West Ealing Neighbours

Council

Introduction

Ealing (www.ealing.gov.uk) has had its civic headquarters in Ealing Town Hall (formerly called Victoria Hall) since 1888. With the formation of the Greater London Council in 1965, the new London Borough of Ealing was created incorporating Acton, Ealing and Southall. Over the last 16 years the Council has been controlled by Labour 1994-2006); by the Conservatives 2006-2010: and now again by Labour. Many of the the Council Officers work out of Perceval House, a modern office block 'next door' to the Town Hall.

The Borough of Ealing is the fourth largest of all the London boroughs. With over 310,000 residents, it has many more residents than the country of Iceland. The Council's annual gross turnover in 2008/9 exceeded Ł1.1billion and the Council has staggering long term borrowings of over Ł500 million. The annual staff salary bill is an enormous Ł300+ million, and this does not include the fees paid to external contractors. of which there are many in Perceval House. In 2010 the Council's CEO - Martin Smith will be paid a basic salary of over Ł170,00/year.

At the May 2010 Local Government elections the Labour Party swept to power, much to the surprise of most residents. 40 of the 69 new Councillors are Labour Party Councillors. The central area of Ealing is still though totally dominated by Conservative Councillors. Councillor elections will take place again in May 2014.

West Ealing lies within parts of five Electoral Wards - Cleveland, Ealing Broadway, Elthorne, Northfield and Walpole. There are 13 Conservative Councillors, one Labour Councillor and one Lib Dem Councillor who represent the residents and business owners in these Wards and consequently the West Ealing community.

Ealing Council describes the Borough of Ealing as being made up of seven Districts - Acton & Park Royal, Ealing, Greenford, Hanwell, Northolt, Perivale and Southall. Each of these Districts had Area Committees until early 2008, which discussed local issues and make recommendations to the Ealing Council Cabinet.

West Ealing geographically ‘sits' between Ealing (centre) and Hanwell, each of whose Area Committees attempted to deal with West Ealing issues. West Ealing issues were seldom a priority in these Area Committee meetings.

The new instrument of Ealing's local democracy is Ward Forums, in which West Ealing residents participate in five of these Forums - Cleveland, Ealing Broadway, Elthorne, Northfield and Walpole. These Forums began in September/October 2008. Only time will tell whether these new 'finer grained' democratic instruments will impart greater or lesser benefit than their predecessor Area Committees. Sadly unlike in other parts of the UK where there are often six forums/year the Ealing style Ward Forums boast just three/year. See upcoming Forum meeting dates below. Type in 'Ward Forums' in the search engine at www.ealing.gov.uk for more info. Also the ever helpful Neighbourhood Co-ordinator Evelyn Gloyn will answer all your queries. Contact her at mywardmatters@ealing.gov.uk and on 020 8825 8021.

West Ealing centre is afflicted with a Regional Government designation of being part of 'Ealing Metropolitan Centre' (EMC). This designation can be found in The London Plan. EMC is spatially a 'dumbell' shape with Ealing centre in the east; West Ealing centre to the west; and an office alley in between. EMC status would allow a very 'great ' level of development ie a property developer might 'legally' put in a planning application for a 40 storey residential tower in West Ealing centre. As West Ealing residents don't appear to want the town to turn into Croydon or Manhattan, this EMC desination seems acutely inappropriate.

WEN is campaigning for West Ealing to be given District status, and for its 30,000 or so residents and business owners to enjoy equal access to the democratic processes enjoyed by those throughout the rest of Ealing.

Since 2007 the Conservative Council made itself unpopular by supporting and approving planning applications to build two, huge housing estates in the centre of Ealing. One of them - Arcadia, with 567 flats - was the subject of an acrimonious Govenment Public Inquiry in 2009. Ealing Council lost the Inquiry, and the Government said no. The other estate - Dickens Yard, with 698 flats - appears to be going ahead, but a legal challenge is still a distinct possibility.

The outgoing Conservative controlled Council did a good job with street cleaning, grafitti removal, reducing fly-tipping and making major improvements in rubbish collection and recycling.

West Ealing Councillors

Cleveland

John Popham (Con) 020 8997 3760 john.popham@ealing.gov.uk

Gregory Stafford (Con) gregory.stafford@ealing.gov.uk

Lucy Grant (Con) lucy.grant@ealing.gov.uk

Ealing Broadway

Ian Potts (Con) 020 8997 1227 ian.potts@ealing.gov.uk

David Scott (Con) 020 8932 2497 david.scott@ealing.gov.uk

Anthony Young (Con) 020 8567 2724 anthony.young@ealing.gov.uk

Elthorne

Anita Kapoor (Con) 020 8825 7887 anita.kapoor@ealing.gov.uk

Nigel Bakhai (LibDem) nigel.bakhai@ealing.gov.uk

Yoel Gordon (Lab) yoel.gordon@ealing.gov.uk

Northfield

David Millican (Con) 020 8810 1989 david.millican@ealing.gov.uk

Mark Reen (Con) 020 8825 7887 mark.reen@ealing.gov.uk

Philip Taylor (Con) 020 8825 7887 philip.taylor@ealing.gov.uk

Walpole

Ann Chapman (Con) 020 8566 4175 ann.chapman@ealing.gov.uk

John Cowing (Con) 020 8825 7887, 020 8567 1435 john.cowing@ealing.gov.uk

Ashok Kapoor (Con) 020 8579 4499 ashok.kapoor@ealing.gov.uk

2010 Ward Forums

Dates to be set sometime after the new Council is announced on 7th May, 2010. As of 31 May, 2010 no dates have been published and the Council's Ward Forum web pages have not been updated for months.

2010 Council Meetngs

Tuesday 1 June: Cabinet
Tuesday 15 June: Council
Tuesday 22 June: Cabinet
Wednesday 23 June: CPZ Scrutiny
Wednesday 30 June: Planning