Showing posts with label Willesden Bookshop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Willesden Bookshop. Show all posts

Tuesday 3 May 2022

Book and Kulture pop-up brings a welcome multi-ethnic dimension to Quintain's Wembley Park - photo review

It is over 10 years since a petition LINK was launched to save the Willesden Bookshop from closure. The much-loved bookshop needed an affordable space in the much vaunted new Willesden Cultural Centre that was to replace the Willesden Green Library. Unfortunately Brent Council was uncooperative and it now only exists on-line.

It's specialism was women's literature ands Black interest with an amazing selection of multi-ethnic children's books.

 The children's section in the Willesden Bookshop

It was a delight then to visit Book and Kulture at their new pop-up shop in the Quintain development at Wembley Park who also want to cater for Brent's diverse culture.  Their offering is not only books but other items with a Black interest aspect.  Local teachers are recommended to visit for the range of children's books - fiction and non-fiction.

I have tried to capture the offer in the following photographs but do pop in. You are sure of a friendly welcome.  The shop is off Olympic way next to Bread Ahead.



OPENING HOURS:

Monday Closed

Tuesday and Wednesday 11am-7pm

Thursday to Saturday 11am - 8pm

Sunday 12pm -6pm









Tuesday 20 May 2014

Make Willesden Green helps reinvigorate local democracy

Shahrar Ali, Alex Colas and Martin Francis - Willesden Green, Saturday (I've forgotten the joke...)
By chance Make Willesden Green and Brent Green Party were the only campaigners outside Willesden Green Sainsbury's on Saturday where this picture was taken.

A passerby stopped me to say how glad she was to have a real choice on the ballot paper this time round and promised that her three votes will be dividided between votes for the two Green candidates and a vote for Alex Colas. She was not the first person to signal this intention and it is clear on the Willesden Green streets that Alex is winning the poster war.

Make Willesden Green invited us to their picnic on Villiers road that was held to celebrate the completion of canvassing and to thank the 24 or so local supporters who have been working for the campaign.

Alex Colas generously acknowledged the contribition I had made to the Willesden Green Library, Willesden Bookshop and Gladstone Park Primary school campaigns. Make Willesden Green had emerged from those campaigns as a way of local residents using the strength they had gained from those struggles to attempt to reclaim a voice in their community and to hold the council to account.

A former Labour Party member told me how much she had enjoyed working with Make Willesden Green. She had left the Labour Party because 'I could not stomach the idea of campaigning for  Dawn Butler'.

Whatever the outcome of Thursday there is no doubt that Make Willesden Green has already gained a victory of sorts in showing that an independent, broadly based grouping, can mount a highly professional and impassioned campaign.

They have contributed much to reinvigorating local democracy and giving the community a positive focus.

Friday 22 November 2013

Queensbury Campaign invites your caption competition entries

Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt in Willesden Green
Brent Council is carrying out a Week of Action in each ward where ward councillors and officers seek to engage with local residents about local issues.

Willesden Green has been on the receiving end of this initiative where local people are particularly sore at losing the Willesden Bookshop, the open space outside Willesden Green Library (which has just been demolished); the threatened loss to developers of the popular community hub pub, the Queensbury; luxury flats being constructed on council land that has been given to developers being marketed in Singapore with the guarantee that there are no affordable homes or key worker homes on the site; and the failure of  Brent Council to mount a  campaign against the forced academisation of Gladstone Park Primary School.

The Week of Action does not of course have anything to do with all this and neither is it a reaction to the recent launch of the Make Willesden Green election platform LINK where independent candidate for the 2014 council election, Alex Colas, has high-lighted the 'democratic deficit' in the area.

The Queensbury Campaign invites your caption for the above photograph. Post your entries for the caption competition as comments below or tweet to .@QueensburySOS

Wit appreciated and there is a meal for two as a prize.

Thursday 24 October 2013

Make Willesden Campaign hits the ground running


Willesden Green residents active in campaigns over the Willesden Green Library redevelopment, the Willesden Bookshop, Gladstone Park Primary School, council cuts and the Queensbury pub gathered together last night at the launch of the Make Willesden Green local election campaign.

Alex Colas, the candidate for MWG, spoke about how residents felt unrepresented and unsupported by local councillors and others talked of Willesden Green becoming a backwater as Wembley became the focus of the borough. There were fears that Willesden would lose its sense of community as the public realm was degraded and housing became unaffordable for ordinary  families. Recent developments were reducing the area to a dormitory.

Alex said that his campaign would be carrying forward values which had started with the library campaign but would look at the bigger and broader picture in order to influence the council. He said that it would be a local campaign but not a parochial one. The Coalition clearly had a major responsibility for the current situation but the campaign would not let the Council off the hook.  We must fight for a democratic, representative Council.

Alex's agent said that Labour were trying to distance itself from the present administration, which began with Ann John's library closures by choosing new, young candidates for 2014, but the policies remained the same. In Willesden Green, Cllr Lesley Jones, who was part of the Ann John regime, was standing again.

The Make Willesden Green campaign has people responsible for four main areas of policy: education, housing, public realm and local democracy and is welcoming policy ideas from supporters.  It was hoped that people would come forward as 'street reps' to further the campaign.

The Make Willesden Green blog is HERE   Twitter @AlexWG2014


Tuesday 22 October 2013

Make Willesden Green launch tomorrow at Queensbury Deli

Alex Colas will be launching his independent Make Willesden Green campaign for the 2014 local election in Brent tomorrow. He will be standing in the Willesden Green ward and his launch is at the Queensbury Deli, 68 Walm Lane, Willesden Green (right out of the station and on the left hand side.

The meeting is from 6pm until 7pm.



This is  Alex's platform:

 Make Willesden Green is an independent, grassroots platform that aims to:
  •    Make Willesden Green more Democratic: local residents have been poorly represented by local Councillors and mainstream parties. The demolition of  Willesden Green Library Centre serves as a perfect example of how Brent Council put profits before people, ignoring widespread local opposition whilst promoting interests other than those of our neighbourhood. Local democracy requires better representation and more participation. If elected as an independent Councillor, I won’t be under any Party’s whip and will fight incessantly for participatory democracy in our ward and beyond. 
  •  Make Willesden Green more Equal: the absence of affordable housing among the 92 luxury flats that will be replacing the Library Centre is a slap in the face to our community. Instead of addressing the chronic housing shortage for ordinary residents, the Council is inviting wealthy investors to speculate in our neighbourhood. In education too, the Council has been complicit in the privatisation of our state-funded schools. Public housing, education and free healthcare are key to achieving a more equal and democratic society. If elected as a Councillor, I will fight relentlessly for a public NHS, for quality state-funded and democratically accountable schools, and for properly designed affordable housing near people’s workplaces. 
  • Make Willesden Green Safe: a busy neighbourhood is a safer neighbourhood. We need to protect and create public spaces and amenities where all people (especially children and the less mobile) can walk, rest, play or cycle safely and comfortably. The Library Centre redevelopment has swallowed up the only breathing space we had on the High Street, while other open spaces (like the one opposite Kingsley Court on St Paul’s Avenue) are left derelict. I believe traffic-calming measures and a public realm that is friendly to children, cyclists and pedestrians will make for a safer, more vibrant Willesden Green. 
  •   Make Willesden Green Thrive: we need to support independent retailers and businesses in our neighbourhood. A pub like the Queensbury, which serves the community (as well as food and drink); or a shop like the sorely-missed Willesden Bookshop are much more than simple commercial outlets. They act as community hubs, facilitating the interaction between diverse residents, offering valuable services and ultimately encouraging local people to spend on our High Street. They also create sustainable and meaningful employment for many local people. As a Councillor for Willesden Green I would campaign for policies that promote the use of our High Street and champion neighbourhood-oriented enterprises.   

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Old Library may be retained, rest of 'consultation' just tweaking

Details of the new round of consultation on the Willesden Green Library redevelopment published today LINK show how limited any rethink is likely to be.

The Keep Willesden Green group demanded that the Council and developers Galliford Try 'stopped.listened and reflected' on the proposals with the suggestion that they go back to first principles and involve local residents and users from scratch.

Instead it appears that the housing development,  loss of the Town Square and the bookshop are still taken for granted. There is a concession over the Old Library building which goes only as far as that new early sketches will be on display and 'will show how the old library may be retained as part of the building'. These sketches will be on display throughout August for feedback and 'developed proposals will be ready in September'.

The second phase of the consultation to take place between September and October is limited to 'details like how the library space will be divided or what could go inside the old library'. Brent says stoutly, 'We know where we think each activity shold go (e.g. the library, museum etc).  So no consultation on housing, council offices, cafe, Town Square, car park, bookshop space, or the size of the library.

They have organised workshops for specific target groups, which run the risk of setting different groups against each other, rather than working out priorities through face to face discussion:
Tuesday, September 4 - Seniors
Thursday, September 6 - Small and medium enterprises
Tuesday, September 11- Community groups
Thursday, September 13 - Ethnic minority groups
Tuesday, September 18 - Teens
Thursday, September 20 - Families with young children
 Although of course many people will cover several categories so may end up attending 3 or 4 times!

The Council says it will carry out outreach in local schools and will develop details with schools in the Autumn.

The third phase is the 'Interim Strategy: October-November' and the Council say that core services will continue to be delivered at the Willesden Library Centre as well as non-core such as the markets. Unfortunately one vital 'non-core' service, the Willesden Bookshop, has already closed when the Council could have extended its lease during this period.

Reviewing this timetable it seems clear that the Council's intention is to get planning approval in December and  hand over the site to the developers by January 2013.

Meanwhile I am sure Keep Willesden Green campaigners will be considering their next moves in the light of the above.





Monday 6 August 2012

Closed bookshop a reproach as new consultation on Willesden Green is scheduled for Wednesday


The empty shelves and locked doors of the Willesden Bookshop were a sad sight in Willesden today. The threatened old Victorian Library was clearly reflected in the windows on which were posted Zadie Smith's New York Review of Books article about the Willesden Green redevelopment and an article about the bookshop closure from the Brent and Kilburn Times.

In the few minutes I was there several people came up to use the bookshop and were rather bewildered to find it closed. Just as people had been at the closed libraries when they had come to use them and found them shut down.

This is another photograph along with the Wall of Shame at Preston Library which should make any Brent Labour councillor with a millilitre of socialism left in his or her blood tremble with shame. It was their partnerhip with a private developer, sneaked in behind the back of residents, compounded by their subsequent misinformation about alleged subsidies to the bookshop and failure to provide any real help with relocation, which sounded the death knell of this loved and valuable local resource.

Shame.

Meanwhile on Wednesday the Library Lab (an organisation 'supported' by Brent Council) will be holding a consultation about the redevelopment. I was at Willesden Green to find out more. When I asked if Library Lab would be neutral staff member Joanna said  that they aimed to be more thorough and open than the previous consultations with this one spanning two months. Asked if the previous consultation organisers, Remarkable PR, were still involved and if so what was their role, she said she didn't really know but that there was lot of documentation from them to get her head around before Wednesday.

Wednesday's consultation will be at the Library Lab (the old cafe space within the building) between 11am and 8pm with presentations at noon, 2pm, 4pm and 7pm.

Martin Redston of Keep Willesden Green, told the Wembley and Willesden Observer:
The fact is they (Brent Council and Galliford Try) are making this up as they go along. They hoped to get this all through the back door and weren't expecting this level of opposition. They have given 10 days notice for  this meeting. It is in the middle of the Olympics and when everyone who is not watching it is on holiday. If this isn't a case of burying bad news I don't know what is.

Tuesday 31 July 2012

Willesden Green regeneration consultation dates published

Further details of the August 8th consultation on Willesden Green Library Centre redevelopment plans have now been published as well as new consultation dates in September:
Open day on Wednesday 8 August 
 
An open day will be held at Willesden Green Library Centre in The Library Lab to give you an update on the project. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to share your ideas on the future of the WGCC.

There will be a display at The Library Lab throughout August if you are not able to attend the open day.
 
Wednesday 8 August
11am to 8pm at The Library Lab in the WGLC with presentations at 12noon, 2pm, 4pm and 7pm


Further workshops with the following focus groups are planned for September:
 
Tuesday, September 4 - Seniors
Thursday, September 6 - Small and medium enterprises
Tuesday, September 11- Community groups
Thursday, September 13 - Ethnic minority groups
Tuesday, September 18 - Teens
Thursday, September 20 - Families with young children

Further information

If you need more information or have any questions about the planning application please contact Galliford Try’s dedicated freephone information line on 0800 298 7040 or email 
feedback@consultation-online.co.uk
Web: www.willesdengreen.co.uk  Twitter: @Will_GreenCC

Saturday 28 July 2012

The Guardian publicises Willesden Bookshop's plight - still time for Council to act


The plight of the Willesden Bookshop, facing closure this month as its notice expires, is reported in today's Guardian LINK

Helen Sensi, who has worked at the shop since it opened, said:
We've been inundated with people saying 'Why are you closing down?' I think people will feel a tremendous sense of loss. Independent shops have had a hard time, but Steve (Adams) has kept the shop going where others have fallen. He's managed to be a community service, even if the council doesn't recognise it.
Sensi said that the end of the Willesden store was:
... disaster for children in terms of literacy. To see children engrossed on the floor, from tiny tots reading cloth books to older children running towards a cover they recognise, is a delight. For me, that's where it begins.
Surely it is not too late for Brent Council  leader  Muhammed Butt to meet with campaigners and the bookshop to sort something out.  The bookshop is something of tremendous value that Brent Council is in danger of needlessly throwing on the scrap heap.

Thursday 26 July 2012

Willesden woodland cut down - not quite in its prime

The carved  'woodland' installation of trees, animals and birds outside the Willesden Green Library and Willesden Bookshop was torn down today and disappeared on the back of a lorry.

Locals, already bemused by the installation which appeared as if by magic overnight some time ago, are perplexed about its removal and concerned about its fate.

Was it robbery, vandalism, an art 'happening' - will it be sold as firewood, donated to a nursery, put in storage for a return to the proposed Cultural Centre, or be the centre piece of the Civic Centre atrium?

Who knows.....

How much did it cost....?

Drop me an e-mail

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Keep Willesden Green enters positive new phase


Although we don't know precisely what led to Galliford Try withdrawing their planning application for the redevelopment of Willesden Green Library Centre, it is likely to be a combination of the scale of local opposition, internal Labour Party debate, technical and legal risks; and national and international opprobrium.
The reason given for withdrawal was to allow for more consultation and a possible redesign which amounts to a victory for the Keep Willeden Green's demand to 'Stop, Listen and Reflect' (above)

Whatever the detail, the successful mobilisation of local opinion by the energetic and resourceful  Keep Willesden Green campaign, which saw the council's planning department deluged with objections to the plans,  must have played a part. Thus, last participants in last night's well attended meeting of the campaign allowed themselves a modest celebration at the planning application  withdrawal whilst recognising that this was only the end of Round 1.

It was a sign of the strength of the campaign that the meeting included about eight newcomers who wanted to contribute to the next phase. Rather than tailing off as a result of the pause in the process, the campaign has drawn strength from the decision and become even more determined to influence events.

The consensus that emerged about next steps  emphasised a positive, proactive approach that will seek participation in the formulation of new plans from the start, aided by the provisions of the Localism Act. In reaction to new council leader Muhammed Butt's stated desire to work with the community, rather than against them, KWG will seek a meeting with him to discuss the way forward to ensure that any development meets the needs and aspirations of the local community.

Monday 18 June 2012

Willesden Bookshop selling off stock - but haven't given up yet

The Willesden Bookshop has started selling off its stock at bargain prices today but owner Steve Adams is adamant that this is not the death knell for the shop. This applies to all stock, including children's books.

He said that although the council has extended the lease until the end of August, the shop will be subject to a one week notice (either way) from the beginning of August. "We simply cannot move in one week so we are beginning to clear our stock now.  We are still looking at alternatives in Willesden and hope to carry on, but we have to be practical at the same time."

He says of course that it would be wonderful if the council saw sense and by one means or another the planning application was withdrawn in the next few week.s 

The shop is hoping to be able to carry on the much-valued service to local schools, even if it is not able to have a store front for a period.  More details about this will be sent to schools over the next few days.

Friday 11 May 2012

Old Willesden Library demolition proposals published


The proposed development
Most of the planning documents for the proposed Willesden Cultural Centre are now available on the Brent Council website.  They are numerous and will need careful study. There is a main planning application for the demolition of the Victorian Library, 1980s Library, bookshop etc and the building of 92 flats and the Cultural Centre and an application relating to the Conservation Area. Most of the documentation is replicated on both sites.

Main Planning Application HERE

Conservation Area Application HERE

The future of the Old Willesden Library is of particular interest to many and the Heritage Statement is available below.

One key section states:
The loss of the Old Library is to some extent mitigated through ‘preservation by record’ and the undertaking of the historic buildings survey to English Heritage Level II standards, and which has been used in this report to understand the building’s significance. Should consent be granted for this or future schemes affecting historic fabric, it is recommended that additional recording be undertaken during demolition in order to supplement this report with further details of the building’s history.


It is also recommended that specific elements of the architectural fabric are retained, and where possible, reused within the new building as architectural details, art installations and/or exhibits within the museum space. While it is recognised that the scheme represents the total loss of the Old Library, the retention of certain elements would evoke the cultural memory of the building and help preserve the historic narrative of development on the site. Those pieces that should be considered for retention are as follows, though further elements may be revealed during the demolition process:


· Shell-hood above the former entrance way on the north elevation;


· Parge work on the north elevations and around the tower;


· Plaque commemorating the building on north elevation; and


· Weather-vane on summit of the tower


The remaining historic fabric and fixtures such as window frames should be considered for salvage, and where suitable, deposited in a suitable store such as the Charles Brooking Collection currently housed in Surrey.


Wednesday 28 March 2012

Ann John to meet with Keep Willesden Green campaigners

The Keep Willesden Green campaign, which has been very successful in gaining broad public support over its opposition to the Willesden Green Redevelopment has arranged a meeting with Cllr Ann John, leader of Brent Council on Wednesday April 4th. The campaign will be represented by members of its committee.

Campaigners are opposed to the loss of the Old Willesden Green Library building and the loss of the open space in front of the current library, want to see the Willesden Bookshop relocated in the proposed Cultural Centre and most importantly want the Council to call a halt to the development while a full consultation, involving the full participation of local people, takes place.

Sunday 11 March 2012

Demanding a voice at Willesden Green on Saturday

It was a great day down at Willesden Green on Saturday at the Brent Council-Galliford Try 'consultation' on the Cultural Centre project. The people presenting the proposals and  answering questions from the public seemed increasingly uncomfortable faced with well-informed and incisive questioning from local residents. Many of their answers were vague or shrugged off with 'that was before we got involved'. Clearly the developers have been dropped in a thicket of brambles and stinging nettles by Brent Council and are not very happy about it.

Outside the public were anxious to sign Keep Willesden Green's petitions and the campaign's yellow stickers were everywhere along the High Road.

This campaign means business!

Friday 9 March 2012

PAUSE, LISTEN AND REFLECT, Brent Council told

Keep Willesden Green have launched a new paper and e-petition on the Willesden Green Regeneration issue that encompasses the various concerns of the local community are by calling for Brent Council to Pause, Listen and Reflect before proceeding.

You can sign the E-Petition HERE

PETITION TEXT

We the undersigned petition the council to Pause the Willesden Green Library Centre regeneration plans to allow for full consultation with residents in order to ascertain their views on how the area should be developed and the amenities that should be provided or retained.

Brent Council is handing over public land worth £10.4 million to a property developer in exchange for rebuilding the Willesden Library Centre. The original 1894 library building on the High Road will be demolished, The Willesden Bookshop is likely to be driven out of business, the public car park will be reduced to 8 spaces and a children’s play area will be lost. Over 18 months, three five-storey blocks of 90+ luxury flats will be built behind the existing Library Centre.

We all want a thriving, welcoming and dynamic library and cultural centre, but the current deal has been sealed with virtually no public consultation and very little available information, ignoring the wishes of over a thousand local residents who have expressed opposition to these plans in two Brent e-petitions.

While the developers get a healthy profit from the sale of luxury flats and Brent councillors get some fancy new offices, the cultural and financial cost to rate-paying citizens is disproportionately high. It smacks of ‘profits before people’.

Borough residents need to have a say in the content and design of the library centre redevelopment, but we have not yet been given the chance to do so.

The Council says: Plans for the development of the library centre were raised at the executive committee in February 2011, and quickly followed by two public consultations to ‘test the market’. The council had to abide by commercial confidentiality, so no detailed plans could be made public until a deal was signed with the developer on 15 February 2012.

We say: Did you know about this in 2011? Not a single local resident or tradesperson we spoke to knew about the plans until Jan 2012, and only then through word of mouth. The Feb 2011 consultations were conducted with, respectively, 5 and then 7 people. One person present recounted that they were asked for their opinion, then shown plans for the centre that were drawn up before the meeting. This does not conform to the generally understood definition of a ‘consultation’

REMEMBER TO MAKE YOUR VIEWS KNOWN AT THE EXHIBITION ON SATURDAY 10AM-2PM, WILLESDEN GREEN LIBRARY. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO MEET KEEP WILLESDEN GREEN CAMPAIGNERS OUTSIDE AND SIGN THE PETITION.

Big push on Willesden Green tomorrow

The Keep Willesden Green campaign has had excellent coverage in the Brent and Kilburn Times this week. They will be out in force tomorrow for the Brent Council-Galliford Try Exhibition at Willesden Green Library.

Campaigners are pushing to get 5,000 signatures on the petition to save the historic Old Willesden Library building from demolition. Reaching 5,000 will mean that the issue has to be discussed at full council. E-petiton is HERE and the paper version will be outside the Library tomorrow morning and lunchtime.

The main issues are summarised in the video below:

Thursday 1 March 2012

Tell Willesden Green developers what you think on March 9th and 10th

Shop/house window poster

Keep Willesden Green is producing these posters for display in shop and house windows to get the message about the redevelopment out as widely as possible.

You can download your own A4 version as a PDF HERE

Keep Willesden Green are pressing the Council/Galliford Try to STOP, LISTEN  AND REFLECT to enable residents to say what they think of the proposals and what they want for their community. It is important that this message gets to them on the Exhibition/Feedback days to be held at the Willesden Green Library Centre on Martch 9th and 10th.

Keep Willesden Green do not accept that this development is a 'done deal'.

Saturday 25 February 2012

Brent Council stonewalls on all fronts

Evidence is mounting that Brent Council does not want to hear from its citizens, but sure that they know best, want to carry out decision making without the irritant of representations from the public.

At the last Brent Executive, leader of the Council Ann John, in an emotional outburst asked why people did not come and make representations about the cuts that would make the 'poor people of Brent a lot worse off'. Brent Fightback requested permission to address the Council meeting to be held on Monday February 27th on just that topic: the cuts in Brent's budget that will impact on Brent's most vulnerable groups.

The request was turned by Anne Reid, Principal Democratic Services Officer:
I have advised the Mayor, the Leader of the Council, the Chief Executive and the Borough Solicitor of your request and the view is that there have been opportunities prior to this evening at committee for you to address members. Full Council is for the Leader to clearly present the budget proposals. Accordingly, your request has not been accepted.
I requested permission to present to Council the petition calling for Willesden Bookshop to be allocated space in the proposed Willesden Cultural Centre. This was turned down by Peter Goss of Democratic Services on the grounds that only petitions with more than 5,000 signatures could be presented at Council.  I followed this up by asking then which Committee I could present it to:
Once your petition closes, you will be informed of what will happen to it. As you know the Executive has already taken decisions on this matter and so there are no current plans for the Executive to consider the matter further. It is now for the Planning Committee to consider the planning application and in the light of this I will determine how to progress your petition, taking account of the Council's petition scheme.
The petition closed on February 21st but I have heard nothing more from Democratic Services. It is interesting that the statement says that there are no current plans for the Executive to discuss the matter further. There is currently a consultation managed by Galliford Try the developers of the 90-95 unit  housing development with Cultural Centre attached, which includes 1:1 sessions with residents on February 28th and 29th and an exhibition of March 9th and 10th. If the Executive is not going to consider the matter further it is unclear what the point is of this this consultation.

The last issue concerns my Freedom of Information requesting documentation regarding the Council's deliberations regarding  privatisation of  Brent Parks Service.  Brent Council failed to meet statutory deadlines. The request was made on December 30th 2011 and the reply received only on February 21st.
The request has been turned down by Fiona Ledden, Director of Legal and Procurement Department:

In respect of the documentation that you have requested in respect of the (FOI request) this is highly sensitive and speculative information that at any point in time is the subject of initial high level consideration by Senior Officers only. It is highly possible that any such   proposals as may exist may not go for further consideration.

Ledden goes on to quote Section 36 (2) (b) (ii) of the Freedom of Information Act which she claims provides exemption 'where disclosures would or would be likely to, inhibit free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation'. She goes on to claim  Section 36 (2) (c) applies additionally or alternatively, where disclosure 'would be likely otherwise to 'prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs'.

She concludes:
There are strong public interests in accountability and transparency but there are also strong public interests in enabling officers and elected members to play their proper role in decision making and in developing ideas, which it is then appropriate to share on  wider basis.'
Ledden suggests that this is all a matter of timing and these are the grounds of increasing public  frustration in various aspects of council proposals:  the Council not publishing the criteria for bids for groups to take over libraries faced with closures, lack of financial information on the Civic Centre (commercially sensitive), 'secret' appendices on the Willesden Cultural Centre proposals and local  councillors who had seen the Cultural Centre plans being barred from discussing them with the public.

The 'timing' goes awry because the public feel that they are informed, often poorly, at a late stage and are confronted with a 'done deal'. This gives the impression of a lack of respect for residents' views and a lack of transparency and accountability. It is why groups such as those campaigning on libraries, social care and regeneration are aghast when they face the reality of council decision making.

Friday 24 February 2012

Willesden Green Campaign gathers support

More than 30 people volunteered for Save Willesden Green's committee last night and quickly got down to the work of organising different aspects of the campaign. They aim to stop the development to give time for local people to have a say in the proposals, and time for the Council to reconsider their plans.

Only 12 people were involved in initial consultations and there are only 30 spaces available in Galliford Try's two consultations days on February 28th and 29th.

Anger is building at what residents see as a private 'done deal' between the Council and developers and committee volunteers included a broad range of local people including shop keepers, parents, teachers and residents.

Petitions to save the old Victorian Willesden Library from demolition and to relocate the Willesden Bookshop in the proposed Cultural Centre each look likely to gains more than 1,000 signatures. A leaflet has been produced outlining the issues and is being distributed widely, aided by more than £350 which was collected in a whip round last night.

The vast majority of people taking part have not been involved politically before but have been galvanised by what they see as their exclusion from major decisions about their neighbourhood.