The appointment of Tony Clements as Chief Executive of LBE in 2022 was ‘interesting’, to say the least.He was previously employed as Head of Place at the council between 207 and 2020. He left in mysterious circumstances with a £74,000 payoff for ‘loss of office’ (which isn’t really a reason for any payout). That should have precluded him from applying for the top job when previous incumbent Paul Nasjarek suddenly resigned in 2022. But it didn’t.He’s Peter Mason’s pal. The two worked closely together when Mason had he cabinet portfolio for planning in the borough, even enjoying trips to MIPIPM in Cannes together. So no great shock that Mason would want his mate back to oversee his strategy for transforming Ealing into some sort of dystopian hell.When Clements took office (on a starting salary of £192,000 plus a generous pension package) a raft of resignations from senior executive directors happened almost immediately. The word is that Clements was difficult to work with, hence his departure in 2020, and as the new head honcho he wanted his own lackeys in place. He also oversaw the restructuring that increase the number of directorates at the council (and the consequent inflated salaries to go with them).There’s no scrutiny of council officers, at any level, until the ombudsman gets involved. Little wonder that things don’t get done. For instance the failure to produce Authority Monitoring Reports for five years, despite there being a legal requirement to do so. These provide updates on housing figures every year and are used to ensure that overdevelopment won’t happen. Of course, it was helpful for developers who could appeal against planning refusals, as happened with the ones by West Ealing station now going ahead. No explanation has been forthcoming from the council about the failure to produce these reports. Even Cllr Shital Manro refused to explain, despite numerous requests on this forum and elsewhere.Incompetence? Laziness? Corruption? Draw your own conclusions. These are all rife in other local authorities, so why would Ealing be any different?
Simon Hayes ● 97d