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We love local businesses!

by Nick Chapman

Local businesses in Ealing

When you think about the natural political party of business, you might not think of the Green Party straight away.  We want to change all that.

Ealing has some incredible local businesses, and we want everyone to know about them.

Over the coming months, we will be championing local businesses, particularly those who are doing something cool for sustainability.  As a sneak preview, we have lined up:

  • A florist selling plants that literally suck pollution out of the air;
  • Food shops stocking loose produce to cut plastic and waste;
  • Eco-friendly cleaning products;
  • Local restaurants and cafes that are going organic;
  • An estate agent reducing energy usage;
  • Furniture sellers upcycling some stylish and amazing creations.
  • A council contractor saving us money by processing the wood he harvests to resell it locally; and
  • A local coffee merchant taking on the giants.

Do you run, use or know an amazing local business and want to tell the world?  Please tell us about them now!

Green policies

In the meantime, with local elections coming up on 3 May 2018, you might be interested in some Green policies you can vote for right now.  These are:

  • Scrap business rates (they are unfair)
  • Set up a small business resilience fund to help small firms get through major events like floods or fires
  • Ensure Ealing Council has a designated councillor to be a ‘Small Business Champion’, giving local businesses a voice
  • Helping small businesses to identify available support to take on apprentices, such as financial assistance and guidance
  • Increase in the number of council contracts aimed at micro and small businesses
  • Review the Business Improvement Districts and make them work for the local businesses rather than the multi-nationals
  • Ensure that prime contractors pass on the payment terms of the council to their subcontracted suppliers – by building this into their contracts and monitoring if this has been fulfilled
  • Increase the number of networking and training events provided by Ealing Council to allow small businesses ‘punch above their weight’.

People who live and work locally reduce their footprint, boost their local economy and help our local town centres thrive: the Ealing Green party want to help create the next generation of local business heroes.

Air Pollution: An Open Letter to Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London

by Jeremy Parker

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London

Ealing Green Party is seriously concerned about air pollution in the capital.  Below is our open letter to the Mayor of London.

Dear Mr Khan

We are aware that you are starting to prioritise the vital issue of air pollution that is a blight on this nation’s capital. However, we find ourselves in agreement with a direct action group that we have recently allied ourselves with: Stop Killing Londoners (SKL). Basically, Mr Khan, you are not doing enough, and the time frame for the actions you are taking is ponderous. There are people who are dying now Mayor Khan. The time has come for radical, urgent action – and you are still dithering.

SKL are activists with passion, who care deeply about their cause. So much so that several of them were prepared to be arrested for what they believed in, because they recognise the urgency inherent in allowing people to continuously breathe in toxic fumes. One of these activists,  Roger Hallam, wrote you his own powerful letter – a letter that was composed while languishing in a prison cell and on hunger strike: a sacrifice made of his own volition.

Air Pollution in London

We endorse every word of Roger’s letter, and urge you to meet with Stop Killing Londoners.

We are endorsing the message that SKL are sending to you, not just because we have listened to their arguments and been convinced by them, but because we have discovered, through our own research in Ealing, the scale of the problem that we face in London.

It was through this research that we discovered that the air outside schools such as Cardinal Wiseman High School in Greenford can be up to TWICE the legal limit for nitrogen oxide. Think about it. This is not Oxford Street, or Heathrow airport, this is a school in a supposedly “leafy” suburb of London – and it is saturated with toxic chemicals that will deform lungs, shorten life expectancy and cause diseases such as asthma.

In such circumstances it is reasonable to conclude that laws that allow such pollution to occur cannot be fit for purpose, and therefore it is valid to (peacefully) defy those laws.

Which brings us back to Stop Killing Londoners.

Mr Khan, we request, in the most heartfelt terms, that you move with more urgency to combat the deadly pollution that surrounds us in this great city. There is nothing more important.

Yours sincerely,

Ealing Green Party

Stop Killing Londoners
Stop Killing Londoners

 

Readers who wish to contribute to the Legal costs of Stop Killing Londoners can do so here: https://www.gofundme.com/air-pollution-campaign-legal-costs

You can read the Ealing Green Party’s report on local air pollution here:  EGP Air pollution report April 2016

OBJECT HERE: Development Overdrive in Hanwell: We Need to Speak Up Now

by Anne Curtis

Did you know…?

There are 457 new units proposed in one square mile of Hanwell right now.  Sites like Wickes/Nissan, the so-called “Marshall” site next to Gold’s Gym and the former Peugeot Garage site are due to spring 6-9 storeys high!  What has been happening across London is coming to Hanwell: intensive, inappropriate, high-rise flats.

Parking hell on the way

Under the guise of sounding “green”, many of these developments offer zero or limited parking.  But people have cars, and they will have to park them on our roads and traffic congestion will increase.  A Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) will not resolve this.

No solution to the housing crisis

For sure, London needs more homes.  But these developments are not the solution.  They will be unaffordable for people most in need of somewhere to live.

We need real homes for local people, not overseas investors

Many of these proposed flats are really rabbit hutches: low ceilings, cramped rooms and virtually zero green space. These are being developed for maximum profit, not as places for people to live.

Wrecking the community

Hanwell is a wonderful place because people can live, study, work and shop here.  Flats like these will overwhelm our overstretched hospitals, schools and public transport.

Who is Ealing Council working for?

Ealing seems to be working only for the big landowners and developers, not for local people.  The Labour-dominated council needs a Green voice to hold them to account.

Hanwell needs to speak up for what it wants

The people of Hanwell need to pull together to develop a vision for what we want our community to be.

What can I do?

You can object to several of the developments illustrated on the map above, which are currently in the Council’s consultation process.  Below are links to take you directly to the relevant part of the planning portal.

We need a strategy for Hanwell, and we’d like to hear from you.  What is your vision for our neighbourhood?  Do we need flats or community facilities?

Links to the Ealing Planning Portal

To comment on the Wickes/Nissan development of 283 units in units ranging from 5 to 7 storeys, go to this link.

To comment on the so-called “Marshall” building of 59 units in a structure 9 storeys high with no parking provision, go to this link.

To sign the petition against the Marshall building go to this link.

To comment on the 9 unit (5 flats and 4 townhouses) development at 16 Boston Road, go to this link.

To comment on the 6 unit redevelopment of the former Horseshoe Cafe at 68 Boston Road, go to this link.

To comment on the 4-5 unit extension and redevelopment of the building at 3 Westminster Road, go to this link.

Ealing needs a Green Voice

Image: Map contains information from https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1.0/ under the Open Database License (ODbL)

Protecting Green Spaces

by Jeremy Parker

BRP north - Alford

Ealing’s green open spaces are one of our greatest assets. From Gunnersbury Park to Northfields allotments to the expanses of the Brent River Park and Horsenden Hill, our green spaces provide facilities for sport, exercise, quiet enjoyment or growing food. And Green open space has been shown to improve mental and physical well-being for people of all ages.

Our green spaces also provide a haven for wildlife. Without them, many species of plant and animal life could not survive in the borough. And our green spaces have the lowest levels of air pollution, and they help to ameliorate the effects of climate change.

Spending on parks has always been a very small proportion of the council’s budget. And yet despite their importance to our quality of life, Ealing’s parks and other open spaces have suffered savage cuts in investment in recent years.

New Threats to Our Green Spaces

And now there are further threats: Ealing council plans to take Warren Farm out of public use.  The land is going to Queen’s Park Rangers football club for a training facility. Northfields allotments are threatened by a new housing development.

Ealing Green Party believes that all green open space should be protected. We also believe public access should be provided wherever possible. We recognise there are pressures to build more homes and provide other facilities, but we are adamant that these homes and facilities should not be built on green open spaces.

When our green spaces shrink, our quality of life is reduced.

How You Can Help
Support the campaign to Save Warren Farm: http://www.savewarrenfarm.com/
Support the campaign to Protect Northfields Allotments: https://www.facebook.com/savenorthfieldsallotments/

Organisations and Groups You Can Join
Hanwell & Norwood Green Orchard Trail: https://orchardtrail.wordpress.com/
Ealing Friends of the Earth: http://www.ealingfoe.org.uk/
Ealing Wildlife Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ealingwildlife/

Article by Nic Ferriday

Jeremy Parker – A Potential Green Voice on Ealing Council

by Jeremy Parker

After living in Ealing for nearly three years I feel I have gained a good understanding of the local issues that the district faces (like the sale of Warren Farm and Ealing Town Hall and the threat to Northfields allotments), and how the national issues that affect us all manifest themselves in Ealing (like air pollution, the NHS, affordable housing and the Heathrow extension). Having a councillor would give the Ealing Greens a voice and an ability to affect these issues constructively, and I would very much like to be a channel for that voice, to assist the party in making a difference and helping people.

During the run up to the 2017 election I met and spoke to many people in the Elthorne Ward in the course of our campaigning, and the positive response we received gives me confidence that we will have a good chance of success in 2018. I would be pleased to dedicate all my energy to achieve this success, and would take great pride in representing the Green Party and working towards implementing the many great ideas that the Ealing Greens have in achieving a fairer, more sustainable Ealing and London.

Demonstration – Make Uxbridge Road Safe

by Jeremy Parker

 

On Saturday 28th November the people of Ealing came together to pay tribute to Claudia Manera, a keen cyclist and runner who had dedicated her life to helping others – first as a policewoman and later as a personal trainer. Claudia tragically perished after a collision with a lorry at the junction of Northfields Avenue and the Uxbridge Road. Claudia passed away in hospital on 19th October, a week after the accident.

 

As well as remembering Claudia, people had come to demand that the Uxbridge Road, the main highway that runs through Hanwell, West Ealing and Ealing Broadway as it heads towards central London be made safer. This incident is only the latest in a string of deaths and injuries that have stricken cyclists and pedestrians in recent years.

The turnout for the demonstration was excellent, and the most moving moments came during the minute’s silence, held at the junction where Claudia met her fate, and later a tribute that was read out for her, first in English and then in the language of Italy, from where Claudia’s family hail.

The Ealing Cycling Campaign group are to be commended for organising a powerful tribute that dignitaries including the head of Ealing council and a local member of parliament
felt compelled to attend. And we can only hope that the message of this protest has struck home, and that this will be the last time we come together to mourn a victim of Uxbridge Road’s deadly junction.

Of all the signs and banners on display, perhaps the most hard hitting one was directed at Ealing Council, condemning them for thirty years of prevarication regarding the dangers of this highway, even as cyclists and pedestrians suffered repeatedly. Surely now Enough is indeed Enough and something must be done.  Time to make Uxbridge Road safe.

Pictures: Peter Marshall

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