Monthly Archives: November 2011

Willesden councillor Ann Hunter helps students get set for future careers

Posted on November 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

Willesden Liberal Democrat Councillor Ann Hunter has helped young people in Brent to consider their future careers and practice their interviewing skills.

She joined students at Capital City Academy last Tuesday (22 November) for a careers speed networking event, and on Thursday (24 November) took part in mock interviews with students at Crest Girls Academy.

Both events were organised by Brent and Harrow Education Business Service (HEBS). Around 190 young people met professionals from a wide variety of careers to discuss their working lives.

Councillor Ann Hunter with students at Capital City Academy

During the Careers Speed Networking adults from different career backgrounds, including a barrister, a doctor, PCSOs, journalists, a physicist and an IT specialist, worked with students in small groups, giving them a brief synopsis of their job and its day-to-day activities, and then answering questions from them. Every ten minutes the pupils moved on to the next person.

It’s a format that the pupils enjoy, and get a lot out of as they to find out about the range of careers available, practice their questioning skills and find out more about the world of work.

The mock interviews are an invaluable opportunity to practice, and get feedback, on being interviewed. This is a skill which can mean the difference between getting a job or not, or whether or not you get into the university of your choice.

Speaking about the events, Cllr Ann Hunter said:

These are both really useful opportunities for the youngsters. It helps give them confidence before entering the jobs market for real, and coaches them how best to present the skills they have.

I was really impressed by the students’ attention and the quality of their questions at the Capital City Academy. The interviewees at Crest were remarkable in how well they presented themselves and their clear desire to achieve and fulfil their potential.

I think the young people there found it reassuring that many of us who were talking to them had changed careers several times, so realised that they weren’t tied to just one career once they’d decided on it. Some youngsters had already decided what they wanted to be, whether surgeons, plumbers or teachers, but many hadn’t. I think they now realise that flexibility in the job market is life-long and nowadays retraining and change is part of life.

 
Councillor Ann Hunter discusses careers with students at Capital City academy in Brent
The Brent and Harrow Education Business Service (BHEBS) has been providing work-related activities for 14 to 19-year olds in West London for almost ten years. BHEBS works with schools and local employers to raise the profile, value and quality of business education.

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Posted in Education, Employment, Young People

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Festivals not bureaucracy demand Brent Liberal Democrats

Posted on November 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

At this week’s Brent Council meeting Liberal Democrat leader Paul Lorber called for the Labour-run council to spend scarce taxpayers’ money on direct support for community groups – instead of subsidising an expensive council-run Festivals Unit.

Councillor Paul Lorber and members of the Hindu Council with a petition signed by 6,000 residents

The local Liberal Democrats believe community groups that want to hold local festivals and community events can deliver more for local people than a central bureaucracy at the Town Hall.
 
The call for a rethink follows a decision by Labour Councillors to cancel support for the celebration of long standing festivals in Brent, including Christmas, Eid and Navratri. At the same time the council is paying for a Festivals Unit which costs £120,000 to run yet spends just £197,000 delivering events.

Liberal Democrat council group leader Councillor Paul Lorber said:

It is financial madness for the council to spend such a high proportion of its events budget on staffing and overheads. For every £5 the council spends directly on events, it spends another £3 maintaining its Festivals Unit. £120,000 spent by community organisations on community events could lever in an enormous amount of voluntary effort and matching funding.

The Council should back local residents to organise their own festivals and events – instead of diverting spending to unnecessary bureaucracy.

Councillor Lorber points out that the council already has a Grants Unit responsible for the distribution of money to local groups, which could manage applications from community organisations which want to organise traditional events.

The Liberal Democrats are demanding that the Council should place more emphasis on cutting waste and becoming more efficient in order to make savings and protect local services such as libraries and school crossing patrols.

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Posted in Community, Voluntary Sector

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Labour Under Fire for Dining at Taxpayers’ Expense

Posted on November 26, 2011 | Leave a comment

Labour councillors are under fire for spending over £1,000 this year on treating themselves to dinner at the Hilton Hotel.

Earlier this month fourteen Labour councillors went for dinner at the Hilton at a cost to Brent Council taxpayers of £623.75. This follows another dinner at the same hotel in July which cost local residents £520. 

Speaking at a Brent Council meeting last Monday (21 November), Liberal Democrat councillor for Brondesbury Park, Barry Cheese, asked Labour Council Leader Ann John to explain the expenditure.

 Cllr John justified the decision to go to dinner at taxpayer’s expense on the grounds that it gave members of the Executive a chance to ‘bond better’ following a meeting to discuss further budget cuts with officers.

 Councillor Barry Cheese said:

Labour Councillors should be ashamed of themselves for spending over £1,000 of Brent taxpayers’ money this year on dinners for themselves at a posh hotel.

 These are the same councillors who closed our local Libraries, are taking away Lollipop patrols and who slashed the street cleaning service. At a time like this every penny counts. Labour should stop this waste of public money.

In 2010 Labour Councillors spent almost £8,000 on two budget ‘awaydays’ at an expensive hotel in Buckinghamshire. That practice was stopped after Liberal Democrats exposed it as another waste of taxpayers’ money and totally unnecessary.

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Posted in Labour Failure

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Brent’s Labour councillors satisfied with dirty streets

Posted on November 25, 2011 | Leave a comment

At Monday night’s Brent Council meeting (21 November) the Labour councillors running Brent expressed satisfaction with their reduced street cleaning service and refused to accept that local streets are getting dirtier.

Litter piling up by a litter bin in Brent

Portfolio Holder Jim Moher even accused the opposition of making up the photos which showed evidence of overflowing bins and dirty residential streets!

Councillor Moher was responding to Liberal Democrat calls for the new street cleaning system introduced by Labour to be revised and improved, in order to address the increase of litter and rubbish around the borough.

In October Labour councillors cut the frequency of street sweeping in residential streets to just once a week. Earlier this year these same streets were swept three times a week.

Leaves piling up at Brondesbury ParkNO street sweeping now takes place after 2pm at the weekends. Because street sweepers are also responsible for emptying street litter bins, these are now not emptied frequently enough and overflow. Responsible residents are left with nowhere to put their litter once the bins are full.

Labour also cut the special leaf clearance service, meaning that the piles of leaves are now cleared much more slowly and the risk of people slipping on wet leaves is increased.

Cllr Gavin Sneddon, Liberal Democrat councillor for Willesden Green, highlighted the litter around Dollis Hill tube station and pointed out that the problems was likely to get worse:

The effect is cumulative, as each time the street cleaners come round there is more litter and rubbish than before to clean up. We also have a big problem with overflowing litter bins at the weekend, as street cleaning staff are no longer around to empty the bins when they fill up. It’s essential the council takes action to target the worst areas.

Liberal Democrat council Group Leader Paul Lorber said:

Brent was notorious for its dirty streets when Labour last ran the Council between 1998 and 2006. The situation improved massively when the Lib Dem led council increased street sweeping to three times per week between 2006 and 2010. Labour has turned the clock back and is once again leaving our streets in a mess.

 Labour portfolio holders must be walking around with their eyes closed if they haven’t noticed any problems.Overflowing litter bin in Brent

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Posted in Campaigns, Clean Streets, Labour Failure

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Labour councillors under fire for by-election timing

Posted on November 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

Labour councillors have come under fire for timing the Wembley Central by-election for Thursday 22 December just three days before Christmas and on one of the shortest days of the year.

Although the polling stations will be open from 7am until 10pm the sun won’t rise until after 8am and will sets before 4pm, meaning there are fewer than eight hours of daylight on election day.

Many residents will have other things on their minds apart from local politics as they rush to do the Christmas shopping and get ready for the long Christmas bank holiday weekend

Labour is determined to make it as inconvenient as possible for residents to cast their vote in this election. They are obviously embarrassed about it and want as few people as possible to notice and take part,

said Brent Liberal Democrat Council Group Leader Paul Lorber.

Just a handful of votes separated the Liberal Democrat and Labour candidates at the last election in Wembley Central. It looks set to be a tight contest between the Liberal Democrats and Labour again.

It’s a chance for local people to have their say on Labour’s cuts to the street cleaning and waste collection service, the hike in parking permit charges and library closures.

 The leading Liberal Democrat candidate was just 155 votes behind Labour when the Wembley Central seat was last contested in May 2010 (Lib Dem 2,122 votes, Labour 2,277 votes). The Conservative Party was a long way behind with only just over 1,000 votes.

The timing of the former Labour councillor’s resignation meant the Returning Officer could not avoid the Christmas period. The law requires him to call the election no less than 26 and no more than 35 days after the election is called.

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Posted in Campaigns, Clean Streets, Elections, Labour Failure, Libraries

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Labour leader’s claim that every Brent resident lives within 1.5 miles of a Brent library disproved

Posted on November 10, 2011 | Leave a comment

Brent Council Leader Ann John’s repeated assurance that every Brent resident lives within 1.5 miles of a Brent library has been exposed as wrong.

Councillor John has made the claim repeatedly in the media as she struggled to justify Labour’s decision to axe half of Brent’s libraries in the face of massive public opposition.

The claim even appears in an official council news release posted on the council’s website and in the latest edition of the Brent Magazine (page 5). But the claim is untrue.

Residents in Sudbury, Northwick Park, Dollis Hill and Mapesbury wards will be more than 1.5 miles away from a Brent library

Thousands of residents (yellow areas) will be more than 1.5 miles from a library because of Labour’s library closures. Map shows situation in mid 2013 when the Town Hall library is due to move to the new Civic Centre site near Wembley Stadium and Willesden Green library is expected to be closed for redevelopment.

Analysis of the claim by the Liberal Democrats, using GIS mapping technology, reveals:

  • Hundreds of Northwick Park and Sudbury residents already live more than 1.5 miles from Ealing Road, Kingsbury or the Town Hall libraries, following the closure of Barham Park library.
  • The number of residents living more than 1.5 miles from a library will INCREASE when the Town Hall library shuts and is replaced by a library in the new Civic Centre
  • Several thousand residents in Dollis Hill and Mapesbury wards will be more than 1.5 miles from a library when Willesden Green library is shut during the Willesden Green redevelopment project. These residents were able to use the more convenient Neasden and Cricklewood libraries until Labour closed both libraries last month.

Liberal Democrat Leader Paul Lorber, who has been closely involved with the Brent libraries campaign said:

This shows, once again, that we simply can’t trust Labour to give us the facts. More seriously it raises the question of whether Labour councillors knew that Cllr John’s claim was false when they voted to close six popular libraries in Brent.

Dollis Hill councillor Jack Beck, whose constituents are among those most affected by the library closures said:

Yet again we find out how unfair and illogical Labour’s library closures are. Residents in Dollis Hill, Mapesbury and Cricklewood already face some difficult journeys to use Willesden Green library following the closure of Cricklewood and Neasden libraries. When Willesden Green library shuts they will be even more disadvantaged.

The only sensible course of action is to keep our old libraries open while Willesden Green library is shut.

Dollis Hill Liberal Democrat councillors Jack Beck and Javaid Ashraf campaigning outside Neasden Library

Dollis Hill Liberal Democrat councillors Jack Beck and Javaid Ashraf campaigning outside Neasden Library before it was closed by Labour

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Posted in Campaigns, Labour Failure, Libraries

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