Working together to make West Ealing a better place for residents, businesses and visitors.
The Abundance team were contacted by Nuria Rodriguez from Catalyst Housing about a foraging and jam making event for residents of Windmill Park Estate, Southall.
Our resident expert, Elizabeth went along with the group to pick blackberries to turn into delicious blackberry jam back at the community centre. Everyone had a go and the children loved the tasting at the end!
We will be looking forward to more events this year.
Here are a few pictures of the day – Click on the pictures to open them.
Following up on West Ealing Neighbours’ recent public meeting a West Ealing resident writes:
The young man had a limp and looked uneasy. As my neighbour watched him from an upstairs window, he crossed and re-crossed Mattock Lane several times, hovering near St John’s Church. After 20 minutes a car drew up, the man got into the front seat. A minute later he stepped back on to the street and headed for Dean Gardens.
A drug deal? Probably. Certainly when I told the police about this incident, and another that had taken place near St John’s Church a few days earlier, you could see the police sergeant’s ears prick up. He wanted to know what time these deals usually happened? What time of day should he send his officers on patrol?
My conversation with the police was at WEN’s recent meeting about drug dealing on the streets of W13. While grateful to WEN for organising the event, privately I doubted that it would achieve anything tangible. Like most opportunities to meet officials, it would be a PR job, a chance for the police and local councillors to tell the public how well they are doing, to pat us on the head and send us home.
I am pleased to say that I was wrong. Of course there was some PR – the police were keen to tell us that their work at the St John’s Church soup kitchen has been effective, which it has. But what I liked about this meeting was that local police officers and a former Met officer, Paul Dunn, now working with Ealing Council’s Community Safety Team, didn’t just pontificate, they listened to the concerns of residents and offered to engage with the community to address the issue of local drug dealing.
I pointed out that the area around St John’s Church attracts addicts for three reasons: the availability of methadone at the chemists on St John’s Parade, the soup kitchen, and the privacy offered by the footpath behind the nearby allotments. Surely the area should have some compensatory policing?
Within days I noticed uniformed officers cycling through the area. I hope this will continue and believe that it will be most useful if the patrols are at random times. Paul Dunn offered to join me and a fellow resident on a walkabout of the area so we were able to show him the footpath, and he could see that it is out of sight of houses and businesses. “I’d like to see a CCTV camera here and signs saying ‘Smile, you’re on camera,’” he suggested. So would we.
We showed him a hedge where drug-taking equipment has been hidden, and he observed the proximity of the chemist, the soup kitchen and a poorly lit alley where there is sometimes anti-social behaviour. We suggested other people in the area to whom Mr Dunn might talk, and he has been as good as his word in meeting them.
I wouldn’t wish to exaggerate the level of drug dealing in the area where I live. But it happens, every resident here is aware of it and we want to stop it becoming a major problem. And now I feel that someone in authority who has relevant expertise is listening and prepared to work with the community. Success will depend on two-way communication but a dialogue has begun
and that can only be helpful.
If you see any suspicious activity, phone 101. This will get you through to
police near you. If you wish to remain anonymous, call Crime stoppers on 0800 555 111. You can also e mail: XB-WARDWalpole@met.police.uk
Our revamped blog is growing in popularity by leaps and bounds, and there’s lots of ways you can follow what’s going on in West Ealing, and let us know what you think about your local community.
We’ve recently created a new online discussion forum to talk about everything in West Ealing. We want to hear from you about what’s on your mind, from restaurant reviews to local planning. Have a look at what’s being said already, and start a topic of your own: http://www.westealingneighbours.org.uk/WEN-blog/wen-forum/
209 homes built and maintained by Ealing Council make up this estate. Many of the homes are what we used to call council houses but some are privately owned. The estate fills almost four acres and is bounded to the north by Tawny Close, to the west by Seaford Road and to the south and east by Sherwood
Close/Northfield Avenue.
The Council, effectively, admits it designed and built an inadequate estate and has failed to maintain it properly. Now it wants to knock it down. We’ve heard all this before at Green Man Lane Estate and at Copley Close. (For reasons not immediately apparent the Council has abandoned its current plans for Copley
Close).
The Council says that it’s consulted the Dean Gardens Estate residents who say they want the estate demolished and a new estate built. The Council pulled this stunt with GMLE residents. What is now being built at GMLE is actually fewer Social Rental homes than existed in 2010 (from 369 to 334). Best estimates are that at the completion of the new development less than half of the current 799 residents (ie around 400) will be part of the new community of 2,000 residents. Those who owned their own homes are being driven out by the use of Compulsory Purchase Orders which value their homes at very low levels.
This week local residents in the area and WEN received a letter from the Council seeking our views on the redevelopment of Dean Gardens Estate. No proposals were included in the letter. So I called the Council and was told that there are no development proposals and no design requirements that might be included in an Invitation to Tender document. I then asked whether a short list of developers had been assembled. I asked who they were and was told that there is a short list of developers but that their identity was confidential. Now all this is very strange. At the same stage with regards to GMLE, WEN was told that there was a design specification but that we couldn’t see it as it was confidential. As to the shortlist of developers the Council told us who they were.
The most idiotic part of this Public Consultancy process is that WEN and local residents are being asked their views on an unknown set of requirements and designs. All we do know is what is in the as yet unapproved September 2010 Local Development Framework Development Sites DPD. It proposes ‘Council-led housing regeneration involving redevelopment and replacement of existing dwellings with a mix of new dwelling types and tenures’. It is proposed to demolish 209 homes and build 290 new homes and if the GMLE model /template is applied we will finish up with fewer Social Rented homes here than we have now.
So I guess the question we are being asked here is do we want this estate to be redeveloped. My answer is no, I want this estate to be refurbished and caretakers installed to run and maintain the estate effectively. Both national and local government keep on telling us that we have huge debts and we need to make swingeing cuts. Here’s a great opportunity for no-one to take on more debt. The cost of refurbishment, insulation and improved maintenance of the existing homes will be nothing remotely like the £50 + million needed to build these 290 new homes.
If you want to inform the Council of your views you should address them for the attention of to Mumta Ganatra at deangardens@ealing.gov.uk You have until 22 August to do this.
Eric Leach
Hi all volunteers
There are plenty of early blackberries about it seems and it looks as though we should be able to have an inaugural pick on Sunday August 7 at 7pm. We’ll meet at Mayfield School, High Lane, Hanwell, W7 3RT and set off about 7.15.
We will almost certainly pick again – but we’ll decide on the exact date after this Sunday. We’ll bring some tupperware to collect the blackberry donations for WEN, but bring your own, too, so you can take some home.
Let’s hope the weather stays fine!
Gill/Diane
St Helena’s Home at 51 Drayton Green has now been completely demolished and the rubble removed. Now the land owners – Notting Hill Housing (NHH) – want to try again and design a residential development which not only Ealing Council Planners will accept but hopefully local residents, the church and school next door will be happy with.
An exhibition is being mounted by NHH at the next door International Presbyterian Church (53 Drayton Green) on Thursday 4th August from 4:30pm to 8:00pm.
The plans feature a less dense residential development than has been proposed prevously. NHH’s first proposal a few years ago was for 91 homes and its current ‘Pending’ application with Ealing Council is for 31 homes. The new plans are for 21 new homes – 17 flats and 4 houses.
The letter circulated to local residents tells us that ‘the proposed development will improve the appearance of the surrounding area’. Well….come along to the exhibition and make up your own mind on that score.
I just went to check the blackberries in the bunny park – and got some lovely photos of rural Ealing – the blackberries aren’t far off ready (another couple of weeks till the Big Pick -if you’re interested in getting involved in this community activity and maybe subsequent cooking, email wenabundance@gmail.com). Anyway, thought you might like the pix (click images to enlarge).
Local historian David Shailes continues his look at the history of West Ealing’s street names.
It should come as no surprise that many of our names have royal connections, partly for patriotic reasons but also reflective of the fact that Duke of of Kent (1767 -1820) Edward Augustus, father of Queen Victoria lived at Castle Hill Lodge from 1801-12. A replacement house was built in 1845 and a small part still exists and is now occupied by St David’s Home. So we have Kent Gardens, Regina Road/Terrace and Victoria Road/ Cumberland Road in W5/W7.
Continue reading “It’s about the apples and pears: more history of West Ealing street names”
Last night I attended the first Ealing Council LDF Advisory Committee Meeting. The Local Development Framework is our National Government’s ‘vehicle’ for Local Authorities to define their preferred use of land within their borders for the next 15 years.
Attendees attending the meeting who were allowed to speak were seven Councillors and a handful of Council Officers. I was one of a precious, small group of residents who were invited to attend as observers. It reminded me of attending a lap dancing club where you could watch the girls ‘dance’, but you were not allowed to touch them.
Chairing the meeting was Leader of the Council Councillor Julian Bell. He was on his first day of holiday from his day job at The Houses of Parliament.
Continue reading “The Grim Reaper could soon be in charge of Ealing’s heritage”
The first floor studio at OPEN Ealing was absolutely packed last night with over 100 people coming for the premiere of Opera Viscera’s Narcissus and Echo. I make no claim at all to be able to write a review of the opera’s music and song but having managed to squeeze in right at the back I do know I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and did not find myself fidgeting or looking at my watch. Without doubt it was what I would call a modern opera so some sharp edges and notes but totally listenable to and watchable. The sustained applause at the end said it all for me and talking afterwards to people who do know about opera the verdict was one of universal approval for a thoroughly well written and professional production.
And from one high note to another, if I put my OPEN Ealing hat on, I can honestly say the opera company brought the building alive during their three week stay. They showed just what a buzz there can be in this one-time office block if we can get the building full of people and activities. Opera Viscera gave us a glimpse of our future if we can make the venue a success and I like what I saw – and heard. Thank you Opera Viscera.
David Highton