Still no official apology from Ealing Council

If you saw my blog post on how Ealing Council provided me with my Freedom of Information request not just late, but apparently with the wrong figures, you will wonder why, after another three days, Ealing Council still has not written to me to apologise for what looks like a mistake.

See my initial blogpost on this subject.

The more time that passes by without a proper response the more it appears that Ealing Council is hiding away from the truth of what happened.

I wrote to Ealing's Chief Executive and said the following: "I now have to wonder whether any of the data produced [by Ealing Council] is correct. I am sure that  Ealing Council is not withholding information inappropriately or producing mis-information, but I at the moment am less than reassured."

All I can do it wait...

Thames Tunnel Meeting in Chiswick

I attended the Thames Tunnel meeting earlier this evening. It was organised by the local Southfield Park Triangle Residents'Association and had three representatives from Thames Water. Myself and fellow ward Councillors Harvey Rose and Andrew Steed attended to listen to their views from residents.

The Thames Tunnel project is to build a new and large sewer, to hopefully stop the Thames from the pollution of sewage we currently have to endure in London. Thames Water say: "The project will tackle the problem of overflows from the capital’s Victorian sewers for at least the next 100 years, and enable the UK to meet European environmental standards."

If you have not heard about the consultation then please see this website.

In basic terms the plan from Thames Water is to use parts of their existing pumping station and storm water tanks site (adjacent to Canham Road) for this construction work. They also want to build a ventilation chimney on the site.

At the meeting there was nearly 50 residents and after the three Thames Water staff spoke about the current plans, residents had the chance to ask questions. During the discussion a number of points were made:

• Thames Water's plan is to build construction shaft adjacent to Canham Road.
• The construction time for the proposed Thames Tunnel is 4 years and it would probably finish in 2022
• Planning permission from the Planning Inspectorate will be sought in early 2013.
• A previous report for noise caused by Thames Tunnel showed it would negatively affect Greenend Road
• Thames Water stated that they plan to do some (for about 6 months) of the works 24 hours a day
• The proposed ventilation chimney would be 5 stories tall (and seen from neighbouring streets)
• Thames said that the air will not smell, coming from the ventilation shaft
• One resident thought that the Thames Tunnel ventilation tunnel could be made into a feature.
• Thames Water said they will consider replacement parking given their vehicles will reduce residents' parking provision (but no details of how this might work were quoted)
• Thames Water have pledged to ensure that security during construction of Thames Tunnel will not allow people to breach the fencing

When the meeting ended obviously a lot of residents were not convinced about some of the promises made by Thames Water.

Personally I feel that Ealing Council (who only got involved in this late into the day) need to really ensure that if planning approval is given for the works, then it must ensure 100% that Thames Water so not flout their promises about any noise their work and equipment might cause.

There will be opportunities for residents to give their views on the latest proposals and this was said to occur later this Summer.

Watch this space!

Update from the Southfield Ward Forum meeting (13th June)

Last night's meeting was held in the Acton Green Church Hall, Cunnington Street and we discussed the following issues:

1. Southfield Recreational Ground - update

• It was announced that that up to five fitness-related items of equipment will be installed in the coming months. The park ranger said these items are sturdy and are commonly used even in Winter!
• The works to install new lights for two paths across Southfield Recreational Ground are scheduled to start at the end of June and are expected to be finished in August. The lights will have timer devices so that residents can get between Acton to Chiswick early in the morning and in the evenings after work.

2. Controlled Parking Zones

• We agreed to make some changes to a number of the ward's CPZs. Please see a summary of the changes that will be made.
• We also agreed to spend £500 so that the residents of Dordrecht Road and Valetta Road can be consulted at some CPZ changes that were made about 2 years ago. Your Liberal Democrat Councillors have been in liaison with the three East Acton Councillors as part of the CPZ is also in East Acton.

3. Southfield Road parade improvements

• It was announced that the ward had won a share of Ealing Council monies so that the parade near the Zebra crossing on Southfield Road near to Brookfield Road will have improvements made so that hopefully it is easier to access the area and encourage more use of the parade.

4. Other spends to improve the area

• Installing lighting in the area of Fishers Lane near the bridge
• Removal of yellow lines that are not needed and possibly replacing them with CPZ bays to reduce parking issues (Ivy Crescent and Priory Road are two locations selected)
• A traffic survey to the part of Acton Lane near to the 94 bus terminus
• New signage for Evershed Walk as it appears large vehicles are commonly trying to enter Evershed Walk from Acton Lane. Evershed Walk is a no through road so the signs should help to reduce the number of times vehicles are entering the road.
• Planting eight trees on Southfield Road, Rusthall Avenue, Acton Lane, Wilkinson Way, St. Albans Avenues, Ramillies Road, Vanburgh Road and Marborough Crescent.

The next meeting takes place on 20th September at the Carlton Day Centre, Carlton Road, W4 from 7.30pm. All invited.

Councillors agree to CPZ changes for Southfield

Last night at the Southfield ward forum there was a lot of interesting debate about a range of issues. The most important item that was discussed was the results of the re-consultation that myself and two fellow Liberal Democrat Councillors persuaded Ealing Council to conduct.

Over the past couple of years a couple of parking and CPZ issues have arrisen and we looked to see what could be done to improve things. The things we agreed were:

Zone R (Southfield CPZ) - based in the North-eastern side of the ward

• Retain the CPZ for the same days of operation
• Change the hours of operation to one hour in the morning and one in the afternoon so that more visitors can stay without having to buy visitors vouchers (that are very expensive)
• Investigate the conditions of use of the stop and shop bays to see if changes might be made to promote more use of the shopping parades in the area
• The Eastern section of Southfield Road, which is often  not frequently used, will become duel zoned which will mean that it can also be used by those in zone B (Whellock Road for example)

Zone B (Bedford Park CPZ)

• No changes were agreed to this zone so the days of operation and times of day will be retained
• A decision was taken not to move Montgomery from zone B to zone M.

Zone M (Acton Green CPZ)

• No changes will be made so the days of operation and times of day will be retained
• Investigate the conditions of use of the stop and shop bays to see if changes might be made to promote more use of the shopping parades in the area

For the zones where changes will be made it agreed to monitor the changes in about 6 months time from when the changes occur, to monitor whether the changes have had a positive effect.

The details of when changes will take place is not known yet as it usually takes a couple of months for the legal changes to be made.

If you want to read about the other discussions and agreement at the ward meeting last night please click here.

Why should I trust any figures from Ealing Council?

At a meeting last night I was asking the Ealing Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, about the number of meetings he had attended with the new contractor Enterprise.

Nothing strange you think but previous to the meeting I had a Freedom of Information request sent to me detailing 32 meetings that had occurred involving Ealing Council and Enterprise, the contractor who failed miserably in April to collect our waste when the new contract started.

Of these 32 meetings it stated that Councillor Bassam Mahfouz had only attended three of them and they were only in the last month before the contract started which gives the appearance that the administration was not hands-on enough to ensure the contractor was set up and ready to do what they needed to when the contract started.

Councillor Bassam Mahfouz made a statement that he had attended a meeting not in my Freedom of Information request. So two possibilities:

• Either Councillor Bassam Mahfouz said he attended a meeting he did not (but he appeared sure of himself); or
• Ealing Council had produced inaccurate figures on this crucial matter.

Which of those is correct? Well I can only guess but which ever it does not make Ealing Council look trustworthy. To add insult to injury the Council is meant to get the information in my Freedom of Information request within 20 working days - it actually took much longer. So are Ealing Council hiding something?

I await to get a full apology from either Ealing Council or Councillor Bassam Mahfouz...

Watch this space.

Success for the Local Southfield Safer Neighbourhood Police Team

We all want the police to be more proactive instead of just waiting for the crimes to occur.

I am a member of the Southfield ward police forum which is made up of the local police team, residents and the three Liberal Democrat councillors for the area.

We heard some good news from the police sergeant recently. After a recent spike in all crimes everything is reducing again.

Good News Story 1: 
Firstly a large scale High Visibility Operation was conducted recently encompassing Acton High Street. PC Harrison arrested four subjects and recovered a large amount of Cocaine, Cannabis, Cash and also arrested them for possession of an Offensive Weapon and Going Equipped to steal. All of these subjects have previously been of limited interest but have stepped up, they also show themselves to be dealing within the ward catchment area. Well done (part one)!

Good News Story 2: 
Secondly, the local police team have been trying to arrest a person for a recent spate of Robberies within the Vale area of Southfield. This was a lone male targeting vulnerable lone females during the commuting periods.

The police team joined with the East Acton Ward officers to target a variety of locations. In a further operation within an hour the suspect was arrested and looks to be responsible for a large amount of these offences. Well done again!

Click the link to contact the police

Conservative councillor wants unhealthy people removed - so his house rises in value!

Many people get annoyed at NHS postcode lotteries, but a Conservative councillor has come up with a proposal which would essentially mean that if you drink, smoke or are obese should be told to shape up or leave the borough.

See the website describing the draconian proposals.

Conservative Councillor John Butcher (from Surrey) has stuck the knife into the back of the NHS in an email to Council officers, describing our health service as both “a Marxist organisation” and states that it [the NHS] is “bound to fail”.

He went on to call for health policies to be altered so to bring about polarisation between those who live healthier and less healthy lifestyles, hoping that those who live healthier lifestyles will be increasingly attracted to areas such as Surrey and those who live less healthy lives will be driven to live in other parts of the country.

Perhaps we should publicise his home address so they can live in his nice, healthy garden!

We then got to the meat of why he thinks what he does. He went on to talk about more healthy people moving into Surrey and "that would push up house prices”. I see this Councillor wishes to destroy the NHS so we can ensure he can sell his home for a bigger profit.

He is clearly not deserving to be a Councillor. I hope he is due to stand for election shortly so those who he labels as being "unhealthy" can vote him out!