Forum Topic

Is Ealing Council COMPLETELY mad, HOPELESSLY incompentent, or just COMPLETELY corrupt?

I just cannot contain my anger any more. I have just seen the article entitled: Southall to Benefit From £7million Improvement which includes money to train people to cook curries as part of an apprenticeship. Meanwhile another headline in the Ealing Gazette says: Hanwell respite centre cuts are 'kick in the teeth' and outlines that a decision to cut the number of beds at a respite centre in Hanwell by 40 per cent has been described as a ‘kick in the teeth’ by a father who uses the service.Is there anyone out there other than me who finds Ealing's present council's priorities "strange" following on from the closure of Ealing's only day centre for the disabled and Ealing's only day centre for the mentally ill? Oh, and of course not one senior position has gone in Ealing Council's senior management as the ill, disabled, and disadvantage suffer!Would it be safe to brand the actions of John Gallagher, Ealing's Mayor as incredibly hypocritic in the Ealing Gazette article: Ealing Mayor will plant a tree to mark Holocaust Day in which Ealing Council will plant a tree to mark Holocaust Memorial Day and remember all those around the world who lost their lives in acts of genocide... He and the Labour Group doesn't seem to care very much about Ealing's diabled and ill who they seem to want to sideline and disadvantage as much as possible.Will.

William J Malmet ● 5217d63 Comments

The mayor of Ealing is meant to rise above politics so we'll see him handing out prizes at Ealing in Bloom for allotment sites blighted with illegal sheds regardless...

Jon F. Doctor ● 5050d

Re  you and the rest of ealing         xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx now don't be too hard on us Walt., we is learnin', we ain't as clever as other Boroughs 'cos we have only just elected our first Mayor of the Islamic faith. And don't bother him too much as he has a lot of sortin' out to do, especially in them sheds!.

Tony Price ● 5050d

How so?

Tony Colliver ● 5050d

you and the rest of ealing have only yourselves to blame

Walter Coady ● 5050d

A school with which I am associated has been allocated 13 child and 2 adult tickets. The only issue is that all of the children have PMLD, most have mobility issues and all have a full-time support worker with them during the school day. I doubt that any of them will attend, especially as the minibus which conveys them on their occasional trips out will not be allowed to park (too big) in the vicinity of the Olympic |Stadium as it has not been pre-booked into one of the very limited number of spaces.

Nigel Brooks ● 5106d

Corrupt...corrupt,,,,corrupt.....what's new ??

Marie Anne OConnell ● 5106d

Ealing Council replied today in the Times that most of their tickets are going to children in the borough. Was a bit bemused to see a reference to the mayor's 'consort', though. Blimey. Is he royalty?

Susan Kelly ● 5106d

Over 1.100 tickets are also allocated to notaries and sponsors for the Walpole park event as well. Thats out of 8000.

Michael Brandt ● 5106d

Interesting article in the Times on Tuesday (May 8th) this week which tells us that Ealing Council has been buying Olympic tickets for its dignitaries and favoured residents: "Councils Spend thousands of pounds to send dignitaries to Olympics". Apparently a group of labourers in Uxbridge (the Uxbridge Seven) sent 415 Freedom of Information requests to every coucil in Britain. This "Uxbridge Seven" found that members of Ealing and Dorset council will be paid by council tax payers to see the Olympics. The question now is who are these council members, and how much is it costing?

John Grayson ● 5106d

Just a quick note to inform those of you who have been interested in this that the final count of the above petiton was just short of 4,400 signatures.  This was the second largest petition presented last night to the council. The first one being the unsuccessful one one against the council proposal to charge residents for the garden waste recycling which actracted over 6.000 signature. Is the incompetent present administration going to ignore this as well one may ask? Well apparently they seems to be set to do just that and despite the number of signatures on the petition, they are set to spend yet more of our money in yet another consultation. Would they ever learn?

Rosa Popham ● 5142d

Re  Just look at the surrounding once clean and tidy areas eg. Greenford,Wembley etc              xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx add Hanwell, West Ealing, not to mention Southall itself, all clearly showing the joys of diversity, ain't we just the lucky ones, as some would have us believe.

Tony Price ● 5142d

Just read the article ref.Southall's Big Plan.It is patently obvious that whatever amount(waste) of money is ploughed into  such a scheme it will not change the place.It would very quickly revert to it's present state. Just look at the surrounding once clean and tidy areas eg. Greenford,Wembley etc... which have been blighted by the same shanty town like state.DON'T WASTE OUR MONEY.....there are more deserving  projects which need this funding.

Marie Anne OConnell ● 5142d

My thoughts exactly.....

Marie Anne OConnell ● 5143d

Re  ....where will it all end???            xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    when it looks like a mixture of Mumbai, Karachi and Mogadishu.

Tony Price ● 5143d

..........in those days people took council office for the general good. It was an honour to be Town Clerk for free, now the Chief Executive of Ealing Council gets a quarter of a million (and a gold-line wardrobe to hide in)...........

Eric Stanley ● 5143d

Its called the local development plan that council executives such as Keith Townsend and the present administration won't let us particpate in-remember all the stuff that was ignored - please feel free jump in ELM (and what is there the Head of Planning Enforcement won't dare implement for fear of jeopardising her career plan as laid out by the Executive Director for the Environment Group and Customer Service).

Eric Stanley ● 5143d

Can anyone explain why so many of the same types of shops are allowed to operate in the same area.Greenford has far too many  greengrocery/supermarket stores which stay open till all hours..ENOUGH ALREADY....also I object to the Illuminated shop names being displayed in a foreign language....just a reminder...this is England....and what's with the marKet stals appearing on the pavements. Surely there is already enough tat on the overstocked shopS without having even more outside taking up the public walkways....where will it all end???

Marie Anne OConnell ● 5143d

That was actually Carry on Constable. Carry on Sergeant was the one with William Hartnell , Ken Connor and Bob Monkhouse based on an army camp - filmed at Cardwell's Keep near Guildford.

Nigel Brooks ● 5143d

Nothing must stop the progress of environmental pollution and degradation as the current administration mandates more car parks and less recycling..................................................................................................................................Eric

Eric Stanley ● 5143d

Just a quick note to inform those of you who have been interested in this that the final count of the above petiton was just short of 4,400 signatures.  It is being presented at tonight full Council by the chair of the newly formed Pitshanger's traders association. This is the second largest petition presented to the council in recent year, if ever. The first one being the unsuccessful one one against the council proposal to charge residents for the garden waste recycling which actracted over 6.000 signature. Let's see if the present administration is going to ignore this as well.

Rosa Popham ● 5143d

Re  Goodbye to nice clean tidy decent shopping areas !!!               xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  Indeed yes, by accident just watched  the old b/w  film  " Carry on Sergeant" which was filmed in Ealing, mainly Manor Road area but also West Ealing  " High Street" with Rowses store which despite anti comments from some posters, was a very fine building whose destruction I cannot understand, especially bearing in mind the characterless rubbish erected in it's place.

Tony Price ● 5143d

Re    targetted to have an effect on provision in Southall. Funny that!              xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx      very serious in fact and something which will become much wider and greater as " time " goes on.

Tony Price ● 5143d

Re Southall is a dump and the rot is spreading                 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    as I wrote the other day, it IS spreading, Hanwell , West Ealing, Greenford for starters all taking on the appearance of  third world places. Oh the joys of diversity!.          P S., bin to Wembley lately?.

Tony Price ● 5143d

Southall is a dump and the rot is spreading to other surrounding areas turnIng them into the same type of shanty towns with tacky  shops and market stalls on the once neat and clean pavements. Goodbye to nice clean tidy decent shopping areas !!!

Marie Anne OConnell ● 5143d

Environment services and refuse collection and... ibid.

Eric Stanley ● 5143d

Actually, it is Sachs-Coburg...

Nicholas Cullum ● 5162d

I eagerly await the end of the financial year to see how much the various Council top, middle, and low-level executives have had their bonuses cut in light of, for example, the inability to get a simple fountain in Walpole Park working (Environment Group), the inability to stop the spread of illegal sheds and outhouses (Built Environment, Planning Control and ESPECIALLY Planning Enforcement and in the case of illegal allotment sheds and summerhouses Allotment Management).

Jerzy Kremm ● 5165d

Agree.  We will pay for their bonuses in the end, let's wait and see what they can tax us on next, such as garden waste collection.  Just keep on digging deep in your wallets/purses!

Ruth Goldsborough ● 5169d

I can only agree 100%You get a rate for the job, do the bl**dy job!

Nigel Brooks ● 5179d

Re  last year got a bonus of  £10,641 and in the previous year the bonus was £19,288.          xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  this question of bonuses is one I cannot understand. Either a person does their job for which they are paid an agreed salary or they don't.. If they do that job particularly well and over a  longish period, they could well get promoted, conversely down graded  for consistently failing in the required standard, so how do bonuses come about year after year and not repayments for under-performance. The level of bonuses mentioned here are more than some people earn and could that money not be used to employ another  young person and get them off the unemployed list?. No-one in local government should get a bonus, they have enough perks as it is, especially  inflation proofed  guaranteed pensions  others do not and now cannot get. And do they get free parking? There are gated car parks at the Council offices.

Tony Price ● 5179d

Pat Hayes - Executive Director for Regeneration & Housing last year got a bonus of  £10,641 and in the previous year the bonus was £19,288.The Annual Monitoring Report for the last year which partly indicates how well the Council is doing shows that housing completions were low and there was a net loss of nearly 11,000 sq metres of employment floor space.One the key driving factors at the very heart of the Directors objectives is to make Ealing more sustainable.OK the economy is not good at the moment. But results is results. What else did he do to earn a bonus suggesting that he exceeded his targets?The Leader of the Council Julian Bell has a similar portfolio. Perhaps he would like to tell us.

George Knox ● 5179d

This will spread like herpes. The doublespeak is breathtaking: "support local businesses by giving their customers the option".. to be relieved of a few more quid for no good reason.

Tony Sleep ● 5185d

The key for me is that whoever we have voted in during recent years much of what happens is down to the council officers and it could be a case that the leadership of the council officers is such that councillors (who are guided by the officers) are not applying the scrutiny that is required. a friend who has taken their case to the local govt ombudsman actually complained mutliple times to the council who deny that a compalint has been made. then approached an opposition councillor who replied with what the officers said. no real scrutiny. too cosy!! They are very poor and hide behind rules that they themselves do not apply.

Peter Chadburn ● 5189d

Why waste your vote? The minority parties will probably not gain a seat yet alone take power. All you will be left with is the satisfaction that you didn't vote for the ruling party. A pretty hollow victory really. You need, along with the rest of use, to 'stay on theri case' and pressure them.

Nigel Brooks ● 5189d

Yes - it's a shame we can't put them in the stocks really isn't it?

Tony Colliver ● 5189d

Vote them in, and the power goes to their heads.  They all forget that they are servants of the people, they are not there to do as they wish.  I for one will not be voting for any of the three parties at the next election, I do not trust any of them, but I will vote for another party.

Ruth Goldsborough ● 5189d

Southall youth has been given the attention they needed for quite a while.Apprenticeships or learning to cook is open to all who show interest.how the money is spent is another thing

Paul Virdee ● 5189d

Posted by Ealing Council:Information about the proposed schemeEaling Council is proposing to support local businesses by giving their customers the option to extend their stay in stop and shop parking bays. The scheme currently offers free parking varying from five minutes to two hours in stop and shop bays. Under the new plans motorists will still be able to continue using the borough’s stop and shop bays as they do now. To give shoppers greater flexibility motorists will be able to extend their stay using the council’s pay by phone service without having to return to their car. People just staying for the free period will not have to register or telephone the service.  People wishing to use the service will be able to stay for an additional two hours in selected stop and shop bays for a flat fee of £1.80 plus a service charge of 20p. This means that in locations where there is currently a free period of 30 minutes the maximum stay will be two hours and 30 minutes, in cases where there is a free period of 60 minutes the maximum stay will be three hours and in cases where there is a free period is two hours, the maximum stay will be four hours.Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, cabinet member for transport and the environment, said: “Businesses have told us that the limits mean that customers sometimes cut their shopping time short to move their car. By giving motorists the option to park for longer it means that they can use their phone in the restaurant, pharmacy or hairdressers or wherever they are without having to run back to the car.“On the other hand we want businesses to have a high-turnover of customers coming and going in these bays and not have them being used all day by commuters. The additional two-hour limit prevents this.”A formal consultation on the proposal with residents and businesses will take place shortly. The locations identified for initial consultation are:*    Lady Margaret Road, Greenford (O/S No. 462), on slip road*    The Uxbridge Road (Nr Ealing Common Station)*    Pitshanger Lane, W5*    Lady Margaret Road, Greenford (O/S No. 462), on highway*    Singapore Road*    The Broadway, Southall (O/S Lidl)*    The Broadway, Southall (O/S Lidl)*    Crown Street, Acton*    Horn Lane, Acton (Opposite Stuart Road)*    Leeland Terrace*    Alfred Road, Acton*    Ruislip Road, Greenford (O/S No.3)More information on the stop and shop proposals is available on the council's website at: http://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/200332/parking/1166/new_stop_and_shop_proposals

Claire Parker ● 5196d

yeah, but they didn't have the same visa restrictions and green card issues that exist today.  :-)

Tony Colliver ● 5197d

Only 75 signatures so far and the petition closes on 28.02.12.Get signing. If they get away with Pitshanger, your local stop and shops sites could be next.

Nigel Brooks ● 5198d

George,I am no longer a councillor.  There is a quick link: http://bit.ly/yWbcHz.The council's link is: http://ealing-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/petitionsand the first one on the list is the one about the Lane.Thanks for your support

Rosa Popham ● 5199d

Cllr Popham. Thanks for this. Please would you give us the link to the proposal on the Council's website, before we all have a knee jerk reaction.Thanks.

George Knox ● 5199d

Have you heard of the council's latest proposal for the borough's stop and shop bay? Anyone who wants to use this facility will have: first of all register an account with them. When wanting to use the stop and shop bay, you will have to send a text to the appropriate number as soon as you have parked your car.Although the free parking period remains the same as per allocated time of the parking bay (ie. 30Mins, 1 or 2 hours) if, however, you exceed this free allocated time then you'll have to send them another text stating how long you intend to remain in the parking bay. This extra period will then be charged to your account.This will, in practice. eliminate the concept of the 'stop and shop' bay as we have known it - the whole idea of providing free stop and shop was to maximise the few parking provisions on the local shopping parades, encourage local residents to use their local shops thus increasing the viability of the shops.Shop keepers and local residents in Pitshanger Lane are furious and are getting together to stop these proposals from becoming reality. If any of you would like to add your disapproval then you are welcomed to sign the online petition on the council e-petition site or, if visiting the Lane, on the various shops. Your support will be greatly appreciated.

Rosa Popham ● 5199d

Re    to have an effect on provision in Southall. Funny that!          xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx not really, very serious in fact, the way Politics in this country will go ( same as Postal voting did/has ? )

Tony Price ● 5200d

It took the Founding Fathers less time...

James Brown ● 5201d

An interesting exercise would be to look at the cuts on a ward by ward basis. Altough some may have an effect borough-wide I doubt if many are targetted to have an effect on provision in Southall. Funny that!

Nigel Brooks ● 5202d

I note that Ealing Council's latest attempt to exterminate the ill and disabled is to oust the Ealing Carers' Centre from its present accommodation. No chance of me voting Labour at anytime soon!

Jerzy Kremm ● 5202d

Thought you moved to the USA Marie????

F Stone ● 5210d

Are they still trying to buy the petrol station in North Acton?

Chris Lucy ● 5211d

Ealing Council has questionable priorities....Southall is a dump....any update on the "beds in sheds" issue..anything being done ?.....thought not,,,,,

Marie Anne OConnell ● 5211d

Getting ready !!!

Marie Anne OConnell ● 5211d

not necessarily someone with limited bandwitdh. could be someone who is a corporate psycopath or sociopath who has high bandwith and cannot empathise with people.

John Newen ● 5214d

John, I am sure that many councillors, if they actually stopped and thought, would recognise what a PR and practical disaster it is in cutting services to the most vulnerable.Sadly, they are the same aparatchiks who obediently toe the party line on every vote. This is why these ludicrous dcisions get passed. Someone with limited itellectual bandwidth gets the sniff of an idea and, without the capacity to think through the full ramifications, drives a coach and horses through common sense.

Nigel Brooks ● 5215d

wow! some post. i dont agree with your indictment of john galager the mayor. i understand he is one of the more respected members of the ealing political milieu. perhaps he is making a statement in planting the tree that he does not agree with the way that ealing borough is treating the disabled. i had to find out what a respite care bed is before i worked out what you were trying to say. it seems that it is a care facility where people requiring care are put up overnight or for a few days so that the carer can have a break from caring for these people. it doesnt say a lot for ealing borough that it continues to pare down services and support for the disabled though the planting of a holocaust tree is certainly questionable public relations when you realise that hitler and the third reich murdered hundreds of thousands of people who were chronically ill disabled mentally unwell or with learning disabilities simply because that was how they were born. it is certainly a strange juxtaposition to plant a holocaust tree while pruning the support in ealing borough that the disabled and ill rely on so fiercely in the past couple of years. perhaps a more useful gesture would have been to redeploy the resources in organising staging managing and promoting the holocaust tree planting to the respite care unit and have the many council staff involved in putting this event together like the various council officer committee members the public relations people the photographers volunteer their time to help the disabled. this would surely be a much better thing to do than a stereotyped gesture.

John Newen ● 5216d

The problem is William that while the concept of a local co-alition comprised of independents would be wonderful the majority of the electorate will vote for 'one of the normal two' (or possibly three).Seemingly gone are are the days of the altruistic local who sought to better the life of his fellow. The adherence to the 'party mindset' has been one of the worst things to happen to local politics. Bring back the maverick independent who was, at least, happy to think freely without the constraints of 'party-thought-pocing'. I fear though that the days of the maverick are long gone in Ealing with partisan, dare I say along racial lines, long the norm.Until you can change the mindset of 'I've always voted' or 'those nice Labour people ignored the sheds in my back garden and replaced the pavemants outside my Southall shops' you have little chance of a representative local co-alition and have to vote for the 'lesser of two evils'.

Nigel Brooks ● 5216d

No. I would not vote CONservative. I have no desire to support big business, bankers, and the return to feudalism based on the Saks-Koburg legacy. Nor will I ever vote Labour again on the basis of the Bliar years and the spreading canker of Political Correctness (PC) and moral relativism. I believe our future lies in coalition based on limited election funding of more representative movements in England.The difference is that the CONservatives are old money who want more money, whereas Labour is no money who want new money in the form of non-executive directorships in banks, etc. Both outfits are morally-bankrupt.

William J Malmet ● 5217d

Vote Conservative!Before that and until we can exercise our right, I look to the opposition (come on chaps don't be shy in posting and telling us what you intend to do) to expose the skewed priorities. The projected price of Southall's proposed new car park would have kept the respite spaces open for over another 20 years.I see no details about the alternative provision or are Bell's Buffoons simply cutting services to the most needy in our society once again?

Nigel Brooks ● 5217d

I am game for any ideas you might have to stop this.

William J Malmet ● 5217d

Not the first time that votes have be 'bought' in Southall and probably won't be the last.The question is, what do we do about it?

Nigel Brooks ● 5217d

i guess it will work like this. now that tens of thousands of so called curry chefs cannot get work visas to get into this country and disappear afterwards, 400 or so so called trainee curry chefs will be able to get student visas to ealing councils new curry school in southall and then disappear afterwards.

John Newen ● 5217d

Oh, and wasn't it about ten years ago that the whole of Southall Broadway was repaved in granite? What is the new scheme going to do: rip it all up? This is all just SUCH a blatant emample of pandering to the local Southall businessmen who fund MP Vivendra Sharma and his direct employee Julian Bell Councillor and alleged council "leader".

William J Malmet ● 5217d

Yes, Ealing Council + Labour Group have COMPLETELY lost the plot. So we crank out hundreds of curry chefs while Ealing's ill and disabled (and their carers) are left to moulder (and from the Council's point of view, hopefully die?).(I had thought that we lived in more enlightened times since the Allied victory in 1945, however this says otherwise).

William J Malmet ● 5217d

It beggars belief....have we lost the plot?

Jim Louten ● 5217d