Who is the voice for the people of Southall? Is it the Southall Community Alliance or the protesters outside Southall Town on Thursday or some other group?

There have been voices saying that the Southall Community Alliance (SCA) should not be treated as the voice of the Southall Community.

The same voices make unfounded accusations against the SCA, that have already been rejected by everyone.

How many community groups in Southall (or Ealing), are calling for any other groups funding to be stopped?

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What was the view of the protesters outside Southall Town Hall on Thursday 27 October 2022? This is what Joe Bhangu chair of CASH (Clean Air for Southall and Hayes) said:

“Southall Community Alliance are taking money from developers. They are also taking grants from any charity that they can, under the false pretence, that they are the voice for Southall people. Which is a lie and a bluff. They are only fooling themselves.“

[That is a lot to say without a shred of evidence to support it.]

“I've been looking into Southall Community Alliance and they say they have 97 other communities (groups). A few months ago, they could not bring together nine people.”

[That irrelevant point was raised at the recent Public Inquiry into the CPO of the Green, Southall. Matthew Nunn, the Inquiry Inspector dismissed that argument by saying “well, there aren’t many people here either”. There is no link between the Southall Community Alliance and the CPO of the Green, Southall.]

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"So, I request to the leader of Ealing Council, Mr. Peter Mason, do not be fooled by these people. They are not the voice of Southall. The Southall people are standing outside in the cold because these people want to gag us and we will not be gagged by these people.”

“Southall Community Alliance Out. Southall Community Alliance Out. Southall Community Alliance Out.“

[Is that the voice of the Southall community? The 99 or so community groups that work with the SCA would disagree.]

"Now, we understand that they're always going for grants. They get grants from the London borough of Ealing and all they are interested in is filling their pockets".

[All community groups apply for grants to provide services.]

"They have not spent one penny with the community. We have been having our weekly meeting, when we were fighting Ealing Council on the CPO of the Green, Southall. They have never ever been standing with the residents of Southall. They are only interested in being the voice of Ealing Council".

[Those meetings (the CPO of the Green, Southall and Save Southall Youth Centre campaigns) were held in the offices of the Southall Community Alliance inside Southall Town Hall. The SCA staff/trustees were present at those meetings. They could have gone home at 6pm every Wednesday but chose to stay until 8pm. They were also part of the "Save Southall Town Hall" and “Save the Tudor Rose” campaigns. The SCA were helping the community to fight their battles against Ealing Council. The SCA also provided the tea/coffee.]

"Southall Community Alliance Out. Southall Community Alliance Out. Southall Community Alliance Out."

[The same people that welcomed you into their offices?]

“Peter Mason. I request to you this evening, that you stop giving these people grants because those grants are being misused.”

[It’s easy to make baseless accusations. These have been made in the past and found to be baseless.]

“They (the SCA) are not the voice of Southall and they have never been the voice of Southall.”

[I don’t think Peter Mason, the Leader of Ealing Council, feels that the protesters are the voice of Southall. They are just ONE group in Southall.]

Would the SCA or any other organisation, after accusations are being made against them, welcome such people into their offices?

The SCA may not be perfect but it driven by its members and supporters. One member one vote. Be an active member or a silent member, that is the individual (groups) choice.

What were the protesters really protesting about?
Slagging off the SCA or some other important issues?

Cllr Peter Mason said "We believe in the idea of compromise, in grown up conversations".

I doubt it very much, that Cllr Mason felt, that these protesters wanted a “grown up conversation”.

Listen to the video here. The video caption and video content is different.

Is it an attempt to find out, how the funding for specific projects is spent? The funders have mechanisms in place to do that. In fact, they want to know that before they award the money.

Information freely available to everyone, on the internet, states that the funding for the ‘Southall Connect’ project was £135K for the year ending 31 March 2021. Southall Community Alliance provides activities at 18 activity hubs with at least 10 other (community groups) partners.

The ‘Ealing Community Network’ project received £30K for the year ending 31 March 2021.

Funding for these projects comes from Ealing Council and comes as “restricted funds”, which means that the funder specifies how the money is spent.

Over 96% of all the funding of the SCA comes as “restricted funds”.

All this information has been freely available online.

It's time for a constructive dialogue (with everyone).