Support for Ken is Waning

Today I have been knocking on doors in Chiswick. It isn't the sort of area you would expect to get huge support for Ken but clearly when a significant share of Labour voters I speak to say they are not voting for Ken it looks like he won't become the Mayor of London.

Support for Ken Livingstone is waning and more and more Londoners cannot bring themselves to vote for a candidate that has a real credibility problem.

Liberal Democrat Caroline Pigeon and Brian Paddick, along with their energetic and diverse team of London Assembly candidates, can offer real change and a real alternative to the Tory run Mayoralty.

They have lots of fresh and creative ideas for London and here are just five of them:

• A fairer London, with realistic fare cuts targeted at those who need them most: a One Hour Bus Ticket; Early Bird discounts; and Part-Time season tickets.
• A greener London, with electric buses, taxis and vans by 2020.
• A safer London, with police who listen to the concerns of local people and work with them against the criminals.
• Serious solutions to London’s biggest problems, such as tackling the housing crisis by building 360,000 new homes.
• Creating a network of Youth Hubs to give young people a positive alternative to gangs.

There are so many reasons why if you sit on the left of London politics, you do not have to vote for Livingstone.

To read more about what Brian Paddick would do, have a look at his manifesto here.

How to Avoid Being a Victim of Holiday Crime

I was speaking to the Safer Neighbourhood team in my area and they passed me some great tips on how to reduce being a victim of crime...

As summer approaches, many of you may soon be planning to go off on a well earned holiday. The police would like all residents to head off on holiday in the knowledge that they have done all they can to secure their homes whilst away.  Here are a few tips which the police team believe may help:

• If you are going away on holiday for a long period of time ask your neighbour or a relative to ensure your post is pushed fully thorough the letter box, letters sticking out of letter slots can be an indicator that you are away.
• Remember to cancel your milk and paper orders.
• Put light timer switches on in the house, try to have one that turns your TV on and off - these are available from all good hardware stores.

Simple advice that we all show try and follow. Do spread the word to help reduce crime.

Brian Paddick Walks the Walk

By far the largest numbers of journeys in London are made on foot. By developing better pedestrian schemes in our town centres and encouraging the growth of ‘green walkways’, we can make our town centres attractive places to shop, work and live. De-cluttering London’s streets, by removing excess signs and street furniture will also help in improving the local environment.

Brian Paddick will lead the way and will:

• Implement a bold plan to allow pedestrianisation of parts of central London from Trafalgar Square to Oxford Street.
• Develop a ‘summer streets’ scheme, similar to New York, temporarily pedestrianising streets so encouraging people to explore and travel to their destinations in central London on foot.
• Provide better signage to help people use pavements and footpaths highlighting the 108 tube journeys that are actually quicker on foot.
• Encourage walking, through incentives similar to store card loyalty schemes, using Oyster or smart phone technology.
• Extend 20mph speed limits to dangerous busy streets controlled by TfL where Londoners live, work and play – so reducing accidents and saving millions of pounds from the health service budget alone
• Set ambitious targets to encourage walking to school.
• Increase support for schemes like London’s Greenways, making them more attractive to use for recreational activities.
• There are 347 crossings in London that are unsafe for visually impaired people. Disability access standards must be met for every pedestrian crossing.

Professor David Bellamy Supports Gunnersbury Triangle‏ Campaign

Over the past couple of months hundreds of residents have been campaigning to protect leafy Gunnersbury Triangle from a proposed development. The campaign recently has had a lift when Professor David Bellamy has joined the campaign against the development.

The proposed development on the adjacent land, Collonial Drive, Chiswick, contains over a hundred flats with buildings over 6 stories tall.

Your three Liberal Democrat Southfield Councillors are against this development as it will cause damage to the Triangle, both visually and to the wildlife as the buildings would be only metres away from the border of the Triangle. There would be a lot of parking related issues as well.

David Bellamy when speaking to me recently spoke of the work he did in 1983 to save this "wonderful site from development". He added that: "The Public Inquiry at that time set a precedent in the UK in its ruling that urban nature should be favoured over commercial development.  It would be a terrible wrong to undo the spirit of that ruling by approving a development which would remove many of the benefits which were granted by this decision."

He is quite right. The proposed development is far too big; it is too tall, and too close to the boundary of the Reserve. Many aspects of this proposal will have an extremely harmful impact on the flora and fauna of the Gunnersbury Triangle: the reflective materials in the building; the overlooking windows and balconies; the noise from residents; damage from their pets; potential recreational use for parties and barbecues - these would be impossible to prohibit or enforce against.  The Triangle is proud of the bats which make this Reserve their home - they and the birds would suffer from the light pollution from this enormous structure.

A petition was set up that you can sign on line: Click to sign the petition

If you have questions please contact me by emailing me: gary.malcolm@ealing.gov.uk

Making the Cycle Hire scheme work for all of London

Part of encouraging cycling is making the cycle hire scheme work much better. Satisfaction of those who register and actual use a bike is dropping, while many find the casual users’ scheme too complicated. The Liberal Democrats first advocated a bike hire scheme in 2001 and want to make sure it works for the widest range of Londoners. Generating more income will come through greater usage by many more people.

Liberal Democrats will:

1. Promote the scheme to groups who are not using it regularly, particularly women and younger adults who live in London.
2. Make the scheme easier to use for casual users with a ‘one swipe’ facility.
3. Expand to south London and further into West and North London.
4. Require the contractor to improve overall service levels including the distribution of bikes or face tough penalties.
5. Increase the annual membership fee to non-Londoners.
6. Introduce special ‘limited edition’ bikes to celebrate key events such as the Diamond Jubilee, Pride and the 2012 Games and to put some fun back into the scheme.

Gunnersbury Park, Non Waste collection statement - Council's Cabinet meeting last night

Here is a summary of last night's Cabinet meeting in Ealing...

Non collection of Waste
The meeting started off with the Labour Councillor responsible for waste and recycling, giving a statement (apology) about the weeks of non-collections of household waste and recyclables. Although the contractor's performance has improved, it clearly isn't up to scratch.

They have been using lots of temporary staff to collect the waste. We await to see some perfection which we are told should be the norm!

Ealing Council is holding a meeting in Early May dedicated to this one subject. We think a proper and public review needs happen so that the Council officers whose job it is to manage the contractor explain why the contractor was allowed to mess up so badly. It appears no-one took the necessary actions to predict this when some things could have been avoidable.

Sign our petition calling for a full investigation into why this was allowed to happen: Sign the petition!

Same old faces, different jobs
In what appears to be an attempt to show Leadership (when he has been criticised publicly in recent weeks) the Conservative opposition Leader has reshuffled his political pack. It appears that their financial spokesperson has been moved to a less contentious area. Like most reshuffled they bring forward few new ideas. The same people in different roles.

Gunnersbury Park
The Liberal Democrats have been the only party over the past ten years to campaign on this issue. In recent times the Council have made commitments to invest in the Park so the buildings can be preserved. As part of this process the Labour-run Council is looking at leasing out the Small Mansion and Stables. My group feel that  although this may bring in money it may also allow for uses which are not positive to park users.

I gained a commitment from the Leader of the Council to ensure that a representative of all three political parties in Ealing can discuss the possible leasing arrangements before the Cabinet makes a decision on this very important location. Councillor Jon Ball has been an active campaigner on this and he is looking forward to seeing how the park can be renovated without any harm being done to the land or trees.

Childrens Centres
The Council is to put some money into Children Centres (a lot is coming from the coalition government) which is a good use of money. The Conservatives were verbally attacked as a number of Tory Councils have closed Childrens Centres, as they did not see them as a priority sadly.

Perivale and Hanwell Libraries
A year after the Liberal Democrat Group budgeted for funding to renovate these two libraries (the Labour-run Ealing Council was to close them). Since then with residents support the Council made a u-turn and has now finally pledged the money to get the renovation work done. Good news.

The bad news will be that the libraries are likely to be closed for about six months each (from the end of this year). I understand that officers are looking at what can be done to reduce the time where the libraries are closed.

Blue Badges 
After years Ealing blue badge holders might now not have to hide their blue badges when they park their vehicles overnight. When they did this their badge was safe but lots of residents got parking fines as the rules said they needed the badge to be placed in the window.

The council are to create a new permit which will cost no more than the cheapest permit (it is said to be charged so that it only covers the admin fees). No exact price is known yet. If you bought the permit then you would place the permit in the window of your designated car. This way thefts should be reduced.

Lighting for crime hotspots
The Council last year promised to upgrade the lighting in places where crime was high. They said they would upgrade lighting at three locations. The report last night, covering this years lighting, will improve six areas.

One area is Warple Way which is the road between Acton and Chiswick. There was an attack a few months ago and the Southfield ward Liberal Democrats agreed to fund lighting for the alleyway and get the overgrowth cur down to reduce the crime levels and the fear of crime. This additional money is welcomed. I look forward to the scheme being introduced.

Reducing Pollution and New Technology in London

So much about London is about making our TODAYS fast and furious but little is spent on making what we have last - whether that be our transport, our buildings or our environment. London’s buses, taxis and vans still mostly run on diesel. This should no longer be the case. Air pollution from traffic causes huge health problems and this must change.

Under our Big Switch plan, all of London’s buses and taxis, and most commercial vans, will run on electricity by 2020. This is financed primarily through fuel cost savings, so taxi drivers will make big savings too.

Brian Paddick will:

1. Modify the existing Source London charging network to focus on supporting buses, vans and taxis in central London where the pollution is worst.
2. Begin at once to purchase new electric buses as well as trialling the retro-fitting of electric power trains into existing buses.
3. Ensure that by 2016 all buses in central London, the most polluted area, are powered by clean electricity, with all 8,500 of London’s buses converted by 2020.
4. Run a competition for a new iconic London electric black taxi and begin production by 2015 of at least one electric taxi design.
5. Set up a clean air zone for central London modelled on current schemes in European cities like Berlin, using national registration details to enforce higher engine standards, with income from fines ringfenced to fund a scrappage scheme.
6. Explore with manufacturers the setting up of a subsidy scheme to reduce the upfront capital costs for drivers needing to convert to electric vehicles.