Rage Against the Tories Manchester Oct 4th Book your coach seat now

Brent Council Budget protest Monday 6.30pm Civic Centre

Claim Back Our Cash - Reclaim Our Services

Bonfire of Austerity - Nov 5th Actions

The People's Assembly is calling protests across the country to mark the 'Bonfire of Austerity' tomorrow, November 5th.

There will be a demonstration outside Willesden Magistrates Court at 9am tomorrow to protest at Labour controlled Brent Council's decisions to issue courts summonses to some 12,000 people who have not paid their Council Tax. These are often people already on low incomes who have had to pay a portion of their Council Tax for the first time this year due to changes in the Council Tax benefit system which is now administered by local councils.

Cllr Muhammed Butt was on the London section of Sunday Politics yesterday defending the Council's decision. He said that Council officers will be present at court to help those who have been summoned.

His appearance can be seen here at 53mins LINK

The Campaign for Renationalisation of the railways will be leafleting at Ealing Broadway station from 5.30pm until 7pm.

The London focus in the evening includes Anonymous in Trafalgar Square and Block the Bridge at Westminster Bridge:

Block Westminster Bridge – Assemble at Jubilee Gardens at 6pm, contact office@thepeoplesassemblyorg.uk/ Facebook

Bring your energy bills: we will be burning our energy bills on the bridge to highlight the massive rise in energy prices which have left people choosing between heating and eating.

People'sInquiry into NHS even more important after Central Middlesex announcement

Brent Fightback on NHS March

Jeremy Hunt's announcement today that Central Middlesex Accident and Emergency ward is to be closed will come as a bitter disappointment to Brent health campaigners, particularly after the euphoria which greeted the Lewisham Hospital campaign's court victory yesterday.

Hunt's decision shows that that the Tories have absolutely no understanding of the needs of an area such as Harlesden/Stonebridge and the social and health inequalities that make an easily accessible local facility so important.

Campaigners will be considering next steps along with those fighting for Hammermith hospital but meanwhile after the announcement  it is even more  important that as many people as possible submit evidence to the People's Inquiry into the London Health Service. Details LINK and attend the local meeting of the Inquiry which will be held. Send your views using this LINK

• Friday Nov 8: 2pm-7pm, Ealing Town Hall, New Broadway, Ealing, W5 2BY. View map:

This is the trenchant evidence to the Inquiry submitted by Harlesden resident Sarah Cox:

I am a 76 year-old retired early years teacher. I worked for more than 30 years in Brent schools and have lived for more than 40 years in Harlesden. I am also an outpatient at Central Middlesex Hospital.

As such, I was extremely concerned about the likely effect of the changes enshrined in the Shaping a Healthier Future consultation and also about the consultation itself.

I followed the consultation carefully, read the documents and attended meetings called by NHS NW London and public meetings organised by local health campaigns. Overall, the consultation was more like a public relations exercise. Its questionnaire was designed to reach a desired conclusion rather than to look at the real health needs of the vast area it covers.

I am very concerned about accountability. NHS NW London made the decision to go ahead with the changes, but went out of existence before the process of introducing them had even begun. Who will be accountable if they turn out, as many of us believe they will, to result in damaging cuts to our health services, rather than improvements?

Although I will concentrate on the likely effects of changes to the area in which I live, I believe that all the changes will have knock-on effects on neighbouring areas and I am strongly opposed to the whole package. My husband was referred from Central Middlesex Hospital where he was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer, to Charing X where he was expertly treated. The co operation between the two hospitals was exemplary. Cuts to any of the hospitals will increase the strain on the others and on the ambulance service.

I believe that the case for fewer specialist hospitals further apart has been made for stroke, heart attacks and some serious injuries and services have been developed in line with that. Ambulance crews know the best place to take such patients and expert paramedics are able to stabilise them before transporting them to the best hospital. However, I do not believe that the extrapolation to other conditions such as serious asthma attacks, is justified. The surgeons want a concentration of expensive high-tech facilities in fewer, larger hospitals. What they ignore is the vital importance to patients' recovery of being in a setting that is accessible to friends and relatives. There has been a great deal of publicity recently about poor standards of care on understaffed wards. The best insurance against inadequate care is the vigilance of patients' families.

In fact, although we are told that the plans are based on clinical evidence, they are really based on a desire to cut costs. It the plans go through, nearly 1,000 beds and 3,994 clinical jobs will go from hospitals in NW London, saving £1billion over three years. The remaining hospitals will not be able to cope, the ambulance service will not be able to cope, the 111 service is already inadequate and yet we are told that it is crucial to the success of providing alternative services in the community. 

One of the declared aims of the Shaping a Healthier Future strategy was to reduce health inequalities, but moving health provision away from the areas of greatest deprivation and lowest life expectancy, will in fact increase health inequalities.

As a resident of Harlesden Ward and having worked on the Stonebridge Estate, I am most concerned with the loss of services at Central Middlesex Hospital and the impact on the people of Harlesden, Stonebridge and the surrounding area. The Brent Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and in particular the Harlesden Locality Profile (accessible through the Brent Council website www.brent.gov.uk) shows that Harlesden and Stonebridge wards are among the 10% of most deprived wards in the country. They have high levels of unemployment and of long term disease and disability. They also have a higher than average birth rate, and a larger than average percentage of young children and large families and higher rates of teenage pregnancy. Yet the maternity and paediatric services have been taken away.

Areas of poverty and poor housing like these have, it is widely recognised, higher levels of respiratory disease and mental health problems among other health problems. The government welfare cuts will increase these problems.

If health inequalities are to be overcome, health services should be provided where the need is greatest. If access to health services is difficult, people living in poverty and facing many other problems are less likely to seek help and relatively minor problems can become more serious.

Some of the reasons why it is wrong to close A & E departments at CMH and Ealing (these arguments apply to other hospitals in areas of deprivation):

·        A & E services are the first port of call for patients with mental illnesses and they are likely to find it harder to travel further for help.

·        When patients attend A & E, other problems e.g. cancer are often detected and can be treated before they become more serious.

·       There is no simple public transport link from the Harlesden or Stonebridge areas nor from Central Middlesex Hospital to Northwick Park and cabs are far too expensive for people dependent on benefits, so people who are taken ill or have an accident themselves or whose children are taken ill or have an accident will be forced to call an ambulance adding to the pressure on the ambulance service.

·       Transport difficulties not only affect patients, they make it hard for family and friends to visit patients. Support and care from family and friends are important for helping patients to recover. Negotiations with TfL even on the simple extension of the 18 bus route to Northwick Park Hospital have been unsuccessful, so patients and their families and friends from the area around CMH will continue to find access to Northwick Park extremely difficult.

Northwick Park is already struggling to meet targets and ambulances are being diverted back to CMH from there and from St Mary's. If all the proposed closures go through, how will Northwick Park cope with the added burden on A & E maternity, paediatric services, surgery and intensive care?

How will the ambulance service cope with the extra demand? It’s struggling already.

Has there been consultation with the Fire Service about the effect of the proposed changes? 

Schools were not consulted by the Shaping a Healthier Future team, yet during the school day, thousands of children become their responsibility and if any are taken seriously ill or have accidents, school staff will have to go with them to an A & E department further away.  

Out of hospital care

Of course it is always best to keep people out of hospital if appropriate alternative care and treatment can be provided in the community and of course we need more preventive services. We are promised all sorts of out of hospital care to take the place of the lost hospital services, but will the resources really be there? There is already a shortage of trained, skilled community health workers, health visitors, midwives and specialist nurses as well as GPs. Will the CCGs really be able to train and pay for those we need when they are facing constant budget cuts? Successful treatment and care for patients out of hospital demands integration with decent social care services, but the swingeing cuts to Local Authority budgets mean that social care services are at best barely adequate and unlikely to aid recovery and recuperation for patients who have been treated out of hospital or discharged early from hospital.

Getting information about the CCG’s commissioning decisions before they are made is extremely difficult. There are massive documents with quantities of acronymic alphabet soup and a hierarchy of meetings, some useful, most completely opaque to the interested patient or campaigner and suddenly, before you know it, another service has been outsourced and privatised.

However often we are assured that the changes to the NHS are clinically driven, it seems clear that the real drivers are financial the transformation of the NHS into a cash cow for the private sector so that even if it remains free at the point of use for patients, it will be run for profit.

Sarah Cox

Actions from Brent Fightback Meeting of September 4th

EDUCATION – Struggle at Copland continues with one third of staff new to the school this term. Consultation over academy status at Gladstone Park Primary will continue as the new term begins. RALLY FOR EDUCATION for teachers, parents, governors and pupils Saturday September 14^th , Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre, Westminster 11-12.30pm NATIONAL TEACHERS’ STRIKES The London strike will be held on October 17^th

DEMONSTRATION AT CIVIC CENTRE MONDAY SEPTEMBER 9^TH 11.30 am . Demonstration against Barry Gardiner’s invitation to Narendra Modi to address the House of Commons organised by South Asia Solidarity and supported by IHRC, Brent Trades Council and Brent LRC. Further information: http://www.wembleymatters.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/gardiner-faces-demonstration-over-modi.html

BRENT HOUSING ACTION – Critique of Council’s housing asset management plans is being prepared. Next meeting on Tuesday evening at MIND, Willesden High Road

KENSAL RISE LIBRARY – formal consultation deadline has gone but still time to submit before Planning Committee regarding the change of use of the building and the inadequate space offered for a community library. Information on http://www.savekensalriselibrary.org/news/  submit views to ben.martin@brent.gov.uk

WEST LONDON  PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY  (SEE BELOW) We have agreed to support the meeting on Thursday September 19^th 7.30pm at Polish Centre, King Street, W6 Hammersmith or Ravenscourt Park tubes.

DEMONSTRATION AT CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONFERENCE Sunday 29^th September  Unite coach will leave Kilburn 7am, Willesen Green 7.15am and Wembley Park 7.30am £20 solidarity/£10 waged/£5 unwaged – returnable to Unite Community members and benefit claimants. Book your place by emailing Brent Fightback at brentunited@gmail.com or ring/text Sarah on 07951 084 101.

CIVIC CENTRE OFFICIAL OPENING ALTERNATIVE EVENT – Sunday October 6^th 12 noon. Details to be discussed next time.

ACTIONS FROM BRENT FIGHTBACK MEETING AUGUST 7TH

1. Response to Home Office GoHome Campaign  ‘Bust’ cards are being printed available for distribution at short notice in the event of any raid in Brent. People will be alerted via Twitter and Fightback Facebook. Distribution next week see your email for details.  Several organisations taking legal action: Rafeh,  Liberty plus inquiry by Equalities and Human Rights Commission. Liberty  020 7403 3888 and Migrant Rights Network 020 7336 9412  would like anyone subject to the checks to contact them re legal challenge. Continue to lobby the PR company who provided the vans (Promogroup. Promobikes, Promovans are the various names used http://www.promobikes.co.uk  )  to urge them not to take part again. They have been been used  by Labour Party and some trade unions inc CWU. Pete to contact CWU.
2. Housing – Counihan Campaign 1^st Campaign Anniversary Rally Saturday August 31^st 3pm Kilburn Square
3. Bin Veolia in Brent Campaign – petition has now been presented to Brent Council. Lobby of  next Brent Executive 6.30pm Monday August 19^th at Civic Centre. BViB will request to speak to Executive.
4. Kensal Rise Library – developer’s plans have now been published.  Details on how to comment: http://www.savekensalriselibrary.org/2013/08/08/deadline-for-responding-to-planning-application-29-aug-2013/
5. Privatisation of Education Imposed IEB and new management wreaking havoc at Copland Community School with victimisations. Many of the staff will have gone by start of new term.  Updates on www.wembleymatters.blogspot.co.uk Gladstone Park Governors are consulting on possible academy sponsor. Parents group still campaign for no forced academy whilst at the same time ensuring consultation results in as many assurances as possible about the future of the school.
6. Zero Hours Contracts – any campaign will mainly come through Trades Council and we will see if any TUs are leading on it. FoI (Martin) for their use by Brent Council and any out-sourced contractors. Link with ethical procurement. (See today’s Kilburn Times for statement by Muhammed Butt)
7. Save Welsh Harp Campaign – Boris Johnson despite cross party appeals decided yesterday to allow Barnet Council to make the decision, subject to any intervention by the Secretary of State, and not exercise his right to refuse the application or take over as planning authority. http://saveourwelshharp.blogspot.co.uk/

Martin Francis

Actions for Fightback activists

EDUCATION

COPLAND FORCED ACADEMISATION - Unions are pushing for a meeting with parents. You can support by writing to Michael Pavey (new lead member for children and families) Cllr.Michael.Pavey@brent.gov.uk urging that parents are consulted before any imposition of an Interim Executive Board (IEBs replace the more democratically elected governing body). Also correct claims made by Pavey and Mohammed Butt that the strikes disrupted students taking national examinations. In fact children were well supported and able to take their exams as normal with staff invigilating exempted from the strike, some striking teachers went in to help settle the students in before th exams started, and the demonstration outside the school was ended before the exams started so there was no noise to disturb the students.

GLADSTONE PARK FORCED ACADEMISATION - Parents Action Group are asking Pavey to instruct officers to make clear statement on behalf of the Council that with LA support and the current management trajectory the school is capable fo becoming Ofsted 'Good' without a forced academy.

MICHAELA FREE SCHOOL - Residents complained about erection of giant pupil recruitment banner on Arena House without planning permission and it was removed on Wednesday. Considering leafleting prospective parents in Autumn 2013 when admissions process begins for the first year's intake in  September 2014.

SUPPORT NEEDED FOR DEMONSTRATION - Stand Up for Schools Tues 25th June Assemble Westminster Cathedral Piazza 5pm to march to DfE. Rally 6.30pm at Emmanuel Centre, Marsham Street, SW1 3DW

HOUSING

EARLY WARNING - Judicial Review hearing June 18th Mencap v Brent  Council on cuts to 'floating support' for vulnerable people. Details to be confirmed.

GLADSTONEBURY FESTIVAL  June 30th Noon-6/7pm Brent Fightback and Brent Housing Action will have joint stall. Organising participatory activiites involving political figures and wet sponges.

NHS

Defend London's Health Service Meeting June 12th 7pm Unite House, 128 Theobalds Road, WC1X 8TN

Hunt for Hunt 'happening' in Jeremy Hunt's Constituency Saturday 15th June. Coaches leave corner of Longford Avenue/Gordon Rd, Ealing W5 at 9am

We encourage people to attend Brent Healthwatch meetings http://healthwatchbrent.co.uk/

Fiona Harkham NW London Health Trust to be invited to our next meeting (July 5th) to hear our views on A&E reconfiguration etc

SAVE THE QUEENSBURY
Fairview Homes have withdrawn planning application and will reapply but only delay not victory. Still intend to demolish the pub.  Seehttp://savethequeensbury.info/

BRENT CIVIC CENTREGradual move of staff into the new building. Possible demonstration to greet any official opening ceremony. GD to investigate and circulate broad range of groups with information.

BIN VEOLIA IN BRENTBrent Council stonewalling with spurious legal arguments and lack of information. Street stalls and petitioning are planned. Public Meeting on  June 27th 7pm, Pakistan Community Centre, Station Road/Marley Walk, Willesden Green. Will combine Show Israel the Red Card and Veolia issues.

NEXT MEETING JULY 3rd 7PM , BRENT TRADES HALL, WILLESDEN HIGH ROAD, NW10

Battling the bedroom tax in Wembley today

BHA campaigners in Wembley Central Square today  Photo: Luke Sliminn

Bedroom Tax action Wembley Central today

Defend London's NHS this Saturday

Brent Fightback is supporting this demonstration

DEFEND LONDON’S NHS     

●Save Our Hospitals

●No to Privatisation

DEMONSTRATION

SATURDAY 18 MAY

Assemble 12 noon

Concert Hall Approach /Belvedere Rd

Waterloo http://goo.gl/maps/Lg6MT

MARCH TO DOWNING ST

Rally in Whitehall 2pm

This demonstration has been called by an unprecedented coalition of London residents, medical staff, trade unions and health campaigners who have come together to raise the alarm regarding the biggest threats to A & E’s, maternity units and in-hospital care for a generation.

Closures planned across the capital include nine accident and emergency departments, a number of maternity units and thousands of hospital beds that campaigners believe will put lives at risk..
Hospitals and community services are also threatened with take-over by multi-national private companies. Hundreds of thousands of London residents have pledged their opposition to these privatisation plans for the NHS.

Across the capital, tens of thousands have taken to the streets to protest and demonstrate to save their local hospitals. 80,000 signed a petition against the closures in North West London. 25,000 joined the demonstration to defend Lewisham hospital. 

The local campaigns have joined up to call on the government to stop these closures. We are working together to undermine the government’s divisive tactics of playing one hospital off against another. Instead we are demanding that the government provide the funding needed for safe levels of care across the capital. 

Help save London’s Health Service

The demonstration has been called by Save our Hospital campaigns across London and London Keep Our NHS Public. It has been backed by Unite the union, a number of MPs and councillors, trade unions and the London Labour Party. Please ask your organisation to pledge their support to publicise the demonstration by adding your name. Donations towards costs will also be gratefully received (Cheques to Keep Our NHS Public c/o 32 Savernake Rd, NW3 2JP).

SUPPORT FOR  18 MAY DEMONSTRATION
Support for the demo includes:      Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign, Defend Whittington Hospital Coalition, Save our Hospitals Ealing, Save Hammersmith and Charing Cross Hospitals, Andy Slaughter MP, Steve Pound MP, Virendra Sharma MP, John Cryer MP, David Lammy MP, Frank Dobson MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, John McDonnell MP, Dianne Abbott MP, Greater London Labour Party, London Green Party, Dr Onkar Sahota, Jennette Arnold & Murad Qureshi, Joanne McCartney  London Assembly Members, Catherine West Leader Islington Council, Rachael Saunders Councillor Tower Hamlets, Unite the Union, National Union or Journalists, RMT, London Region GMB, London Regional Council of the BMA, London Region CWU, London &SE Region PCS, Whipps cross Hospital UNISON, Westminster UNISON, Save Chase Farm, Brent Fightback, Kensington and Chelsea Residents Save Our Hospital, Ealing Trades Union Council NHS Campaign, Medical Practitioners Union Unite, Roger Lloyd Pack, Ealing Southall CLP, Kingston Trades Council, Kingston and Surbiton Green Party, Kingston Keep Our NHS Public , Kingston GMB, Islington Trades Council, We Are Waltham Forest Defending Our NHS, Camden Keep Our NHS Public , Tower Hamlets BMA,  Euston Tower PCS, Islington NUT, Tower Hamlets Keep Our NHS Public, Unite the Resistance, City & Hackney Coalition to Defend the NHS, Lambeth Keep Our NHS Public, Camden UNISON,  Save Our Local Hospitals Greenwich, Bexley & Bromley, Lambeth Pensioners Action Group, PCS DEFRA Southern, Coalition of Resistance,  Defend Haringey Health Services Coalition, Islington Pensioners Forum, Redbridge Save Our NHS, National Health Action Party,  Tower Hamlets College UCU, Islington North Labour Party, RMT EPS 0520, Bromley Trades Council, Westminster North Labour Party, Camden Trades Council, Lewisham People Before Profit, Greenwich NUT, London Young Greens, London Magazine NUJ,  City & Hackney Division BMA, East London Health Unite, Homerton Hospital Unison, Occupy London, Brent Trades Council, Haringey 38 Degrees, Croydon TUC, London Health Emergency, Socialist Health Association, National Pensioners Convention, London Young Labour Exec committee, Anonymous UK, Friends of the Earth, Islington division BMA, Hands Off Hinchingbrooke, Save Barnet NHS, University of London Union,  London Region UCU, London Region Unison, London Region RCN.

Hands off Our Homes: Brent housing and benefits campaign meeting tonight

Fightback on housing crisis begins to take shape

On Tuesday April 9th there will be a meeting in Brent to discuss next steps in a  local housing campaign. A report of the inaugural meeting follows:

Around 25 people attended the initial Housing Strategy meeting called by Brent Fightback, on Tuesday 19th March at the Brent Mencap offices in Willesden.

Attendees included the lead member for Housing for Brent Council, the Somali Advice Centre, the Counihan Family Housing campaign, Mencap campaigners, a tenants representative, a housing worker, and a high school teacher concerned about the cases arising at her school. Apologies were received from the Brent Law Centre and the Brent Private Tenants Rights Group and from some who attended the Health Scrutiny Committee.

It was a constructive and serious meeting, with information and experiences shared about the current situation and the general background to housing in Brent. Potential strategies and targets for campaigning were discussed, including:

GLA powers to set Rent Caps; advice and signposting training; "Bedroom Tax" strategies; the Right to Buy discounting; helping residents speak out and organise; mutual exchanges on properties; resisting evictions; linking up with other campaigners.

Cllr Janice Long, lead member for Housing has agreed to provide current local information of how changes are expected to affect people locally.

We agreed a next meeting time: 7pm, Tuesday 9th April, Brent Mencap offices, 379-381 High Road, Willesden. We will consider the actions that were suggested at the intial meeting and any further priorities, and estabish the name and aims of a local housing campaign.

Please forward widely.

Robin Sivapalan robsivapalan@hotmail.com 07974 331 053
Ken Montague kenmontague@msn.com

Counihan Campaign fights for social justice

Enough is Enough! Stop the cuts in Brent!

NHS Campaign steps up - details here

The fight to preserve and enhance the NHS in Brent and prevent privatisation took a step forward on Saturday when campaigners met up on the initiative of the 38 Degrees Campaign and planned their next steps.

The 38 Degrees petition asks the Brent Clinical Commissioning Group to protect the NHS from privatisation by including a clause in their constitution affirming that they will commission services from the NHS in preference to private companies. Hackney CCG has already agreed to this

The petition will be presented at the Shadow Brent  CCG at their consultation meeting on 14th November at the Wembley Centre for Health and Care, 116 Chaplin Road, Wembley, HA0 4UZ. The meeting is from 6pm until 8pm.The services currently being commissioned can be found HERE

The meeting will be discussing the Brent Integrated Plan which is a 3 year strategy  that outlines financial planning and details health care services the CCG plans to buy,


On Friday afternoon of this week pressure will be exerted on Sarah Teather, MP for Brent Central, when campaigners present her with a petition against the proposals in 'Shaping a Healthier Future' which includes the closure of Central Middlesex A&E. This petition also opposes privatisation of the NHS. Campaigners will meet at The Nest cafe at Willesden Green Station at 2pm on Friday 9th November and present the petition at Ms Teather's office in Walm Lane at 2.30pm.

When she left her government post Sarah Teather said that she wanted to devote more time to serving her constituents and this meeting will give her the chance to do just that.

On Wednesaday 28th November NHS NWL will be providing feedback on their 'Shaping  Healthier Future' consultation at the Hilton Metrropole in Edgware Road (opposite the tube station) from 5.30-7pm followed by a workshop for the public, patient representatives, clinicians and voluntary sector organisation working in groups on issues raised in the consultation. To attend register HERE

Fightback to present 2,000 plus petition against hospital closures today

Brent Fightback at Saturday's demonstration

Brent hospital campaigners have collected more than 2,000 signatures on petitions opposing hospital closures in West London and the privatisation of the NHS.

They will join campaigners from Ealing and Hammersmith today at 1pm to present the petitions to the North West London NHS Trust at their offices at 15 Marylebone Road, NW1 (close to Regents Park).

Please join them if you can. Brent campaigners will meet at Baket Street Station at 12.45pm.

View Larger MapDriving Directions

The consultation on Shaping  Healthier Future closes  today at midnight.  The consultation document gives the NHS NW London address as Victoria Street SW1. In fact they have moved to Marylebone Road so I checked today that redirected postal responses would still be valid if they were received at Marylebone Road after today's deadline,. They confirmed that this would be the case.

E-mail responses should go to:  consultation@new.london.nhs.uk or online at www.healthiernorthwestlondon.nhs.uk  Many people have found the latter format restrictive as it does not allow them to support the continuation of Central Middlesex A&E.

NO TO AUSTERITY - Brent TUC October 11th

Defend NW London NHS on October 6th

Butt on the cuts and next year's budget

This report on the meeting with Cllr Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council is from Wembley Matters

Speaking at an open meeting of Brent Trades Union Council Wednesday September 26th, Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt admitted that some of the decisions the  council had made could have been made more wisely and that things could have been done differently. He said that he wants to take residents' views into account more in the future and that desire had caused some 'push back', which had culminated in the argument with Gareth Daniel.

He said that he wanted to take a detailed look at the council's budget, "How we provide services and why, reviewing every service."  He said that all directly employed council workers would receive the London Living Wage from October 1st  and that the council would be writing to schools to urge them to pay the LLW. He would be meeting with the London Living Wage Foundation to find ways of ensuring all the council's suppliers were London Living Wage compliant. He said that given the current difficult times the council had to do something positive to put money in people's pockets.

Other initiatives were to look at tenancies and how the council could improve standards without increasing rents, extend collective  energy procurement to include residents as well as council buildings and schools, and find ways of strengthening voluntary organisations such as the Credit Union, Private Tenants Group and the Law Centre.

He said, "We want to go back to what Labour stands for and why we are here."

In the discussion Butt was urged to recognise that the Labour Party was much more than just a council, it was part of the labour movement, and thus should be a campaigning  organisation against the capitalist system. He was asked how he was planning to organise a fightback alongside trades unions and the community.

Butt responded, "Me being here is just a start. I am willing to go anywhere, whether to a warm reception or a hostile one, to have a dialogue."

 He said that the Labour Group had appointed a new local organiser who would help get their message across and have a dialogue to move things forward, "We are starting campaigning and need to raise awareness. We want to make that change and if we don't our residents will suffer."

Asked about the budget process and council tax increases and urged to construct a needs budget as a campaigning tool,  he said that with the changes in the consultation system (The Area Consultation Forums have been replaced by Brent Connects) with a member/officer Any Questions type panel there would be more of a dialogue. Council Tax rises of 2.5% and 3.5% had been factored into budget planning but the council were waiting to see what other London councils were doing. The government's announcement of the settlement had been delayed until December but the council wanted an  indication before then. The council were also lobbying the government over the additional 60,000-70,000 extra residents indicated by the latest census which could be worth an additional £4m . This could negate the need for a rise in council tax because the council would only get 65% of the money raised by an increase He indicated that because of the delays the statutory consultation may run out of time.  He invited people to feed specific suggestions and questions into the budget making process.

When others present pursued the issue of making a needs based budget (ie deficit budget)  Cllr Butt said they were looking at campaigning  against the cuts. However, "We can oppose the cuts but budgets have to be set. We wouldn't be doing anyone any favours if the commissioners came in. They would keep only statutory services such as schools and adult social care. We would lose Sports Centres for example. We would land ourselves in more problems by taking that route. Instead we will have a dialogue which may mean working with other London boroughs. If you are asking us to take a lead, we will take a lead."

Outlining the sums the council needed to run services he said that government funding to Brent  was now £152m, was £192m, and by 2016 would be £110m.  Schools and Adult Social Care took £140m of this. The council needed £250m to run services so this total had to be made up from Council Tax and fees and charges.

Another speaker told Butt that a needs budget could not be set in the Town Hall, the council need to go out to voluntary organisations, trades unions and community groups - that was real democracy. He claimed that Labour had "forgotten what democracy looks like". In the absence of a fightback all sorts of rightwing nastiness and racism could arise.

Another speaker returned to the issue asking, "Are you considering a needs budget. It is a good propaganda tool showing what is needed and where the gaps are. Are you considering this or just administering cuts? We can't wait for the next Labour government. We need concrete exmaples of how you are going to fight."

Butt said that he was not ruling out a needs budget which would "show how much we have lost and how much we need". . Muhammed's new political advisor  he would be lobbying the Labour Party over how much cash needs to be put back into local government after the disproportionate cuts it had suffered.

On the issue of Willesden Green Library, raised by three members of the audience, Cllr Butt  said that he had met with Keep Willesden Green campaigners and had passed on their concerns to Galliford Try, planners and the Regeneration Team, and their points will be taken into consideration for the new plans being presented in December.. He said that the old Willesen Library was now being retained and this meant internal redesigns. The council were still looking at 92 private units at the back of the site and this was the only way to fund it.

He was challenged with  the alternative of a small amount of building and refurbishment and the loss of the cinema,  bookshop and car park in the current plans.   The questioner said, "It's like saying I need a new boiler so I will knock my house down! I've heard it called asset stripping."  Butt responded that a lot of the 'stuff' in the 80s building had come to the end of its natural life and the building was unfinished. The cafe and cinema  had closed as a result of not being used. "We need a mini Civic Centre in Willesden so people from this area don't have to travel all the way to Wembley and we need it an no cost to us."

On the plight of the disabled he said that he took the point about how they were being hit and that he was looking at helping them through the Council Tax Support Scheme: "If we have to lobby the government we will do so."

In answer to another questioner about the council's ambivalent attitude to free schools and academies and a possible forced academy in the borough, Butt said that they were a last resort to address the shortage of school places. He said that for free schools the council had set out criteria for partners that would keep the essential principles in terms of admissions, ethos and teachers conditions of service. He was urged to consider federation of schools and extending schools as an alternative.

Asked about the Counihan family, Muhammed Butt said that it was a difficult case. Brent had 18,000 families on the waiting list and only 900 properties available. The council hoped to provide 1,700 affordable properties by 2014. He said the only way  to tackle the problem was through regeneration and Section 106 funds  and the council needed to find developer partners. The situation would be exacerbated by the new Right to Buy scheme which would take out larger properties.

Clr Butt concluded by saying that the council had been rubbished by the press and had to admit it had got its messages wrong: "We need to get better, even if it means starting from scratch."

Pete Firm, chair of Brent TUC said that he felt the council were rolling over in front of developers. Labour seemed to be assuming it was going to win the next election, However, it should not be a matter of voting Labour because the alternatives were worse but Labour putting forward policies that people would be enthusiastic about.