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Update on dealing with anti-social behaviour in Dean Gardens

There has been considerable activity over the last month, the police, council, and charities have been working together and overall the general view is that the area is returning to normality. Current evidence shows that some of our known suspects have responded to the coordinated pressure over the last few weeks and are dispersing.  This is excellent news.

To give you the flavour of the work in hand: retail outlets, off-licences and cafés in the Dean Gardens area have been visited and encouraged to join the responsible retailer programme.  Many are cooperating fully.  The aim is to stop retailers selling to people who are in no fit state to consume – this applies particularly to both alcohol and khat.  In addition, a massive body of evidence has been accumulated and some ASBOs will be put in front of the courts very shortly and we expect to be serving these orders immediately when they are granted.  These will further curtail the known suspects and deter any new suspects on whom intelligence has been built in recent weeks.  We are pleased to report that following the increased police resources on the ground has resulted in over 40 arrests and 176 searches being made.

In summary – considerable progress towards the rehabilitation of Dean Gardens is being achieved.  We are now planning for returning to normality as the intense joint action programme winds down.  We look forward to the area becoming a safer place – day and night – a green space in West Ealing that is a central part of the neighbourhood.   If you are aware of any anti-social behaviour or drug related incident, you can report it by ringing 101 (this number is for all calls to the police other than emergencies – for which please ring 999).  101 will get you through to the Metropolitan Police who will pass the details to a duty officer in Ealing for collation by our intelligence team.

Thank you.

Patrick Chapman,
Walpole SNT Focus Panel Chair

18th November 2011

 

 

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Free lunchtime music, new art exhibitions and cheese tasting today at OPEN Ealing

Today sees OPEN’s First Friday for November kick off with free music at lunchtime from 12.30-1.30pm. Be ready for a relaxing hour of beautiful ballads from musical theatre, pop, jazz, and classics from Tonia Szkurhan.

In the evening we will be launching two new exhibitions – Trouble in Utopia and Sugar Sachets and City Scapes. One explores the boundaries between reality and articfice, whilst the other challenges us about what materials we can use and we can see the very first public exhibition by new artist Dean Moone.

And on top of all this, in the evening from 7pm onwards, we will be joined by Brent from the new Cheddar Deli in Northfield Avenue who will be talking about some of the fabulous cheeses he’s supplied for today’s First Friday event. And take it from me, Brent really knows his cheeses! So, it’s well worth coming along to taste a few cheeses and hear what Brent has to say about them.

 

 

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Update on policing in West Ealing

Dean Gardens– Action Group update

We reported, in September, on the first Joint Action Group meeting held to coordinate the response of the Police, Council and other local agencies to the incidents involving the young night-time group that is new to this area. Now, a third but totally unconnected incident has occurred in the small hours of the morning on Wednesday 19th October.  As the second, follow-up, JAG meeting was already scheduled for today, this latest incident was included on the agenda. This note summarises the overall situation and the main outcomes of the meeting for the local community.

Fundamentally, West Ealing is part of a residential area, not a centre for ‘gang behaviour’ or any other illegal activity.  Already, during the daytime the park is busy with families, many enjoying the children’s facilities.  The situation at night is also improving, particularly at weekends.

The increased police resources on the ground have already had a positive effect.  Their numbers will be even higher this weekend with the aim of further increasing visible law enforcement.  Nothing is being left to chance and residents will be very pleased to hear that the police are, and will be, taking a very firm stance.  The work of the plain clothes and SNT officers gathering intelligence is continuing in parallel to this.  The latest incident is being investigated by a special dedicated police unit.

As planned, the Council, Fire Brigade and Police have started their coordinated review of commercial premises in the area to ensure that licensing, planning and food health and safety legislation is being strictly enforced.  Local Shisha and Khat café outlets are a particular focus, and already we are delighted that operators are cooperating by signing a Responsible Retailer Agreement.  This is a key first step in the drive to minimise any local ‘under the counter’ sales. Again, in parallel, local outreach organisations such as St Mungo’s and Ealing
Council Adult and Children’s Services are also involved to help cushion any impact on the genuinely homeless and disadvantaged.

In summary – progress has already been achieved.  The recent incident is unconnected with the past pattern and is being investigated very thoroughly.  We can all continue to help.  If you are aware of any anti-social behaviour or drug related incident, you can report it by ringing 101 (this number is for all calls to the police other than emergencies – for which please ring 999).  101 will get you through to the Metropolitan Police who will pass the details to a duty officer in Ealing for collation by our intelligence team.

If you have any additional queries, you can contact our local Walpole Police SNT on 020 8721 2949

Thank you.

Patrick Chapman, Walpole SNT Focus Panel
Chair

21st October 2011

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A blot on West Ealing: the shame that is Canberra Road

Fly-tipping this week in Canberra Road

To be honest Canberra Road is driving me nuts!  Canberra Road is the service road that runs along the north side of Sainsbury’s and across Melbourne Ave by the side of Luckhurst’s and to the back of Lidl’s. I pass it almost every day and almost without fail it’s a disgrace – dumped black bags, old sofas, bags of clothes and overflowing wheelie bins. The problem is that it’s at the back of a row of shops where deliveries have to take place and it now is the entrance to a host of new flats built on top of many of these shops (some of which do not appear to have any of their own bins) and it has a large charity collection bin for clothes. All in all, it’s seen as a good dumping ground for people wanting to fly-tip all manner of unwanted goods. In fairness, the Council tries hard to keep it clean. I talked to one of the street cleaners a week or so ago who was having to clear up there and he said Council trucks come along every day to take away dumped rubbish. But it shouldn’t be like this. Why should we have to put up with constant fly-tipping along this road?

From a West Ealing Neighbours point of view Canberra Road is the key link between Melbourne Avenue, the heart of West Ealing, and St James Avenue where we hold a variety of events – Family Day, the annual arts and crafts fair and occasional craft markets. We need to reclaim this road from the fly-tippers and make it a decent road to walk along as opposed to the nasty, rubbish strewn road it is most of the time.

I confess I don’t think it will be easy to clear up Canberra Road but we need to try. I’m going to ask the Council if a CCTV camera can be put there for a while to catch the fly-tippers. But we need more than that. We need to make it look decent, so any ideas are very welcome.

 

 

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Update on police action over Dean Gardens and surrounding area

 

In the past five weeks we have had two major incidents in the Dean Gardens area. These incidents came as a surprise, as the number of local problems has actually been slowly decreasing. However, the Police, Council and other local agencies have joined together with the aim of eradicating such serious incidents from the area. A JAG meeting (Joint Action Group) was convened on 16th September by the Walpole Safer Neighbourhood Team on behalf of Ealing Police. This note summarises the main outcomes for the local community.

It is now clear that the ‘troublemakers’ in Dean Gardens have changed over recent months. In the past the same known people frequented the area, day and night. We now have two entirely different groups. In particular, at night, we have a younger group – understood to be predominantly Somali – converging on West Ealing, probably as it is convenient, central to their homes, well served by buses and has a ready supply of alcohol off-sales, Shisha and Khat café outlets.

As a direct response to the recent incidents, the police have increased their resources on the ground – 24/7. It is quite likely that residents will see rapid response units and other centralised specialist units being called in at any time of the night and day to support our local teams. The aim is to increase visible law enforcement. In addition there is an increase in the number of plain clothes officers gathering intelligence, as nobody quite understands who these young people are and why they want to be in West Ealing during the night.

As a result of the JAG, the Council, Fire Brigade and Police will be coordinating their work in the area to ensure that licensing, planning and food health and safety legislation is being strictly enforced. This should help minimise any local ‘under the counter’ sales of alcohol and squeeze the availability of Shisha and Khat, neither of which are controlled substances in this country.

Everyone appreciates that a clamp down inWest Ealing is likely to move the problem to other areas and therefore local outreach organisations such as St Mungo’s and Ealing Council Adult and Children’s Services are also involved to help cushion the impact on the genuinely homeless and disadvantaged.

In summary – everyone at the JAG agreed that the current night-time situation must change. West Ealing is part of a residential area, not a centre for ‘gang behaviour’. And with this in mind, everyone in the area can help. If you are aware of any anti-social behaviour or drug related incident, you can report it by ringing 101 (this number is for all calls to the police other than emergencies – for which please ring 999). 101 will get you through to the Metropolitan Police who will pass the details to a duty officer in Ealing for collation by our intelligence team.

If you have any queries, you can contact our local Walpole Police SNT on 020 8721 2949 

Thank you.

Patrick  RR Chapman

Chairman, Walpole Ward SNT Focus Group Panel

 

 

 

 


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Come and watch a special open rehearsal at OPEN Ealing this Thursday evening

It was an invitation no business man could resist…3 attractive women who refused to tell him what the job entailed’. Your chance to see a special public OPEN rehearsal of Peter Harrison’s All Those Endearing Young Charms, directed by Ealing-based Anthony Shrubsall, before it goes to this year’s Windsor Fringe. Thursday 29th September at 7.30pm. Tickets £4. Call OPEN on 020 8579 5558 to reserve a ticket. 

It was an invitation no business man could resist. An invitation to be interviewed at a secret location for a very important post. Intriguingly, there was mystery about his interrogators, 3 attractive women who refused to tell him what the job entailed. When he learned the truth it was too late… 

Anthony Shrubsall is a freelance theatre director based in London. His most recent production Richard Tyrone Jones Has a Big Heart premiered at the Buxton Fringe this summer while LANZA with the opera singer Andrew Bain, ran at the Kings Head, London from December 2010 to January 2011. 

His production of Security, a one woman show commissioned by BAC and Birmingham Rep was written and performed by renowned spoken word artist and performance poet Zena Edwards. The show premiered at Battersea Arts Centre and toured nationally and internationally in 2009, a year which also which saw Security published in book form. In June 2010 the show was the first ever UK production invited to Japan for the highly prestigious Shizuoka Performing Arts Festival. 

A former Artistic Director at the Drayton Court Theatre, London, Anthony has written and published on Samuel Beckett, Theatre d’Complicite’s Jos Houben, Harold Pinter and Vsevolod Meyerhold, respectively. He is a member of the Director’s Guild of Great Britain.

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West Ealing Family Day: free opera workshop for children on Saturday

Free Opera workshop for children on Saturday 24th September at St James Church 1-3pm

Opera Viscera return to Ealing for a one-off special event. They are staging a free 2-hour workshop for children aged 7-12 at 1pm followed at 3.15pm by a performance from their specially written opera ‘Narcissus and Echo’

This workshop is aimed at children aged 7-12. You can come along to the OPEN Ealing stall in Melbourne Avenue and reserve a free place.

Afternoon Starts: 1pm (Breaks for juice and biscuits will be taken during the afternoon)

Parents Arrive: 3pm

Performance of Opera: 3.15pm

‘We are creating a musical performance of the story ‘Narcissus and Echo’ and we need your help to make it something special. Dive into a world of sounds and mirrors with us and who knows what your imagination might find……’

Children will discover the story of Narcissus & Echo and learn how an opera is made in an energetic, experimental and fun afternoon of music and drama. The afternoon will finish with a version of our opera ‘Narcissus & Echo’: a mythical tale of music, magic and mirrors. We hope that the children might let you in on some of the day’s discoveries so that you can enjoy the show as much as they will!

Sarah HillSarah Hill – Workshop Leader

When not performing as a violinist Sarah is currently teaching the violin and leading Wider Opportunity projects at primary schools around Manchester. With an urge to gain more experience in educating children though the creative arts Sarah has completed the Dalcroze Easter Course, has been a volunteer tutor with Special Virtuosi (a music group for children with learning disabilities) and has attended all sorts of workshops with EarlyArts aiming at nurturing creativity in children.

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Yesterday’s fire in West Ealing

View from Chapel Rd looking north at 7pm

Apologies for not having the time to put up a post yesterday. The fire was in a top floor flat in one of the houses in Chapel Road – just off the Uxbridge Road east of the Lido Junction and not very far from St John’s Church. When I passed by at about 5.30pm I asked the police about it and  they did not know if anyone was killed or injured during the blaze. The area was chock full of fire engines and other emergency vehicles still busy putting out the fire and quite a few roads were still cordoned off and buses parked along the Uxbridge Road.

I don’t know exactly when it started but I was at OPEN Ealing just down the road and we first smelt smoke mid-afternoon, went up to the 4th floor and could see smoke pouring from the fire. As OPEN is opposite the fire station we certainly heard the fire engines heading off!

The last serious fire I can remember in central West Ealing was sometime in the early 1980s (?) when a small factory caught fire off Grosvenor Road – at least I think that’s where it was.

 

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Free opera workshop for children at West Ealing Family Day on Saturday 24th September

Saturday 24th September at St James Church from 1pm -3pm

Opera Viscera and OPEN Ealing present a workshop afternoon of music, drama, and design;exploring the process of making an opera (a story with music). Throughout the afternoon the children will help our performers choose how their characters might move on stage, what sounds they might make, and what their costumes could look like. They will even have a go at conducting our professional musicians! The afternoon will finish with highlights of our opera ‘Narcissus and Echo’; a mythical tale of music, magic and mirrors. We hope that the children might let you  on on some of the day’s discoveries so that you can enjoy the show as much as they will! 

Opera Viscera are a team of young professional musicians, composers and designers who came to OPEN Ealing in July to prepare their new opera. They premiered their opera at OPEN to a packed audience and have since performed it at the Secret Garden Festival and other venues.

 
The workshop will be led by violinist Sarah Hill (pictured)- an experienced music teacher and workshop leader. If you’d like to book a place on this workshop please email westealingneighbours@gmail.com

David Highton