A constituent has emailed me after my post about the Canadian elections last week (24th January), asking why Canada Road and Canada Crescent in East Acton ward are so named.
Canada Road was named in 1925, following the building of company houses there by the Canadian company Mond Nickel (now Inco). These houses were for employees at their precious metals refinery opened the previous year in Bashley Road in Park Royal. The Inco refinery still thrives on the same site (also in East Acton ward), employing around 120 local people. It’s now one the one of the world’s major refineries of platinum-group metals – platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium and iridium, as well as gold and silver. I know from reports at the Park Royal Partnership that it is now also increasingly involved in recycling.
I posted last week that none the Canadians towns called Acton elected one of the 29 MPs for Labour’s Canadian sister party, the New Democratic Party (NDP). However, Ealing in Ontario did. Ealing is part of the London Fanshawe constituency gained by the NDP’s Irene Mathyysen. The story goes that the town is called Ealing because it’s roughly the same distance from the centre of London Ontario as Ealing is from the centre of London (Charing Cross). The Ealing Public School has a brief history of the school and town at http://www.tvdsb.on.ca/ealing/ealinghistory.htm
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Monday, January 30, 2006
£4,339 per pupil
Labour Group in the evening - mainly discussing financial reports on the Cabinet Agenda for tomorrow.
The Council revenue budget numbers are a lot smaller than in previous years, as the Government has now removed schools funding into a separate ‘Dedicated Schools Grant’ (DSG – another acronym thrown into the already over-flowing sea of acronyms in local government finance). Previously schools’ spending made up over half of the budget. The good news is that this funding has seen a 6.8% increase per pupil (£4,339 per pupil, or the equivalent of 4.7 pints of London Pride a day)
The less good news is that non-schools grant has only risen by 2% - the “floor” or lowest possible rise for a Council this year. About half of London Boroughs get the same minimum 2% increase, although Hillingdon, Lambeth, Kensington and Chelsea and Camden have got over 3% (at least you can’t accuse the Government of political bias – only one of these four are a Labour Council). It could have been worse without the ‘floor’ system – changes to the formula for calculating Government grant would have cut £5.2 million in grant without the 2% minimum increase.
However, in the immortal words of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, “Don’t Panic”. The savings that I’ve posted about previously (see 9th January) will mean that the Council can live (however grudgingly) with this low grant increase, without needing further sudden cuts or a tax increase above last years’ 4.8%. Indeed the work being undertaken to squeeze out extra efficiency will hopefully produce an increase lower than this.
There’s also a report on the Cabinet agenda of the results of scrutiny of the draft the budget by the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee. One particularly interesting proposal they make is that the Cabinet should consider the future investment needs of the CCTV service, and in particular officers should look at the potential for contributions from partners. I and other supported this recommendation, and Cabinet Finance member Cllr Martin Beecroft is going to look at the options for future CCTV funding.
The Council revenue budget numbers are a lot smaller than in previous years, as the Government has now removed schools funding into a separate ‘Dedicated Schools Grant’ (DSG – another acronym thrown into the already over-flowing sea of acronyms in local government finance). Previously schools’ spending made up over half of the budget. The good news is that this funding has seen a 6.8% increase per pupil (£4,339 per pupil, or the equivalent of 4.7 pints of London Pride a day)
The less good news is that non-schools grant has only risen by 2% - the “floor” or lowest possible rise for a Council this year. About half of London Boroughs get the same minimum 2% increase, although Hillingdon, Lambeth, Kensington and Chelsea and Camden have got over 3% (at least you can’t accuse the Government of political bias – only one of these four are a Labour Council). It could have been worse without the ‘floor’ system – changes to the formula for calculating Government grant would have cut £5.2 million in grant without the 2% minimum increase.
However, in the immortal words of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, “Don’t Panic”. The savings that I’ve posted about previously (see 9th January) will mean that the Council can live (however grudgingly) with this low grant increase, without needing further sudden cuts or a tax increase above last years’ 4.8%. Indeed the work being undertaken to squeeze out extra efficiency will hopefully produce an increase lower than this.
There’s also a report on the Cabinet agenda of the results of scrutiny of the draft the budget by the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee. One particularly interesting proposal they make is that the Cabinet should consider the future investment needs of the CCTV service, and in particular officers should look at the potential for contributions from partners. I and other supported this recommendation, and Cabinet Finance member Cllr Martin Beecroft is going to look at the options for future CCTV funding.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
'East Acton Labour News' for Acton Vale
Supported again by colleagues from across the Borough, our ‘listening surgeries’ moved to the Avenues – and we combined it with delivery of a special edition of ‘East Acton Labour News’ for the Acton Vale area.
This edition of ‘East Acton Labour News’ includes articles on :
- Magistrates agreeing the gating scheme for the Avenues (see post on 19th January)
- New Street Lighting agreed for the Vale (see post on 21st October)
- Controlled Parking Zone – Consultation results
- Old Oak Surgery (see post on 24th January)
- Planning applications in the area (including the new application to convert 2 The Vale - the former "Curtain Mill" - into a 'wine bar').
"The Curtain Mill" at 2 The Vale - proposed to become a wine bar
The only one of these issues that I haven’t featured on this blog is the Acton Vale Controlled Parking Zone consultation. What we’ve said on this in the newsletter is :
“The first results of the recent consultation on the hours of the Acton Vale Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) seem to show that most local people want to reduce the hours. Around 70% of replies to the consultation want to reduce the current 9am to 9pm seven days a week controls.
However, there doesn’t seem to be the same level of agreement about what any new hours should be—with around half supporting 9am to 5pm and half supporting later hours.
The final results, including a road-by-road listing of views, will go to the next Acton Area Committee on 28th February. Any decision they take to change hours, either in all or part of the zone, would have to be agreed later by the Council’s Cabinet.
Cllr Paul Woodgate says “As local Councillors, we have always said that local people should decide. We will look at the results road by road to make sure of this.””
The biggest issue raised in the listening canvass was the proposal by Berkeley Homes to create a further 86 flats in addition to the hundreds already being built in the conversion and redevelopment of the former Government pensions building next door at Bromyard House. This concern was linked to concerns about the short-term implications for parking and the street environment of the current works being undertaken at Bromyard House. However, we also found very real delight that the alley gating scheme could now go ahead, and strong evidence of the support shown in the early consultation results for some reduction (but not removal) of the current CPZ hours.
I also put some local history on the newsletter. The Avenues – First, Second and Third Avenues – were named as streets in 1903, and built in stages thereafter. However, a map of 1910 shows that the original intention was that there should be nine Avenues rather than just three – makes you think what value local estate agents would have put on houses in 5th Avenue W3.
This edition of ‘East Acton Labour News’ includes articles on :
- Magistrates agreeing the gating scheme for the Avenues (see post on 19th January)
- New Street Lighting agreed for the Vale (see post on 21st October)
- Controlled Parking Zone – Consultation results
- Old Oak Surgery (see post on 24th January)
- Planning applications in the area (including the new application to convert 2 The Vale - the former "Curtain Mill" - into a 'wine bar').
"The Curtain Mill" at 2 The Vale - proposed to become a wine bar
The only one of these issues that I haven’t featured on this blog is the Acton Vale Controlled Parking Zone consultation. What we’ve said on this in the newsletter is :
“The first results of the recent consultation on the hours of the Acton Vale Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) seem to show that most local people want to reduce the hours. Around 70% of replies to the consultation want to reduce the current 9am to 9pm seven days a week controls.
However, there doesn’t seem to be the same level of agreement about what any new hours should be—with around half supporting 9am to 5pm and half supporting later hours.
The final results, including a road-by-road listing of views, will go to the next Acton Area Committee on 28th February. Any decision they take to change hours, either in all or part of the zone, would have to be agreed later by the Council’s Cabinet.
Cllr Paul Woodgate says “As local Councillors, we have always said that local people should decide. We will look at the results road by road to make sure of this.””
The biggest issue raised in the listening canvass was the proposal by Berkeley Homes to create a further 86 flats in addition to the hundreds already being built in the conversion and redevelopment of the former Government pensions building next door at Bromyard House. This concern was linked to concerns about the short-term implications for parking and the street environment of the current works being undertaken at Bromyard House. However, we also found very real delight that the alley gating scheme could now go ahead, and strong evidence of the support shown in the early consultation results for some reduction (but not removal) of the current CPZ hours.
I also put some local history on the newsletter. The Avenues – First, Second and Third Avenues – were named as streets in 1903, and built in stages thereafter. However, a map of 1910 shows that the original intention was that there should be nine Avenues rather than just three – makes you think what value local estate agents would have put on houses in 5th Avenue W3.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Green Waste, Orange Bags and Red Rubber Bands
We’d arranged this weekend for colleagues to come to East Acton to support us in some ‘listening surgeries’ knocking on doors to talk to constituents. This is something that we generally do monthly to supplement the efforts of our local team. It means that we can knock on the door of every household of the 14,500 residents of the ward about once every two years or so.
Today we visited the south-east corner of the ward – Davis Road, Elizabeth Gardens, Jeddo Road, Oldfield Road and St Elmo Road – whilst other colleagues telephoned people in other parts of the ward. This part of East Acton looks as much to Askew Road and Shepherds Bush as they do to Acton High Street and Acton – indeed the boundary with Hammersmith and Fulham weaves around within it, sometimes confusingly splitting streets between the two Boroughs. This also means that residents of ‘border roads’ have the interesting opportunity to compare the two Boroughs’ performance.
The main issues that came up were unsurprisingly environmental – problems with fly-tipping, (encouraging) praise for “the local bin men”, and a lot of enthusiasm for the expansion of recycling. Some residents preferred our ‘green box’ scheme of recycling collection, whilst others liked the Hammersmith ‘orange bag’ system. One resident of a border road (“the 49th Parallel” as another resident called it) admitted that she used both Boroughs’ systems at times depending on which suited best !
I stressed that East Acton would get the new food waste recycling (composting) service later this year. It’s being piloted by Cllr John Delaney (the relevant Cabinet Member) in his own Acton Central ward - what ‘Yes Minister’s’ Sir Humphrey would have called “ a brave and courageous decision” because John would get the very direct blame locally it if went wrong. Thankfully, the reverse is true and the pilot schemes have proved very successful with a 43% participation rate (double that expected). John is now also looking at a possible timetable for the introduction of cardboard kerbside recycling, after the food waste schemes goes Borough-wide. You can read about how the food waste recycling scheme will work when it reaches East Acton at http://www.ealing.gov.uk/services/environment/recycling/FAQs#Whycollectfoodwaste
One resident raised an interesting issue that has been annoying me – the littering of streets and paths with red rubber bands that are discarded by the Post Office when delivering letters bundled with them. He had recently been to Edinburgh, and said that the City Council there was threatening the Post Office with £50 fixed penalty fines. I said that I’d take the issue (and the Edinburgh approach) up in a question to John Delaney at the next Council meeting on 7th February.
In the evening we had a big fundraising quiz night for the Acton and Ealing Central Labour Party, with both Andy Slaughter MP and Steve Pound MP leading quiz teams. The winners (only by one point admittedly) were the East Acton team – largely because of our unashamedly nerdish knowledge of capital cities throughout the world.
Today we visited the south-east corner of the ward – Davis Road, Elizabeth Gardens, Jeddo Road, Oldfield Road and St Elmo Road – whilst other colleagues telephoned people in other parts of the ward. This part of East Acton looks as much to Askew Road and Shepherds Bush as they do to Acton High Street and Acton – indeed the boundary with Hammersmith and Fulham weaves around within it, sometimes confusingly splitting streets between the two Boroughs. This also means that residents of ‘border roads’ have the interesting opportunity to compare the two Boroughs’ performance.
The main issues that came up were unsurprisingly environmental – problems with fly-tipping, (encouraging) praise for “the local bin men”, and a lot of enthusiasm for the expansion of recycling. Some residents preferred our ‘green box’ scheme of recycling collection, whilst others liked the Hammersmith ‘orange bag’ system. One resident of a border road (“the 49th Parallel” as another resident called it) admitted that she used both Boroughs’ systems at times depending on which suited best !
I stressed that East Acton would get the new food waste recycling (composting) service later this year. It’s being piloted by Cllr John Delaney (the relevant Cabinet Member) in his own Acton Central ward - what ‘Yes Minister’s’ Sir Humphrey would have called “ a brave and courageous decision” because John would get the very direct blame locally it if went wrong. Thankfully, the reverse is true and the pilot schemes have proved very successful with a 43% participation rate (double that expected). John is now also looking at a possible timetable for the introduction of cardboard kerbside recycling, after the food waste schemes goes Borough-wide. You can read about how the food waste recycling scheme will work when it reaches East Acton at http://www.ealing.gov.uk/services/environment/recycling/FAQs#Whycollectfoodwaste
One resident raised an interesting issue that has been annoying me – the littering of streets and paths with red rubber bands that are discarded by the Post Office when delivering letters bundled with them. He had recently been to Edinburgh, and said that the City Council there was threatening the Post Office with £50 fixed penalty fines. I said that I’d take the issue (and the Edinburgh approach) up in a question to John Delaney at the next Council meeting on 7th February.
In the evening we had a big fundraising quiz night for the Acton and Ealing Central Labour Party, with both Andy Slaughter MP and Steve Pound MP leading quiz teams. The winners (only by one point admittedly) were the East Acton team – largely because of our unashamedly nerdish knowledge of capital cities throughout the world.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Holocaust Memorial Day
Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. Following my motion at the last Council meeting (see previous posts), the Council had organised a memorial tree planting outside Perceval House in the Uxbridge Road. The intention is that this should be the start of a regular tree planning on every Holocaust Memorial Day. Leo Thomson as Leader introduced the brief ceremony and Mike Elliott spoke afterwards as Mayor.
Leo, Mike and Darra planting the tree
There was a very good attendance from both members of staff and the local community. Obviously, this was particularly from the local Jewish community, including Rabbi Hershi Vogel from the orthodox Ealing and Acton synagogue (http://www.ealingsynagogue.com/) and Rabbi Janet Burden (who I met for the first time) from the Ealing Liberal synagogue (http://www.ealingliberalsynagogue.org.uk/).However, it was also very positive that there was also prominent representation from the Armenian, Christian and Hindu communities.
To follow-up Holocuast Memorial Day, there will be a commemorative exhibition inside Perceval House, whilst a number of schools have also organised events. To his great credit, Darra Singh as Chief Executive sent an email to all staff this morning about Holocaust Memorial Day, which concluded “We must never forget the heroism of those who put themselves at risk to help Jews and others avoid almost certain death in the concentration camps. And we must never forget that we can all make a difference in the future by opposing discrimination whenever we encounter it.”
I went on in the afternoon to chair a meeting of the PCT Premises and Capital Planning Panel. We reviewed the progress on a number of our key new developments of GP premises and health centres. These include a new modern surgery premises at the Grand Union Village development on the Northolt/Greenford borders ; a much-needed high street health centre in Southall Broadway ; a new neighbourhood surgery at Jubilee Gardens in northern Southall ; and the replacement of the overcrowded Mattock Lane health centre in central Ealing. In and around East Acton ward, we have the new Cloister Road surgery opening next month (see previous posts), expanded surgery provision at Dr Sinna’s surgery on the Western Avenue, ideas for possible primary care provision in Park Royal, and plans for new modern premises in Southfield Road.
I raised the issue of the Old Oak Surgery, and the potential implications of it and the wider Hammersmith and Fulham PCT premises strategy, for demand on Ealing PCT services in East and eastern Acton. It was agreed that we would look at this issue, and consider options for expanded provision if that proves necessary
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Licensing in East Acton ward
Today was the licensing hearing for the Leamington Arms pub in East Acton ward, so I thought I‘d outline the current licensing position of the pubs in East Acton ward (see 27th September for earlier information).
Remember that any objection to a variation of hours or other licensing element will mean that there will have to be a hearing before a Sub-Committee of Councillors (on which a local ward Councillor could not serve). Conversely, if there are no objections, the Council is obliged to grant what is being sought by the pub.
Castle in Victoria Road – They applied for 10am to 2am (all week). They had a hearing on 16th January, with one resident objecting, and I understand (though the minutes are not yet out) that they were allowed to sell alcohol until 12.00.
Fisherman’s Arms in Old Oak Lane – They applied for 10am to 12am (Sun to Thu) and 10am to 1am (Fri). However, as they applied after most pubs, any hearing will not be until April at the earliest (the deadline for objections closed in November).
The Goldsmiths Arms - now applying to serve until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays
Goldsmiths' Arms in East Acton Lane – They originally applied for 10am-12am (Mon-Wed), 10am-1am (Thu and Sun), 10am to 2am (Fri and Sat). This generated a petition objecting signed by a large number of neighbouring residents, and individual letters from others. This has led the Spirit Group (who own the pub) to recently submit a new application which asks for a hour less than before from Thu to Sun – that is 10am to 12am (Sun to Thu) and 10am to 1am (Fri and Sat). Consultation is still open on this new application, and any objections or representations need to be sent to the Licensing Team at the Council by 9th February. Their email address is licensing@ealing.gov.uk, and you will need to give your address to show that you live in the vicinity of the pub
Leamington in Horn Lane - 11am to 12am (all week) applied for, and the decision of today’s Sub-Committee is awaited. However, there were no valid objections from residents.
Kings Arms in The Vale – They have applied for 11am to 2am (Mon to Sat), and 12pm to 2am (Sun), and have their hearing on 28th February (the deadline for objections was September last year).
Wishing Well in Old Oak Common Lane – They applied for 10am to 12am (Mon to Thu), 10am to 1am (Fri and Sat), 12pm to 12am (Sun), and have a hearing on 29th March (the deadline for objections ended in July last year).
In addition, a planning application (but not yet licensing) has been received this week for a proposed "wine bar" at 2 The Vale - formerly "The Curtain Mill".
Remember that any objection to a variation of hours or other licensing element will mean that there will have to be a hearing before a Sub-Committee of Councillors (on which a local ward Councillor could not serve). Conversely, if there are no objections, the Council is obliged to grant what is being sought by the pub.
Castle in Victoria Road – They applied for 10am to 2am (all week). They had a hearing on 16th January, with one resident objecting, and I understand (though the minutes are not yet out) that they were allowed to sell alcohol until 12.00.
Fisherman’s Arms in Old Oak Lane – They applied for 10am to 12am (Sun to Thu) and 10am to 1am (Fri). However, as they applied after most pubs, any hearing will not be until April at the earliest (the deadline for objections closed in November).
The Goldsmiths Arms - now applying to serve until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays
Goldsmiths' Arms in East Acton Lane – They originally applied for 10am-12am (Mon-Wed), 10am-1am (Thu and Sun), 10am to 2am (Fri and Sat). This generated a petition objecting signed by a large number of neighbouring residents, and individual letters from others. This has led the Spirit Group (who own the pub) to recently submit a new application which asks for a hour less than before from Thu to Sun – that is 10am to 12am (Sun to Thu) and 10am to 1am (Fri and Sat). Consultation is still open on this new application, and any objections or representations need to be sent to the Licensing Team at the Council by 9th February. Their email address is licensing@ealing.gov.uk, and you will need to give your address to show that you live in the vicinity of the pub
Leamington in Horn Lane - 11am to 12am (all week) applied for, and the decision of today’s Sub-Committee is awaited. However, there were no valid objections from residents.
Kings Arms in The Vale – They have applied for 11am to 2am (Mon to Sat), and 12pm to 2am (Sun), and have their hearing on 28th February (the deadline for objections was September last year).
Wishing Well in Old Oak Common Lane – They applied for 10am to 12am (Mon to Thu), 10am to 1am (Fri and Sat), 12pm to 12am (Sun), and have a hearing on 29th March (the deadline for objections ended in July last year).
In addition, a planning application (but not yet licensing) has been received this week for a proposed "wine bar" at 2 The Vale - formerly "The Curtain Mill".
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
St Saviours Deaf and Deaf Blind Church
Went with the Mayor (Mike Elliott) to the St Savours Deaf and Deaf Blind Chapel and Centre in Old Oak Road in East Acton (ironically next to the previously proposed site for the Old Oak Surgery - see yesterday). This was for the ‘commissioning’ of Rev Anne Richardson as Chaplain amongst Deaf and Deaf blind people in the Diocese of London.
St Saviours was originally founded in Oxford Street in 1875 as the first deaf church in Britain, and moved to Acton in 1924 under the aegis of the Royal Association for Deaf People (RAD). You can read more of the history of RAD and St Saviours at http://www.royaldeaf.org.uk/page.php?id=100133 The Acton St Saviours was one of the first churches designed by the famous architect Sir Edward Maufe, later architect of Guildford Cathedral and the architecturally important local St Thomas church in Boston Road Hanwell.
Downstairs at St Saviours is a social club and administrative centre for RAD, and also serves as the polling station for the Acton Vale area. Upstairs is the lovely chapel, in which I held the first civic service for the deaf in my year as Millennium Mayor. The chapel is built with a sloping floor, so that the congregation can see the signing from the preacher and choir.
The sermon signed by Fr Fletcher
The formal commissioning of Anne (who is actually a fellow Methodist) was conducted by the Bishop of Willesden, Pete Broadbent. I’ve known ‘Bishop Pete’ (as everyone calls him) since the 1980s, when he was a Borough Councillor in Islington and we met at London-wide Councillor events. The service was a really warm and friendly occasion, with a sermon in British Sign Language from a deaf Jesuit priest Fr Paul Fletcher, and wonderfully expressive signing of hymns by both choir and congregation. It was also nice to meet again and be remembered by many of the congregation who I met on my previous visits as Mayor or local Councillor.
St Saviours was originally founded in Oxford Street in 1875 as the first deaf church in Britain, and moved to Acton in 1924 under the aegis of the Royal Association for Deaf People (RAD). You can read more of the history of RAD and St Saviours at http://www.royaldeaf.org.uk/page.php?id=100133 The Acton St Saviours was one of the first churches designed by the famous architect Sir Edward Maufe, later architect of Guildford Cathedral and the architecturally important local St Thomas church in Boston Road Hanwell.
Downstairs at St Saviours is a social club and administrative centre for RAD, and also serves as the polling station for the Acton Vale area. Upstairs is the lovely chapel, in which I held the first civic service for the deaf in my year as Millennium Mayor. The chapel is built with a sloping floor, so that the congregation can see the signing from the preacher and choir.The sermon signed by Fr Fletcher
The formal commissioning of Anne (who is actually a fellow Methodist) was conducted by the Bishop of Willesden, Pete Broadbent. I’ve known ‘Bishop Pete’ (as everyone calls him) since the 1980s, when he was a Borough Councillor in Islington and we met at London-wide Councillor events. The service was a really warm and friendly occasion, with a sermon in British Sign Language from a deaf Jesuit priest Fr Paul Fletcher, and wonderfully expressive signing of hymns by both choir and congregation. It was also nice to meet again and be remembered by many of the congregation who I met on my previous visits as Mayor or local Councillor.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Old Oak Surgery
Went on the web first thing to look at the results of the Canadian General Election. Good news for Labour’s Canadian sister party the New Democratic Party (http://www.ndp.ca/page/3450) who went up from 18 to 29 seats, and can be key players in the new hung parliament. Sadly a great campaigner, NDP candidate Marilyn Churley, narrowly missed gaining a Toronto area seat - if you want to hear the best song ever written about a local politician, check out ‘The Signature of Marilyn Churley’ (inspired by her time as a regulatory committee chair in Ontario) at http://www.swinghammer.com/sue/sue-sounds.html
Unfortunately for an Acton parochialist like me, none of the three Canadian towns called Acton elected an NDP member. Acton Ontario and Acton New Brunswick re-elected Conservatives, whilst Acton Quebec stayed with the separatist Bloc Quebecois (the constituency is 96% French speaking). I’m hoping to visit the major American and Canadian Actons this summer or next.
I received an email this afternoon from Julia Hunt of the Bromyard Avenue Residents Association about the future of the Old Oak Surgery. This is a GPs surgery which is in Hammersmith and Fulham but has a number of patients from East Acton. They had advertised proposals to build a replacement surgery on a vacant site in Armstrong Road, but this is now advertised for sale, and patients have been told that the surgery is moving to White City.
I emailed Julia back to confirm that the surgery and hence its patients (wherever they live) are the responsibility of Hammersmith and Fulham PCT. Therefore all I know in my Ealing PCT role is second hand. I understand that the EPCT asked H&FPCT at the time we heard about the proposed move whether this meant that they proposed to transfer the surgery and patient list to us, and was told not.
Their decision to move the surgery is not unique to Old Oak (indeed I should declare a personal interest as my GP's surgery in East Acton is also likely to be affected as it comes under H&FPCT's remit.) Hammersmith and Fulham PCT have decided to move over time their W12 practices to a new state of art health centre in the White City development. This is amongst the first developments in London of a new approach to primary care, and will include I understand a wider range of out-of-hospital services than ever before including a breadth of specialists and day surgery capacity. You can make comments about these issues to Hammersmith and Fulham PCT via the relevant section of their website which is http://www.hf-pct.nhs.uk/getinvolved/index.htm
It's a more radical approach than we at EPCT are undertaking, and in Acton in particular I'm not convinced that the White City model would be appropriate given the geographical distribution of communities. That said, we are looking at options for major improvements to Acton Health Centre to provide some of the sort of extra facilities that White City will provide.
The building of the new Cloister Road surgery for Dr Robinska next to the Gunnersbury Day
Hospital (this photo was taken last year - it's now virtually finished)
Locally at Ealing PCT we’re investing in nearby replacements of overcrowded surgeries, rather than general centralisation. The first example is the new and expanded North Acton surgery opening next month in Cloister Road in East Acton ward (see 23rd September post).
On in the evening to the Performance and Audit Panel of the Council. The principal issues we discussed were ICT procurement, delivery of the audit plan, counter-fraud work, and means of income collection in the Springbridge and Herbert Road car parks. I stressed the importance of increased anti-fraud action and publicity against the increasing evident levels of bogus accident claims against Councils. Nevertheless, what you could politely call an important but unexciting meeting.
Unfortunately for an Acton parochialist like me, none of the three Canadian towns called Acton elected an NDP member. Acton Ontario and Acton New Brunswick re-elected Conservatives, whilst Acton Quebec stayed with the separatist Bloc Quebecois (the constituency is 96% French speaking). I’m hoping to visit the major American and Canadian Actons this summer or next.
I received an email this afternoon from Julia Hunt of the Bromyard Avenue Residents Association about the future of the Old Oak Surgery. This is a GPs surgery which is in Hammersmith and Fulham but has a number of patients from East Acton. They had advertised proposals to build a replacement surgery on a vacant site in Armstrong Road, but this is now advertised for sale, and patients have been told that the surgery is moving to White City.
I emailed Julia back to confirm that the surgery and hence its patients (wherever they live) are the responsibility of Hammersmith and Fulham PCT. Therefore all I know in my Ealing PCT role is second hand. I understand that the EPCT asked H&FPCT at the time we heard about the proposed move whether this meant that they proposed to transfer the surgery and patient list to us, and was told not.
Their decision to move the surgery is not unique to Old Oak (indeed I should declare a personal interest as my GP's surgery in East Acton is also likely to be affected as it comes under H&FPCT's remit.) Hammersmith and Fulham PCT have decided to move over time their W12 practices to a new state of art health centre in the White City development. This is amongst the first developments in London of a new approach to primary care, and will include I understand a wider range of out-of-hospital services than ever before including a breadth of specialists and day surgery capacity. You can make comments about these issues to Hammersmith and Fulham PCT via the relevant section of their website which is http://www.hf-pct.nhs.uk/getinvolved/index.htm
It's a more radical approach than we at EPCT are undertaking, and in Acton in particular I'm not convinced that the White City model would be appropriate given the geographical distribution of communities. That said, we are looking at options for major improvements to Acton Health Centre to provide some of the sort of extra facilities that White City will provide.
The building of the new Cloister Road surgery for Dr Robinska next to the Gunnersbury Day
Hospital (this photo was taken last year - it's now virtually finished)
Locally at Ealing PCT we’re investing in nearby replacements of overcrowded surgeries, rather than general centralisation. The first example is the new and expanded North Acton surgery opening next month in Cloister Road in East Acton ward (see 23rd September post).
On in the evening to the Performance and Audit Panel of the Council. The principal issues we discussed were ICT procurement, delivery of the audit plan, counter-fraud work, and means of income collection in the Springbridge and Herbert Road car parks. I stressed the importance of increased anti-fraud action and publicity against the increasing evident levels of bogus accident claims against Councils. Nevertheless, what you could politely call an important but unexciting meeting.
Monday, January 23, 2006
From "the Axis of Evil" to "Stage Six"
I turned up today for the latest Licensing Sub-Committees expecting a long morning – the first case was the Townhouse in Ealing Broadway, which has been a very controversial pub locally. A local resident’s association chair called it “the axis of evil in central Ealing”, at an earlier Licensing Panel.
However, the Townhouse’s lawyer asked for an adjournment hearing because their relevant management were not free to attend the hearing. I wasn’t sympathetic, but we agreed to the adjournment after the residents’ representatives supported the delay because “we have a lot of questions to put the managers.” Look like they have a heavy time in store for the Townhouse when the Sub-Committee reconvenes on 9th March.
This unexpectedly free morning led me to catch up with some local government websites, sad anorak that I am, and discovered some interesting (to me) statistics.
The Department of Education and Skills have recently published analysis of school results for last year at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000631/index.shtml
The ‘value added’ figures measure the actual improvement achieved by schools and education authorities, rather than just raw ability - and the table for key stage 4 shows that LB Ealing schools have the third highest value added performance in the country (with only LB Redbridge and the very small and untypical Isles of Scilly doing better). This is a really great result, and a real tribute to all educational professionals in the Borough. Thinking I’d discovered something new, I emailed the education team at the Council, only to discover that they’d already noticed and were preparing a press release.
I’ve pointed out before that East Acton ward has more businesses than any other ward in the Borough (see post for 20th September). I found proof of this in figures on the Office of National Statistics website which show the number of businesses in each ward in the country at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=1033&Pos=2&ColRank=1&Rank=224
On this count for 2005, East Acton has 1,225 businesses – over 350 more than in the next largest Borough ward (Ealing Broadway). This is 12% of all businesses in LB Ealing – whilst for businesses with over 20 employees, East Acton has nearly one in five in the Borough
My meeting tonight was cancelled, so I cycled down to the Red Lion opposite Ealing Studios for an intended quick pint before going to the Ealing Central Library for a local history talk. However, by chance I met an old friend and former Acton Councillor – Margaret Payne who was there with her partner Phil. Margaret was the Borough’s first Councillor of African-Caribbean background and, as I told her after the third or fourth pint, probably had more impact in her four years as a Councillor than many who serve for eight or twelve years. As a Councillor, Margaret represented us on a visit to Acton Massachusetts (the second biggest Acton in the world), and we talked about ways to rebuild the links she made with them. We and Phil had a very congenial few drinks combing nostalgia and political gossip, and I never made the local history lecture (but it is apparently being repeated).
I ought to point out that the Red Lion is one of the pubs that I’ve excluded myself from hearing at a Licensing Sub-Committee because I visit it regularly. Given its proximity and links to Ealing Studios, it was known as "Stage Six" (see the plaque outside) – there’s a good review of the pub it at http://www.fancyapint.com/main_site/thepubs/pub1622.html
However, the Townhouse’s lawyer asked for an adjournment hearing because their relevant management were not free to attend the hearing. I wasn’t sympathetic, but we agreed to the adjournment after the residents’ representatives supported the delay because “we have a lot of questions to put the managers.” Look like they have a heavy time in store for the Townhouse when the Sub-Committee reconvenes on 9th March.
This unexpectedly free morning led me to catch up with some local government websites, sad anorak that I am, and discovered some interesting (to me) statistics.
The Department of Education and Skills have recently published analysis of school results for last year at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000631/index.shtml
The ‘value added’ figures measure the actual improvement achieved by schools and education authorities, rather than just raw ability - and the table for key stage 4 shows that LB Ealing schools have the third highest value added performance in the country (with only LB Redbridge and the very small and untypical Isles of Scilly doing better). This is a really great result, and a real tribute to all educational professionals in the Borough. Thinking I’d discovered something new, I emailed the education team at the Council, only to discover that they’d already noticed and were preparing a press release.
I’ve pointed out before that East Acton ward has more businesses than any other ward in the Borough (see post for 20th September). I found proof of this in figures on the Office of National Statistics website which show the number of businesses in each ward in the country at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=1033&Pos=2&ColRank=1&Rank=224
On this count for 2005, East Acton has 1,225 businesses – over 350 more than in the next largest Borough ward (Ealing Broadway). This is 12% of all businesses in LB Ealing – whilst for businesses with over 20 employees, East Acton has nearly one in five in the Borough
My meeting tonight was cancelled, so I cycled down to the Red Lion opposite Ealing Studios for an intended quick pint before going to the Ealing Central Library for a local history talk. However, by chance I met an old friend and former Acton Councillor – Margaret Payne who was there with her partner Phil. Margaret was the Borough’s first Councillor of African-Caribbean background and, as I told her after the third or fourth pint, probably had more impact in her four years as a Councillor than many who serve for eight or twelve years. As a Councillor, Margaret represented us on a visit to Acton Massachusetts (the second biggest Acton in the world), and we talked about ways to rebuild the links she made with them. We and Phil had a very congenial few drinks combing nostalgia and political gossip, and I never made the local history lecture (but it is apparently being repeated).
I ought to point out that the Red Lion is one of the pubs that I’ve excluded myself from hearing at a Licensing Sub-Committee because I visit it regularly. Given its proximity and links to Ealing Studios, it was known as "Stage Six" (see the plaque outside) – there’s a good review of the pub it at http://www.fancyapint.com/main_site/thepubs/pub1622.html
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Farewell to Rev James
I was pleased to be invited this morning to the final service (and a celebratory lunch after) of Rev James Blandford-Baker at St Dunstan’s with St Thomas’ Church in Friars Place Lane (http://stdunstanschurch.org.uk/). I’ve posted before about the great work that James has been doing (see 3rd October) since he came to East Acton in 1996. He’s now been appointed to the parish of Histon and Impington in Cambridgeshire.
The service included a ‘drama presentation’ covering some of the history of St Dunstan’s. It was built in 1879 on land donated by the Goldsmiths Company, whose member John Perryn owned most of old East Acton. John Perryn, his birth in Bromyard in Herefordshire, and the Goldsmiths are commemorated in school, road and other names locally. They subsequently gave land to set up St Thomas church in Bromyard Avenue in 1915 to serve the growing Acton Vale area, but the church closed in the 1980s and the site is now the Canterbury Court housing development. However, I have fond memories of the former St Thomas church hall as the venue of school discos when I attended Faraday Comprehensive School (now the King Fahad Academy in the 1970’s.)
James Blandford-Baker presiding at the service - the biblical extract above the aisle is Thessalonians 5 16-18
The church was packed with the many friends James and Katherine have made in their time at St Dunstan’s. The gospel reading for the day was the wedding at Cana (Jesus turning water in to wine – John 2.1-11), which James joked in his sermon was appropriate given the way wine flows at St Dunstan’s (cue for much knowing laughter). This was confirmed in the lunch later, which was a triumph of logistics in feeding over a hundred people with salmon, vegetarian alternative and wine. I talked over lunch to Rev Maggie Davidge-Smith about her work in the hospital chaplaincy service – and particularly at the Meadow House hospice, which I’m visiting again soon in my PCT capacity.
Chatting to James afterwards, I particularly thanked him for his work in the community as a governor of local schools – he currently chairs John Perryn School governors (my old school) and has also been an active governor of East Acton Primary. It’s a tribute to James that a number of other local ministers turned up to celebrate his work, and I took the chance to chat to Revs Mick Drake from Acton Baptist and Alex Afriyi from East Acton Baptist (London Network Church) about local issues.
The service included a ‘drama presentation’ covering some of the history of St Dunstan’s. It was built in 1879 on land donated by the Goldsmiths Company, whose member John Perryn owned most of old East Acton. John Perryn, his birth in Bromyard in Herefordshire, and the Goldsmiths are commemorated in school, road and other names locally. They subsequently gave land to set up St Thomas church in Bromyard Avenue in 1915 to serve the growing Acton Vale area, but the church closed in the 1980s and the site is now the Canterbury Court housing development. However, I have fond memories of the former St Thomas church hall as the venue of school discos when I attended Faraday Comprehensive School (now the King Fahad Academy in the 1970’s.)
James Blandford-Baker presiding at the service - the biblical extract above the aisle is Thessalonians 5 16-18
The church was packed with the many friends James and Katherine have made in their time at St Dunstan’s. The gospel reading for the day was the wedding at Cana (Jesus turning water in to wine – John 2.1-11), which James joked in his sermon was appropriate given the way wine flows at St Dunstan’s (cue for much knowing laughter). This was confirmed in the lunch later, which was a triumph of logistics in feeding over a hundred people with salmon, vegetarian alternative and wine. I talked over lunch to Rev Maggie Davidge-Smith about her work in the hospital chaplaincy service – and particularly at the Meadow House hospice, which I’m visiting again soon in my PCT capacity.
Chatting to James afterwards, I particularly thanked him for his work in the community as a governor of local schools – he currently chairs John Perryn School governors (my old school) and has also been an active governor of East Acton Primary. It’s a tribute to James that a number of other local ministers turned up to celebrate his work, and I took the chance to chat to Revs Mick Drake from Acton Baptist and Alex Afriyi from East Acton Baptist (London Network Church) about local issues.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Backland building blocked
This morning was my East Acton Estate advice surgery at Old Oak Methodist Church, and was a chance to give some good news to residents. The planners confirmed yesterday that they would be refusing an application to build a house on the back garden of 10 St Andrews Road. Neighbouring residents had contacted me, rightly concerned that this would be an overdevelopment, and I’d taken the issue up with the planners. The planners were admirably robust in recognising that building like this would be a clear breach of Council planning policies. I also popped a letter with the good news in the door of the main objector, who could not make the surgery, and he was nice enough to leave me a message of thanks on my answer phone (not a common phenomenon).
This application was the latest example of a growing phenomenon of ‘backland development’. Driven by the booming housing rental market in West London, developers are increasingly seeking to build ‘infill developments’ in these kinds of small landlocked sites. In a number of cases, they have built (or converted) without planning permission, and the Council is having to take planning enforcement action.
We had a similar ‘backland’ problem locally in the early 1990’s, worsened by a weakening of the Council’s planning policies on backland by the then Council. I and others campaigned for tougher policies, which we introduced with the change of Council administration in 1994. However, the main weapon against inappropriate building now has got to be effective enforcement, and this is currently being examined by a scrutiny exercise being expertly led by Cllr Tony Brown (Ealing Common). The scrutiny documents should be on the Council’s website at http://www.ealing.gov.uk/services/council/committees/agendas_minutes_reports/
scrutiny/planning_enforcement_ad_hoc_panel/index.html
Incidentally, although I live in St Andrews Road, I was able to talk about it this site because I live hundred of metres away at the other end of the road and am personally unaffected. If I’d been a near neighbour, I would have been unable to object or get involved as either a Councillor or resident. When people sometimes claim that “action would be taken if this was next door to a Councillor”, the reverse is true – Councillors lose their civil rights to object to issues affecting them with which the Council is dealing when they have a direct “prejudicial interest”.
This application was the latest example of a growing phenomenon of ‘backland development’. Driven by the booming housing rental market in West London, developers are increasingly seeking to build ‘infill developments’ in these kinds of small landlocked sites. In a number of cases, they have built (or converted) without planning permission, and the Council is having to take planning enforcement action.
We had a similar ‘backland’ problem locally in the early 1990’s, worsened by a weakening of the Council’s planning policies on backland by the then Council. I and others campaigned for tougher policies, which we introduced with the change of Council administration in 1994. However, the main weapon against inappropriate building now has got to be effective enforcement, and this is currently being examined by a scrutiny exercise being expertly led by Cllr Tony Brown (Ealing Common). The scrutiny documents should be on the Council’s website at http://www.ealing.gov.uk/services/council/committees/agendas_minutes_reports/
scrutiny/planning_enforcement_ad_hoc_panel/index.html
Incidentally, although I live in St Andrews Road, I was able to talk about it this site because I live hundred of metres away at the other end of the road and am personally unaffected. If I’d been a near neighbour, I would have been unable to object or get involved as either a Councillor or resident. When people sometimes claim that “action would be taken if this was next door to a Councillor”, the reverse is true – Councillors lose their civil rights to object to issues affecting them with which the Council is dealing when they have a direct “prejudicial interest”.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Gating the Avenues alleyways
Over the last few of years, we as local Councillors have been working with a group of enthusiastic residents and Council officers on improving community safety in ‘The Avenues – First, Second and Third Avenues and associated roads off Acton Vale.
The key concern for residents was the use for anti-social behaviour of alleyways that run between The Avenues. The obvious solution was to introduce a ‘gating scheme’ to control access to the alleyways – which has had a major impact when used elsewhere. We’ve got together the funding for a comprehensive gating scheme. However, for reasons that aren’t clearly understood, these alleyways had been adopted as “public highways” by the former Acton Borough Council before 1965, and had to have this status removed before the gates could be installed.
Today was a formal hearing at the Acton Magistrates Court of the Council’s application to “unadopt” the alleyways and enable their gating. This should have been in December, but a cock-up at the Council meant that it was deferred to today. There was surprisingly one objector to the proposal, but having heard both him and the Council evidence, the Magistrates ruled in favour of the application “to extinguish the right of way”. There’s now a formal period that has to be left for a potential appeal, and we can then finally get the gates installed.
I couldn’t attend the proceedings in Court because I had to attend a PCT meeting with our Professional Executive Committee and leading PCT staff. We were discussing the local implications and implementation of one of the keystones of the Government new health reforms “Practice-based Commissioning” (PbC). This is designed to put the commissioning of hospital and other health services in the hands of either individual GP practices or groups of them, rather than the current “service level agreements” negotiated direct by PCTs. In LB Ealing, the emerging position is that GPs appear to be getting together into three local commissioning groups – one based on Acton and central Ealing, one based on Southall, and one for the rest of the Borough.
We’re still working in a bit of a vacumn because key government guidance is still awaited, but agreed some early action to try to allow flexibility for the new arrangements to reflect both local and Borough-wide issues and concerns. Like much of the new NHS changes, there’s much here to welcome in identifying problems, but more uncertainty about the solutions that they are prescribing.
The key concern for residents was the use for anti-social behaviour of alleyways that run between The Avenues. The obvious solution was to introduce a ‘gating scheme’ to control access to the alleyways – which has had a major impact when used elsewhere. We’ve got together the funding for a comprehensive gating scheme. However, for reasons that aren’t clearly understood, these alleyways had been adopted as “public highways” by the former Acton Borough Council before 1965, and had to have this status removed before the gates could be installed.
Today was a formal hearing at the Acton Magistrates Court of the Council’s application to “unadopt” the alleyways and enable their gating. This should have been in December, but a cock-up at the Council meant that it was deferred to today. There was surprisingly one objector to the proposal, but having heard both him and the Council evidence, the Magistrates ruled in favour of the application “to extinguish the right of way”. There’s now a formal period that has to be left for a potential appeal, and we can then finally get the gates installed.
I couldn’t attend the proceedings in Court because I had to attend a PCT meeting with our Professional Executive Committee and leading PCT staff. We were discussing the local implications and implementation of one of the keystones of the Government new health reforms “Practice-based Commissioning” (PbC). This is designed to put the commissioning of hospital and other health services in the hands of either individual GP practices or groups of them, rather than the current “service level agreements” negotiated direct by PCTs. In LB Ealing, the emerging position is that GPs appear to be getting together into three local commissioning groups – one based on Acton and central Ealing, one based on Southall, and one for the rest of the Borough.
We’re still working in a bit of a vacumn because key government guidance is still awaited, but agreed some early action to try to allow flexibility for the new arrangements to reflect both local and Borough-wide issues and concerns. Like much of the new NHS changes, there’s much here to welcome in identifying problems, but more uncertainty about the solutions that they are prescribing.
Monday, January 09, 2006
New Year, New Budget
The first Labour Group meeting of the year – and as usual in December/January dominated by discussing next years Council budget.
The Group has committed itself to proposing a tax increase no bigger than last year’s 4.8% - and ideally lower. This means making significant savings, given that the cost pressures of providing services tend to rise faster than the increases in Government grant. In addition, Leo Thomson as our new Leader is looking for improvements in a number of key services and areas, which will mean finding further savings that can be recycled to fund these higher priorities.
Leo Thomson promoting 'Book Week' - the Council spends £5.7 million per year on libraries
We’ve agreed to support savings of £21.6 million of which officers estimate that 86% are efficiencies, 8% are extra income, and 6% are cuts in lower priority services. This leaves an estimated gap of around £8 million, depending on the final Government grant settlement, decisions by other bodies on their charges (such as waste disposal), and on the feasibility of other savings options that officers are examining.
The highest single saving is £1.3 million of extra income from Gordon Brown’s Local Authority Business Growth Scheme, which gives local Councils a share of the extra business rates income that they generate for the government by their regeneration activities. The full list of agreed savings can be seen on the Council website at http://www.ealing.gov.uk/council/committees/cabinet/17may2005-22may2006/item18-budgetstrategyappendixc.pdf
The final budget and consequent Council Tax level will be set on 7th March, although we’ll be considering further growth and savings all through January and February. However, the key decision is out of our hands – the government grant announcement due in late January/early February. It’s important to remember that nearly three-quarters of Council income is from grant and payments from the Government rather than council tax. This means that even small changes in the Government formulas are likely to have big effects on LB Ealing’s finances. If you see David Miliband, put in a word for us ...
The Group has committed itself to proposing a tax increase no bigger than last year’s 4.8% - and ideally lower. This means making significant savings, given that the cost pressures of providing services tend to rise faster than the increases in Government grant. In addition, Leo Thomson as our new Leader is looking for improvements in a number of key services and areas, which will mean finding further savings that can be recycled to fund these higher priorities.
Leo Thomson promoting 'Book Week' - the Council spends £5.7 million per year on libraries
We’ve agreed to support savings of £21.6 million of which officers estimate that 86% are efficiencies, 8% are extra income, and 6% are cuts in lower priority services. This leaves an estimated gap of around £8 million, depending on the final Government grant settlement, decisions by other bodies on their charges (such as waste disposal), and on the feasibility of other savings options that officers are examining.
The highest single saving is £1.3 million of extra income from Gordon Brown’s Local Authority Business Growth Scheme, which gives local Councils a share of the extra business rates income that they generate for the government by their regeneration activities. The full list of agreed savings can be seen on the Council website at http://www.ealing.gov.uk/council/committees/cabinet/17may2005-22may2006/item18-budgetstrategyappendixc.pdf
The final budget and consequent Council Tax level will be set on 7th March, although we’ll be considering further growth and savings all through January and February. However, the key decision is out of our hands – the government grant announcement due in late January/early February. It’s important to remember that nearly three-quarters of Council income is from grant and payments from the Government rather than council tax. This means that even small changes in the Government formulas are likely to have big effects on LB Ealing’s finances. If you see David Miliband, put in a word for us ...
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Two Full Houses
My second day back from the Christmas break (yesterday was my ASDA surgery), and I cycled up to St Gabriel’s Church Hall for an unusually large turnout at my North Acton advice surgery.
This turnout followed the delivery of the latest ‘East Acton Labour News’ in late December - as a special edition for the area around North Acton Playing Fields which voted not to go into the new Gypsy Corner Controlled Parking Zone. Unsurprisingly, much of the casework related to the parking implications of this – such as disabled parking facilities – which included the first request to extend the zone. This will be something that can be considered when the zone is reviewed – normally after six months.
The most encouraging part of this is the evidence that constituents actually read the ‘East Acton Labour News’ newsletter – most of those attending said they came along because it had reminded them of the regular surgery. What I tend to do is produce special editions for specific areas of East Acton ward, rather than try to cover all 14,500 often far distant residents in one document. This means that I can be unashamedly very parochial, and let people know the sort of very local news that doesn’t reach the local papers.
I cycled on to Ealing Rugby Club to a full house for the biggest home league game of the season so far. This was against London Scottish – a famous old rugby club founded in 1878 (albeit seven years after Ealing) – but now our competitors for third place and possible promotion from the London 1 league. Sadly, a full strength London Scottish team were very impressive winners 54-17, including a quite brilliant individual second half try from their full back Matt Dowling.
Ealing win a line out
At my suggestion, the Club had invited this year’s Mayor – Cllr Mike Elliott – to make a civic visit to the club to watch the match. Mike was first elected as a Councillor on the old Ealing Borough Council in May 1958 (the same year I was born – as I always remind him) and now has uniquely held at some time since all of the leading civic Council posts – Leader, Deputy Leader, Deputy Mayor, Mayor’s Consort and now Mayor. To his credit, Mike spent most of the match on the open grandstand with the Ealing fans rather than in the (much warmer) clubhouse bar. After some excellent ‘Ealing Bitter’ during the game, I warmed up with a few pints of Bass in ‘Duffy’s’.
This turnout followed the delivery of the latest ‘East Acton Labour News’ in late December - as a special edition for the area around North Acton Playing Fields which voted not to go into the new Gypsy Corner Controlled Parking Zone. Unsurprisingly, much of the casework related to the parking implications of this – such as disabled parking facilities – which included the first request to extend the zone. This will be something that can be considered when the zone is reviewed – normally after six months.
The most encouraging part of this is the evidence that constituents actually read the ‘East Acton Labour News’ newsletter – most of those attending said they came along because it had reminded them of the regular surgery. What I tend to do is produce special editions for specific areas of East Acton ward, rather than try to cover all 14,500 often far distant residents in one document. This means that I can be unashamedly very parochial, and let people know the sort of very local news that doesn’t reach the local papers.
I cycled on to Ealing Rugby Club to a full house for the biggest home league game of the season so far. This was against London Scottish – a famous old rugby club founded in 1878 (albeit seven years after Ealing) – but now our competitors for third place and possible promotion from the London 1 league. Sadly, a full strength London Scottish team were very impressive winners 54-17, including a quite brilliant individual second half try from their full back Matt Dowling.
Ealing win a line out
At my suggestion, the Club had invited this year’s Mayor – Cllr Mike Elliott – to make a civic visit to the club to watch the match. Mike was first elected as a Councillor on the old Ealing Borough Council in May 1958 (the same year I was born – as I always remind him) and now has uniquely held at some time since all of the leading civic Council posts – Leader, Deputy Leader, Deputy Mayor, Mayor’s Consort and now Mayor. To his credit, Mike spent most of the match on the open grandstand with the Ealing fans rather than in the (much warmer) clubhouse bar. After some excellent ‘Ealing Bitter’ during the game, I warmed up with a few pints of Bass in ‘Duffy’s’.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Questions on cycling, cock-ups and crime
Tonight was the last full Council meeting of 2005 – and for once it was mainly useful (well even Millwall win occasionally). Given this, I’ll do separate posts about the more interesting parts of the meeting – firstly on question time.
Council question time is the most heavily choreographed part of the full Council meeting. There are seven questions for oral answer at every meeting – three Labour, three Tory and one Lib Dem – with two supplementaries allowed to each question. The Party Groups pick the seven questions, which consequently generally have a common pattern – Labour tend to ask about schools, the environment and regeneration ; the Tories major on the potential tram, other anti-Ken questions, and central Ealing issues ; whilst the Lib Dems concentrate mostly on parochial issues for the Southfield and Ealing Common wards that they represent (although I have to confess that I’ve done my fair share of parochial East Acton questions).
I had a question down to Cabinet Member Ray Wall : “Could the Cabinet Member for Transport and Planning Policy report on the recognition and awards given to the cycling promotion and development work of the Borough?”. I asked this question in order to raise awareness of the very impressive record of achievement by the Borough’s cycling team, and Ray outlined some of the praise and awards that they have won including :
- One of the 2004 London Cycling Awards (the ‘cycling oscars’) for the campaign to 'market cycling' in a multi-pronged approach to encourage cycling that includes free cycle training, installing bike parking in streets, and schools, providing cycle lockers on estates, and 'bike buddy' schemes to help commuters on their journeys. This has also been strongly praised by ‘Marketing Cycling’.
- Being rated by The London Magazine as the top London borough for the provision of cycle paths. In a poll of environmental performance, the magazine rated Ealing top for cycle paths and 7th out of 33 overall.
As a supplementary question, I asked about the potential impact of cycling of the proposed tram, and specifically how the Council was trying to ensure that TfL acted on the tram issues raised by the local branch of the London Cycling Campaign. Ray replied that “the tram scheme requires a comprehensive traffic management design for the whole corridor, and is an opportunity to take cyclists’ needs into account in an integrated way … I know that the TfL design team is working to identify the intended route for cyclists all along the corridor, and will be bringing proposals to the Ealing branch of the LCC in the new year.” This is welcome, but it’ll be important to make sure that TfL keep to their commitments – trams and cyclists can co-exist, but this does require good quality sensitive design by the transport planners.
This consensus on bikes was broken by a bizarre attack on cycling in a second supplementary question from an opposition Councillor. He claimed (to general incredulity – such ‘what have you been smoking?’) that promoting cycling means encouraging pavement cycling. To their credit even most Tories laughed at this nonsense, and Ray pointed out that he couldn’t really be expected to answer an incomprehensible question.
Another later question was inevitable – Tory Licensing specialist John Popham asked about the failure of the Council’s public halls to properly apply for licenses under the new legislation. This news had come out at the weekend, leading to endless obvious jokes about organising p*** ups in breweries. In their responses, both Laurence Evans (as Chair of Regulatory Committee) and John Delaney (as Cabinet Member) were admirably honest. John described it as an “indefensible cock-up … for which the people responsible should be held accountable”, whilst Laurence announced that he had made a formal complaint to the Chief Executive (Darra Singh) demanding an investigation into what happened and why. Still, it’s a classic ‘you couldn’t make it up’ moment.
Other questions mostly covered the usual suspects – schools results, car parking and the potential tram. However, there was uniquely one question each from the Tories and Lib Dems on the usually sedate subject of Gunnersbury Park (next to Ealing Common ward). The (unspoken) reason for this interest was obvious – Ealing Common is currently the only ward in the Borough with split representation (two Tories and one Lib Dem) and is already lining up as a battle royal of the leaflets between the two Parties, in the run up to next May’s local elections. We’ll now be on ‘Ealing Common watch’ at every question time.
The Council meeting had started with a very impressive presentation and question and answer session with Commander Colette Paul – the new(ish) Police Commander for the Borough. Colette talked about some the recent achievements locally – such as a drop of 14% in vehicle crime and of 7% in ‘theft and snatch’ offences. LB Ealing is now in the top five Boroughs in London for issuing ASBOs, and also has 55 ‘Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) – a scheme that can be used to try to produce better behaviour without going to the lengths of a full ASBO. However, she was honest enough to recognise that some challenges remain – burglary is up over the last year, as is street crime. The recorded rise in street crime is no surprise here in East Acton, where there have been some noticeable problems recently that the local police safer neighbourhood team have been addressing.
Colette also said that the police were not seeing any impact from the new licensing system. I took this a cue to ask her a question about the police role in licensing - and in particular the concern of many of us that their central licensing team and their neighbourhood team colleagues don’t seem to always work together. The Borough police have regularly withdrawn objections to even long pub hours extensions, even where residents are reporting concerns from local police about anti-social behaviour. She said that she would look at the issues I raised, and accepted the importance of the police working in partnership and as a team. I’m writing to her to take her up on this offer.
Council question time is the most heavily choreographed part of the full Council meeting. There are seven questions for oral answer at every meeting – three Labour, three Tory and one Lib Dem – with two supplementaries allowed to each question. The Party Groups pick the seven questions, which consequently generally have a common pattern – Labour tend to ask about schools, the environment and regeneration ; the Tories major on the potential tram, other anti-Ken questions, and central Ealing issues ; whilst the Lib Dems concentrate mostly on parochial issues for the Southfield and Ealing Common wards that they represent (although I have to confess that I’ve done my fair share of parochial East Acton questions).
I had a question down to Cabinet Member Ray Wall : “Could the Cabinet Member for Transport and Planning Policy report on the recognition and awards given to the cycling promotion and development work of the Borough?”. I asked this question in order to raise awareness of the very impressive record of achievement by the Borough’s cycling team, and Ray outlined some of the praise and awards that they have won including :
- One of the 2004 London Cycling Awards (the ‘cycling oscars’) for the campaign to 'market cycling' in a multi-pronged approach to encourage cycling that includes free cycle training, installing bike parking in streets, and schools, providing cycle lockers on estates, and 'bike buddy' schemes to help commuters on their journeys. This has also been strongly praised by ‘Marketing Cycling’.
- Being rated by The London Magazine as the top London borough for the provision of cycle paths. In a poll of environmental performance, the magazine rated Ealing top for cycle paths and 7th out of 33 overall.
As a supplementary question, I asked about the potential impact of cycling of the proposed tram, and specifically how the Council was trying to ensure that TfL acted on the tram issues raised by the local branch of the London Cycling Campaign. Ray replied that “the tram scheme requires a comprehensive traffic management design for the whole corridor, and is an opportunity to take cyclists’ needs into account in an integrated way … I know that the TfL design team is working to identify the intended route for cyclists all along the corridor, and will be bringing proposals to the Ealing branch of the LCC in the new year.” This is welcome, but it’ll be important to make sure that TfL keep to their commitments – trams and cyclists can co-exist, but this does require good quality sensitive design by the transport planners.
This consensus on bikes was broken by a bizarre attack on cycling in a second supplementary question from an opposition Councillor. He claimed (to general incredulity – such ‘what have you been smoking?’) that promoting cycling means encouraging pavement cycling. To their credit even most Tories laughed at this nonsense, and Ray pointed out that he couldn’t really be expected to answer an incomprehensible question.
Another later question was inevitable – Tory Licensing specialist John Popham asked about the failure of the Council’s public halls to properly apply for licenses under the new legislation. This news had come out at the weekend, leading to endless obvious jokes about organising p*** ups in breweries. In their responses, both Laurence Evans (as Chair of Regulatory Committee) and John Delaney (as Cabinet Member) were admirably honest. John described it as an “indefensible cock-up … for which the people responsible should be held accountable”, whilst Laurence announced that he had made a formal complaint to the Chief Executive (Darra Singh) demanding an investigation into what happened and why. Still, it’s a classic ‘you couldn’t make it up’ moment.
Other questions mostly covered the usual suspects – schools results, car parking and the potential tram. However, there was uniquely one question each from the Tories and Lib Dems on the usually sedate subject of Gunnersbury Park (next to Ealing Common ward). The (unspoken) reason for this interest was obvious – Ealing Common is currently the only ward in the Borough with split representation (two Tories and one Lib Dem) and is already lining up as a battle royal of the leaflets between the two Parties, in the run up to next May’s local elections. We’ll now be on ‘Ealing Common watch’ at every question time.
The Council meeting had started with a very impressive presentation and question and answer session with Commander Colette Paul – the new(ish) Police Commander for the Borough. Colette talked about some the recent achievements locally – such as a drop of 14% in vehicle crime and of 7% in ‘theft and snatch’ offences. LB Ealing is now in the top five Boroughs in London for issuing ASBOs, and also has 55 ‘Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) – a scheme that can be used to try to produce better behaviour without going to the lengths of a full ASBO. However, she was honest enough to recognise that some challenges remain – burglary is up over the last year, as is street crime. The recorded rise in street crime is no surprise here in East Acton, where there have been some noticeable problems recently that the local police safer neighbourhood team have been addressing.
Colette also said that the police were not seeing any impact from the new licensing system. I took this a cue to ask her a question about the police role in licensing - and in particular the concern of many of us that their central licensing team and their neighbourhood team colleagues don’t seem to always work together. The Borough police have regularly withdrawn objections to even long pub hours extensions, even where residents are reporting concerns from local police about anti-social behaviour. She said that she would look at the issues I raised, and accepted the importance of the police working in partnership and as a team. I’m writing to her to take her up on this offer.
Full Council Debates
My previous post on 2nd December gives the text of the motion that I moved at the Council meeting on Holocaust Memorial Day. Appropriately, the prayers at the beginning of the Council meeting were given by Rabbi Vogel – the energetic Rabbi of the Ealing and Acton synagogue – who spoke of the importance to all faiths of winter festivals of lights like Hanukkah.
In my speech, I started by saying that although I had moved the original motion proposing local commemorations some four years ago, all that I and others remembered of that debate was the speech made by former Cllr Joan Ansell. Joan was the first Jewish Mayor of the Borough, and as a young woman in the armed forces had visited concentration camps soon after their liberation in 1945. Her speech was one of the finest and most moving that I have ever heard in the Council Chamber in my twenty years there. Joan's speech was a perfect example of what Holocaust Memorial Day is intended to achieve – the use of memories and experience of holocaust to learn lessons for the future.
I outlined the background to the motion, and particularly stressed both the centrality of the Jewish experience to the understanding of Holocaust, and its relevance to other groups and nations before and since the Nazi period. For example, we have in our Borough one of the largest Armenian communities in Britain – and the Armenian diaspora in Turkey experienced what most would regard as a holocaust in the second decade of the last century. Hitler infamously sought to justify his holocaust by saying “who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" I finished by saying that Holocaust Memorial Day was ultimately about the moral duty of the Council to challenge and seek to defeat all forms of persecution including anti-semitism, racism, islamophobia, homophobia, and xenophobia – in Boroughs like ours we proudly celebrate our diversity, whilst also recognising our common humanity.
Unfortunately, Tory Cllr Tony Brown who had intended to second the motion was not able to attend. His place was ably taken by Tory Cllr Jason Stacey from Greenford Green ward, who talked about the relevance of holocaust to all ages and particularly those who have learnt it as history rather than as news. Labour Cllr Bassam Mahfouz (Northolt West End ward) outlined his experience of visiting Auschwitz as a school student – my motion specifically welcomed the Chancellor’s announcement of an extra £1.5 million to the Holocaust Educational Trust which will enable two sixth formers from every UK school to undertake such a visit. The all-Party support was completed by Cllr Harvey Rose on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, who described the Nazi holocaust as “a unique event of extraordinary cruelty”.
The motion was of course passed unanimously. I spoke afterwards with Jason and Harvey and we agreed to set up an informal group of members to oversee the arrangements for Holocaust Memorial Day 2006 (which will be commemorated nationally on 26th January as the 27th falls on the Jewish Sabbath). Darra Singh agreed to set up the first meeting of this group for early in January. Sorry about the length of this piece on the Holocaust Memorial Day motion, but it's an issue about which I feel passionately.
The Council meeting also had two other motions of a similar character. Labour Cllr Tejinder Dhami (Dormers Wells) moved a motion on the recent earthquake affecting Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, and spoke movingly saying : “natural disasters do not respect the boundaries of nations or religions … amongst the poorest people in the world have faced the wrath of nature.” Tory Cllr Glenn Murphy moved a motion commemorating the recent death in Iraq of pilgrims from the Dawoodi Bohra mosque in his Northolt Mandeville ward, which was agreed without debate despite a distasteful attempt by the Lib Dems to add party political comments to it.
All of this said, for most people, the best speech of the night was made by Labour Cllr Kieron Gavan (Northfield ward), in a debate about a recent auditors report into the ‘Response’ scheme. This report – commissioned by Leader Leo Thomson and Chief Executive Darra Singh – stressed benefits flowing from the ‘customer first’ Response programme, whilst criticising its governance by former senior Council officers. Kieron’s speech was a unique combination of thoughtful analysis and glorious rant. He said that there should be “no shame in the bold vision of the programme” but that there were “clear operational failures”. Warming to this theme he said of former senior Council officers “there are some people that I’d like to bring back just to sack them … particularly three former members of the corporate board … when I heard that they were going, I was sitting here thinking ‘whoopee’ while you lot (the Tories) were saying that it was a shame that they were going.” Kieron (just) avoided naming the people in question, but every Cllr knew who he meant.
Christmas drinks and mince pies afterwards in the Mayor's Parlour were very welcome - even if the London Pride was only in cans.
In my speech, I started by saying that although I had moved the original motion proposing local commemorations some four years ago, all that I and others remembered of that debate was the speech made by former Cllr Joan Ansell. Joan was the first Jewish Mayor of the Borough, and as a young woman in the armed forces had visited concentration camps soon after their liberation in 1945. Her speech was one of the finest and most moving that I have ever heard in the Council Chamber in my twenty years there. Joan's speech was a perfect example of what Holocaust Memorial Day is intended to achieve – the use of memories and experience of holocaust to learn lessons for the future.
I outlined the background to the motion, and particularly stressed both the centrality of the Jewish experience to the understanding of Holocaust, and its relevance to other groups and nations before and since the Nazi period. For example, we have in our Borough one of the largest Armenian communities in Britain – and the Armenian diaspora in Turkey experienced what most would regard as a holocaust in the second decade of the last century. Hitler infamously sought to justify his holocaust by saying “who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" I finished by saying that Holocaust Memorial Day was ultimately about the moral duty of the Council to challenge and seek to defeat all forms of persecution including anti-semitism, racism, islamophobia, homophobia, and xenophobia – in Boroughs like ours we proudly celebrate our diversity, whilst also recognising our common humanity.
Unfortunately, Tory Cllr Tony Brown who had intended to second the motion was not able to attend. His place was ably taken by Tory Cllr Jason Stacey from Greenford Green ward, who talked about the relevance of holocaust to all ages and particularly those who have learnt it as history rather than as news. Labour Cllr Bassam Mahfouz (Northolt West End ward) outlined his experience of visiting Auschwitz as a school student – my motion specifically welcomed the Chancellor’s announcement of an extra £1.5 million to the Holocaust Educational Trust which will enable two sixth formers from every UK school to undertake such a visit. The all-Party support was completed by Cllr Harvey Rose on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, who described the Nazi holocaust as “a unique event of extraordinary cruelty”.
The motion was of course passed unanimously. I spoke afterwards with Jason and Harvey and we agreed to set up an informal group of members to oversee the arrangements for Holocaust Memorial Day 2006 (which will be commemorated nationally on 26th January as the 27th falls on the Jewish Sabbath). Darra Singh agreed to set up the first meeting of this group for early in January. Sorry about the length of this piece on the Holocaust Memorial Day motion, but it's an issue about which I feel passionately.
The Council meeting also had two other motions of a similar character. Labour Cllr Tejinder Dhami (Dormers Wells) moved a motion on the recent earthquake affecting Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, and spoke movingly saying : “natural disasters do not respect the boundaries of nations or religions … amongst the poorest people in the world have faced the wrath of nature.” Tory Cllr Glenn Murphy moved a motion commemorating the recent death in Iraq of pilgrims from the Dawoodi Bohra mosque in his Northolt Mandeville ward, which was agreed without debate despite a distasteful attempt by the Lib Dems to add party political comments to it.
All of this said, for most people, the best speech of the night was made by Labour Cllr Kieron Gavan (Northfield ward), in a debate about a recent auditors report into the ‘Response’ scheme. This report – commissioned by Leader Leo Thomson and Chief Executive Darra Singh – stressed benefits flowing from the ‘customer first’ Response programme, whilst criticising its governance by former senior Council officers. Kieron’s speech was a unique combination of thoughtful analysis and glorious rant. He said that there should be “no shame in the bold vision of the programme” but that there were “clear operational failures”. Warming to this theme he said of former senior Council officers “there are some people that I’d like to bring back just to sack them … particularly three former members of the corporate board … when I heard that they were going, I was sitting here thinking ‘whoopee’ while you lot (the Tories) were saying that it was a shame that they were going.” Kieron (just) avoided naming the people in question, but every Cllr knew who he meant.
Christmas drinks and mince pies afterwards in the Mayor's Parlour were very welcome - even if the London Pride was only in cans.
Saturday, December 03, 2005
A Walk Through Acton Cemetery
Walked to the North Acton advice surgery at St Gabriels Church. More people attended than normal, given that it is one of the first local surgeries since we delivered the latest edition of East Acton Labour News in the area. This has got an unusually good reception, largely because it gave local residents the welcome news that the residents-only parking scheme has been agreed. I'd already had a number of phone calls during the week thanking us for the news, and four more people turned up at the surgery to talk about parking and traffic issues locally.
The first world war memorial in Acton Cemetery
I walked back via Acton Cemetery. The Cemetery lies between Park Royal Road and Chase Road in the ward, and is probably unique amongst London cemeteries in having a tube line run through it. The original cemetery dates from 1895, and includes a fine first world war memorial and an attractive chapel. It’s now largely closed to new burials, although there clearly have been a couple this year in plots bought before closure. The most notable grave for Actonians is probably that of Joseph Sparks – who was MP for Acton from 1945 to 1959, and an Acton Councillor or Alderman from 1934 to 1965. The old cemetery (south of the tube line) has many fine gravestones from the time when Acton was a suburb, whereas the newer section to the north has a number of unmarked graves. One of these is that of my great-grandmother Margaret Hunter Portwood, who died in 1933 in the house in which I now live.
The grave of Joe Sparks and his wife Dora - Mayor and Mayoress of Acton when I was born
I was impressed with the continuing high quality of maintenance of the cemetery. Back in 1992, the then (Tory) Council proposed to heavily reduce the maintenance, and I led one of the largest lobbies I have ever seen locally to defeat them. Ever since, I’ve kept a keen eye on this issue, given what the 1992 campaign showed about the affection and respect in which Acton Cemetery is held.
The first world war memorial in Acton Cemetery
I walked back via Acton Cemetery. The Cemetery lies between Park Royal Road and Chase Road in the ward, and is probably unique amongst London cemeteries in having a tube line run through it. The original cemetery dates from 1895, and includes a fine first world war memorial and an attractive chapel. It’s now largely closed to new burials, although there clearly have been a couple this year in plots bought before closure. The most notable grave for Actonians is probably that of Joseph Sparks – who was MP for Acton from 1945 to 1959, and an Acton Councillor or Alderman from 1934 to 1965. The old cemetery (south of the tube line) has many fine gravestones from the time when Acton was a suburb, whereas the newer section to the north has a number of unmarked graves. One of these is that of my great-grandmother Margaret Hunter Portwood, who died in 1933 in the house in which I now live.
The grave of Joe Sparks and his wife Dora - Mayor and Mayoress of Acton when I was bornI was impressed with the continuing high quality of maintenance of the cemetery. Back in 1992, the then (Tory) Council proposed to heavily reduce the maintenance, and I led one of the largest lobbies I have ever seen locally to defeat them. Ever since, I’ve kept a keen eye on this issue, given what the 1992 campaign showed about the affection and respect in which Acton Cemetery is held.
Friday, December 02, 2005
Remembering the Holocaust
Held my regular monthly surgery at ASDA from 11.00 to 12.00. This was again very successful, with people raising a wide range of issues including housing, youth provision, planning and even a health issue to take up with my PCT responsibilities. Only about half of the people seem to come from East Acton ward, but that’s more than enough to make this comfortably my busiest advice surgery.
All credit to ASDA for allowing me to do this – their only (very reasonable) condition is that I don’t say or give out anything party political. This is easier than people outside the Council might think – it’s a pretty sad individual who can find a lot of party politics in much of the byways of local government (although some do – no names, no pack drill – but we all know who they are).
When I went to their back office to register as a visitor, I was very impressed with the ASDA notices to their staff warning them not to sell alcohol to those underage. This has been a real problem, particularly in some off-licences. The Council have recently been running some ‘mystery customer’ test purchases at both large and small stores to test out whether they follow the law. In contrast to ASDA’s firm stance, at least one major superstore was caught breaking the law and given a warning (I’ll check if I’m allowed to name them on this blog).
Went on (still bikeless) to meet with Conservative Cllr Tony Brown, to discuss and agree a motion on Holocaust Memorial day that we’re putting to the next full Council meeting on 13th December. The fact that Tony and I are happy to work together like this is another example of where this Borough doesn’t let party politics get in the way of sensible partnership.
I was very concerned earlier in the year to see suggestions in some of the press urging that that Holocaust Memorial Day should be downgraded or changed in name. Thankfully, Charles Clarke as Home Secretary issued a very firm statement rejecting any such suggestion. Our Council was one of the first in British local government to organise a commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day, following a motion that I moved with all-party support. Therefore I thought it would be important for the Council to recognise and welcome what Charles Clarke had said, together with other recent developments, and to make a reaffirmation of our commitment to Holocaust Memorial Day and the principles upon which it is based.
The motion which we’ve drafted, and which I will move and Tony will second, reads as follows :
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY
The Council recognises its role as one of the pioneers of local government commemoration of 27th January as Holocaust Memorial Day, and strongly believes in its continuing importance.
We were consequently concerned about suggestions from the media urging a downgrading of the national status of Holocaust Memorial Day, and warmly welcome the statement made by the Home Secretary in a letter to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust that “The Government remains totally committed to the commemoration as an annual national event, and has no plans to seek a change in its name or nature.”
The Council welcomes other recent national and international initiatives to further recognise and increase the role played by Holocaust Memorial Day, including :
* The designation by the United Nations General Assembly of 27th January as an annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust
* The announcement by the Chancellor of funding of £1.5 million to support the Holocaust Educational Trust's ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ course for teachers and sixth form students, which will allow the Trust to facilitate visits to Auschwitz for two students from every school in the UK
* Her Majesty the Queen becoming the Patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust
The Council agrees to continue to see Holocaust Memorial Day as an occasion to raise awareness that, whilst the suffering of Jewish people in the Nazi Holocaust is and must remain central to the commemoration of Holocaust, the experiences of the Armenian diaspora and more recently in Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo and Darfur are of crucial importance in understanding and preventing future holocaust. Above all, the Council recognises its moral duty to confront and seek to defeat anti-semitism, racism, xenophobia and all forms of persecution.
The Council resolves to continue to play its role in the commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day, recognising that events in 2006 will be centred on Thursday 26th January given that the 27th falls on the Jewish Sabbath”
All credit to ASDA for allowing me to do this – their only (very reasonable) condition is that I don’t say or give out anything party political. This is easier than people outside the Council might think – it’s a pretty sad individual who can find a lot of party politics in much of the byways of local government (although some do – no names, no pack drill – but we all know who they are).
When I went to their back office to register as a visitor, I was very impressed with the ASDA notices to their staff warning them not to sell alcohol to those underage. This has been a real problem, particularly in some off-licences. The Council have recently been running some ‘mystery customer’ test purchases at both large and small stores to test out whether they follow the law. In contrast to ASDA’s firm stance, at least one major superstore was caught breaking the law and given a warning (I’ll check if I’m allowed to name them on this blog).
Went on (still bikeless) to meet with Conservative Cllr Tony Brown, to discuss and agree a motion on Holocaust Memorial day that we’re putting to the next full Council meeting on 13th December. The fact that Tony and I are happy to work together like this is another example of where this Borough doesn’t let party politics get in the way of sensible partnership.
I was very concerned earlier in the year to see suggestions in some of the press urging that that Holocaust Memorial Day should be downgraded or changed in name. Thankfully, Charles Clarke as Home Secretary issued a very firm statement rejecting any such suggestion. Our Council was one of the first in British local government to organise a commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day, following a motion that I moved with all-party support. Therefore I thought it would be important for the Council to recognise and welcome what Charles Clarke had said, together with other recent developments, and to make a reaffirmation of our commitment to Holocaust Memorial Day and the principles upon which it is based.
The motion which we’ve drafted, and which I will move and Tony will second, reads as follows :
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY
The Council recognises its role as one of the pioneers of local government commemoration of 27th January as Holocaust Memorial Day, and strongly believes in its continuing importance.
We were consequently concerned about suggestions from the media urging a downgrading of the national status of Holocaust Memorial Day, and warmly welcome the statement made by the Home Secretary in a letter to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust that “The Government remains totally committed to the commemoration as an annual national event, and has no plans to seek a change in its name or nature.”
The Council welcomes other recent national and international initiatives to further recognise and increase the role played by Holocaust Memorial Day, including :
* The designation by the United Nations General Assembly of 27th January as an annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust
* The announcement by the Chancellor of funding of £1.5 million to support the Holocaust Educational Trust's ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ course for teachers and sixth form students, which will allow the Trust to facilitate visits to Auschwitz for two students from every school in the UK
* Her Majesty the Queen becoming the Patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust
The Council agrees to continue to see Holocaust Memorial Day as an occasion to raise awareness that, whilst the suffering of Jewish people in the Nazi Holocaust is and must remain central to the commemoration of Holocaust, the experiences of the Armenian diaspora and more recently in Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo and Darfur are of crucial importance in understanding and preventing future holocaust. Above all, the Council recognises its moral duty to confront and seek to defeat anti-semitism, racism, xenophobia and all forms of persecution.
The Council resolves to continue to play its role in the commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day, recognising that events in 2006 will be centred on Thursday 26th January given that the 27th falls on the Jewish Sabbath”
Thursday, December 01, 2005
East Acton Pedestrians (now including me)
Tonight was the latest meeting of the East Acton Steering Group – which brings together East Acton Councillors, Residents Associations and Council Officers from across the LB Ealing/LB Hammersmith and Fulham boundary.
The really good news from the meeting is from the consultation with local residents about a much needed pedestrian crossing across Old Oak Common Lane from The Fairway to Fitzneal Street. I and local residents have been arguing for this for some time, and the money has now been made available by Transport for London. Residents have voted 86% in favour of the crossing, with a higher than usual response rate of 30%. This means that the works to create the crossing will start in the next few weeks, and should be finished by the end of January at the latest
Most of our work over the last year has been related to road safety works at the junction of Old Oak Common Lane and Du Cane Road. This has involve removing a mini-roundabout with uncontrolled crossings, and replacing it with traffic lights and light-controlled crossings. This scheme got over 80% approval on consultation, although has subsequently been subject to some complaints particularly about the length of the ‘green man’ phasing on the pedestrian crossings. Our ideal situation was to also have a pedestrian crossing roughly between the Iceland store and the Post Office – however Transport for London (TfL) would not allow this as it would be too close to the Western Avenue
At the recent Annual General Meeting of East Acton Residents Association, most people felt that the new arrangements were not perfect but better than the previous uncontrolled situation. There is a minority view against this, particularly from local businesses, although most people at the Residents Association meeting felt that the problem with local shops was with their quality and lack of choice rather than the traffic.
At the Steering Group meeting we moved on from the junction issue, to look at smaller scale improvements that could be made to the shopping area. This will include new bike parking stands at road level, new road markings to particularly assist buses, and environmental improvements.
Cycled off up Long Drive to get to Ealing Town Hall, and suddenly heard a painful crunching sound. The chain had come off its’ sprocket on my bike, and I couldn’t get it back on. Pushed the bike home in the rain, and rushed off to the East Acton tube station. Having not been able to cycle for over three years until July due to a knee injury, it’s very frustrating to lose the use of the bike even if only (hopefully) temporarily.
I was consequently late for the last meeting of the Flooding and Water Pressure Scrutiny Panel. We had a very useful discussion, making recommendations arising from our previous meetings (see previous posts), which I’ll summarise later when w
e agree our final report.
Went on afterwards for a chat with Paul Woodgate at the Kings Head. After Paul left, I went to the bar and suddenly realised that it was 11.15 and their new extended hours had come into operation. No bell at 10.50 had meant that I hadn’t rushed for my last pint. Something which I’ve spent a large part of the last year planning had happened without me noticing ! A leisurely and pleasant session followed, in total contrast to the Daily Mail image of mad binge boozing. Had to get the 207 home, which at least allowed me to inspect Bromyard Avenue at night, but I need to get the bike fixed for future later drinking.
The really good news from the meeting is from the consultation with local residents about a much needed pedestrian crossing across Old Oak Common Lane from The Fairway to Fitzneal Street. I and local residents have been arguing for this for some time, and the money has now been made available by Transport for London. Residents have voted 86% in favour of the crossing, with a higher than usual response rate of 30%. This means that the works to create the crossing will start in the next few weeks, and should be finished by the end of January at the latest
Most of our work over the last year has been related to road safety works at the junction of Old Oak Common Lane and Du Cane Road. This has involve removing a mini-roundabout with uncontrolled crossings, and replacing it with traffic lights and light-controlled crossings. This scheme got over 80% approval on consultation, although has subsequently been subject to some complaints particularly about the length of the ‘green man’ phasing on the pedestrian crossings. Our ideal situation was to also have a pedestrian crossing roughly between the Iceland store and the Post Office – however Transport for London (TfL) would not allow this as it would be too close to the Western Avenue
At the recent Annual General Meeting of East Acton Residents Association, most people felt that the new arrangements were not perfect but better than the previous uncontrolled situation. There is a minority view against this, particularly from local businesses, although most people at the Residents Association meeting felt that the problem with local shops was with their quality and lack of choice rather than the traffic.
At the Steering Group meeting we moved on from the junction issue, to look at smaller scale improvements that could be made to the shopping area. This will include new bike parking stands at road level, new road markings to particularly assist buses, and environmental improvements.
Cycled off up Long Drive to get to Ealing Town Hall, and suddenly heard a painful crunching sound. The chain had come off its’ sprocket on my bike, and I couldn’t get it back on. Pushed the bike home in the rain, and rushed off to the East Acton tube station. Having not been able to cycle for over three years until July due to a knee injury, it’s very frustrating to lose the use of the bike even if only (hopefully) temporarily.
I was consequently late for the last meeting of the Flooding and Water Pressure Scrutiny Panel. We had a very useful discussion, making recommendations arising from our previous meetings (see previous posts), which I’ll summarise later when w
e agree our final report.Went on afterwards for a chat with Paul Woodgate at the Kings Head. After Paul left, I went to the bar and suddenly realised that it was 11.15 and their new extended hours had come into operation. No bell at 10.50 had meant that I hadn’t rushed for my last pint. Something which I’ve spent a large part of the last year planning had happened without me noticing ! A leisurely and pleasant session followed, in total contrast to the Daily Mail image of mad binge boozing. Had to get the 207 home, which at least allowed me to inspect Bromyard Avenue at night, but I need to get the bike fixed for future later drinking.
The Kings Head in Acton (also known as 'Committee Room 3"
because of the number of Councillors who drink there)
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Newsletter for the Leamington Park Area
I've produced a special edition of our regular 'East Acton Labour News' newsletter for the Leamington Park area. We'll be delivering it today. All four of us in the Councillors Team have written articles for the newsletter - mine is on the new controlled parking zone : "
Residents-only Parking Scheme Agreed after Local Campaign
We’ve persuaded the Council to agree to make the Gypsy Corner area a residents-only parking zone. This follows a large number of complaints that we received as your local Councillors about commuters and other non-residents causing parking problems in local roads.
A consultation showed a clear majority for the residents-only policy on the following roads which will now be included in the controlled parking zone —
York Road area : York Road, Rosebank Way, Leamington Park and Horn Lane ;
Leamington Park Estate : Seacole Close, Garrett Close, Lister Close and Jenner Avenue ;
Wales Farm Road area : Wales Farm Road, Acorn Gardens, Conway Grove and Victoria Road ; Playing Fields area : Noel Road, Balfour Road, Cecil Road, Cloister Road and Park View.
Cllr Philip Portwood says : “We have campaigned for this with great support from local residents, and I’m delighted that it’s been agreed by the Council. There should be no more of the problems caused by double parking and commuter blocking of parking places. This shows that local Councillors and local residents campaigning together really can make a difference.”
The residents-only parking scheme will start in the new year. "
Other articles include ones by Atallah Said on new street lighting, Kate Crawford on a new pedestrian crossing in Horn Lane, and Paul Woodgate on his scrutiny of flooding and water pressure.
If you live in one of the roads above in the area, and don't get a copy of the newsletter delivered today, please e-mail me on phil@east-acton.com and I'll make sure that one gets to you.
Keeping in touch with residents through 'East Acton Labour News'
Residents-only Parking Scheme Agreed after Local Campaign
We’ve persuaded the Council to agree to make the Gypsy Corner area a residents-only parking zone. This follows a large number of complaints that we received as your local Councillors about commuters and other non-residents causing parking problems in local roads.
A consultation showed a clear majority for the residents-only policy on the following roads which will now be included in the controlled parking zone —
York Road area : York Road, Rosebank Way, Leamington Park and Horn Lane ;
Leamington Park Estate : Seacole Close, Garrett Close, Lister Close and Jenner Avenue ;
Wales Farm Road area : Wales Farm Road, Acorn Gardens, Conway Grove and Victoria Road ; Playing Fields area : Noel Road, Balfour Road, Cecil Road, Cloister Road and Park View.
Cllr Philip Portwood says : “We have campaigned for this with great support from local residents, and I’m delighted that it’s been agreed by the Council. There should be no more of the problems caused by double parking and commuter blocking of parking places. This shows that local Councillors and local residents campaigning together really can make a difference.”
The residents-only parking scheme will start in the new year. "
Other articles include ones by Atallah Said on new street lighting, Kate Crawford on a new pedestrian crossing in Horn Lane, and Paul Woodgate on his scrutiny of flooding and water pressure.
If you live in one of the roads above in the area, and don't get a copy of the newsletter delivered today, please e-mail me on phil@east-acton.com and I'll make sure that one gets to you.
Keeping in touch with residents through 'East Acton Labour News'
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