Notes of WEN Public Meeting 30th September 2009

David Highton, Chair of WEN introduced the meeting and provided a brief update on WEN's activities:

Lido Junction - A report has now been completed by some members of WEN, Five Roads Forum and Kingsdown Residents Association to look at tackling the ongoing problems at this junction.  A full copy of the report can be found on www.westealingneighbours.org.uk Arthur Breens also has an updated model of the junction and proposals to go through after the meeting.

St James Avenue - WEN and others have put forward ideas to the council on how to fill this dead space.  Ideas include the following: A monthly Arts and Crafts Market, Dr Bike sessions, use of Art in this space.

SEAL - Eric Leach, Vice Chair of WEN, has been very involved with the SEAL project (Save Ealing Lamp posts) and most of the lampposts have now been restored in the designated areas.

Green Man Lane - Development is happening here.  There is going to be a public exhibition soon (later- Saturday 10th October ) in Jubilee Hall.  Details will be on our website.

Local Development framework - WEN will be formulating a response to Steve Barton on this.  Responses need to be back by 16^th October.

WEN is planning for a Festival in west Ealing commencing in September 2010.

Our new committee member, Sarah Judic, will be launching a book club soon - watch out for news on our website.

1. St Mungo's Homeless Charity

Steve Watson and Luton Sinfield from St Mungo's talked about the specific issues in West Ealing regarding street drinkers, particularly those that gather around Dean Gardens.  There have also been issues in Acton and Southall over the summer. A large proportion of street drinkers are from Eastern Europe, specifically Poland and they do not have recourse to public funds and thus cannot attend any rehabilitation. As a result St Mungo's are trying to work more creatively with these individuals. In 2011 both Romania and Bulgaria will also be part of the EU, therefore the problem could conceivably get worse as many prefer to be in the UK where winter conditions are still relatively warm compared to winters in Poland of sub 20°.

2.Ealing Transition Towns Initiative

Trevor Sharman from Ealing Transition Towns introduced this session. Ealing Transition is part of National Transition Town Movements and its purpose is to raise awareness of peak oil and its impact. Peak oil is when the level of production of oil reaches its maximum and only a finite amount is left. Experts state that we are pretty much there now.  It doesn't mean that it will run out but it will certainly get much more expensive.

To help plan for the future Ealing Transition have shown 3 films so far and discussion have taken place about what to do as a local community in terms of sustainable food production.  Certainly part of this is to create a sense of neighbours and a sense of community. The next film is 11^th October. Details on website www.ealingtransition.org.uk Ealing Transition are also looking to respond to the Local Development Framework documents and how Ealing can commit to reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

3. Lido Junction Report

Three local residents groups - WEN, Five Roads Forum and Kingsdown Residents' Assn -  has produced a report to tackle the issues of this junction.  As part of the study spent some time assessing the traffic at peak times at the junction.  Some of the figures are surprising:

• 2,500 vehicles cross the Lido junction at peak times
• 700 pedestrians per hour cross at peak times
• 75% have to cross without any protection

Summary of proposals:

• Introduce an all red stop phase
  
• Stop all traffic to allow pedestrians to cross safely
  
• Diagonal crossings
  
• New North/South bus route
  

The report is the start of communication with Ealing Council and TfL and WEN will be setting up meetings with both parties to go through the proposals.

4. Q&A Session

Tony Elley raised the issue of seemingly illegal developments in back gardens and the problems with the changes in planning law and the lack of resource at Ealing Council to deal with the increasing number of illegal developments. Councillor Millican was in attendance and answered questions from Tony as well as others at the meeting.

At the end many individuals gathered around Arthur Breens model of the Lido Junction to discuss further and Councillor Millican also stayed behind for further discussion on back yard developments.

Diane Gill and David Highton

6th October 2009