Neighbours Paper ’
Issue No 94
Putting the People of Ealing First
Autumn 2020
Ealing taking our right of way!
Also in this issue: Ealing Climate Change Mental Health Crisis History of Southall
lishe Pu b
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E E FR se Plea
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Acton | Ealing | Greenford | Hanwell | Northolt | Perivale | Southall
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E ditorial
Contents Editorial................................................ 2
Welcome to the Autumn 2020 issue of ‘Neighbours Paper’. For only the second time in our history this is an exclusively web-based version. Covid-19 is still with us and and we still have business interruption across Ealing, which impacts our advertisers and our distribution outlets. Lockdown has been challenging for all of us but it has been especially difficult for the thousands of Ealing residents with mental health problems. Because of this we have devoted two pages to reviewing mental health services in Ealing. Having a roof above our heads is one of life’s basic necessities. Housing Associations (HAs) sprang up in the 19th century to help house the needy. Now they provide a whole range of housing services. We explore the why, what and how of HAs operating in Ealing. In 2019 Ealing Council declared a Climate Emergency and we explore exactly what this means. With many of participating sports venues in Ealing closed, we turn to one that isn’t – the Olympic Weightlifting Club in Perivale – for our sports feature. The Government response to Covid-19 has given Local Authorities Emergency/Experimental powers. We examine whether Ealing Council is using these powers in such a way as to undermine basic democracy in the town. Finally we have an overview of the history of Southall. Let’s hope as we all prepare for Winter, some kind of normality returns to our everyday lives. Eric Leach Editor
Poems.................................................. 2 Ealing Climate Emergency............... 3 Ealing Notes.................................... 4-5 Mental Health Crisis........................6-7 Ealing Housing Associations..........8-9 A History of Southall......................... 10 Is Democracy Dying in Ealing........ 11 Weightlifting in Ealing...................... 12
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Covid-19 Poems by Valerie Rudd
MAKE WAY FOR AUTUMN Make way for Autumn When Summer speaks to all And sets the scene For Glowing Autumn sprawl. Autumn leaves of red and gold Line the paths that now I tread Slowly moving through the woods Driving force to Log and Shred. Breath the Air Smell the Earth Loves Natures gathering Harvest And so enjoy the foretaste of Autumn And the journey through to the Tempest.
facebook.com/NeighboursPaper Editor: Eric Leach Email: eric.alan.leach@gmail.com Treasurer: Judy Breens Writers: Denise Colliver, Nic Ferriday, Roger Green, Simon Hayes, Michael Holmes, Eric Leach, Oliver New, Valerie Rudd, Louise Sinnock
A Period of Time
Designer: Jamie Anson
Time has stood still on Lockdown For us to focus and to dwell On worldly functions and to notice Things that nature does provide.
Advert Designer: Sandy Anson
What do we miss of life but life itself This Lockdown gave us time To reflect on things we say and do And find the truth within us
Team Digital: Jamie Anson, Sonia Nimley, Ron Nicholls
This Virus which did creep upon the land And covered spread a wider Pain Yet still we need to Lockdown And find a Cure to Heal to Mend to Live
Photography: Ealing Friends of the Earth, Dave Randles and Will French
Printer: Pollyprint Ltd, 263 Northfield Avenue, Ealing W5 4UA, 0208 579 1441, www.pollyprint.co.uk Advertisement rates: Single Box £25, Double Box £45, Triple Box £70 Next copy deadline: 30th October 2020
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Ealing Climate Emergency By Nic Ferriday Climate change is – at long last – really on the agenda. Not just on BBC4 Radio or in the specialist press, but mentioned in all the serious media and recognised in the policies of government, business and trade unions. This is not the place for a treatise on climate change. Suffice it to say that there will be more floods, forest fires, deaths, losses of livelihoods, crop failures, losses to the economy and mass migration. These impacts cannot be prevented entirely, but we can most certainly limit their severity by acting now. Compared with climate change, Coronavirus is a picnic in the park. Until quite recently the number of sceptics, better called climate deniers, was large enough for them to be a significant impediment to action on climate change. But not any more. There remain more insidious forces opposing action on climate change, such as Donald Trump, libertarians and free market fundamentalists, but there is a real momentum now that the great majority of the public, politicians, journalists and businesses do not dispute the reality of climate change. The real impediment now is the majority in the ‘middle ground’, who know climate change is real and dangerous, but don’t want to do anything much about it.
Council but, at the time of writing, the composition of the board and criteria for inclusion are not known. So what does the draft strategy look like? Will it really address the huge issue of climate change? It is too early to say. Ealing Council are to be congratulated on taking the issue forward. It would have been only too easy to say there are there are more immediate issues, namely Coronavirus, to worry about. Acting on climate is a huge ask for a Council. With competing demands for staff time and savage cuts in funding, it will be hard to find resources to develop an effective strategy. But perhaps more important is that a complete change in mindset is needed. No longer will tedious and labyrinthine Council processes be enough. They will get us nowhere on the path to ‘zero carbon’ by 2030, the target of the Council’s motion.
is perhaps public buy-in. If the vehement blanket opposition to ‘Low Traffic Neighbourhoods’ schemes is anything to go by, the omens are not good. If every proposal to address climate change faces the same level of opposition as this, local, regional and national government could be paralysed into inaction. On the other hand, the response to Coronavirus gives hope. The populace has readily accepted drastic restrictions and impositions on daily life. If they can accept this for Coronavirus, perhaps they will accept the measures needed, which are less drastic, to head off the much greater threat that is climate change.
Climate Emergency April 2019 Public Buy-In? As part of the collective response to climate change, Ealing Council, along with many other Councils, passed a ‘Climate Emergency’ motion back in April 2019. A ‘Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy’ (CEES) proposal was agreed by the Council Cabinet. in May 2020 and is now out for a first consultation. This is not a normal public consultation but is confined to stakeholders and interested groups. A ‘Citizens’ Review Panel’ has been appointed by Ealing
There are some major omissions in the draft strategy. The fact that the Council has no control over the great majority of emissions in the borough is not really addressed. Nor is the big increase in emissions due to the Council’s energy-inefficient tower block building policies. The fact that strategy does not really relate to the Council motion is also worrying. But the biggest cause of concern Putting the People of Ealing First
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Ealing Notes Libraries All but one of the Ealing Public and Community Managed Libraries (CMLs) remain closed until 1 September 2020. Ealing Central Public Library (ECL) re-opened on 17 August 2020, in the sense that you can enter it. However you can’t browse the books, or use the computers. The Government’s Covid-19 response guidance allowed library reopening nationally as from 4 July 2020. ECL might only stay open for a couple of years as the Council wants it replaced by a new Public Library on the Perceval House site. Vistry and the Council plan to demolish Perceval House and build some 510 housing units on the site along with a new ECL. Wood End Public Library in Greenford is scheduled for demolition if Planning Permission for the Council’s planned 11 ‘genuinely affordable/ sustainable’ housing units on the site is granted. A new ‘Community Library’ is
Manor Road Tower Over 2,400 formal objections to the Manor Road tower block have been submitted to Ealing Council. This is almost certainly a record number. ‘Stop The Towers’ (STT) pulled out all the stops to ensure that the local community were aware of the new proposals. This is in spite of the fact that there was no community consultation for the design of the new 20 storey block with a roof garden on the 14th floor of the shoulder building. Objections expressed concern about these tower blocks being built on inappropriately small sites adjacent to Edwardian and Victorian two storey homes. Site specific guidance and impact on the community have also been ignored. STT planning experts identified many material breaches of planning policy and used these to shape submissions to the Planning Application 202231FUL. A well known QC helped frame 4
By Denise Colliver, Roger Green, Eric Leach and Louise Sinnock
promised on the site but it’s not clear how big it will be or who will run it. Five Community Managed Libraries (CMLs) are still just in embryonic form thanks largely to Covid-19: Hanwell: Ealing Law Centre - the CML operator – has still not moved into the first floor of the library building. Up to five volunteers will be entering the library as from 1 September 2020. Online services are up and running. Partial opening is likely during September 2020. New volunteers should contact: mbauer@hanwellcommunitylibrary. org.uk
Pitshanger: Local stakeholders are discussing a new Lease with Ealing Council West Ealing: Ealing Community and Voluntary Service (ECVS) – the CML operator – have still to re-locate to the back office of West Ealing Library. This is because Ealing Council has still not vacated the property. A volunteer Library Manager has been hired and ECVS is confident of some limited opening by the end of September 2020. More at: ealingcvs.org.uk Incredibly none of the CML contractors has been able to obtain a signed lease from Ealing Council.
Northfields: The CML operator – Northfields Community Library – is functioning in digital form. More at: northfieldscommunitylibrary.org.uk Perivale: Contact the CML operator Perivale Community Hive for information perivalehive@yahoo.com
the legal arguments as to why Ealing Council Planning Committee would be mad to approve this application. With a high percentage of the local population bothering to express their views, together with the legal arguments, can the Council ignore such a groundswell of opinion from their electorate?
Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) Up to 10 LTNS will have been installed across Ealing by the end of September 2020. Temporary road blocks (comprised of bollards and planters) are being set up. The aim is to make our streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists. In many LTNs local vehicle traffic has been diverted onto main roads. This is increasing journey lengths and times and increasing pollution on main roads. There is much opposition. On September 12th an estimated (or unprecedented) 2,500 people marched from Northfields to Ealing Town Hall in protest against LTN introduction. More on this next time. Putting the People of Ealing First
Hanwell Library
Acton Old Library On 19 March 2014 the Old Acton Public Library on Acton High Street closed its doors for good. In 2015 Ealing Council agreed with Curzon Corinthian Group to create a cinema in the splendid 1900 Grade II listed building. But it all came to nothing. Acton Arts Project (AAP) Community Interest Company (CIC) was established in May 2018 with a view to creating and running a cinema-based community hub in the building. On 15 October 2019, after lots of twists and turns, Ealing Council Cabinet agreed to rent the building to the AAP CIC. By December 2019 £115,000 had been pledged by the local community to support AAP. An AAP Planning Application was published in May 2020 (202045FUL) and was approved in September 2020. AAP expects its new cinema in Acton Old Library to open (Covid-19 willing) in Summer 2021. More at www.actonartsproject.com
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Ealing Notes continueD Durston House
Gurnell
On 15 January 2020 Ealing Council approved a Planning Application for Durston House School to expand onto Castlebar Playing Field in Carlton Road in central Ealing.
The Gurnell demolition/construction proposal (201695FUL) has been met with significant opposition across Ealing with over 1,600 formal objections and a petition with 4,100 signatures. After a substantial amount of emails were sent by residents to Ealing’s three MPs, James Murray MP for Ealing North has formally objected to the proposal. He has asked the Council to reject it on the basis of development on Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) and harm to openness, density being too high given the accessibility of the local public transport network, and the affordable housing does not include enough family homes.
On 15 July 2020 London Mayor Kahn reversed the Council’s decision. The refusal was largely on the grounds of ‘unacceptable loss of protected open space’ and ‘loss of playing field’. It was noted that the applicant did not demonstrate that the sports facilities to be lost would be surplus to requirements or re-provide the playing field and tennis courts elsewhere.
This proposal for 6 tower blocks up to 17 storeys high on MOL, breaches
Victoria Hall In April 2020 the Charity Commission ruled that Ealing Council’s 2016 deal to sell the Town Hall to a hotel developer could not proceed unless the Council substantially revised its proposals to take control of the charity which owns Victoria and Princes Halls. The Council now looks set to ignore most of the Commission recommendations for changes to the rules governing the Trust.
national, London and local planning policies. The Mayor of London is currently reviewing the proposal. The Mayor has the power to reject the proposal, as he has done with other proposals. The Save Gurnell campaign is asking everyone who objects to the plans to email the Mayor with their feelings. More details on how to do that can be found by visiting: www.savegurnell.org.uk. See the ‘How to Object’ page. It’s not too late to object to the Gurnell proposal – objections can be submitted up until mid-September 2020. Join the Save Gurnell emailing list to fight against the overdevelopment.
178 Church Road, Hanwell the Charity’s property, if the Halls were disposed of, could be put to more suitable and effective use for the purposes of the Charity. In the view of the Friends of Victoria Hall the Council Officers’ directions to the GPC did not take seriously enough the Charity Commission strictures and it is hard to see how the Commission can accept Ealing’s response. savevictoriahall.weebly.com
The Halls were built next to Ealing Town Hall in 1882 with money raised from the public and are owned by a charitable Trust set up in 1893 to provide a venue for community events. Unfortunately, the Council overlooked this prior to its signing its deal with hotel company Mastcraft in 2016.
This charming 1922 Arts & Crafts house in a Conservation Area is in danger of being demolished and replaced by six flats and two houses. 163 formal objections have been submitted to Ealing Council. The developer has submitted revised plans (201141FUL) and people are being encouraged to object once more: https://pam.ealing.gov.uk/ online-applications For details on grounds for objection contact jeannetteanngrose@yahoo.co.uk
On 29 June and on 30 July 2020 Ealing Council’s General Purposes Committee (GPC) met in its guise as Trustees of the Charity to discuss Council Officers’ recommendations on how they should proceed. In a series of votes they dismissed almost all of the Commission requests for them to re-consider how Putting the People of Ealing First
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Mental Health Crisis by
Eric Leach
No point in waking up in the morning and being physically fit if you are constantly depressed, anxious and in despair. There are more people in England suffering from mental ill-health than are suffering from any physical illness. In terms of morbidity and overall burden of disease throughout the world mental health is at 13%, cardiovascular disease 10%, cancer 5% and respiratory diseases 4% (World Health Organisation - WHO). 23% of the NHS England burden is meeting mental health needs, but only 13% of the annual NHS expenditure is on mental health. Mental ill-health covers a range of conditions which include anxiety, depression, Schizophrenia, Bipolar, personality disorder, alcoholism, drug addiction, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autistic Spectrum Disorder, psychosis and Dementia. Separate services are provided in England for adults and 0-18 year olds. In the developed world, 19% of adults suffer from mental illness and 10% of children (WHO). There are 60 NHS mental health Trusts in England. Mental Health – Social, Family and Financial Aspects One of the problems of mental illness is that some of the sufferers are in denial or for one reason or another don’t want to seek out treatment. Substance abuse is often a ’companion’ to mental ill-health, but is rarely the cause. Some people are embarrassed or unwilling to admit to mental illness within their families and try to deny its existence. There is also the cost implications of mental illness. Seriously mentally ill people cannot work and earn money. This is a financial strain on the benefits 6
system. The data shows us that the more severe the mental illness the greater the number and severity of physical health problems. This poses great strain on NHS healthcare services and Local Authority social services. Mental Health Services in Ealing The current NHS count of patients registered at Ealing GP practices is 417,000. The standard ratio of adults and children is 81% to 19%. Using the WHO ratios of sufferers that gives us 64,176 adults and 7,923 children with mental health problems in Ealing. Not all those suffering are registered with the NHS. One year waiting times for NHS treatment for seriously ill mental health patients in Ealing is not unusual. NHS mental health services in Ealing are fragmented. West London NHS Trust (WLNT) in Southall provides Secondary and ‘Community’ mental health via its Ealing Community Partners (ECP) services. Primary mental health services are provided by Ealing’s 200 or so GPs working at 75 practices. Ealing’s response to Covid-19 since March 2020 mandated NHS Mental Health Wards Hope and Horizon to be closed. Seriously mentally ill patients were discharged from St Bernard’s Hospital into virtual GP surgeries. WLNT’s Secondary mental health services include a Recovery East Team, based in Acton and a Recovery West Team based in Southall. ECP mental health rehabilitation beds are located in Jasmin, Magnolia and Rosemary Wards at Clayponds Hospital in Little Ealing.
Adult Mental Health Services in Ealing If you feel you have a mental health problem you can: + If in danger call 999 + In an emergency call the NHS 24 hour mental ill-health helpline - 0300 1234 244 + Contact your GP. + Self-refer to the Ealing Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) – first contact based in West Ealing – 020 3313 5660. + Self-refer to the ECP Pathways service (psychological and psychiatric care) – based at 11 locations throughout Ealing - 020 8571 4754. GPs are generally not given extensive mental health training. Some GPs feel ill-equipped to assess and diagnose mental problems. WLHT runs the emergency 24 hour telephone line which is supposed to be clinically supported. Anecdotal evidence is that this is not always the case. The WLHT target for emergency assessment referrals is
West London NHS Trust
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4 hours, urgent cases 24 hours and routine issues within 7 to 28 days. Sectioning under the 1983 Mental Health Act If someone is ‘Sectioned,’ they are detained in a NHS mental illhealth hospital setting. People may be Sectioned if they or someone else raises concerns that: + they need to be assessed and treated for their mental health problem + their health would be at risk of getting worse if they did not get treatment + their safety or someone else’s safety would be at serious risk if they did not get treatment + the patient’s doctor thinks they need to be assessed and treated in hospital, for example if they need to be monitored very regularly because they take new or very powerful medication. Otherwise they may be asked to attend a hospital out-patient clinic. Sadly there was nowhere in Ealing that Sectioned patients could be housed since April 2020 – as the mental health wards were closed because of Covid-19. West London Sectioning locations are Lakeside (West Middlesex Hospital) and the Hammersmith & Fulham Mental Health Unit. For people with personality disorders WLHT runs the Cassel Hospital in Richmond. Early Intervention for Psychosis (EIP) EIP teams look after people for up to three years after their first experience of psychosis (serious mental disorder). Referrals are for people between 14 And 45 years old. The EIP Ealing team is based in Hanwell. Solace Centre Operating in West Ealing for over 20 years this drop-in centre for mental health service users is operated by Ealing Council. It is open every day.
Solace Centre The WLHT Recovery College
Carers
Based in Brentford its aim is to give people the skills to become architects of their own recovery or to support someone else.
Carers are the ones who try to pick up the pieces when healthcare and social care support fails to help their mentally troubled loved one. Carers have been the Cinderella of mental health services for years and have been largely ignored by the NHS and Ealing Council. By far the best mental health carers’ group in Ealing is the Carers’ Support Group (CSG) which meets every second Tuesday in Acton. Recent CSG research reveals that problems carers face include their loved one’s withdrawal, aggression, paranoia, risky behaviour, obsessive behaviour, immaturity and lack of independence. Carers themselves are suffering from guilt, lack of hope, feeling of loss, and denial.
Children’s Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Ealing WLNT provides the CAMHS for Ealing residents. The service is provided by multi-discipline teams. Conditions diagnosed and treated include: Psychosis, depression, obsessivecompulsive disorder, PTSD, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, ADHD, autistic spectrum disorders, Tourettes Syndrome, tic disorders, co-morbid epilepsy, and complex cases with comorbid development disorders. Also those with severe emotional difficulties and severe functioning impairment arising from child abuse or neglect: those with complex conduct disorder/ oppositional defiant disorder; and those who are being cared for in Ealing Hospital exhibiting self-harm and those with chronic illnesses such as asthma, HIV, terminal cancer, diabetes who need to be cared for within a biological, psychological and social model. Also handled are isolated anger outbursts, feeding problems, sleep problems, difficulties presenting exclusively in a school setting and soiling and wetting. The majority of the services are provided at WLHT’s headquarters in Southall. There is an Alliance (Crisis) Team provided jointly by WLHT and Ealing Council.
Putting the People of Ealing First
West London NHS Trust (WLNT) – www.westlondon.nhs.uk EIP – 020 8483 2671 Solace Centre – 020 8567 6189 Ealing CAMHS – 020 8354 8160 Carers’ Support Group (CSG) paulette.bourrat@gmail.com and 078905 351826 The best most easy to read book exploring the new effective solutions to the misery and injustice cause by mental illness is: ‘Thrive’ by Richard Layard and David M. Clark. ISBN: 978-1-846-14605-3
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Ealing Housing Associations by
Eric Leach
Housing Associations (HAs) came into being in the second half of the 19th century. Their aim was to make accommodation available and affordable for all. The focus was on housing the needy. Early examples are the Peabody Trust (1862) and Guinness Trust (1890). HAs were originally philanthropic and voluntary organisations. HAs were property developers and managers. There are 1,500 HAs in the UK, providing some two million homes for five million residents. After The Housing Acts of 1985 and 1988 HAs began to take over Local Authority roles of building, maintaining and managing what was called ‘Council Housing’. HAs are regulated by Government but don’t seem to be accountable to anyone. They receive £millions of capital grant funding from the Government to build social housing. How different HAs are now from their original 19th century incarnations. In many ways the larger HAs are no different from private builders of housing like Barratt’s, Berkeley Group or Persimmon. As well as building some Social Homes for Rent, they build Shared Ownership and Market Sale properties. They occupy expensive offices and pay their managers and directors extremely generously. Many of the large HAs have grown through acquisitions and mergers. Within their complex structures there are a range of business models. These include Industrial and Provident Societies, Trusts and Co-operatives.
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Dense Housing
at
A2Dominion's Green Man Lane
HAs active in Ealing include A2Dominion, Catalyst Housing, Clarion Housing, Metropolitan Thames Valley, Notting Hill Genesis, Network Homes and Peabody Trust. These are some of the biggest HAs in London. In this article we look a little more closely at the activities of four of these HAs in Ealing. A2Dominion The company builds, maintains, sells and manages housing units in Greater London and south east England. In 1947 British Airways Staff Housing Society (BASHS) was formed. MPs Kenneth Baker and George Young set up Acton Housing Association (AHA) in the 1960s. Bakers House in The Grove W5 was AHA’s first social housing scheme in Ealing. In 2001 AHA merged with Cherwell Housing Trust to form Dominion Housing Group (DHG). In 2008 AHA, BASHS, DHG and some other HAs merged to form A2Dominion. Originally the company was a registered Charity and subject to scrutiny by The Charity Commission. Some years ago now the bosses decided to end the Charitable status and like many HAs it is now not subject to scrutiny by anyone. The company is involved in a range of private renting and private ownership offerings. It manages 38,000 housing units. It has a major development and housing management operation underway at Green Man Lane (GML) in West Ealing centre. Putting the People of Ealing First
The GML development process began in 2007. A2Dominion and builders Rydon were chosen in 2009 and demolition started in 2011. 464 Social Rent Council homes are being replaced by 714 mixed tenure units. 95 single bed Social Rent tenants were not offered new accommodation on site. 376 of the new flats will be private sale/Shared Ownership. The new Social Homes for Rent already built are very densely packed together. A gym, Enterprise Units, an expensive public work of art and a community café were all promised. Only the café was delivered and this failed in 2019 and currently lies empty. A Community Centre was promised in 2010 but this has yet to be built. It will probably be 2023 before the development is completed. A2Dominion sites in Ealing recently demolished/cleared are the old Wickes site on Boston Road, Hanwell and the iconic art deco Woolworths building in Broadway West Ealing. The former will provide up to 340 new housing units (65% for private sale), and the latter 120 units (65% private sale). In 2018/19 the turnover of the company was £372.3 million. The net ‘surplus’ (i.e. profit) was £23.9 million. It had an asset base of over £9 billion and 7,601 new housing units in development. The boss earned at least £290,000/ year and 32 other executives earned at least £100,000/year.
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Catalyst Housing Catalyst Housing was formed by merger in 2019. Its antecedents were Kensington Housing Trust (1926), Ealing Family HA (1963), Northcote HA (1980) and Aldwyck Housing Group. It builds and manages housing units, with 21,000 homes under management. It offers Social and Affordable Rent properties. The company has 4,540 housing units under management in Ealing and it operates 16 Sheltered Housing facilities. Four of these sheltered homes are in Ealing - Antilles House (Acton), Hopley House, Hugh Clark House and O’Grady Court. The latter three are in West Ealing centre. It has major residential developments in Ealing including the South Acton Estate (922 new units), St Bernard Gate, Southall (307) and Havelock Estate, Southall (922). Its newest development will be Friary Park in Acton, with 990 new housing units. Catalyst’s support for the local community includes providing a peppercorn rent for the Welshore Community Hub on Broadway, West Ealing. In 2018/19 it paid out £95,582 in grants.
Catalyst’s turnover in 2018/19 was £180.1 million and its surplus was £330 million. Board members were collectively rewarded with £97,000 and 15 executives earned at least £100,000/year. Metropolitan Thames Valley (MTV) MTV provides affordable housing in London, the South East, East Midlands and East England. It manages 57,000 homes. Its early history features the Metropolitan Coloured People’s HA (1957) and Thames Valley Housing. Thames Valley HA and the Metropolitan Housing Trust merged in October 2018 to form MTV. It’s made up of 39 individual companies. It is developing two new residential sites in Ealing.
In Hastings Road, West Ealing MTV plan to build 19 and 13 storey residential towers containing 144 housing units. Dubbed ‘55West’ MTV is partnering again with Southern Grove, allegedly providing affordable homes. Local activists say only those with household incomes of £60,000/year will be able to afford them. Astonishingly the Stop the Towers group has inspired over 2,300 formal objections to the plans. In 2018/19 MTV’s turnover was £411 million and it had an Operating Surplus of £149 million. It had 1,037 new housing unit completions - 346 for rent, 572 shared Ownership and 119 private sale. In 2018/19, 33 of its executives earned at least £100,000/year. Clarion Housing
MTV, along with the property company Southern Grove, is building a residential tower block The Appleton on the old BHS building in Broadway, West Ealing. A very dense 11 storey block of 136 flats is being built on a small footprint. Originally offering a mix of tenures, it’s now primarily trying to sell 100 Shared Ownership flats, but is obviously struggling as it’s offering 6 months rent free! The other 36 flats are available at ‘affordable’ rents. The building should be completed by 2021, Covid-19 willing.
Clarion Housing is the UK’s largest HA managing 125,000 dwellings. It works across over 150 Local Authorities and provides homes for 350,000 people. Clarion was formed through the merger of Affinity Sutton and Circle Housing in 2016. Affinity Sutton began work in West Ealing in 2013 with the redevelopment of the Dean Gardens Estate. Now as Clarion it is building the new Sherwood Close Estate. All existing 2013 Ealing Council tenants have been offered new tenancies in the new development. Of the 292 new flats to be built just 71 were delivered in 2109. Sadly there were plenty of building faults notified to Clarion by the residents’ group and by September 2020 these have still all not been corrected. In Southall, Clarion got planning permission in 2017 to build 225 Shared Accommodation flats on the Malgavita site on Merrick Road. Called Junction West it comprises towers up to 18 storeys. In 2019/20 Clarion had a turnover of £841.5 million and made a profit/surplus of £168.4 million. It employed 3,573 Full Time Equivalent employees. Clarion had 59 executives who earned over £100,000/year.
MTV's 'The Appleton Putting the People of Ealing First
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A HISTORY OF SOUTHALL by
O liver New
Southall has seen many changes and struggles over the years. Thousands of years ago, Southall was swampy. Remains of mammoths have been found in 3 locations along with evidence of stone age hunters. So it has changed! Skipping past the Romans, the influx of Angle and Saxon migrants and the Middle Ages, the area had become farmland. In 1800 there were just three small villages with 700 people and some horses - though we did have a market. Big changes were coming. The canal and then the railway brought industrialisation. The first big industry was brickfields and our Southall bricks helped build London. It was hard work in the brickfields though, badly paid and casual. If the ground froze, there was no work and people just starved. Margarine Factory The key transition to an industrial town came with the opening of a vast margarine factory in 1893. Founded
by Danish entrepreneur Rasmus Otto Monsted, it had a weekly output of 700 tons of margarine, exported right across Europe. So, people migrated to work in Southall from rural areas and cheap houses were built for them (one of which I live in today). Other factories opened up, bringing more workers from diverse areas. As jobs became scarcer in the 1930s, some incoming migrants faced resentment, including the Welsh. Later there were jobs of course, with the huge post war industrial expansion, and people from South Asia and the Caribbean were encouraged to come here. An army officer arranged for his former Punjabi Sikh soldiers to come and work in the horrible low-paid Woolfs rubber factory and Southall became a focus for Punjabi workers. These new migrants had to deal with racism and discrimination – for example children were bussed to schools outside Southall to keep their numbers down. Others were denied housing.
Blair Peach Self-organised groups like the Indian Workers Association had started up. Later, in the 70s, the second generation of youth refused to accept racism. The killing of Gurdip Chaggar in 1976 was praised by members of the National Front, which 3 years later arranged a provocative ‘public’ meeting in Southall Town Hall. Ignoring petitions and protests, the authorities insisted it go ahead. On the day, shops and factories closed as residents united for a peaceful sit-down protest in their own streets. This was brutally broken up by hundreds of police with horses. They killed Blair Peach, truncheoned indiscriminately and arrested 700 people. Only years of campaigning and several inquiries exposed the reality of these events to people outside the area. Nevertheless, the lesson was clear – Southall would not leave racism unchallenged. Tower Block City With the advent of Crossrail, Southall is becoming a Tower Block City, with massive developments on former industrial land near the station. The tens of thousands of new flats are obviously for commuters to live in small apartments without parking. A dormitory town for them, fat profits for property developers, but little use to an overcrowded area where multi-occupancy and ‘beds in sheds’ are common. Today Southall elects politicians from the Asian ‘desi’ communities and campaigning goes on: Southall Town Hall continues to be a secular community venue, the black music venue ‘Tudor Rose’ has been saved from demolition by the developers and Clean Air campaign is challenging the disturbance of polluted land by developers on the Gas Works. It’s still a great town.
Margarine Factory 10
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Is Democracy Dying in Ealing? by
Simon Hayes
The Covid-19 crisis has seen a terrible toll of human life, with Ealing particularly hard hit, but there’s another casualty of the virus that has passed rather unnoticed by the majority of the population – local democracy. The imposition of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) in parts of the borough under the guise of Covid-19 powers is just the latest in a string of moves by Ealing Council that have steamrollered the idea of local democracy. There has been huge majority opposition, with the lack of notice and the piecemeal siting of road blocks angering many. The promise of ‘consultation’ in six months is rightly viewed with suspicion. Keen to take the Government’s money the Council has jumped into bed with Boris Johnson, and yet our Councillors still blame the Tories for the controversial schemes. LTNs – No Engagement or Consultation I’ve written in these pages before about the sham of consultation in Ealing and this scheme looks likely to be no exception. Requests for baseline data against which success or failure can be measured is ignored, probably because there is none. Requests for details of how the consultation will be carried out, and what criteria will be assessed, are similarly stonewalled. Little wonder nobody trusts this Council. Residents want a say before their roads are blocked off, not months later when there may be no money to remove them anyway.
ignored by the Committee, while crowded agendas meant applications were not given proper scrutiny. Good Bye Ward Forums Last year the Council announced it was scrapping Ward Forums, citing its usual line of cost cutting. These forums are generally well attended and give residents an opportunity to air their concerns on local issues and try to get Councillors to answer. What was clear latterly was Labour Councillors packing the agendas with irrelevant items and then filibustering, leaving very little time for the real issues to be debated. Public outcry earned the forums a reprieve but they have effectively disappeared under Covid-19 rules. Nobody really knows what’s going on where they live any longer. Time and again the Council ignores the wishes of the majority local population, simply saying it knows best. However, as the cases of Southall Town Hall, Warren Farm and the ongoing saga
of Ealing Town Hall prove, that’s not always the case. The last matter has seen the council spend £2 million on a scheme that essentially hands over a public asset to a private company to be turned into a hotel. Little wonder we are told there’s no cash for services such as libraries. Unsurprisingly that figure hasn’t been trumpeted in ‘Around Ealing’, which like all good propaganda sheets only tells us how great the Council is. As Noam Chomsky said: ‘Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.’ Dissent is ignored. The Voice of the People We are not asking a lot from the Council, just the opportunity to be heard and listened to, on matters that directly affect the everyday lives of thousands of residents. At present Ealing Council isn’t listening. In 2022 they will be asking for our votes again. One wonders if they’ll suddenly start listening then.
Incompetent Technology Use in Council Virtual Meetings The lockdown saw Ealing’s Planning Committee move to virtual meetings, but these have been unsatisfactory in the eyes of many. Residents feel excluded in meetings due to either ‘technical issues’ or simply being
P rotest at Southall Town Hall Putting the People of Ealing First
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Weightlifting in Ealing Stars shining brightly. That’s certainly the case at Stars for the Future. An Olympic Weightlifting Club based at Perivale Athletics Track. NP Reporter Michael Holmes meets Vindhya Gobin from Stars for the Future. Let me start by asking When did the club start? The club started in 2011 with 6 clubs running in 6 West London Boroughs. In 2016, we built and opened our gym in Perivale where all the lifters from the 6 clubs were transferred to. Why did it start? Kazem Panjavi, the club owner was a former Olympian and obtained a number of other achievements whilst he was a competitive athlete. His passion for weightlifting continued after he stopped being a competitive athlete and he now enjoys using all the knowledge and skills he acquired to train and develop athletes at all levels. This led him to set up the club. How many locations do you operate at? We operate in one location, Perivale. How many members do you have to date? We currently have 15 members. Have any members taken part in major competitions like the Olympics or Commonwealth Games or even Local & National events? Currently, we have 7 competitive athletes in the club who compete at local and national competitions. Our head coach, Kian Panjavi was a silver medallist at the Commonwealth Youth Games that took place in 2015. Since the club started we have become the British Champion in the U13, U17, U18, U20, U23 categories and the Senior Championships. Has the club itself been awarded any accolades? We were awarded Club of the Year in 2014 by British Weightlifting - BWLA. Are there any well-known people associated with the club? Our competitive athletes along with our 12
coaches are all well known in the UK weightlifting community. The club owner Kazem Panjavi is very well known within and outside the UK. What are the costs of membership and are there categories for example age groups and beginner & advanced etc? Our membership prices vary from £24.99 - £64.99 per month depending on your age and how many sessions you would like to attend. We also offer drop in sessions which are priced at £10 per session. What are the benefits of Weight Lifting for individuals and for the residents of Ealing? There are a number of benefits from weightlifting such as strength gain, increase in power, speed and jumping ability, weight loss, improvement in flexibility, core strength, posture, stability and fitness levels. Have you been affected by Covid-19? We implemented strong controls in our gym at the start of the pandemic therefore we did not have any COVID-19 cases whilst we were open before Government instructed gyms to close. Although gyms can now reopen, Ealing Council is using a phased reopening approach for their leisure facilities across the borough, therefore we are still waiting to hear when we can reopen our gym. Like Putting the People of Ealing First
all other businesses, our concern is the financial strain the pandemic will cause therefore once we are able to reopen, it is important to us to raise awareness about our club. What plans does the club have for the future? We will continue to develop all our athletes from beginners to advance to non-competitive to competitive to help them achieve their goals. We want to maintain our current high standard of achievements from our competitive athletes. We would like to raise more awareness about our club and welcome and encourage new members to join and participate in the sport. Lastly, we hope to continue Kazem Panjavi’s legacy by keeping the club open until he returns from a head coaching role in Odisha. More information can be found at: www.starsforthefuture.com