That seems very unfair. I understand he is well respected by amenity groups in the borough particularly for his expertise in the area of planning. However, even if the Perceval House scheme is one of the issues that led to Bell's departure, it may be too late to do anything.
That said, one major concern already is that, as far as I can see, this whole thing has been handled with minimal transparency. The borough is being run by a new person and we don't know why the change was made, what the policy implications are and, even if it has actually happened or this is just Chinese whispers on the internet. This is the behaviour of a one party state which, arguably, is an accurate description of Ealing Borough.
The lack of an announcement is probably an indication that this has more to do with Labour Party faction fighting than what is best for the people of Ealing. I don't know the personalities involved but the left have been urged to seize as much control as they can in the wake of election results which are deemed to be disappointing and Keir Starmer's apparent bungling of the reshuffle. The Momentum faction have been trying to get rid of Virendra Sharma and Julian Bell for some time — if this does signify the hard left taking greater control we may be looking back wistfully at the golden days of the previous regime very soon.
Gordon Southwell ● 1729d