Kilburn Times Article – Thursday June 29th 2017
One of the most extraordinary decisions made by this extraordinary Brent Labour council was the recent award of £1m. to the Tricycle Theatre. It is difficult to know where to start in my criticism of this decision!
- allegedly Brent has no money, so the last two years Council tax payers have seen their bills soar by 8% as the Council has pleaded poverty. I have consistently argued that residents are being misled, and that Brent has pots of money....so are easily able to give the Tricycle £1m. if that is deemed priority spending. I hardly think you can argue Tricycle is a priority!
- the Labour Budget passed in February 2017 made no mention of this Tricycle grant.....so Council has never agreed these monies.
- why did Brent not open up a bidding process for community groups to apply for a share of this £1m. grant funding? I am sure our community libraries, who get no financial assistance from Brent, would have jumped at the chance to put their case for a share of the £1m. Indeed, there are many other groups in our borough who would also liked to have bid.
- perhaps this £1m. could be spent on repairing our dreadful pavements......one of my residents spent 7 days in hospital recently after falling badly on the poor paving stones in Leighton Gardens.
- why has Brent given this money to the Tricycle with only minimal conditions?
It seems to me that they came to Brent after getting their sums wrong on their refurbishment project, and thought that Brent would be a " soft touch" for this extra £1m. after receiving £5m.+ in grants from other organisations - and apparently needing this extra money from Brent to complete their funding shortfall of this project.
This is a very bad decision by Brent's Labour Council, and ranks alongside the Rosemarie Clarke Employment Tribunal fiasco and the sale of Bridge Park to offshore companies as summing up the appalling,arrogant and dismissive attitude of this Labour administration.
Cllr John Warren
Brent Conservative Group Leader
Brondesbury Park Ward