Paul Lorber and Barham Park

I see Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North has started a campaign to stop the Liberal Democrats building on Barham Park. Paul Lorber wants to erect some flats inside the green space. What is striking about this is that not only does it follow on from the defeat of the "Greenhouse" application to build flats inside Welsh Harp open space, but in the past the Liberal Democrats themselves opposed building on Barham Park. Now Cllr Paul Lorber (Brent's Liberal Democrat Leader) seems to have turned their position around.

Fire Authority Cuts

Tory Troll blogs on the kind of Fire Service cuts that the Tories need Bertha Joseph to vote through. Station closures ar not ruled out. Other measures considered are reducing the fire engine teams, reducing the number of engines and doing away with some of the existing posts altogether.

Deficits

Paul Krugman gives his take on the calls for immediate austerity in UK public spending here. Clegg and Cameron seem to have been rather quieter on this then they were last year.

Town Market in Harlesden?

There has been some interest in starting a market in Harlesden on the Keep Harlesden Clean facebook page. Officers have suggested to me that Craven Park Road moght have sufficent space for a small market. Do people think this would be a good idea?

The Sad Fate of Party Defectors

I have been pondering on the sad fate of party defectors. Brent has seen a number of these over the years. Kensal Green's own Bertha Joseph follows in the footsteps of previous luminaries Poline Nyaga and Nkechi Amalu-Johnson. The common pattern is that they join their new party with a fanfare, often being given some extra appointment or money (or both in the case of Bertha Joseph), and then start a long slide into obscurity.

The first defector on Brent Council for some years was Cllr Carol Shaw. She was first elected as a Conservative councillor in Cricklewood. After falling out with her Tory colleagues she leapt into the arms of Sarah Teather during the Brent East by-election. I expect she hoped to be rewarded with office if the Liberal Democrats gained power in Brent. By 2006, however, most of her usefullness was over, and she remains an isolated figure in the Lib Dem group, when she attends any Council meetings at all.

The second was Bertha Joseph, whose departure from the Labour Group I found a great relief. The sheer eccentricity of her demands to be invited to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party were just embarrassing. I dare say that many of her new Tory colleagues felt similar embarrassment when she used the first Full Council meeting after her departure to refer to herself as a "black witch" and promised that she would "cast spells over you". Of course, Boris Johnson now needs her vote to control the London Fire Authority, so she will have a short while left in the limelight. However, I notice that the Conservative Party does not seem to be giving her any support in Kensal Green, not even a single leaflet since immediately after her defection. The Tories certainly don't seemed to be much bothered whether she survives as a councillor.

Saddest of all is Francis Eniola, who defected most recently, but has disappeared more completely than of the others.

Given that this is the pattern for all these defectors, it makes me wonder why they do it in the first place.

Front Desk Police Service

I have now been told that there will be a front desk police service at the Safer Neighbourhood Base on Station Road eventually. The intention is to use it for crime prevention issues, but I don't see how they can avoid having people come in to report crimes. It is not as if you can turn people away to Harlesden Police Station.

Road Resurfacing on Holland Road NW10

Holland Road was being resurfaced this morning. Along with Buchanan Gardens, Holland Road is a Road I have often told Transport offficers was in need of resurfacing. Whether this actually carries any weight in their timetable of works I don't know.

Wrottesley Road Burst Main

As I blogged previously, I thought Thames Water were very quick in sorting out the burst water main in Wrottesley Road. Here is how it looked at 7.40am:

At 11.21am, it looked like this:

This morning it looked like this:

Estate Agent Boards

My colleague Cllr Lesley Jones has a piece on estate agent boards here. One of the problems of tackling this sort of thing through enforcement action is picked up by a commentator to Lesley's post; how do the enforcement officers know when the property is let or sold? A second issue is overstretch among Brent Council's Planning enforcement team. This has already led to some relaxing of enforcement over more minor issues. Possibly it might make sense to approach the estate agents directly and agree a Code of Practice, rather than dealing with it on a case by case basis.

Willesden Junction Task Group

My visit to the Overview & Scrutiny Committee last Tuesday night was not as successful as I hoped. We are so close to the next local elections that no one wants to decide to do anything given that the composition of the Committee may be about to change dramatically. However, the Committee did agree to make an approach to Hammersmith & Fulham to find out if they had any interest in some sort of joint approach.

Wrottesley Road Water Main

If you live on Wrottesley Road or one of the streets off it (Odessa, Palermo, Leghorn etc.), you may have had problems with your water supply recently. This is because of another water main burst. This time just by the traffic island at the junction of Furness Road and Wrottesley Road.

Although I have moaned about thames Water in the past, they were very quick off the mark this time. I reported the burst as I came out my front door at about 7.40am. I was just in time to see the Thames Water van driving off when I returned at 9.30am. They have done a temporary patch to reduce the flow, and I assume they will be back for a more permanent solution later.

Tombstone Poster Parodies

Fans of the David Cameron spoof posters may like to know that the Tory Tombstone poster has been a similar inspiration.

Harlesden Tesco

I have heard back about the water leakage behind the Harlesden Tesco. Apparently it is coming from a freshwater drain, which is the responsibility of Thames Water. Had it been a foulwater outlet it could have been a number of different owners. However, as the owner is identified, it will hopefully be put right quickly.

Town Centre Design

On Tuesday I went to the Harlesden Town Centre design event, which I thought was a great success. More than 50 people attended, which I thought was exceptional given the cold weather and the slightly out of centre location.

We had a long discussion led by Alan Simpson. His web site gives you some idea of the stuff he spoke about. But we also had a lot of ideas from the other people present. This is just as well since the consultants are supposed to be faciliatating a "town team" of local people. Some of the ideas went beyond the likely funding, but the ideas I found most useful were:

The importance of independent shops in creating the Centre's character
The importance of ethnic diversity in creating the fell of Harlesden
The detrimental effect of the shabby approach from Willesden Junction up Station Road
The importance of having a performance space for the centre
The centrality of traffic and parking problems in Harlesden Town Centre.

You can find a full record of the comments made here.

There are two major future events which anyone can turn up to. The big one will be a design workshop on 19 and 20 March, which will be an all day drop in centre. Before that, there is likely to be an evening session on 1 March, probably again at the Unity Centre at 103 Church Road.

Front Desk Service at Police Base

Chris Garvey has a sound point in complaining about the lack of a front desk service at the new Safer Neighbourhood Team base on Ranelagh Road. I thought that one of the main points of such bases was supposed to be bringing the police officers closer to the community. With three teams based there, it should be possible to open for at least some hours, I would have thought. I shall try to find out more.

Park Parade Resurfacing

I was glad to see last Saturday that the area of Park Parade that had the water leak was finally resurfaced. But why was it so long after the leak was repaired?

Brent Liberal Democrat Dishonesty Summarised

Do you ever feel the need to have a quick summary of the dishonesty and broken promises of Sarah Teather and Brent Liberal Democrats? If so, I have created this page for you. I think I need to add to it a bit more, but here is the first version.

BBC Interview Navin Shah on Bertha Joseph

The BBC have interviewed Navin Shah on Bertha Joseph and her role on the London Fire Authority (LFEPA) here.

Boris Cutting Police Numbers

Boris Johnson is cutting police numbers by 455 officers in his current budget proposals. He loses nine this coming financial year, 273 the year after, and 173 the year after that. This is forced by the £16.4 million cut in the Police budget this year, which follows a small cut in the previous year.

Not quite what Boris was promising in May 2008.

Station Approach

It appears that Network Rail, the road owner that dares not speak its name, has finally realised the dangerous state of Station Approach. I say this as I assume that it is they who have cordoned it off (below). When will they get round to actually doing something to improve it?