A better Mill Hill abettermillhill.blogspot.com

This blog is now closed - I will be posting in future at A Better Mill Hill- see you there!

Hasmonean School expansion

Hasmonean School's proposals to take 15 acres of Green Belt land to accommodate their expansion plans were rejected this week by the Mayor of London. I welcome the saving of our Green Belt land. In my opinion Hasmonean School's proposals were an unnecessary grab of public land and their transport plan was not robust enough. Page Street residents in particular would have had unacceptable traffic problems at peak times and our currently open land  at Copthall would have been bulldozed and hidden behind a high security fence.


There is no doubt that Hasmonean School still need to redevelop. They are oversubscribed and badly need new school buildings. I would hope that Hasmonean will now consider seriously the options of either developing the existing Girls School site or to look elsewhere.


Another issue causing great concern to local residents near the school is traffic. The school needs to produce a far more robust and sustainable travel plan, one that will eliminate the need for private cars to pick up and drop off pupils. JFS run an extensive school bus network across North London. I would want to see similar proposals for any new plans for Hasmonean School and for them to make use of existing bus services as well as safe cycling proposals.


If all of this can be achieved, we will have a win-win situation for both the School and residents.

Barnet's Children's Services are Inadequate - OFSTED

I'm getting to the point where very little surprises me about Barnet's services to residents. However OFSTED's judgement of Barnet's Children's Services as Inadequate has shocked me to the core.

How can a council allow its services to deteriorate to such an extent that a Commissioner has now been sent in to run the Children's services directly.

The Councillors responsible for the service need to accept responsibility and resign. There's no excuse. If you are a regular listener to full council meetings then you will know that the Conservative Councillors spend more time making childish statements about the opposition rather than being constructive.

This situation is really beyond a joke and I hope that in May 2018 we will see a change of council. That's why I intend to run as a candidate for Mill Hill along with my Liberal Democrat colleagues. We need change and we need a compentent council. Enough is enough.

Mill Hill Pocket Park delayed

I understand that Cllr Sury Khatri has stated in a Barnet meeting that he could not see any demand for the proposed Mill Hill Pocket Park to be located at the junction of Brockenhurst Gardens and the Broadway and that he had not been consulted. 

This is incredible considering that not only have the Neighbourhood Forum have been very much promoting this plan for a long time, even Cllr Khatri's own party have mentioned the Pocket Park proposals on their own leaflets!

Cllr Khatri's opposition to the scheme means that the Pocket Park is now delayed. This scheme would be a welcome addition to Mill Hill. This is really needed to deliver improvements to make the Town Centre more attractive and to encourage greater footfall and investors.

A polite email to Cllr Khatri, supporting the Pocket Park proposals for Mill Hill, copied to Jamie Cooke, the senior officer from Barnet involved with the Pocket Park proposals would really help. Their email addresses are: cllr.s.khatri@barnet.gov.uk and jamie.cooke@barnet.gov.uk

End of an era as Andrew Dismore decides not to run in General Election

The snap General Election announced by Theresa May this week has led to a few surprises so far, but the biggest surprise is the fact that Andrew Dismore AM will not be the Labour Party candidate for Hendon.


Our former MP made the announcement today that he would not be running for personal reasons. Mr Dismore was an outstanding MP for Hendon between 1997 and 2010 and even his detractors will admit that he has always been a diligent and hard-working MP and since 2012, the Barnet & Camden member of the London Assembly, taking over from the widely hated Brian Coleman.


There are in my own opinion, many talented and able people in Barnet Labour who will now be in the running for the Labour Candidacy. Ammar Naqvi, Adam Langleben, Sian John and Arjun Mittra amongst many others. All will prove to be good candidates if chosen.


For myself however, I do think Andrew Dismore's departure increases Alasdair Hill's chances of actually being elected as the next Hendon MP. The Liberal Democrats have been the only party that have been consistently against the Brexit madness convulsing the political class. On the doorsteps we are hearing that the Hard Brexit being pushed by Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn is not what people in Hendon want.


One thing is for sure, this contest is wide open and Matthew Offord may well be spending more time at his luxury thatched cottage in deepest Berkshire before long...

Barnet Conservatives protect Capita and Re: (Again)

I was at the Barnet council meeting tonight, where I got a taste of the sheer contempt the Barnet Conservatives have for the public.

Labour councillor Adam Langleben proposed a motion for an emergency council meeting to ask the council to set up a cross party review of Barnet Planning which has been failing the public for some time. Cllr Langleben specifically mentioned Barnet's incompetence over the proposed Milespit Hill cemetery extension that many believe is a Trojan horse for a Mausoleum or even Crematorium project on the site.

In theory this motion should have had cross party support but the Conservatives submitted an amendment to the motion that kicked the investigation to the existing scrutiny committee that has allowed Capita and Re: to literally get away with astonishing levels of incompetence over the last few years.

In reply Cllr Cornelius the Conservative leader of the council stated that Barnet planning's problems were nothing to do with incompetence but rather the leglislation they were working under. No mention whatsoever of what happened in Mill Hill at all.

In reply Cllr Langleben asked the Monitoring Officer to exclude members of the Hendon Conservative Association from the vote as one of the planning schemes under debate was the demolition of the White Bear pub in Hendon. Before the General Election the pub was bought out by a developer who was a staunch Conservative supporter who erected large billboards supporting the Conservative candidate Matthew Offord. In addition there was a question as to whether individual councillors who are members of Hendon Conservative Association had received donations from the same developer. I was sitting in the public gallery but could not hear a response from the Interim Monitoring Officer David Tatlow but the vote went ahead anyway with the Hendon Association councillors. The motions went to vote (all Mill Hill councillors voted for it) and of course the Conservative amendment was adopted and the original motion lost.

So no scrutiny and Capita remain protected. Next time you see our Mill Hill councillors please ask them why they are blocking real scrutiny of Barnet Planning.

Barnet Council reprimanded over lack of care for homeless

Barnet Council have been reprimanded by the Local Government Ombudsman for systematic failures in dealing with homelessness.


A homeless woman approached Barnet Council in January 2015 for help following her eviction from private rented accommodation. Incredibly she had to remain homeless during the winter months and was even hospitalised for an asthma attack. Barnet Council were approached four more times by her over the following 15 months and on each occasion she was told she was not a priority need.


What she wasn't told was that Barnet Council were obliged to give her a formal decision about her homelessness and that she could then appeal the decision. The woman and her father complained to the Local Government Ombudsman who investigated.


Barnet Council had the sheer brass neck to tell the Ombudsman this in their defence. "were it (Barnet Council) were to issue formal decisions to all those seeking housing assistance there would be significant challenges with the number of Housing Needs officers being required to conduct such a high volume of assessments and write the subsequent decision letters".


So in other words, we don't have enough staff and we really can't be bothered.


The Ombudsman found against Barnet Council and the woman concerned has had an apology from the Council. Additionally, the Ombudsman ruled that: "the Council should also ensure that in future, homelessness applications are taken and decision letters issued in all appropriate cases".


More at http://www.lgo.org.uk/information-centre/news/2017/mar/ombudsman-finds-systemic-problems-with-barnet-s-homelessness-services-during-investigation