Brent Green Party Manifesto 2022
Do Brent a Favour:
Vote Green on May 5th for a Council That Listens
OUR APPEAL TO BRENT RESIDENTS
Electing Green Party councillors in the May 2022 local elections will help provide Brent with fresh opposition to challenge 12 years of Labour Party monopoly on political power.
Democracy needs viable opposition, especially in Brent where 93% of council seats are held by Labour resulting in policy controlled by a small, closed inner circle who deny residents the right to meaningful consultation. As council taxes become scarcely affordable even for the middle class, residents have a right to know and be genuinely involved in how their money is spent. Taxation without representation, as history proves, leads dangerously, if not to rebellion, then to waste and corruption.
The Brent Green Party has listened to borough residents, and they are saying that their council doesn’t offer meaningful consultation on housing, building projects, green spaces, the environment, transport, and other matters. So-called consultations are slap-dash and perfunctory with little transparency on what, if anything, the council has taken on board from residents. Failure to listen to residents has led to policies that have cost taxpayers huge sums of money – wasted on failed projects such as the disastrous Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.
The Brent Green Party is fielding sixteen candidates in the coming poll. By winning one or more council seats, we can voice concerns not only about the policies we outline below but also about the many issues that Brent residents want to raise but cannot because the council’s eight-person executive refuses to listen to the people of Brent.
GREEN PARTY MANIFESTO 2022
PART I: GREENER AND CLEANER
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We would demand that sustainable transport be a key feature of all future planning and development decisions. |
CYCLING
We believe the council has a duty to reduce car use and promote alternatives such as walking and cycling. Fewer cars means healthier, safer, less polluted streets.
Everyone should be able to cycle safely within Brent and between Brent and other destinations. Brent has virtually no safe cycle routes and cyclists must breathe some of the worst air quality in the country. The tiny number of designated cycle paths in Brent are short fragments, not useful joined-up routes. See the Safe London Cycling map for how poorly Brent compares with other areas of London. Everyone should be able to cycle safely in Brent.
We would seek to provide more secure bike parking, so even those in small flats can safely own and store their bikes. Brent Greens would improve awareness of the availability and location of the bike lock-ups - in Brent Magazine; as a by-line in the Kilburn Times; as a regular pop-up on the .gov website - to encourage people to give up car usage.
We would demand that sustainable transport is a key feature of all future planning and development decisions.
LOW TRAFFIC NEIGHBOURHOODS (LTNs)
Brent has an appalling record on reducing traffic. More than £350,000 was given to Brent to improve infrastructure. The failed LTN project cost a fortune to put in place, and tens of thousands of pounds to unwind, according to press reports. This mismanagement is an example of what happens when a political party remains in power too long. The waste of resources and the anger caused to residents was entirely preventable. All of this could have been avoided if only the council had bothered to consult residents meaningfully. LTNs can be a valuable mechanism, when the circumstances are right, but only with proper planning and due consultation.
IMPROVE AIR QUALITY IN BRENT
Greens would:
- Increase awareness by installing more monitoring equipment and finding innovative ways of providing public displays of real-time air pollution data.
- Encourage the provision of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and school streets based on research and consultation with residents and all other stakeholders to reduce car travel through provision of safe routes to schools and workplaces.
- Where cars are necessary, promote car sharing schemes.
- Embrace psychological strategies such as speed signs that “flash” or the placement of trees, plants and artwork to discourage speeding.
- Expand electric-car charging networks.
- Adapt areas to create more features, such as children’s play or sitting areas, which send a message to drivers to be more careful, slow down (reducing air pollution).
· Install segregated cycle lanes that provide continuous routes throughout the borough. Tackle the major blockage to north-south cycle travel at the North Circular/Neasden Underpass in consultation with Brent Cyclists.
· Encourage physical activity through people-friendly streets and parks safe from crime. This requires innovative solutions such as the restoration of the Gladstone Park Lido.
PRIORITISE PEDESTRIANS AT ROAD JUNCTIONS
We advocate giving greater priority to all pedestrians at road junctions particularly on busy roads with high traffic and on routes to schools.
For example, at the intersection of Kingsbury Road, Roe Green and Slough Lane, only one of the four crossing points has pedestrian-controlled lights despite the high usage by pupils going to and from St Robert Southwell and Kingsbury Green primary schools and Kingsbury High School.
As an example of the policy, we would advocate throughout Brent, Greens would make all of the Kingsbury ward a 20-mph zone. Roe Green and Stag Lane already have a 20mph speed limit. This should be extended to Hay Lane, Highfield Avenue and Wakemans Avenue together with the smaller side streets. There is no need for vehicles to go any faster on these steep hills.
Give back our street spaces to people walking and cycling.
PROTECT GREEN SPACES
Our green spaces and street trees are among Brent’s major assets. We will press for a transparent policy on the maintenance of our trees to ensure that any tree removal is for genuine reasons, and that any trees removed are replaced. We will protect our open spaces and ensure that environmentally friendly methods are used to maintain and enhance them.
We oppose the loss of green space in Brent and especially in areas such as South Kilburn and Kilburn Square which are already deprived of this vital resource for clean air, exercise and well-being. We will support imaginative schemes to increase food growing areas in existing spaces and fiercely protect our allotments from the bulldozers or developers.
BRING VALUE-FOR-MONEY WASTE SERVICES BACK IN-HOUSE
Brent Green Party supported former councillor John Duffy’s efforts to ensure that residents were getting value for money from waste contracts. Unfortunately, he was frozen out by the council leader as a punishment for his efforts. Green councillors will push for stringent targets to be included in the upcoming procurement for a new recycling and waste disposal service and, vitally, for the performance to be independently monitored. Ideally, we want the service brought back in-house so that it is directly accountable. Brent’s current contract with Veolia expires next year.
The Abbey Road Recycle Centre is inaccessible for many residents, especially for those without vehicles. We will seek to scrap the charge for the collection of bulky goods from homes. This charge was introduced by Labour in August 2017. It has increased the amount of fly-tipping. We will press the West London Waste Authority to provide safe pedestrian and cycling access to the Centre.
PART II: HOUSING
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Equitable, sustainable, affordable safe. |
END THE MISUSE OF THE TERM ‘AFFORDABLE’ HOUSING
One of the most dishonest aspects of Brent Labour is the pretence that the housing being built in Wembley, Alperton and South Kilburn is “affordable.” The word affordable becomes meaningless when it describes housing sold or rented at 80% of market rates. Given the low median income of Brent families, this is nowhere near affordable and to call it such is an insult. Indeed, recent developments have made little impact on the number of needy families on the Council Housing waiting list.
GREENS WILL CAMPAIGN FOR GENUINELY AFFORDABLE SOCIAL HOUSING
Green councillors will actively campaign for genuinely affordable social housing to be built as part of regeneration and not allow developers to wriggle out of Brent and GLA guidelines on this and other aspects of development including the height of buildings and regulations on light and proximity to other buildings. We will press for refurbishment and retrofitting of existing buildings, compulsory purchase of homes left empty and schemes to help people left in hard to heat old houses to downsize, thus releasing housing stock. We will press for the maximum amount of social rent housing in new developments.
TACKLE ROGUE LANDLORDS
Brent is one of the least affluent boroughs in London and has numerous “houses in multiple occupation,” bedsits and so on, for which landlords charge high rents with little upkeep to provide decent accommodation. Brent occasionally fines some of these landlords. But not enough is being done to help vulnerable tenants. The Green Party would press for the council to adopt policies and take actions to track these landlords, inspect their properties, take them to court, and increase the levels of fines. Green councillors would also be a voice on the council to protect the rights of council tenants and hold the council to account when standards and duties of care are not being met.
END POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN PLANNING
It is vital that the Brent Planning Committee be freed from political interference. It has an independent quasi-judicial role that must be retained with a Chair who has the confidence of all parties on the Council. We will monitor the meetings that the leader of the Council has with developers and try to ensure that the new Planning Guidelines rigorously adhered to. We will not stand by when poor decisions are made, such as spending £18m on new steps for Wembley Stadium, using the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). Rather than go back to developers it should have been spent on repairing the borough’s deteriorating roads and pavements. CIL should be used to improve the whole of Brent – not just Wembley. We will ensure that the Neighbourhood CIL is spent fairly on projects that have wide community support.
PART III: ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY
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Electing Green councillors would improve scrutiny of council decisions and the reasons behind them. |
EFFECTIVE OPPOSITION
Do you know what policies your councillors are planning? Most Labour councillors themselves seem to be unaware of the policies hatched by a small, inner circle of council officers and councillors. The result: poorly researched, consulted and implemented schemes such as the Low Traffic Neighbourhood fiasco that wasted scarce financial resources, divided, and angered the community, and had to be scrapped making it harder to introduce positive healthy streets policies in the future.
How did that and other examples of bad policies happen? The council did not consult residents on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods except in a lazy, careless, haphazard way. Then, when its folly was clear, the council still tried to ignore what residents had to say. This reluctance to consult has become the rule rather than the exception.
For more than a decade, local government in Brent has been dominated by the Labour Party. Recently, decision-making power has been concentrated in the hands of a small inner circle of councillors by the introduction of a cabinet system.
One-party control creates political monopolies impervious to scrutiny. Brent has been effectively a one-party borough for years, and it shows in the way the views of residents are ignored. Rather than being consulted about draft policies, Brent residents find out about policies once they have been made by the cabinet, when it is too late to have any impact.
Those who control the council can brush aside any opposition. This is not a healthy situation for local democracy. This has enabled the Labour Party to run Brent with arrogance, ignoring representations made by local people with a leader keen to extend his power at the expense of his own backbenchers. Ideally, we would like to replace a Labour council with a Green one. But electing Green councillors would make for better scrutiny of council decisions and the reasons behind them.
The Tories have been ineffective for most of the current Council, more interested in allowances than in representing their constituents and carrying out the meticulous scrutiny that is the job of an opposition. A lone Liberal Democrat councillor elected at a by-election has encountered obstacles and personal insults as he seeks to hold the council to account.
GENUINE CONSULTATION
Brent Council claims to consult residents. Its Brent Connects budget “consultation” took place even as the final budget was being printed. During the online session, residents had just 15 minutes to comment on its portal following a 35-minute council presentation. Did the council take on board residents’ views? The council has not provided evidence that it has.
In its latest budget, the council says 48% respondents said, “that they had ‘nothing at all’ or ‘not very much’ understanding of the Council’s overall financial position and the need to both increase council tax and deliver savings.” Eighty percent of residents polled disagreed with the budget. Even then, we do not know how many people were surveyed and whether they represent a cross section of the community. Therefore, by its own admission, the Labour Council fails to communicate with the public clearly even when it comes to something as important as discussing the tightening finances that all councils face.
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
Our current first past the post voting system is outdated, undemocratic and not fit for purpose. The only countries in Europe that still use it are the UK and Belarus. Each vote cast by each elector should count. Under the current system, none of the votes cast for candidates other than the winning candidate are counted. For example, in the last General Election the Conservative party got 43.6% of the vote and yet won 365 seats giving a majority of 80 seats, whereas proportionately they should have had only 283. Organisations such as the Electoral Reform Society, Make Votes Matter and Get PR Done are working hard to change this. The Green Party and the Liberal Democrats support PR. At the last Labour Conference, 79% of delegates stated that they support PR. Green councillors would press for Brent, in coordination with other councils, to bring forward a motion stating support for PR, which would then be sent to Westminster.
CLEAR COMMUNICATION IN PLAIN ENGLISH
Brent Council communications do not comply with the standards of plain-language communication outlined by the government of the United Kingdom. Plain language is language that anyone can understand and act upon after reading it once. Anyone who has tried to find specific information on the Brent Council website, to scrutinise the budget, or understand what policies are being planned or discussed is aware of how far Brent Council communications fall short of government standards.
If people cannot understand what is being discussed, they cannot have meaningful discussions about policies. When people’s views are not taken into account, the result is often policies with unintended consequences and waste, such as with the LTN disaster.
Today’s world offers the opportunity to councils to engage more local people, and be more transparent about decision making, than ever before. Currently, Brent Council is not taking full advantage of the many forms of communications available.
To ensure transparency and real engagement, Brent
Council content needs to be clearly written, easy to find, and available in
translation for those not literate in English. Therefore, Brent Greens would
request all published council documents would:
- Be written in plain English avoiding jargon or complex language.
- Be indexed clearly on the Brent website with signposting to a glossary of acronym definitions, department descriptions, policies, civil servant and elected roles, etc.
- Meet basic web accessibility guidelines around font size, colour contrast and the inclusion of alt-text to ensure equal access for disabled users (outlined in the WGAC 2.1 guidelines)
RESIDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN POLICY FORMATION
Even a single Green Party councillor could press for:
- Dissemination of policy plans well in advance via digital and analogue communications. Replace with: The council to share its plans in good time with the public via both the internet and in print.
- Revamp the Brent magazine to adopt a forward-looking approach, that is, to notify residents of upcoming policy matters well in advance, rather than sticking to the current backwards-looking, self-congratulatory statements on policies that have been passed by the inner circle and rubber-stamped by backbenchers.
- Use Brent magazine as a means of voicing the concerns and aspirations of residents rather than for bland, canned, public-relations statements from councillors.
WIDENING PARTICIPATION IN OUR DEMOCRACY
Greens are committed to widening democracy through greater participation. The council controls many meeting spaces, for which hire charges are exorbitant. We want meeting places that are open to all and affordable for community groups to hire. Such facilities help overcome isolation of individuals and promote social cohesion.
This is particularly important in a period of privatisation of public and social spaces. We support the call for an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Coordinator in Brent to coordinate language classes across Brent for arrivals from overseas and to enable access to services and self-organisation.
We will call on other parties to work with us to set up a cross party commission to examine ways of involving all councillors in decision making rather than the present system where an eight-person Cabinet makes all major decisions. Apart from being undemocratic, this is a waste of the expertise and energy of backbench councillors.
Councillors are elected by the people to serve the interests of the people. With this duty comes the responsibility to be accountable to and to be open with the people. The present forum of councillors has failed in this area by hiding behind formal transparency. We need openness from those who represent us:
- Openness about the policy decisions that they make.
- Openness about the true motive of these decisions.
- Openness in what they decide to tell us.
Not only must communication be structured so that anyone can understand what is written and being disseminated. This also includes making timely and considered responses for requested information regardless of whoever is requesting it.
Secrecy (the seed of tyranny and the promulgation of self-interest) has been too often used as a buffer to responsibility and accountability in Brent, and this needs to end. One of the main reasons why Green Party candidates are entering a David-and-Goliath political battle is that they want to tear down this veil of formal transparency so that the council can be held accountable for every decision it makes. And that these decisions, where appropriate, must take into consideration the views of all residents, and must benefit all.
PART IV: OTHER ISSUES
PROTECT RESIDENTS FROM DETRIMENTAL STADIUM EVENTS
Residents of Wembley Park, Wembley Hill, Wembley Central and Tokyngton are impacted by events at Wembley Stadium and although some inconvenience is to be expected we were shocked by events surrounding the Euro2020 Final when control was lost. We will press for full implementation of the recommendations of the Casey Review. In addition, we will ensure that the voice of residents is heard at any attempts to increase the number of full capacity events at the stadium so that the number is kept within reasonable limits.
SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSES
Small businesses are the lifeblood and character of many areas and Brent’s diversity is reflected in the variety of places to shop and socialise. However, it can be a daunting experience especially when faced with competition from large supermarket chains and brands that dominate the high street. Your Green Party Councillors would support small businesses, social enterprises, and co-operatives because they create jobs and diversity on our high streets.
We would support making the bidding process for contracts for services needed by council fair to allow small local businesses the opportunity to grow and develop. We would support keeping business rates steady and offer relief to small businesses who are in need of extra support to succeed and prosper.
We believe in innovation, especially eco-friendly business solutions. Your Green Party Councillors would support offering incentives to businesses that are environmentally conscious, with minimal deployment of single use plastics and responsible with their waste disposal.
Brent has the potential to become the next Tech hub of the capital. Tech start-ups often require minimal space to get going and we would support any initiative to offer space at reasonable rates and vital infrastructure such as improved Internet speed and reliability to these companies. This would encourage job creation and growth and the vital skills and experience needed for the next generation of workers to be in employment in the future.
REINSTATE YOUTH PROVISION
The closure of Stonebridge Adventure Playground and all Brent youth centres apart from Roundwood was one of the biggest mistakes of Brent Labour. We will press for a Scrutiny Task Force to examine youth provision across the borough and examine the effectiveness of the Young Brent Foundation, a charitable independent voluntary sector body and umbrella membership organisation set up for the benefit of all youth providers in Brent. We will look for imaginative ways to reinstate youth provision in Brent in consultation with young people and providers.
HALT FURTHER ACADEMISATION OF SCHOOLS
Greens oppose the further academisation of our schools suggested in the recent government White Paper. We support democratically accountable community schools with oversight by the local authority. We are opposed to the government's plans as there is increasing evidence that academies do not achieve higher standards than local authority schools. We support an open debate involving councillors, schools and the community on how to meet this challenge. https://weownit.org.uk/public-ownership/schools
DIVEST FOSSIL FUEL PENSION FUND
We support the divestment of Brent Council’s Pension Fund from investment in fossil fuels and support campaigns across London to pressure London’s CIV (Common Investment Vehicle) to adopt a stringent ethical approach to investment.
We will press for services that are currently outsourced to be brought back ‘in-house’ where possible and establishment of ethical guidelines for Council procurement.
RAISE ACCESSIBILITY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Greens will pressure Brent Council to urgently address problems that make so many of our pavements into an obstacle course for visually and mobility impaired people caused by such things as uneven paving and potholing in roads and pavements and A-boards advertising shops etc.
Brent Council should put pressure on TfL to make sure that:
- All bus stops are fully accessible. Buses should be able to pull in near the kerb, to help disabled and older people to get on board.
- Bus drivers should always lower buses when needed, stop at the stops not some distance from them when there is a queue of buses.
- Bus drivers do not pull away before all passengers are seated or standing securely.
- All bus stop bypasses on cycle lanes are safe for pedestrians to cross.
All pedestrian crossings that are under the control of the council should be fully accessible, with tactile and/or audio signal; and allow enough time to cross (which is not currently the case).
The Taxi card discount scheme for disabled people and elders needs to be better publicised and extended so that it is easier to get a ‘three-swipe’ discount to cover longer journeys,
Brent council will lobby TfL, train companies and Government to set out a funded timetable programme for making stations in the borough fully accessible.
We support the appointment of a councillor whose focus would be Disability and Inclusion, including accessible transport within the borough.
We will press the Council in its Public Health role to support voluntary groups that advocate for disabled people, in securing affordable accommodation to carry out their work.
SUPPORT CARERS AND DOMESTIC WORKERS
The contribution of carers and domestic workers must be acknowledged by improving their working conditions. The council must abide by its duty of care to protect their well-being. The Green Party would press for council representatives to meet quarterly with Care Workers Action teams and ensure that contracted companies are Living Wage employers, that there are no zero hours contracts, that carers and domestic workers are paid for travel time between visits, and that sickness policies are in place to support workers when they are sick and must stay at home.
The Green Party would also press for policies to ensure companies provide adequate initial training and continuing professional development, and that they provide career progression routes. Employers should Fund and promote participatory English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes as a regular forum for care workers and supporting best practice.
INCREASE PUBLIC TOILET FACILITIES
A hidden issue in Brent, but one with unfortunate consequences, is the lack of public toilets in the borough. The lack of public toilets particularly affects the elderly, people with young children and the sick. We will press the council to introduce a scheme in which local shops and eating-places will allow non-customers to use the facilities for a small charge – perhaps in exchange for a small reduction in business rates.
RECOGNISE THE COMMITMENT OF LIBRARY CAMPAIGNERS AND FIND WAYS OF REINSTATING LIBRARIES
Brent Greens supported groups campaigning to keep libraries open when half were closed by a previous Labour Council. We support the provision of publicly funded, professionally staffed libraries, but meanwhile applaud the efforts of volunteers to keep some of the closed libraries open. We will press for professional support for these initiatives and will look for ways to provide facilities in places such as Neasden where the library closed in an under-resourced area and where no volunteer library has replaced it.
CRIME
We want to tackle the underlying causes of crime more effectively than CCTV cameras, stop and search or draconian sentencing can ever do. We recognise that tackling increasing poverty and inequality is central to prevention and that the Metropolitan Police has a long way to go in addressing its institutional racism and sexism.
We will focus on the prevention of crime with community-based policing, alongside investment in education, youth services and employment.
We will invest in youth services and centres, to help turn at-risk children away from crime. All the evidence shows the cuts in youth services have increased crime, especially knife crime. To end knife crime once and for all we need to invest in specialist programmes provided through youth centres.
We strongly support the innovative Brent Black Caribbean Boys Achievement project in Brent which has helped a to reduce the number of pupils excluded from school and opened up opportunities for pupils.
We will campaign for the restoration of police numbers with an emphasis on community policing and multi-agency work. We will press for reform of ward panels so that they are more representative of the wider community.
Drug use is often behind crime. The Green Party advocates that we invest in education and treat problematic drug use as a health issue, not a crime, building on the successful approaches pioneered in numerous other countries.
Replace the current system of prohibition with an evidence-based, legalised, regulated system of drug control. The production, import and supply of all drugs will be regulated according to the specific risks that they pose to the individual, to society and to the environment.
Envirocrimes such as fly tipping and pollution of our waterways is an increasing problem in Brent and we will press for more effective preventative measures and enforcement.
We support the concept of ‘designing out crime’ in new developments and will press for this to be addressed by planning officers in their reports on planning applications.
GREEN PARTY PRIORITIES 2022
CLIMATE CHANGE …to adopt and to harness
The disaster facing our planet is at the heart of all Green Party policies. Green Councillors will insist that Brent fulfils its promise to adopt an environmentally sustainable approach for all products and services it procures and to harness its purchasing power to help combat climate change and reduce carbon emissions.
GREEN SPACES …to protect and to defend
Our green spaces and street trees are precious. We will ensure that environmentally friendly methods are used to maintain and enhance our open spaces. We oppose the loss of green space anywhere in Brent, especially in areas such as South Kilburn and Kilburn Square which already have too few spaces for clean air, exercise and well-being. We will support local campaigns to keep our waterways and the Welsh Harp free from pollution.
SUSTAINABLE HOUSING …to enforce rights and to meet standards
Green councillors will protect the rights of both council and private tenants, and hold the council to account when standards are not being met. Political interference in planning must stop. We will fight for genuinely affordable housing and upgrading of existing housing for energy and water efficiency, reducing bills and supporting the vulnerable.
CLEANER STREETS …to make our own services work
We will demand that the Council run its own street cleaning and waste services with tough reduce, re-use and recycle targets ensuring greater accountability. We will campaign to restore the free bulk waste collection service to reduce fly tipping.
GREENER TRANSPORT …to increase foot, cycle & public transport
The Labour-run council has made scant progress on the London Mayor’s target for 80% of all trips to be made on foot, cycle or public transport by 2041. Labour’s monopoly on power in Brent has led to wasteful short-cuts on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods that excluded meaningful consultation. We will hold the council to its promises on transport, cycling and air quality.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT FUNDING …to win back with other councils
The Tories have cut core funding to Brent by over 63% since 2010. Brent must campaign together with other councils to win it back.
CONSULTATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY …to communicate clearly
Green Councillors will insist on plain language in council communications and documentation to enable residents and councillors to engage positively in consultations and scrutiny of decision making. We will challenge the system which gives an eight-person Cabinet power to make all the decisions.
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