12:22pm Wednesday 15th October 2008
By Alex Hayes
A SKATE park will be built somewhere in the borough after £200,000 was earmarked for the project last night.
The cash is coming from a special £1m children’s fund set up in the last budget. More than 6,000 youngsters came forward to say what they wanted done with the cash.
Other projects given the go-ahead by the cabinet, the decision making arm of Ealing Council, include a new dance studio, climbing walls in Acton and Northolt, a new BMX track in Northolt Park, and a music studio at the young adult centre in Southall.
Councillor Julian Bell, the leader of the Labour group, asked councillors whether they would put more provisions in for girls, suggesting some of the proposals on the table would appeal mainly to boys.
He was told the council had followed up on the recommendations they had received from teenagers, by Councillor Ian Gibb, who is in charge of children’s services.
Housing was also strongly on the cabinet agenda last night, with reviews of both the lettings plan and allocation schemes.
Councillor Liz Brookes, who is the Labour spokesman for housing, said: “I’m concerned with the idea of putting pregnant women into two bedroomed flats when you say there is a shortage of these properties.
“I’m worried about how this will look for people who have been on the housing list waiting for a transfer for a long time.”
Councillor Stacey agreed with this, and refused to pass the lettings plan until officers could assure him this was not in the council’s policy.
However, plans for a Golden Transfer scheme to reward well-behaved tenants came a step closer with the restructuring of the different bands tenants fall into for housing need.
As well as this plans to make Castlebar Station in Hanwell more accessible to disabled people came a step closer after plans were approved by councillors.
The council is also now looking for developers to draw up plans for the regeneration of the Copley Close estate in Hanwell and Rectory Park in Northolt, as part of the scheme to renew run-down and ‘high intervention’ estates.
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