Winter Fuel payments Cut

Winter Fuel Allowance for pensioners has been cut between 50 and 100 pounds depending on age. Apparently this news was not announced by George Osborne the Chancellor in his statement but buried in the Budget papers.

This is pretty shabby treatment for our pensioners but should we expect anything else from this Government?

Benefit Awareness month will last throughout April and will hopefully help people who don't claim benefit.
Log on to www.turn2us.org.uk to access a benefit checker.

Cllr George Crane

Brent's roads and pavements

The state of our roads and pavements is not bad, by comparison with
other neighbouring boroughs. Of course, we all know stretches (especially
footpaths), which are (and look) 'tired'. Every year, as local councillors
we put in bids for priority attention to Fryent's. Over the last few years
we have not done badly with major resurfacing to Kingsbury Road,
Edgware Road, Church Lane, Highfield Avenue and repairs to many
other of the non-principal roads. Priorities are decided mainly by
independent condition surveys and the borough's engineers.

Of course, there is still a lot to do, as the sheer weight of traffic, bad winters
and age make it a constant uphill battle. Nothing annoys more than to see a nice
newly-laid stretch of paving stones broken again by heavy vehicles reversing
or driving over them!

This year again, despite the dire budget situation Brent Council finds itself
in, we managed to maintain that committment with nearly £3million allocated
for upgrades to roads, pavements, grass verges, gulleys, street signage and so on.
In deciding this allocation, the Executive of the Council recently agreed to use
over £1.130 million (39%) on pavements as opposed to £1.09million (37%),on
roads. This will benefit residents all round the Fryent area, including Old
Kenton Lane (pavements) and Mersham Drive (road).

Cllr Jim Moher

 

NHS Reforms

Right now, the government is rushing through changes to our health service. Experts warn that these changes would break the NHS up, handing power to private health companies, and wasting money at a time when funding is already being squeezed and beds and wards being cut.

Following quickly on from the Liberals Spring conference the BMA ( British Medical Association) recently called for a halt to Government plans to reform the NHS saying they were “dangerous and risky.”

Many GP’s have voiced concerns that they are just not qualified to be “commissioners of services – our job is to look after patient’s not to make decisions on how the NHS spends its money.” 

Neither Tory or Liberal parties had put anything about radical NHS reforms in their manifestos; in fact both said NHS spending would be protected. So where is their mandate for these so called reforms?

You can register your voice against these reforms by going to www.38degrees.org.uk/save-our-nhs


Cllr. George Crane

Welsh Harp Education Centre saved

We're very pleased to report that this much valued centre which local school pupils use a lot, will not after all face closure as was feared due to government cuts in Council funding. Instead, we voiced the very strong protests of local pupils, teachers and parents - the kids at Oliver Goldsmith primary were
particularly artistic with their letters and a petition of parents went to the Council.

Happy to say, a prominant socially-minded local building firm, Carey's, agreed to fund 50% of the revenue costs for the next two years to keep the centre going  and to buy time for a long-termed solution to be developed. During this time, Carey's will work in partnership with the Council to develop the education offer provided and will provide support in kind from their marketing staff and academic consultant to achieve this. A Business Plan will also be drawn up for future funding arrangements beyond the 2year period in a long-term partnership agreement. The site and all buildings remain the property of the Council and Carey's name will be mentioned in the title of the centre.

In the circumstances, this is the best possible outcome and all the schools using the centre are really
pleased.

Cllr Jim Moher

Lib Dems reject Health reforms.

Yesterday, Sat 12th March, we saw the Lib Dems rank and file at their conference in Sheffield tell their Leaders "to halt the large scale top down reorganisation of the NHS" It was not part of the coalition programme or formed any part of either Tory or Lib Dem manifesto plans in last years General Election.
David Cameron said before the last General Election that he would "cut the deficit - not the NHS" - so 10 months later we see the NHS in crisis as its tries to deal with this deeply unpopular reorganisation. 

So what happens now? Will Nick Clegg tell the Tories, sorry no deal, or will he continue to support the "stealth privatisation of the NHS"
What will the Brent Central MP, the invisable, Sarah Teather say? Will she support the view of ordinary Lib Dems members. Watch this space.

George Crane.

BANKERS BONUS BONANZA

Five Barclay's bankers haver received over 100 Million pounds in a bonus bonanza. The bank has been forced to publish these unprecedented amounts as a result of Project Merlin. Two Directors, Rich Ricci and Jerry De Missier are reported to have received obscene sums over 40 million pounds each, including share offers.

It's ironic that the 5 bankers " earnings" are enough to cover the whole amount that Brent Council has had cut from Government grant over the next 4 years. Maybe it's time for Barclay's shareholders and customers to take action where the Government have clearly failed.

Cuts in Police numbers

Reports of cuts of up to 28000 Police must have many Tories up in arms, that's not exactly what they voted for last May.  How odd that only yesterday  BBC news was reporting private security firms setting up as an alternative to the Police. With limited powers but the ability to charge residents for looking after the area and their own property.

Is this the Big Society that the future holds for us all. Its Ok if you have money and can pay.

I can't remember the Tory promise on Police numbers but I suspect it was not to cut Police Officers from front line duty. Oh well what's another broken promise?

Kingsbury Town Tube Station

I have seen a recent question from Navin Shah our London Assy member to Mayor Boris Johnson on the lights at Kingsbury station. I have copied the question and Reply.


Question No: 466 / 2011
Navin Shah
Can you tell me why the lights are left on at Kingsbury Station during the day time when there is natural light and when the station is shut? Will you consider turning off lights in stations when there is no need for them to save money and electricity?
Written answer from the Mayor
Due to the original design and specification of the lighting within a number of London Underground (LU) stations, there are no switches at these stations that allow the lights to be easily turned on or off. However, subject to necessary funding being available, LU is looking to install switches at some stations affected by this issue – including Kingsbury.
This is part of a wider strategy to reduce CO2 emissions network-wide, which also includes: ten of LU’s largest stations signing up to the 10:10 pledge last year to cut CO2 emissions by 10%, nearly 200 stations currently having Energy Efficiency Plans (with this number due to be increased over 

School Parking

All 3 Councillors have received numerous complaints regarding selfish parents parking close to school entrances and blocking the roads, residents drive ways and general Anti Social behaviour. A local resident recently sent us a video which can be seen on "you tube" showing chaos outside Kingsbury Green School in Old Kenton Lane , Kingsbury.
Yesterday together with Tim Jackson, Brent Council Head of Transportation and Sgt Matt Howard Fryent Safer Neighbourhood Police team we saw for ourselves just how bad it is. We will be asking the Council to see if any improvements can be made to the local road layouts or if additional yellow lines will need to be added to help ease the situation.

If local residents have any views or ideas that might help alleviate the problem this will be welcomed - just post a comment.

Parking restrictions will be monitored over the next few weeks and the local Safer Neighbourhood Police team will  also be watching closely to check on persistent offenders.