FRYENT WEEK OF ACTION 29th SEPTEMBER TO 4th OCTOBER

As part of our Fryent Weeks of Action programme, Brent Council will focus on your local area for a week and address the concerns you have about the local area such as crime, the environment and health.

Brent Council services will be working alongside local residents and partners like the police, fire service and the local community to tackle issues raised by you the residents and try and make a difference locally.

You will also have more opportunities to meet your elected Councillors  and discuss local issues face to face.

During the week events will take place at various locations: Outside Kingsbury Library, Roe Green Park, Morrison’s Car Park , Springfield Mount / Edgware Road, and more to be announced..

So whether it is advice or just the opportunity to “Sound Off” look out for “Fryent week of Action” coming to a place near you soon.

For more information, follow us on Twitter @Brent_Council #weekofaction or @FryentCllrs or emailmyneighbourhood@brent.gov.uk or sign up to our blog.

Fryent Councillors, Ruth, Shama and George

Walkabout in Wakemans Hill

Thanks to all the residents we met over the weekend during our walkabout around Springfield Mount and Wakemans Hill. We were shocked to hear about the road accident to an elderly lady on the Edgware Road. Anti social dumping of rubbish on the streets was high on your list of concerns. It is such a shame that some thoughtless residents continue to do this. We are thinking about installing secret cameras to try and catch people dumping.

We were joined the weekend by Shama Tatler who is a member of Fryent Labour Action team. She is also Chair of Brent North Labour Party. Shama really liked meeting residents and chatting about the area.

ENERGY SOLUTIONS ADVICE - BEAT YOUR MONEY WORRIES

Are you struggling to pay energy bills - do you need help with how to get the right payment plan? Have you thought about how to insulate your home or replace an old inefficient boiler? There are ways to beat the cold and not get into debt. Why not join Energy Solutions at Brent Town Hall on 16th April between 10.00 am and 3.00 pm. The beat your money worries advice sessions are free and funded by Fryent Councillors using Ward Working money. You can also visit www.sustainablebrent.org.uk George Crane Fryent Councillors

KINGSBURY AND KENTON AREA FORUM

The next meeting of the Kingsbury and Kenton Area Forum will take place on Weds 11th April at Kingsbury High School, Princess Ave NW9.

The following items will be on the agenda for consideration.

·         Establishing Ward Working Priorities – these will be ward-based break-out sessions

·         Allotments and Food Growing Strategy - update

·         Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June – how residents can organise street parties

There will be a written update on the Olympic Route Network.

Please let us know if you have any additional suggestions. We hope you will continue to lend us your support in bringing forward local issues to your local forum.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Fyent Councillors

(You can contact us by clicking on the comment button)

Brent Council Budget Agreed

A BUDGET FOR SOCIAL MOBILITY AND LOCAL DEMOCRACY

Labour’s budget for 2012/13 has two main themes, social mobility and local democracy. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has cited the UK as one of the worst countries for levels of social mobility and this is in the number one priority in Brent.

Most Brent residents have incomes lower than the £26,000 benefit cap, 12,000 (9.3%) of them are unemployed and youth unemployment is a particular problem. One third of Brent children are living in poverty (that is living in households where the household income is below £15,000 a year) and the changes in the welfare reform bill and localisation of housing benefit will make the situation even worse. Children born into poverty are most likely to become poor adults.

In Labour’s budget proposals is a pledge to establish a Commission on Social Mobility to be chaired by an academic to ensure that council policy is geared towards enabling local people to achieve their full potential. Meanwhile, the Council is providing £350,000 as starter funding to develop a new employment service to work in partnership with other agencies to help local residents back into work.

Meanwhile, in order to address the democratic deficit caused by the Coalition government’s removal of powers from local government, Labour Brent is to double the budget for ward working whereby local people working with their local councillors determine activities and projects within their own communities. From now on every ward will receive £40,000 to spend on local initiatives that matter to them.

Brent Council’s Labour Leader, Cllr Ann M John, OBE, said:

“The gap between rich and poor is growing all the time with the top ten per cent of earners now earning twelve times as much as the bottom ten per cent. In Brent average earnings are only just at the national average whilst house prices are twice the national average. Social mobility and getting people back to work has to be our number one priority. But we are also giving local people a say in projects in their area by doubling the ward working budget. The government may talk about localism but we practice it”. 

Fryent Ward Working Budget Allocation

Fryent Councillors, Jim, Ruth and George met with our Ward Working Officer Vik Mistry last week. We needed to assess the projects and proposals for allocating Ward Working Money for this year.

We have 20K to allocate to local community groups working for the benefit of local residents. Following a detailed discussion we agreed to fund the following schemes, some will be jointly funded with other Ward Working schemes to offer better economies of scale.

The successful schemes were; 1. The Kingsbury Somali Youth project (** joint funded) 2. A Burglary Prevention scheme run by Elders Voice. 3. A “Teen Club” in Kingsbury Library. 4 We have also allocated money for a “swim bus” to pay for transport to Vale Farm sports centre for the elderly to go swimming. 5 We are also going to donate a much needed bench in the Bush Grove area.

We still have a small amount to allocate and some projects are still being considered but we have asked for more information. If you know of any scheme that requires a small amount of money send an e mail with details to vikash.mistry@brent.gov.uk.

We meet again in October to finalise and sign off this year’s budget allocation.

Fryent Councillors Walkabout June 18th

Cllr s Ruth, Jim and George are writing to inform you about our Councillors’ Walkabout, on Saturday 18 June 2011.

This walkabout is being organised, in the Fryent ward, as part of Brent Council’s Ward Working initiative. 

Your views are very important to us, as its helps us to improve the way we deliver services to meet your needs.

Walkabouts are also an opportunity for us to see for ourselves what’s happening in the area.

We as Ward Councillors, with council officers, find out from local residents what their concerns are about the local area.

We will then work together with other agencies like the Police and community organisations to draw up an action plan and try to develop solutions to key issues raised.

We will attend the walkabout along with officers from Streetcare, and representatives from the Police Safer Neighbourhoods Team.

The locations are:

·     1pm - outside Kingsbury Post Office, Kingsbury High Road

·     2pm-outside Mcdonaugh’s Public house, 2 Slough Lane

·     3pm –outside St Sebastien and St Pancras RC Church, Hay Lane

·     4pm – at the corner of Coniston Gardens and Kingsbury Road (former Scout Hut).   Followed by walk to Springfield Mount/Edgware Road.   

We tend to spend between 20 and 30 minutes at each venue depending on the number of people to see. Residents will be more than welcome to meet us at the various points above.

We do hope you will be able to come and share your views about your area,

Come and join us!

George, Jim and Ruth - Your Local Councillors