LibDems want to see more community facilities and having a greater number of apprenticeships

I attended the Ealing Riots Scrutiny Panel laast night and it has pointed the way to areas which the Council should look at to avoid future riots.

I was caught up in the riots for some of the evening in Ealing Common and saw some of the problems first hand. My initial thoughts based upon residents views last night are that the areas Ealing Council should concentration on are:

• Promoting the current set of community facilities we have in Ealing such as youth clubs

• More actively investing in apprenticeships

• Encouraging more young people to get involved in Council activities such as ward forum and local police meetings

Although there is no silver bullet there are a number of things the Council can do to help avoid future riots such as using ward forums as a focus to engage more young people. In my ward covering some of Acton and Chiswick we have invested over £10,000 in a local youth club which appears to be having a real positive impact on teenagers in the area. They feel safer, are having fun and giving something back to the area.