The Avenue is Local Councillors' Street of the Month
Gary Malcolm says mountains of leaves show road has been neglected for months
Graffiti on pavement on Avenue by E3 bus stop
Each month your local Liberal Democrat Councillors inspect a number of streets to assess how clean and tidy they are. Where they are found to be dirty we report the items to the Council to prompt them to rectify matters.
When we assessed The Avenue recently multiple “mountains” of built-up leaves, some even crushed to crumbs - which shows that the streets have been neglected for months.
When the autumn rain and the winter freeze comes, people will be injured by slipping on these so the Council needs to remove these build-ups on leaves as soon as possible.
On a positive note, I can see that many weeds have been removed which was not the case a few months ago. In many parts of Bedford Park Liberal Democrat Southfield Councillors have raised the issue of a lack of weeding and many streets have now been improved.
There were many trip hazards seen as well as uneven paving stones due to a lack of managing the growing street trees. On one occasion caused my girlfriend to trip, luckily without injuring herself.
Ealing Council only used a reduced inspection regime which takes place only once a year, which is insufficient given the evidence we have seen.
We then saw examples of fly tipping, including a partially broken wooden palette and a half pint of beer.
Part way up The Avenue we saw offensive graffiti about conspiracy theories on the floor and E3 bus stops. We have seen almost identical examples of this on Southfield Road and so the Council needs to not just remove them but look with the police into who is causing this criminal damage.
On what we have seen I would rate Ealing Council with only a D+ grade. They need to inspect more and ensure their contractors do their job properly.
If you see something that needs fixing in Southfield please let us know via: southfield@ealinglibdems.org.uk
Gary Malcolm
Liberal Democrat Southfield ward Councillor
September 7, 2020