See where Ealing Council wasted £40,000 of OUR money

At Ealing Council's most important meeting for discussing issues there were a number of topics that were discussed:

• Official - the streets in Southfield are the worst
• Ealing Council wastes £40,000 on a magazine that was not needed
• The legacy of the Olympics and the Paralympics
• Why the Lib Dems are the only party truly against Heathrow expansion

Southfield: 23rd out of 23 wards!
Myself, Councillors Andrew Steed and Harvey Rose and many hundreds of residents have wondered why their streets have been left dirty, litter filled and in need of some TLC. The answer is that the combination of Ealing Council's management of, and their contractor, Enterprise, has been an utter disaster.

Labour: dirty streets

When official figures showed that for September that the streets of Southfield are the dirtiest in the WHOLE borough, then I jumped at the chance to ask what the Leader of the Council will do to ensure Southfield is looked at with more importance. His answer was that he would speak to me afterwards. Hardly an answer. I am still awaiting a full reply. This contractor has been allowed to get away with extremely poor service since April. They should be fined. Perhaps money is all they understand.


Labour's waste of £40,000
Liberal Democrat Councillors Jon Ball and Andrew Steed spoke up against the spending of £40,000 on a magazine (called "Altogether Better") which told residents what they already knew. It did not add anything from Around Ealing which it produces about ten times a year. Labour's top finance spokeswomen said in the debate: "Silly little things like £40,000". I think £40,000 is a lot of money. That could fund the salary of two people to help clean our streets, a teacher or many other things that Ealing would get some benefit from. Instead we saw Labour deny that there is a problem. One one hand it says "We don't have any money" and then it spends £40,000 on a magazine that is not needed.

An Olympic Legacy in Ealing?
Next I raised an item which the chamber agreed with, stating that the Olympics and the Paralympics were a massive success for London and could bring a positive improvement to West London. I did state that Ealing Council has many fine sporting facilities and parks but they need to promote them through the website and other methods so that more kids can get into the habit of playing competitive or non-competitive sports.

This would be great for people's health but also might lead us to more medals in future Olympic Games. I also went to talk about facilities for those who are disabled. We need as a borough, to do more to not just provide access to transport, but to other community facilities as well.

Liberal Democrats against Heathrow expansion

 Liberal Democrats the only party against Heathrow Expansion
With the Conservatives almost likely to change their current official position, and so will be for expanding Heathrow after the next general election in 2015. So no one can trust that promise.

The Liberal Democrats have been consistently against Heathrow expansion. And remember that the Labour party changed their position after the last general election. But their leader Ed Miliband has not said much to make me think he is actively against it. Action not words please.