Forum Topic

Labour skimps on Central Ealing's roads

In the last two years the Labour council has allocated £6.5 million (in total for the two years together) of capital spending to resurfacing the Borough’s roads and pavements.  This sounds like a lot of money but it is half of what the previous administration spent on the roads.  You might think that on average this money would be fairly evenly spent across the Borough.  It isn’t.  Although the council claims to use objective assessments of roads and pavements the actual spending patterns do make you wonder.  In the one year 2011/12 50% of expenditure went to the 5 wards of Southall (they might expect to get 22% on average). In the one year 2012/13 49% of expenditure went to the 2 wards of Northolt (they might expect to get 9% on average).How much has gone to Central Ealing?  Over two years and six wards the council has spent £549K resurfacing ten roads or pavements in all of Central Ealing:Hollingbourne Gardens (road), ClevelandSutherland Road (right pavement), ClevelandHaven Green (road), Ealing BroadwayRavensbourne Gardens (road), Ealing BroadwayThe Knoll (both pavements), Ealing BroadwayGreystoke Gardens (road), Hanger HillChilton Road (both pavements), NorthfieldsRegina Road (road), WalpoleChapel Road (road), WalpoleClovelly Road (road), WalpoleEaling Common had nothing at all.  This represents 8.4% of the Borough’s total spend.  If the six wards had received an equal share they might have expected to get 26% of the total, some 17.6% or £1.144K more.  You can work out for yourself if you think that Central Ealing is getting a good deal.  More details here:http://philtaylor.org.uk/2012/11/labours-road-spending-games/

Phil Taylor ● 4923d19 Comments

Too many of our roads are in a poor state.  The photo above is Valetta Road in East Acton, the ward where I am standing on 22nd.  The chart above shows the Borough's own road spending this century on the Borough's own roads.  For 12 years from 1994 to 2006, Labour neglected our roads terribly.  In 12 years they spent £12 million.  This is ridiculous for a borough of our size.  It got so bad that in 1999/2000 our borough spent nothing on its roads.  When the Tories came into power in 2006 we realised that we had a huge problem.  We immediately put £500K into the roads in the current year and then put in £25 million.  When it came into power Labour thought that it could again skimp on roads but it didn't quite go back to its bad old ways.  They thought that they could get away with spending £15.5 million over four years (a 40% drop) but after a constant campaign from the Tories they recently found an extra £2 million to put in.  Interestingly for all  of Julian Bell's talk of  "unprecedented cuts" this extra cash came from an underspend on revenue spending.  So the final figure is £17.5 million, a drop of just under a third (31%).  RT @itvlondon:What did your council spend on repairing #potholes last year? Ealing came top with a bill of almost £1m http://t.co/dCqIiALa2O— Julian Bell (@juliangbell) March 31, 2014Rather stupidly Labour leader Bell has been bragging recently that our borough has London's largest spending on pot holes.  This is merely an admission that we have underinvested in our roads.  This is why the Tories will prioritise road (and pavement) spending.  It makes it safer for pedestrians.  It makes life easier for cyclists.  It hugely improves the environment that people live in - the same people who are paying the council tax.  Our philosophy is that your money should be spent on your doorstep and not on new car parks and doing up the Town Hall.  There is less money to go around so it should not be spent on distant municipal projects.

Phil Taylor ● 4374d

Stuart avenue and tring avenue were done recently.  Both in ealing common ward. And Carbery avenue.

Barbara Karayi ● 4904d

Thomas,If you read right to the end of a Guardian article you usually get some balancing facts that are not entirely reflected in the headline.  In this case it is:The transport minister, Norman Baker, said: "Despite the economic challenges we are facing, this government is providing more than £3bn to councils across England for road maintenance between 2011 and 2015, demonstrating our commitment to maintaining our existing transport infrastructure. We also provided an additional £200m in March 2011 to help repair local roads damaged by the severe winter weather in 2010."It is unfortunate that due to the deficit most areas of government current expenditure are being shaved by 20-30%.  This is hardly new and is a priority agreed by the coalition government.  As the election comes nearer Ed Balls will be forced to acknowledge that Labour too buys into this programme.  My complaint is that the capital budget that the council itself control directly has been halved (not a 19% cut).  In addition the remaining spending seems to be being directed at Labour's own areas.  50% of the cash was spent in Southall in year 1 and 50% in Northolt in year two.  The effect is that the cut is being borne by some residents but not others.  Labour has got priorities for capital spending and it is not the roads.  They are building three new council offices.  They are buying an economically crazy car park in Southall for £5 million.  They are building a £10 million concrete piazza in North Acton that locals don't want.  They have choices.  They are making the wrong ones.  Fixing roads in Acton and Ealing isn't their priority.

Phil Taylor ● 4904d

Re  they're expected to repair roads when central government thinks it's an area ripe for massive cuts?          xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx          I think it is more a question of WHERE the money available is spent on repairs in the Borough  by this administaion. And not only where, but why?

Tony Price ● 4906d

Only reading this, it appears that in addition to the cuts at the Highways Agency, getting on for half a billion quid's been taken from the local road maintenance money, too:http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/nov/23/uk-roads-crisis-point-potholes"The LGA says that the Department for Transport is reducing the highways maintenance budget for councils by £442m over the five years of the Comprehensive Spending Review. By 2014-15, councils will get £164m a year less than in 2010-11, a 19% drop."Perhaps before criticising Labour councils Mr. Taylor might want to explain how they're expected to repair roads when central government thinks it's an area ripe for massive cuts?

Thomas Barry ● 4906d

Councillor Taylor,At the risk of seeming pushy, might I ask whether it might be appropriate to ask a question regarding a) the overall budget, b) the Section 106 funds (which I assume is the money that the developer puts up) and c) the Council/Council Tax payers' contribution at an appropriate Council meeting to find out what is really happening?

John Arthur Forest ● 4921d

John,You make a good point.  This whole area looks good now and I am not sure why it needs to get much better.  The pavement on the south side of Ealing Broadway is truly awful by comparison.  The council refurbished the pavement outside the Town Hall at great expense.  Again this paving was of a high standard before it changed.  Both of these bits of work look like gold plating to me.  When this was discussed with Conservative local councillors when we were in power they wanted to do up the Town Hall then, we said whatever you do, do the Town Hall last.  When the rest of the town is looking great then do the Town Hall area.  That is why we started the regeneration work on Bond Street.  Up grading the Town Hall area looks bad I have to say.  No doubt the administration will tell us that it is wholly or largely funded by Section 106 funds from Dickens Yard.  Yes, but those funds could be used to improve the rest of the town centre paving first.  Section 106 is all about negotiating.  Either the council didn't negotiate to get its priorities or it has the wrong priorities.  It looks too much like the council looking after itself I am afraid.

Phil Taylor ● 4921d

I see. Is it being entirely funded by the developers, or is there a contribution from Ealing Council/the council-tax payers - and if so, how much? Is there a budgeting breakdown for this on the Council website?

John Arthur Forest ● 4921d

I'll let Phil respond for himself but I was under the impression that this was part of the Dickens Yard redevelopment and was being funded by the developers.If not, I share your concern.

Nigel Brooks ● 4921d

Councillor Taylor, I note the Longfield Road developments around the Town Hall. This seems like a huge project that is going to run for several months whose main beneficiary will be the Town Hall employees? How much is it costing, and could not the money be better spent on resurfacing roads in Ealing in general?

John Arthur Forest ● 4921d

DD,Yes.  But it will take a couple of days work to do!  I don't mean elapsed I mean man days.  It is on my to do list.

Phil Taylor ● 4922d

Thomas,At the national level you should be aware that the person who cut the nation's capital budget in half was Alistair Darling.  He did this in the 2009 Pre-Budget Report.  In fact Labour cut the capital budget so harshly that Osborne didn't touch it beyond putting the odd billion back in his own first budget.  This move allowed Darling to keep some credibility as chancellor without having to deal immediately with the consequences of the decision.  As for local spending decisions it is notable that the Labour council has let union facility time increase by 5% in the last two years and it only trimmed senior management costs by 5%.  They have been great at cutting frontline budgets though.  Although it has been most unwelcome they only lost 28% of their government grant which is about 12.5% of all council spending.  Still the frontline budgets get halved.  Your PS refers to a simple error I made over 4 years ago in a comment on a blog.  The point about blogging is that we don't have sub-editors and fact checkers but still we manage to add to the debate sometimes.

Phil Taylor ● 4922d

"This sounds like a lot of money but it is half of what the previous administration spent on the roads"Terrible news.  However, since the Highways Agency's seen its budget cut by 42% by, I believe, Mr. Taylor's party and their funny yellow friends, halving the budget in Ealing is perfectly in line with the doctrine of 'austerity' he (I'm assuming) backs.  I'm unsure whether he's opposed or in favour of the move, as road maintenance is obviously considered expendable at a national level.P.S. Back in 2008 Phil 'Numbers' Taylor erroneously claimed Oyster bus fares were £1.50 instead of 90p.  Happily, he's now nearly right after the latest Boris hike to £1.40.  So it's not all bad news.

Thomas Barry ● 4922d

Is it possible to have similar data for the last two years Conservatives had control of Ealing?

D Downey ● 4922d

Thanks for the graph, Phil.  As the saying goes, 'a picture is worth a thousand words'.

Andy Horridge ● 4922d

Andy,As you asked here is a picture showing the distribution by ward of this money over the last two years that Labour has been responsible for it.  I have coloured the bars according to the majority of councillors in each ward.  Elthorne is purple because there is one of each!  It is interesting to look at the seven wards that got more than the average (green line) and note the where the senior Labour councillors sit on this graph:Northolt West EndSafe Labour wardCllr Bassam Mahfouz, Cabinet member of Transport and EnvironmentCllr Brian Reeves, Labour’s Chief WhipNortholt MandevilleLabour/Conservative marginal held by two junior Labour councillors and one ConservativeSouthall GreenSafe Labour wardCllr Jasbir Anand, Cabinet member for Health and Adult ServicesLady MargaretSafe Labour wardDormers Wells Safe Labour wardCllr Ranjit Dheer, Cabinet member for Community Services and Safety and Deputy LeaderGreenford Broadway Safe Labour wardCllr Julian Bell, Leader of the Council Southall Broadway Safe Labour ward

Phil Taylor ● 4922d

I know that under the last administration the Cabinet member for transport's road was among the last to be resurfaced :-)This bunch seemingly want to do anything to garner votes from among those communitites that, for some strange reason, like to see the council waste money - i.e. vote Labour. No surprise, but damned cynical and it has a borough-wide effect.

Nigel Brooks ● 4922d

Out of curiosity, I'd like to see a graph that displays "road maintenance spend" against "councillors' residences" and "councillors' wards".

Andy Horridge ● 4923d

Surprise, surprise.If the figures are accurate then the 'lovely labour' voters in Southall and Northolt get disproportionate spends. What a surprise - NOT.Roll on May 2014.I want to see the smirk disappear from 'Uncle Julian's' face.

Nigel Brooks ● 4923d