A TOP Tory councillor has hit out at opposition councillors after they failed to turn up to a meeting to discuss ways to spend money on improving facilities for youngsters.

Councillor Ian Gibb, the deputy leader of Ealing Council, criticised the three Labour members after they failed to show at the youth provision specialist scrutiny panel on July 2.

At the meeting Tory councillors agreed to dish out nearly £350,000 of the £1m up for grabs to seven projects across the borough.

Cllr Gibb said: “It is disappointing Labour are not playing their part in the process.

“They voted against the budget for youth facilities at this year’s budget and now they are not turning up to meetings where they could have an input.

“Labour claim to care about youth but by not engaging in the process they are shortchanging their own voters.”

However, Councillor Brian Reeves, the chief whip for Labour, said the three councillors could not make the meeting because they were tied up at another council event.

He said: “There was a meeting in Southall which our councillors were told started at 5.30pm about the regeneration there.

“However, when they turned up they were told it would not be starting until 7pm, and there was not enough time in between to make the substitutions for the youth panel.

“It’s unfair to say we do not care about the youth in Ealing, as we have our deputy leader Ranjit Dheer on the committee, and Patricia Walker has done a lot of work on this already.

“If you look at our spending record compared with that of the Conservative council you will see that actually we care a lot more than them.”