Art in Progress at Kilburn Library

I like the way Anya Beaumont, the resident artist at Kilburn Library, puts work in progress on her website.  Having an artist in residence is a new departure for Brent Library service.  As well as supporting our arts strategy, it may help draw people into the libraries who don't generally use them.

Road Safety In Kensal Green Schools

Princess Frederica primary school currently has a consultation underway to install a zebra crossing on College Road, just below the railway bridge. I hope it goes ahead, as I think it would improve safety at a difficult junction. When I went to John Keble school recently, I was quizzed about safety at their crossing.  This is a more complicated situation.

The school crossing patrol person is retiring and the Council does not want to pay for a replacement, because the traffic lights at that part of Manor Park Road make the street safer to cross than many others. The school has also indicated that it does not want to pay for a replacement either.  However, traffic flows in the area are subject to a lot of change because of the works on Harlesden Town Centre.  This is likely to alter traffic flows, especially in and out of the Harlesden Tesco car park.  The question is precisely what are those effects, and how can the detailed scheme design mitigate them?

Poppy Appeal

Yesterday, I was on the train when a fellow passenger asked me what all the flowers were for.  She was referring to the poppy in my lapel. As she was (by her accent) American, there is no reason why she would know, but it was a jolt to me to find how localised such a familiar thing as the poppy appeal is.

Kensal Rise Library Post

An anonymous commentator to this post puts an entirely reasonably set of queries.  For the moment, I won't respond. This is for two reasons. Firstly, it is obviously a considered post and (although I believe I have dealt with the points before), it deserves a considered response. Secondly, the recent news on Kensal Rise library (that it is to be sold to a developer) means that anything I write is likely to be used for an unintended meaning, as has happened before.

Thus, I am holding off for now, but will return to the issue.

UPDATE

The only record I have of a comment previously from Ms N was published here.

ANOTHER UPDATE

This post seems to have attracted a lot of traffic.  I have therefore summarised my view on Brent libraries strategy here.

Council Tax Zugzwang

As well as the Council Tax Support scam that has been in the news recently, the present government is further undermining local finances by effectively eliminating the ability to change tax levels.  The current capping on rises and the introduction of referendums for "excessive" rises make alterations to the Council Tax almost impossible.  The allocation of one off grants in return for a freeze builds a long term weakness in authority finances, but are virtually impossible to refuse.

The end result is that the present government has done more to undermine local democracy than any other government, despite it's rhetoric claiming precisely the contrary.

IFS on Council Tax Support

I decried the craziness of the government's late offer of "help" on Council Tax Support a few days ago.  The Institute for Fiscal Studies has now made the same point in a new report.

Willesden Junction Station Approach Timescale

I failed to mention in my post on Station Approach that the projected timescale of work starts in March next year and finishes in June.

David Cameron Fighting Austerity

Adam Bienkov reminds us of David Cameron's time as an anti-austerity warrior.  One wonders why he has not had the same kind of political punishment that was handed out to Nick Clegg over tuition fees.

Krugman Condemns Osborne

Paul Krugman has condemned George Osborne's handling of the economic crisis.  Sadly, I see no defence. Osborne is responsible for a huge amount of misery. A rather more important issue than an illicit train ticket upgrade.

Tubbs Pocket Park Artwork

Some may recall that in the distance past, Tubbs Road Pocket Park was upgraded.  Part of the planned investment was for a steel bird table by Helena Roden.  This never actually arrived, although a concrete base was installed for it some time ago.  However, I understand that the table was constructed, and I have finally managed to track it down. It should be installed at some point in November.  I am glad it is finally getting here,but it really should not have taken that length of time.

Grim London Housing

The grim state of the London housing market is covered by the Evening Standard today.  What I find even more worrying is that our politics seem to totally fail to address these issues.  Without a sigmificant increase in housing our already unaffordable rents will continue to spiral. Yet Boris Johnson simply claims credit for delivering the pipeline of homes that Ken Livingstone bequeathed him without himself addressing him.  The government has been systematically dismantling social housing so that the "affordable" housing in a new development is now usually a complete misnomer.

Kilburn Library Under Fives

I was amazed to be told that the average attendance for an under fives session at the refurbished Kilburn Library is about 95 people (both children and adults).  It looks as if the refitted Library is rapidly establishing itself as one of our most successful.

Park House Demolition

I see that the demolition of Park House on Manor Park Road is underway. It is good to see that some building projects are still going ahead despite the dragging semi-slump that has followed the Tory government's austerity programme.

Book Issues Outside Buildings

Looking at the most recent data on Brent library issues, I notice that more than a quarter of book issues do not involve visiting buildings in Quarter 2 this year (i.e. July to September).  Taken together, the outreach service and the home library service have issued more books than have gone out from Harlesden Library.  That is quite a stark demonstration of how outreach and online services are becoming more and more important.

Summer Reading Challenge Success

This year's Summer Reading Challenge had even more joiners and completers than last year.  Last year, Brent Libraries attracted 4,244 joiners compared to 4,344 this year.  The rise in completers was even better, with 1,974 finishing six books last year compared to 2,313 this year.  This is a huge achievement by the Brent Library staff.

Council Tax Support

The government's most recent manoeuvre over Council Tax strikes me as even more cynical than usual.  The announcement of what makes a good scheme in the government's opinion comes so late that many Councils simply won't be able to change their plans.  But, in any case, wasn't the point of "localism" supposed to be getting each authority to design their own schemes? How does that square with then announcing a new central set of demands? What makes it even more bizarre is that the parliamentary statement ignores what the government has previously announced as a prime concern, encouraging people into work.

Harlesden Waste Plant

There has been some disquiet about a proposed waste plant in the Ealing part of Park Royal.  This obviously raises questions over transport and good neighbour concerns.  It has been wrongly put about that Brent Planning officers have not been concerned about these.  In fact, Brent Planning officers have already had informal contacts.  A formal response has not yet been sent in but it will be ahead of the deadline.  Again, contrary to some of the rumours going round, Ealing have written to about 1,000 Brent residents in the area south of Harlesden High Street.

The relevant Planning Authority of course is Ealing, and the case officer is Peter Lee (LeeP@ealing.gov.uk).

The site is currently industrial land, and has a number of uses.  The developers claim that the transport movements will be reduced by replacing these with the new plant.  I am still waiting to see if Brent's transport experts agree. Similarly, Brent's environmental health staff are examining the emissions data.

Kensal Green Puzzle

An anonymous commentator has suggested I use derogatory terms about local residents at the bottom of this post.  Having reread the post, I can't see anything derogatory.  As far as I can see s/he is complaining about a point of view that they don't like.

Can anyone explain to me otherwise?

I am always happy to publish comments provided that they are not libellous or offensive, but it seems to me that some people simply can't take a different point of view.

UPDATE

Thank you to the anonymous commentators.  As promised, provided comments are not offensive or libellous, I have published them.

The statistics used are all valid.  The process gone through, as a result of the litigants' legal action, was examined exhaustively.  The text of the judgement in High Court is on the side bar next to this post.  I have attended numerous public and private meetings on this subject, over a period adding up to many hours.  The litigants were unable to prove their case in court, or through the political process.

Brent Libraries service is now going ahead with the agreed strategy.  This strategy has had a number of successes, often enumerated in this blog.

I think that the key thing that those of us who do not directly work in Brent Library service can best do now is to support the library staff in their role in promoting library services around the Borough.

Responding to the last comment to date, my previous post explicitly refers to the 12 libraries and compares to the six.  The comparison (again) is that visits in September this year were only 1.5% down on September last year.  My view is that, after an admittedly rocky period in October to April, our libraries are definitely on the way up and anyone who believes in library services should celebrate the fact.

School Finance Problems

Some of the problems facing school finace can be found here.  This is obviously a major national problem that affects schools across the country that have effectively been targeted in scams. It is notable that free schools are felt to be more vulnerable to such deals than standard schools.  The whole move to less and less authority supervision has simply gone too far as there just aren't adequate safeguards for public money.

Red Velvet

I went to see Red Velvet at the Tricycle this evening, which is the most extraordinary production I have seen in a long while.  It is a brilliantly successful combination of comedy, tragedy and racial politics.  A really impressive combination of good writing and acting.