The Kilburn Rose

In July, the provider partners agreed to focus on two provisions for
North Kilburn young people in the short-term:

• Access to Kilburn Youth Centre and its resources

• Fortnightly forum at Tricycle (Brent Action for Youth)

We have made progress towards these goals:

1. Kilburn Youth Centre is providing generic sessions, music studio
activities, and advice. Youth outreach and flyers are on their way,
and a website with up-to-date information is being provided soon

2. Football skills sessions are taking place at QPCS Wed 5-7pm. Steve
Adams is leading and promoting this.

3. Facilities: Brent Centre for Young People for Drop-in advice, 51
Winchester Avenue – Information/advice Drop-in being planned with Lou
Calvey, KYC Manager. The centre has specialist services which young
people can 'drop-in' to use, but additional drop-in advice on youth
activities etc will be serviced by KYC. It’s very modern and nearby,
with possibilities for workshops and film/media projects provided by
the Centre Outreach staff member, and even Young Roots funding is
possible!

4. Future plans…for community centres, youth information and support,
and outdoor recreation/ball courts:
a) Kimberley Rd playground: opportunity to upgrade into Multi-use
Games Area (Parks and BHP working on this)
b) Dyne Rd: two possibilities being investigated – (car park land
for multi-use community hall; space behind one-stop shop for activities)
c) Scout Hut: enforcement order to tidy and maintain expires in Oct.
If not cleared council will do this and fine the Scout Association.
We need a meeting with The Scout Association about their plans to
sell, in order to safeguard this community facility. The building is
designated for community use; some residents feel it should be re-
provided elsewhere. Others are keen to bring back into use. We need
to clarify our options.

Mary Arnold

The Lib Dem Tory coalition is fudging the desperate need for more
schools in Brent. It is focussing on limited expansion of existing
schools and the rebuild of the John Kelly schools, subject to future
bids for Building Schools for the Future funding. Meanwhile, more
children are without school places, parental choice is diminishing,
and children coming into the borough are placed in temporary ‘projects’.

The coalition’s reluctance to accept the need for a new school is
putting at risk the proposal for a new all-through school in Wembley
-- time is running out. The proposal
-- which Labour consulted on and developed with the DfES -- would
provide modern learning and sports facilities with community access;
it would also address the shortage of places, the drift to the north
towards the good schools, and cater for the increased demand
projections in the new housing development areas.

The failure to take action, and the determination to stand by Lib Dem
election pledges, means that Every Child Does Not Matter to the
coalition. Overcrowded classrooms, unacceptable travel and falling
school standards will affect children’s life chances and put
additional pressure on other services, such as children’s social
services where the budget is already soaring out of control.

Mary Arnold
Spokesperson for Children and Families

Brent Council’s Lib Dem Con administration has started making cuts in
services, just as Labour warned they would. This is despite a golden
inheritance of nearly £10 million in reserves.

The Executive met on 13 September to agree a package of cuts and
increases in charges including reducing care services to the
disabled, increasing charges for day care, increasing rents for
temporary accommodation and swingeing increases of up to 25% for car
parking. At the same time, the proposal to give the first residents’
parking permit (in Controlled Parking Zones) for free – a key Liberal
Democrat and Conservative election pledge - has been deferred. They
were going to increase the 2nd and 3rd family permits by £25 until
they realised that this would neutralise the value of giving the
first permit free!

The Executive also agreed to privatise the Meals on Wheels service
and place more mentally ill patients in Brent homes whilst reducing
support for them.

In addition to the cuts agreed by the Executive, council departments
have been instructed to find further cuts of 5% across the board, so
we can expect even deeper cuts and increases in charges before long.

Labour’s Deputy Leader, Councillor Jim Moher, said: "This is just the
beginning. The new Lib Dem Con administration have started as they
mean to go on cutting services to the most vulnerable sections of
society, increasing charges and bashing the motorist with huge
increases in parking charges. The policies being pursued are very
similar to those pursued by the Tories from 1991-1996, which led to
the scandals of children being taught in corridors, children abused
through the under funding of the child protection service and the
needs of the elderly and disabled sorely neglected. There is no doubt
that it is the Tories who are the dominant partner in this ‘joint
administration’. Vote Lib Dem get Con(ned)."

Desperate Sarah Teather has at last done something to please the
people of Kilburn – by announcing she won’t stand in our new
Hampstead and Kilburn constituency which is formed from a large chunk
of Brent East.

The woman best known for knifing Charles Kennedy will instead try to
get selected for Brent Central. Teather, who claimed to be “local”
all over the country when she was trying to become a councillor and
then an MP, claims this is because “Brent is my home”.

The next Kilburn Ward meeting will take place on Thursday 7th September, at 7.30pm, at Tenants’ Association Hall in Gorefield House, off Alpha Place (near Kilburn Park tube).

Agenda
1 Apologies for absence
2 Branch news
3 Council news
4 Resolutions to Conference
5 Grunwick commemoration latest
6 Any other business

Please note the venue this month is the room we used to use several months ago. (The College of North-West London is still unavailable.) The start time is also a little later than for recent meetings. Contact a branch officer for further directions on how to find the venue.

A hard-copy of September's Kilburn Rose is available to download here.