Fears that the problem is spreading beyond Southall
Conservative Councillors have been lobbying government ministers to give Councils additional powers to help tackle the problem of illegal outbuildings. This is predominately a problem in Southall, but spreading to other neighbourhoods in the borough.
Conservatives are also pressing the Labour Council to urgently commit resources to the Planning Enforcement Team.
Councillor David Millican, Conservative Group Leader said:
“These illegal outbuildings, and the people living in them, present a hosts of other problems. Besides the strain on local resources, there is often the associated links to crime, prostitution and gambling.
"This is not an Ealing borough problem alone and many other boroughs are successfully tacking the issue within the confines of the current legislation. However, we need changes to the law to give stronger enforcement powers and we need the Labour Council to prioritise this problem.
We need decisive actions now."
Responding, Labour Leader Cllr Julian Bell said:
'' I am glad that the Conservatives are waking up to an issue that local Labour councillors have been highlighting for some time. In fact we held a meeting in Southall in February to discuss problems in Southall that discussed this issue and we will be holding a follow up meeting in Southall next week.
''It has taken the opposition nine months to notice what Southall residents are saying. It is a shame that the Conservatives didn’t listen to Southall when they were in power, as they did absolutely nothing about this issue then. Labour members on the other hand have written to ministers, made several media appearances highlighting this issue and have committed resources to our enforcement teams to work on this problem.
''The council are working jointly with the police and the border agencies to make sure we have all the powers available to deal with this problem. I think that highlights the difference between a Labour and Conservative council; a Labour Council gets on with finding a solution, Conservative councillors just issue press releases saying they are.''
11th November 2011