Leader’s
Notes
“It is an incredible honour
and privilege to serve the
people of Ealing.”
Councillor Julian Bell
Leader of the council
I am delighted to remain leader of your council. It is an incredible honour
and privilege to serve the people of Ealing. More than 40% of the
electorate voted in the local elections in May and I am pleased so many people
engaged with the local issues. You can see here our administration’s core
priorities captured in three simple statements. They will be the council’s guiding
principles for the next four years:
n More genuinely affordable housing for all, which means working with
landlords to improve renting in the borough, as well as continuing our house
building and estate regeneration programmes. It also means demanding that
homes in the borough are of a good quality and safe to live in, and helping to
tackle homelessness. In addition we want sustainable transport on our roads, to
help our homes and streets breathe easier and tackle congestion – that involves
encouraging cycling and walking
n More opportunities and living incomes for all, which means continuing to find
ways to attract investment and jobs by maximising regeneration opportunities such
as Crossrail, as well as helping young people reach their potential. We want to
have even more schools rated ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ by Ofsted; and we will continue
creating more chances to find training, apprenticeships and achieve ‘up-skilling’; it
also means encouraging businesses to adopt the London Living Wage and helping
those on benefit to secure a better income
n Working to make our borough a healthy and great place for all – which
means working with residents to build strong, fair communities and to keep
the borough a clean, safe and attractive place to live. That includes keeping
people physically active, well and independent; helping those who need care
to live better lives; encouraging sport and leisure; and striving to improve our
air quality and reduce crime. It also means working with others to maintain the
excellence of our parks and open spaces, and the streets we live in.
But that is not all. There is lots more we need to do to support those priorities.
We introduced Future Ealing to you in previous editions of Around Ealing
but now the council wants to talk to you about it, and how it might be shaped.
It is about making the borough a better place to live, despite the financial
challenges and government funding cuts we are facing. Please read more on
pages 19-22 and get involved. We can do so much more by working together.
This summer will see the 70th
anniversary of the foundation
of our National Health Service.
The NHS was created on 5 July
1948. It is, quite possibly the most
cherished public institution in Britain
and deservedly so. That is why we
have fought so hard to Save Our
Hospitals over recent years; and
why thousands of you signed our
petition to protect services at Ealing
and Charing Cross hospitals. The
campaign has not yet ended and
we are pressing the Health Secretary
Jeremy Hunt MP for more details.
You can read more about the issues
at www.ealing.gov.uk/soh
As I do each and every year,
I am looking forward to the
Ealing Summer Festivals. You can
read more in this magazine about
what will be taking place and I
hope as many of you as possible
are able to attend at least one of
the fantastic events. It looks like
there will be some exceptional
talent on show from the music and
comedy worlds, along with all the
usual family fun.
around ealing June 2018
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