Power Station Madness for Southall

Southall faces the prospect of a Power Station being built in the heart of a residential area. The proposed Power Station will consume 76,000 litres of virgin vegetable oil a day, which could be palm oil, the most destructive and cheapest agrofuel on the planet.

Judging by its record, it is questionable whether Ealing council will give any consideration to the damaging impact of this bio-fuel Power Station on air pollution, traffic, the environment, world hunger and human rights abuses. Be under no illusion, the primary motive behind council decisions when it comes to Southall is revenue-generation, and not resident’s well-being (as it would have you believe).

The decision on the planning application, filed by Blue NG, is expected to be made by the council in a meeting set for 22nd July 2009.

Let’s shake off the lethargy, and speak up against the continuing assault by Ealing on the quality of our environment and on the people of Southall! Please contact your local councillors and ask them to object to the proposal.

Click here for further information and suggested objection letter

Read ‘Steamed up by power station’ article from Ealing Gazette here

Planning application details on Ealing website here and here

Ealing Council’s Double Standards

The first you may know about any offence is when a penalty charge notice drops through your letter box.That’s because councils have the power to issue tickets through the post for offences caught on CCTV. The photo shows new camera installed on King Street, click on the image to enlarge.

We are all for lawful parking restrictions designed to expedite the flow of traffic and to make the roads safe, but like many other councils, Ealing does not appear to have missed out on the golden opportunity of milking the parking enforcement ‘cash cow’. The introduction of an additional 85 parking enforcement CCTV cameras exposes the council’s highly efficient drive to squeeze even more money out of residents.

If you ask Stacey, he will assure you that “no sir, Parking Services are not incentivised to generate revenue”. Of the 85 new enforcement cameras, 20 will be in Southall, and of the existing 101 enforcement cameras, 20 again are in Southall. Evidently, Ealing council can be highly efficient when it comes to milking a cash cow, while hiding behind high sounding mission statements. When it comes to delivering real and tangible improvements for the people of Southall, words such as “our aim is to become a high performing organisation, focussed on the needs of its communities” with no real action will suffice.

For years residents have been complaining about illegal parking outside the club on The Green in Southall, where people park on pavements, zebra crossings and even local resident’s parking spaces almost every weekend. So what action does Ealing take to address resident’s complaints? Nothing. Yes, nothing, revealing the double standards that Stacey and his cronies practice. If you ask the residents, they will tell you that it is more accurate to say that the aim of Ealing council is “to become a high performing organisation in order to fleece residents to the maximum.”

On the one hand the council is so efficient that it is be able to issue parking tickets by post with lightning speed for the most minor of offences, yet on the other hand it will allow people coming from outside the borough to Southall for entertainment to regularly and openly flout the law. And the council and police will not lift as much as a finger to address the problem. Now that is double standards.

Over 25% of the parking enforcement cameras are in Southall – perhaps this shows how much the council cares for us! Come on you Southall councillors, isn’t it time to stand up for Southall? Sadly, the concept of actively working to improve the quality of life for residents seems alien to many of the Southall councillors. One councillor has been reported as saying that “the only way to educate Southall residents is through the use of parking enforcement.” Sharma, another long standing Southall councillor, is still hanging on on to his position of councillor despite having been elected the MP for Ealing Southall at the recent by-election – he has not even bothered to attend the last four Southall Area Committee meetings (16/5/07, 19/9/07, 27/11/07, 23/1/08).

Click here for a list of existing and planned parking enforcement cameras in Southall.

Letter From Southall

Before you ask, no we haven’t been paid off by the council (or councillors), nor have we thrown in the towel.

I suppose the foremost question in people’s minds is why SouthallPride has been inactive for quite some time. Many of you have emailed us with words of support and expressed your desire to see SouthallPride continue with it’s campaign to improve the quality of life for Southall residents.

The fact of the matter is that we have been rather more active at the grassroots level of late, and updating the website has played second fiddle. Coupled with that is the fact that we are a very small team and have to juggle campaign work with the day to day pressures that life throws at us – after all we are not paid council staff or politicians, although sometimes we wish we had their clout and access to resources to get things done! The good news is that we have started working with other individuals and groups in Southall to become more effective in promoting our campaign. It’s certainly feels good to be working with other residents and groups whose goals are similar, and means we are able to support each other and persevere until results are achieved.

As we said, there is much good work being done at the ground level, and we hope to report on some of this in the near future. We would like to say in passing that did you know that each ward has regular ‘Focus Group’ meetings where residents can make their voice heard? Also do not hesitate to let your Safer Neighbourhoods Police team know of any antisocial or illegal activity around your area.

Shake off the lethargy and take the bull by the horns! Would you be happy to live in an area that looked like this?

Asset Stripping by Stealth?

Plans are afoot by Ealing council to pass on control the Dominion Arts Centre, based in The Green, Southall to a third party. It was clear from the ‘Save The Dominion Centre’ public meeting on 12th March 2007, held appropriately at the Dominion Centre, that no consultation with user groups or the wider Southall community has been carried out.

It was encouraging to see such a good turnout, and should send out a strong signal to Ealing council that residents of Southall are ready rise to the challenge of safeguarding vital community services and facilities. Even some Labour councillors, including councillor Sonika Nirwal made the effort to attend.

Click here to listen to a short presentation by Francis Shepherd, whose group use the centre to teach and promote Tabla.

Click here to listen to a short presentation by the East African Senior Citiezens User Group.

Brendan Walsh from Ealing council was also present at the meeting, his contribution can be heard here. Further question can be addressed to him by phoning Ealing council, or by email at WalshB@ealing.gov.uk

Expand post to see more photos.

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.