Equalities and Judicial Review

In my post on Surrey yesterday, I forgot to point out what I think the most interesting missed opportunity of the case.

The reason that we have such a wave of decisions relating to the Equality Act is that no one has given clear guidance on what "due regard" is.  When questioned in the Brent case, Helen Mountfield QC accepted that there had to be some form of proportionality, although in the Higher Court Dinah Rose QC denied it.  Dinah Roses's position (rejected by the Court of course) was hat an authority had to consider every imaginable permutation of the eight equality strands _ an impossible task.  She also put forward a modified version of this argument that this should only apply to "important" decisions, which begs the question of what is an important decision. 

Elisabeth Laing QC, who represented Brent in that case and Surrey CC more recently, has argued for a stricter view of the Wednesbury criteria.  This would suggest that a court only make a decision on whether due regard had been paid if the decision maker had been manifestly irrational.  This would be a significant raising of the bar on the current situation, where Courts seem to be picking over each assessment retrospectively at the invitation of a claimant. 

The Surrey case sidestepped this question as the judge ruled on the issue using both the argument that the "due regard" had not been paid and that the Wednesbury principle applied _ that Surrey had been irrational.  Until this gets sorted out, there are likely to be many more judicial reviews.

Surrey Judicial Review

I have been interested to see some of the reaction to the Judicial Review of Surrey County Council's library plans.  People seem to be picking on two aspects mistakenly.

Firstly, although the judge has ruled Surrey's decision as "unlawful" he has not yet decided what to do about it.  In fact, the unlawful element is that the Surrey Executive did not have any assessment of equality needs regarding the use of volunteers at one particular meeting.  That is a very narrow ground for quashing.  It would not surprise me if Surrey simply go back to the next hearing showing how they would train volunteers, and ask the judge to allow them to go ahead.

The second is that some people seem to have assumed that the judge is objecting to volunteer run libraries.  In fact, the fact that Surrey's proposal is for volunteer libraries does not relate to its unlawful nature.  It is merely incidental.  Still it is interesting that so many people are taking it to make an objection to volunteers, since there is clearly a lot of hostility to the idea of replacing paid staff with volunteers.

Barnhill By Election Candidates

The list of candidates in the Barnhill by election has been published, without a Liberal Democrat.  I have already heard suggestions that this is a deliberate tactic to try to help the Tories win.  Personally, I don't think one should underestimate the Liberal Democrats' sheer ineptitude.  However, if it is all a cunning plot, it further emphasises the hollowness of the Liberal Democrats' supposed distancing from the Tory government, and the extent to which Sarah Teather is simply a Tory government minister.

Shahrar Ali's Chutzpah

I pointed out last month that Brent Greens have not been consistent in their approach to candidates living in the constituency.

Now I find that Shahrar Ali himself has the chutzpah to criticise other candidates for living outside the GLA constituency.  What is the difference between other candidates living outside the constituency, and himself living outside Camden when he stood in Bloomsbury in 2006?

Election Fraud

The Electoral Commission has confirmed that the UK does not have widespread election fraud.  Frankly, given how easy it can be to break election law and how election campaigns re inevitably partisan, I am surprised more offences are not reported.  What is more worrying is that the move to individual registratiion will embed an unfairness in the system, where large parts of the population will be unrepresented.  In places like Brent, I can imagine that meaning the majority of voters coming off the register.

Legal Challenges in Local Government

The Equality Act, combined with the local government financial crisis engineered by Eric Pickles, has led to a slew of court cases across the countries.  The latest is a challenge to Surrey County Council, which has interesting implications for the "Big Society" as you can read here.  Essentially when a public authority makes a political decision that a particular group doesn't like, a choice is made to use the Courts to try to obstruct the decision.  The Equality Act is particularly useful in this regard because it is fairly new legislation (coming into force in April 2011), and it makes Equality assessments far more complicated by in troducing multiple new trends.   Since authorities have to pay "due regard" not only to each individual strand but also to possible combinations, one can construct at least a theoritical case against more or less any decision.  Whether this actually helps promote Equality is another matter.

UPDATE:

Yes, the Equality Act came into force on 5 April 2011.  This was only six days before Brent Council decided on its Libraries Transformation Project.

Ealing Road Library Reopening

The reopening of Ealing Road Library on Saturday went really well, I thought.  I arrived just as the Bookstart Bear was leaving, but it was incredibly busy both with smaller children and older people.  Our head librarian once wrote that she wanted libraries to be "joyous" places.  Ealing Road certainly was on Saturday.

The IT suite has many more computers, and the library has been reconfigured to make it easier to combine a quiet study area with noisier events in the front part.  I also hadn't realises how extensive the garden at the back is.  If funding could be identified, that could be further developed.

Ward Working at the Harlesden ACF

Ward Working priorities will be on the agenda at the next Harlesden Area Consultative Forum, which is on 10 April at All Souls Church in Harlesden High Street.  Remember the budget for each ward has been doubled this year.

A Plan for Station Approach

There has been some slight progress on Station Approach.  There is now a working group, with Network Rail, led by TfL.  This has taken on board the points made by Brent Council.  As a result, there is some prospect of improvements to the road.  I gather we have suggested taking away the useless pedestrian guardrails that force people to step into road.  We have also suggested widening the pavement on the northern (Harlesden) side, and widening the road.  Space for this would be created by taking away the pavement on the southern side, which no one uses.

My main fears in achieving this would be getting the budget for paying for the works, and possible delays if Network Rail feel they need to do work on the embankment.

Lessons from Antwerp

Ages ago, the Economist publishes an analysis of the complexity of dealing with religion in diverse urban schools.  The example they chose was in Antwerp.  It is worth reading for some perspective on the issues in this country.

Ealing Road Library

Tomorrow Ealing Road Library celebrates its re-opening after being refurbished during most of March.  Ealing Road is the first of our libraries to be refurbished as a result of the Libraries Transformation project.  The library will now have more books, computers and study space as well as a homework club, Chatterbooks, a Teen Fun Club, a CV writing workshop, beginner sessions for IT, and classes to learn English.

Harlesden Road Development

It is good to see that the new block at the bottom of Harlesden Road is almost finished (see above).  It seema ages since work started.

Top Rates of Tax

The economist reports that Francois Hollande is proposing a 75% top rate of tax while on this side of the Channel George Osborned is claiming a 50% top rate is crippling.  I suppose it all depends on your values.

Public and Private

Flipchart Fairy Tales has an interesting post on the differences between public and private organisations.  It is a useful corrective to some of the more naive attempts to treat both sectors the same.  It could add that public sector organisations usually have obligations that go beyond private sector ones.  In particular, a private company can choose to deliver services to a select group, and not have to worry about anything else.  A public sector organisation often has to actively reach out to various, often difficult to reach, groups.

Calvert Landfill

Last Tuesday, I went to the landfill facility that West London Waste uses in Calvert in Buckinghamshire.  The science of these places is more sophisticated than you might think, with careful monitoring of possible effluents, the use of reverse osmosis to sterlise the leachate from the buried rubbish, and the harvesting of methane for electricity generation. 

However, I was also told that some of the people who live on a new housing estate just by the landfill facility bought their houses without realising that they were near a landfill.  Apparently, some people allow the property developer to handle all the administratio, including land searches, when buying a house.  Extraordinary.

Local Government and Public Health

There is an interesting piece on local government on public health here.  The author is right that it is a big change, and that the traditional mentalities of local government and health provision are very different.  However, I think he underestimates the extent to which local government does have experience of health issues through adult social services.  In some ways the social services can be virtually indistinguishable from ancillary medical services.  The other big issue he doesn't mention is that a vast chunk of the current public health budget will not be transferred, another move by central government to make the delivery of public services as difficult as possible.

Legal Complexities

Elisabeth Laing QC has an interesting discussion about the legal aspects of recent decisions on libraries.  Elisabeth was our QC in the challenge to the Libraries Transformation Project.  It gives some flavour of the complexity of decision making in local government.  there is also an interesting piece on the Public Sector Equality Duty in general by Jo Clements, who was the junior in our case.

Willesden Green Library Interim Arrangements

You can find a thorough defence of retaining the remnant of the old library building at Willesden Green here.  I am not sure that the legal reasoning towards the end actually holds up, but on the whole it is as carefully argued a case as anyone could present. 

The author has previously contacted me about the interim arrangements.  I recently went up to see these for myself.  They are in two parts.  There is quite a sizable space that the Council leases on Grange Road.  This contains the current archive in a basement area, and would house an appointment archive service during the construction period.  It would also have room for a number of computer terminals and study spaces.  The second part of the interim arrangements would be a similarly sized building in the Willesden  area.  I can't reveal the location until any deal is finalised, but I liked the look of it.  Together they won't provide an exact equivalent to the current library, but they are much more extensive than some people seem to assume.

Local Government and the Budget

The Conservative Chair of the Local Government Associaition has published a short appreciation of the implications of George Osborne's budget.  Unlike Eric Pickles, he points out that the continual cuts to local government are running up against growing pressures to spend in a way that cannot be sustained.

Dollis Hill By Election

The Liberal Democrats have scraped home in the Dollis Hill By election by 37 votes.  The result is similar to previous by elections in that both the Labour and Liberal Democrat votes went up and the smaller parties collapsed.  In particular, the Tories seem to have hardly any supporters left.

Dollis Hill By Election Today

Today is polling day in the Dollis Hill By election.  It will be interesting how far the Liberal Democrats attempt to distance themselves from their own programme of cuts _ even"savage cuts" will pay off politically.

Highways Committee Last Night

Highways Committee last night had a much fuller agenda than for a long time.  Kensal Green residents will be most interested in the proposal to do up the Town Centre.  This was passed, with the Committee choosing Option B.

Option B is the one where the area in front of the Methodist Church gets semi-pedestrianised.  I gether that the Methodist Church have raised a late concern about access for hearses and wedding cars, but we were assured that these could be sorted out.  This Option would also lead to part of Crownhill Road and Tavistock Road becoming one way, and the one way system in general becoming much more restricted.  There were a number of concerns raised on behalf of visually impaired people.  These can be dealt with in the detailed design.  On the whole, I am optimistic that the new scheme will provide a number of improvements to the Town Centre, especially for pedestrians.

Harlesden Town Centre Development

Tonight the Highways Committee, which is a sub committee of the Brent Executive, will consider whether to go ahead with the redevelopment of Harlesden Town Centre.  This is an in principle decision, with the detailed design work to be done late.  If it goes ahead, work will start shortly after the Olympics have finished.

Boris Johnson's Promises

Adam Bienkov has gone through Boris Johnson's supposed delivery of promises, so that the rest of us don't have to.

London's Awful Air Quality

The Guardian reports that London has appalling air quality.  As far as I can see, Boris Johnson and the government are simply ignoring the whole issue, and hoping that no one will notice.

Moberly Sports Centre Refurbishment

Moberly Sports Centre is due to be extensively rebuilt by Westminster Council.  Among other things it will acquire a new swimming pool.  The development will be paid for by the sale of private housing, in a way that parallels our own redevelopment at Willesden Green Library Centre.  As part of the planning process, we will have to make sure that Brent residents are able to access the new facility at reasonable rates.

UPDATE:

Yes they do use the sports centre at reasonable rates, but the planning process gives us an opportunity to embed that.

Furness Park

For those wondering what the workmen at Furness Park are doing, they are removing railings facing on to Furness Road.  The idea is to get people to keep their dogs under control within the park.  Apparently there have been cases of people driving, letting their dog out and just staying in the car.

Communications and Brent Council

There is a persistent tendency to attack Brent Council's communications staff as an "add on" or an "extra", or even as politically biased.  Cllr Paul Lorber is especially prone to this.

I think this fundamentally misunderstands how the Council works and how it will work in the future.  Far from being extra, communications is actually key to many of the Council's core functions.  An obvious example is recycling.  We could never have achieved the success rates that we have without a thorough communications campaign designed to inform and persuade people to participate in the new scheme.  Effective communication through advertising, the press, leaflet and face to face was essential to delivering one of our key priorities.  As the Council develops its public health role, communications is likely to become even more important.  It may also be that, as a reduced Brent Council works more in partnership with others, effective communications will be one of the key skills it will offer to the relationship.

Looking at the Liberal Democrats' repeated suggestions that we simply cut the communications budget, persuades me that they have very little vision of where the Council is going.

Sarah Teather's Hypocrisy (Again)

My colleague Cllr Krupesh Hirani points that Sarah Teather is being criticised in Parliament for her hypocritical leaflets in the Dollis Hill By election.  Of course dishonesty from Sarah Teather and the Liberal Democrats is nothing new. 

What puzzles me is what the strategy can possibly be?  She is a minister in the Tory government voting through whatever she is told to.  Does she really think people will fail to notice that?  Can she just not think of any way to defend her government's policies?

Boris Johnson and the Council Tax

Even by the standards of political propaganda, this claim by Boris Johnson is outrageous.  Yet no one appears to pick up on this kind of stuff in the mainstream media.

A Valuable Amenity at Willesden Green?

Some of the opposition to the proposed redevelopment of Willesden Green Library Centre suggests that the existing arrangements are much better than any possible alternative.  I have already written about my views on the Centre at the front, but I wonder how many people have examined the backlot of the site.  Above is a photo of the site taken from Chambers Lane.  I first moved to Brent in 1996, and it looked just the same then.  Incidentally, is it not puzzling that, despite the pressures on land, London still has derelict pockets like this?

Cllr Lorber Confesses Failure

Last night's Executive saw the unusual spectacle of Cllr Paul Lorber confessing failure.  He used the report on the future of Barham Park to argue that Brent Council had been failing to do anything with Barham Park "for years" _ presumably including his four years as Leader of Brent Council.

It led me on to thinking of the more general failures of that administration, which I view as a nadir of political leadership in Brent.  I would view the sources of Paul's failure as being to lack of real political beliefs, cowardice and small mindedness. 

As far as I can see neither he nor any of his colleagues had any real idea what they want to achieve.  That is quite different to administrations in some authorities.  For instance, the Tories in the "Tri-Borough" whatever you might think of their political agenda, definitely have one.  The result was an administration drifting along without any agenda of its own, but simply reacting to events.

Cowardice came in dithering over issues, such as the ARK Academy, was joining to cowardice in facing up to issues at all.  Thus, the Liberal Democrats rejecting making changes to recycling despite the rising costs of landfill, retreated from introducing an emission based permit scheme and ducked making any change to planning enforcement to match resources to demand. 

This drift seems to have led Cllr Lorber into an obsession over small details.  For instance, he spent a lot of time worrying about whether the Mayor's car was eco-friendly but none trying to promote car clubs or electric vehicles or anything that might have a more strategic effect on pollution.

Of course, his administration also failed to deal with the Council's long standing problems of organisation, such as widely differing rates of pay and conditions for the same jobs, a tendency to use temporary labour without proper thought, or ptackle persistent overruns in building projects.

Altogether, I imagine he looks upon his time as Council Leader has a huge wasted opportunity.

Food Growing in Brent

Following on from the adoption of our Green Charter, Brent Council is consulting on a new food growing and allotments strategy.  Prior to the election, I think our thinking was more focused on meeting the demand for old fashioned allotments, but the new strategy has morphed to include less traditional forms of food growing.  As such, there are now kinds of ways in which the strategy could influence regeneration, community cohesion and the promotion of public health.

Boris and the Routemaster

You can learn more about the new routemaster bus than you probably want to here. The argument is that the whole thing is a hugely expensive politically driven vanity project.  Had Ken Livingstone been responsible for such a profligate waste of money, the Evening Standard would have been gunning for him.  Yet, I haven't seen a similar reaction to Boris' extravagance, despite Boris making his supposed fiscal responsibility a core part of his pitch. Why?

Brent Civic Centre Progressing

The new Civic Centre is progressing well.  It is key not just to financial savings for the Council, but also a massive improvement in our environmental performance, a boost to regeneration in Wembley, and a more efficient Council organisation.  It will also mean us opening a new library vastly superior to the existing one in Brent Town Hall.

Former Preston Library

Hidden away in the papers for the next Executive is the information that the former Preston Library is being considered for temporary school places.  This is a hugely pressing need across Brent and London, chronically underfunded by central government.  The former Preston Library seems to me to be one of the most likely candidates of all our various buildings.

Brent Attains Fairtrade Borough Status

The event to recognise our Fairtrade status on Saturday at the Convent of Jesus and Mary School went very well.  Attaining Fairtrade status is something that the previous Tory administration really gave up on after being refused in 2008.  It was a committment in the Labour manifesto in 2010, and thus became a corporate objective.

Change of Heart over Ward Working

My colleague Cllr Lesley Jones points out that the Liberal Democrats opposition to ward working is rather different to what they said during the 2010 elections.  Both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats are claiming to oppose ward working, while trying to claim credit for the various local schemes funded through the budget.  When they do so, we shall have to remind people that they have repeatedly tried to have the whole scheme scrapped.

Atiq Malik Condemned

Former councillor Atiq Malik has been condemned.  The Tory government are abolishing the Standards Board for England, so this kind of action is unlikely to be repeated even for misdemeanours as serious as this.

Another Library Proposal from Paul Lorber

I wanted to come back to Paul Lorber's library proposal at the last budget meeting.  This is the fourth proposal that Cllr Paul Lorber has put forward on libraries. 

The first was put not to the Council, but as a press release to the Wembley Observer in February 2011.  Cllr Paul Lorber said: "These proposals are fully costed and if the Labour Executive is serious in their promise to listen to local people they will accept these proposals and give local people a chance to save their much loved local Library.”  He never presented the proposals, so we had no opportunity to consider them seriously or otherwise. 

At the Budget meeting that year, he produced a totally different plan: to delay the Libraries Transformation Project by half year whilst we all waited for something to turn up.  We chose not to adopt that approach.

At the Executive in April 2011, he had yet another proposal.  this one applied solely to Barham Park Library.  It suggested to me that he has little grasp of the legal status of Barham Park, surprising for someone who has represented that area for so many years.  It suggested erecting advertising hoardings around the Park and using the income (if there was any) to subsidise a trust under his chairmanship inside the Barham Park building complex.  That proposal was unworkable on any number of levels.

This year's budget saw yet another proposal.  This time he went back to all six former Library buildings in Brent.  He actually seems to have proposed two different versions of this proposal on the same night.  The written proposal suggests re-opening the libraries at a cost of 600k.  Since, the full saving of the Libraries Transformation project (LTP) was about one million pounds, this leaves a shortfall.  He could get a further 200k by not following the re-investment parts of the LTP, i.e. not making investment in IT, the online offer or seven day opening hours.  If so, I look forward to his next leaflet to users of (say) Kilburn Library telling them, he wants to cut their opening hours.  That still leaves him with a shortfall, however.

He seemed to be forced into a spontaneous variation on the Budget setting night as a result of where he wanted to get the 600k from.  His written proposal aimed to get much of it from cutting the ward working budget.  When Labour proposed increasing the ward working budget, I suspect he wasn't sure whether to support it or not (eventually all the Liberal Democrats voted against).  He therefore invented the argument, on the spur of the moment, that we should cut the bookstock fund to pay for keeping the buildings open.  Essentially, he is opting for a version of the genteel decline option that I have criticised previously.

Still, this constant swapping around between various incompatible proposals doesn't exactly inspire confidence, does it?

Station Approach Yet Again

I haven't updated on Station Approach for a while.  This is because there is still nothing definite about it.  We have finally managed to have meetings with a senior person at Network Rail, and once again been promised action.  Brent officers are optimistic, although given past experience I am still cautious.

Willesden Green Library Centre Exhibition

The plans for the redevelopment of Willesden Green Library Centre will be on display at a special exhibition.  The two-day public exhibition of proposals will be open from 2pm to 7.30pm on Friday 9 March and then from 10am to 2pm on Saturday 10 March. 

Martin Francis and other Greens have set up a campaign to attempt to try to block the scheme.  They decided to do this before they could have known what the detailed proposals were.  The exhibition will be an opportunity for everyone to actually see the proposals before making their minds up.  Incidentally, the campaign has suggested that the proposals have not been public knowledge.  In fact, one of its leading lights reported that meeting that voted through the feasibility study last year, was extremely well attended.

UPDATE:

On the comments, my expectation back in January was that the economy would continue to decline, and property prices fall alongside it.  Since the whole scheme is paid for by house sales, that suggested that it would become much more difficult for the numbers to add up.  Although the economy is doing badly, property prices in London continue to hold up.  Therefore it has been possible to put together a scheme that doesn't require capital from the Council.

On the current Library, it has been run down and has a number of design faults, perhaps put in as an effort to preserve a remant of the old building in front.  More forgivably, it has poor environmental standards because
people just didn't think about the environment much in the 1980s.

Station Road NW10 Gets its Trees

Trees have finally been planted on Station Road NW10.  The delay was caused by the optimum time to plant the tree.  I have also asked officers to look at how to improve the waste collection arrangements on this road, as residents have been complaining about stains on the pavements from rubbish bags.  We obviously don't want to spend lots of money on new pavements wihout ensuring that they are kept clean.

Fairtrade Borough

Tomorrow I will be going to an event to celebrate Brent becoming a Fairtrade Borough at the Convent of Jesus and Mary Girls school in Crownhill Road.  The campaign to become a Fairtrade Borough started ten years ago when the then Mayor Peter Lemmon (incidentally my predecessor as a Kensal Green councillor) started the campaign.  Unfortunately, that  means I will not be able to do my usual Saturday surgery.

Green Party Hypocrisy

Martin Francis points out that the Tories appear to have selected a non-Brent resident to fight the Dollis Hill by election.  Given that Cllr Reg Colwill, the Tory Deputy Leader, has been vocal in criticising Cllr David Clues for not living in Brent, Martin is right to say that the Conservatives are opening themselves to charges of hypocrisy.

He does not mention, however, that his own Green Party had a very similar policy in the 2006 elections.  Greens stood in different authorities all over London, including Martin's close collaborator Shahrar Ali.  Whereas Shahrar Ali's candidature in  Queens Park (Brent) probably made no difference, his simultaneous candidature in the Camden ward of Bloomsbury may have.  One of the Blooomsbury Labour candidates lost by only a couple of votes, whereas Dr Ali hoovered up 329.  I wonder how many of those 329 would have voted for him if he had admitted that he did not live in Camden, and was also standing in another Borough?

Brent Increases Ward Working Budgets

On Monday, Brent Council decided to increase ward working budgets from 20,000 to 40,000 pounds.  This was moved as a late amendment at the actual meeting.

Both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats opposed the move.  I suspect that, as with recycling, Cllr Paul Lorber is once again leading his party down a dead end.  Whereas the Tories opposition is, I think, populist opportunism, Cllr Lorber's hostilitity to ward working is longstanding and heartfelt.

When he was in opposition before 2006, he would routinely call for the entire ward working scheme to be scrapped.  On attaining office, he was unable to fulfill this ambition as the other two parties opposed him, but he did scale back each ward's budget from 30k to 20k.  The budget decision the other night now puts each ward's budget up to 40k.

As far as I can see, Cllr Paul Lorber simply does not understand the logic of the policy, which is that frontline councillors will only be taken seriously if they can bring some sort of budget, however small, to bear on a problem in their wards.  He claimed that ward working had been unsuccessful in his own ward of Sudbury.  If so, I am inclined to attribute its lack of success to him.  Where councillors actually engage with the ward working agenda, it has been used to back all sorts of useful community projects.

SackBoris2012.com

One of the joys of an upcoming election is a proliferation of online campaigning.  A new web site has been dedicated to London Mayor Boris Johnson.  Its political angle is not hard to discern.

I particularly liked the "Turing Test" feature.

What are Fightback doing?

This photo of the Fightback group outside Brent Town Hall makes them look more lively than they actually were.  I still haven't heard from them what they mean by "not lie down".  Set an illegal budget?

UPDATE:

Responding to the comments below, there has been a long standing problem with local government in the UK that it is financially dependent on central government.  There fore it has limited room for manoeuvre.  the idea that it can just stop central government policies is just pie in the sky, but I do think having a Labour Council makes us significantly different from the previous Tory administration.  For example the Tories and Liberal Democrats have explicitly opposed our new recycling system, failed to push for Fairtrade status, andshowed no interest in the carbon emissions issue.

Brent Council Budget Passed

Last night's budget setting meeting turned out to be a less charged event than last year.  Cllr Ann John gave the best speech, and (I thought) Cllr Suresh Kansagra the worst.  I was on the Planning Committe with Suresh for some time, but I am afraid he let his party down last night.

Cllr Paul Lorber attempted to make a number of specious amendments.  Part of his argument depended on taking money from ward working, which we instead voted to increase as a budget.  I suspect Cllr Lorber's long standing dislike of ward working is contrary to the position of many of his colleagues.  Nonetheless, they voted for his proposals.  He also made yet another proposal on libraries.  Both these subjects probably deserve their own post.

I was struck at how demoralised both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats seemed to be.  Cllr James Allie, the Liberal Democrat who chairs the Budget Scrutiny panel, chose not to attend and did not offer apologies.  This despite him having a specific slot in the budget debate.  One would have thought he might at least have arranged someone else to speak on his behalf.  However, even some of the normally vocal Liberal Democrat councillors who did make it to the meeting chose not to speak.  They seem really to have had the stuffing knocked out of them.

Council Budget

Brent Council will be setting its budget tonight.  I suspect that, as last year, the Liberal Democrats and Tories will not offer a serious alternative but simply a set of eye catching amendments.  But we shall see.

South Kilburn Regeneration Proceeding

Work is forging ahead on the redevelopment of South Kilburn after years of drift and delay.  The next area to be brought forward is the space to the south of Queens Park station (where the 187 bus stops).  Details can be found here.  McDonald House is finished.  The Carlton Vale roundabout, George House, Swift House and Merla Court are underway.  Planning permission has been granted for the Cambridge Avenue development, as well as Woods, Bond and Hicks Bolton Houses. This is an impressive amount of progress at a time when resources are under such pressure.  Eventually, the hge bison blocks that are the least loved aspect of South Kilburn will be demolished.

Housing Disaster

The Guardian report on the growing scale of London's housing problem doesn't really convey the extent of the problem.  Cuts in housing benefit from last year, and the grossly overinflated prices of housing in London will force Councils to move people many miles from their communities.  The areas that they will be forced to go to are likely to be poorer and have fewer employment opportunities.  Thus, the Tory government is creating social upheaval and undermining the economy as a whole.

Dollis Hill House Replacement

The demolition of Dollis Hill House has now been completed.  Rather than just grass it over, we decided to make a feature of some of the remains to enhance the northern part of Gladstone Park.  The drawings and some artist impressions of the feature can be seen here.

Willesden Green Library Redevelopment

I thought it might be good to highlight some of the things going on around Willesden Town Centre.  Details of the consultation on the redevelopment of Willesden Green Library Centre can be found here.  There is also a Brent Council page on the project here.  Incidentally, the Library redevelopment ties in well with the regeneration work on Willesden Town Centre as a whole.  There is another web site covering Windows on Willesden here.

Community Project Funding

Brent Council is looking for interested bidders to fund community projects.  Details can be found here.  The number of bids put in generally exceeds the amount of money available, but hopefully many organisations will still be able to beenfit.

Temporary Libraries

I notice that the Liberal Democrats are now complaining that Ealing Road library is being refurbished without a temporary library being set up during this period.  In fact this is merely a continuation of existing policy.  Thus, when the last Tory led administration closed Barham Library for three months, no extra temporary provision was made.  Brent Council has only provided temporary library services during long construction periods (as with Harlesden Library).

Michael Gove in Another Pickle

Michael Gove is trying to exempt schools from their duties under the Equality Act by saying it does not apply to the curriculum.  My understanding is that the Equality Act applies to "public authorities" in the exercise of their functions.  I would have thought a school funded by taxpayers' money would be covered by that definition.  I wonder what Sarah Teather thinks?

DCMS Response on Brent Libraries

I am surprised that the DCMS response to the Brent litigants has not attracted more publicity.  For the past year all sorts of campaign groups up and down the country have called on the Secretary of State to intervene.  Until now the department was silent, prompting at least one group to send a complaint.  The Brent letter gives the first indication that I know of on the Department's reasons for not intervening.

There are two main grounds.  Firstly, Brent Council did a thorough and rigorous assessment of needs in making its decision.  Secondly, the Brent Strategy is not merely a finance driven programme of cuts, but a genuine transformation project, which will see a number of improvements.  These improvements have not had the attention they deserve, but include:

• Seven day opening at all Brent libraries
• Improved levels of bookstock in all Brent libraries
• An improved outreach service
• Substantial investment in all Brent's library buildings.

Brent Libraries Comprehensive and Efficient

I blogged before that two days after they told me that they were extremely reluctant to engage in litigation, I found that Friends of Kensal Rise Library had sent in a legal threat to the Secretary of State.  The threatened action was about non-determination of whether Brent was following its duty to have a "comprehensive and efficient" service.

The SoS has now responded.  He has now determined that Brent's library service is indeed comprehensive and efficient.  I find it hard to imagine what other result the litigants expected.

Astro Turfing

Adam Bienkov has an interesting piece on astro-turfing and political campaigns here.  As he says, this is a long established practice, but becoming much more sophisticated.

January Recycling at Brent Council

The recycling figure for Brent in January 2012 was 43%, compared to only 23% in January last year.  I see this as another confirmation that our new system is on the right track.

Library Legalities

Anyone wondering about what is happening next on Brent's Libraries TYransformation Project?  The answer is we are trying to get clarification from All Souls College about various legal issues.  In the meantime, the stock is being redistributed around our six libraries.

Decorum

Reflecting on the last Brent Executive, I am struck at how uncivil meetings can often become.  I first noticed this tendency at a Planning meeting over the Tenterden MUGA a couple of years ago.  That meeting shared two striking characteristics with the Willesden Library protesters on Monday.  Firstly, there was a lot of shouting.  It appears that some people think the best way to make a case is raw aggression.  Secondly, there was little attention to what was actually on the agenda.  In the Tenterden case, the MUGA was agreed in principle, the application was merely about the details; nonetheless, a crowd of about forty people turned up to shout the committee about their opposition to the whole scheme.  Similarly, the several speakers who denounced the Willesden Library Development ignored the actual subject of the call in _ the interim library arrangements _ and spoke instead about things like the retail offer, which are surely better covered in the pre-application consultation.

Big Society Problems

The Guardian reports on some of the problems with local authorities assessing "Big Society" offers.  On the whole, it underestimates the extent of the problems, especially in today's increasingly litigious climate. 

Particularly on procurement, the piece does not give the full flavour.  Challenging the award of contracts has become increasingly common.  This is helped by a change in practice.  Previously, a successful challenge would simply lead to a rerun of the tender.  Now you can claim compensation for the profits you would have made.  There are plausible rumours that companies are building a few successful challenges into their business model.  Of course, that tends to benefit major players who can afford smart lawyers.  The more local, volunteer type groups often have little expertise in putting bids together.  It is hard for officers to help them because (a) resources are stretched (b) Too much help to one group can itself breach procurement regulations.

Other problems the article does not cover include planning service provision.  The availability of volunteers does not necessarily match the areas of need.  Given that there are virtually bound to be hidden costs in any scheme in terms of management, all kinds of business support and so on, that is likely to lead to services being planned according to who shouts the loudest rather than on a rational basis.

The other big omission is "moral hazard".  If the service is much valued, government is always likely to step in if a group fails.  If you take Southern Cross, it would hardly be politically possible for the government to leave the people in Southern Cross homes to just fend for themselves.  Hence the private sector could take as many risks as they liked knowing that the taxpayer would pick up the pieces.

Brent Executive Tonight

I suspect that the Brent Council Executive this evening will be lenghty.  As well as the budget, we have an item on Willesden Green Library Centre and Charteris Sports Centre.  There are also a lot of other items that will probably attract less attention, but are extremely important (like the report on helping victims of domestic violence).

Meetings at Willesden Library Centre

Martin Francis appears to have started a rumour that there were no community meeting spaces in the plans for a redeveloped Willesden Library Centre.  In fact there are three.  The largest has a capacity of about 100.  the outrage is therefore misplaced.

The Online Offer in Brent Libraries

One of the main planks of Brent's Libraries Transformation Project is a determination to improve the online offer.  In this day and age any effective service provider has to have an integrated digital approach.

Brent's online library services had been identified in the research we did as being fairly pedestrian.  Looking at this example from New Zealand, one can see why.  The New Zealand example looks so much more approachable and easy to use than our rather staid offer.

By Elections in Brent

There will be a by election in Barnhill on 3 May, following Judy Beckman's resignation as a councillor.  Judy is a real loss to the Council, but she has decided that she wants to be nearer her family.  The reason for leaving the election until 3 May is that having it on the same day as the GLA elections minimises cost.  A Council by election costs between 20 and 25 thousand pounds.  Holding it on the same day as another election removes much of the cost as the staff and polling stations would have to be available anyway.

The Liberal Democrats are rumopoured to be timing one election in Dollis Hill for late March, and another (in Dudden Hill) for July.  This maximises the cost to the Council, but I assume they hope to do better on a lower turnout.

Winter Recycling Collections

There may be some late or missed bin collections today as the trucks started later than usual due to the bad weather.  Spare a thought for the street gritters, who were griting up to 4am whilst the rest of us were asleep.

ARTE in Harlesden Library

Just finished doing an interview with ARTE in Harlesden Library.  The end of the litigation against our April decision does not seem to have dampened the extraordinary media interest much.

Archives Open Day in Brent

Brent Archives service are organising a number of events on 15 February.  The proposed rebuild of Willesden Library Centre will mean that the Musuem and archive service will develop an outreach programme during the construction period.

Street Gritting and Cold Weather

The Bruegal like landscapes of the past few days have melted away, and my impression is that street gritting and other services continued fairly well.  Elsewhere, it is suggested that this was true nationally.  It is extremely easy for these things to go wrong, so I am glad that the past year's preperations have paid off.

More Library Litigation

At my surgery on Saturday, a number of leading light in the Friends of Kensal Rise Library came along and told me how they had always been reluctant to engage in litigation.  Yesterday, I learnt that the group has sent pre-action correspondence to the Secretary of State over his alleged failure to exercise his powers to ensure a comprehensive and efficient library service.  I am not sure where they believe that will get them, but it means that I will not be able to blog as freely as I hoped on Sunday.

Treetops Nursery

The report on Treetops nursery is now published.  I think two things are worth noting about it.  Both have come out of responses made to the consultation.  Firstly, the date of closure has been pushed back to July, causing less disruption for children.  Secondly, the bid for a Community Interest Company to take over part of the building is recommended to be dealt with in a two stage process.  The idea of the CIC running daycare places as part of Brent Council's service offer is recommended for rejection.  However, it is still open to the CIC to rent space in the building without the Council seeking to control their operations, but merely on a tenant/landlord basis. Convoluted, but potentially offering the CIC what it would like.

Brent Libraries Strategy

The end of the legal challenge means that it is easier for me to comment on the Libraries Transformation Project than it has been previously, so I will probably be doing a lot more posts on the subject.

Essentially, the huge scale of the government cuts _ more than £100 million over four years _ meant that we had to examine all areas of Council expenditure.  It was never realistic to imagine that the library service would not be affected, and there are also positive things that we wanted to do with the service.  The options available to local authorities were basically two.

One is the route that we took.  We decided to concentrate on library services from a smaller number of high quality buildings.  We decided that "high quality" meant in High Street locations with good public transport access and preferably co-located with other partners.  Harlesden Library, where the upper part is shared with BACES, is a good example.  This means that Brent Library service concentrates on improving the quality of its provision _ taking advantage of technological advances, working better with partners in outreach, marketing the service to non-users more effectively, organising more events in libraries.  By having all our libraries open seven days a week, we also have a more uniform standard across the Borough, allowing users a more comprehensive service.

The alternative, which many other authorities have chosen, is one of further decline.  Politically, this would be much easier.  Closing a building is much more obvious than cutting opening, not buying bookstock, not holding events, not having an outreach service and so on.  This basically means reducing quality of service for the sake of maintaining a shell of libraries without much in them.  What you might call Potemkin libraries.  Ultimately, I believe this would lead to lower and lower usage, and declining public support for the principle of a library service and the public sector in general (quitte possibly what the Tory government wants).

The test will be how Brent's library services will look in 2014/15.  Will I be proved right in expecting Brent's libraries to have more visiters and more book loans by then?

Brent Council Wins Legal Challenge

As the BBC has reported, the Supreme Court declined to hear the library litigants appeal on Friday.  This is the final confirmation that the decision Brent Council took back on 11 April was lawful, and clears the way for us to fully implement our libraries strategy.

Economic Debacle

Paul Krugman lists the full extent of the Tory government's economic mismanagement here.  Of course, none of this would have been possible without Nick Clegg's support.

Willesden Library Criticisms

I gather that the Call In Committee on Wednesday had a lot of public attention.  I suspect a lot of this was attracted to a backdoor way of overturning the decision in April about the Libraries Transformation Project, which is really a totally separate issue.  There are three other detailed issues that should be addressed.

1) The survival of the bookshop.  Although under no obiligation, the Council is trying to help find alternative premises for the Willesden Bookshop in the same area.  As this involve a one off move, I think it would be more likely to protect the Bookshop's commercial viability than the suggested temporary move followed by a move back into what would be a much more expensive retail space at the rebuilt library.

2) The status of the locally listed building at the front.  "Locally listed" means that Brent Council put this building on a register as a building of conservation importance.  It does not convey the same level of protection as a national listed building such as Dollis Hill House, which could only be demolished once the Secretary of State had given permission.  The reason that the old building would need to be removed to make any rebuild project viable is to do with the housing which funds the project.  Leving the old building in place would push the library centre back into the car park area, reducing the space for housing.  Since the funding for the project comes from the sale of housing, that would effectively make the project unviable.  Thus, the Planning Committee will have to consider whether the conservation status of the old building outweighs the value of the project as a whole.

Adele Parks at Harlesden Library

I greatly enjoyed the Adele Parks event at Harlesden Library yesterday, which was attended by more than one hundred people.  These are the kind of events we can have more of as the Libraries Transformation Project starts to be implemented.  It is a pity that the Library litigants tried to use it to generate more negative publicity for Brent Council's library service, but hopefully I got that across in my interview on BBC London Radio here.

Unfair Government Cuts

Patrick Butler confirms that the Tory government's cuts hit Labour run and poorer areas much more savagely than richer, Tory run areas.  No surprise there.

Shared Surfaces

Rather late in the day, Simon Jenkins has woken up to the concept of shared surfaces.  However, I support the tone of the article which accurately describes the concepts embedded in both the Brent Placemaking Guide and the Harlesden Town Centre redesign.

Tory Revolt over Council Tax

I was struck that Tory Surrey Council is revolting over the Council Tax freeze.  Eric Pickles is offering a one off grant if Councils decide not to raise Council Tax.  That may seem a good idea, but the problem is that the grant is time limited.  Down the line it disappears, and any Council that accepts it is left with a black hole in its finances.  The policy is in fact a cunning tactic to further shrink local government.

I sometimes wonder what could have been so awful about Eric Pickles time as leader of Bradford Council that he seems to hate local government so much.

Local Authorities and Education

The LGiU points the necessity of local authorities role in managing educaqtion.  This is true, but apparently ignored by the government.  By the time the government realises that local authorities are necessary, the damage will have been done.  I expect that we will then start a long slow process of rebuilding what the government is currently destroying.

Sick Days

The Evening Standard has a Taxpayer Alliance inspired story about sick days in local government. The trouble with these kind of stories is that they are so skewed that you can't tell whether the information is correct.

If the figures can be taken at face value, there does seem to be a genuine problem.  I can't think of any reason why Hillingdon should have sickness rates at double the level of Brent.  It is also worth noting the detail at the very end of the article, that Brent Council has dramatically improved in the past year.  This has been part of a deliberate focus on greater efficiency. 

However, the main thing that strikes me is how negative the journalist makes the article.

Brent Snubbed by Boris

My colleague Lesley Jones comments that Boris Johnson has snubbed Brent in refusing us Outer London funding.  Brent put forward two schemes, one in Willesden and one in Ealing Road.  The ealing Road snub is particularly regrettable, as that area has real potential to become a destination shopping centre based on the sheer variety and scale of its South Asian services.

Reducing Waste in West London

On Friday, I attended the most recent meeting of the west London Waste Authority (WLWA), which handles waste across the six London Boroughs.  WLWA is probably the leader among local authorities in trying to reduce and re use waste, rather than just recycle it.  Last year's plan is here.  Yesterday, we passed a new one (not online yet)  The main problem with all the initiatives is measuring their effectiveness.

Boris Getting Desperate

Boris Johnson's attempt to claim Labour Assembly members want to raise Council Tax strikes me as fairly desperate.  He has recently lost his poll lead over Ken Livingstone, but he will need something a lot more substantive to get it back.

Six Book Challenge at Harlesden Library

On 1 February, Adele Parks will be launch a national literacy campaign in Harlesden Library.  The Six Book Challenge is aimed at encouraging adults with reading difficulties to read more.  Brent has been asked to host the launch as it had the highest number of participants in last year's programme.

The Six Book Challenge is run by independent charity The Reading Agency to help tackle the UK's continuing skills deficit. New Government figures show that 15% (5.1 million) of the working age population in England are still at or below the literacy level expected of an 11 year old.

Standards Mess

One of the many ways in which the current government is messing up local democracy is its changes to the standards system, covered here.  I think the system as reformed in 2008 was broadly correct, although there were still problems with it.  Many of the complaints in the system were undoubtedly vexatious and often simply an expression of partisan or personal spite.  In the Bertha Joseph case, the investigation took far too long.  However, I think the main problem in her case was that the Mayor of London undermined the judgement by handing out a post on LFEPA to suit his own political convenience.  He didn't seem to suffer much political damage as a result.

Contaminated Land in Stonebridge Ward

On Friday, I went to see the works around contaminated land in Stonebridge ward.  Brent Council was awarded about 40% of the available national funding for cleaning up contaminated land last year, and works have been proceeding apace.  Contaminated soil is removed from gardens, a protective membrane installed, and the garden topped up with clean soil and (where appropriate) new turf.  The whole programme has to be completed by 31 March.

For our environmental health team to be given such a large share of the national pot, and push through such a complex project is a tribute to their professionalism.

Sorry for Brent Liberal Democrats

I felt quite sorry for the Liberal Democrats at last night's Council meeting.  Many of them simply failed to turn up.  At one point only five remained in the Council chamber.  Saddest of all was Cllr Ann Hunter, who found herself repeatedly voting against the Liberal Democrat party whip in order to support the rebuild of Willesden Library Centre, Fairtrade status and various other things.  It must be difficult to remain in a group where you fundamentally disagree with the entire approach of your colleagues.

Willesden Bookshop

Martin Francis of Brent Green Party has started a petition about the Willesden Bookshop.  Brent Council has given the bookshop notice to quit so that it can redevelop the Willesden Library Centre.  The petition appears to be arguing that the bookshop should be included as part of the new Willesden Library centre.  Presumably, Martin wants the Council to help the bookshop to temporary premises, and then to move back 18 months later.  Would any retailer really find it attractive to have two disruptive and expensive moves in a period of less than two years? Given that any retail space in the new library centre will be much higher quality than the current provision, the rent is likely to be much higher.  Would it not be more sensible to move to premises somewhere in the immediate area?

Cllr David Clues

David Clues faces criticism for remaining as a councillor after moving to Brighton.  The Brent and Kilburn Times story appears to be inspired by Cllr Reg Colwill, who is calling on Revd Clues to stand down.  I find this somewhat inconsistent as Cllr Colwill's own Conservative Group has a councillor who does not live in the Borough.  Cllr H M Patel, representing Northwick Park, was perfectly entitled to stand in legal terms, but he actually lives in Harrow, so he will help set the Brent Council Tax, without paying it himself.  In the Labour Party, people who do not live in a local authority area are not allowed to put themselves forward as Labour candidates.

What Happened to the Liberal Democrat Complaint?

Yesterday's post on recycling reminds me that nothing further was heard about the Liberal Democrats' complaint to the Advertising Authority.  I am not sure that the Advertising Standards Authority even bothered to contact Brent Council, presumably because the complaint was so obviously spurious as not to be worth the bother.

Brent Council Recycling More

Brent Council is recycling more with its new system.  The overall rate for the October/December quarter was 42%, compared to 30% for the same quarter last year.  Total waste is also down slightly.

This confirmation that the Labour administration were right to override opposition from the Tories and Liberals in adopting the new system.  Notably Sarah Teather chose to come out against the new arrangements (rather late in the day).  In doing so, she has established herself as an anti-environmentalist and spendthrift.  The 12% increase in the quarter compares to an increase of 6% in recycling rates over the four years of Brent's previous Liberal Democrat / Tory administration.

As the arrangements become more refined, I expect recycling levels to go up even more.

Michael Crick on Police Commissioners

Michael Crick has an interesting post on the Police Commissioner posts, which seem to attract little enthusiasm even in the Tory Party that has created them.  I do wonder how creating lots of electoral positions for specific purposes chimes with David Cameron's supposed desire to "cut the cost of politics".

Failing Economic Policy

Unemployment figures today confirm that the government's economic policy is failing.  No surprise there.  What does surprise me is that government ministers seem to have no sense of urgency about trying to turn this around.

Iron Lady Revisited

Following my post of Sunday, it occurs to me that the apparently non-political nature of the film actually needs a better description. 

In avoiding any description of the issues behind the Howe resignation (essentially the nature of the UK's relationship with Europe), the film effectively implies it was no more than a personal disagreement _ that Lady Thatcher became arrogant with power and alienated people through personal behaviour.  I think that does a disservice to Howe, Heseltine and Thatcher herself.  All of them had a fundamental disagreement over a major political issue affecting the future of the country, not just a personal spat.

Secondly, the portrayal of Thatcher as overcoming male chauvinism and snobbery begs the question: aside from her personal case, how did she fight these issues politically?  She would no doubt make a case for overcoming snobbery, but I can think of no way in which she advanced womens rights at all.

Michael Gove and the Royal Yacht

Michael Gove has suggested we should pay for the Royal Family to have a new yacht.  This man has cancelled Britain's school building programme, cut funding for school places, limited public pay, is watering down public pensions and cut the Educational Maintenance Allowance, but he knows what the priorities for spending should be!

The Iron Lady

I went to see The Iron Lady at the Lexi last week.  The title is ironic, as it is mostly about Lady Thatcher growing old and frail.  Indeed, anyone wanting insight into the politics of the eighties or before would be disappointed, as it takes Mrs Thatcher at her own valuation _ a lifelong doughty champion of "household economy" and personal responsibility whose decisions in the eighties rebuilt the economy.  Not much on how divisive her style was, or awareness that many of the weaknesses we now suffer from (too narrow a manufacturing base, an overmighty financial sector, an ideology rigidly opposed to proper regulation, the overweening power of the Murdoch Empire and so on) might date from her era.

Still, the whole film is well done if you want to focus on her personal story, and Meryl Streep's performance is exemplary.