Angie's Snippets

This page covers Angie's snippets - her views on issues of concern to residents in Ealing Central & Acton.
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On the plan for a third runway at Heathrow Enough is enough at Heathrow. They cannot go on making it bigger and busier time after time. It is time to consider other options like developing Gatwick where they actually want the expansion. West London residents already have to suffer far too many flights directly overhead, including night flights that shouldn't be happening at all. Another runway would be intolerable.

On CrossRail Ealing and Acton need CrossRail. That will be the single most important transport project that can provide a much-needed extra connection into Central London.  In the meantime we need more trains stopping at Ealing Broadway and Acton Mainline stations so that the regeneration of Ealing and Acton Town centre can gather pace.

On the West London Tram I always thought this was a preposterous idea. You only have to see the Uxbridge Road where it gets really quite narrow in places to understand that the tram would simply ruin the area, driving cars that have to use this road onto side streets. It would also have decimated the shops and small businesses all the way along.

On the western extension of the Congestion Charge Scheme Despite the fact that more than 70 percent of Londoners said "No" in the consultation, our Mayor, Mr. Livingstone, because it is one of his ideological obsessions, is pouring millions of pounds into extending his congestion charge.  It is going to make life miserable for thousands of residents in West London and will damage a lot of small businesses who play such an important role in the local community.

On the London Olympics I jumped for joy when London won its Olympic bid against Paris and I believe we can make a wonderful job of staging the games here. However Londoners in general need much more protection from potential bills stacking up in the future and West Londoners in particular need to see far more benefit flowing from the games than is apparent right now if they are to be enthusiastic supporters.

On launching the Assembly report on London's Tennis facilities Once a year Wimbledon puts London at the heart of the world of tennis. Why can't we do more to build on this and get more tennis going in London all year round? There is loads of potential out there amongst our youngsters which we need to tap into and encourage. Tennis is a great sport which everyone loves to watch. We need more home-grown champions to win for us.


On stamp duty and death tax cuts Like most people, I am in favour of more help for first time buyers who are facing spiralling housing costs. The Conservatives have pledged to increase the stamp duty threshold for first time buyers to £250,000. If you look at Ealing figures on the Land Registry website, you’ll see the average price of a flat/maisonette is £242,299, so this move will really help people in our community. I was also thrilled, as I know so many were, with the pledge to more than treble the inheritance tax threshold so that only millionaires will pay death taxes.

On NHS cuts It's a real case of "you wonder where the money went". How can the NHS be making cuts when we have spent so much extra money on it? We spent a morning campaigning outside the Central Middlesex Hospital against a rumoured proposal to close the A and E there and we got hundreds of signatures on our petition. But they are also closing the GP surgery there which will mean real hardship for many Ealing and Acton residents who will have to make a long and difficult journey to alternative surgeries.

On policing I welcome the arrival of the Safer Neighbourhood police teams in our community – a team dedicated to each ward - and I really hope that they are able to build confidence and help to fight the fear of crime. But to do so they must be visible on all our streets – not just on the high streets - and they need to be out at nights too, not just 9-5. What we need is to see our policemen out and about, not caught up with the paperwork back at base.

On the Damien Centre The Damien Centre, which I went to visit just before Christmas, provides invaluable support for the homeless in and around Acton. It also lays on one of the warmest and friendliest cups of tea with toast in town.

On the change to the clocks One of the easiest ways to improve life for Londoners would be to give them an extra hour at the time of day when it would be most useful – in the afternoons. That is what putting us onto permanent British Summer Time, with a double dose in the summer months, would do for us. The police say it would help cut crime, ROSPA says it would help cut accidents involving children on the way home from school and environmentalists point out that it would save electricity too. I reckon it's a no-brainer and I was really delighted when I got the support of the Assembly on this.



Published & Promoted by Rachel Stone on behalf of Ealing Central & Acton Conservatives, all at 91 Shakespeare Road, Acton, London W3 6SB