Monthly Archives: April 2011

Young People will be hardest hit by library closures, say Liberal Democrats

Posted on April 29, 2011 | Leave a comment

Liberal Democrats today slammed the decision of Labour-run Brent Council to close 6 of the borough’s libraries, saying it would have a massive effect on young people in the borough at a time when they would most need to use library facilities.

Labour Councillors were presented with clear evidence that over 50% of the active users of Barham, Cricklewood, Kensal Rise, Neasden, Preston and Tokyngton libraries are young people under the age of 19.

Whenever you visit any of these local community libraries you will find young children reading with their parents, browsing through books and using the educational programmes on the computers. The libraries are also full of youngsters researching for their school projects or revising for exams.

Liberal Democrat are concerned that thousands of young people across Brent will be hardest hit by the decision of Labour Councillors to close 6 Libraries across Brent, at a time when many will be studying for exams.

Speaking about the concerns, Cllr Paul Lorber, Leader of Brent Council’s Liberal Democrat Group, said:

“Labour councillors were shown, quite clearly, the effect closing 6 libraries would have on young people in Brent. They chose to ignore the evidence. Over 50% of the users of the 6 libraries now facing closure are under 19. Young people use the libraries to study and learn, taking this much needed facility away can only do harm to their education. Labour councillors should be ashamed.”

Appendix 6 of the Executive Report on libraries contains the table below. It shows that over half (5989) of all users of the 6 libraries (11874) are under 19 years old (p.110 – http://democracy.brent.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=4949).

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Campaigns, Libraries, Young People

Tagged , , , , , ,

Wembley Plaza Hotel donates £3000 for Youth Services at Barham Library

Posted on April 25, 2011 | Leave a comment

Today Cllr Paul Lorber expressed his thanks to Jack Nicholas, General Manager of the Wembley Plaza Hotel, and everyone at the hotel for their kind donation of £3000to the campaign to Save Barham Library to run youth services at Barham Library .

The donation, made to Friends of Barham Library, will be used by the group to run youth services for the many young people who use the library. Friends of Barham Library are currently lobbying the Council to let them take over the running of Barham library after Labour councillors at Brent voted to close the library.

Labour councillors voted to close half of the borough’s libraries at the recent budget meeting at Brent Town Hall, days before the official consultation period had even closed, sparking anger amongst the borough’s local residents fighting to keep local services running. In April, despite pleas from much of the community and over 80% of the consultation respondents disagreeing, this decision was endorsed by the council’s Labour Executive, who voted to close the following libraries: Barham, Cricklewood, Neasden, Kensal Rise, Tokyngton and Preston

Cllr Lorber and the Liberal Democrat opposition on the council have called in this unfair decision for further scrutiny so Labour-run council’s Executive to try to explain their reasons for closing local libraries.

Liberal Democrats have also expressed great concern that the Council’s own consultation showed that over 50% of the library’s users are under 19 – meaning its closure will disproportionately hit young people at a time when exams are taking place.

Liberal Democrat Leader Councillor Paul Lorber said,

“On behalf of local people I would like to say a big Thank You to Jack Nicholas and everyone one at Wembley Plaza Hotel for raising and donating £3,000. Over 50% of the regular users of Barham Library are under 19 years of age and it is our young people who would suffer most if Barham and the other 5 libraries were closed. It is great to see successful local business such as Wembley Plaza Hotel supporting local people in their campaign to help Save Barham Library for the benefit of our community”

Cllr Lorber is also organising a Fun Run and Walk on 28th May to raise money for the library.  Anyone wishing to sponsor Paul can contact him on barhamlibrary@hotmail.co.uk or write to him at 17 Stapenhill Road Wembley HA0 3JF. More details about the event can be found on the Friends of Barham Library website: http://barhamlibrary.wordpress.com/fundraising-event.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Campaigns, Libraries, Young People

Tagged ,

Less than half of Brent’s bus stops are properly accessible, say Liberal Democrats

Posted on April 18, 2011 | Leave a comment

Liberal Democrats in Brent today slammed the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, for allowing shocking standards of accessibility in the borough’s transport system, with less than half of the borough’s bus stops meeting accessibility standards. Liberal Democrat Councillors are joining campaigners Transport For All in calling for more accessible bus stops and are urging Brent Council to help remedy the situation.

Only around 43% of Brent’s bus stops are accessible for people with reduced mobility and a shocking 21 out of the borough’s 27 tube stations have no step free access, meaning the vast majority of public transport access points are not accessible for disabled people in Brent.

Liberal Democrats and Transport For All are calling on Brent Council to take note of the situation and to fix it when they develop their ‘Local Implementation Plan’, which explains how the borough will implement Mayor’s Transport Strategy in the borough.

Speaking about the problem, Cllr Daniel Brown, Liberal Democrat Spokesman for Transport said,

“This is just outrageous. It’s difficult to believe that in this day and age we can still allow such poor services to be delivered. The fact that less than half of Brent’s bus stops are not accessible to people in a wheelchair or with walking difficulties is just beyond belief. Brent Council needs to get together with TfL and put in place a sensible plan for how they’re going to going to fix this.”

Lianna Etkind, Campaigns Coordinator at Transport for All added,

“Bus stop kerbs which are too steep, high or broken for a wheelchair ramp make bus travel difficult or impossible or wheelchair and scooter users. Every bus in London has a wheelchair ramp, but these are useless if they cannot be relied upon to work at more than half of bus stops. It’s high time that the council showed it is taking the independence and mobility of Brent’s disabled people seriously and fixed these bus stops”

More information about Transport For All can be found here: http://www.transportforall.org.uk/

Brent’s Local Implementation Plan (LIP) is a statutory document that sets out how the borough proposes to implement the Mayor’s Transport Strategy (MTS) in its area.  It takes into account the wishes of local politicians and stakeholders, regarding its geographical and policy context. The plan sets out detailed policies and programmes for every aspect of transportation, directed at achieving the sustainable and effective management of its street network. The plan represents a progressive approach to transport policy which the Transportation Service Unit is confident will deliver, on balance, the wishes of the majority of local people.

Brent’s local Implementation Plan is here: http://www.brent.gov.uk/transportation.nsf/Local%20Implementation%20Plan/LBB-50?OpenDocument&pp=200107

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Community Safety, Mayor of London, Transport

Tagged , , ,

Cllr Paul Lorber: My party will protect libraries

Posted on April 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

Cllr Paul Lorber, Leader of the Lib Dem group at Brent council, today called on Brent’s residents to fight back at the cynical way the Labour run administration consulted local people on the future of the borough’s library service by attending an Extraordinary council meeting at the Town Hall next week.

Earlier this week, the Liberal Democrats welcomed the Mayor’s decision to grant their request to call an Extraordinary Meeting of the Council to debate the Library closures, giving local campaigners and councillors the opportunity to protest against the cuts.

Labour councillors voted to close up to six of the borough’s libraries at the recent budget meeting at Brent Town Hall, days before the official consultation period had even closed, sparking anger amongst the borough’s local residents fighting to keep local services running.

Cllr Lorber said:

“The Labour party say that they are listening to local residents yet the results of the recent consultation returned an overwhelming rejection from over 80% of the people who responded. Local people have worked tirelessly, in a short period of time, to put suitable alternatives together and in return they are ignored. Ed Milliband recently said he was proud of Labour councillors for listening to their residents. He would be ashamed to see what the Labour party are up to in Brent.”

Brent Liberal Democrats are pledging to make the library closures a core campaigning issue over the coming years and if they gain control of the council again in 2014 they are committed to work with local groups to ensure library services are re-established where they have been shut down by Labour.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Cllr Paul Lorber said:

“The Liberal Democrats on Brent Council believe there is no need to close any libraries and we will be telling the Leader of the council exactly what we and the residents of this borough think on Wednesday. We oppose these library closures and moving forward; we pledge that we will work with local groups to restablish local library services where they have been withdrawn if the Labour run council do not withdraw their plans to close local libraries.”

All members are summoned to attend the Extraordinary council meeting on the 13 April at 7pm, the meeting will take place in the chamber at Brent Town Hall. Press and local residents are encouraged to attend.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Campaigns, Labour Failure, Liberal Democrats, Libraries

Tagged ,