Council Turns Blind Eye

A number of residents have told us that despite repeated complaints Ealing council has taken no action against the owners of a number of properties let out to refugees that are in a state of disrepair, overcrowded, and do not comply with appropriate legislation. You can see for youself in this photo the filthy state of the stairs leading up to the flats.

We also found dangerous light switches with exposed wires as shown on the photo below. Another picture shows the nasty state of one of the windows. What further evidence does the council need?

On request of some residents we have ourselves observed first hand that the people who live in these flats are in the habit of dumping their rubbish on the pavement outside. We are surprised that the so called ‘Wardens’ the council employs have not reported this problem of rubbish dumping.

Southall Traffic Improvement Proposals

Because Scotts road is narrow and restricts movement of HGV’s, proposals for traffic improvement include implementing waiting restrictions to allow passing places, and widening the road to improve movement of HGV’s.

Make up your own mind wether the council is taking the right measures to reduce congestion in Southall. Click here to find out if your road is included in the list of proposals.

Southall Rat Problem Grows Scary

Rats can grow to the size of a domestic cat and have teeth so powerful they can gnaw their way through the walls of your house. According to Malcolm Radley of Rentokil, one rodent the length of a domestic cat was recently found in Darlington, County Durham.

Barrie Sheard, chairman of the National Pest Technician’s Association (NPTA) says we only have ourselves to blame. He said “A lot of piping in modern homes is increasingly becoming plastic and they can get through that no problem.”

Recently, the chief executive the association, John Davison issued this chilling warning: “It’s a grave problem. The way this is growing it is going to give rise to some kind of public health risk.”

One reasons for rodent explosion is that more councils charging for domestic rodent work – Ealing charges £60 for three visits. The problem in Southall is so widespread that it’s hard to envisage how it can be eradicated by one, or even two visits by the council to individual properties. It is high time Ealing council recognised this serious problem and started taking measure that are aimed at dealing with the rat problem, rather than letting residents pay for something which even the Ealing Pest Control officers know is not going to be effective.

And I wonder why the so called Street Wardens in Southall have failed to bring this potentially explosive issue to the notice of Environment Services? Some residents have speculated that the Wardens have been gobbled up by the super rats.

Perhaps the real answer lies in the fact that we are talking about Southall….

Ealing Council Failing it’s Residents

A Southall resident says Ealing Council is in breach of providing decent basic service to council tax paying residents, even failing to provide basic information in a timely and helpful manner. Read the rest to learn about the sorry saga of this resident.

Cleaner Streets ??

Despite the new conservative administration taking control of Ealing council in 2006, and despite the rhetoric, not much seems to have changed after seven months in power.

Council leader Jason Stacey proclaimed last year “I am determined that this borough s going to get cleaner and be a better place in which to live. This initiative, as part of all the other measures which we have announced so far and are still developing, will play an important role in this.”

Picture below taken in December 2006 – the rubbish on this particular location can be seen every week!

Tudor Rose Club, Southall

This is the normal mode of illegal parking by cutomers of the club, blocking pavements and parking on zigzag lines at the zebra crossing:

The police and Parking Services seem quite content to turn a blind eye to this flagrant breaking of the law.

Pictures taken on 24th December 2006.

Urinating in Public Places

This email received from a resident of Southall:

Dear Ealing Council,

we are suffering from very unsociable and threatening behaviour mainly by Somalians living on and around our road – they tend to congregate just outside our car park and their main activity seems to be to just loiter, eat the green plant (drug) and then urinate in public without regard to the presence of children or families, show no respect for others. For example if I or my children are walking on the pavement, they will not move to one side to allow people to pass, we end up walking around them on the road. On a number of occasions when I’ve asked them to move to one side, but they are only ready to fight and are abusive. They also dump their rubbish on the pavements on a regular basis. We asked the council to inspect the rented properties where the Somalians, live to ensure they comply with health and safety and other legislation – nothing has been done to date.

illegal Parking

Dear Residents

If you experience illegal parking taking place down your road please contact us at this address on by phone on 0208 825 6677 and we shall ask the parking Attendants to be despatched immediately to his location.

Customer Services should have passed on the details of the dumped cars o the relevant section, however I believe they would have requested ore information off you of details of the dumped cars (VRM, Make, Model length of time they have ben there). See the below link on our website for more details:

http://www.ealing.gov.uk/services/environment/abandoned_vehicles/reporting_an_abandoned_vehicle/

I hope this answers your queries please do not hesitate to contact us should you require any further information.

Regards,

Hayley Casey
Parking Operations Officer
Parking Services
P O Box 46264, Ealing, W5 2UN

Question About Phoenix House Planning

Once again it is clear from this proposed development that Southall is being used as a ‘dumping ground. for refugees in the borough. The business centre and library is just a window dressing to make the scheme more acceptable. The Council should be working with the residents, businesses, police and transport authorities in any proposed development of Phoenix House to ensure that features/facilities are built into any new plan which improve the welfare of local residents and enhance the profile of Southall.

Some of the objectives listed in the Southall Town Centre Strategy are:

• Improve the overall accessibility of the town centre to all its local customers, businesses and local residents, particularly by public transport, cycling, walking and for those with disabilities;
• Make walking around the centre a more pleasant, safe and easy experience – day and night;
• Ensure an integrated approach to traffic and parking management, public transport, cycling and walking;
• Reduce traffic congestion and traffic flows within the town centre to make it a pleasant place and help meet local and national traffic reduction targets;
• Provide safe, secure and sufficient car parking distributed across the centre on and off street to enhance the town centre for residents and pedestrians. Car parking could be reduced as public transport improves, consistent with maintaining the centre’s economic vitality;

This proposed development fails to meet these objectives; in addition there are a number of concerns:

• Does the Council agree that Southall is already overcrowded, and that this additional residential accommodation will be used for transferring refugees from other more ‘sensitive’ parts of the borough?
• Was a traffic assessment report carried out to ensure the existing congestion on The Green and King Street and surrounding areas will not be exacerbated by this development?
• Are the flats in the development going to be rented or sold off? If rented, will the Council be using the flats to house people on their waiting lists, refugees and asylum seekers?
• Is there any stipulation as to who can be housed (or purchase) the flats (ie. could we end up in a situation where the new development is a refugee ‘ghetto’)?
• If shops are part of the development, will there be any restrictions on the trade to be allowed (eg nightclub, pub)?
• What facilities/amenities will be provided to cater for the families and their children living in the 149 new flats?
• will the existing library on Osterley Park Road be closed down as a new library / resource centre is being planned in the new development?

Therefore, this planning application should be opposed for the following reasons:

1. for a development of this scale, there is nothing in the plan that improves the welfare and quality of life of local residents
2. the area is already congested with a high volume of human and vehicle traffic. The road system will be unable to cope with the additional traffic generated by this development.
3. there is already an acute lack of car parking spaces in the area and this development would inevitably have an devastating effect on the local residents. The stated figure of 109 parking spaces for 149 residential units is plainly insufficient.
4. there is already enough nuisance/public disorder created by customers of the Tudor Rose club, the Mehfil restaurant and the Tyre and Car business, and the numerous Somali cafes in the locality. These need to be looked at and controlled rather than additional strain being put on the area.
5. this seems to be a purely money making exercise with no regard to the effects on the local community.

Flouting The Law

Illegal parking outside the Tudor Rose Club, photo taken May 2006.