Some issues in local government just go on and on and whatever effort successive Councillors and Council Officers put into resolving them there is often no end in sight.
So it is a pleasant change to report the ending of one long running saga in Barnet affairs , the Stanley Road Playing fields issue which has been occupying the minds of Barnet's finest for about the last 10 years . This site is bang in the middle of East Finchley near the Grange Estate and adjacent to the Northern Line .
Next week the Cabinet Resources Committee will be asked to agree the disposal of the Stanley Road Playing fields and the site of the former Herbert Wilmot Youth Centre to the Department for Education for the construction of facilities for the new "free school" , the Archer Academy due to open in September .
This non denominational school created very much by parent power and lobbied hard for by Mike Freer in a clear justification of Michael Gove's policy , in East Finchey has already acquired the Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute Building round the back of East Finchley tube station and will fill a huge need for secondary school places for East Finchley children . The other Secondary School in the area , the Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided Bishop Douglas has long been recognised by local parents as a disaster area in Education and it is a complete and abject failure of the Catholic Arch Dioceses of Westminster that this long running disgrace has not been sorted . Repeated attempts by the Borough over the years have been rebuffed by the Arch Diocese and the only solution now for Bishop Douglas is closure or a relaunched Academy ( a la Wren Academy in North Finchley ) .
Over the years I did not win many friends in the Conservative Cabinet by constantly objecting to the sale for a housing estate of the playing fields , first we had to see off a Cllr Brian Salinger scheme and then a Cllr Dan Thomas scheme . Back in 2005 Cllr Salinger won himself few friends by sending in the bulldozers one weekend to knock down the former Herbert Wilmott centre on the pretext of Asbestos issues, hoping for a quick sale of the site and Cllr Thomas , I suspect badly advised by his Officers saw only the pound signs of a Capital receipt .
What East Finchley does not need is more social housing . As a Ward it has more than its' fair share. What the area is desperately short of is green space , sports facilities and Community assets.
The Archer Academy proposals will provide a sports centre , an all weather pitch , and ancillary community facilities available outside school hours and protected by a proposed deed of dedication with the local organisation Sport EF . The local Community have worked hard to try and acquire the site themselves but were always doomed to failure as many organisations gave them warm words of comfort but no hard cash and their plans were unfortunately over ambitious and there seemed a reluctance to compromise .
East Finchley as an area is changing dramatically . Young middle class families unable to afford Muswell Hill and needing to be in easy reach of the tube are moving arriving in large numbers . Now the facilities they demand are following, with the creation of a decent Secondary School to which they can send there children . All they need now is a Waitrose ( and they could have had that , together with a new Library if Councillor Brian Salinger had not derailed the disposal of Park House near the station back in 2002) .
The Stanley Road proposals are a win for parents wanting secondary places for their children ; for the Community who want sports facilities ; for those opposed to yet more dense social housing and for the Council where the £3 million odd ( according to my source at the Dfe) capital receipt will compensate for the delayed receipt for the eventual sale of the Friern Barnet Library site .
I am rather proud of my small role in this saga and look forward to the new Academy being a huge success .
No doubt one or two whingers will emerge and the Hendon Times will adopt its' usual sour attitude to good news but to quote a Finchley icon "Rejoice at the news " !!!
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
The Underhill Soap Opera drawing to a close ?
News that the Football League have given Barnet Football Club permission to play their League matches next season at The Hive facility at Edgware in the London Borough of Harrow seem to herald the end of the longest running Political saga in Barnet Politics , the future of the Underhill football ground.
I will not bore readers with all the background but since 2001 when a Government Planning Inspector refused permission for Barnet Football Club to redevelop Copthall, what happens at Underhill has occupied the minds of Barnet Council Officers , Councillors , successive MPs and hundreds of local residents .
The support of the Labour Party for a planning application on green belt land at Underhill for a new stadium actually cost the then Labour / Liberal Party coalition control of Barnet Council in 2002 as local residents took the Conservative Party at their word when it was made clear a Conservative Administration would not allow a 10,000 stadium on Green Belt land. Anyone who has knocked on doors in roads around the football ground will know residents are eternally grateful that successive Conservative Council Leaders have kept their word.
The decision by Barnet Football Club to move seems the only sensible solution as the Chairman of the Club must have realised that no Politician of whatever Party would support a substantial redevelopment of Underhill . The Labour Party who in the early years of the decade appeared supportive of the clubs planning proposals has in recent years distanced itself from its' earlier position .Successive Council Leaders, have endured endless meetings with the Barnet Football Club Chairman and his acolytes but on many occasions just as deals appeared close the goalposts would move , sometimes literally !
Alan Williams , the late Victor Lyon , Brian Salinger , Mike Freer , the late Lynne Hillan are among those who had the scares on their backs having dealt with the Football Club issue.
Negotiations were never helped by the habit of the late Dennis Signey OBE ,former Editor of the Hendon Times and a distinguished sports journalist and media adviser and director of Barnet Football Club leaving confidential meetings at the Town Hall and immediately ringing local journalists with a complete briefing , I suppose once a journalist always a journalist.
The sale of the freehold of the club ground by the Labour / Liberal Administration during the 2002 local election campaign purdah period ( a timeslot when no important decisions are suppossed to be taken ) left a huge suspicion in the air over the behaviour of the outgoing Labour Administration and lead to endless Enquiries that cost the taxpayer thousands and never really proved anything except possible Council incompetence .
For someone who has little interest in Football , although I did attend Barnet v Port Vale at Underhill a couple of years ago , and once slept with an Arsenal striker , I am not fussed if Barnet survive in the Football League or bothered where they play . However I did have some sympathy with the Chairman of the Club when he thought Barnet Council were applying double standards over Copthall by granting Saracens Rugby Club a lease and planning permission.
Saracens undertook a smooth PR and lobbying operation with Councillors and threw money at the local Community . They received a far friendlier reception from many Councillors because Rugby Union is followed on the whole by middle class Tory voting Barnet residents . Indeed the average age of a Saracens' attendee is apparently 59, hardly the age group known for rowdy behaviour. The lobbying worked as Councillors , with one or two noble exceptions forgot about their scruples and principals about green belt development and duly voted it through .Although I think few realised they were going to get a stadium named after a German Insurance company with a rather dodgy history under Nazi Germany including one former Director General serving as Hitler's Economics Minister . Mill Hill residents have already begun to complain to their local Councillors about the huge Controlled Parking Zone with yellow lines stretching across a vast area of Mill Hill.
Guarantees made to the Hendon MP by the Mayor of London were simply ignored . Not much unites Andrew Dismore, Matthew Offord and I, but opposition to this redevelopment of Copthall did.
The key factor that ensured Barnet Council eventually saw off Barnet Football Club was that successive Council Leaders and ordinary Councillors stood firm in the face of sometimes appalling intimidation . Who can forget the Coffin paraded through the streets of Chipping Barnet during the 2006 Council elections of the leaflets handed out by Football Club supporters at tube stations advising people not to vote for specific candidates on the basis of their perceived support or otherwise for the football club or the dreadful behaviour of gatecrashers at the 2006 Mayor making and buffet.
Saracens are being a little more subtle.
Last week the Club sent me an invitation to attend their match against London Welsh in March . I declined . I may be a lot of things but a hypocrite I am not . I assume that no Councillor who has accepted such hospitality is able to vote on future planning and licensing hearings involving the Club. The "sponsoring " of all the Town Centre signs across the Borough gives the impression that somehow Saracens has the Borough "bought and paid for" . The constant positive coverage in the Hendon Times is of course unrelated to the money spent advertising in this increasingly desperate publication . No doubt the details of the " deal" being given by Saracens as they host the Mayor's Charity dinner at the end of his year will appear in the register of members' interests in due course and is unrelated to the fact the Mayor as a Mill Hill Councillor seems to have failed listen to many Mill Hill residents who objected to the planning application .
However suddenly Barnet Political Leadership has woken up and told Saracens " enough is enough"
The Leader of the Council , Councillor Richard Cornelius told the last Conservative Group meeting that Saracens had been told in no uncertain terms that any further planning application to add 5,000 more seats ( on top of the current 10,000 ) to satisfy European Club competition rules would be given short shrift. So how much longer before Saracens follow the Barnet Football Club route and claim the Council are uncooperative on attempts to extend their stadium and will have to consider moving elsewhere ........................
I suspect the Council has not heard the last from Saracens nor from Barnet Football Club . The Chairman has a ground to sell and quite for what development the green belt Underhill site will be sold for may ensure the Underhill soap opera still has some distance to run !
Thursday, February 07, 2013
scratch the surface and see what you find
A few weeks ago the United Kingdom marked Holocaust Memorial Day . Since the introduction of this commemoration in 2001 ( due in part to the efforts of Andrew Dismore) Barnet Council has been prominent in ensuring a suitable civic event is held. We have progressed from a cold tent in Hendon Park to the more comfortable surroundings of Middlesex University and have ensured schools participation not least in the campaign supporting the planting of snowdrops in remembrance of the children murdered during the Shoah.
The Barnet Civic event this year took place despite thick snow on the ground and attracted a reasonable attendance including all three of the Borough's Members of Parliament, the GLA Member , the Borough Police Commander and a sizeable phalanx of Councillors . The responsibility for arranging the event lies with the Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Community Engagement ( a title dreamt up by Mike Freer when Leader of the Council to keep me busy ) and now held by Councillor Longstaff who duly introduced ( very briefly ) the event . However as Councillor Longstaff spoke I could not help thinking of a video that I had watched on You tube a few days before of that same Councillor's appearance at a recent meeting of the Eastern Area Planning Committee when the subject of an "Eruv" to cover the Chipping Barnet area was on the agenda .
Applications for Eruvs have always caused a flutter of controversy ever since Barnet Council dealt with the first one covering parts of Finchley/ Golders Green/Hampstead Garden Suburb 20 years ago. However a long and through Public Enquiry at the time decided there were no planning grounds to reject applications for Eruvs and as Council Planning Committees can only by law consider planning matters all subsequent applications have been allowed .
However this did not stop Councillor Longstaff appearing before the Committee to argue against the Barnet Eruv not least by suggesting it would encourage Jews to move into the area !!!!!
The man in charge of Holocaust commemoration in Barnet is worried about Jews moving into the Area ??????
The fact that existing Erus have made no difference to house prices , population mix or anything else but have made the life of some observant Jews with young children or elderly relatives easier seems to have escaped him . Thousands of Barnet residents pass through Eruvs everyday of their lives and have no idea they are doing so . Councillor Longstaff's objection that residents did not want to see religious symbols outside their windows was dismissed by Councillor Joanna Tambourides who asked him if this meant he objected to public Christmas Trees ?
However Councillor Longstaff is not alone in attitude to the Jewish Community . The Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Bradford East David Ward managed to cause uproar with his comments about Holocaust Memorial Day and "The Jews" inflicting "atrocities " on the Palestinians. At least he apologised unlike the long term insulter of Israel Baroness Tonge who quite rightly lost the Lib Dem Whip over one of her ignorant outbursts . The cartoon by Gerald Scarfe in "The Sunday Times" published on Holocaust Memorial Day was rightly condemned by Rupert Murdoch , a long time supporter of Israel and the Jewish Community .
Here in Barnet, despite or perhaps because of our substantial Jewish population there are still far to many examples of nice middle class" respectable" people seeming to think there is nothing wrong with making anti Semitic remarks and behaving as if they were members of Finchley Golf Club in the early 1960s . A local blogger who thinks there is nothing wrong with objecting to the Sternberg Centre Planning application on the grounds "these people are ruining Finchley "; Activists on picket lines outside meetings of the North London Waste Authority oozing with anti -semitism as they attempt to intimidate Politicians deciding on the awarding of a waste contract objecting to a multinational doing business in Israel; or objectors to a Planning application for a Mill Hill Jewish School inventing reasons why it should not proceed when everyone knew what their real agenda was ! Oh and quite why has there been such a concerted campaign against the proposed redevelopment of the Fallowcourt Avenue Synagogue ?
I spoke at the Planning Committee that agreed the application for an Eruv for the Woodside Park/ North Finchley/ Totteridge Area and before I did so I read through the two lever arch files of objections that had been received . After 20 minutes or so I could take no more. Whilst some residents had restricted themselves to objecting on what they considered planning grounds there was letter after e mail ( one of 28 pages !) containing vile anti - Semitic abuse some of which would have made Oswald Mosley blush . It made me feel physically ill .
And before the usual suspects claim anti Zionism is not the same as being anti Semitic , that may be the case at Islington Dinner Parties but not in my book .
I look forward to the day when those who fail to understand or apperciate the Jewish Community restrict their comments to the Golf Club Bar
Friday, January 04, 2013
What on earth is Barnet Council afraid of ?
See below an e mail exchange with the Council's Director of Corporate Governance Mr Jeff Lustig which I think speaks for itself .
Mr Lustig is a long serving , highly professional and well regarded Officer and I cannot believe he would in anyway want to restrict elected Councillors ( never mind residents ) access to information .
I am surprised at the Mayor who has ruled my innocuous questions out of order as in his two years on the Council he has already acquired a reputation for asking difficult questions .
I see Mr Lustig consulted the (Acting ) Chief Executive Mr Travers ................................
From: Coleman, Cllr Brian
To: Lustig, Jeff
Cc: Schama, Cllr Brian Conservative; Cornelius, Cllr Richard Conservative; Moore, Cllr Alison Labour; Cohen, Cllr Jack Liberal Democrat
Sent: Fri Jan 04 19:44:04 2013
Subject: Re: Council Questions - Meeting 22 January 2013
Mr Lustig , I believe you have advised the Mayor incorrectly
As the Daily Telegraph no less has published this week detailed information concerning payments made to former Director Brian Reynolds following an FOI request , I cannot see why the Council should attempt to withhold exactly the same information with regard to the former Chief Executive
Likewise asking for a list of names (without figures) of Assistant Director and equivalent who have left the Council is information that elected members and indeed the public are entitled to .
I suspect the DCLG and the media will take a dim view of the Mayor's decision and I ask if you have brought the Daily Telegraph article to the Mayor's attention ?
I shall of course raise the Mayor's decision at the Council meeting and in the local media as appropriate and I am sure the Mayor will be able to explain to the media why he thinks the taxpayers of Barnet and elected Councillors are not entitled to this basic information
In the mean time please treat both these questions as FOI requests
Kind regards
From: Lustig, Jeff
To: Coleman, Cllr Brian
Sent: Fri Jan 04 18:53:06 2013
Subject: Council Questions - Meeting 22 January 2013
Mr Lustig is a long serving , highly professional and well regarded Officer and I cannot believe he would in anyway want to restrict elected Councillors ( never mind residents ) access to information .
I am surprised at the Mayor who has ruled my innocuous questions out of order as in his two years on the Council he has already acquired a reputation for asking difficult questions .
I see Mr Lustig consulted the (Acting ) Chief Executive Mr Travers ................................
From: Coleman, Cllr Brian
To: Lustig, Jeff
Cc: Schama, Cllr Brian Conservative; Cornelius, Cllr Richard Conservative; Moore, Cllr Alison Labour; Cohen, Cllr Jack Liberal Democrat
Sent: Fri Jan 04 19:44:04 2013
Subject: Re: Council Questions - Meeting 22 January 2013
Mr Lustig , I believe you have advised the Mayor incorrectly
As the Daily Telegraph no less has published this week detailed information concerning payments made to former Director Brian Reynolds following an FOI request , I cannot see why the Council should attempt to withhold exactly the same information with regard to the former Chief Executive
Likewise asking for a list of names (without figures) of Assistant Director and equivalent who have left the Council is information that elected members and indeed the public are entitled to .
I suspect the DCLG and the media will take a dim view of the Mayor's decision and I ask if you have brought the Daily Telegraph article to the Mayor's attention ?
I shall of course raise the Mayor's decision at the Council meeting and in the local media as appropriate and I am sure the Mayor will be able to explain to the media why he thinks the taxpayers of Barnet and elected Councillors are not entitled to this basic information
In the mean time please treat both these questions as FOI requests
Kind regards
From: Lustig, Jeff
To: Coleman, Cllr Brian
Sent: Fri Jan 04 18:53:06 2013
Subject: Council Questions - Meeting 22 January 2013
Dear Councillor Coleman,
I refer to the questions you have submitted for the next Council meeting. They appear below.
I have concerns about the two highlighted questions because the answers sought will require the disclosure of contractual and employment arrangements of individual members of staff in the public forum of a Council meeting. I have consulted the Interim Chief Executive who shares my concerns. You will note that a distinction is drawn between the highlighted questions and a question relating to the gross costs to the Council of redundancy payments, etc. which does not require individual members of staff to be identified.
I, therefore, raised the concerns with the Mayor and asked that he consider declaring the highlighted questions as improper under CPR 17.3 on the basis that it is not appropriate for the contractual and employment arrangements of individual members of staff to be dealt with in public forum. The Mayor has agreed with my concerns and declared the highlighted questions as improper under CPR 17.3. I am, therefore, returning the highlighted questions to you with an appropriate explanation. Pursuant to Article 12 of the Constitution, the Director of Corporate Governance has reserve powers to exercise all or any of the constitutional powers given to the Head of Governance.
“17.3 If the Mayorconsiders the Business Item, amendment or question to be vexatious, irrelevant, or otherwise improper, the Head of Governance will return it to the Member who submitted it. The Head of Governance will explain to the Member in writing why it will not be included on the agenda circulated for the meeting. The matter will only be included on the agenda if it is resubmitted in the timescale for receiving an item of business of that category and is signed by at least fifteen Members of the Council.”
The inappropriateness would be based upon, but not exclusively, the following extracts from the Protocols for Member-Officer Relations
“6.3 Members should remember that, although the Council has an open access to information policy, there is no automatic right to information about:-
- any individual applicant to become an employee, or
- any individual who is an employee (this includes details of grade and pay, and any disciplinary, grievance or other employment issue that involves a particular employee), or
- consultation or negotiations over any labour relations matter
7.4Members should avoid undermining respect for Officers at meetings, or in any public forum. This would be damaging both to effective working relationships and to the public image of the Council. In general Officers are unable to ‘answer back’ or defend themselves against criticism in a public forum.”
Regards,
Jeff Lustig
Director of Corporate Governance
London Borough of Barnet, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South, London N11 1NP
Barnet Online: www.barnet.gov.uk
P please consider the environment - do you really need to print this email?
Director of Corporate Governance
London Borough of Barnet, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South, London N11 1NP
Barnet Online: www.barnet.gov.uk
P please consider the environment - do you really need to print this email?
6.
|
21/11/12
|
22.35
|
How many Police Stations does the Cabinet member think the Borough needs?
|
Brian Coleman
IND
|
David Longstaff
|
DEPR
|
7.
|
21/11/12
|
22.35
|
Could Cllr Thomas update the Council on the future of Stanley Road playing fields?
|
Brian Coleman
IND
|
Daniel Thomas
|
DCS
|
8.
|
21/11/12
|
22.35
|
Does the Cabinet member welcome the recent decisions of the Planning and Environment Committee and the Eastern Area Planning sub Committee concerning the Woodside Park and Barnet Eruvs?
|
Brian Coleman
IND
|
Joanna Tambourides
|
DEPR
|
9.
|
21/11/12
|
22.35
|
Where does Cllr Tambourides envisage Planning Officers will be based post the implementation of the DRS One Barnet project?
|
Brian Coleman
IND
|
Joanna Tambourides
|
DEPR
|
10.
|
22/11/12
|
17.31
|
Will the Cabinet Member list all those of Assistant Director level and above who have failed to be appointed to posts in the new Management structure or have opted to retire or resign?
|
Brian Coleman
IND
|
Daniel Thomas
|
DCE / AD HR
|
11
|
22/11/12
|
17.31
|
Will the Cabinet Member list the gross costs to the Council (including redundancy payments, accrued holiday pay , pay in lieu of notice , pension contributions ) paid out in relation to Assistant Directors and above who have not been given posts in the new management structure?
|
Brian Coleman
IND
|
Daniel Thomas
|
DCE / AD HR
|
12.
|
22/11/12
|
17.31
|
Was any money in lieu of serving notice or accrued holiday pay or any other sum paid to the late Chief Executive and if so how much ?
|
Brian Coleman
IND
|
Richard Cornelius
|
DCE / AD HR
|
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