Ealing North
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Steve Pound MP Ealing North |
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The Future of Greenford is in your hands October 2004 Few things in life are absolutely certain. People traditionally offer up death, taxes and the fact that Fulham FC will break the hearts of its supporters but I would like to suggest two more incontrovertible facts. Everyone agrees that something has to be done to improve Greenford Town Centre and no-one can agree on what it is. A couple of packed meetings last week looked at some of the options. Although it would be far easier for Ealing’s Councillors to stand back, wring their hands and do nothing they have had the courage to grasp the nettle and to actually make some positive suggestions. Most people agree on the starting point. A resurfaced car park, hanging baskets of flowers, relaid paving stones and the highest ever level of street cleaning have certainly made the area look far better than before but still the shoppers desert the Broadway and where there are less shoppers there will surely be fewer shops. When the shops go the ratchet starts to turn downwards and the slide begins. If more people came to Greenford then the farmers’ market would have been a success instead of being a memory. The world famous London Motorcycle Museum doesn’t have a stream of passers by to display the mechanical magnificence of British manufacturing to and our heritage centre attracts fewer callers by the day, despite the trove of treasures that await the visitor. Most people seem to agree with the Greenford Broadway Ward councillors, Sonika Nirwal, Jill Stokoe and Leo Thomson, that the key to a revived Greenford is the area around the Greenford Hall. If we could get an expanded library, a new health centre and a modern fully operational Police Station we would be well on the way to bringing the area up. The actual Greenford Hall is currently subsidised by the council to the tune of more than £120,000 every year. The heating doesn’t work and it costs a fortune to run. It is a typical example of 1960s architecture, the decade that style forgot, and it just isn’t suited to an energy efficient and security conscious 21st.Century. Building housing on the long standing hostel between the Police Station and the Greenford Hall would go some way towards providing the cash injection that would be needed for an improved library and Hall. Unfortunately it would not be nearly enough and neither would be any money that could be squeezed from the developers of the Central West building and the proposed Lidl Supermarket between the bridge and the Red Lion crossroads. Building flats on top of the Greenford Hall would provide the funds to achieve what virtually everyone wants but virtually everyone sees this as too high a price to pay. The Council is going to have to go back to the drawing board and see if there is any way at all in which the Primary Care Trust, the Met. Police and the local community can come together to save Greenford Town Centre. Councillors don’t often get thanked but I happen to believe that they’ve shown great courage in actually tackling the issue head on. It is so very easy to bang on about a declining Greenford but it is far harder to arrest the fall. There are enough good people in Greenford to work positively together with the council for the sake of the community and while it may be exhausting to start again I happen to think it has to be done. Greenford deserves better and it’s about time it got the attention it deserves. Working together is the only way to achieve this. |
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| Disclaimer | Copyright | Designed by Bassam Mahfouz. Promoted by Julian Bell, The Labour Party, Ruskin Hall, 16 Church Road, W3 8PP on behalf of Steve Pound MP |
