Liberal Democrats would strengthen ward fora

Over the past couple of years Ealing Council have made lots of small changes which have led to ward fora meetings being less effective or relevant to residents.

Liberal Democrats believe that to get more people involved in the Council decision making process, the Council needs to be proactive and make ward forum meetings more likely to encourage residents to attend.

I remember when ward forum meetings hosted some interesting debates about wheelie bins, the possible closure of the 94-bus terminus, whether or not to light Southfield Rec and discussing Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs).

Instead the Labour party have reduced the publicity so fewer people know about the meetings. 

They have reduced the budgets so fewer schemes can be introduced.

In Southfield we are the ONLY ward in the 23 in Ealing borough, who have four ward meetings a year. All but two only have two meetings a year! How last is that?

We also make a great effort to involve residents’ associations, the police and other bodies who attend to speak to residents as well as give some useful ideas for projects that we can fund. 

Over our time these have included:

·         New lights for half of Southfield.

·         Planting of a huge number of trees spread across the area.

·         Improvements to all our parks and playgrounds.

·         Cycle hangers to help residents store their cycles safely to avoid being robbed.

Another perverse change is that minutes will not be taken and instead only action points. This may seem sensible but if there are missing action points, how can they be verified without more detailed minutes!

The Liberal Democrats have a more proactive approach to ward fora meetings. We believe that a much higher share of the environmental budget can be allocated to each ward in Ealing borough. This will mean that Councillors and ward forum meetings can allocate budgets on a combination of demand and the priorities of each ward.

This approach is more devolved and democratic and it would give each councillor a greater responsibility. Residents would see who the hardworking and effective Councillors are.

It is regrettable that Labour-run Ealing Council are allowing many ward fora to rot so they can make their cuts without taking the blame. The Liberal Democrats approach is to keep on fighting and linking in with residents who want to see improvements in Acton and Chiswick.

Area Committees and why it is sad Labour appear to want to get rid of them

At a Council meeting recently the Labour Leader of Ealing Council made a comment that was more than a suggestion that he wants to stop all ward fora meetings.

He said that Councillors should speak to the residents of their wards one to one. Well, a message for Councillor Bell is that the Liberal Democrats in Southfield ward, Chiswick, is that we do both.

We have four ward fora meetings each year (almost all of the others have only 2, some three) plus we speak to people at both our Councillors’ advice sessions and by knocking of residents’ doors to survey them about what issues are things they want fixing.

Then we fix people’s problems. Recently when visiting one street in Chiswick we logged a number of issues and within a couple of days the street had the dumped waste and litter removed as well as a new litter bin installed (to reduce the litter that Acton Lane suffers from).

We run four ward meetings as we feel that it is crucial that Councillors can meet residents more regularly than only twice a year, to answer questions and to ask residents what topics they think are important in their area.

We often invite the local police team which is great as they give a face to some of the crime stories they read about in the media. They can ask advice about local crimes (the level of crime in Liberal Democrat Southfield is very low) to see how they can help themselves or neighbours suffering from car crime, burglary or other types of crime.

Any politician who refuses to want ward forum meetings from taking place, should be sacked! 

Our masters (the voters) deserve a way to ask about their elected Councillors questions and why they have taken the actions they have taken.

In Southfield the Liberal Democrat councillors love ward forum meetings as we hear how things really are.

That is why we have funded two additional meetings, when other political parties want to see ward forum meetings cancelled.