Category: David Highton

Posted on

Why it’s important that the Solace drop-in mental health centre in West Ealing survives the cuts

 

 

Solace Centre

We’ve looked before at the efforts being made to save the Solace Centre in West Ealing, Ealing’s only drop-in mental health centre.  Why does it matter?  This question is best answered by people who use it and here is why they passionately believe it matters not just to them but to the whole borough:
‘Why are we so passionate about stopping this proposed closure?
Solace is pivotal in keeping us (the Solace service users) well in the community, staying away from more expensive mental health resources.
We come to the Solace Centre because we have all experienced many mental health hospital admissions (resulting in lots of personal upheaval, distress, distress and pain). What we need is practical day-to-day help, friendship, togetherness, care so we can keep independent, stable, maintained and connected within the Ealing community.
All of us (some 85 members, a total of 130 service users) who use this service suffer from long and enduring mental health problems (mainly psychotic illnesses). We all attend Solace regularly (there were 9,242 attendances last year). Staff know us very well and can tell when our mental health is deteriorating and in risk of relapse.
The Solace Centre is the only out of hours mental health resource in the Ealing borough. It’s open 265 days of the year offering a potential of 1,664 hours respite yearly (for members and carers). Open from Monday-Friday 4-8pm and Saturday and Sunday12noon-6pm (weekends for meembers only).
Our ages are between 20-76 years, with the majority between 40-59 years and from a diverse ethnicity. Unusually, half the members are women because they feel safe and accepted.
Labour can stop this proposal (to close Solace). The Council runs the Solace Centre on £104,000 yearly with the West London Mental Health Trust contributing £47,000 a year towards the weekend service. This budget is small in comparison with a re-admission back into hospital. A mental health ward bed is £350 a night. An admission is usually around two to three months and often a lot longer. It would only take two or three members to go back to hospital before this budget would be outstripped.
We are really anxious over this proposal but have been working hard to make our voices heard – we have now gained over 2,000 petition signatures, over 130 letters the Council and mounted several protests. We have gained support from carers, clinicians, professionals, friends, family and the community – all united in putting a stop to this proposal that does not make clinical orfinancial sense.
Celebrity supporters Jo Brand and Gladiator (Bullit) even attended one of our protests!
We are running out of time. A final decision is likely mid-February. We need your support now. Please support us – www.saveoursolace.co.uk

Posted on

What sort of shopping centre do we want for West Ealing and how do we get it?

I went to a talk on the future of high streets at last night’s Ealing Business Forum.  The speaker was Bill Grimsey and he has a strong track record of running high- street chains including Iceland and Wickes amongst others. He’s an interesting character as he is now retired and has spent most of his retirement arguing for a radical re-think in how we should use our high streets. He believes the traditional retail led high street is dead on its feet and needs to be replaced with a new vision where housing, leisure, health, entertainment and community services and activities take over from empty shops and an excess of betting shops and payday loan shops.  West Ealing Neighbours has raised these issues a number of times over the past years as we have seen ever more betting shops, loan shops and their like come in to the West Ealing shopping centre. What was interesting about last night’s talk was  to hear the argument in more detail.  Whether or not you agree with Mr Grimsey’s view is for each to decide but what seems important to me is to get the issues aired and discussed. A key element of his argument is that despite the importance of the retail sector, with a turnover greater than even the health budget, the future of our high streets is unlikely to appear in any political manifesto in this year’s election.

So, looking at some of his key points:

  • The UK retail sector has a bigger turnover than health, education or defence
  • High streets are a more reliable measure of the economy than economists’ forecasts
  • High streets have seen an increase in betting shops, payday loan shops, convenience stores and fast dood outlets
  • Rapid growth of online shopping is irreversible and will mean major changes in the way supermarkets operate with the decline of the large out-of-town stores and an increase in local convenience stores for people to top up on their online shopping
  • A great opportunity for fresh and local food outlets – ‘ fresh food emporiums’ – selling products which can not easily be provided by the large supermarkets in store or online
  • Shops with no stock will be a feature of new high streets.  Take fashion , you’ll be able to try out clothes in a virtual world and then order what you want.  This may even mean manufacturing comes back to the UK as clothes made on demand rather than imported in bulk on spec from all across the world.
  • Could Amazon start to sell food and would it mean even cheaper prices?
  • Abolish business rates for small independent retailers.  The revenue from these is about 6% of the total.

As I said, whether or not you agree with Bill Grimsey his views are informed by 40 years of retail experience and are well worth thinking about.  In many ways, here in London and the south east we haven’t seen anything like the average 14% level of vacant shops that many other towns and cities have experienced but his arguments are just as valid. For who hasn’t been aware of the incease in betting shops, payday loan shops, fast food outlets and convenience stores in and around West Ealing.

Bill Grimsey’s closing point is that every town needs a plan for the future of its high streets.  Without a plan it’s all left to market forces and failed attempts to fill unwanted space.  I know the West Ealing Centre Neighbourhood Forum has this on its radar for its plan for the centre of West Ealing. The future nature of our shopping centre is something that should concern every one of us.

There is much more to his arguments than I’ve been able to capture in this post.  You can find out more on his website

 

 

 

 

Posted on

Pilot business hub launched in West Ealing

Having been involved in the initial feasibility study for a business hub in West Ealing I was delighted to go to last night’s launch of  Ealing Blueprint – a pilot business hub working with the Chat and Meet coffee shop. Ealing Blueprint will run a free hub in the heart of West Ealing for a five month period from 4 February 2015 to test the hub model. I think this has great potential for West Ealing.  Here’s a bit of background from Blueprint’s website:

‘The Ealing Blueprint business hub is inspired by the success of coworking spaces in central London, and will enable entrepreneurs, sole traders, freelancers or start-ups to work alongside one another in a collaborative atmosphere. Creative people can work flexibly in a modern and stimulating environment where ideas can be shared and enterprises thrive. Working independently should not mean working alone.

Located in West Ealing, a 3-minute walk from West Ealing station and many bus routes, the business hub is easy to access. Within the shared working space is Chat & Meet a coffee shop that will manage the hub on a day-to-day basis and will provide the opportunity to grab a coffee and have a chat with those around you. ‘

Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 8.30am to 5.30pm (4 February – 27 June 2015)
Location: Chat & Meet @ Ealing Blueprint, 13 Drayton Green Road, West Ealing, London W13 0NG

Last night’s meeting was also the first anniversary of the Ealing Business Forum which invited high-street expert Bill Grimsey to give his views on the future of high streets in the 21st century. I greatly enjoyed his talk and it offered some compelling arguments for a radical new approach to how we should use our high streets.  I’ll put the highlights from his talk in a separate post.

Posted on

Plans for 300 flats on BT Telephone Exchange site in Gordon Road, West Ealing

Gordon Road, Ealing - ariel view

 

The has been quite alot of toing and froing over this BT Telephone Exchange site in Gordon Road but the Council has designated it for residential development. The developer is Telereal Trillium and their plan is for a two phase development:

  • Redevelopment of Rome House and the adjacent car park for up to 155 flats
  • Redevelopment of Castle House into new terraced housing along Gordon Road and 3 new residential blocks of up to 166 new flats
  • Use of the existing access on Gordon Road
  • Generous communal and private amenity space including children’s playspace

The developer is holding an exhibition of their plans at the Drayton Court Hotel on Thursday 5th February 2-8pm.  They want to hear people’s views on their plans.  There will be feedback forms at the exhibition or you can comment online

 

 

W

Posted on

Successful petition means full Council meeting to debate future of Solace Centre

The Solace Centre in West Ealing is the borough’s only mental health drop-in centre and has been threatened with possible closure – see here for previous story.  The users have been working flat out to save their centre and now have over 2,000 signatures on their petition.  This means they are allowed the right to a full Council Chamber debate – Tuesday 27th starting 7pm. The meeting is at the Town Hall and is open to the public.

I think most of us are well aware of the Council’s need to make some very tough decisions about cuts to services. However, this is where we need some joined up thinking and not to simply see budgets in isolation from their consequences on budget holders in another area of care.  For example, what happens if the Solace Centre is closed and even just a few of its users end up in hospital or community services?  What is the cost of running the Solace Centre compared to the cost to the NHS/West London Mental Health Trust of looking after someone.  The cost of running the Solace Centre seems to be about £150,000 pa with the Council paying some £110,000 or so of this and the West London Mental Health Trust paying the balance.

I found the following on the BBC News site for 10th April 2014 which makes interesting reading even if it is not an exact comparison for the Solace Centre:

‘Rethink Mental Illness published the report with the London School of Economics.

The report said it costs on average £13 a day to support someone with psychosis or schizophrenia in the community.

It said this compared with the £350 average daily cost of keeping a mental health patient in hospital.’

The point about joined up thinking is that whilst the Council may save money from its budget if it closes the Solace Centre it runs the risk of passing on greater costs to the NHS at an overall increased cost to taxpayers if just a few of the Centre’s users end up in hospital as a result of the closure.

 

 

 

Posted on

Exhibition of plans to redevelop a major part of Ealing Broadway town centre – Thurs 29th – Sat 31st Jan

Benson Elliot, which bought a large section of the Ealing Broadway town centre at the end of 2012, are about to reveal their plans for the area between Ealing Broadway and The Arcadia Centre – area outlined on the map below.

map
They are holding an exhibition next week on Thursday 29th, Friday 30th between 4pm and 8pm and Saturday 31st between 10am and 4pm at 7a The Broadway (a shop opposite the station).

Full details can be seen here

Posted on

What future for West Ealing’s Solace mental health drop-in centre?

Most of us have probably never come across the Solace Centre in West Eaing.  It’s tucked away at the end of Bowmans Close and well off the beaten track.  Yet, this mental health drop-in centre is suddenly at the centre of a storm with the Council threatening to close it as part of budget cuts.  This decision has been put on hold following the recent death at Ealing Broadway station of one of its users.

The Council’s plan was to close the centre and give users their own personal budget to purchase appropriate care and services. However, I’ve walked past this centre hundreds of times on my way to the allotments across the road and have always been struck by the groups of people sitting outside talking, laughing and just relaxing together.  The people have always been friendly and seem happy there.  I cannot see the logic of closing it down as how can a personal budget replace the opportunity for users to meet, socialise and feel safe?

My colleague Eric Leach has written this about the Solace Centre:

‘On the face of it if the centre is providing a valuable cost effective service why can’t it be funded by the NHS West London Mental Heath Trust (WLMHT)? WLMHT currently provides £47,000 annual funding for the centre which pays for the weekend opening of the centre.

Alternatively why can’t funds be found from Ealing’s £29+ million 2015/16 Better Care Fund (BCF)? This pooled fund is operated by LBE and the Ealing Clinical Commissioning Group. BCF exists in order to facilitate integrating health care and social care. The budget has not been finalised but should be in February 2015.

Maybe WLMHT and the Ealing BCF could jointly fund the $151,000 annual running cost of Solace?

More on Solace and to sign the Save Our Solace Centre petition ‘

There’s more about this story of the Ealing Today website

Posted on

Plans for redeveloping the Sherwood Close Estate now available

The plans for the demolition and redevelopment of the Sherwood Close Estate is now on the Council’s website. Here’s a summary from the application:

 

The Proposal: Demolition of all buildings within Sherwood Close (including 209 residential units, parking structures and ancillary buildings) and the construction of 305 new residential units (88 x one-bedroom, 157 x two-bedroom, 52 x three-bedroom and 8 x four-bedroom in a mix of housing tenures) in four apartment buildings varying between two-storeys and nine-storeys high and a row of three-storey townhouses; a 70 sq .m community space (D2 Use Class); associated energy plant room; refuse and recycling facilities; storage for 410 bicycles; 122 car parking spaces (comprising 86 spaces on-street and 36 spaces in an under croft parking area); site-wide hard and soft landscaping including public, semi-private and private amenity space and public realm improvements; the closure of part of Sherwood Close and reconfiguration of the public highway including the construction of two new north-south streets between Sherwood Close and Tawny Close, and the construction of new pedestrian / cycle routes between Sherwood Close, Tawny Close and Northfield Avenue and other associated works.

 

This is a major redevelopment right in the middle of West Ealing.  It will take some years to complete as it has to be done in stages in order to rehouse residents whilst the old blocks are demolished.  Like all such developments  there will be a mixture of types of housing, including a nine-storey block of flats for sale on Northfield Ave at the top end near the junction with Mattock Lane.

There are a lot of papers to read through for this application so more news once I’ve had the chance to look at them in more detail.

Posted on

The story of Hanwell’s Jim Marshall ‘the father of loud’ BBC4 Friday 28th Nov 10pm

Photo of Jimi Hendrix from Marshall Amplifiers website

British rock music owes much to Jim Marshall and his amplifier shop in Hanwell.  Dubbed ‘the father of loud’ he came up with an amplifier that combined volume and distortion.  Marshall amplifiers were used by all manner of 60s rock guitarists  from Pete Townsend, Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page to Ritchie Blackmore, Eric Clapton and many, many more. Make a date to  watch Jim Marshall’s story  ‘Play it Loud – The Story of The Marshall Amp’on BBC4 this Friday at 10pm.  Have a look at Marshall’s website for more about their history.

The hugely successful Hanwell Hootie is now an annual celebration of Hanwell’s proud contribution to British rock music and it’s sponsored by Marshall Amplifiers.

Posted on

Council has to slash its expenditure

The need to make hefty cuts in Council expendture has been flagged up for some time.  The Council needs to save £96 million by April 2019 as a result of reduced central government funding.  This will affect every single one of us from fortnightly waste collections and reduced road gritting to possibly closing the Solace mental health drop-in centre in West Ealing and 400 redundancies amongst Council staff.

We’ll come back to this in more detail but for now the Ealing Today website has a useful summary of some of the cuts that may be made.