Tories Neglecting Hanwell

The Ealing Gazette recently portrayed a table showing the percentage of streets in each ward that received an 'A' standard for being clean upon inspection. The monthly statistics, which began in November 2006 and ran to May 2007 reveal marked discrepancies between the wards. By comparison with our own Hobbayne ward, Ealing Broadway, Ealing Common, Hanger Hill and Northfields seem to have done very well under this Conservative Council. These Tory stronghold wards have benefited from an increase of almost three times as many 'A' graded streets as Hobbayne streets. This does not seem fair as we all pay our council tax. It is not surprising however - just more evidence that the Tories favour their own voters.

Hanwell Community Centre Update

The Tory leader has falsely accused Labour of "telling outright lies" about the possible demolition of Hanwell Community Centre.
Quite simply, he was not at the meeting and he has got his facts wrong.

THE FACTS ARE AS FOLLOWS
1. The Tories invited the police officer to the Hanwell Area Committee meeting on 6th June 2007, which is a public meeting open to all residents.
2. The police informed residents that they had been unable to find accommodation for the Hobbayne Safer Neighbourhood team within the Hobbayne ward. In response to a resident's suggestion that the police rent space at Hanwell Community Centre, the police officer replied, "Hanwell Community Centre is not suitable because demolition is the likley option after this year's lease is up."

THE TORY LEADER FALSELY and SCANDALOUSLY ACCUSES LABOUR OF;
1. Lying - yet the above happened in a public meeting and can all be easily verified with local residents.
2. Unfairly using a police officer "for political gain" - yet it was the Tories who brought the police to the meeting. We merely reported what had been said in a public meeting in response to a resident's question. The Tory leader's aggressive over-reaction is due to his humiliation that this bad news came out.
3. Damaging the image of the council by reporting that there were fears that the Tories might use the long awaited report into the centre's future options to recommend it be closed.
Yet local residents are sceptical that the Tories will stump up the money to keep the centre going and are genuinely and quite rightly, concerned.

The Tory leader also selectively quoted from an email the police officer in question subsequently sent to all the parties concerned, in which he states that he is not aware that the centre is to be demolished within a year and apologises for having given that impression at the area committee meeting. The Tory leader, misleadingly, tries to use this email to support his fallacious allegation that Labour had lied about this revelation. Once again, the Tory leader's account of events is not accurate. The email clearly contains no denial from the police officer that he said he thought it was going to be demolished at the public meeting.

The Tory leader does not like his bad news being leaked. Well tough! He can throw as much of his weight around as he likes but he will not deter us from doing all we can to preserve Hanwell Community Centre for this community.

The bottom line is -WILL THIS COUNCIL STUMP UP THE MONEY TO SAVE HANWELL COMMUNITY CENTRE OR NOT? And will it make the options appraisal report, open to the public, who, after all, funded it?

Miliband unveils CO2 calculator

An online calculator that enables people to work out their carbon footprint using government-recognised data and calculations was launched by Environment Secretary David Miliband at an eco-friendly internet cafe in Central London today.

To calculate your carbon footprint click here

To watch the BBC news about the calculator click here

Using the calculator, people can reliably calculate their carbon footprint from home energy, appliances and transport, and choose to calculate either their own personal footprint or their household's. The calculator then develops a personalised action plan for users, with steps they can take to cut their emissions.

Mr Miliband said: "Around two thirds of people are already taking action to try to limit climate change - but there is a lot of confusion about what people can do and how effective those changes actually are.

"We want to cut through that confusion. This carbon calculator will help people decide what they can do - and be sure it will make a difference. Using it, people can work out the impact of their actions and, with the tailored recommendations provided by the calculator, identify the best way to reduce their footprint.

"This calculator is a real innovation - using up-to-date, authoritative data and recognised calculation methods. As the calculator improves and develops, I want it to become the gold standard for calculating CO2 emissions from individuals and families."

The Act on CO2 calculator includes a range of features, including:

* The ability to customise to an individual or household;

* Three areas of lifestyle - home, electrical appliances, and personal travel - brought together in one calculator;

* Advice tailored to the information people give the calculator, rather than giving generic CO2-saving tips;

* Recommendations on reducing and avoiding energy waste, not just offsetting it; and

* Reliable, transparent and regularly updated data.

The underlying software that runs the calculator's 'engine' will be made freely available under 'open source' licences, to enable others wanting to power their own calculators to use it, with their own branding.

Recent research commissioned by Defra has shown that 94% of people in Britain now believe that the world's climate is changing and 57% believe that we are already feeling the impacts of climate change. 66% of people surveyed said they were already trying to take personal action to try to limit climate change.

The calculator is a public 'trial' or beta version, and there are plans to develop and improve it using feedback and ideas from users. Further updates of the calculator will be released over the next few months with the addition of more features to make it even easier for people to calculate their carbon footprint.

Latest on Hanwell Community Centre

At the Full Council meeting last night, the Tory leader denied that there were any plans to demolish Hanwell Community Centre. However, when pressed by Labour councillors to give an assurance that he would save the building for community use, by investing in its future viability and renewing the lease (due to expire in 9 months) he failed to do so.

We welcome the news that the building itself appears not to be under immediate threat but remain concerned about the Tories' commitment to its longterm viability as a resource for the local community. We are especially concerned in view of the fact that they wanted to close the Dominion Arts Centre in Southall, and only back-tracked because their plans to lease it to a third party fell through and local people put pressure on them with a petition carrying 1000 signatures.

We think that the outcome of the recently completed options appraisal report ought to be made public for local people to consider. So far, this has not been done. This feasibility study was commissioned by Hanwell Labour councillors, who fought hard to prevent Hanwell Community Centre from being sold at auction three years ago.

We will continue to lobby to preserve our community centre and keep you updated as soon as we have any further information.

The earth is in imminent danger!

"Recent greenhouse gas emissions place the Earth perilously close to dramatic climate change that could run out of control, with great dangers for humans and other creatures," says a group of researchers from Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. According to them, only intense efforts to curb man-made emissions of carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases can keep the climate within or near the range of the past one million years. To read more please click here

Hanwell Community Centre under threat of Demolition!

Please sign our on-line petition to save our Grade II listed building click here


At the latest Hanwell Area committee on 6th June local residents were stunned when police announced the imminent demolition of much loved Hanwell Community Centre. The historic building has been central to Hanwell’s identity and social fabric for many generations but it emerged that the Conservative Council is unlikely to renew its lease, making its future untenable. Although several organisations have shown an interest in locating there, including the local police force, the short time-span left on the lease is making it unviable for them to do so and it is a great pity that the Hobbayne Safer Neighbourhood Team will now have to move to a location outside the ward instead.
Tory councillors refused to debate the centre’s future in public with concerned residents and quickly moved onto the next item on the agenda, confirming suspicions that they intend to decide the matter behind closed doors.
A Cuckoo Estate resident complained that groups interested in renting space in the community centre are being discouraged by the lack of commitment the Tories are showing to its future. “The uncertainty is condemning an important community resource to a downward spiral towards demolition” he said. This has heightened fears that a long awaited report into the centre’s future feasibility, which was jointly commissioned and financed by the previous Labour Council and Hanwell Community Centre management committee, has been hijacked by the new Tory administration to recommend closure.
Residents feel that Hanwell is paying the price for the Tories investments elsewhere in the borough. Tory stronghold, central Ealing, always benefits disproportionately and they are promising a 2 million pound makeover for Tory leader, Cllr Stacey’s own area in Greenford which already benefits from its own community centre, library and police station, which residents fear may now be under threat in Hanwell. This level of expenditure would have secured Hanwell Community Centre’s future for generations to come and the loss of it will be a big blow for our community.
The massive rise in allowances the Conservative leader, deputy leader and mayor awarded themselves a few weeks after winning the council last May appear to be being financed by selling off valuable community assets and cutting services to vulnerable mentally ill residents.
We would like to represent your views. Please let us know how you feel about the demolition of Hanwell Community Centre by e-mailing info@hanwell-labour.com.

Please sign our on-line petition click here

Hanwell residents defy arrogant Tory councillors

Nearly 100 angry residents showed their defiance of the four Hanwell Conservative councillors' arrogant decision to re-open Station Rd to through traffic. The road was closed six years ago following a multitude of complaints from many residents over a number of years about the daily dangers they faced due to rat-running and speeding traffic. The scheme had worked well and despite residents' demands for an explanation, the Tory councillors have so far not offered a satisfactory rationale for re-exposing these roads to inevitable rat-running again. Roads likely to suffer the knock on effect of the rat-running include Golden Manor, Manor Court Rd, Cuckoo Lane, Campbell Rd, Church Rd and Grove Avenue.

You can join the residents' campaign at Hanwell Community Centre this Saturday. Visit their website for more information http://savestationroad.googlepages.com/.

The two Labour Councillors voted against the proposal to re-open the rat run and will continue to represent the real views of the local residents. Please help us represent you by contacting your local Labour Action Team at info@hanwell-labour.com

Tories' show contempt for local residents at Hanwell Area Committee

Cllr Colm Costello(Conservative-Hobbayne) Chair of the committee

Cllr Rosa Popham (Conservative-Hobbayne)


Cllr Amit Kapoor (Conservative-Elthorne)

Cllr Jonathan Oxley (Conservative-Elthorne)

Dozens of angry residents stormed out of the Hanwell Area Committee meeting last night in disgust at the complete contempt for local democracy shown by the four Tory councillors in Hanwell. The arrogance and incompetence of Cllrs. Costello, Popham, Oxley and Kapoor proved too much for local residents, who demanded to know why their views were being so flippantly dismissed in favour of proposals for which the Tories could offer no supporting evidence.

Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of residents fiercely objected to their proposal to re-open the Lawns roads to all traffic, the Tories voted it through, provoking angry cries of, "Wait until the election!" and "They are not listening!" from frustrated local residents.




The fact that they singled out this issue alone from a whole series of proposals flowing from a recent traffic study angered residents from Grove Avenue who raised the issue of rat-running in their road and were frustrated when the Chair, Cllr. Colm Costello, just ignored them.

Abuse and criticism was hurled at the Tory councillors from all quarters, especially when one resident, Ray Wall, highlighted the inconsistency in voting to re-open the popular road closure when only moments before they had voted to pave over the Station Rd area adjacent to the Uxbridge Rd. The contradiction in the two proposals revealed that they had obviously not even read their paperwork!

It was clear to all that the Tories were hell bent on opening up the road again regardless of the wishes of local people. Once again, they wilfully chose not to listen to the voices of local people and remain determined to open up rat runs to non-local traffic!

Please sign up for safer crossing!

Please join us, Living Streets and Hanwell Steering Group on Thursday June 21st at 3.45 pm at the Church Road junction with the Uxbridge Road to raise awareness of our local Green Man campaign in Hanwell.

We are working alongside Living Streets in campaigning for Transport for London to install a pedestrian crossing at the busy and dangerous Church Road & St George’s Road junction with the Uxbridge Road.

This junction was identified by Living Streets as the No.1 priority to improve walking around Hanwell in their 'Walkability' project. Many local children's safety is put at risk crossing these roads every day on their journey to a from school because of the lack of a Green Man crossing.

Please sign up to add your support for a safe crossing for local children by clicking the title above.