Friday 17 August 2012

Greens: Bring railways back into public ownership

This week saw another price hike in rail fares. With the UK already having the highest rail fares in Europe, The Green Party calls for the British railway system to be come back into public ownership.  It has been approximated that “£1.2 billion of public money is lost each year as a direct result of privatisation and fragmentation”

The Green Party has condemned the rail fare rise of an average of 6.2% announced yesterday.

Alan Francis, Green Party Transport Speaker, said:

We need to make rail travel more affordable, not less. Many people have had their wages frozen for several years. These fare rises will hit them hard. This fares increase makes rail travel even more unaffordable each year and pushes people back into cars on our already congested roads. Instead of an RPI+3% formula we should have a RPI-X% formula so that fares are reduced in real terms each year.

Rail privatisation and fragmentation has been bad for the railways and for passengers and has significantly increased costs. These higher costs, as much as £1bn per year, are paid by both passengers and taxpayers. We favour the railways being brought back into the public sector and more integration. This would reduce costs and so allow lower fares. Consequently we believe that as each TOC franchise ends it should be retained in the public sector, initially operated by the government-owned Directly Operated Railways. There would be no cost to the taxpayer.

Early start to see Paralympic Torch in Brent

Follow his lead

Brent Council's Lead Member for London 2012, Councillor James Powney has urged residents to get up early in the morning to see the Paralympic Torch go through Brent.

He said : "The borough really came together for the Olympic Torch Relay and I hope that despite the early start the community will make the same effort to line the streets on Wednesday 29 August."

The Torch will arrive in Brent at Honey Pot Lane in Kingsbury at 5.10am and leave at Carlton Vale, South Kilburn at 8.18am.  It will call in at Willesden Sports Centre and the Swaminarayan Mandir on its journey.

To view the route and timings follow this LINK

After the Paralympic Flame leaves the borough there will be a free Paralympic Sports Open Day at Willesden Sports Centre from 10am-3pm for young people (with or without a disability) aged 8-16.


Thursday 16 August 2012

Graham isn't a doctor but he is right about health cuts


Brent Labour Party members and local activists got a shock today when it appeared that Graham Durham had become a GP (GP throws his weight behind battle to save hospital's A&E - Doctor calls on colleagues to speak out over closure plans -Brent and Kilburn Timesp2  August 16th).  The article was illustrated with a picture of 'Dr Graham Durham'.

In fact Durham had sent a letter out on behalf of Brent NHS Patients' Campaign about health cuts and the closure of Central Middlesex Accident and Emergency.  It was interpreted by the BKT as having been written by a doctor. You can see how it happened and it may end up in one of those little guides about the pitfalls of English grammar.
As a local doctor dedicated to serving Brent patients we are asking you to join us in helping us to prevent serious damage to local patients
The dedicated 'local doctor' refers to the recipient of the letter and not the sender. Graham does not often refer to himself with a 'Royal we' and you will be relieved to know is not in the habit of impersonating doctors!

Health campaigners will be out again in Harlesden on Saturday afternoon between 2 and 5pm collecting signatures for a petition asking  local MPs to make a stand agains the threat to Central Middlesex and other North West London hospitals and the privatisation of the NHS.

Wednesday 15 August 2012

Bids open for Eurostar tickets sale to support community library

In honour of the rather fabulous Preston Community Library nestled in the doorway of our old one, Preston Library Campaign  have 4 single Eurostar tickets up for auction (That's either 2 x returns or 4 x one way if you fancy staying where you are!)

Bids start at £200  –
e-mail bids to:
bunce.linsell@virgin.net or  text to 07905 846483

Let your friends know and let the bidding begin!

NB: 1 week will be needed to transfer the tickets to the winner's name. The campaign will  contact the winner for further details.

In addition to Paris, Brussels, Lille Eurostar now have a special service in the summer. It is a direct train to Avignon on Saturdays, leaving St Pancras at 7.17am the return leaving Avignon at 16.27.  The last direct train from Avignon is on the 8th September.

Tuesday 14 August 2012

Council leader agrees to meet with Keep Willesden Green

In an e-mail received today, Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, has agreed to meet with Keep Willesden Green to discuss the 'on-going process'.

He stated: 
As you will be aware, following concerns raised by residents, Galliford Try are going through another consultation process before resubmitting their proposals. This consultation process will be lengthy and thorough, and comes on top of the statutory consultation process they will undertake at a later stage. The fact that they are consulting again and will be resubmitting their plans, because of residents’ concerns, demonstrates that we are thoroughly committed to open and transparent decision making, and in particular are focused on ensuring that communities get a full say on what happens in their local communities




Monday 13 August 2012

James Powney: Sainsbury's is obliged to provide Town Centre parking

Councillor James Powney, commented on the Sainsbury's Willesden Town Centre parking issue, on his blog
Martin Francis has been told by Sainsburys that they have no obligation to provide parking to any but their own customers. My understanding is that the Willesden Sainsburys has a planning obligation to provide car parking to Willesden Town Centre under a deal originally laid down by planning in the 1980s.Martin
In fact the Sainsbury's e-mail, from their head office, which stated that they were under no obligation to provide parking, was passed on to me by a third party.

Kensal Rise campaigners appeal for funds to strenthen their All Souls bid


 The Save Kensal Rise Library Campaign today launched an appeal, locally and nationally, to ask for pledges to help the community secure their library. 
The appeal immediately attracted a 10,000k pledge from Daniels Real Estate Agents who have supported the campaign since it began. Other pledges so far have been made by local people.
The group who have been campaigning for almost two years to save their library urgently need financial support to strengthen their bid to All Souls, the Oxford College that ownership of the building reverted to after its closure by Brent Council. 
Paula Gomez Medina a Trustee of the group said today,
We need to raise funds to secure the first year of operations, which includes urgent repairs to the building. We have a strong business plan and are confident we can make the library self-sustaining in the long-run, but we need the help of our supporters now. We are asking residents, friends, businesses and supporters to pledge a donation towards our target of 70K. 
We need these pledges urgently - by September 7th when our proposal needs to be with All Souls College.
We will only collect payment if our bid to All Souls is successful. If we are unsuccessful people will not donate anything.
In return for support the group are offering supporters a chance to become permanent public benefactors of the library.
Other 
Details about how to make a pledge can be found on the campaign website
www.savekensalriselibrary.org
The Co-Chair of the campaign, Margaret Bailey, added:
 Support from the local community and beyond has sustained this campaign. People cannot doubt the seriousness and commitment of this community to have a library at its heart. We have all fought hard and long. We hope we can rely on the generosity and goodwill of the many people who agree about the importance of libraries to the well being of civilised communities.
As Mark Twain who opened our library said, "Lack of money is the root of all evil". We have been put in the position where our fight is not enough, and we need to find finance to prove ourselves.
 The Appeal follows Councillor Powney's claim on his blog LINK that campaigners have given up their fight for a library on the site.

Issues in the schools sports debate

The debate about school sports intensified over the weekend as the Olympics drew to a close with David Cameron's call for more compulsory competitive sport in primary schools drawing criticism from commentators who remembered, with horror,  being forced into physical activity by what they saw as bullying PE teachers.

Others drew attention to Cameron's political hypocrisy and opportunism in the wake of Michael Gove's cuts in the School Sports Partnerships. It is worth remembering the warning issue in November 2010 by leading athletes including Olympic Gold Medal winner Tessa Sanderson about this LINK
With one ill-conceived cut you are on the brink of destroying everything schools, clubs and the national governing bodies of sport are doing to ensure this and future generations embrace sport and physical activity, not shun it.

As past and present Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European athletes, we cannot stand by and watch as your government threatens to destroy any hopes this country has of delivering a genuine London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic legacy.

The future health of all our children is at risk if you axe this funding. We urge you to act now, please, prime minister, and look again at the permanent withdrawal of funding for school sport partnerships before you condemn millions of children to a lack of sporting opportunities and therefore a bleak future of lethargy, obesity and unhappiness.
At a school level there are issues over the difference between compulsory sports activities, other physical activities (including the dance that David Cameron derided) and physical activity in free play during playtimes. Some research has indicated that children expend more energy, in crude terms 'sweat more', during their free playground games than during PE lessons. However there are gender differences in the level of exercise and differences between schools in terms of the amount of playtime and rules governing playtime. Pressure on the school day from the academic curriculum has led many schools to shorten lunch breaks and for junior age pupils afternoon playtimes are often a thing of the past. Further pressures emerge from concerns about health and safety and behaviour which can lead to bans on particular games which are seen as dangerous or causing conflict. The expansion of primary schools to take in more pupils leading to loss of play space is an additional factor in Brent.

The National Children's Bureau LINK published a Fact Sheet in 2010 on the Benefits of Playtime which described the restrictions and also outlined the benefits that go beyond exercise to promotion of pupils' in independent  negotiating skills and opportunities for mixing across age, social and ethnic differences.

Sonia Lannaman
The euphoria over the achievements of Black British athletes which has been a major aspect of this Olympics also has another side.

In the 1970s the achievements of athletes such as Sonia Lannaman (pictured) were seen as ground-breaking exemplars for a community suffering from racism and disadvantage, where black children were failing academically. There were reports that Sonia later regretted the impact of a concentration on sports on her academic achievements but I have been unable to locate a source for this.

Concern developed amongst black  parents that teachers with a stereotyped view of their children were steering them towards sports activities, rather than academic success.  At a practical level this often meant that they missed out on lessons because of training and fixtures, were not entered for key  examinations and therefore missed out on further and higher education.

An influential book Race, Class and Education by Len Barton and Stephen Walker LINK outlined the repercussions of this arguing that although for some children participation in sport represented a 'colonisation' of one part of school life where they could succeed, it produced unrealistic aspirations and expectations, which eventually led to their exclusion from the labour market.

Tessa Sanderson with primary pupils
 It is interesting to note that Tessa Sanderson, a 1984 Olympic Gold winner, was at pains to emphasise the importance of academic achievement alongside sports achievement. She has described how her parents and teachers kept her focussed on education: 'Education is the key to success'.  She went on to found the Tessa Sanderson Foundation and Academy to encourage your people into sport LINK.

 There are echoes of the 70s in her recent interview where she said:
With some young people today it can be a bit touch and go. I know some young black kids feel they are not worthy because there is no work, they just go home or hang around all day, which is why I am so pleased we have this academy because when they come in here, I can tell them, 'You are bloody worthy'. I've had Asbos come in, rough kids, but I know through sport they can become great kids.
The Foundation's Mission Statement makes the importance of education clear:
 The mission statement of The Tessa Sanderson Foundation and Academy is to create a unique youth sport programme in the London area for disabled and non disabled youngsters to enjoy all sports and the opportunity to participate at a higher and level without jeopardising quality learning and education.
As we discuss the Olympic legacy for Brent children we need to bear in mind the complexity of the situation.  Although Brent schools are doing well there remain concerns about under achievement of some groups and the Brent  School Improvement Service, the London Challenge, and projects such as ACES are doling valuable work. It is important that we invest in them as well as sports facilities and bear in mind the pitfalls outlined above.