Ealing’s New Ward Forums

Are the new ward forums launching next week going to be an adequate replacement for area committees in the borough?

Anything that increases local democracy has to be supported but the term of reference for the new area committees look rather more impressive than they actually are.

It is stated that each Ward Committee will have a devolved budget of £40,000 but this cannot be spent by local people – they can only make suggestions which will then be decided on by the wholly Conservative council Cabinet. It will be interesting to see how they react to proposals submitted from Labour Wards!

I’m also a bit suspicious about the expensive glossy leaflets that are being produced with ratepayer’s money and distributed throughout the Borough. These must be politically impartial and it would be good if they could list the local MPs contact details as well as those of the Councillors. The first leaflet distributed lists the three Conservative Councillors details but makes no mention of the MP nor the GLA Member!