Greens Condemn Ealing Council Cuts

Funding for a new Southall car park criticised

Ealing Green Party has condemned the cuts agreed in the Council budget.

The party criticised both the priorities chosen by the Labour Council and the massive reduction in central government grants that made major cuts inevitable.

Sarah Edwards, former parliamentary candidate for Ealing Central and Acton, attended the Council meeting as an observer.

She said “The Green Party totally opposes the way central government has slashed the Council’s budget. Contrary to what the Conservative/LibDem government has claimed, this was bound to result in big cuts to front line Council services.

“However, the Labour Council has made a terrible situation worse. The budget includes several million pounds for a car park in Southall. Ealing Greens think this is not only a waste of scarce funds, but also that it will encourage more car use in the area. Southall is already very congested and the highly polluted air breaches health standards. We believe the money should have been used to protect some of the key services that are being cut, such as the park rangers”.

It was made clear at the Council meeting that further cuts in spending would be made in future. There are services that are vulnerable to be cut, but the Council needs to consult the public first. For example the future of the libraries remains uncertain.

Sarah Edwards added :

“At the Council meeting Jason Stacey, former Conservative leader, had the nerve to refer to Labour’s ‘savage attack on public services’. He failed to accept that major cuts in services would be inevitable after the government took tens of millions out of Ealing’s grant.

''The Conservative/LibDem government continues to claim that the deficit can only be tackled by making massive cuts in public spending. This is not true. The Green Party put forward costed plans in its manifesto to reduce the deficit without slashing public services or welfare benefits”.

16th March 2011