Why London's Mayor Must Act on Colonial Drive

I have already written to the Mayor of London about the Colonial Drive development that Ealing Council recently accepted. The Mayor of London should stick a spanner in the works. Fellow ward Councillor Harvey Rose has certainly come up with a pearl of a letter to Boris:

"I write as one of the three councillors representing Southfield ward, which is situated in the southeast of the London Borough of Ealing, on the border with the London Borough of Hounslow.

Southfield ward is an area of high density. Many of the roads are tree-lined. Nearly all the properties are residential. Very few are over three storeys in height. Most were built at the end of the nineteenth century or earlier. There is very little amenity space in the ward apart from Southfield Recreation Ground a mile away to the north and Acton Green on the southern border.

It is worth noting that there are very few tall buildings in the "Hounslow" part of Chiswick to the south. Reference is made in the papers to the Gunnersbury Triangle Nature Reserve which is bounded on all sides by rail tracks and is thus an ideal location for the preservation of wild life, even in an urban setting.

The Reserve is situated entirely within the London Borough of Hounslow, who were duly consulted in advance of the hearing of the Planning Committte on 16th May. Reference is also made to an adjacent development at 2 Bollo Lane. This occupies a much smaller area but is in my view highly obtrusive. The building of this development is nearly complete.

Virtually no parking provision has been provided. It was largely for that reason that the Planning Commitee (differently constituted) rejected that application, but when it went to appeal the Inspector permitted the development. The building is now nearly complete, but so far unoccupied, so it is too early to assess the impact of the additional population and the lack of infrastructure provided.

The present application was said by the Planning Officer (in her report placed before the Committee) to be "finely balanced", but you will see from the minutes of the Committee held on 16th May that the overwhelming arguments were in support of the residents. Many of them are already upset by the decision on 2 Bollo Lane and the frequent congestion in the vicinity of Chiswick Park station.

I concluded my speech by quoting from the observations of the Hounslow planning officer: "The excessive height, length and bulk of the development, combined with the close proximity to the boundary shared with the triangle would result in a development which would have an overbearing impact on the Gunnersbury Triangle, significantly detracting from the amenity, value and open character of the nature reserve." These are words of a planning officer, not disgruntled residents.

This application should be rejected."

Quite right. I hope Boris that you do the right thing.

Explosives report confirms the utter folly of ‘Boris Island’ plans

In recent weeks I have read many Conservatives stating that they want either Heathrow expanded or new airports built. Crazy. Our area of the country suffers from enough noise and air pollution thank you!

And then today I was reading Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on the Department of Transport’s report into the survey carried out on the SS Richard Montgomery ship which was wrecked with 1,400 tons of TNT explosives inside it, and is located near to where the proposed ‘Boris Island’ airport would be situated.

Caroline said: "The threat of this cargo ship being blown sky high by any construction work needed for an airport in this location is a risk not worth taking.  The devastation and chaos caused by an explosion would be immense. This report confirms the utter folly of Boris Johnson’s proposed Thames Estuary airport."

It is certainly time that Boris Johnson drops his proposals and instead concentrated on the transport issues that he is actually responsible for like getting the buses and tubes working more efficiently.

Please see the MCA Survey Report here.

Lib Dems to call in the Ealing non collection of waste at Cabinet earlier

At Ealing Council's Cabinet meeting tonight, a lot of topics were raised and one stuck out like a sore thumb for the Labour leadership. That of April and the weeks of missed collections of household waste, recyclables, kitchen waste and the dirty streets.

This cabinet meeting was what Labour thought would be a suitable chance to discuss the problems that occurred in April and some streets are still having issues. The view of my party, the Liberal Democrats, is that there should be a full, open, public debate about the causes of the problems so that we can avoid this type of issue never affecting Ealing again. At a council meeting last month the Labour party decided a full investigation was not required.

After quite a large number of questions that were fielded at the Leader of the Council, the Labour councillor in charge of missed collections of household waste and senior Council staff, the Leader of the council indicated he would not disagree with a meeting to discuss the issue more. Quite right. That was why my party have said that open and public scrutiny is needed. And why we collected a large number of signatures to get a proper scrutiny of the reasons why so many residents in Ealing suffered.

From questions I asked it appears that somewhere between £5,000 and £10,000 of cost has been taken on board at the time when the non collection problems arose.

Another question seemed to indicate that at the start of the contract Enterprise had all the correct vehicles needed to do their job effectively. But other Council published fact shows that extra vehicles are not to arrive in Ealing until the middle of June. And then another councillor stated that it would be the end of July!!! Meetings should answer questions in a way where clarity comes from chaos but tonight more questions were raised than were answered.

The contractor, Enterprise, had staff in the meeting but they were not invited to speak. Why? The issues suffered by residents has come from the combined effect of the contractor and Ealing Council not managing the contractor effectively.

The Liberal Democrat are to call in (for review) this topic and so we hope to get answers as to why what occurred actually occurred and crucially changes of policy so that the same saga can never occur again.

Earlier in the meeting two subjects were raised:

1. The council's review of art provision:

• It appears the Council is not being proactive and instead is happy to only look at reviewing the use of Ealing Town Hall and not being active in ensuring it could identify where certain arts needs are not being met.
• Most of the Council's recommendations are current council policies and so it seems the group of Councillors reviewing arts provision have not collectively stretched themselves to look what art could look link in Ealing in the next five or ten years.

2. Southall Car Park

• I again mentioned the Liberal Democrats opposition to spending £5 million on a car park where there is no business case.
• Figures from the Council showed that the new car park (once they know where it will be!) is almost certain to lose money. So we spend £5 million on a car park that there is little need for when Council money could be better spent on helping vulnerable members of society. Crazy.

Lastly there was an item of cycling which I have a passion for. My group and the Labour-run Council both support and promote activities to encourage cycling. I am someone who says when a councillor or party has made the right decision even it is not my party. And on cycling the Labour council has been making positive plans to improve road safety for cyclists so I am more than happy to work with them to promote initiatives that reduce the number of accidents on our roads. Sometimes politicians can work together!

Topics that Ealing Council might scrutinise this year

Myself, a number of Liberal Democrat councillors as well as others discussed topics (some from residents) that Ealing Council might scrutinise in the coming year.

Ealing Council has four committees that will be focusing on a range of topics. Today was a chance to add new ideas and come up with a more concise list which will be agreed in the next couple of weeks. Ideas that were discussed and generally thought to be useful were as follows:

1) Environment and Transport

• Customer experience (mystery shopping) including people phoning the council, obtaining CPZ permits and vouchers, problems finding information on the Council website
• Car clubs
• Road & pavement repairs
• The Police possibly closing Ealing police station
• How to encourage more residents to recycle more often

2) Housing

• Review of Ealing Homes ALMO being brought back in house
• Beds and sheds / Overcrowding
• Review of High Street Regeneration - e.g. Hanwell
• Alcohol - use and social effects

3) Education / Children & Young People

• Youth unemployment and apprenticeships
• Antisocial behaviour
• Adult education
• Sports and other extra-curricular activities

4) Health

• Treatment and care for those with Cancer, Diabetes or TB

Although only about a quarter of these might be selected hopefully working on these committees can help the Council improve areas that it manages. Let me know if there is any other topics you feel should be added to the list....

Boris Johnson’s job figures don’t add up

The Mayor of London has failed to defend his claims to be creating 200,000 new jobs over the next four years when challenged at City Hall today by the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member Stephen Knight.

Boris Johnson was elected on a 9 point plan, with his third pledge to Londoners, being the creation of 200,000 new jobs over the next four years. At the first Mayor's Question Time session since his re-election Boris Johnson was unable to defend or explain how the pledge to deliver the promised new jobs would be delivered.

Stephen Knight spoke about the issue after today's Mayor Question Time: "When you examine the figures it is clear that Boris Johnson is claiming 104,000 of these new jobs would be created through his housing programme, however in reality there will be only about 25,000 people employed each year. In order to claim this as 100,000 new jobs the Mayor has counted each person employed per year as a new job. This is as daft as saying the Mayor of London himself will be holding four jobs over the next four years.”

Stephen added: “The claims about new jobs also fall apart as it is clear that the Mayor will hardly deliver any more new homes than have been built over the last four years of his Mayorality.   The Mayor’s housing programme will deliver less than 200 additional jobs in the next 4 years, with the programme largely maintaining existing jobs. Not long ago, the Mayor claimed ‘public trust in statistics is critically important in a democracy’.  It is time the Mayor practiced what he preached and stopped peddling dishonest statistics.”

Write up of the the Southfield Safer Neighbourhood Police Panel

On Monday night I attended the Southfield Safer Neighbourhood Police Panel meeting which is a chance for residents and the police to discuss current and recent local crimes trends. Myself and fellow ward Councillor Andrew Steed attended.

I updated the meeting with the recent confirmation that Southfield Rec will get lighting for two of the commonly used pathways. The lighting will be scheduled to be on for a few hours in the morning and a few in the evening so that people can get to and from work more safely.

It was announced that during the Olympics the ward would still be patrolled as the Met officers ware working more overtime shifts to ensure they cover their own local shifts while some officers are drafted to help out in central London.

Of the recent crimes the local Sergeant said that many of them could have been easily avoided - by taking belongings out of your cars, making sure you keep your doors and windows shut when you leave the house. Also when you leave the tube or rail stations do not be tempted to get your phone or your iPod out as some criminals wait for this then pounce. They will have the surprise element. Be aware.

A couple of local crimes were discussed. One relates to drug issues on a road coming from Acton Vale. Later the issue of a brothel near to Southfield Road was mentioned. If you know anything about this topic then you should report it as the police have a new system for prioritising calls.

The system is called "Grip and Pace" and it works by giving points for calls about a a particular person or a crime. When a number of people report the same person in relation to a crime or that a crime is happening then the crime is prioritised higher than it currently does. Often many people do not report crimes due to the fact that  they assume someone else has done so. This system gives more attention to crimes reported by more people. Although the system is new it sounds as if it might help the police to give more attention to the crimes that residents often see. My advice is to report anything dodgy you see and give as good a description of criminals as you can as this will help give the police more intelligence to solve crimes.

Lastly there was some good news about a change of local policing structures. What it means quite simply is that   in the near future each section of Ealing (e.g. Acton including Chiswick) will have a dedicated set of detectives who work with the local police team to help investigate those local crimes. This appears to be a positive step from the Met. Hopefully it will mean that the many sections of the local police teams will speak to each other and be more proactive in preventing and solving crimes.

If you want to know more information about the local police team and how to contact them please email me. My email address is: gary.malcolm@ealing.gov.uk

Who is telling the truth - Dennehy or Millican?

It was revealed this week that Ealing Councillor (ex Conservative) Benjamin Dennehy has publicly attacked Conservative Leader David Millican over the blog that he wrote making claims about Southall and its residents.

My take on the blog was that Councillor Dennehy had clearly overstepped his mark and said things that were very offensive to both Indians and residents in Southall. After taking feedback from friends, some in Ealing and others not in London, I made an official complaint against Councillor Dennehy.

This case is still in the process of being heard. I also wrote to David Cameron (yes, the Prime Minister, demanding that he expel Councillor Dennehy from the Conservative party).

Through the online websites www.ealingtoday.co.uk and www.ealinggazette.co.uk both the Conservative Leader and the ex Conservative councillor essentially makes claims which both cannot be true. Who is telling the truth? Dennehy? Millican? Or neither?

The differences come down to whether Councillor Dennehy is expelled or suspended. Also it is claimed that the Conservative leader approved the blog. Again is this true? Did the Conservative Leader see the blog after it was posted and then believe it was okay?

Have a read of the Ealing Today's article on this matter. Then read the story in the Ealing Gazette. I normally would not promote someone else's blog but why not then read  Councillor Dennehy's blog!

Lots of questions and few answers. But one thing is clear the Conservatives are ripping themselves apart on this issue. Why did it take so long for Councillor Dennehy to make an apology?

If I had made such negative claims about Southall and the Indian community I would have thought that an apology should have been made within days not weeks or months. You judge for yourself...