Following the recent government U-turn which means that both Ealing and Charing Cross hospitals will retain their Accident & Emergency (A&E) wards, Ealing Liberal Democrats want the government to re-open the A&E wards that they closed at Central Middlesex and Hammersmith hospitals.

Crime in Ealing and Chiswick has been one of the hot topics over the past six months as many have had violent crime in their streets. Fear of crime has led to residents writing to myself about many criminal related matters.

Across London there has long been a scheme where London boroughs work together to fund additional police offices. The current scheme, which is called Met Patrol Plus, allows London boroughs to share equally the cost of extra police officers, using a model of ‘Buy One Get One Free’ – which is a 50 per cent discount. They can also agree where these extra officers will patrol, often in town centres and priority areas.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Councillor Gary Malcolm, was joined by London Mayoral Candidate Siobhan Benita and other London Liberal Democrats at the Sikh Vaisakhi celebrations in Southall.

Vaisakhi is one of the most important dates in the Sikh calendar. Siobhan Benita was invited to speak to worshippers in the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha.

Liberal Democrats put a motion which was debated by Ealing Council and it was agreed that a Climate Emergency was happening. It triggered Ealing Council to commit to further actions so that plans will be brought forward to reduce its carbon footprint. Later in the meeting another Liberal Democrat motion called for greater action on stopping the idling of vehicles which cause a huge amount of air pollution.

Today it was announced by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care that the programme for closing Ealing and Charing Cross’ Accident & Emergency wards will no longer take place.

Ealing Liberal Democrat Leader, Councillor Gary Malcolm said: "Liberal Democrats have always said that the Tory plans to close Ealing and Charing Cross A&E wards were bad and dangerous for patients. Liberal Democrats handed in a huge, many thousand signature petition to campaign against these plans."

Ealing Council has confirmed that the mobile parking platform PayByPhone will be taking over the provision of visitor parking sessions currently offered by RingGo from 1st April 2019.

This follows the example in 2018 where Ealing Council unexpectedly changed a provider for parking management service which meant that residents had to re-register their details on the system. The result of the lack of notice then was that the Council had to hire extra staff to deal with the huge number of additional phone calls received. In addition well over 600 hours of overtime were paid to staff in order to help tackle the additional correspondence generated by system changes.

Councillor Gary Malcolm has received written confirmation on 2^nd March that his application for Gunnersbury Triangle classed as an Asset of Community Value by both Ealing and Hounslow councils (who each own sections of the land).

The application means if either Council wishes to sell the land or buildings then the community has the first refusal option to take over the asset.

Although we have seen many Heathrow consultations, another one has appeared, which you should complete. And it closes in early March! The consultation relates to changes to the use of the existing runways after 2022, until the 3rd runway is available and also the probable areas where aircraft with fly over London.

For many years the alley named as Mulberry Tree Mews, off Clovelly and Southfield Roads, was often blocked with rubbish or parked vehicles. This meant that residents were unfortunately unable to access their gardens through the alleyway.

Having met the three local Southfield Liberal Democrat Councillors at a Southfield Ward Forum meeting, resident Vassia Paloumbi asked for help to sort the problem out. Councillor Andrew Steed visited the site with Vassia to see the problem and discussed possible solutions. The Ward Forum funded this initiative and after a consultation for double yellow lines to be painted along the alley way, it was given the go ahead.

At an Ealing Council Planning Committee meeting on 16^th January, the Labour Councillors voted to allow a five story building on the land overlooking the Gunnersbury Triangle Nature Reserve, on Bollo Lane, Chiswick. Council documents showed that there is likely to be harm to flora and fauna including bats and reptiles.