Simon Hayes exclusively reports that the regular local meetings will stop next spring

Ealing Council plans to scrap ward forums from next spring.

The public meetings give residents the opportunity to raise important issues with councillors and quiz them about Council policies, including controversial planning applications and parking charges, as well as being informed by police about crime in their ward. But the meetings will cease next April, ostensibly as a cost saving exercise.

The move has drawn widespread criticism, with claims it will further distance residents from decision making in the borough, particularly since some Labour councillors no longer hold surgeries in their wards. The scrapping of the forums also means £20,000 of cash for each ward to spend on community projects will be be subsumed by the Council into its centralised Transform Your Space budget

Many recent ward forums have been marked by a reluctance by some Labour councillors to address residents’ most pressing issues, with claims that agendas have been rigged and opportunities to ask questions denied. Ealing resident Eric Leach described last week’s Elthorne forum as ‘appalling’. Only one ward councillor, Joanna Camadoo, attended, with her Labour colleagues Yoel Gordon and Theresa Byrne absent. Cabinet member Peter Mason attended in their place, but according to Mr Leach he failed to engage with the meeting.

Mr Leach said: ‘It was the most appalling ward forum I have ever attended. Cllr Mason spent 90 percent of the meeting head down working at his laptop. When he was challenged about the forums being stopped he used words and phrases like ‘future policy being developed’, ‘Skype’, and ‘emerging technology’, but that’s no substitute for face to face contact with councillors.

‘We had a presentation from Kieran Reed, Director of Strategy and Engagement at the Council, about its ‘Future Ealing’ plans. He rushed through his slides but failed to mention the 28,000 new homes the Council was committed to have built by 2028 and the 70,000 new residents expected , with 25,000 in Southall alone, until I challenged him. It’s precisely this sort of information that ward forums should be giving us.

‘The police chatted to us for half an hour, which was useful albeit with some worrying information on the borough-wide PSPO which is now in force. But the agenda issues on Hanwell centre CPZ, cleaner streets and the £9 million West Ealing Liveable Neighbourhood scheme were dealt with in less than five minutes.

‘Ms Camadoo forgot to have any discussion on the £20,000 ward forum spend, it was not even on the agenda. She then broke all records by reaching the ‘have your say’ part of the agenda at precisely 9pm, when the meeting closed, so nobody got a chance to ask anything.’

Ward forums emerged under the then Conservative council in 2009, replacing Area Committees which many residents felt were too remote for them to engage with properly. The Council has hinted an alternative may be offered, although no details have been forthcoming.

Ealing Liberal Democrats leader, Cllr Gary Malcolm, said: ‘Ward forums are a great way for residents to hear about Council plans, meet the police and ask questions about Council services. Since we announced [earlier this year] that Labour-run Ealing Council had cancelled the funding they remained in doubt. I understand the Council is looking for a way to keep some open so they can say that they will not have closed.’

Ealing Conservative councillor David Millican condemned the move as an attack on local democracy.

He said: ‘Now they will be scrapped we’re waiting to see what, if anything, they come up with. However we do know they plan to centralise the funding, so some faceless group in the Town Hall will decide on local priorities.’

Northfields Labour councillor Fay Block said: ‘Ward forum budgets are being replaced by a centralised budget called Transform Your Space.

A council spokesperson said: "Ward forums in their current form will cease at the end of March. The Council is currently consulting about new forms of resident engagement after this point.”

Simon Hayes

22 October 2019