No Library Enquiry in Brent

The DCMS has written to Brent Council confirming that there is no need for a public enquiry into library provision in Brent.

Challenge Close Again

As well as the Kilburn Library opening, I went to the consultation event at Challenge Close on Saturday.  It was fairly well attended, and a number of people expressed opinions, but I think the project needs to solidify around a proposal fairly soon.  The next difficulty will be obtaining funding.

More Library Speculation

Quite the most mind blowing piece of speculation I have seen on the future of public libraries I have seen can be found here.  I doubt the stuff about prohibiting 3D printers by law, but I can imagine libraries as technical instruction centres. It would be an extraordinary transition back to analogue learning and demonstration when for decades knowledge transference has been increasingly digitalised.

Separatism Challenges

It seems open to question whether a separated Scotland would be part of the EU automatically.  This raises all sorts of problems for Mr Salmond. What conditions would the EU put on entry. For instance, would Scotland be forced to join the Euro? Would the remainder of the UK use EU membership as a lever to extract concessions?

Adele Parks at Kilburn Library

Adele Parks has kindly agreed to be the guest speaker at the launch day of the refurbished Kilburn Library today.  She should be there round about 1.30.  Incidentally, the latest figures for library visits show only a 4% drop in August this year compared to August last year. Many people will find this hard to believe, as they assume that having 12 libraries last year must mean a bigger drop now that we have only six libraries this year.  Still more striking, Kilburn Library was not open at all during that time because of all the building work, so the comparison is actually between 5 and 12.  It does indicate that one of the essential principles of the Libraries Transformation Project was correct. People will travel to a library if they think the offer is good enough.

Twitter

A friend of mine has been urging me to take up twitter, but I see little point in it. The messages are so short that only an accomplished writer of haikus could convey any real meaning in them.  However, it is undeniable that many people use it. Can anyone explain to me why?

A Barnet Mystery

I must admit that I am somewhat mystified by Barnet Council's approach to squatters in Friern Barnet library.  They decided to close the library. They have no objections to volunteer libraries in principle, as they support one in Hampstead Garden Suburb, but they felt those who wanted to start a community library in Friern Barnet weren't up to it. A group of people have entered the building and now occupy it. Barnet's reaction was to go to them and suggest that they might start a community library where the local resident group were not suitable.

I am not making a partisan point. I just find the whole sequence of events very strange.

Brent Council Procurement

I went to some training about Council procurement yesterday, largely because the new Social Value Act could easily involve Councils in yet more legal action if we are not careful. However, it also threw up a number of interesting ideas about promoting the local economy. I have always suspected that many people have over optimistic expectations in this area, but there are still a number of things we can do. To make it work, we would need to look beyond the Borough boundaries.

Recovering Costs in Brent Parks

I will have just one report at the next Brent Executive, entitled "Recovering Costs in Brent Parks".  This is really about ensuring that people who want to hold events in a Brent Park are clear about the various safety requirements and have thought through the other things you need to consider when organising an event (some of which can involve thousands of people).  The actual fees that the Council will charge are deliberately low so as not to discourage people from event attendence.

Kilburn Library

Here is a picture of the renovated Kilburn Library.  I will try to get hold of some better quality pictures to post within the next few days.

Yesterday's Full Council

Yesterday's full Council meeting was inconsequential, but notable for one reason.  It is the only time I can recall a Council meeting being so disrupted by protesters that it had to be moved to another room.  The protest was about some housing casework that was not even on the agenda of the meeting.

Refurbished Library in Salusbury Road

Work on refurbishing the library on Salusbury Road in Queens Park is now complete, meaning that four of our six libraries have had a make over since 2008.  The plans for Willesden Green are still under development, and the new Wembley Library will open in June next year.  The official launch of the Salusbury Road library will be on 15 September.

Of course, we would not have a refurbished library in Salusbury Road if the various "library campaigners" had had their way.  Instead we would have had a serious of run down buildings with greatly diminished opening hours and services.

Public Libraries News Post

Public Libraries News has published a post from me about our libraries policy. It can be found here. 

Closing the Olympics

This afternoon Gladstone Park will host a festival to mark reg closing of the Olympics.  The events start at noon and last until 7pm, with plenty of music, food, stalls and of course sporting activities.

Improved Road Safety at Princess Frederica School

Brent Council is currently considering improving the safety measures around Princess Frederica School.  Princess Frederica certainly has a fairly high traffic volume, and a pretty constricted street pattern.  The ideas that are being mooted are:

• Introduction of a zebra crossing in College Road near the school
• Extension of some of the guard rails
• Changes to the waiting restrictions.

Moberly Sports Centre Development

I understand Westminster Council have now confirmed that they want to redevelop Moberly Sports Centre in Queens Park.  We can therefore look forward to a planning application for the site.  As the building is actually located in Brent, it will be the Brent Planning Committee that makes the decision.

Brent Civic Centre as an Arts Venue

Brent Council has announced a consultation on what kind of events it should hold at the new Civic Centre once it opens in 2013.  The Civic Centre, among other things, will be a key venue for encouraging arts in the Borough.  This was a feature of the Arts Strategy that the new Labour administration passed. I think it is essential that we continue to drive innovations despite the budgetary difficulties we are in.

Brent Civic Centre and Carbon Emissions

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is one of the main justifications for the new Civic Centre, and one I promised to cover.  Whilst I accept this is a subject of little interest to Brent Green Party, I hope others will be interested.

As a BREEAM Outstanding building, the new Civic Centre will use every imaginable device to reduce emissions.  The building is designed so that it should only require mechnaical ventilation on one or two days a year (although encroaching climate change may alter that).There will be an air source heat pump.  The lighting will be low zoned and equipped with sensors.  There will be a bio-fuel based boiler, possibly using fish oil.  This could be connected to the other buildings in the Wembley area as part of a district heating scheme (which is envisaged in the Wembley Masterplan).  The new building will also be equipped with a comprehensive suite of paperless technology which is already being rolled out across Brent Council.

This is in addition to measures to discourage car use, which reduce transport related carbon emissions. 

Altogether, the new Civic Centre should be by far the biggest single contributor to cutting Brent Council's carbon footprint.

More on Animal Welfare in Brent

Brent Council has a specific animal welfare department, which puts it ahead of neighbours such as Westminster and Barnet.  As the current Liberal Democrat/Tory government continues to strip away local government funding, non-statutory services such as animal welfare come under more and more pressure.  In the past year, Brent's animal welfare service has achieved:

• The microchipping of 28 dogs
• Six BARK patrols
• A dood to door survey of the Stonebridge estate (alongside Hillside Housing) to give advice around dog ownership
• Stalls to promote responsible dog ownership with partners like BHP
• A gold footprint award from the RSPCA for its procedures with stray dogs

Doncaster Budget Decision

The Doncaster budget decision which puzzled me earlier in the year has since been subjected to further analysis by LocalGovernmentLawyer.  The upshot appears to be that Full Council cannot bind the Executive to spend on any specific item, but merely has the ability to calculate the overall rate of Council Tax.

Brent Civic Centre and Water Conservation

I promised some posts on the environmental benefits of Brent Council's new Civic Centre, so here is one about water conservation.  This subject doesn't exactly hit the headlines, but our planning guidelines give a lot of attention to it, and the effects of climate change are likely to make it more and more important as time goes on. 

All large planning applications are asked to consider sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDs) to reduce surface water flooding , and the Civic Centre was no exception.  The Civic Centre also uses rainwater harvesting, low water use plumbing and grey water recycling to further reduce water use.

All this is in the public domain, but never mentioned by the building's critics.

Permit Free Developments

Conversations I have had before and following the Park House planning permission suggest that the point of the Council's "permit free" policy is not widely understood. 

When the Council gives planning permission to a new block of flats in an area with good transport links (such as Harlesden Town Centre) it usually does so with a permit free condition.  This means that if the residents of the new block find themselves in a controlled parking zone, they will not be allowed to apply for a permit for themselves or a temporary permit for visiters. 

The purose of this draconian restriction is to reduce the number of car users in a given area to make parking  and traffic congestion more managable.  It also has the effect of reducing air pollution.  Officers believe it is linked to the measureable improvement in air quality in Brent in the past few years which should help improve life expectency.  Of course, it is also linked to the reduction of carbon emissions and therefore retarding climate change.

Pickles Taken to Task on Trading Standards

Trading Standards professionals have taken Eric Pickles to task for misleading people about the use of investigatory powers.  I am sure they are correct that Eric Pickles is misleading people about how these powers are used, and that in fact they are essential to the important work Trading Standards do.  What worries me is that I suspect Eric Pickles does not care.

Paralympic Flame in Brent

The Paralympic flame went through Brent with great success, as can be seen here.  I often think the dedication and grit of the paralympians is even more impressive than that of the able bodied athletes.

Willesden Green Comparison

Critics of Brent Council's plans to redevelop Willesden Green Library Centre might like to look at the new library at the Mary Seacole Centre in Clapham (Lambeth).  This was successfully developed using proceeds from property sales on the site _ a very similar model to Willesden Green.  Even the objective of using the property development to help a wider regeneration of the area is similar.

Reducing Carbon Emissions in Construction at Brent Civic Centre

As part of their rather strange campaign against the Brent Council Civic Centre, members of the Green Party have criticised the carbon costs of constructing the building.  Of course, they don't try to source any figures for this, merely assert it.

In fact as part of the BREEAM process, the construction is monitored to minimise carbon emissions.  Hence materials are locally sourced wherever possible, and Skanska employ sophisticated building techniques to minimise "embodied carbon".  For example, the concrete is a mix of Portland cement and blast furnace slag that reduces the embodied carbon by about a third.

As far as I can see, Brent Green Party would have preferred Brent Council to concentrate resources on maintaining as big a building portfolio as possible regardless of the suitability of the buildings, or the higher rate of carbon emissions.

EBooks Transforming Public Libraries

Dan Jarvis has quite rightly demanded a report into the effect of ebooks on public libraries in the UK, but I am not sure that people have realised just how dramatic the change is in both speed and scale. 

Physical sales have declined in the last years as ebook sales have gone up by 366%.  Although ebooks still only account for 6% of the market at present, maintaining anything like that rate of growth for say two or three years would mean that the majority of books sold in this country will be ebooks by 2015.  In other words, printed books are likely to be restricted to niche areas of the market within (say) five years.  I would imagine that there will also be a spreading of ereaders, along with a drop in prices as more units are sold.

At present, it would be entirely possible for public libraries to be cut off from what will soon be the majority of book titles.  There is no compulsion to offer free ebook lending, as I pointed out a while ago.  Indeed only a minority of authorities offer ebook lending at the moment in England, either free or for a fee (although increasing numbers are planning to).  However, there is currently no compulsion to do so, and all authorities are being hit by the current government's programme of savage cuts, which forces them to concentrate resources on what they are obliged to do.  Unless free ebook lending becomes part of the "comprehensive and efficient" library duty, public libraries will simply wither away. 

Over time, I would expect publishers to increasingly publish in electronic format only, which would lead to a shrinking of the number of titles available in print, further hollowing out library services that don't lend electronically.

Thus, the outcome from the ebook taskforce may decide whether this country retains libraries as a free lending facility or whether they go the same way as books from Boots.

A BREEAM Outstanding Civic Centre, Economic Effects

I promised some more detailed  descriptions of the Brent Council Civic Centre, so I thought one might as well start with the wider economic benefits.  One of the conditions of BREEAM status is locally sourced materials, so local companies are benefiting ina very direct way.  When I attended the topping out ceremony, the SKANSKA representative pointed out that the site employed residents living in 20 of Brent's 21 wards.

Additionally, the smaller companies that have unsuccessfully bid for contracts now have a better understanding of the language of public procurements, so they should be better placed to win contracts in future.

In terms of the overall economy of Wembley, the Civic Centre will help to contribute to the flow of activity throughout the day.  The Stadium is both the blessing and curse of Wembley.  It attracts huge numbers of visiters, but only when events are on.  The Civic Centre will help to attract people all the year round, which will help local retailers and therefore employment.

Gove and Teather Cause Free School Chaos

Rather stunned to see that Michael Gove, along with his underling Sarah Teather, have just pulled the plug on a free school in Bradford a week before the start of term.  I assume the children who thought they had places there are now going to be passed to Bradford Council, who will be expected to find places for them in local authority schools.  The irresponsibility of this government in messing around with childrens education in this way beggers belief.

Bulky Waste Re-use

WRAP reports that a huge proportion of bulky waste can be recycled or re-used.  Brent Council is eager to do this.  That is why we are part of the West London Waste Authority pilot for a Reward Club, and why the current Labour administration reversed the Tory/Liberal Democrat decision to impose a £25 charge for collecting bulky waste.

Another Innovation in Brent Libraries

Brent Libraries have come up with another innovative scheme.  This focuses on intergenerational work and new technology.

Legal Interpretations.

Some interesting thoughts on legal intepretation from America can be found here.  The increasing fashion for attempting to overturn public policy decisions by legal means makes this subject not just one for lawyers.

Personal Carbon Budgets and the Green Party

I referred a few days ago to the aspirant Green Party Leader who drives a gas guzzling Jaguar, as interviewed in The Independent. 

I found her reply on the specific point very disappointing.  She makes a comparison with electric cars and argues that they are expensive to buy, do not have an adequate infrastructure and may rely on electricity from coal fired power stations anyway.  All reasonable points, but not an explanation as to why she does not drive a more fuel efficient (perhaps even a hybrid) car.  A more fuel efficient vehicle would allow her to produce fewer carbon emissions but still travel in a way that lots of other people find perfectly acceptable.

What would be more interesting would be a wider look at the implications of this kind of thing.  A traditional environmentalist view is that all emissions should be kept to the absolue minimum, but it is in my view reasonable (and certainly practically inevitable) that people will take into account things like cost and convenience.

From time to time, people have flirted with the idea of a personal carbon budget.  You get a certain accepted level of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, and create a budget around that.  So for example, you might offset having a fuel inefficent car with limited air travel, or better insulation, or vegetarian eating habits for example.  In a free society, it is certainly worth thinking about an option like this since it would allow individuals to preserve freedom over how they run their lives whilst nonetheless tackling climate change.

Brent Council Civic Centre Yet Again

Those who want to check on the ongoing progress of Brent Council's civic centre can do so here.  Martin Francis also has some photos here.

As usual he also has a string of criticisms and misleading statements about the building.  I have previously explained the various advantages of the Civic Centre.  As usual, Martin shows little interest in the environmental advantages of what will be one of the few BREEAM outstanding buildings in Europe.  Perhaps, I should leave detailed descriptions of those for other postings.

Instead, he concentrates on suggesting that the Civic Centre is extravagant by referring to the net outgoings without mentioning the savings.  The savings amount to between three and four million pounds a year.  In other words, had we chosen to go down the preferred Green Party route, we would have had to find additional annual savings equivalent to roughly double Brent Council's entire parks budget every year.  I doubt whether Martin would relish find alternative service cuts to make up those kinds of numbers.

The savings come from the sale of two major capital assets that Brent owns _ the old Town Hall and Brent House, as well as no longer having to pay rent, utilities and delapidations on various buildings (like, say, Chesterfield House) that the Council leases.

As well as the financial and environmental benefits, the Civic Centre is also driving changes in working practices across the Council, and provides a major contribution to the regeneration of Wembley.  I am sure Martin knows all this; he just likes to repeat his attack lines without regard to how often they are shot down.

Watching these arguments constantly shuffling forward is a bit like watching zombies in a George Romero film.

UPDATE

Martin's comment below seems to indicate he does not comprehend what is meant by a net saving.  The £3 to £4 million saving is the annual saving after the cost of the new centre is deducted from the savings made by moving out of all the then redundent office buildings i.e. it is a net saving.  This is such a common concept that I find it difficult to see how he could not be familiar with it.

Artist in Residence at Kilburn Library

Brent Council is advertising an opportunity for an artist in the visual arts to be artist in residence at the shortly to be re-opened Kilburn Library.  This kind of thing has been tried in other Councils before, although no in Brent.  It is the kind of thing that many Councils will now be cutting back on as they try to make the necessary cuts under George Osborne's austerity agenda.  If it works, it would be interesting if we could extend it beyond the visual arts to the artform most closely associated with libraries _ writing.

Brent Council's Falling Carbon Emissions

It has been a while since I updated on Brent Council's carbon emissions.  The Labour administration set a tough target of a 25% fall by 2014.  As far as I know our Tory/Liberal Democrat predecessors had no target at all.

In 2009/2010, Brent Council had emissions of 34,421 tons (carbon dioxide equivalent). In 2011/2012 this had fallen to 30,821.  The biggest fall in emissions has been through the Council proper, which has seen tonnage go down from 9,255 to 6,988 over that period.  Schools have a smaller drop from 17,215 to 16,070.  Hopefully, this will improve as schools become more aware of the financial benefits of lower energy use. 

The most hopeful thing is that we have yet to move into Brent's new Civic Centre, which as a BREEAM Outstanding building, will have a far lower rate of energy use than our current portfolio.

Park House

Last night's planning committee agreed to extend the lifetime of the permission on Park House. However, during the hearing the applicant's agent claimed that work had already started on the previous permission.  It was unclear whether this constituted a"material start" and whether the possible building work is therefore under the old permission or the one granted last night.  It does, however, mean that a site that has blighted that part of the town centre for years might finally be put to productive use.

The George Osborne Disaster

Contemplating the government deficit figures, I wonder whether George Osborne is the worst office holder in the eight hundred year history of the Chancellor of the Exchequer?

Planning Committee Tonight

For the first time since joining the Executive, I will be a planning committee member tonight as I am substituting for another councillor.  There are two big applications in Kilburn and Wembley where redevelopment is still going on despite the recession.

Green Leadership (or the lack of it)

I read an article in the Independent about the contest for the national Green Party leadership yesterday. What struck me was that only one of the four contenders mentioned was quoted on environmental issues, and then only to defend herself for driving a Jaguar.

This makes me think that our local Brent Greens are not the outliers I had assumed. They also seem to be uninterested, or even antagonistic to, environmental objectives.  In the past what one might loosely term Brent's green activists have attacked the new Civic Centre, emissions based parking, the increase in Brent's recycling, efforts to spread messages around climate change by the Borough. And so on.

Perhaps this is more common within their movement than I had thought.  Just as well for them that political parties are not covered by the Trade Descriptions Act.

Brent Executive

The Brent Council Executive went forward quite straightforwardly tonight. Cllr Lorber made several objections. We seem to grant him much greater indulgence than he did anyone else when he was Council Leader.

 Nonetheless, all reports went through without amendment.

Brent Council Executive Tonight

Brent Council will be holding an Executive tonight covering the new school build and the new food growing strategy as well as some quite interesting stuff around Meanwhile leases. Meanwhile lease are designed to prevent the blight of boarded up shops that you see in some areas, and are a mechanism that Brent is seeking to use to blunt some of the effect of George Osborne's recession.

Problems at Seneca

There has been plenty of publicity about problems at the Seneca recycling plant.  The Environment Agency is the responsible regulator and they have issued instructions to sort the problems out.  Three areas have been involved and there has been a temporary stoppage in the waste processing, but I understand that it is in the process of being sorted out.

Predetermination

There is another post on the supposed inevitable shrinking of the state here.  What interests me is not the gloomy prediction around the Coalition government's destruction of local services, but the comments. They all seem to fall into pre-existing categories of thought. Almost as if the authors had not read the piece that they are commenting on.

Dollis Hill House Almost Complete

I went to see the new structure that replaces Dollis Hill House in Gladstone Park a couple of days ago.  It has not yet had the soft landscaping, but you can see what it will look like.  Once a cafe is installed in the Stables building next door, it has the potential to become a real attraction for that area.  Much better than the derelict ruin that it has been for almost twenty years.

Olympic Parking

Before the Olympics, there were dire predictions about the Olympic Route Network and how disruptive it would be. In fact, it all seems to have turned out very well.  I was recently told that Brent issued only two parking tickets on its Olympic lanes during the games period.

Brent School Expansion

Next Monday's Executive has a hefty report on expanding Brent's school places.  The most pressing issue is primary school places, where we have shortages across the Borough.  However, there is a rapidly looming problem of secondary school places.  Not only do we not have funding for secondary places at the moment (following Sarah Teather abolishing Building Schools for the Future), we also don't have a clear site to build on.  I well recall some of the desperate suggestions made for sites when the Liberal Democrats were trying to delay or block the ARK Academy.  Thank goodness that school eventually got built.  Otherwise we would be short by an additional 1700 places.

Olympics

Now that the Olympics are over I feel some relief that Brent didn't see any major difficulties in hosting the events.  It is a tribute to the planning and professionalism of our officers.  It also contrasts with the debacle of G4S, something i hope government ministers reflect on next time they unthinkingly priase the private sector at the expense of the public.

ASB Training

I was interested in this report suggesting training people in how to handle low level anti-social behaviour.  It certainly sounds like a good idea in principle, although I wonder how one would make i work in practice.

Willesden parking

Martin Francis has been told by Sainsburys that they have no obligation to provide parking to any but their own customers. My understanding is that the Willesden Sainsburys has a planning obligation to provide car parking to Willesden Town Centre under a deal originally laid down by planning in the 1980s.

Food Growing Report

Next week's Executive will contain a report on our proposed food growing and allotment startegy.  This started in opposition, when we discovered that the waiting list for allotments appeared to be growing at an alarming rate.  Taking a closer look there appeared to be a double counting problem.  The new strategy now goes beyond traditional allotments to include forms of communal gardening as well.

Reverter

A couple of comments have come In on the reverted clause on the former library in Kensal Rise. There appears to be an assumption that Brent Council could simply use the building for any purpose.

This was never the case.

All Souls College have always been clear that if the building ceased to be used as a library, it would automatically revert to them.  As I understand it, their view is that the building automatically reverted on 3 February. They wrote to theCouncil shortly after to that effect.

The building is now being considered as a possible school site. Had it been considered prior to the reverter triggering, my understanding is that All Souls would have objected, as they did to the proposed children centre in Cricklewood Library about five years ago.

Update on Library Buildings

Those who read Brent Council Executive papers, a fairly select group I imagine, may have spotted that the report on school places published yesterday included a reference to the former Kensal Rise library building.  Council officers are exploring the possibility of using it to expand Princess Frederica school just the other side of the bridge.  Of course, there is no guarantee that this will happen as All Souls College may want to dispose of it elsewhere.

Further Details

My post of Monday appears to have stirred some interest.  People may be interested in the text itself:

"The purpose of the bid is not to provide a branch library.


Our proposal was to provide funding for refurbishment so that we could offer a number of services to the community, not least the provision of a free comunity space (with all the attendant benefits that such an environment can provide).

We particularly want to engage with children and young people offering them a place to work and/or study and to have resources to enable them to access education and employment.

This is a community initiative which has examined what it thinks this community needs and would like to be instrumental in meeting that need.

It goes beyond the provision of a council run small branch library."

Elearning in Brent Libraries

Justin Tomlinson MP recently suggested that libraries should force anyone who wanted to borrow an ebook to physically go to the library, which I thought a pretty crazy idea. Brent is trying to develop its online offer in a better managed way.  We will shortly make about 500 elearning courses in all sorts of subjects available via the Brent Libraries website.  These will be accessible to anyone with a library card and an Internet connection, including the Internet connection in a Brent library. That strikes me as a way cof spreading learning that actually uses the advantages of new technology rather than tries to bend it to old ways of working.

Manufacturing in London

The Guardian has an interesting reminder of London's manufacturing prowess, which seldom features  in accounts of the city. Whether the suggested role of local government in promoting manufacturing is likely to succeed is more open to doubt.

Local Government Pay in Brent

When we setting the budget in the first year of the administration, it was often suggested that the best way to make the required savings was to cut the pay of all Council staff. We didn't go down that route, but it is still occasionally suggested so it is useful to explain why it is a bad idea.

Firstly, there are practical difficulties. People often suggest that it should only be the most senior staff whose pay is cut, but this has the twin problem that that would not save more than a small proportion of the budget, and it would look like victimisation (which is illegal). Councils that gone down this route have therefore made all their staff reapply for their jobs at a lower rate.  The trouble with this is that you are incentivising your best staff to go to other employers, and you also damaging people's morale.  When this was done in Southampton, the Tory administration there also had to contend with bitter industrial action.

However, the effect that would most worry me would be the inevitable demoralisation of staff.  Since it is the staff who deliver all the services, devaluing their contribution would lead to worse services and the possibility of a downward spiral of decline.

Dramatic Change in Kensal Rise

In a remarkable turnaround the Friends of Kensal Rise Library have now written to Brent Councilsaying that they do not wish to run a library at the All Souls College owned building in Bathurst Gardens. How odd is that, after almost two years of campaigning for a library at that very site?

Judicial Review in Doncaster

I am intrigued by the recent decision in Doncaster, where a Court has upheld the right of the elected Mayor to ignore a budget amendment passed by the overwhelming majority of councillors.  If they aren't able to even pass a budget, I find it hard to imagine what the function of councillors in a Mayoral system is.

Well Done LIFT

I am delighted that LIFT, which used to be known as Brent Homeless Users Group, has been recognised with its programme with volunteers.

Trees in Brent

I recently had a bit of casework removing epicormic growth round street trees.  This is where a lime tree has horizontal shoots coming out of the trunk, often obstructing the pavement.  This caused me to find out that Brent is in the top quartile in London for the density of its street tree coverage.  Apparently, we have no fewer than 27,000 street trees.

Harlesden Library Celebrates Jamaican Independence

Harlesden Library is holding a day celebrating Jamaican independence on 6 August.  The 6 August marks the fiftieth anniversery of Jamaican independence.

Park House Application

Park House, which is the derelict building opposite the Salvation Army on Manor Park Road, got planning permision to be developed as flats some time ago.  A new developer has put in an application to extend the permission beyond the usual expiry date.  This is a power that was introduced under the last Labour government as part of an effort to encourage developemtns despite the recession.

Public Lending Right

I note that the government's confusion over whether volunteer libraries are subject to Public Lending Right continues. The minister appears to be trying to evade responsibility. It is of piece with the complete failure to work out any kind of legal or regulatory regime for the Big Society in general.

Recycling Point on Park Parade

As a result of resident concerns, the Council have installed a recycling point on Park Parade.  It will be interesting to see whether this succeeds in improving the look of the street.

Torch Relay in Brent

A video of the Torch Relay through Brent is now available here.

Beds in Sheds

Brent Council is undertaking a major effort to tackle "beds in sheds".  This is likely to become an evermore serious problem as the cost of housing remains unaffordable and the growing population leads to more overcrowding.  It is also the kind of thing that Councils will be able to if they have sufficent money to go beyond the bare legal minimum of services.  In other words, unless local government funding is changed to avoid the "graph of doom" scenerio, such efforts will cease to be made.

Graffiti

Cllr Lesley Jones mentions the recent conviction of a graffiti vandal from Liddell Gardens.  One sometimes hears the term victimless crime, but graffiti seems to me to be a profitless one.  I wonder how he feels at being given a one year sentence for doing something that didn't even benefit himself.

Reading Agency Challenge

Publicity is well under way for the Reading Agency's Summer Reading Challenge for children, including in Brent.  However, Brent also featured in the launch of a smaller scheme aimed at adults.  In fact we hosted the national launch this year.  Brent was picked because we had more particpants than any other authority in the previous year.  This year, we had 581 residents enroll _ more than we have ever had before.  This makes us the second most successful recruiter in the UK, and the most successful library service.  A key part of this success comes from the links that the Library service has built up with BACES as a result of co-location in Harlesden Library.

The Osborne Disaster

George Osborne is getting a well deserved hammering for his disastrous economic policies.  Many of the commentators are demanding that he adopt a Plan B, but I think in fact he has started to.  The trouble is he can't admit it, because that would be an admission that his entire economic policy has been completely wrong.  Nonetheless, quantative easing, releasing lending by banks and most recently talk of capital investment for housing and other infrastructure are all ways of admitting the economy needs a stimulus and therefore the overzealous tightening of public spending is self defeating.

Olympics today

Unfortunately I got only a brief look at the Torch bearer on OLympic Way this morning. The crowds were so great you couldn't see much. However, I spent much longer in the Olympic celebration event at King Edward VII park in Wembley. The other great benefit of today was the glorious sunshine.

Torch Relay Today

The Olympic Torch is coming through Brent this morning.  It travels from Sudbury, around the Stadium and over to Fryent. 

Brent Libraries Online Offer

Part of the point of Brent Council's Libraries Transformation Project was to adapt to new technology.  We are still very early in this process, but it is likely to involve a better online service and more use of ebooks.  Indeed, it may become increasingly common for Brent Library users to search the library catalogue online, and download books over the Internet _ meaning that some people may not make a physical visit to a library at all.

The June figures for the Brent Libraries web site show an increase of 36% in views compared to the same period last year.  They also show a 65% increase in ebook downloads.  Both of those sound like big numbers, but I suspect we will shortly see a much bigger jump as ebooks become more established.

Technology and Car Clubs

The Economist has an interesting piece on the changing technology around car clubs.  The technology, and particularly internet enabled phones, should make car clubs easier and easier to use.  This should be good in terms of reducing congestion, improving air quality and helping reduce the cost of living for occasional car drivers.

Ant like Organisation

Flip Chart Fairy Tales, which is always imaginative, considers the links between ant behaviour and general organisations.  This has already been noticed in fiction.  HG Wells wrote a short story in which he imagines ants forming a huge empire through ruthless conquest, and John Wyndham had a similar theme (with spiders) for his last novel Web. 

Seneca Wall

The Seneca Wall that I went to see on Wednesday vastly exceeded my expectations.  Not only is 180 metres long, it is also about 2.5 metres high so the effect is spectacular.  You can see it on your left as you north up the Jubilee line.

The artwork has 15 panels done by artists in collaboration with local youngsters.  The Seneca web site has more pictures of all the panels.  The panel above was done by kids from Barham primary school.  The panels are all made from recycled materials to demonstrate Seneca's belief in waste as a resource.  All this came as a way for Seneca to try to reduce graffiti on the side of their building, so it is also a very imaginative way of dealing with anti-social behaviour.

Unfortunately the sheer scale of the mural makes it hard to give a real impression of how impressive it is.  However, here is a photo of my favourite panel:

Volunteers and Public Libraries

Some of the tensions around volunteer run libraries can be gleaned from the comments on this piece.  I think the points about job substitution and  quality of service are sound ones.  The whole Big Society concept seems to me to be based on the idea that public services are fairly easy to deliver. 

In fact, to do the job adequately volunteer run libraries would need a great deal of support.  The most likely source of that support would be the Council.  Therefore I suspect that Boroughs like Camden, where three volunteer run libraries have been opened, will find that the volunteer libraries actually turn into a drain on the public library service as staff from the Council are pushed to spend time and money propping up the volunteers. 

On a small scale we saw this with the Kensal Rise Library scheme.  The scheme we rejected in April 2011 explicitly wanted public subsidy.  The unsolicited proposal put in subsequently was rejected as the reverter clause had been triggered, and we no longer had any legal say over the building.  However, my view is that the proposal concerned in fact would have ended up costing the Council a great deal of money and time, and I think this is confirmed in that the same group subsequently made two demands that would have cost the Council.  One was for ward working funds to the tune of £60,000 for various building works not included in the original proposal.  The other was that the bookstock actually in the building be left there, which would mean either a reduction in book stock across Brent libraries as a whole, or more spending to replace the books.

Incidentally, it is odd that a number of blogs and newspaper articles seem to take the line that volunteer run libraries will inevitably fail and are even an insult to professional libraries as devaluing their skills (a view I sympathise with), but then blame Brent Council for not supporting a volunteer run library at Kensal Rise.  The well known Public Libraries News blog is just one example of this kind of inconsistency.

I suppose it depends on how seriously you take the comment made by Phil Bradley in the thread I started with:

"This may of course mean that we end up with libraries being closed, with nothing to replace them. Doubtless some people will then criticise various library groups for not fighting to keep libraries open at any cost. I think we need to strongly make the point that - as I've said time and time again - a library without a librarian isn't a library, it's a collection of books. We need to focus on the activities in a library, run by librarians, rather than the artifacts. We don't talk about brain surgeons as people who weild scalpels, we talk about them in terms of saving lives. Librarians help people find jobs, increase literacy, help protect the vulnerable, teach and inspire. Etc. etc. etc."

Making the most of Brent's Library Space

One of the reasons people were resistent to the Brent Libraries Transformation Project was the perception that one Library is much the same as another, so a reduction in numbers must make things worse.  This is not really true.  We can see from the dramatically different footfall of the bigger libraries that some are a lot more attractive than others.

We also know that we are already making much better use of our libraries as a result of our libraries being open seven days a week.  It is less appreciated that we have managed to redesign our libraries to make them more effective.  After refurbishment, Ealing Road library has five new PCs, and ten more study spaces.  The Town Hall Library also has five new PCs and ten extra study spaces.  Harlesden Library has been reconfigured to give an extra seven study spaces.  Thus, we have an extra ten PCs and 27 study spaces from the same buildings.  The longer opening hours at these three libraries also mean that these resources spend less time standing idle.

Artwork

Later today I am going to the unveiling of a 180 metre mural done by artists and local children near the Seneca plant, close to IKEA.  They say it is the largest such mural in Europe.

Brent Population Grows

Brent's population has grown, according to the just released figures from the 2011 Census.  The new figure is 311,200, compared to 263,500 in 2001.  This is an increase of more than 18% (with London as a whole going up by 14%).  An extra 59,000 people is roughly equivalent to an extra four and a half local government wards.

Area Forum Rescheduled

The Harlesden Area Forum, which was cancelled on the tenth (due to another meeting) has now been rescheduled for 24 July.

Paralympics Torch Relay

Brent will see the paralympic torch come through on 29 August.  The route of the torch is likely to be through the southern part of the Borough.

Massive Increase in Brent's Libraries Outreach

My post on Saturday only covered the outreach programme around Kilburn Library, and I have been asked whether there is further outreach across Brent . Indeed there is. 

Brent Libraries service are delivering to 48 sites around the Borough.  This includes places like the St Raphaels Intergenerational Centre.  Since the diverting of the 206, the public transport links of the St Raphaels estate, never wonderful, have got mush worse, so that site is particularly welcome. There have also been stalls at particular events, like the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. 

The numbers are that in the April to June quarter, Brent Libraries outreach issued more than 10,000 items, which represented an increase of more than 700% on the same quarter last year.

Wrottesley Road Surface Water Flooding

There were two areas of conspicious flooding on Wrottesley Road.  As a result of the resurfacing, the camber of the road has been redesigned to discourage this "ponding".  The gullies are also supposed to have been cleared, although I have asked the department to take a second look, as I believe this has not been done properly.

Outreach from Brent Libraries

The refurbishment of Kilburn Library, which amazingly the Liberal Democrats frequently criticise, has helped Brent Library service to be much more imaginative about its outreach service during the interim.  I wish some of the people who criticise the Libraries Transformation Project would pay more attention to all the good work the Libraries staff do.

Since work began at Kilburn Library, the staff have visited about 3,000 children in Brent school assemblies to publicise the Summer Reading Challenge.  They have also set up book deposit collections at Cost, Starbuck's, Gail's Cafe, Salusbury Road Primary School and Princess Frederica Primary School.  I gather there is an adult reading group based in Costa, and an under five group in Gail's Cafe.  There is also an outreach service based in BACES Carlton Centre in South Kilburn.

I doubt whether any of this would be happening without the refurbishment or the wider Libraries Transformation Project, suggesting that what might appear a downside can be turned to good account.  Of course, when the refurbished library opens in September, we will also get a much improved Library.

Recycling in Town Centres

Brent Council has tweaked the waste clearence in the Borough's Town Centres to start separating recycling waste more effectively.  The first week has seen this piloted in Harlesden Town Centre, and more tons have been recovered.  It is estimated that rolling the scheme out across the entire Borough will lead to an increase in recycling of about 1,000 tons.

Eric Pickles and Propaganda

I see that once again Eric Pickles has been complaining about propaganda in local government.  In fact, local Councils follow strict restrictions and the publi8city they do produce is non-partisan and often legally mandated.  In contrast, Pickles own department is currently embarked on a major propaganda campaign promoting the Right to Buy.  This has included paying for posters around the country, but even gone to the extent of giving Councils a standard template letter to send to Council tenants.  A striking example of Eric Pickles' own politicisation of government publicity and contempt for local democrary i practice as opposed to rhetoric.

Planning and Overcrowding

There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that the Tory government's changes to housing benefit are leading to an increase in overcrowding.  It is said that a number of rapacious landlords are erecting buildings in their gardens without planning permission or proper certification in terms of things like fire safety.  Brent's plannng service will be devoting resources over the coming months to try to work out how extensive this problem actually is.  Where it occurs, we will use enforcement powers _ planning, health and safety or whatever _ to stamp it out.

Brent Council last night

I suppose I should report on the meeting of full Council last night, but it was really rather humdrum.  We took a decision to implement new standards arrangements as a result of the localism Act, and passed a few inconsequential motions and that was it.

UPDATE:

The option of retaining the previous balance of the Standards Committee was not a real one.  The government has revoked the previous conditions that allowed the Standards Committee to have a special make up, so it now falls under the standard rules of "political balance" i.e. the Committee has to have a membership that reflects the political make up of the Council.

Harlesden ACF Tonight

Unfortunately, the Harlesden Area Forum tonight has had to be postponed.  Hopefully it will be possible to hold it before the beginning of the summer break.

Brent Library Members Increase

As we get further along the road of the Libraries Transformation Project, we start to make real progress.  In April to June quarter, Brent Libraries signed up more than 4,300 new members, many of them as part of the Council's Every Child a Library Reader scheme.   That compares to 4,050 new members for the same quarter last year, an increase of 6%.  It is good that the Library staff can now concentrate on actually promoting the Library service, rather than constantly dealing with vexatious FoI requests.

Sacrilege in King Edward VII Park Wembley

Among the attractions at the Torch Relay on 25 July will be a massive party at King Edward VII Park Wembley.  Most startling will be Sacrilege, an installation artwork there for the day, but there will be a number of other attractions, including the culmination of Brent Dance Month..

Ebook Lending

Dan Jarvis has called for a taskforce to examine ebooks and public libraries, which has sparked a debate.  I have commented before that I think charging for ebooks is a far bigger threat to library services than building closures.  In a few years, ebook readers will be so prevalent that libraries that do not offer ebook lending will not be offering a universal service.  I think Justin Tomlinson's idea of only allowing ebook lending through a physical visit to a library pretty crazy, and the idea of charging abhorrent..  What kind of a service makes itself deliberately hard to access?

Universal Reading Offer

The Reading Agency has come up with the idea of a universal reading offer for libraries.  This is partly an atytempt at a form of shared services, but I suspect it will have more usefulness in benchmarking a standard group of library services. 

The danger in most authorities is that that they preserve nominal libraries, i.e. the buildings, but cut back on the opening hours, staff skills and activities.  Cutting back on all these can be readily achieved without the publicity that a building closure involves.  Evolving a widely used set of activities could serve as a benchmark that would make that kind of rosion in service quality much harder.

Standards at Brent Council

The next Brent Council meeting is on Monday and will see a major overhaul of the Standards system.  This is driven by the Localism Act, and has the effect of much reducing the demands on Councillors to follow rules of conduct.

The most serious offences are left to criminal prosecutions.  Suspension of the sort in the Bertha Joseph case, will no longer by possible.  The sanctions will be decided on by a politically balanced committee, which I would have thought opens the way to partisan abuse, and will be confined to demanding an apology, removing someone from a committee or giving them training. 

The long standing practice of declaring either a personal or prejudical interest will also be replaced by a new concept of a pecuniary interest.  However, the Standards Committee may end up with more to do, as the rules on dispensations are made much looser.

Willesden Green Library Centre

Willesden Green Library Centre will come to Brent Council's Planning Committee later than originally expected.  This is to allow further design work in order to take on board public concerns.  The new plan is for a scheme to go before the Planning Committee later in the year.

Dire Predictions

Last week's grim prediction on the financial future of local government is covered by Flip Chart Fairy Tales.  The outlook is so dire that somewhere in the UK we are likely to see a local authority simply collapse long before 2020.  What Flipchart Fairy Tales fails to pick up on is that the numbers of users is inverse proportion to the amounbt of money spent on the service.  Many of the social care users cost a huge amount per hear, whereas universal services like transport and highways are likely to face severe cuts despite being used by vastly greater numbers of people.

Schools and Olympics

My colleague Lesley Jones points out that a school in her ward and one in mine will have a particular role in the Olympics.  Well done to both Furness Primary School and St Andrew and St Francis School for being selected.

Dollis Hill House as was

I posted some pictures of the work currently underway at Dollis Hill House here and here.  It might be useful to contrast them with how the site looked in the recent past above.  I have explained why it was not practical to restore here.  The long history of attempts to find a way of restoring the House are here.  Keeping the building in the state it was in the photograph above costabout £25,000 or more per year.

Leafleting Concerns

The consultation on the amendment for leaflet regulations has now ended.  There were zero responses.  This confirms me in my view that the controversy over the whole thing was an artificial hype being whipped up two well known anti Labour activists just before the GLA elections.