WEEE Recycling at the Tricycle Theatre

From tomorrow, the Tricycle Theatre will be hosting another opportunity to recycle electrical goods.  This is in partnership with the West London Waste Authority (WLWA), and runs from 12 to 18 May.  It follows a similar initiative in January.

Willesden Green Library Images

Willesden Green Labour candidate Bernard Collier has posted a number of photographs of the building work at Willesden Library Centre here.  It includes an image of the Brondesbury Park side as it is expected to look on completion.  The view contrasts with the dead frontage provided by the old building. 

Happy World Fairtrade Day

Today is World Fairtrade Day.  Brent Fairtrade Network is teaming up with Harrow for a Fairtrade event there.

Barham Park Planning Appeal and Local Democracy

Barham Park has been the subject of a lengthy blog by Philip Grant on Wembley Matters.  Without wishing to pick on anyone, I think it worth looking at in detail as it illustrates many of the confusions about local government debates that create unnecessary heat. 

Member and Officer Roles
One of the key confusions is between the roles of members and officers.  The elected members (councillors) determine the policy of the Council in committee. The reports that committee considers is a set of recommendation by Council officers, based on their professional expertise.  Therefore the suggestion that there is a split where the officers are forcing the councillors to make a decision is wrong, and cannot be right.  When councillors feel they are being "forced" into a decision that usually means that they cannot think of an argument why the officer recommendation is wrong.  To me, that seems more likely councillors failing to engage intellectually.

Essentially, the role of officers is to give information and advice on technocratic questions like cost, legality, feasibility and so on.  The councillors are supposed to make value judgements.  For instance how much weight should be given to retaining community space compared to bringing it into use for another purpose, for example?

The odd thing about Mr Grant's post is that he explicitly refers to officers being overruled by councillors in an earlier planning decision, but seems to feel that councillors were "forced" to follow advice at a meeting of the Barham Trust where the councillors decided to appeal the planning refusal. 

The Barham Park Trust
The five members of the Barham Park Trust could have overruled the officers in exactly the same way as the Planning Committee.  They interpreted their role as trustee as appealing the planning refusal, which is entirely in line with the earlier decision to rent out the property to ACAVA.  The Council officers are simply implementing the decision that the councillors have made.  They would be professionally remiss, and probably sackable, if they did anything else.

Incidentally, I dislike the way that Mr Grant names specific officers and accuses them of particular forms of misconduct.  Not only have none of these officers committed any misconduct, by convention they cannot answer back to such accusations.  To make personal criticisms of named individuals when they cannot answer back violates the principles of basic fairness.

What is the Agenda Here?
I am now going into speculation about motives, which is risky as I think Mr Grant demonstrates.  I don't think his speculations about various peoples' motivations make sense, and in speculating on other peoples' motives I risk the same problem.  However, here goes.

This whole row has essentially been whipped up by Cllr Paul Lorber, who seems to me to have two motivations.  One is party political.  He wants to whip up controversy ahead of the election on 22 May as he thinks that may benefit his party.  That is perhaps understandable.  The second relates to his position as one of the bidders in the original tendering process.  Despite his best efforts to muscle in on the committee's decision, Cllr Lorber's bid was considered on the same basis as everyone else.  I was on the Committee and it was obvious to me that Cllr Lorber's bid was markedly inferior to that of ACAVA.  I believe that Cllr Lorber's second motivation for seeking to use legal and planning objections to block the new tenant is down to a combination of sour grapes and an attempt to use the planning process to secure a tenancy when a decision was made not to give him one. 

Lessons from New York?

Help to Buy has been condemned by both Tory and Labour former Chancellors.  Let us hope George takes notice.  It is a deeply stupid policy.

Meanwhile, the Mayor of New York is putting forward some interesting plans for affordable housing over there. New York is about as close a comparison to London as you can get, so let us hope that we can learn from whatever the Americans propose.  There is a lot in it, but as I have pointed out before, these things are not just about saying what you want and getting it.

His proposal for trading extra height for a greater proportion of affordable housing is an interesting one, which might work over here.  It could work if the economics stack up, but I can see it being controversial.  More tall buildings will not go down well with many people.  Family housing in blocks with little or no amenity space may not be suitable, and lack of family housing is one of the big problems in areas like Brent.  The big problem is that developers might simply choose not to make an application in the first place if they don't think they will get sufficient profit.

Parking in Harlesden Town Centre

It is good to see that most of the work on pavements around Harlesden Library is now complete as I went past this grey morning, but I notice that there is some parking on the pavements.  I have asked the officers to enforce against this as parking on the pavements will crack them up.

Boris Johnson Supported the Iraq War

I notice that Boris Johnson is now implying he was against the Iraq War by criticising Blair.  I went on the big anti war march, but I don't recall Boris Johnson.  Boris, as is his wont, has been frivolous on the subject before.  He has also appeared to make remarks in favour of the Iraq invasion in the past.  The BBC record him as voting against an anti invasion amendment.

I wonder what might have made him change his mind?

Total disaster maybe?

Ash Tree Dieback in Brent

An estimate of tree deaths from Ash tree dieback is out.  The figures are gloomy with 80% loss looking likely.  In Brent, we have seven or eight hundred ash trees in the streets.  That kind of death rate would be about 600, equivalent to Brent's total tree loss over one and a half years.  That is not counting however many there are in Brent's parks.

Registering to Vote

Tomorrow is the deadline to register to vote in time for the elections on 22 May.  Every election there are seats that change hands by very narrow majorities, so a handful of votes can make all the difference.

Bristol Water Slide

I can't help but remark how the Bristol Water Slide seems to add to peoples lives at very little cost.  Perhaps this message might be taken home for libraries, arts etc. as well?

Harlesden Jubilee Clock Movement

As I mentioned some time ago, this week should see the temporary removal of the Harlesden Jubilee Clock.  This is part of the final phase of the Harlesden Town Centre rebuild.  The clock will be refurbished and restored to its original position.

UPDATE

The date has now been moved back to late June.

How Far Can Public Health Spending Go?

Calderdale is reportedly putting aside some of its Public Health Budget for road safety.  Intellectually, thais makes a lot of sense.  20mph zones have a well documented and beneficial effect on public health.  Spending their public health funds in that way may well save more lives than whatever else they were planning to do with it, but I suspect it will still be seen as too radical a step for many people, who would prefer the money to be spent more traditionally _ on anti-smoking campaigns for example.

However, my view is that local authorities taking on the public health responsibilities gives an opportunity for a much more imaginative use of such funds for issues that traditionally don't get the attention they deserve; for example, air quality.

Lack of Debate

The stereotype of election campaigns are that they are supposed to be opportunities for debate, with the various candidates putting forward proposals.  Sadly I don't think this is really true either in Westminster or locally in Brent.  The specious promises of the Liberal Democrats are one such indication.

As is well known, Brent is facing swingeing cuts from central government on top of those we have already endured, but I see little sign of any debate as to what the options are for dealing with them.  The more obvious changes have already been implemented.  Over the last four years, the main mechanism in Brent has been the One Council programme.  This has delivered more than £70 million in savings, and in some cases led to considerable service improvements.  However, few future projects have been identified for the One Council work programme. 

I also detect a general unwillingness to face up to the tens of millions that need to be found, or the difficult decisions that will be inevitable in finding solutions.  The longer such questions are put off the more difficult will be the final reckoning. 

Willesden Library Centre Finally Visible

I am glad to see that the new Library Centre for Willesden is finally taking shape.  Hopefully this will put to rest the rather strange idea that was being circulated that was not going to be a Library Centre.  I find it hard to understand why people invent such stories, but people can now see for themselves that they are untrue.

Possible Legal Challenge on Housing

Red Brick Blog has some fairly dire warnings about social housing waiting lists in London.  Amazingly, I see that Brent is not as harsh as I assumed.  The ten year test of residency in Barking and Dagenham seems likely to open that Borough to a highly credible challenge on indirect discrimation grounds.

Local Accountability in Schools

The Labour Party wants to restore local accountability to schools, including the ability to open community schools.  This is all to the good.  Whereas growing independence for schools may have been the right move in the days of LMS, it has now reached a point of disintegration, with the only oversight provided by civil servants in Whitehall.  Whitehall simply hasn't the ability to monitor individual schools all over the country.  Some sort of "middle tier" is inevitable unless school standards are going to be subject no accountability whatever.  It is a shame that policy makers in Whitehall have taken so long to realise this.

Wembley Library Story Telling

A photo I took yesterday at one of the CityReadLondon story telling events (This one in Wembley Library).  Events like these, or indeed all the events commemorating the British Empire Exhibition, would have been far less frequent without the Libraries Transformation Project.

Extreme Conservatism of the Loony Left

I often wonder why it is that those who consider themselves to be left wing are in reality frequently bitterly resistant to change.  This is something of a paradox, as in principle such people are dedicated to the utter transformation of society, but in practice they are doggedly resistant to even slight changes in the ways things are done.  I wonder why that should be?

Paradoxes of Debate

My post yesterday referred to a comment on a libraries post.  I have now deleted the comment because (presumably because the author was so enraged) it did not make sense.

However, it did refer to a belief that is widespread among Library campaigners in Brent, but which does not, in my view, accord with the facts.  They repeatedly state that no one agrees with the policy.

The commentator in question stated that no one in the Labour Group agreed with the policy.  The sheer implausibility of this always strikes me.  The libraries policy voted through in April 2011 remains in place, and no paper has ever been presented to change it.  If most people disagree with the policy why would that be?

Taking it another way, it is alleged that I alone forced through a policy against the wishes of the other 40 members of the Labour Group.  How did I manage to outvote the other forty?  It would be a useful trick if one knew how to do it.  In fact, I have never once been challenged by any member of the Executive on the Libraries policy.  The Labour Group has discussed it more often than any other policy, and it is fair to say that individuals have from time to time expressed disquiet on particular aspects, but no one ever seriously challenged.  In terms of votes at Full Council or various Executive meetings, the matter has been put to the vote time and time again.  No member of the Labour Group has ever voted against it.

Why therefore, do some people seem to think there is widespread opposition to the Libraries policy in the Labour Group?

I think the answer is twofold.  Firstly, as I explained yesterday, some campaigners are so passionately attached to their view that they simply cannot acknowledge contrary facts.  Hence the continuing conviction that Brent libraries have somehow failed when in fact Brent bucks the national trend.  Secondly, I am sorry to say that some people in the Labour Party agree to things in party meetings, but then go out and say something quite different elsewhere.  What continues to surprise me is that some of the people they speak to  continue to accept such people's statements at face value when they are obviously false.

New Powers to Limit Betting Shops

It looks like Councils will finally get powers to stop clusters of betting shops.  This is an issue that has been bubbling along for some time.  I am glad that changes are finally in sight, although it seems to involve a bit of a change of heart by the Tories and Liberal Democrats.

UPDATE

It looks like the betting industry will fight these measures as hard as they can, which given the amount of money they make, is not surprising.