Minutes:
Question from Councillor Bailey
“A report by the Commons Communities and Local Government Committee has pointed out that Community Cohesion in Barking and Dagenham is in meltdown. Cohesion is measured by how many people believe those from different backgrounds get along.
The report paints a black picture. It blames Labour’s policy of mass uncontrolled immigration for ruining community relations and creating ‘significant public anxiety’. In Barking and Dagenham we know our infrastructure is at breaking point with schools forced to take on migrant children, displacing some local pupils from their local schools, ever increasing class sizes, and teachers forced to spend more time with children who do not speak English. We have escalating accommodation costs, virtually no council housing, overcrowding, and increasing homelessness The Councillors may not have missed the people living in the bushes at the back of the Queen Victoria pub not a stone’s throw from here.
The Labour Party looks everywhere for blame. First of all it blames flawed data and then it calls those who raise the issues associated mass uncontrolled immigration racists or xenophobes. Well the report by the Commons Communities and Local Government Committee says you cannot do this anymore. You cannot brow beat people into silence. There is public anxiety about the situation. The Local Government Association has asked for an emergency grant of £250 million to deal with the problems associated with uncontrolled mass immigration.
In Barking and Dagenham Labour’s immigration policy has resulted in an increase in the African population since 2001 of 73%. Most coming from Nigeria. The Bangladeshi Muslim population in the borough has increased by 171%. Who knows how many people are here from the EU states. Nobody knows. Conservative estimates point out that the white population of Barking and Dagenham has at the same-time dropped to less than 70% of the total population. Immigrants will make up the majority of the population growth in Barking and Dagenham which is expected to rise to 225,000 by 2024. This is totally unsustainable and insane.
I would like to ask the Leader have we asked central government for extra funds to cope with our own immigrant population crisis, and how much did we ask for, and I also want to hear from the leader what he will be doing to relieve the crisis that is affecting our schools, hospitals, housing, roads, and quality of life and what he and his party will be doing to help calm peoples anxieties?”
Response from Councillor Fairbrass:
“Cllr Bailey is very selective in his reading of the report. I draw his attention to page 18, paragraph 35 and which states “…Migrants do not qualify for social housing until they have been in the UK for one year….” and I welcome its interim report findings that there is no evidence to show migrants receive unfair priority access to housing.”
I also refer to page 22, paragraph 43. This refers specifically to this Borough “...The concentration of effort and attention on fairness is a response to significant local concerns about the perceived unfair access of migrants to services. On the other hand, elected representatives can also potentially damage community relations. The Committee for Integration and Cohesion expressed concern that local Councillors are able to make inflammatory statements that can negatively affect cohesion without any consequences.”
Elsewhere the report refers to myths about £50,000 being offered to migrants to move into the area. This, of course, refers to the BNP and then Cllr Bailey has the gall to ask what I can do to calm people’s anxieties. His party to stop publishing lies would be a good start.
With respect to housing the BNP consistently votes against planning permission for home building schemes that have a large proportion of social housing. We are also about to become a pilot for a Local Housing Company that will let us directly provide more homes for local people.
As for schools, I spoke to Children’s Services this morning and was assured by those working in our Education Service that there is no crisis in our schools, the results are higher than ever before. The infrastructure is not at breaking point. There is no recruitment problem - people actively want to work in our schools which are increasingly popular and well resourced. Class sizes are within nationally laid down standards. We are proud of our partnership with our schools and will continue our strong track record of support for our Headteachers and staff.
With respect to roads, Councillor Bailey voted against a budget that included £20million for road repairs.
With respect to health, we have successfully lobbied and received more funding for our PCT. We have more modern health facilities and clinics in Barking and Dagenham, one of which is currently being built just outside Barking Town Hall.
On finance we have not made specific bids but as has been mentioned before we are constantly challenging the population figures used by Central Government to calculate our grant. This year we received the highest grant settlement in London to the tune of approx £5 million. “
Supplementary Question from Councillor Bailey
“How many properties are actually allocated to local people?”
Response from Councillor Fairbrass:
Councillor Fairbrass stated that he did not have that detailed information as it was not part of his portfolio, but would give a written response.
Question from Councillor Justice
“With reference to the recently publicised plan to provide free swimming for children and for residents over retirement age; how is this to be funded and can borough tax payers expect a further rise in council tax to so do?”
Response from Councillor Fairbrass:
“The Government’s recent announcement of its offer to Local Authorities to initially introduce free swimming for the over 60’s is welcomed.
Our programme of free swimming for children is funded by our local PCT’s financial support of £1.2m.
The Government will provide a total of £140m to local authorities primarily for over 60s but it will also consider supporting schemes to increase participation in swimming particularly for under 16s – we will be well placed to take full advantage of this funding due to the experience gained through the project funded by the PCT.
So the answer to your question is that there will be no increase in Council Tax to pay for free swimming for the age groups mentioned.”