Ealing Council Elections 2010 -- Labour Win

Four years ago, amid recriminations over the abortive west London tram project, Labour found themselves unceremoniously dumped in Ealing's local council elections. But tonight they have seized back control.

Of the 69 seats in 23 wards, the result was:

Labour 40
Conservatives 24
Lib Dems 5

If this was a response to the Tories cavalier attitude to town planning, (Arcadia and Dickens Yard), then frankly, they too probably deserved a lesson in humility. It remains to be seen however, if Labour will have the same success in keeping down the council tax.

For details of the general election result in Ealing click here.

Children's Services in Ealing are performing well

Today Ofsted, (the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills), has published its annual children's services rating report for 2009. According to Ofsted:

"The ratings look at performance in 152 local authorities in England for 2009 ...is a wide-ranging and robust assessment of the outcomes for children and young people in every local authority area which is strongly based on the evidence from inspections."

The rating is scored 1 - 4, where 1 indicates: "performs poorly: an organisation that does not meet minimum requirements", and 4 indicates: "performs excellently: an organisation that significantly exceeds minimum requirements"

As outlined in this letter (pdf) to David Archibald, Ealing's Executive Director of Children and Adults, children's services in Ealing are rated: 3, ("performs well: an organisation that exceeds minimum requirements").

The detailed performance profile is available here (pdf).

Ealing Arcadia Centre Development: Rejected

Good news for Ealing: John Denham, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, has rejected the Arcadia redevelopment proposal for Ealing Broadway, previously rubber stamped by Conservative-run Ealing Council and London Mayor, Boris Johnson.

Denham's decision, which follows last summer's public enquiry, is a victory for common sense and will come as some considerable relief to those of us who live or work nearby. Politicians come and go, and London is littered with evidence of their bad planning decisions. Long after the politicians are gone, it's ordinary folk like you and me who have to live with the awful consequences. This proposal was a monumentally dumb one from the get-go. Ealing Council's unremitting stubbornness over the issue has bordered on the unforgiveable. It's as if they learnt nothing from the previous Labour group's experience who pushed an equally dumb West London tram scheme proposal, running roughshod over the wishes of local people: and were unceremoniously kicked out of power as a direct result. We won't have to wait long to see if a similar fate awaits the Tories.

Councillor Phil Taylor calls for Censorship

There were fun and games on Ealing Today's community forum last week. One upset resident is claiming that Ealing's parking enforcement is turning a blind eye to parents who park illegally at a primary school near where he lives. The resident pointed out that the local ward councillor is also a member of the school's board of governors, and has previously expressed her indifference to the residents' concerns. He asserts that her membership of the board of governors is a significant conflict of interest with her duties and responsibilities as an elected representative of that area.

Now, whether or not any of this is a credible analysis of the facts has become slightly beside the point, (for now). What was astonishing however, was Councillor Taylor's reply. It wasn't so much the pompous, preachy tone that we've now all become accustomed to, but after making his point he finishes off by writing:

"I will ask the site editor to remove your comment as I believe that it is unacceptable."

I have to say, it was very generous of Mr. Taylor to confess to this authoritarian instinct of his. Whereas most reasonable people would prefer to discuss the relative merits and truth of a comment according to evidence, and within a free and open discussion, Taylor just wants to "remove" unwelcome or inconvenient opinions without properly addressing them.

To silence people according to some dumb concept of acceptability that exists among Phil Taylor's beliefs is, quite simply, political censorship -- and nobody needs it. Happily however, it seems the site editor in this case has not found it necessary to remove the offending comment, and all is still well in the free world. There you go Phil: omniscient, ubiquitous (certainly), but not quite omnipotent...

New hotel for Ealing town centre

The next meeting of Ealing Council's planning committee is scheduled for tomorrow, Sept 2nd. I don't see anything of note on the agenda this time, but in case you missed it, at August's meeting they granted planning permission for a brand new hotel to be developed in Bond Street, right in the centre of Ealing town. The intention is to transform four storeys of the empty Swiftcall office block, (26-42 Bond Street -- adjacent to Ealing Green and above the now defunct Old Orleans restaurant), into a fifty bedroom hotel. Under the plans, Old Orleans would become the hotel's reception, lobby and hotel restaurant.

On the face of it, this looks like good news. To me, the west side of Bond Street near the Green has never looked right, and now looks more bedraggled than ever. Why we've never had a large modern hotel in central Ealing is something I've never understood -- so this is long overdue. Unlike the Arcadia nightmare, it looks like a positive step in the town's regeneration, and for once we can all look forward to seeing the arrival of the builders. The application was submitted in May, so I expect the negative impacts of the current economic climate have already been factored into the development's financial planning.

Ealing Jazz Festival 2009 -- some more photos

Photographs taken Saturday 1st August

CLICK ON THE PHOTOS FOR BIGGER IMAGES

Mike Westbrook and The Village Band (Mike Westbrook on euphonium, Kate Westbrook singing)

Mike Westbrook and The Village Band

The Township Comets featuring Miss Pinise Saul and Lucky Ranku playing some old Zila numbers. As expected, they brought the house down, and played three encores!

The Township Comets

My wrist band

Had a wonderful time. See you next year, same time, same place.

Arcadia (Leaf) Development -- Public Enquiry underway

"Arcadia Centre" -- the story so far...

Some time ago, Ealing Council thought it would be a clever idea to build an ugly high rise housing estate in Haven Green, right in the centre of our town. In 2007, a planning application was submitted by Glenkerrin, a group of Irish developers. After a consultation process, the application was revised to include seven buildings: an 85.7m tower, 567 new flats and 37 new retail units. On December 17th, 2008, at a highly charged sitting of the Council's "Planning Committee" (who turned out to be a committee of stuffed shirts), under the chairmanship of Councillor Ian Potts (Conservative, Ealing Broadway -- remember that name next time you're voting), rubber stamped the revised application, and ignored an unprecedented tidal wave of objection from local residents.

Then on January 21 2009, when Mayor Boris Johnson added his rubber stamp to the plan, it seemed to be game, set and match to the vandals and wreckers.

Finally, when all appeared to be lost, and in a highly unusual move, Hazel Blears, the then Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, called the application in (pdf), effectively taking the matter out of the -- incapable -- hands of Ealing Council. The final decision, which may be delayed until next year, now rests with central government.

Which brings us up to date. As part of the new review process, a formal independent public enquiry was launched yesterday in Ealing Town Hall, and may last for up to twelve days. Among those giving evidence are Ealing Council (who, by the way, are forking out £1.5m of your money to pay for some of the most expensive planning barristers in the business), and "Save Ealing's Centre", a group funded by local residents.

Will Good finally triumph over Evil? I wouldn't bet on it, but let's wait and see.