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Volunteers needed for the Ealing Half Marathon Sunday 29th September 2024

Are you free to help out and volunteer at Ealing Half Marathon 2024?You don’t have to be a runner to enjoy Ealing’s biggest event of the year. Each year, hundreds of volunteers get involved and have a great time making Ealing’s Half Marathon such a wonderful success for the runners, spectators and the Borough of Ealing alike. This has resulted in the event winning the accolade of the Number One Best Half Marathon three years in a row at The Running Awards!!Reasons to volunteer:Not only is it a great community event to take part in, but each registered volunteer who completes their role gets a breakfast roll, drink AND a free race place* for the following years event so it’s a great incentive.It’s a win-win! Get a feel-good day of volunteering AND a free place at EHM25.This year we’ll be putting together a volunteer team of almost 600 people, looking after the race village in Walpole Park and out on the roads of Ealing guiding the runners and helping local residents. It’s a fun & rewarding experience for all and we’d love you to get involved. You will need to be able to give between 4 to 6 hours on the day depending on where you are volunteering. The required start time for most volunteer areas will be 9:30am on Saturday and 07:30am on Sunday to allow for all the logistics on both days.This years dates are:Ealing Mini Mile Saturday 28th September 2024Ealing Half Marathon Sunday 29th September 2024Don’t forget to put us in your diary now!Register your details on our website and we’ll be in contact soon: https://www.ealinghalfmarathon.com/volunteer/Thank you in advance for your support! Sandra Ealing Half Marathon

Ealing Half Marathon ● 165d0 Comments ● 165d

Dangerous Deidre dodges questions...

.... on all manner of local issues.One bing that after 2 months of works local residents around Lammas Park have still not received any kind of proper information about the works in the park.The councillor to refer to is according to LBE one Ms Costigan. The same one standing for election as an MP.Given there are no flood issues in the area and only a few properties with flooding issues beside Lammas park which has been ongoing since the 1970s and relates to shallow sewers it transpires that none of these residents have had any communication or surveys or contact from Thames Water, The environment agency or London Borough of Ealing.  None can give any explanation or produce any form of risk assessment data to those residences most likely to be affected - those around the park. There is no risk assessment for the works impact either.No assessment of the impact of stagnant water and polluted water from animal faces right next to a children's playground and a toddler centre. Nothing on the propagation of biting insects like Horseflies now increasingly common in the locality. or the risk of mosquito and malarial varieties which are more likely given climate change and found already in some wetlands further north than here.No risk assessment on the shifting of 1000s of tones of earth and the risk to subsidence and ground water displacement to properties ( which has already affected some on the north east side ). The loss of 90 to 110 year old mature tree varieties. The buck is being passed all round and most are ducking the issue.  Key to that is the one who believes she is a fit an proper candidate to represent residents interests in such matters.The fact there is a complete wall of silence and a major project has been rushed through with nothing other than a glossy PR notice with a 35 year future illustration and no actual specific data and fact is very alarming.The closest off record disclosure is the real reason is to allow larger high rise developments to be enables within a 1 mile radius of Lammas Park.So will LBE and Co. come clean and be more open?Will Ms.Costigan MP be representing those who suffer the fallout of the shortcomings?Will council officers in charge actually be named?Hightly unlikely.

Raymond Havelock ● 210d25 Comments ● 167d

Estate created by Ealing Builders in Banstead protected again

Perrys (Ealing) Limited who were based in Uxbridge Road, Ealing W5 in the 1920s/30s created the well-ordered "Banstead Common Estate" includng plots in Burgh Wood, Hillside and Green Curve in Banstead, Surrey.Restrictive covenants were imposed on each sale by Perrys limiting density to one house per plot. Despite the passage of some 95 years, the estate is still very much intact.During the last 17 years residents have seen off 6 sets of developers in 4 roads on the estate and not a single backgarden development has been effected despite countless planning applications and appeals.In the latest very recent case, "Wilshaw & Another v Square Motion Limited" (Claim No.PT 2024 000269), the High Court of Justice has issued a Declaration that a restrictive covenant imposed by Perrys in 1933 is valid and enforceable against a would-be developer who has made 3 planning applications to date. This means that no extra house can be erected on the back garden of the original 30s plot. The developer has been ordered to pay over £28,000 legal costs to the main Objector who resides next door and who brought the court action.The December 2023 NPPF and London Plan definitions in their glossaries specifically EXCLUDE domestic gardens from a "Brownfield" classification and gardens are otherwise known as "Greenfield" land. The national re-classification originally took place on 9th June 2010.Amazingly, I hear that some planners are still telling residents that gardens are "Brownfield" land!Victor Mishiku  15/7/2024

Victor Mishiku ● 196d0 Comments ● 196d

Waitrose West Ealing

Waitrose want to demolish its supermarket. It's less than 20 years old. It replaced the original Waitrose store on the site which also lasted less then 20 years. The houses close by are over 100 years old. They may have been extended or re-purposed into two flats, but the investment in energy, bricks and mortar etc is still in place. We should not be allowing such environmental vandalism.Transport for London has announced that when developers build on top of a car park the site becomes car-free. So Waitrose will not be allowed to build a replacement car park.Residents in West Ealing and Hanwell have in the last year suffered power cuts. A electrical sub-station in the centre of West Ealing set on fire during one of these power cuts. The power companies namely SSEN and National Grid have an enormous task on their hands to replace old and tired sub-stations with new ones. Also power is not infinite. With over 1,000 new residents expected in the Waitrose, Manor Road, and Hastings Road developments over the next few years, will there be sustainable energy available for all of them? All new residents will be less then 5 minutes walk from West Ealing station.Finally we have the farce which is The Elizabeth Line. For many months now commuters have been unable to board the east bound trains in the morning rush hour at West Ealing station. They are so crammed with passengers, no-one else can board the train. If close access to the Elizabeth Line for commuting to central London/the City is the reason for buying/renting at Waitrose - potential occupies will quickly spot   this rail service failure and may be put off renting/buying.

Eric Alan Leach ● 228d22 Comments ● 210d

Lammas Park Archeological Dig/Rare Earth mineral deposits

Local flooding? Beaver reserve? Digger exibition? Football Training ground? War memorial? Heliport? Greyhound track? Olympic stadium and cycling facility? Borough composting facility? Election winner? More tower blocks? Jogger training? Food delivery moped training and medical facility? Borough Bomb Shelter..residents need not apply website down.(Min of defence best kept secret?)Councillor and officer jogging track? Space station? London Zoo Annex? Refugee Holding Centre (near Heathrow on way to Rwanda)? Park-Home park? BEAVER RESERVE is best bet 7-1 favourite.Why are there railings and diggers in Lammas park? Only silent councillors need reply. Vote for me to represent you but keep silent on this matter! Manifesto? What? Thames Customer Services? What? Anyone what ? Feels like dictatorship, communist block decision making."Ve vill has eet here Comrades!"The government is broke. The council is broke. Thames Water is broke.I burst into tears because I know who is paying for this and who will pay for this. Anyone know anyone of the 350 thousand households flooded in South Ealing last year? When will the docks be built at Acton Town and Boston Manor to ferry Tube passengers to Heathrow? Global warming?Lock me up I am going crazy. Sorry, " Again Ve vil do eet Comrades!", they have just closed the last two remaining psychiatric wards at Ealing Hospital. Is it just post-Covid Blues?Can anyone help? Private Eyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?

Arthur Breens ● 258d13 Comments ● 212d

Is the CEO of Ealing Council Tony Clements DEAD or something?

Once-upon-a-time in better times one could write to the Chief Executive's Office in Ealing Council when one was not sure where in Ealing Council to write to and you would receive a useful letter back directing one to named individuals and even forwarding your questions on to the relevant people directly.Is Tony Clements, the Chief Executive DEAD? Everything sent to him at Ealing Council gets an autoreply requiring one to register for an online complaints process and use that EVEN IF WHAT YOU ARE WRITING IS NOT A COMPLAINT!****What I am Sending****FAO:Tony ClementsThe Chief ExecutiveLondon Borough of EalingPerceval House14/16 Uxbridge RoadLondonW5 2HLTel: 020 8825 5000E-mail - chiefexecutive@ealing.gov.uk and tony.clements@ealing.gov.ukTuesday 28th May 2024,Dear Mr Clements,This is not complaint, I am seeking guidance on the right channels to use to submit information about incidents in the London Borough of Ealing. I have encountered a number of changes in the ways that issues reported to Ealing Council. I now find myself unable to use LoveCleanStreets to report out-of-hours building work and there is no Health and Safety option on LoveCleanStreets.Likewise, the parking violations reporting process has changed and the telephone for that no longer functions,The Report It information page has lost a number of options and I cannot find headers or locations to either on-line forms or to named people or departments with their phone numbers and e-mail addresses where I have a complaint to make about issues or incidents in the London Borough of Ealing in the areas of Planning, Building - safety among other things, and Health and Safety. For that matter I cannot find any references to a department, body, or person that is 'point person' for health and safety issues falling with Ealing's purview.I would be grateful if your Office could please provide me with appropriate links in 'Report It', LoveCleanStreets, and through the use of e-mail for the following issues:1) Abuse of Stop and Shop Bays for all-day parking including the delivery of goods,2) Planning Violations,3) Building Control and Standards Issues including working hours transgression and quality of work,4) More complicated Health and Safety Issues.I would be grateful for your Office's help in this matter.I remain,Yours sincerely,Mark,Ealing, London, W5 4SHP.s. I attach a PDF of what Ealing's website has as available options on its Report It information and redirection page.****What I am Getting****Re: Mr Clements, you Office's help please in navigating channels in the Council to report important issuesMarkChiefExecutive​Tue 28/05/2024 10:09Dear Mr Clements,THIS IS NOT A COMPLAINT! I AM ASKING FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO REPORT THINGSYours sincerely,Mark, London W5From: ChiefExecutive Sent: 28 May 2024 10:05To: Mark Subject: Automatic reply: Mr Clements, you Office's help please in navigating channels in the Council to report important issuesThank you for contacting the Chief Executive's office. IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE COUNCIL’S COMPLAINTS PROCEDUREPlease note that all complaints need to be submitted online via the council’s website and My Account.  You can access all the necessary information about the procedure and how to fill in the complaint form on the customer portal.  To resubmit your complaint please access the following link How to make a complaint | Complaints | Ealing Council.  My Account gives you the ability to track your complaint from start to finish and monitor its progress.  For a quick guide to get you set up on My Account, please visit the dedicated pages on the council’s websiteThe complaints procedure consists of 2 stages as follows:Stage oneYour complaint will be automatically directed to the right department. Stage one complaints are dealt with by the relevant service head or their representative. Your complaint will be acknowledged within four days and we aim to respond within 20 working days.Stage twoIf you are not happy with the response at stage one, you can ask for the complaint to be reviewed by the director of the relevant department, by making clear what parts of the response you were not happy with and what you want us to do. You should do this within 28 days of getting the stage one reply. This is known as stage two, and we aim to respond within 20 working days.If you are still unhappy after going through the formal complaints process, you have the right to complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman or the Housing Ombudsman. Privacy policyPlease note that all staff are trained in matters regarding Data Protection and are aware of the need for confidentiality with respect to your personal information. You can access the Council’s Privacy Notice by clicking here Introduction | Privacy notice | Ealing CouncilKind regards,Chief Executive’s officechiefexecutive@ealing.gov.uk**********************************************************************Please consider the environment before printing this email.he content of this email and any attachment transmitted within areconfidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended recipientand have received this email in error, please notify the sender and deletethis message along with any attachments immediately. Unauthorised usage, disclosure, copying or forwarding of this email, its content and/or any attachments is strictly forbidden.This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept byMimecast for the presence of computer viruses.www.mimecast.com**********************************************************************

Mark Thule ● 242d9 Comments ● 240d

Learn Ealing funded Startup School for Seniors starts on 18th April

Attention all Ealing residents aged 50+! Have you ever dreamed of starting your own business but needed to know where to start? Startup School for Seniors is here to help you turn that dream into a reality!Startup School for Seniors is an online course designed to support those aged 50+ seeking to become self-employed. The programme is delivered as a series of pre-recorded video modules along with 1:2:1 mentoring from experienced entrepreneurs and business advisors, peer-to-peer online group sessions and workshops. All the videos are transcribed and captioned for anyone with accessibility issues. The programme is ideally suited to anyone considering self-employment or at the early stage of their business. The programme takes into account an older learners requirements for flexibility, which is often a result of caregiving responsibilities or their health and mobility issues.The training will help you to:Determine your ideal customer and where to find themUnderstand how to price your product or serviceKnow the legal requirements of running your businessCreate a one-page business planFeel more confident about the steps you need to take to start or grow your businessTake advantage of this chance to make your dream a reality! Register now at startupschoolforseniors.com and take the first step towards a successful future as a business owner. #startup #entrepreneur #eLearning #businesscourse*The cost for those in full or part-time work is £160

Suzanne Noble ● 297d0 Comments ● 297d

Are employment tribunals out of control?

Reading the preposterous story about the 'sexual harassment' case at the special school in Northolt, it struck me that the damage done by employment tribunals increasingly seems to outweigh any benefit they provide. Obviously people should be protected against abuse in the workplace and unfair dismissal but a retrospective claim by someone who deserved to be fired would surely be regarded in most other courts as vexatious and be dismissed. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the recent case in Hammersmith & Fulham in which a council officer on a six figure salary claimed PTSD from being involved in the Grenfell Relief efforts and was paid £4.5 million, more than any other person impacted by the fire, the award doesn't seem proportionate. The case which brought Birmingham City Council into bankruptcy was due to binmen (exclusively male) getting bonuses when cleaners (mainly female) didn't even though the bonuses were being paid due to difficulties in retaining and recruiting people a problem that didn't exist in other department. So these three cases have seen a dedicated public servant doing important work with vulnerable children humiliated, the real victims of Grenfell having yet more reason to feel a sense of injustice and the people of Birmingham having to pay significantly increased council tax along with huge cuts in services, which will inevitably affect the most vulnerable most. All this because a judge was able to reach decisions with no thought for the broader consequences. Surely this has to change?

Gordon Southwell ● 298d0 Comments ● 298d

The case against a Conservation Area for Northfields

Currently the Council is consulting on the introduction of a Conservation Area (CA) in the Northfields area in south/central Ealing where I live. The CA will cover 7,000 properties that are spread over the Walpole and Northfield Wards to the south of Uxbridge Road down to Little Ealing Lane. The proposed CA straddles Northfield Avenue which runs from the north to south in the area.  Following pressure from a very small number of local residents the Council held an informal consultation in 2022 asking local people if they wished to see a CA introduced in our area. No recognised residents’ association was consulted about the proposal. 181 residents responded to the consultation representing just 2% of households in the area. Despite this limited response (and not all respondents were in favour) the Council pressed ahead with the current  statutory consultation exercise asking the 7,000 affected households for their views on Northfields becoming a CA. https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201164/local_plan/3125/new_local_planNorthfields - where I have lived for over 40 years - is pleasant enough. But it is nothing special. There are thousands of suburban neighbourhoods up and down the country just like Northfields. Indeed the area should have been classed as a CA 120 years ago when it was a relatively coherent urban form made up of Edwardian terraced and semi-detached housing. But not now. In any case the buildings that have some architectural merit in Northfields are already listed under current planning legislation and, in effect, cannot be altered in any significant way. The two most significant buildings in this respect are the Underground station itself and, almost due opposite, the 1930s Moorish style cinema now used by the Ealing Christian Centre. Many residential and commercial properties in Northfields have had extensions of all kinds and the exterior of many properties has changed beyond recognition – front walls have been rebuilt, porches have been added, windows have been replaced and some front gardens have been dug up and turned into hard standings for car parking (and the charging of electric vehicles these days).  Quite frankly, the area has ‘been and gone’ and cannot be judged as anything exceptional. It certainly ain’t no Brentham Estate or Bedford Park, existing CAs in Ealing.  I also fear that the declaration of a CA would stymie any new building in the area. There are one or two sites in the locality that could provide much needed housing but a developer would find it near impossible to build on those sites if a CA was declared. Furthermore loft extensions would require full planning permission before they could proceed. An expensive and time-consuming process. Most loft extensions are now allowed under permitted development rights. Also the construction of bungalows in garden land that run alongside our side streets would become (in effect) a thing of the past. So the supply of additional housing units/bedrooms/living space could be significantly curtailed by the creation of the CA. What’s more the CA might – depending on the consequent changes to permitted development rights – see household efforts to improve the energy efficiency of their homes thwarted. The installation of solar panels and external wall insulation might fall foul of the new regulations. Bin covers in front gardens would undoubtedly need planning permission as would cycle sheds. Permission would also be needed for some tree pruning. I kid you not. And who would police this new CA? Ealing’s Planning service is already under severe pressure as are many others in London and beyond. Would the Council really be able to recruit the staff needed to deal with all the additional work associated with the creation of the CA? And where would the funding come from? Councillors too would get caught up in endless disputes about the application of the new planning rules. Is that what they really wanted to do when putting themselves up to serve our local community? The London Plan calls for Ealing to facilitate the building of over 21,570 homes in the ten years to 2028/29 , many on small infill sites in neighbourhoods like Northfields. If a CA is declared in Northfields that task would become that much more difficult. In a city like London where density levels are one seventh those in Paris, we should add to our housing stock in a sensitive way in areas like Northfields. We also have most of the infrastructure to support incremental increases in our housing stock (although the electricity grid could be upgraded and we could do with more GP surgeries). But this is not just a parochial issue affecting me and where I live. I am afraid if conservation interests in other urban communities in London and elsewhere call for the creation of CAs the opportunities to increase housing supply will become ever harder. As population increases through rises in net migration and for other reasons too, this can only lead to more homelessness, more overcrowding and higher rents and house prices. CAs are needed in sensitive urban settings that contain buildings of significant architectural value. But please not in Northfields.

Roger Jarman ● 384d27 Comments ● 329d

Musical Museum survival appeal.

I'm a volunteer tour guide at the Musical Museum in Brentford, London. https://www.musicalmuseum.co.uk/It is a very satisfying role because I watch the delight and wonder on the visitors' faces when they see and hear the instruments used for music reproduction through the ages. We have musical boxes, polyphons (the precursors of juke boxes) self-playing organs and pianos including player pianos and reproducing pianos that play the actual performances of famous pianists of the past including Gershwin, Rachmaninoff and many others. There are phonographs, gramophones, juke boxes that play 78s and a mighty Wurlitzer Cinema organ in our concert hall. The collection is of national and international importance because it restores and preserves working examples of extremely rare instruments.Loss of income during the Covid shutdown followed by huge inflation in the museum's costs mean that the museum can no longer pay its way so this year, our 60th, might be the last. We have trimmed our costs to the bone but must find money urgently to keep the doors open as we change the way we operate.If you value a historic musical resource, you may wish to support the museum's survival crowdfunder but if it doesn't seem that important to you, I understand that and I apologise for the intrusion. Here's the crowdfunder link.https://gofund.me/5632515eIf you feel able to, it would be great if you can also pass on the appeal to anyone you think might be interested.

David Lusty ● 360d4 Comments ● 355d

The case for a Conservation Area in Northfields

In his piece dated 9 January, Roger Jarman rejects the idea of making Northfields into a conservation area (CA). Like Roger, I have lived in Northfields for around 40 years, and I disagree with much of what he says (see my comments on his thread). As the author of the original proposal, I would like to put the arguments in favour.The public consultation of 2022 covered all of Ealing’s 29 conservation areas. More than half of the responses related to the proposal for a CA in Northfields and more than four out of five of those were in favour. Why was that? The external consultant hired by Ealing Council to report on the consultation noted that many of the Northfields responses expressed ‘a love of the neighbourhood, its sense of belonging and community, a village-like atmosphere and independent shops and cafes’. CA designation would reinforce Northfields’ identity as a desirable place to live, with the associated benefit for residents of enhanced property prices. So popular are existing Ealing CAs among residents, that many have objected strongly to proposals to de-designate their streets as part of the boundary changes proposed by the CA review. Northfields’ owes its character in part to the unity and coherence of the area’s architecture as well as individually listed buildings. But change is in the air. At the public meeting last November, former councillor Linda Burke warned that Northfields could succumb to development pressure like the Draytons, the area around West Ealing station. Ealing Council’s emerging Local Plan identifies the area covered by the Northfields CA as an Area of Intensification. In addition, it specifies Northfields Allotments as a Strategic Area for Regeneration and an Opportunity Area. Furthermore, developments of up to 6 storeys would be permissible anywhere in the area – that’s three times the height of most of what is there now, enough to destroy its character. As a so-called ‘material consideration’ in planning decisions, making Northfields a conservation area would help to protect what we love about the place. You can find out more about the proposal at: https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201042/current_consultations/3225/conservation_area_consultationThe Council is currently consulting with all those affected by the proposal. You can respond by email to localplan@ealing.gov.uk (the Council’s preferred method of response) or by post to Strategic Planning Team, Ealing Council, Perceval House, 14-16 Uxbridge Road, London W5 2HL. The closing date is 31 January 2024. This will help to decide whether Northfields becomes a conservation area or not, so please do have your say.

Kay Garmeson ● 374d0 Comments ● 374d