Ealing’s stock of housing dates mostly from the first half of the 1900s. Many of the tower blocks are of poor design and in urgent need of repair. What is less obvious is the number of houses outside estates, which are not regularly inspected and where standards have continued to fall well behind the private sector.
Liberal Democrats see the council’s housing responsibilities as the provision of affordable housing for key workers such as teachers and nurses, and social housing for those who are not wealthy enough to arrange their own housing within the private sector. We will also campaign to persuade the government that councils should be allowed to borrow against future revenues for the purpose of effecting housing repairs.
We will initiate a detailed assessment of the needs of all council estates, to ensure that long-standing repairs are dealt with as soon as funds become available.
We will set up a repairs hotline. If repairs are not completed within 6 weeks, then residents will have the right to get repairs done privately and send the council the bill.
We will introduce new mobile caretakers to work across all council accomodation.
We will invest in improving the standards of cleaning and litter removal on council estates. We will invest to ensure that the street lights are kept working.
Liberal Democrats will embark on a much wider consultation with tenants to ascertain their needs and aspirations, allow them to vote on issues which concern them — and then treat the votes as binding in adopting the policies for which they vote.
We will encourage the redevelopment of brown field sites for key workers such as nurses, teachers and social workers who otherwise would not be able to afford to live in Ealing.
Sustainable housing offers many benefits to the environment. We will ensure that the council informs Ealing residents how they can, at low or no cost, reduce the amount of energy consumed in their homes. We will also develop and enforce the borough’s Unitary Development Plan (UDP) so that developers create more sustainable housing.
We will increase the number of units available for large families in Ealing.
We will bring in more concierges and estate wardens to live on larger estates, who can help to focus the needs of council tenants and help give the community greater control over behaviour on the estates.
We will improve the in-house management of the Vertex contract. If we don't see dramatic improvement in the service within 6 months of election we will sack Vertex.
We will encourage better standards of design and sustainability when considering applications for new housing and the conversion of older housing, and impose similar standards on housing associations.
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Published by Martin Tod on behalf of Ealing Liberal Democrats all at 23 Fairlawn Court, Acton Lane, London W4 5EE. Printed and hosted by freenetname, 113 - 123 Upper Richmond Road, London SW15 2TL