tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63712034893163637382024-03-13T14:06:00.079+00:00Broken BarnetMrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.comBlogger1002125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-91151915377416771462022-05-24T17:52:00.002+01:002022-05-24T17:52:31.500+01:00Welcome to the Borough of (Hopefully No Longer Broken) Barnet<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIoM2t85JibM-tZ6ELMXHbUIfluYHLMAV2ubnfaJNSfAotLIXJGL6Hh9FMtcgyqx1vWHAASZxCCYjtfGujOQ9p0nR47o7OHOcOrLl0i2BpL0fjSovGkSDAC5CSpMn369CdkmvCnV0P4EdOfBaFzIQz_gf3ITDZeLX_YDIHKWZzhtVxioFqK5R4uxk/s726/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-24%20at%2017.00.31.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="726" data-original-width="523" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIoM2t85JibM-tZ6ELMXHbUIfluYHLMAV2ubnfaJNSfAotLIXJGL6Hh9FMtcgyqx1vWHAASZxCCYjtfGujOQ9p0nR47o7OHOcOrLl0i2BpL0fjSovGkSDAC5CSpMn369CdkmvCnV0P4EdOfBaFzIQz_gf3ITDZeLX_YDIHKWZzhtVxioFqK5R4uxk/w462-h640/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-24%20at%2017.00.31.png" width="462" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ok. I've been putting it off, but here is a sentence I've wanted to write for ... at least twelve years. Well, longer, in fact, much longer.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We now live in the London Borough of (Hopefully No Longer Broken) Barnet. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yes. As you know, Barnet Tories have been given the order of the boot, by residents, on a scale that was unthinkable, before May 5th, and is still hard to comprehend. They now have only 22 seats - and Labour has nearly double, with 41. By any measure of success, this is quite extraordinary: by Barnet standards, it is nothing less than sensational. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As predicted in the previous post, the Tory group Leader, (for the time being, anyway), Dan Thomas, has blindly led his group into political oblivion, despite his magnificent manifesto, based on such gambits as a false claim about freezing council tax, and a fatal misreading of the rules of #angryaboutbins, and boasting of doing something that absolutely no one thinks twice about, ie emptying said bins, ie a service that we pay for, but somehow something for which they think they deserve congratulations, and four more years in charge of the borough.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thomas was asked on the live BBC election results show for his opinion on the reasons for his party's disastrous performance. With a face like a slapped you know what, and through clenched teeth, he issued a carefully shaped response which blamed 'a perfect storm' of issues - which naturally had nothing whatsoever to do with him, or his party's performance in power. It was pleasing to see him use this phrase, however, as clearly he was subliminally remembering the prescient tone - and titles - of Broken Barnet's previous posts, <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2021/09/a-perfect-storm-barnets-tory-pro.html">here</a> and <a href="https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2022/01/storming-town-hall-barnet-tories-lie-of.html">here</a>, in which the Hendon Hub development fiasco, and the Tories's mishandling of it, served as an appropriate metaphor for their looming nemesis.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It is true that national issues helped turn Barnet residents into Labour voters: or possibly, as Thomas would have us think, encouraged his loyal electorate to stay at home, sulking, rather than vote at all. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Covid, Brexit, the incompetence, corruption and lawlessness of the Johnson government, all of this and more has had a major impact on the local elections this time. And yes, the boundary changes here were beneficial to Labour, to a certain extent. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Whether or not Barnet Tories want to admit it, however, they are entirely responsible for the way the borough's local services have been mismanaged, and the way in which engagement with the democratic process has been made virtually impossible for residents at a time not only of increasingly dreadful standards of services, but also while witnessing, helplessly, an unprecedented level of monstrous over development - and most significantly, now encroaching on areas where formerly Tory leaning residents live. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The tower blocks marring the skyline, the relentless demolition of much loved landmarks like the Medical Research Centre in Mill Hill, the White Bear pub in Hendon, the Lodge in Victoria Park; the replacement of perfectly usable housing for non affordable housing; the lack of enforcement of planning breaches in their neighbourhoods: all of this has begun to annoy and alienate the sort of people the Tories needed to keep onside. And here we are, and there they are, sitting on the opposition benches. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Unnoticed by most, no doubt much to his chagrin, former disgraced Tory councillor, AM and village gossip Brian Coleman has taken his stubby little pencil and written a new blogpost (full of grammatical errors) with his thoughts on the election catastrophe. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Rather to my alarm, he has somehow reached a point of view in agreement with me on quite a few issues. You ok, Brian? Or maybe it's me that needs a lie down.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">No, I won't link to his blog as really, one should not encourage him. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">He focuses, anyway, on the ruthless (and pretty stupid) deselection of Tory members - especially women. He commends Hendon's Nizza Fluss for "<i>her principled and vocal opposition to the so called "Hendon Hub" , the absurd joint development with Middlesex University which post pandemic looks even more unnecessary </i>..." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">What he has to say about new Hendon councillor Alex Prager, I could not possibly repeat. Of course I didn't laugh.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fascinating to see that the library cutter Reuben Thompstone's well deserved fall from grace, after standing in the unwinnable Underhill ward, was reportedly preceded by being turned down by three other areas, as well as his own ward of Golders Green. Awful shame. Brian advises him to ditch the 'silly moustache', amongst other things. Mmm. Not sure that will help. He is the moustache: the moustache is he. There is nothing else.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Dan Thomas, who not so long ago was happy to be seen with Coleman escorting the losing Tory candidate at the London Assembly count, gets little comfort from his chum now. He reckons he can only stagger on for a year at least, and then will have to return to his sun lounger (I paraphrase ...) And then:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>I wish the new Labour Council well especially as they undue (sic) some of the dafter decisions of the last few years, Hendon Hub , North Finchley regeneration and of course the horrendous partnership with Capita that has proved a disaster and has had Tory Councillors tearing their hair out . </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Goodness me. Did you vote for it, Brian?</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9jAv5vGnK0AbAQNFzhtWjaYnhXvLEDYbsgT3cyYHvBuD67B_hxAsQQXZlfrYpXsS0HhmWP7SbCpFHNCqKBJ4dVamGGVn4UsYCzXzyivb4D1Pyerl3fA6hxfQWnyf2oF4lTgO7viiRxEkljMRx-lvRffD7POJGvGWqFkP-AszanSXhYh9cpcjoYXk/s720/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-24%20at%2017.00.16.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="512" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9jAv5vGnK0AbAQNFzhtWjaYnhXvLEDYbsgT3cyYHvBuD67B_hxAsQQXZlfrYpXsS0HhmWP7SbCpFHNCqKBJ4dVamGGVn4UsYCzXzyivb4D1Pyerl3fA6hxfQWnyf2oF4lTgO7viiRxEkljMRx-lvRffD7POJGvGWqFkP-AszanSXhYh9cpcjoYXk/w285-h400/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-24%20at%2017.00.16.png" width="285" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Over the last twelve years of publishing this blog, there has been nothing but a slow, insidious, incremental inevitability that the Tories would reach this point of self generated folly - and lose control of the council.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Twelve years and a thousand posts: so much awful stuff to report - first from the time of MetPro, and the illegally operating, jackbooted thugs that the Tory councillors appointed to keep residents out of the Town Hall, a scandal which led to the discovery of thousands of missing contracts.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next up: the late, much missed blogger Dan Hope spotted, late one night, that the Tories had sneaked onto a council agenda a proposal to award themselves massive rises in their allowances, even while lecturing us about the need for 'austerity'. We wrote about it: they were forced to retreat.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Then came the strategically organised embedding of the idea of mass outsourcing of services: facilitated by senior officers, consultants and representatives of potential tendering companies. Next came the courtship by Capita, in circumstances never fully understood. The Tories were easily fooled into signing up, without reading the contract that contained so many cleverly designed ways of squeezing every penny out of local taxpayers. We warned them, the unions warned them: they didn't want to know. But we were right, weren't we? And taxpayers have had to pay the cost: more than double the estimated cost.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We sat and watched, and reported, as Capita drew up a long list of 'development opportunities' - opportunities for themselves, camouflaged as 'regeneration'. The mass overdevelopment began, every last corner of the borough that could be grabbed was marked for use. They are only giving up on regeneration now because the opportunities themselves have dried up. Planning has become the favourite cash cow, with a system so saturated with conflicts of interest the entire borough has become helpless before the predation of major developers, pushed by lobbyists, and agents, and none of this in ways which are transparent or accountable. Labour must wrench this service from the hands of Capita, and take it back in house.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We sat and watched and reported, as Capita looked for every last gainshare payment and reward they could muster from such heartless measures as snatching the Freedom Passes of disabled residents, many of them with learning difficulties, some left stranded, helpless, as they discovered their passes had been summarily stopped, without warning. After the fuss we kicked up, this nasty trick was reversed. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Another shameful episode was the attempt, in order to make a pre-election bribe via a tiny cut in council tax, (the cost of one cup of coffee a month) to take away the desperately needed respite care funding for families of children with severe and complex disabilities. Some of the parents came to the committee to beg the Tories not to do this, their children in wheelchairs. The children, as part of their conditions, made a lot of involuntary noises - and were told twice by the Chair to be quiet. We reported this story: the cut was restored.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We sat and watched, reported and protested, as our once magnificent library service was gutted, and destroyed, by the hopeless philistinism, one might say hopeless nihilism, of the Barnet Tory councillors. They didn't care. None of them valued libraries, or the local museum. If only they had read more as children, or been taken to visit museums, maybe they might have developed a greater degree of imagination, and empathy, and not ended up as such a bunch of soulless fools, of course.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There have been many, many more stories like these: the millions spent on a depot that was bought for a song only just beforehand, the highly curious tale of the £23 million loan to Saracens, when they could not get a commercial loan; the absolute scandal of West Hendon, where social tenants were tricked out of their homes, and the land given away in secret to developers - throughout all of these we - bloggers, activists, residents, campaigners, have tried our best to question and report what is happening and engage with members, in order to take a meaningful role in the local democratic process. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">But the more successful we were in raising these issues, where so much was at stake, politically and financially, the more repressive were the measures taken by Barnet Tories to silence any challenge, or even debate. The Standards regime was effectively dismantled. The consultation process was trashed, and outcomes ignored. Worse, they amended the council's Constitution, to prevent any challenging questions of policy proposals or decisions: we were gagged, by our own elected representatives. In the end the only voice left for dissenting residents was at the ballot box.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT2a2mZ9hBKztp2K4lM9LwOVI_-YvxWWvFmBWej8fK55d1hC1UBo-mD8we9zMzgXr7RURYAQtJiBKSKNo4oahUK-ehRqIllu1SvfCgxMoY3wUF73jXUtp4BxEelAFQ7wTxmEjuGaF2N5zvYyL2R8rTZhHzyUxmMtGcYSAfmYH-3HGFxDAWYH8EJ-I/s727/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-24%20at%2017.00.52.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="537" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT2a2mZ9hBKztp2K4lM9LwOVI_-YvxWWvFmBWej8fK55d1hC1UBo-mD8we9zMzgXr7RURYAQtJiBKSKNo4oahUK-ehRqIllu1SvfCgxMoY3wUF73jXUtp4BxEelAFQ7wTxmEjuGaF2N5zvYyL2R8rTZhHzyUxmMtGcYSAfmYH-3HGFxDAWYH8EJ-I/w295-h400/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-24%20at%2017.00.52.png" width="295" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So. My advice to Barnet Tories? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kick out Dan Thomas, and elect someone as Leader who has clear judgement, respect for the views of residents, and is prepared to work hard at communicating with those residents, listening to their views and putting their best interests at the front of every policy decision. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Remember that representation as an elected member is a privilege, and conveys a duty to the community that put you in that position, and that you need to demonstrate to that community that you understand this. Find a modicum of humility, compassion for those in need, and a sense of civic pride - not the sort that relies on the pantomime of council meetings, and slap up dinners in the Haven, at our expense, but one that has a vision of a better place, and a map that might show us how to get there.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Learn from the mistakes of the last few administrations: put up candidates with some life experience, and some degree of competence in handling large budgets, rather than coopting chums or relatives who fancy a life of performative civic functions, rather than working hard for the community. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Accept the concept of community, in fact: embrace 'the other', get to know the wide and wonderful diversity of the people of this borough, all cultures, faiths, ethnicities. Understand the needs of those who are less advantaged, vulnerable, disabled, and now struggling simply to survive. Show some consideration for older residents, who are excluded from the virtual world of technology in which you live. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Learn to appreciate the value of culture, heritage: the need for social hubs - for a properly funded library service. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Wean yourselves off a dependency on the lie of 'private good, public bad'. Don't listen to the whisperings of consultants, lobbyists, and senior officers. Easycouncil was a crashing failure: Your Choice Barnet was a crashing failure - admit it. You can't make profit from a public service - nor should you try.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Stop despising the very concept of social housing. S</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">top seeing the role of councillor as an agent for development, and developers. Immerse yourselves in the principles of integrity, honesty, transparency and accountability. Here's a novel idea: all of you declare ALL of your pecuniary interests. What have you got to hide?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Moving on. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We are now in uncharted waters, with a Labour council set to run the borough for the first time ever. Unless you include the Labour-Libdem coalition which lasted from 1994 to 2002, of course. But this year's election saw the Libdems wiped out: hardly surprising as the two former councillors were both defectors from other parties, and the Leader, Gabriel Rozenberg, who apparently thinks he will be Libdem MP for the new Finchley and Muswell Hill parliamentary constituency, (he won't) was not elected in West Finchley, where he chose, rather foolishly, to stand rather than in his previous ward of Hampstead Garden Suburb, where he might at least have depended on some personal support. Now for the first time in many, many years: there is no third party represented on the council.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ4B4TEAtsRQDPrFbWJcqxyu2gRVOqkYj5Rc_20Ns1jdLRzmtW51it_Bm97GYLhnRvDPWZ_tfUvY436JYzoXgrJ_A29hKVFh5CSUpDHGjnRyk6bmDKqpp1OzZ6InvwVlAuJu00oRraHnkg3fTDYjRLVXUh0aPktFCq18E0Mg0SMF6alpCzOSmxDnA/s727/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-24%20at%2017.01.10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="525" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ4B4TEAtsRQDPrFbWJcqxyu2gRVOqkYj5Rc_20Ns1jdLRzmtW51it_Bm97GYLhnRvDPWZ_tfUvY436JYzoXgrJ_A29hKVFh5CSUpDHGjnRyk6bmDKqpp1OzZ6InvwVlAuJu00oRraHnkg3fTDYjRLVXUh0aPktFCq18E0Mg0SMF6alpCzOSmxDnA/w289-h400/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-24%20at%2017.01.10.png" width="289" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Mrs Angry's advice for the new Labour administration, then? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Stand by, comrades.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Things have perhaps not got off to the <i>greatest</i> start, from my point of view. Let's hope it is just a misunderstanding. But I reserve judgement, at this stage - and I have to remain critical, as I would be with a Tory administration.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Because you see, the council agenda for tonight's first Full Council meeting, as spotted by fellow blogger John Dix, has put forward changes to the Constitution in regard to the rights of residents to engage in council meetings. Good, you might think, remembering the extraordinarily drastic restrictions imposed by the last, hard right Tory council.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">But they have kept the restrictions - and worse, have devalued the already devalued Residents' Forums by amalgamating them with area committees. This means effectively that residents will still be unable to question, in any meaningful way, their elected representatives at any council meeting.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">You may recall that Labour members joined residents in expressing their outrage at the gagging laws brought in by the Tory administration. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We then discover that they are adopting the same measures. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Once this was revealed, excuses were made, we are going to consult people on engagement before making changes - well, changes to the Constitution have been made, with no consultation - and that 'governance' wouldn't let them make more changes at this stage. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The truth is that some of the more right of centre members of the Labour group have always somewhat resented the way in which bloggers, activists and campaigners have held Barnet Tories to account - that is to say, feeling obliged, at times, to take on the function of an effective opposition. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Latest news on this, however, is, as the meeting looms large this evening, that hints are being dropped that the gagging rules now <i>will</i> now be dropped, at the next Constitution meeting. Wot, no consultation? Ok with the Monitoring Officer, is it, whose contract was renewed, just before the end of the Tory administration? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">If this is the case, it really should have been made clear and indicated right from the off, so as to manage expectations.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Watching the Labour Leader on election night telling the BBC that it wasn't so much Labour who won the council as the Tories who lost it was an astonishing moment. Apart from the somewhat message it sent to all those activists who worked so hard to canvas for Labour before election day, it struck a warning note: being too comfortable in opposition is perhaps not the best preparation for delivering the radical new administration that is needed in order to undo the damage of so much reckless, heartless Tory policies imposed on this borough.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Labour must ignore the blandishments and assurances of the senior management team. In fact, get rid of as many of them as you can. They have become too used to directing policy, rather than implementing decisions taken as part of the democratic process, by members. This suited the Tory administrations, due to their natural tendency to laziness, and apathy. This is how we ended up with the disastrous Capita contracts - consultants and senior officers - with the help of one or two key Tory councillors manoeuvring behind the scenes - senior officers were relentlessly pushing through the proposals, meeting in secret, making major decisions about the shape of the mass outsourcing, without even informing the then Tory Leader, as we saw at the time of the second contract proposals. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As fellow blogger John Dix has predicted, the senior management team is likely to try to lure the new Labour administration into thinking they have no option but to extend the contracts. This is not true. And it will be a sharp test of judgement, if they listen to this, and do allow any extension. The benefit will be to Capita's increasingly worried shareholders, not Barnet's range of failing council services. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Labour group is without question a collection of decent, well meaning people, and there are some excellent new members now going to be put in positions of great responsibility in the new council. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Barnet is lucky to have hard working, conscientious Labour councillors who, unlike many of the previous Tory representatives, are fully dedicated to their roles, and have a genuine sense of civic vocation and duty, as well as an acute understanding of the needs of the residents of this borough whose voices have been overlooked for so long. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">A council which has people like Ross Houston, Anne Clarke, Sara Conway and Arjun Mittra, and newcomers like Liron Vellman, in positions of influence, will be in safe hands. And I hope one of them will soon take over as Leader, for a newly confident, newly enthused administration.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Is Barnet still Broken? Yes: look at the state of us - but at least now we are, at long last, on the road to recovery. </span></p>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-65758591115512616432022-05-04T14:03:00.000+01:002022-05-04T14:03:01.269+01:00Welcome to Broken Barnet: soon to be under new management<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQazmNSDpPjie4aR8x1kAzry8UhAnP6aN-MAFmSfTbNplz2prTzMZedmrw06y7ojnoJCgAE-H2_Qi9kZhA7hyxq_hNxkTLUX84GY-MNq6zqFZ64LAMHaD0bnIpExawBCCcEvo-6aBOnQls9lTc1lux6VmZn0nx-W-1-5ySDA0SKpKqgkrBLqBajX8/s454/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2019.01.21.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="344" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQazmNSDpPjie4aR8x1kAzry8UhAnP6aN-MAFmSfTbNplz2prTzMZedmrw06y7ojnoJCgAE-H2_Qi9kZhA7hyxq_hNxkTLUX84GY-MNq6zqFZ64LAMHaD0bnIpExawBCCcEvo-6aBOnQls9lTc1lux6VmZn0nx-W-1-5ySDA0SKpKqgkrBLqBajX8/w485-h640/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2019.01.21.png" width="485" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: georgia; text-align: left;">Welcome to Barnet</i></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The London Borough of Broken Barnet has always been of interest to the media, especially at election time, partly because of now fading memories of the area's association with Margaret Thatcher, and more latterly because this borough has been seen as a flagship model for some of the more radical (albeit failed) Tory policies of recent years - the large scale outsourcing of public services, for example: the so called 'EasyCouncil' mode of local authority administration. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This May, however, Barnet is once more attracting a lot of attention for a different reason: because it is the most marginal borough in the London local elections, and the former Tory stronghold looks likely to be taken by Labour - an extraordinary development, in truth. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The factors that are seem certain to deliver such an outcome are both local and national: clearly there is widespread dissatisfaction with the incompetence, corruption and dishonesty of Boris Johnson's government, as well as the impact of Brexit, Covid, and the relentless cull of rights we have always taken for granted: the right to free protest being the latest victim of assault.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Locally the picture is perhaps even more acute, with the breakdown in public services and the rampant over-development of the borough now so clearly evident, and increasingly so, crucially, to Barnet Tories' once staunchly loyal voters. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Tories have only themselves to blame.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Nine years ago, they decided to give two massive contracts to Capita, for the provision of council services. They signed the contracts without reading them fully, which is why, so many years later, as audited by fellow blogger John Dix, Mr Reasonable, whose forensic pre-election post you can read <a href="https://reasonablenewbarnet.blogspot.com/2022/05/please-read-this-before-you-vote.html">here</a>, the contract fees have ended up costing us more than <span style="color: red;"><b>£586 million</b></span>, rather than the estimated <span style="color: #2b00fe;"><b>£225 millio</b>n</span>- that's you and me, the council tax payers, dumped with more than double the original cost. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Value for money? Hardly.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We were promised better services for less money. This was not what happened. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Apart from the massive overspend, the standard of services has visibly declined. On the way to the polling station, voters will walk on pavements unrepaired, or drive along roads littered with potholes. They have noticed the proliferation of unaffordable development, no longer just in Labour wards, but increasingly, as Capita reaches the end of its 'development opportunity' list, encroaching on Tory voter areas - such as in the heart of historic Hendon, where the now notorious Hub plans have been both promoted and approved by Tory councillors, and which will see the imposition of a 21st century campus, complete with grossly inappropriate, multi storey blocks in the middle of not just one, but two Conservation areas, stuffed with Georgian properties, a Saxon church and a number of listed 20th century civic buildings.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidoBwSaRS-3HkJxD0NmtCn1yrmYdicQL88QvcYerGipa2m8wEc2IXX4_1dOfc7gfn25-r4JXDgdHrCjbuOsihaMiNMexMHqiKYRVQyS3OZ3uIYd0TE1BEERFRPt1Fn17zhBHhWedMY9B4uZjVeYWH8yiXP7_C4cZpMCQ1K_APrC1zHGUhdflzaBaE/s634/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2019.41.58.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="634" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidoBwSaRS-3HkJxD0NmtCn1yrmYdicQL88QvcYerGipa2m8wEc2IXX4_1dOfc7gfn25-r4JXDgdHrCjbuOsihaMiNMexMHqiKYRVQyS3OZ3uIYd0TE1BEERFRPt1Fn17zhBHhWedMY9B4uZjVeYWH8yiXP7_C4cZpMCQ1K_APrC1zHGUhdflzaBaE/w640-h424/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2019.41.58.png" width="640" /></a></div><i><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Barnet Tories voted through plans that will see these monstrosities forced into the middle of two Conservation Areas in Hendon.</span></i><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Hub plans include the wrecking of the listed Hendon Library, once the central branch of the former Beacon Status library service, cut and shrunk in a hugely expensive 'refurbishment' in 2017, this branch now handed over to Middlesex University, as was the local history museum round the corner at the Grade 2** listed Church Farmhouse, whose local history collection, donated over many years by residents, was flogged off at auction. History, and heritage and are disposable commodities, for our Tory councillors.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The history of the Hendon Hub development, hatched in secret years ago, and ruthlessly pushed, in the face of all reasonable argument, tells the story of the crassly materialistic values of Barnet Tories, steeped in anti-intellectualism, relentless opposed to any sense of community, history or culture - contemptuous of the idea of any public sector service, free at the point of use.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Barnet Tories like to think of themselves as continuing the legacy of Margaret Thatcher. In fact she would have been ashamed of them: a bunch of third rate carpet baggers, with no vision, no conscience, no sense of civic pride, or duty. She would have been horrified at the destruction wrought on the library service: something she saw as vital to self education, independence and social mobility: a ladder of opportunity they have kicked away from those residents in Barnet most in need of access to books, IT support, information - study space: community space.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here in Hendon, we meet the gaping fault line in the Tory plan of action: the freedom they have given to Capita in terms of their licence to make money out of planning and regeneration in Barnet has expired, as far as the tolerance of residents is concerned, anyway.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The developments being promoted in Barnet might be acceptable, if they met the needs of local people. But they do not. They even fail to meet their own local plans - in the case of Hendon, their own policies deliberately ignored, as they openly admit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Developers know, moreover, that if they are obliged to offer a small quota of affordable housing in their plans, once planning permission is granted, they can plead 'non viability' and get this requirement quietly dropped. This is just one of the shameless practices promoted by the privatised planning service, along with many other activities which favour developers rather than deliver a fair and open service for the benefit of residents.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Hence we have ended up with a lot of very expensive unaffordable housing, which increases the population, largely by renters living in properties bought off plan by overseas investors, but is not supported by any adequate investment in the infrastructure needed to support the new level of incomers: in schools, healthcare, leisure facilities, parks, retail services. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As the dissatisfaction with the Tory administration has grown, so too has their determination to become less and less accountable to residents - and voters. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The right to hold councillors to account has been savagely restricted - the council constitution was amended to make the actions and decisions of elected representatives virtually unchallengeable: effectively there is no longer any right to raise valid questions at council meetings, and to hold our elected representatives to account, no matter how significant and complex the issue. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Consultations on council policy have become Nonsultations. Legally obliged to pay lip service to this requirement, the outcomes, even if the opposition to their plans is unanimous, are routinely ignored and the Tories and senior officers and Capita simply carry on with their own agendas: agendas that do not prioritise the best interests of the people of this borough, as in the most obvious example of housing. Their own plans say we need affordable homes for families - they ignore all reasoned objections and approve huge, ugly multi storey developments that simply do not address local need. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Since Covid, Tory members have stopped all surgeries: this no show continues even though their own government leaders lie that 'Covid is over'; Tory members are so unfearful of the virus they largely refuse to attend committee meetings in masks, or to observe any restrictions: indeed some of them are conspiracist anti-vaxxers, and see such sensible measures as unnecessary and an infringement of their liberty. Yet they still hide behind the Covid pretext for keeping their own constituents at a distance.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Residents' Forums are pointless now, with similar restrictions on questions, and the inevitable response to any significant challenge being that the point will be 'noted' - and no further action detailed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There have been election hustings held locally: barely advertised - and the Tories have failed to attend the last two. This is a grave mistake, as they should remember from last year's Assembly husting, where the Tory candidate chickened out, and Cllr Zinkin had to take his place. Labour's Anne Clarke won, of course. In truth, Zinkin seems to do all the heavy lifting for his group: the current leader Dan Thomas is hardly seen - although now he keeps popping up on Twitter in canvassing photos, with a rictus grin, trying to hold on to hope that the ungrateful residents and taxpayers of Broken Barnet will not kick him out of post. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Boundary changes have redrawn the wards in parts of Childs Hill, Cricklewood and Golders Green. Zinkin is now standing in the new Childs Hill, with Nizza Fluss (wrongly deselected in Hendon - see below) and former Labour Childs Hill councillor</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Barnet and Camden AM, the exceptionally hard working Anne Clarke, is now in Cricklewood with former Woodhouse councillor Alan Schneiderman, who is one of the most capable Labour members. A new Tory hopeful in this ward is Yosef David, who seems like a nice chap - but was formerly in the Brexit party, along with Nigel Farage.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMbsOQ1T6qC_MoEsYjmfuMUXvjgyV3Cl_XOg7DGBwmvXZP9EAd3lyTw1K3ID8xRS76uTWiSeYirejOZVrVOl9SStyJqkCik4Nd5ShUb2Pd3lgO8o1cQo9uiDSx_CcyTHS1EE-tw8dLxnlZKb6sFuOPflb5X9Dr27uQ0q7_qS55kPXOThXKTFceClQ/s440/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-25%20at%2011.02.34.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="381" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMbsOQ1T6qC_MoEsYjmfuMUXvjgyV3Cl_XOg7DGBwmvXZP9EAd3lyTw1K3ID8xRS76uTWiSeYirejOZVrVOl9SStyJqkCik4Nd5ShUb2Pd3lgO8o1cQo9uiDSx_CcyTHS1EE-tw8dLxnlZKb6sFuOPflb5X9Dr27uQ0q7_qS55kPXOThXKTFceClQ/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-25%20at%2011.02.34.png" width="277" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Cricklewood Tory candidate Yosef David, formerly a Brexit Party candidate</i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thomas's party's election manifesto appears to consist only of a reverse #angryaboutbins gambit, ie expecting voters to be humbly grateful that their rubbish is taken away, (while also expecting them not to notice their cars bouncing in out of the thousands of potholes littering our roads, as a result of the botched Highways service run by Crapita). Oh and they are claiming they have frozen council tax. This is not true, in fact they have raised it but are calling the increase something else, thinking you won't notice. Always a mistake, to take your voters for fools.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thomas, it has to be said, shows poor judgement at the best of times, and in terms of political instinct generally. He has failed to become elected twice in parliamentary seats, or to be nominated for the Hendon seat instead of Matthew Offord: he failed in his own bid to become elected to the London Assembly after his chum Coleman's fall - he has only ever held a safe council seat in Finchley. And now he is leading Barnet Tories into electoral peril, to complete the score.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrt5U7w_P-K8yIpZIj9YV3p1K20XZ0MSyBoUm20_CNmoiwhEDqvYX-OH9tJ1_klwxyk4uj8nXXJFHmwb4tHBPiGaamNViqn1iZjlrJ4Du6ZEkR2_vl5WL7OZAtwUHM50_zXvf93-OW4USz8OD_1AWa4VYHC-QcEfkfvTPUIK3OVaM_osG4eVKgrvI/s726/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2018.42.53.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="726" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrt5U7w_P-K8yIpZIj9YV3p1K20XZ0MSyBoUm20_CNmoiwhEDqvYX-OH9tJ1_klwxyk4uj8nXXJFHmwb4tHBPiGaamNViqn1iZjlrJ4Du6ZEkR2_vl5WL7OZAtwUHM50_zXvf93-OW4USz8OD_1AWa4VYHC-QcEfkfvTPUIK3OVaM_osG4eVKgrvI/w640-h280/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2018.42.53.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Johnson and Barnet Tories' Leader, Daniel Thomas</span></i></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">What does it say about the style of administration foisted on this borough by Barnet Tories, when residents cannot engage meaningfully with their elected members through consultation on developments and other major decisions that have direct and lasting impact on their lives? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It means that those residents are removed from the democratic process, and powerless to share in the governance of their communities. Or so the Tories think. Thought. Now there are two Judicial Reviews being taken by local campaigners, one in regard to the Hendon Hub, and resident</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Franca Oliffe is standing on behalf of residents infuriated by the Tories' behaviour over the Hub plans. Franca has reportedly been receiving a warm welcome on local doorsteps: Tory candidates should be worried. Ignoring the opinions and the best interests of your local residents - and voters - is never a good move. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEm1C_kbU1nxbfgVCpyMJ2a75rLrHB3mGwbOB-qMqdODPzKB_eJSYchnrZNTq6XP8uQJqyrdCXwAh2dWB2BjY5hsosrYm5zDx3OUwYlDXkGOIYKpkS1mH4h_SVQOLb3BumBJTdRQvBXQzRk7A4eAISYP88VGNHscmcIuAyJxrxj8Mwx0kGh1I16pg/s495/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2022.21.55.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="316" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEm1C_kbU1nxbfgVCpyMJ2a75rLrHB3mGwbOB-qMqdODPzKB_eJSYchnrZNTq6XP8uQJqyrdCXwAh2dWB2BjY5hsosrYm5zDx3OUwYlDXkGOIYKpkS1mH4h_SVQOLb3BumBJTdRQvBXQzRk7A4eAISYP88VGNHscmcIuAyJxrxj8Mwx0kGh1I16pg/w255-h400/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2022.21.55.png" width="255" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Hendon resident and anti-Hub campaigner Franca Oliffe</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The other JR is as a result of the planned development on the community green space at Finchley Memorial Hospital, approved by Barnet Tories last year. Yes, the same party whose leader, Dan Thomas, claimed in an <a href="https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s69709/Administrative%20Motion%20in%20the%20name%20of%20Cllr%20Daniel%20Thomas%20-%20Political%20discourse%20within%20Barnet.pdf">infantile motion</a> put to Council recently that:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> "</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>This Conservative Council would not and will not build on our parks or green spaces</i> ..."</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNzuiIBy2wGJ0Z6jzawVWmApLN9lCR3zyPwgufXMUS7zLhyOD2qKEDgOns98WyAgiwUZgrDOqVEurPbZfQMzA5hgKUcZROGAg0N8TdrdDthc0iaip5GXMTxxnmi1YUTIEXa36aL1rphssQI_i4DaV5lsTQQ5bIDIuILceHIXmVSYZ5udjGzWwd5eE/s635/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2019.06.58.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="635" height="475" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNzuiIBy2wGJ0Z6jzawVWmApLN9lCR3zyPwgufXMUS7zLhyOD2qKEDgOns98WyAgiwUZgrDOqVEurPbZfQMzA5hgKUcZROGAg0N8TdrdDthc0iaip5GXMTxxnmi1YUTIEXa36aL1rphssQI_i4DaV5lsTQQ5bIDIuILceHIXmVSYZ5udjGzWwd5eE/w640-h475/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2019.06.58.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>The Lodge, Victoria Park, Finchley: sold to developers, demolished - now there is a block of flats in the park. Residents were not and are not amused.</i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Both developments are in middle-class, residential areas: the sort of area Tories must retain to have any real hope of electoral success. Many of those behind these legal challenges are the sort of people who would normally be Tory voters: their votes have been lost. And that is part of the problem: Tory members have allowed Capita and developers free reign in this borough to the extent that they have undermined their own electoral stability. Labour councillors have told me that overdevelopment and planning has frequently come up on the doorstep, when canvassing Tory and marginal areas.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As well as residents pursuing legal challenges, there have been several, very serious complaints now made to external bodies regarding the way in which the Hendon Hub was alleged to have been promoted and approved by the Tory group in Barnet, following a refusal by the authority to admit any wrongdoing after investigating itself, and finding itself innocent of any charge. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Watch this space.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLV6M9LFPgrabLkq54Hy7FmkyjARvp-50POYblHmtC-wEvkWCHPMunjyiY3NYo7DmXiHlD_vocSB_exHM0gWsA4z0BaO3RNyUF6x1WkLuaY1lGKDBPtBfYryX7Q-bnDqc56QDMkz7cJoiwKTuw11Hw4q6_Ze9_W-IQNV8R8gFO06BTA8F9td6_Z9A/s628/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2019.11.51.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="467" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLV6M9LFPgrabLkq54Hy7FmkyjARvp-50POYblHmtC-wEvkWCHPMunjyiY3NYo7DmXiHlD_vocSB_exHM0gWsA4z0BaO3RNyUF6x1WkLuaY1lGKDBPtBfYryX7Q-bnDqc56QDMkz7cJoiwKTuw11Hw4q6_Ze9_W-IQNV8R8gFO06BTA8F9td6_Z9A/w477-h640/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2019.11.51.png" width="477" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Hendon Tory councillor Nizza Fluss, with Hub campaigners. Cllr Fluss was deselected for opposing the Hub plans.</i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Looking at the wards as they are now, redrawn, and favouring Labour, it is pretty clear that even without national and local factors bearing down upon them, Barnet's Tory councillors are going to be hard pressed to do well in this election. Riven by factionalism within and between the three constituencies, they seem to have made some very odd choices for ward candidates. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Barnet Tories' long history of misogyny is not news: at the last election, long serving, loyal councillor Joan Scannell was ruthlessly deselected from her <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2018/03/on-scrapheap-barnet-tories-fall-apart.html">seat</a>, because she was not popular with the right people. This time round, two more older women, have been deselected - one fought back and had to be shoved into another seat, and one was unpopular with her colleagues, was then alleged to have made offensive remarks about another candidate, and left the Tory party to join the Libdems. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The first of these is Nizza Fluss, who was a councillor for Hendon. Her crime was to refuse to support the Hendon Hub plans: and she was punished accordingly, with deselection. She complained about the way in which this was done, rightly won her case, and is now a candidate in Childs Hill. She has continued to oppose the Hub plans, and deserves credit for her integrity and courage. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The second is West Hendon councillor Helene Richman: the background to the allegations about her conduct is <a href="https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/20053447.barnet-conservative-councillor-defects-liberal-democrats/">here</a>. Cllr Richman apologised for the offence her remarks had made - but could it be that there is more to this story than meets the eye? At all events, she is now standing as the Libdem candidate in the same ward. A ward that the Tories won last time round, but are unlikely to retain. Standing for Labour is the redoubtable Andrea Bilbow, who runs a well known charity, and two other new people.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">On the theme of misogyny, it is notable that the seats in which the Tories have the most hope of returning councillors have no female candidates. Unless you are an obedient, younger woman, or married to a councillor, you now stand almost no chance of standing as a Tory in this borough. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are in fact many first time candidates in this election, from all parties. As well as a number of paper candidates who might well find themselves elected, by default.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The combination of changes in the boundaries, and the numbers of councillors in each ward, as well as the retirement - or death - of some long serving councillors is the reason for the new intake: the outcome will be very interesting. Standing down is Mill Hill Tory, expert linguist and silver fox, John Hart. The handle bar moustachioed Cllr Hart is as old as time itself, of course, even older than that other scheduled ancient monument, Hampstead Garden Suburb's John Marshall, who is also retiring. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It seems likely that the loss of old timers and the proliferation of new candidates will not help the Tories. A lot of loyal personal votes will be lost - and some of the sideways moves of current Tory members, panicking at the prospect of losing their council seats, is rather baffling. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The former library cutter Reuben Thompstone has lost his safe seat in Golders Green (room for two only and therefore baggsied by father and son act Melvin and Dean Cohen). He has turned up as a candidate in Underhill, of all places, which is likely to go to Labour, and this move might look rather suspiciously as if the Tories were not bothered about keeping him in a seat. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Excuse me while I look for my tiniest of tiny violins.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Mill Hill attracts all sorts of ever hopeful candidates - ie the Libdems, despite coming third last time. Fellow blogger Roger Tichborne is standing again, as well as your man Richard Logue, who was, hang on, let me get this right ... Labour, then Libdem, then Labour and now Libdem again. Keeping up? Rather amusingly, standing against her Uncle Roger, for Labour, is Pascale Fanning-Tichborne. I imagine they have a bet on to see who beats whom.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In two Finchley wards - East and West - Libdems are standing in full defiance of the fact that the best they can do is split the opposition vote and return the Tory candidate. Both wards have hard working Labour members, and this is a pointless exercise, of course.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh, and in Totteridge, here is a well known name: former long time Child's Hill member and old chum Jack Cohen, who is not so much a Libdem as a Lib, and a good sort, (even if he doesn't know his rivets from his screws). Clearly I could not possibly suggest that you vote for a Libdem ... but Jack has promised I can be his Mayoress if he wins & miraculously becomes Mayor. Can you imagine? All those free buffets, and the chance to sit in the council chamber, smirking at the Tory opposition ...?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Of course Totteridge (and Woodside, to which it is now joined) is the fiefdom of the Cornelius councillors Richard (former Leader) and his wife Alison. Short of an armed uprising, nothing will dislodge these two from their seats. Also I think the Barnet Libdem policy (which came as a surprise to at least one of their candidates, didn't it, Simon?) of developing the Green Belt, may not go down awfully well in any part of Barnet, but particularly in Totteridge, and Mill Hill, and Underhill and all the other wards blessed with at least one green area where the Tories and their developer partners can't build any blocks of flats.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are of course other parties standing in the elections: from the Green Party, the Women's Equality Party - and one or two individuals with no party connection. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Among Labour's new set are some very promising younger candidates: in Whetstone, Liron Vellman and Ella Rose, for example, and in Edgwarebury, Josh Tapper (he of Gogglebox fame). One impressed resident (ok, my brother) tells me that they have noticed Josh regularly working in a local park, quietly clearing up litter. This is the sort of community spirit we need: and something that has been so sadly lacking under the Tory regime. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In truth that Tory regime has been lacking in so much: gone are the days of old school Tories, doing their best for the people of Barnet: following a vocation for civic service, and even philanthropy. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">One Nation Tories are short in supply, in Broken Barnet, as they are in the House of Commons. The parallels between what is happening in Parliament, and locally, here in Broken Barnet, are hardly coincidental. They are a representation of a vaccum deep in the heart's core of the Tory psyche, in the era of Johnson: a loss of moral credibility - of moral purpose.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpobgk4L6d8WOStk_eO_mtqpemLWnGnOQ-nQzr0LEf6mtaJhdC2GuM4NSzWWL33cpWYaLOa1BifydpNkfg6jkhdyIj2aELmQwOEzCaYn2G_YP4Ks-vFVVV4HvsupzL7PtQNSDiG4o3DW40sSXiEFfsnY6eqv887UbVoqhnP1Tk0vEIE4tAXDJroVI/s654/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2017.53.37.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="654" data-original-width="485" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpobgk4L6d8WOStk_eO_mtqpemLWnGnOQ-nQzr0LEf6mtaJhdC2GuM4NSzWWL33cpWYaLOa1BifydpNkfg6jkhdyIj2aELmQwOEzCaYn2G_YP4Ks-vFVVV4HvsupzL7PtQNSDiG4o3DW40sSXiEFfsnY6eqv887UbVoqhnP1Tk0vEIE4tAXDJroVI/w474-h640/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2017.53.37.png" width="474" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>The view from Hendon Town Hall</i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you go to a committee meeting in the borough's Town Hall, at Hendon, bang in the centre of the area now waiting for the destruction to be wrought by the Hub plan, you walk up the stairs, past portraits of Aldermen and women, and long dead, former councillors, the predecessors of the current hatch of Tory members, who so much enjoy dressing up in the inherited, moth eaten robes of office, and taking turn to play Mayor.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The original Aldermen and women, councillors, took up their roles because they wanted to make things better: they wanted to give ordinary people a park to enjoy, on their days off, or a library to give them access to self improvement. Post Thatcher, what do we have? Tories with a sense of entitlement, who enjoy the status they think is conveyed by becoming a councillor, and the generous allowances, but feel little sense of obligation to the people who voted them into office. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Town Hall, at Hendon, is one of those civic buildings about to be surrounded by the hideous blocks of the Hub plan, supposedly for students, but likely to end up as speculative residential housing. It stands next to the listed library, about to be gutted, its library function removed, and the property given over to Middlesex University. What would the men and women who made such efforts to open this library think of their latter day heirs in the council chamber? I think <a href="https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-treasure-house-barnet-tories-resume.html">I know</a>. They would be appalled.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt6dStzHHHk2x_A0BKwt40RtwvAAb2GlCAEfVjAmIAS9tNpg5YoAv8u3zcsln6Hg80M7q-njXZLboHHJmRMKzIUHKHJJi5GkQzTzsmojVx3dmQwjWzYVJmVqRxNzpi6it9kb3oZWLF35RUaKof32DLXJo2RYFRJmchbNtD6DoZkE02BdI9nqBsYKI/s631/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2019.29.02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="631" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt6dStzHHHk2x_A0BKwt40RtwvAAb2GlCAEfVjAmIAS9tNpg5YoAv8u3zcsln6Hg80M7q-njXZLboHHJmRMKzIUHKHJJi5GkQzTzsmojVx3dmQwjWzYVJmVqRxNzpi6it9kb3oZWLF35RUaKof32DLXJo2RYFRJmchbNtD6DoZkE02BdI9nqBsYKI/w640-h400/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2019.29.02.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>The listed Hendon Library, about to be hollowed out, built on, and handed to Middx Uni, thanks to your Tory councillors.</i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As well as complaints made to the Council about the Hub fiasco, there have also been more than one formal complaint made about the alleged failure by Barnet Council properly to investigate and act upon the non-declaration of pecuniary interests by a number of Tory councillors.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Several Conservative members have been investigated by the Monitoring Officer in regard to such declarations. And several Conservative members have been found by the Monitoring Officer to be in breach of the Code of Conduct as a result.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">What happened? Were they sanctioned, for their breaches? No. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">No further action. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In at least two serious cases reported to the MO, no proper response was given at all, despite being promised.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Why is that? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This matter, and other complaints from a number of residents, is now being referred to the Local Government Ombudsman. Again: watch this space.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Barnet Tories have allowed a culture to become embedded in their group, and in their administration of this council, in which there is a refusal to obey the duty of transparency and accountability that they owe to their electors, the residents and taxpayers. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Conflicts of interest abound, at every level of the council, not least because of the multiple roles that Capita plays in so many areas of council services - particularly in the role of planning and development. And engagement in what should be the shared purpose of a strong, healthy, local democratic process has been deliberately stifled by the Tories, particularly in recent years, to the point where it does not function at all.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The overarching duty of all elected representatives is to abide by the </span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nolan Principles for Public Life</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">:</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b>1. The Seven Principles of Public Life</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>The Seven Principles of Public Life (also known as the Nolan Principles) apply to anyone who works as a public office-holder. This includes all those who are elected or appointed to public office, nationally and locally, and all people appointed to work in the Civil Service, local government, the police, courts and probation services, non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), and in the health, education, social and care services. All public office-holders are both servants of the public and stewards of public resources. The principles also apply to all those in other sectors delivering public services.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #ffa400;">1.1 Selflessness</span></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #ffa400;">1.2 Integrity</span></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>Holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #ffa400;">1.3 Objectivity</span></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>Holders of public office must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #ffa400;">1.4 Accountability</span></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>Holders of public office are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #ffa400;">1.5 Openness</span></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>Holders of public office should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #ffa400;">1.6 Honesty</span></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>Holders of public office should be truthful.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #ffa400;">1.7 Leadership</span></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>Holders of public office should exhibit these principles in their own behaviour and treat others with respect. They should actively promote and robustly support the principles and challenge poor behaviour wherever it occurs.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">A party which does not respect and implement the Nolan Principles at every level of its administration, is simply not fit to stand any candidates for election. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here in Barnet we have had years of increasingly unaccountable Tory governance, and in the last four years, this antipathy to the principle of transparency, the exclusion of residents from the democratic process, and the abandonment of acceptable standards of ethical governance has left the borough in a state of ruin. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">What is happening in Westminster, led by the amoral, incompetent government of Boris Johnson, is happening here. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We cannot continue like this. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's time for change.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The only way of stopping this borough from further depredation and decline, of calling an end to the easy pickings for developers, contractors and consultants, and of wrenching back control of our community, our environment, our history and our built heritage - protecting our public services, our most vulnerable and disadvantaged residents - is to vote Labour and put a group of decent, honest, hard working representatives in a place of power to do good, and help rebuild what we have lost.</span></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU7ooppj5PMNqfbIfi05dd-7xuangf-snI9HrxrFdMdveQT5RE62nae3Be3CVNKpNQPLMn2szFxbxzBw5qOY_GCfC4z4rjYSZYKFxubaAGLr8vE5vJeNzMs5nf2RVFvygBZHAiyhxWJWCJhEjTIPHXrfM7FW6JZtb2wOLg66DtUqfTopfPbDYae2M/s629/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2018.52.45.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="629" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU7ooppj5PMNqfbIfi05dd-7xuangf-snI9HrxrFdMdveQT5RE62nae3Be3CVNKpNQPLMn2szFxbxzBw5qOY_GCfC4z4rjYSZYKFxubaAGLr8vE5vJeNzMs5nf2RVFvygBZHAiyhxWJWCJhEjTIPHXrfM7FW6JZtb2wOLg66DtUqfTopfPbDYae2M/w640-h488/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-03%20at%2018.52.45.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Labour Deputy Leader Ross Houston, Victoria Park</i></span></p><p><br /></p>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-33693163154525807822022-01-25T18:19:00.006+00:002022-01-26T01:45:42.653+00:00Storming the Town Hall: Barnet Tories, the lie of 'Regeneration' - and the May Elections<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjkWpvnPtvb2eOi09zY42qhS7gzhyRfoWgiEScAj9xJ7CxlqX8TJlF10OGaBtcLa4d1EGrT5Dpl_8WenrAu83248o_9XpLs0GoxZnas6-nUzosDq5GpK6a1PYRHof30FsgVMQzOLRkgwnstH2VrnTu-AmsFmzW8utiMGZtIrNi2o-y11cZJjQ61FEI=s541" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="541" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjkWpvnPtvb2eOi09zY42qhS7gzhyRfoWgiEScAj9xJ7CxlqX8TJlF10OGaBtcLa4d1EGrT5Dpl_8WenrAu83248o_9XpLs0GoxZnas6-nUzosDq5GpK6a1PYRHof30FsgVMQzOLRkgwnstH2VrnTu-AmsFmzW8utiMGZtIrNi2o-y11cZJjQ61FEI=w400-h370" width="400" /></a></div><br /> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last week I was asked by a BBC journalist preparing for the May elections in London about the prospect of a Labour win in Barnet. Yes, this is a real thing. Hold on to your hats.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There has been much speculation in the last week or so about a number of Tory held London boroughs that may well be taken by Labour: my view is that - for the first time in the ten years or so since I've been writing about local politics - it seems more likely than not that such a result is a genuine possibility, here in Barnet, and increasingly begins to look like the most likely outcome. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tory canvassers are secretly panicking, and Labour canvassers reporting more and more former Tory voters who are no longer prepared to support the party in this borough.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The reasons for this are pretty obvious: although in the past local elections were about local issues, certainly this time round they will be strongly influenced by national concerns: Covid, Brexit - the universal sense of disgust at the corruption and incompetence of Boris Johnson's government. Another important factor is the impact of new ward boundary changes: in this borough, changes that favour Labour.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Most important of all, however, in Barnet, is the disaffection of what were traditional Tory voters as a result of the dire performance of council services managed and delivered by the authority's contractor, Capita - and because of the ever encroaching plague of manic over development in the borough, a phenomenon which now has even the leafiest areas entirely in its relentless grip. Over development which is not being supported by any adequate level of investment in desperately needed infrastructure and support in terms of schools, healthcare, parks, parking, transport - retail outlets. In many cases the developments are removing such community assets in the course of clearing the way for profit driven 'regeneration'. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Far from meeting local housing need, this non stop process is being promoted purely for the benefit of developers, and for Capita, which amongst the fat portfolio of contracts it still retains, holds planning the most desirable. Most desirable, because it is the most lucrative: capable, as we have seen, of generating huge levels of profit for the company, in terms of fee based income streams, such as the deeply non-transparent pre-application 'advice' service for developers and their agents: some of the latter having been only recently senior planning officers with ... Barnet/Capita. Applications with fee based advice, data obtained by FOI suggests, are far more likely to be successful.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Remember that, despite the issue having been raised - by me and others - constantly over several years of the contract, it is only recently that the service that Capita Re offered to applicants and agents to 'name your own planning officer' has been quietly dropped, despite the clear risk of 'conflicts of interest' - especially in the case of the agents who are former colleagues of the planning officers with whom they deal.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last year, raising the question of why details about pre-planning advice, and the name of the planning officer who was dealing with it, had vanished from Capita Re's application forms, I was told that this was due to changes by the government. Lo and behold, last week, on checking the application form for another awful development - six blocks plotted for the former Homebase site in North Finchley - there again was the question, on the form, but ignored. Yes, fee based advice had been paid for. Tick. What was it? 'As advised.' Who gave it? 'Mr.' Mr Who? They weren't saying. Why not?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Back to the old Barnet/Capita tradition of counter transparency then, and a practice that obscures and obstructs our right to know how large developments are enabled and encouraged by the privatised planning service. On raising this again and complaining about the practice, I was offered no explanation but - a meeting with the Head of Planning, to discuss the matter. Nothing further has happened about that, funnily enough. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Until very recently, as well as planning, Capita ran 'regeneration' in Barnet. This is an activity which purports to bring new life to failing communities, but does this by removing the people who live there - and any of those community assets that get in the way, like libraries - and inviting in developers to make whopping profits from luxury housing developments: the taller the better, although the tallest only in Labour wards, of course. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Regeneration, for Capita, went by the name of 'development opportunities', and there is almost no town centre, suburb or open space in the borough which has not been targeted for these appalling schemes. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In West Hendon, land worth millions was given to Barratt London in a secret deal, secret, that is, until revealed by the requirement for disclosure at the CPO Inquiry. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Finchley Memorial Hospital: plans hatched in secret, again, and accidently <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2017/06/finchley-memorial-re-imagining-of.html">exposed</a> some years ago, were last year, during Covid, slipped out under the clever cover now of providing homes for NHS workers - to be built on the local community green space. There is nothing to stop these properties being sold on the open market, in fact, rather than to key workers, who are very unlikely to be queuing up for them (as other attempted developments of this type have shown) and it is highly likely this will happen, after the usual plea of non viability is put in, at a later stage. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">North Finchley is now being laid wide open to another assault in the name of 'regeneration': more unaffordable housing, and developers being given, by our Tory councillors, the local Arts Depot, and ... the lovely, historic library. Which brings us back to ... yes, the Hendon Hub. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhdYLpG3kW_ZvRKxO89s-_JWxQOyHfWxkd8YA6uXYLl6-Ye_1uBoc46UfNGelrhj_7rSsklh-uuign1DVfg9TC8-QOiIqMU6V1AvUkcBiTl389ztHRqS2_BgrYV_Q3WxAz2_M4OuK6zkJAvPFO17bPXXa0GnaUmHAYTBhRo_JT5Jfpmkc6-G9g33E=s727" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="727" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhdYLpG3kW_ZvRKxO89s-_JWxQOyHfWxkd8YA6uXYLl6-Ye_1uBoc46UfNGelrhj_7rSsklh-uuign1DVfg9TC8-QOiIqMU6V1AvUkcBiTl389ztHRqS2_BgrYV_Q3WxAz2_M4OuK6zkJAvPFO17bPXXa0GnaUmHAYTBhRo_JT5Jfpmkc6-G9g33E=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Barnet Tories think this is an appropriate development for the middle of a Conservation area</i><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The story of the Hendon Hub development is hugely significant, because it perfectly demonstrates almost every rotten element of what has gone wrong not only in this Tory run authority, but on a national scale, encouraged by the current government.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Conflicts of interest in abundance, at every level of the council; hidden agendas, mass development given a free hand, regardless of the impact on the built environment, our built heritage, and our communities, all promoted by commercial interests, and here in Barnet, too many Tory councillors with little or no interest in representing the people who elected them, nearly four years ago. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Unfortunately for the Tories in Barnet, their failure to restrain the extent to which their privatised regeneration and planning services operate has now fatally compromised their own electoral chances in May. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The council's contractors will hardly be bothered what happens then. They have had a good run in Barnet: most of their fees came from the process of organising 'Regeneration' and planning, rather than the end result itself.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Recently the inevitable moment came when more failing services were taken back from Capita, as well as Regeneration. This is no major loss to them at this stage: there is pretty much nothing left that they can develop - but it has happened too late to prevent the detrimental impact on many residential areas and town centres. And in Hendon, the Hub land grab, memorably described by one resident last week, as a 'brutal acquisition', cooked up years ago, but kept under cover until late on in the process, has infuriated local residents who live in the heart of the oldest and most historic part of Hendon, which has dozens of listed buildings, and comprises not one but two Conservation Areas. And of course these residents are </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">the sort of people the Tories desperately need to support them, in order to hold on to their seats.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Only one Hendon Tory councillor, Nizza Fluss, has had the courage and integrity necessary to oppose these plans, and truly represent her constituents, who, as the ludicrous 'nonsultation' process demonstrated, are outraged by the attempt to force a development of crashingly ugly, modern multi storey blocks - supposedly intended as student accommodation and other campus space for the ever expanding Middlesex University. Ever expanding in the past, that is: post Covid, post Brexit, these plans are clearly no longer viable, you would think. It makes no difference. Development must be pushed wherever there is an opportunity for profit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhIqROz9llZ1w4jbFALpiHmECC27NulnVRTex0CB-p_fboiaH074Ji9QWNWFPCo05xPbNkkl66fx-rSA7opdW_KpnFZMqnxzKDgjXhb9BMgGZjC48ZBL56tX2pxkstguh9_OZ4GQnNkxzpz2QU2UVP98TzSRZNWtLN1fKkTPe40LtFD5G3xCSd566w=s633" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="633" data-original-width="464" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhIqROz9llZ1w4jbFALpiHmECC27NulnVRTex0CB-p_fboiaH074Ji9QWNWFPCo05xPbNkkl66fx-rSA7opdW_KpnFZMqnxzKDgjXhb9BMgGZjC48ZBL56tX2pxkstguh9_OZ4GQnNkxzpz2QU2UVP98TzSRZNWtLN1fKkTPe40LtFD5G3xCSd566w=w470-h640" width="470" /></a></div><i><br /></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Tory Cllr Nizza Fluss, who has bravely opposed the Hub plan - to her cost</i><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cllr Fluss was deselected by certain fellow party members in the Hendon Tory association, following her opposition of the Hub development.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Barnet Tories don't like women who answer back, or do the right thing, instead of doing as they are told, by the men, of course. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">On the 10th January, at a meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee, at Hendon Town Hall, in the centre of one of the two Conservation areas at risk from the Hub plans,Tory members ignored the unanimous, detailed and clearly articulated opposition to the plans from residents, and approved the plans in a remarkable show of unity on a planning decision which of course is supposed not be whipped.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">One thing that emerged from the (strictly limited by the Chair) farce of pretending to consider the arguments for and against the plans, at this meeting, was that the much vaunted replacement library, which is allegedly going to be squeezed into the ground floor and basement of the planned Rotunda building opposite the Town Hall, is still shrinking in size, almost as if it will completely disappear, in the end. (Which is quite likely, in fact, like the Invisible New Library not built as promised in North Finchley).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">When such fierce local opposition to the Hub plans had become apparent, half way through the Nonsultation, the developers tried to persuade residents of the benefits of having their listed library taken away - given away, and gutted - they attempted then to make the scheme seem more 'community focused' by declaring the library would now accommodate a Safer Neighbourhood police unit. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Whether or not they checked if the Met can actually afford to staff such a unit is not known - but clearly this eats into the space meant for the substitute library. 835 square metres reduced to 675. Which must accommodate every other library function: adult & children's borrowing, PCs, stacks, storage, staff space, study areas, printers, a community area & all the other lovely new functions they dangled in front of residents, like 'Makerspaces'. Ah: but hang on - we've forgotten Local Studies and Archives, which currently require 160 square metres - and specialised storage for documents. Which leaves ... 515 square metres - not even a third of Hendon Library's original space. To put it in terms that are easier to visualise, this is less than the space of two tennis courts - for all the normal library functions, of what was once the central borough library, plus the extra wonderful things they claimed would be there. It just doesn't make sense, does it?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">You can listen to a recording of this meeting <a href="https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=703&MId=10831">here</a> - and marvel at the way the Tory members pushed through the hugely unpopular plans, ignoring all reasoned objections. Some light relief is afforded by the Chair who steamrollered the meeting to its conclusion failing to remember her mic was picking up her whispered remarks, throughout the meeting, to senior officers ...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There was a pronounced sense of somewhat desperate, blind determination from those pushing through this proposal at the meeting, that night. I suppose they were keen to get the plans underway before May - if indeed they go ahead. </span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><b><i>As this meeting and other related matters are now understood to be the subject of more than one very serious complaint, I am not going to comment in detail on what happened, or the further implications: but it is reported that there are some deeply alarming issues which have emerged from the meeting itself, and from the process of 'consultation', over the last year or so. </i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Watch this space.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">One characteristic of Barnet Tories is that, like lemmings, they will head towards danger with free abandon, thinking that they are immune from any consequences. Frankly, most of them are pretty dim, and don't care about much other than retaining their seats., which usually requires nothing more than unquestioning loyalty to the current leader - and a safe seat, of course. None of them are politically astute, and the current leader is particularly tone deaf when it comes to gauging the mood of voters. Still, it came as a real surprise to see their latest idiotic move. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">You may recall that a few years ago, the Tory group supported a truly awful Motion to Full Council, <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2017/11/an-enemy-of-people-or-barnets-tory.html">proposed</a> by the golden boy himself, Cllr Longstaffe, claiming that the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is 'An Enemy of the People'. Bad enough, you might think. Here comes another one., this time proposed by the Tory 'Leader', Dan Thomas, and due to be 'debated at tonight's Full Council meeting. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This puerile nonsense reads as if it was written by Thomas, in biro, on the back of a shopping list, to be honest: publishing it all here, however, so you can see the extent of sheer childishness and mendacity of this motion, and this Tory group, attacking the Opposition, with rather touching lack of awareness of the theory of Freudian projection (to say nothing about the curious accusation of 'impotence' ...)</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i><b>Political Discourse Within Barnet</b></i></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>Council notes that:</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>1. The Barnet Labour Party and members of the Opposition have made misleading claims about this </i></span><i style="font-family: georgia;">Administration’s policies and achievements.</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>2. Contrary to Barnet Labour’s misinformation:</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>a. Barnet has not only maintained weekly collections of refuse and recycling under this</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>Conservative administration, unlike any neighbouring borough – which are all run by</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>Labour– but we also have the lowest number of missed bin collections in London.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is of course a feeble attempt to play, without permission, a round of 'Angry About Bins' (© Mrs Angry) but scoring an own goal, from the council which has stupidly stopped collecting food waste, and now charges householders an annual fee for the privilege of having their green waste collected - occasionally.</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>b. Council Tax in Barnet has been kept lower than that of any of our neighbouring boroughs for</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>the past decade, and will remain so. In real terms, Council Tax in Barnet has been reduced by</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>5.2% over the past decade — despite the Labour Mayor of London taking an ever-increasing</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>sum from Council Tax.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Barnet Tories kept council tax so low, they were unable properly to fund basic council services. In one particularly infamous <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2014/06/a-heartbreak-too-difficult-to-describe.html">incident</a>, they cut desperately needed funding for respite care for the families of children with profound and complex disabilities, so they could boast about reducing the tax bill by the equivalent of a few pence a week. The families were reduced to having to go in person to the council to demand this funding restored - only to be told that their children were making too much noise in the committee room. Public outrage saw the cut grudgingly reversed, after this appalling move: but what a thing to do ...</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>c. Barnet has zero “non-decent” Council homes, while our neighbouring boroughs have</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>thousands. Labour Enfield alone have over 4,000.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">'Zero non decent council homes'. Got that? Apart from the fact that thousands of homeless residents have been kicked out of the borough, the Dear Leader seems to have forgotten his own appearance on the Victoria Derbyshire show (after refusing to appear the week before) trying to defend the truly abominable condition of flats in West Hendon, in which council tenants' children were forced to live with cockroaches biting them, rats running around their homes, and their walls covered in mould.</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>d. Barnet’s outsourcing has saved millions – ensuring value for money for our residents.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ah yes. The old story. Utterly untrue. The short list of guaranteed savings is restricted, and minimal, and pales in comparison to the many, many millions surplus paid to Capita, so far, that was never foreseen, although it should have been, by the Tory councillors who signed the contracts</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>e. Barnet has successfully stood up to developers and has been successful in having storeys</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>removed from proposed towers. The ineffectual Labour group is impotent to influence the</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>Labour Mayor of London’s desire for ever larger tower blocks in London. This is evidenced by</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>the Mayor’s support for the original B&Q proposal and those regarding tower blocks over</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>tube stations, such as a recent High Barnet application.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Frankly this is so risible, it is hard to know where to begin. Or end. It is reported that the Monitoring Officer removed the word 'wilful' in regard to the idiotic accusations against Labour - but why was this Motion allowed to stand at all?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">'Barnet has successfully stood up to developers' ? What a f*cking joke.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tory Barnet has actively welcomed and encouraged, with the help of Capita, a scale of over development that has ignored the real housing needs of ordinary families. The needs of developers are put before all other considerations.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Clearly the Labour group - and the Labour AM, Anne Clarke, are able to communicate effectively with the Mayor of London to moderate any multi-storey plans, or he would not have done so, in regard to the tube station developments. Perhaps if the Tory group were not set on smearing the Mayor as an "enemy of the People", he might be more inclined to include them in a grown up discussion about the borough's needs.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">For Thomas even to dare to pretend to oppose multi storey blocks is absurd. These have gone up all over the Western side of the borough, carefully avoiding the Tory areas elsewhere - except in Hendon's Conservation areas, where clearly something has gone awfully wrong in their judgement, and someone's influence has convinced them to commit electoral suicide, rather than listen to the overwhelming objections of their local residents. </span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>f. This Conservative Council would not and will not build on our parks or green spaces. This has </i></span><i style="font-family: georgia;">been made clear a number of times over the past year in various committees and at Full </i><i style="font-family: georgia;">Council.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This statement is on a Johnsonian scale of 'fiction'. The Tories approved the development of the community green space at Finchley Memorial Hospital last June, despite fierce opposition from local residents incensed at the loss of their amenity. They were caught considering the use of 'low value' parks and green spaces for placing solar energy facilities and battery storage. And last year saw the construction of a block of flats in Victoria Park, after they sold off and allowed the demolition of the historic, Arts & Crafts style park keeper's Lodge. </span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i>3. The above are responses to only some examples of the mistruths stated by the Labour group.</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>4. The Labour Party and Labour councillors made exaggerated claims during the East Barnet by election, which the people of East Barnet clearly saw through. However, such claims risk causing </i></span><i style="font-family: georgia;">polarisation, unnecessary upset and worry amongst local residents.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ah. Presumably a reference to the hugely inappropriate Gas Works development, which proposes more of those blocks Thomas claims to oppose, but is apparently happy to see in an area with too many Labour voters. The only affordable housing here will punish the undeserving poor by shoving them right next to the railway line, with windows that can't open, (because of the noise levels being too high for approval). Once they realised the flats will over heat, as a consequence, they have designed a cooling system that the already disadvantaged tenants will have to pay for. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">But just imagine: Barnet Tories accusing someone else of 'causing polarisation'!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And on we go:</span></p><p><i style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Council believes that:</span></i></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>1. Misinformation about the state of the Council, and this administration’s policies and history, are </i></span><i style="font-family: georgia;">little more than a sign of desperation from the Labour group.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Misinformation from the Council, and its contractors and consultants, (eg in the case of the Hendon Hub - Historic England, anyone?) are ok though. Ok.</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>2. Over the past term and beyond, this Conservative Council has consistently made decisions based on </i></span><i style="font-family: georgia;">value for money for our residents, while ensuring that they receive the best possible services.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Quite clearly decisions are <b>not</b> made on the basis of value for money, nor do they deliver the best possible services. Again, this is Johnsonian inversion of the truth, up ending the story of their own dreadful performance. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Tax payers' money has been extracted on an eye watering, industrial scale from the Capita contracts, via income opportunities hidden at the time of signing in the form of contractual variations, unnoticed and by Tory members, before approving for a ten year term of bondage to the conditions. As fellow blogger John Dix can tell you, you and I and all the other residents have already paid hundreds of millions more than the expected amount.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">That services are <b>not</b> the best possible is evident to anyone who walks along a tarmac patched pavement, or driven along the thousands of pot hole scarred roads, or tried to phone a council department, or had to chase enforcement of flagrant breaches of planning permission conditions, or visited a relative in a care home like Apthorp Lodge. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Rather than in invest in new social housing that would benefit the most needy residents, or borrow state money in order to do so, Tory members preferred to borrow £22 million from the Public Works Loan Board to lend to their 'partners' at Saracens to build a lovely new stand at their Stadium, which was our Stadium, and for which they only pay a peppercorn rent. Value for money? Meanwhile families in West Hendon were living in utter squalor, and the Housing committee did not meet for eight months, because - 'there were no urgent issues'.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">That over the last few years Tory members have sought to stifle challenge, engagement and consultation with their own residents is undeniable: changing the Constitution to prevent questions at committees where hugely important and controversial plans are decided being the keystone of their shameless and deliberate strategy of gagging dissent. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This gagging has not only coincided with a period of increasing decline in the standard of council services, but also with a period of hugely expanded proposals for so called 'regeneration' and development. What a stroke of luck! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Except that the Tories' luck is now running out. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Poor leadership and recklessly poor judgement has made them complacent, and to take risks that can only damage their electoral prospects. Tory voters are now queueing up to fight developments in their areas: the snatching of the community green space at Finchley Memorial is facing Judicial Review, and the Hendon Hub is being legally challenged, in various ways, as well as now being the subject of very serious complaints over ... related matters.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Roll on May: it's time to clear out the Augean stables, and rid ourselves of the rotten stench hanging around this Tory council and their collaborators. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Time to bring the council back under democratic control, return local services in house, where true value for money can be achieved - and give a voice back to the residents whose representatives have, for so long, so blatantly betrayed them and their well being.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-58354550171543176082021-09-26T18:29:00.003+01:002021-09-27T00:26:50.544+01:00A Perfect Storm: Barnet's Tory pro-development council ignites an unprecedented scale of rebellion in its heartland voters<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y6DNxGKM4Uc/YRlcshYHcqI/AAAAAAAAOzc/88wjWVwd4qEPYtJJGTMITfB2eB-DEmu6ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0841.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y6DNxGKM4Uc/YRlcshYHcqI/AAAAAAAAOzc/88wjWVwd4qEPYtJJGTMITfB2eB-DEmu6ACLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/IMG_0841.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Undefeated by the storm, local residents protested against the Hendon Hub plans</i></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>On the 20th of July there was a Policy and Resources committee meeting at Hendon Town Hall, at which the highly controversial plans for the Hendon Hub development were due to be discussed by councillors. </span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">A huge crowd of residents campaigning against the plans gathered outside before the meeting. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">As they did so, the sky darkened, and thunder began to growl menacingly overhead, quickly followed by a downfall of heavy rain. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">It made no difference to the mood of the residents, or rather seem to galvanise their resolution: the British response to adversity tending as usual to obstinate refusal to accept being beaten. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">In this case, with most of the protestors being formerly non political, and inexperienced in attending demonstrations, there was an added sense of rebellion, and even jubilation. They were determined to show their elected representatives, skulking in the committee room upstairs, how strongly they felt about these monstrous plans to foist what will effectively be a campus colonisation of not just a residential neighbourhood, but the historic heart of Hendon, comprising not one but two Conservation Areas. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Such a large protest had not been seen outside the Town Hall for a very long time, even pre-Covid.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fellow blogger Mr Reasonable and I stood outside, astonished at the scale of the turn out, and the impressive organisation of the Residents' Group, led by Professor Brad Blitz, and Gabbie Asher. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EMvyw8uxRGk/YRlh3mbR6II/AAAAAAAAOz0/N2uxov9wi3oVmv4LsrF_AXeNgdrS0d3wQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0833.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EMvyw8uxRGk/YRlh3mbR6II/AAAAAAAAOz0/N2uxov9wi3oVmv4LsrF_AXeNgdrS0d3wQCLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/IMG_0833.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Local residents Professor Blitz and (hiding behind the poster) Gabbie Asher</i></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Returning home, I listened to the meeting via the audio link. Always unpredictable, this broadcast system, especially when, it seems, anything politically significant is being debated. It was clear that the residents who had packed out the public gallery were not going to sit there quietly, letting the usual rubber stamping exercise play out, with the Tory majority pushing through the Capita Barnet officers' reports. An exemplary display of perfectly tuned heckling ensued, disrupting the android default programming of Chair and Tory leader Dan Thomas, whose attempts to use this as an excuse to end 'debate' and move to a vote was no doubt restrained by the knowledge that this would contribute to the already robust case for challenging the nonsultation process - which has been rolled out (with of course no conflict of interest), by Capita subsidiary GL Hearn).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Since the Tories amended the constitution in order to stop the far too effective scutiny of residents, questions to committee are now largely forbidden, but Gerrard Roots, former curator of the Church Farmhouse Museum - (also, as proposed for the listed Hendon Library, closed, ransacked & handed over to Middlesex Uni) - had managed to slip one through, and a gloriously impertinent and yet highly pertinent one it was: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: georgia;"><i><div>This is a dreadful proposal, concocted in secrecy in 2019, and</div><div>finally presented for public consultation during the chaos of</div><div>the pandemic. The plan would ruin the two 'Heritage</div><div>Conservation Areas' in Hendon. It would remove essential</div><div>services to residents, and replace them with vast new</div><div>Middlesex University buildings - including student halls of</div><div>residence which are unlikely now ever to be used. The sole</div><div>beneficiaries will be the big builders/developers. The plan is</div><div>so awful that even some LB Barnet Conservative councillors</div><div>(backed up by Hendon's Tory MP) have broken ranks to</div><div>oppose it. (Those councillors already appear to have been</div><div>punished for their decency.)</div><div><br /></div><div>I wish to know if the rest of Barnet's Tory councillors regard</div><div>themselves as representatives of their residents or simply as</div><div>the servants of powerful developers?</div></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Of course asking any question of a Tory run committee - should you be allowed to do so - is always pointless, but you cannot give them the pleasure of thinking their stifling of debate is ever going to be accepted, if you really believe in democracy, and justice, and holding power to account.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">The meeting progressed, and it was time for councillors to ask questions of officers. Labour's Arjun Mittra asked the officer in charge of the Hub project about the involvement of Historic England. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here is a curious thing. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Capita of course makes most of its money in Barnet from its exploitation of our planning system. A system which now works to promote development, and profits for Capita, rather than to regulate planning, or benefit our communities. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you make a planning application in the London Borough of Capita, you are encouraged to pay a fat fee to our privatised planning service for 'pre-application planning advice'. If your application is turned down you will probably receive a letter noting that you did not avail yourself of this service, tut tut, and inviting you to have another go, after paying to take said advice. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> (Being in the process of moving house - sadly not escaping from Broken Barnet, but we can all dream, can't we? - and looking at the past planning applications of various properties has given an interesting insight into this interesting practice ...)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Of course it may be that you made some crashing error in your design, before paying for this 'advice'. It could not possibly be a way of generating more income, could it? And anyway, there will be a full record of what they come up with, and an audit trail, & all that sort of stuff.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Well, no. As Mr Reasonable discovered, when campaigners asked for copies of the Pre Application advice for the Barnet Gas Works development ... it transpired there was nothing at all. Advice had been given but ... no record of it exists. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">No need for transparency over this sort of thing. No need to worry about the number of former Barnet Capita planning officers now working as agents for developers, who will have rung up their former colleagues for 'advice'. No need to worry about conflicts of interest in the same teams overseeing 'advice', consultation, recommendations etc. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Apparently. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">(And not to worry, after years of me bringing up the issue of paying a fee to name your own planning officer - and being ignored - that clear conflict of interest has now supposedly been quietly been disposed of. Why did it take so long: eight years, in fact?)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Interestingly, if a planning application is from the local authority itself for, say, hundreds of unnecessary units of student accommodation, and the virtual destruction of a listed Library, in a residential area, and not one but two Conservation areas, stuffed full of eighteenth century houses, an ancient parish church, a host of listed civic buildings, then - oh ...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is, it seems, no need to take pre planning advice or guidance from the most obvious source, ie Historic England - at least, according to the senior officers of the London Borough of Capita.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sitting at home, listening to the questions from Cllr Mittra at the P&R committee, I was absolutely astounded - and very cross - to hear the following response from the officer seemingly in charge of the Hub project, in answer to his question as to whether Barnet had engaged 'proactively' with Historic England - and erm, if it was not a resident who had informed them about the Hub plans?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>No. It wasn't</i>, she said. And she could prove this.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh really?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I knew this was could not be true. Councillors were being misinformed.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Because<i> <b>I</b></i> was the resident who had informed Historic England, in April. And yes,<b> <i>I</i></b> can prove it.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">In April, I had written to HE with my concerns about the Hub plans, in terms of the scale of the impact on the Conservation areas and the threat to the listed library building. They responded, to my utter astonishment, with a response that said that they not only knew nothing about the Hub development, it had not been mentioned to them - <b><i>even as they had been engaged in discussion with Barnet Capita officers, in February, over the draft local SPD plan</i>.</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I say discussion: Historic England wrote to Barnet with criticisms of the draft. Barnet ignored these criticisms, as far as I can see from the final SPD.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">HE even sent me a copy of the letter in which these criticisms are detailed: in which they objected to the many references to 'development opportunities' and criticised the lack of consideration for protecting heritage, and the character of this uniquely sensitive area- as well as noting the need to prevent multi storey buildings being erected. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">All of which, of course, is in direct conflict with the Hub plans, which as we now know, have been under consideration since at least 2019, and possibly even earlier. Yet this major proposal was one which LBB/Capita apparently decided to hide from Historic England, even when the new SPD was being drafted this February.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Engagement with HE only began when following enquiries from me and Professor Blitz, HE, alerted to the potential risk posed by the plans, said they would contact LBB. A meeting took place, according to the officer at P&R, only at the end of June, less than four weeks before this committee meeting. The officer informed members of the P&R committee that she had seen HE's report that morning. Yet the report had not been circulated to members, let alone added to the published documents, even though other late amendments were, at the last minute. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Back to the Hendon Hub. You might reasonably expect that if Capita Re advice is needed at an early stage in the process of designing Mrs Bloggs's kitchen extension, Capita Re might be expected to consult HE about such crashingly inappropriate designs for two Conservation areas at an early stage, rather than so late in the day. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">You might expect officers to pass HE's report to members before the meeting in which they were due to make a decision. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Unless, of course, there was a determination to avoid any criticism, no matter how valid, from HE, at a stage when it might influence and possibly obstruct the proposal to erect such hideous and architecturally anachronistic student blocks - or even prevent what will be the virtual destruction of the listed Hendon Library.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">As it happened, Labour members exercised their right to refer part of the decision, the business case, to Full Council, the following week. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Residents then again gathered outside the Town Hall, making noisy representations to the councillors in the chamber.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">By some strange circumstance, this time the audio link ... was not available. And no recording, it later turned out, was possible. How unfortunate that a debate and vote on this highly contentious proposal now has no record. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">The excuse was that the storm the previous week, before the P&R meeting, had meant a lightning strike had selectively prevented the broadcast of Full Council. Even though other meetings during the week had not been affected. An Act of God, you see?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Hendon ward councillor Nizza Fluss was the only Tory who voted against approval of the Hub plans. She has been deselected since earlier taking this stand, which of course rather suggests that this was because of daring to oppose the leadership on this issue. Potentially evidence, as they now realise, rather late in the day, of 'pre-decision' in regard to this highly contentious proposal. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Curiously, however, after this vote, Cllr Fluss was not deprived of the whip, or punished for her rebellion, unlike the only previous <a href="https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2011/11/broken-barnets-night-of-long-knives.html">time </a>I can remember, ten years ago, when a Tory member refused to support a motion in Full Council. Of course one vote would never had made any difference. Anyway, rumour has it that she will be offered a chance of standing in Childs Hill ward, instead. There may be a vacancy, as Councillor Shimon Ryde, most mysteriously, has temporarily '<a href="https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/local-council/shimon-ryde-barnet-council-whip-lost-7970562">stepped back'</a> from the Conservative group, for reasons to do with a 'personal' matter - temporarily since May, that is. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">If it is true, one might reasonably ask why she is now considered suitable for selection in this ward, but was dropped from the one in which she was elected. Is this an attempt at damage limitation?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vhuvbzQ6Kpc/YRld_dWVqKI/AAAAAAAAOzk/8KuAZySn2bA-II2Ab2pwVrvhKC5sfjiiQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0837.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vhuvbzQ6Kpc/YRld_dWVqKI/AAAAAAAAOzk/8KuAZySn2bA-II2Ab2pwVrvhKC5sfjiiQCLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/IMG_0837.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Local Tory councillor Nizza Fluss, who has opposed the Hub plans - and who has now been deselected by Hendon Tories.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">At Full Council, despite further visible (and audible) opposition from residents, the plans were approved, at the point they are now. So what next? The plans continue to be pushed through, of course.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">But hello: here is an interesting revelation. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">You may not realise that once a year residents have the right to inspect the accounts of their local authority. Fellow blogger John Dix, aka Mr Reasonable, always makes sure to assert this right, and apply his own analysis of the information he is able to scrutinise. It is of course a statutory requirement that residents may have access to the accounts in this way. If it wasn't, you can be sure that Barnet Tories and their senior management team would do everything in their power to stop anyone seeing this material. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">The devil, in Broken Barnet, as always, is everywhere, but above all, in the age of Capita, he is to be found hidden in the detail - hidden in the books, in the fine print, in footnotes, or those naughty contractual variations that opened up endless possibilities for further income generation for our contractors. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">From Mr R's perusal of the last year's accounts, anyway, emerged two very remarkable pieces of information, in regard to the Hendon Hub. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">It seems Capita have already done very nicely out of the Hendon Hub proposals. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Included in the accounts was:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">"... <i>a request for CSG to provide professional services for the development and submission of planning applications required to support the Hendon Regeneration Project; and the necessary professional services to complete the Final Business Case and progress both the funding and construction partner procurement strategies".</i> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Between November 2020 and March 2021 alone they were paid <span style="color: red;"><b>£2,280,587</b></span> for such work. Nice work if you can get it - and in Broken Barnet Capita can and will always get it. An 8,000 page contract, signed unread by Tory members, says so.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are other fees, and more are expected to come to light, of course: just for writing the Hub business case they earned <span style="color: red;"><b>£31,928</b></span>. Kerrching!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh, but ... what's this invoice, billed to some unknown company? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b>'Hendon Hub Heritage Advice'? </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">"<i>This SPIR is for the Provision of Heritage advice on a Masterplan Proposal that includes a number of listed properties in the Townscape, from Pre-planning to full Planning approval and discharge of conditions </i>..." </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Two payments: one for <span style="color: red;"><b>£33,597</b></span> in October 2020 and a second one of <span style="color: red;"><b>£4,042</b></span> in January 2021. Paid to whom, I don't know. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">But how curious that apparently some sort of 'heritage advice' was paid for in October and in January, but <b>no</b> consultation took place with Historic England until residents told them about the Hub, and no meeting took place until June, less than a month before P&R! Perhaps the advice was along the lines of '<i>don't</i> <i>tell Historic England about these plans, & hope no one grasses you up in the meanwhile</i>?'</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here is the most important thing to remember, however, and perhaps even some of our more dopey Tory members have not grasped this yet. Capita's best interests are not so much in seeing through so called regeneration and development plans to the moment of construction, but in the course of the very process of encouraging and managing development proposals, from which they extract fees. Look at the millions already chiselled out of the Brent Cross Cricklewood plans, plans which may never end in anything like the vision worked up so many years ago. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Capita has come to Barnet with a list of development opportunities which it is pursuing with grim determination, regardless of the impact on our communities of what is now seemingly an unstoppable process of overdevelopment - on an epidemic scale. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Barnet's Tory councillors are of course pro-development: several work in this area, or in services connected with it - and many are landlords. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Although some effort is being made by the more politically astute development pushers in the council to hide behind a pretence of giving residents things they don't need, such as a new library in Finchley Central (which mysteriously still has no 'Library' sign attached to it, presumably so as to deter use) or apparently socially benevolent plans such as the Finchley Memorial 'Homes for Heroes', presented so as to justify the confiscation of community green space for a load of ugly blocks that will almost certainly end up on the open market, rather than for the 'key workers' they claim will live there.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Hendon Hub they thought gave them an excuse to push development in a Conservation area under the guise of providing something Middlesex Uni didn't need, ie student accommodation for which there was no real call, pre Brexit and pre Covid, and certainly is not now. Interesting to see Cllr Gabriel Rozenberg ask a question which revealed there was effectively nothing to stop these blocks becoming residential properties, should the plans prove unviable. What a surprise!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the meanwhile, in Hendon, residents are fighting back: a well organised and funded campaign group is already engaged in a legal challenge of the proposed development. Letters before action have been sent, earlier in the summer. The response, which appeared only at the very last moment, claimed, preposterously, that any challenge focused on the SPD plan for the area is premature, as the SPD 'has not been approved' ...</span></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yes, you may be perplexed by this. It was of course approved by a Tory majority on July 20th, at the Policy and Resources committee, and the following week's Full Council. If this is their best effort, well ... campaigners are on to a winner.</span></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">More games are reportedly being played with local Hendon stakeholders, as noted on the Hendon campaigners' Facebook group: </span></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Times;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: georgia;"><i><div>Mid-consultation, “in response to our feedback”, some of the student units in the giant new buildings on The Burroughs were reallocated for social housing. </div><div> </div><div>The general public were told it was for nurses and independent living for young adults. </div><div><br /></div><div>The African Cultural Centre was told it was for disadvantaged young “BAME” people.</div><div> </div><div>Some Jewish residents have been told it’s for an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish charity who provide housing for people with special needs and large housing units for extended families.</div><div> </div><div>Which are we to believe, if any?</div></i></span></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">None of it, is my guess.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CJ1VLel0quk/YVCZxb8jGgI/AAAAAAAAO0Q/ArxVKsaYugEL0W6B2SGgiF73_SqjEYpPwCLcBGAsYHQ/s240/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-09-26%2Bat%2B15.38.09.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="239" data-original-width="240" height="318" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CJ1VLel0quk/YVCZxb8jGgI/AAAAAAAAO0Q/ArxVKsaYugEL0W6B2SGgiF73_SqjEYpPwCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h318/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-09-26%2Bat%2B15.38.09.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Hendon campaigners been there, seen that - and produced some T shirts: now you can help by donating to the legal challenge fund <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/hendon-residents-v-barnet-council">here</a>. Above, Gabbie Asher</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Now here in Finchley there is a rather puzzling new nonsultation on the question of whether residents like me would like to see a new 'public square' in our high street. Doesn't that sound lovely? Let's have a look at the plans. You know, the details, the small print etc ... oh: is that a whiff of sulphur? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Now where in Finchley, you might ask, could we have a public square, and what would we use it for? Protests against an oppressive authority, perhaps? Think Place de la Concorde, or Tiananmen Square, or even Trafalgar Square, poll tax riots, etc. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">No. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">'To create an inclusive space'. Ah. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Healthy and green. Ok ... quite a challenge, in that location ... </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">And of course with 'a regular market offer'. Marvellous. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">An inclusive space. Market 'offer'. Sounds good.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Except that the place that Capita and chums are thinking of is outside Tesco, and maybe across the road from Tesco. Well yes, with the ceaseless, toxic traffic of Ballards Lane running through it: displacing the shelter 'offer' depended on by Finchley's desperate homeless citizens, and the pigeon feeding station, and the fag break area used by employees at the offices above Tesco and oh: hang on.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">The offices above Tesco ... remember that presentation that Capita officers were obliged to make, a couple of summers ago, for Finchley residents, at which there were helpful lists of the 'development opportunities' they had identified in our area, swiftly whisked away and never seen again? To my astonishment, yes, hidden in the detail, had been a proposal to build on and around Tescos, more unaffordable housing. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dSCIJ42Z6nk/YRljNmkPIJI/AAAAAAAAOz8/vB2vxK4Lyu8Qo7m5PNgrXv3djdgzIqppQCLcBGAsYHQ/s667/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-08-15%2Bat%2B19.54.37.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="556" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dSCIJ42Z6nk/YRljNmkPIJI/AAAAAAAAOz8/vB2vxK4Lyu8Qo7m5PNgrXv3djdgzIqppQCLcBGAsYHQ/w334-h400/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-08-15%2Bat%2B19.54.37.png" width="334" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Bla bla bla: a photo taken of an uncharacteristically quiet Ballards Lane shows the location proposed for an alleged 'town square' ... with a busy road in the middle, surrounded by all the new development they forgot to mention ...</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">And hidden in the latest nonsultation is a clue as to how they will pay for the unasked for act of generosity in providing a supposed 'town square' that will be nothing of the sort. In fact it is so well hidden, I can't find it again. Suffice it to say that the 'infill' development of Finchley is the price you will be expected to pay for this nonsense. Who knew? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Me.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Well: ok. Infill my neighbourhood, regardless of Conservation areas, or local history, or listed buildings, or the hard won character of our suburbs. Build on my community open space. Sell off part of my park and shove up a block of flats. Ignore the real housing needs of residents, especially those who are disadvantaged, or social tenants: ship them off to Peterborough. Throw bucketloads of my council tax at Capita, while you do it. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Problem is that you can allow a privatised planning service to push the destruction of our built heritage only just so far. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is a tipping point, which we have now reached, and passed, where the political impact of such policy begins to turn voters that Barnet Tories need to stay in power against them. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">The uprising over the Hendon Hub folly is the most obvious example of this: as we have seen, previously loyal Tory voters have had enough, and are not taking it any more. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">In Barnet the truly awful Gas Works proposals are having the same effect, even though they are in the less Tory loyalist part of the constituency. Fortunately fellow blogger Mr Reasonable has been helping the residents' <a href="http://www.newbarnet.org.uk/">campaign</a> to fight the latest, awful plans, in which the few social tenants will be shoved next to the railway track with windows that won't open, and obliged to pay for air conditioning for their overheated rooms. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">More information<a href="http://www.newbarnet.org.uk/documents/publicity/snbnewsletter26sep21.pdf"> here</a>: there is still time to object to this awful development: it's not that people think there should be no housing built here, it is a question of the density of the units proposed, which will unload a huge extra burden on the local schools and health care services - and the low standard of design, tiny apartments to maximise profit.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">In Edgware, another mass development is planned (and will surround the neglected, listed Railway Hotel, recently having suffered the third fire in six years). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">In North Finchley Capita are pushing yet another faux regeneration, backed by Barnet Tory leader, Dan Thomas, seen in a rare appearance <a href="https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/19603952.barnet-labour-criticises-north-finchley-town-centre-plans/">here</a>, in which they are plotting to flog off the 'refurbished' shrunken library, the Arts Depot, and two car parks to a developer, Regal London. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yes, <b>getting rid of another library</b>, after spending £14 million on cutting the service to shreds, under the guise of 'refurbishment'. It was always about this, biding time before they could point to carefully engineered declining use, directly the consequence of devaluing and undermining the library service, so they could flog off the sites. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JT58SrqOc2s/YVClfkCap8I/AAAAAAAAO0g/RyRb0gEnK1kcXzKO9hRZMIwDZs_BNv6gwCLcBGAsYHQ/s638/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-09-26%2Bat%2B17.51.39.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="638" data-original-width="473" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JT58SrqOc2s/YVClfkCap8I/AAAAAAAAO0g/RyRb0gEnK1kcXzKO9hRZMIwDZs_BNv6gwCLcBGAsYHQ/w296-h400/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-09-26%2Bat%2B17.51.39.png" width="296" /></a></div><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></i></div>North Finchley Library, 'refurbished' at vast public expense in 2017 - in fact robbed of its children's library - now to be flogged off by Barnet Tories</span></i><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Does it serve the best interests of residents and taxpayers, to sell off such community assets? Or is this all so as to increase the fees for Capita, and the profits of private developers? Yes. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Does it meet local housing need? No. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Recently a poll revealed that both Hendon and Chipping Barnet constituencies are at risk of being won by Labour. Finchley's fate hangs in the balance too, if and when the boundaries are redrawn. The sky is darkening: the inevitable storm moves ever closer.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Barnet Tories have a chance now: call a stop to the pillaging of our borough by Capita and developers, and return to the people whose interests they are meant to represent the power to decide how their communities will be managed ... or continue on the road to perdition, and the end of their feckless administration, brought about entirely by their own hands. They won't, unless the faction that is pro development, to the point of weakening their own hold on power, is overcome by the few senior Tories who have more sense. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Relatively speaking, of course.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Watch this space.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s0hvOsh26UI/YVCbQtHsl-I/AAAAAAAAO0Y/jaR78phsEjQ-hsFEEPd_4EE83QYJsZk2gCLcBGAsYHQ/s449/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-09-26%2Bat%2B15.39.34.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="239" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s0hvOsh26UI/YVCbQtHsl-I/AAAAAAAAO0Y/jaR78phsEjQ-hsFEEPd_4EE83QYJsZk2gCLcBGAsYHQ/w213-h400/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-09-26%2Bat%2B15.39.34.png" width="213" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Hendon campaigner Hayley Blitz</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><br /></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-53023635453792566982021-05-18T19:29:00.001+01:002021-05-19T10:33:41.307+01:00Countdown to failure, for Barnet Tories, and Casting the Net: a Week in Broken Barnet<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-llYCJ1zxh4s/YKQEXM6TU4I/AAAAAAAAOyA/K1kE2bqOkqEiOWLQ4KoXGc2BgpB1nhH4gCLcBGAsYHQ/s914/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-05-18%2Bat%2B19.14.43.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="914" height="470" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-llYCJ1zxh4s/YKQEXM6TU4I/AAAAAAAAOyA/K1kE2bqOkqEiOWLQ4KoXGc2BgpB1nhH4gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h470/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-05-18%2Bat%2B19.14.43.png" width="640" /></a></div><i><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Labour Cllr Anne Clarke, AM</span></i></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>As predicted, the recent London Assembly elections saw Roberto Weeden Sanz, the Tory candidate for Barnet and Camden, soundly beaten by Labour's Anne Clarke, and we also waved a fond goodbye to no hoper Shaun Bailey, who stood against Sadiq Khan for Mayor of London. </span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anne Clarke deserved to win: she is a remarkably intelligent, hardworking, dedicated and conscientious advocate for her council ward of Childs Hill, and is known for her hands on approach to community work.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Roberto Weeden Sanz did not deserve to win, for several reasons: first and foremost the fact that he chose as mentor for his campaign the disgraced former Tory councillor and AM Brian Coleman. Yes, it appears local Tories have quietly allowed him back into the party, despite his history which includes, as fellow blogger Roger Tichborne reminds us <a href="http://barneteye.blogspot.com/2021/05/senior-barnet-tory-launches-sexist.html">today</a>, a conviction for the assault in the street of a woman, cafe owner Helen Michael: you can see the footage and a report of the trial <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2013/05/brian-coleman-end-of-line-trial-in.html">here</a>.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Weeden Sanz, on his twitter profile, boasts that he is a 'White Ribbon' Ambassador. As you can see on their <a href="https://www.whiteribbon.org.uk/ambassadors-and-champions">website</a>, this honour is supposed to be held by men who pledge to be a positive male role model, "working with us to change the cultures that lead to violence against women".</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Barnet Tories never apologised to Helen Michael for the assault, or for not believing her account of the attack, even after the court footage was published and she was proven to be telling the truth. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Another truth is that a lack of respect for women is deeply embedded in the core of the Barnet Tory group. They amended the council constitution a few years ago to ensure the Chairs of any committee were to be referred to as 'Chairmen', even if chaired by a woman. One of the few women in the group, long serving councillor Joan Scannell, when viciously deselected by them after years of loyal service, made a speech at her </span><a href="https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2018/03/on-scrapheap-barnet-tories-fall-apart.html" style="font-family: georgia;">last meeting</a><span style="font-family: georgia;">, accusing them of misogyny. And that the spokesperson for their group on the issue of violence against women is a man, rather than a woman, is only to be expected.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">It was Coleman himself who stupidly let the cat out of the bag: after rumours that he was back in the party and coaching Weeden Sanz for a glorious victory in the Assembly elections, he could not resist answering criticism of his pupil's non attendance at two hustings events by claiming 'they' were too busy: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LNgGbp_oNno/YKPzQvvzXSI/AAAAAAAAOx4/Si9cqbY7S7MnRiB7tZFHDCCWRxl-2e7-ACLcBGAsYHQ/s230/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-05-18%2Bat%2B17.55.42.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="87" data-original-width="230" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LNgGbp_oNno/YKPzQvvzXSI/AAAAAAAAOx4/Si9cqbY7S7MnRiB7tZFHDCCWRxl-2e7-ACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-05-18%2Bat%2B17.55.42.png" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">His account was immediately locked, no doubt under orders from local Tories. Too late. And lo and behold, the woman whom Coleman tries to insult by calling her 'the Cricklewood Housewife' was duly elected to the London Assembly.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">At the count, Weeden Sanz was accompanied by the Tory group leader Dan Thomas - and Brian Coleman. And there you have it: the absolute inability of Barnet Tories to move into the 21st century, accept that women, even those Coleman once referred to as 'old hags', even housewives in NW2 - have won the right to vote, the right to be elected to office - and the right to respect.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aJN36bWorxs/YKQFF3SxzXI/AAAAAAAAOyI/z1uDbmzCTOI10vjVNhYqqdIMHmomfRJQwCLcBGAsYHQ/s601/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-05-18%2Bat%2B19.18.02.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="601" height="318" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aJN36bWorxs/YKQFF3SxzXI/AAAAAAAAOyI/z1uDbmzCTOI10vjVNhYqqdIMHmomfRJQwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h318/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-05-18%2Bat%2B19.18.02.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">One immediate effect of the Labour victory was to serve as a warning to local Tory MPs not to take for granted the idea that their own seats were safe, or that next year's local elections would not be a hard contest. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Not such a surprise, therefore, that last Thursday's online nonsultation event with the promoters of the highly controversial Hendon Hub saw Hendon MP Matthew Offord not only in virtual attendance - at one point his voice heard faintly over the ether, like a long dead uncle, drowned at sea, being channelled at a seance - at last speaking out in solidarity with the multitude of residents objecting to the monstrous development that is proposed for not one, but two Conservation Areas. He now has to catch up with Anne Clarke and Labour's Sara Conway, also present , and who have been listening to residents since it was first mooted.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">This event was well attended, with more than 80 online participants, including, I noted with amusement, the consultants who had told me no one knew how big the alleged new library would be, because it hadn't really been designed: and then I received the information that didn't exist via a separate FOI request, which was ... curious.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">The plotters are now claiming to listen to residents and to have modified the plans. Well: yes we are still expected to put up with hideous seven storey blocks in the Conservation areas, and watch them knock our listed library to pieces, but .... they <i>might</i> only accommodate 600 students instead of 800, and they <i>might</i> have a token gesture of a small amount of 'affordable housing' and they <i>might</i> not move the PDSA base to the other side of the borough, and they <i>might</i> find room for the local police Safer Neighbourhood team (no, not more police resources, just a room). They <i>might</i>. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anyone who has followed the pattern of major developments in Barnet in the years of Capita knows that non binding promises ain't worth the paper they're not written on, and even conditions granted as part of Planning Permission can be helpfully modified by officers later, if the poor developer, cap in hand, and handkerchief to his tear soaked cheeks, claims that his development will no longer be viable if the nasty spoilsport councillors insist on his providing affordable housing or money for so called community projects that no one needs. Such as was suggested here: new park entrances (why?) and tarting up Brent Street (how?)! Whoopee! </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Also funny was watching the contortions they were obliged to assume - we are '<i>casting the net</i>', they assured us - in order to try to explain why, despite planning officers being in communication with Historic England, in regard to the local plan and SDP, and Historic England telling them off for not mentioning in the draft the limitations necessary in Conservation areas for the protection of heritage buildings, the developers knew NOTHING about this and had NOTHING to do with it. Erm.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Capita jointly owns Capita Re, which runs planning in Barnet.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Capita owns GL Hearn, who are running the Hendon Hub nonsultation.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">In fact, until I contacted them, Historic England knew NOTHING about the Hendon Hub proposals, even though clearly it presents a direct and serious threat to dozens of listed buildings, and two Conservation areas, and even though the development plans have been in the making since at least June 2019, when the plan was accidentally published with committee papers, and hastily removed, too late, and even though the Hub proposals breach the limitation Historic England has put on multi storey buildings in the area, despite Capita Barnet forgetting to include this in the draft SDP. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Got that? Read it again.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Funniest of all was the running commentary on the group chat to which furious residents were contributing, with great enthusiasm, and which, as the consultants reminded them sternly, should be made remembering that they would be Noted as Part of the Nonsultation. Good. Probably the consultants won't want to look at them again without wearing dark glasses or taking sedation.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Offord - who lives in the area - would be a complete fool if he ignored the strength and scale of objection to this idiotic proposal. Hendon is regarded as a Tory area, but in these strange times there is no longer such a thing as a safe seat: and what Capita and developers are trying to push through here is effectively the imposition of a modern day campus on not only a residential area, but also a sensitive historic area, with a rich abundance of built heritage - and archaeology. The impact of these totally unviable plans would be unimaginable. The impact on core Tory voters would be unprecedented. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">In fact this is a pattern now emerging all over the Borough, and all three MPs must be aware, as should the Tory council group. By allowing Barnet to be an 'open city' for developers, through their privatised planning and regeneration services, they are alienating their own natural born voters, outraged at the scale of overdevelopment, and the impotence of usually tame Tory ward members & MPs in doing anything to stop it.</span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yt81pNInHcQ/YKQF0ZVVMYI/AAAAAAAAOyQ/uir4xrgVzY4G4nHuy-EXG_KRJWFJ0bBKwCLcBGAsYHQ/s701/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-05-18%2Bat%2B19.21.09.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="701" height="341" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yt81pNInHcQ/YKQF0ZVVMYI/AAAAAAAAOyQ/uir4xrgVzY4G4nHuy-EXG_KRJWFJ0bBKwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h341/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-05-18%2Bat%2B19.21.09.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Coming to a Conservation area near you soon: the Hendon Hub development, courtesy @barnettories</i></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I think it's fair to say that on Thursday night, the promoters of this plan, including representatives of Middlesex University, looked astonished at the vehemence and articulation of those who are expected to live with the heart torn out of their neighbourhood. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Capita will continue to make a profit from the process of consultation and preparation, whether or not the plans are ever put in place. Middlesex Uni and local politicians have to live with the consequences. And if they think the outcome is not going to be an absolute disaster for all concerned, they have made a bad miscalculation. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Watch this space.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-74199072777847789822021-04-28T14:13:00.000+01:002021-04-28T14:13:02.517+01:00Hubble Bubble: More toil and trouble in Hendon - Historic England sidelined by the Hub developers<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9tA6F4BIX2w/YIlAxAJwC0I/AAAAAAAAOuA/HdqjhbwgxgQ4TLu207PvGgduHgM6xsMDwCLcBGAsYHQ/s627/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-28%2Bat%2B11.57.46.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="517" data-original-width="627" height="528" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9tA6F4BIX2w/YIlAxAJwC0I/AAAAAAAAOuA/HdqjhbwgxgQ4TLu207PvGgduHgM6xsMDwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h528/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-28%2Bat%2B11.57.46.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">St Mary's Church, Hendon, by Alan Sorrell, 1937</span></i><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Almost every day now, a new revelation about the Hendon Hub development emerges from the shadows. Today's story is about the heritage and conservation issues which are so central - or should be - to the consultation process that is required for such proposals. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last week I wrote to Historic England with my concerns about the threat posed by the Hendon Hub plan to the two Conservation Areas in the Burroughs and Church End, Hendon, and the plan to demolish all but the facade of the listed Hendon Library.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">To my astonishment, a prompt response informed me that they knew nothing of these proposals.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This was despite the fact that they had, as recently as February, been in communication with Barnet about the associated local SPD plan - the draft plan of the Burroughs and Middlesex University Planning Framework Supplementary Planning Document. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">They forwarded a copy of the letter sent to Barnet, in which they highlighted the fact that the SPD did not sufficiently address matters of heritage and conservation. Here is the summary of points made:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Y6JxgeuSlM/YIgzBSO3J_I/AAAAAAAAOto/jH4Hayt5M6MN4YR1qqEKARxu_zmBw6_GwCLcBGAsYHQ/s636/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-27%2Bat%2B16.49.10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="636" height="386" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Y6JxgeuSlM/YIgzBSO3J_I/AAAAAAAAOto/jH4Hayt5M6MN4YR1qqEKARxu_zmBw6_GwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h386/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-27%2Bat%2B16.49.10.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2AX2hSqoXJ8/YIgzQQPooaI/AAAAAAAAOts/8cjdsjpoHFcMjkUHOSYYfvW1Q5Zx7rmHwCLcBGAsYHQ/s635/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-27%2Bat%2B16.49.35.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="465" data-original-width="635" height="468" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2AX2hSqoXJ8/YIgzQQPooaI/AAAAAAAAOts/8cjdsjpoHFcMjkUHOSYYfvW1Q5Zx7rmHwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h468/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-27%2Bat%2B16.49.35.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">This letter was sent on the 22nd February to a senior Capita Re planning policy officer, from an Historic Environment Planning Adviser. Yet Historic England were not told about the massive development in the conservation areas for which the process of public consultation - the nonsultation - would begin only four days later: and HE knew nothing about the plans until I wrote last week. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">My spies tell me that Historic England has now contacted Barnet/Capita Re to discuss the proposals.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Let's take another look at this letter. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">You will note that it criticises the inclusion of 'Key Opportunity Sites'. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">These are sites Capita has identified for development potential. In the draft SPD, significantly, there are no less than 67 references to development - and only 11 references to conservation. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Proof, if any were needed, that Capita's management of planning in this borough, even in the heart of this uniquely sensitive historic area, is deliberately prioritised, not as you would expect, so as to preserve the built heritage, but in order to identify potentially lucrative sites for development, from which the company will benefit financially, not least in terms of contractual fees.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">These plans have been known about since at least June 2019, when a resident raised questions about it at a committee meeting, after the council accidentally published information which should have been exempt, and let the cat out of the bag. They refused to answer his questions. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">But what this means is that the covert plot to push a massive development into the heart of the two conservation areas has been a long time in the making. And yet they had not consulted Historic England, even as they were obliged to discuss the draft SDP with them. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It is also significant that the draft SDP has been criticised by HE for preparing the way for what we now know had already been designed for the Hub, ie high rise buildings - the ugly and obtrusive student accommodation blocks, up to seven storeys high - buildings absolutely out of character with the surrounding historic area, which boasts a large range of early eighteenth century buildings, a thousand year old parish church, with possible Saxon origins, and a Norman font; a group of almshouses, and the Grade II* listed seventeenth century Church Farmhouse, as well as two other churches, and several listed early twentieth century buildings - including the Library.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dUt-TpfjT6g/YIlBXdv1k3I/AAAAAAAAOuI/EEp9Wn5J-QAdUZZ2MspXvhyrMp8t1YrJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s636/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-27%2Bat%2B18.40.47.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="636" height="347" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dUt-TpfjT6g/YIlBXdv1k3I/AAAAAAAAOuI/EEp9Wn5J-QAdUZZ2MspXvhyrMp8t1YrJQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h347/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-27%2Bat%2B18.40.47.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><i><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Proposed high rise, crashingly inappropriate buildings in a low rise Conservation Area </span></i><p></p><p><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The impact of the Hub development clearly would be profoundly detrimental, adversely affecting the natural context of the Burroughs and the Church End conservation areas in so many ways - and leaving residents trapped in a virtual campus.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The plan to demolish all but the facade of Hendon Library, even thought it is a listed building, is in itself of course a hugely controversial proposal - and even the slightest alteration to a listed building, let alone one this radical, must be agreed with Historic England. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">How have the plans got this far, with no approach to them? And why?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In any other development, the plans for such a sensitive area would have been formed <i>after</i> discussion with heritage advisers. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here we see our Tory councillors and their contractors trying to do their own thing, however, and in so doing, sideline Historic England, in their determination to see these ill begotten proposals through a farce of a consultation process, with only limited information given to residents, and crucial information withheld. Now we know that HE, which clearly is a hugely important 'stakeholder' has also been denied a role in this so called consultation. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is in addition, of course, the question of whether this plan is financially viable, grounds for objecting to the whole Hub proposal. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We are being nonsulted, without adequate information, only a heavily redacted business plan, and vague sounds about possible sources of cash for the £90 million costs. Costs which almost certainly will be much more than that. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Why do we need what we are told will be accommodation for 800 students, and why do we need them, several storeys high, in the centre of conservation areas? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Why not build in nearby Colindale, where there is already accommodation for Middlesex Uni - and no built heritage at risk? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Will they even be able to fill these halls, post Covid, and post Brexit? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Or is this just a wheeze to get approval for planning approval in this area, which will slowly morph into yet another highly profitable luxury housing development?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is an election in a few days time. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">If Tory activists come knocking on your door, between now and then, I would suggest that you ask them why it is that developers and Capita, and not elected representatives, are running this borough. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And then vote for the Labour candidate and local library campaigner, Anne Clarke.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fP6a8KgFgSY/YIleBxcnTXI/AAAAAAAAOuQ/p1kvYX2xmzkMXnZx-ZglX_KcGXgB_OXwgCLcBGAsYHQ/s385/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-28%2Bat%2B14.06.08.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="385" height="398" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fP6a8KgFgSY/YIleBxcnTXI/AAAAAAAAOuQ/p1kvYX2xmzkMXnZx-ZglX_KcGXgB_OXwgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h398/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-28%2Bat%2B14.06.08.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-85019637776854795312021-04-24T19:56:00.003+01:002021-04-26T00:13:47.347+01:00Makerspaces and Make Believe: more on the Hendon Hub and the threat to Hendon's Listed Library<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nPip-PT8DPc/YIRoBDaDIrI/AAAAAAAAOtQ/SSEWJr9PZ9wDzE1JRNHo-YbMBnwxILpAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s929/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-24%2Bat%2B19.44.54.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="929" height="368" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nPip-PT8DPc/YIRoBDaDIrI/AAAAAAAAOtQ/SSEWJr9PZ9wDzE1JRNHo-YbMBnwxILpAQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h368/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-24%2Bat%2B19.44.54.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Hendon Library</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">More news on the story of the Hendon Hub, and Barnet Tories' plan to help Middlesex University turn the most historic part of Hendon into what will effectively be a campus site, regardless of the impact on residents, and regardless of the impact on the unique and highly sensitive character of the area, and its built heritage. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Why Tory members and their privatised planning and regeneration services, run by Capita, feel it is appropriate to seek to impose such an incongruous proposed development in the heart of not one but two Conservation areas is impossible to understand - or would be if we had not already experienced years of seeing developers being given a free run in this borough, and the planning system being allowed to become entirely focused on creating and promoting development for the benefit of developers, and Capita, rather than local need.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In this case, the Hendon Hub plans are being created by the same bodies that will decide whether or not planning permission will be given. Yes, a massive conflict of interest, you might think - compounded by further conflicts within the council and the local planning process itself. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Beyond that point, however, there are - theoretically at least - external safeguards which should review any approval - and then of course there is the judicial system, through which legal challenges may be made.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Residents are determined to fight these proposals, in whatever form is necessary, because so many feel totally excluded from what should be a fair and open process of consultation. Enter the Hendon Residents' Planning Forum: a group of highly focused local figures, whose spokesperson is Brad Blitz, Professor of International Politics and Policy at UCL's Institute of Education, and Visiting Professor at the Institute of Global Affairs, at LSE.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This time, Barnet Tories & their chums have picked on the wrong people. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I can reveal that the Forum has already begun a process of engagement with the UN's 'Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee' to report what it believes is a failure in consultation by the London Borough of Barnet in regard to the Hendon Hub plans.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The UK is bound by the terms of the Aarhus Convention, which is meant to safeguard the rights of citizens to the disclosure of information, meaningful participation and access to justice, in any decision making process which has an impact on their environment, either nationally or locally. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It is too early to proceed with a full submission, but the Forum will be pursuing the matter once the appropriate moment arrives: and to show how seriously this move has been taken, we can report that representatives of the UK government, as well as LB Barnet, have already been required to take part in the preliminary stages of the process.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">That this UN committee takes very seriously the principle of meaningful participation in consultation and decision making is evidenced by a recent <a href="https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/ece_mp.pp_c.1_2021_6_e.pdf">ruling</a>, sought by Kazakhstan, as to how such consultations should proceed during Covid. The outcome of the Committee's considerations was clear: </span></p><p><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">" ... <i>any shortcomings in ensuring </i></span><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">effective public participation in decision-making under the Convention during the pandemic </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">may be subject to challenge by members of the public in accordance with the provisions of </span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>article 9 of the Convention</i>."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Local residents are not going to keep quiet about this issue, and nor should they. Apart from the threat to two highly sensitive Conservation areas of these utterly crass proposals, and the virtual destruction of a listed Library, the refusal to hold meaningful consultation, or to disclose the full details of what such plans entail, is clearly a failure which must be addressed. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">You may recall that over the last couple of years, by coincidence the period in which development has reached a peak in this borough, Barnet Tories have made concerted efforts to change the authority's Constitution, so as to remove many of the rights of participation that residents had always had, such as being able to submit questions to councillors at committee meetings and Residents' Forums. Tory members took these rights away, restricting the number of questions to only two at any meeting, regardless of the importance and scale of the issue. This was despite the One Barnet Judicial Review finding in which, although lost through being out of time, the judgement was that consultation had been inadequate. Since then the ability to scrutinise council actions has been even more curtailed - which will be a useful argument in future JRs. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The irony of Kazakhstan being more acutely aware of the need to safeguard the rights of public participation in decision making than the burghers of Broken Barnet hardly needs spelling out. Yes, this is Tory Barnet, rather than Borat. Just about.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of the criticisms made by residents of the so called consultation in regard to both the local SDP and the Hendon Hub plans is that the proposals fail to give sufficient detail to be able to engage in an informed way. Clearly pushing this through during Covid and lockdown has restricted access to the process itself, but the would be developers have also restricted access to information in several ways: overly redacted reports, only a handful of strictly limited Zoomed presentations, where onlookers cannot ask questions, and so on.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">One example of a crucial lack of information is the case of the proposed new library, which is supposedly meant to replace the Grade II listed building, built in 1929, and which was, before Tory cuts slashed it to pieces, the central library for the Borough - until their meddling, it was the busiest branch in the service. This magnificent building they propose to demolish, other than the facade: t</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">he back of the building is not listed, so they intend to knock that out in order to cannibalise the library carcass, and </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">integrate what is left into a brand new development for Middlesex University. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LwX_7MXPODU/YIRoYiE44lI/AAAAAAAAOtY/SYAH-OHNcHk2vSwQMFD46juHuWB6KiKWACLcBGAsYHQ/s431/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-24%2Bat%2B19.42.31.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="295" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LwX_7MXPODU/YIRoYiE44lI/AAAAAAAAOtY/SYAH-OHNcHk2vSwQMFD46juHuWB6KiKWACLcBGAsYHQ/w438-h640/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-24%2Bat%2B19.42.31.png" width="438" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Hendon Library - pic courtesy RIBA archives</i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As well as being part of the Hendon Hub Nonsultation, a separate exercise specifically about the new library proposals was launched, with questions suggesting that residents could have a 'state of the art' new branch, with all sorts of new functions and services offered as well as a replacement library, Archives and Local Studies centre, study areas and community space. Their own information boards promise:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>By making use of the development</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>opportunity, the library service will be</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>able to:</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>• Expand the library offer – for example,</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>potentially creating ‘Makerspaces’ where</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>children and adults can learn how to use</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>creative technologies like 3D printers,</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>or spaces where community partners</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>can deliver services such as job clubs or</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>health advice ...</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And all of this in one small space, shoved in the bottom of a student accommodation block, on the site of parking spaces, opposite the Town Hall?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Really?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Well, could we be told exactly how big the area in the ground floor of the student block will be, so we can engage in this so called consultation, with some sort of point of reference? We could not.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">One resident attempted to ask for the capacity measurements, via the Hub 'helpline'. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">She <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-teardrop-explodes.html">was told</a> that these figures do not exist, because the building has not been designed yet. According to the architect, who had not yet drawn up plans. Nor did they know how big the site was. Early days, see? Just some vague idea scribbled on the back of a packet of fags.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Well: not being minded to believe such tosh, I made a Freedom of Information request for the measurements which do not exist - and guess what? They forwarded the measurements which do not exist.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Response Information request (ref: 7180100)</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Please tell me the size and capacity of the new 'teardrop shaped' student building that is intended to be built on the old council car park, opposite the Town Hall.</span></p><p><i><span style="color: #45818e;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Please note that design is at an early stage and plans that may well change for a variety </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">of reasons before any construction might begin. They are also subject to the planning </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">application process, at which stage they would be publicly consulted on in a final form. </span></span></i><i style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;">At this point in the design process the following information is relevant:-</i></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>• At the base of the building (the teardrop element) the length (at the longest point</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>of the Library) is 40m</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>• The width of the building ground level is currently 30.5m</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>• The general diameter of the circular element at ground level is currently 28m</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>• The height of the building is currently 16.15m</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>• The diameter of the rotunda at the upper levels is currently (floors 1-3) is 32m</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>stepping back to 27.7m at the upper level (4 th Floor)</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>• The capacity is currently 110 student accommodation rooms plus the ground</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>floor library element (see below)</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Please give me a copy of the physical dimensions of the ground floor, and the</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">metric capacity.</span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>As above. The teardrop currently has the following dimensions:-</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>• The Gross Internal Area of the Library at Ground floor is currently 657 sqm with a</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>further 173 sqm potentially at a lower ground level (830 sqm total)</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>• The footprint area of the building at ground level 847sqm which includes Library,</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>cores, circulation, storage and back of house areas.</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Please give full measurements of the size of the site on which the new 'teardrop'</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">building is going to be placed.</span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>The teardrop building sits on the combined Parade / Carpark site which is 2200 sqm in</i></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>size.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Now then. On Page 22 of the (redacted) Business Plan, we are told:</span></p><p><i><span style="color: #45818e;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The new facility will provide c. 200 sqm of additional gross internal space </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">compared to the current 622 sqm GIA library provision.</span></span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We know now, however, that t</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">he promised additional 200 sqm will only happen if another basement level is added. And that would just bring the capacity up to the size of the minimal library space left in the original building after the cuts. Not including Archives & all the many other new functions they claim to be offering.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So: not only does this prove that crucial information was deliberately withheld from the Nonsultation, but that the 'Helpline' was misleading residents - and the proposed space, as suspected, is simply not big enough to offer anything like the range of services they say they want to offer - let alone represent a reasonably sized replacement for what was once a magnificent library.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In other words, they are taking residents for fools, and the so called consultation itself might reasonably be considered to be a farce. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">My own view is that the proposed new library is unlikely ever to be anything other than a temporary replacement, in the Portacabin, and will probably never move into a new space, as it will be at some future date considered to be a non-viable part of the plans and dropped. If it does move, then it will be on a temporary basis that can easily be revoked. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The history of developments in Barnet, ever since the West Hendon fiasco, is that over time, commitments to community benefits or affordable housing are discreetly removed, on the pretext of the project no longer being on line to meet the developer's targets - profits. Agreements to allow this are recommended by planning officers, rubber stamped by Tory weighted committees. There is every reason to expect the same may happen here, in some form.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Looking at the business plan for the Hub - or rather what little of it we are allowed to see - it is impossible to see how it was viable before Brexit, and Covid. At the point where we are now, it is not. Middlesex University, like all other universities, will now face significant financial challenges, and risks being unable to pay the returns Barnet Council expects as its part of the deal for brokering the loan to support the development. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">You might wonder why a local authority, in such unprecedented times, feels the need to act as a developer, with all the risk it entails, rather than restrict its ambitions to balancing the books, and providing an adequate standard of services to residents and taxpayers. They claim the plans will 'only' cost £90 million: this is highly likely to be a very (Barnet) conservative underestimate. And if it goes wrong, and the debt is not repaid by the development, who pays? You and me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">If permission is given for the Hendon Hub, but the university backs out, will the development shapeshift into yet another collection of luxury housing blocks rather than student accommodation?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">If Tory councillors really want a state of the art library in Hendon, why did they spend what we were told was half a million pounds of public money, tearing the heart out of the old building, and decimating the size of the library area, in order to suit the needs of Middlesex University? * Who will repay that? This was done on the pretext that a decent library was no longer needed in the area: so why would they now pretend it is? Do you trust the Tories, after what they have done to our libraries? To our borough?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">(* <i>In fact the contractors' <a href="https://www.bjfgroup.co.uk/projects/hendon-library/">website</a> says it was a project worth £700,000 ...</i>)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XrTWgg2VtMA/YIRoyt_0XAI/AAAAAAAAOtg/3SLPhWNnCYEcdTY_xQQFgl9aF7YFUgohACLcBGAsYHQ/s432/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-24%2Bat%2B19.42.06.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="296" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XrTWgg2VtMA/YIRoyt_0XAI/AAAAAAAAOtg/3SLPhWNnCYEcdTY_xQQFgl9aF7YFUgohACLcBGAsYHQ/w438-h640/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-24%2Bat%2B19.42.06.png" width="438" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Hendon Library - pic courtesy RIBA archives</i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of their own local Hendon councillors objects to the proposal, which is brave of her, because she will be shunned by them, if she continues to stick her neck out. But she knows how important the library is to the local community, and that residents do not want the ugly and intrusive buildings allowed in the conservation areas.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">'Save Barnet Libraries' is a local residents' campaign group that has fought for years to try to block Barnet Tories' unceasing assault on our public library service. They have now issued an open letter to Barnet residents and library users: </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><i>Dear Library Lovers</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span style="color: #e69138;">We write to ask for your support for Hendon library: the Grade II listed building faces demolition (apart from protected features) while the library will move to modular buildings, i.e. portacabins, on a car park. Due to move in October 2021, there will be “reduced service” for two to three years while the massive £90m Hendon Hub development proceeds. Eventually, the library will be sited on the ground floor of a new block of student accommodation opposite the Town Hall.</span></i></span></p><p><i><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Will the new library ever be built? The full business case for the development isn’t yet published and, when it is, the public will be prevented from proper scrutiny, as with the Brent Cross fiasco. Currently, the plans are so non-committal that it is possible the new building will not even have planning permission before the existing library is demolished.</span></span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span style="color: #e69138;">The Council’s website offers “An outstanding new public library for Hendon, with more modern and improved services”. There are no concrete promises behind this; no commitment to additional investment in the library service. The Council’s own evaluation stated that the 2017 cuts to staffed hours had “gone too far” and resulted in the exclusion of key groups who depend on libraries: particularly children, users with disabilities and some older users. Prior to the cuts (including the removal of the historic children’s library), Hendon Library had been the most well-used branch in Barnet. </span></i></span></p><p><i><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Another Council “promise” needs unpicking: “The current Hendon Library is a beautiful building, but its maintenance and upkeep costs a lot of money that would be better spent on providing a modern library service.” Again, there is NO commitment to spend this money on the library service! In fact, in 2017, the last time the Council trumpeted library "refurbishment", it spent £500k on slicing up the building so it could be rented to Middlesex University (maintaining only 13% for library use). The £155k per year gained in rent hasn’t yet covered the outlay, but the purpose was clear: the library was an asset to be exploited, not a service to be supported and we believe this approach continues.</span></span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span style="color: #e69138;">We suspect, along with the newly formed resident’s group, Hendon Residents Planning Forum that the Hendon Hub is developer and Capita-led, reducing social housing while hoping for profit from privately-managed student dorms, as well as earning fees for processing the scheme. For more information see also Mrs Angry’s blog. Residents across Barnet must oppose these priorities or we may be left with facades and temporary libraries in place of heritage and community in other areas too.</span></i></span></p><p><i><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">PLEASE TAKE ACTION:</span></span></i></p><p><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><i>Sign and circulate this petition: <a href="https://www.change.org/p/barnet-council-last-chance-to-save-old-hendon-library?recruiter=48178792">https://www.change.org/p/barnet-council-last-chance-to-save-old-hendon-library?recruiter=48178792</a></i></span></p><p><i><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Respond to the Hendon Hub consultation on Hendon Hub | Delivering for Barnet - the deadline is 21 May 2021. Oppose the demolition and move of the library and the failure to invest in the service.</span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Library Service is running a separate survey about what residents want in the new library. We are concerned this presumes the outcome of other consultations, including the planning process. If you fill it in, please use the (limited) comment boxes to demand increased staffed hours, library space and resources, as the Council’s own evaluation recommended.</span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Please email your concerns to your local Councillors and to Reuben Thompstone, Chair of the Communities, Leadership and Library Committee on Cllr.r.thompstone@barnet.gov.uk and copy your email to us. Whether or not you live in Hendon, you can also email your MP as such a major development has implications for the library service and heritage buildings across the borough.</span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thank you for your support.</span></span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span style="color: #e69138;">Emily Burnham</span></i></span></p><p><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><i>On behalf of Save Barnet Libraries</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I would also suggest that residents write to raise their concerns about the threat to the listed Library and to the two Conservation areas with Historic England, which you can contact here:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="mailto:customers@HistoricEngland.org.uk">customers@HistoricEngland.org.uk</a> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are currently proposals, believe it or not, to <a href="https://www.savebritainsheritage.org/campaigns/item/710/PRESS-RELEASE-Bulldozers-threaten-Fleet-Street-in-City-of-London">demolish</a> and develop part of Fleet Street, despite being in a Conservation Area. Similarly to the context of the Hendon Hub proposals, the plans were both submitted by the City of London Corporation, and approved, this week, by the City of London Corporation. This highly controversial plan, however, is likely to continue to meet robust opposition - and Historic England has stated: </span></p><p><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: georgia;"><i>Major impacts such as this can progressively and fundamentally erode the character of a conservation area, and it is important to recognise therefore that moderate harm in the context of a large and highly significant conservation area is a very serious issue</i> ...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This principle clearly applies in the case of the Hendon Hub, and the proposed installation of a crassly designed campus development in the middle of an historic area, marked for conservation purposes for its wealth of early Georgian properties, and the number of unique, listed, early twentieth century civic buildings.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The time has come to stand up to fight those who are putting profit before the protection of our history, and our built heritage. If we do not oppose this now, soon not one listed building, nor any conservation area will be safe from the rapacious grasp of developers, both here in Barnet, and nationally. Please do what you can. And remember when you go to vote next month that the candidate who has a long history of supporting Barnet library campaigners is Labour's Anne Clarke.</span></p><p><br /></p>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-42212858931671256822021-03-30T19:35:00.002+01:002021-03-31T11:09:01.553+01:00The Teardrop Explodes: the new Hendon library that is, and is not<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YF0nsCwivN8/YGNnZ9lmTzI/AAAAAAAAOsY/w_3fN9wmUhk3hCZZI0aTX8nEmtojyjRMwCLcBGAsYHQ/s666/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-30%2Bat%2B18.59.34.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="666" height="542" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YF0nsCwivN8/YGNnZ9lmTzI/AAAAAAAAOsY/w_3fN9wmUhk3hCZZI0aTX8nEmtojyjRMwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h542/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-30%2Bat%2B18.59.34.png" width="640" /></a></div><i><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Above right: the new 'library' design, which has not been designed.</span></i><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Well then. A short update to the previous <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-boulevard-of-broken-dreams.html">post</a> on the Hendon Library fiasco.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As you know, the Broken Barnet web of informers spreads far and wide across the borough. And so we learn, via this network, of the experience of one resident attempting to contact the Hendon Hub consultation, in order to ask some very reasonable questions about the size of the fantasy new library alleged to be our Tory councillors' 'offer' in replacement for the listed, former flagship library next to the Town Hall. Which we know now they want to knock down.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We know now, from the careful investigation of local residents and campaigners, that not only do the plotters intend to try to demolish all but the facade of Hendon Library, but that rather than, as we thought, replace this with a purpose built 'state of the art' new library on the old council car park, it will merely consist of something shoved in the bottom of a block of student accommodation, on this site. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As you will have seen in the previous post, there are remarkably detailed, albeit carefully presented, illustrations of what the new buildings in the Burroughs would look like, if the plotters get their way, and there are images of the new student block which apparently will host a library on the ground floor. It is perfectly obvious that this new block is not huge, and is largely a rounded building, with restricted space. How much space? Doesn't say.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kkUi7mDfZ7g/YGNoZ17sEhI/AAAAAAAAOsg/6iaWfgZCcrQk-WUoQmZKTI4sqFtWwxvWQCLcBGAsYHQ/s645/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-30%2Bat%2B18.58.57.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="645" height="362" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kkUi7mDfZ7g/YGNoZ17sEhI/AAAAAAAAOsg/6iaWfgZCcrQk-WUoQmZKTI4sqFtWwxvWQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h362/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-30%2Bat%2B18.58.57.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">One curious resident, let's call her Mrs X, rang the Hub phoneline. No response. Ansaphone. Left a message asking someone to call her back with more information about the new library. Someone did call her back later that day to say - person didn't know anything much about it, but would ask. Oh. About this new building then ... Was it a completely round building? She was told no, it was in fact a 'teardrop' shape. Ah. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Rang back next day and told Mrs X that sadly, she couldn't give her 'any numbers', because everything was 'too early 'in the planning stages, and the architect didn't know, and of course it all depended on what people wanted to see in the library. It wouldn't be smaller than what we had (how could it be?).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So what is the measurement of the site? Surely that gives some indication of the size of the footprint of the new library, or at least the new building? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Mmm. Will have to go and ask about that.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">What about the size of the so called 'temporary' library? You've got a floor plan of that on the Hub Information Boards, after all, so you must have some idea of how big that is? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Will have to go and ask about that too.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RO56-WstjQk/YGNq4dGGffI/AAAAAAAAOsw/3v936qFWfi0IU2_gQZ4TMc-PdvJwnzw7gCLcBGAsYHQ/s650/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-30%2Bat%2B18.57.37.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="650" height="452" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RO56-WstjQk/YGNq4dGGffI/AAAAAAAAOsw/3v936qFWfi0IU2_gQZ4TMc-PdvJwnzw7gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h452/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-30%2Bat%2B18.57.37.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>The 'temporary' Portacabin library, designed, but not designed, and its size a mystery. The toilet bowls give some sense of the small scale, mind you ... the 'community room', & staff area, will seemingly be only three & a half times the size of the loos.</i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And, you know, pointed out Mrs X, you can't really run a consultation with residents on the basis of not providing basic information like the size of the library you say we can have. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">How can we be properly consulted if we don't know what is realistically achievable, in what seems to be an awfully small space for a library, a community space, areas for study and areas for new functions that you say might go in - as well as the Local Studies Centre and specialist storage space for archival material?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Helpline person said that more information, including size, would be released in the next round of ... information release. Oh. When? Mid May. After the elections, you mean? Yes. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Aha! You may be told how big your tiny new library will be, readers, but not until this explosive information won't upset the Tory voters, (well: too late for that ...) and equally significantly, only days before the consultations end ...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So: the architect has designed but not designed a building which may or may not fit the space intended for it, which is an awful gamble, isn't it? Still, as Tory library Chair Cllr Reuben Thompstone says <a href="https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/19122591.barnet-council-hendon-hub-plans-open-review/">here</a>, "The Hendon Hub project is a fantastic opportunity to improve our offer to Hendon residents ..." Our offer. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Fantastic</i>. In its truest sense.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The architect has not designed the new building they claim will accommodate the new library, and the design that does not exist, suitably, as we see below, is in the shape of a teardrop. Got that?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">A representation of the grief of the people of Hendon, for their lost, listed library, and the memory of their built heritage? Or is it, Councillor Thompstone, the teardrop slowly running down the cheek of Eileen Colwell, watched by new generations of children robbed by the Tory councillors of Broken Barnet of their right to a comprehensive and efficient library service, as guaranteed by the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Public Libraries and Museums Act, 1964?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OJI478Ls2gU/YGNo7SHnLXI/AAAAAAAAOso/am97CHxZus8g__Hkp8M4xSHUQDcSJLkxwCLcBGAsYHQ/s728/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-30%2Bat%2B18.56.54.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="728" height="354" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OJI478Ls2gU/YGNo7SHnLXI/AAAAAAAAOso/am97CHxZus8g__Hkp8M4xSHUQDcSJLkxwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h354/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-30%2Bat%2B18.56.54.png" width="640" /></a></div><i><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">When two teardrops collide: here we see the small size of the new library that is, and is not.</span></i><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The new building may or may not accommodate all the lovely things they are encouraging us to believe might be put there, if only they get planning permission. Similarly to the fantasy library which still stands, invisible to all but true believers, in the cursed landscape of North Finchley, it is a library, but not a library: it both exists, and does not exist. It is Schrodinger's Library, an eternal paradox, left dead and alive in a sealed box made by mad scientists in the Barnet Capita Laboratory of Broken Dreams. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In other words: this is not just any sort of consultation, readers, but a Barnet Tory consultation: a Nonsultation. Verging towards an Insultation. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Nevertheless: more than a thousand people have already signed the petition organised by residents determined to stop the demolition of the listed Hendon Library. If you haven't already done so, please sign <a href="https://www.change.org/p/barnet-council-last-chance-to-save-old-hendon-library?recruiter=48178792">here</a>.</span></p>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-80921979091751155752021-03-25T16:56:00.006+00:002021-04-11T13:58:09.634+01:00The Boulevard of Broken Dreams: the Burroughs, the Hendon Hub - and Barnet Tories' planned demolition of Hendon's listed Library<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HbdBNoikssM/YFuKqvgKE7I/AAAAAAAAOqQ/2VWjSC7vw9g-kjh-xezZ1f55Ev2DmE4IACLcBGAsYHQ/s856/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-24%2Bat%2B18.52.13.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="856" height="396" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HbdBNoikssM/YFuKqvgKE7I/AAAAAAAAOqQ/2VWjSC7vw9g-kjh-xezZ1f55Ev2DmE4IACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h396/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-24%2Bat%2B18.52.13.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>The Burroughs, Hendon. All of these buildings except the old Workhouse, right, have survived. So far.</i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sometimes it is hard to know where to start, when writing about the political scene in Barnet. But the ending is always the same. Increasingly, so many stories now lead back to the same problem, lodged deep in the core of the current Tory administration. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is no longer even any pretence of political principle here, no vision for the borough, no democratic accountability: this borough is nothing more than a vehicle for delivering profit to developers - and through this process, profit to Capita, their outsourced planning and regeneration service. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Everywhere you look there are conflicts of interest, lobbying, undeclared interests, declared interests that are left unmanaged: at every level, within a planning system that is neither accountable nor transparent. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Want to choose your own named planning officer? (Why?) Well, pay a fee and name your man, or woman. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Planning officers leave Barnet/Capita and immediately set up in business here, in Barnet, as agents and consultants - sometimes for the same developers they dealt with professionally weeks before. Some even advertise on their websites their former roles as local planning officers. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">A well run authority is meant to mitigate not only the risk from conflict of interests, but also the <i>perception</i> of risk from conflict of interest. But then - Barnet is not a well run authority. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The biggest conflict of all, however, arguably, is present within the context of the Capita contracts themselves. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The company is desperate to retain its outpost in Barnet, as it is so lucrative: so many opportunities to exploit, especially from services related to development, planning and regeneration. And with a Tory group in charge who are happy to help them milk as much profit from our borough as possible, therein lies the danger. There is barely an inch of Barnet's landscape that has not been assessed for development opportunity by Capita - even our parks now are at risk.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Most of Capita's income from the Barnet contracts comes from planning and regeneration: clearly the more there is of that, the better for Capita. But what is good for Capita and its shareholders (who have seen the value of their investments plummet over the last year or so) is not necessarily good for Barnet's residents and communities: or good for their built heritage, now at risk as never before.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Every where you look, there are monstrous new developments springing up, pushed through regardless of impact on the community, regardless of whether or not such developments meet the needs of that community, and very often in blatant defiance of agreed local plans for the area drawn up by the authority itself. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Planning and regeneration, housing and 'growth' are now shaped to suit developers, not residents. There is no coherent strategy other than to push developments: no care for the huge problem of less advantaged families unable to find truly affordable, decent accommodation.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Multi storey towers are imposed in Labour wards, vehemently opposed in Tory wards. Endless blocks of flats have appeared, unaffordable for the vast majority of Londoners, let alone Barnet residents. Family houses, which are desperately needed in many areas, are not built, because there is a lesser profit for developers. Inappropriate conversions of family houses are pushed through, regardless of the impact on the surrounding residential area - again, unless you are lucky enough to be in a Tory ward, but even then, now, this may offer little hope. And Tory voters are beginning to get very, very annoyed by the encroachment on their residential areas. The landscape is changing around them: and they don't like it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Where are the new schools, GPs, clinics, parks, libraries, needed to support all the new development? Well, who cares about that? Apart, of course, from the residents already suffering from lack of provision of healthcare, especially in the western, poorer side of the borough, whose hope of access to a decent state school is already minimal. Parks? The Tories, as we have seen in the last blog, want to stuff the ones they consider 'low value' with solar farms and electric battery storage. Or sell bits for development, as in my local park. Libraries? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ah. Now then.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yes, here we are again, back with the story covered <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-treasure-house-barnet-tories-resume.html">here</a>, and the truly gobsmacking decision made - before consultation - by the Tories, during Covid, to launch a massive development in the Burroughs, in Hendon, in league with Middlesex University. This is estimated to be going to cost the authority, at the very least, £90 million, which adds to the already whopping pile of loans it will undertake from other development projects, including Brent Cross-Cricklewood, (and of course not forgetting the £23 million lent to Saracens, for a new stand. Any sign of it yet, btw?)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">You can read about the council's plans for the Hendon Hub <a href="https://hendonhub.co.uk/consultation/dist/pdf/all-boards.pdf">here</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Interesting how some Tory members and senior officers are so keen to play developer with other people's money - public money, taxpayers' money - yours and mine. In the private sector, none of them would be likely to be entrusted with such huge undertakings, certainly almost no councillor in Barnet has any experience or expertise in managing such large scale projects, and probably no senior officer - but of course in the public sector, if it all goes wrong, they will not carry the can. You won't see them for dust. You and I, the local residents and tax payers, will be left paying the cost of their folly. Again: no transparency, no accountability, to us, the residents. We are just the mugs who have to bankroll all this development. And they have made sure we can't ask questions, altering the Constitution to make sure we are effectively bound & gagged. Or so they imagine - if you really want to speak out, then you will find a way. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The idea, or rather the excuse given for these high risk ventures is that they will generate income or interest for the authority. But such ambitious plans were high risk even before Covid and Brexit: now we are where we are, anyone but a fool can see that these plans, even though they may be awfully alluring to Capita, amount to a breathtakingly stupid gamble with public funding. The example of councils like Croydon who have played the same game and ended up in catastrophic circumstances ought to work as a warning to Barnet Tories and their management team. It hasn't. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Burroughs scheme - known as the "Hendon Hub' - is centred on completing the apparently unstoppable expansion of Middlesex Uni in this area, linking the properties they have now and those they want to annex - and building a load of new student accommodation. The income from the new accommodation is supposed to pay back Barnet's investment in the development.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Again, these plans were made before Brexit and Covid: there is no reason to think that student numbers will remain stable, and every reason now to expect numbers will plummet, especially from overseas, a market depended on by so many London universities. And there is every reason to question why students coming to Middx Uni would want to pay to live in what will be very expensive accommodation - many of their students come from comparatively poor, BAME backgrounds, and either live at home, or house share.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Looking at the very carefully limited information supplied by the authority, we learn that they consider it necessary to shove these new buildings up in the Burroughs because ... the old ones they want to get rid of are SO awful, and really should not be in a Conservation Area. Let alone two Conservation areas. Oh yes, did we mention this? The planned new blocks, which are truly awful, but in a new and more dramatic way, are going to be in the oldest and most historic part of Hendon, full of listed buildings, many of them from the early eighteenth century, or earlier - some later, in a grouping of thirties civic buildings, such as the Town Hall, Library, Fire station, the church and other properties.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">You might recall that, not so long ago, developers got away with <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2016/12/no-more-order-and-decorum-at-white-and.html">knocking down</a> the lovely 1930s pub in the Burroughs, the White Bear. An inn with this name had been on the spot for hundreds of years. Tory councillors allowed them to demolish and develop it. The developers were told they had to leave the front wall, but somehow ... it was accidentally knocked down too, and when residents tried to contact council enforcement to save what was left ... too late, there it was, in a pile of rubble.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So what do the new Hendon Hub plans now propose to put in the middle of this historic area? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Buildings so ugly and intrusive they cannot even bring themselves to put them in the foreground of any of their whimsical, deliberately faded illustrations (which cleverly cut out the large number of eighteenth century buildings which survive beyond the cropped frame ...)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Just look at this: what they plan to put right slap bang in the centre of the Burroughs Conservation area, right opposite the listed Town Hall, and the listed Library ... you'll need to enlarge the image, and squint ...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xj749R_EZdo/YFtNxOxz93I/AAAAAAAAOqA/MW-wOgChaZIRbl-rJ5OB7FFqygiNy2AKACLcBGAsYHQ/s644/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-24%2Bat%2B14.32.45.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="644" height="326" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xj749R_EZdo/YFtNxOxz93I/AAAAAAAAOqA/MW-wOgChaZIRbl-rJ5OB7FFqygiNy2AKACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h326/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-24%2Bat%2B14.32.45.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;">RAVENSFIELD AND FENELLA </span></p><p><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: georgia;"><i>"The Ravensfield and Fenella buildings are currently leased to the university for
administrative and teaching purposes. The buildings will be reaching obsolescence by the
end of their current leases, are not of any architectural merit and do not complement nearby
historic buildings, failing to make the most of their key position on The Burroughs. </i></span></p><p><i style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #45818e;">Barnet Council is proposing to redevelop this important site
and create a trio of architecturally outstanding landmark
buildings that will greatly improve the look and feel of this
part of The Burroughs, ranging from four to seven storeys
in height. They will greatly improve the frontage onto The
Burroughs compared with the current buildings and improve
the local environment with high-quality landscaping and a
boulevard atmosphere ..."</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So: this illustration chooses to flood your view of the Burroughs with some of the lovely listed buildings that are included in the Conservation area: the Town Hall, the library, the Methodist church, all presented in a charming, helpfully smudged ink and watercolour image, with some of the new and most ugly blocks, tall and rigid, relentlessly out of character with the area, carefully hidden behind a sponged out blur of trees. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">These blocks, frankly, can only have been imagined by someone determined to ignore the context and architectural language of the surrounding historic buildings.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Opposite the Library, painted in colours which are similar to the shades of the older properties, but otherwise again in a crashingly modern style, is another student accommodation block, shoved on the only remaining car park in the area, which is relied on by visitors to the Town Hall attending meetings, events, weddings or registration of births and deaths.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ravensfield and Fenella, by the way, are the names of early nineteenth century properties that once stood on those sites: with a very interesting forgotten history. But our history, in Broken Barnet, is meant to be forgotten. It gets in the way of development, and profit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Still, looking forward to the promised new 'boulevard atmosphere', aren't you? Reminiscent of the old days, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">cafés in the Boulevard Montparnasse</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">, Paris in the thirties, (we'll always have Paris, won't we?) Maurice Chevalier tipping his hat as he passes, Piaf standing forlorn on a street corner, warbling La Vie en Rose, and - oh. Look at this. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Maybe not, then. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mF4ifJqnPh4/YFuB-sXXogI/AAAAAAAAOqI/KYWOiJ_pNxE7317VZghHgUCpQs7Kd6IDwCLcBGAsYHQ/s624/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-24%2Bat%2B18.13.34.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="624" height="346" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mF4ifJqnPh4/YFuB-sXXogI/AAAAAAAAOqI/KYWOiJ_pNxE7317VZghHgUCpQs7Kd6IDwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h346/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-24%2Bat%2B18.13.34.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We are informed that the buildings that will be knocked down 'are not of any architectural merit' and 'do not complement nearby historic buildings'. The absurd implication being that the new ones <i>are</i> of architectural merit and <i>do</i> complement those historic buildings ... And of course, as we are told, they are not only going to (greatly) improve the 'look and feel' of this part of the Burroughs, but will provide something called, what was it ... 'an exemplar high street' ... Oh. At the same time as a Boulevard? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Who are they trying to kid? In what sort of way could this possibly be compared to a local high street?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Round the corner in the centre of the old parish of Hendon, known historically as Church End - there is another Conservation area - and the Hub proposals plan new crashingly modern buildings here, around the ancient parish church of St Mary's and the Grade II * listed Church Farmhouse. (This latter property was formerly our local history museum, which Barnet Tories closed and ransacked in order to sell off the collection and then sell off the building, which they couldn't, so they gave it to ... can you guess? Yes, Middlesex Uni ...)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pb78rhcZkcs/YFyUHDl7e0I/AAAAAAAAOrA/qzrOyHvRUVICZ9lk0Y8sulEwbsPlTkFcwCLcBGAsYHQ/s343/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-25%2Bat%2B13.43.55.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="343" height="254" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pb78rhcZkcs/YFyUHDl7e0I/AAAAAAAAOrA/qzrOyHvRUVICZ9lk0Y8sulEwbsPlTkFcwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h254/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-25%2Bat%2B13.43.55.png" width="400" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Church End, Hendon</i></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This part of old Hendon has been the site of a settlement for at least two millenia: there is evidence which suggests there was a Roman temple here, somewhere around the area of the church, and clearly this site is of uniquely important archaeological and historic significance. But who cares? Not our Tory councillors, or Capita. All that stuff in the Church Farmhouse Museum, our local heritage, donated by local residents, was declared to be 'of no value' by then Tory leader Richard Cornelius, and flogged off. Why would they care about the layers of history that lie beneath the soil here?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of the few remaining community amenities in this area which has not been pushed out by the Uni or the council is the much relied upon PDSA centre. This they propose to demolish, and offer in replacement something plonked on a council car park in far away Osidge.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Osidge really is an awfully long way from Hendon and there is no easy transport link: the people who use a bus to get here with their sick animals (and lots of them do, as anyone who uses the 143 will know, almost always with a mewling, panicking cat in a carrier on its way to see the vet) will have to subject them to a long and difficult journey miles across the borough. Having the PDSA in the less advantaged side of the borough makes sense: after all it exists to provide medical care for animals whose owners cannot afford expensive vet fees - moving right across to the affluent area of Osidge, in the east, does not. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">But let's go back to the Burroughs. Take another look at that rounded student block opposite the old Library. Yes, the <i>old</i> Library. The listed Library. The one they are going to demolish. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">What?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yes. Demolish. Leaving all but a shell.</span></p><p><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b>They intend to knock down Hendon Library, listed or not. </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">All they intend to leave is the facade of the old building. And let Middlesex Uni build their own monstrous carbuncle inside, behind, and attached to the remaining, pointless front wall - and possibly some of the sides. We don't know for sure, because the plans are so carefully vague.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q89Etp0EfVQ/YFyMsfIrVwI/AAAAAAAAOqg/Od8sgLhQMIAYqVi9zdBbcRIuhbMFVKcmwCLcBGAsYHQ/s631/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-25%2Bat%2B13.13.11.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="631" height="402" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q89Etp0EfVQ/YFyMsfIrVwI/AAAAAAAAOqg/Od8sgLhQMIAYqVi9zdBbcRIuhbMFVKcmwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h402/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-25%2Bat%2B13.13.11.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Hendon's listed Library</i><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is a favoured ploy adopted in the course of some of the most terrible assaults on historic properties now being perpetrated - although only in areas with compliant councils - in London and elsewhere, at the moment. 'The Gentle Author', who writes the fabulous <a href="https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/01/08/more-ghastly-facades/">'Spitalfields Life'</a> blog, has published a book on the subject, entitled 'The Creeping Plague of Ghastly Facadism', in an effort to shame those responsible into some sense of remorse for their architectural vandalism.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">These villainous plans for Hendon Library, and the attempted destruction of another part of our built heritage, hidden behind a fake frontage, of course presents the perfect metaphor for everything wrong, in Broken Barnet. Behind Barnet Tories' facade of lies and faux democracy is nothing but a naked contempt for our history and sense of community. Worse still: behind the hollowed out library there is not only a total lack of respect for the idea of a public library service, but for the very idea of the public sector, as we have seen in their failed agenda of mass privatisation, the now discredited, hollowed out council model, meant to save money, now costing us more and more each year.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Of course our Tory members will point to the fantasy new library they claim will be built to replace the one that they want to knock down. They said first of all that a 'state of the art' library would be built on the car park across the road from the Town Hall. Now they admit it will be something shoved in the bottom of the rounded off building you see in the illustration, on that car park.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">They are remarkably vague about the timing of this proposed new 'library' and have made plans to stuff a few books in a Portacabin as a 'temporary' replacement. A bit like the five shelves bunged in the Arts Depot that was meant to be a temporary replacement for the new, 'state of the art' library at North Finchley, that was the pretext for shutting South Friern Library. The Invisible Library, as it was known, is still Invisible, and indeed, non existant.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Even if a mini library space is put in the student block, clearly it will be very small, and certainly not 'state of the art'. Plus: this ground floor is supposed also to accommodate the borough's Archives, which require a lot of room, and specialist storage conditions. There simply isn't enough space. And where will the archival material go in the meanwhile? Given by Capita to their subcontractors to store, and never seen again, like the Heritage Collection, and the Grass Farm stained glass windows?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The illustration looks an awful lot like the replacement for the old Church End Finchley library, now next door to Waitrose. There was nothing wrong with the old library, in fact: it only needed refurbishment. But the developers who bought Gateway House wanted planning permission for a luxury development, which they were given after they offered something we did not need, ie a library room on the ground floor, on a leasehold basis. There is absolutely nothing in the new library fittings that could not be removed in the course of a day's work - and they will be, when the Tories think they can get away with closing it, in another round of cuts, simply allowing the lease to revert to the freeholder. They didn't even bother to put the sign for a library on the building above the door. The same temporary feel will be true of the Hendon replacement - if it ever appears in the intended new student block.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you recall, when they recently spent hundreds of thousands of pounds gutting Hendon Library and reducing the library space in the building to a tiny fraction of its former size they did so claiming there was no real demand for anything better. When reminded (by me) of the legacy of Eileen Colwell, the Hendon librarian who pioneered the international children's library movement, they shrugged, reduced the children's area to a couple of shelving units and stuck a picture of her in the corner.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YzWgGpC6NnQ/YFyR1sDHCMI/AAAAAAAAOq4/-qKu6wa4oY0OiAJX1T0Kftv9H8yeb-PfQCLcBGAsYHQ/s497/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-25%2Bat%2B13.35.20.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="497" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YzWgGpC6NnQ/YFyR1sDHCMI/AAAAAAAAOq4/-qKu6wa4oY0OiAJX1T0Kftv9H8yeb-PfQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-25%2Bat%2B13.35.20.png" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Eileen Colwell</i></span><br /><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Now here is the biggest demonstration of the complete hypocrisy of this council's new plans: they claim they want to pay 'tribute' to Miss Colwell, by demolishing her library and putting up a plaque to commemorate her work. Her work, and her legacy, they have already systematically trashed in this borough, in the rounds of savage cuts which even their own consultants told them had gone too far. Children's libraries? In some branches now this consists of a table and two chairs, and a few bookshelves. In North Finchley, and Golders Green, the purpose built children's libraries were gutted, and closed, on the pretext of creating space for income generation - which never happened.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It is absolutely sickening to see these people pretending to give a sh*t about her legacy, while actively complicit in working to destroy it, not just in demolishing the building where she launched her vision of the children's library movement, but in so cynically cutting our library service to pieces, removing from the borough's most disadvantaged children the right to free and easy access to a library, and the joy of reading, having cut and shut our library service, effectively removed professional librarians from the management of the service, sacked workers and replaced them with unstaffed opening hours - and slashed the book stock to the point where there is simply no adequate supply of material for those children.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's only right and fitting, perhaps, that they should take this rampage to its ultimate conclusion, and start demolishing the libraries, in order to facilitate the progress of development, and engineer further fat fees for contractors. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Problem is: they can't actually knock Hendon Library down. Inside or out.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The listed features are not simply the external features of the front wall. There are other listed features - (I happen to know because a close friend was the conservation officer who listed this property, and the Town Hall, and so many other properties, before his job was deleted ... but you can see the listing for yourself <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1390057">here</a>). These include external features, not just at the front of the building - but also internal ones. And it is interesting that the brief for the proposed demolishment has in the last few days been tweaked with weasel words glossing over this unfortunate obstacle in the way of demolition. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f_LnPC5Qukk/YFyQ97zKDMI/AAAAAAAAOqw/cmJB7AVwaosIL7wb2iCd8uO4hD_EvrIwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s975/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-25%2Bat%2B13.30.44.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="975" height="402" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f_LnPC5Qukk/YFyQ97zKDMI/AAAAAAAAOqw/cmJB7AVwaosIL7wb2iCd8uO4hD_EvrIwwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h402/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-25%2Bat%2B13.30.44.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>The staircase is part of the listed internal features of Hendon Library - the building that Barnet Tories intend to demolish. Pic courtesy of RIBA archives.</i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So what can be done?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">You can stand up and be counted, if you object to these plans, as residents already are: there is a very vocal, very well informed and determined group organising objections to this outrageous scheme. They have started a petition to stop the demolition of the library, which you can find <a href="https://www.change.org/p/barnet-council-last-chance-to-save-old-hendon-library?recruiter=48178792">here</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The horrified reaction of residents should send a real warning to the Tory councillors - one of whom, a local Hendon ward member, also objects to the proposals. This part of Hendon has always been considered a safe Tory ward. There are no safe wards for anyone, anymore, and increasingly it is the case that the scale of development in the borough now is so out of control it is affecting the Tory core vote. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And in Hendon, the residents who will be affected by these plans are not going to tolerate their area becoming nothing more than a campus for Middlesex Uni, with the last community amenities steam-rollered out of existence. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is currently, in the time honoured tradition of Tory Barnet, a Nonsultation exercise taking place that claims to be seeking the views of residents in regard to the Hub and the library plans. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It is clear, however, that the decision has already been made. Looking at the <a href="https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/g10199/Printed%20minutes%2008th-Dec-2020%2018.00%20Policy%20and%20Resources%20Committee.pdf?T=1">minutes</a> of the Policy and Resources Meeting of December 8th last year, we find this: </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w-Ul9aYzrXI/YFxgCAZ3-iI/AAAAAAAAOqY/fA_yX8z2AKIFKKOGma9fayulh4Bc6dDGACLcBGAsYHQ/s656/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-25%2Bat%2B09.58.00.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="656" height="216" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w-Ul9aYzrXI/YFxgCAZ3-iI/AAAAAAAAOqY/fA_yX8z2AKIFKKOGma9fayulh4Bc6dDGACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h216/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-25%2Bat%2B09.58.00.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">You will note that it states the OBC is approved, and a FBC is to be developed. In my view that suggests a decision in principle has been made, prior to consultation. In regard to the library, it is even more clear: the Committee took the decision to approve the move of Hendon Library to a temporary location - subject to consultation. The separate library consultation, however, did NOT consult residents on the question of whether or not they want the library moved, merely what <i>sort</i> of new library they want. The decision has already been taken to move, however they try to fudge the issue now - and no alternative has been offered. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And there is absolutely nothing to stop them turning round after a couple of years with the library Portacabin, wringing their hands and saying, sadly, with rising costs, we can no longer offer a new library after all ... Like they did with North Finchley. Remember that this apparent new enthusiasm for a lovely library in Hendon hardly fits with what they did to the old one, and all the rest of them, only a couple of years ago.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">You can find the Nonsultation survey <a href="https://hendonhub.co.uk/">here</a>. Be careful, as always with Barnet questionnaires, as to how you respond.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh yes: and guess who is organising the Nonsultation? A company called GE Hearn. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Owned by Capita, of course. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Which means that the roles played by Capita, in regard to the Hendon Hub are: in planning, regeneration, and consultation with residents - the latter function being undertaken by the development side of Capita. We should also note that they are in charge of the management of council buildings, including the library portfolio.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Does this multiplicity of roles, with all the extra fees it will generate for the company, in the course of these proposals, present a conflict of interests? You might reasonably think so. Has this risk been assessed, and addressed? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you object to what is being planned for the Boroughs, and the Library, make sure you speak out: write to the Tory councillors, and write to Hendon MP Matthew Offord, who lives in the area, and has reportedly said he is 'keeping an eye' on the matter, whatever that means. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Write to Historic England, and tell them to protect the listed Library from these vandals.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh, and there is an election coming up in a few weeks. Please remember how much depends on Tories being kept out of power in London, if we want to avoid further overdevelopment of our city: I will be voting for Anne Clarke, who has always fought against the Tory cuts to our library service.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And here again is the link to the petition to save the Library building: please sign and encourage others to add their names. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.change.org/p/barnet-council-last-chance-to-save-old-hendon-library?recruiter=48178792">Petition to Save Hendon Library.</a></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">O</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5pJGo5XOEyw/YFykukRujiI/AAAAAAAAOrI/mIkwypqaY08VGvmO6aI1MXydiyy3OUhkwCLcBGAsYHQ/s594/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-25%2Bat%2B14.55.35.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="583" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5pJGo5XOEyw/YFykukRujiI/AAAAAAAAOrI/mIkwypqaY08VGvmO6aI1MXydiyy3OUhkwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-25%2Bat%2B14.55.35.png" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Hendon Library, photo credit Museum of London</i></span></p>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-55798477120287002382021-01-31T19:43:00.010+00:002021-02-02T11:13:46.570+00:00In a green shade: Barnet's open spaces under threat - again - from Barnet's Tory councillors<br /><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-was-kjEjxgs/YBb5W8KqY1I/AAAAAAAAOns/Ws2mwEUTSmsNem01ZqlhyPWDIA-DoPD-ACLcBGAsYHQ/s589/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B18.38.28.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="589" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-was-kjEjxgs/YBb5W8KqY1I/AAAAAAAAOns/Ws2mwEUTSmsNem01ZqlhyPWDIA-DoPD-ACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B18.38.28.png" width="640" /></a></div><i><br /></i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Highlands Gardens, New Barnet: of 'low value', according to Barnet Tories</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Pic credit here and last pic, Lucy Bridgers, <a href="http://www.highlivingbarnet.com/highlands-gardens/">High Living</a> Barnet</i></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;">Updated Monday evening:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Well, goodness me. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">After a week, and two appeals via councillors to extract further information about the scheme to use parks and open spaces in this way, the Service Manager has now sent a most curious statement:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><div>Thank you for your email – I would like to clarify that the Council has no plans to building solar farms or batteries for substations on any of Barnet’s parks.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you look at the latest budget documents, for next week’s meeting of the Policy & Resources Committee, you will see that there is no mention of parks where we are assessing feasibility. The Council is absolutely committed to improving our renewable energy sources – which are a key way that we can counter climate change, and ensure that Barnet is a green borough. We will therefore continue to look at how we can better generate and provide clean energy across the borough, but I would like to again reassure you that we have no plans to do this through the building of solar farms or batteries for substations on parks.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are of course other methods of utilising our parks to help generate renewable energy, such as through ground source heating. The link below provides examples of how ground source heating is being piloted in some Scottish Parks <a href="https://www.nesta.org.uk/project-updates/harnessing-renewable-energy-parks/.">https://www.nesta.org.uk/project-updates/harnessing-renewable-energy-parks/.</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Kind regards ...</div></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Got that?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">"... the Council has no plans to building (sic, don't blame me) solar farms or batteries for substations on any of Barnet's parks."</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh. Well, that's funny because ... last week, it seems the Council DID have plans to install solar farms and batteries for substations on MANY of Barnet's parks and open spaces. 45 of them. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Look again at the story in the local Times last week: the Tories had plenty of time to deny the plans but instead denied that parks would close, which had not been suggested anyway by Labour. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Clearly what has happened is that the Tory members are frit, as a result of all the publicity. Good.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">But look again at the wording of this statement.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">No plans, on any parks. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Doesn't rule out the open spaces that have been listed.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Furthermore, if you look at next week's P&R meeting's budget <a href="https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s63238/Appendix%20D1%20-%20Detailed%20Revenue%20Budgets%20Savings%20and%20Income%20Generation%20Pressures%20and%20Council%20Tax%20Sum.pdf">proposals</a>, you find the following, under Environment: oh, still proposing a 'saving' of £75K from ... batteries at substations and solar farms ... and they refer to the use of 'open space sites'. </span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aiJmo1Z1hzw/YBhTOuq86xI/AAAAAAAAOpU/XOkSiVFPYAYVZOLpSagqWcKuaoIB23i4gCLcBGAsYHQ/s536/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-02-01%2Bat%2B19.14.02.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="60" data-original-width="536" height="72" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aiJmo1Z1hzw/YBhTOuq86xI/AAAAAAAAOpU/XOkSiVFPYAYVZOLpSagqWcKuaoIB23i4gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h72/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-02-01%2Bat%2B19.14.02.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">They have removed reference to locations, however.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">But ... where are these installations going to go? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anywhere they think they can get away with it, is my guess. And they are now referring to 'open space sites' - many of the places on the list come under that definition.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">The story continues, therefore.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Good try, gentlemen. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Didn't quite pull it off though.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Further questions have now been submitted.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">For a map that you can use to zoom in on the locations, unlike the rubbish one in council docs, please use this link: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/barnet45os">tinyurl.com/barnet45os</a></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="http://tinyurl.com/barnet45os"> </a> ...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">__________________________________________________________________</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Before Covid, Capita laid on an information evening in our ward of West Finchley, in a local church hall, in which they pretended to listen to local residents' views on plans for the area ... while unfolding a list of their own local development targets. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">It was clear that there has been a systematic evaluation of every possible square inch of the borough, for the purpose of development and fee generation, warmly approved by the developer friendly Tories at the Town Hall.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Capita is in charge of planning and regeneration in Barnet - but is also a developer in its own right. Is this a triple conflict of interest? You might reasonably think so. It would make no difference, in this borough.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Since getting their feet under our table in 2013, and the signing (almost entirely unread but approved by Tory members) of the two massive contracts, Capita has been slow to discharge its duties in regard to listing our built heritage, but quick to look for ways of maximising fees from planning and development - hence the unparalleled extent of unaffordable housing blocks springing up everywhere you look. Does it address local housing need, for affordable family homes, or low rent homes? No. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">But even the most ambitious scalping of our borough's landscape for profit has finite possibilities. What then, when the last plot of ground has been bought up, and the money making machine threatens to run out of fuel?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Along come the latest plans to exploit our local parks and open spaces. The ones they think are 'low quality' or 'low value'.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yes, you read that right. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">From the same council and planning service that brought you a block of flats in my local park, on land that was supposed to be protected by a covenant put in place by the Victorian philanthropists who gave the land to the people of Finchley, we now see a plan to exploit a large number of parks, playground, and patches of remaining green space. The list and a map, deliberately made impossible to match up locations to names, is <a href="https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s28489/Figure%20AI.13%20-%20Low%20ValueQuality%20and%20Undesignated%20Sites.pdf">here</a> - or see below.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Getting away with immediate development on these spaces would be rather tricky, so they are doing the next best thing, and changing the use - perhaps as part of a process towards eventual development or sale - in which they propose, the wretched schemers, to foist 'solar panel farms' or 'expanding substations' - or building electricity storage units. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">What exactly does this mean? How does it benefit either the council or Capita? We don't know exactly, as they haven't really spelled out how this would work. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I submitted questions to Capita about this last week, but they have not replied, despite being told to by a senior Tory member. So - we are forced to speculate.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">We all know what a solar farm looks like - fields of panels. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uKafYhAz3qY/YBb8BVCZYjI/AAAAAAAAOoM/n5RM7qyX2pYfc_aVV4TGugKQKA8nrxvFgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1131/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B18.49.21.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="1131" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uKafYhAz3qY/YBb8BVCZYjI/AAAAAAAAOoM/n5RM7qyX2pYfc_aVV4TGugKQKA8nrxvFgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h320/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B18.49.21.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Substations, we can imagine. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XHyNSPf_0MU/YBb7WqPYREI/AAAAAAAAOoE/KJfQ4S67h54K3Ad8-T6c7pjAGCx1zeltACLcBGAsYHQ/s704/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B18.47.09.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="305" data-original-width="704" height="278" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XHyNSPf_0MU/YBb7WqPYREI/AAAAAAAAOoE/KJfQ4S67h54K3Ad8-T6c7pjAGCx1zeltACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h278/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B18.47.09.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Storage units? Hard to find out more about this, but perhaps something like this? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DiauSu4acLA/YBb6PGtCNfI/AAAAAAAAOn4/6S1qFia_UFMuZPff_NqK2uHyRdIPgi5uACLcBGAsYHQ/s585/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-26%2Bat%2B13.15.53.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="585" height="514" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DiauSu4acLA/YBb6PGtCNfI/AAAAAAAAOn4/6S1qFia_UFMuZPff_NqK2uHyRdIPgi5uACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h514/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-26%2Bat%2B13.15.53.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lovely.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">What is the point of this exercise, apart from altering the use of a green space? Is it to 'generate savings' - one must assume via contractors who provide the farms and units? And what do 'savings' mean? It means the council can spend even less than the nothing much they already spend on parks, and hurrah: perhaps Capita can claim more gainshare rewards for identifying this brilliant scheme. Yes: written into the contract that they couldn't be bothered to read properly were variation clauses including this sort of wheeze: for certain 'savings' that Capita identifies, it can claim even more fees from us, in the form of gainshare. Kerrching!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">What's that, you don't want substations, storage units or solar farms in every last patch of green space in the borough? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Let's see that list again. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bz_suh0vUIY/YBb9IwLr7GI/AAAAAAAAOoY/UeuvK-y_spY3bWRXon1BORgO59pNCCVzACLcBGAsYHQ/s911/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-26%2Bat%2B13.10.32.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="911" height="474" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bz_suh0vUIY/YBb9IwLr7GI/AAAAAAAAOoY/UeuvK-y_spY3bWRXon1BORgO59pNCCVzACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h474/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-26%2Bat%2B13.10.32.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Apologies for poor quality - blame whoever uploaded this to the council/Capita report.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I've gone through everyone, looking them up and trying to identify where they are. It isn't easy, in many cases, not just because the list neither gives details of the location, nor a number which corresponds to the map, but because rather curiously, although the majority are listed on the council's own website <a href="https://www.barnet.gov.uk/directories/parks">here</a>, even there it doesn't give full details, such as full postcode. And some don't appear at all, which made me one wonder if the council cannot be sure who owns the land. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Why on earth would they not want us to know that these places are meant to be parks and open spaces, and why would they be so shy about telling us where they are? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I just can't imagine.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Why do they think these places are of low quality, or low value? Because value to Barnet Tories, and their contractors, necessarily must have some material scale, or be rated in a way to make exploitation more easy. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Hence they appear to have used criteria to assess the worth of these places which are highly questionable, and which would, for example, considers the provision of bins more highly than areas of woodland. Clever. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Or so they think.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Four on the target list are defined as playgrounds: <span style="color: red;">Barfield Avenue</span>, in Whetstone, (not far from Oakleigh school for primary age children with severe learning difficulties and complex needs;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;">Deansbrook</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> in Burnt Oak, </span><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;">Hamilton Road</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> - not on the website - and </span><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;">Market Plac</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">e, in East Finchley. Several others are not listed as playgrounds but have play equipment there anyway. These are in areas where children are desperately short of access to green spaces and play facilities. Oh: mostly Labour wards? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">Ludgrove Playing Field</span>s, in East Barnet? As Mr Reasonable has pointed out, "This makes no sense whatsoever. Ludgrove is a registered football space with changing rooms and disabled access. If Barnet tries this, I suspect they will be facing serious opposition from Sport England and the Football Foundation ..."</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">Dame Alice Owens Grounds</span>, in Whetstone? Why?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Some of the places I know have caused much puzzlement. <span style="color: red;">Boysland Open Space</span> - this is the name they have given to the remaining part of what used to be open fields near to where I grew up in Edgware. It is next to Rosh Pinah primary school. Parents will be delighted, I'm sure.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">Lyndford Gardens Sundial</span>: was stumped with this one until I remembered the little green area near Cranmer Road, Edgware, where my friends and I used to play hide and seek (this was in the Olden Days, when children were allowed to play outside). It had shrubbery at either end, benches, and yes, a sundial. The shrubbery on one end has gone. And the sundial.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> It would still be a lovely little green, if properly maintained, and there are many young families in the area now, in the Charedi community that has grown there, who would benefit. But, you know: can't have space left unexploited, in Broken Barnet. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">Lawrence Green</span>: a lovely, sloping green space in front of the Reddings, in Mill Hill, just round the corner from where my grandmother, aunt and uncle used to live, in Lawrence Gardens. Right in the heart of Mill Hill Preservation Society area. They will be thrilled to see this taken over by solar farms, or storage batteries, of course. Similarly the other sites in Mill Hill, such as:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">Simmonds Mead</span>, a lovely landscaped open space at the bottom of semi rural Lawrence Street, a much needed oasis of green next to the A41, and Mill Hill circus, used to be beautifully landscaped and maintained. The manicured flower bed, as I recalled, after thinking about Lynford Gardens, used sometimes to be in the form of a floral sundial, like Marvell's dial of 'flow'rs and herbs'. Still, no time for green thoughts, in a green shade, these days, in the London Borough of Capita. The sun is not for telling the time: its for generating energy. No not energy. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Money. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fees and rewards.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">Charter Green</span>: this was something of a challenge, but turned out to be the large green areas around the west side of the junction of the North Circular and Regents Park Road, in front of a synagogue on one side, and around Finchley's finest landmark, on the other. The latter being the statue of 'La Délivrance'</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">, more commonly known locally as 'The Naked Lady', and adorned with a selection of ill fitting </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">brassières</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">, from time to time. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">The statue was given in 1927 as a present to Finchley council from the owner of the Daily Mail, Lord Rothermere, so you would think today's local Tories, whose view of the world is entirely filtered through the distorted prism that is the Mail, would pale at the thought of surrounding the poor woman with the dubious tribute of an electric sub station, but then, no: that's the sort of thing they do.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">Wise Lane Green</span>: turns out to be that open area of green space at the end of the affluent and unchanged Wise Lane, a residential area.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">Gibbs Green Open Space</span>: a road off Hale Lane in Edgware. The mystery space is not listed, but this is a residential area. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">Lyonsdown Road and the Great North Road</span>: another small green area, that they probably think is a waste of space, but adds to the character of the area.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">Lyonsdown Road Open Space</span>: a sloping green area with trees, and a bench: in a typically Tory residential area. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">Brent Street Police Gardens</span>: I remember the police station, closed many years ago, of course, but it took a lot of searching to find - there are no gardens. It is yet another development site. Not sure why this is described as a green space.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Many of the sites listed I didn't recognise at first or know personally, but some basic research reveals that they are beautiful, much needed parks in residential areas:</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">Highlands Gardens</span>: off Leicester Gardens in New Barnet: a hidden gem, a beautiful late Victorian garden once adjacent to the home of Joseph Bevan Braithwaite, a Quaker who made his fortune, funnily enough, from the early electricity supply industry. He inexplicably failed to see the value in turning his garden into an electricity sub station, however, and instead stupidly paid a garden designer, James Pulham, some of whose work for Edward VII remains at Sandringham, to landscape the lovely grounds, with rockeries, water features and a pergola. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">But where is the profit in that?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0o1Wfm9FTFs/YBb-9HBcrbI/AAAAAAAAOok/qd5o8gscuDY8H1EQKW22hxDEFqVmO5glwCLcBGAsYHQ/s402/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B19.02.27.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="281" data-original-width="402" height="280" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0o1Wfm9FTFs/YBb-9HBcrbI/AAAAAAAAOok/qd5o8gscuDY8H1EQKW22hxDEFqVmO5glwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h280/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B19.02.27.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Highlands and the gardens in their infancy</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Local Tory councillor, small - but perfectly formed - retired Actor, <a href="https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/search?q=enemy+of+the+people">scourge</a> (trigger warning) of that well known Enemy of the People, the Mayor of London: golden cheeked Oscar model, David Longstaff, has refused to answer when I asked him, via twitter, to explain why he and his colleagues voted to consider the proposals to destroy the beauty of Highlands Gardens, in his ward - and all the other parks and green spaces - by installing substations and solar farms. You may like to ask him about this, next time he comes ringing on your door wanting to be re-elected.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Similarly, Tory councillor Roberto "Bertie Wooster" Weeden-Sanz, who for some reason was chosen as the Tory GLA candidate, (he does look good in a blazer and cravat - and the poor boy (thinks he) looks like Justin Trudeau) but has as much hope of being elected as Mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey, ie none at all, has remained silent when asked about this. Councillor Tom Smith is struck dumb too. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">All of them - silent. The rule of Omertà </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">is immoveable, in the Tory group, here in Broken Barnet. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">That the Tory councillors have dropped a clanger is evidenced by an article by the Barnet Society <a href="https://www.barnetsociety.org.uk/component/k2/anger-over-proposals-for-solar-panels-in-barnet-parks-and-open-spaces">here</a> which reports that the plans have 'met with an angry response from residents and conservationists'. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">This should act as a warning to them: and of course all Tory members will already be lobbying behind the scenes to insist that parks in their wards should be exempt. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">Elm Park</span>: this is a curious one too, for different reasons - listed as an open space, but quite hard to find on google maps, it is next to Elm Terrace, and Hermitage Lane, and backs on to what used to be the Castle Pub on the Finchley Road, Childs Hill. The Castle was an historic local landmark, and an inn of this name had been on the site for 250 years. This of course meant that by Barnet Tory standards, it was a prime target for development, and yes, they allowed it to be knocked down and replaced by ... a block of flats. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-esYcZAfijlU/YBcFEGeYQuI/AAAAAAAAOo8/LltTm94lwXMHoQdJEXZTDZADeVHkcoSfgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1209/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B19.28.08.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="673" data-original-width="1209" height="356" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-esYcZAfijlU/YBcFEGeYQuI/AAAAAAAAOo8/LltTm94lwXMHoQdJEXZTDZADeVHkcoSfgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h356/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B19.28.08.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Elm Park: 'low value', according to Barnet Tories</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Rather annoyingly for would be developers, this pretty park, a rare area of open space in a relentlessly urban district, had a number of mature trees which might have spoiled the view - but they were protected at least temporarily by a TPO, tree preservation order, due to the group's 'very high public amenity value'. And oh, how interesting: at that point, the TPO report admitted that ownership of Elm Park was uncertain.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">Daws Lane</span>: this is an odd inclusion. It is in fact part of Mill Hill Park, which is meant to be one of Barnet's Premier Parks, and has a 'Green Flag', which is meant to signal good management. Mill Hill Park is full of different sorts of sports facilities, as well mature trees and a nature reserve. It is in a residential area, and well used. Low value?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">Basing Hill Park</span>: another location in Childs Hill, and again, with Childs Hill Park, supposed to be a 'Premier' Park. It is a large expanse of green space, fringed with mature trees, offering sports and play facilities. Again: low value?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Of course Finchley's Victoria Park, my local park, is meant to be a Premier Park as well, but it did not stop Mike Freer, now the local MP, but formerly Leader of Barnet Council, putting the Edwardian Park Keeper's Lodge and garden up for sale. This led to demolishment and development, in a park: a block of flats is now being built there. Yes, in the park.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Is this what is going on now? Changing the use of part of these well placed urban oases, so as to prepare them for flogging off to developers? </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Many of the places on this list are liminal in nature: on the edge of junctions, at the side of a road between two roads, on the edge of vision, seen but taken for granted; some </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">half forgotten, neglected: but all of these places are part of something precious, and irreplaceable, remnants of our rural heritage, with old boundary hedges, copses, shrubs, a network of green spaces, green corridors, vital for our environment, for local wildlife. Vital for the physical and mental well being of residents, especially now we live surrounded by an increasing volume of over development, increasing traffic, and of course increasing population.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I have a copy of an ecological survey 'Nature Conservation in Barnet' undertaken for the authority, by the London Ecology Unit, and published in book form in 1997. As far as I am aware, this has never been updated, and under the rule of Capita, it never will be, on this scale. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">So much listed here has already been lost, or deliberately forgotten. We must not allow the Tory councillors and their privateer contractors to allow our remaining green spaces to be pillaged and destroyed, or there will be further substantial loss of wildlife.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Looking at the first area on the parks at risk list, Barfield Playground: according to the Survey, this is attached to the former Barfields Allotments which were turned into a nature park. The nature park area itself was saved from being landscaped when it was realised that this would disturb the habitat of slow worms and common lizards - clearly both are protected species, and it would be unlawful for their habitat to be put under threat. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">There may or may not be endangered species immediately dependent on the other parks and open spaces under target now: we don't know, and any survey commissioned by the council will fall over backwards not to find any. But that is not the point: all of these places contribute to the increasingly threatened ecological well being of our environment: every blade of grass, every plant, every bird, every insect, every animal, and every tree. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Apart from removing areas of those listed places, the impact of energy generating equipment is likely to be profound. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are also serious grounds for questioning the unknown health risks to residents, especially children, from such electrical installations, close to play and sports areas.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Finally there is the hugely detrimental aesthetic impact of such ugly installations in our green spaces. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Again, the vital role played in mental well being of access to nature cannot be underestimated. Only in Barnet would we need even to raise questions about why such proposals would be inappropriate in such locations. Why anyone would think otherwise, is incomprehensible.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">At the last full council meeting, Labour's Anne Clarke, member for Childs Hill, and candidate for the GLA elections this May, and Alan Schneiderman, Labour's Environment lead proposed a motion and amendment calling for the scheme to be dropped, and for all parks and green spaces to be protected.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Guess what? Unanimously opposed by Tory members.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Today the local Times paper published a <a href="https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/19051026.1-000-signatures-no-building-barnet-parks-petition/">story</a> about the plans, in which reports an extraordinary statement from the Tory Chair of the Environment Committee, Councillor Dean Cohen:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>But environment committee chairman Cllr Dean Cohen (Conservative, Golders Green) accused the Labour group of lying about the Tories’ plans. He said the council had “absolutely no plans to close any parks or green spaces”, and the Tories say the council has “no intention of restricting access to any parks”.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh, hang on, though. The Tories are not being accused of 'closing' parks or green spaces (although we know they would, if they could get away with it). But it's easier to deny something you are not accused of than to defend something you hope to get away with, isn't it? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">And to say the council has "no intention of restricting access to any parks" is a completely wrong. Their own reports noted that access may be restricted - and quite clearly space will have to be removed from the public, if only on the grounds of health and safety.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Look and compare the documents highlighted by Labour: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p-iLJuqETsg/YBbyQpLNeiI/AAAAAAAAOnI/wvDQOq7GmK8nKfymQS0ELkCW0s_d5QE9ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1102/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B17.48.53.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1102" height="394" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p-iLJuqETsg/YBbyQpLNeiI/AAAAAAAAOnI/wvDQOq7GmK8nKfymQS0ELkCW0s_d5QE9ACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h394/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B17.48.53.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">It is clear that this is another example of an idea dreamed up by contractors, embraced by the more challenged Tory members who fail to understand that what they consider to be of low value will be fought over tooth and nail by their own voters should any of these monstrous installations be put in place. It is a huge political blunder: the whole idea should be thrown out - not just favoured exemptions, in 'sensitive' areas.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you wish to add your name to the petition to protest about this madness, you may do so via <a href="https://www.barnetlabour.org.uk/2021/01/18/stop-building-on-barnets-parks/">this link.</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I would also strongly recommend that you stop voting for these idiots.</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nPDC2e0ARCI/YBb_6J1Qf0I/AAAAAAAAOow/Ta8PnCfM-BkRlGHDtYL7MjgmBjERIT-wACLcBGAsYHQ/s588/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B19.06.22.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="588" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nPDC2e0ARCI/YBb_6J1Qf0I/AAAAAAAAOow/Ta8PnCfM-BkRlGHDtYL7MjgmBjERIT-wACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h265/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-31%2Bat%2B19.06.22.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Highlands Gardens, low quality, and low value. </i></span></div></div>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-23083957509746436462020-12-28T16:36:00.004+00:002021-03-26T11:29:39.388+00:00The Treasure House: Barnet Tories resume their war on libraries and plot the closure of their former flagship branch<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HD0-54cdPF4/X-jNX-_H9bI/AAAAAAAAOlg/wzhf5DWO1NsLuWnX-dbdiybav5YKRJWWgCLcBGAsYHQ/s993/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-27%2Bat%2B18.02.15.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="993" height="404" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HD0-54cdPF4/X-jNX-_H9bI/AAAAAAAAOlg/wzhf5DWO1NsLuWnX-dbdiybav5YKRJWWgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h404/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-27%2Bat%2B18.02.15.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Hendon Library, pic courtesy Historic England</i></span><p></p><p><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Updated 26th March 2021</span></p><p><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;">It has since emerged that not only is it intended to close Hendon Library, Barnet Tories and their development partners want to demolish the listed building, and leave only the front wall as a facade ... See new post <a href="https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-boulevard-of-broken-dreams.html">here</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is a time for everything, in Broken Barnet: a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">All of these rites of passage, fittingly, are now supervised and monetised by Capita PLC, the council's outsourced provider.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is also, of course, a time to roll out controversial proposals that might cause fury amongst the populace, if not carefully managed, and pushed through, while everyone is otherwise engaged. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Normally the optimal moment for such plotting is in the summer, while (so the Tory councillors and their masters in the senior management team and Capita imagine) everyone is away on holiday, and not interested in what is going on. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This year, of course, the year of Covid, offers an unprecedented opportunity to roll out any controversial proposal, and hope to get away with it, unopposed - and that, as we now see, is exactly what our scheming Tory councillors have attempted. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">They tried this tactic earlier in the year, when they <a href="https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/18810874.shake-up-planning-committees-barnet-gets-go-ahead/">disposed</a> of local planning committees </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">- removing even further the extent to which ward residents and their representatives may take part in any democratically run planning process. As much as was possible with a Tory majority loaded committee, of course. But interfering opposition councillors and their pesky residents were getting in the way of the best interests of Capita and the flock of predatory developers who are grabbing every piece of land available in the borough, and screwing out of it as much profit as possible, regardless of whether or not their ghastly buildings meet the real needs of the local community. As with so many other anti-democratic measures taken by this administration, it becomes clearer and clearer whose interests are now prioritised in this borough. And it is not the residents and tax payers.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the latest example of Covid opportunism, Tory members have turned their attention to another pet project.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After some effort by Labour councillors to secure an independent <a href="https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2020/03/tell-us-like-it-is-barnet-tories.html?m=0">review</a> of the devastating library cuts which have turned the former nationally recognised, value for money service into a parody of its former self, a report was published a year or so ago which criticised the depth and severity of the actions taken and highlighted the impact on users, especially children, elderly and vulnerable residents. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The consultants concluded that the cuts had gone too far: not only had staffing been minimised to a barely workable level, and book stock savagely reduced, the physical space for library functions in their own buildings had been shrunk to a nominal and totally inadequate level, with unstaffed hours having a clearly detrimental effect on the standard of service. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j7b7YyUUABg/X-jWiLxp--I/AAAAAAAAOl4/tBPoX20eSs4qzK_8Be5fYGyPaWcAFaSZACLcBGAsYHQ/s708/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-27%2Bat%2B16.06.08.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="708" height="484" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j7b7YyUUABg/X-jWiLxp--I/AAAAAAAAOl4/tBPoX20eSs4qzK_8Be5fYGyPaWcAFaSZACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h484/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-27%2Bat%2B16.06.08.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>'Refurbishment' of Hendon Library - cutting the library footprint to a fraction of its former space within the building - cost half a million pounds of public money, only three years ago. Now the building is to be given to Middlesex University.</i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Perhaps the most obvious example of what the cuts had destroyed is demonstrated by the plight of Hendon Library. A handsome building that stands next to the Town Hall, (both of them listed properties), this was once the flagship of an outstanding, beacon standard service: the central borough library. As well as a large volume of books for borrowing, it had a reference library, and a music library, a lecture room, and a children's section that covered half of the ground floor. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Above the door lintel is an inscription:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Non mimima pars eruditionis est bonos noscere libros</i>: 'not the least part of learning is to be acquainted with good books'.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The idea of opening a library in Hendon had first been suggested in the early 1920s, at a time when providing free access to books was seen as a civic duty, not simply for the leisured classes, but those less advantaged, as we see in this extract from a local newspaper report from February, 1923, of a meeting of the 'Childs Hill Ratepayers Association', and a motion proposed by a Mr Widlake:</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>I sure that any opponents of the scheme on the score of cost will be ready to admit that public libraries are not only a necessity, but that their cost is not to be reckoned an expenditure, but an investment.” Councillor Taylor seconded the motion moved by Mr. Widlake, and said that personally he would not mind seeing an increase in the rates provided benefits were given. “Poor people,” he said, “should be enlightened as well as the rich.”</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">A copy of this resolution was sent to the District Council, and in due course plans were made for the building we now know, which was opened in December 1929 by Lord Elgin, President of the Library Association, and chairman of the Carnegie Trust, from whom a grant of £7,000 had been made towards the overall cost of £30,000. A newspaper report of the opening filled three columns, listing dozens of local dignitaries who had attended the ceremony, begun in the Town Hall, and moved to the new building, which was unlocked by Lord Elgin, after he had been presented with a golden key, which Councillor Mrs Bannister, heady with civic pride, explained would 'unlock our treasure house' ... </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh, Councillor Mrs Bannister: what would you make of the barbarians in the Barnet Tory group who have so thoroughly trashed your treasure house, and thrown away the golden key?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Post war, Hendon Library had been the base of the magnificent Eileen Colwell, a widely respected professional librarian who pioneered the international children's library movement - of which I was later a grateful beneficiary, in Edgware, as a child with few books at home, liberated by access to endless supplies of reading material at the new library I visited every Saturday, devouring my allotted three books usually by Sunday evening, re-reading them throughout the week until I could borrow more. I would never have passed the eleven plus, or progressed to grammar school without this resource: and that was true of generations of children from all backgrounds, whose standards of literacy, and educational well being, were entirely dependent on the provision of such libraries.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BIP-6YbxhnA/X-jUJwX5PPI/AAAAAAAAOlw/Segyom7KbtcU18Ke1sFUXdoHLNMhAGlzwCPcBGAYYCw/s861/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-27%2Bat%2B15.57.24.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="861" height="476" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BIP-6YbxhnA/X-jUJwX5PPI/AAAAAAAAOlw/Segyom7KbtcU18Ke1sFUXdoHLNMhAGlzwCPcBGAYYCw/w640-h476/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-27%2Bat%2B15.57.24.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>The pathetic replacement children's library in Hendon, post 'refurbishment', overlooked by the ghost of Eileen Colwell.</i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is all destroyed now. Ironically, Barnet Tories think, if they think at all, of themselves as the natural heirs of their heroine, local MP, PM and milk snatcher extraordinaire, Margaret Thatcher, but fail to remember that she embraced and defended the public library system as crucial to the cause of social mobility, through access to education and self improvement. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">They have effectively torn away all chances of disadvantaged children having somewhere safe and quiet to study, somewhere to have free access to books, to guided information. They have removed a vital social hub for lonely or isolated older residents. Many disabled users no longer feel able to access the unstaffed libraries, let alone remain inside one, without assistance. But the Tory members do not give a f*ck about any of this.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The innate materialism and anti-intellectualism of the average, intellectually challenged Barnet Tory councillor means that even if an ideological hostility to the very idea of the public sector was not deeply embedded in their clockwork mechanisms, their antipathy to anything that hints of cultural values, equality or community, would ensure that their war on libraries would continue. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And so, continue it must, spurred on by the other motivation of their abominable administration: profit. In case you need reminding, a library is not, to the Barnet Tory councillor, and their contractual partners Capita, who now manage the portfolio of library buildings, a temple of education and learning, or leisure. It is a potential property development, or generator of income. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">When councillors first began selling off the family silver, and turning their beady eyes to the council owned properties they could flog off, one of the first targets was the historic Church Farmhouse Museum, just yards around the corner from the Town Hall, and the Library. It was the only local authority owned museum of local history, and held a unique collection of historical artefacts, much of it donated by residents. The then Tory leader Richard Cornelius said this collection was 'worthless', and it was sold (for a tidy sum, as it turned out) at auction, while the listed building was put up for sale. But not all went to plan: no one wanted to buy the building, with all the listed features they would have to preserve: such a nuisance! So they tried leaving it empty for a few years, decaying, a perfect metaphor for their contempt for our local heritage, defiant in its refusal to comply with their would be procurement of its history. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In desperation, they tried selling or leasing the property to Middlesex University, the usual customer in the marketplace of council properties in the Burroughs. Like any sole customer on whom the retailer depends, despite much pleading from the council, the Uni stuck out for a deal which was entirely beneficial to them, and a sorry bargain for the residents and taxpayers of Broken Barnet, robbed of a museum, and their heritage. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The relationship between Barnet Council and Middlesex is very close, and often secretive. They have been awfully helpful and bailed out the council in one or two scrapes, not just in regard to the Museum: their involvement in the curious Saracens story is a crucial factor in propping up that very interesting loan of £22 million which Barnet officers brokered between the authority and the private rugby club, when it was refused commercial funding for the new stand they wanted to build - but which has still not appeared.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Middlesex Uni, in the course of its apparently unstoppable colonisation of the Burroughs, has taken over Hendon Town Hall, in all but name: the Tory councillors still cling to the council chamber and a couple of committee rooms, due to their primary reason for becoming councillors, that is to say, to pretend to be very important members of the community, jostling every year for a nomination to become Mayor, and the chance to be carried about the borough in a limousine, with the grateful populace bowing before them, and a never ending round of all you can eat buffets, at other people's expense.</span></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--wsoMHCge7w/X-jdyPGT7zI/AAAAAAAAOmM/-y53SKdN6ZAx2xNyuSl90Sb_F1lLWXR2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1317/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-27%2Bat%2B16.15.20.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="672" data-original-width="1317" height="326" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--wsoMHCge7w/X-jdyPGT7zI/AAAAAAAAOmM/-y53SKdN6ZAx2xNyuSl90Sb_F1lLWXR2QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h326/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-27%2Bat%2B16.15.20.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">The early days of Hendon Library: the 'Treasure House'</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It was only a matter of time before the University got its foot in the door of Hendon Library, of course. During the massive programme of cuts that they pretended was a 'refurbishment', but which slashed the the service to shreds, in which millions of pounds were spent in order to - ha ha - 'save money', the 'reconfiguration' of Hendon Library was prioritised. The library functions were cut down to a tiny part of the footprint of its own building, and all that was left, in effect, were a few rows of bookshelves. The once outstanding children's library was gutted, and a useless, miniscule replacement shoved into a corner of the building, Eileen Colwell's legacy trashed and thrown in a skip, along with her vision of educating and empowering new generations of children through a love of reading. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As a final insult, they put her photograph on a wall looking down at the two boxes of picture books and the couple of stacks of shelving that pass for the newly 'refurbished' children's 'library'. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After the review's damning report was published, you might have hoped that the Tory councillors would have been shamed into some sort of plan to repair the damage they had done to the service. You would have been wrong to entertain such hopes. They feel no shame, and indeed are incapable of ever admitting they are wrong. They now decided, therefore, to double down on the same course of action, thinking they could push through the handover of Hendon Library to Middlesex Uni while the borough was in the grip of Covid, and not in a position to protest. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8Naz9m-UNQE/X-SNxVDCgoI/AAAAAAAAOlU/F450pmkE3C8uk_588f0-KLBU9qq0cFjAgCLcBGAsYHQ/s551/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-24%2Bat%2B12.44.23.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="551" height="373" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8Naz9m-UNQE/X-SNxVDCgoI/AAAAAAAAOlU/F450pmkE3C8uk_588f0-KLBU9qq0cFjAgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h373/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-24%2Bat%2B12.44.23.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Tory councillor Reuben Thompstone, cutter and shutter of Barnet Libraries, pic courtesy Times Series.</i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As you can read in <a href="https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/18884239.moving-barnet-library-exciting-opportunity/">this account</a> in the local Times, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Reuben Thompstone, the pantomime Tory member in charge of (cutting) libraries, informed a meeting on November 18th that 'moving' Hendon Library was an 'exciting opportunity'. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the now usual Barnet Tory tradition of take a decision first, then pretend to consult afterwards, they have already agreed to go ahead with the proposal to remove the Library from Hendon Library, and stuff a token replacement in a portacabin, in what they claim will be a temporary measure. Their scheme includes a vague plan to build something on what is now the tiny Town Hall car park, across the road, which they say would accommodate a small library and house an even bigger nuisance, the borough's Archives. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The latter function, ie the preservation of council documents, is a statutory one, or you can bet your last penny that they would flog off anything of value they found in the Archives, delete the archivist's post, and restart the history of Broken Barnet from Year Zero, in a cultural revolution with no culture, no past, no future - and no responsibility for heritage. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We do not know where these fragile and irreplaceable documents will be placed, during the 'temporary' decantation of the library into a portacabin. But before the retelling of horrible histories becomes forbidden, in Broken Barnet, let us remember what happened to the civic heritage collection, and the Grass Farm stained glass windows, left in the similarly emptied and abandoned Church End Finchley library. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Capita was given charge of the safekeeping of all the civic heritage collection. They handed the items to a third party contractor, and, showing at least some regard for the art of ironic gestures, shoved everything in the derelict Finchley mortuary, a few yards across the road from where I live. (Later sold for development, of course). And then - guess what? The items were <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2018/09/rue-morgue-strange-story-of-barnets.html">stolen</a>, and/or destroyed. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">After we raised concerns about the Grass Farm windows, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">an irreplaceable piece of Finchley's history, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">taken from what was once the home of the family which included arts and crafts designer Ambrose Heal, and left to the local council, many years ago, it was admitted - after a lot of prevarication - that these too had been stolen, while supposedly in the safekeeping of live in guardians contracted by Capita. Were there any sanctions, or penalties for the loss of these objects? What do you think? </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S-jvn5OBNRo/X-jfG9cYmRI/AAAAAAAAOmY/k1Qc-zOQUE8cr63_hRk5ilLIXCeAvhTRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s688/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-27%2Bat%2B16.07.23.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="531" data-original-width="688" height="309" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S-jvn5OBNRo/X-jfG9cYmRI/AAAAAAAAOmY/k1Qc-zOQUE8cr63_hRk5ilLIXCeAvhTRwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h309/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-27%2Bat%2B16.07.23.png" width="400" /></a></div><i><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Grass Farm windows, stolen while in the keeping of council contractors</span></i><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We have every reason to worry about what would happen, therefore, to the historic material currently in our local Archives, and it seems that questions raised by Labour councillors about this have not been adequately addressed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Recent history tells us there is little likelihood of any permanent replacement being built for Hendon Library. We were assured, when Friern Barnet branch was closed, that a wonderful replacement library would be built in North Finchley. A temporary arrangement of shelves in a room in the Arts Depot was the only thing to come out of that - and then disappear.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The authority will simply not be in the position to afford to build any replacement, for the foreseeable future and eventually the 'library' portakabin will be run down and 'disappeared'.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Save Barnet Libraries </i>campaigners have issued a statement (forming part of a letter published in the local press) on the proposal for a massive six-year £90m “Hendon Hub Redevelopment” to expand Middlesex University, and the removal of the library from the listed, purpose built building:</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>In October 2021, perhaps even before the first tranche of planning approvals, the library will be rehoused in “temporary” portacabins on the Burroughs Large Car Park near the A41.</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>Residents are meant to be happy about this, on the Council’s promise of a new library with “curbside appeal” in either Autumn/Winter 2023, or May 2024 – the date is vague. The description of the new library is also vague, promising to “facilitate the provision of a broader and enhanced library offer” that will attract more visitors, incorporate the borough’s archive and be “rent free in perpetuity”. This sounds very like the old Hendon Library which until 2017, was the most well-used branch in Barnet with over 233,000 visitors and 146,000 book loans per year. </i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>But, unfortunately, the proposals for the future library contain no guarantees at all: no capital budget, design or planning permission. Similarly, there is no commitment to increase staffed hours and library resources - which is what the service really needs to encourage library use. As the Council’s independent evaluation bluntly stated, the cuts to staffed hours have “gone too far”. </i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>These issues didn’t seem to matter to Cllr Thompstone or his colleagues on the Library Committee (CLCC) on 18 November. After all, they presided over the last decimation of the library service: in Hendon by spending £500k on reducing the library to 13% of its previous size, cutting staffed hours by 72% and leasing the building so that the library became a paying tenant. (One point of this was to make money from the building, but it’s unclear if it broke even, let alone made a profit.) By 2019-20, before Covid, book loans had reduced by half and the Council had stopped counting visitors.</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>In terms of the so-called “temporary” library, we are only told there will be reduced opening hours which will be, very unsatisfactorily, made up for by the mobile library. We are extremely concerned that the Council gives no consideration to the effect of the move and reduced service on library users, particularly as it appears almost inevitable that the development will overrun on time and costs, threatening the prospects of a new library at all.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">They are right to be concerned, and right to articulate the fury that will be felt by many residents and users over the further assault on our library service. Funnily enough, one of the newer local Tory councillors, Nizza Fluss, has voiced strong objections to these proposals. So she should. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">“<i>I can’t see any reason to leave this Grade II-listed building ... I do see why Middlesex want to acquire it, but I can’t see how it will benefit Barnet residents or the residents of Hendon</i>.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Quite.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">She is somewhat naive, and an inexperienced member of the Barnet Tory group and will be ignored, of course, by her colleagues, if she continues to object, and told to vote in line with the party's position. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Well: if you live in Hendon, or use the library, you might like to write to your MP, Matthew Offord, and remind him of his former <a href="https://www.matthewofford.co.uk/campaigns/support-and-improve-our-local-libraries">pledge</a> to keep all libraries in his constituency open. He claimed, during an earlier Libraries nonsultation, that Unison was to blame for 'scaremongering' in repeating fears about library closures. Of course: blaming a union for telling the truth is the usual fall back for Tories trying to deflect attention from their assaults on our public services.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the previous cull, library buildings were retained, but with their function as libraries reduced to a small fraction of the footprint of the building, to aid the Tories' assertion that they have closed no branches. The pretence was that the rest of the buildings would be used to generate income. This was nonsense: an excuse to justify the absurd expenditure of £14 million pounds of taxpayers' money, in truth not to make 'savings' (which of course have never made, other than in terms of sacking staff) - but for preparing the next stage in their long term development plans. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In practice, the Barnet Tory decimation of the library service, the replacement of staffed hours with self service entry - and the massive reduction of the book stock - was far worse, and has had a profound impact, leaving many people with effectively very little or no access to the service. The longer term effect in terms of the educational and literacy standards of less advantaged children and students, of course, will be equally damaging.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The closure of Hendon Library will have a further, hugely detrimental impact on residents, particularly, as in the case of Golders Green Library, for the families of the local Charedi community. As always with Barnet Tory cuts, however, the consequences for children, the elderly and vulnerable matter not at all, when development or business interests are at stake. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh, and if they get away with shutting the flagship library, you can be sure other valuable library buildings will follow.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Libraries are more than just an easy target for Barnet Tory cuts: they carry a symbolic role in the group's ritualised, instinctive loathing of the very concept of public services, free at the point of use. Although unthinking in their attitudes and half formed beliefs, they naturally object to what is to them a mystifying concept: community, care for others, culture; the love of reading and the acquisition of knowledge, for its own sake, or the importance of social hubs to address issues of exclusion, or loneliness. They see only an unnecessary burden, and a duty they refuse to acknowledge, a cost they do not want to pay. Their emotional distance stands on the same place as every tedious, extreme right wing administration, perfectly demonstrated by the rise of Trumpism (admired by some local Tory members) or the Johnsonian shambles that passes for government in the UK. It is from a heart as hard as flint, and as cold as ice: why should I do anything for others? Only my self interest matters. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Despite the smouldering contempt Barnet Tories feel for the local library service, with typical hypocrisy, once the Covid crisis was underway, this service, above almost all others, was considered so important that it was the last to close, before lockdown, leaving poorly supported staff - and users - dealing with an unknown situation, expected to carry on, while councillors's surgeries were cancelled. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">On the Saturday before Christmas, Johnson announced the introduction of Tier 4 and warned of an apparently more virulent mutation of the virus: within a short time of this deeply worrying announcement, far too quickly for any proper risk assessment to have been made of the increased risk to health, with all the unknown factors of higher and faster transmission, library staff were told to report to work as usual on Monday. "Click and collect" services continue, which they must administer. Many other library services have closed, of course, in other areas, by authorities with some sense of responsibility for their staff, and the public. But not in Barnet.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So which is it, Tory councillors? A library service of such little importance, that you can slash it to pieces, and leave poorly paid workers to struggle on, regardless, commended by your own consultants for their efforts to do so, in spite of the damage you had done? Or is it so vital that you must now, in the grip of an increasingly dangerous pandemic, merciless in its grip on this part of North London, force those workers to risk their lives, and that of their families, while you sit safely at home with your feet up, cancelling surgeries, holding a few safely Zoomed meetings, but refusing to put yourselves at any risk at all? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">When Hendon Library was opened in 1929, Lord Elgin made a speech,</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> faithfully recorded in the local newspaper report: it was one which would have passed over the empty heads of the current crop of Tory councillors in the chamber of Hendon Town Hall. He observed:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i></i></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>Libraries (are) not mere store-houses of books. They must be centres of social and political life—political in its old and full sense of what pertained to the good of the community. A library should teach us not only that we had a neighbour. It should help us to understand that neighbour, to know his ideals and ambitions, and to know that he wanted to find the best way of making use of the talents with which he had been entrusted. A library service must be treated as the true life-blood of the population. It must the open gateway to all and sundry to knowledge and beauty.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Not content with ransacking the treasure house of Hendon Library, and no doubt leaving the golden key to be stolen with the rest of the civic collection, our philistine councillors are happy to throw the spare key to the building over to their friends at Middlesex University, and reverse the march of progress begun by their predecessors. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is no excuse for this. The events of the last year have proved more than ever that the public library service is a vital, fundamental resource for all communities, never more so than in difficult times, and not least for those without means, the 'poor' people that Mr Widmark recognised, even in the 1920s, who deserve access to reading, and information, just as much as those with wealth and privilege.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Just as Barnet Tory councillors care nothing for those without access to books, computers or smart phones, they care even less for Lord Elgin's vision of 'the good of the community'. They do not recognise the idea of caring for one's neighbour, and supporting him or her in their aspirations, or needs. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And it is fair to say that the paternalistic but caring Conservative councillors of the 1920s would not recognise their supplanters in the chamber of Hendon Town Hall, who are intent on destroying their legacy of philanthropy, and practical help. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Hendon's 'Treasure House', of course, is the perfect place to start the next phase of their war on libraries: where better than the former central library, that once meant so much to so many people? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">A gateway to knowledge is a dangerous thing, in Broken Barnet: a portal to a world of differing opinions, and the possibility of change. No wonder they cannot wait to shut it down.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gFzoC_YUOlw/X-jfvJwHyNI/AAAAAAAAOmg/Hi89ufnBxyAm9TJ99bjI1Z-cho0_2ZKngCLcBGAsYHQ/s609/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-27%2Bat%2B16.48.10.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="609" height="336" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gFzoC_YUOlw/X-jfvJwHyNI/AAAAAAAAOmg/Hi89ufnBxyAm9TJ99bjI1Z-cho0_2ZKngCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h336/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-27%2Bat%2B16.48.10.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-60430950128251278082020-10-08T13:11:00.000+01:002020-10-08T16:15:58.126+01:00Caritas Christi Urget Nos: the Daughters of Charity, and another chapter in the unwritten history of St Vincent's, Mill Hill<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WlfiVbeVF38/X32gK_HOdEI/AAAAAAAAOjE/LKF9o8QQBBAnAee0PZL89aW39S2HYO4DgCLcBGAsYHQ/s798/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-06%2Bat%2B23.03.08.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="798" height="354" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WlfiVbeVF38/X32gK_HOdEI/AAAAAAAAOjE/LKF9o8QQBBAnAee0PZL89aW39S2HYO4DgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h354/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-06%2Bat%2B23.03.08.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>St Jeanne Antide Thouret, Daughter of Charity </i></span><div><br /></div><div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Of the thousand or so posts published on this website, over the last ten years, still the most frequently re-visited, perhaps rather surprisingly, are those I have written on the subject of the abusive culture in the schools and institutions run by the Daughters of Charity: including the primary school which I attended as a child, and the separate Orphanage which lay behind the school, St Vincents, on the Ridgeway, in Mill Hill. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2019/04/suffer-little-children-unwritten.html">http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2019/04/suffer-little-children-unwritten.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2013/01/growing-up-in-broken-barnet-making-of.html">https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2013/01/growing-up-in-broken-barnet-making-of.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">These posts continue to be read, on a daily basis, and I often receive comments from some of those who attended such institutions: whether schools, or, more usually, the residential homes. Some of these I do not publish, either because they are too personal, too distressing - or for legal reasons. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">'Annie', * a fragile, vulnerable survivor of one of these institutions contacted me last year, and spent many hours on the phone, and then in person, slowly disclosing the experiences of her life as a young teenager at Mill Hill: a tale of psychological abuse and physical punishment - the total absence of loving care. She had tried to report what had happened to her to the police, on her own, without support. They had dismissed her account. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">* <i>All names in this post have been changed.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last year 'Phil', another former victim of alleged abuse: physical, psychological and sexual, suffered while in the 'care' of the Daughters of Charity in the 1960s, wrote to me with details of the truly terrible experiences that he and his brothers suffered, at two different homes run by the Order, one of them Mill Hill.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">His account was profoundly shocking, reporting years of appalling treatment, physical and emotional abuse - and predatory sexual behaviour, including rape. I urged him to consider submitting evidence to IICSA, the Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. He has now done so. As I understand it, police have also been informed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I have read his submission, and it was detailed, graphic, and unsparing: impossible to read without feeling the intensity of pain created by such a perverse and sustained betrayal of childhood, innocence - and trust. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of his brothers took his own life, in later years. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Such is the unbearable legacy of abuse for some victims: one that too often proves impossible to leave behind. Many others are unable to function as adults, burdened with depression, anxiety and intrusive memories of the past: unable to form lasting, healthy adult relationships, unsurprisingly, after grossly abusive, sexualised childhoods, with no safeguarding, no loving care, and no family support. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">That any child should be subjected to such treatment is insupportable. That this cruelty was perpetrated in the name of God, and the Church, is simply, and literally, beyond belief. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BZHT-KoU1So/X33KPYTDLsI/AAAAAAAAOkQ/BGStVP2xt50kpkPxY-Q_6LxlxHUifJLqQCLcBGAsYHQ/s544/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-07%2Bat%2B15.00.31.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="399" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BZHT-KoU1So/X33KPYTDLsI/AAAAAAAAOkQ/BGStVP2xt50kpkPxY-Q_6LxlxHUifJLqQCLcBGAsYHQ/w294-h400/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-07%2Bat%2B15.00.31.png" width="294" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Daughters of Charity were founded in France, in the 1630s, by Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac when they began their work caring for the sick, and the poor, for those abandoned on the streets: observing their Christian faith in practical help for those in need. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The first mission to England arrived in 1847, invited by a wealthy Catholic cotton merchant to work in the slum conditions in Manchester and Salford that had so appalled Engels in his time there, less than five years earlier. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The order continued to expand across the world, and and in the UK began to devote itself to education, and the care of children. St Vincent's School for Boys (girls were admitted later) was opened at Mill Hill, in 1887, followed by a primary school. By the 1960s and 1970s, the work the Order undertook was increasingly becoming the statutory responsibility of the social care system, and the Order's residential homes, including the home in Mill Hill, were closed. Now their charitable work continues in social projects, for vulnerable and homeless people.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Somewhere, sometime, during the twentieth century, the vision of Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac was entirely lost, and generations of children left in the care of the Daughters of Charity were subjected to a merciless regime that not only enabled abuse and neglect, but allowed the perpetrators to evade any sanction for their behaviour. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">That some of the victims of such failure in safeguarding have struggled for their voices to be heard, and their grievances to be addressed, is unforgivable: only now is there any formalised process of investigation by the government into this dark history - and the Church itself appears unable still to address the enormity of the scale of this problem. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0uryI0amgSg/X32o0vOclfI/AAAAAAAAOjQ/Kyd2u3Oq4cocOwEbQyZouIp3wBps_Q3VwCLcBGAsYHQ/s520/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-06%2Bat%2B23.06.24.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="381" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0uryI0amgSg/X32o0vOclfI/AAAAAAAAOjQ/Kyd2u3Oq4cocOwEbQyZouIp3wBps_Q3VwCLcBGAsYHQ/w293-h400/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-06%2Bat%2B23.06.24.png" width="293" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>St Vincent de Paul</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I have noted recently further visits by the 'Holy See, Vatican City' to the posts about the Daughters of Charity, and I imagine that there is some concern, at the highest level, about such reports continuing to appear.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It would be good to think that this was a mark of concern about the traumatised children who passed through these institutions: I suspect, however, that there is a concerted effort in hand to protect the reputation of the Catholic Church from the impact of such accounts - and perhaps </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">defend the Order from compensation claims.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Earlier this week a damning <a href="https://www.iicsa.org.uk/document/anglican-church-safeguarding-church-england-and-church-wales-investigation-report">report</a> was published by IICSA, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, in regard to investigations into the abuse of children by those associated with the Church of England. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Amongst its findings, the following observation is made:</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;"><i>Faith organisations such as the Anglican church are marked out by their explicit moral purpose, in teaching right from wrong. In the context of child sexual abuse, the church’s neglect of the physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of children and young people in favour of protecting its reputation was in conflict with its mission of love and care for the innocent and the vulnerable.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This statement, in part, in its identification of the failure of religious bodies to live up to the aspirations of their own mission and core values, echoes the comment made by Lady Smith, in 2018, in </span><a href="https://www.childabuseinquiry.scot/case-study-findings/case-study-findings-pdf-version/case-study-findings-daughters-of-charity/" style="font-family: georgia;">findings</a><span style="font-family: georgia;"> which identified abuse at Scottish institutions run by the Catholic Order of the Daughters of Charity, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">as part of the Scottish Child Abuse <a href="https://www.childabuseinquiry.scot/">Inquiry</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">(</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">In 2018, a number of </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/23/nuns-charged-in-investigation-into-child-abuse-at-smyllum-park" style="font-family: georgia;">people</a><span style="font-family: georgia;"> were arrested and charged by Police Scotland in relation to the alleged abuses at one of these institutions, Smyllum Park).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Criticising the regime at such 'homes', Lady Smith commented:</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: georgia;">“<i>To children, ‘home’ should mean a safe place where they know they will find unconditional loving care provided by adults they can trust; a place they will find light whenever life outside has grown dark; a place which does not fill them with fear; a place where they will not suffer abuse.</i></span></p><p><i><span style="color: #ffa400;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">"The provision, by the Order, of homes for </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">the residential care of children in a way </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">which routinely and consistently met that </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">description would have been in keeping </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">with their mission and with Christ’s teaching. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sadly, I have, in the light of the evidence, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">concluded that that did not happen. </span></span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Order's motto is 'Caritas Christi Urget Nos'- which means 'The charity of Christ crucified urges us', or '</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">the love of Christ compels us'.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It is clear, however, that the vision of 'charity' envisaged in the seventeenth century by founders St Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac was betrayed, in the most profound way, in too many of the institutions run by their followers in more recent times.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Av8FpWCn7yY/X33IUVIC8GI/AAAAAAAAOkE/_RMFpYuSN98t-ar-yzDZK5K31CDyxVoQgCLcBGAsYHQ/s527/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-07%2Bat%2B14.52.36.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="402" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Av8FpWCn7yY/X33IUVIC8GI/AAAAAAAAOkE/_RMFpYuSN98t-ar-yzDZK5K31CDyxVoQgCLcBGAsYHQ/w305-h400/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-07%2Bat%2B14.52.36.png" width="305" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Louise de Marillac</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The terms of the Scottish Inquiry are broader than IICSA, in that they include allegations of all forms of abuse, not just of a sexual nature. In England and Wales, it seems, only sexual abuse is now, belatedly, being taken seriously and the impact of the full scope of damage caused by other failures in care is not measured by this Inquiry, which is regrettable. One might hope that the Catholic Church would itself instigate an Inquiry into the shameful history of many of the schools and care homes - but there is no evidence they have any interest in taking responsibility for this.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Last November, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster Diocese, and the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, gave evidence to IICSA for the second time, and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50320800">declared himself</a> to be 'shocked to the core' by child sexual abuse involving members of the clergy, but stated he was 'still learning' about the issue. It seems that the idea that he should see things from the perspective of the victim or survivor had only just occurred to him, after a meeting at the Vatican with other Bishops. Understanding, for Cardinals, it seems, must only arrive via official channels, or in a moment of belated clarity, like a sacrament of faith.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">'Annie' had written last year to Cardinal Nichols to ask him to instigate some sort of investigation into homes run by the Daughters of Charity. He did not reply.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Catholic Church would no doubt, in their defence, point to the good work that has been done by the Order, and others like it, without understanding that until the unspoken legacy of abuse is recognised, and some sort of restitution made, lack of trust in the Church, as it has in Ireland, will fatally compromise what is left of its claim to serve any community in the name of God, or in the spirit of Christian values.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yGfeQd4bHek/X37xTDPRgrI/AAAAAAAAOko/6fttgKlwy2Qa2ofBTc5O9RwGCm_9IeZSQCLcBGAsYHQ/s646/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-08%2Bat%2B11.53.03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="646" data-original-width="423" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yGfeQd4bHek/X37xTDPRgrI/AAAAAAAAOko/6fttgKlwy2Qa2ofBTc5O9RwGCm_9IeZSQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-08%2Bat%2B11.53.03.png" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">'Giovanni', an elderly man formerly resident in the Mill Hill Orphanage, who has lived abroad for many years, and no longer speaks English fluently, has given permission for his story to be published here, translated by a friend who has encouraged him to talk to her about his childhood. Although he was happy to use his own name, I have changed this and some other details in order to protect his identity, and shortened his account. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In its way, it represents an example of the culture of abuse, in its broadest sense, that these children were encouraged to accept as their lot: even without the sexual element, which in itself was only one terrible symptom of a wider system of control: the use of continual punishment and deprivation, of cruelty and humiliation, in order to create total submission to the authority of the Church.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wf7lasE3rDI/X33VpfAhTrI/AAAAAAAAOkc/Ysykh-RiZI0I3pV9HG0y0ODkjYOU0zBPgCLcBGAsYHQ/s606/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-07%2Bat%2B15.48.59.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="464" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wf7lasE3rDI/X33VpfAhTrI/AAAAAAAAOkc/Ysykh-RiZI0I3pV9HG0y0ODkjYOU0zBPgCLcBGAsYHQ/w306-h400/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-07%2Bat%2B15.48.59.png" width="306" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>The former Orphanage at St Vincent's, Mill Hill, now a luxury housing development.</i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>"I was born in Italy in 1938. My brother Carlo was a few years my senior. When I was two my dad worked on the ships in the dockyard. One day a workmate asked him whether they could exchange shifts. My dad obliged. An accident happened on that shift, something fell down from a mast. My dad was killed. At that point my mother was pregnant with my younger brother Antonio. Soon Antonio was born, and my mum now had three boys to look after, all on her own. She struggled to make ends meet, with three mouths to feed.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>A couple of years passed. Our destitution was such that mum had no choice but to leave one of us at an orphanage. The lot fell on me, since Carlo was old enough to look after baby Antonio, but two brothers would be too much for him. I was left in an orphanage. At the end of the war my mother met an English soldier, and soon got pregnant. She had no choice but to marry him and move to England. She took me out of the orphanage in Italy, to go with her to England together with my brothers, and baby Peter soon on his way. When we arrived in London, I remember there was no one to receive us, which was quite disheartening, and my mum did not speak a word of English. We had to sleep in a cheerless, dismal place, a kind of an old people’s home, on the first night.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>My stepfather had neither the wish nor the means to keep his wife’s three Italian boys in his flat. Carlo was old enough to soon find work and spread his wings, but Antonio and I had to be placed elsewhere. My mum left me and Antonio at St Vincent Residential School for boys in Mill Hill when I was in my ninth year and Antonio in his seventh. This was in 1947. Antonio was placed in a ward for younger children, whereas I went with the older kids. The outdoor playground of our separate wards was divided by a fence, so from now on we could only speak to each other when outside, and across the fence. We only knew Italian and I recall being beaten by the other boys in the beginning, because I was different.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>I was a quick learner. I was lucky because I had Sister R who seemed to take a liking to me and notice my efforts. I wanted so much to prove that I was worth being loved, so I tried very hard to excel at everything they asked us to do. Soon I became an altar boy. I was good at reciting Latin because of my Italian background. I was good at singing. I was given the responsibility of keeping the classroom neat and tidy. I polished the brass door handles and kept track of three dormitories. There were ten children in each of these. I was set to make sure it was quiet at the requested hour before going to sleep. I was responsible for keeping the rooms clean. I attached pieces of cloths to my knees and hands and pushed myself under the beds to sweep the floors. If any of the kids were stirring, they got a spanking from the nuns. Eventually I took that job myself. By and by I became quite popular, because I was good at football, good at cricket and good at school.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Miss Q kept night watch in the dormitories. She loathed us. She made sure it was all quiet during the night. "Who is that coughing?" "Stop coughing!" I remember I was sick and coughing, I had chronic trouble with my bronchi, and I was punished with a beating on my bare backside because I was coughing. Often, someone had done something wrong, and no one dared to come forward and admit it. We were punished collectively and told to stand on our knees with our arms raised behind our heads. This could last for 10-15 minutes, before we were released and allowed to eat.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>I often sang during mass, and eager as I was, I also sang along with the priest when he was supposed to sing alone. I remember one such incident. After mass Mr P, the caretaker, came over and asked me to go and see Sister W in her office. A parcel had arrived for me, he said. Full of joy and astonishment I rushed to the office to collect it. "Come closer," Sister W demanded. "You don't sing when the priest sings". Then she handed me two mighty blows on each cheek for this serious offence. I was utterly baffled and deeply humiliated, since I had not the faintest idea I had done something wrong in the first place.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>When it was Solemn Mass, some of the boys carried candles, and I was the thurifer, leading the procession, swinging a thurible with incense alongside another altar boy. When the priest was to turn wine into the blood of Christ, sometimes my role was to assist him. It happened once that I cheated a bit and made sure to spill a little on my hand so I could taste some too. After mass I was scolded by the priest and beaten about the ears: you don’t soak your fingers in wine!</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>We got up early in the morning and the mass was before breakfast. I remember during a morning rehearsal, Sister R was displeased because the altar boys’ responses to the priest had been faulty. If you can’t do better than this, you will not be allowed to serve at Solemn Mass. I was the best in Latin. I mumbled smugly among the other boys, "phhh I don't care”. Who said that?, A shouted. It wasn't that hard to see, because I was red as a beetroot. Forward with your hands, strike with the ruler. On your knees the rest of the rehearsal. Sister R was furious with me. You will not be allowed to be an altar boy at Easter Vigil until you apologise for your behaviour. I refused. From then on, Sister R gave me a cold shoulder and took no notice of me.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>I was broken-hearted. During the breaks I stood there peeking at Sister R, pining for her attention, but she ignored me. This lasted for a long time. Closer to Easter I burst out in tears and apologised. Sister R accepted. She put me on her lap and I cried. No one else had taken over my role for Easter Mass, and I knew they needed me for this task since I performed it so well. She told me I could go on with it, now that I had apologised. Michael was a ginger haired Irish boy. When he saw me sitting on Sister R's lap, he started to tease me. I leapt at him and wanted to kill him, and someone had to come and separate us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>I remember one more episode; there was a boy who was the biggest and strongest of all, and he was going to beat me up. But Antonio my brother was now on the same side of the playground. A boy was about to attack me, ready with his fist. But what happens? By surprise, Antonio runs up and gives him one on the nose. The boy was put out of play, and I had been rescued by my little brother.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Sundays when we played outside, the nuns would ring a big bell if they had a message for one of us. Johnny, your mum has come! Every time the bell rang, Antonio and I hoped that our mum was coming to see us. We hardly ever had visitors, though. Except for my elder brother Carlo. Once he came and brought me a belt, and I was overjoyed.</i></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>My mother now had two children with her English husband, so I don’t think she had time to see us as often as she wanted to. Sometimes we would go home for holidays. We had a dreadful time, because our stepfather, Mr G, was a tyrant. We Italian boys had to stay in a room upstairs when he was home, because he didn’t want to see us, nor hear us. I remember he put our little half-brother Peter in a drawer and closed it, so that the little boy had to be locked up there in the dark for a long time. He was savage to my mum too. She was too scared to oppose his cruel ways. My mum got ill and died when I was 15, and I was glad for her, because she had such a dreadful life with that tyrant. Their two children went into charge of the social services when mum died, I think they were put in foster homes.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>At the orphanage we got little food and we were often hungry after meals. I complained to the caretaker Mr P and asked him why we couldn't get more to eat. He said it was how it was supposed to be. None of us were supposed to eat until we were full. Although he tried to say it in a joking way to make me feel better, I still could not understand it.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Mr B owned the farm next door. He kept cows. He delivered milk to the orphanage. Often the milk was off because it was kept in room temperature. I hated tapioca pudding and couldn't make myself eat it. Mr B and Mr P would hold me, while Miss Q forced my mouth open and spooned the pudding into my mouth. I threw up, and got punished for that, too. We were forced to eat everything they served us.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>I believe my instinct drove me to defy all the ill treatment I received. I was toughened. I was going to show them that I would not let them break my spirit, I would show them I was the best, even if I was a foreigner. So I got up, brushed it off, and made every effort to do my best, no matter what."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It is interesting, in a grim way, to note from this account, and others, that some of the characteristic details of 'discipline' handed out in the Orphanage post war were still in place when I went to the primary school years later, just as they recur in the Scottish Inquiry's investigation into the homes like Smyllum: the use of rulers to hit children; the arms above the head punishment; the regular humiliation of frightened children who wet themselves; being physically forced to eat vile food - including tapioca - leave nothing at all, or be punished, and made to drink warm milk that had gone off.<span> Any food that was left over in the school kitchen would be taken to feed the pigs on the farm, run by an Irish farmer, tenant of the nuns, whose brood of red headed sons attended the school. I used to feel a sense of comradeship with the pigs, forced to eat such inedible slop. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>But however awful the conditions for us at the school, we could go home at night. There was no one to see what happened in the Orphanage that lay behind us, but which was as separate and alien as a foreign country: a place of mystery, that no one mentioned, the children rarely seen. They were meant to be unseen.</span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bK8GH6bBbHs/X33C0pBL34I/AAAAAAAAOjw/wFt4MWFaF8ca3FmGO6H-PcjuRYz6_1COACLcBGAsYHQ/s771/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-07%2Bat%2B14.24.50.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="545" data-original-width="771" height="452" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bK8GH6bBbHs/X33C0pBL34I/AAAAAAAAOjw/wFt4MWFaF8ca3FmGO6H-PcjuRYz6_1COACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h452/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-07%2Bat%2B14.24.50.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>The waxen effigy and relics of St Vincent de Paul. The chapel at St Vincent's had a similarly terrifying glass tomb, encasing the figure of a child, meant to be one of the 'Holy Innocents'. </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Giovanni's friend continued the story, after he left Mill Hill: sent to a home in Essex </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">then run by the Christian Brothers, but which had for many years been one of the Daughters of Charity's institutions. He believed that one of the Brothers regularly abused one of the boys in his dormitory, who would spend time each night in the screened off area where he slept.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">At Mill Hill, 'Giovanni' learned quickly that the way to survive a childhood in the care of the Daughters of Charity was to comply with the regulations, and seek to please the one nun who seemed to care about his welfare, albeit in a way that meant failure to obey led to the instant withdrawal of her favour. Like most of the other children, he knew no other sort of home or family life, and accepted as the norm conditions which to us seem only cruel, and uncaring. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">'Phil' and his brothers all left the UK, after their years in care. But they could not leave behind the years of trauma, or the damage that it had done. Time is not a great healer, in these circumstances: in later life such memories often resurface, as vivid and destructive as before. At least now, with their accounts accepted as evidence in the course of the IICSA inquiry, there is a chance of some belated justice for victims, and some sort of restitution. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I hope so, anyway.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Caritas Christi Urget Nos</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anyone who wishes to contact the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, perhaps to make their own submission of evidence, may do so here:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><a href="https://www.iicsa.org.uk/">https://www.iicsa.org.uk/</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Link to support services <a href=" https://www.iicsa.org.uk/help-and-support-0">here</a>:</span></p></div>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-31866556369101193702020-09-07T15:17:00.000+01:002020-09-10T13:43:02.538+01:00Too Long at the Fair: Victoria Park, and Barnet Tories, all on board the Ghost Train<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>All the fun of the fair, in Broken Barnet, in the year of Covid.</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Update no 2. - Thursday, please scroll down to the bottom.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Update no 1. with a response from Barnet's Chief Executive, below - and my reply to him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Victoria Park, in Finchley, has often served as a useful metaphor for the wider state of things here in Broken Barnet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A park created by local Victorian philanthropists, named for the elderly Queen, in the last years of her reign, and <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-fields-lie-sleeping-story-of.html">opened</a> by her daughter, Princess Christian, as a place meant for the recreation of the people of Finchley. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">These days, however, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the local Tory councillors, treacherous heirs to the corporate trusteeship left to them by Inky Stephens, have little interest in protecting the rights of residents to enjoy any open space, let alone this one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In blatant breach of the covenant that was placed in protection of the park, Tory members sold off part of the land, which included the beautiful, Arts and Crafts style Park Keeper's Lodge, and high hedged garden, in a cash purchase to a property developer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Lodge was demolished, despite all protests by local residents: and now, thanks to your local Tory councillors, including the current Leader Dan Thomas, and former council leader, now local MP Mike Freer, who both approved the sale of the site, in its place you can now watch the slow construction of a block of flats. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That in itself is the perfect metaphor for the state of this borough, where not even a public park is safe from the land grabbing activity of rampant development: a monster now eating up every last inch of Barnet, creating thousands of non affordable slums of the future, increasing the population regardless of the burden on an already inadequate infrastructure of local resources: schools, healthcare, shops - and even parks and open spaces. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This rapacious level of development is being facilitated by the council's own privatised planning service, and privatised 'regeneration' service: both of them run by Capita, which is of course in its own right also a developer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And Capita runs many other services for Barnet: including the management of parks and open spaces. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A couple of summers ago, a group of Gypsy Travellers dared to come and halt for a few days, very neatly, in a corner of the park. They were obliged to do this because in Barnet there are not, and never have been, any legal stopping places for gypsies, even during the many years when it was a statutory requirement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Travellers and their caravans were frankly indistinguishable from the fairground people who now park up here, with their own tatty looking vehicles, several times a year, in order to feed the council's income generating machine, run by Capita. The only difference is that the council provides them with facilities, and rubbish bins. But the racist rebellion from a vocal minority of outraged local residents ensured that they were soon turned out of the park: on the day of the eviction some local women stood and literally shrieked at police officers, until this was done.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I stood and watched as this eviction took place. The council officer who was in charge noticed me looking and said, assuming I was one of them: 'Don't worry, they're being moved out'. I replied that I wasn't worried, except that the occupation would not have happened, if there had been an alternative stopping place. He looked back at me blankly, unable to comprehend why anyone would care. I wondered what he would say if I told him that some of my own family used to travel about in this way, once upon a time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Two years on, and we find ourselves in the year of Covid, and our local park has never been more vital to those of us who live in the area: the only place we can go to, to walk in the fresh air, in safety, socially distanced, and escape from the otherwise full time house arrest many of us are still under.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The last thing we expected to see in the park this summer, at a point when local infection rates are shooting up again, was another occupation - by a fun fair.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The occupation of a park by Gypsy Travellers is a threat to public safety, but the occupation of a park by a fun fair, in the midst of a pandemic, sanctioned by the same officers who organised the eviction of the former, is ok, apparently. Probably because, you might reasonably assume, quite apart from the pandering to racism, the only events allowed in the park are those which generate income for the council - and more importantly, for Capita. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Capita manages parks and greenspaces, and receives, for all budget 'savings' it identifies as such, financial rewards, called 'gainshare payments'. This is one of the ways the company extracts profit from our local services - all as part of the massive contracts, thousands of pages long, which our empty headed Tory councillors obediently signed, in 2013, without properly reading the small print. Or even the large print. They relied on the same people who wrote the contract to scrutinise the contract for them: that is how lazy and incompetent they were.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Labour councillor Ross Houston at Victoria Park: he and local members were not consulted about the fair, and are questioning why this event is continuing.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Complaints about the fun fair were made to the relevant officers, and local councillors. It became clear that the local councillors had not been consulted. An officer claimed that they had been 'informed'. This turned out to be <i>after</i> residents' complaints were made to said officers. The approval of such events, said the officers, was made on a basis of 'business as usual'. Despite the fact that we are clearly not living in 'usual' times, and that Covid infection rates are now increasing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Further enquiries revealed that officers were complacently relying on assurances made by the fun fair organisers: assurances that clearly, on my visits, were not being observed. But this is anyway irrelevant - there is no way in which a public gathering of this sort, with these numbers attending, in their hundreds every day, for ten days, could be safe from risk, in the current circumstances.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At the end of the week, as the fair arrived and started up its ten day booking, the council's own Covid data demonstrated that the infection rate in the borough, and in this part of the borough, were increasing. Their twitter account continued to urge people to #stayalert, and take precautions to avoid risk of infection. Local GPs, for the first time during the epidemic, issued text messages to patients warning them of the rise. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Still the fair continued, and over the weekend when it was always going to be busiest: hundreds of people attending every day. I visited twice, at a safe distance, and in a mask, watching in horror the lack of social distancing, monitoring of numbers, cleansing: people shrieking on the rides, all unmasked - only one or two ride attendants sporting one, in one case under the chin. At one stall, food was being prepared and handed over by a person wearing no gloves, no mask, to a queue of non socially distanced customers. Business as usual, if the definition of usual is borrowed from the era of Typhoid Mary, perhaps.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One might have sympathy with the people who work on the fair - ironically, originally many fair people were Gypsies too, once upon a time: but many of us are hugely financially impacted by the continuing Covid nightmare - one which will be ending even further in the future if we do not get a grip of it now, in the wake of fatal delays and gross incompetence in the handling of the crisis by Johnson's government, rotten to the core with contracts to private companies that fail to deliver vital PPE, and all the other companies favoured on the basis of croneyism.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Back in Finchley: one resident at the weekend contacted our Tory MP Freer, who lives near to the park. She was reportedly informed that he could do nothing about the fair.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Absurdly, by Monday, the situation in regard to the Covid rate was so critical that the council tweeted that people must not meet up outside in groups of more than six. There have been reports, over the last week, of police fining or closing down large gatherings: yet this one is still going on. Why?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here is the nub of the matter. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The local authority's responsibility for public health is clearly being put at risk by by the actions of its own contractual providers, in allowing this fair to take place at all, at this time - of course all responsible boroughs have had control of their own decision making, and cancelled such large scale events. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This local authority's functions and duties to the public, as with central government, in many respects, are being compromised by the activities of its own privatised services - on a huge scale, most obviously in planning and development. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Last week the professionally lobbied plans of a developer to build a set of monstrous blocks of flats on the site of the former gas works in East Barnet were rejected by 'outraged' Tory councillors, the same councillors who have approved development of monstrous blocks of flats in areas where their own vote base was not at threat. The interesting thing about this was, as fellow blogger John Dix pointed out, the extent to which the arguments put by Capita planning officers appeared to be in ignorance of so many council planning policies. He posed the question: 'When you outsource critical council functions like planning & make them highly dependent on fees, is this one of the consequences?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here in Barnet Tory councillors have outsourced their public services, and outsourced their responsibilities. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They are no longer running this borough: it is being run by a private company which knows that no matter how poor their performance in service delivery, their clients in Barnet will not withdraw from the contracts, or seek any effective sanction for their losses. It is caught in a relationship of coercive control, from which, or so they maintain, there is no escape.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is just one problem, from the point of view of the local Tory party. Their own voters are now falling under the wheels of the vehicle they created, by allowing a private company to run the borough. Residents of formerly loyal Tory areas are now being confronted by rampant development right next door to them, and are furious that there is nothing to stop it. They see their pavements and roads left unrepaired, and are furious about that too. They find a fun fair in their local park, during a global pandemic. The Tory councillors and MPs they write to, about all such matters, expecting instant action, are unable to help, because they cannot compel contracted out services to do the work they are paid to do, to an adequate standard. Why would they, when nothing happens when they don't? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So: come along to Victoria Park. Steer clear of the building site, on your way in. Wander into the fun fair, why don't you, and test out the old herd immunity thing? It's what Dominic Cummings would want, after all. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is Broken Barnet, the ultimate wet dream of any slaphead government adviser, hiding in the bunker on his dad's farm: a testing ground of market forces, spaffed up all over the place, unregulated. A former democracy taken over by covert consultants and faceless managers: all the fun of the fair, and all of the risk on us, the poor sods who pay our council taxes, and are left looking forlornly through the park railings for the lost figure of Inky Stephens, hiding in the shadows of the Ghost Train.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tickets please!</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">From John Hooton:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Firstly just to be very clear that we all remain very concerned about the prevention of spread of Covid-19 in Barnet, and we are working closely with Public Health England colleagues, looking at cases in the borough, where these are arising, making sure that any links are identified and that our community messaging is targeted in the right way.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is a system nationally and indeed across London that we work within, which includes escalation points where additional measures are considered in local areas, depending on the intelligence coming through the public health system. This is based on coronavirus infection rate per 100, 000 population.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Barnet has seen a relatively low number of cases over June, July and first part of August, and has been well below the threshold of 20 to 25 per 100,000 cases. At this point, we make sure that we target our communications in areas where there have been more cases or clusters of cases, and work closely with the test and trace system on the intelligence to see if there are any links between cases and any potential risks of increased infection. At this level of cases, events and activities will take place across Barnet and indeed in boroughs across the country provided that they are adhering to national guidelines and that Covid risk assessments are completed if necessary. Many other boroughs in London have had similar events over recent weeks, and this operator was previously in another London borough.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When the threshold of 20 to 25 per 100,000 cases is reached, this is the point at which additional preventative measures are considered. This would include enhanced enforcement in areas of higher infection, more community messaging and reviewing whether things like events or large gatherings should still take place.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As of today, Barnet has seen the rate per 100,000 increase to over 20. That means that our public health team are working with regional colleagues to understand the epidemiological picture and agree the appropriate actions.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The intelligence suggests that the increase in cases is predominantly in 16-24 age group and also particularly in the south and the west of the borough. Transmission is mainly through household members, through visiting friends and private parties and gatherings. Whatever we do in terms of next steps will need to be informed by the evidence that is coming through from the public health system.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Finally, I just want to be very clear that any fee that is paid by the operator has absolutely no bearing on whether the funfair will continue to operate in the borough. On this, a decision will be taken in the next 24 hours on the basis of the information we have on compliance with the risk assessment and the context that I have set out above.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Kind regards</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My response: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes, thank you for this but if you will forgive my bluntness, this is just a load of flannel. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The facts are reducible to one thing. There is an increase locally, amongst largely young people. Yet you have allowed a fun fair to take place, and to continue even as cases are rising, an event which young people of this age group attend, whilst sending out messages telling people not to gather in groups of more than six outdoors. This is absurd. That is all there is to it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There was never any argument for holding an event like this during a pandemic. There is enough risk from activities which are unavoidable, and such events as this set a dangerous example to the community, encouraging them to think there is no longer any need for caution - as evidenced by the behaviour of the majority of people at the fair.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> At this precise point it is reckless, and will cause the spread of the virus utterly unnecessarily. Let us hope no lives are lost or serious long term health problems caused as a consequence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Theresa Musgrove</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Update No 2:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Yesterday (Wednesday) it became apparent that national rates of Covid infection have risen to the extent that a drastic revision of measures has had to be adopted by the Government. It was also revealed locally that infection rates in Barnet, specifically in wards adjacent to Victoria Park, have been rising to an alarming level: see the chart below.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">After writing to the Chief Executive to ask him to confirm that now, at least, the fair would be stopped, he replied to say that this would only happen on Friday. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">This means that nine out of the ten days the fair was due to run have been allowed, in the face of all common sense - and rising rates of Covid transmission. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Stopping it only one day short does nothing except allow the council to demonstrate a purely nominal intervention. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">If there is a risk, there has been one right from the beginning - and it has increased as the event has been running. It will not magically change tomorrow: it is already increasing beyond any point that such events could possibly be justified - if there ever was justification, at the time of a pandemic. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">This sorry tale is the perfect demonstration of everything that is wrong with the administration of this local authority, and in its way a reflection of the sickness in our current government: an impotent Tory leadership, policy and decision making being driven by outsourced contractors, and a process of governance unable to put the well being of the community, and its responsibilities for the protection of public health, before the demands of income generation - 'business as usual'. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Too many conflicts of interests, too much compromise. Our democratic system is broken.</span><br />
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Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-32111423954819506872020-06-27T21:00:00.001+01:002020-06-29T10:14:00.433+01:00Finchley Memorial Green Space: Clowning around, Weaving the Landscape - and Nestling into a Rhythm - a presentation from the developers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Grimaldi, hoping to find a cure for his depression, asks Abertheny for advice, and the surgeon, unaware of his client’s identity, prescribes </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the diversions of “relaxation and amusement”:</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>“But where shall I find what you require?” said the patient.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>“In genial companionship,” was the reply; “perhaps sometimes at the </i></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">theatre;—go and see Grimaldi."</i><br />
<i style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></i>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>“Alas!” replied the patient, “that is of no avail to me. </i></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I <b>am</b> Grimaldi.” </i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well then: it's quite hard to keep a sense of humour, in these dark days and nights of the Plague Year, 2020. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So we must be thankful for small mercies, and the ability to take comic relief, when and where we find it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On Thursday night, this came in the unexpected form of a Zoom presentation organised by the would be developers of housing on the Finchley Memorial Community Green Space, the subject of the former post, which you can find <a href="https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2020/06/fmh.html">here</a>. More information on the intended development on the CHP <a href="https://finchley.homesfornhsstaff.co.uk/home">website</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A development to be built, so they hope, right on the spot where, as a blue plaque informs passers by, lived the clown Joseph Grimaldi (1778–1837)</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">- the most well known comic artist of his day, who drove himself to a wretched end and an early death through a series of injuries from his physically exhausting slapstick routines, and was prone, like many funny people, to deep melancholy - he famously said </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">‘<i>I am grim-all-day, but I make you laugh at night</i>’.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Making me laugh on Thursday night, however, thankfully while I was on 'mute', were the would be usurpers of the sad clown's country cottage and gardens, who had decided on a routine of entertainment to distract from the glaringly obvious and awful thing they are planning to foist on us - look, readers: <i>it's behind you</i>! A monstrous cluster of 3-6 storey boxes squatting on the open space, and leering over the genteel Edwardian streets of Bow Lane, and Granville Road.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On the playbill, for our amusement, was a series of presentations by a development director for CHP, the property arm of the Department for Health and Social Care; an architect, and a 'landscape designer'. In the audience, we were told, very quickly, were 25 residents - not a bad turnout for such a little known proposed development, and at this time. We were also told, at the speed of light, that there had been an astonishing 1,000 visits to the proposed development's website: we were not told that around 1,000 people had already signed the petition started by a local resident against said proposed development.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Half an hour for the presentations, half an hour for questions. Mrs Angry, the public clown face to the sad private resident and embittered writer who hides behind the knockabout farce that is this blog, was busy taking notes, and laughing up her sleeve.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">First up was a Mr Eugene Prinsloo, the CHP development director, who gave a suitably melancholic run down of his brief, complete with reverential references to 'Her Majesty's Government', and the report of 'Sir' Robert Naylor: perhaps to impress we in the cheap seats of the gravity of what he had to say. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">First joke of the night: he announced that his department had 'declared' that the land at Finchley Memorial was 'surplus'. And therefore to be disposed of, for a fat profit, except: hang on, this project is not a money maker, according to its own PR argument, but claimed as a way of providing affordable accommodation for NHS or key workers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, whispered Mrs Angry, in my ear, he seems to have forgotten that the 'surplus' land belongs to the community, as part of a land swap, when the new hospital was built, and the local plan states quite clearly that it CANNOT be developed ... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr Prinsloo claimed that they were 'very sensitive to the loss of green space', therefore they would kindly keep what was left of it when developed 'accessible' to the local residents to whom it already belonged. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He spoke vaguely about what the proposed properties would be - he couldn't say definitely that they would be 100% rental, as all that sort of thing (the whole point of the proposal, that is) was 'still in process, at the moment'. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Oh. Ought you not to have sorted 'all that sort of thing' out, before beginning what you are claiming is a process of consultation? Or is it that you do not want to give assurances, because as we already know, what is proposed by developers, under the guise of 'homes for NHS staff', will very probably morph into something else, with a clearly defined profit margin?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Up next for our entertainment was the landscape man, Mr Neil Swanson, who started with an absolute corker: 'this is a brownfield site', he announced, in a laid back sort of way, which meant you might have missed the significance, if you weren't paying attention. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Oh dear, no: no, it isn't, it really isn't. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Petition to save the community green space link <a href="https://www.change.org/p/barnet-council-stop-the-proposed-development-on-the-finchley-memorial-hospital-communal-open-space?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=custom_url&recruited_by_id=6910c990-5286-11e3-9c58-f1e079172f41">here</a>.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What is the definition of a 'brownfield site'? This description, in this context, might seem to be an attempt to conflate ideas of 'previously developed land' with land that was formerly occupied and polluted by industrial use - that is an eyesore, or derelict. The opposite is true here. Land which over centuries has been part of Finchley Common, has had built on it only a clutch of rural cottages, and then an Edwardian cottage hospital, has now been returned, in a reversal of the land grabbing outrages of the Enclosures Act, in the early nineteenth century, to the use of local people, with open access. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr Swanson had a vision for the new development, however, that would allow local people to 'walk through' the 'cluster of buildings' that would take over their open space. He was going to, and here we were clutching our sides in merriment - to 'weave landscape around the edges' of this, erm: cluster. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Best of all, we are promised the creation of 'Camberwick' - no: sorry - 'Granville Green' and - wait for it, an 'Orchard Car Park'. That'll be for the 38 cars, which is the limit allowed for a proposed number of 130 properties. Presumably the hundred other cars will be parked on Granville Green?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Next up was the architect, Sarah Hare: we learned now that what were planned were not flats, no no no, nothing so vulgar: these were 'apartment buildings'. They had looked at the surrounding area, (which she described without mentioning the largely Edwardian character of the roads), and decided to create designs that would 'nestle into a similar rhythm'. Nestling, and the gentle rhythm of a mother's heart ... Rockabye baby ... No. Nothing to worry about here. Move on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">These apartment buildings, while nestling and beating a gentle rhythm, while you were not looking, would 'step down to meet the street' and 'articulate a base, a middle and a top'. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is an interesting and innovative idea, of course, buildings having a base, a middle and a top: before these requirements were introduced by visionary, award winning architects, many new properties, as you may recall, fell down after, and, sometimes during, construction, because builders tended to make it up as they went along.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">More chortling in the back. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Because what we saw on the accompanying slide (strangely not available on the website) was not so much an exercise in fascinating rhythm, as a series of ugly, box shaped constructions that were neither capable of nestling happily anywhere, nor matching the architectural language of anything other than themselves, and which will be incongruous in the context of an Edwardian suburb. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Irredeemably modern and painfully plain, the blocks were not only out of character with Bow Lane, and Granville Road, but in no way matched the contemporary design of the new Hospital, shining like the white elephant it has been allowed to become, across the open space. </span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RY3io_1EjfA/XvdpfleIUbI/AAAAAAAAOgY/IDKOTQrwBR4OAAjytU0AsD2B-3l4EqzawCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-06-27%2Bat%2B16.43.15.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="1232" height="370" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RY3io_1EjfA/XvdpfleIUbI/AAAAAAAAOgY/IDKOTQrwBR4OAAjytU0AsD2B-3l4EqzawCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-06-27%2Bat%2B16.43.15.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The deliberately elliptical line drawings available on the website really do not convey the full impact of the colour slide mock up we saw of the grim, (-all-day and all night) slab faced boxes intended for this development. Pic courtesy CHP website.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Architects, in Broken Barnet, love to use the metaphor of dancing and rhythm - remember the first designs for the block of flats going up now on the Lodge site? These, we were <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2016/08/dancing-with-park-story-of-lodge.html">promised</a>, would be 'Dancing with the Park''. Dancing in the style of a tarantella, that is, the dance of death - among a community in the grip of plague.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'll sit this one out, thanks. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ah - talking of Victoria Park, the landscape designer informed us that although there would be some sort of limited play facilities for small children, 'it is not our job' to provide anything more as - oh: 'Victoria Park can provide larger activities for children ...'</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, can it? Maybe apart from the section that has already been grabbed for property development.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr Swanson was now rushing past the number of established trees that would be removed - fifty in total, although he admitted later that they were still 'in the process' of surveying them - and expanding upon how 'Nature will be woven round' (there is a lot of weaving, as well as dancing, in the lexicon of proposed property development) the blocks of flats plonked down on our open space. Hornbeams. A wild flower verge. A swale. A what? A damp meadow, supported by rainwater. (A giant puddle, in other words). Funnily enough, there has been one of those on the playing fields, which seem never to be used as playing fields, and were blocked off for more than a year, on the other side of the site, supposedly due to drainage problems. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All of this weaving, and swaling, we learned, was in order 'to create a sense of community'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On our community space.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Time for questions from residents - and time was already running short.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Resident A made the point that there appeared to be nothing in place to stop the proposed housing entering the private sector: which is exactly the case. He mentioned the word 'covenants'. They replied by agreeing new covenants could be created. They did not mention the inconvenient fact that this land is already protected from development.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Resident B asked questions about the type of housing: short term rental, mid term, long term? What size, what numbers of each - and what research was done to see if it was needed. Ah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr Prinsloo said, rather mysteriously, that the numbers of units were 'moving around at the moment, which again was rather curious. In regard to a point later about subsidising NHS staff housing directly, rather than building it for them, at vast capital outlay, he said that this type of 'quantams' 'doesn't exist' (sic -no idea) and went on to refer to 'Sir' Robert Naylor's report, which he summarised as saying that one third of NHS budget should be from government, one third from the private sector - and one third from sale of sites.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Oh. Well how odd, then, you might think, that rather than seek to sell land here, the NHS is proposing to lose money by building housing not intended, supposedly, for the private sector, but in order to subsidise staff and provide them with affordable housing. Sounds very charitable, but that contradicts the budget strategy of the Naylor report. Of course this land cannot be sold, because it was part of a land swap deal when the new hospital was built. The properties could be sold, however, should the proposal allow for such an eventuality - and you can bet it will. Even if the properties become 'affordable' level sales, the likeliness of uptake from NHS or keyworkers is bound to be low, which leaves no alternative.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Resident C brought up the overlooked issue of the character of the neighbourhood - and the plan to enclose all remaining green spaces in the centre of the design. Resident D pointed out no surveys had been done, and there was no evidence of need for this type of housing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Resident E , referring to the 'pretty hideous design' of the blocks reminded everyone that the local plan requires any development in this part of Finchley (excluding the hospital green space, which is listed as <b>not available</b> for such a purpose) to be 'low density family houses' which clearly this proposal did not present.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mrs Angry's contribution, on behalf of her alter ego, was, apart from picking up several awkward issues which had been glossed over, to point out there were plenty of other NHS sites in North London which could provide such housing, without taking away a green space, and the absurd attempt to label this a 'brownfield site'; to narrate the history of the plot to develop this site, clearly documented in the leaked emails of 2017, between Capita and Barnet, and the implication thereof, which was that it was a private development dressed up in a more apparently suitable guise of 'homes for NHS workers', during the current epidemic. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr Prinsloo couldn't 'talk to' the history of 'previous' organisations (although NHS property representatives took part in the 'previous' plotting) - 'we can only be clear' about their own proposal. They had to deliver something that was 'financially viable'. Well quite. And this proposal, as presented, isn't. Neither viable, nor sustainable as a model of development. It neither reaches the requirements of the funding process, nor explains how an outlay of investment in building these properties can be repaid, let alone generate any significant net profit for the NHS. That could only be met, long term, by private sale or rent, and almost certainly non affordable private sale or rent.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The really important contribution of the evening, however, came from Resident F, who explained that he worked for another NHS trust at a senior level, and had previously worked on the early stages of a similar project. They had found, however, that in the end, they had to sell the land, and ask another provider to build the accommodation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Oh. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And he also questioned, from the point of view of someone who was in a position to know, the lack of evidence for demand for this sort of housing. He believed that there was no real case for this. In which case, the project was not sustainable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A suitable time to drop the curtain, I think. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Despite the choreographed performance, the script was unconvincing. So many questions left unanswered, and an resolved contradiction in the narrative. One thing was clear: the lack of assurances, and the lack of detail all hint strongly at what we all fear will be the outcome, at some point in the process of trying to promote this development. A cynical deployment of the current crisis to present what seems like a generous and necessary subsidy for NHS staff has been engineered, in my view, in order to kick start what we know has always been the aim of certain parties within the local authority, and Capita: yet more development and exploitation of our rapidly diminishing open spaces. More fee generated income and profit for Capita, for Barnet, and every accommodation made to speed it through the planning process. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even as I write, you can bet there are conversations going on involving our privatised planning service, and other parties, as to how to get round the restrictions on the sale or use of this piece of land, and how to introduce the resulting development to an open market, for maximum profit. They will come back with a slightly less ugly design, empty promises about tenancies only for NHS or key staff (without advertising the small print that is the let out clause), Granville Green will become Grimaldi Gardens, and the' swale' will have sunk into the lost footprint of Fallow Corner.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you want to stop this happening, do something about it - write to your local politicians and tell them why you object to any development on this community space. In the end, as with everything else in Broken Barnet, the only power you have to obstruct the will of developers is activism, political lobbying - and strategic opposition. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The pantomime continues: it's up you, now, to take control of the theatre.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-89987595048844333822020-06-24T17:01:00.001+01:002020-06-28T12:17:13.727+01:00Finchley Memorial Hospital - new proposals to build on our community green space<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During lockdown, normal life, of course, has come to a standstill. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We have been living isolated lives, distanced from each other, in fear and anxiety for the future, the preoccupations of our former existence falling away, or pushed away, for the time being.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In Broken Barnet, however, some things - one thing above all - must continue, even as all else comes to a halt. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even as churches, synagogues and mosques have remained locked, one God still demands our constant attention: the God of development, and the localised cult of Capita, continue unabated in their activities, and the assault on our landscape and our built heritage goes on, regardless. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Covid 19, in fact, has been a great blessing for local developers, as it gives them almost free reign to push through their plans, when there is little opportunity for residents to be aware of what is happening, or to engage in meaningful consultation: or to object to the monstrous proposals now turning what Barnet Tories used to promote as a green and pleasant place to live, into a concrete jungle - a hideous, soulless sprawl encouraged in the Labour voting areas originally, but a viral infection now rapidly, and dangerously, spreading into their own territories.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During lockdown, the would be developers of the former gas works in New Barnet, who want to impose a stunningly ugly set of blocks on that site, faced a slight setback when protest from fellow blogger Mr Reasonable and other residents forced an extension to the consultation period. There have been at least 891 objections.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You can't object on the portal now but - despite two occasions on which Capita planning officers have wrongly, and possibly unlawfully, tried to refuse to accept written or later emailed objections, a practice which has had to be reported to members in order to be stopped - you may write in until the decision is made. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The New Barnet development, despite a certain amount of 'interesting' lobbying and campaigning, has a chance of being turned down, as of course it is in a Tory area, and Theresa Villiers, and Barnet Tories, have a lot to lose if they are seen to endorse it. Ugly blocks of flats, of course, are acceptable only in Labour areas. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What happens at the end of an external appeal process, of course - is another matter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During lockdown it has been reported that the Edgware Broadwalk shopping centre has been bought by Irish housing developer Ballymore. This fits the rumours that have been circulating about plans by certain parties to develop this part of Edgware, (which includes the benighted 'Railway Hotel' listed building), between the Edgware Road and Station Road, under the guise of 'regeneration' - another service run by Capita.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During lockdown, the construction began on the block of flats which are to be built in Victoria Park, Finchley, thanks to local Tory politicians - including MP Mike Freer, and council Leader Daniel Thomas - who approved the sale of the beautiful Edwardian park keeper's Lodge, now demolished: another irreplaceable part of our history, lost forever.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Flats in Victoria Park, Finchley, in place of the demolished park keeper's Lodge, courtesy of your local Tory councillors</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But now there is another threatened development being hurried through,, in a period when full consultation is impossible - and this time it is a proposal to build on a community open space - although you would not know this from the PR guff that is accompanying the proposals.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And this one has been predicted by me, some years ago: the development of housing on the green space surrounding Finchley Memorial Hospital. You might wish to read <a href="https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2017/06/finchley-memorial-re-imagining-of.html">this post</a> from 2017 to get some idea of what is behind the current plot to develop this land. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As I reported then, when the hospital was built, the open space around it was designated as a much needed green space, with open access. It had been agreed that the following would also be provided:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Sports and play facilities for local residents: it was meant to be a landscaped, open community space, accessible to the general public, a “Communal Green,” with a children’s play area, adult fitness equipment, picnic tables, table tennis tables, and so on</i> ...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This did not happen. Why, when it was required by the planning permission? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, we know why, because when a local resident asked for an explanation, they accidentally released some emails - published in the 2017 post - which showed 'they' ie Barnet, Capita etc, knew full well the installation of these facilities would obstruct the chance of a housing development on the site. They then used the threat of pushing through the belated installation, in order to 'encourage' NHS properties to get on with plans.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2017/06/finchley-memorial-re-imagining-of.html" style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2017/06/finchley-memorial-re-imagining-of.html</span></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'<i>Enforcement action here would focus their minds on this matter</i> ...'</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You might wonder why your local council, and its profit driven privatised planning service, have put so much effort into depriving local residents of a much needed green space, and health and fitness facilities. To understand that, you have to grasp the utterly ruthless exploitation of this borough by developers, and their facilitators. When you realise the extent to which this sickness has taken hold of this borough - you will probably wonder then why you continued to return a Tory council that allows the best interests and well being of residents to come second to the profits of developers. At least: I hope so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The other question should be why our contractors and senior officers are spending so much time, paid for by Barnet residents, promoting this and countless other profit making developments, with other bodies, rather than addressing the question of the poor provision of local healthcare - at FMH, and elsewhere, especially in the largely Labour voting, poorer, western side of the borough.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You will note that still, three years later, the Hospital buildings are desperately under used, with much of the building empty, even at a time when there is so much pressure on the NHS and such long local waiting lists for access to consultants, clinics, and treatment. That the local CCG has allowed this to continue for so long, is simply impossible to understand.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In my view, if the proposed housing development is allowed to go ahead at this site, it is only a matter of time before Finchley Memorial Hospital itself is closed, and after another interval, the rest of the site developed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you look at the post from 2017, you will see how and why this proposal has come about, why it is being presented now - and why it is being presented in a way that they hope will make it impossible for it to be turned down. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In other words, a development proposed to be built on community open space is being carefully branded as a scheme to ... oh: provide housing for NHS staff. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At a time when we are all so deeply grateful for the NHS and the incredible work of its staff, how could anyone be so churlish as to oppose such a plan? Even if it is on open ground that is a community green space?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, except .... the devil is in the detail, as always, in Broken Barnet. Let's see what they are claiming these proposals are about, here, on their <a href="https://finchley.homesfornhsstaff.co.uk/home/widgets/12315/faqs#3894">development website</a>. To be clear, this is a 'consultation' by <a href="http://www.communityhealthpartnerships.co.uk/">CHP</a>, a property management and planning arm of the Department of Health and Social Care. As they boast on their home page: 'we have a strong track record of adding value to the NHS, offering a unique blend of investment, property management and strategic estate planning expertise'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Adding value. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That means: profit. Will any profit from this proposal be retained locally, to improve access to healthcare in Finchley or Barnet as a borough? That would be nice. Doesn't say so, does it? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Warning: the website for the Finchley proposals includes a 'quick poll' which turns out to ask the question: 'Do you support the delivery of homes for NHS staff?' And a survey which begins in the same way - be careful which box you tick.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In other words, if you try to express your opposition to this proposal on what the developers have failed to admit is a community open space, you are a really horrible, selfish person, who thinks NHS workers should not be given homes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nice touch. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">More details:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b> <i>What are you proposing?</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Community Health Partnerships are proposing plans for up to 130 homes for NHS staff on the site that was formerly occupied by the hospital up until 2012. 50% of those homes will be classified as affordable housing in planning policy terms, and these will be designated for staff on lower salary bands.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The remaining 50% of homes will be open to individuals working or training in the NHS. We are confident that there will be sufficient demand for these homes from NHS staff, but if there not, opportunities will be opened up other public sector key workers, such as those working in the police or fire service.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Area defined in red is where developers want to put the proposed blocks of flats: pic courtesy CHP.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Doesn't tell you much, does it? Are these 'homes' - flats - for sale, or rent? What is 'affordable'? Rent at 65%, say, of local levels in this part of Finchley (some of the houses in Bow Lane have been marketed at £1 million plus) is not going to be affordable for many NHS or key workers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">130 'homes', not units: 'homes for NHS staff ' rather than just another local development consisting of ugly blocks of flats - some of which will be looking on to the Edwardian houses of Bow Lane.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No mention of the fact that this land was designated for community use, a rare and vital patch of open space in this area, and one which is well used by local residents, even in 'normal' times, before Covid.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Please note that there will be parking spaces only for 38 cars. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And 195 bicycles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A prim note from the developers gives the pretext: 'Commuting via private vehicle will be actively discouraged on-site'. So only a quarter of the new residents will be able to park their cars on the site. The rest of them - very few of whom, in reality, will be abandoning their cars for bicycles - will be parking in the residential roads around the Hospital - or even in the Hospital car park. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That'll be fun, when you bring your elderly mother to the Walk In clinic, and can't find anywhere to park, won't it? And patients attending Finchley Memorial cannot get there by any other means (other than a long walk) because despite years of asking, no bus<span style="color: red;">*</span> has been allowed to stop there. Why? I think we know why now, as we knew before: the reason that there is - as they claimed - no turning point for a bus was nonsense, then - but will be true once the land is taken up by a new development. </span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>*Update Sunday 28th June: by an extraordinary coincidence, after years of blank refusal, and stating buses could not be re-routed to FMH, leaving patients without a public transport link, and a long walk to the hospital, it has just been announced the 383 will now run there - at exactly the moment when a housing development proposal for 130 homes and only 38 parking spaces has been announced!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is also the reason, clearly, why, despite having agreed to allow the new Finchley War Memorial to be put in place on this spot, in time for the centenary ceremonies of 2018, the only tribute that was allowed was a single wreath, while the newly carved memorial, with hundreds of names of local casualties, is left gathering dust in storage. I am told now that the Memorial site has been moved elsewhere - honouring the dead clearly having come way behind maximising the profit in a piece of land. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The plot to develop this piece of land is also the reason the long awaited community facilities were never installed, as promised - but used as a lever to hurry along development, as revealed in the emails published in 2017.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Only half of these new flats will be for sale at so called 'affordable' planning policy levels.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It remains to be seen if the average NHS worker - the care assistants, the porters, even the nurses, will be able to afford these properties. Oh, the remaining non affordable properties will be even more expensive, but 'open' to 'individuals working or training in the NHS'. And if they don't take up the properties? What then? Kerrching.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then there is the other factor, which will not be mentioned in any developers' plans that propose a quota of affordable housing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is every likelihood that should the developers, after planning permission is granted, decide they don't want to offer the same amount, or even any amount of affordable housing, they will turn around and demand this requirement is dropped, claiming it is no longer 'viable' - and they will be allowed to do so. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Only recently there was an example of this practice in North Finchley, when the development of Britannia House was allowed to cancel its affordable quota - see <a href="https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/18514589.no-affordable-homes-barnet-housing-scheme/">here</a>. The same happened, over time, in <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/01/how-council-promises-have-fallen-away-leaving-west-hendon-estate-dire-straits">West Hendon</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So what happens if the new flats are not snapped up by NHS/key worker staff? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That is one of the questions I have put to Mr Oliver Deeds, who is acting as the "Community Engagement Specialist" for these development plans, and who claims on the website that he is 'listening' ... Last Wednesday I emailed him to ask some questions:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: orange;">1. This is community ground, and was intended to remain so for local residents, of which I am one.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: orange;">Why not build homes for NHS staff on available ground that does not remove community space?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: orange;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: orange;">2. What happens if NHS staff or key worker staff cannot afford the supposedly affordable level of purchase of these proposed properties? What is to stop these properties ending up on the open market?</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: orange;">3. What is to stop changes in use from NHS or key worker staff to open marketing to any purchaser?</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: orange;">4. Please confirm that there is nothing to stop the developers dropping the affordable/key worker designation of these properties, once permission has been granted, claiming it is no longer viable to designate the properties as affordable.</span></i></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><i>5. Who is paying for the development and building costs of these proposals?</i> </span></div>
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As of today, a week later, he has not replied. If and when he does, I will publish his responses.</div>
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Don't be fooled by the framing of this development proposal. We all want a better deal for NHS staff, and know how much they deserve a decent salary, working conditions, and a good quality of life. But NHS properties, or CHP, or the local NHS trust, have had plenty of opportunity to provide affordable housing for staff, even locally - and on NHS owned land. </div>
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More than a decade ago, the developers of Barnet General turned down the opportunity to convert the former Barnet Workhouse, one of the first built in the country, in the early 1830s, and very probably one of the sources of inspiration for Dickens's 'Oliver Twist', into homes for key workers. The then Labour leader of the council put an emergency local listing status on the building. The developers knocked it down regardless, two weeks later. The site then stood derelict for years: then there were - surprise! - rumours that housing would be built there. Not for NHS staff, or key workers. Last time I had the misfortune to visit Barnet General, it was still derelict.<br />
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There was also the former Marie Foster site, not far from the hospital. That was sold no doubt at huge profit, to a private care provider. Why did they not build homes for NHS or key workers there? Or in any of the other large NHS owned estates now being carved up and developed as private housing, all over London?</div>
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Alternatively, there are plenty of brownfield sites or other locations which would be suitable for housing development: but our access to open space, to community space, in this borough, in this part of the borough, is rapidly diminishing. Victoria Park, as we have seen, was designated open space, and protected by a covenant, intended to keep it as such. This was ignored. Now we have another precious open space, meant to be for community use, targeted for more profit led development - and please don't imagine profit is not involved in this scheme, whoever the intended tenants of this housing may be.<br />
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Just as bad as the loss of this space would be, is the precedent it would set for every other similar remaining site in this borough. Nothing will be safe from development. And the way in which it has been covertly organised by interested parties, over a period of years, frankly, is cynical beyond words: look at those emails again, and wonder at the rare glimpse it affords into what happens under the cover of our local council and their privatised planning service.<br />
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We have reached a point now where this service is run entirely to benefit developers and Capita, who milk this borough for every last fee they can generate from us. In terms of planning there are so many fees they can screw out of development, and some of the practices this encourages are deeply concerning.<br />
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Why, for example, has it been made possible for developers to pay for a named planning officer of their choice?<br />
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Why are former senior planning officers able to leave Barnet/Capita and immediately go to work for the same developers they were dealing with in their former posts? And to deal with former colleagues in the promotion of their new clients' applications?<br />
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Then there is the question of impact on the local community of such large scale development. </div>
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Where is the expansion in infrastructure, education and healthcare provision?<br />
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With more and more development and greater density of an enlarged population, is there not a greater not lesser need for green and open spaces, for the physical and mental well being of all residents?<br />
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The site of Finchley Memorial Hospital is not just another plot waiting for development - or at least, it is, only in the eyes of developers and those agencies and companies that benefit from the massive, virtually unregulated expansion of such development in this borough.<br />
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It is not only a tiny, precious piece of open space, a community asset - it is part of our local history.<br />
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This area of Finchley was once part of Finchley Common, and on this particular spot there was a small settlement of cottages, at Fallow Corner. Look carefully at the aerial photo, and you will see trees and shrubs, which, close up, you will realise are ancient remnants, boundary markers, of a more rural era.<br />
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Dickens came here to visit the clown Grimaldi's cottage right here, at Fallows Corner, and later returned to stay at nearby Fallow Farm, then known as Cobleys's Farm, to write Martin Chuzzlewit. Grimaldi's residence is now marked exactly on the site targeted for development with a plaque that no doubt is in the way of the proposed blocks of flats, just as the new war Memorial intended for this spot has been shoved aside, and the installation made impossible, inexplicably, for years.<br />
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The very name 'Finchley Memorial' was given to the old cottage hospital here, replaced by the empty modern building carefully located a suitable distance away, across the empty fields. The name was given in order to commemorate the fallen of Finchley, who did not return from the fields of Flanders, in the first World War.<br />
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The new War memorial had many names added to it, and should have been in place for 2018. For the last four years, it has been left packed in wooden crates in a stonemason's yard in Scotland. At the time of the centenary, all that was allowed to be put in place was this wreath:<br />
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What greater insult to the memory of those local men, than to prevent this commemoration from taking place, without admitting the real reason, that it was in the way of development?<br />
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Literally nothing is safe anymore, from the hands of profiteers: our built heritage, our local history: our parks and open spaces.<br />
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The only way to stop this madness is to make sure you make your objections heard, loud and clear, even now, at this awful time.<br />
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Although the CHP has launched a campaign and website, you will not there are no detailed plans available, so this cannot be considered in any way as proper consultation.<br />
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They say that:<br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i>In light of the COVID-19 pandemic we are unable to hold a physical public exhibition, but we have provided other means through which you can feedback to us, through this site</i>.</span><br />
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You might think that after all these years of waiting developers might not wish to hurry through plans during a global crisis, but then ... that would be rather naive, wouldn't it?<br />
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I am still waiting for a response to my questions, sent a week ago. I will attempt to register for these 'consultations' and 'presentations' - and I hope others will too:<br />
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<i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">We will also be holding two online presentations on the scheme which you can book to attend by emailing Oliver Deed on finchley@homesforNHSstaff.co.uk. These are taking place on Thursday 25th June, between 7pm - 8pm and on Tuesday 7th July between 12pm - 1pm. You can also email to organise a one to one telephone consultation with a member of the project team by emailing finchley@homesforNHSstaff.co.uk</span></i><br />
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If you wish to oppose the building of housing on our open community space, there is a petition started by a local resident, which already has more than 800 signatures, and which you might wish to sign: <a href="https://www.change.org/p/barnet-council-stop-the-proposed-development-on-the-finchley-memorial-hospital-communal-open-space?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=custom_url&recruited_by_id=6910c990-5286-11e3-9c58-f1e079172f41">link here</a>.<br />
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Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-46508497148309229412020-03-08T19:11:00.002+00:002020-03-08T19:11:43.768+00:00 Tell Us Like It Is: Barnet Tories confronted with the impact of their library cuts.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Reuben Thompstone enjoys being Chair of the libraries committee. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Or rather being the Chair of the committee that deals with libraries, as an afterthought - which is all they are and can ever be to the Tory councillors of Broken Barnet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He enjoys being Chair, and talking very fast, in his clipped antipodean tone, and telling people how it is, and not listening to other people saying no, it's actually not like that at all. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But on Thursday night, in Committee Rooms One and Two, with the curse of Capita as usual working its dark magic on the process of communication with residents via the terrible sound system, and a total failure in live-streaming the meeting for those listening at home, Councillor Reuben Thompstone was obliged to keep quiet, and hear a summary of the independent library review - as explained in the previous post <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2020/03/saving-barnet-libraries-last-battle.html">here</a> - which, couched in tactful terms, informed him that everything residents and campaigners said would happen to our library service post cuts, has happened. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Has happened with serious impact on residents, especially children, disabled residents, elderly residents, disadvantaged students needing study space, job seekers needing trained staff to help them, and so on, and so on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>You asked</i>, said the consultant, Eric Bohl of the 'Activist Group' consultants which produced the review, cheerily, to the Tory members: to <i>Tell Us Like It Is</i>, so we have. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And so they did. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And it really was a question of <i>We Told You So</i>, for the residents and campaigners sitting in the cheap seats, in the public gallery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Poor Tombstone looked distinctly uncomfortable throughout this presentation, and swallowed hard, sitting there in a voluminous short sleeved shirt and a fair isle tank top, his little waxed moustache at half cock, sporting a lime green bow tie, and obviously trying to look 'interesting', but comically reminiscent of the way my long suffering boy cousins used to be dressed by my aunt for parties and family events, circa 1969. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(NB Except their ties were on a piece of elastic, which I used to pull - <i>twang</i> - and run away before they caught me. The old temptation arose, at several points in the meeting, and was only very narrowly avoided. A good example, I like to think, of how, in my twilight years, I am coming to grips with my ADHD).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As predicted, the Tory members - (only two Labour members were there, which is unfortunate, but as one of those is the redoubtable Sara Conway, no one else mattered) - the Tory members seized what they thought was a lifeline, dangling in a sea of shame, and picked up on the rather naive suggestion in the report that in the long term, the damage done by sacking library staff on such a disastrous scale, and leaving libraries unstaffed for so many hours, could be repaired, if not by paid staff, by 'volunteers'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ah yes. Volunteers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Awfully keen on those, our Tory members. Residents stepping up and doing their civic duty, to perform for free the jobs they already pay the council to do. Sweeping the streets, picking up litter, filling potholes in chain gangs, scrutinising the council's financial performance for them, all that sort of thing: no different to running a library, is it? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oh wait.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">IT IS. It really<i> is</i> different.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Libraries are not simply places where books are stamped in and out, and people sit in silence calmly reading, as a clock slowly ticks the hours away - if they ever were. In case you don't know it, here is a poem supposedly written about Golders Green Library, (where I once worked, and where there were still polished tables, and linoleum) by the late Dannie Abse, who lived in the area, and thankfully would never have seen what Barnet's cultural assassin councillors have done to the place:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Who, in the public library, one evening after rain,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>amongst the polished tables and linoleum,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>stands bored under blank light to glance at these pages?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Whose absent mood, like neon glowing in the night,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>is conversant with wet pavements, nothing to do?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Neutral, the clock-watching girl stamps out the date,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>a forced celebration, a posthumous birthday,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>her head buttered by the drizzling library lamps,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>yet the accident of words, too, can light the semi-dark</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>should the reader lead them home, generously journey,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>later to return, perhaps leaving a bus ticket as a bookmark.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Who wrote in margins hieroglyphic notations,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>that obscenity, deleted this imperfect line?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Read by whose hostile eyes, in what bed-sitting room,</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>in which rainy, dejected railway stations?</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Libraries still bear witness to the 'accident of words', and offer so much more: now hugely important community resources, one of the few remaining safe spaces, in an increasingly frantic, alienating or virtual world: they offer a place where people can find sanctuary, support, and information. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They are meant to be run by skilled staff, who have the appropriate training and qualifications, experience, knowledge needed to select book and media stock, advise readers on same, advise users on IT, fix IT problems, answer reference queries, study related enquiries, deal with sensitive personal matters like benefit applications, job seeking, mental health support, sexual issues; help children, read keep them safe, run parent and baby sessions, deal with anti-social behaviour, defuse potentially violent situations, offer first aid: build relationships with regular visitors who might be lonely, and need the reassurance of a familiar face behind the counter, perhaps the only person they have spoken to for days. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This range of duties is not, cannot be, and should not be, the role of a volunteer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do we offer them any incentives? was the only question asked by Tory Nelson Mandela <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2011/10/fairly-swiftly-subdued-unless-you-are.html">impersonator</a> Brian Gordon, who once told us his children spent most of their time in his local library, and who could blame them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Incentives, for undertaking such a demanding and difficult post? How about a salary, training, and qualifications, Councillor? That's called 'A Job'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Of course our Tory members struggle with the concept of volunteering, and what it might demand. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Unlike their own former late colleague, the admirable (Tory) Cllr Leslie Sussman, who served the borough - out of nothing more than a sense of civic pride - for decades, without taking a penny in return, the current Tory group will not undertake their roles on a voluntary basis, but expect - hello: 'incentives' - a generous allowance, topped up, if they are lucky, and ingratiate themselves with the leader, with a whopping amount for being Chair of any committee - paid even, as we have mentioned previously, if that committee doesn't meet for many months. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Plus they have other perks, like free parking permits, of course - which Labour members refuse to take. That's an incentive, isn't it?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As they sat there, plotting to fill the pothole of all potholes in the library staffing structure with the equivalent of the useless bucket of tarmac Capita chucks on any hole in the road these days, that is to say a few hapless volunteers, someone dropped a clanger. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the subject of volunteers, the senior library officer present let slip something no one had known: that no DBS checks are being made of volunteers who are used in staffed hours. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We had to query this several times, before anyone could believe it. No DBS checks? For people volunteering to work in an apparent 'safe space' environment, with access to young children, and vulnerable adults?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They weren't 'allowed' to ask for DBS checks, it was claimed. And it wasn't considered necessary because they were supposed to be supervised by staff.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Libraries in Barnet now are barely functioning on a skeleton staffing basis - one that the report commented was not adequate. In fact there were more officers sitting at the committee table last night, than you would ever find in even the busiest Barnet library, on the rare times when you will find any staff in any library now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The idea that these staff members, praised by the consultants for working so hard and with such dedication under such pressure, have the time to train the volunteers who are taking their colleagues' jobs, let alone supervise them in a way that answers the demands of safeguarding, is absurd. Absurd and dangerous.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To use as volunteers people who have not been vetted via DBS is more than foolish - it is taking a massive risk. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Years ago, when this blog first began, in the wake of the MetPro scandal, in which it emerged that Barnet's Tory councillors had been using an illegally operating security firm, with no contract, and amongst their duties had been the supervision of 'looked after' children - even though they were not DBS checked, or even licensed. Here we are, nearly a decade later, and by chance we find that they are still defying the basic demands of safeguarding in their own libraries.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Clearly most people who volunteer do so out of good will, and wanting to do something useful - but it is also true that any position, voluntary or not, that offers access to children attracts some individuals whose motivation is less worthy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There are known cases of individuals with a history of offences involving children trying to gain a position as a volunteer in a local library. When I worked in a branch, I remember vividly a male volunteer who had to be barred after inappropriate behaviour with children. This is unfortunately a recurring problem. Paedophiles will always continue to try to gain positions that enable them to groom or abuse children: the only mitigation of such a risk is a system of vetting that prevents their appointment to such posts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For the sake of preventing the small number of those volunteers who would be in this category gaining access in this way it is unfortunately necessary to have stringent requirements on those who apply - as there would be in any other comparable situation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If it is true that volunteers cannot be obliged to be subject to DBS checks, it should follow that they should not be used in public libraries. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The truth is not many do volunteer for library work in Barnet: as the report explained, many feel it is the wrong thing to do, to help take someone else's livelihood, and dismantle the very service which they admire. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Volunteer run enterprises anyway are unreliable as a source of substitute staffing simply because there is no obligation on those involved to comply with the needs of the service. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If Tory members want safe spaces for children, and for all vulnerable users, then they need to do as the review suggests, and as they used to do, and employ more trained staff.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In any service they valued, this would be an automatic requirement - but it is a sign of the deep lack of cultural understanding by the majority of councillors as to the purpose and many benefits of libraries, from the opportunities for less advantaged residents to the preventative role they play in terms of social issues like exclusion, and support for mental health, all at the heart of a community. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As the consultant remarked, our Tory members seem not to appreciate the great asset they have, in what was once one of the best performing - and best value - library services in the UK.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On another level, however, there was recognition by Tory members - or some of them - of the enormous risk that non-vetted volunteers present. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let's hope the shock they clearly felt at this revelation at the meeting translates into action, and a better future for Barnet Libraries emerges from this review: with investment in properly trained and paid staff, and a commitment to provide all the resources libraries need, in order to serve the people of Barnet in the way that they deserve. </span><br />
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Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-23771581892651807492020-03-04T19:24:00.003+00:002020-03-04T21:23:21.028+00:00Saving Barnet Libraries: the last battle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The 'refurbishment' of Barnet libraries ... remember that? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This was the interesting claim that was written on banners and hung outside library buildings across the borough, two weeks before the general election of 2017, trying to persuade local voters that nothing was happening to this vital community service, other than a few new carpets and a change in upholstery. In one case, seen below, at North Finchley, the banner was hung outside a library being used as a polling station, the paint hardly dry after its beautiful, purpose built children's library had been hollowed out and oh: 'refurbished' - to no purpose whatsoever.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>North Finchley library on polling day, 2017</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What was happening, in truth, was that Barnet's Tory councillors were spending £14 million on hacking the library service to pieces: sacking staff, chucking out books by the skipload, carving up the library buildings, so as to empty most of the space of any library function, and then installing 'open access' equipment, so that staffed library hours were reduced to a nominal level of coverage. Unaccompanied children under 16 were banned from entry, and study space cut back to a fraction of the former provision.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And for what reason? Ostensibly to 'save money'. Yes: spending £14 million to ... make savings. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The only 'savings' that emerged from this were in terms of staffing costs: paying off the staff who were sacked. Except: oh dear, as predicted, the risks to library users of unstaffed libraries, as campaigners against the cuts warned, meant that the council ended up paying a fortune every month on security guards - and has done ever since.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The story given that the massive reduction in library space within the former library buildings was so as to generate income from commercial renting soon turned out to be ... just that: a story. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There never was any serious intention to let the space in this way, as was admitted at the time of nonsultation: senior officers admitted they had done no market testing, and said it didn't really matter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Golders Green children's library, after Barnet Tories destroyed it - and above right, the replacement they shoved into the adult library.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It didn't matter, because the long term plan, as many believe, is merely to run the service down to the point where the authority and Capita can find a reason to divest the council of more assets, and sell some of the buildings for development, on the basis of insufficient footfall as a library.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The result, however, is that the income which was part of the original business plan has not materialised, and as things stand, the £14 million 'investment' in the 'refurbishment' of the service will see no proportionate return.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In short, the libraries' fiasco, even if judged only on its financial case, has been a failure. This is the only outcome which will worry some Barnet Tories: but it is not the only, or the most important, consequence, of course. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Having written to the government minister responsible for libraries to complain about the devastating cuts to our library service, Save Barnet Libraries campaigners pushed for a review of the impact of these cuts, and a report by an independent company of consultants 'Activist Group" has now been published. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Save Barnet Libraries campaigners, with letters in support of East Finchley library, by local children.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tomorrow (Thursday 5th March) the report, which you can read <a href="https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s58172/Barnet%20-%20EoL%20-%20report%20-%20vf%2025%20Feb%2020%20003.pdf">here</a>, will be considered by the Community Leadership and Libraries committee (you can see that Barnet Tories have so little interest in the library service they have attached it randomly, as an afterthought, to this committee, rather than allow it, as was once the case, its own committee, or include it, as it should be, with education and leisure).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>What does the report say?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It says that everything we as residents and campaigners said would happen, has happened. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That the current plan for libraries does not deliver the expectations of the council's own stated local policies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That even if you accept that their intentions in pursuing the cuts were valid, their objectives have not been met, and their strategy has failed to deliver the results they demanded. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That "the reduction in staffed opening hours has gone too far ..." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That: "Students no longer have sufficient study space at many branches ..."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is noted that reduction in book stock can have a detrimental impact on user visits (deliberately so, of course, in Barnet) - although the report perhaps does not fully explore the particularly poor provision of stock for children, especially at libraries such as Hendon, and Golders Green. (see pics below)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Library users who were surveyed, moreover, referred to the range of books in their top priorities for improvement: first priority, unsurprisingly, is the availability of staff:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The impact on children and young people, especially those from backgrounds of social deprivation is made clear in this report:</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Prosperity, child poverty and attainment</b></span></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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3.44 </div>
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The borough is relatively prosperous and has high levels of educational attainment. However, Barnet contains pockets of deprivation which are concentrated, but not exclusively, in the West of the borough.</div>
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This is reflected in turn by the third of children who live in poverty. These inequalities are reflected in educational attainment. The implications for the library strategy are:</div>
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• The relative prosperity of the borough means that a substantial proportion of the borough may choose not to borrow books or use free computer terminals.</div>
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• While generally prosperous, there are areas with high levels of deprivation which need adequate resources.</div>
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• Study spaces for young people are particularly important for those living in the most deprived areas.</div>
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• Self-service opening currently excludes, and possibly disadvantages, young people below the age of 15 from accessing quiet study areas.</div>
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The report highlights one crucial aspect of the failed 'transformation' of the library service: Barnet was one of the first authorities to implement the so called 'open access', unstaffed libraries - but they tried to use the technology in a way that no one else had used it: in order to reduce staffed hours. This is why it has been such a disaster, and has seen the permanent deployment and high cost of security staff. The adoption of open access libraries, incidentally, was based on a lie - reports to committee claiming that such libraries were 'standard' use in 'Scandinavia'. They weren't, and the few that were in existence were used in a completely different context.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Security staff cannot replace the removal of trained library staff, nor can the Big Brother eye of CCTV, which is supposed to monitor these spaces in lieu of staff on the ground. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The report takes up the issue of 'volunteers': Barnet Tory councillors, some of whom expect generous allowances for little or no work by themselves (for example in the case of one very well paid Chair whose committee did not meet for more than seven months), in their eagerness to make residents work for free - doing work that their council tax has already paid for - thought that they could sack their own trained library staff, and replace them, if necessary, with 'volunteers'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The report points out that this did not happen. It didn't happen, as we warned it would not, (and is touched upon in the report) because by and large people do not want to take away the livelihoods of library workers and anyway are not capable of doing the work of professional librarians or trained library staff. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is a fundamental failure to grasp, both in the culture of the Barnet Tory 'vision' for public services, and to some extent in this report, the reason why volunteers cannot and should not be asked to run libraries. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The idea that well meaning residents can take the place of library staff is wrong: the duties of library workers are complex, and require a wide range of skills, including management of safeguarding issues, dealing with users presenting challenging behaviour due to mental health problems, guiding users needing help with benefit or job applications, those in need of social service support - as well as an understanding of data protection issues. That is in addition to having a wide experience in IT and information provision - not just finding you an instant result on google, but finding you the right sort of answer for your needs. This level of qualification and skill is not, and should never be, demanded of volunteers in any form of service, but particularly in a work environment used by vulnerable residents and children.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Part of East Finchley library - as it was</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The physical absence of library staff means that library users feel at risk, lack skilled support, and for many users at risk of social isolation, or with mental health issues, for children and elderly users, as we hear from users quoted in this report, there is every reason now not even to attempt to visit their local library, or, as the report points out, even to try to guess when it is open - or where it is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Where it is? Yes. One important point well covered in the report is the lack of basic signage: a telling absence which reflects the fact that the council would really rather you didn't turn up and use the service. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My local library is a good example of this: the new Church End branch does not even have a sign outside informing you that it is a library. If you didn't already know, you would never know at all. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why is this? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you look around you, you will see none of the fixtures are permanent: the space could be emptied of books and stripped back within a short time, with no structural changes. And that is because the space belongs to the development in which it is placed, given planning permission on the basis of offering us a new library we didn't need: there was one across the road - with a sign saying 'library' on the front - which simply required some ... what is the word? Refurbishment ... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Once the new library fails to be considered to be performing adequately, it will face closure, and the lease returned to the freeholders. Other libraries face closure on the grounds of self generated decline in use - and will no doubt provide an asset ripe for sale - and yet another opportunity for development for the vultures circling what is left of our built heritage and community centres. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The closure of libraries, in Barnet, is and always has been a very sensitive political issue: it causes alarm among Tory voters, and letters to our MPs: they don't want this, so the cuts were designed so as to leave the library buildings nominally as libraries, but effectively in a state that would make future closures less controversial. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In terms of impact, these truly devastating cuts to the library service have caused real hardship for many dependent and vulnerable users. Their statements may be found in the report: take for example these comments on unstaffed hours, when entry is only possible with a card and pin number, and there may not even be a security guard on the premises: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">These are all issues we warned would happen - but were ignored by the Tory members and senior officers who wanted to adopt this system. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">People simply do not want libraries to be unstaffed: they don't feel safe, there is no one to ask for help, should there be a problem - but most of all, no one is available should they need advice, guidance, or complex information. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of the issues given particular attention is that of toilets: the removal of staff has had the consequence that branches are often left with no access at all, leaving many users, especially those who are disabled, elderly, pregnant, or with children, feeling unable to continue to visit their local libraries. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Another of the issues probably not given as much attention as it should, but beyond the remit of this review in terms of future outcome, was the impact of such reduced access to libraries on the literacy and educational achievement of the borough's children, especially those in less advantaged families: an outcome whose that will only be seen in the years to come. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Other forms of impact are not quantifiable: the impact in terms of loneliness and social exclusion. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What can be measured has largely been avoided: as the report notes, libraries have been left without any system of assessing the level of use, since the cuts were implemented. Now why might that be, do you suppose?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As the report observes, all of this is so short sighted, in failing to accept how libraries can be used in a 'preventative' role, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"improving </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">people’s life chances and helping to reduce spending on health and welfare".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But then in Broken Barnet, long term gain is never seen as more useful than short term measures, or political gestures. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So what is to be done? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The report is quite clear. It recommends replacing lost staffing hours - at least until the day that will never come, when the mythical volunteer army is ready to take over: but most importantly of all, <i>investing</i> in the library service - yes, investing, not cutting, a difficult concept for Barnet Tories but one - are you keeping up, councillors? - one which in the long term will be more cost effective, in terms of its preventative role, as already noted. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is of course the benefit in terms of social value, but that might require some difficult thinking, for some members, being a commodity that cannot be measured, weighed, or quantified in material terms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tomorrow is also World Book Day, and an appropriate day in which to make a plea, by the children of the borough, to their elected representatives that evening, to secure their right to a better future, and a future for their local libraries.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of the comments made by the consultants at Activist was in reaction to the strength of feeling among the hundreds of residents and library users they spoke to:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We have been struck by the passionate commitment shown by the people who use</span></div>
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Barnet’s libraries and by the staff who serve them. </div>
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This is what is at the heart of this battle, and it has been a battle, between residents and the Tory group on Barnet council: they misjudged the extent to which what was once a beacon standard, money for value library service, matters to the people who live in this borough, and those who work in this service, and what is stands for: community, culture, heritage, education, and the joy of reading, the vital role of reading, and learning to see the world from a view point different to your own - a quality some might say is lacking in the ethos of the present council administration.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Over to you, now, councillors. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Don't let us down.</span></div>
Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-36791788712195031752020-01-29T13:28:00.002+00:002020-01-31T12:35:27.605+00:00Do the Right Thing, or: The Right Thing to Do? - another tale of two Barnets<div>
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Two stories, in one post. Saracens - and Marsh Drive. Where shall we begin?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Last week saw a hugely significant development in the continuing saga that is the relationship between the London Borough of Broken Barnet, and Saracens rugby club, owned by Totteridge resident Nigel Wray.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The club has been found in breach of regulations on the capping of players' salaries, and awarded a massive fine, of £5.4 million. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Faced with the choice of an audit of their accounts, or relegation, the club has chosen relegation: an extraordinary choice, you might think, in the circumstances. The club's new Chairman issued a <a href="https://www.saracens.com/a-message-to-our-fans/">statement</a> last week in which he said:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>We carefully considered the option of a full investigatory audit. However, that inevitably would have involved a long period of more financial and emotional strain and this in turn meant this was not a viable option for us.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This decision, however, is one that has very serious implications for the £22 million loan that Barnet Tory councillors approved last year, so that Saracens could build a new stand for the stadium at Allianz Park, the former Copthall, which the council has given them for a peppercorn rent. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The £22 million loan was made possible by the council applying to the Public Works Loan Board, a source of government funding that was set up in order to finance the improvement of housing, education, and sanitation, and is used by many authorities still, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">exactly for that purpose.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> - or rather it was, as the PWLB is meant to be abolished.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In Broken Barnet, we do things differently, of course. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Barnet Tories, culturally averse - (if we may suppose that reference to culture is appropriate, in their case) - to the idea of public subsidy in the form of say, social housing, or welfare support - are still open to the idea of helping out struggling private companies in the form of rugby clubs. So what, if, in the case of failure, tax payers may end up paying back the loan?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So much has changed since the agreement between the council and Saracens was approved. Relegation means a drop in income - does this affect the risk level of Barnet's investment, and the future of the promised repayments? And ownership of the club has passed now to a family trust. Today there are reports on social media that even the Allianz sponsorship of Saracens may be under threat, which clearly, if ended, would affect the club's financial health.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What is Barnet's position? They kept suspiciously quiet about the latest revelations - but </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">hats off now to fellow blogger Mr Reasonable for spotting that, sneaked into the agenda for tonight's Financial Performance and Contracts Committee, is an <a href="https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s57530/Saracens%20Loan%20update.pdf">'update'</a> on the Saracens situation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A report, written by the deputy Chief Executive, who as you will know from the FOI material published <a href="https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-right-thing-to-do-or-heading-off.html">here</a>, was prominent in encouraging this loan, states that Barnet has temporarily halted payments of the money to Saracens. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Temporarily.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But the club has already received £3.2 million worth of the loan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even if no further payments are made, and it is likely that some will push for this to continue - will Barnet taxpayers receive a refund of this money?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And erm: what has the money been spent on? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We know that the stand has not been built, nor has the old one been demolished: the stand has been 'on hold' since last summer. It seems an awful lot of money to draw down in that case. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And are officers suggesting to councillors that this loan should continue, on the basis of assurances that everything is ok? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">According to a <a href="https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/18185392.concerns-barnet-councils-23m-loan-saracens/">story</a> in the local Times newspaper, council Leader Daniel Thomas appears not at all worried by the recent developments. He claims:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">... <i>the Saracens loan was well scrutinised. It factored in a wide range of scenarios, including the possibility that the rugby club could be relegated.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>That is why the sums drawn down are fully covered by a guarantee from a UK-based company. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ah yes. 'Fully covered' by a guarantee from a UK-based company. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That would be, as we read in the report: </span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>A Guarantee, covering part of the liability under the Loan Agreement, </i></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>between Company A and the council capped at £10million</i> ... </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And then:</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1.6. <i>Company A’s assets are valued in excess of £20m, consistent with the</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>requirement for the value of the guarantor’s assets to be at least double the</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>value of the guarantee. Confirmation of Company A’s net asset value was</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>most recently provided on 29 July 2019 in relation to the position as at 30</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>June 2019. Informal assurance that the position is maintained as at 31</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>December 2019 has been provided, with formal assurance due by 29 January</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>2020. Oral confirmation that this has been received will be provided at the</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>meeting.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So, according to the report written by the deputy Chief Executive, Cath Shaw - we had 'informal assurance' (do we? From whom?) about Company A on 31st December, and formal assurance is due - oh. By the date of the committee meeting this week, on the 29th January - but how curious: only oral confirmation will be given that this has been received. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Is this 'guarantee' - a formal assurance, in the form of oral confirmation, worth the paper it is not written on? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why are the elected members of this committee not allowed to see this assurance, which presumably the senior officers will have?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I think this is pretty outrageous. Members and the residents and local taxpayers who ultimately bear the risk of paying back this loan, if Saracens do not, have every right to know the truth of the current situation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This loan should never have been brokered by the senior management team, and quite clearly the reasons why that is so are now made evident. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is time that there was an independent inquiry into how and why we became saddled with this loan, and those responsible held to account. Why so much time, disproportionate to any alleged benefits to the borough - time paid for by residents and taxpayers - was spent pushing this loan, is a question that must be asked. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Saracens' core values</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If the authority wanted to use PWLB money for the purpose it is intended, for the improvement of vital infrastructure, for housing, education, sanitation, things that are fundamental to the well being and basic needs of any community, it would be understandable: especially housing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Throughout the course of the negotiation for the Saracens loan, all eyes, it seems, were diverted away from the state of the borough's social housing needs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The only focus of interest to Barnet Tories and their senior management team, as well as their Capita partners, is in development, on a mass scale, for profit, not as an answer to the real needs of local people, but for its own sake, and that of the various carpet bagging developers flocking to the open opportunities of a borough whose planning and regeneration service is now run by a privatised company focused on facilitating their schemes, and generating a huge income in the process. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The first of these schemes was in West Hendon: begun as a renovation of a council housing estate, somehow transformed, by stealth, into a luxury development on publicly owned land given away to Barratts, for the sum of £3. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Council tenants were in the way of this grand scheme, by the beautiful waterside of the Welsh Harp, so any moving in there were put on terms of non secure tenancy, maybe for ten years, with no rights, no knowledge of how and when they might one day be evicted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As the monstrous tower blocks grew up around them, surrounding them with the dirt, noise and intrusion of constant construction work, the remaining social housing tenants and lease holders were left in decaying buildings, neglected, with no effective maintenance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Last year the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire show reported on the state of the slum standard accommodation in which Barnet Tories had left their tenants in Marsh Drive, the last blocks of the old estate: here were families with babies and young children forced to live in squalor that would have shamed a Victorian slum landlord: damp and mouldy walls, infestation of rats and cockroaches - the latter biting the children, and crawling over food and eating surfaces - and no security to prevent drug addicts regularly entering the buildings to shoot up on the stairs outside their front doors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Other issues were even more fundamental: the safety of the buildings themselves, with evidence of risks of collapse, gas leaks and fire safety. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">None of this had been as important, however, as arranging the Saracens loan, or waving through more and more non affordable housing developments. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not one Barnet Tory would appear on the first Victoria Derbyshire programme: in their place, suitably, was the disgraced former Tory councillor Brian Coleman.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Leader would not appear, nor the Chair of the Housing Committee that had not met throughout most of last year - supposedly due to a lack of 'issues'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Unluckily for them all, last week the same show decided to revisit the tenants of Marsh Drive, to see what progress had been made. In short, 'progress' consisted of a couple of wardens, inadequate to the task of replacing proper security; some belated attention to the rodent and cockroach infestation - and the news that in ten months they would be turfed out of Marsh Drive. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Where will they go? They didn't know. Non secure tenants have no rights, effectively, in Broken Barnet. They might be sent to another 'regeneration' estate, with similarly awful conditions. They might be 'decanted' miles away, to become the problem of some other authority - in Peterborough, or Milton Keynes, or anywhere - so what if their jobs and schools are here? And if they refuse to go? They have made themselves homeless. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As for jobs ... as was exposed on the second Derbyshire show, and reported <a href="https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/councillor-told-temporary-accommodation-resident-of-squalid-london-block-to-move-someplace-cheaper-64727">here</a>, when Helene Richman, one of the new Tory councillors for West Hendon, was at a meeting with tenants, she informed them:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>We don’t want to pay for you to live for free your whole life because you don’t have a job.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Told by the outraged tenant that they did have a job, she then commented that they should 'move somewhere cheaper'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When asked about this, Leader Daniel Thomas, now forced to appear to defend his administration, said that such comments were not the view of his party. Oh.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Tory Leader Thomas on the Victoria Derbyshire show</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When asked if he could live in conditions like Marsh Drive, he agreed that he could not. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Which means that he was quite happy to leave others living there, because he had no sense that anything that was intolerable for him should be considered unacceptable for others.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here in these statements by members is the key to the mind of a Barnet Tory: the absolute lack of empathy, or ability to see others who are different to you as as worthy as you, or as important as you, or to try to imagine what the effect of hardship might be on their lives. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Thomas stated that it was precisely because of the conditions of Marsh Drive that 'we' are regenerating the estate, and other estates.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is not true. Marsh Drive has been allowed to deteriorate during the long years of this faux regeneration, which was intended to improve the buildings lived in by social tenants but will see luxury housing displacing those who lived there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And the same story is true all around the borough. Rather than invest in new social housing, or borrow the money to invest in social housing, to accommodate them in decent homes, they will decant them elsewhere, waving in an army of developers to build non affordable new housing, at vast profit - for others to live in. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All of this amounts, for once inarguably, to an act of social cleansing, as was observed on Monday night by Labour councillor Sara Conway, at the 'Housing and Growth' committee at Hendon Town Hall.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The room was packed with angry residents, most of them tenants from Marsh Drive, including three who had featured in the Victoria Derbyshire show, and who had submitted questions. Faced with a furious room of residents, and mindful of the fact that the proceedings were being filmed, the Tory Chair Cornelius, previously the Tory Leader, failed to apply the ludicrous new gagging rules on public participation, as all three asked questions of the committee. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Simone asked if Cornelius, faced with evidence about the Marsh Drive buildings being unsafe, did not consider that there was a 'risk to life'. With all the confidence of a very comfortably placed man who lives in a lovely house in Totteridge - and who once appeared for a tv interview on the 'grotty' (his <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-beautiful-life-or-estate-were-in-bbc.html">word</a>) West Hendon estate in a silk cravat - he answered merely - <i>No</i>. Residents in the public seats (those that had not been taken up, in the usual arrogant manner by the senior officers and Capita managers, before the public are 'allowed' in) erupted in derisive laughter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Cornelius later commented, with wounded pride, how offended he was at the suggestion that under his leadership Barnet had not achieved anything in terms of housing. I suggested, as loudly as possible, from my seat, while scribbling notes, that he had at least managed to make Barnet the worst slum landlord in North London, which was an achievement, of sorts. He did not entirely welcome this observation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Marsh Drive residents filmed as they watch the Tory councillors at the committee meeting</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Marsh Drive tenant Ahmed Padori, who had so efficiently held Dan Thomas to account on the second programme, managed to get away with a speech to the table, in which he tried, with great articulacy and dignity, to educate the empty headed Tory members as to the impact on tenants of their appalling situation, not just in the squalid buildings in which they have been left, but in terms of the anxiety and uncertainty that hangs over their future. He briefly broke down when talking of the inability of his children to feel secure, to put down roots, - to be enabled to achieve: all the things you would think the neo-Thatcherite Tory group would want to encourage. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He pointed out that they should not have to demand things that they deserve by right. He explained the anxiety created by facing homelessness if they refuse whatever terrible place they are offered, eventually, before eviction from Marsh Drive: he claimed tenants on the estate had been threatened with having their children taken from them if they did not co-operate, and spoke of the 'lies and abuse' experienced when dealing with Barnet Homes. He spoke of the fear of not knowing if your children would be able to stay at the same schools - again, he stressed, to achieve their potential. He ended with a plea for support from the Tory members, a request that will always go unheeded by ears that cannot register the sound, in the dust ridden air of the committee room, of this Town Hall: to 'do the right thing'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Do the right thing.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dan Thomas sat defensively at the table, next to the vice Chair of the committee, Sarah Wardle, who quite properly made declarations at the beginning of the meeting in regard to the fact she lives in the new development, and is also employed by the Built Environment Communications Group, BECG, which is active in many developments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Also present for the Tories was a West Hendon councillor Alex Prager, Cllr Smith, and Group chair Peter Zinkin. They appeared to have little to say. Well: what could you say?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Thomas, who as you may read above, had refused to intervene in the crisis at Marsh Drive, now filled in the empty space of nothing to say, with a stream of ill judged comments to the effect that he could do nothing to offer any firm offer of a more secure tenancy, in decent housing, that the authority could not give 'lifetime' tenancies anymore - because it wasn't 'fair'. Apparently what is fair is to leave people for years on end, and what must seem like a lifetime, in non secure tenancies in virtual slums, as they have done in West Hendon. Oh, and it would be wrong to prioritise, as Labour proposed, to give priority to the tenants of Marsh Drive, because there might be people in 'greater need' than them. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">FFS.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After refusing to support Labour's common sense proposals, or to recognise any duty to their tenants, under any vestigial sense of humanity or decency, the Tories turned their face away from the results of their own abominable work, and moved on to the next item. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The residents left in disgust, and who could blame them? They and their children return to damp, mouldy, infested and unsecured buildings, addicts shooting up on the stairways, and burglaries - there was another one last week. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As Sara Conway commented, what happened in West Hendon, and what remains in Marsh Drive, is not by chance, or a recent development: it is the result of years of indifference and neglect - the result of choice: a deliberate Tory policy. This council has never hidden their underlying agenda: yes, one of social cleansing - (and some might argue, gerrymandering, I muttered to myself). The previous Tory housing lead (ignoring Gabriel Rozenberg, who was Chair last year, before self identifying as a Libdem, but had almost no meetings to attend) was Tom Davey, who boasted openly about his group wanting only residents who did not need affordable housing. Social housing has never been wanted, or accepted in principle, in Broken Barnet. The very idea! Why would you subsidise the cost of housing? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Subsidy, as we know, is only acceptable for those we approve of: which brings us back to Saracens, and the £22 million handout from public funding. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As you can see here, in the material obtained by FOI, two officers who thought this deal was a good idea were the deputy CEO, and Stephen Mc Donald, both of whom were present last night. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr McDonald - who is apparently now 'Director of Growth' - commented in the trail of emails uploaded in the post that he thought the loan arrangement was 'the right thing to do'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Two stories, two versions of 'the right thing to do'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Decent homes for families, or handouts for rugby clubs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You know how this ends. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is Broken Barnet, after all.</span></div>
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Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-45047988275995762492019-12-11T23:42:00.001+00:002019-12-12T01:12:32.199+00:00A Walk in the Park: Ten Years of Broken Barnet<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Labour's Parliamentary candidate for Finchley and Golders Green, and local councillor, Ross Houston: in the background the empty site of the former Park Keeper's Lodge in Victoria Park, soon to be a block of flats.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Late on Saturday afternoon, as the dark descended, and the last joggers ran out through the gates, and the crows settled down for the night in the trees in Long Lane, I was standing by the former Lodge site in Victoria Park, with my local Labour councillor, Ross Houston, talking about the state of things here, in Broken Barnet - in Finchley - and how it came to be this bad. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We had both tried to save the old Park Keeper's Lodge from being demolished: but failed. Sold by Barnet Council, approved by our then council leader, then Tory MP Mike Freer, and Tory councillors and leaders Richard Cornelius, and Dan Thomas, even though the beautiful arts and crafts building and its garden was situated in a public park: it was sold, was demolished this summer and now the land is about to be developed with a block of flats, placed in the park, overlooking the children's playground. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It seemed a suitable metaphor, the Lodge site, for everything that has happened to this area, to this constituency, in the last few years: public assets, common ground, open space - libraries - left to the people of Finchley, in perpetuity, by Victorian philanthropists - sold by Tory councillors, Tory MPs, to developers, for their profit, and as a statement of power: you have no rights, any more, to public spaces, or public services. Everything you thought was dedicated to the benefit of the greater good can now taken away from you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A park is nothing if not the shared space of the local community: the heart and soul of the community: a meeting place, somewhere we go for our health and well being. You don't have to pay for it. You have a right to be there. Well: you did have the right, for a century or so. You had not realised, had you, that in Broken Barnet, an open space is now an open invitation to development, and capital gain?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Now demolished, but coming to you soon: flats in the park, courtesy of your local Tory politicians</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's more or less ten years now, since I began this blog. An entire decade has passed, chronicled in loving detail, in these posts: and as now, we stand on the brink of an election that will define the nation we are about to become, it is perhaps time to look back, and wonder how we got here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I got here by an unexpected route: my family's life destroyed after eighteenth months of vicious, non-stop antisocial behaviour from tenants placed next door by a Tory council with the longest housing list in the UK. They refused to build new social housing, so had resorted to placing priority families in private, often sub-standard accommodation, the landlords paid a premium to take them on: almost no questions asked about suitability of the property. The house next door was not fit for habitation - the garden six foot high with rubbish, plagued with rats: it made no difference to the council, simply offered a way of off loading one troublesome family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">These neighbours from hell were smoking crack in the garden, dealing, acting out stabbings in front of our window, constantly violent, abusing each other, threatening their children, spat at my then young daughter in the street: jumped into our front garden to menace us inside, constantly noisy, screaming - off their heads all night so that, for five months, I had to sleep on a camp bed on the kitchen floor to get any sleep. The council that had placed them there refused to move them, or interfere, and the then leader, now Finchley and Golders Green MP Mike Freer, would not intervene. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Only the local police, with whom by then we were on first names basis, due to their constant visits, were any help. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Oh: and our local councillors, who came round, and sat in our living room and listened, and did everything they could to help: local Labour councillors Jim Tierney, now retired - and Ross Houston: now standing as our Parliamentary candidate for Finchley and Golders Green. Their kindness, empathy and support were in stark contrast to the utter indifference of Freer and the Tory run council.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Someone said: start a blog, and write about what is happening. I did: and linked it to local papers and instantly had huge interest. Mrs Angry was born, and went into action. Within ten days, the council had found somewhere else for their 'troubled family' and the assortment of lodgers & dealers that lodged with them, to move to. But it was too late, in many respects. Our family life had fallen apart: our health and happiness - and never really recovered. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Having acquired a new interest in the way the local Tory council was running things, been horrified by the lack of scrutiny and opposition to their increasingly right wing agenda, and having discovered the power of social media as a tool for holding to account such breathless disregard for the public interest, I carried on. The MetPro scandal arrived then with all its revelations about a Tory party prepared to use unlicensed thugs in jackboots as a private security army, paid in some casual arrangement, with no contract, no tendering: who set this up? We never found out - but we did uncover the incredible, unregulated state of Barnet's anarchic financial system, with literally thousands of other non contractual relationships with suppliers and private companies. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Before he left his position on the council, Freer had shown interest in what was sold as 'a new model of local government' and informed the world, as he stood for Parliament, of his masterly new plan, 'easycouncil', in which there would be more 'choice' for residents. In fact it wasn't his idea: it was a version of something being rolled out everywhere, in many public sector services: privatisation - the 'outsourcing' of those services. Embedded in the local Tory council, as he left, this intention was nurtured by various consultants from the private sector firms who came here and would later bid for the lucrative deal that became One Barnet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Your local services that are in such a state now are directly because of that 'easycouncil' initiative. You were promised better services for less money. You didn't get it. You can see your local services failing at every point: and you are paying more and more for it. As fellow blogger Mr Reasonable, John Dix, <a href="http://reasonablenewbarnet.blogspot.com/2019/11/another-bumper-month-for-capita-in.html">pointed out</a> recently, the running total for the Capita contract period is now at £445 million, <span style="color: red;"><b>£169 million</b></span> above the contracted value.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Roads and pavements in a mess? Potholes everywhere? Ask the local Tories why their contractors don't do a better job. They won't be able to answer. Fed up with the lack of enforcement when some developer knocks down a house next door to you, or openly breaches the planning permission for three flats across the road which becomes five, or a house of multiple occupancy? Hard luck. Neighbour hosting a bed in a shed? You're on your own. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Planning and enforcement are now run as a business by Capita Re, to milk as much income as possible from development, which is now rampant across the borough - especially in the more western, Labour held areas. Luxury development that does nothing to solve the chronic shortage of affordable housing, or social housing. They don't measure the housing waiting lists anymore: just as well, in this borough - but the crisis that drove Freer's council to dump people in substandard accommodation in the private sector has not abated: is likely to have become much worse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fees are generated through a range of 'services': pre-application 'advice', fast tracking, and oh: want to choose your own planning officer? Pay enough, and you can. Why you would want to, is another question. Another question still is why senior planning officers are allowed to work for Capita Re, then leave and immediately set up as private consultants, acting as agents for the same developers they dealt with in their former posts at Barnet. Yes, this is now happening, with several individuals. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Enforcement is not effective as a process now, because: there are no income benefits for Capita, only costs. Planning and enforcement are now run for the benefit of developers, and Capita shareholders, not the best interests of residents and the community. What did you expect? This is how easycouncil works, in practice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ask the Godfather of Barnet outsourcing, Freer, why local services are in such a mess: he will blame the council, as if it had nothing to do with him. It is to do with him: it is his legacy. Remember that tomorrow, when you go to the polling station.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Election fever here in Broken Barnet has been overheated by an intensity of focus on the three marginal constituencies: Chipping Barnet, held by Theresa Villiers - by only 300 votes, last time; Hendon, the seat of the abrasive former deputy leader of Barnet Council, Matthew Offord - by only 1,072 votes - and Finchley and Golders Green, where Freer won last time by a margin of 1,657.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">FGG has only three candidates at this election: and in every sense, despite the claims of certain parties, it is a three horse race, the very fact of which has local Tories besides themselves with fear. Freer is in a very difficult position. Having said he voted to Remain at the time of the Referendum, the political wind changed direction, and he changed with it, supporting government policy on Brexit, and then being appointed as a junior whip by Theresa May. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Former Finchley and Golders Green Tory MP and junior whip, Freer, sitting beneath a portrait of Ken Clarke. Pic courtesy of the Ham & High</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A lucky appointment for him, not being likely to forge a brilliant parliamentary career in any ministerial posts. May's government fell apart, and he remained a whip as Johnson took over, and throughout all the breathless defiance Johnson and his lackey Cummings showed for the Parliamentary process, the democratic process, including the prorogation, and then the 'de-whipping' of 21 Tory MPs, including the Father of the House, Ken Clarke, and Nicholas Soames. Rather amusingly, in a recent <a href="https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/environment/finchley-and-golders-green-mp-on-climate-change-and-food-waste-1-6336138">interview</a> in the Ham & High, Freer chose to pose for a photograph under a portrait of ... Ken Clarke. Well, then, what do we make of all that? He could have resigned, rather than be associated with Johnson's actions in government. But he chose to stay. And what has he done in his own constituency, in the meanwhile? Erm. Nothing much, really. His election leaflets spoke for themselves - nothing to see.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At the last election the Labour candidate came a close second. This time round, there was clearly a huge issue that would have to be addressed by any Labour candidate: the issue of how the Labour party dealt with allegations of anti-semitism by members. For the first Labour selection, a woman who happened to be Jewish, the pressure proved too much to bear. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Another candidate was chosen: a brilliant choice, in fact - local West Finchley councillor Ross Houston. Ross is that rare thing: a good man in politics, and respected not just across the range of the local party membership, but by all who know him. Will he win? I hope so: he is the candidate who is rooted in this community, cares passionately about those who are less advantaged, and will work on their behalf, if elected. He deserves to win.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ok. Then we have the third candidate, for the Libdems. There was one, a local woman, duly chosen. But she was shoved aside, and sent to Hendon. Why? Because Luciana Berger had joined the Libdems - her third party in one year - and wanted to stand in Finchley and Golders Green. Not only wanted to stand, but right from the off, we were informed, by Libdem party, was going to win. Why? Well: mostly because - she <i>wanted</i> to win. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A poll was published which appeared to show that - goodness me - she <i>was</i> going to win, and by a landslide! Incredible! Well, yes: in fact, it was literally incredible, and totally bogus, as the result was achieved by excluding the option of voting for a Labour candidate ...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Since then, the Libdem campaign has followed through on the spurious basis of claiming that only they can beat the Tories. Utterly untrue, but a commitment to the truth was abandoned very early on in this campaign. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Residents in this constituency since then have been bombarded by an unceasing storm of Libdem propaganda, on a level unprecedented in any previous election: in our household alone we have received more than 27 mailshots, leaflets, fake newspapers, fake polls; letters from polling experts who turn out not to have seen the stuff sent in their name, and all of it at enormous expense. Such a deluge of stuff, in fact, that many residents have complained both to the Returning Officer here, and to the Electoral Commission, as so many feel that the expenditure budgets must have been exceeded.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>A sample of just some of the Libdem campaign material received in our house over the last two weeks</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the meanwhile, the Libdem campaign in Finchley and Golders Green has consisted of Luciana Berger holding 'Luciana in Your Lounge' events (for those lucky enough to have a 'lounge' big enough to hold more than five people, and canvassing Hampstead Garden Suburb with a string of luvvy actors Hugh Grant (who clearly had misgivings afterwards) Jason Isaacs, - and Simon Schama. Phwoah: eh?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why Garden Suburb? Well, because the 'leader' of the new Libdem group (of two Libdem councillors) on Barnet Council, Gabriel Rozenberg, is a councillor for that area. Elected as a Tory, and happy to remain a Tory until recently, Gabriel was Chair of the Housing Committee that did not meet for eight months, even though during that time the abysmal, squalid conditions in which residents of Marsh Drive, in West Hendon, were living, reached a point of crisis - and was featured on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme, reported in the post previous to this one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Can anyone take seriously a woman who joined a party she herself has <a href="https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/luciana-berger-previously-said-you-16869715">said</a> you cannot trust?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Preposterous, self indulgent, middle class political game playing by the Libdems does nothing to address the real issues of residents in the constituency, especially those in need, victims of the austerity policies supported by ... Libdems in coalition with the Tory government: bedroom tax, and Universal Credit. They have no local policies: no policies, other than a commitment to further, permanent cuts in spending, and continued austerity measures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Most contemptible of all here in Finchley and Golders Green was the campaign's exploitation of the issue of mental health provision, which is abominable in all Barnet constituencies - second to bottom in national scores for access to support. Libdems will wave a magic wand, and make this disappear, apparently. Marvellous, if you overlook the role they played in approving the worst cuts in this service, including to children and young adults, in the early years of their coalition of shame with Cameron's Tory government. Don't fool yourself that they will not do the same, in another coalition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Local Tory activists, now in short supply, have been terrified of the impact of Libdems with Luciana Berger as a candidate, and all the money thrown at this target ward. You might think it should be Labour who would be most worried - but no. Of course there are former Jewish Labour voters understandably upset and alienated by the anti-semitism debacle in the Labour party and choosing to support the Libdems here: it is fair to say that Muslim voters may have strong reserves about voting Tory after the incident last weekend involving a Muslim mother, after which the Chair of Chipping Tories had to stand down. It is not the first time allegations of Islamophobia have been made against local Tories: a councillor was suspended last year, but reinstated in circumstances which were never clarified.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is fair to say as well that there will probably be a fair number of disillusioned Tories defecting to the Libdems, hence a certain amount of panic in Finchley and Golders Green. Remain Tories have been strongly wooed in former stronghold areas like the Garden Suburb. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It will not be enough for them to win - the truth is that the three parties are likely to be on a closer footing than any of them would like to admit, and the result - is unpredictable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Tories and Libdems have not bothered to explore beyond the areas where they feel safe, however. A foolish mistake: but typical of both parties, who feel no interest in the residents who are not middle class, and comfortably placed - who live in social housing, or rented temporary accommodation, just getting by: or not getting by at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here in Finchley and Golders Green, however, we have 48 per cent of children living in poverty. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We have areas of social deprivation, only a short walk from the ward of Hampstead Garden Suburb: itself an area of exclusive affluence, populated by an assortment of overseas dictators living in exile, arms dealers, porn merchants, and anyone who can afford a house in a listed conservation area, safe from development, and worth millions of pounds.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Back in the real world, and the less privileged areas of Finchley and Golders Green, we have a section of our local community dependent on foodbanks. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We have hostels for homeless people, and women fleeing domestic abuse. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We have a generation of children now doomed to grow up without easy access to libraries, or study space. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We have elderly citizens and disabled residents unable to visit those libraries in the hope of feeling less lonely.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We have parents of children with profound disabilities whose respite care has been snatched away by local Tories, without a thought for the impact on them: we have disabled residents whose travel passes have been snatched away by the Tory council's contractors, to earn an extra fee. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We have local healthcare struggling to provide a decent level of support, with record waiting times for GP appointments, or access to consultants.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We have a local hospital here in Finchley half empty, while residents wait for treatment, and while local health authorities plot with developers and the council to build housing on the site.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We have people sleeping in the doorways and alleys of our high street in Finchley, in the bitter cold of a winter's night. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Who will speak for them? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It won't be Mike Freer. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It won't be Luciana Berger. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It can only be someone who is rooted in this community, and has spoken out, for years, on their behalf: who has marched with campaigners against the local cuts to public services, to libraries, listened to local police, and local charities, and local residents, trying to put back together the broken pieces of our fractured lives. That person is Ross Houston.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We stood talking, on Saturday night, in the dark, in Victoria Park, by the fences surrounding the demolished Lodge. The metaphorical message stood clear, and shining, in the gloom. Our history, and our heritage, our community, put up for sale by Tory politicians, part of the campaign of war on that sense of community, and our common history: a denial of the past, for the sake of present profit. We deserve better. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the ten years I have been writing this blog, I have been privileged to meet some extraordinary people, from a diverse range of communities, struggling to cope in the most extreme circumstances: in poverty, with disability, in terrible housing, in isolation, and in fear. I see no hope whatsoever for them or any of us from the political agendas set by Tory politicians in this borough, and these constituencies, only indifference, lack of compassion - and financial incompetence. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When you vote tomorrow, please don't support Tories, or yellow Tories: vote for your Labour candidates: for a Labour manifesto, for hope for a better future for you, your families, and your community. Yes, Barnet is still broken: time to start picking up the pieces, and building something new.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-44757423491933907402019-11-01T18:30:00.000+00:002019-11-05T00:48:35.231+00:00West Hendon: they call this 'Regeneration' - and: 'Relative Poverty', the Barnet Tory definition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Victoria Derbyshire, Brian Coleman, West Hendon tenant Annie, and director Ken Loach. Pics courtesy BBC.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Poverty</i>, explained Tory Councillor David Longstaff, the diminutive former Actor, (Beige man in Ikea ad, drunken elf in Eastenders, Maniac in Accidental Death of an Anarchist) now appearing in the eternal pantomime role of Deputy Leader of the London Borough of Broken Barnet, <i>is always relative</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The council chamber, full for the Full Council meeting earlier this week, fell silent.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Longstaff shrugged. He repeated himself. <i>Poverty ... is relative</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The public gallery looked on, speechless. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But he was right, of course. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes, it is true that according to recent studies, children in Barnet are living in utterly unacceptably high levels of poverty. (Here in Finchley and Golders Green, for example, 'End Child Poverty' <a href="http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/poverty-in-your-area-2019/">estimates</a> children are living in poverty at the astonishingly high rate of 34%. In Hendon, the figure is 41.4 %. Other analyses put the rates even higher).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But being poor, as Longstaff explained, just means not having as much as the rich, and as the rich get richer, being poor isn't so bad, see?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Deputy Leader of the Barnet Tory group, Cllr David Longstaff. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He's got a point, hasn't he? Children aren't employed down the mines anymore, or shoved up chimneys, so they shouldn't whinge, when say, they are housed in a slum property for ten years, on a week to week, non secure tenancy, for anything up to ten years, ready to be evicted on four weeks notice. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When the rat infested building in which they live is deliberately neglected, pending demolition; w</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">hen that building is plagued by flooding, and damp so bad the wallpaper in their bedrooms peels away from the walls, and is covered in black mould. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Or when they wake up, bitten by cockroaches, and have to tell their mums not to cry, every time they see another of these tormentors scuttling across the floor, in the cupboards, or over their food. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ah, but that couldn't happen, though, could it? The local council would take these families out of the hands of slum landlords, away from such appalling conditions, and rehouse them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well: they might. Anywhere other than in Tory Barnet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Because here in Tory Barnet: the slum landlords ARE the council.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That morning, on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme, Barnet Council were shamed in a special investigative report as having left vulnerable families in exactly these conditions, knowingly, for years, in Marsh Drive, on the West Hendon estate. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Watch from about 22 minutes in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0009v42/victoria-derbyshire-29102019">https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0009v42/victoria-derbyshire-29102019</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Barnet Tory spokesperson Brian Coleman, and West Hendon tenant Annie</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I've written a lot about this estate, over nearly ten years of this blog's history, too many posts to list. * See below for a few links.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And it wasn't the first time the BBC have reported the appalling story of the forgotten residents of West Hendon. Three years ago, a remarkable documentary, sensitively directed by Fran Roberts, was made about the development, the destruction of a community - and the impact on families who had lived there: <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-beautiful-life-or-estate-were-in-bbc.html">'The Estate We're In</a>'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Dorothy, one of the tenants featured in 'The Estate We're In', a young mother summarily evicted by Barnet Council, with her nine year old daughter, sent to a damp, rat infested bedsit - and only allowed back after three weeks to collect her belongings.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As the shameful tale has unfolded, it has come to represent something much larger, the true story of something some right wing commentators would have us believe does not exist: the idea of social cleansing. A policy of removal of the poor (because even if they do not exist, they must 'not exist' somewhere else) and replacement by the well off. And it is removal: they can at best expect only to be 'decanted' from sub standard housing on one 'regeneration' estate to sub standard housing on another regeneration estate - or forced to accept accommodation perhaps many miles away, in <a href="https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/people/anger-as-barnet-s-homeless-move-to-peterborough-1-8162369">Peterborough</a>, perhaps: or even further, away from family, employment, schools and support networks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here in Barnet, there is no denial of the truth of this, even by the Tories. A former lead on housing, Tom Davey, actually boasted about this policy, saying that in this borough 'we' want only people who do not need 'affordable' housing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The most recent Tory lead on housing, the Chair of the Housing Committee, Gabriel Rozenberg, when I asked him earlier this year why his committee would not be meeting for seven months, replied eventually that it was because there were no 'urgent' matters. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I asked if Chairs of committees that did not meet for so long continued to receive their extra allowances (more than £15,000 a year, in addition to the standard rate for members). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No reply. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He is now a Libdem councillor: leader of the new Libdem group of two.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Pic courtesy Association of Marsh Drive Residents</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The residents of the West Hendon council estate were fooled by Barnet Tories, some years ago, into thinking their homes would be renovated, for their benefit. They agreed to support this: why wouldn't they? The Tory councillors, in secret, then sold the publicly owned land where the estate is located - worth upwards of £12 million (a very low estimate) for ... £3.00 (no, not a typo) to Barratts, who wanted to demolish the buildings, get rid of the tenants and leaseholders, and build luxury housing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They call this 'regeneration'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The £3.00 deal only became public knowledge once the council was obliged to make disclosures for the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) Inquiry, that residents hoped would obstruct the development: or at least result in better outcomes for residents.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Better outcomes were needed, because those who had followed the route mapped out for them by Margaret Thatcher, and aspired to become property owners, buying the leasehold of their flats, were now being betrayed by the neo-Thatcherites in the Town Hall, whose private contractors Capita were, in the usual knotted mass of conflicts of interest tied between Barnet Council and their outsourcerers, in charge of regeneration, in charge of planning - and in charge of property valuation, which had led to undervaluation of their properties, only 'adjusted' after the Inquiry began. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Very few were able to find the money to buy into shared ownership on the new estate. One elderly woman I met, I last heard, could find not even the smallest flat affordable for her within any reasonable distance of her family. She was sleeping on her grandson's bunk bed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For the social tenants, their futures were even more bleak.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Any with secure tenancies, in West Hendon, were supposed to be rehoused there. Clearly developers did not want 'ordinary' families, social tenants, in their luxury development. Their plans therefore were to build a grim looking block - Bullfinch House - for any that remained, safely outside the footprint of the proper scheme, overlooking not the beautiful views of the waterside of the Welsh Harp, but the spray-paint garages and grimy takeaway backyards of the Edgware Road. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Pic courtesy BBC/Two Step Productions/The Estate We're In</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The moral message inherent in the new Poor Law of Tory Britain, of Broken Barnet, is clear: the undeserving poor, the 'relative' poor, are an underclass, whose transgressions and lack of 'aspiration' must condemn them to the punishment of second class housing - or worse. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The beauty of landscape, in Tory Britain, in Broken Barnet, is only available to those who can pay a premium rate for it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Worse was to befall those who had not been granted a secure tenancy: for years any families or individuals rehoused by Barnet Homes, the 'At Arms Length Organisation' created to ... keep their housing policy at arms' length, and out of sight ... were put there on non secure contracts that meant they had almost no rights to protect them when the development began, and they were in the way of profit. They were disposable: only a few secure tenants were given places in Bullfinch House, inevitably known as Bullshit House. As soon as they moved in, there was an infestation of rodents.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Their less 'advantaged' neighbours were offered one choice of alternative accommodation. No matter how dire it was, or how far away, if they refused it, they were considered to have made themselves homeless, and could be evicted. Residents were wrongly informed that they need not turn up to court to fight these orders: and then discovered failure to do so meant they would now be thrown out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In Marsh Drive, part of the last stages of the scheme, tenants were left in rapidly deteriorating flats, with damp, infestations, mould, and antisocial behaviour, including heroin addicts injecting themselves on their doorsteps, encouraged by open access, unsecured doors - and lack of intervention. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What did the Tory council do? Turn its back. Now it is daring, outrageously, to try to put the blame on anyone else: the residents themselves, even Labour councillors, in a desperate attempt to deny responsibility for the current slum standards. They have three Tory councillors now, in West Hendon: two of them are in the picture below, with Tory MP Matthew Offord, grinning like fools in front of the new luxury development. What have they done for the residents of Marsh Drive?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What did the local Tory MP Matthew Offord do? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When tenants tried in the past to come and see him about their plight: he hid from them in a church hall, and <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2014/04/whose-west-hendon-our-west-hendon-mp.html">escaped</a> in a police van.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He went on the BBC Sunday Politics Show, three years ago, Offord, and talked <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-last-betrayal-or-breaking-of-west.html">about</a> West Hendon and Grahame Park not as communities, of course, but as 'sink estates', no go areas at night, where the police find it 'very difficult there to maintain and enforce the law'. I checked with local police to see if this was indeed their view. It wasn't. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">West Hendon, he claimed, and still claims, was 'a success story in itself'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">More recently Offord has made a couple of visits to West Hendon. To see the 'success story' that is the luxury development, with Housing Minister Esther McVey, and an assortment of Tory councillors. The ones who were not available this week, to explain the reason they had left the tenants of Marsh Drive, across the way, in such vile accommodation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Visiting the luxury housing at West Hendon which is displacing social tenants, including those now living in squalor in Marsh Drive, which was not visited.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>West Hendon Tory councillor Saira Don, Tory Vice Chair, Regeneration Sara Wardle, Housing Minister Esther McVey, Tory MP Offord, Tory councillor & GLA candidate Roberto Weedon-Sanz, West Hendon Tory councillor Helene Richman. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The residents of Marsh Drive do not matter, to our local Tory politicians. They are invisible: they do not exist, they are merely in a state of stasis, non citizens, with no rights, before they are moved to a new place of non-existence, beyond the boundaries of Broken Barnet. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Victoria Derbyshire informed viewers that no Barnet Tory would come to defend their own failings as landlords in West Hendon. Not one. Why would they? The Tory Leader Dan Thomas had made clear his position, to tenants, only recently: he did not wish to intervene.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Kind regards from the new Tory leader</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the absence of any of those currently serving as councillors, or the local Tory MP, they had resorted to inviting Brian Coleman to speak on behalf of Barnet Tories. Really? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Coleman, whose inglorious career came to an end on the High Street in North Finchley, on the day he attacked a woman who had spotted him parking in breach of his own much hated regulations, and had dared to take a photograph of him? Who had </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">admitted - <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2013/05/brian-coleman-end-of-line-trial-in.html">eventually </a>- </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">common assault by beating at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court, and was then </span><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22397672" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">thrown out</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> of the party by CCHQ, as his gutless colleagues in Barnet had failed to do it? Who then joined the party again, was found out, again, and - thrown out again? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Also on the show was director Ken Loach, foremost of British film makers, whose 'Cathy Come Home' film of 1966, on the desperate plight of those falling into the spiral of homelessness and family breakdown, and whose 'I Daniel Blake', fifty years later, speaks for a new generation of those trapped by a systemic oppression of the most vulnerable victims of austerity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Cathy Come Home</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ken Loach looked on, as Coleman attempted to bluster his way through some sort of counter argument to the injustice being served by his former colleagues to Annie, her children, and the families of Marsh Drive. He talked absolute nonsense about why 'we' are 'regenerating' the estate, claiming utterly wrongly that the '18 story' blocks overlooking the Welsh Harp contained private and social tenants, and said of tenants like Annie and her children that '<i>the council owes them nothing at all</i>'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Loach was clearly appalled. He said that such an attitude '<i>shows contempt for people ... I could weep ... to be told you don't deserve anything, the council owes you nothing, is disgusting, Brian Coleman, it's disgusting</i> ...' </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He pointed out that like Grenfell, West Hendon demonstrates '<i>a contempt for people who are seen to have no power ... (even) if they live in the most squalid conditions - that's Tory Britain.</i>' </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'<i>You've got a political agenda, Mr Loach</i>, ' was all Coleman could offer in response.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'<i>Are you a member of the Conservative Party? Were you readmitted after the attack?</i>' asked Loach.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Coleman asserted that he was, '<i>funnily enough</i>' - and it is funny, isn't it, in the most darkly humorous sense of the word? Thrown out twice: has he been allowed back in, for a third time, and if so, why, and by whom? If not, why would he say so?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Coleman insisted he was a Conservative member, and 'proud to be so'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Victoria Derbyshire had heard enough. She asked him why he was so unsympathetic: 'are you a human being?' She remarked on his lack of empathy, and compassion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In fact, these are the very reasons he was the right spokesman for Barnet Tories, as they are now, whether or not he is a member. He embodies their true spirit: their lurch even further to the hard right, to the soulless party of those who feel no compassion for those in need, who are vulnerable and in need of support; they cannot empathise with others, or feel remorse at the shameful outcomes of their own heartless policies. They do not wish to engage with their constituents, or to be held accountable for their policies. Silence, and evasion, is their tactic now: putting up a decoy, a stuffed toy mascot like Coleman, ripped at the seams: a perfectly logical way of avoiding dialogue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The gothic horror of Hendon Town Hall</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the council chamber of Hendon Town Hall, on the evening of the same day the West Hendon film was shown, despite the usual pointless plea from the Mayor's chaplain to have '<i>no space for vainglory and arrogance</i>', and to think only of '<i>the good of their fellow human beings</i>', not one Barnet Tory showed any real sympathy for, or even interest in, the squalor that the fellow human beings who were their own tenants were forced to endure. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In response to a question from Labour's Anne Clarke, the Tory Leader Dan Thomas could only emit his usual emotionless blather, wittering on about having delivered a newsletter to residents, only two weeks ago, as proof of his commitment to resolving the situation in which he had told them he did not wish to 'intervene': families living in slum conditions, infested by vermin and insects, living in flooded buildings, conditions that would have been condemned in 1919, let alone a century later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">New Libdem leader, and former Tory Housing Chair Gabriel Rozenberg is only interested in opposing Brexit. The Tory leader Dan Thomas is looking forward to it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Neither of them will ever have to worry about living in slum standard accommodation, or see their children bitten by cockroaches, or struggle with asthma from the damp, or worry about where they are going to live, when the ground beneath their feet is taken from them, so as to multiply the profits of a developer selling a fantasy of life on the waterside, for the new tenants of overseas landlords who bought the properties off plan, in cash.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Development and the provision of housing in Broken Barnet is driven entirely by the needs of profit, overseen by a privatised planning service that is rotten to the core, utterly out of control, out of the hands of local democratic oversight - and simply not fit for purpose. The poor are being excluded from the borough through a deliberate strategy of displacement, hidden under the guise of 'regeneration'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This inability to care, or even to imagine how life is for those living in the always ignored areas of social deprivation in this borough is a pattern replicated not just in the council, but by the local MPs, who ignore the issues that affect the less advantaged residents of Hendon, Finchley and Golders Green, and Chipping Barnet constituencies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you were shocked by the exposure of Tory policy in action revealed by the story of West Hendon, you have an opportunity, and a duty, now, in a few weeks, to do something about it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do something about it: vote these MPs out, and replace them with Labour representatives - not covert Tories in yellow jumpers - who do care about the well being of their fellow residents, and will work to make their lives better. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The story of West Hendon is not the story of regeneration. It is the story of a war on the poor, and the destruction of a community. It is the story of public land given away for private profit. Don't be fooled. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And please: don't vote for Barnet Tories, as MPs, or councillors, ever again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Links:</i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2014/04/whose-west-hendon-our-west-hendon-mp.html">http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2014/04/whose-west-hendon-our-west-hendon-mp.html</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2015/06/sacred-ground-and-savage-beauty-return.html">http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2015/06/sacred-ground-and-savage-beauty-return.html</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-last-word-shall-not-be-with.html">https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-last-word-shall-not-be-with.html</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-last-betrayal-or-breaking-of-west.html">http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-last-betrayal-or-breaking-of-west.html</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-promotion-of-well-being-or-order.html">https://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-promotion-of-well-being-or-order.html</a></span></div>
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Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-7357890200521715562019-09-29T18:42:00.002+01:002019-09-30T10:59:33.369+01:00Conference, "Common Sense", and a return to Broken Barnet<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I didn't go to Conference last year. Not altogether a bad thing: rather like Glastonbury, having a year off gives the opportunity of a time of peace, and calm, and a chance for the grass to go back/arguments to die down ... or so one might hope ...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As it was in Brighton, this time, it seemed like a good idea to attend. A few days at the seaside: a non-naughty, non-weekend in Brighton, full of factionalism, argument, and over heated debate - what's not to like? Better than staying in Broken Barnet, with the familiar factionalism, argument and heated debate of one's own household.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Booking so late meant difficulty in finding a hotel room for three nights, so it meant another stay, for the first night, in nearby Lewes: avoiding the haunted hotel rumoured to be owned by a local 'businessman' of interesting character, which local cab drivers will tell you all about, at some length: (all the way to Brighton, if you don't change the subject). First cab driver was easily distracted with his own Lewes tales, however: explaining how he takes the mickey out of American visitors about Lewes's most famous son, Tom Paine, radical thinker, father of revolutions - of <i>their</i> revolution. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was Tom Paine, of course, who wrote, in his pamphlet 'Common Sense':</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions</i> ...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not hard to find any contemporary examples of such men, and women, and such insolence, is it? And not hard to wish for another revolution, in order to remove them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Tom Paine Printing Press, Lewes</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Two right wing extremist attacks took part in Lewes the other night, by 'pro Brexit' thugs: a brick thrown through the front door of an anti Brexit campaigner, Jim Cornelius, with the word 'traitor' written on it - and, around the same time, in another part of the town, vile antisemitic graffiti aimed at 'whores and traitors' daubed on the front fence of another resident. This can only be directly the consequence of the forces unleashed by the Tory leader the day before, in his shameless, smiling and deliberate repetition of the term 'Surrender Act', and his deeply offensive, pejorative dismissal of the fears of female MPs over the incitement it represents to those minded to follow the violence that led to the murder of Jo Cox.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Arriving at the Conference centre in Brighton, greeting the sight of our perennial favourite Labour Party metaphor, the ruined West pier stranded out among the crashing waves - arson, claimed the cab driver, hinting at dark financial motives, midnight torchings and speedboats heading off across a moonlit sea - the last day of summer gave a misleadingly sunny background to the usual frantic leafleting and drifts of stop me and take one campaigners lining the path to the turnstiles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A bunch of Remain protestors in their EU/Brit fusion themed cloaks and hats stood together clutching their flags, possibly slightly disappointed by the lack of disagreement from any bunch of Leavers. Protest without someone to shout at is always disheartening.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the hall, Diane Abbott had just started speaking, slowly - very, very slowly, and very, very carefully, as if worried she would accidentally say the wrong thing. Constant hate channelled at women like her in public life takes its effect: for the first black woman MP, pioneering a path now followed by so many other strong women in Parliament, respect is due, but rarely given. "<i>Haters gonna hate ...</i>", she remarked, ruefully, with a slow shrug, with a hat tip to that other great radical political thinker, Taylor Swift.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Women were the focus of the debate that followed later in the afternoon: a motion from the women's conference about the rights - or rather lack of rights - of migrant women was deeply upsetting, and perfectly illustrated not only the execrable impact of the 'Hostile Environment', but also the utter lack of humanity at the heart of Tory Britain, demonising the most vulnerable residents, withholding access to basic rights of healthcare, or access to legal protection as victims of domestic violence or trafficking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Militant Brexiteers and xenophobes fondly imagine hordes of migrants flocking here to take advantage of our NHS. The truth is, we heard, that migrant women who give birth are being handed hospital bills of £7,000: bills too for those who suffer the trauma of miscarriage. This means many women are avoiding medical care when giving birth, with all the risks and distress that creates.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Women like this who have been the victims of domestic violence have been handed bills for the treatment of their injuries. They are often denied access to justice, because of lack of legal aid, or fear of being exposed without proper documentation should they go to the police. Trafficked women forced into sex work often face the choice of continuing to be exploited and abused, or returned to the country where they were first enslaved. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One brave woman spoke to Conference about her own experience of escaping years of violence: of having watched another Conference from her kitchen table and thinking it was nothing to do with her, to becoming strong enough to address this Conference from the stage. The power of politics - radical politics - to change lives for the better is sometimes too easily dismissed. For some women, taking the first step to freedom may only come from such a route - and may inspire others to do the same.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Two other women speakers gave a frightening insight into the progress, or rather lack of progress, over the last twenty years in terms of provision for abused women. Both speakers had worked in domestic violence support in Tower Hamlets more than twenty years ago: and both said that the situation had not improved at all. In some ways, for some women, it has become worse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Listening to all these testimonies, many of them harrowing, one after another, was a sharp lesson in reality, and a useful reminder of the founding principles of the Labour movement, as relevant today as it was a century ago, with still the driving need of a party that stands up for the disadvantaged, those in poverty, distress, and want. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This point was driven home again at a fringe meeting later that evening organised by Unite: the problems of social inequality, created entirely by year upon year of Tory policies of 'austerity', are greater than ever. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As we heard from speakers like Diane Abbott, and the Mayor of Newham, austerity might be over as a useful term for Conservative propaganda: but a huge section of society is still caught fast in the consequences of these merciless creations: Bedroom Tax, Universal Credit, sanctions, humiliating assessments, inexplicable decisions to withhold support from terminally ill people, or with life long conditions: a war on the poor and disabled. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Leaving Lewes the next day meant another cab driver, this time not a Tom Paine enthusiast, but a man whose family has lived in Brighton for many generations: the 3x great grandson of Martha Gunn, the famous 'dipper' who had attended the bathing machines that first made Brighton a fashionable place for aristocratic visitors in Georgian times. Stuck in traffic jams, we inched along the narrow roads of Brighton, most of them lined with Georgian houses in a state of raffish decay, many unoccupied, even in the midst of the area closest to the seafront. We sat outside the old Hippodrome, covered in the Brighton vernacular style of graffiti, too clever by half, school of Banksy, without the skill of Banksy. <i>Saw the Beatles there</i>, said Mr Gunn. <i>And the Stones</i>. We stared up at the derelict building. Someone had left a couple of canvasses propped up against the entrance, untouched. Art for arts sake: unwanted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tom Paine, in 'Common Sense', had attacked the King, George III, whom he saw as a tyrant, 'the Royal Brute', in league with Parliament, intent on depriving the nation - and its American colony - of their rights. The law, he said should be King.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Curious to think that we are now in the hands still of another Hanoverian - Boris Johnson, direct descendent of George's father - intent on defying Parliament itself, for the same purpose.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Martha Gunn supposedly 'dipped' the baby son of George III, later to become the Prince Regent, and then George IV, in the chilly saltwater at Brighthelmstone, and thereby turned the quiet seaside village into a metropolitan retreat: London by the sea, centred around the oriental fantasy Pavilion, now visibly crumbling, in a suitably Brighton shabby genteel way, mistaken from time to time, by intellectually challenged EDL supporters, for a mosque. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fashions and prosperity come and go: Queen Victoria hated the Pavilion and the town fell into a slow decline; by the twentieth century it was a seedy place, famous for furtive assignations, and the production of evidence for divorce, conveniently witnessed by accommodating hotel staff. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Brighton today, as well as accommodating a large student population, and the influx of an array of hipster faux bohemians, now depends on a different sort of visitor, and the annual return of Conferences. Still plenty of furtive assignations (if you are lucky), betrayals (if you are not), and deceit, but largely - although not entirely - political in nature.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Last time I was in Brighton for Conference, two years ago, the number of homeless people living on the streets around the seafront was horrifying: nothing has changed for the better, other than some of the luckier ones now have pop up tents to shelter them at night. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The weather on Monday changed dramatically for the worse, as if in synchronisation with the political mood; the sky darkening, the sea increasingly rough and crashing hard onto the pebbled beach. Gusts of wind blew along the front, rapidly building in strength. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Outside the secure zone, another homeless man sat uncovered, stoned, completely still in the driving rain, staring unblinkingly across the pavement. Conference goers rushed passed him, unnoticing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the hall, John Mc Donnell was giving his Shadow Chancellor speech. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here at least, was some hope of something better: to aspire not just to survive, but to live a 'rich and full life'. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He wanted to end the 'modern evil of in work poverty', to build a million new affordable homes; to see freedom from drudgery, workers having a stake in the future of their employment, to work to live, not live to work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A reduction in the hours of the working week, a ban on zero hours contracts, the provision of public services free at the point of use, free personal care: and all funded by a fairer tax system.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is what people want, what they want to hear: it is not an unattainable fantasy, but a necessity for any society intending to meet the needs of - well - the many, not the few. Anathema, of course, to the Tories now wrecking the foundations that lie beneath every public institution that supports the things we once took for granted, created in the post war reforms of a Labour government. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Later that day I slipped into a fringe meeting organised by Finchley's own Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League, on the issues facing women in the justice system. A well meaning senior police officer talked about the idea of supporting female offenders - or, as he put it, women who presented non typical behaviour - rather than banging them up in jail for short sentences, traumatising their children, and breaking up their families. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'Non typical behaviour' by Prime Ministers and their supporters in Parliament is perfectly acceptable, of course: defying the law is your prerogative, when in a place of power. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you are a woman struggling to survive, battling all the challenges of social exclusion, and make the mistake of committing petty crime, however, you must be be punished, and put in prison.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Again we heard about the impact of domestic violence - criminal assault - on women at risk of offending. An astonishing number of women in prison have at some time experienced a brain injury as a result of such violence: estimated to be two thirds of all female prisoners. These are traumatised women, whose imprisonment will achieve nothing, except further damage to their families. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Universal credit, and all the other punishments created by the new age Poor Law, the policy of 'austerity', are forcing women into crime - 'untypical behaviour', call it what you like, the outcome is the same. Sex work, addiction, poverty: where is the way out, when the support that should be there is cut by government? When women are too scared to speak out, or ask for help?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I asked the police chief about the claims made the day before about migrant women, trafficked women, too frightened to go to the police when exploited or assaulted, in case of the police informing the government about their status, leading to their deportation. I didn't receive any clear response, other than that he hoped that didn't happen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Off to the Irish Labour party reception then. This was not as easy as it might have been, despite being only a short distance away from my hotel. As soon as you stepped into the street, a gale force wind swept over the sea and along the front: it almost impossible to walk into, once in, sucked into a vacuum, and spat out, with difficulty, and if you managed to escape, into hotel foyers hosting a myriad fringe events.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As usual the analysis of the speakers from Ireland was pithy, apt and to the point. This may not have entirely been the main attraction of the evening, however, due to the generous supply of a free bar at the back of the room. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Childs Hill councillor, and councillor for Co Cricklewood, Anne Clarke</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Among the speakers was the TUC's Frances O'Grady, who spoke of the pride those of us who come from migrant Irish families have in our roots. Here we are, so many generations later, having to defend the rights of newer migrants, in our turn.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Frances O'Grady, and in the foreground, a feast of Taytos</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The next morning, while wandering in to the Conference centre, news of the Supreme Court decision had just emerged. The stunning outcome, unanimous as it was, had news teams and reporters rushing about, grabbing anyone who looked vaguely like an MP, or with an opinion, and interviewing them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Hilary Benn was mobbed: a crowd formed around the live news screen. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As I entered the hall, Corbyn was angrily informing members of what had just happened: the government found to have acted unlawfully in shutting down Parliament, purely for its own political purposes. It was one of those moments you know you will never forget, although - you can hardly believe it is happening.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Unexpectedly at a loose end, and the Conference agenda all in disarray, the best option was to return to the hall, and bag a seat before the newly re-arranged Leader's speech. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We listened to more motions, and more speakers: for example, a strikingly beautiful woman from Western Sahara, dressed in red hijab, spoke eloquently of the strife in her country: a crisis I had no knowledge of, but learned a lot about from her impassioned speech. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Another speaker reminded us all of the emergency in Kashmir. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A woman with a three year old child with a chronic, life long health condition spoke about her appalling experience of eviction and eventual placement in private housing fifty miles away from her support network: a former council house, of course, for which the rent represented two thirds of their income.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was then time for the Leader's speech. He had clearly re-written it in the light of the Supreme Court decision. The PM, he said, as a giant moth flew on a kamikaze mission, straight into the lights above the stage, with his government of the entitled, had acted illegally: but he had failed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The democracy that Boris Johnson describes as a “rigmarole” will not be stifled and the people will have their say.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Corbyn then outlined an alternative route for the nation, addressing not just Brexit, but the issues that some of us seem to have forgotten about - that are keeping so many people in this country in the hellish trap set for them by Cameron, May and Johnson, as the gap between those with means and those without gapes ever larger and larger.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Proposals then on giving workers a stake in their own futures; a ban on zero hours contracts, a shorter working week, bringing back public services under the control of those who use them: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>we'll bring rail, mail, water and the national grid into public ownership so the essential services that we all rely on are run by and for the public not for profit.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He announced plans for a new publicly owned generic drugs manufacturer to supply cheaper medicines to the NHS, free prescriptions, free personal care, free childcare, a new Sure Start system - no more student loan fees. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All of this to be paid for by a fairer tax system, taking the greatest burden from where it is now, balanced on the backs of the lowest paid, and forcing the top 5% and corporate tax dodgers to pay their share.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">These are the changes that people so desperately need, and the truth is that only Labour is offering this as a manifesto, as well as choice on Brexit to voters. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Later that night, at the reception given annually by the Labour Friends of Israel, the manifesto, and all the policies outlined in the speech faded away. The feeling of anger, and distress, over the failure of the party properly to acknowledge the fears of the Jewish community were palpable. There were no obvious answers. It was a depressing evening. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Since Conference ended, further plans, much welcomed, were announced to abolish the much feared tool of state punishment, Universal Credit, directed at the most vulnerable members of our society, with its careful, detailed construct of moral judgement, and a regime of humiliation, meant to starve and humiliate its recipients into a state of abject obedience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Which brings us neatly to a return to Broken Barnet, of course, and the state of flux in our current local political parties, poised as we are on the brink of a general election.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Over the summer break there have been no meetings, so no chance to test the new gagging laws voted in by our shameless Tory councillors, so frightened of challenge and scrutiny from their own electors that they have resorted to effectively preventing them from taking any significant part in the decision making process. No more questions - other than two token ones in total, no matter how many residents submit them, no matter how complex and serious the issue, no right to speak to your elected representatives. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The signs of the same disease that has eaten its way through the Tory party in Parliament are erupting now in our local Tory Council, here in the rotten borough of Broken Barnet: if you don't like what people say - shut them up. The reaction, in short, of every partner in an abusive relationship: first coercive control: the removal, by stealth, of choice, and then, wham: the hand over the mouth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At the moment, on stage in the theatre of the absurd at the heart of the political scene in Broken Barnet, there is currently a frenetic game of musical chairs, in which members of all parties are swopping places, or standing down, and frankly, it is quite hard to keep up with it all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On the 20th of this month,Tory councillor Gabriel Rozenberg resigned from the Conservative party, and joined the Libdems: as a fervent opponent of Brexit, and appalled by Boris Johnson's attempt to prorogue Parliament, he could take no more, and bailed out of the party to which he had belonged for twenty years. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He remains a councillor for Hampstead Garden Suburb: whether or not the Suburbanistas will return him to his seat at the next local elections remains to be seen. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Rumour has it, from various sources, that certain other Barnet Tory members are now urgently 'considering their position'. The split in the group over Brexit, Capita, the gagging of residents, and other major disagreements, is taking its toll. Unity under the new right wing Leader is breaking down. There may be (more) trouble ahead ... no: Mrs Angry predicts: there <i>will </i>be trouble ahead. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Trouble too for Labour.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sara Conway, Labour's candidate for the constituency of Finchley and Golders Green, stood down, citing personal and family reasons, and amid controversy over an interview in Jewish News. She remains a Labour councillor: but we still have no idea who the new candidate will be. This appears to be a decision in the hands of the NEC: but no one seems to know for sure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A startling announcement next from the Libdems:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Former Libdem parliamentary candidate for Hendon, Alasdair Hill, who stood in two elections against Tory MP Offord, announced that he has left the Libdems. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He could no longer remain in a party whose Brexit position is now one of Revoke, and has other differences with current Libdem policies. Alasdair is a really decent guy, very bright and politically astute - and will be a serious loss for local Libdems.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And then: as expected, the local Libdem candidate in Finchley and Golders Green has been shoved aside, and we are told that Luciana Berger, ex Labour, ex Independent Group, who joined the Libdems three weeks ago, is standing in her place. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After the abuse and lack of support shown to her by the Labour party over the antisemitism issue, one can hardly blame her for wanting to leave: but to end up as a Libdem is a curious choice, in the light of her former views on the party.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The decision to stand Luciana in this constituency runs the risk of opening up the most painful and distressing conflict here, unfortunately. One hopes those who encouraged her to stand know exactly what they are doing. Or, perhaps, you might argue, it is offering a positive alternative choice. You would hope, then, that the election period will be conducted with respect, and an absence of aggressive tactics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Having just been the target of smear attempts and attacks by one or two local Libdems on twitter - usually the tactic of local Tories - frankly I now despair of anything but the worst sort of campaigning from them, if this is an indication of things to come. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It seems any Labour member is now fair game: simply for being a Labour member. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The slur that all members are by default now all antisemites is vile, and indefensible. Abusing in this way the vast majority of members who are decent people, committed to Labour values, working hard to speak out, and fight for those suffering antisemitism, is utterly wrong. For Labour councillors and candidates who happen to be Jewish, such treatment is even more to be deplored, especially in the current climate. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Luciana will undoubtedly gain votes from disaffected Labour voters, especially, and understandably, within the Jewish community - and from those who want a Revoke solution to the Brexit crisis. For the many voters who might have doubts about the wisdom of an outright Revoke policy, or still harbour fury over the student loan U turn, and indeed the years of a Libdem party supporting the punitive austerity policies of the Tories, support might still remain out of the questions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Libdems will also, of course, take votes from the incumbent MP Freer, who is already in a perilous situation: a Brexit backing Tory in a Remain voting constituency, and one who, by an unfortunate sequence of events, is a junior whip central to the imposition of party discipline demanded by the government led by world class fool Boris Johnson. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Many moderate Tory voters are already horrified by the spectacle of a Conservative PM attempting to defy the law, defy Parliamentary convention, and shut down the central function of our democratic process, simply out of party political expediency. Many moderate Tory voters in Finchley and Golders Green will simply not understand why their MP continues to support Johnson, and his behaviour, not least the expulsion of the 21 MPs, including such stalwarts as Ken Clarke, and Nicholas Soames. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The outcome of all this, I would therefore predict - will be impossible to call. Splitting the opposition vote might well seem likely to return Freer, with a narrow margin: but then - he already had a narrow margin. His electoral support will be now be further damaged by his loyalty to Brexit, and to Johnson; his low profile locally, and his close relationship with the hopelessly incompetent local Tory council, will not help at all. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tory voters are now furious with the debacle over local issues like waste collection, litter in the streets, pot holes, rampant development - including a block of flats in his local park - facilitated by a privatised easycouncil planning service, which depends for its income from fee based activities that have disadvantaged the ordinary resident in favour of developers, large and small.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And then we have the forgotten voters, who never vote Tory, and would never see any point in voting Libdem: those living in disadvantaged circumstances, with the worst healthcare, the worst schools, support services cut, GPs overstretched, waiting lists for hospital appointment, or mental health support so long they have to hide them in a (privatised) system of re-referral. Families dependent on our local food banks, families whose children go to school hungry: which party gives them a hope of something better? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The young men sleeping in the shop doorways of Finchley, begging at the tube station, or sleeping in the bushes in the park: who will offer them hope of something better? The Tories, still so proud of their Universal Credit? The Libdems, who were complicit in voting through this iniquitous policy, and Bedroom Tax?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As many of the debates at Conference so painfully and acutely reminded us, the continuing deployment of austerity measures, and the newest rolling out of the 'Hostile Environment' bears most heavily down on women, the elderly, the disabled, minorities - and most of all, children.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When the Labour party fails swiftly and fully to deal with complaints of antisemitism, when it fails to give a clear lead on Brexit - when it indulges in factionalism, accusations, counter accusations, the price of disunity is paid by those least able to afford it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But whatever the failings in leadership, the underlying truth remains: only Labour's manifesto and policies can offer hope to those whose lives depend on support, on care, on better access to education, medicine, jobs - and justice. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Returning a Tory government led by Johnson returns the reality not just of a leader prepared to align itself with the most right wing agenda we have ever seen in government in modern times, but one flirting with the base tactics of populism, fake news, and blatant lies, a new political philosophy sanctioned by Trump, Bannon, and in tune with the rising tide of alt right lunacy, and dangerous nationalism in Europe. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We all have reason to fear a future ordained by Johnson and his backers: it is unthinkable. And the way forward is unclear. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Government, according to Tom Paine, is a necessary evil: and - as we know only too well - politics present always only a choice of evils, or as he put it, in 'Common Sense', our duty is, 'out of two evils to choose the least'. E</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ach of us must make their own choice now, but our duty demands that we do what is best not just for ourselves - but for those least able to face the worst consequences of our decision. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-83710060724658787052019-08-01T19:16:00.000+01:002019-08-02T09:21:34.127+01:00Bound and gagged: Barnet Tories attempt to silence the voices of their own voters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>A Barnet Tory fantasy: gagging the Barnet bloggers</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The outcome was always inevitable. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The extent of dissent amongst the Tory ranks was not. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes, I'm talking about the other night's Full Council meeting, in Hendon Town Hall, where Barnet Tories, as noted in the previous post, proposed to end the right of residents and taxpayers to hold their elected representatives to account, by asking questions, at council meetings. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That they had to be whipped into doing so, was evident (although this was not entirely successful): not one of them spoke in support of this shabby proposal, and all of them sat in silent shame, avoiding eye contact with the public, and the opposition, studying their phones, hiding their faces, and most tellingly, two of them leaving the room just before this item was discussed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Outside the Town Hall before the meeting a large crowd of residents, campaigners, union members, and other supporters - including councillors from other authorities, as you can see at the end of this post - had assembled to show their contempt for what our Tory administration was about to do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">As a mark of how desperately undemocratic this proposal was, and is, the situation had required the attendance and encouraging words of one resident of the borough who happened to have been a close friend and comrade of Nelson Mandela, fighting by his side against the repression and injustice of the apartheid years in South Africa. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">This was Paul Joseph, who now lives in Mill Hill: he spoke to the residents gathered on the steps of Barnet's town hall and urged them to fight for their right to protest - and to hold their elected members to account.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;"><i>Friend and comrade of Nelson Mandela Paul Joseph addresses Barnet residents</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">It has been a while since so many people turned up to demonstrate before a council meeting: such is the strength of feeling amongst residents in regard to the removal of their rights freely to question members on policies and decisions that affect their lives, their environment, and their public services. The public gallery was packed, and indeed overflowing. Barnet Tories have scored a spectacular own goal by galvanising the resistance amongst local residents to their administration, in this way. Hats off.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We started as usual with the pantomime procession so beloved by our Tory councillors: what is meant to be the solemn entrance of the Mayor in the moth eaten robes of office, accompanied by Cinderella's footmen in breeches, white gloves and tricorn hats, noises off provided by deeply unimpressed residents in the gallery, suitably restrained from throwing rotten fruit by a (non-metaphorical) glass wall between them and their 'betters'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Next up an address by the Mayor's Chaplain. Ah, good. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As someone who spent her childhood years listening to the rambling sermons of various Catholic priests, and has a lingering fondness for being lectured by clerics, I must say, frankly, this was up there with the best of them: decorated as it was with references to a pair of snowflakes celebrating their own individuality, Toscanini, Unfinished Symphonies, and so on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No one was any the wiser at the end of it, but as usual the Tory members sat with assumed pious expressions, as if entirely unaware that God was in His Heavens, his beady eye on them, the black hearted elected representatives of the London Borough of Barnet, when they were about to vote through the most ignominious change to the constitution which is supposed to safeguard the integrity of the local democratic process.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Time for some self congratulation: Tory members were awfully proud of having launched some 'Healthy Heritage Walks', (part of their new PR gambit, trying to co-opt lovely things and people who are lovely entirely despite, rather than because of, anything they do, hoping the loveliness will somehow become confused in the minds of voters with the unlovely Tory councillors, and an unlovely council that leaves the borough strewn with litter, unemptied bins, broken pavements and potholes ... )</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The first Heritage walk - look, a lovely landscape created entirely by Barnet Tories, (in partnership with Capita) - starting in Hendon, and passing by the church where - (as Mrs Angry has pointed out in this blog, in fact), Bram Stoker was inspired to set one of the scenes in Dracula, in which Van Helsing drives a stake through the heart of the unfortunate, (undead) Lucy Westenra ...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Next to the church is the former beautiful, listed Church Farmhouse Museum, which the unfortunate, (undead) Tories shut, hoping to flog off the property for a quick return, but couldn't, and then ransacked the local history collection donated by residents, and flogged that off instead.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There really can't be much Heritage left in the borough that the Tories haven't tried to sell, or hand over to developers, in fact. The arts & crafts park keeper's Lodge in Victoria Park is now destroyed, the site - yes, in the park - awaiting the erection of a block of flats, thanks to them (post to follow on this) - and of course where they can't sell it for a quick buck, or give it away, they allow someone to steal it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They have now admitted that, for the second time in a year, 'Heritage' items have been stolen while allegedly in the safekeeping of their own contractors: this time, the irreplaceable stained glass Grass Farm window panels from the old Church End library. They promised to remove and secure them: now we know they did nothing of the sort, and no, as the admitted at this meeting, they were not insured. What price our heritage? Walk around that one, feckless Tory councillors, why don't you?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Donated from the Heal family to the people of Finchley: stolen while in the care of Barnet Council </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This emerged during the long, long <a href="http://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s54813/Council%20Questions%20in%20Proper%20Order%20Final.pdf">sequence</a> of questions - eighty five in number - which Tory members allow themselves, but is not a right extended to the people they are meant to represent. Total hypocrisy, to lecture residents about daring to submit questions about bona fide matters of public interest, when indulging in this back-slapping posturing, many of the Tories' questions being designed entirely for, yes more undeserved self congratulation, or rhetorical, cheap, political points, admiring their own questionable achievements, or giving unsatisfactory responses to the genuine enquiries of the opposition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On to the item in question: the gagging proposal. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A more than usually sheepish Cllr Melvin Cohen, Chair of the Constitution Committee (and father of Dean, the er, erm, Chair of the Environment Committee) read out a faltering justification of this shameful motion, claiming to jeers from the public gallery that the fuss about it was 'a storm in a teacup' ... and appearing not to understand the implications of his own proposals, or, as fellow blogger John Dix, Mr Reasonable, explains <a href="https://reasonablenewbarnet.blogspot.com/2019/07/its-official-ive-been-gagged-why.html">here</a> in his account of this meeting, to have checked the accuracy of the accusations made, in order to defend the gagging: for example the number of questions asked in the period used as an example:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The report was factually incorrect stating the period in question was 5 months when it was in fact 6 months and over stating the number of questions asked by 100. But in Barnet facts don't matter, just say something often enough and people will believe it.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Mr Reasonable's chart disproving Tory claims of misuse of public question time</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As you will see, the questions posed - by a range of residents - are on hugely important matters: the Tories have chosen this rather arbitrary period, in fact, because: most unusually, it includes a unique example of when a record number of questions were submitted to a meeting. This was because - uniquely - it was a meeting where several hugely significant issues were being discussed: the review of the Capita contracts, and the massive Brent Cross Cricklewood development, being two of them, each in itself of unprecedented importance. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At a rough guess, in the eight months of this year I have asked a grand total of, oh dear: as much as ... well, in fact only 20 or so questions; and I think given a couple of three minute comments. A shocking misuse of council time, apparently. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Those questions included a few made at the last Audit committee - knowing I would be blocked in the future from doing so, on such issues as the failure by the authority to replace ANY of the 1800 Grenfell design fire doors in our social housing, and about the risk posed by senior Capita planning officers who are able to </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">leave the service and immediately begin work as consultants dealing with their former colleagues, and/or for clients with whom they have previously acted on behalf of the authority. Also about failures in the administration of the Pension scheme, and, oh, how the proposed gagging of questions would be compliant with the authority's own Code of Governance, and the requirement to consult with residents.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I cannot begin to wonder why 20 such questions in seven months would be considered excessive, can you, reader? Unwelcome, yes, but: excessive?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the future, no more than two questions will be allowed on any item - in entirety. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It doesn't matter how important or complex the item might be, for example, the Brent Cross Cricklewood development, the Library review, the Pensions crisis: the first two questions to arrive will be the only questions considered, and they must be of less than 100 words. No one else may ask anything.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There will be no speaking to your elected representatives. How dare you even think of it? No eye contact, either. Stare meekly down, as if you were an extra in the Handmaid's Tale.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At this last Audit committee, it should be noted, in the same week Lord Pickles criticised Barnet Tories for their attitude to public scrutiny and the plans to gag residents, the external Auditor also went out of his way to praise the involvement of people like us in holding the authority to account, as did Lord Palmer, the former Libdem Chair of Audit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Rabbi Jeffrey Newman came to give his support to Barnet residents: talking here to Labour councillor Reema Patel: in the background, John Dix - and a suitable display: 'Barnet as it Never Was' ...</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At this week's meeting, the new Tory 'Leader' Dan Thomas launched into a frankly childish rant, looking across at me and John Dix, raving about 'unelected political activists' being to blame for asking too many questions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I might be accused of being politically active: at least I hope so. But my questions are made out of a sense of civic duty, and utter horror at the incompetence of the local Tory administration, rather than driven by disagreement with their political agenda - to reach that point of polemical debate they would have to be capable of carrying out their own policies with some level of competence. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They can't, and they don't. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">John Dix, Mr Reasonable, the most reasonable of men, it must be emphasised, has no political allegiance, and asks detailed, patient and forensic questions about budgeting and accounting matters, and most importantly, about the dire performance of the Capita contracts. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is based on his long years of experience in management practice, professional experience, and an ability to add up, and draw conclusions - a quality sadly lacking in those among the Barnet Tory administration who have been tasked with scrutiny of their own accounts and contractual performance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I've been gagged, says Mr Reasonable</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Unelected? This from the chap who cannot get himself elected to the GLA, or to a parliamentary seat, holds a safe Tory council seat, and reportedly stood for Leader of the Tory group unopposed!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Poor Thomas is not, you might say, the sharpest knife in the box: he has no real contribution to make to political debate, but looks very nice in a blazer and cravat, and is therefore a worthy group leader for the mass of empty headed Barnet Tories. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Unelected they may be, but the four Barnet bloggers between them have had a huge readership over a period of ten years, and maintain a wide reach on social media. Other informed residents like Barbara Jacobson, of Barnet Alliance, who care passionately about our community, and our services, pose intelligent, probing, necessary questions as what should be a healthy conversation that forms the basis of any relationship between government and voters. This is a good thing: this is what democracy looks like, Barnet Tories. Did you know?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That the Tories choose to spend nearly £1 million a year in spin trying to counteract our reporting of their own cockups proves the point that Daniel Thomas avoids: the effectiveness of residents' involvement and engagement in that process of government.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A million pounds, FFS! What's the (fake news) price of £42K for residents' questions by comparison?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Barry Rawlings telling Barnet Tories, to loud cheers from the public gallery, to withdraw their gagging proposals</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Labour leader Barry Rawlings tried reasoning with the Tory numpties on the other side of the chamber. He pointed out their proposals were in breach of their own constitution. Meh. So what? Well: almost certainly none of them have ever read any of it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Labour's Kath Mc Guirk tore a strip off them, demanding to know what on earth they were so scared of, observing that the questions usually came from people who knew better about the issues than they did. Well - yes, that in fact is what they are scared of: it becoming widely known that they are simply not up to the job of governance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The gagging plans were voted through, of course, to a riotous response from the public gallery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But it is not the end of the story.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One thing of note, during the course of the meeting, and from watching the footage later uploaded, is highly significant.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As confirmed today by governance officers, two members of the Tory group were not present when the gagging vote was taken. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Roberto Weeden Sanz, the young man who wants to be, but will never be, the Tory GLA member for Barnet and Camden got up just before the item, and returned after the vote.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Veteran Tory member, and former Hendon MP, John Marshall also left at this point: and did not return. This is unprecedented.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was evident from the fact that no other Tory member spoke to support the gagging, and the looks on many of their faces, and the fact that several have told us privately that they do not agree with it, that there has been strong disagreement over this ludicrous proposal.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It does not bode well for the new Leader that, within only weeks of taking his post, he was unable to maintain a grip on his own group. That two members had the courage to follow their conscience is quite astounding, by Tory standards. Let's hope it catches on, that sort of thing. The splits in the Tory group are real, and will tear them apart, eventually. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And there were other tensions evident: Gabriel Rozenberg, probably the brightest member of the group, or at least - yes, steady on, Mrs Angry - along with John Marshall, the only one capable of intellectual thought, was evidently uncomfortable throughout the meeting, hid his face entirely during the gagging item, and was at loggerheads with his own leader over Brexit preparations - Gabriel is fiercely for Remain, whereas Thomas entirely relaxed, not to say brimming with excitement at the prospect of a No Deal Brexit. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tensions too over the preference for tenants' rights (Gabriel Rozenberg) versus landlords' best interests with Brian Gordon, who appeared to ask - and answer - most of the 85 councillor questions, in another sign of how much to the right Barnet Tories are moving. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here we were, I reflected, with Cllr Gordon, the one time Nelson Mandela 'tribute act', watched in the public gallery by one of Madiba's closest friends, who had come to give support to those opposing the removal of their civic rights: from the sublime to the ridiculous, in one council meeting. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Cllr Marshall, on the other hand, who had absented himself from the vote for the repression of residents' rights, had <a href="http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-council-of-wicked-or-sat-in-seat-of.html">once</a> paid his own tribute to the great man, spoken with moving words, at a special council meeting to commemorate his passing, speaking of his visit to Robben Island, and the tiny cell where Mandela was incarcerated for so long.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Tory councillor Brian Gordon's 'tribute' to Nelson Mandela</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The message is clear: goodbye to the paternalistic, laissez faire Conservatism of Richard Cornelius; to the hope of some sort of coherent political leadership guided by intellect, or vision, or even compassion - hello to the world of Trump and Johnson and empty rhetoric; the denial of truth, the repression of free speech, the betrayal of heritage, and history, a panto season of clowns, fools, and slapstick politics.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why does it matter so much to our Tory members to silence the voice of their own residents? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Because it reflects the brutish nature of their political regime: and for a party that so much enjoys the act of bondage to a contractual partner, for up to fifteen years, it is a natural step to take, to throw in the added thrill of gagging. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Outside the chamber of horrors of Hendon Town Hall, however, there are ways and means of seeking address for those who abuse the rights and privileges of the people they are meant to represent. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The fight continues.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Residents may have lost access to the process of democracy, but there are still ways of holding these eejits to account, and we will not stop reporting, at every point, the truth, and exposing the nasty little secrets of this shabbiest of backwater council administrations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Watch this space.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-8478314197912237502019-07-11T13:33:00.001+01:002019-07-11T13:50:07.384+01:00Lord Pickles: "Public participation is an important part of council scrutiny" ... a rap on the knuckles for Barnet Tories<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As you may know, at a recent meeting of the Constitution committee, Barnet Tories, despite all reasoned argument to the contrary, decided to approve a motion that would effectively end all challenge of councillors by residents at future committee meetings.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That this would be a deeply regressive measure, and run counter to all notions of transparency, and accountability, and open government, and engagement with residents would appear to hold no interest for the new Tory leader, Daniel Thomas, which is regrettable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There could be no more important moment for residents to exercise their rights to scrutinise the activities of their elected representatives in Barnet: with the perilous financial situation, the decline in the provision of council services, and the refusal to end the disastrous partnership with Capita.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The timing of this proposal is therefore crucial, and gives all the more reason to challenge it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of the former councillors who has always encouraged the involvement of residents in meetings, and welcomed their questions was the LibDem peer Lord Palmer, who was an effective and fair Chair of Audit, at a time when in order to guarantee independence of the committee, it was always chaired by an opposition member. As part of their regressive tactics, in more recent times, the Tory group then installed one of their own members, which has been a mistake, for several reasons.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I wrote to Lord Palmer asking for his view on the gagging attempt: he immediately replied describing the development as 'disturbing', and adding: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'<i>I suspect that they are not breaking the law but what they are doing is against guidance</i>' </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Indeed it is, as you would know if you read the Local Government Association's guide to engagement: 'New Conversations', in which, oh dear - Barnet appears three times as an example of ... how not to do it, unless you want to end up in the High Court.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Neither the Chair of the Constitution Committee nor the Monitoring Officer, when I asked them, had read this guidance, which proves the point that the gagging proposal was formed not out of a desire to improve engagement - or due to unreasonable cost - but to censor dissenting opinion of the Tory administration by its own electorate, and to prevent scrutiny of its abysmal record. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After some thought, it occurred to me it might be interesting to ask another member of the House of Lords, who was well aware of the history of counter democratic blunders made by his Conservative colleagues in Barnet. Yes: Mrs Angry's No 1 fan, Eric, now Lord Pickles, (former Secretary of State for local government, and keen promoter of greater transparency and engagement in the democratic process.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some readers may recall that way back in 2011, Pickles went out of his way, in a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/patrick-butler-cuts-blog/2011/jul/07/eric-pickles-praises-barnet-bloggers">speech</a> to the CIPFA conference, to praise Barnet bloggers for their reporting of local council activities - condemning the Tory administration for its squandering of public money on the MetPro arrangement, and warning all authorities to take heed:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Irony of ironies - this misuse of public money was uncovered thanks to the determination of local bloggers and activists … </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Including Barnet Eye. Mr Mustard. And Mrs Angry. (As she had every right to be) </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Exactly the same people MetPro snooped upon. </span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I've got news for Barnet. Liveblogging from council meetings. Microjournalism. Call it what you like.</i></span><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>It's here to stay</i>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Others might remember this photograph of Eric with two former Tory members, Kate and Brian Salinger, after the appalling treatment of Kate after she was the only Tory member to <a href="https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/8308726.barnet-council-is-a-laughing-stock-councillor-kate-salinger-told-after-meeting-with-secretary-of-state-for-communities-and-local-government-mp-eric-pickles/">refuse</a> to endorse massive increases in allowances for themselves, at a time when they had announced austerity measures for everyone else in Barnet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Kate Salinger is now a member of the new Barnet Fairness Commission, an <a href="https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/17726054.barnet-fairness-commission-to-tackle-inequality/">idea</a> from the local Labour party but intended to be a cross party body that will hope to address social inequality and improve community cohesion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">An email, then to Eric, yesterday: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Dear Lord Pickles,</i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I hope you won't mind my writing to you about the following development in Barnet, which I think will be of some concern to you, as someone who fought for greater openness and accountability in local government.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>You may perhaps recall that, some years ago, you were kind enough to praise the efforts of a group of 'citizen journalists' in Barnet, of which I am one, writing the 'Broken Barnet' blog in the persona of 'Mrs Angry' - others include John Dix - 'Mr Reasonable', Roger Tichborne - "Barnet Eye', and Derek Dishman, 'Mr Mustard' - and we should not forget the late Daniel Hope, a former Conservative councillor who produced the 'Barnet Bugle'. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>We hold a range of personal political views, but work together as a group and individually, out of a sense of civic duty, due to the absence of any other effective scrutiny.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Over nearly ten years now, we have reported on many subjects, and brought to light many injustices: for example the MetPro scandal, in which the council was illegally deploying unlicensed, jackbooted thugs to act as security guards and keep residents from council meetings, as well as covertly film us - this in turn led to the exposure of many thousands of unlawful 'contracts' used by the same administration. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Other stories have included the cutting of respite care for young children with multiple and complex disabilities (later rescinded as a result), the fee based project by Capita that led to the unlawful cancellation of Freedom passes for disabled residents, leaving young people with autism and other special needs stranded and confused when attempting to use public transport (later rescinded after being reported by us), the extraordinary cost of a new council depot of around £13.5 million, for a site that had cost £750,000 the year before; the suppressed discovery of legionella in public libraries; the West Hendon faux regeneration, in which land worth £12 million was secretly given to Barratts for £3, and tenants and leaseholders forced out of their homes to make way for luxury housing; the destruction of our public library service, supposedly to save money, but which has cost £14 million; the recent use of the Public Works Loan Board to facilitate a high risk council loan of £22 million to Saracens rugby club to build a new grandstand, etcetera etcetera.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>When it was proposed that the council would undertake a mass outsourcing programme, we investigated the background to this and warned that it was not going, as they claimed, to bring better services for less money. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>In fact, as soon as the Conservative administration was re-elected last May, they revised their financial statements, admitted the council was facing a serious deficit, and that the Capita contracts were not performing well, and needed review. They were going to bring back many services in house. They also admitted that a Capita manager had defrauded the council to the tune of £2 million, unnoticed by the council, who had to be informed by the culprit's bank - it then became evident that there was a wide scale absence of any adequate financial controls of the two massive Capita contracts. All of this was reported by us.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Throughout the years of the mass privatisation of council services, one blogger in particular, that is to say John Dix, who is a management consultant of thirty years experience, has doggedly reviewed the financial performance of the contracts, and reported his analysis of the council's accounts. His work is taken seriously by Tory members, as well as external auditors. He has demonstrated over and over again that the Capita contracts, other than a small core of promised nominal savings, is costing Barnet residents ever increasing amounts of cash, through such waste as the huge dependence on agency staff through Capita, and having to pay Capita 'rewards' via gainshare payments.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>There has recently been a change in the Leadership of the Tory group, and there is now a very worrying development as some members of the Group now intend to force through changes to the Constitution which will effectively prevent residents holding their elected representatives to account. We understand other Conservative members are quietly uneasy about these proposals.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>At the last 'Constitution and General Purposes Committee' * (they have removed 'Ethics and Probity' from the committee's name - and apparently from its remit) - three Tory members voted to change the rules on engagement. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>This means that now only two residents' questions in total (not per person, but in entirety) on any item will be allowed, no matter how many are submitted. Residents may no longer speak to the committee - any comment must be written and anyway only accepted within the two question limit. The two questions per item may not be any longer than 100 words. Residents will no longer be allowed to speak to councillors at meetings, either in making comments, or answering their questions.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I asked the Tory members and Monitoring Officer if they had read the LGA guidance on engagement, ie 'New Conversations': they had not. Had they taken legal advice on their decision - in 'New Conversations', Barnet appears three times as example of the folly of not consulting properly with residents, citing three Judicial Review)? They had not. Would they please defer their decision until after they had done so? They would not.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The pretext for this repressive move was that residents' questions cost £42,000 a year. This is nonsense, as it is part of the duties of governance officers, the figure appears to have been plucked out of thin air - and frankly on a level of consultancy fees is a drop in the ocean by Capita standards ... but as I pointed out, the Tory group currently spends the best part of £1 million a year on its own political spin, on a huge Communications Team (expanded in the run up to elections) and the propaganda rag, 'Barnet First'.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Most council meetings, in fact, have no questions submitted at all. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>It is true, of course, to say that when any particularly significant or controversial issue, such as those already mentioned - there may be a fairly large number: but these enquiries should be welcomed by any authority with a commitment to transparency - these questions are not 'vexatious' in nature, or trivial, they are from well informed, concerned residents attempting to exert their right to take part in the local democratic process.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The real reason for the attempt to gag residents is of course because the current administration is fearful of being held to account, has no interest in any commitment to the Nolan principles, and actively works to prevent public debate of its decisions and policies in action. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>This is deeply regrettable. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>At a time when the Capita contracts continue to fail, there has never been a greater need for active and well informed citizens to become involved and engaged with their local representatives.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Some of us have wondered if there is anything you can do or say to persuade your Conservative colleagues in Barnet to withdraw, in its entirety, their decision to end our right freely to question their activities and decisions? We would be most grateful for any support in this matter. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="color: orange;">I have also written to former Barnet councillor Lord Palmer who is very concerned by these proposals: as former Chair of Audit he welcomed questions from local bloggers and residents, and indeed former Tory Chair of Audit expressed the same sentiment last year. I understand that one of my fellow bloggers will also be writing to James Brokenshire</span>.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Rather to my surprise, a very supportive response arrived promptly this morning: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Dear Theresa (or Mrs Angry, if I may)</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I am pleased to see that you and your fellow citizen journalists and armchair auditors are continuing to highlight how councils can further save taxpayers’ money. I hope that the legal rights to report and film council meetings under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 have proved useful.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>You might find of interest that MHCLG has announced a post-implementation review into the 2014 Act yesterday, which will include looking at whether the financial information provided in local authority accounts facilitates scrutiny by local taxpayers and the local press.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_824367102"><i><br /></i></a></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-07-10/HCWS1706/"><i>https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-07-10/HCWS1706/</i></a></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>In relation to your concerns about questions from the public at council meetings, public participation is an important part of council scrutiny and helps keep councillors (of all political colours) on their toes. I will table some Parliamentary Questions on the issue of questions to Ministers on this matter.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>With best wishes,</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Rt Hon The Lord Pickles</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you want to support Barnet residents' right to question their elected representatives, please sign the <a href="http://chng.it/xNfks2T9">petition</a> started by fellow blogger John Dix.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Many thanks: 'Here to stay': Mrs Angry, (<i>As she has every right to be</i>) ...</span>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-60159506395672301552019-06-26T21:18:00.000+01:002019-06-29T16:56:45.710+01:00New Conversations: a visit from Arlene, as the Tory right takes control of Broken Barnet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Tory Councillor Jennifer Grocock and the DUP's Arlene Foster at Margaret Thatcher House, the Finchley Tories office, in Ballards Lane</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was Mr Reasonable who spotted it, hidden away in the agenda for last night's Constitution and General Purposes Committee: a report, from the Monitoring Officer, proposing measures to prevent residents of Barnet from making any further contribution to council meetings: the right to ask questions virtually stripped away in one stroke, and the right to speak to meetings for three minutes ended.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was a grossly illiberal proposal, even by Barnet Tory standards: a deliberate attempt by to silence all challenge from their electorate; to stifle debate, and effectively to sever any opportunity for citizens and tax payers to engage in the local democratic process. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The truth is that - the truth must be suppressed. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We have been too successful in holding that truth to power.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As Mr Reasonable told the committee last night, 'this is personal': he knew that they were targeting people like him - and me, and Roger Tichborne, and Derek Dishman, and a number of local activists who insist on asking for the answers to questions that the Tory administration simply does not want to answer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now that the Tories have decided to back track on their decision to take many public services away from Capita, in house, it is even more necessary to shut us up. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Residents are now gagged by their own Tory councillors</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They are fearful of being exposed for what they are, as I pointed out in what will probably be my last comment to any committee, as this will no longer be allowed:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The last time I visited North London Business Park, I noted, on my way out, a large poster, proclaiming, in large letters:</i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b>“Informing our public </b></i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b>We want Barnet Council to be </b></i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b>Open, Transparent, Proactive”</b></i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Nothing could be further from the truth. </i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Some members of this administration - new members excused - and some officers, are determined to make it impossible for residents to hold their elected representatives to account, in blatant disregard of the Nolan Principles which are meant to inform the conduct of government, but do not apply, in Barnet.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The name of this committee is: ‘Constitution and General Purposes’. It used to be ‘Constitution, Ethics and Probity’. You changed it, happy to abandon Ethics and Probity, as these qualities have no value in your eyes, and play no part in this rotten administration, ripe as it is with so many secrets and lies, conflicts of interest, and even fraud.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Barnet residents’ questions are made in the public interest, something recognised when some of us were singled out for praise by Eric Pickles, when he was Secretary of State. We’ve exposed much wrongdoing and many failings which otherwise would have been covered up: MetPro, the Capita assault on Freedom Passes, the Abbots Way depot sale, legionella in libraries, to name only a few.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>You continually tinker with the Constitution, in order to prevent residents asking difficult questions, purely from political sensitivity.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Most committees and Forums have too few questions: if there are more, on certain contentious subjects, that is something to applaud, not silence. What have you got to hide? </i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Many of the questions put to meetings wouldn’t be needed if you were transparent and engaging honestly with residents. </i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>If you’d paid attention to the forensic auditing and careful questioning of John Dix, you wouldn’t be in the financial mess created by your own fecklessness. </i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>If you as councillors were competent in your role of scrutiny, many of our questions would not be necessary. We ask them out of civic duty, because you fail to inform residents properly, and take decisions without proper consultation.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>If more restrictions are put on the way in which we hold you to account, this will only cause further breakdown in the relationship with your electorate. </i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>You will also be laying the foundations for legal challenges, as was the case in the One Barnet JR.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The cost argument you present is absurd. You complain about £40K – but are happy to blow the best part of a MILLION pounds each year on council spin, political propaganda campaigns & the Barnet First rag, all paid for by us. </i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>How dare you waste our council tax on your own political reputation, while seeking to silence the perfectly valid questions of residents on the issues that matter to them? </i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Want to save money? Stop throwing it in the open money pit that is the Capita partnership. Cut your own allowances. Reduce the top heavy structure of management.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>But this isn’t about cost, or money: it is purely about your fear of dissent, and bad PR, and political damage. The truth hurts, and awkward questions hurt most of all, because they expose you for what you are, or at least what you have created: a failed administration marked by a defensive, secretive culture, in which those who have most to be ashamed of, make the most effort to keep it out of the public domain. </i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>I challenge you to prove me wrong: throw out these proposals tonight and demonstrate you really do have a commitment to openness and transparency.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After making this comment, there were a few supplementary follow ups which we are - we were - 'allowed' to make.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I asked if either the Chair, or the Monitoring Officer whose name is on the report, had bothered to inform themselves of the <a href="https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/New%20Conversations%20Guide%209-2_0.pdf">guidance</a> issued by the Local Government Association on the subject of engagement with residents: 'New Conversations', is the title: all about making residents participation wider, and more meaningful, and preventing local authorities from becoming inward looking, and defensive.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Both the Chair, Melvin Cohen, and the Monitoring Officer, David Tatlow, admitted they had not read this. Or rather the MO said he couldn't remember. They asked if I would send them the details. I said I would - but please would they adjourn any decision until they had read the document. Clearly they then made the decision without sight of this crucial advice. What else would you expect, from Barnet Tory councillors? They do not want to follow best practice. They want only to follow the least necessary lip service to openness and transparency, and to silence any questions that might shed light on some of their covert activities. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This move to shut down criticism or challenge of the council coincides with the appointment of a new, right wing Tory leader, Dan Thomas, who has never won any election other than in a safe council ward, and the leadership vote, unchallenged. His icy cool demeanour perfectly represents his political attitude, and represents a return by Barnet Tories to an inward looking, merciless tendency, Brexit favouring, defensive, backs to the wall: back to the era of Coleman, and Freer, and all the things that we do not need, in this borough, at this time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Barnet Tories are split in several ways now: not just within the group, but also the borough associations. Hendon is and always has been a backwater, with factionalism and low membership keeping it in the doldrums. Chipping has also suffered from falling membership, and the days of genteel fundraising events and cohorts of elderly canvassers queuing up to help the party are well gone. Finchley and Golders Green? Again dwindling membership, but - oh boy: look what is happening now - </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Finchley Tories here, hosting a member of the party which opposes equal marriage, LGBT rights, and abortion, thinks the world was created in seven days, does not believe in climate change - etcetera etcetera.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Posing in her lovely union jack dress is Councillor Jennifer Grocock, who is a big Brexit fan, it seems. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What are they saying by arranging and publicising this visit? More than they meant to, anyway. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Personally I prefer to recall some other visitors to Margaret Thatcher House, not so long ago, marching in solidarity with Barnet residents fighting to stop Barnet Tories destroying our once magnificent library service: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The late, great Davy Hopper - and the Durham Miners Association banner outside Margaret Thatcher House.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While Finchley Tories were busy hosting the DUP, library campaigners and other residents were at the Town Hall watching in disbelief as their Tory councillors voted to end their involvement in the democratic process: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Labour councillors tried their best to reason with Tory members. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why, asked Labour leader Barry Rawlings, if you are confident in your policies, are you frightened of questions?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Melvin Cohen appeared not to be able to answer this, nor any other argument put before the meeting. He stared down at his notes, and avoided eye contact, and response. The other two Tory members said virtually nothing: former leader Richard Cornelius looked bored, and keen to get home, and new boy Alex Prager merely suggested tinkering with the wording. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When it came to the decision, even though one other new Tory member, Cllr Richman, had not turned up, by using two votes the Chair forced the new draconian restrictions through.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There was a furious reaction from residents, who yelled at the shamefaced Tories, and promised to ensure they would regret their actions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And they will.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6371203489316363738.post-71952716012178309502019-06-23T18:54:00.001+01:002019-06-24T14:03:49.865+01:00Barnet As It Never Was: another week in Broken Barnet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Barnet as it never was</i> ...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Last year, immediately after they had been safely restored to power, the Barnet Tory administration admitted that the borough's finances were in a state of crisis. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not only were the Capita contracts failing to perform, there had been a massive fraud by one of their managers, which had not been spotted by anyone either within Capita, or by the commissioning side of the council. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was only discovered by the culprit's bank, who had to inform Barnet that they were being defrauded. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This in turn led to a truly shocking exposure of a total absence, within the contractual relationship, of any adequate system of financial controls.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was then agreed that action had to be taken to bring back in house many of the services that had been outsourced. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Time passed, and nothing happened. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Capita's Chief Executive made an unpublicised visit to the borough, and an offer was made to offer a token repayment of £4 million - a slap on the wrist, in terms of punishment - after which it became evident that the Tory administration was now back-peddling on the reclamation of services.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even when the abysmal record of Capita's administration of pensions became critical, with the revelation of a massive catalogue of data errors, as well as all the other breaches, there was no move to end the arrangement and return the scheme into the hands of the council. There will be no return of the scheme, unless it totally collapses, it seems. And the contracts will now more or less continue as they have been, left in the hands of Capita.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Even when, as this local Times <a href="https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/17722047.dismal-capita-performance-scores-for-barnet-services/?ref=mr&lp=7">report</a> explains, resident satisfaction is so poor:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>Dismal user ratings of services provided by Capita have led to fears councillors are not being given the chance to hold the firm to account.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>The outsourcing company, which runs a range of Barnet Council services from IT to finance, failed to meet all its user satisfaction targets – and its performance worsened in three areas.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>Capita has never met the contracted user satisfaction levels since two major outsourcing deals were struck with Barnet Council in 2013 – although the council says there have been “incremental improvements” in some service areas.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Clearly then, the continuation of the contracts, to any sensible person, is a totally irrational reaction, and puts at even higher risk the investment of residents' hard earned council tax, thrown with such generosity into the hands of Capita, and is a feckless gamble with the services upon which we all depend. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A change of Tory leader has only confirmed the decision to carry on, despite everything that has happened. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That decision was due to be approved this week, at a Policy and Resources committee meeting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Before the meeting: People's Mayor Mr Shepherd inspects the 'Barnet Pot Hole of the Year Competition', sponsored by Crapita Re Highways Service</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fellow blogger John Dix, ie Mr Reasonable, and other residents had submitted a number of despairing questions about this inexplicable decision, (one resident doing so by proxy, as she was, as she pointed out, with grim irony, in a message read out at the meeting, stuck in another country, thanks to an Easyjet cockup, - that is to say thanks to the business annexed by sometime Leader of the council, now local MP Mike Freer, for his so called 'Easycouncil' model of local government, which we were now watching bleeding to death on the carpet in front of us in Committee Room One. And Two.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All the residents, in their different ways, asked the same question: Why? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why are you now doing this, in the face of all reason, turning your back on the disaster you acknowledged last year?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Questions. There have been too many questions, from residents, it seems. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After the day of the meeting we were informed of a proposal, to be discussed <a href="http://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s53171/Public%20Participation.pdf">next week</a>, to once more attempt to stifle the voice of any residents intent on holding their elected representatives to account. This grossly illiberal proposal is yet another sign of the deepest fear of this rotten administration: fear of exposure, and further damage to their already tattered political reputation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>New Leader Dan Thomas, keeping his head down, watched far left by the Monitoring Officer, whose report next week proposes to limit residents' participation in meetings</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you don't like so many questions, councillors, perhaps attempt to fulfil the role of scrutiny you are paid to undertake with some level of competence? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Questions were raised last week by Labour's Kathy Levine about the <a href="https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/17722047.dismal-capita-performance-scores-for-barnet-services/?ref=mr&lp=7">number</a> of scrutiny committee meetings that have been cancelled this year: an astonishingly high number, in fact: twenty two in total. I note that at this crucial point, with such a high level of concern about the Capita run scheme administration, next week's Pension Board Meeting has been cancelled too. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">New leader Dan Thomas was the Chair at the Policy and Resources meeting last week, but seemed curiously subdued, and not at all his usually ebullient self - and markedly not talking up the contracts he has promoted with such vigour since they were first proposed. Deflated, in fact, and offering no defence of the continuation of the partnership: most curious.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was left to two Tory members to try to rebuff the criticisms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Gabriel Rozenberg, son of Joshua, the legal journalist, tried pretending he was at the High Court, and suggesting that the plaintiff, m'lud, ie residents and campaigners, had failed to submit documentation central to its argument. He saw no evidence presented, he said, '<i>in this session</i>' that proved the Capita contracts had not saved money. Despite flailing his arms around in histrionic fashion, and despite being one of the more decent and vaguely sensible Tory members, it was an unconvincing performance for the defence. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sorry, Gabriel. You ain't no Michael Mansfield, bruv.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Cllr Rozenberg was advised, loudly, and at some length, both 'in court' and later on Twitter, of the years of evidence collated by fellow blogger John Dix, that other than the core contractual savings - a strictly limited number of agreements, the services were continuing to mount in cost at an alarming rate. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There have also been endless submissions (ignored) by staff unions, reports by academics (ignored), and numerous examples from around the country, eg Sheffield and Birmingham, of authorities who have pulled out of their own contracts for exactly the same reasons Barnet should be acting here. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Gabriel and fellow Tory councillor Peter Zinkin (who, as Comrade Mr Shepherd, the People's Mayor, never fails to remind him, in case he has forgotten, or would like to forget, is the namesake cousin of the former editor of the Daily Worker), did their best to bang on about the core savings, while failing to acknowledge that any thing saved from those agreements is massively outsized by the monstrous scale of fees, gainshare payments and mounting bills generated by the rest of Capita's succubus like power over the prone body of Broken Barnet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why is Capita able to do this? Because the many thousands of pages of the contracts were never read or properly scrutinised by the feckless Tory members who approved them. That chore was left to the same firm of lawyers who erm, drafted the contract. But hidden in those thousands of pages were sleeper clauses, contract variations which, as noted by one of their own former colleagues, Hugh Rayner, who accidentally deselected himself at the last election, are where the contractor always makes the most profit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mrs Angry, over on the Twitter, tried to explain to Cllr Rozenberg how the 'core savings' claim displacement activity works, in terms he might understand:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He didn't quite grasp the comparison, possibly because</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;"> he has never bought a tin of baked beans, or visited Tescos, and lives on a diet of oysters and champagne, like all Barnet Tories, especially the ones who live down the posh end of my road, across the border, in a Tory ward, where the pavements are laid like fitted carpets, and the road surface is as smooth as silk, and potholes are filled within minutes of their birth, by a special team of Capita Highways managers in top hats and tails, bowing in the direction of North London Business Park ...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">Gabriel's (ill advised) gambit now was to suggest that we were so averse to outsourcing, that we likely believed we should make our own laptops. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">My neighbour in the public seats hissed something unpublishable, at this point.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">Oh dear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">Labour members brought up the terrible state of the Pensions scheme administration. The best that Cllr Finn could come up with - that would be Councillor Anthony Finn, who is for no reason I can understand, a member of this committee, and suggested that the data errors in my case could not be serious because I had not shot myself - a suggestion for which he later had to apologise - was the consoling thought that it wasn't all bad news, as Capita only controlled the administration of the scheme to members, and had nothing to do with the investments: well - thank F*ck for that. Can you imagine?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">The other point that puzzled Cllr Rozenberg, and his colleagues was, even if there was a need to exit these contracts, well: how? Again he flung his arms up in the air, and again members of the public howled suggestions, on the lines of well, try following the well trod path taken by other authorities, like Birmingham, who gave Capita the order of the boot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">Here we must return to Mrs Angry's favourite metaphorical reference for use at times of Barnet Tory inertia: our Tory councillors sitting around helplessly, unable to find the exit clause for the Capita contracts, like the dinner party guests in Bunuel's </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Exterminating Angel, abandoned by their servants, and inexplicably unable to leave the room ... (just for you, Jack Cohen ...).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The newly edited version of Dan Thomas, post Leadership promotion, did his best to move on, with an understated summary of the meeting so far. The discussions, he thought, had been 'helpful and healthy'. Mrs Angry looked on, worried that Cllr Thomas was perhaps feeling a little light headed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now he continued, trying to remind us of the successes of the Capita partnership. Call centres, he suggested - (yes, that labyrinthine hell you enter at your own risk, should you foolishly try to contact any Barnet Council/Capita department). Here he ran out of ideas. There were others, he added, lamely. We didn't believe him. Nor did he. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Name them, I asked, unasked, from my seat in the public gallery. He didn't. He couldn't. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Labour's Alison Moore brought up the crashing disaster that is the administration of the Pensions Scheme, which is so bad the Chief Executive has had to draw up contingency plans to take over, in the event of complete failure, a circumstance which you would think no one with any intelligence would even contemplate and would bring the service back in house immediately should this even be a possibility.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Labour members also reminded the Tories that they had deliberately excluded any in house option from the original tender process for the mass outsourcing. They asked for an undertaking that in the future, at the next options appraisal, the in house case would be included. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Let's put on record now, for the purposes of this future process, that the Leader, Dan Thomas agreed to this, the inclusion of an in house case - at 8.22pm, on the 17th June, 2019. Check the minutes, when published.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We left then: nothing more to see, or hear. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the lobby of the Town Hall, as we left, before stepping over the confetti from the wedding taking place in another room, one of the activities the pimped out building must host, in place of its former role as the seat of local democracy, and whose guests were wandering about the building in a state of well lubricated curiosity, I noticed there was a small display, from the borough archives: '<i>Barnet as it Never Was</i>'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The main exhibit was a lovingly detailed, watercolour mock up of a town hall for Finchley that was proposed, but never built; from an era when extending the role of community engagement in the democratic process seemed important, fished out of the archives, to be seen, or unseen, in the remaining space of the lobby, whose function now is to be the loveless backdrop for a myriad of state sanctioned weddings. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Whom Capita hath joined together, let no man, or corporate legal adviser, put asunder. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No need for a location dedicated to the function of local government anymore: the Battle of Barnet is over, and we are just an outpost of the last days of the empire of Capita.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The last comment has to go to one of the few remaining humans of Late Capitalisation, in Broken Barnet - Barbara Jacobson - and the conclusion of her address to the assembled Tory councillors, already resolved, for reasons best known to themselves, to continue with the Capita partnership:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>You got screwed - and unfortunately so did every resident in this borough</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nothing else to say, really, is there?</span></div>
Mrs Angryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00586223909475832791noreply@blogger.com0