Showing posts with label Cllr Butt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cllr Butt. Show all posts

Thursday 14 March 2019

Butt pledges no council evictions due to Universal Credit rent arrears


Counihan Campaign in Brent 2012
I understand both Cllr Eleanor Southwood, Brent Council lead member for Housing and Cllr Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, promised that there would be no evictions of council tenants in rent arrears due to Universal Credit delays, following the unanimous approval of the motion below at Brent Constituency Labour Party GC.
MOTION: RENT ARREARS and UNIVERSAL CREDIT
This GC notes the clear evidence that where Universal Credit has been rolled out more people are made homeless as a result of rent arrears. The main causes of arrears are the five week delay in first  payment of Universal Credit and other delays caused by DWP error.
We therefore call on Brent Labour Group to follow the lead of Camden Council in refusing to evict tenants in such circumstances and to urge registered social landlords and private landlords to do the same.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

The demand was first made at the meeting on Universal Credit held at Chalhill Community Centre on November 18th 2018.  Report on Wembley Matters HERE

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Monday 1 January 2018

Disquiet over developers could become election issue in May 2018


Looking back on  2017 it is clear that regeneration, particularly in the Wembley area, has been the most controversial issue reported on Wembley Matters.

Planning applications from Quintain have come thick and fast, sometimes several complex, multi-million schemes, have been submitted for one sitting of the Planning Committee. The Committee itself was weakened by the absence of Cllr Sarah Marquis on maternity leave. Her lawyerly independence as chair gave the Committee some much needed credibility but in her absence many far-reaching controversial decisions have been made on the casting vote of the current chair Cllr Agha.

Time and time again, despite opposition from residents, schemes have been approved that do not comply with the Council's own guidelines on  issues such as height and light. Officers give excuses such as good design makes up for the height or that students do not need as much light in their rooms as long-term residents. But most importantly the amount of affordable housing has been less than that advocated by Brent Council and the GLA, and the definition of 'affordable' has been manipulated to an extent that makes the term meaningless.

Rather than providing homes for families, Quintain has switched to all inclusive 'life-style' private rental schemes boasting super broadband access aimed at high income single people or couples without children. Meanwhile Brent's housing list becomes longer.

Given all this it is no wonder that residents were suspicious of Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt's unrecorded meetings with developers revealed in the response to Andrew Linnie's FoI response.  His claim  that the initial FoI response had got dates wrong did not dispel the suspicions and WM will be watching developments closely in 2018.

Similarly the meetings that Butt along with other councillors, including members of the Planning Committee, had with Tottenham Hotspur FC and the Football Association left residents feeling that decisions were being made, if not secretly, without their active involvement LINK. The increase in the number of events at the Stadium and higher capacity, continues to have a negative impact on residents.

The long-running saga of Brent Council's pay-off to former Head of Resources, Cara Davani, who had been found guilty of racial discrimination and bullying by an Employment Tribunal, was the subject of an objection to the the Council's accounts by a group of local residents, led by ex-tax inspector Philip Grant. The auditor eventually found in favour of the Council in a pretty unsatisfactory report LINK.  Philip is to be congratulated on the thorough case he painstakingly put together and a fair reading of his post on the issue suggests that the Council's case is far from convincing.

One of the interesting sidelights on the case is that part of the employment tribunal case against Cara Davani was that Rosemary Clarke, a black woman, had been treated unfairly compared with how Clive Heaphy a white man and former Brent Head of Finance had been treated in his case which involved a handsome pay-off of 140,508 as 'compensation for loss of office'.  The auditor's report reveals that the Clive Heaphy case was cited by Cara Davani to support her threat that if she did not receive a pay-off she would take action alleging that she had been sexually discriminated against  by the Council in comparison with Heaphy. She herself had been involved in the compensation package put together for Heaphy! As Philip Grant points out this all went back to the earlier conflict between Cllr Butt and Gareth Daniel where in an exchange of emails between Heaphy and Davani it was said, 'Mo owes us one' in an apparent reference to bringing in former Ofsted colleague Christine Gilbert as CEO.

Given all this how secure is Muhammed Butt in his role as leader going into the May 2018 local elections?   The thorn in Butt's side in 2017 was undoubtedly Cllr John Duffy who challenged the Labour Cabinet and officers over what he saw as mismanagement of the Council's waste services and the ill-fated outsourcing of enforcement of a littering strategy via fixed penalty notices. He made the case that the Council had failed to both provide an effective service and provide best financial value.

Duffy failed to be selected to fight his ward in 2018 following a vote of Kilburn ward party members which I was told was not at Butt's behest but an independent decision. Butt was apparently pleased with the de-selection but when Duffy continued to challenge the Cabinet and built support for his claims, the party turned to disciplinary action against him based on allegations of bullying. The party removed the Labour whip from Duffy.  There have been calls from the public for him to stand as an independent in May but that appears to be unlikely.

Other Labour group members who had been critical of Butt have been quiet, with Cllr Pavey, who had challenged him for the leadership previously, adopting a low profile.  Stonebridge councillor Zaffar Van Kalwala, an earlier casualty of his leader's displeasure, has operated in a sort of limbo. He will not be standing in May but has put a lot of energy into community initiatives with young people in St Rapahel's and Stonebridge. Kalwala's fellow Stonebridge councillor, the ambitious Sabina Khan, has decided her ambitions lie elsewhere and has hardly attended any local meetings for months.

Elsewhere Cllr Jumbo Chan has impressed with his work on the Joint Teachers Consultative Panel in developing a Brent Teachers' Fair Workload Charter and in leading opposition to the academisation of The Village School.

Unlike Haringey, the surge in Labour Party membership and support for Momentum made little impact on candidate selections for the local elections and the slate for next year does not promise any radical move to the left. There is at least one Momentum candidate who is likely to get elected but that is one out of 63 and it could be a rather lonely and potentially vulnerable position unless rank and file members get behind her.

Brent Green Party has a new and young leadership and is likely to mount an effective challenge in a few target wards and it is crucial that there is some quality opposition on the largely one party council. The rival Tory groups have come together ahead of the local elections but won't be helped by the state of the Tory government. Lib Dems won't be helped by their lone councillor's decision  to go independent but they may target wards where they have a relatively firm base in the community.

Most intriguing is the prospect, raised in comments on this blog and some Brent Facebook accounts of the possibility of some independent candidates emerging from the various campaigns that have taken place over the last two years. If they are based on residents' associations they could be in with a chance - watch this space.

Thursday 28 September 2017

Now Duffy asks about missing councillor and 'jollies' from developers

This is part 2 of Cllr Duffy's correspondence with Cllr James Allie who will be chairing the Standards Committee tonight:


Dear James , 

Here is part two of my concerns please ensure the co-opted member are given a copy. Also if you are not the person or committee who deals with these issues please pass them on to the CEO with the questions as a FOI .

(A) Committee attendance 

James as a member of  the Labour group you are  probably aware that I have been left off committees for the past two years. You maybe also be aware that I won an election to be on scrutiny committee but was then removed and was not placed on any committee whatsoever this year. This is in-spite of the fact that attendance at committee meetings is very  low and the recommendation from the Penn report concerning the death of CIIr Oladapo (Tayo) said under 2.

What, if any, improvements the Council should implement"

(i)consideration should be given as to whether every member of the Council should sit on a sub- committee or committee as well as Full Council to improve the potential for attendance and thereby avoid the possibility of breaching the six months rule. This could also obviate the current practice of using the substitution arrangements to enable members to avoid breaching the six months rule". 

I know you have witnessed the exchange of emails between the Labour Party chief whip Cllr Kabir and myself about this issue of me being removed from all committees. Therefore you can imagine my surprise when just before full council meeting on  last Monday! Cllr  Kabir told me that she had put me on the Licensing committee replacing another councillor, without asking my permission or my availability .I informed Cllr Kabir that I would not stand as I believe it was just cover-up to hide the fact a councillor had moved out of Brent sometime previous  and she was not willing to attend any more meetings than the bare minimum. I also told Cllr Kabir I was not good enough  for the leadership to nominate me for any committee meetings in May,  therefore what had changed by September.

I was at the time and subsequently concerned that the Labour leadership are not being transparent to residents  that  I am being brought into a deception without my knowledge. Also in the Penn report it said "consideration should be given to the way in which ‘apologies for absence’ are managed. Currently there is no requirement for the member concerned to tender their apologies directly or personally as these can be tendered on their behalf by another member or an officer". 
I am concerned that the apologies are being managed by the Chief whip in a blanket fashion and do not relate absences due to illness or any other reason , just the unwillingness of a councillor  to travel to Brent.I  wonder if under standards you would be willing to start an investigation into 

(1) When did the councillor leave Brent?
(2) Was the CEO and the Head of Legal informed ?
(3) If not why not ?
(4) Did the CEO and HOL give any advice?

(B) Hospitality 

As you know there has been a  successful planning application for Tottenham Hotspurs to play at Wembley , many people suggested Tottenham got a good deal  and many local Cllrs objected to the conditions. I have been informed by  a member of the public  both the Leader of the council Cllr Butt and lead member for Regeneration and planning Cllr Tatler have received hospitality from Tottenham since the planning permission was granted. Whereas I have some understanding that we need to keep relations open with the Wembley and their tenant Tottenham,  However I  do not understand why the lead member for planning should participate in hospitality as this could seemingly bring  the planning system into disrepute , therefore I ask you to ensure both these councillors  and any others who have participated in Hospitality declare  the reasons why they were offered hospitality and did they check it with the CEO,before excepting also if you could enquire 

(1) How many tickets were received and value.
(2) Who attended the matches with them.
(3) Reason  for the hospitality ( sometimes its OK to look at an issue of say crowd control ,traffic management, or a new street cleansing practise. However  receiving hospitality should not just be for a "Jolly Boys outing@ for them and their family that is not acceptable)
(4) Can you also enquire whether any other Councillors , Officers or relative have received hospitally from Tottenham or Wembley stadium.

In my experience its best to keep clear of hospitality from developers as ' When you dance with a developer, its always to their tune". I hope you see that a declaration alone without reason is not enough, what we must consider is what the average man /women in the street would think, that is why I ask you to look at the issue.


Thursday 1 December 2016

Cllr Butt takes over Cllr Mitchell Murray's lead member role for time being


Following rumours circulating in the Brent Civic Centre 'village' about the Cabinet role of Cllr Wilhelmina Mitchell Murray, lead member for children and young people, a Brent Council spokesperson said:
"Cllr Wilhelmina Mitchell Murray has informed us that sheis currently unwell and hopes to return in January. Cllr Butt is currently carrying out her statutory duties."
Cllr Mitchell Murray is one of the three Wembley Central councillors. The others are Cllr Krupa Sheth and Cllr Sam Stopp.

Tuesday 15 November 2016

Granville & Carlton Centre users assured that they will be included in plans for the future of site

I was unable to make tonight's Cabinet meeting where the Granville and Carlton Centre plans  were on the agenda.  However an observer tells me that Cllrs Conneely, Duffy, Jones and Warren spoke for the occupants of the buildings. Lesley Benson, head of Granville Nursery Plus amd Momata from Granville Kitchen also spoke.

Several contributors said that it has been the worse decision making process that they had every seen.

Apparently the Cabinet was contrite and Cllr Butt and Cllr Mashari said that they wanted to reassure the Granville and Carlton users that they would be included as contributers in the future, rather than just consulted.

The Cabinet approved the report. LINK

Sunday 13 November 2016

Who was really responsible for the Granville Centre debacle?

Last week I published Cllr Duffy's interchange with Cllr Mashari in which he called for her resignation over the Granville and Carlton Centres in South Kilburn. LINK

Cllr Mashari claimed that the proposals for regeneration  of the sites came under the Property portfolio which Cllr Butt, leader of the council, holds, rather than Regeneration. Property covers council ownership of buildings and sites and Brent Council has a policy to realise the value of these assets to address their financial plight.

The Granville proposal was put to the Cabinet by Margaret McLennan, deputy leader, rather than Butt who chairs the Cabinet.  Other South Kilburn proposals on the agenda at that meeting, Phase 3a and Site 18,  were put by Cllr Mashari.

It has not been possible to find the full list of responsibilities of each portfolio holder including the leader and deputy, as up to date details do not appear to be available on the Council website.

The report about Granville was written jointly by the Strategic Directors for Resources, and Regeneration and Environment.

Philip Grant points out in a comment on the earlier post:
However, both of those Directors, Althea Loderick (Resources) and Amar Dave (Regeneration and Environment) were new to Brent, having taken up their posts in June 2016, having previously been in Waltham Forest and Essex respectively. So they probably knew very little about Kilburn, and may not even have visited the area from their new offices in the Civic Centre before they put their names to the report.
The contact officers for the report were:
Althea Loderick
 Strategic Director of Resources
Sarah Chaudhry
 Head of Property
Tanveer Ghani
 Project Manager
Dale Thomson
 Regeneration Manager
There is only a cursory reference to the Granville Nursery Plus (and not by name) in the report and none to the Granville Kitchen.

 Given the economic deprivation found on the South Kilburn Estate  and the presence of many protected groups the Equality Analysis attached to the report is clearly deficient - particularly the last sentence:

Appendix 4: Equality Analysis Stage 1 Screening Data
What are the objectives and expected outcomes of your proposal? Why is it needed?
The proposal covers the phased redevelopment the Carlton & Granville Centres, Granville Road, London, NW6 5RA to deliver new homes, an Enterprise Hub and additional community use space.
Who is affected by the proposal?
The proposal is relevant to residents in South Kilburn, small businesses in the area and the South Kilburn Trust. As the premises proposed for re- development are largely unoccupied and will shortly be vacated by the remaining users, there is no impact for existing users.
Could the proposal impact on people in different ways because of their equality characteristics?
The proposal will deliver new workspace accommodation for up to 30 small businesses as well as new housing for households in housing need. To the extent that some protected groups are over-represented among households in housing need or seeking employment opportunities, the positive impacts of the proposal may offer particular benefits to these groups.
Could the proposal have a disproportionate impact on some equality groups?
If yes, indicate which equality characteristic(s) are impacted
No, other than as noted above.
Would the proposal change or remove services used by vulnerable groups of people?
The proposal will provide new or improved services that may be used by vulnerable groups.
Does the proposal relate to an area with known inequalities?
Yes.
Is the proposal likely to be sensitive or important for some people because of their equality characteristics?
Yes – although the proposal is not seen as sensitive, it may offer important new opportunities for some protected groups and more generally.
Does the proposal relate to one of Brent's equality objectives?
The proposal relates to the following objectives:
            To know and understand all our communities
            To ensure that local public services are responsive to different needs and treat users with dignity and respect
Recommend this EA for Full Analysis?
No.
Although according to Cllr Duffy, recently  Cllr Butt and Cllr McLennan have met up with him, Kilburn councillors and  Granville and Carlton users, to discuss the situation,  some of the responsibility may rest with them for the original failure to recognise the needs of the community. The potential confusion between the Property and Regeneration roles of Cllr Butt and Mashari, and the involvement of recent Strategic Director appointees, may mean that the resulting consultation failure and furore, may have been more cock-up than conspiracy.

For reference here are the Minutes of the July 25th Cabinet Meeting:


Saturday 15 October 2016

Brent Council set to increase Council Tax by 3.99%, make cuts and increase charges


Brent Council issued the following press release yesterday on its budget proposals. I drew attention recently to Camden's revision of its Council Tax Support Scheme in the light of Council Tax increases. There are, as far as I can see, no proposals for a review of Brent's scheme. LINK

BRENT COUNCIL PRESS RELEASE

Plan to protect local services by raising income set to be discussed
14 October 2016
 
Protecting local services is the top priority for Brent, the council leader has said, as a plan to get residents' views on a draft set of budget proposals for the next two years is set to be discussed.

Brent Council's Cabinet will meet on Monday 24 October to consider a paper which includes a proposal to protect local services by increasing council tax by 3.99 per cent - or 85p a week for an average Band D household.

The report sets out how councils are still in an era of austerity and are facing further cuts in Government funding despite growing demand for local services from an increasing and ageing population. The paper also includes some savings proposals although these are relatively small compared to recent council budgets.

Last year was the first year council tax had risen in Brent for six years after successive freezes despite Government funding being slashed by £117million since 2010.

Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council, said:

"Imagine your household bills went up every year, but your salary kept being cut. You would have to make some tough choices and find new ways to make your money go further.

"That's what this council has been doing in finding new, more efficient ways to maintain and improve the services that we all need, but it has also meant making some very difficult decisions.

"We know how important our local services are to the people of Brent which is why, rather than cutting back on those vital services, the option of raising income through a small council tax increase to protect these services is being considered.

"The choice we face in Brent is this: will we pay a bit extra each month to keep our services available to those who need them, or will we let the Government's cuts to our budget further limit the services we can provide?"

In addition to the proposal on council tax, the paper includes proposals to:

·       Help residents with low-level nursing care needs to live independently, which will improve their quality of life and save £300,000
·       Negotiate a £500,000 reduction in spending on contracts with mental health service providers
·       Outsourcing the management of two day care centres in the borough to save £300,000
·       Negotiate a £900,000 saving in the public realm contract with Veolia
·       Charging for a next-day and 'pick your day' bulky waste collection service, generating £250,000 each year
·       Consult on saving £100,000 in the Regulatory Services team through a reorganisation
·       Participation in the London wide sexual health transformation programme to achieve better services while saving £600,000 over the next two years
·       Consultation on plans for differential parking charges to help manage pressure for spaces in high demand areas - £1million
·       Dim street lights where appropriate which would save £100,000 and benefit the environment

Cllr Butt added:

"As a Cabinet, we will discuss the draft proposals set out in the report at our next meeting and, if approved, will then put them to residents to have their say in a detailed budget consultation."

The budget consultation is set to run from November to December with a series of public meetings arranged for January. A final decision on the budget will be taken by Full Council in February 2017.

View the full Cabinet report here.
There is little information on any debate within the Labour Group or the Brent Labour Party as whole over these proposals although Cllr Michael Pavey in his letter resigning from the Cabinet LINK said, 
'I think it is clear that the Leader and myself have developed differing views regarding how Brent Council can best serve its residents at a time of brutal Tory cuts.'
Pavey may have fought against cuts in his own brief, Stronger Communities, or perhaps he had an alternative strategy which was defeated. 

As usual the devil will be in the detail and one has to look beyond the phraseology of the bullet points to see what they really mean. Some appear to be deliberately vague.

Taking the first proposal on helping people with 'low-level nursing care need to live independently' , the report  acknowledges that this 'help' may not be welcome - but it delivers 'savings' through what will be a reduced service:
Proposal to move lowest need (c.20%) of clients currently in nursing care to Supported Living which would deliver a £0.3m saving. This is based on an analysis of nursing home placements, which suggest there are a number of placements at the simpler end. 

How would this affect users of this service? 

Clients would need to agree to the move and some may find moving traumatic. Families and carers may also be averse to disrupting stable placements. Some users may prefer a less institutional environment and regain independence and skills lost through being in nursing care.
Brent's poor provision of mental health services came under sharp criticism at the recent 'Extremism' debate so the £0.5m cut in spending on contracts will need close scrutiny:

£0.5m ('savings') achieved through: 

 enabling a more effective recovery pathway – better access to housing and
employment will accelerate step down to general needs housing 

Supported by ongoing negotiations with providers to manage costs and focus
on the right support. 

How would this affect users of this service

This would support the delivery of the current objectives of the service, supporting people to move towards independence, and further efficiencies would be achieved through negotiations, which would not mean a change in service. 
The key here is 'negotiation with providers' which often means reducing the payment to providers affecting the pay and working conditions of those working for them and perhaps contradicting the Council's commitment to the London living wage.

Despite Jeremy Corbyn's remarks on Council 'in-sourcing' LINK,  Brent may decide to  outsource the management of the John Billam and New Millennium day care centres. There is little detail in the proposals but they expect to generate income by opening up the use of the buildings to outside groups.

The report notes:
Key consultations

Extensive consultation required with users and carers in both day centres would be required however the service developed, and with Unions, staff and with potential providers 

Key risks and mitigations 

Risk that users and carers will oppose the changes to the service – mitigated through extensive and ongoing communication and engagement

If the first risk becomes an issue, significant risk of adverse publicity and public protest – mitigated through extensive and ongoing communication and engagement Risk that the council cannot generate the additional income and efficiencies – mitigated through financial modelling and change management

Risk that we will need to consider outsourcing as the way to drive the change.
The almost £1m efficiency savings over two years on the Public Realm contract with Veolia which covers street cleaning, waste collection, waste recycling, parks maintenance and much more are in a proposal so vague as to be virtually meaningless:
This proposal generates £900k from operational efficiencies within the Public Realm Contract. These will rationalise operational arrangements so they better manage and properly resolve hot spots and other persistent problems. 

How would this affect users of this service? 

Service users may see revised working practices and operational schedules.
This is coupled with a proposal to raise £0.25m by charging for bulky waste collections.  Whether to charfe  for bulky waste collections has been an ongoing debate between Labour and the Lib Dems. The introduction of a charge for next day or pick your day collections follows widespread complaints about the length of time it takes Veolia to pick up bulky waste under the present free system LINK.  It is unlikely that residents expected charges to be introduced as a result of their complaints and a two tier system may well result in longer delays for the free service and increased fly-tipping.

Participation in the London wide sexual health programme and consequent savings of £0.6m are based on moving away from face-to-face consultations with health professionals to a web-based service:
Analysis of activity in current sexual health services and a waiting room survey indicates that not all current attendances at GUM clinics need that specialist service. Brent is participating in a London wide procurement of a new ‘front door’ to sexual health services. The front door into services will be web based, a single platform providing patients with information about sexual health, on line triage, signposting to the most appropriate service for their needs and the ability to order self-sampling tests.
 Tellingly one of the risk factors identified for this saving is:
  • a failure to change patient and / or clinician behaviour and so not achieve the diversion of activity on which savings are based 
Given the nature of the Opposition on Brent Council the proposal on parking charges is likely to be the most controversial, but again it is pretty vague:
This is an exercise to account for the parking pressures that are expected to arise from an increase in the borough’s population. Regeneration and increased development may result in additional cars and increased parking pressures. This creates the need to provide parking restrictions that meet current and future demand, with the revenue paying for the service and any additional revenue being reinvested in the service. This exercise will consider residential parking permits and some car parking tariffs but will not include a review of visitor parking charges.
With the exception of some fairly minor proposals on Regeneration which is Cllr Mashari's remit, all the above proposals either come under Cllr Hirani (Adult Social Care) or Cllr Southwood (Environment). There are none under Cllr Pavey's Stronger Communities remit. Perhaps he was not so keen to see services reduced.

Now that Cllr Butt has taken over that brief, pending a 'review' LINK, is there a possibilty that further proposals will be tabled?