Broadway Ward Forum Meeting 24 February 2016 Neighbourhood Governance Note of Greenford Green Ward Forum

Held on Wednesday 24 February 2016 7pm at Greenford Hall, Ruislip Road, Greenford Present: Councillor Julian Bell (chair) Apologies: Councillor Harbhajan Kaur-Dheer, Councillor Tim Murtagh, Sgt Liam Cahill (SNT) Attendees: 25 residents attended the meeting Officers present: Evelyn Gloyn, Neighbourhood Coordinator Paul Murphy, (PM) (Safer Communities Team -SCT)

Papers available at the meeting: Agenda Budget Summary Evaluation Forms

Note taker: Jackie O’Reilly

No. Note Question/Action Point/Discussion

1 0BWelcome and Apologies Councillor Bell welcomed everyone to the meeting and said he was glad to see so many at the meeting. Attendees were asked to complete the evaluation forms at the meeting or online at Apologies were received from Cllr Kaur-Dheer, as the www..gov.uk/wardforum and the attendance sheet. current mayor she could not attend the meeting. Also Cllr Murtagh sent his apologies; due to a work commitment he If you have any queries please contact Evelyn Gloyn, 07525 893579 or via email at could not make the meeting. [email protected]

Cllr Bell confirmed that the ward had a new envirocrime The notes of the last meeting are available on website only. Residents were asked officer, Michael Langdon. to leave an envelope with their address written on it if they want a copy of this meeting’s notes to be posted to them

2 Notes of last meeting

Councillor Bell asked the meeting if there were any points to raise about the notes of last meeting No comments made, so confirmed notes were accurate.

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Greenford Broadway Ward Forum Meeting 24 February 2016 Neighbourhood Governance Note of Greenford Green Ward Forum

No. Note Question/Action Point/Discussion A number of issues arose from the meeting so Cllr Bell wanted to provide an update, details were: If you see people dropping litter please email [email protected] . You will not receive a response but if Issue of street drinkers in alleyway in Clifton Road the information contains specific details then the data can be used by the This is ongoing. SCT/SNT are working with councillors to engagement and enforcement manager to instruct Kingdom Securities to enforce get the businesses to tackle the concerns raised. SCT the location. have tried to make contact with HSBC but have not yet had a response, they will chase. Envirocrime officer visited All envirocrime complaints and requests can be reported through the council’s the location on three occasions at the beginning of website http://ealing.gov.u/reportit or via customer services on 020 8825 6000. February but could see no evidence of waste.

Drugs in Ravenor Park Road Investigations of the two benches reported for drug related activity. Parkguard had been tasking the area heavily in November/December, they have now seen a huge drop in activity

Warren Drive The abandoned car has been removed. Reports that gas cannisters had been dumped in the alleyway,

Northala Fields Existing contractor of the café was invited to submit a proposal but was not strong enough. The contract would now go out to tender; the existing vendor would continue until a new contract in place. Request to install more cycle stands, £160 per stand plus installation, suggestion was install a further 5-8 stands; the ward forum would consider.

Ravenor Park Star path falling to pieces. Cllr Bell confirmed that the contractor was monitoring it.

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Greenford Broadway Ward Forum Meeting 24 February 2016 Neighbourhood Governance Note of Greenford Green Ward Forum

No. Note Question/Action Point/Discussion

Smiths Farm and 5th mound development Res: Do you have any answers in relation to the mound? There was a presentation at St Hugh’s recently which was JB: No run by the housing association. There was also a Res: We don’t want it. comment that Horseshoe Crescent was to be made one- JB: We are aware of your views; the matter is still in progress in terms of the way; Cllr Bell had not heard this so would check with scheme. officers to see if that was correct. Res: It has gone very quiet JB: Yes, but there is nothing official yet. Why do schemes cost so much? Cllr Bell confirmed this question was raised at the last meeting. The costs associated with a project are not for the physical work, there was the design element and the officers time as well as the making and advertising of the notices – this was very expensive. Installing a scheme is not a simple or cheap process. If we don’t follow the correct rules especially with public notices we can be held to account.

Why can’t we put up no cycling signs on streets?

Cllr Bell confirmed that cycling is banned on all footpaths by virtue of the 1835 highways act. The council does not put up signs because it could set a precedent with all other signage, people could request signs for all sorts of issue. Also signs add to street clutter.

3 Tackling ASB and crime Contact details for Safer Communities Team

Paul Murphy introduced himself to the meeting. He Cluster officer, Paul Murphy, 4th floor, Perceval House, 14-16 advised all that Sgt Cahill sent his apologies; he had been Uxbridge Road, Ealing W5. delayed due to an emergency. Paul confirmed he had the crime figures and would take any questions and would take Email: [email protected] back any questions for the SNT. Tel: 020 8825 5994 (duty line 9am-5pm Monday-Friday)

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Greenford Broadway Ward Forum Meeting 24 February 2016 Neighbourhood Governance Note of Greenford Green Ward Forum

No. Note Question/Action Point/Discussion . The overview of the borough was that crime was down by 20% over the same period as last year. Burglaries were Res: There had been a lot of activity by the police by HSBC but when they move on still a priority; the figure had reduced by 4% on the same the drinkers are back within the hour. period as last year. PM: They are drawn to the area; we know there are 4 ringleaders so we are looking at that. There were 678 new cases of ASB, of which 41 were in Res: Cllr Murtagh was looking at getting the alleys gated. Greenford Bdy ward, which averages to 6% of all cases. PM: HSBC have not responded. I will find out if the police have made contact. It is always a running battle but what we want to do is make the area less attractive for There had been a closure on a property in Lady Margaret them to hang around. Road. A vulnerable man was being taken advantage of by drinkers. There had also been 2 injunctions raised for a property in Ferrymead Avenue due to nuisance behaviour.

Street drinking would be the No.1 priority going into the spring and summer months and the teams will be covering parks and open spaces.

4 Transform your space

Cllr Bell that Evelyn Gloyn and he were part of a panel, .Res¨ There was feedback that the Brent valley has been done. kind of a dragons den style for the transform your space JB: You would know more than me project. Groups came along and pitched for funding; there Res: What was that done under? were some really good projects. Sadly our two projects did Mark: It could have been Thames 21 riverside projects with volunteers not get through but they are going to try and crowd fund JB: This does illustrate we have to co-ordinate through space hive. Res: It’s great; I had a lovely walk along the path to the Bunny Park today.

Our projects were the Brent River reinvigoration and the Greenford Bridge Riverside renewal. In terms of the Greenford Bridge they could have another shot at pitching if they re-engineer the idea and then do the project in phases.

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Greenford Broadway Ward Forum Meeting 24 February 2016 Neighbourhood Governance Note of Greenford Green Ward Forum

No. Note Question/Action Point/Discussion 7c Smiths Farm

Cllr Bell confirmed that he was bringing this item forward Res: We got a call last week about the future of the centre. In July the building was so that the residents who had come to have this issue going to be brought down. The building houses youth and kids clubs, it has coffee addressed could get off after the item. mornings, bingo, exercise classes for the elderly etc and this Saturday there will be a radio show and car washing. Our hopes and dreams have all started to become a Cllr Bell said the project was progressing. reality and now they want to tear the building down in July. We are really concerned; we can’t be on the streets. Res: Why aren’t we getting help, we pay our taxes but were are not getting any support. We were told the shop was getting a temporary site and so were we but now it’s being taken away. We have just got a new cooker, wiring, new chairs, a pool table and tennis table. We have worked tirelessly and have been passionate, we have catered for everyone. Is there anything that be done? JB: We made a decision to go ahead with the project and to knock it down. Officers say that the project did not involve rehousing the club, only the shop. I understand that you have developed the club and it has grown. Martin has left the council now, however if you’re saying that he promised the club would be rehoused then I will need to go back to officers. The ward forum paid for a porta cabin for St Hughes while their work was going on and I don’t recall it being extortionate. Others have said it is possible to rent and equipment could be stored at St Hugh’s or Gainsborough Tower. Res: the storage suggestion would be very difficult, it’s not like they are around the corner. JB: We are giving you a new and better club but the problem is the interim. Res: The fact the kids have come here tonight shows they are passionate about their club. I will go on Ebay and look for a port cabin JB: I have asked Susan Parsonage to look at this and I will go back and talk to officers. Let’s see where we get. Res: Please keep us updated. We are always the last to hear anything. We have asked to put it back to September so we can get the summer holidays but we haven’t had an answer. We are getting a lot of support from the residents. Also, there is no gate on the new play area. JB: We were hoping it would be ready for Easter.

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Greenford Broadway Ward Forum Meeting 24 February 2016 Neighbourhood Governance Note of Greenford Green Ward Forum

No. Note Question/Action Point/Discussion Res: The gate is open 24/7 so it’s not secure. We don’t want ASB that was the problem previously. JB: let me take this back. Res: it’s a free for all at the moment. EG: the issue was how gates get locked at night Res: We said we would take responsiblity for locking the gate. JB: Yes, and that manages that problem to some degree. Res: If you give the youth responsibility they will take it and make a success of it. JB: When I was asked why I became a councillor I said it was to fight bureaucracy. You can make amendments to planning, where there is a will there is a way.

Kimberley introduced herself to the meeting. She works at Res: We would support it. Connexions. Kimberley sated that connexions fully Res: I know there is a lot of ASB around Smiths Farm and anything that helps the support what the residents were doing for the club. youngsters is a good idea, this sounds like a great project we should support it. Connexions had been running activities since the Summer Res: What size port cabin do you need? at the club. A project had been started with 16 children Res: We need an office, kitchen, storage, so the bigger the better. from the estate, it was a skiing project. The kids had JB: Evelyn tells me we have £452 in revenue, it can’t be given to individuals but we driven up to Hemel Hempstead for their training which was can work around that – it would need to go to the project and then you could work a level 1 instructor course; they worked really hard. They around it. The kids have tried really hard and it would be a shame not to support it were now going to a residential in Italy to improve their (residential trip to Italy). We wish them good luck and please come back and tell skills. They have raised £15k but they were £500 short; us how they get on. Apple has kindly sponsored some money. We were here to ask for financial support. Res: this week I parked my car in the car park at Northala and it’s full of potholes, it needs to be resurfaced. JB: We will investigate and see if it can be done. Res: There is a rally on the 12 March at 11am on Haven Green in aid of trying to protect the children’s services in Ealing Hospital. Acute services to go. JB: There is a car wash this Saturday on the Smiths Farm Estate from 10.30am, it’s the young people that are doing it all so go and support them. Res: We don’t want the mound, why not do a long thing alongside the A40. JB: the idea was to allow it to match up and there would be a bridge to the others. It would link Marnham fields, it’s going to be expensive with the cost estimated £1m. Res: We don’t want a mound; parking is a nightmare in the summer. If you go out

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Greenford Broadway Ward Forum Meeting 24 February 2016 Neighbourhood Governance Note of Greenford Green Ward Forum

No. Note Question/Action Point/Discussion when you come back you can’t park. When you did the mound you did not do enough parking. David Wise (DW) of the and Greenford Country Park Society: the idea behind the bridge was to give a long cycle rout through sustrans. The idea for the park was part of the cycle route and the bridge was to bring it all together. Res: We don’t mind the bridge, but we don’t want the mound. DW: But the mound is to support the bridge Res: Can’t you put in a thinner one. DW: the bridge formed part of the original concept but it was not completed. By doing the new mound and bridge there would be a better flow for cyclists coming to the area, it forms part of a long distance route. Also it will encourage people into Marnham Fields; people don’t want to come down with children and have to cross the road. The bridge needs a big enough support and the funds generated from the materials would finance the bridge. The concept has never been done anywhere else in the world; it received an award from China. We know that parking is an issue; we got that wrong in the original design. We avoided large car parks as we wanted to encourage people to walk. Res: can’t you use the derelict part of the estate for the mound JB: thank you, you all have made your points very well and clearly. We do know about the parking especially on Dolphin road and Hazelmere. It’s that old chestnut that won’t go away, we did look at the feasibility of parking control but we didn’t take it further. It may be an option now. We are victims of our own success, let me go back to officers and discuss. Res: What about the derelict area. David: That area is heavily contaminated with mercury that is why it is fenced off. Mark: The idea of the long mound would not be allowed because of the services under ground JB: Okay, we will get clarity and keep the issue on the agenda. Res: Did you mention Dolphin, also someone asked me to mention the signposts for the toilets. Mark Reynolds – park ranger: There are temporary signs up.

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Greenford Broadway Ward Forum Meeting 24 February 2016 Neighbourhood Governance Note of Greenford Green Ward Forum

No. Note Question/Action Point/Discussion 5 Greenford Carnival

Councillor Bell advised all that the meeting would now go Res: How many events do we have in Ealing? back to item 5. JB, there is the Acton carnival, the Mela, the beer fest and other events in Walpole park during the summer. He confirmed that the Greenford Carnival used to be Res: Why don’t they just do a big Ealing event at say Park? organised by the Rotary Club but in 2007 the council’s JB: But there is a history of running the Greenford Carnival events team took over the running of the event supporting Res: We had a history of the Red Lion Pub, look what happened there. the development of the Greenford Carnival Community Res: Last year I did not go, it has lost its soul. When the event was taken over the Association. The aim of the carnival was to bring the prices were hiked up for the charges for the stalls. It’s now just commercialisation. local community together and to make sure it represented You should encourage the charities and the scouts to come back. the local community. From 2007-2010 the average DW: There has been a fundamental change, there were so many community attendance was 4000. Then member engagement groups but that was when the Rotary Club ran it. For a lot of groups it was an dropped significantly so by 2011 the members had opportunity to raise money for their causes. They very nature of the thing has dropped to zero. Since 2011 attendances have dropped changed fundamentally. significantly, with around 2000 attending and in 2014 the JB: Two things about , they have a good model in place, they don’t charge attendance was at its all-time low. The cost to run the and they have 20,000 attendance. They wanted to come here tonight to ask for event is approximately £20k and in the past 7 years the funding. How could we get the soul back? Is there a way of getting the community event has run at a loss of £3,285 per year even though it groups involved again? has been consistently subsidised by the Greenford ward DW: I think not, it changed. I think it would take a long time to get them back. forums and small grants. Ward councillors were keen to Res: Everything has changed. give it a go this summer but we want to know what are Res: You could try, we always supported the carnival when it was only £5 for a your thoughts on the event. pitch but now we can’t afford the charges. Res: It’s gone out of peoples mind sets. DW: There used to be huge parade and there would be 1000’s watching. Res: You could approach the groups and encourage them to come with reduced rates. The groups would bring families; just think of all those people attending. You could bring the soul back into it. JB: We want to give it another go. I could have come here tonight and announced it would stop, but we want to invigorate it. Res: What about the markets, where have you got with that. Greenford has changed, attitudes have changed. Res: We should try it once

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Greenford Broadway Ward Forum Meeting 24 February 2016 Neighbourhood Governance Note of Greenford Green Ward Forum

No. Note Question/Action Point/Discussion JB: There is truth in what you are all saying. You can’t replicate but there could be a modern version. It’s also weather dependant, 2014 was a wash out. We will give it a go and look at not pricing community groups out, let’s get them back and get schools involved. DW: If you could find a way to getting schools involved that would be great, they could have a stall and raise money for the school. JB: Yes, we could target the schools DW: Have a community zone JB: We will go back and talk to officers. Res: Have you had a dog show Res: The council banned it the first year they took over. JB: I know you can’t take your bicycle in. Thank you very much and we will keep you all informed. 6 Streets and rubbish Res: There is a problem with rats and mice on Greenford Road. I have mice and Councillor Bell confirmed that the ward forum had the council have said I have to pay £160 to put down poison. I have tried approved funding for CCTV as a last resort to tackle fly everything. I have a frail mother and I am worried about her, she lives downstairs in tipping; the first location would be the alleyway in Mansell my house. Road. Res: Are you saying the mice are coming in from outside? Res: There is a problem across London with rats; it’s not isolated to Greenford. JB: You will be getting your wheelie bins which should reduce vermin. Res: Mr Langdon sent out a letter to residents in Clifton road. What about people who live above the shops, they have nowhere to put their rubbish, and they put out their rubbish every day? JB: There may well be a possibility of flats having wheelie bins but it will be sacks for some. 5% of properties will not get the bins. There is no easy solution. Res: Are you able to negotiate to have a council bin on private land for residents. JB: Could be but normally there has to be so many units before we could supply these bins. Res: If it is a multi-faceted problem it would be brilliant if you could find a solution. Res: Thank you for moving the lamp column JB: Ah yes we moved them. Res: At the end of Costons Lane by the lamp posts there was always rubbish.

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Greenford Broadway Ward Forum Meeting 24 February 2016 Neighbourhood Governance Note of Greenford Green Ward Forum

No. Note Question/Action Point/Discussion JB: We will feed this back to Mr Langdon. EG: Keep reporting it to the council Res: I’m horrified to hear that even though you hope to see an improvement, 5-6% have no means of collections. EG: They will have weekly collections, that won’t change. JB: The food waste will be weekly too. Res: When did you make the decision to use wheelie bins. JB: In Autumn last year. Res: Why are you doing surveys when you had already made the decision to use these bins? JB: I can’t answer that but we do like to know what is being recycled. We have done door knocking to encourage recycling. We need to be at 50% recycling rate by 2020. Our ambition is to get 50% by 2018, at the moment we are at 45%. If we don’t make the target by 2020 we get landfill fines and charges. It is in our interest to recycle. With the new bins the vermin won’t be able to get into them. Res: what about garden waste, I went to the depot and had to go on the weighing machine and was going to be charged £2.50 per kilo. JB: This is in line with all other boroughs, we have initiated a charge. Res: Where I live in Eastmead we get allsorts dumped, it appears overnight. JB: Please report it and we will get it shifted. There was a campaign for London to be the first city to be national park. I was emailed today and asked to take up the idea of residents planting flowers around the base of trees; I was able to tell them we already do that. In this age of austerity residents need to take more ownership. Res: Do we need permission to plant the flowers? JB: I think it would be best to ask permission, Archie Ross asked and parks agreed.

7 AOB Eve informed the meeting there was a leaflet going around but it had nothing to do with our organisation, be aware.

The maternity has gone in Ealing and there were going to JB: Jeremy Hunt was saying he wasn’t taking any notice. We will keep it under be further downgrades in June. The children’s ward and review. We will use our statutory powers as councils to demand a business case acute services for children were affected. There will be and demand to be told what is going on.

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Greenford Broadway Ward Forum Meeting 24 February 2016 Neighbourhood Governance Note of Greenford Green Ward Forum

No. Note Question/Action Point/Discussion only minor clinics. Last night I went to the independent health car commission meeting. It has been set up by Res: Can you reconsider Heller House. Ealing, Brent, Hounslow and Harrow. The meeting talked JB: We accepted the proposal to look at a 3rd option. The developer would be about how health services were coping since the closures. coming in to build a purpose built facility on site. I met with parents and have visited Northwick Park was the worst hospital with waiting hours the house and I spoke to staff. I won’t make any decisions until I know what is exceeding 4 hours. happening. The press did not pick up on this. We are also doing a feasibility study to set up a new transitional service so we can deliver from 2016 to 2025. That is The reorganisation and downgrading should stop. There what we are looking to do. were 4 key issues, they were: Res: Do you know what’s happening with the old cinema and community centre. JB: Don’t know what’s happening with the clinic, I know they are not at Perceval. 1. Still no business plan, they said the ongoing cost There are some issues about viability with the community centre but we have found would be £284 but so far they have spent in excess a way to keep them going until the summer. There is talk of another volunteer of £1billion. organisation to take over and allow the current users to continue using. This is 2. Limited and inadequate consultations tangible. 3. Escalated costs Res: But if it falls through could it be sold for housing without anyone being 4. No alternative provisions consulted. JB: No, we would be transparent.

Councillor Bell thanked everyone for attending. The meeting was brought to a close at 9.02pm Dates of future meetings TBA Venue TBA

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