West Ealing Neighbours Blog

Residents in some of the streets in West Ealing have launched an online petition asking for the Council to carry out a consultation about parking in one of the last non-CPZ enclaves left in West Ealing – the streets bordered by  Northfield Ave in the east, Leighton Road to the south, Grosvenor Road in the west and  the Uxbridge Rd/Broadway to the north.  The online petition states:

‘Due to tube/train commuters and holidaymakers parking their vehicles in our roads parking capacity is severely restricted for residents, home workers, ‘school runners’, visitors and shoppers in the West Walpole area in West Ealing. With the freshly painted double yellow lines in Sherwood Close together with Crossrail coming and the estate regeneration this parking pressure will only increase. (Area to include north from Leighton Road, west of Northfield Ave, east of Grosvenor Road, south of The Broadway in West Ealing – inclusive of those roads) Closing date is Wednesday, 1st June 2016 so that it can be submitted in time and presented at Full Council on Tuesday, 7th June.’

This parking problem in these narrow streets has been building up for a while.  As other nearby areas have had CPZs introduced more and more cars have been trying to park in an ever decreasing area and it’s now reached breaking point. I noticed the yellow lines in Sherwood Close yesterday and knew it would have a serious impact as the number of cars parked there and down Bowmans Close has increased dramatically in the last 12 months. These yellow lines have slashed the available parking space here considerably. What is more, I imagine parking problems will only get even worse once the redevelopment of the Sherwood Close Estate gets underway later this year.

I live in one of the streets in this area and there are a couple of points worth thinking through as part of any consultation.  Firstly, is the parking problem just during office hours?  Where I live it’s been difficult for many years to park near my house during office hours.  I’ve got used to that.  What has changed though is that it’s now almost as diffcult to park near my house in the evening and a CPZ will not change this at all. The evening problem is simply the increase in the local population with more multi-occupied houses and houses being divided in to flats. There are quite simply a lot more people living in these streets than 10 years ago and quite a few of these people own cars.  I don’t see any answer to this.

Secondly, quite a few people who work in West Ealing park in these streets. No doubt some could come to work on public transport rather than by car but can they all?  It’s important to think through the full implications of introducing a CPZ in these streets and how it will affect the livelihoods of people working here and the shops and businesses they work for. I can see a CPZ with restrictions from, say 9-10am and 3-4pm, might not have that much of an impact on local people who drive to shop in West Ealing but it’s important to take in to account the impact on our high street.

The online petition can be found here

David Highton

Family fun in May for Ealing 135 Spring fair 

The Ealing 135 Spring fair, a family favourite, has a new location in Walpole park and it’s going to be our biggest event yet.  This year it will take place on Saturday 14 May from 1-4 pm, from its new location at the Rickyard building and the surrounding area, next to the Children’s playground in Walpole Park.  The Seaside themed Spring fair will be a fun day for all the family. It’s open to all and free entry.

There are all the games you expect from a traditional fair including hook-a-duck, lucky dip, tin can alley, splat-the-rat to keep the kids entertained.  There will also be crafts, face-painting, a bouncy castle and a fancy dress competition.  There will be plenty to keep the adults occupied too:  a brilliant raffle, a grown up (boozy) tombola and a selection of some of Ealing’s best local businesses and entrepreneurs showcasing their talents from the stalls. Alongside all of the above an Ealing 135 event would not be the same without its legendary cake stall and the free taster sessions provided by children’s entertainers.

Ealing 135 is a friendly local network run by and for parent and carers in the borough of Ealing.  We are run entirely by volunteers drawn from within our membership.  We organise and run local family friendly events including the Spring fair, play sessions, parent and carer groups, action songs and rhymes sessions, Nearly new sales, Halloween parties, Christmas parties, adults socials, the list goes on! .

A snapshot of the events planned over the next few months include a teddy’s bears picnic, Saturday craft making session, mega train set event and den building.  If you are a young family, join the 135 group, for just 15 pounds a year, as it gives you access to all this and more, such as discounts from local businesses and a quarterly newsletter which includes an in depth weekly guide for local activities for pre-schoolers. For more information go to www.ealing135.org.uk.

Ealing 135 is known for raising money for local charities and this year’s featured charity is Home-start Ealing. Home-start Ealing is a registered charity, supporting families with young children who live in the within the borough. All the families Home-start work with are experiencing some type of stress or difficulty which could include isolation, poverty, mental health issues, bereavement and disability. For more information go to www.homestartealing.org. Home-start Ealing will be there on the day promoting their cause, recruiting volunteers and asking for donations.

So come along and join the fun at the Ealing 135 Spring fair on Saturday 14 May from 1 pm until 4 pm, at the Rickyard, in Walpole park for a brilliant afternoon not to be missed. For more information email ealing135events@gmail.com or go to www.ealing135.org.uk.

The idea of allowing delivery vehicles to access Lidl’s, O’Grady Court and now the new hotel via the library car park has been around for at least six years.  Finally, it looks like work will start on this early May.  The plans are to make the section of Melbourne Ave in front of the library and Sainsbury’s fully pedestrianised by giving delivery lorries etc access to Lidl’s, O’Grady Court and the new hotel through the library car park so they no longer need to drive along Canberra Road by the side of Sainsbury’s and cross over Melbourne Ave. This makes it much safer for everyone and will cut out the damage to the paving stones by done heavy delivery lorries.  As part of these plans there will also be barriers of some sort across the junctions of Melbourne Ave and Canberra Road to ensure no vehicles can cross over by mistake. This has taken a long. long time but is welcome.  It makes good sense to keep pedestrians and vehicles separate.

Good news for everyone who shops at BHS in West Ealing.  It seems the shop will stay open for the rest of the year as the developers, Southern Grove, have delayed their plans to build 136 or so homes on this site. Mind you, all this may change with the threat of BHS going in to administration. I’ll update the story if I can find out why there’s a delay.

This sad looking row of houses on the corner of the Uxbridge Road and Shirley Gardens had been let to go to ruin but, at last, work has started on their demolition.  The original plans for homes on this site were totally out of keeping with the rest of this terrace but thankfully the plans that were agreed by the Council are much more sympathetic. Why on earth has it taken so long?