.

Riots in Harlesden

The rioting in Harlesden was thankfully fairly limited.  I went round with the police talking to shopkeepers on Monday, and only two shops were attacked _ the pawnbrokers by The Shawl and the pound shop opposite HSBC.  I understand the greed motive in attacking the pawnbrokers, but why the pound shop?  I assume that part of the rioting was organised crime, and part opportunist, almost curiosity driven, theft by people who wouldn't normally be involved.

Boris Johnson Attacks Himself

Following on from the riots, we are seeing lots of politicians being exposed as rather shallow.  Mr Cameron got a quite extraordinary ticking off from Sir Hugh Orde at the weekend over his pledge to use water cannon and baton rounds.  Theresa May's rather foolish claim to have given operational orders to the police was also given short shrift.  I notice via Tory Troll, that Boris Johnson has also been making some foolish statements on police numbers.

The difference with Mr Cameron and Ms May is that they are claiming to be issuing instructions on matters that they have no legal authority over.  Boris does actually set the police budget in London, and is now claiming to oppose his own budget!

What worries me about this sort of thing is that all three of them may well get away with it.  Media coverage in the UK oftyen seems to ignore hypocrisy and untruths, and (even where they are uncovered) the public doesn't seem to punish them..

Looting and Arrests

Arrests are proceeding following the looting.  The Willesden Times reports one such here.  Those both sound like organised gangs, although I am sure that there is an element of opportunistic theft as well.  Some of the looters appear to have got themselves fairly severe sentences over trivial items.  The Guardian on Friday carried a story of someone being sent to prison for stealing a few pounds worth of bottled water.  Is that really worth getting a criminal record for?

Ed Miliband has called for some form of public enquiry into the causes of the riots, and I think that would be very welcome as I think many of the responses from both left and right have been fairly knee jerk, and a more evidence based approach is needed.

More on Preston Road Parking

Sagar Shah has a lengthy posting on parking in Preston Road, which as he says is rather passionate.  He asks for a response, so here goes.

The first thing that strikes me, as I pointed out earlier, is that there seems to be an assumption that one area is being singled out.  This is actually the opposite of the fact.  The recent Highways decision is actually bringing the arrangements in Preston Road in line with other parts of the Borough.  Meters are being introduced as they exist elsewhere, and the same standard charge is applied.  My view is that treating Preston Road in the same way as other places is fair. 

My experience of going around various different parts of Brent is that there is a general perception that resources are skewed elsewhere.  People in the North frequently state that resources are sent disproportionately to the south.  People in the South often argue that resources are unfairly sent to the North. Sags argues that Preston Road should be treated as a special case, but I think that would only be justified if some special rationale can be shown.

He also argues that the shopkeepers are dependent on the free parking, and that without this they will go out of business.  I don't believe that is true, but it does not answer the point about fairness.  Effectively he is arguing for this road to get a special subsidy.  Why this road and not (say) Willesden, Chamberlayne Road, Harlesden or any other parade of shops?

The point, which is commonly made, that parking charges are there to maximise revenue ignores the fact that all such revenues have to be spent on transport expenditure.  In other words, motorists are contributing to the upkeep of the roads and pavements.  Since they use this transport network, that seems to me to be not unreasonable.

There is also a specific issue in the Preston Road area about the car park, which is widely regarded as underused.  Various charging regiemes have been attempted there, and yet people still complain that it is virtually empty.  I suspect that this is related to having free onstreet parking very close by.  Why pay when you don't have to? The introduction of meters will show if I am right.  It will also help to deal with the enforcement issues that Sags mentions.  As wardens will be enforcing the meters, they will also be available for other kinds of enforcement, something that has been noticeable in CPZ areas for many years.

More on Libraries

Thanks to Sagar Shah for his thoughtful post here.  The concerns I have over the delay in judgement are several, but I thought I would respond to the ones Sagar raises.

a) Yes, some of the staff have expressed frustration at not being given a redundancy date.  Among other things it presumably makes it harder to apply to other employers if you can't tell them when you will be available.
b) Secondly, there are difficulties keeping the libraries open on the current basis as some of the staff are leaving either through early retirement or otherwise.  This creates all kinds of practical diffciulties in running the library service.  The litigants are currently threatening us with further court action if we make any changes at all to the service.
c) The concern on budget overspend is that keeping the status quo entails something like £20k per week.  A few weeks delay quickly adds up to a substantial overspend.  Of course, this overspend will have to be recovered elsewhere in the budget.  I doubt whether any of the litigants would care to explain to whoever suffers from the consequent cuts why their services deserve to be cut.
d) The point about the taxpayer paying the bills at the end of Sagar's point is actually one of the things I find most absurd.  Yes, the Council bills are paid by the taxpayer, but there is a difference in that the Council Executive are responsible for the expenditure and explain it.  Neither the litigants or their lawyers seem to be under a similar obligation.  However, in deciding to fund the case the Legal Services Commission is making sure that the taxpayer is paying for both sides of the same action.  Is there not something a bit barmy about that?
e) Finally, I am not going to react to any judgement until I hear what it is.  I certainly expect the Court to uphold the Council's position, but there is no point in speculating.

Of course, the original point of asking for an expedited hearing was precisely that a quick outcome would be beneficial.  That point is rather lost if there is no decision.

One last point that the litigants appear to have forgotten is that any outcome to the Court case does not change the financial situation, or the current weaknesses in the service that the Libraries Transformation Project seeks to address.  If the decision is quashed, the Council will have to take a second look at the service in a very similar context to the decision in April.

Judgement Delayed

Despite our best efforts, it looks as if the judgement in the Libraries case is not going to be delivered until the new law term in October.  This is enormously frustrating for me, but still more so for the staff who have agreed voluntary redundancy terms but cannot be given notice while the case is pending.  It, of course, also means an overun in the Libraries budget.  The litigants have no such concerns, as their bills are paid by the taxpayer through legal aid.

Political Fantasy

Someone told me recently that they had been have a conversation with a Brent Liberal Democrat councillor in which he assumed that the Liberal Democrats would be back in power in Brent in 2014.  In politics all things are possible, but something will have to change dramatically from the current opinion poll ratings.  Having sold themselves as the leftwing alternative to Labour and then embraced the radical right agenda of the present Con Dem government, the Liberal Democrats have seen there support halved.  Unless things change dramatically, they will be fortunate to have any seats at all after May 2014.

Parking in Preston Road

The tone of some of the coverage of the last Highways Committee seems a little puzzling.  Of course, it is to be expected that where people have got used to free parking, they want to keep it.  However the Times report implies that the Preston Road area is being uniquely singled out for a crushing burden.  In fact, Preston Road is just being treated in the same as all our other Town Centres _ Kilburn, Kingsbury, Wembley, Harlesden and so on.  This also extends to the level of charges at the parking meters, which are uniform across the Borough.

Disorder in Harlesden

The disorder in Harlesden last night was much more muted than it might have been.  The BBC reported this morning that three men were arrested last night on suspicion of the attempted murder of a police officer in Brent, but all I saw were the wreckage of the pawnbroker near the Shawl pub in Harlesden High Street and a lot of shops forced to bring their shutters down early. at around 6pm, there were a large number of youths hanging around the Town Centre, so the Harlesden Town Team meeting was aborted.

As far as I can see none of this is a political protest, merely recreational rioting with people burnt out of their homes and businesses damaged through straightforward criminality.

UPDATE:

I have found a report of the suspected attempted murder.

Cuts in Charities

The Evening Standard has a report on the massive scale of cuts facing charities in the UK.  This includes both central and local government cuts (although local government is often just passing on central government cuts in reality).  What strikes me about this is that the figures don't come from Central Government, but from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). 

Building up charities was supposed to be what the David Cameron's "Big Society" idea was all about.  Based on the rather dubious premise that the worst people to deliver public services were public servants, we were told that a vast upswelling of charities and volunteers would take the place of all the public employees being made redundant.  Why then isn't the government trying to assess the extent of the charitable sector, and how far it is taking on the challenge?

Some might say this shows that David Cameron was simply using the "Big Society" rhetoric to cover up an ideologically motivated programme to shrink the state.  I take the more charitable view that the Prime Minister has been taken in by his own speeches, and he really thought the "Big Society" would happen.  The fact that he has made no effort to monitor whether it was happening, and that his cuts programme is undermining the whole concept, is simply evidence that the government is incompetent as well as nasty.

Toby Harris on Riots

Toby Harris, formerly leader of Haringey Council, posts on the riots in Haringey (and now quite large parts of the rest of London) here.  We have been fortunate to avoid this kind of thing in Brent so far, but it is always possible that similar disturbances may come here, especially if (as reported) manyof the rioters were from other parts of London.

Willesden Town Centre Makeover

I understand that Brent has been successful in obtaining about £500,000 to do up Willesden Town Centre.  I haven't seen the details, but I gather the work is likely to be concentrated in the region of Willesden Green Library Centre.

Meanwhile, next stages in the development of Harlesden Town Centre will be discussed at a meeting in the Salvation Army building on Manor Park Road this evening.

Steam Engines

I have been reading recently a biography of George and Robert Stephenson, and was struck by two things.

Firstly, the way in which Northern England in the 1820s was a kind of Silicon Valley for industrialisation.  One has a real sense of a cluster of innovative engineers attached to the coal industry in particular, with all kinds of mechanical invention springing up around the country.

Secondly, as the book was published in 1960, the author assumes familiarity with steam engines in a way that no longer exists.  I don't think I have ever stood on a steam locomotive, or seen one outside a musuem, but the author (LTC Rolt) takes a lot of basic knowledge about them for granted.

Failure and the Tories

Welovelocalgovernment has accurate comment on why the Tories' policy of allowing failure becomes problematic for must have services.  They cite the example of Southern Cross, but examples can be found outside local government.  Surely, one of the problems around the London Underground is that the cost of a catastrophic failure would be so huge that a government would have to step in?  Similar arguments can be made for energy supplies (Remember the fuel crisis?) and our old friends (or at least David Cameron's old friends) the bankers.

Polling Station Review

Brent Council is reviewing polling stations and districts again to make sure that they are accessible and well placed.  You can find out more on the Brent Council web site.

Blue Labour and Women

I came across this posting on women and Blue Labour, the movement led by Lord Glasman.  The rather abstract nature of the language always makes me suspect things like this.  Using words like "discourse" and "narrative" seems to distance the debate from the everyday, which seems a shame as there is a lot to be said here.

The Tories are toying with abolishing maternity leave.    This is very much in line with David Cameron's actual views, that such regulations are a burden that should be stripped down to a minimum.  This takes little account of how regulations are important to the effective functioning of the market.  Look at what a success the "minimalist" approach turned out to be in regulating the banking sector, for example.

It also throws out all the social benefits that such regulations can have.  Aside from the benefits in terms of greater freedom, these regulations can be seen as a more realistic apportionment of actual costs.  The danger of the minimalist approach is that the costs of (for example) childcare are simply disguised in the informal economy.  We surely need to structure our economy in order to ensure that things that are necessary or desirable can be directly integrated into our model of economic growth, not shunted off the balance sheet.  That means depending on higher productivity and economic growth rather than tax avoidence and a race to the bottom.

Contaminated Land Grant

I was heartened to see that Brent has been successful in obtaining 1.4 million pound grant to clean up contaminated land.  This is despite the Con Dem government cutting the amount available for such clean ups in George Osborne's "emergency" budget last year.

However, I feel sorry for the other authorities who applied and did not get the grant.  As part of the process, they would have had to identify which land was contaminated.  That means that they would have to an area with a dangerous level of contaminant, "receptors" (jargon for people) and a pathway between the two.  once they do that, they are committed to cleaning the land up.  Therefore all the authorities that failed to get any grant now find themselves obilged to find the money to clean up the land, effectively a one off stealth tax on them.

Calls In _ Again

Later on this evening, I will be going to the Call In Committee to talk about street cleaning, and possibly the Festivals report.  The Brent Council rules on Call In were recently changed to make them less frequent.  The reason given for the street cleaning Call In is so that we can hold a public consultation on the varying the contract, whilst simultaneously implementing the changes, which is just about the most barking mad idea I have ever heard.

Business Rates

The Con Dem government is contemplating chnaging the way Business Rate (Non Domestic Rates) are distributed.  This post accurately describes some of the problems involved. Allowing each authority to keep their own rates would massively benefit, say, Westminister.  It would also beenefit any area where new businesses were setting up (East London?), but as local authroties have such little control over where businesses operate I doubt whether it would do much to improve growth. 

What it would do is incentivise the collection of business rates. As local authorities don't keep whatever they collect, they currently have no incentive to maximise collection.  That is quite a contrast with the Council Tax, where local authorities work hard to increase collection so that they can get their hands on the revenue.

Paving Repaired

The paving in Furness Road I reported on some time ago has now been repaired, although possibly not in a manner that the author of our Placemaking Guide would entirely approve of.  However, the footway on either side of Furness Road really needs to be repaired completely.