Moving Harlesden Jubilee Clock

There has been some debate about moving the Harlesden Jubilee Clock, as part of the redevelopment of Harlesden Town Centre.  The actual proposal is coming before the next Planning Committee.  This seems to me to be quite a minor issue in the context of a £5 million development.  After all, the clock has been moved twice already in its lifetime.  What do other people think?

UPDATE

I don't think moving the clock will have any great impact.  It should just make it easier to get buses down Harlesden High Street.  Before complaining about how expensive the redevelopment is take a look at the opportunities...

We have a chance to improve lots of things about our area here.  The Harlesden area should get a civic focus in front of the Methodist Church.  Waste collection, which is a huge issue around Harlesden Town Centre, should improve.  We could reduce traffic congestion which is a major source of annoyance, Most kinds of disability access should be improved.  There may even be improvements to street cleaning, since cracked and broken pavements are harder to clean than even ones.

End of an Era

Yesterday we all heard Mrs Thatcher had died.  One might have many feelings about this, but it is an end of an era. Hugo Young's take from a time past seems perceptive.

Brent Trading Standards Award

I am glad to see a Brent Trading Standards officer has got an award for the quality of his financial investigations.  It is likely that the increasing use of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) will make this an increasingly important area not just for Trading Standards, but also Planning and other areas.

Changing Needs

At the end of April, Brent Council will end its long standing system of delivering agendas to councillors homes each Friday.  This made sense when councillors used to get hundreds of pages of paper documents, but as the Council becomes more and more digitalised, less is sent out as paper.  It is a minor illustration of how technology is fundamentally changing how institutions work.

Tricycle Theatre Youth Workshops

The Tricycle Theatre are opening bookings for their youth theatre workshops from tomorrow.  Details of the workshops are here.

Spring!

Wow.  Spring has arrived today. About time. Leafleting near the Harlesden Jubilee Clock yesterday, it still felt coldish, but not like the downright winter weather we have had recently.

Britain is not Broke

A longer historical perspective on British debt suggests that George Osborne is entirely wrong, as most of us might have guessed.  Indeed, by cutting spending the government is worsening the deficit, not improving it.

Willesden Green Library Goes Ahead

I understand that the formal decision on the Willesden Library Centre application for a Town Green has now been made. It has been refused, so the development can finally go ahead.

George Osborne and the Philpott Case

George Osborne has been suggesting that the Philpott case is about benefits when it is really about domestic violence.  The Chancellor's attempt to co-opt this case into his political objectives in surely a new low in UK politics.

Tories Want No National Minimum Wage

I have heard plenty of criticisms of the previous Labour government, but one policy I have never hear criticised is that of the national minimum wage.  This now appears to be under attack by Nick Clegg and David Cameron's coalition government.  I am not aware of any statements by Sarah Teather defending the minimum wage.

I do remember meeting someone in Kilburn in the late 90s who seemed skeptical, but his argument was more: it will never happen.  It now has happened thanks to a Labour government elected in 1997. It is in danger of being taken away by a Conservative government, for whom Nick Clegg and Sarah Teather are cheerleaders.

Cllr Catherine West in Kensal Green

I went to hear the very inspiring Catherine West, Leader of Islington Council, speak last night at a meeting in Kensal Green.  Although Islington is very different to Brent (for instance, in the amount of social housing), I am sure we could learn much from both their policies and campaign techniques.

Kilburn Library Refurbishment Photos

I promised to get some more pictures of Kilburn Library quite a while ago, to show how the building has improved since the refurbishment, so here they (finally) are:

Some of the new shelving:

An interior view:

A view from the entrance, showing some of the new signage:

The redesigned children area:

To anyone who recalls the old, rather Victorian, look of the pre-refurbishment Kilburn Library these pictures wold seem a revelation.  It is also worth remembering that the old library was open only five days a week, whereas the refurbished library is open seven days a week.

Universal Credit Software Failure

MPs have woken up to the failure of the government to develop appropriate software for universal credit.  They are particularly concerned about fraud, but I am not sure that the government's software will actuually work at the most basic level.

When we were designing the Council Tax Support scheme for Brent, I was advised that the timetable was extremely tight.  One reason for this was the need to design and test the software.  We passed Brent's CTS scheme at Full Council on 10 December last year, and the first bills went out by 10 March.  This much time was needed to run data through the system to make sure that there were no mistakes in the tax demands people got.  It also affected the design of the scheme, since adding elements not prefigured in the existing software would delay the process by taking longer to design.

However our CTS system uses a far smaller database, with many fewer variables than any Universal Credit software is likely to use.  We were also making a simpler change in going from an old Council Tax Benefit scheme to the redesigned scheme.

I have heard anecdotes that the universal credit software is still not even at the test stage, and that administrators may have to use a paper system.  This could lead to:

• Overpayment, which would be very hard to claw back from people with limited financial reserves
• Underpayment, leading to greater hardship
• Fraud, which may not be easily detectable
• People being hit by multiple cuts because they fall into several categories that what David Cameron calls "the smart people in Whitehall" have failed to predict.

I am not sure that ministers have even grasped the sheer administrative difficulty of implementing their policies.

Are Ministers Getting their Comeuppance?

The BBC has a summary of benefit changes here.  From the sudden PR offensive that ministers like Grant Shapps (who once stood for election to Brent Council, incidentally) are seeking to mount it looks like they are getting rattled.  Well they might.  The changes are are so complicated that no one really knows what the effects will be, other than that they will obviously lead to a massive reduction in living standards for huge numbers of people.

The ministers appear to be intent on defending their policy by a systematic attempt at deception.  Some of the newer lines are examined here.  So far, a lot of media has given this government a fairly easy ride when it comes to its disastrous economic policy and its welfare "reforms".  As the reality begins to bite on the ground, we may see this change.

Climate Change and Extinction

As a result of a recent lecture at the British Museum, I was recently reading about woolly mammoths.  This once extensive species was effectively wiped out by climate change altering its habitat, with maybe some help from over exploitation by human beings.  As we head for the greatest level of climate change since the last Ice Age, the fate of the mammoth gives plenty to think about in terms of today's biodiversity and climate change.  All kinds of species will find it incredibly hard to cope.

Willesden Green Library Planning Update

Boris Johnson has approved the planning application to rebuild the Willesden Green Library Centre, so the last remaining obstacle is the Town Green application.  Although the inspector has recommended against this, the decision is not yet made.  If the application is rejected, work can finally begin on rebuilding the Library Centre.

Kilburn Library Garden

I was recently alerted to some ongoing issues around the garden at Kilburn Library.  I hope these will get resolved fairly easily, as they seem to consist mainly of minor building works.  Altogether, I think the Kilburn Library refurbishment has been a huge success.

Sieghart Review on Lending

I am glad that the Sieghart review on elending is out , and that it is so concise and sensible.  Affirming the importance that electronic lending be both free and possible remotely are both major steps forward.  It is also to be welcomed as an official statement that ebooks are an essential part of a modern library service.  Of course, it hasn't solved the problem of what is the model for lending, and how do you ensure an adequate return for publishers, but the suggestion that the market needs to experiment seems a sensible one.

Altogether, the review strikes me as unalloyed good news.

Universal Credit Failing Already

The BBC reports that the pilots for universal credit are being delayed.  My understanding is that the software for the system has not even been tested yet, which makes implementation almost impossible.  However, government ministers has invested so much political capital in this doomed scheme that they don't feel able to draw back.

Clearing Trains at Queens Park

A number of residents have raised the issue of trains being cleared at Queens Park.

The old system was that station staff would clear the trains that terminated there.  This was ended recently, and tannoy announcements relied on.  There were complaints that as the trains were not specifically cleared, people were sometimes driven into the sidings, and I have heard anecdotes of people getting out of the sidings and walking on to the tracks.

The train drivers thought this was so dangerous that they started clearing the trains themselves.  However, this led to operational delays. The whole thing was escalating with threats of industrial action.

With the help of Navin Shah, I have been investigating this.  I understand that the RMT and ASLEF are now working with TfL to get possible solutions together rather than go to industrial action.

However, I think all this is very concerning.  The amount of money that TfL hope to save cannot compensate for reduced safety, or probably even the disruption to the network.

Libraries Promoting Reading

There is some interesting research on how bookshops promote a reading culture.  It argues that browsing is essential to getting people to read books, and seldom occurs online.  This seems counterintuitative, as an Internet search engine should be the perfect mechanism for serendipitous discovery.  I suspect that there is something about the physical feel of a book that makes physical browsing attractive in a way that sitting in front of a computer is not.  The article also argues that the demise of a bookshop does not mean that it's sales migrate to other channels; most of them just stop.

This seems to me to have an important message for libraries, where you can browse all day for free.  Currently, some writers and publishers seem to assume that leading cannibalises their sales, but it seems quite possible that municipal libraries are actually doing exactly what their Victorian founders intended, promoting reading among people who would otherwise not.  If so, the book industry should be trying to think of ways to promote libraries and forge links with them.

UPDATE

In response to the comment:

The Willesden bookshop was a business which was suffering from the same pressures as other bookshops, not least its sister outlet on Kilburn High Road.  As a frequent user of bookshops, I greatly regret the decline of physical bookshops, but it seems to me that many of the attractions of a good bookshop can also be seen in a library.  One reason that bookshops are said to be in decline is that people browse a book in the shop, but buy it on the Internet.  Why not browse and try out books via libraries?

Incidentally, the juxtaposition of the Willesden bookshop next to Willesden library for so many years is a point against the Terry Deary argument that they are in competition.

The fact that the bookshop was struggling, the cinema closed and the cafe also closed suggests to me that the existing building is not well designed for retail use.  I have remarked before that the frontage does not entice people in.

Continuing Cuts in Local Government

The Guardian has extensive coverage of cuts in local government today.  I notice that the only people arguing that the cuts make no difference are Tory government ministers.  Tories actually in local government are frank that the sector cannot cope with even more battering.  What makes it worse is that the incoherent plethora of welfare changes that the government has unleashed is about to hit organisations that are already reeling.

Polly Toynbee argues that creating chaos in local government is actually Tory policy, and I believe her.

Brent Libraries Online

A recent DCMS study found that the number of adults physically visiting public libraries is falling very sharply, while the number visiting library web sites is going up.  In other words, the online side of the library service is becoming more and more important too its users.

This was one of the things we sought to address in our Libraries Transformation Project.  The Brent Council web site has been dramatically revamped.  Brent libraries have online options to search the catalogue, borrow an ebook, read a variety of periodicals, practice for driving test theory or the UK citizenship test, access reference works, check up the Brent book blog and other social media, or use the archives services.

Most of this is all pretty traditional library functions, but made more accessible by being online, so it is frustrating that some people still seem to see improved online services as a threat, and want everything to remain as it was in their childhood.

Update on Former Willesden Social Club

A new application has been put in for the former Willesden Social Club.  However, it is very similar to the permission already granted, as can be seen here.  I do find it frustrating that this land has been derelict for so long, and that the new application requires another delay.

Borrowing Without Walls

The debate around libraries seems to be moving on bit from just being about buildings at the expense of books, but I still don't get a sense that people realise how library services are now being accessed outside the actual buildings. Using the book issue figures up to the end of February, we can see that almost one in four issues by Brent library services does not involve stepping inside a building at all.

Online renewals account for 11.6% of total book issues.  The outreach service _ that brings books to all kinds of other events and institutions _ accounts for a further 6.3%.  Phone renewals make up a further 2.7%, and our home delivery service for severely disabled people a further 2.6%.  Whilst ebook lending gets lots of hype, it actually accounts for only 0.5% of loans.  Of course, it is important that libraries engage with ebooks as they become the dominant form of book provision, but we also need to recognise that library services outside Council owned buildings is now part of the conventional model.

Wrottesley Road Traffic Lights Restored

I am glad to see that the power failure at the Wrottesley Road traffic lights has now been repaired.  Well done to TfL for getting on to the fault quickly.

Archbishop 105

I keep hearing the BBC refer to the new Archbishop of Canterbury as the Church of England's 105th head.  I would have thought that Thomas Cranmer was the first head of the Church of England in that sense (and the last to get papal approval, oddly).  The new Archbishop would therefore fall well short of 105 as head of the Church of England, although he may well be the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury.

Willesden Junction Station Approach at last

Willesden Junction Station Approach finally has work under way.  Unfortunately, this means that the 487 and 220 buses have to be diverted.  The 220 is stopping outside Harlesden Job Centre Plus.  The 487 stops at Station Road.  The work is expected to take about three months.

Having campaigned on this issue for literally years, I am glad an end is in sight.

Climate Change Conference at CNWL

In the end, I didn't attend the whole of the student climate change conference as I had intended.  However, I think the whole event was very positive and I hope we do something like it on an annual basis.   I suspect the format needs refinement, and we we will have to look at participants' feedback to inform that, but I would particularly like to thank all the Council officers and others who did so much to organise such a successful event.

Cardinal Hinsley Close

Yesterday, Cllr Bobby Thomas and I attended a meeting with Catalyst Housing, London and Quadrant and Brent Parking down at Cardinal Hinsley Close off Wrottesley Road.  Residents have raised concerns there around rubbish collection and parking.  These issues are very hard to sort out. With several residents appearing, we decided to go forward with some options for consultation and see what peoples' views are.

I suspect this is the kind of issue where you simply can't please everyone.  All we can do is talk to people about options and ask which they prefer. Each option will have a downside as well as an upside.

Most of the rest of today, I will be going up to the College of North West London In Denzil Road for a school pupil conference on climate change.

Wrottesley Road Traffic Lights Power Failure

Earlier today, I noticed that the traffic lights at the junction of Wrottesley Road and Harrow Road NW10 have failed.  It does not appear to be a general power cut, just the lights.  In view of the safety implications, I asked Brent's transport people to raise it with TfL as a matter of urgency.

UK Recycling

UK recycling has climbed at a faster rate than our European counterparts, although we still only just ahead of the European average, according to the Guardian.  Still that is good progress over the past decade.

The Loony Left Alternative

I attended a Labour Party meeting where we had for some reason invited a speaker from "Brent fightback", a group whose main activity seems to consists of attacking people in the Labour Party.

During the discussion it was suggested that the Council should just ignore its responsibilities and refuse to ameliorate the effect of the Tory cuts in any way.  I think that there is both a human and a political answer to that.

The human answer comes from imagining someone suffering from the cuts. Let us say an able bodied person who works for a low income and struggles to make ends meet. Let us suppose the cumulative effect of the various cuts, inflation and so on are to push that person below the waterline.  The Fightback position appears to be that they be left to sink, so that Fightback can demonstrate that the cuts come from the government, and Fightback disapproves of them.  This allows Fightback to preen itself on the warm glow of ideological purity whilst other people pay the human cost.  Personally, I find that unacceptable.  As a human being, I am going to do what I can to help people in need even though I know what I do is inadequate to the scale of the task.

The second part of the answer is: would such a political strategy work? I think not. I think most people would look at a Council doing nothing and say: "You bastards.  You are not even trying to help.  You are just trying to score points politically."

At least as it is, I can argue, that we are doing our best but the Tory/Liberal Democrat coalition is making it impossible.  Of course, that is different from the likes of Sarah Teather who voted all these nasty policies through as the price of a ministerial job.

UPDATE

The Fightback speaker has responded below.  Unusually, she accuses me of failing to voice opinions, which is not a fault I am generally accused of.  I think most people at the discussion were interested in the cuts the government was making to the NHS and to welfare benefits (which was also the focus of my own contribution).  I think that is certainly the main thing we should all be worrying about.

ANOTHER UPDATE

The latest comment appears to be slightly off the subject of this post, but I'll respond anyway.  The report sent in by Brent's health scrutiny committee is cross party, and scrutiny committees are not whipped.  The opinions in the Report are therefore those of the committee, not necessarily those of one party. The documents recording their discussions are here.  Anyone who wants to understand their logic can read the report, the minutes or contact the committee members directly.

Sarah Teather and her Record of Dishonesty

I have suggested before that Sarah Teather has a remarkably flexible record when it comes to political principles.  Recently, she dropped out of a meeting with parents seeking to prevent Gladstone school from becoming an academy.  I thought it worth reminding myself of what she was saying when she was still being paid a ministerial salary.  In the process I found a quote from the then minister on benefit cuts:

"I am on record as having concerns about the benefits cap, but I am also pleased to see the changes that were brought in on the back of those concerns, my job is sometimes to take points and suggestions about things that other departments are doing that affect children and families. That's the job that the prime minister asked me to do and I take it seriously."

A little while later, the Prime Minister asked her to give up her job so that he could give it to David Laws to take seriously.  

This seemed to change her views somewhat:

"There are all sorts of things you have to do when times are tight that have negative consequences but you do them for good purposes. But to do something for negative purposes that also has negative consequences – that is immoral," says Teather. She praised Nick Clegg for showing "immense courage" in limiting some of the effects of welfare cuts and urged her party to fight as hard as it possibly could to prevent more. She said many people in her constituency, which is one of the most ethnically diverse and deprived in the country, did not realise what was about to hit them next April."

Local Elections 2014

It looks as if the next London elections will be on 22 May, according to the LGiU.  Whilst it is annoying the way these things get knocked about, holding them together does help raise turnout in the European elections.

Harlesden Incinerator

We now have an online link to oppose the Harlesden Incinerator, just south of Kensal Green and Harlesden. To oppose the Incinerator click here.

Services Not Buildings

I picked up a Public Libraries News post which mainly featured the Capita report on Protecting Library Services.  Ian Anstice is quoted extensively in the report, which also supports my long held view that as budgets are cut, we have to protect services rather than buildings.

The report seems to see this mainly in terms of improving online services for libraries, although I think there are many other aspects.  These would include the provision of those old fashioned things called books, the number and quality of events, opening hours, helpfulness of staff and so on.  However, I am glad that one of the key underpinnings of our strategy is being recognised more widely.

Double Standards in Housing

Red Brick has been following Eastenders, and makes somewhat nerdish observations on the accuracy of its treatment of Council housing.  What I find striking about the Tory attitudes on housing are their dimorphism.

When it comes to Council tenants, the more restrictions the better as far as Tory Councils like Hammersmith are concerned.  Tenants are given insecure tenancies where they are swiftly moved on after not more than five years.  They may not get that long if they fail to fulfil lots of conditions, whether reasonable _ paying rent, not engaging in criminal behaviour_ or extremely demanding: like being forced to "volunteer" in ways that the Tories consider useful.  Even occupying too much space is to be punished via the bedroom tax.

Contrast that with private householders.  Suddenly an Englishman's home is his castle again.  The language turns to abuse of supposedly busybody Councils who are said by the Daily Mail to constantly harass people as a result of the over generous funding of Councils leaving these officers with nothing to do but be officious.

What strikes me, aside from the lack of verisimilitude in this world view, is the obvious double standard.  The private householder has liberty and freedom from interference; the council tenant exists on sufferance.  I have even seen quotes from Tory politicians informing Council tenant residents that living in particular Boroughs is a privilege not a right.  Imagine voting for someone who told you that?

Of course, much of the agenda hiding behind this is gerrymandering, and some of it is just hatred of other people.  But what I find most striking is that there is no sense that people need a sense of security.  The development of insecure tenancies goes hand in hand with a general stripping away of protections in terms of rights in the work place, legal protections and (unless you live in a rich area) planning protections.

Public Libraries News

Public Libraries News has a particularly good post today.  It touches on so many issues that I think I will have to cover it in more than one post to do each subject justice.

Bee Conservation

The Tory government sounds as if it is seeking to delay sensible measures to conserve bees, according to the Guardian.  I find it hard not to see this as simply reflexive bowing to business interests.

Big Society Libraries

The scale of the challenge of running a Big Society type library is hinted at in this form supplied by Warwickshire County Council.  It makes a daunting read, but it would be quite possible to add more requirements.

Iain Duncan Smith and the Bedroom Tax

Iain Duncan Smith seems to be getting cold feet on the bedroom tax.  I am not surprised.  This will affect large numbers of people and symbolises the Tories' efforts to wage class war against sections of the population.

In Brent, it is estimated about 550 people would see benefit reduced by about a quarter, and 1,500 people by about 14%.  That kind of percentage rise in cost on top of things like Boris Johnson's fare rises and fairly static wage levels will be a disaster for many people.

Abolish Eric Pickles

Paul Wheeler comes up with the attractive idea of abolishing the department of Communities and Local Government.  Under Eric Pickles, it has played an actively malevolent role so I think getting rid of it and him would make a lot of sense.

Harlesden Town Centre Update

Having been to Executive yesterday, tonight I get to go the Highways Committee. One of the items is an update on Harlesden Town Centre.

It reports back on the detailed design and the outcome of the specialist report we commissioned on disabilities. It suggests what I would consider what I think a reasonable compromise between the needs of the visually impaired and those of other people.  We also likely to see further work on disabled parking.

There was a suggestion that the phasing of the lights on Tubbs Road might be changed.  Traffic on Tubbs Road has been a long standing concern.  Creating a pedestrian phase would greatly lengthen the queues on Tubbs Road.  I was surprised to learn that there is no history of pedestrians being involved in accidents there.  It certainly doesn't feel safe, but I think the present situation is the best that can be done.

There are a small number of other adjustments, but I think the most important thing is to get these works finally under way.

Winter Returns

The Council is expecting temperatures in Brent to be freezing by 4pm (if they aren't already), so ice will be forming and the snow showers starting to settle.  Hence we have the unwelcome return of the need to grit the streets.  I gather the grit bins are also being refilled.

The Virtues of Bureaucracy

I had been meaning to post on this subject for some time but Flipchartfairytales has beaten me to it.  Any reader of Hayek will be familiar with the argument, albeit couched in terms of liberty rather than productivity. Explicit rules prevent abuse and personal patronage; discretion enables arbitrary bias.

Commercial Techniques in Libraries

Some ago I came across a blogpost criticising libraries for using retail techniques.  Unfortunately, I can no longer find the link.  This brought to my mind part of the permanent exhibition at the Brent Musuem.  No link to the actual exhibit I am afraid.  However, it took a haberdashers from Willesden High Road that was still in use after the war, and exhibited as an example of how shops used to work.  The haberdashers closed down after the war but was still run on Victorian principles where you went to a shop keeper behind a counter, and asked them to fetch what you wanted.  I gather that in say 1900, a library was run in the same way.

If you went to say Harlesden Library, you would have asked to see the catalogue, and then asked the librarian to fetch a copy for you.  This is still the system that some university and the British library use for rare books, but is regarded as outmoded elsewhere.  Anyway, I would suggest a at some point in the last hundred years, librarians learnt from retailers to change in a way that is generally accepted now.  Perhaps it is not outrageous to learn from retailers now.

The kind of thing that libraries are now adopting have been in place in some areas quite a long time. For instance, displaying books in full frontal rather than just spines, the positioning of displays in the building, and so on.  Sometimes these apparently minor changes can have major effects, so (for example) i understand that changes in shelving arrangement to the books by prescription display in Brent libraries saw a huge increase in usage.  I am sure a professional librarian could go into such techniques in much more detail.

Anyway, the post I read seemed to think that this made public libraries more "commercial".  I don't see how this true. In my view libraries that go down this route are simply getting more people to use them.  One of the fundamental aspects of libraries compared to the private sector is that greater usage creates greater cost for a library, whereas a shop should get greater profit, so libraries that adopt these measures are quite anti-commercial.

Tubbs Pocket Park Update

Some time ago, I mentioned the Tubbs pocket park bird table.  I thought I should update by saying is now in place, although the design is dramatically different from the one I recall.

Brent Features on Public Libraries News Again

Public Libraries News points to Brent's year to date figures.  Up to February compared to the same period last year, we saw a 1% rise in issues and a 1.2% decline in visits.  Such a small change in visits and issues will surprise many people I suspect.  We simultaneously achieved a financial saving of £816k, which would have been somewhat higher if we hadn't chosen to invest in better IT and seven day opening in all our six libraries.

Of course, the challenge in libraries next will be to not just match last year, but exceed it.  The library staff are doing a great job with a myriad of initiatives, but we will have bumps in the road.  The rebuild at Willesden is bound to effect visitor numbers, despite the robust interim arrangements.  More positively, the new Wembley library should attract far more people than the current Town Hall library.  We shall have to see how it goes.

Complaint as a Resource

Returning to the PLUS survey, while seeing the overall numbers go up is obviously good for morale, the real value of these things is the opportunities they give to improve the service.

There will be some indications from disparities in the closed questions.  For instance, a low rise in satisfaction at one particular branch might highlight some problems there.  However, the survey has also come back with about 1,500 responses to an open box type question at the end of the survey.  It will be a while before these are analysed in detail, but when they are they should throw up opportunities for further improvement.  I have been given an impressionistic sample and as you might imagine they vary enormously in subject matter.  Some are just general"what a nice library" type comments; others are very specific niggles like "the toilets need to be cleaned more often"; still others are disputes between different groups of users.  The most common of these are basically noise vs silence.  In this case, you can't just "solve" the problem, you need to balance conflicting groups of users.  However, every complaint should be viewed as an opportunity for improvement.

If you do have cause for complaint, I would just like to add one plea.  Try to keep your temper and be polite to the staff you are complaining to.  It may not be their fault, and all the parts of the Council are finding themselves more stretched than they were three years ago.  If you are staff member getting complaints all the time, it can be easy to feel a bit put upon and defensive.  Of course, this applies to all the different Council services.

Blue Top Bin Recycling

I have only one report for the next Executive _ covering new arrangements for the recyclables from blue top bins.  At the moment we pay Veolia to process these, but we reckon wee can get a much better deal from a different company.  What strikes me most is that there was a huge variation in the prices offered by different companies when we put the idea out to tender.  I presume that is just the nature of a commodity market, that the prices are quite unpredictable even to the companies that operate in the market.

Housing Squalor

Another good piece of analysis has been published on the nature of the UK's housing squalor here.  What is not really covered is the reason for the situation becoming so dire, which I think is down to a disparity in regional economic growth, the disproportionate emphasis on housing ownership and the decision by successive governments to ignore the shrinking minority in social housing.  Of course, where politicians have occasionally paid attention to social housing this often been accompanied by demonisation of the people in it.

Events in Brent Libraries

If you are interested in what events are going on in Brent Libraries, you should be able to find a daily listing here.

The Dilemma of Personal Nastiness

The Guardian has a piece on personal nastiness in Internet comments.  It suggests that the level of invective can skew reaction to the entire article.  I have certainly noticed that sometimes comments on a blog can be separated from the actual content altogether.  I have read comments on Guardian articles for example that do not seem to have read the piece they comment on.  They can even take the article to have said the opposite of what it actually says.

The question is: what can be done about that?

I am confronted by these issues in a small way, when people make nasty comments on this blog.  I won't publish anything I think is a libel or personally offensive, but I do publish comments I disagree with.  This is despite the fact that many commentators are not willing to sign their names.

Should I revise this policy?

Bookshops and Libraries

This Economist piece on the future of bookshops caught my eye.  The tips on designing bookshops sound not dissimilar to those on designing libraries.  However, there is a contrast in the treatment of a cafe.  At Willesden Library Centre, a cafe is planned for the ground floor.  The Economist suggests putting it at the top of the building. This may be the difference between a fully commercial outfit seeking to draw people further up the building and making money at each stage, and the need of an independently run cafe in an essentially non-commercial building.

Other than that, the two situations sound very similar with the library having the advantage of being completely free, which the bookshop lacks.  As ebooks come to dominate the world of books, libraries may well have an important niche in terms of being a place where you can browse and try out books.  Certainly, for all the gloom surrounding libraries, this sounds like something they are better suited to than traditional bookshops.

Brent Council Website

Brent Council has acquired a new look for its website.  The site is intended to be easier to use, getting more people to search door their queries online.

Former Kensal Rise and Cricklewood Library Buildings

The developer who has purchased the former Cricklewood and Kensal Rise Library buildings from All Souls College has written to councillors saying he is close to starting the planning process.  It will be interesting to see what he proposes.

Town Green in Willesden Green

I am told that the report on a possible Town Green in front of Willesden Green Library Centre will take longer than anticipated.  There has always been a suspicion that the entire request is merely vexatious, and an attempt to delay the rebuild of Willesden Green Library Centre.  Certainly, the accounts I have heard of some of the testimony given at the enquiry would cohere with that notion.

UPDATE

The history of this post is an odd one.  When published it attracted little attention.  Then on Friday 8 March it suddenly started to get lots of views and comments.  The comments have two main concerns. One is to rehash the planning issues.  The Planning Committee made its decision, which I thought sensible, so I am not going to go over it again.  The second is the suspicion that many of the objectors are just trying use a legal technicality to delay things.  I have certainly heard that suspicion voiced by various people.  Anyone who believes in freedom of speech should not object to it being mentioned just because they disagree.

ANOTHER UPDATE

A commentator has correctly pointed out that I did not publish his post, although I published all the others.  This is so.  The reason is that I considered that the post contained a libel.

Media Self Awareness

A former News International journalist complains of his treatment at the hands of the police here.  His point has validity, but I am struck that he shows no awareness of how his own newspaper treated people in similar circumstances.  It is suddenly regarded as an important issue because he is the person affected.

Shisha Bars

A shisha bar in Westminster has tried and failed to claim an exemption created for specialist tobacconists.  I am not surprised, as I understood years ago that shisha bars had no such exemption.

In fact, it is almost impossible to run a shisha bar legally in this country since the indoor smoking ban was introduced.  Anecdotally, I understand that when Brent Trading Standards raid these premises, they frequently find other illicit practices such as tobacco on which no duty has been paid, breach of building regulations, breach of planning, underage sales, substances other than tobacco mixed in with the tobacco and often problems of anti-social behaviour.  Where the shisha bars try to get people to smoke outside, they frequently cause noise nuisance problems.

Altogether not a good business to be in.

Eastleigh By Election

UK Polling Report has some sensible comment on the Eastleigh by election result today.  It looks as if Nick Clegg is safe for the moment, which I suspect is to the detriment of his party.

Brent Libraries Improve according to PLUS Survey

The 2012 PLUS survey (public library user survey) shows rising levels of satisfaction about Brent libraries. PLUS is a national survey of library users.  In Brent's case, 2,142 questionnaires were completed by Brent library users in November last year, which is about 81% of the people who were asked.

The results shows improvement in satisfaction rates on all the measures used since the last survey in 2009.  In terms of people who said they found their experience either good or very good, the ratings are:

Opening hours  90% (up 5%)
Customer care. 84% (up 3%)
Information provision 77% (up 9%)
Computer facilities 70% (up 6%)
Physical state of books 82% (up 8%)
Choice of books 73% (up 10%)
Attractiveness of library outside 66% (up 4%)
Attractiveness of library inside 77% (up 9%)

The survey also asks about individual libraries, where all the libraries except the Town Hall library show an upward movement, although Kingsbury and Ealing Road are quite slight.  I am not too worried by the fall in satisfaction at the Town Hall library since it is about to be replaced by the Civic Centre library (which, amazingly, some of the "library campaigners" opposed).

Unfortunately, the PLUS survey doesn't tell us about use of the outreach service or the home delivery service, which has exploded in Brent as a result of the transformation project.  Of course, we can infer satisfaction from the much greater usage, but it would be nice to have more direct data.

Still, I think it demonstrates that we are on the right track in improving our library service despite the bleak financial situation.

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

The Guardian has a brief article on the passing of political power here.  It is an old story, but I can almost feel sorry for her.

Wrottesley Road Ramps

I have had people ask me about the rather unsightly ramps that are left on some of the street corners of Wrottesley Road following the recent pavement improvements.  When I chased this up, I was told that the road surface at those points is going to be raised as part of the new 20mph zone that will stretch from Wrottesley Road up to Donnington Road.  The raised areas will come close to the top of the kerbs, and help to automatically slow down the traffic.  The ramps are therefore temporary.

Barham Park Call In

Attended the Barham Park Call in last night, answering questions on behalf of the committee. The first surprise was that Cllr Paul Lorber did not show up.  Perhaps he has finally realised that being the bidder to rent a building owned by the Council and a Councillor involves a conflict of interest.  Or perhaps he feels that he has delighted the rest of us with his presence enough already recently.  Either explanation is pure speculation on my part.

We had a lengthy discussion, largely about procurement issues.  I think the main point to grasp is that the governance of Barham Park has been greatly improved by the new committee arrangement; Barham Park now has a clear way forward; as a result of the way forward, Barham Park is getting about £600k spent to improve it.

Coalition in Islington

At the weekend I went to a very funny comedy based around the dilemmas of Nick Clegg. It is called Coalition and is at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington.  I enjoyed it greatly and recommend it.  It is very topical as it involves a Liberal Democrat leader modelled on Clegg seeing his party fall apart, especially after a disastrous by election. The upcoming by election in Eastleigh may soon make the whole scenario historical rather than topical.

Brent Budget Voted Through

As Nick Clegg's position unravels, Brent Council met to vote through its budget last night.  I never find these debates either informative or enjoyable.  The opposition don't present any alternative, and on this occasion didn't even pretend to.  Although the way central government cuts play out, this year's budget is relatively easy. Next year a £20 million cut is being imposed, which coming on top of the previous cuts, is bound to severely affect the Council's operations.

Rennard and the Women

A huge number of accusations have suddenly broken loose about Chris Rennard and sexual misconduct.  Lord Rennard denies all of them. My view is that we do not yet have enough information about the details of all this despite having several statements.  In particular what did people like Nick Clegg know, and what did they do with the information?  At best, the Liberal Democrats seem confused and ineffectual.

Some of the suggestions published in the newspapers suggest that any ambitious female Liberal Democrat candidate would go to a training school session hosted by Lord Rennard, which some of the newspapers have referred to as a "casting couch".  Were the Liberal Democrats to force women to submit to sexual misconduct as an effective condition of going forward as a parliamentary candidate, it would surely expose their supposed commitment to equalities as a sham.

Of course, a secondary effect of all this might be to influence the Eastleigh by election.  I have no idea what such an effect be.

UPDATE

Cathy Newman, who originally broke the story, has raised some more questions following Nick Clegg's statement.  I am beginning to wonder whether Nick Clegg will still be Liberal Democrat leader by the end of this week.

ANOTHER UPDATE

Repling to the comment. No I really am concerned about abuse of power (which is what I think these allegations are about, rather than sex).  Lord Rennard, whatever the truth of the allegations he denies, was in a uniquely powerful position which has no parallel in Labour or Tory circles.  If the allegations are true, this may have disrupted Liberal Democrat efforts to promote women as MPs across the nation.  I also think it raises genuine issues about the effectiveness of the Liberal Democrats as an institution and Nick Clegg in particular.  I actually think the effect on the Eastleigh by election is the least interesting part of the story.

Willesden Library Centre Gets Planning Permission

I should report that Willesden Green Library Centre was approved by the Planning Committee On Thursday.  This is important for all kinds of Council activity. Obviously, having first class library facilities was a central feature of Brent's Libraries Transformation Project.  Since it had by far our highest footfall, we know that Willesden Library was in a good location, but the design of the building left much to be desired.

The new development also affirms our commitment to the Brent Musuem, and is earmarked as a key venue in our arts strategy.  The rebuild will also help to improve the quality of the one stop shop facilities.  Less obviously, the new building will have a greatly enhanced environmental performance, and will serve as an alternative to the Civic Centre in case of a major emergency affecting that building.

I would also add that the existing centre doesn't interact with its surroundings?  It has a lot of dead frontage.  The area between the car park and the building itself was presumably designed as some kind of performance space, but I have never seen anything being performed there.  The area to the front is routinely used by street drinkers who many people find intimidating.

Theatre Cuts

The Guardian argues that the cuts in theatre budgets will have a much wider economic effect on creative industries in general.  I think this right not just in theatres but also more generally.  The present cuts will reduce growth for many years to come in a kind of reverse multiplier effect. The lower training for the arts will lead to a damaged theatre industry and the reduced theatre industry will harm social and economic activities around areas that benefit from it as Kilburn benefits the Tricycle.

Shahrar Ali and Hypocrisy

I only just picked up this story prompted by Green Party spokesman Shahrar Ali.  He is complaining that two Liberal Democrat councillors should resign their seats as they now live outside the Borough. At the time of their election, they were Brent residents.

Fair enough you might imagine.  The Labour Party has long had a rule that any Labour council candidates should live in the authority they represent.

However, glancing through the 2006 election results for Bloomsbury ward in Camden we find none other than Shahrar Ali.  On the same day, we find Shahrar Ali just one vote off the bottom of the poll in Queens Park in Brent.  Yes they are the same person. I recall checking the nomination papers at the time.  Perhaps he scored so lowly because he spent so much time travelling between the two.

I have pointed out this chutzpah before, but others might call it hypocrisy.  Dr Ali attached a comment to my original post that I thought just made hime sound smug.  Perhaps someone so shameless should consider joining the Liberal Democrats himself.

Harrow West By Election

I spent much of yesterday helping in the by election in Harrow West. Apart from the extreme cold it was pleasant enough. Unusually, they have left the count to today so we still don't know the result.

UPDATE

The result is now out, with a handsome win for Labour's Christine.  Well done.

Benefit Hints from Southwark

Some of the problems around benefit changes are hinted at in a recent Guardian article.   The remarkable thing about the government's benefit changes is that, by implementing them in a rush together, a tsunami of problems is being deliberately created.  The Summer is likely to see widespread avoidable hardship unless the government changes course.

Barham Park Again

I gather the Liberal Democrats have called in the Barham Park decision.  it is surely remarkable how much energy Cllr Paul Lorber devotes to trying to stop Brent Council from functioning.  Most local councillors would be delighted to have more than half a million spent on a park within their ward.

Brent Connects in Wembley

I have been asked to speak at the next round of Brent Connects in Wembley, which is the new name for the Area Consultative forums.  The subject is the entire Environment and Neighbourhood Services portfolio, which sounds like rather too much for one night.  It occurs to me that if they are not too clear on the extent the portfolio is, other people may also be unclear so I thought I would summarise the main blocks:

Waste and Recycling
Waste and recycling is probably the most obvious part of the portfolio.  This covers the collection and disposal of municipal waste from more than 100,000 households in Brent.  It also tends to cross over into street cleaning and dumped rubbish.  This means that I am also Brent's representative on the West London Waste Authority.

Parks and Trees
I also cover sports, parks and cemeteries. Brent has about 85 parks from the really big ones like Fryent Country Park to small spaces like Tubbs Pocket Park.  We also have four cemeteries, and two Church of England cemeteries that we look after at St Johns Sudbury and St Mary's Church End.  We also oversee the Borough's sports centres and organise various sporting events in the parks.  I also cover the grass verges and street trees, as well as having a somewhat nebulous responsibility for the public realm.

Green Charter Issues
This term is a bit of a catch all for all kinds of environmental issues. They include water sustainability, Fairtrade, biodiversity, animal welfare and other things that tend to struggle for political attention.

The most high profile part of this agenda is the climate change bit.  We are trying to cut carbon emissions, but also mitigate against climate change already built into the system.  This tends to be a cross cutting area that covers a wide range of other concerns, such as street lighting for instance.

Libraries, Arts and Heritage
Libraries are an area where we have adopted a high profile transformation policy which is finally starting to bear fruit.  It has certainly absorbed a huge amount of political attention.  We also have a musuem in Willesden, and an archive service.  A small but significant part of the budget is devoted to arts, which covers all kinds of things from the Tricycle Theatre to Brent Dance Month to artist in residence schemes.

Regulatory Services
This is a catch all for all kinds of services that tend to keep a low profile until your lasagne turns out to be full of horsemeat.  It also includes trading standards, noise nuisance, health and safety, licensing, the mortuary service and environmental health (which covers the increasingly high profile area of air quality).

Anyway, covering all that lot in one evening is going to be a tall order.  The department also has a separate spokesman for highways and transport, which covers a range of other activities that I tend to cross into from time to time, and of course all Executive members take an interest in the broad sweep of policies across the piece.

POSTSCRIPT

I should also mention two areas covered that don't fit into the main themes.  My portfolio covers Brent Transport services, that delivers people in special need either to schools or day care centres.  I also have a kind of nebulous championship of the Welsh Harp Education Centre.

Defending Local People

I spend a lot of time concerned at how the current Tory government, so shamefully supported by Sarah Teather, is deliberately destroying local government.  As with the Tory austerity programme, this seems to me to work directly against the people of this country.  The best expression I have found of this viewpoint is in the speech given by Islington leader Cllr Catherine West here.

Harlesden Job Centre and the Willesden Hippodrome

I mentioned Harlesden Job Centre Plus a few days ago.  The area next to this (the old service station site) is going to be redeveloped soon with a much smaller building than proposed in the past.  The Job Centre itself is huge in comparison. The reason for its enormous scale (compared to the rest of High Street Harlesden) is that it is on the old site of the Willesden Hippodrome.  As the Willesden Hippodrome (destroyed by bombs in the War) was so big, the replacement building could be big.

By the way, hippodrome is one of those words that have completely changed their meaning. Willesden Hippodrome meant a music hall.  In the classical world, a hippodrome was an arena for horse racing. Greek for horse being "hippo".

Progress at Barham Park

We made some good progress on Barham Park despite Cllr Lorber's peculiar misbehaviour.  I have explained before the slightly convoluted constitutional status of this committee.

The good news is that we have some substantial progress after the years of neglect under Paul Lorber.  We decided to let most of the building to a tenant called ACAVA.  This is a charity that promotes the visual arts in West London, so it seems a good fit with the priorities of the Barham Trust, which is supposed to promote the recreation and amenity of Brent residents.  We also agreed to spend the Trust's capital on a number of repairs to the buildings, and to upgrade the park.  The capital comes from selling off two houses a couple of years ago, and the amount we have to spend is about £600k.  We also approved a twenty year plan for the park.  Although we don't have funding to more than make a start on the park improvements, this is much more progress than Barham Park has seen for many years.  Finally, we agreed that the position of the Veterans Club should be regularised.

Whilst we were doing all this we had to put up with Cllr Lorber trying to interrupt and shout over people, as well as making various scurrilous accusations against Council officers.  He seemed to want to get the whole meeting bogged down in various legalistic details.  Of course, I have seen him this way before, but this particular night was his worst for quite a while.

Vaizey Gets It Wrong

I see that Ed Vaizey has told the House of Commons that Brent's library strategy was developed several years ago, before the present government. In this he is simply wrong.  The strategy was developed between mid 2010 and April 2011.  Had Ed Vaizey's assertion been accurate, the High Court (and subsequently the Court of Appeal) would have been unlikely to have upheld the Council decision.

Ice Age Art at the British Museum

The British Musuem currently has an excellent exhibition on Ice Age Art.  Billed as "40,000 years in the making", it is well worth a visit.

Books on Prescription

One of the new trends in libraries at the moment is "books on prescription".  In fact this has been around quite a while, including in Brent.  The concept was recently explained in the Guardian.  It is just one of the many ways in which modern libraries are no longer warehouses full of books.

One Stop Shop in Harlesden Job Centre Plus

As part of the Willesden Green Library redevelopment, Brent's one stop shop services are moving to Harlesden Job Centre.  This should make it easier for Kensal Green residents to access them, although they will only be based there during the Willesden rebuild.

Boris Johnson's Dreadful Air Quality Record

Boris Johnson's awful record on air quality is confirmed once again.  This is just the kind of issue, requiring technical detail, persistence and long periods without exciting photo opportunities that you would expect the Conservative Mayor to fail in.  Indeed, I suspect more recent activity by Boris is not to do with the thousands of Londoners who avoidable die because of poor air quality each year, but more to do with political embarrassment from EU fines.

Willesden Library Centre Update

It is now confirmed that the planning application to redevelop Willesden Green Library will not be heard tonight, but rather on 21 February.  There was apparently a technical detail around notice periods which has caused the glitch.

Avoiding Blame

Red Brick has a useful summary of the various tactics that Tory ministers use to avoid the blame for all the damage they are causing.  However, they don't mention the Sarah Teather tactic of supporting all the nastiness when you have a ministerial job, and then condemning the same policies as immoral once you have been sacked.

Councillor Blogs

Someone has set up a site collating councillor blogs across the country.  It points out that these tend to be a good source of local news stories, but I am struck that most of the blogs featured tend to be by Labour councillors. I wonder why that is?

Alternate Weekly Collections

Yesterday's post attracted a comment about alternate weekly collections (AWC) which I thought worth responding to.  It is actually about political leadership in general, but AWC is the example cited.

Firstly, the Labour manifesto did have a commitment to massively increase recycling, and detailed working subsequently suggested that AWC was the best way to achieve this.  Far from "steamrollering" this we went through an extensive discussion.  The proposals were published in August 2010, and the policy finally passed in December 2010.  As well as written comments, we ran a series of public meetings.  I presented at each of these.  I believe I am the first lead member to have done this in Brent. My opinion that AWC is popular is based on these meetings but also the numerous conversations and feedback I have had subsequently.  It is also worth noting that AWC is increasingly used across the UK despite Eric Pickles trying to attack it.

Generally, people support more recycling, and are not hostile to the three bin system.  The main concerns during the presentations was how to fit the bins in to sometimes small front gardens , and how to educate people in making the system work.

We are still working on getting people to know what to put in which bin, which may not be surprising in a Borough where 22% of households do not have an English speaker and the turnover is so high.  However, the blue top bins, where you just stick lots of materials in together, are less demanding of householders than the old green box system, where you were supposed to sort each material separately.

Political Leadership in Brent

There is a lot of rhetoric around political leadership, so I thought I would post on what I think it means in my context.  Many of the attacks on Brent Council seem misguided to me not only in the sense that the real source of the decisions is the attack on the whole concept of local government, but also in their view of political choice generally.

I think political choices are essentially value judgements between different priorities.  In principle, officers and civil servants can use their expertise to answer technocratic questions like How much would this cost? Is this legal? How many extra people would service if we did X?.  What they cannot do is say that, for instance spending money on domestic violence services is more or less important than spending money on (say) library services.  At least they cannot know better than anyone else, and that is why in democratic institutions, elected people make those decisions.

These questions of priorities become much more acute at a time of shrinking budgets. The most famous exponent of this view was Nye Bevan who famously declared that "The language of priorities is the religion of Socialism."  I get the sense that many people simply are not willing to face up to the priority choices that Councils like Brent have to make.  They retreat into denialism of the Far Left type ("Just spend the money.  Set an illegal budget") to the Eric Pickles type ("There is so much waste in local government that you can cut the budgets simply by cutting waste without hurting services").  Some people manage to combine both views at once.

I think that real political leadership consists of facing the problems squarely, and making changes to preserve or enhance the key priorities, even if that means that you offend various special interest groups or politically motivated individuals.  Failure  to face up to these problems simply leads to salami slicing where everything is treated the same and effectively no political choice is made because the politicians are not prepared to make it.

A few examples from Environment and Neighbourhood Services might illustrate the point:

1) When we were first elected, I told officers that one of our first priorities would be to improve recycling.  At the time, I thought this would be much more controversial than it turned out to be.  I still see disbelief from my Labour colleagues in London when  tell them we have introduced alternative weekly collections and it is quite popular.  Plenty of Councils are scared of doing the same, and they will have to divert ever increasing resources into paying for landfill as a result.

2)  Much more controversially, we  decided to concentrate our library service on a smaller number of buildings and invest in Library services rather than just "hollow out" the service.  I have covered that area before in many posts. We are now starting to see the benefits.  Opponents of this policy should recognise that without the difficult choices made, the bits that everyone should welcome, like improvements to the home delivery service, would never have happened.

3) A third area we have chosen to positively develop is our arts strategy.  Famously other Councils, like Somerset and Newcastle, are cutting Arts altogether.  I am a strong believer in the potential for our Arts strategy to contribute both economically and socially, but that means not promoting something else.

4) Another political choice that Brent is developing more is to seek to make all our services contribute to the economic well being of residents.  Again this is not an automatic choice.  I can easily envisage a Tory who believes in the Nightwatchman state saying that we should not attempt it.

5)  Our very strong environmentalist commitment is another area where we have chosen to take a particular route.   To try to cut carbon emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change is again a political choice.  There are plenty of Councils not pursuing climate change with anything like the fervour of Brent.

6) The Civic Centre is another case of strong political leadership.  When we were elected in 2010, there were siren voices to say the project should be cancelled.  We looked at the facts, and decided to go ahead.  The voices against have not largely gone silent.

What all these policies have in common is that they are based on a firm set of priorities, a careful assessment of the evidence, and some courage in answering groups and individuals who opposed them.  Once the policies are shown to be successful, the opponents tend to go quiet.  For instance I doubt whether either the Tories or the Liberal Democrats now to have opposed our recycling changes.  What else is political leadership supposed to mean?

I really don't understand anyone who stands for office without being willing to make these kind of choices.

UPDATE

This is already a very long post, so I have responded to the comment below here.

Harlesden Town Centre Update

On Friday, I attended a lengthy meeting on Harlesden Town Centre.  The start of construction has been pushed back to May to accomodate some changes in the detailed designs that have emerged from the consultations.  It is not yet finalised, but there are likely to be more disability parking spaces than originally envisaged as changes to exact locations of certain items.  Altogether, I think it is a good compromise between the various competing demands.

UPDATE

In response to comment: spelling error corrected.  I was typing from a computer that had a sadly inadequate keyboard.

The meeting I went to on Friday was not a formally constituted council meeting.  Councillors often attend informal meetings with officers or residents that are not publicly notified.

Car Use in Brent

Another interesting observation from the census breakdown I mentioned yesterday is around car use.  43% of people in Brent live in households without a car, and this proportion is going up.  It would be interesting to know what the reasons are for this.  Is it linked to poverty, or is public policy finally succeeding in a "modal shift" away from car use as the default mode of transport?

Schemes like the Harlesden Town Centre scheme, and indeed Brent's entire transport and planning policies, are all geared to persuading people to choose any method of travel other than car use.  Are these policies finally working?

Population Explosion in Brent

I was recently sent a ward breakdown of the census figures for Brent.  I already knew that our population had gone up by 18% between 2001 and 2011, but it turns out that the biggest increases are in Harlesden and Kensal Green wards.  Both have seen a rise of about 40%.  That has huge implications for all kinds of Council services.  The funding levels we had in 2010 were designed around the 2001 population.  Now the dramatically reduced funding is supposed to pay for a much larger population and all its changing needs.  A tall order.

A Peculiar Evening

I went along to the Selma James evening at Kilburn Library this evening which turned out to be a huge rant against all sorts of things, some of which I oppose, and some of which I do not, but which all seem to have little connection to each other.

National Libraries Day in Brent and other things

I have updated about libraries recently, but there are some things ongoing.  We are having a number of contributions to National Libraries Day on Saturday.  We also have a library card design competition announced.  Interest in the next Brent Dance Month is being drummed up.  Tonight Selma James is giving a talk at Kilburn Library to promote a recent book.  As well as being a writer and campaigner in her own right, she is the widow of CLR James, of Black Jacobins and Beyond a Boundary fame.

Other Brent Library events are here.

Sarah Teather Accused of Hypocrisy

Not for the first time, Sarah Teather has been accused of dishonesty, this time over gay marriage.  Previously she has managed all kinds of dishonesty, and escaped at the ballot box, but it seems to me that her luck is finally running out.

Meanwhile Space in Wembley

The Guardian has a report on the innovative use of meanwhile space, and it is nowhere else but in Brent.  More specifically in Wembley.  This gives an idea of some of the inventiveness that Councils can still come up with.  I wonder whether central government departments can be so flexible.

Six Book Challenge

A reminder of the adult six book challenge launching later today.  Last year this was launched by Adele Parks; now it is launched by Charlie Oatway.  Harlesden Library makes sense as a venue since Brent attracts more participants than any other authority.

Local Government and the Forthcoming Disaster

The forthcoming disaster of local government finance is predicted again.  I wonder what will have to occur before Eric Pickles pays attention? Probably the whole scale collapse of a major Tory authority would be my guess. In which case we have two or three years to wait.

Returning to The Island in Kensal Rise

The other night I dined at The Island on College Road.  I haven't been there for a while.  I still think every time I go in how infinitely better it is compared to the old Buccaneer.

Judicial Reviews Again

I see that a number of Councils are being threatened with judicial review over changes to Council Tax support.  The government has foisted this problem on to Councils in defiance of the supposed logic of its benefits cuts, to make things simpler and more equitable, simply in order to put blame on local government.  The only silver lining I can see is that the cases will be heard quickly because of their budgetary nature.  However, if any of the Councils lose, the results are likely to be chaos in the simple practicalities of organising their Council tax billing.

Brent Libraries Update

As the government and various bodies have announced a universal libraries offer, I thought it would be timely to give a short update on how Brent's libraries have been developing.  Actually, many of the things in the offer, like financial advice or books on prescription, are already available in Brent. As I have explained before, we have been developing the service since the end of the court case, and there are now some impressive headline achievements:

The Summer Reading Challenge has had its greatest ever number of children in Brent this year.

Brent Libraries have seen more than one million visitors in the year to date, and more than 770,000 book issues.

Outreach issues have gone up by more than 400%, to more than 50,000.

We have had more than 15,000 new borrowers.

Since the end of the court case we have had a refurbishment at Ealing Road library and a bigger one at Kilburn Library.  In June, we will open the new Wembley library at the Civic Centre.

We have added 56,000 items to the bookstock and introduced smarter stock management.  If laid end to end those 56,000 items would stretch from Wembley Stadium to Piccadily Circus.

More than 1,500 children attended our revamped homework clubs in the Summer and Autumn terms.

Our home delivery service has treble the number of book issues.

We have greatly extended our online services.

Altogether, I think that is quite a lot of progress, although there is much more to do.  Had we gone down the salami slicing route that so many other authorities have chosen, I don't believe we would have a list anywhere near as impressive.  Indeed, it would have been a continuation of managed decline, whereas we are taking what was a declining service and gradually turning it round.