The LGiU had an interesting blog on the economics of betting shops. This is one of the most frequent areas of complaint by residents about the quality of the High Street. The proliferation of betting shops despite their unpopularity with the public at large is a constant source of frustration.
The reason that the companies want to multiply their outlets is that the most profitable part of the business is what used to be called one armed bandits. In the industry jargon these are called Fixed Odds Betting Terminals, and doesn't that name say it all. The more you have of these the more profit you make, since they are one of the most addictive forms of gambling, and the industry targets people until they are totally drained of cash. However, companies are limited to not more than four of these terminals per outlet, so the economics pushes more outlets.
It is hard for local authorities to resist this spread, as the various legal challenges to Brent decisions have shown from time to time. We can take enforcement action against a single shop that sub divides into two to form two outlets, and therefore eight machines. A second problem is that a property can have permission for "financial services" like a bank, but then does not need to change use class to become a betting shop. We had a separate issue some years ago, when the former McDonalds in Harlesden High Street became a betting shop. As it was moving down the use class order, it na gain did not have to apply for planning permission, and the Council was powerless to stop the development.
This is all deeply damaging socially, since gambling is not only bad for the direct victims, but the extra demand pushes up the prices of retail space for the other shops. The increasing reliance on the machines means that even the numbers of jobs generated by bthe betting shops is reducing.
Friday, 4 October 2013
Thursday, 3 October 2013
Harlesden High Street Waste Enforcement
After my blog post of a few days ago, I have serendipitously been sent some figures on the success of a recent trial in the Kensal Green part of Harlesden High Street. This was the subject of a two week campaign where Council and Veolia staff spent every weekday morning inspecting all dumped rubbish. The trial covered the High Street on both sides from the Harrow Road entrance into Willesden Junction up to the Jubilee Clock. The waste was left in the manner I described back in May.
The waste was measured as the number of bags left, and the figures were thus:
Week 1 Week 2 Total
Legal Trade Under 25 128 Up to 153
Legal Domestic 697 577 1,274
Illegal Trade 440 286 726
Total Up to 1,162 991 Up to 2,153
In the first week officers did not count legal trade waste, as there were so few bags. In the second week, the number of bags had multiplied several times over suggesting that some businesses that had been dumping waste started to get a better sense of their responsibilities. At the same time the number of illegal trade dumps went down by 35%. It is impossible to know how much of this was down to diversion of local trade waste into legal channels, and how much caused by reduced dumping from outside the area.
Scale of Dumping
I found the scale of the illegal dumping quite shocking. Veolia estimate that legitimate waste amounted to 8.9 tonnes during the whole of this period, compared 6.85 tonnes of illegitimate waste. That means that more than 40% of the waste the Council taxpayer pays to be disposed of is not his responsibility.
The weight of illegal waste went down by almost a tonne in week two, so that it then accounted for just under 40% of the total waste in week 2.
Prosecutions
The officers have now followed up with enforcement actions. These include seven fixed penalty notices for littering, two warning letters about flytipping and littering, twelve investigations into flytipping being started,125 investigations into whether businesses have reasonable waste management arrangements, and 34 notices issued to businesses that did not.
The waste was measured as the number of bags left, and the figures were thus:
Week 1 Week 2 Total
Legal Trade Under 25 128 Up to 153
Legal Domestic 697 577 1,274
Illegal Trade 440 286 726
Total Up to 1,162 991 Up to 2,153
In the first week officers did not count legal trade waste, as there were so few bags. In the second week, the number of bags had multiplied several times over suggesting that some businesses that had been dumping waste started to get a better sense of their responsibilities. At the same time the number of illegal trade dumps went down by 35%. It is impossible to know how much of this was down to diversion of local trade waste into legal channels, and how much caused by reduced dumping from outside the area.
Scale of Dumping
I found the scale of the illegal dumping quite shocking. Veolia estimate that legitimate waste amounted to 8.9 tonnes during the whole of this period, compared 6.85 tonnes of illegitimate waste. That means that more than 40% of the waste the Council taxpayer pays to be disposed of is not his responsibility.
The weight of illegal waste went down by almost a tonne in week two, so that it then accounted for just under 40% of the total waste in week 2.
Prosecutions
The officers have now followed up with enforcement actions. These include seven fixed penalty notices for littering, two warning letters about flytipping and littering, twelve investigations into flytipping being started,125 investigations into whether businesses have reasonable waste management arrangements, and 34 notices issued to businesses that did not.
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
Parking Problems
I have been picking up various problems around changes to the parking rules. There is one slightly peculiar problem on All Souls Avenue, but the main one appears to be getting through on the phone to sort problems out.
Extra resources have now been put in to deal with parking queries. This mainly means more people to answer the phones, but also changes to the electronic queuing messages to clarify their meaning. The problem with this sort of thing is that once problems start, they can quickly mount as people make multiple calls to try to sort their problems out, putting more pressure on the capacity of the system. A few days ago, I was told that the average waiting time has been reduced to eighty seconds, and that eleven out of twelve people get through.
Extra resources have now been put in to deal with parking queries. This mainly means more people to answer the phones, but also changes to the electronic queuing messages to clarify their meaning. The problem with this sort of thing is that once problems start, they can quickly mount as people make multiple calls to try to sort their problems out, putting more pressure on the capacity of the system. A few days ago, I was told that the average waiting time has been reduced to eighty seconds, and that eleven out of twelve people get through.
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
Mosaic in Furness Pocket Park
On Friday I attended a meeting with some local residents in Furness Pocket Park. They plan a mosaic art work on the concrete wall nearest Harrow Road, funded with Ward Working funds. With some pol larding of the trees, I think that could look quite good.
Ideally, we would like it to be a community project, but we will have to consider costings.
Ideally, we would like it to be a community project, but we will have to consider costings.
Monday, 30 September 2013
Brent Council Shortlisted for Awards
Brent Council is down on the shortlist for awards. Two of these are for the Civic Centre. The first is for its sustainability as a building here. The second is for the communications strategy for moving into the Civic Centre, which did indeed go well here.
The third is for the recent procurement of sports centres, which is seeing a £1.7 million investment in Vale Farm Sports Centre, as well as a substantial saving on our payments into the contract.
The third is for the recent procurement of sports centres, which is seeing a £1.7 million investment in Vale Farm Sports Centre, as well as a substantial saving on our payments into the contract.
High Street Waste Enforcement
I had a conversation with one of the Council's waste enforcement team about how the anti-dumping strategy is working. The answer is that it is, but it is very labour intensive. Repeatedly targeting an area in a highly visable way leads to a dramatic reduction in dumping, and there are likely to be a number of prosecutions as a result. However, the effect fades away once the enforcement team move on to somewhere else. Hopefully, the accumulation of trade waste contracts (which are mandatory) will help prolong the effect.
Sunday, 29 September 2013
West London Food Waste Success
WRAP has done a report into the food waste reduction programme in West London. The results a substantial reduction in food waste, saving consumers on their purchases, but also the authority in the cost of disposal.
West London Waste Authority (WLWA) can came to have taken the lead in waste reduction policy, as you can see from WRAP's detailed case study.
One paradox of this kind of work is that it may actually reduce the proportion of waste recycled. At least in principle, almost all food waste should be recyclable. In practice, a lot of it gets chucked into landfill. However, programmes like this are designed not to produce the waste in the first place. That is good in terms of the waste hierarchy, but reduces the headline recycling percentage. the political debate over the past few years has tended to concentrate on the recycling percentage. Indeed I have been one of the most vociferous in pointing out the enormous increase in Brent's recycling.
As attention shifts to more reduction, that emphasis will have to change _ perhaps to a landfill diversion target.
West London Waste Authority (WLWA) can came to have taken the lead in waste reduction policy, as you can see from WRAP's detailed case study.
One paradox of this kind of work is that it may actually reduce the proportion of waste recycled. At least in principle, almost all food waste should be recyclable. In practice, a lot of it gets chucked into landfill. However, programmes like this are designed not to produce the waste in the first place. That is good in terms of the waste hierarchy, but reduces the headline recycling percentage. the political debate over the past few years has tended to concentrate on the recycling percentage. Indeed I have been one of the most vociferous in pointing out the enormous increase in Brent's recycling.
As attention shifts to more reduction, that emphasis will have to change _ perhaps to a landfill diversion target.
Saturday, 28 September 2013
More Pickles for Local Democracy
The ever delightful Eric Pickles is reported on the BBC yesterday as decreeing that Councils should not be allowed to use technology such as cameras to enforce against parking offences. I often think that being a civil servant for Eric Pickles must be an utterly soul destroying job.
Presumably the policy will be challenged. First off, why should evidence gathered by a camera be less valuable than evidence from another method like a traffic warden's eye witness report? Secondly, Parliament has decreed these are offences; if Pickles and co. disagreed with that judgement did they vote against it? Most of these offences come from the Road Traffic Act of 1984, enacted under a Tory government. Thirdly, what evidence does he have around the effect on road safety and traffic congestion, which is the statutory basis of many of the offences.
Of course, although the income from penalties has to be spent on road traffic purposes, which seems reasonable to me, so the effect of doing away with the enforcement structure would be to dramatically cut the repair of roads and pavements. As a councillor, I tend to get the opposite demand.
Pickles' headlining chasing is fed by authorities such as Barnet that seem to have used traffic fines simply as revenue raising rather than with any coherent transport policy. Naturally, people resent that approach. However, Pickles himself is driving it by the most savage cuts to local government funding in living memory, combined with ongoing assaults on any ability of Councils to raise revenue.
It is all a long way from Eric Pickles' rhetoric on localism.
Presumably the policy will be challenged. First off, why should evidence gathered by a camera be less valuable than evidence from another method like a traffic warden's eye witness report? Secondly, Parliament has decreed these are offences; if Pickles and co. disagreed with that judgement did they vote against it? Most of these offences come from the Road Traffic Act of 1984, enacted under a Tory government. Thirdly, what evidence does he have around the effect on road safety and traffic congestion, which is the statutory basis of many of the offences.
Of course, although the income from penalties has to be spent on road traffic purposes, which seems reasonable to me, so the effect of doing away with the enforcement structure would be to dramatically cut the repair of roads and pavements. As a councillor, I tend to get the opposite demand.
Pickles' headlining chasing is fed by authorities such as Barnet that seem to have used traffic fines simply as revenue raising rather than with any coherent transport policy. Naturally, people resent that approach. However, Pickles himself is driving it by the most savage cuts to local government funding in living memory, combined with ongoing assaults on any ability of Councils to raise revenue.
It is all a long way from Eric Pickles' rhetoric on localism.
Friday, 27 September 2013
Harrow Independent Labour Group Draft Manifesto
I was recently sent the "Draft Manifesto" of the so-called "Independent Labour Group" in Harrow, and it makes for a curious read. Of course, you might expect a strange document to be produced by such a set of people.
For those unfamiliar with the recent story of Harrow, the Independent Labour Group was formed when the proper Labour Group decided to replace its leader. Rather than accept the majority vote, nine councillors decided to split from their colleagues. The defeated Labour Group Leader, who remained as Leader of the Council, did a deal with the Tories to keep himself in power. His nine strong administration lost the support of the Tories quite recently, who proposed themselves as a Tory minority administration. Rather oddly having just been voted out by the Tories, the "Independent Labour Group" apparently voted in the Tory Leader to form an administration. During this bizarre episode, the detached councillors have made a series of I am sure unfounded accusations around racism.
The "Draft Manifesto" proves worthy of such an outfit. It quotes Clause 4 of the Labour Party constitution at the beginning, presumably to try to signal continuing commitment to the Labour Party despite having voted in the Tories. It then has a strikingly threadbare analysis of the functioning of Harrow Council, full of wishful and confused thinking. It is a striking piece of evidence that the Labour councillors, and then the Tories voted them out for sheer incompetence.
For those unfamiliar with the recent story of Harrow, the Independent Labour Group was formed when the proper Labour Group decided to replace its leader. Rather than accept the majority vote, nine councillors decided to split from their colleagues. The defeated Labour Group Leader, who remained as Leader of the Council, did a deal with the Tories to keep himself in power. His nine strong administration lost the support of the Tories quite recently, who proposed themselves as a Tory minority administration. Rather oddly having just been voted out by the Tories, the "Independent Labour Group" apparently voted in the Tory Leader to form an administration. During this bizarre episode, the detached councillors have made a series of I am sure unfounded accusations around racism.
The "Draft Manifesto" proves worthy of such an outfit. It quotes Clause 4 of the Labour Party constitution at the beginning, presumably to try to signal continuing commitment to the Labour Party despite having voted in the Tories. It then has a strikingly threadbare analysis of the functioning of Harrow Council, full of wishful and confused thinking. It is a striking piece of evidence that the Labour councillors, and then the Tories voted them out for sheer incompetence.
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Cllr Paul Lorber Complaint
For the first time, I have used the Council Standards system to put in a complaint against a Councillor. I can't say I relish this, but the Councillor's behaviour struck me as resembling an Internet Troll. It is Cllr Paul Lorber, who is more used to putting in vexatious complaints against other people, than being complained about himself.
He is linked to an organisation that wanted to take over a building from Brent Council. There was a formal tendering exercise, where a number of would be tenants bid in the usual way. A different organisation put in a much better bid, and was awarded the tenancy. Since then he has engaged in sending a string of rude and wearying correspondence to the successful bidder. We shall see if my complaint persuades him to change his behaviour.
He is linked to an organisation that wanted to take over a building from Brent Council. There was a formal tendering exercise, where a number of would be tenants bid in the usual way. A different organisation put in a much better bid, and was awarded the tenancy. Since then he has engaged in sending a string of rude and wearying correspondence to the successful bidder. We shall see if my complaint persuades him to change his behaviour.
Open Weekend for Artist Studios
This weekend Art West are opening artist studios for inspection. I didn't realise that there were so many in our area. As well as the ACME Studios on Harrow Road, there is the Light Factory on Scrubs Lane, Northwest studios on Hythe Road, NW10 Studios also on Hythe Road and the ACAVA Studios in the same street. There is also a project to turn the former Barham Park buildings into artists studios, nalso by ACAVA.
Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Another Johnson Vanity Project Failing
Just as problems with Boris Johnson's pointless Routemaster continues to have problems, his other high profile vanity project is also failing. I imagine Mr Johnson will just blithly sail off, leaving his successor to pick up the pieces.
Brent's Libraries Transformation Project
Talking to someone about the success of Wembley Library the other day, I discovered that they were under the impression that Brent had simply cut its library services without any further thought. The publicity around the issue has tended to drown out the actual strategy. In fact our approach was very different to the approach currently being taken in Moray and Lincolnshire, which really do seem to be going for widespread closures to simply cut costs as much as possible.
We responded to central government cuts by concentrating our resources on a smaller number of improved buildings. In a densely populated Borough with good public transport links people are able and winning to travel libraries, if those libraries provide quality services. UPDATE: My attention has been drawn to this Guardian article by Sue Charteris. Brent followed very the kind of strategy she describes. UPDATE AGAIN: This post was really intended as a reminder of what our Libraries Transformation Project was. However, a comment below raises the voluntary library issue again. On that we had ten proposals, none of which made business sense and so we did not pursue them.
With the exception of Willesden Library, the proposals are now more or less implemented. The original report is still available, but I thought I would paste the text from that report in italics below to make it easier to find:
4.1 Services
• Seven day opening in all libraries, with at least two late evenings
• Additional longer opening hours for students in selected libraries during exam
periods
• A comprehensive range of books, E Books, audio and other media for loan or
reference
• A service that can, within reason, obtain any title that a customer asks for.
• Free Wireless and Internet access for all library users available in all library
spaces; with improved wireless speeds.
• A user friendly and accessible library website.
• Space for study and reading for pleasure
• An exciting calendar of author, poetry and cultural events. Opportunities to join
reading groups.
• Short courses to promote recreational learning and skills for life including
computer training. Opportunities for families to learn together.
• Advice and guidance on careers and training
• Parent and toddler groups, children’s reading promotions, homework clubs,
youth clubs, holiday activities
• A structured programme of class and outreach school visits to support the
educational attainment of children and young people
• Improved range of children and young people’s book stock available in greater
numbers to support Children Young People (and their families) in literacy and
learning development including revision and study guides.
• An enhanced outreach and home delivery service that brings our services to
people who are unable to get to a library. The service also delivers monthly
book collections to day centres, community groups and children’s centres.
• An online reference library with encyclopaedias, general reference works,
newspapers and homework help, available to all library users in the library or
from a home pc.
• A comprehensive reference and community information enquiry service
delivered by trained staff. Residents will be able to access online resources as
well as well-stocked collections of reference books, newspapers and
periodicals.
• Access to and training in the use of innovative technology, with an increased
number of PCs (equipped with assistive technology)
• Further development of an online service available 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week
• Marketing and promotion to enhance the accessibility and use of library services
4.2 Stock
• Continuous enhancement of the stock available in all our libraries
• We will promote access to our new E Books service and grow the e.book and
audio offer to meet new reading trends. We will invest in a diverse range of
e.books and audio downloads for customers to borrow. We will also invest in
appropriate new media as it emerges.
• Stock will include fiction of all sorts, community languages, collections of
cultural interest, ESOL, skills for life, up to date information books, e.books &
audio books, large print & talking books. Consultation will take place with
schools and colleges to ensure that stock reflects the curriculum.
• The stock policy will be revised using our new evidence based stock system to
improve customer satisfaction and ensure that stock meets community need.
• There will be more customer involvement in the purchase of stock, in particular
from community groups, valued customer panels and young people, building on
the excellent work at Harlesden.
• In response to customer demand stock suggestion schemes will be visible in
the libraries and online on our libraries catalogue page.
• We will continue to provide stock in alternative formats, such as large print and
audio. Our stock in other languages will reflect the needs of our communities.
• Newspapers and periodicals for customers to browse in the library
• Our reservation process will be streamlined so that customers can get the
books and other items they want quickly.
• We will continue our membership of the London Libraries Consortium through
which stock purchases result in cooperative group discounts allowing us to
purchase greater amounts of stock. Brent residents can borrow books from 14
London boroughs thus ensuring best value for money
• We will ensure via our stock policy that we continue to purchase stock from
specialist stock suppliers in order to meet the stock needs of Brent’s diverse
communities and groups.
• We will provide books on prescription and work in partnership with Brent NHS,
Brent Mind, clinics and doctors in order to support the health and well-being of
Brent residents.
• Staff will be knowledgeable and confident in recommending book titles and
recreational reads.
4.3 Buildings
We will work towards developing libraries that are modern and multi functional with a
shared service approach. They will boast the following features:
• Safe and neutral places
• Dedicated and well-stocked children’s areas to meet increased use, with
adequate space for class visits, activities and study
• Separate teenage zones that are modern and attractive
• Improved, flexible study areas and quiet zones to meet increased demand
• Multi-functional community rooms suitable for meetings, courses and
performances (available to hire at variable rates)
• Café facilities and a Library shop where appropriate
Six high quality library buildings in accessible locations, all open seven days per
week:
Ealing Road: currently Brent’s second busiest library, Ealing Road was last
refurbished in 2003. It is open 7 days per week, has a busy IT suite that is in in
constant use
Harlesden: refurbished in 2010 following a successful Big Lottery application,
Harlesden Library Plus provides library, adult education and council information
services from one building. The library was designed by a community steering group
who continue to play an active role in service delivery.
Kilburn: library is known for its thriving under fives Bookstart story rhyme time
sessions, active adult reading group and selection of quality fiction, best sellers and
author events. It has worked in partnership with local voluntary groups to develop its
outdoor garden and it’s actively engaged in community partnership projects. It is
proposed to source capital funding to improve the library space
Kingsbury: relocated in 2008 to a high street location, Kingsbury Library Plus
provides library and council information services. Since moving the library, visits and
borrowing have increased by over 50%
Town Hall/ Civic Centre: popular library for local residents and council staff and is
located near Asda supermarket, local schools and Children’s Centre. It is well used
for reference and community information enquiries, its IT suite and its selection of
best sellers, literary fiction and up to date information books. In 2013 this function will
move to the new Civic Centre library nearby. A large state of the art library will be the
showpiece of the new building.
Willesden Green: Brent’s busiest library open 7 days per week is arranged over 2
floors within Willesden Green Library Centre. Its generous study area is well used by
students, and its IT suite is very popular. The teen area is busy during after school
hours but also well used for study and tutoring by excluded young people and their
tutors. The children’s library is a favourite space for under fives activities, regular
class visits and holiday activities. A number of organisations share the premises
including the gallery, Brent Museum and Archive and a council customer contact
centre. Close partnership work is undertaken with the gallery and museum to deliver
a vibrant cultural and learning programme.
The Council is currently investigating the possibility of redeveloping the Library
Centre, to include an improved cultural offer to residents. If this should go ahead, a
temporary replacement library service will be provided in the area.
Capital funding for improvements to buildings will be sourced from external grants,
public/private financing and Brent Council capital programmes. In line with the One
Council programme we will continue to pursue the shared service approach, both
with council services, local organisations and neighbouring boroughs.
4.4 Online and Digital services
Brent Libraries will be at the forefront of the revolution to ensure that services can be
accessed on a 24/7 basis and are not limited to static library buildings. Library users will
be able to access a virtual library from the comfort of their own homes. Virtual services
will include being able to:
• Search the catalogue, access library accounts, reserve and renew items online
from any computer or smart phone.
• Book a computer
• Receive overdue reminders by email or text
• Use our online reference resources for study and homework
• Access an online enquiry service
• Borrow e-books and audiobooks online (subject to constraints imposed by
publishers and distributors)
• Join our email list for a monthly newsletter
• Take part in virtual reading groups
• Access virtual homework help
• We will aim to develop a library app for smart phones that will make our services
more accessible, including directions and up to date information about library
events, activities, and services.
• Online bookings for events and activities
• Events and talks will be recorded and filmed for YouTube and podcasts.
Access to technology will also include:
• Free access to bookable public Internet and MS Office services
• Access to and training in the use of innovative technology with an increased
number of PCs
• Access to colour printing and scanning services
• Safe Internet surfing areas for children
• Free public wifi access with improved speeds and more plug sockets
• Access to assistive technology including hardware and software
• Access to fast, efficient self service technology
• Staff will also be able to easily access the technology to answer enquiries. In
response to customer suggestions handheld devices will be purchased to
ensure that enquiries are answered with accuracy and speed
• E.Learning packages
• An interactive, inspiring and accessible website
4.5 Support for children, young people and families
• Safe and neutral spaces
• Improved and increased number of study spaces
• Engage children and young people with a love of reading and resources to
support educational attainment. This includes an improved range of children and
young people’s book stock available in larger quantities to support CYP (and their
families) in literacy and learning development. We will improve our provision of
revision, text books and study guides. For younger children an improved range of
board books, dual language books, picture books, graded readers to support
school reading schemes and literacy attainment, titles for fluent readers and
graphic novels to encourage reluctant readers.
• The information books will support the National Curriculum covering key stages 1
– 4 and also include up to date and relevant study and revision guides in greater
quantities.
• We will Involve young people and schools in stock selection.
• Develop collections to support progression by young people into further education
and into work and training. We will work in partnership with Connexions to ensure
access to advice on training and further education is available.
• Promote and market e.books to support homework and study
• Outreach services to schools and children’s centres will include learning support,
story-telling, reader development workshops all delivered by trained staff, with an
agreed timetable of visits and performance measures showing activity.
• An enhanced outreach offer, including a book loan scheme in partnership with
youth centres, youth bus, children’s centres and schools to target those groups of
children who do not currently use library services.
• Bookstart story and rhyme times will be delivered weekly in all libraries
• Bookstart pack gifting sessions in all libraries on a monthly basis
• Bookstart Bear Club in all libraries which encourages parents / carers to read to
their children, borrow books and gain certificates.
• We will work in partnership with Brent Adult and Community Education Services
(BACES) and increase the range of exciting family learning courses focusing on
literacy, learning and leisure in all our libraries.
• Chatterbooks Reading Groups will be run, after school on a monthly basis, by
trained staff in all libraries and will focus on fun reader development activities.
• Teenage reading groups will build on the Summer Reading Challenge programme
and be developed as after school clubs focusing on themed group reads, author
events and manga and will be run by young people and trained staff together.
• Homework clubs in all libraries will have qualified teaching support and support
learning development in children aged 8 – 11. Children will also benefit from
reading support delivered by Volunteer Reading Help volunteers (available in
some libraries)
• Virtual homework help for those unable to access a library easily.
• In collaboration with BACES we will support parents / carers whose children
attend the homework clubs through the provision of learning courses.
• Support club for home schooled children and their parents / carers
• We will support children and young people who are excluded (with their tutors) by
providing quiet zone areas for study and additional stock support upon request
• We will support young people during exam periods by opening for longer hours
and sourcing other community venues (through partnerships) for additional study
space.
• The Summer Reading Challenge will form part of our Outreach library offer to
playschemes, disability play schemes, and through partnership working
• User friendly website developed to engage and involve children and young people
in reading, study, leisure and information services, including a presence on BeBo
or similar social networking sites
• Improved cutting edge teen facilities designed by young people
4.6 Support for learners
• E-Learning packages
• Open learning zones and learn direct centres in some libraries
• Attractive study spaces offering laptop provision
• Improved wifi facilities
• Access to e.books, improved study texts and learning collection materials
• Informal ESOL classes
• IT workshops and courses
• Partnership work with Brent Adult Community Education Service to ensure
libraries are a place to access a range of informal learning and ICT classes
• Partnership working with voluntary groups to support learning
4.7 Support for older people and residents who find it difficult to access library
services
• Our improved home visit service will be fully linked to all libraries so that
customers have access to the full catalogue, including alternative media. Staff will
bring to catalogue to customers via hand held devices.
• The home visit service will be marketed across the borough, and to organisations
working with those people who find accessing services difficult. Strong links will be
fostered with social housing and sheltered housing schemes to create a well used
home visit service
• Monthly outreach deposit collections will be delivered to day centres, community
groups and children’s centres where requested.
• Outreach reading events and activities will be offered to children’s centres, care
homes and day centres.
• Home Visit customers will also get the opportunity to be part of a valued customer
service panel for the service and help drive service improvements as well as be
involved in stock selection
• The Outreach Service will also work in partnership with Brent volunteering
organisations in order to involve local residents in delivering services, such as the
home visit service and to ensure we reach a wide selection of Brent residents.
4.8 Services for people with disabilities
• All staff will be trained in assistive technologies so that residents with disabilities
have full access to library services. This service will be marketed through
partnerships with support groups.
• Books in appropriate formats, such as Braille and talking books will be available
for loan in all libraries, the home-visits service, the outreach services and online.
• All library buildings will be fully accessible for people with disabilities, with
induction loops and adaptive technologies.
• Residents unable to get to a library will be able to make use of our home visit,
outreach and online services.
4.9 Staff
The staffing restructure will result in increased responsibilities, improved skills and a
more proactive role for staff. We anticipate improved customer care with staff fully
equipped with the tools to deliver modern library services.
• A programme of intensive training will be undertaken so that staff are fully able to
give advice on books, deliver excellent customer care, demonstrate expertise in
finding information, knowledgeable in ITC and trained in the use of assistive
technology.
• Staff will be trained to high standards to deliver quality services to children and
young people including under fives sessions, class and school outreach visits
and reading groups
• Staff will be able to deliver well planned and engaging learning workshops and
reading groups for adults.
• Recruitment will reflect our continuing commitment to ensuring that staff reflect
Brent’s diversity.
• We will utilise the languages and cultures of staff to ensure that stock reflects the
languages spoken in the borough and community need.
• Staff will be involved in stock selection and promotions as well as in
recommending reads and marketing the library offer.
4.10 Customer and community engagement
• All our libraries have Valued Customer Panels that meet regularly so that local
people can actively determine the nature of their library services. Anyone can join.
• We will work closely with community groups and forums such as Brent Youth
Parliament
• Volunteers will play an important role supporting staff in delivering the service at
different levels. There will be volunteering schemes for young people such as
Summer Reading Challenge volunteers, who will support children in their reading
challenge. We will also recruit volunteers in further and higher education and back
to work schemes to gain work experience to access work. Similarly volunteer
schemes will be developed to support delivery of home delivery services.
• Libraries will closely consult with the community through regular surveys,
attendance at Area Community Forums, Local Partnership Boards and Integrated
Partnership Boards
• Improved marketing and publicity commitment with a campaign of exciting
promotions using a variety of media..
• Increased presence on social media sites such as facebook, twitter and the library
book blog
• We will develop customer involvement in the design and delivery of library services,
building on the successful work of the Black Identity Zone (BIZ) steering group at
Harlesden.
• Increase subscriptions to the e.bulletin mailing list, as a means to target residents
with information about library developments and events
4.11 Partners & partnership working
We will continue our successful shared services strategy and work with partners to
provide a range of services from libraries, including:
• Learning provision through BACES
• Council information through the customer contact centres
• Learning centres through work with Schools, Colleges and adult education
• Support the work of the voluntary sector
• Working with cultural providers including local practitioners
4.12 The cultural offer
Working towards Brent’s cultural vision for 2015 as outlined in the Cultural Strategy
and the proposals in the draft Brent Arts and Festivals strategy we will broker and
develop partnerships to ensure that cultural opportunities flourish and are
showcased in our libraries. This supports our ambition of showcasing excellence in
the various art forms whilst all the while using that excellence to stimulate more local
work and inspire our budding writers (and audiences) towards that goal.
This includes plans to:
• Offer cultural events to create vibrant spaces; including developing exhibition
spaces for artists and writers through partnerships with Brent Artists Resource,
Brent Culture, Sport and Learning Forum and the Arts and Festivals teams
• Showcase and exhibiting art through public art schemes
• Marketing cultural opportunities at the Gallery at Willesden Green Library Centre
• Developing writers and readers through writers in residence schemes and support
for writers’ groups through provision of spaces, events and writing workshops.
• This offer will be extended to improving literacy and engaging children and young
people
• Supporting the creative industries through workshops and advice delivered in
partnership with business support groups and careers advice organisations
• Build on a calendar of cultural events
• Increase participation in the programmes on offer through proactive and viral
marketing
We responded to central government cuts by concentrating our resources on a smaller number of improved buildings. In a densely populated Borough with good public transport links people are able and winning to travel libraries, if those libraries provide quality services. UPDATE: My attention has been drawn to this Guardian article by Sue Charteris. Brent followed very the kind of strategy she describes. UPDATE AGAIN: This post was really intended as a reminder of what our Libraries Transformation Project was. However, a comment below raises the voluntary library issue again. On that we had ten proposals, none of which made business sense and so we did not pursue them.
With the exception of Willesden Library, the proposals are now more or less implemented. The original report is still available, but I thought I would paste the text from that report in italics below to make it easier to find:
4.1 Services
• Seven day opening in all libraries, with at least two late evenings
• Additional longer opening hours for students in selected libraries during exam
periods
• A comprehensive range of books, E Books, audio and other media for loan or
reference
• A service that can, within reason, obtain any title that a customer asks for.
• Free Wireless and Internet access for all library users available in all library
spaces; with improved wireless speeds.
• A user friendly and accessible library website.
• Space for study and reading for pleasure
• An exciting calendar of author, poetry and cultural events. Opportunities to join
reading groups.
• Short courses to promote recreational learning and skills for life including
computer training. Opportunities for families to learn together.
• Advice and guidance on careers and training
• Parent and toddler groups, children’s reading promotions, homework clubs,
youth clubs, holiday activities
• A structured programme of class and outreach school visits to support the
educational attainment of children and young people
• Improved range of children and young people’s book stock available in greater
numbers to support Children Young People (and their families) in literacy and
learning development including revision and study guides.
• An enhanced outreach and home delivery service that brings our services to
people who are unable to get to a library. The service also delivers monthly
book collections to day centres, community groups and children’s centres.
• An online reference library with encyclopaedias, general reference works,
newspapers and homework help, available to all library users in the library or
from a home pc.
• A comprehensive reference and community information enquiry service
delivered by trained staff. Residents will be able to access online resources as
well as well-stocked collections of reference books, newspapers and
periodicals.
• Access to and training in the use of innovative technology, with an increased
number of PCs (equipped with assistive technology)
• Further development of an online service available 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week
• Marketing and promotion to enhance the accessibility and use of library services
4.2 Stock
• Continuous enhancement of the stock available in all our libraries
• We will promote access to our new E Books service and grow the e.book and
audio offer to meet new reading trends. We will invest in a diverse range of
e.books and audio downloads for customers to borrow. We will also invest in
appropriate new media as it emerges.
• Stock will include fiction of all sorts, community languages, collections of
cultural interest, ESOL, skills for life, up to date information books, e.books &
audio books, large print & talking books. Consultation will take place with
schools and colleges to ensure that stock reflects the curriculum.
• The stock policy will be revised using our new evidence based stock system to
improve customer satisfaction and ensure that stock meets community need.
• There will be more customer involvement in the purchase of stock, in particular
from community groups, valued customer panels and young people, building on
the excellent work at Harlesden.
• In response to customer demand stock suggestion schemes will be visible in
the libraries and online on our libraries catalogue page.
• We will continue to provide stock in alternative formats, such as large print and
audio. Our stock in other languages will reflect the needs of our communities.
• Newspapers and periodicals for customers to browse in the library
• Our reservation process will be streamlined so that customers can get the
books and other items they want quickly.
• We will continue our membership of the London Libraries Consortium through
which stock purchases result in cooperative group discounts allowing us to
purchase greater amounts of stock. Brent residents can borrow books from 14
London boroughs thus ensuring best value for money
• We will ensure via our stock policy that we continue to purchase stock from
specialist stock suppliers in order to meet the stock needs of Brent’s diverse
communities and groups.
• We will provide books on prescription and work in partnership with Brent NHS,
Brent Mind, clinics and doctors in order to support the health and well-being of
Brent residents.
• Staff will be knowledgeable and confident in recommending book titles and
recreational reads.
4.3 Buildings
We will work towards developing libraries that are modern and multi functional with a
shared service approach. They will boast the following features:
• Safe and neutral places
• Dedicated and well-stocked children’s areas to meet increased use, with
adequate space for class visits, activities and study
• Separate teenage zones that are modern and attractive
• Improved, flexible study areas and quiet zones to meet increased demand
• Multi-functional community rooms suitable for meetings, courses and
performances (available to hire at variable rates)
• Café facilities and a Library shop where appropriate
Six high quality library buildings in accessible locations, all open seven days per
week:
Ealing Road: currently Brent’s second busiest library, Ealing Road was last
refurbished in 2003. It is open 7 days per week, has a busy IT suite that is in in
constant use
Harlesden: refurbished in 2010 following a successful Big Lottery application,
Harlesden Library Plus provides library, adult education and council information
services from one building. The library was designed by a community steering group
who continue to play an active role in service delivery.
Kilburn: library is known for its thriving under fives Bookstart story rhyme time
sessions, active adult reading group and selection of quality fiction, best sellers and
author events. It has worked in partnership with local voluntary groups to develop its
outdoor garden and it’s actively engaged in community partnership projects. It is
proposed to source capital funding to improve the library space
Kingsbury: relocated in 2008 to a high street location, Kingsbury Library Plus
provides library and council information services. Since moving the library, visits and
borrowing have increased by over 50%
Town Hall/ Civic Centre: popular library for local residents and council staff and is
located near Asda supermarket, local schools and Children’s Centre. It is well used
for reference and community information enquiries, its IT suite and its selection of
best sellers, literary fiction and up to date information books. In 2013 this function will
move to the new Civic Centre library nearby. A large state of the art library will be the
showpiece of the new building.
Willesden Green: Brent’s busiest library open 7 days per week is arranged over 2
floors within Willesden Green Library Centre. Its generous study area is well used by
students, and its IT suite is very popular. The teen area is busy during after school
hours but also well used for study and tutoring by excluded young people and their
tutors. The children’s library is a favourite space for under fives activities, regular
class visits and holiday activities. A number of organisations share the premises
including the gallery, Brent Museum and Archive and a council customer contact
centre. Close partnership work is undertaken with the gallery and museum to deliver
a vibrant cultural and learning programme.
The Council is currently investigating the possibility of redeveloping the Library
Centre, to include an improved cultural offer to residents. If this should go ahead, a
temporary replacement library service will be provided in the area.
Capital funding for improvements to buildings will be sourced from external grants,
public/private financing and Brent Council capital programmes. In line with the One
Council programme we will continue to pursue the shared service approach, both
with council services, local organisations and neighbouring boroughs.
4.4 Online and Digital services
Brent Libraries will be at the forefront of the revolution to ensure that services can be
accessed on a 24/7 basis and are not limited to static library buildings. Library users will
be able to access a virtual library from the comfort of their own homes. Virtual services
will include being able to:
• Search the catalogue, access library accounts, reserve and renew items online
from any computer or smart phone.
• Book a computer
• Receive overdue reminders by email or text
• Use our online reference resources for study and homework
• Access an online enquiry service
• Borrow e-books and audiobooks online (subject to constraints imposed by
publishers and distributors)
• Join our email list for a monthly newsletter
• Take part in virtual reading groups
• Access virtual homework help
• We will aim to develop a library app for smart phones that will make our services
more accessible, including directions and up to date information about library
events, activities, and services.
• Online bookings for events and activities
• Events and talks will be recorded and filmed for YouTube and podcasts.
Access to technology will also include:
• Free access to bookable public Internet and MS Office services
• Access to and training in the use of innovative technology with an increased
number of PCs
• Access to colour printing and scanning services
• Safe Internet surfing areas for children
• Free public wifi access with improved speeds and more plug sockets
• Access to assistive technology including hardware and software
• Access to fast, efficient self service technology
• Staff will also be able to easily access the technology to answer enquiries. In
response to customer suggestions handheld devices will be purchased to
ensure that enquiries are answered with accuracy and speed
• E.Learning packages
• An interactive, inspiring and accessible website
4.5 Support for children, young people and families
• Safe and neutral spaces
• Improved and increased number of study spaces
• Engage children and young people with a love of reading and resources to
support educational attainment. This includes an improved range of children and
young people’s book stock available in larger quantities to support CYP (and their
families) in literacy and learning development. We will improve our provision of
revision, text books and study guides. For younger children an improved range of
board books, dual language books, picture books, graded readers to support
school reading schemes and literacy attainment, titles for fluent readers and
graphic novels to encourage reluctant readers.
• The information books will support the National Curriculum covering key stages 1
– 4 and also include up to date and relevant study and revision guides in greater
quantities.
• We will Involve young people and schools in stock selection.
• Develop collections to support progression by young people into further education
and into work and training. We will work in partnership with Connexions to ensure
access to advice on training and further education is available.
• Promote and market e.books to support homework and study
• Outreach services to schools and children’s centres will include learning support,
story-telling, reader development workshops all delivered by trained staff, with an
agreed timetable of visits and performance measures showing activity.
• An enhanced outreach offer, including a book loan scheme in partnership with
youth centres, youth bus, children’s centres and schools to target those groups of
children who do not currently use library services.
• Bookstart story and rhyme times will be delivered weekly in all libraries
• Bookstart pack gifting sessions in all libraries on a monthly basis
• Bookstart Bear Club in all libraries which encourages parents / carers to read to
their children, borrow books and gain certificates.
• We will work in partnership with Brent Adult and Community Education Services
(BACES) and increase the range of exciting family learning courses focusing on
literacy, learning and leisure in all our libraries.
• Chatterbooks Reading Groups will be run, after school on a monthly basis, by
trained staff in all libraries and will focus on fun reader development activities.
• Teenage reading groups will build on the Summer Reading Challenge programme
and be developed as after school clubs focusing on themed group reads, author
events and manga and will be run by young people and trained staff together.
• Homework clubs in all libraries will have qualified teaching support and support
learning development in children aged 8 – 11. Children will also benefit from
reading support delivered by Volunteer Reading Help volunteers (available in
some libraries)
• Virtual homework help for those unable to access a library easily.
• In collaboration with BACES we will support parents / carers whose children
attend the homework clubs through the provision of learning courses.
• Support club for home schooled children and their parents / carers
• We will support children and young people who are excluded (with their tutors) by
providing quiet zone areas for study and additional stock support upon request
• We will support young people during exam periods by opening for longer hours
and sourcing other community venues (through partnerships) for additional study
space.
• The Summer Reading Challenge will form part of our Outreach library offer to
playschemes, disability play schemes, and through partnership working
• User friendly website developed to engage and involve children and young people
in reading, study, leisure and information services, including a presence on BeBo
or similar social networking sites
• Improved cutting edge teen facilities designed by young people
4.6 Support for learners
• E-Learning packages
• Open learning zones and learn direct centres in some libraries
• Attractive study spaces offering laptop provision
• Improved wifi facilities
• Access to e.books, improved study texts and learning collection materials
• Informal ESOL classes
• IT workshops and courses
• Partnership work with Brent Adult Community Education Service to ensure
libraries are a place to access a range of informal learning and ICT classes
• Partnership working with voluntary groups to support learning
4.7 Support for older people and residents who find it difficult to access library
services
• Our improved home visit service will be fully linked to all libraries so that
customers have access to the full catalogue, including alternative media. Staff will
bring to catalogue to customers via hand held devices.
• The home visit service will be marketed across the borough, and to organisations
working with those people who find accessing services difficult. Strong links will be
fostered with social housing and sheltered housing schemes to create a well used
home visit service
• Monthly outreach deposit collections will be delivered to day centres, community
groups and children’s centres where requested.
• Outreach reading events and activities will be offered to children’s centres, care
homes and day centres.
• Home Visit customers will also get the opportunity to be part of a valued customer
service panel for the service and help drive service improvements as well as be
involved in stock selection
• The Outreach Service will also work in partnership with Brent volunteering
organisations in order to involve local residents in delivering services, such as the
home visit service and to ensure we reach a wide selection of Brent residents.
4.8 Services for people with disabilities
• All staff will be trained in assistive technologies so that residents with disabilities
have full access to library services. This service will be marketed through
partnerships with support groups.
• Books in appropriate formats, such as Braille and talking books will be available
for loan in all libraries, the home-visits service, the outreach services and online.
• All library buildings will be fully accessible for people with disabilities, with
induction loops and adaptive technologies.
• Residents unable to get to a library will be able to make use of our home visit,
outreach and online services.
4.9 Staff
The staffing restructure will result in increased responsibilities, improved skills and a
more proactive role for staff. We anticipate improved customer care with staff fully
equipped with the tools to deliver modern library services.
• A programme of intensive training will be undertaken so that staff are fully able to
give advice on books, deliver excellent customer care, demonstrate expertise in
finding information, knowledgeable in ITC and trained in the use of assistive
technology.
• Staff will be trained to high standards to deliver quality services to children and
young people including under fives sessions, class and school outreach visits
and reading groups
• Staff will be able to deliver well planned and engaging learning workshops and
reading groups for adults.
• Recruitment will reflect our continuing commitment to ensuring that staff reflect
Brent’s diversity.
• We will utilise the languages and cultures of staff to ensure that stock reflects the
languages spoken in the borough and community need.
• Staff will be involved in stock selection and promotions as well as in
recommending reads and marketing the library offer.
4.10 Customer and community engagement
• All our libraries have Valued Customer Panels that meet regularly so that local
people can actively determine the nature of their library services. Anyone can join.
• We will work closely with community groups and forums such as Brent Youth
Parliament
• Volunteers will play an important role supporting staff in delivering the service at
different levels. There will be volunteering schemes for young people such as
Summer Reading Challenge volunteers, who will support children in their reading
challenge. We will also recruit volunteers in further and higher education and back
to work schemes to gain work experience to access work. Similarly volunteer
schemes will be developed to support delivery of home delivery services.
• Libraries will closely consult with the community through regular surveys,
attendance at Area Community Forums, Local Partnership Boards and Integrated
Partnership Boards
• Improved marketing and publicity commitment with a campaign of exciting
promotions using a variety of media..
• Increased presence on social media sites such as facebook, twitter and the library
book blog
• We will develop customer involvement in the design and delivery of library services,
building on the successful work of the Black Identity Zone (BIZ) steering group at
Harlesden.
• Increase subscriptions to the e.bulletin mailing list, as a means to target residents
with information about library developments and events
4.11 Partners & partnership working
We will continue our successful shared services strategy and work with partners to
provide a range of services from libraries, including:
• Learning provision through BACES
• Council information through the customer contact centres
• Learning centres through work with Schools, Colleges and adult education
• Support the work of the voluntary sector
• Working with cultural providers including local practitioners
4.12 The cultural offer
Working towards Brent’s cultural vision for 2015 as outlined in the Cultural Strategy
and the proposals in the draft Brent Arts and Festivals strategy we will broker and
develop partnerships to ensure that cultural opportunities flourish and are
showcased in our libraries. This supports our ambition of showcasing excellence in
the various art forms whilst all the while using that excellence to stimulate more local
work and inspire our budding writers (and audiences) towards that goal.
This includes plans to:
• Offer cultural events to create vibrant spaces; including developing exhibition
spaces for artists and writers through partnerships with Brent Artists Resource,
Brent Culture, Sport and Learning Forum and the Arts and Festivals teams
• Showcase and exhibiting art through public art schemes
• Marketing cultural opportunities at the Gallery at Willesden Green Library Centre
• Developing writers and readers through writers in residence schemes and support
for writers’ groups through provision of spaces, events and writing workshops.
• This offer will be extended to improving literacy and engaging children and young
people
• Supporting the creative industries through workshops and advice delivered in
partnership with business support groups and careers advice organisations
• Build on a calendar of cultural events
• Increase participation in the programmes on offer through proactive and viral
marketing
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Congratulations Brent Parks
Brent Parks have once again done well in the London in Bloom competition. Overall, Brent won Silver Gilt. Fryent and Gladstone Parks won individual silver gilt awards, and Mapesbury Dell won a gold award. Brent can also boast the competition's Apprentice of the Year.
Unused Land in Brent
One of the things I find dispiriting are the patches of vacant wasteland we have around the Borough. The above photo is on an area of land in Willesden that has been vacant for years. I could easily choose other examples. I just don't understand the economics behind leaving such sites unused.
Monday, 23 September 2013
The Responsibility for Damian McBride
Hopefully the technical issues yesterday are over. I was reflecting on the Damian McBride story that the Daily Mail has published prior to the Labour Conference.
I wonder how much credence give to Mr McBride. By his own admission he spent several years trying to mislead people into believing terrible things. I have not read his book, but the press coverage appears to claim that the facts were true, while also being intended to smear. He is also being reported as telling his story for a lot of money. There is also the timing on the eve of the Labour Conference.
If Mr McBride has chosen to betray his party for maximum commercial gain that tells us what we should think of Mr McBride.
My interest is the wider blame. If he was spreading muck all over the place, the journalists he gave it to must have known something. They like to pose as courageous champions for truth. If they knew what was going on but connived for the sake of a good story, that tells you about them.
I wonder how much credence give to Mr McBride. By his own admission he spent several years trying to mislead people into believing terrible things. I have not read his book, but the press coverage appears to claim that the facts were true, while also being intended to smear. He is also being reported as telling his story for a lot of money. There is also the timing on the eve of the Labour Conference.
If Mr McBride has chosen to betray his party for maximum commercial gain that tells us what we should think of Mr McBride.
My interest is the wider blame. If he was spreading muck all over the place, the journalists he gave it to must have known something. They like to pose as courageous champions for truth. If they knew what was going on but connived for the sake of a good story, that tells you about them.
Sunday, 22 September 2013
Saturday, 21 September 2013
Wheelchair Access at the Civic Centre
The other day a disabled person tried to access Brent Civic Centre and was told to bring their own wheelchair. After protests, a wheelchair was provided for a subsequent visit.
This strikes me as very poor practice.
A certain proportion of Brent residents need to use wheelchairs. In a public facility such as the Civic Centre, we should keep a few chairs available for use. That seems plain common sense.
Hopefully, we will buy whatever number seems needed and just make them available in future.
This strikes me as very poor practice.
A certain proportion of Brent residents need to use wheelchairs. In a public facility such as the Civic Centre, we should keep a few chairs available for use. That seems plain common sense.
Hopefully, we will buy whatever number seems needed and just make them available in future.
Friday, 20 September 2013
Community Access at the New French School
One of the conditions of the planning permission for the former Town Hall was for a community access plan for the school outside school hours. The precise details are not yet agreed. These sort of agreements are quite common these days, although they usually focus on sports facilities, such as those at the ARK Academy or Capital City Academy in Doyle Gardens. I know people have complained that the fees at the Capital Academy are too high, but I think it quite reasonable that the schools cover their costs.
The new French schools main sports areas are too close to residents at the back of the site for use after hours, but we did specifically ask for arrangements at their school library, which is planned for the former town hall library. The kind of thing they are interested in would probably be linked to the promotion of French culture.
UPDATE
I published the comment below because I often publish comments I disagree with. How can anyone imply that France has not made an incalculable contribution to humanity in virtually any field you care to name?
The new French schools main sports areas are too close to residents at the back of the site for use after hours, but we did specifically ask for arrangements at their school library, which is planned for the former town hall library. The kind of thing they are interested in would probably be linked to the promotion of French culture.
UPDATE
I published the comment below because I often publish comments I disagree with. How can anyone imply that France has not made an incalculable contribution to humanity in virtually any field you care to name?
Thursday, 19 September 2013
Brent Town Hall Given Permission
Last night's planning meeting had the milestone of permission for the former Brent Town Hall, which has been bought by a French school. Personally, I think the new school looks very good and effectively combines the historic features of the Town Hall with the needs of the new school. It is also, of course, an important marker in the history of the Borough, as it marks its transition to the Civic Centre.
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
The Onion on Mass Shootings
The Onion has a piece on the recent shootings in Washington. It is both funny and sad at the same time. The failure of the USA to even begin a solution is surely an extraordinary comment on the failure of the American political system.
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
Social Justice and the Green Party
The German Green Party is ruing the idea of a compulsory vegetarian day. They blame this on a turning away of the Greens from Environmentalism to "Social Justice".
I see several layers to this.
The first is compulsory vegetarianism. I think that is an incredibly bad idea. Aside from civil liberties, associating environmentalism with bossiness is extremely off putting. Far better to go for voluntary measures, perhaps encouraging people to give various vegetarian foods a try. Although I am very much a carnivore, even i find the vegetarian offers on Ealing Road tempting. Brent probably has some of the best vegetarian offers in the country. There is no need to force people.
The second is our own Martin Francis. Martin Francis has eclipsed other "green" campaigners to become Brent's leading Green Party representative. I also see him as our leading Looney Left representative. Martin is a keen advocate of the green movement leaving environmental issues to concentrate on "social justice", which he finds more absorbing. He has also argued that environmentalism is "not the main issue". Martin's position echoes that of the Green national leader. I regret that people who support the Greens on environmental grounds are being misled into voting for a party that actually has given up on the issue.
The third layer is the very idea of seperating social justice from environmentalism, which seems to me a false choice. Environmental problems like desertification, flooding and air pollution all have a disproportionate effect on the poor.
I see several layers to this.
The first is compulsory vegetarianism. I think that is an incredibly bad idea. Aside from civil liberties, associating environmentalism with bossiness is extremely off putting. Far better to go for voluntary measures, perhaps encouraging people to give various vegetarian foods a try. Although I am very much a carnivore, even i find the vegetarian offers on Ealing Road tempting. Brent probably has some of the best vegetarian offers in the country. There is no need to force people.
The second is our own Martin Francis. Martin Francis has eclipsed other "green" campaigners to become Brent's leading Green Party representative. I also see him as our leading Looney Left representative. Martin is a keen advocate of the green movement leaving environmental issues to concentrate on "social justice", which he finds more absorbing. He has also argued that environmentalism is "not the main issue". Martin's position echoes that of the Green national leader. I regret that people who support the Greens on environmental grounds are being misled into voting for a party that actually has given up on the issue.
The third layer is the very idea of seperating social justice from environmentalism, which seems to me a false choice. Environmental problems like desertification, flooding and air pollution all have a disproportionate effect on the poor.
Monday, 16 September 2013
Doorstepping in Willesden
Out on the doorstep yesterday in Willesden Green. Despite the wet and windy weather, we had quite a lot of people. I think many of these people are angling for the Brent Central Labour Party Selection. I suspect the number of would be candidates will greatly increase following the announcement of Sarah Teather standing down.
Certainly anyone who wants to stand for Parliament certainly needs to be willing to go out on the doorstep.
Certainly anyone who wants to stand for Parliament certainly needs to be willing to go out on the doorstep.
Sunday, 15 September 2013
On the Buses
Dave Hill reminds us of the widening gap between supply and demand in the bus network. The area where this will effect Brent most drastically is in Wembley. What is now derelict land around the Stadium is now filling up with developments, including the new retail outlets around the corner from the Civic Centre. All these people will have transport needs and trying to meet them solely by more cars will just lead to a permanent traffic jam, even without regular events at the Stadium.
Saturday, 14 September 2013
Shakespeare and the Boys
Just been reading this piece in the Guardian. What strikes me is that the author complains that female parts in Shakespeare don't have the same heft as male, but does not mention that Shakespeare wrote the female roles for boys. Might Shakespeare have been constrained by inexperienced actors?
Eric Pickles Suppressing Emails
The department of Eric Pickles, who regularly lectures Councils on the need to be open, has been caught out trying to suppress emails for "political" reasons, according to the Independent. They even said they would refuse information to the opposition, again on the basis of political convenience. Fortunately the Information Commissioner has now forced Eric Pickles to follow the same rules that he insists everyone else should follow.
Friday, 13 September 2013
How Important are Books to Libraries
One of the puzzles of Brent Libraries Transformation Project is that Increases in library visits greatly outstrip the increases in book loans. Since we passed the strategy in 2011, all Brent's libraries have seen numbers increase, but the branches where visits have gone up most markedly (such as Kilburn and Wembley) have not had a commensurate rise in book loans.
This is quite contrary to my expectations. One of the main points in the April 2011 proposals was to maintain the bookfund, meaning that it now accounts for a bigger part of the overall budget. Complaints about the range of books available was one of the most common features in the 2011 consultation, so maintaining the level of spending on books seemed sensible. Sure enough, levels of satisfaction with the physical quality of the books and the range of titles have gone up. If you go into our newest library, Wembley, the titles include a good range of the latest publications in both fiction and non fiction. In fact, the range strikes me as just as good as a good bookshop.
I was prompted in these reflections by an article in the American Libraries Association (towards the back of this link) which suggests that books are crucial to maintaining library usage.
This is quite contrary to my expectations. One of the main points in the April 2011 proposals was to maintain the bookfund, meaning that it now accounts for a bigger part of the overall budget. Complaints about the range of books available was one of the most common features in the 2011 consultation, so maintaining the level of spending on books seemed sensible. Sure enough, levels of satisfaction with the physical quality of the books and the range of titles have gone up. If you go into our newest library, Wembley, the titles include a good range of the latest publications in both fiction and non fiction. In fact, the range strikes me as just as good as a good bookshop.
I was prompted in these reflections by an article in the American Libraries Association (towards the back of this link) which suggests that books are crucial to maintaining library usage.
Thursday, 12 September 2013
Congratulations Blobfish
Congratulations to the blobfish, which has been voted the mascot of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society. It is easy to see why.
Wembley Library a Great Success
As we are quite a long way into the year, I decided to look at our library performance. Year to date, up to the end of August, we continued the improvement from last year. We had 630,446 visits, an improvement of 11.6% on the same period the previous year. We also had 407,563 book loans, an increase of 1.3%.
There has been a big fall off in numbers at Willesden library during its rebuild, although the interim library service remains Brent's second most popular in terms of visits. The other notable thing is that the new Wembley Library has been a massive success. In its first two full months of operation (July and August), it has 103,991 visits and 36,754 loans. The former Town Hall library in the same period last year had only 41,717 visits and 20,141 loans.
The success of the Wembley Library is despite all the building work that is still going on around the Civic Centre.
There has been a big fall off in numbers at Willesden library during its rebuild, although the interim library service remains Brent's second most popular in terms of visits. The other notable thing is that the new Wembley Library has been a massive success. In its first two full months of operation (July and August), it has 103,991 visits and 36,754 loans. The former Town Hall library in the same period last year had only 41,717 visits and 20,141 loans.
The success of the Wembley Library is despite all the building work that is still going on around the Civic Centre.
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Library Closure and Judicial Review
My eye was drawn to the decision of Moray Council to close half of its libraries. This was taken despite clear officer advice that the decision could expose the Council to legal challenge. That goes beyond bold to foolhardy.
The main objection is that the authority did an equalities assessment, and officers advised scaling back the proposed cuts to limit the effects of closures. Unlike Brent, there appears to be no compensating investment in the library services, but what could be portrayed as simply a rush to save money.
The comments of the Tory and independent councillors concerned seem to imply that saving money does indeed over ride all other considerations. I don't believe this actually contravenes the public sector equality duty, which is to be aware of equality outcomes rather than guarantee a limited impact. Nonetheless, I would imagine that Moray councillors have exposed themselves to charges of irrational decision making, and possibly pre determination.
Whatever the legal situation, I am not sure that the comments will exactly delight their constituents either.
The main objection is that the authority did an equalities assessment, and officers advised scaling back the proposed cuts to limit the effects of closures. Unlike Brent, there appears to be no compensating investment in the library services, but what could be portrayed as simply a rush to save money.
The comments of the Tory and independent councillors concerned seem to imply that saving money does indeed over ride all other considerations. I don't believe this actually contravenes the public sector equality duty, which is to be aware of equality outcomes rather than guarantee a limited impact. Nonetheless, I would imagine that Moray councillors have exposed themselves to charges of irrational decision making, and possibly pre determination.
Whatever the legal situation, I am not sure that the comments will exactly delight their constituents either.
Tuesday, 10 September 2013
Is Sarah Teather Smarter than we Think
After my weekend post on Sarah Teather, I have had conversations suggesting that my approach fails to take into account the trickery of Ms Teather and the deviousness of Liberal Democrat politics.
This may be so.
One suggestion made was that La Teather had timed her "resignation" immediately before the Lib Dem Conference in order to destabilise Nick Clegg. Her past record on Charlie Kennedy lends credence to this, but I can imagine a scenario where she is preparing the ground for some more credible figure. No doubt followed by a suitable reward afterward.
An anti-Clegg coup would rid the Lib Dems of a permanently discredited Leader, and give them a new one that they could try to unite under. It would do nothing to help people suffering from the policies of the current government.
This may be so.
One suggestion made was that La Teather had timed her "resignation" immediately before the Lib Dem Conference in order to destabilise Nick Clegg. Her past record on Charlie Kennedy lends credence to this, but I can imagine a scenario where she is preparing the ground for some more credible figure. No doubt followed by a suitable reward afterward.
An anti-Clegg coup would rid the Lib Dems of a permanently discredited Leader, and give them a new one that they could try to unite under. It would do nothing to help people suffering from the policies of the current government.
Monday, 9 September 2013
Article 4 Directions
One of the topics that came up at the Planning Committee last week was the possibility of using an Article 4 direction to overcome various issues. The one in the news at the moment is the permitted development right to convert offices into housing. This was a concern to local residents in Willesden a couple of months ago, and has been the subject of various legal actions in other authorities. Our discussion turned up several areas where we were frustrated by our lack of ability to fulfil residents' wishes in terms of limiting the proliferation of betting shops, amusement arcades and other anti-social activities.
My mine own experience of judicial review leads me to want to avoid legal action if at all possible. Although we won our case on libraries overwhelmingly, it still took up a huge amount of time, money and energy which could have better directed to other things.
My mine own experience of judicial review leads me to want to avoid legal action if at all possible. Although we won our case on libraries overwhelmingly, it still took up a huge amount of time, money and energy which could have better directed to other things.
Wildlife Photographs
Here is a gallery of some extraordinary images of wildlife in a new book by the Natural History Museum. The skill and dedication of the photographers is awesome.
Sunday, 8 September 2013
Teather Going
The announced departure of Sarah Teather from Parliament has not been greeted with universal dismay to say the least. She has always been unpopular on the Labour side of course, but many Tories and Liberal Democrats also seem to dislike her. As well as basic dishonesty, she has been disloyal to her colleagues and thoroughly sanctimonious to boot.
There is widespread speculation that she stood down as she knew she would lose in Brent Central. That seems likely. Her departure makes it even more likely that Labour will win Brent Central easily, as the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP will not be fully committed. Her announcement follows tumbling Liberal Democrat membership and a succession of poor election results in the GLA and Council by elections.
Teather is currently saying that she will be campaigning for the Liberal Democrats. Quite how you campaign for a party by telling a national newspaper you find it "catastrophically depressing" I am not sure. It is clear that she didn't believe in the present government even when she was a minister voting through the policies she now claims are repugnant. Of course in the past, she has put out literature of highly dubious honesty (part of a long standing tradition for Brent Liberal Democrats).
Nonetheless, I don't see how anyone can announce that they are standing down as a Liberal Democrat MP because they find their party's performance so repugnant, but still ask other people to vote for the Liberal Democrats. Indeed, I don't see how Teather can still keep the Liberal Democrat whip with any credibility as she is now claiming to be fundamentally opposed to major aspects of their programme.
There is widespread speculation that she stood down as she knew she would lose in Brent Central. That seems likely. Her departure makes it even more likely that Labour will win Brent Central easily, as the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP will not be fully committed. Her announcement follows tumbling Liberal Democrat membership and a succession of poor election results in the GLA and Council by elections.
Teather is currently saying that she will be campaigning for the Liberal Democrats. Quite how you campaign for a party by telling a national newspaper you find it "catastrophically depressing" I am not sure. It is clear that she didn't believe in the present government even when she was a minister voting through the policies she now claims are repugnant. Of course in the past, she has put out literature of highly dubious honesty (part of a long standing tradition for Brent Liberal Democrats).
Nonetheless, I don't see how anyone can announce that they are standing down as a Liberal Democrat MP because they find their party's performance so repugnant, but still ask other people to vote for the Liberal Democrats. Indeed, I don't see how Teather can still keep the Liberal Democrat whip with any credibility as she is now claiming to be fundamentally opposed to major aspects of their programme.
Saturday, 7 September 2013
Sarah Teather Standing Down
Fancy seeing this story on the Guardian web site. Sarah Teather standing down in 2015 from Parliament.
Falling Standards in Local Government
I was surprised to see that a councillor has brought an action challenging the new local government standards regime. This is because the Tory government's changes have made the whole process more or less meaningless. Indeed, the government's own advisers have come close to saying so.
Food banks and Austerity
Patrick Butler has a piece about how the government is relying on food banks while trying to spin that it isn't. It really does seem as if the government believes that it can just conceal reality from people forever. This does not strike me as a sustainable long term strategy.
Friday, 6 September 2013
Cars and Planning Transport
Rob Cowan's cartoon sums up all the reasons that urban planners are trying to reduce car dependency better than a long policy document could.
Thursday, 5 September 2013
Street Trees in Colindale
Last night the Planning Committee discussed two major items. The wider development policies of the Council can wait for a later post. I want to focus now on the narrower issue of street trees in Colindale.
The document we looked at last night was more imaginative in seeing the wider role of street trees than others I have seen. It suggested, for example, that Burnt Oak would benefit from a "feature" tree, rather as another area might from a major work of public art. There were also some interesting ideas about creating more of an avenue effect for the A5, and using some form of central reservation to mprove road safety.
It is clear that to deliver the regeneration agenda in Colindale, we will need a better level of engagement between Barnet and Brent. There seem to be good links at officer level, but nothing much at councillor level. The new Director for Planning promised to take this on board in developing the policy.
The document we looked at last night was more imaginative in seeing the wider role of street trees than others I have seen. It suggested, for example, that Burnt Oak would benefit from a "feature" tree, rather as another area might from a major work of public art. There were also some interesting ideas about creating more of an avenue effect for the A5, and using some form of central reservation to mprove road safety.
It is clear that to deliver the regeneration agenda in Colindale, we will need a better level of engagement between Barnet and Brent. There seem to be good links at officer level, but nothing much at councillor level. The new Director for Planning promised to take this on board in developing the policy.
Universal Credit Disaster
It now appears admitted that universal credit is a disaster. I pointed out recently that Iain Duncan Smith appeared to be blaming civil servants for the failure. There used to be a convention that a minister whose policy failed fell on his sword. Mr Duncan Smith's policy has certainly failed, as has been often pointed out. His response has been to bluster.
It is time for him to behave as the honourable gentleman he claims to be, rather than blaming others.
It is time for him to behave as the honourable gentleman he claims to be, rather than blaming others.
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Harlesden Town Centre Round Up
I thought I would do a quick round up on the progress around the Harlesden Town Centre works. Works on Manor Park Road, which is the first phase, should be completed by 23 September. After that, Conway AECOM will move on to Tavistock Road and Crownhill Road. Once Manor Park Road is fully clear, a bus stop will be put in front of the Salvation Army.
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
Will there be a Universal Credit Mea Culpa
It looks as if Iain Duncan Smith is finally going to admit that Universal Credit is badly off course. At least I assume that is the reason for the story in today's Telegraph. Such an acknowledgement would be all to the good, although the Telegraph hints that he is simply going to blame his own officials rather than the inherent difficulties of the subject.
One of the differences between the current Tory government and the previous Thatcher government is that Thatcher at least had a reputation for competence. The present gang appear to rush into schemes without giving them proper thought. This applies as much to Syria as to domestic policy. Universal Credit was always going to be an IT and bureaucratic challenge. Since it means changing client behaviour at the same time as changing all the systems to deal with clients, it had every prospect of becoming a nightmare. Iain Duncan Smith's stubborn refusal to acknowledge the difficulties must have made it significantly more difficult to overcome them.
One of the differences between the current Tory government and the previous Thatcher government is that Thatcher at least had a reputation for competence. The present gang appear to rush into schemes without giving them proper thought. This applies as much to Syria as to domestic policy. Universal Credit was always going to be an IT and bureaucratic challenge. Since it means changing client behaviour at the same time as changing all the systems to deal with clients, it had every prospect of becoming a nightmare. Iain Duncan Smith's stubborn refusal to acknowledge the difficulties must have made it significantly more difficult to overcome them.
Monday, 2 September 2013
Place making in Colindale
The next planning committee meeting, in a few days, will be considering placemaking strategy in the Brent part of Colindale. I think this has huge importance, but is often overlooked. If (say) South Kilburn had paid more attention to the way urban communities worked back in the 1960s and 1970s I think it would have had a beneficial effect on all kinds of health and economic outcomes.
Sunday, 1 September 2013
Zero Hours Contracts
There have been calls for more investigation into zero hours contracts, which strikes me as very sensible. At the moment, I don't think anyone understands how these work or why they are becoming widespread. I don't buy the argument from some quarters that everyone on zero hours is happy and delighted to be "flexible". At least some of these contracts must be exploitative, and we need to find out how many are. It is of a piece with the wider agenda that Ed Miliband is pursuing around squeezed living standards and raising wages to give a reasonable living standards.
Saturday, 31 August 2013
Lewinson Centre Library Mural
Although I have featured a picture of the Willesden Green Mural at the old Library, I haven't pictured its counterpart at the Lewinson Centre (above). I think it is pretty eye catching and should help draw people in off Willesden High Road. Certainly, it is infinitely preferable to the blank wall that was there before.
Some pictures of the creation of the mural can be found here.
Friday, 30 August 2013
Street Tree Schemes
I have had a lot of queries about street trees following my post on trees in Kilburn. Street tree planting is more complicated than it might seem, as I suggested here.
The scheme I was referring to was ward working, which gives local councillors a small budget to deal with local community needs. The simplest way to raise this as an issue is probably a direct approach to your local councillors. Their details are here. They can then liaise with their local ward working officer to see if there are areas in the ward that they want to plant more trees in. The actual decision whether or not to do so rests with the ward councillors.
Possible sources of funding include ward working funds, TfL funds and planning gain.
The scheme I was referring to was ward working, which gives local councillors a small budget to deal with local community needs. The simplest way to raise this as an issue is probably a direct approach to your local councillors. Their details are here. They can then liaise with their local ward working officer to see if there are areas in the ward that they want to plant more trees in. The actual decision whether or not to do so rests with the ward councillors.
Possible sources of funding include ward working funds, TfL funds and planning gain.
Further Photos of the Willesden Library Mural
I see that Positive Arts have provided some photos of the creation of the mural on the site of the former Willesden Library (now being rebuilt) that I blogged on previously. They can be found here.
Thursday, 29 August 2013
Brent's Unsung Sports Centres
A consultation has been launched into possible future options for the Bridge Park Sports Centre in Stonebridge. Nothing can be guaranteed for this site, but it reminds me of all the good work that is proceeding in Brent's Sports Centres despite the collossal financial challenges. Let's just go through them:
A) Moberly Sports Centre is going through a major expansion and rebuild. Although this is a Westminster facility, Brent residents will have access at the same concessionary rates as at any other Brent sports centre.
B) The contract for Vale Farm Sports Centre has been relet at a greatly reduced running cost, and with capital investment of almost £2 million to improve it.
C) The Charteris Sports Centre remains in use as a sports centre with community access outside school hours.
D) There remains the possibility of a privately financed swimming pool in the Wembley area, if the private sector pushes the project forward. Such a centre in Tokyngton would be available to Brent residents at the same rates as other Brent Sports Centres.
E) The Willesden Sports Centre continues to thrive having been completely rebuilt under a PFI scheme by the previous Labour administration in 2006.
This is on top of a number of smaller projects around Brent parks.
Altogether it seems to me a pretty impressive record of progress despite the biggest financial cut backs ever seen in the history of Brent.
A) Moberly Sports Centre is going through a major expansion and rebuild. Although this is a Westminster facility, Brent residents will have access at the same concessionary rates as at any other Brent sports centre.
B) The contract for Vale Farm Sports Centre has been relet at a greatly reduced running cost, and with capital investment of almost £2 million to improve it.
C) The Charteris Sports Centre remains in use as a sports centre with community access outside school hours.
D) There remains the possibility of a privately financed swimming pool in the Wembley area, if the private sector pushes the project forward. Such a centre in Tokyngton would be available to Brent residents at the same rates as other Brent Sports Centres.
E) The Willesden Sports Centre continues to thrive having been completely rebuilt under a PFI scheme by the previous Labour administration in 2006.
This is on top of a number of smaller projects around Brent parks.
Altogether it seems to me a pretty impressive record of progress despite the biggest financial cut backs ever seen in the history of Brent.
Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Library Management Models
The ongoing controversy over Lincolnshire's library plans causes me to reflect on the various models of fulfilling the statutory library duty that are now available. As I see these fall into the following options:
1) The Lincolnshire approach of minimalist provision. As far as I know, Lincolnshire is the only authority that is aiming for the absolute minimum that they can get away with, although it is quite a logical approach if you adhere to a Tory ideology of minimal government.
2) Hollowing out. I argued before that this is the main alternative to the Brent model. It has been adopted by a number of authorities, although I expect largely by default rather than conscious reasoning. One example is in the Wirral, where it appears to have been the default option after the famous Charteris Enquiry, a fact not often pointed out by campaigners.
3) A third option is the Suffolk model, which is unique to that county as far as I can see, and which in my opinion exposes that authority to potential liabilities.
4) Similar to this is the creation of an independent trust. I first came across this idea in Falkirk, but it has been widely adopted elsewhere. The main financial saving you get from this approach is avoiding business rates. I am not sure what the situation is in Scotland, but business rates in England are now localised so an authority that takes this route will cut expenditure in paying business rates, but then lose the equivalent amount in revenue, so I would imagine fewer authorities will be taking it up in future.
5) Trusts can be a vehicle for privatisation. They don't have to be, as they can effectively be publicly owned, rather like a housing ALMO. However, this is a route being taken in Harrow and Ealing. Privatisation obviously makes things less flexible for the future as management is determined by the terms of the contract, and it may be possible to vary a contract by agreement. I don't see that the private sector are really likely to be more efficient than public sector managers per se, although they may be less subject to political control.
6) There is the Big Society approach, which many people suspect is just a slow motion closure programme. Certainly, I am not convinced that this generates substantial savings, and it may generate further demands for money and other forms of support from the supposedly independent partners.
Finally, there is the Brent model of concentrating on high quality services from a smaller number of buildings, which I prefer.
1) The Lincolnshire approach of minimalist provision. As far as I know, Lincolnshire is the only authority that is aiming for the absolute minimum that they can get away with, although it is quite a logical approach if you adhere to a Tory ideology of minimal government.
2) Hollowing out. I argued before that this is the main alternative to the Brent model. It has been adopted by a number of authorities, although I expect largely by default rather than conscious reasoning. One example is in the Wirral, where it appears to have been the default option after the famous Charteris Enquiry, a fact not often pointed out by campaigners.
3) A third option is the Suffolk model, which is unique to that county as far as I can see, and which in my opinion exposes that authority to potential liabilities.
4) Similar to this is the creation of an independent trust. I first came across this idea in Falkirk, but it has been widely adopted elsewhere. The main financial saving you get from this approach is avoiding business rates. I am not sure what the situation is in Scotland, but business rates in England are now localised so an authority that takes this route will cut expenditure in paying business rates, but then lose the equivalent amount in revenue, so I would imagine fewer authorities will be taking it up in future.
5) Trusts can be a vehicle for privatisation. They don't have to be, as they can effectively be publicly owned, rather like a housing ALMO. However, this is a route being taken in Harrow and Ealing. Privatisation obviously makes things less flexible for the future as management is determined by the terms of the contract, and it may be possible to vary a contract by agreement. I don't see that the private sector are really likely to be more efficient than public sector managers per se, although they may be less subject to political control.
6) There is the Big Society approach, which many people suspect is just a slow motion closure programme. Certainly, I am not convinced that this generates substantial savings, and it may generate further demands for money and other forms of support from the supposedly independent partners.
Finally, there is the Brent model of concentrating on high quality services from a smaller number of buildings, which I prefer.
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
Misleading the Public
Paul Krugman cites some data that many Americans who benefit from Medicare simply don't realise that it is a government programme. It is common for the British to adopt superior airs when hearing such stories, but I suspect we have a similar blind spot.
Much of the Tory Party's success in demonising people who take benefits comes from their success in portraying such people as an unsavoury underclass who take benefits as a way of living and never contribute. In fact, most people who depend on benefits are people on low pay or pensioners, not the semi-criminals that the Daily Mail would have us all believe. I have spoken to people who are themselves on benefits who very much want benefits to be cut, because they believe that are not on benefits and never will be. It is similar, but perhaps even more striking than, the similar myth that income tax is the only form of tax that counts, and that people who do not pay income tax are not taxpayers.
Much of the Tory Party's success in demonising people who take benefits comes from their success in portraying such people as an unsavoury underclass who take benefits as a way of living and never contribute. In fact, most people who depend on benefits are people on low pay or pensioners, not the semi-criminals that the Daily Mail would have us all believe. I have spoken to people who are themselves on benefits who very much want benefits to be cut, because they believe that are not on benefits and never will be. It is similar, but perhaps even more striking than, the similar myth that income tax is the only form of tax that counts, and that people who do not pay income tax are not taxpayers.
Monday, 26 August 2013
Street Trees in Kilburn
The comment on my recent post on regenerating Kilburn High Road pleads for more street trees in Kilburn. There is a scheme that might provide these, and I have passed the comment on to the Kilburn councillors. The same scheme can be used for providing street trees any where in the Borough. Last year it contributed to the seventy street trees planted in Kensal Green, for example.
I have long been an advocate of street trees. Charles is absolutely right in pointing out the advantages in terms of shade, slowing down water flow, improving air quality, making streets look better and mitigating the heat island effect.
Specifically in Kilburn, I know that BEST (Brent Eleven Streets) has been effective in promoting street trees at the southern end of Willesden Lane, and some of the streets off Kilburn High Road, such as Brondesbury Road have historically had a lot of street trees. The dearth in Kilburn has always struck me as being more at the South Kilburn end. Hopefully, the number of trees will be increased as South Kilburn regenerates.
I have long been an advocate of street trees. Charles is absolutely right in pointing out the advantages in terms of shade, slowing down water flow, improving air quality, making streets look better and mitigating the heat island effect.
Specifically in Kilburn, I know that BEST (Brent Eleven Streets) has been effective in promoting street trees at the southern end of Willesden Lane, and some of the streets off Kilburn High Road, such as Brondesbury Road have historically had a lot of street trees. The dearth in Kilburn has always struck me as being more at the South Kilburn end. Hopefully, the number of trees will be increased as South Kilburn regenerates.
Sunday, 25 August 2013
Entry to Harlesden Town Centre
The improvements to Station Approach mean that we now have a route into Harlesden Town Centre, where you can walk over the improved Station Approach, the improved bridge and up the improved Station Road to Harlesden Town Centre where improvement work is still being done.
It has taken a lot of effort, but I think that is quite a lot of improvement.
Saturday, 24 August 2013
Living Walls
The completion of London's biggest living wall was recently announced. The publicity surrounding such projects is often about how "green" and sustainable they are, but I do wonder how true this is. Moving a large amount of soil in and putting it in a vertical framework, presumably with some sort of artificial irrigation system does not strike me as an especially sustainable approach. I am sure it must reduce surface water flooding in the immediate area, but it seems an immensely elaborate way to do so.
Friday, 23 August 2013
More Progress on Car Clubs
A German company appears to be driving further progress in car clubs. Car2go offer minute by minute rental, unlike the hourly rental currently prevalent? You also supposed to be able to park them anywhere in a home zone, and use them without pre-booking. I can certainly imagine the greater flexibility being attractive to many people.
It surprises me therefore that they claim London is actually quite difficult to break into. Brent, following Labour's election in 2010, has (I thought) an extremely pro car club policy. We encourage the use of car club cars by Brent employees. More strikingly, we allow car club cars to park anywhere within a CPZ. This seemed such a huge advantage when we introduced it along with emission based permits in 2011, that I was worried it would lead to enormous congestion. That does not appear to have happened however,
The advantages of car clubs are enormous. They cut congestion by reducing the numbers of vehicles. They reduce pollution by encouraging forms of transport other than the car. They cut the cost to the car user enormously.
I am convinced that they will be seen as a major part of London's transport solutions in a few years time.
It surprises me therefore that they claim London is actually quite difficult to break into. Brent, following Labour's election in 2010, has (I thought) an extremely pro car club policy. We encourage the use of car club cars by Brent employees. More strikingly, we allow car club cars to park anywhere within a CPZ. This seemed such a huge advantage when we introduced it along with emission based permits in 2011, that I was worried it would lead to enormous congestion. That does not appear to have happened however,
The advantages of car clubs are enormous. They cut congestion by reducing the numbers of vehicles. They reduce pollution by encouraging forms of transport other than the car. They cut the cost to the car user enormously.
I am convinced that they will be seen as a major part of London's transport solutions in a few years time.
Thursday, 22 August 2013
The Importance of Air Quality Monitoring
The Guardian gives an example of central government running down public services gradually, in the proposal to remove requirements for air quality monitoring. It is worth going through the steps that bit by bit damage and eventually destroy the public good in this case, as it is fairly typical.
1) Demonise public services as red tape and bureaucracy. This can be done by a number of often spurious or misleading stories of waste or extravagance presented as typical of local democracy. As anyone familiar with the pronouncements of Eric Pickles knows, they can be highly misleading or even totally untrue. The end result is that public spending start to be seen as automatically bad.
2) Remove the need for "non essential" services that actually underpin wider services. In this case, any effective measures against polluters will become impossible because there will be no legal evidence to back it up, and tackling air quality in general will become more difficult as there will be less evidence to make a business/political case for intervention.
3) Create a financial crisis in institutions so that make short term cuts even at the expense of longer term goals.
The short term effects in Brent of cuts to air quality monitoring will be to make it even more difficult to take action on Neasden Goods Yard, one of the worst air pollution sites in London. The Environment Agency tends to drag its feet on enforcement on this site anyway. Without a record of air quality measurements maintained over time, there would not be a basis for legal action.
The longer term effect of not monitoring the high level pollution of parts of Brent would be to reduce the pressure for measures to improve air quality, particularly regarding transport emissions.
Another job well done for Eric Pickles.
1) Demonise public services as red tape and bureaucracy. This can be done by a number of often spurious or misleading stories of waste or extravagance presented as typical of local democracy. As anyone familiar with the pronouncements of Eric Pickles knows, they can be highly misleading or even totally untrue. The end result is that public spending start to be seen as automatically bad.
2) Remove the need for "non essential" services that actually underpin wider services. In this case, any effective measures against polluters will become impossible because there will be no legal evidence to back it up, and tackling air quality in general will become more difficult as there will be less evidence to make a business/political case for intervention.
3) Create a financial crisis in institutions so that make short term cuts even at the expense of longer term goals.
The short term effects in Brent of cuts to air quality monitoring will be to make it even more difficult to take action on Neasden Goods Yard, one of the worst air pollution sites in London. The Environment Agency tends to drag its feet on enforcement on this site anyway. Without a record of air quality measurements maintained over time, there would not be a basis for legal action.
The longer term effect of not monitoring the high level pollution of parts of Brent would be to reduce the pressure for measures to improve air quality, particularly regarding transport emissions.
Another job well done for Eric Pickles.
Wednesday, 21 August 2013
More Government Housing Failure
More evidence of the government's failures on housing comes from the Liberal Democrat comments on housing standards. The shrinking size of UK housing (and the long term shrinkage quoted in the Guardian report is truly shocking) is now being driven by the lack of supply. This also leads to the beds in sheds phenomenon and overcrowding in legitimate housing. In turn, pushing far too many people in to sub standard housing has awful knock on effects in health, economic productivity, quality of life, pressures on public services and even crime.
Meanwhile George Osborne's help to buy simply pushes up prices without increasing housing supply. The "help to buy" phrase really applies to him buying the next election.
Meanwhile George Osborne's help to buy simply pushes up prices without increasing housing supply. The "help to buy" phrase really applies to him buying the next election.
Tuesday, 20 August 2013
Regeneration and Kilburn High Road
A while ago I did a post on regeneration of Willesden High Road. I think that even some fairly modest improvements could bring it up to a much better standard, but an even more obvious candidate is Kilburn High Road.
Kilburn High Road is supposed to be one of Brent's two district shopping centres, but it has no real plans to do anything with it at present. This is a shame as it has three potential draws to bring people in from a wide area. They are the Tricycle Theatre, the church in the old cinema and the market near the Cock Tavern. The Tricycle I think is very successful and really going places in renewing itself. The church I think has potential to draw lots of people to the area, but there is a real danger that they will go away again without really engaging. The market seems to me to need to rethink what it's USP is, as the current range of stalls strikes me as quite limited.
In terms of what Brent Council can do, I think there are two main things. One would be to set up a proper relationship with Camden. There is occasional LP service to this idea, but it needs a more permanent arrangement, perhaps like the joint Welsh Harp Committee Brent shares with Barnet.
The second is a big improvement in the public realm to reduce congestion and improve the walk ability of the area for pedestrians. I don't see any prospect of the kind of major scheme underway in Harlesden Town Centre, but more modest and incremental improvements should be possible.
UPDATE
Always good to meet another street tree supporter. I have put some more details here.
Kilburn High Road is supposed to be one of Brent's two district shopping centres, but it has no real plans to do anything with it at present. This is a shame as it has three potential draws to bring people in from a wide area. They are the Tricycle Theatre, the church in the old cinema and the market near the Cock Tavern. The Tricycle I think is very successful and really going places in renewing itself. The church I think has potential to draw lots of people to the area, but there is a real danger that they will go away again without really engaging. The market seems to me to need to rethink what it's USP is, as the current range of stalls strikes me as quite limited.
In terms of what Brent Council can do, I think there are two main things. One would be to set up a proper relationship with Camden. There is occasional LP service to this idea, but it needs a more permanent arrangement, perhaps like the joint Welsh Harp Committee Brent shares with Barnet.
The second is a big improvement in the public realm to reduce congestion and improve the walk ability of the area for pedestrians. I don't see any prospect of the kind of major scheme underway in Harlesden Town Centre, but more modest and incremental improvements should be possible.
UPDATE
Always good to meet another street tree supporter. I have put some more details here.
Monday, 19 August 2013
Eric Pickles and the Disappearing Weekly Collections
I saw a press report on Saturday making more claims about rubbish collections. It struck me as the latest stage in Eric Pickles mendacious campaign on the subject. Before we get to it, let's do a quick reminder about alternate weekly collections.
Councils like alternate weekly collections because they greatly increase the amount of recycling collections. This helps reduce the amount sent to landfill, which is hideously expensive and becoming more so. Landfill waste is also a big producer of methane, a leading greenhouse gas, since it has a high proportion of food waste which rots in the ground. Recycling waste, by contrast, can actually generate money as under some deals, companies are willing to pay for such raw materials.
Alternate weekly collections are therefore widely used by Councils of all political colours, including (since 2011) Brent.
Eric Pickles was going to change all that. Despite austerity, he found £250 million to try to pay Councils to reintroduce weekly collections and therefore send more waste to landfill. Here is the Daily Mail spin at the time.
Since it cost far more to take Eric Pickles' bribe than refuse it, most Councils refused.
A furious Eric Pickles threatened to force councils to adopt his favoured vanity project. So much for localism. Of course, many of these authorities are Tory run.
Which brings me back to the Saturday article. It looks like the Eric Pickles lie machine has finally realised that real life is going to win. Alternate weekly collections are just a far more effective form of rubbish collection, a much better deal for the taxpayer, and much better for the environment. Rather than plead mea culpa, what does he do?
Blame Europe.
Instead of admitting that he has been scaremongering and misleading all this time, he is now pretending it is all down to the EU, which is now said to be forcing alternate weekly collections.
How typically dishonest.
Presumably the latest remarks on bin housing are a further distraction technique. Since it is well known that adequate rubbish disposal is part of the planning process already.
Councils like alternate weekly collections because they greatly increase the amount of recycling collections. This helps reduce the amount sent to landfill, which is hideously expensive and becoming more so. Landfill waste is also a big producer of methane, a leading greenhouse gas, since it has a high proportion of food waste which rots in the ground. Recycling waste, by contrast, can actually generate money as under some deals, companies are willing to pay for such raw materials.
Alternate weekly collections are therefore widely used by Councils of all political colours, including (since 2011) Brent.
Eric Pickles was going to change all that. Despite austerity, he found £250 million to try to pay Councils to reintroduce weekly collections and therefore send more waste to landfill. Here is the Daily Mail spin at the time.
Since it cost far more to take Eric Pickles' bribe than refuse it, most Councils refused.
A furious Eric Pickles threatened to force councils to adopt his favoured vanity project. So much for localism. Of course, many of these authorities are Tory run.
Which brings me back to the Saturday article. It looks like the Eric Pickles lie machine has finally realised that real life is going to win. Alternate weekly collections are just a far more effective form of rubbish collection, a much better deal for the taxpayer, and much better for the environment. Rather than plead mea culpa, what does he do?
Blame Europe.
Instead of admitting that he has been scaremongering and misleading all this time, he is now pretending it is all down to the EU, which is now said to be forcing alternate weekly collections.
How typically dishonest.
Presumably the latest remarks on bin housing are a further distraction technique. Since it is well known that adequate rubbish disposal is part of the planning process already.
Sunday, 18 August 2013
Shanice at the Civic Centre
One of the more surprising technological innovations in Brent's civic centre is here. She is part of Brent's registration and nationality service.
UPDATE
I note that this has become subject to a typically ill informed and ill thought out comment by the Liberal Democrats via Cllr Alison Hopkins. Aside from the knee jerk opposition to new technology, she characteristically ignores the coatings. The one off cost of a hologram is £12k; an "apprentice" would need not only to be trained but presumably even the Liberal Democrats would expect s/he to be given an ongoing salary.
UPDATE
I note that this has become subject to a typically ill informed and ill thought out comment by the Liberal Democrats via Cllr Alison Hopkins. Aside from the knee jerk opposition to new technology, she characteristically ignores the coatings. The one off cost of a hologram is £12k; an "apprentice" would need not only to be trained but presumably even the Liberal Democrats would expect s/he to be given an ongoing salary.
Barnet And Parking Case
Barnet recently had a case awarded against it for excessive parking charges in CPZs. I am still thinking about how this might impact on Brent. There seems to be a case that Barnet was nakedly pursuing money raising in a way Brent has not, but the reporting does not differentiate between penalty notices and general fees.
Saturday, 17 August 2013
Improved Road Surface at Willesden Junction Station Approach
My final before and after photo of Station Approach shows the worn out road surface that buses passed over. The new surface, which is to a much higher standard is below. Altering the camber of the road has also reduced the ponding issues.
Friday, 16 August 2013
George Monbiot on Street Trees
George Monbiot has been writing about street trees. Whilst I am glad he is raising the profile of the subject, I am struck that he seems to ignore some issues that many local authorities regard as central.
Chief among them is insurance. For Councils like Brent this is one of the major factors in street tree management. Species like London Plane can grow to a huge size, and their roots start to undermine people's houses. Insurance companies then have a valid claim against the tree owner, the Council in the case of a street tree. Once a successful claim is made for one tree in a street, it is frequently followed by a cluster of similar claims in the same area. Avoiding the expense of such claims is a major factor for Councils.
A second issue he seems to underestimate is the difficulty of planting trees sustainably. Urban environments are distinctly unfriendly to trees with paved areas depriving them of water, pollution especially from traffic, high temperatures in Summer and so on. Finding tree species robust enough to cope needs specialist knowledge. I don't know whether the species list used by our own contractor Gristwood and Toms is the best one, but the point is that you need an arboriculturalist to make a judgement.
The third issue that occurs to me is the practical one of uniformity. As well as encouraging biodiversity, a variety of different species should make the tree stock less vulnerable to particular diseases such as ash tree dieback. Those are obviously important advantages. However, Councils also have to look after very large numbers of trees. In Brent's case we have about 27,000 street trees spread over about 480km of streets. Treating each tree as an individual sounds lovely but entails great expense. For such a large number of trees, you realistically need a more standardised approach for cost reasons.
The Guardian version of his article also carries a lot of comments lamenting the supposed negative effects of budget reductions on biodiversity. I actually think the opposite is true. Brent has systematically changed its planting regime in parks in the past three years. I have been advised that this is better for biodiversity overall. I must admit that aesthetically I preferred the kind of flowerbeds you used to have at the entrance to Roundwood Park, but in terms of biodiversity those flowerbeds were not especially rich. They were also expensive to plant and maintain, and very water thirsty.
Chief among them is insurance. For Councils like Brent this is one of the major factors in street tree management. Species like London Plane can grow to a huge size, and their roots start to undermine people's houses. Insurance companies then have a valid claim against the tree owner, the Council in the case of a street tree. Once a successful claim is made for one tree in a street, it is frequently followed by a cluster of similar claims in the same area. Avoiding the expense of such claims is a major factor for Councils.
A second issue he seems to underestimate is the difficulty of planting trees sustainably. Urban environments are distinctly unfriendly to trees with paved areas depriving them of water, pollution especially from traffic, high temperatures in Summer and so on. Finding tree species robust enough to cope needs specialist knowledge. I don't know whether the species list used by our own contractor Gristwood and Toms is the best one, but the point is that you need an arboriculturalist to make a judgement.
The third issue that occurs to me is the practical one of uniformity. As well as encouraging biodiversity, a variety of different species should make the tree stock less vulnerable to particular diseases such as ash tree dieback. Those are obviously important advantages. However, Councils also have to look after very large numbers of trees. In Brent's case we have about 27,000 street trees spread over about 480km of streets. Treating each tree as an individual sounds lovely but entails great expense. For such a large number of trees, you realistically need a more standardised approach for cost reasons.
The Guardian version of his article also carries a lot of comments lamenting the supposed negative effects of budget reductions on biodiversity. I actually think the opposite is true. Brent has systematically changed its planting regime in parks in the past three years. I have been advised that this is better for biodiversity overall. I must admit that aesthetically I preferred the kind of flowerbeds you used to have at the entrance to Roundwood Park, but in terms of biodiversity those flowerbeds were not especially rich. They were also expensive to plant and maintain, and very water thirsty.
Thursday, 15 August 2013
Harlesden Incinerator Decision Deferred
Last night, Ealing deferred making a decision on the Harlesden Incinerator proposal, largely because of fear relating to air quality. I would regard this as a minor victory in what may well turn out to be a long war.
UPDATE
As I have pointed out before, the proposed West London waste facility is not situated in the immediate neighbourhood of residential housing. It is sited on an old chemicals works.
UPDATE
As I have pointed out before, the proposed West London waste facility is not situated in the immediate neighbourhood of residential housing. It is sited on an old chemicals works.