Monthly Archives: October 2010

Jubilee Line upgrade fiasco – say Lib Dems

Posted on October 18, 2010 | Leave a comment

Brent Liberal Democrat Councillors are demanding that the Mayor comes clean on the true costs of the Jubilee Line upgrade, which has seen years of disruption to local people.

Questioning from Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly has forced London Mayor Boris Johnson, to admit that Transport for London has already lost between £10m to £12 million in ticket revenue due to the continued weekend closures. The Mayor is unable to even estimate what the final bill in lost revenue will be when the upgrades are complete.
Commenting on the replies given by the Mayor to the Liberal Democrat questions,

Councillor Daniel Brown, Brent’s Lib Dem Transport Spokesperson, said: “In August, Transport for London admitted that the Jubilee Line upgrade programme had slipped again. After years of disruption to passengers, communities and businesses they announced a further programme of weekend closures that looks set to run into 2011.

“Brent residents have been very severely affected, with shopping trips, visits to relatives and even local hospital appointments being made more difficult by the closures. Local businesses have also been hit for six.

“Now the Liberal Democrats on the GLA have found that in addition to these social costs for residents, there has been a very serious loss in revenue for Transport for London. This is bound to results in either higher fares or reduced investment in key transport projects, with residents again losing out.”

Questions from Caroline Pidgeon AM, Liberal Democrat Group Leader on the London Assembly, to the Mayor – along with responses from Boris Johnson – are below:

2928 / 2010 Jubilee Line upgrades (1)
Caroline Pidgeon
What is the estimated loss in ticket revenue due to the Jubilee Line weekend closures to date?
Answer from the Mayor
London Underground estimate that since Tube Lines’ closure programme for the Jubilee line upgrade got underway in 2007, overall usage on the line has been suppressed by approximately two per cent compared to what it would have been, as a result of weekend closures. Many of these people will still have travelled, by an alternative route. This translates to a revenue reduction of approximately £10-12 million. However, some of this will have been recouped where people transferred to alternative routes operated by TfL. Of course the upgrade was due to be completed in 2009, but Tube Lines failed to achieve that. The company became a subsidiary of TfL in June 2010.

2929 / 2010 Jubilee Line upgrades (2)
Caroline Pidgeon
What do you envisage the estimated loss in ticket revenue due to the Jubilee Line weekend closures will be by the estimated completion date?
Answer from the Mayor
It is not possible to provide this information until TfL has completed its review of the closure programme for the remainder of the Jubilee line upgrade, which was initiated following the transfer of Tube Lines to TfL in June.

Jubilee Line upgrades (3)
Caroline Pidgeon
What is the current estimated completion date of the works on the Jubilee Line?
Answer from the Mayor
Since acquiring Tube Lines in June 2010, TfL has been working urgently to determine the full state of all Tube Lines’ upgrades programmes and in particular their delayed upgrade of the Jubilee line. Initial work to look at the status of the upgrade confirmed TfL’s fears and while work on the eastern part of the line is now significantly progressed, there is still much work to do on the northern part of the line, in particular around the Neasden depot area.
Testing is currently being carried out to determine how long this work will take to complete and TfL expects to be in a position to confirm the completion date soon.

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Posted in Mayor of London, Transport

Councillors urge residents to join Alperton action day

Posted on October 18, 2010 | Leave a comment

Two of Alperton’s Councillors are urging residents in the area to support an action day that has been jointly planned by the Police, Brent Council, Heather Park Neighbourhood Watch, the Ace Cafe, and local people.

Councillors James Allie and Daniel Brown will be supporting the event, taking place on Sunday 17th October, which is aimed at tackling a number of issues regarding Alperton’s alleyways – which are overgrown with weeds and rubbish, suffer from damaged street lighting and graffiti, and which residents are currently therefore reluctant to use.

A dispersal order has been put in place in the area recently in order to tackle the problems of gangs. But the state of the alleyways has still proved a deterrent for local people, and is undermining the sense of community confidence that is being regained.

Because the success of the day will depend very much on the number of local people who support it, free food and refreshments are being provided by the Ace Cafe – who want to do their bit for local residents in partnership with the Police, Council and others.

Residents are asked to bring a bucket and several sets of gloves and to assemble outside the Heather Park public house in Heather Park Parade at 10am on Sunday 17th October.

Alperton Liberal Democrat Councillor, James Allie says:

“Alperton’s alleyways provide a convenient direct link between schools in the area, the community shops and local public transport. But the current state of them means that residents are less keen to use them than they might otherwise be.”

“This action day is aimed at reclaiming these important and historic routes for residents by bringing the Alperton Police team and StreetCare officers together with local people in a targeted hit to clean up these alleyways. And the famous Ace Cafe are kindly supplying free food and drink for those who bring along their buckets and gloves and get stuck in.”

“This is just the sort of community action that Councillor Daniel Brown and I support, so I hope we will see lots of residents outside the pub at 10 o’clock on the 17th. The bigger the turnout, the clearer the message will be that residents are back in charge.”

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Posted in Community

Liberal Democrats challenge Labour Leader to hold Budget Away Days in Brent

Posted on October 18, 2010 | Leave a comment

Liberal Democrat Leader Councillor Paul Lorber has written to Councillor Ann John the Labour Leader of Brent Council urging her to cancel the proposed trip in November by the Labour Executive to Latimer House Hotel to discuss the Council’s budget and hold all meetings of these kind in Brent Council’s own venues – saving up to £10,000 a year.

In July 2010 the Labour Leadership on Brent Council was criticised for spending almost £5,000 of Council Taxpayers money on an awayday in plush country escape at Latimer Place – including overnight accommodation, dinner and wine. The Liberal Democrats argued that this expense was a waste of public money when perfectly adequate alternative venues were available in Brent.

In 2006, when he became the 1st Liberal Democrat Leader of Brent Council, Councillor Paul Lorber scrapped the practice of expensive hotel stays for the Executive Budget Planning Days. Instead between 2006 and 2010 the Executive led by Councillor Lorber held 7 of their meetings in Bridge Park in Stonebridge and the final one at a newly opened Brent Council Training Centre in Wembley.

At their November Budget Away Days the Labour Executive will be discussing the new Labour plans for £90 million of cuts in Council Budgets, including options to scrap weekly refuse collections, closing centres for people with learning difficulties, closing Libraries and massive increases in CPZ parking charges.

According to the Liberal Democrat Leader it is symbolic that Labour Councillors should be making those decisions over dinner and wine at Brent residents’ expense. Cllr Lorber has written to the Leader of the Council, Cllr Ann John, urging her to reconsider the venue and hole the meeting, and future year’s meetings, here in Brent.

Speaking about the issue, Cllr Lorber said,

“The financial mess that Gordon Brown left our country in means that all politicians will have to make difficult decisions. It is however extremely arrogant and irresponsible of Brent Labour Councillors to go ahead with spending up to £5,000 on an unnecessary stay at Latimer Place Hotel, against the wishes of Brent residents who do not want to see their money wasted in this way. There is no justification for this and the Labour Councillors should be ashamed of themselves. I have urged the Labour Leader of the Council to show restraint and cancel this wasteful practice.”

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Posted in Campaigns, Finance, Labour Failure

Residents’ Anger at Labour’s Parking Charges Betrayal

Posted on October 6, 2010 | Leave a comment

Hundreds of Brent households have now signed the Liberal Democrat Petition opposing draconian increases in Residents Parking Permit charges in Brent’s CPZ (Controlled Parking Zones) areas.

Despite criticising the Council for making “large profits from parking”, one of the first decisions the new Labour Administration running Brent Council made was to propose increases of up to 300% in Residents Parking Permit charges – with some residents paying £150 instead of the current £50 to park their car.

According to the Liberal Democrats, CPZs were introduced in Brent to protect local residents in heavily parked areas near underground stations and shopping areas, such as Ealing Road, Willesden High Road, and near Wembley Stadium.

While the Zones had to be self-funding, residents were assured that they would not be money-making ventures and that Permit costs would be kept reasonably low.

The Liberal Democrats introduced free permits for energy-efficient cars and froze the charges for other permits when they ran Brent Council.

But Labour Councillors are proposing to raise charges by so much that the income collected from Permits in Brent will rise from under £900,000 to over £2 million.

The Liberal Democrats are now delivering Petition forms to thousands of households  across Brent, to make them aware of the scale of the proposed increases.

“The increases of up to 300% planned by Labour are a betrayal of promises made to local people, and are deeply unfair to residents who were promised CPZs as a way of helping them with parking problems – not a way of making money out of them” says Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesperson, Councillor Daniel Brown.

The Liberal Democrats are angry that Labour are claiming concern for the environment as their reason for increasing Permit fees, while doing nothing about all the other cars in non-CPZ areas.

They also highlight Labour hypocrisy on parking charges, as when they were in opposition Labour campaigned to keep Free Parking at the Town Hall for Councillors and Council staff.  Liberal Democrats had proposed charging to park at the Town Hall in order to fund their ‘Green Travel Plan’, encouraging councillors and staff to use alternative, more environmental forms of transport.

“Labour fought hard to keep parking free for Councillors at the Town Hall, yet they now want local people to pay much more just to park near their homes.  To treat residents in Controlled Parking areas as a captive audience to make money out of, after saying before the election that the Council was charging too much and promising a Fair Deal for Motorists, is deeply hypocritical,” concludes Councillor Brown.

Since Labour took control of Brent Council in May, they have agreed measures that will see motorists in Brent pay £7 million more to the Council over the next 4 years.

Residents can also sign the Petition against the Permit Charge rises online, at: http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/parkingpermits

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Posted in Campaigns, Labour Failure, Transport

Council’s waste consultation “Absolute Rubbish”

Posted on October 6, 2010 | Leave a comment

The Liberal Democrats have accused Labour-run Brent Council of not being honest with residents and hiding their intention to move to fortnightly bin collections.

According to Councillor Daniel Brown, a consultation currently running about the future of waste collections in Brent does not make it clear that the Council wants to scrap weekly bin collections and move to fortnightly collections.  The only mention of this proposal is on page 60 of a detailed 118-page document (and another brief mention in the Appendices at the very back).

The Council’s consultation website makes no reference to the proposals, nor does the ‘Executive Summary’ on the website. The Council’s newsletter from Councillors, delivered to every household, mentions the consultation but does not highlight the implications about bin collections.

Liberal Democrat Councillors are now urging residents to respond to the so-called Council consultation – which lasts just a few short weeks, ending on 20th October – and to make their views and feelings known to Labour councillors about the way the Council has handled the issue.

Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson, Councillor Daniel Brown says:

“When the Council are proposing a change as fundamental as scrapping people’s weekly bin collections, residents have every right to expect that the Council will be honest about the fact, not bury the bad news deep in wordy reports in order to hide it.”

“By ducking and diving while pretending to consult, the Labour Council must hope they can claim that there isn’t huge opposition to the plan. But most residents don’t know the Executive are slipping this one through, having taken a decision on it during the Summer holidays.”

“There was no mention in anyone’s Election Manifesto of scrapping people’s weekly bin collection.  It’s only fair to give residents every opportunity make their views known on an issue as contentious as this.  To describe this as consultation is absolute rubbish.”

Councillor Brown is keen to hear resident’s views on Labour’s fortnightly collection plan at: cllr.daniel.brown@brent.gov.uk

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Posted in Environment, Labour Failure

Local Councillor calls for Tobacco rethink

Posted on October 6, 2010 | Leave a comment

A local Liberal Democrat Councillor has today called for a rethink into how Brent Council invests its Pension Fund money, ahead of the launch of the Borough’s “Tobacco Control Strategy” in November.

Following on from the news that Harrow council has withdrawn its pension fund investments in tobacco companies and that 3 more councils across London (Sutton, Southwark & Enfield) are now reviewing their investments, Willesden Liberal Democrat Councillor Ann Hunter is calling on Brent Council to reconsider its £2.5 million investment in tobacco companies.

Brent Council, along with NHS Brent and other agencies, plans to launch the Brent Tobacco Control Strategy, at the end of November aimed at tackling smoking and tobacco use among adults and young people in Brent.

Speaking about the issue, Cllr Ann Hunter, said,

“This is obviously a really difficult issue as there is always pressure on pension funds to make as much money as they can. I just feel there’s something counterproductive about expending lots of energy trying to stop people smoking on the one hand, but then investing in the very companies which are producing the product we’re trying to tackle on the other.

I do think it’s worth investigating whether we could put the money elsewhere. The Council and the NHS are doing some really positive work to help people stop smoking and I think it would be a real shame to undermine that.”

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Posted in Health