Accusations that a £5.5million project in Ealing is pointless have been dismissed by the Council.

Councillor Jason Stacey, Conservative, has claimed that lavish spending on a new car park in Southall is unjustified.

Labour Councillor Julian Bell has branded the claims ‘utter nonsense, misleading and irresponsible’.

“Councillor Stacey has slipped into the role of opposition far too easily and is using cheap headlines which are utter nonsense,” he said.

“I am committed to spending money in Acton and Ealing but this is far from unjustified.”

He claimed accusations that the existing car park is never full to capacity are based on old figures, and they do not represent the issue of congestion during peak shopping hours.

He said: “There has been a long held request from residents in Southall for a new car park.”

Car parking and congestion is a severe problem, and has a detrimental effect on trade and job opportunities.

Employment is Councillor Bell’s biggest concern and he believes that investing £4.8million on a new car park and £700,000 on town centre regeneration will be an investment for the future, boosting trade and helping secure jobs in the area.

Ealing Council’s decision to spend £4.6million on computer upgrades and shortening desks at their Headquarters by 1ft were scrutinised as ‘nuts’.

Councillor Bell’s response was to highlight that the old Windows 2000 system, no longer supported by Microsoft, was outdated and prone to viruses which in the past have cost the Ealing tax payers £1million to rectify.

He added: “Making the desks smaller at Perceval House will allow room for 400 extra employees.

“This allows us to be more economical by closing offices spread around the borough that will not need to be used, saving millions of pounds in maintenance costs.”

The use of Golden Hello’s, financial bonuses for social workers, were also defended.

Councillor Bell claimed the increase in pay to social services results in an increase of the best possible social workers, and therefore maximises protection for vulnerable children.

“Don’t play politics with child safe guarding,” he added.

Councillor Stacey’s concerns come after job cuts in the enviro-crime department, street cleaning, graffiti teams and park rangers and the closure of Albert Dane Day Care Centre.

He claims the Council are overlooking these much needed teams and projects.