Councillor Julian Gallant, leader of Ealing Conservatives shares his latest update.
I trust Ealing residents have enjoyed the summer and are keen to get back to work and school.
As an opposition party in Ealing we scrutinise Labour as the party in control. We have heated debates in the council chamber and we ask difficult questions about the things you care about, like the Gurnell Leisure Centre. Yet we sit on all kinds of committees, from planning to licensing to health care and children’s services, where party affiliation is largely forgotten.
Three Ealing councillors were elected to Parliament in June, so there will be council by-elections on Thursday 10 October. I congratulate my friend Gregory Stafford MP on winning the Farnham and Bordon seat and thank him for his seventeen years of service as an Ealing councillor. We are campaigning hard to get Sean Hanrahan elected in Hanger Hill, Andrew Bailey in Northolt Mandeville and Kristian Mower in South Acton.
Ealing is beautiful at this time of year. The trees are still in bloom and we really appreciate our many parks. We can thank our imaginative forefathers, who saved those precious parcels from the rapacious developments of the late nineteenth century.
These spaces won’t protect themselves. It’s quite easy to hive off little corners of green area, only to find one day that they’ve all gone. That’s why we have a Local Plan, which defines areas of development, and guides the work of Ealing’s planning department.
The sister-miracle of our green spaces is our low-rise skyline. Tall buildings really stick out, like the 45-storey tower in North Acton or the massive student accommodation building currently under construction on the Hangar Lane gyratory. We urge Labour to keep to the recommendations they signed up to and preserve Ealing’s heritage.
The good news is that there is plenty of land which can be developed, from major projects like the Green Quarter in Southall to brownfield sites in Greenford. There wasn’t a single vote against the Sandringham Mews development in Ealing Broadway. Acton Gardens, only halfway completed, will house thousands of families. I hope that developers will actually build where permission has been granted, and not use planning permission to inflate land prices.
Ealing is blessed with good transport links. The Elizabeth Line is a vast artery of opportunity. Underground and Overground lines link our Borough north to south. We also need to look after drivers in the green age, with more work needed to enable easier and cheaper electrical charging. West-East cycle infrastructure is better now, but has a long way to go before it’s a genuinely safe alternative.
It’s probably these transport links which have encouraged so many to move into the Borough. Ealing’s cultural diversity is an immense wealth, a marvellous environment for children to grow up in. When I started my political work I soon realised I was meeting a wider variety of people within twenty minutes of my front door than I’d met on worldwide travels as a pianist and conductor. The first casework I ever did as a councillor was for a family of Aramaic-speakers.
That diversity is vital for our commercial life too. Ealing offers a huge range of shopping and entertainment but this could be better still; indeed we want Ealing to become a major destination. The current policy is to build up the Borough’s seven towns, that’s Acton, Ealing, Hanwell, Southall, Northolt, Greenford and Perivale. We should also connect the towns. I wish, for instance, that Ealing residents would visit Southall more often. It’s a fabulously busy place with authentic South Asian cuisine and retail. I’ve got an order in for a Nehru jacket which will hopefully make me slimmer!
Ealing has excellent schools, some run by the local authority, some academies and some independent. I’ve visited many as a councillor and as a professional musician, talking to youngsters about opportunities. I just see children who are keen to connect with each other, regardless of their background. And here I’ll shamelessly plug the work of the Bollo Brook Youth Centre, a vital refuge for Acton children with an amazing music product that it’s taking to other schools. I’m also delighted to be contributing to a grand event in The Royal Albert Hall in 2025, a joint project between Ealing Music Services and the Ealing Symphony Orchestra; it will be based around an Ealing choir of 1400 children from across the Borough.
Ealing is a big London borough and not all green spaces and good living. There are areas where overcrowding, crime and poor health outcomes are rife. This is where collegiate work by councillors and MPs from across the political spectrum really can make a difference.
One of the biggest issues facing London is the unsteady rental market. Landlords are selling up and evictions are increasing, which often places residents in the care of the local authority. Ealing is borrowing £150m to finance building of emergency accommodation and reduce the amount spent on housing residents in hotels and B&B.
I recently asked the housing portfolio holder, at a cabinet meeting, what kind of conversations were happening with landlords and how the council was encouraging them to stay in the sector and see it as a viable investment. The Council can play a vital convening role, in addition to providing core services like refuse collection and road maintenance.
Finally, the 2026 Council Elections are looming, and I do warmly recommend this job to anyone interested in public service. You get to help people, which is richly rewarding.
Warm wishes to everyone this autumn!
