More Council spending should be done at a local level

It is wonderful when residents attend Council meetings to give their views on how their Council taxes are being spent.

What is sad though is that there are too few people attending meetings because the process seems to not want people to have their say. The Liberal Democrats are the only party in Ealing Borough to be proactive to want views and act up on them, raising these matters in Council meetings.

A great example of this is where the Labour party cut the number of local ward meetings (where local issues are discussed) from 4 to 2. The Southfield Liberal Democrats made a commitment to fund two additional meetings so we still have four meetings a year. In fact, we are the only party who have done this in our borough!

Some of the successes that we have shared and developed with residents include:

• New lighting across over half the ward.
• Stopped cuts to the local police team.
• Additional play equipment in local parks to encourage more children and adults to exercise and not put on weight.
• Working with local residents' groups and the police team to make the area safer and more attractive.
• Many initiatives to help support cyclists.
• Lighting across well used parks to reduce the attacks and the fear of crime particularly reported from women.
• 20 mph traffic scheme to reduce accidents to pedestrians, cyclists and car drivers.

One of the problems we face is that Labour-run Ealing Council has made cuts so that people are not consulted in a way that is acceptable to many. This is especially true of planning matters where many residents have not been informed apart from a notice on a lamppost away from where they live.

Liberal Democrats want to see more decisions taken locally at a ward level or clusters of wards. To do this, it would not require any more money, but simply the decision making powers are taken at a more appropriate level which means more residents can be involved in the decision making process.

The areas of decision making could be some of the following:

• Street lighting
• Pavement repairs 
• Road resurfacing
• Tree planting sites
• Improvements to parks
• Road safety schemes

This would lead to a greater openness. Many council decisions are taken in meetings that are either not public or not publicised. It would be great to open up Council meetings having a live feed for important meetings. Advertising should be looked at to see if this is feasible. Many local companies would pay if they knew a controversial debate was taking place about a planning issue or concerning a possible new Controlled Parking Zone scheme.

Liberal Democrats are proud that we constantly want to know what is important to residents and then act to improve our local area.

Ealing Council needs to listen to residents

In recent times Ealing Council has a reputation for closing vital services like day centres for the mentally ill, elderly residents and those who are severely disabled.

On top of this, Labour-run Ealing Council, has a record of allowing large developments to be built when the borough is left with not enough social or affordable housing to be built. Many have said that converting the Town Hall into a hotel is selling off the family silver like reducing the size of the main library in Ealing.

Liberal Democrats believe that to improve an area you need to consult, inform and listen to residents.

Ealing Council has a poor record of enabling residents to give their views and ensure that they actually can change a plan for the better. Liberal Democrats know that unless you actively involve residents the outcome will not be as good.

In a scheme in Acton and Chiswick listening to suggestion from residents meant that a large park is more accessible, safer and used by a greater range of residents to keep fit.

When Labour-run Ealing Council decided to force wheelie bins on us, the possibility of the dirtier streets became a reality.

Whilst on a Council committee that discussed planning matters we heard stories of where people’s views were not listened to, were ignored and information was not available when it should have been. The Council takes too long to answer the phones or emails and often people say that when issues are reported nothing happens. People are left with no faith in Ealing Council and so do not always report problems.

As vice chair of a committee on the Council’s digital approach and its website, I am looking to hear Ealing residents’ views on what they think of the Council’s website. What works and what does not? What services should the Council and its website offer? How should Ealing Council serve residents who are not experienced with using IT?


Please email me at gary.malcolm@ealing.gov.uk

Ealing Council needs to support its most vulnerable

Over the past couple of years Ealing Council has made a number of decisions which have or will harm some of our most vulnerable residents.

Although Ealing Council has been given less money by the government in the past few years it still has control over hundreds of millions of pounds. So, Ealing Council can still make choices to protect both our front line services and those that are used by the disabled, those who are ill, the elderly and others in need.

Gary Malcolm being handed a
Council Tax Support petition 

Initially there were closures of a number of key day centres affecting many elderly users. Ealing Council tried to close the Solace Centre that helps users with mental health issues. Luckily for the users, the Council made a rare U-turn when a large borough wide campaign was set up to save the Solace Centre. The Liberal Democrats help to support the Solace Centre.

However at the same time the Carlton Road Day Centre was closed. The Day Centre was used by profoundly disabled and those users had to find alternative help which will either cost more, provide a lesser quality service or both. Shame on Labour for closing this day centre.

The latest problem that Labour-run Ealing Council is causing some residents is when they again reduced the Council Tax Support payments. Council Tax Support is a discount that helps people on low income to pay their council tax. The amount of support you get will depend on your circumstances and how much council tax you pay.

Currently there are about 26,000 claimants, and figures show that over 5000 claimants are in arrears already and over 3000 residents have summons against their name.

So Ealing Council know that these individuals are in financial difficulties but they are to not only make it worse for them, but also add many more residents who will need to pay. Not only is this mean and vicious but asking for additional money from someone who cannot pay is likely to yield little compared to what they anticipate the changes will bring.

But it gets worse than: Ealing Council will now be able to reduce the discount by another 5% in April 2017.

The Liberal Democrats in Ealing have been fighting to protect the services that the most needy in Ealing require, to have a satisfactory life. It is wrong of Labour-run Ealing Council to make these cuts which will leave the most deprived residents even deeper into poverty.

I thank the London based organisation Z2K, who supports vulnerable benefit claimants. They produced two joint reports with the Child Poverty Action Group which examined the impact of localised Council Tax Support in London. Their findings are stark and claimants in Ealing will become much more vulnerable in the future.

Hardship will become more common. This is a stain on Ealing Council’s reputation and a ‘kick in the teeth’ to some of our most vulnerable residents.

I had hoped that 2016 would have begun with better news, but sadly not.

101 (nearly) reasons why Ealing Council needs to totally revamp its planning service

Over many years residents and residents' associations have been outraged by the planning decisions made by Ealing Council.

People have been annoyed about the process people have had to follow and how they have been treated when trying to make their voices heard. It was agreed to set up a committee which would look at this and last night I vice-chaired the meeting which listened to the views of residents from Ealing.

We intentionally did not invite any planning officers so that people could raise their views in the most candid way possible.

Only two comments were made that were positive (relating to the fact that Ealing holds site visits so that the planning committee Councillors can better see the result of a planning proposal)!

Clearly with about hundred comments Ealing Council will need to look at these comments at the Scrutiny meeting that takes place at 7.00 pm on Thursday 11 December 2014 in Committee Room 3, Ealing Town Hall. This will be a great chance for us to grill the officers and get them to commit to making changes that put residents first.

One side of my notes during the meeting!

Please post comments and experiences you might have about this matter on this blog and I will be able to raise these at the meeting in December.

The main areas which residents in the meeting had concerns were:

• Poor or a lack of communication
• Problems with the Planning website
• Planning Committee meetings
• Issues regarding Planning officers
• Issues regarding Councillors

Detailed comments made by residents in the meeting are listed below (some comments were made by more than one person)...

Poor or a lack of communication >>>

• Distribution of letters to inform residents of a local planning application goes to the wrong people, especially when a planning application relates to the corner building, and misses out people, is this intentional? x2.
• There needs to be better information from Ealing Council about the planning committee.
• Needs to be an enhanced communication from Ealing Council about site visits.
• The Council should be more proactive with advanced notification of planning applications.
• Council needs to ensure that when a group who monitors the effect of a large area like the surrounds of the Brent river that it consults groups properly rather than the odd planning application. The council has a database do why does it not use it?
• Why did the Council not consult users when they are going through the process of changing the new planning website software?
• Why has there not been a meeting of the Planning Services User Group which could help discuss issues that residents have?
• Almost impossible to ring planning officers.
• When you leave messages to planning staff they hardly every call you back.
• Statutory consultees should be listened to. Often they are not.

Problems with the Planning website >>>

• Additional docs uploaded, should have the upload date so new documents can be easily determined. Other Councils do that x3
• If you search for applications on a large street then you get lots of planning applications but you cannot see where you are (need to know you are on page 3 of 20).
• When you give views you do not always get an aknowledgement so you do not know if your view have gone into the system.
• Why has the Council removed from the website all the documents from 2014 to 2010? This is a useful set of documents for officers and residents in research about proposed developments.
• Lots of documents missing from the website.
• Website documents are named in a very unfriendly way so it is not easy to know what the document is.
• Lots of files are duplicated on the website.
• Not easy to search for planning applications.

Councillor Andrew Steed cutting down notices the
Council should have taken down

Planning Committee meetings >>>

• The planning committee appears too commonly not to have the correct facts to make a proper decision.
• Documents for the Councillors are too big for them to properly read and make an informed decision at the planning meetings.
• The planing briefing notes often arrive late in the day (once 5.34pm) and so the planning committee cannot be expected to make an informed judgement.
• 3 minutes is too short to make comments on an application especially if it is a large application
• Need more speakers from each borough if an application is on the border of Ealing and either Hounslow or Hammersmith.
• Meant to be 21 days to make representation in the consultation process - but not for revised plans. Why? Biased against residents.
• Should be 21 days less two days post for comments. Often it is less than this especially if it is a Summer period or over Christmas.
• There is not enough time for councillors to read the background to an application.
• The planning report does not often give much weight to the arguments put forward by objectors.
• Petitions are treated as a single objection when this makes no sense, as 1000 signatures clearly is 1000 people against an application, not 1 person.

Issues regarding Planning officers >>>

• Pre-application advice was wrong and when appeared in the planning papers it gives the planning committee the wrong impression and leads to wrong decisions.
• High turnover of planning officers x3.
• Are there exit interviews for planning officers to get their views on the problems with the planning process in Ealing?
• What happens to the data on planning officers' PCs when they leave?
• Officers only give "half responses" when they reply.
• Sometimes there are last minute negotiations by the top planning officers with developers that mean things appears on the same day as the planning meeting - which does not allow proper scrutiny of the proposals.
• Supplementary questions are not either answered or published.
• It appears that the officers agreed to proceed with a planning application and it is then rubber stamped by the planning committee.
• Planning officers gave the wrong advice (example sited about sunlight blocked by a proposal).
• Views from residents and amenity groups are nearly always ignored x3
• No planning leadership from the top.
• Once the planning report was written after only 5 days so most views were not taken into account. Biased against residents and pro developer.
• There is a lack of quality control in the documents that the Council produce for the planning process x4
• Where is the revised SPD to stop our back gardens being developed? Was meant to appear in July.
• The quality of the planning appeal reports are usually very very poor x3
• Are officers told to write the planning report to fit a particular decision? x2
• Lots of planning reports have factual errors in them. Even when spotted and highlighted they are not corrected for the planning meeting so wrong decisions are made x2.
• It appears that the pre planning committee meeting consultation with developers is like the Stockholm syndrome leading to more planning applications being granted than there should be x2.
• Sometimes the same officers are involved in the pre planning committee meeting consultation process who then write the planning report. A conflict of interest. x4
• The planning enforcement team does not work. The take almost no action when developers have broken the rules.
• It was stated by one resident that some officers were felt to have taken bribes
• The officers do not appear to know the details of conservation areas.
• The officers at the planning committee do not appear to know the details of the plan x2
• Almost impossible to have meetings with planning officers

Issues regarding Councillors >>>

• New Councillors are not trained and so do not know about the process.
• Local ward councillors once a planning decision has been made should then help residents but don't (Oaks decision sited as an example)!
• It was said that lots of the planning committee councillors do not seem to speak in clear English so it is difficult to understand what is being said.
• Despite what they law says the planning committees always tend to vote on party lines.
• Members of the planning committee should know the local area x2

Other comments >>>

• Council ignores its own policies.
• Planning process does not see residents as customers.
• We (residents) need an outside lawyer to review and vet previous decisions.
• Section 106 monies are often not heard of until it is too late to make an influence.
• There needs to be a signposting document so people can have a greater understanding of the process. One has been written but the Council appears to have refused to have a meeting to disucss and approve the document.
• Needs to be a planning manual so everyone has a common reference for what is required and who does what.
• We need to reduce the hostility between the planning officers and residents. Council often sees it as them vs. us.
• Treat residents' groups as an asset, not a hindrance.
• We have weak local planning policies and so we only can use the Neighborhood Forums to generate a stronger local policy.
• There needs to be a standing (permanent) panel to review and discuss Council planning matters.
• Because the planning enforcement team has been moved to the anti social behavior section of Council I am concerned that the Council will move activity to stop noise issues and not on enforcing planning breaches.
• For some complex developments we need A3 documents and not all A4.
• Sometimes we need hard copies of documents, instead of all of them on line.
• There are plenty of developments that are left 'open' for developers so that those who have a contract have the status as being 'pending' to aid them, potentially at the expense of residents.
• The Council approves a development with a much worse housing density than ones that have turned down.

Liberal Democrats will treat vulnerable residents as a priority

In the run up to the local and European elections many residents in our seven town centres will be making the decision as to how they might vote.

The coalition government with Vince Cable’s assistance has turned around the economy with not only growth, lower levels of inflation and importantly more jobs.

Councillor Gary Malcolm

Locally while more people are gaining employment we see the current Labour administration continue to fail in a number of areas:

• Closing day centres which means that many profoundly disabled or other vulnerable residents will suffer
• Over the past few years it was reported that Ealing Council has fined residents £24 million in parking fines. Many residents contact me to say they were fined and when I investigate the cases I often find that they should not have received a parking ticket.
• Too many people are kept waiting to get through on the phone as well as being forced to use the internet for many services when some elderly residents do not have a computer
• Allowing our streets and parks to be un-swept and dirty. The recent re-negotiation means that the contractor gets the same money for doing less!

The Ealing Liberal Democrats have been active in making sure that we promise only what we can deliver. The Conservative party promise the earth and often do not follow through with positive actions.

One example was where the Conservative party in Ealing have twice refused to sign up to measures that would reduce the number of deaths for cyclists. Liberal Democrats want to see our streets safer for all users. Sadly this does not appear to be true for the Conservatives who will allow dangerous trucks to be on our roads.

Alongside the backdrop of the elections is the need to continue the campaign to protect our hospitals that residents across the borough use. Having saved the Accident & Emergency wards in Charing Cross and Ealing hospitals we need to carry on the fight.

So the Labour party have failed in Ealing. What would my party, the Liberal Democrats do? We have our published manifesto but a summary is listed here:

• Freeze Council Tax for the next four years
• Invest more in our roads and pavements
• Remove the garden tax and improve recycling facilities
• Sell the Southall car park to fund vital projects
• Protect our day centres
• Get our streets and parks clean, free from uncollected waste
• Make the Council easier to contact

Ealing Council has been selling off our day centres, left our streets and park s dirty and charged for collecting our garden waste. The Liberal Democrats will be tough as nails, with contractors who are providing a poor service and we will freeze Council Tax for the next four years to give some stability to residents' finances.

We are the only party who treat our vulnerable residents with a priority.

Only the Liberal Democrats would sort the waste contractor out and only a Liberal Democrat Council would be cleaner, safer and fairer.

Ealing residents should not be treated like a problem by Ealing Council

Over the past couple of months my Council colleagues and I, have noticed a large increase in the number of vulnerable residents calling to ask for help with matters that relate to services which Ealing Council provide.

Activities such as renewing parking permits and buying visitors’ vouchers, for some, have become impossible. If they go to Ealing Town Hall they are turned away. If they phone up they are not given assistance. When they write they do not get a letter or a call from Ealing Council.

Many elderly or vulnerable residents do not find it easy to access the Council’s internet forms to gain the services they are entitled to. It has come to something when I have to print out forms for residents when Ealing Council would not send them to residents! Ealing Council should be providing a better and more accessible service to these residents.

Three years ago Ealing Liberal Democrats persuaded Ealing Council to adopt a Customer Care Charter so their residents can get a better service. Since then, the number of residents reporting customer service problems has increased massively. Last night, one resident recounted an example of where an Ealing Council member of staff hung up the phone.

The Council assumes everyone can do everything on line! Clearly this is not the case. The Council has paid lip service to their own charter. By giving vulnerable residents a ‘bad deal’ they are being treated with no respect.

By all means encourage residents to use additional on line methods but we should not be stopping methods, whether they be face-to-face or via the telephone, which many residents need from the Council.
In the run up to the local elections which take place in 2014 the Liberal Democrats will continue to press Ealing Council to make improvements for residents including:

• Answering telephone calls more quickly. Currently many people hang up due to the long wait
• Ensuring that services offered to vulnerable residents are not reduced further
• When residents call Ealing Council they are offered help and advice instead of being told they must use an internet based services

Sadly we have seen Labour-run Ealing Council shut many and about to close more day centres. This will have a negative effect on many vulnerable, whether they are elderly or disabled.

Liberal Democrats will not treat the vulnerable as a difficulty. They have every right to a good customer service from Ealing Council and a Liberal Democrat run Ealing Council will provide a good customer experience for them.

Let's hope Ealing is not heading the way of Python's Dead Parrot

At Ealing Council's full council meeting last night we discussed the last year of the Council's performance and highlighted problems that will hit residents in the future...

The first speech of the night came from Councillor Julian Bell who spoke at great length about the many herons he has seen in the borough recently. So this photo is for you Julian.

Julian's favourite grey heron

After welcoming the new Mayor to his first main Council meeting I surprisingly welcomed a couple of areas where Ealing Council has taken the right decisions such as becoming a Living Wage employer and the promotion of cycling.

Most politicians just "have a go" at other political parties. The Liberal Democrats looks to welcome good decisions from where ever they came from but sternly criticise Labour when they make mistakes. Read on...

So where has Ealing Council gone wrong in the past year or so? Well, in its selection of contractors and management of contracts. >

• Enterprise - where is the fine money residents are owed?
• Keirs and Morrison - for performing poorly on Housing Repairs

I have not seen any changes to the process of how future contractors will be chosen. Three failures in such a short space of time. That isn’t just bad luck.


It's Customer Services is not what it states. Ealing does not like to admit the negatives but only mentioned its successes. A proper review should talk about the problems and what will be done to improve things. A lot of nice words but it does not fully give much acceptance of problems our residents are suffering from…

• People still wait too long - on the phone or in person at Perceval House
• There are more online forms but some areas of IT are not as reliable as they should be – the planning department pages are an example where documents regularly are reported as being missing.
• Yesterday a friend from Ealing Common said the Pay-by-Phone system is confusing and unfriendly.
• And buying the correct permits and vouchers on line was not possible when certain vouchers were not present in the IT system. Hardly a first class system!

Monty Python's Dead Parrot

Other areas where improvements are needed...

• There are still too many empty homes that could be used by those many residents on the long waiting list – Government powers for a decade have not been used at all or only in a limited number of cases.
• Keeping Council Tax Frozen – when you increase parking fees hugely and have introduced a garden waste charge people rightly wonder whether the Council is playing a straight bat.
• Closing Day Centres [the Learning curve & Stirling Road are prime examples] may bring short term savings but will lead to medium and long term issues for users and residents.
• Everyone knows that recycling should be free. To really boost our recycling rates and possibly save money we need to be more proactive and show people why they need to recycle and how easy it is. 

Of course running a Council is not easy, and in these difficult times, but it is crucial to truly protect the poorest – this Council is not doing that.

It is in severe risk of being a dead parrot like in the Monty Python sketch.

Ealing Council Bank Holiday Changes to Refuse and Recycling

A lot of the refuse and recycling collections will take place a day later than normal due to the Spring bank holiday on Monday 27th May.

Speaking to Ealing Council they told me that the items of refuse and recyclables should be left at the front of the property, or in a place which does not block the pavement, by 7 am on the collection day.

The Stirling Road refuse and recycling centre in Acton will be open, as usual, over the bank holiday. Collections will return to normal on Monday, 3 June

Please see the details below:

Usual collection day       Revised collection day

Mon 27th May               Tues 28th May
Tues 28th May              Wed 29th May
Wed 29th May              Thur 30th May
Thur 30th May              Fri 31st May
Fri 31st May                 Sat 1st June

Please let me know if any of your waste is not collected by emailing me using gary.malcolm@ealing.gov.uk or via Twitter @CllrGaryMalcolm