Forum Topic

Leader of Ealing Conservative group resigns

The leader of the Conservative Group on Ealing Council, Gregory Stafford, has announced that he his stepping down. His decision comes after his party ended the local elections with the third highest number of seats making the Liberal Democrats the official oppostion.http://www.ealingtoday.co.uk/default.asp?section=community&link=http://neighbournet.com/server/common/eapol2205.htm

Peter King ● 1595d12 Comments

Not surprised. They are losing ground.

Jonathan Mabbutt ● 1595d

Ealing has pledged to spend £1m on bike hangars and is charging 70p per month to store a bike in them. That sets the bar for low cost bike storage in London. I wonder what the opposition Lib Dems think of that?

Paul Campbell ● 1594d

There also seems to be a change of approach with Conservatives in Chiswick following the unexpected win of Amy Croft. The departing Sam Hearn set the tone:“A proportion of councillors realise you have to approach this as if you might one day be in power. You have to be constructive. But other councillors find it a lot easier to be negative, to believe everything is done with ill will and not trust anything Labour does.”The re-elected councillors seem to have followed Sam's advice:“Seeing a change in Chiswick, the Group extends a hand of cooperation with the new Labour Councillor, Amy Croft (Labour, Chiswick Gunnersbury), whom we look forward to working with to ensure we continue getting the best results for the residents of Chiswick. Changes will now occur on how the Chiswick Area Forum is led, how surgeries are organised, our weekly blogs for Chiswickw4.com, Scrutiny Committee Call ins, and other matters affecting Chiswick.""The Conservative Group will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Monday 30 May and says it will make its manifesto pledges for a cleaner, greener borough the foundation of their mission in the new term."

Tom Pike ● 1594d

Ealing Conservatives fought the election on an anti LTN ticket.

Philippa Bond ● 1594d

Oh how times have changed, Paul.I've advocated for bike parking fees and large storage hubs and all I ever got from you is your usual crap. And here you are shouting it to the masses.A bit like advocating for a greener (in every sense) cycle solution but that got Tom all twisted into claiming construction isn't construction. You're both to blame for the costly, delayed mess put upon us.I love watching you set the bar so low for your kids and teaching them what hypocrisy is all about.

David Lesniak ● 1594d

Philippa - In Ealing the Labour Councillors saw sense and removed most of their ill-conceived and detested LTN schemes long before they had to face the electorate. They also unceremoniously dumped their liability of a leader.

Sam Hearn ● 1594d

"...the Group extends a hand of cooperation with the new Labour Councillor, Amy Croft (Labour, Chiswick Gunnersbury).."And there I was thinking Ms Croft had been elected in Chiswick Riverside !

Richard Greenhough ● 1594d

They also fought on tower blocks and dirty streets. I've met the ex leader and have also just lost one of our three councillors (a family friend) who has put in 28 years of service to the local community. His replacement is a Liberal who fought a fairly bitter election, even blaming the Tories for the state of our ward. The last time I looked the Labour party run the council!

Peter King ● 1594d

On the Lib Dems and bike hangers they did a few years back allocate some of the funds given to them for Southfield ward for bike hangers and have lobbied for more. As far as I am aware this was the only ward in the borough to use them in this way. Therefore you can assume they support this measure.The announcement on a reduction in fees for bike hangers is very welcome but won't really achieve much if all it does in increase demand while not expanding provision.It is perhaps also worth mentioning how the changes at the top end of Southfield Park have boosted cycling in the area.  This has provided a much easier to navigate north-south route. Unfortunately nobody is using the designated route in which cyclists are supposed to ride along a potholed Carlton Drive and travel around the perimeter of the park - they, quite understandably, go through the middle of the park. As I understand it the problem with designating this as the official cycle route was that it goes by a playground but reality should be accepted and ways should be found for all categories of park users to co-exist safely.

Mark Evans ● 1594d

It was an unexpected win….

Tom Pike ● 1594d

The £1m investment in additional bike hangars is expanding their provision. Fines from driving and parking infringements can be ringfenced for this expenditure so if the reduced costs of storage increase demand there will be a steady cash flow to increase the investment over time, especially when the £10m active travel budget is spent on more cycle lanes and restrictions for motor vehicles. Which the Lib Dems will of course oppose.

Paul Campbell ● 1594d

Poor Paul. Can't see the flaw in his own logic.With parking removed, how will parking infringements happen?With cars removed, how will driving infringements happen?At the end of the day it's about real estate. Increasingly costly real estate. With cars erased, as you so desire, where do you think the revenue will come from?

David Lesniak ● 1594d