Street gritting tends to get forgotten most of the year, but reappears as soon as it snows. The new contract plans that the contractor will provide a new salt barn in Brent, as well as more equipment to move the salt around. The inclusion of parks staff under one contract means that there will be more people to actually do the gritting than at present. I assume that the contractor will continue to use the excellent weather forecasting service, which I am told already saves significant sums in unecessary salt usage.
I have never heard this officially, but I assume lower salt usage is also helpful in terms of biodiversity, as a lower amount of dissolved salt eventually drains off into the ground.
Monday, 14 October 2013
Summer Reading Challenge in Brent Libraries
A recent blog on public libraries news mentions Brent's Summer Reading Challenge figures. The target for this year was 4,431 children as joiners, and the service actually achieved 4,483 joiners. The target for finishers was 2,360, and the actual figure was 2,401. This is an even better performance than last year.
Sunday, 13 October 2013
Brent Libraries First Half Performance
I have got into the habit of tracking Brent Library figures here, so it seems like a good time to look at the half year performance.
Up to the end of September, we had 751,850 visits compared to 680,333 in the same period in the previous year. That is an increase of 10%. The book loan figures have more modest growth. The year so far had 485,949 loans, compared to 483,073, growth of 0.6%.
There is a case that both these measures are rather old fashioned and we need to find different benchmarks. For instance, it has been true for a very long time that many people access libraries not to borrow books but to use computers. It is also true that many people use Brent Library services without actually going into a physical library. Brent Library users can now search the catalogue, borrow books, read periodicals, and borrow ebooks without setting foot in an actual library. This makes the traditional footfall measure much less useful than it once was.
Up to the end of September, we had 751,850 visits compared to 680,333 in the same period in the previous year. That is an increase of 10%. The book loan figures have more modest growth. The year so far had 485,949 loans, compared to 483,073, growth of 0.6%.
There is a case that both these measures are rather old fashioned and we need to find different benchmarks. For instance, it has been true for a very long time that many people access libraries not to borrow books but to use computers. It is also true that many people use Brent Library services without actually going into a physical library. Brent Library users can now search the catalogue, borrow books, read periodicals, and borrow ebooks without setting foot in an actual library. This makes the traditional footfall measure much less useful than it once was.
Dunning Kruger Effect
An aside here. I have only recently come across of the Dunning-Kruger syndrome. This is defined as:
What a useful concept.
The Dunning-Kruger effect describes a cognitive bias in which people perform poorly on a task, but lack the meta-cognitive capacity to properly evaluate their performance. As a result, such people remain unaware of their incompetence and accordingly fail to take any self-improvement measures that might rid them of their incompetence.
What a useful concept.
Saturday, 12 October 2013
The New Brent Contract and the Waste Hierarchy
The report into the new waste contract coming up on Monday is written in terms of improving Brent's recycling rate, but I think it is more interesting in terms of its relations with the waste hierarchy as a whole.
The contract is quite forward looking in having explicit waste reduction targets. Traditionally, we we have tended to focus too much on upping the recycling rate. The introduction of the blue top bins led to a big jump in recycling. The package of measures introduced in April this year should hopefully raise the recycling rate to 50%. As the rate gets even higher, pushing it higher still; becomes more and more difficult.
I think over time, we will need to think more in terms of landfill diversion, by reduction or other means.
The contract is quite forward looking in having explicit waste reduction targets. Traditionally, we we have tended to focus too much on upping the recycling rate. The introduction of the blue top bins led to a big jump in recycling. The package of measures introduced in April this year should hopefully raise the recycling rate to 50%. As the rate gets even higher, pushing it higher still; becomes more and more difficult.
I think over time, we will need to think more in terms of landfill diversion, by reduction or other means.
Friday, 11 October 2013
Indefensible Council Tax
I am assuming that people may be a bit maxed out by the number of posts I have been doing on the new waste and street cleaning contract. It is just that, having pursued the issues for so long, it is good to see the final stages comping up.
Instead of blogging on it today, I thought I would look at a story on Council finance north of the border. Thus, I leap from one source of glamour and excitement to another. COSPA, which is the Scottish equivalent of CIPFA (i.e. the main public finance association). They point out that the Holyrood policy (which Holyrood shares with Eric Pickles) of freezing Council Tax for a small government grant is unsustainable. It gradually erodes the proportion of income that the Council itself controls. Incidentally undermining the localism rhetoric that Eric Pickles has used to cut central government grants in general.
I am not sure of the figures, but it sounds as if the Scottish figures, of only 14% of Council income coming from Council Tax, is even lower than in England.
It is tempting to try to change this by going back to the past and giving greater freedom over Council Tax levels to local authorities. Aside from the problem of this quite likely leading to massive "catch up" rises, the Council Tax taxbase has not been revalued since the early 1990s. Hence, the valuation bands have less and less connection to the reality on the ground.
I was recently reading The Poor Had No Lawyers by Andy Wightman, which is about Scottish land reform. Believe it or not, it is really quite interesting. His suggestion is introducing a Land Value Tax that taxed land, rather than the buildings on top of it. The political challenges to making that happen would be huge, but something as radical as that is probably needed.
Instead of blogging on it today, I thought I would look at a story on Council finance north of the border. Thus, I leap from one source of glamour and excitement to another. COSPA, which is the Scottish equivalent of CIPFA (i.e. the main public finance association). They point out that the Holyrood policy (which Holyrood shares with Eric Pickles) of freezing Council Tax for a small government grant is unsustainable. It gradually erodes the proportion of income that the Council itself controls. Incidentally undermining the localism rhetoric that Eric Pickles has used to cut central government grants in general.
I am not sure of the figures, but it sounds as if the Scottish figures, of only 14% of Council income coming from Council Tax, is even lower than in England.
It is tempting to try to change this by going back to the past and giving greater freedom over Council Tax levels to local authorities. Aside from the problem of this quite likely leading to massive "catch up" rises, the Council Tax taxbase has not been revalued since the early 1990s. Hence, the valuation bands have less and less connection to the reality on the ground.
I was recently reading The Poor Had No Lawyers by Andy Wightman, which is about Scottish land reform. Believe it or not, it is really quite interesting. His suggestion is introducing a Land Value Tax that taxed land, rather than the buildings on top of it. The political challenges to making that happen would be huge, but something as radical as that is probably needed.
Thursday, 10 October 2013
Street Cleaning and the New Contract
One of the most common complaints about the environment in Brent is about street cleaning. Therefore a lot of attention was paid to this aspect in the new contract. The older contract focuses on the number of cleans per week, where3as the new one (on street cleaning and other things) is more concerned with outputs. Rather than demand the contractor clean a street (say) once a week, they are required to meet a Keep Britain Tidy standard of cleanliness.
The grades they need to meet will be either A (clean) of B (with only small items). Obviously, this is easier to say than achieve.
Of particular interest to people who live near town centres such as Willesden High Road or off Kilburn High Road is an apparently arcane change in zoning. The old contract had five zones, with most of the Borough regarded as "residential" and getting fewer cleans than town centres. This sounds fine in principle, but provides problems for areas such as Wendover Road just off Harlesden High Street. Here litter blows off the High Street and more litter is dropped by the high number of people going through to Willesden Junction. The effect is that Wendover Road needs more frequent cleaning than most of Brent's streets. The old contract did not have the flexibility to deal with this. The new contract is intended to give greater flexibility by making the relationship between need and resource much stronger.
The grades they need to meet will be either A (clean) of B (with only small items). Obviously, this is easier to say than achieve.
Of particular interest to people who live near town centres such as Willesden High Road or off Kilburn High Road is an apparently arcane change in zoning. The old contract had five zones, with most of the Borough regarded as "residential" and getting fewer cleans than town centres. This sounds fine in principle, but provides problems for areas such as Wendover Road just off Harlesden High Street. Here litter blows off the High Street and more litter is dropped by the high number of people going through to Willesden Junction. The effect is that Wendover Road needs more frequent cleaning than most of Brent's streets. The old contract did not have the flexibility to deal with this. The new contract is intended to give greater flexibility by making the relationship between need and resource much stronger.
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
Communications and the New Street Cleaning Contract
One of the key changes in working practices of the new waste and street cleaning contract is in the greater role the contractor will have in communications. This is a definite shift from the current situation which is much more led by Brent Council officers.
The new arrangement commits the contractor to various waste reduction targets, and gives it the responsibility for communicating with residents to achieve them. Hence there are targets for attending road shows and events, the contractor will be expected to be more pro-active in producing recycling materials and there is expected to be more scope for anti-litter campaigns.
Incidentally, isn't it odd that most of the conversations that I have with people about littering seem to blame the people picking up the litter rather than the people who dropped it in the first place?
The new arrangement commits the contractor to various waste reduction targets, and gives it the responsibility for communicating with residents to achieve them. Hence there are targets for attending road shows and events, the contractor will be expected to be more pro-active in producing recycling materials and there is expected to be more scope for anti-litter campaigns.
Incidentally, isn't it odd that most of the conversations that I have with people about littering seem to blame the people picking up the litter rather than the people who dropped it in the first place?
Brent Libraries Newspaper Service
Brent Libraries have now introduced a new newspapers service, which anyone with a library card can access online. It has a vast range of newspapers from the UK and around the world. Most of the major UK titles are there, with the exception of the Murdoch press (no bad thing in my view).
When we did the consultation exercise in 2011, just over half of respondents said that they used Brent libraries specifically to access periodicals, so the new service should be a winner.
When we did the consultation exercise in 2011, just over half of respondents said that they used Brent libraries specifically to access periodicals, so the new service should be a winner.
Tuesday, 8 October 2013
Future Harlesden Town Centre Waste Management
It is too soon to see whether the trial waste enforcement I blogged on earlier will have long term effects. I think that, if it does, it will be through the greater use of trade waste contracts. If it were possible to sustain the drop in illegal waste over a year, that would be roughly fifty tonnes, which is a saving worth having. I think getting shopkeepers to sign up to contracts, as they are legally obliged to, is the most hopeful measure for sustaining the improvement.
The other longer term measure that will have to be considered in the possibility of time banded collections. This is a feature I was particularly keen that we be able to introduce in the new contract from next year. I saw that this worked well when I went on a visit to Green Lanes in Haringey, and I have heard that it is effective in parts of Westminster and other places, but it would need a positive effort to get it in place.In other words, getting local businesses actively engaged becomes a key part of the success of any scheme.
The other longer term measure that will have to be considered in the possibility of time banded collections. This is a feature I was particularly keen that we be able to introduce in the new contract from next year. I saw that this worked well when I went on a visit to Green Lanes in Haringey, and I have heard that it is effective in parts of Westminster and other places, but it would need a positive effort to get it in place.In other words, getting local businesses actively engaged becomes a key part of the success of any scheme.
Waste and Street Cleaning Contract at Last
Next Monday, the Executive will finally make a decision on the new waste and street cleaning contract, which is due to come into force in April next year. Although this is the final stage, the negotiation has gone on for the best part of a year. Indeed, if you count the meetings I and the then Council Leader had with Veolia about these issues, the whole thing goes back more than two years.
Complexity
The sheer complexity of procurement now is not widely appreciated, and too much for one post. I think I will be doing multiple posts on this subject as it is so central and deserves more attention. The Social Value Act requires the Council to pay regard to social and environmental effects, and the Equality Act demands attention be paid to the various "protected characteristics" under that legislation. This is the reason for much of the (to me) fascinating demographic details at the back.
We also decided to bundle a wide range of services together, including _ street cleaning, waste collection, maintenance of parks and services for BHP _ making it all even more complicated. The whole thing was done under what is called a "competitive dialogue procedure".
I recall going through one of the many drafts of the specification well before Christmas last year, which is when the process officially started with an OJEU notice (a kind of official advertisement).
Stages
We then went through the various stages, which are standard to all procurements of this type. We had the pre qualification questionnaires, which are intended to make sure all the bidders have the basic ability to fulfil a contract of this complexity. Then bidders were invited to put in their suggested outline solutions, which they did in February and March. The next stage saw the number of bidders reduced to three, who were asked to give more detailed solutions. This was in April. The bids were then evaluated and the final tender held in July.
All this involved extremely detailed, and I am told extremely gruelling, discussions between the bidders and a team of Brent officers, leading the recommendation for Veolia ES (UK) Ltd on Monday.
I think the rigour of the process can be seen in the final report.
Complexity
The sheer complexity of procurement now is not widely appreciated, and too much for one post. I think I will be doing multiple posts on this subject as it is so central and deserves more attention. The Social Value Act requires the Council to pay regard to social and environmental effects, and the Equality Act demands attention be paid to the various "protected characteristics" under that legislation. This is the reason for much of the (to me) fascinating demographic details at the back.
We also decided to bundle a wide range of services together, including _ street cleaning, waste collection, maintenance of parks and services for BHP _ making it all even more complicated. The whole thing was done under what is called a "competitive dialogue procedure".
I recall going through one of the many drafts of the specification well before Christmas last year, which is when the process officially started with an OJEU notice (a kind of official advertisement).
Stages
We then went through the various stages, which are standard to all procurements of this type. We had the pre qualification questionnaires, which are intended to make sure all the bidders have the basic ability to fulfil a contract of this complexity. Then bidders were invited to put in their suggested outline solutions, which they did in February and March. The next stage saw the number of bidders reduced to three, who were asked to give more detailed solutions. This was in April. The bids were then evaluated and the final tender held in July.
All this involved extremely detailed, and I am told extremely gruelling, discussions between the bidders and a team of Brent officers, leading the recommendation for Veolia ES (UK) Ltd on Monday.
I think the rigour of the process can be seen in the final report.
Brent Central Kicks Off
Those people who live in Brent Central and are members of the Labour Party, a select group I imagine, are about to be inundated with would be candidates seeking attention. First off the blocks is Tony McNulty. Official notification of the start of the process begins this week.
Monday, 7 October 2013
Ward Working Projects in Kensal Green
The scheme for a Mosaic in Furness Pocket Park that I mentioned a few days ago is the last of the Kensal Green ward working projects to be finalised this year. The others in no particular order are:
Engagement with recycling in "Clean Up" days
This is being led by REACH residents association, and only costs £876. As well as encouraging recycling, they help to bring different community groups together. The grant also including the "Big Green Lunch" at Furness primary school, done jointly with the Odessa and Palermo Road RA.
More Street Trees
Last year, we managed to find funding for seventy street trees in Kensal Green for a variety of sources. This year, we allocated £2,500 of ward working funds to more street trees. That should be enough for about ten more trees.
Walls of Colour
This a project costing only £600 of ward working funding. The idea is to have residents doing oil painting on a series of canvasses. It featured in the Big Green Lunch. The canvasses will eventually be displayed in the Civic Centre in the art display area behind the stairs.
Debt and Benefits Advice
With so much pressure on the cost of living, the Council is doing a specific programme to help people with debt and benefits advice. At £10,000, this is the most expensive of the Kensal Green ward working projects, and perhaps the most pressing. Our £10,000 will be specifically targeted at Kensal Green residents.
LEAP Community Centre Equipment
LEAP, which is primarily an employment trainer in Hazel Road, also runs a youth centre. We decided to give £1,850 towards equipment there.
Bang Radio Media Skills
We decided to give Bang Radio £3,000 to help people develop new skills related to running a radio station. As well as training a number of people in broadcasting and radio production, it will help raise awareness around welfare issues.
Elders Voice Sing Together
This is an intergenerational project designed to bring children and older people together. The cost is £3,970, and is likely to involve children from Princess Frederica School in a series of singing workshops with older people.
Sports Activities at the Hazel Road MUGA
We have paid for sports activities at the Hazel Road MUGA before, but this links in with training. Recently, Brent Sports service has been working to develop an apprentice scheme at Capital City Academy. As well as providing a couple of activity schemes per week for three months, this would nalso aim to help perhaps ten people get qualifications in sports training.
Altogether, I think that is quite a varied number of projects that helps demonstrate the value of ward working.
Engagement with recycling in "Clean Up" days
This is being led by REACH residents association, and only costs £876. As well as encouraging recycling, they help to bring different community groups together. The grant also including the "Big Green Lunch" at Furness primary school, done jointly with the Odessa and Palermo Road RA.
More Street Trees
Last year, we managed to find funding for seventy street trees in Kensal Green for a variety of sources. This year, we allocated £2,500 of ward working funds to more street trees. That should be enough for about ten more trees.
Walls of Colour
This a project costing only £600 of ward working funding. The idea is to have residents doing oil painting on a series of canvasses. It featured in the Big Green Lunch. The canvasses will eventually be displayed in the Civic Centre in the art display area behind the stairs.
Debt and Benefits Advice
With so much pressure on the cost of living, the Council is doing a specific programme to help people with debt and benefits advice. At £10,000, this is the most expensive of the Kensal Green ward working projects, and perhaps the most pressing. Our £10,000 will be specifically targeted at Kensal Green residents.
LEAP Community Centre Equipment
LEAP, which is primarily an employment trainer in Hazel Road, also runs a youth centre. We decided to give £1,850 towards equipment there.
Bang Radio Media Skills
We decided to give Bang Radio £3,000 to help people develop new skills related to running a radio station. As well as training a number of people in broadcasting and radio production, it will help raise awareness around welfare issues.
Elders Voice Sing Together
This is an intergenerational project designed to bring children and older people together. The cost is £3,970, and is likely to involve children from Princess Frederica School in a series of singing workshops with older people.
Sports Activities at the Hazel Road MUGA
We have paid for sports activities at the Hazel Road MUGA before, but this links in with training. Recently, Brent Sports service has been working to develop an apprentice scheme at Capital City Academy. As well as providing a couple of activity schemes per week for three months, this would nalso aim to help perhaps ten people get qualifications in sports training.
Altogether, I think that is quite a varied number of projects that helps demonstrate the value of ward working.
Sunday, 6 October 2013
Metal Thefts
Four day ago, the new metal theft regulations came into force. This is a great relief. In Harlesden and Kensal Green, we have had a number of major thefts. This includes the metal head that used to be outside the Harlesden Tesco, and the gate that was installed with ward working money by the Misty Moon. Both must have been difficult acts of theft that demanded a lot of planning. Hopefully, now that scrap metaphor metal is made harder to dispose of without an audit trail, such thefts will diminish.
Saturday, 5 October 2013
Town Green Rules Changed
It looks as if the government is beginning a slow retreat from its enthusiasm for community buyouts. I say this as, it has now introduced changes making nomination for "Town Green" status more difficult. The fears cited are that the legislation is just a means to impede planning permissions and imposes a costly inquiry process. This certainly was the Brent experience over the redevelopment of Willesden Green Library Centre. The Inquiry caused a lengthy delay in time and an unneeded expenditure of public resource for no obvious purpose.
Friday, 4 October 2013
Brent Central Parliamentary Selection
I picked up a copy of the Willesden and Brent Times at the Wembley ASDA today. It was as interesting for those, the journalists decided not to mention, as for those they did.
Betting Shops Dragging High Streets Down
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.
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.
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.