Joanna Dabrowska is standing as Conservative in Ealing Common

I have represented my ward, Ealing Common, since 2006. I am proud to represent Ealing Common as I was brought up here, fell off my bike, climbed the trees of Gunnersbury Park and generally grew up in beautiful surroundings, a stone’s throw from the large green expanse of the Common.

My parents hail from Poland, my father coming just after the war in 1947 with my mother leaving her homeland in the early 1970s. I was brought up bilingual which has greatly helped me work across border lines in a variety of business and charitable causes. My father settled in Ealing Common in the 1960s with the knowledge of its excellent schools, green open spaces, and accessible commuter links into the City and it still remains such a welcoming ward to this day.

Whilst Ealing Common is known for its quiet enclaves and leafy avenues, it does have its ups and downs. The major issues I get in my mailbag is primarily made up of missed waste and recycling collections as well traffic problems.

My ward abuts the town centre, whilst a highly desirable location as we can see from the house premiums, it does fall foul of being a rat-run for those trying to avoid shopping areas such as Ealing Broadway and South Ealing Road as well as the main arterial thoroughfare known as the North Circular Road during rush hour.

For the past eight years, I have been working with residents on traffic and parking problems, planning new schemes, consulting, discussing, debating, re-planning, discussing some more and playing Devil’s Advocate. There will never be a perfect solution for everybody.

In the last two years, my inbox and voicemail have been filled up with the cries of missed collections. Not a surprise really, the Labour administration selected a vendor, Enterprise, who has constantly failed in delivering what they are contracted to do and paid for. It wouldn’t be such a problem if it was a one-off, in fact, it has been a continual annoyance to many of my residents on a regular basis, often being surrounded by weeks and weeks of uncollected rubbish and overfilled recycling boxes. Following the Conservative administration’s excellent record of cleaning up the Borough between 2006-2010, Labour should have taken our lead, instead they took a bargain basement deal to save a few pence. In reality, it has dramatically backfired with angry residents living amidst piles of uncollected rubbish and recycling. It’s no laughing matter.

As a result of this, one of the Conservative manifesto pledges is to fix the waste and recycling contract as soon as possible, so we don’t have to suffer at the hands of Labour’s incredible failures!

Our second pledge for the next administration term is to scrap Labour’s £40 garden tax charge. Labour has been promising that they will freeze the Council Tax, yet they just imposed a stealth tax on those who enjoy gardening and keeping one’s outside space clean and tidy. Isn’t Ealing Borough’s logo a green tree ?. Giveth with one hand, taketh by the other, springs to mind.

For the next four years, if elected, we pledge to freeze the Council Tax charge by running your local authority with an efficient and value for money ethos. We can’t let Labour get away with spending money on a car park which costs £250k to finance whilst bringing in an income of £8k, or commissioning a £13k Christmas tree, wasting money on interim and agency staff, even spending over £12m on unnecessary Council offices.

Our remaining three pledges are to freeze parking charges for the next four years, whilst investing more money into our roads and pavements, and working closer with the Police to enforce the Borough-wide Controlled Drinking Zone. This will ensure our streets are not only safe in numerous ways, but also, feel that Ealing Borough will once again be admired across London as a fabulous place to work, live and play.

I have been, I believe, the only Polish councillor in the country for the past four years. I am also proud to see that 38 Polish (or of Polish heritage) council candidates are standing on 22nd May in London. Of these, 34 of them are Conservatives, compared to one Labour, one Lib Dem and two independents.

Proud to be a British Pole, proud to be a Conservative and proud to be part of Ealing Common !

Please support Cllr Joanna Dabrowska, Cllr Roz Reece and Cllr David Scott, your Conservative council candidates in Ealing Common.

Carpe Diem !

Joanna Dabrowska

View candidates for Ealing Common ward here

May 14th 2014