Month: Jul 2008

This morning Ealing Times has caught up with an issue that was raised at the council meeting last Tuesday. Ian Gibb, who is the portfolio holder for children’s services, pointed out that at the last Youth Provision Specialist Scrutiny Panel, see minutes here, no Labour members managed to turn up. There are meant to be three sitting Labour members. It is hard for councillors to do everything they should. But for all three to no-show and fail to get subs is a bit crap.

In their defence Labour whip Brian Reeves says:

There was a meeting in Southall which our councillors were told started at 5.30pm about the regeneration there. However, when they turned up they were told it would not be starting until 7pm, and there was not enough time in between to make the substitutions for the youth panel.

It’s unfair to say we do not care about the youth in Ealing, as we have our deputy leader Ranjit Dheer on the committee, and Patricia Walker has done a lot of work on this already. If you look at our spending record compared with that of the Conservative council you will see that actually we care a lot more than them.

Reeves is bullshitting. The Southall regeneration meeting he referred to happened as published. If Cllr Dheer can’t decipher an agenda that is his problem. It is also pretty incredible that Cllrs Gallagher (South Acton) and Walker (North Greenford) had any interest in a Southall regeneration meeting. It is stranger still that Walker, shadow cabinet member for children’s services, prioritised a Southall regeneration meeting over a meeting that is so clearly at the centre of her portfolio.

Beyond the Reeves bullshit the really telling line is this one: “If you look at our spending record compared with that of the Conservative council you will see that actually we care a lot more than them.” This is factually wrong but more importantly the focus on inputs rather than outputs is key to the failure of the Blair/Brown project and the failure of Labour in Ealing. You can’t drive outcomes if you don’t turn up.

I was given a preview of the new library yesterday and it looks great. The place was full of library staff filling shelves and getting ready for next Tuesday’s opening. A lot of thought has gone into the new library and it has been transformed into a much brighter and more usable facility. The study facilities are wonderful and I am sure that they will be well used.

There is an RFI tag based system for managing the library books. This means users just scan their books and walk out. If they walk out without scanning an alarm goes off. This will eliminate queues and allow the staff to concentrate on helping people rather than stamping books in and out.

Compared to the old library it is an uplifting place to be. I know the staff have worked hard to turn this project around after earlier technical problems delayed it. Having refurbished a building myself I know how hard it is. The result looks like the effort and £2 million bill were well worth it. See it for yourself from 9am on Tuesday 29th July.

Last night’s full council meeting was typically rumbustuous. See agenda and list of motions here. After some argy-bargy about box junctions, more on that later, the main business of the evening was Council Tax. The following Tory motion was debated for the largest part of the evening, the Labour group withdrawing their motion:

This Council notes that in the twelve years to 2006 Council Tax in Ealing rose by 178.5%, a rate of increase greater than 31 of the 32 other London Councils. Council resolves to continue this administration’s policy of easing the financial burden on residents by keeping any Council Tax increases to below the rate of inflation.

Amazingly, after a tortuous defence of their past records both the Labour group and the Lib-Dems voted in favour of this motion. Some of the Labour councillors were looking a little green around the gills and only kind of half put their hands up. Councillor Liz Brookes looked particularly sheepish and Councillor Patricia Walker kept her hand firmly down. It just shows how quickly the zeitgeist has turned that this open-ended commitment to keep Council Tax below inflation indefinitely has been supported by both of the tax raising parties. Only a few months ago it is clear that the tax raising parties would have voted against. Now it is a no-brainer.

I cycled over to the Brilliant restaurant in Southall this morning to take part in the launch do for this year’s Mela. Council leader Jason Stacey introduced the Mayor who recounted his limited experience of Bhangra style dancing at a cousin’s wedding in Delhi.

According to Boris it goes: “lightbulb, lightbulb, motorbike, motorbike”.

There were quite a view press people there, including the Evening Standard, who did this small piece, and the BBC Asian Network. The picture above is nicked from the Standard (fair use and all that). Our assembly member, Richard Barnes, was there as you might expect and also the Mayor’s comms guru, Guto Hari, who is Welsh if you are wondering where the name comes from. LibDem councillors Harvey Rose and Jon Ball made an appearance along with Labour assembly member Murad Qureshi.

An authentic Punjabi breakfast was promised but I had to get on with my day with just a glass of passion fruit juice to keep me going. Now I know where the Brilliant is I’ll have to go there for a proper meal soon and find out if it lives up to the hype.