There has been much talk about Southall both in the national media and on local Tory Councillors blogs recently.
Much of this at best has been ill informed and sensationalised and at worst, in the case of Tory Cllr Benjamin Dennehy, it has been sadly insulting to the people of Southall. I was very disappointed to hear such negative and divisive talk from a local Councillor that took us back decades in terms of its tone and ran counter to years of effort to bring all our communities together.
The Tories have rightly suspended Dennehy but there are other local Tory Councillors that I have written to David Cameron about. Cllr Costello sprung to Cllr Dennehy’s defence after his outrageous comments and Cllr Taylor has made a very offensive blog post about Punjabis. Unfortunately Cllr Dennehy was given the green light by his own leader Cllr David Millican when he made ill judged remarks about immigration when discussing the Council’s budget in a full Council meeting.
All a bit of a sorry mess but I don’t want to dwell on this as the real story about Southall is so much more positive. The real conversation about Southall is currently underway and is being badged as the Southall Big Conversation. Two weeks ago I attended a meeting at Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College’s Southall site where representatives from all parts of Southall met with Ealing Council leader Julian Bell, Borough Police Commander Andy Rowell and myself to discuss “big ideas” that could be developed to improve Southall and develop a vision for its future that will be encapsulated in a “Charter” due to be launched in the summer.
The Labour Council have pledged to invest over £12m in Southall tackling congestion, the shortage of car parking, improving the pedestrian experience in the town centre, providing a new chef training facility to provide much needed job opportunities for some of our young people and improved sports facilities at
Spikesbridge Park and Warren Farm. The Council and Police are also working in partnership to bring down crime and tackle the “beds in sheds” issue.
The vast majority of people in Southall are law-abiding and proud of their town and want to see it get better. They have high aspirations and ideas about having a first class university come to Southall and developing a bond for entrepreneurs and investors to invest in Southall were enthusiastically received at the “big ideas”
Southall Big Conversation meeting.
This Friday and Saturday (March 30-31) the Southall Big Conversation will take to the streets of Southall from a hub at Southall Town Hall and I encourage all Southall residents to have their say. The future of Southall is positive and I want everyone to be a part of it.
Virendra Sharma MP
