Local schools to suffer from Government funding cuts.

Guest blog from Paul - a Fryent resident and teacher.

In the budget Philip Hammond failed schools. 

His budget offers no relief and no certainty for headteachers struggling to plug the gap in school budgets. 

As headteachers pour over their budgets and are forced to make difficult decisions, the Chancellor is ducking his responsibility to our nation's schools. 

Here's a summary on the latest on School Cuts

In our local schools every single school has been cut. The figures are these: 

Oliver Goldsmiths -£315 per year per child

Fryent -£159 per child per year

Robert Southwell -£365 per child per year

Kingsbury Green -£423 per child per year

Roe Green -£617 per child per year (!)

Kingsbury High School - £537 per child per year.

You can find out more at www.schoolcuts.org.uk. If you are interested in working with other parents to reverse these cuts contact http://www.fairfundingforallschools.org/

We welcome guest blogs from Fryent residents and these are published on the understanding that we may or may not agree with the contents. 

Please contact us if you wish to respond to the debate or publish a new blog item.

Fryent Councillors.

This Government is trashing our schools.

Guest blog from Paul -  a Fryent resident and teacher.

Anyone would think that this government is using Toby Young's How to lose friends and alienate people as an instructive text for their members in cities. 

Not only are they freezing the overall education budget by 2020, which means an 8% cut across the board, they are also proposing a sharp shift in spending away from cities to rural areas*.

The most cautious estimate is that inner London would be hit with an additional 9% cut, with a comparable impact on Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. This, an accumulated cut of 17%, has been described by one director of children's services as "catastrophic".

If carried out it would mean the most significant disinvestment in education in the cities in modern times. The last years of the lean cow in the 1990s, also under a Conservative government, saw an overall drop of 4%.

Imagine your child's school with 1 in 5 fewer teachers and TAs and resources cut back to match.

The Conservatives describe their proposals as "fair funding", but this is fair in the same way as flat tax is fair. Their redistribution would hit the most deprived areas the hardest.

This would have drastic knock on effects on everything from crime to how sophisticated the workforce is going to be. It is a recipe for national decline. A country that can't afford to invest in its future citizens is on its way down and out and the Conservatives are leading it there; doubtless straightening their ties and singing the national anthem as they do so.

In London there is a very broad campaign opposing this, involving MPs, councillors, council officers, Heads, teachers, support staff, parents and students. http://keeplondonschoolsgreat.org/ At present it has been concentrating on pushing counter arguments in the governments consultation, but teachers and TAs have already been out pushing hard copies of the petition in playgrounds and leaflets have been going up in local shops, so the word is getting out.

This too is an issue that should be shouted out loud and clear by Labour in the run up to the May elections. Turn out is traditionally low in local elections, but parents care very deeply about the prospects for their children, so everyone opposed to these proposals should be making sure that people know how hard hit their children's schools will be; and vote accordingly.

*The underfunding of rural areas reflects a historic pattern of under spending by Conservative councils more concerned to keep the rates down than investing in local children. 

We welcome guest blogs from Fryent residents and are published on the undertanding we may or may not agree with the contents. Please contact us if you want to respond to the debate.

Fryent Councillors. 

Brent Connects - Kingsbury and Kenton Forum

The next meeting of the Kingsbury and Kenton Brent Connects will take place on Wednesday 3rd Febuary at 7pm. The venue will be Kingsbury High School, Princess Ave. NW9.

The main item for discussion is likely to be Brent Council future budget and wether the Council should increase Council Tax as Government Chancellor George Osborne is suggesting or make further cuts to services to residents.

These decisions affect you and your opinion is important, please try and come along and listen and take part in the debate.

Fryent Councillors

Should Brent Council increase Council Tax?

This is the question that your Councillors will have to consider over the next few months. Should the Council increase Council Tax by more than the permitted 2% to 4% or more? A Council Tax increase of 2% generates approximately £1.8 million pounds. This level of increase would cost a band D resident £21 or just over 40 pence per week.  The Government have ruled for many years that Council tax increases above 2% without a local referendum would not be allowed.

In Chancellor Osborne recent Autumn statement he is now encouraging and allowing Councils to increase Council Tax to pay for the care costs of the elderly. The elderly population is growing as their life expectancy grows but this puts additional burdens on Council spending. 

Brent Council tax has been frozen for the last 6 years - no increase since 2009.

Your Fryent Councillors have argued for an increase in previous years because our base budget is years out of date. The Government has given the Council 1% in the past to freeze Council tax but this has not kept pace with funding additional or even existing services.

This is not an easy decision, we realise that it will impact some residents adversely. The Council will have to review its Council Tax support scheme to protect the most vulnerable residents. The Council will still have to make cuts and make huge savings because of continued Government austerity measures.

So why should Council Tax increase? Any public service has to be paid for - if the Government reduces the grant it previously gave to the Council the money has to come from somewhere. Brent has cut £145 million from its budget - this is money the government has taken away from Brent residents over the last 4/5 years. Brent has made efficiencies, transformed services, shared services with other boroughs, cut jobs and some services and increased and added new charges, the payment for collecting Green waste , is an example. The cuts are so severe that the Council is now faced with cutting services which will adversely affect people lives, particularly the elderly housebound, residents with a disability, and environmental services such as street cleaning and repairing pot holes.

You can have your say, either post a comment on this blog or come to the next Kingsbury and Kenton Brent Connects. It takes place on Wednesday 3rd Feb at Kingsbury high School, Prince Ave, Kingsbury And starts at 7pm.

Your views are important - be part of the discussion.

Cllrs George Crane, Ruth Moher and Shama Tatler.  

Cameron cuts mean bigger dose of medicine.

In a few weeks time, 8th July, the Chancellor George Osborne will announce swingeing cuts in a post election budget. Preparing the ground  Cameron, Osborne and Duncan Smith are briefing the press about big cuts in welfare benefits, whilst saving pensions, child benefits and disabled benefits - allegedly?

What`s left you might ask, it`s clear from press speculation that the "working poor" or families on low incomes will clearly shoulder a large burden. This makes a mockery of "all in it together" - tax breaks and give aways for the very rich, cuts in tax credit for the very poor. Press reports indicate a cut as much as £1400 a year for low income working families.  I must have missed this Tory pledge during the last election campaign?

David Cameron was reported to say in a speech a few days ago "we have to deal with the symptoms of the problem" I think he was referring to those working families on low income. The message this appears to send to the nation is - It`s not the medicine that`s the problem - he just hasn`t given low income working families a big enough dose!

Taking about medicine reminds me that part of the 12 billion cuts will include the Health budget but not the NHS itself. No prizes for thinking the Public Health budgets, now part of local Government, will be clobbered. Local Government is also braced for another round of cuts. 90 million since 2010 and a further 54 million over the next 2 years - and thats just Brent! More and more reductions in services to the frail and elderly are inevitable over the next few years as the bulk of Council expenditure is on Adult Social Care.


Fryent Councillor George Crane

BRENT BOROUGH PLAN 2015 - 2019

HAVE YOUR SAY


Fryent residents are being asked for their views on what local Council  services should be provided in future. It also asks  what can Brent Council do to improve the borough given the continuing squeeze on budgets.

Why are we asking residents? Your views are important, its your borough, its your council Tax, and they are your public services.

The Government have cut money that they allocate to the Council to provide services to residents of Brent. Over the last four years we have re organised the way we provide services, sometimes this has meant services reducing, like the number of libraries.  

Over the next 4 years our budget is being cut even more, the total spending will have to halve by 2019, a 50% reduction. We are faced with a growing population, elderly people are living longer and more babies are being born. What do we do with less money but more demands? It is likely that some services we currently provide will be stopped or reduced or run by voluntary groups.

Should residents pay more Council Tax to pay for local services, should individual households pay for certain services? An example of this is the recent decision to charge for garden waste to be collected from next spring. Are there current Council services that people think are so important that they would pay more to keep them? Some services are statutory, this means we have to provide a service, normally due to a law being passed by Government.

We want to know what you think is most important for Brent, bearing in mind that prioritising means we will have to do less in some areas – or stop doing some things altogether. We are also looking for your ideas on how we can deliver services more innovatively, working with others to protect services – this includes working with you.

Will you help us decide, your views matter? Go to the link below and fill out the questions.

It is also likely that it will be an agenda item at the next Brent Connects to be held on 4th November 2014at the Sattavis Patidar Centre, Forty Lane, junction with the Avenue, Wembley starting at 7pm.    Make a note in your diary.

Thank you for your help, and please pass on to others and suggest they help. The moe responses we get the better the representations.

 http://brent.gov.uk/your-council/the-borough-plan-consultation/


Fryent Councillors,
George Crane, Ruth Moher and Shama Tatler.

CHANGES TO WASTE SERVICES IN BRENT

A recent decision by Brent Council executive will introduce a new charge of £40, forty pounds, per annum to collect garden waste.  This will be an optional charge, which means you the resident will decide if you want to pay or not. Senior Citizens will be eligible for a 20% discount. You can also agree to share a green bin with your neighbour and share the cost. The cost works out at less than 80 pence per week.

Why are we doing this?

Government cuts mean we have to find 53million pounds of savings this year. This means cutting out some services and charging for others. It means difficult choices on where we spend limited resources. We also need to increase recycling to reduce overall waste collection that goes to expensive landfill. (See previous blogs on the need to recycle)

We do not have to collect garden waste as a statutory service for nothing; many other Councils have levied an annual charge for years or do not collect at all.  Not every house in Brent even has a green bin, including many in Fryent.

Weekly Food waste collection.

A new initiative will be the introduction of a new weekly collection of food waste. Every household in Brent, approx. 11000, and 8500 in Fryent will receive a new 23 litre sealable food waste container. A new recycling vehicle will collect food waste and dry recycling, your blue bin waste, ever week which will increase re cycling and save money. How? Any recycled waste is £70 pounds cheaper than anything in a grey bin going to landfill. Your collection day should not change and the new service should start in Spring next year 2015.Your Grey bin will collected every other week as now.

But it’s your choice, you can compost garden waste for free, you can take it to the Civic Amenity site in Abbey Road NW10 for free or pay to keep the green bin.

We hope these changes will make Brent a greener, cleaner borough that cares about future generations and thinks about recycling first.

Fryent Councillors  

Bedroom Tax

Have you heard about the Government plans for a ‘bedroom tax’ ? While families of soldiers serving our country will have to find extra money for their son or daughter’s bedroom, 13,000 millionaires will get a tax cut worth £100,000 a year on average. Two thirds of the households hit are home to someone who is disabled. Foster families will be hit – even if they have foster children in their ‘spare room’. Divorced parents and grandparents will be charged more if they want to keep a spare room for when their children or grandchildren come to stay. To add to the chaos, the Department for Work and Pensions has admitted that there are not enough smaller properties for families to move to, yet the ‘bedroom tax’ will still hit households that don’t have the option to move. Is there no end to what this Con - Lib alliance is doing to add more misery to ordinary people. You can find out if you are affected here: http://www.housing.org.uk/policy/welfare_reform/bedroom_tax.aspx Fryent Councillors

Brent Council Freezes Budget for Third year running.

Brent Council has frozen its share of council tax again and will reduce parking charges after its 2013/14 budget was agreed on Monday night (25 February). The budget passed by Full Council sets out that the local authority will spend around £284 million net on the provision of local authority services in 2013/14, which will be paid for from central government grants, business rates and council tax. "Brent has now had the same rate since 2009/10 and brings welcome relief to hard pressed Fryent residents, who are struggling with falling living standards under this Government" said Fryent Councillor Ruth Moher. As part of this Budget a range of measures aimed at helping Business and Traders was also launched. Fryent Councillor George Crane welcomed a new enterprise initiative and he said at the meeting. "This new team will forge stronger links with businesses inside and outside of the Borough. It will provide small businesses in Brent with the support and advice they need to survive these difficult times. It will also provide us with a strong network through which we can push for more jobs, more apprenticeships and higher wages for our residents." The Council also agreed to fund reductions in on-street parking charges as part of the budget. This will enable the introduction of flat rate charges costing 50p per 15 minutes, with a lower charge of 20p for stays of up to 15 minutes. The net expenditure will pay for local authority services in 2013/14 including two sports centres, supporting the borough's voluntary sector, maintenance of around 22,000 streetlights, 13 million refuse collections a year, street cleaning, a recycling and waste service as well as adult social care and customer services. Brent Council Leader Councillor Muhammed Butt said: "I know how difficult it is for residents at the moment which is why we have taken action in this budget to help ease residents' financial pressures. We have frozen council tax again and will reduce on-street parking charges across the borough, and supported a new scheme to save you money on energy bills. At the same time we are striving to protect Brent's front-line services despite further cuts this year. "However, I want to be open with residents that the coming years will be very tough for the council and residents alike as costs rise and central government grant funding falls even further."

IFS say "More bad news for the economy."

More bad news for the economy as the respected think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies have warned that Government borrowing is likely to be £64 billion more than planned by Chancellor George Osborne only 2 years ago. With current Government policy cutting living standards, freezing  wages, more and more redundancies and job losses, price rises, cuts in welfare for those most in need.

If this was not bad enough, now we are faced with future tax increases. This is just a further example that the coalition economic policy is just not working. This talk of cutting the deficit all seems a bit hollow.

The IFS warned "tax will have to rise  and currently protected services like the NHS will be cut."

Despite frequent warnings on the problems facing the economy the Government continue to say they have no plans to change course.  "It`s not the medicine that`s not working," the Government say, "you just haven't had enough of it yet."     So now you know, keep taking the pills, and bitter pills at that.

George Crane.
Fryent Councillors

COUNCIL TAX BENEFIT SUPPORT

There is bad news on the way for local residents who currently get Council Tax Benefit.

Localising support for council tax

The government is proposing to localise support for council tax from 2013–14. CTB will be abolished, and local authorities in England – and the Scottish and Welsh governments – must design their own systems for rebating council tax to low-income families. Entitlement rates for pensioners in England will still be set nationally and maintained at their existing level.

Cutting support for council tax

As well as localising support for council tax, the government is also planning to cut funding for it by 10 per cent, giving each local authority a grant based on 90 per cent of what would have been spent on CTB in that area – meaning a larger cash funding cut in areas where CTB spending is higher.

Central government is forcing each local authority to come up with its own scheme for Council Tax benefit, and abolishing the national scheme. Brent will be publishing its proposals for consultation in early June. These are being rushed through for implementation in April 2013, which effectively means that Councils will have had little time to respond and consult on the government plans by the end of this year.

The April 2013 deadline means that the necessary scheme  design and implementation is kept to an almost impossibly short time table.

This is just another example of Government making decisions that Local Councils have to implement and probably will get the blame for. 

Please pass this on so as many people as possible know what’s happening.

Fryent Councillors.

KINGSBURY AND KENTON AREA FORUM

DATE CHANGED

The next meeting of the Kingsbury and Kenton Area Consultative Forum has had the date changed.

The meeting will now take place on TUESDAY 7^TH FEB not on the 8^th Feb as previously stated in our blog in December. The venue remains Kingsbury High School, Princess Ave, Kingsbury and the meeting will start at 7.00pm.

The topic for the meeting will still be “Have your Say” it will be an opportunity to listen to the Leader of Brent Council, Councillor Ann John who will outline the issues for next year’s Council Budget and Council Tax. The Council is facing difficult financial decisions due to reductions in the level of Government grant for the last few years. Many Council services will either have to be reduced or priorities changed due to less money being available.

You will have an opportunity to ask questions.

Please pass on this message to anyone you think attends the meeting who may not know of the date change.

Cllr George Crane

Fryent Councillors on the March

The Fryent Councillors on the March

It was a carnival atmosphere, down at the Victoria Embankment last Saturday, as we congregated for the start of the 'March for the Alternative' at Temple Station.

Lots of bands, banners and chanting; it was amazing just being part of it all. There was so much going on and so much to take in. A sense of excitement that we were part of this vast demonstration.  At last we could express outrage and opposition to what the Government is doing. Up until now it has all been so passive.

Supporters from Fryent and Kingsbury were joined by people from all over Brent. It was orderly and good natured and after 3 hours we had reached Parliament and onward to Downing Street. The noise outside Downing Street was deafening, lots of Police, but everyone was well behaved despite their frustration and anger.

It was a great pity that a tiny minority of troublemakers caused problems, but hardly surprising considering the media attention. Why did the media pay so much attention to the trouble makers, surely that’s exactly what they want!

The organisers expected 100K and the total turnout was probably 4 or 5 times that number which was fantastic. Will it make any difference – probably not yet – but it was a great day out and this may just be the start of a campaign that will grow and grow.

Brent Council spending Cuts

I read in local papers this week that Cllr Paul Lorber the Liberal opposition Leader on Brent Council is blaming the Labour Council for cuts in services. In fact his own party Leaders in nearly every Council in the Country are condemning the Government for unprecedented and savage cuts in Local Government spending.Interesting that Cllr Lorber is so out of step or out of touch with his colleagues!

Today in the Times even Tory Council leaders were quoted condemning Eric Pickles the Tory Minister for Local Government at  the severity of the cuts this year. The Government have decided to make cuts in Local Government much greater than any other type of Government spending. Presumably trying to blame the cuts on Local Councils when it affects jobs and services.

It's a shame that Cllr Lorber and Tory Leader Harshad Patel don't jointly lobby their coalition Government leaders to reduce the level of cuts to a much more realistic level this year.

Brent Budget Meeting 28th February

Next Monday 28th February Brent Council will set it's annual budget for the year 2011 and 2012. This will be a  particularly difficult meeting with the Council forced to make over 47 million pounds of savings next year. The Government have significantly reduced the funding grant avaialble to all local government, not just Brent.

The savings are front loaded so out of a total of 109 million over the next four years nearly a half of the total has to be found immediately.