Ward Working

Our budget session on Monday was as expected mostly an announcements of efficiencies and reduced services, so it was a pleasant surprise to hear that Ward Working funds would be doubled to £4,000 per ward.  This scheme is very popular with councillors as it enables them to work with residents to make small improvements in the wards. So it was with some surprise that the Lib Dem budget proposals suggested scrapping the scheme entirely. Clearly the group had changed their minds or had forgotten this positive reference in their 2006 election manifesto, when the scheme was known as Neighbourhood Working :


"We have successfully rolled out the Neighbourhood Working scheme, supporting 155 local projects for residents. Our scheme has allowed local councillors to invest £1.5 million in a wide range of local projects such as CCTV, sports and leisure provision for local youth groups, redevelopment of library gardens, personal alarms for vulnerable residents and creative writing courses."

Blast from the past

Always enjoyed using pithy quotes when writing essays. Found these from my past and recognise some relevance to being a councillor and attempting change.


There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, that to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all who profit by the old order. This luke-warmness arises partly from fear of their adversaries, who have law in their favour, and partly from the incredulity of mankind who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it. (Machiavelli)

We trained very hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form into teams, we would be reorganised. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet every new situation by reorganising; and a wonderful method it is for creating illusions of progress, whilst producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralisation. (Caius Petronius, AD66)

Cuts in Safer Neighbourhood Team

I have described the local policing and PCSO situation as "dire" and others agree.  How else should one describe when Willesden Safer Neighbourhood Team is down to 1 PC and 1 PCSO. Some very effective PCSO's have been accepted for training at Hendon to become full police officers and we do not begrudge them extending their careers. However the result is the break up of a very effective and accessible team who will no longer have the personnel to take forward all the priorities we have established with the local community.  It is ironic that the Mayor of London's office, having drastically cut funds for policing on one hand, are recruiting potential new officers on the other. Any fuss about the potential closure of Willesden police station fades to insignificance in comparison to losing the officers themselves.

Brent - a Fairtrade Borough

Brent has achieved Fairtrade borough status. Fairtrade boroughs aims to encourage people to help tackle poverty through their purchases and to demonstrate commitment to people around the world to making poverty history.  To ensure Brent achieved Fairtrade borough status, a Council resolution to support Fairtrade was passed and there was a commitment to serve Fairtrade coffee and tea at its meetings and in its offices and canteens. A local steering group was formed (the Brent Fairtrade Network ) that convenes to ensure a continued commitment to Fairtrade borough status.  The Council aims to to get a range of Fairtrade products available in a number of Brent's shops, cafes and catering establishments, and to get Fairtrade products to be used by a number of local work places and community organisations such as places of worhsip, schools etc.

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St Patrick's Day parade

The St Patrick's day celebrations will be on Saturday 17th March this year, with a parade from Willesden tube station to the Library Centre.  This will be the last event of the council's funded festivals and events programme. Brent can be rightly proud of the generous funding for a number of festivals in the past, but the drastic budget cuts we have had to make has resulted in a future programme comprising support for a much reduced offer: a borough-wide "Brent Celebrates" festival, Holocaust Memorial Day and a fireworks display.  There will also be a small specialist team to help and advise groups planning their own events.  Meanwhile, let's make this St Patrick's parade the best ever. 

Willesden Wassail

Businesses including a Polish restaurant and a shoe shop were blessed and sang to by residents as part of an ancient ritual re-created in Willesden Green again last weekend. Residents were joined by a team of spoken word artists, led by Rachel Rose-Reid, as they marched down the High Road to honour their local food providers. Wassailing is a tradition dating back to pre-Christian times in which a group of people sang a traditional winter song to their weather-beaten apple trees in order to encourage a good harvest. Artists joining included Muslim hip-hop duo Poetic Pilgrimage and Willesden Green Vocality Choir. When the march reached the library centre, “Transition Town Willesden” provided a special Wassail punch made from locally picked apples.

Snubbed by London’s Mayor?

We have been pleased to be included in the London Mayor’s Outer London Regeneration Fund and to receive around half a million to help regenerate Willesden Green with projects such as refurbishing empty shop units to help emerging businesses. Brent put in a bid for 1.65 million to continue the successful work started in the High Road. It was therefore a surprise to see that both of Brent Council’s second bids have been refused, ignoring the needs of outer London’s most diverse borough. The second bid was for 1.8 million for Ealing Road between Wembley Central and Alperton. The programme was designed to promote Ealing Road to deliver physical, economic social and cultural benefits to Ealing Road, Wembley and Brent. My colleague, Cllr George Crane, Lead member for Regeneration, said he found it difficult to understand why all our neighbouring boroughs have received money and why Brent has been singled out to have both projects rejected. 

Speedy court decision

Objectors to Surrey County Council's proposal to pass the management of some libraries to volunteers applied to the court for a judicial review.  To their surprise, the judge issued an injunction much quicker than expected and the Council has two weeks to serve its evidence to the High Court, which would then decide whether the case should go to a judicial review. Brent's recent experience of court responses is very different as all parties involved have had weeks and months to wait for decisions.

Willesden Police Station

Got a call from a journalist wanting a view on the possibility of WIllesden Police Station closing. This is not a new item as I first heard about it in 2008 when the Met Police had a review of assets. The argument for closure has always been that the building is not fit for the purpose of modern policing and together with budget cuts, this is likely to remain the strongest argument against it staying open. The then Deputy Commissioner, Tim Goodwin, I quoted in my blog at the time (18/09/2008).  He said at the time that they needed to save £48m. The force was facing "considerable pressure" which could see "unfit" police stations and custody suites replaced with front counters. Mark Toland, then Borough Commander, said there would be no closures before a suitable replacement building is fully established.  For Harlesden and Willesden these new  buildings need to be in high profile areas and readily accessible to local people. If there's a stark choice, I would rather see officer numbers maintained rather than unfit buildings and suspect this would be a view shared by a number of Willesden residents. Don't think buildings are the main issue. As I said to the journalist, the main issue should be the ease of access to the police at a local site and the quality of service received.  There may be yet another "campaign" by opposition groups: we have had a few from saving post offices to saving festivals and police stations. Generated a lot of publicity but 'saved' nothing that I can recall. 

"Tell Us Once" service

Brent has launched a new service to reduce the burden of dealing with bureaucracy and paperwork for residents who experience the loss of a loved one. Tell Us Once means that when a resident registers the death of a family member with Brent Council's Registration and Nationality Service, the information is then shared.  The initiative allows information about a death to be shared automatically by the Registrar with departments administering records for Blue Badges, libraries, council tax, pensions, housing benefit, passports, and driving licences, ensuring they are up-to-date. Information will not be shared without the consent of the person registering.  Those using Tell Us Once need to provide information about the person who has died such as date of birth, national insurance number, or death certificate when they register a death which should be within 5 days after death.