Agenda item
Report from the Leader or members of the Cabinet
To receive reports from the Leader or members of the Cabinet in accordance with Standing Order 38.
Minutes:
The Leader reported that he had attended a meeting of the Mayoral Development Corporation at which presentations were received from QPR Football Club and Cargiant. Public consultation on proposals by Cargiant had begun and the Council would be ensuring it pursued the necessary benefits to the area from the development. The Leader stated that the report of the Health Commission was being finalised for submission by end of July. The Leader reported that the volunteering hub had been awarded to Groundworks and it was hoped to have 1000 volunteers working across Brent. The Leader stated that, as part of the West London Alliance, the Council was looking at the devolution agenda which would be the subject of further discussion within Brent. As part of this the Economic Prosperity Board was being established which would look at how influence could be brought to bear on employment and jobs in the area.
Councillor Mashari reported that the number of Living Wage employers in the borough had doubled since April. She congratulated Granger Herzog who had become the first Living Wage employer in Park Royal. Councillor Mashari reported on a summer business networking event on 25 June and a business start up event in September. With the Deputy Mayor, she would be visiting local businesses across the borough during the summer months to hear their concerns and to encourage the establishment of local trader associations. Referring to the Government’s £12B welfare cuts she stated that this was likely to disproportionately affect boroughs like Brent. She reported that the Council was working more collaboratively than ever with the voluntary and private sectors in an attempt to mitigate the worse impacts of the Benefit Cap. Councillor Mashari reported that the Working Places Working People employment support scheme would be launched on 27 June providing a single place for support services to be co-located to help people get into work and out of poverty.
Councillor Moher updated Council on school places. The Authority had received 4,350 reception applications for September 2015 and all had been allocated a place with 80% getting their first preference. She was confident there would be places available for new applications received. The pressure for places meant that the Preston Road Library building would need to be used for a further year. Of the 11+ transfers, all applicants had been made an offer with 64% getting their first preference. The number of school places continued to expand with the expansion of Stonebridge Primary school being agreed at the last Cabinet meeting. Since March there had been five OFSTED inspections where the schools concerned had been judged either good or outstanding. Councillor Moher reported that Cabinet had agreed to consult on providing youth services in a different way. Young people would be given a central role in the consultation and the outcome was due at Cabinet on 3 October 2015. Councillor Moher referred to the recent sentencing of a paedophile from Brent. The offender had not previously been known to the Council and support services were being provided to those affected.
Councillor Hirani referred to the Government announcement that it intended to cut £200m from public health provision across the country while increasing spend on the NHS meaning money going towards prevention was being cut whilst money spent on curing was going up. He was awaiting details of how this would affect Brent but assured Council that efforts would continue to be made to improve the health of local residents.
Councillor Denselow thanked the Council’s Community Safety Team, the Emergency Services and the Army for dealing with the unexploded World War II bomb uncovered close to the Civic Centre. He referred to the challenge posed by radicalisation and the coming into force of the Counter Terrorism and Security Act which gave new statutory responsibilities to the Council to prevent people being drawn into terrorism and extremism. As a Prevent designated borough and flagged as part of a wider counter terrorism concern under the Protect Prepare and Pursue remits, the Council was taking this challenge very seriously. All councillors would be kept up to date with developments.
Councillor Southwood updated Council on the introduction of the Green Waste charge. 17,000 households were now signed up to the scheme and the amount of residual waste was down by 6% and the amount of green garden waste down by 44%. There was no evidence that this waste was being transferred to other bins or fly tipped. Councillor Southwood stated that she was looking at taking a strategic approach with residents to fly tipping and had met in Wembley to consider how to target enforcement action in that area which could then be used as a blueprint for tackling other areas of the borough. She referred to the concern expressed to her about the encampments in parks and reported that efforts were being made to use the Council’s existing powers and public space protection orders to tackle the problem.
Councillor McLennan reported that the property and asset strategy was published on 1 June which sought to determine how the Council could best utilise properties it held. Linked to this work was the Community Asset transfer where the Council was working with the community with a view to transferring suitable buildings and properties to the community. Councillor McLennan reported that the Council was embarking on a programme of building homes in the borough providing 1,000 Council homes and 5,000 social homes. Referring to the bids made for housing zones in Alperton and Wembley – Wembley had been successful and it was hoped to hear soon that Alperton was also successful. Along with Councillor Collier, she had been undertaking work in trying to source buildings for the social rental market.
The decisions taken by Cabinet under the Council’s urgency provisions were noted.
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