Protesters occupy Grand Hall at Brent Civic Centre

Martin Roger Francis posted in Brent Fightback Martin Roger Francis 12:38am Jan 21 Protesters occupy Grand Hall at Brent Civic Centre www.youtube.com Protesters against Brent Council's Council Tax Support Scheme which penalises the poor occupied the ...

Hands off our Unions, Defend our right to resist austerity Public Rally organised by the People's Assembly

Hands off our Unions, Defend our right to resist austerity Public Rally organised by the People's Assembly Tuesday 11 February, 6:30pm Camden Centre, Bidborough Street, London WC1H 9AU This is a free event but please register your place: Speakers include: Len McCluskey, Unite the Union Mark Serwotka, Public and Commercial Services Union Francesca Martinez, Comedian John Hendy QC The government’s announcement of an inquiry into trade union tactics is further proof of its determination to undermine the right to protest against its austerity programme. As millions of people face falling real wages, unemployment, part time or casualised low paid work, and the rapid destruction or privatisation of the welfare state they stand in need of trade union organisation and the right to protest more than ever. We pledge ourselves to resist this attack. The right to protest is a fundamental civil liberty. The right to join an effective trade union is the product of generations of working class resistance. We have no intention of relinquishing it to a Government with no interests in the needs of working people.

-=-=- The People's Assembly Against Austerity · United Kingdom This email was sent to yrrumuk@googlemail.com. To stop receiving emails,  click here. You can also keep up with The People's Assembly Against Austerity on Twitter or Facebook.

Brent Greens support Make Willesden Green grassroots candidate

Alex Colas

Several members of Brent Green Party attended the Make Willesden Green campaign's policy discussion on Saturday as observers. The participants were local activists and residents, mostly non-party but with some disillusioned Labour supporters, who were concerned about their lack of say in local issues, poor consultation, the loss of some key local amenities, and the feeling that Willesden Green was being changed into a featureless dormitory which would squeeze out poorer people.  The Council was seen as remote and unresponsive.

The meeting was highly positive and very participative and people left determined to exercise some People Power at the local elections in May 2014.

Alex Colas is standing as an independent grassroots candidate in Willesden Green ward. He has worked alongside Green Paty members in several campaigns including the Keep Willesden Green campaign over the redevelopment of the Willesden Green Library and the loss of the Willesden Bookshop and the open space, as well as the continuing campaign against the forced academisation of Gladstone Park Primary School which serves many children from Willesden Green,

Alex wrote a Guest Article in the last edition of our Willesden Green News.

At the beginning of the well-attended  meeting Alex explained the relationship between MWG and the Greens. MWG is standing on an independent platform and is not a political party and welcomes support from supporters of all parties and none. The 'Green' in Make Willesden Green stands for the place and not the party.

However, Brent Green Party believe that an independent grassroots councillor for Willesden Green would enhance local democracy and has issued the following statement:

Brent Green Party welcomes the candidature of Alex Colas who is standing as an independent on the Make Willesden Green platform in Willesden Green ward in the local elections.

We believe that the election of Alex Colas, arising from his principled participation in local campaigns, would be healthy for local democracy.  In recognition of this we will stand only two candidates in the ward and recommend that our supporters give Alex their third vote.

Further information on the Make Willesden Green campaign can be found HERE

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Steve Cushion
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On 13/01/14 08:04, Steve Cushion wrote:

Hands Off London Transport - Public Rally

Public rally to stop cuts to London Underground.

it is on Thursday 16 January, 18.00, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL (nearest Tube Holborn)
Launch of the Hands off London Transport public campaign.
Workers and passengers unite for an affordable, accessible, safe public transport system in London.
Speakers
Bob Crow RMT
Jeremy Corbyn, MP
Manuel Cortes, TSSA
Jenny Jones, GLA member
Ron Douglas, NPC
Ciara Doyle, DPAC
Lianna Etkind, Transport For All.
Come along to be part of the campaign

NO MORE 'BENEFITS STREET'.' Protest against media portrayal of welfare recipients

NO MORE 'BENEFITS STREET'.' Protest against media portrayal of welfare recipients

---

Public

Monday, January 13 at 3:00pm in EST

Love Productions 43 Eagle Street London WC1R 4AT

Love Productions 43 Eagle Street London WC1R 4AT

View Map · Get Directions

Benefits Street was just the most recent of the disgusting media exploitation of people who are relying on welfare benefits. The media are in bed with the Tory government, profiting from unemployed and disabled people and single parents vulnerability, and attacking us so they can cut welfare benefits. It has to stop! Join us and show these media luvvies that wont get away with portraying welfare recipients as undeserving 'scum'.

Transition Kensal to Kilburn:

George Latham has invited you to the event 'Open Meeting for All' on Transition Kensal to Kilburn!

 

Please save the date for our next Open meeting on January 29th

Time: January 29, 2014 from 7:30pm to 10pm Location: Carlton Kitchen Community Food Hub Organized By: Sanchia Dunn Event Description: Please join us at our post-Solstice (definitely not Winter) quarterly meeting for members of Transition Town Kensal to Kilburn, your friends and neighbours. This time we have an opportunity to take a look inside another interesting local venue and community project. This is a Meanwhile Space, meaning that it's temporary, so we hope you take advantage of this opportunity to visit the space, but also to share some food and socialise and perhaps meet some new people in this exciting space. If that's not enough to tempt you, there will be updates from various members about local projects that have happened or started since our last meeting in November. There's been quite a bit, from the food and film evening to the newly activated Stitch Group. We're also looking into ways of spending our funding in a Community Chest way, so if you know of projects that would benefit, please come along and tell us about them. If you can bring a small amount of food to share that would be lovely. Look forward to seeing you all there!

See more details and RSVP on Transition Kensal to Kilburn:

http://ttkensaltokilburn.ning.com/events/event/show?id=3499303%3AEvent%3A68626&xgi=2gu6vj5eu13rkF&xg_source=msg_invite_event

About Transition Kensal to Kilburn

We’re a local group with a vision to turn our area into a more self-sufficient community, using the Transition model.

852 members 686 photos 258 di

38 degrees petition against the "gagging bill"

Friday, 10 January 2014

38 degrees petition against the "gagging bill"

action@38degrees.org.uk	4:49 PM (0 minutes ago)
to me

Hi Peter, thanks so much for signing the petition asking Lords to vote to fix the gagging law.

The petition is growing fast, but we need more people to sign it. Could you help by asking your friends to sign up now? You can forward the email below.

If you use Twitter or Facebook, please share with your friends using these links:

SHARE ON FACEBOOK 


SHARE ON TWITTER 

Thanks again,

Robin, Blanche, Maddy and the 38 Degrees team

--

Dear friends,

Have a look at this. I've just signed a petition asking Lords to vote to fix the gagging law.

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/gagging-law-vote

The government announced plans to water down key parts of their gagging law. It’s not enough, but it is progress. If we keep the pressure up now, there’s a real chance we can get further big changes.

Lords gather for one of their last debates to vote on the gagging law next Wednesday. Lord Harries – one of the key Lords trying to stop this threat to democracy – is tabling amendments which would help protect freedom of speech. We need to help him win those votes.

A big petition will help Lord Harries win. He will carry it into the debating chamber - and announce the total signatures - right before the debate starts. Our signatures will prove to wavering peers that the public is against this threat to democracy.

Can you sign a new last-minute petition to asking Lords to vote the right way?

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/gagging-law-vote


Thanks,
Peter

Firefighters working at the oldest station in London were in tears today as they left after their last shift.

Thursday 9th January 2014 (http://www.lbc.co.uk/firefighters-in-tears-as-10-stations-close-840670)

Firefighters working at the oldest station in London were in tears today as they left after their last shift.

Clerkenwell Fire Station is one of ten closing down in London due to budgets cuts.

A campaign has now started to save the building from being converted into luxury flats.

Local Labour councillor Paul Convery revealed that efforts will be made to have the historic building listed as an asset of community value in a bid to prevent its immediate redevelopment.

Alex Badcock, who has worked at the station for 29 years, broke down as he left the building.

"This is a sad, sad day. Boris Johnson doesn't know what he's doing."

James Cleverly, chairman of the capital's fire authority, said: "Londoners will continue to receive one of the fastest emergency response times in the world from the London Fire Brigade. If you dial 999 and need a fire engine, we still aim to have one with you within six minutes and a second, if needed, within eight.

"The brigade is faced with significant budget cuts which mean that changes to the service are inevitable and we are able to make those changes without compulsory redundancies.

"The firefighters based at the stations closing will now transfer to other stations and continue the excellent work they do to prevent fires, which is vital in changing the behaviours that start fires in the first place."

Paul Embery, London regional secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said: "Boris Johnson will have blood on his hands. It will be only a matter of time before someone dies because a fire engine did not get to them in time.

"You cannot close 10 fire stations and slash nearly 600 firefighter jobs without compromising public safety. These stations have protected generations of Londoners, and they are as necessary now as they ever were."

The London brigade said the number of fires in the capital has fallen by 50% in the last decade.

The fire stations closing are at Belsize, Bow, Clerkenwell, Downham, Kingsland, Knightsbridge, Silvertown, Southwark, Westminster and Woolwich.

A legal challenge to the closures, mounted by seven London boroughs last year, failed so the cuts will go ahead, leaving 102 fire stations and 155 engines.

Updates from Kilburn Unemployed Workers' Group

Updates from Kilburn Unemployed Workers' Group January (5)

• Notice of a meeting on Citizen's Income, and of a ...
• Channel 4 (@Channel4): Stop broadcasting Benefits ...
• Bedroom tax loophole for people with long tenancie...
• From Cannon Fodder to Sanctions Fodder, 'Your Coun...
• Guest blog from CarerWatch URGENT Call for inform...

Feel free to republish as you see fit.

acknowledements to alan wheatley

Brent NHS Consultations January 2014

Barnet Green Party's submission: proposals for the redevelopment of Brent Cross

The proposals for the redevelopment of Brent Cross seem to have been going on since the turn of the century. Like many recent developments it is just over the border from Brent and has received opposition from Kilburn, Dollis Hill and Cricklewood residents.

This is the Barnet Green Party's submission:

Barnet Council is currently considering a massive planning application for the Brent Cross Cricklewood redevelopment, including a huge extension to the shopping centre and a whole new residential town.

Barnet Greens say the BXC plans are full of utter ‘greenwash’, seeking to create a false impression about the environmental sustainability of this multi-billion pound project.

Here are the main objections we have submitted to the council:

1.These plans must be suspended until the development partners pledge to make the whole site carbon neutral and set out measures they will take to achieve that target. Sainsburys has already opened its first carbon neutral store (bit.ly/1bjnRQG) and plans to open more, showing that the technologies are available to make the Brent Cross shopping centre and the housing developments completely carbon neutral or carbon positive.

The proposed buildings are likely to exist for several decades at least and there is no way whatsoever that the British government will achieve its aim of a 60 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 if concrete giants like the Brent Cross shopping centre are still belching out carbon dioxide from heating, lighting and air conditioning.

This scheme is an ideal opportunity to install energy conservation measures and sustainable power facilities right from the beginning. There is plenty of scope on the site for enough wind turbines, solar arrays and ground source heat pumps to make the whole area carbon positive, never mind carbon neutral.

So why aren’t they doing it? As well as benefitting the environment, carbon neutrality would save money for the people who live in the new town and for the businesses, as their energy bills would be much lower – they might even make money by feeding electricity back into the grid.

Can it be that the developers are more interested in building cheaply than in saving on running costs for the future occupants of the homes and commercial buildings?

2. At a time when neighbourhood shopping areas are under threat all over London from post office closure, cut backs to libraries and the marginal viability of many small shops and pubs, Barnet Council should be making a broader study, paid for by the developers, of the likely impact of Brent Cross Cricklewood on other shopping areas in the borough.

The scheme is not just about new housing and a so-called town centre, the whole thing is based on “an expanded and improved shopping centre”, with an “enhanced retail offer including new stores at Brent Cross Shopping Centre”, to cite the developers’ own documents.

3.When the council has assessed the likely impact, it should order the developers to pay whatever it costs to ensure the sustainability of Hendon, Golders Green and the other nearby centres: better street layouts, improved public transport, more greenery, more public toilets, more benches to rest on or whatever it takes to ensure that these neighbourhood areas remain available and attractive for local residents to use.

4/ As for the transport issues surrounding the new plans, of course there should be a direct rail link to the expanded shopping centre rather than more car parking. The developers say they expect cars still to be the main way that people get there but why is that? People will no doubt continue to want to shop at Brent Cross but why should they necessarily go by car? Do people mostly go to Oxford Street or Westfield shopping centres by car? Of course not, because they are properly served by London Underground lines and by buses.

The Brent Cross Cricklewood developers should be instructed to provide attractive and adequate Tube/train/tram, bus, cycle and pedestrian links for there to be a likelihood of far fewer than the projected extra 29,000 car journeys per day in the area.

5.The Clitterhouse Farm buildings should be saved. Preserving them would only require minor alterations to the overall plan.

6. f waste treatment facilities are to remain part of the plan, it should be specified that the priority should be sustainable systems such as anaerobic digestion and/or other systems from the growing range of alternative technologies.

7. It should be specified that no waste incineration should take place at the Geron Way cite. A new waste plan is under consideration for North London and it would be simple and cost-free for the designers of that plan to omit any proposal for incineration at Geron Way. This would in any case match the practicalities of the site, given the current objections by Bestway and others.

Check out the plans for yourself  HERE 

    

Barnet Council is currently considering a massive planning application for the Brent Cross Cricklewood redevelopment, including a huge extension to the shopping centre and a whole new residential town.

Barnet Greens say the BXC plans are full of utter ‘greenwash’, seeking to create a false impression about the environmental sustainability of this multi-billion pound project.

Here are the  main objections we have submitted to the council:

1/ These plans must be suspended until the development partners pledge to make the whole site carbon neutral and set out measures they will take to achieve that target. Sainsbury’s has already opened its first carbon neutral store (bit.ly/1bjnRQG) and plans to open more, showing that the technologies are available to make the Brent Cross shopping centre and the housing developments completely carbon neutral or carbon positive.

The proposed buildings are likely to exist for several decades at least and there is no way whatsoever that the British government will achieve its aim of a 60 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 if concrete giants like the Brent Cross shopping centre are still belching out carbon dioxide from heating, lighting and air conditioning.

This scheme is an ideal opportunity to install energy conservation measures and sustainable power facilities right from the beginning. There is plenty of scope on the site for enough wind turbines, solar arrays and ground source heat pumps to make the whole area carbon positive, never mind carbon neutral.

So why aren’t they doing it? As well as benefiting the environment, carbon neutrality would save money for the people who live in the new town and for the businesses, as their energy bills would be much lower – they might even make money by feeding electricity back into the grid.

Can it be that the developers are more interested in building cheaply than in saving on running costs for the future occupants of the homes and commercial buildings?

2/ At a time when neighbourhood shopping areas are under threat all over London from post office closure, cut backs to libraries and the marginal viability of many small shops and pubs, Barnet Council should be making a broader study, paid for by the developers, of the likely impact of Brent Cross Cricklewood on other shopping areas in the borough.

The scheme is not just about new housing and a so-called town centre, the whole thing is based on “an expanded and improved shopping centre”, with an “enhanced retail offer including new stores at Brent Cross Shopping Centre”, to cite the developers’ own documents.

3/ When the council has assessed the likely impact, it should order the developers to pay whatever it costs to ensure the sustainability of Hendon, Golders Green and the other nearby centres: better street layouts, improved public transport, more greenery, more public toilets, more benches to rest on or whatever it takes to ensure that these neighbourhood areas remain available and attractive for local residents to use.

4/ As for the transport issues surrounding the new plans, of course there should be a direct rail link to the expanded shopping centre rather than more car parking. The developers say they expect cars still to be the main way that people get there but why is that? People will no doubt continue to want to shop at Brent Cross but why should they necessarily go by car? Do people mostly go to Oxford Street or Westfield shopping centres by car? Of course not, because they are properly served by London Underground lines and by buses.

The Brent Cross Cricklewood developers should be instructed to provide attractive and adequate Tube/train/tram, bus, cycle and pedestrian links for there to be a likelihood of far fewer than the projected extra 29,000 car journeys per day in the area.

5/ The Clitterhouse Farm buildings should be saved. Preserving them would only require minor alterations to the overall plan.

6/ If waste treatment facilities are to remain part of the plan, it should be specified that the priority should be sustainable systems such as anaerobic digestion and/or other systems from the growing range of alternative technologies.

7/ It should be specified that no waste incineration should take place at the Geron Way cite. A new waste plan is under consideration for North London and it would be simple and cost-free for the designers of that plan to omit any proposal for incineration at Geron Way. This would in any case match the practicalities of the site, given the current objections by Bestway and others.

Check out the plans for yourself here: http://www.brentcrosscricklewood.com/

    

 - See more at: http://www.barnetgreenparty.co.uk/any-new-brent-cross-buildings-must-be-carbon-neutral/#sthash.EZbHnRf7.dpuf