A great success: the Beaumont Road PlayStreet‏

Last weekend myself and Councillor Gary Busuttil were able to attend a lively street party in Beaumont Road.

The event, where resident have their street closed off from traffic for a few hours, usually on a Sunday, was organised by Jill Ward and Vanessa Folley.

Photo taken by Jill Ward

It gave people a chance to meet each other, many of whom did not either know or commonly speak to their neighbours. There was a great atmosphere with lots of children playing games whilst the adults tucked into the homemade cupcakes!


PlayStreet joint organiser, Jill Ward, said: "We were thrilled to have over 40 people come to our first PlayStreet. We met neighbours we had never even seen! It gave our road a real sense of community & people have been thanking me all week.

The work to set it up was minimal with the letters & survey were all prepared by the Council. We can now run a PlayStreet once a month & following its successful start several neighbouring streets are planning to start their own!"

Three top tips the Beaumont Road PlayStreet organisers gave were:

• Talk to a couple of neighbours before you start to see if there is interest
• Agree a time for a PlayStreet with them so you have support
• Ask a couple of people to help with stewarding in advance

Last year the Southfield ward Liberal Democrat Councillors persuaded Ealing Council to not charge residents for these types of events as they bring people together.

If you would like to start up a street party then please check out Playing Out, Ealing Council's website or let us know and we can help you out!

Ealing does not need Heathrow to be expanded

Howard Davies's Airports Commission recently delivered a massive blow to residents in Ealing and West London, when it gave the go ahead to expand Heathrow.

Only the Liberal Democrats have been resolutely against expanding Heathrow, locally, regionally and nationally, as we see our quality of life worsening if there is an increase in air traffic. The additional air and noise pollution will make our lives worse.

I recall visiting a school in Hounslow where the pupils could not play outside due to the planes that there already are. Anymore and we will be causing problems for not just how our children can be educated but their enjoyment of their time at school.

Time at school should be fun and a chance to socialise whilst learning, not avoiding the noise of large planes going over head.

Some residents have mentioned the proposed cap on night flights but I think we know that any expansion will lead to an increased number of people in Acton and Chiswick suffering from flight noise in the short term, to a u-turn and more night flights.

I am also very cynical about whether the airline industry will fund triple glazing or investing in planes that will be much quieter and much more fuel efficient.

By encouraging flights without altering the tax system we are missing the point. We need to both invest in more environmentally friendly methods of transport whilst ensuring that more polluting methods of transport such as airlines pay the correct taxes to pay for the increased environmental damage they cause.

Both the Tories and the Labour parties have said they will accept the commission’s report which was published after the general election to avoid embarrassment to them. Sadly only the Liberal Democrats will be standing up to fight for the residents of Ealing.

I fear that future generations of our children will suffer for the short term greed of our country.