The Kinks and Willesden Green

Enjoyed the Christmas break by doing very little!  Got a very pleasing present - The Kinks CD that includes the song “Willesden Green".  This was the title of a song written by Ray Davies and included in the soundtrack of the 1971 film "Percy":

Well I tried to settle down Fulham Broadway

And I tried to make my home in Golders Green

But I gotta get that train

And go back home again

Oh how I miss the folks back home in Willesden Green

You know, I tried, I really tried to settle in this big city

And I always thought I could make it all on my very own

But there's one thing that keeps calling me

To that little, that little semi-detached

That's the folks, yeah, the folks back home

In Willesden Green

Unlock democracy?

Councillors get all sorts of letters promoting schemes or point of view. Just received one from a organisation called "Unlock Democracy" aiming to get support for a "yes" vote for the Alternative Vote (AV) system in the referendum on May 5th 2011. The letter is supposedly from the comedian Eddie Izzard, who also asks for funds for the campaign. I won't be supporting AV as I don't find Izzard's arguments plausible. I don't find him very funny either.

More on Burnley Practice campaign

Attended a meeting for patients of the Burnley Practice on Friday. The PCT had called the meeting to discuss what patients might want in the option 1 bid our campaign had secured.  The consultation goes on until the end of January and the notice of tender will be published on the Brent PCT web site in February.  We had a questionnaire to complete to say what services we might expect from a re-tendered practice. Additional opening hours was top of most people's wish list.  If all goes well, the contract will be awarded by June 2011. Although some patients are taking a rather cynical view, I do believe the campaign has been successful and there is every intention to keep the practice open at the Willesden Centre for Health and Care.

Déjà vu?

This is from a Labour newsletter 25 years ago.

History is said to repeat itself as this picture demonstrates!

Burying bad news?

All governments are sometimes accused of "burying" bad news when the media is taken over by one dominant or interesting issue.  This was certainly true of the time Prince William announced his engagement. Among bad news stories from the coalition government were:

- Children's centres in deprived areas no longer be obliged to offer full daycare or to hire staff with both Qualified Teacher and Early Years Professional status (Announced by our MP, Children’s Minister Sarah Teather at the Daycare Trust conference.) 

- "Aim Higher", the programme to get working-class youngsters into universities, is set to be axed by the government – at the same time as fees for university students are trebled.

- 3000 jobs are set to be cut from the Greater Manchester Police Force, representing a 23% cut in the workforce over the next four years – contrary to promises to protect frontline services.

Thanks to the media obsession with the royal family and some media management and convenient scheduling of announcements, these cuts will be overlooked, when they should be significant news stories.

Progress on Burnley Practice campaign

Patients of the Burnley Practice at Willesden Centre for Health and Care will have received a letter letting them know the PCT have opted for option 1: putting the practice out to open tender to keep it at its current base - the Willesden Centre for Health and Care.  This marks a success for the campaign by patients and ward councillors against the original proposal to close the surgery and to disperse patients to other doctors. We were warned that if Option 1 did not succeed, the PCT would disperse the patients to other surgeries - not a simple task to move around 3,000 patients in an area already acknowledged to be short of doctors.  The PCT has at last listened to the concerns of patients and we now await the recommendations being agreed at the NHS Brent Board meeting 25th November.  (For background, see More on the Burnley Practice)

Brent council rewarded for member development excellence

Brent Council has received a special London Councils award to mark its good work in helping their councillors do a better job. The Member Development Charter is awarded to councils in recognition of their work to provide councillors with the support, skills and training they need to develop and to manage their local authority’s budgets and services. It is backed by Local Government Improvement and Development (LGID). The council has demonstrated commitment to providing support to its members and helping them to develop the skills and knowledge to undertake their demanding role in developing and monitoring policy and serving their residents.

Planning objections

 I take a particular interest in planning applications for conversions or new build in the ward.  Some developers are very greedy and try to pack too much in the space available. When I send objections, they usually cover concerns about over-development or poor quality accommodation or amenity for potential occupiers. Some applicants go on to appeal to the independent inspectorate and are often refused at that level. Have just heard that one of my objections went as far as the Magistrates Court where an owner was found guilty of breaching an enforcement notice which required him to remove a very large extension.  He was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay the Council’s prosecution costs of £2,663.60. It's good to see the borough's planners get support from the independent inspectorate and the courts.

Play area completed!

The Learie Constantine play area looks finished at last. Looking forward to an official opening soon. The funding for the work came from the Labour Government's Play Builder scheme. Brent originally got around £1m to improve a number of its open spaces in but most of the funding was stopped by the new Coalition Government. This play space just made it as work was well advanced when the cut came. 

More on the Burnley Practice

I have been involved in supporting the fight to retain the Burnley Practice, a GP practice now at the Willesden Centre for Health and Care. Brent NHS was proposing to shut the practice and to disperse patients to other GPs. Having settled into the facilities at the Willesden Centre, patients now find their surgery is at risk yet again, in spite of assurances over the years to resolve concerns.  I worked with other councillors in leading objections and attending meetings with Primary Care Trust staff and patients.

It is really important for councillors to take up issues like this, especially to resolve a problem in an area where there are fewer GP’s per 100,000 population than other areas of the borough.  The issue was also raised at the council’s Health Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee which recommended as follows:

“The Health Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommends that NHS Brent carries out an open tender process for the Burnley Practice registered patients service. This is to ensure that the service continues to be delivered from Willesden Centre for Health and Care and to avoid dispersal of existing patients in an area which already has fewer GPs per head of population than other areas of Brent.”

As a result of the objections and meetings, a further look at options for the Burnley Practice and further meetings are expected before the final decision is made next month.