Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED:-

that the minutes of the annual meeting held on 11 May 2011 be approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

Councillor Beck declared a personal interest in item 7 - Debate, by virtue of his employment at the GLA.

Councillor Powney declared a personal interest in item 5 - Report from the Leader or members of the Executive, by virtue of being a member of the West London Waste Authority.

The Mayor said that he was honoured to be chairing his first Council Meeting and looked forward to the year ahead.  He advised the meeting that he had chosen Brent Mind and the Central Mosque of Brent as his charities for the coming year.

The Mayor stated that in accordance with Standing Orders a list of current petitions showing progress on dealing with them had been circulated around the chamber.

The Mayor explained that a procedural motion would be submitted to bring forward the debate on the Olympics and the meeting was lucky to have two senior officials present who would each be giving a talk on the preparations for the Olympics.

RESOLVED:-

(i)         that Councillor R Patel be appointed to Health Partnerships Overview

and Scrutiny Committee in place of Councillor Hirani;

(ii)        that Ms Elsie Points be appointed a voting co-opted member of the

Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the remainder of the 2011/12 municipal year, representing the Church of England.

Councillor Moloney moved a procedural motion proposing a change in the order of business.

RESOLVED:-

that the order of business listed on the summons be amended to allow for Item 7 - Debate on the Olympics - to be brought forward and taken immediately following item 4 - Appointments to Committees/Appointment of Chairs/Vice Chairs - after which the order shall be as listed on the summons.

To debate key issues affecting the Borough.  The issue to be discussed at this meeting is the forthcoming London Olympic games.  A representative of the city operations section at the GLA and a representative of LOCOG (The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) will be present.

The Mayor welcomed Neale Coleman, the Mayor of London's Olympic advisor and Richard Sumray, chair of the London 2012 Forum at LOCOG (The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games).

Neale Coleman expressed his gratitude for being given the opportunity to address the meeting and referred to his association with the borough dating back to the time of the construction of Wembley Stadium and the visit by the International Olympic Committee's evaluation panel, which had turned out to be very successful.  The collaboration between the Mayor's office and the Council had continued to be strong and he referred to the borough's Chief Executive being a member of the steering group looking at the Olympic operation right across London.  Mr Coleman explained that the GLA had given consideration to the extra costs associated with hosting the Games and the Council had been awarded £700,000 which was in the process of being paid over.  He reminded members that it was not just the stadium that would be used during the Olympics but also Wembley Arena and so there would be a large number of visitors to the borough which would make it a very exciting place to be.  Mr Coleman stated that there were discussions taking place between the Mayor's office and the IOC to ensure that London would present itself as an Olympic city and in turn there was close liaison with the boroughs over this.  The GLA would be allocating an additional sum of £50,000 to every London borough to support activities designed to achieve this.  Details on this would emerge soon.  A volunteer programme was being run by the GLA to recruit ambassadors who would be present at all the Olympic venues to welcome and assist the people visiting the games and many people from Brent had put themselves forward for this role.  Neale Coleman reported that the Mayor had recently announced a scheme to provide free tickets for schools in London with the only requirement being for schools to ensure they registered with the LOCOG Get Set network.  He was aware that there were still a large number of schools in Brent who had yet to do this.  It was pointed out that being registered with Get Set was not the same thing as being a member of the Get Set network and that registered schools and colleges had to ensure they joined the network.

Richard Sumray stated that this was his third visit to the borough in recent months which was symptomatic of Brent's involvement in the Olympics.  He re-iterated the importance of schools registering with the Get Set network by saying that of 107 schools in the borough, 71 had registered with Get Set but only 29 had joined the network.  There continued to be significant progress made on preparing the venues which was ahead of schedule and within budget.  Test events were already underway at some venues and there would be a badminton tournament held at Wembley Arena shortly.  The number of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To receive reports from the Leader or members of the Executive in accordance with Standing Order 42.

(a)       Items reported by the Executive

Leader's meeting with Mayor of London

The Leader reported on her and the Chief Executive's meeting with the Mayor of London at which Wembley and Crossrail were discussed.  He had also asked about the library transformation programme and expressed a wish to visit Brent.

Arts and festivals strategy

Councillor Jones (Lead Member for Customers and Citizens) reported that a review of the strategy was well overdue and that the current arrangements had developed in an ad hoc way.  The proposal was to support a transition from Council supported festivals to self-supporting events.  It was timely in view of the impact of the Equality Act 2010 and the perception by some people that the strategy was divisive.  The review took account of the move to the civic centre where there would be performance space and of the need to save money.  It moved away from faith based festivals to ensure there was not a bias towards certain groups and to deliver one Brent Celebrates event, a fireworks event and Holocaust Memorial Day.

Waste strategy

Councillor Powney (Lead Member for Environment and Neighbourhoods) reported that the Waste Strategy was well on its way towards implementation on 3 October 2011.

Stonebridge adventure playground and SEN after schools clubs

Councillor Arnold (Lead Member for Children and Families) was pleased to report that the adventure playground and SEN after schools club had been protected from the cutbacks the Council was having to make and outlined the services provided.

John Billam Adult Day Care centre

Councillor Crane (Lead Member for Regeneration and Major Projects) reported that the contract for the construction of a new building for the day care centre to replace the provision at Albert Road had recently been awarded and that the use of the Albert Road site was the subject of a report to the Executive.

Day Opportunities strategy review

Councillor R Moher (Lead Member for Adults and Health) reported that following a three month consultation exercise in the Spring, work had been undertaken in partnership with the health service to produce a very different set of proposals to those outlined in the consultation which would provide an improved service for people in the borough with mental health issues.

(b)       Decisions taken by the Executive under the Council's urgency provisions

RESOLVED:

that the decisions taken by the Executive under the Council’s urgency provisions relating to the following item be noted:

Crest Academies

Questions will be put to the Executive in accordance with Standing Order 39.

Councillor Kansagra referred to the closure of Fryent Way for the UEFA Champions League final at Wembley Stadium.  He felt this had been an unnecessary measure and reflected on the terms of the planning permission for the stadium which had restricted the provision of parking and this meant there was extra pressure put on the surrounding roads.  He asked if it was intended that this would be repeated for the Olympics.  Councillor J Moher replied that the Champions League final had been the biggest event to take place in the borough and was run by UEFA who set out the requirements for hosting the game.  Upon the award of the game to Wembley Stadium a planning team had worked on the logistics of preparing for two, at that time, unknown teams from unknown parts of Europe bringing their fans into the area.  The closure of Fryent Way had not been a complete closure and lessons from it had been learnt.   Councillor Kansagra responded that he was not satisfied with the arrangements and wondered if fees were paid for parking coaches in Fryent Way.  He made reference to the difficulties people faced when attending funerals in the area and suggested the experience showed there was not enough parking provided.

Councillor Hunter stated that she understood lead members had received representations from residents asking that Veolia be excluded from the current procurement exercise for waste disposal because they felt the company had demonstrated racist recruitment practices with reference to its activities in the West Bank and Israel.  Councillor Powney replied that West London Waste was embarking on a waste procurement exercise and it could not jeopardise this by not following the proper processes.  Councillor Hunter responded by saying that she would like to see West London Waste take the concerns of local residents seriously and that she had been shocked to see the advertisement for jobs on the Jerusalem Light Railway which effectively prevented the majority of local Palestinian citizens from applying.  She asked how it could be allowed that Veolia was treated as a suitable contractor and felt that the matter needed to be given serious consideration.

Councillor Beckman asked how often would Brent residents have their rubbish collected under the new waste and recycling strategy.  Councillor Powney replied that from October food and organic waste would be collected weekly, with dry recyclables and waste going to landfill being collected every alternate week.  He added that under the new strategy all households would be able to recycle more waste material.  Councillor Beckman thanked Councillor Powney for his reply.

Councillor Beck stated that whilst he was glad the Council had secured the funding for the CREST Academies he was concerned over the effect of the redevelopment plans on the residents in Hillcrest Gardens and Vincent Gardens who were concerned about overlooking from the buildings and the access road.  He felt the residents had asked for reasonable changes to be made but this had so far been met by a poor response from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To receive reports from Chairs of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees in accordance with Standing Order 41.

Councillor Gladbaum (Chair of Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee) reported on behalf of the chairs of the overview and scrutiny committees.  She first welcomed the two new Chairs, Councillor Kabir and Councillor Ashraf to the scrutiny function and stated that all the overview and scrutiny chairs would soon be meeting to discuss co-ordinating work programmes, agreeing the annual report, scrutiny training and engaging with residents.  She thanked the outgoing chairs, Councillor Ogunro and Councillor Castle, for their work.

Councillor Gladbaum reported that since the last update to full council three overview and scrutiny task groups had either reported or were about to report.  These were:

Fuel Poverty in Brent, chaired by Councillor Long – this report looked at the work being undertaken in Brent to tackle fuel poverty, how the council, NHS, voluntary sector and the private sector need to work in a collaborative way to tackle the issue and the need to tackle general poverty to address fuel poverty.

Car Repair and Spray Painting Garages, chaired by Councillor Moloney – this task group was set up following a motion to Full Council.  The main areas the task group looked at were the scale and nature of the problem, enforcement activity and enforcement action.

Preventing Youth Offending, chaired by herself.  This task group would be reporting to the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee the following evening and its key findings centred around:

·         a change in emphasis to effective early intervention

·         changes in practice

·         collaboration between agencies

·         the crucial role of schools

·         yhe crucial role of parents, and

·         other organisational issues.

Councillor Gladbaum reported that for the first time three of the committees – Children and Young People, Partnership and Place and One Council had held a joint meeting.  The agenda enabled all members of these committees to have the opportunity to hear from and question the Leader of the Council about the administration's priorities for the year ahead and to receive a presentation on key issues facing Brent including:

·         demographic and population projections

·         health and well-being

·         child poverty and the local economy, and

·         housing 

Information on the implications and responses to the Localism Bill was also provided so that Members of the committees could make suggestions for the overview and scrutiny work programmes.  She added that the committee’s work programmes were flexible enough to pick up issues as they arose and strongly encouraged Members to make suggestions for agenda items or task group reviews at any time.

The Health Partnerships Committee had met to discuss plans for the North West London Hospital Trust, provided comments on the North West Hospital NHS Trust Quality Accounts, received an update on GP Commissioning Consortia and agreed to start a new task group looking at the health and social impact of Khat.

The One Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee had recently discussed the Housing Needs Transformation Project which focuses on the work of the Housing Needs Resource Centre and Housing Solutions.  It also received an update  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

            This report explains that the Council received an Inspector’s report into the Examination of the Site Specific Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) of the LDF and that the Inspector found the document sound subject to recommended changes being made.  The Executive considered the matter on 11 April 2011 and recommended to Full Council that the DPD be adopted with the changes incorporated.

Members had before them the report which explained that the Council had received an Inspector’s report into the Examination of the Site Specific Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) of the Local Development Framework (LDF) and that the Inspector had found the document to be sound, subject to recommended changes being made.  The Executive had considered the matter on 11 April 2011 and was recommending to Full Council that the DPD be adopted with the changes incorporated.

RESOLVED:-

that the Site Specific Allocations Development Plan Document, taking account of the recommended changes, be adopted.

The Gambling Act 2005 requires Licensing Authorities to publish a Statement of Principles that sets out their policy for dealing with applications and regulating gambling premises within their borough, which Brent did in January 2007.  These Statements of Principles are required to be reviewed, revised and published to reflect changes in legislation, the Gambling Commission’s Guidance to Licensing Authorities, and on the experience of administration and enforcement by authorities.  The Executive agreed the final Statement of Principles on 11 April 2011 for approval by Full Council in July 2011.

The Gambling Act 2005 requires Licensing Authorities to publish a Statement of Principles that sets out their policy for dealing with applications and regulating gambling premises within their borough, which Brent did in January 2007. These Statements of Principles are required to be reviewed, revised and published to reflect changes in legislation, the Gambling Commission’s Guidance to Licensing Authorities, and on the experience of administration and enforcement by authorities.  The Executive agreed the final Statement of Principles on 11 April 2011 for approval by Full Council and members now had the report before them for consideration.

Members expressed concern that the Council's licensing responsibilities did not extend to being able to take into consideration the proliferation of gambling premises within an area.  Looking at the map of the borough attached as appendix A of the Statement of Principles it was clear that gambling establishments were targeting areas of deprivation in which to conduct their business.  It was important to take account of the effect on crime and disorder and for the Council, with its local knowledge, to be able to influence how many similar establishments operated within a given area.

RESOLVED:-

              that the Council’s revised Statement of Gambling Licensing Principles be approved for publishing.

          This report informs members of a revision to the proposed level of contribution Brent will make to the London Councils Grant Scheme in 2011/12.  This increase in the contribution previously agreed by Full Council in January 2011 is required following the outcome from the judicial review of changes to the London Councils Grant Scheme.

Members had before them a report which informed them of a revision to the proposed level of contribution Brent would make to the London Councils Grant Scheme in 2011/12.  This increase in the contribution previously agreed by Full Council in January 2011 was required following the outcome from the judicial review of changes to the London Councils Grant Scheme.

RESOLVED:-

(i)         that the revised contribution to be paid by the Council in the sum of  £460,929 as recommended by London Councils towards the London Boroughs Grants Scheme for 2011/12 be agreed;

(ii)        to note that the additional £24,584 required as a result of the outcome of the judicial review of changes to the London Grants scheme would be met from centrally held funds;

(iii)       to note that Full Council in February 2011 agreed that the 2011/2012 budget include reallocation of the funding no longer expected as a contribution to the London Councils Grants Scheme and that of the funding no longer required for the London Councils Grant Scheme, £231,500 was reinvested in safeguarding advice and guidance services provided by the voluntary sector and £249,000 was allocated to savings.

This report proposes three changes to the Council’s Constitution: firstly the inclusion of a protocol on Call in of Executive decisions, secondly the inclusion of the new Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity, and lastly some minor amendments in relation to Contract Standing Orders.

Members had before them a report which proposed three changes to the Council’s Constitution: firstly the inclusion of a protocol on Call in of Executive decisions, secondly the inclusion of the new Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity, and lastly some minor amendments in relation to Contract Standing Orders.

RESOLVED:-

(i)         that the Constitution be amended to incorporate the changes to the

Standing Orders relating to Call in of Executive decisions as set out in Appendix 1 of the report;

(ii)        that the Constitution be amended to replace the old Code of

Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity with the new Code set out in Appendix 2 of the report;

(iii)       that the Constitution be amended to incorporate the changes to

Standing Orders relating to contracts as set out in Appendix 3 of the report.

This report confirms the dates on which Full Council is scheduled to meet for the remainder of the municipal year 2011/12 and draws attention to the removal of the October 2011 date.

RESOLVED:-

that the removal of the October meeting of Full Council from the 2011/12 meetings programme be noted.

To debate any motions submitted in accordance with Standing Order 45.

Councillor Allie moved the motion circulated in his and Councillor Lorber's names.  He made it clear that this was not to be seen as an attack on the local police but hoped that the Council would take a lead on this matter and that in turn the local police would write to everybody affected explaining what they would have to do to get their names removed from the records.

In supporting the motion, the view was endorsed that efforts needed to be made to continue to lobby for the necessary changes in law to be made and that there was no justification in keeping the DNA records of innocent people.

The motion was put to the vote and declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED:-

(i)         that Council notes that:

- in January 2007 Brent Council called for the destruction of DNA records held by the police on innocent people who have not been charged with or found guilty of any offence, and measures to monitor this,

- the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights have stated unequivocally that the retention of DNA records of innocent citizens is unlawful and that that practice violates Article (8) of the European Convention on Human Rights and that the current ACPO guidelines are unlawful,

- Brent Police does not have local discretion to delete the DNA records of innocent Brent residents,

- Council believes that the continued practice of retaining DNA records of innocent Brent residents can no longer be justified in light of the recent rulings by the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights;

(ii)        that a letter be sent to the Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority

and the Mayor of London requesting them to advise the Metropolitan Police to contact every innocent Brent resident on the DNA data base to inform them of the procedure to remove their records from the DNA database;

(iii)       that continuing concerns be expressed about:

- the continued taking of DNA samples for Fixed Penalty and Public Order offences which has contributed to the heavily imbalanced racial profile of the DNA register, and

- the lack of any effective independent scrutiny of the DNA database.

Councillor Lorber moved the motion circulated in his and Councillors Allie, Brown and CJ Patel's names which was put to the vote and declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED:-

(i)         Council notes:

a.         the proliferation of betting shops in Wembley, Alperton, Sudbury, Tokyngton and other parts of Brent,

b.         the concerns expressed by many local residents about the increasing number of betting shops in small areas including by the newly formed Sudbury Town Residents’ Association about the opening of a third betting shop in a small shopping parade,

c.         residents’ concerns about the impact this has on the community by encouraging addiction to gambling, the consequent effect on health and well-being and the link with anti-social behaviour in some streets,

d.         that the Government is currently consulting councils and other interested parties about the control of change of uses through its consultation paper: How Change of Use is handled in the Planning System;

(ii)         that Council's view is that local communities should have more influence over the mix of uses permitted in their area;

(iii)       that:

a.         a response be submitted to the Government’s change of use consultation expressing the Council’s concern about betting shops and proposing measures to enable more effective control of betting shops and similar uses,

b.         the implementation of Article 4 directions be considered in areas with a particular concentration of betting shops in order to prevent the further proliferation in Brent,

c.         continuing regard be had to the management of gambling activity during the progress of the Local Development Framework,

d.         Government and local MPs be lobbied to reform those provisions in the 2005 Gambling Act which relaxed controls over gambling and made effective control of betting shops difficult.

Councillor Lorber moved the motion circulated in his and Councillors Ashraf, Beck, Castle, Green, Hashmi, Leaman, Matthews and CJ Patel's names which called for management structures to be cut in order to save the money needed to keep six libraries open. The motion was put to the vote and declared LOST.

Councillor Lorber moved the motion circulated in his and Councillors Allie, Ashraf, Brown, Hunter, CJ Patel and Sneddon's names which called on the Council to abandon proposals to withdraw some school crossing patrols.  The motion was put to the vote and declared LOST.

Councillor HB Patel moved the motion circulated in his and Councillor Kansagra's names which asked that the proposal to replace the one hour free parking in Preston Road with pay and display parking meters be re-considered in favour of retaining the current system.  He submitted that the consultation documents had been misleading and that the views of local people were not being heard.  Councillor J Moher stated that the Highways Committee had received a deputation from traders in Preston Road but the problem was that there were parking restrictions in adjoining roads that put pressure on Preston Road.  He referred to the part of the motion concerning competition from supermarkets and stated that local shops were closing because of the recession, not because of competition from those supermarkets able to provide parking.  The matter would be considered at the Highways Committee on 27 July 2011 when the outcome of the consultation would be taken into account.  Councillor Brown pointed out that other shopping areas were surrounded by CPZs but the Preston Road area was not and so parking would be displaced, which in turn would lead to pressure for a CPZ.  He felt the proposal was just a means to raise money at a cost to hard working families.  The motion was put to the vote and declared LOST.

Councillor Beswick moved the motion circulated in his name.  He was grateful for the work undertaken by the Safer Neighbourhood Teams but these were now facing being cut and asked where the commitment was to protect local residents.  He submitted that following the London Mayoral elections and the Olympics the teams would face being cut again and asked members if they wished to see this happen.  Councillor Hunter moved an amendment to the motion seeking to remove the name of Ken Livingstone and inserting 'any mayoral candidate'.  She felt the motion as drafted was clear electioneering and that if it was amended as she suggested it would get much wider support.  Councillor HB Patel stated that it was because of the actions of the last government that such cuts were having to be made.  He submitted that crime was falling under the current Mayor and that the proposals would still leave the same number of police officers as during the time of the previous Mayor so the motion did not make sense.  The amendment to the motion was put to the vote and declared LOST.  The motion was put to the vote and declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED:-

(i)         to note that police Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNTs) were first launched in Stonebridge by Mayor Ken Livingstone and the Labour Government, that since the introduction of SNTs crime has fallen steadily, while resident satisfaction with policing has increased;

(ii)        that the Conservative Mayor’s cuts to frontline policing which will remove five police Sergeants from Brent’s SNTs and break up the ward based neighbourhood policing model which has protected residents so well be condemned; and Ken Livingstone be congratulated on his clear pledge to Brent residents to restore SNT officer levels once he is re-elected in May 2012.

Councillor Long moved the motion circulated in her name which was put to the vote and declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED:-

that this Council believes it has a moral duty to ensure all its residents have a roof over their heads, in particular families with young children; following the leak of Eric Pickles’ letter to David Cameron which showed the government expect their policy to make over 40,000 families homeless, deplores the callousness of a Liberal and Conservative Government knowingly prepared to make tens of thousands of families homeless; and expresses concern that the cost of housing the victims of this government’s social apartheid could stretch this Council’s resources to breaking point.

Councillor J Moher moved the motion circulated in his name which was put to the vote and declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED:-

that this Council believes that access to justice is a fundamental right, without which there can be no fair society; condemns the coalition Government’s assault on the legal aid system, under which at least half a million people will lose access to legal advice, not-for-profit advice agencies such as the Brent CAB and Brent Community Law Centre will be severely hampered in their ability to help the most needy in society, and many thousands of people will suffer avoidable poverty and distress; and calls on the government to abandon this economic cleansing of our civil courts.

None.