Some residents wanting to participate in the Ealing Southall's Community Forum hosted by Ealing Southall MP were in for a surprise.

How do they participate? There was no zoom meeting information provided in any email. Logging onto Eventbrite website was no better, as it was an endless route to nowhere.

One participant received the email at 11:10 when the meeting started at 11:00 am. When did he read the email and join? Much later.

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The meeting on Saturday 4 February was chaired by Harsev Bains, the chair of the Southall Community Alliance.

The Panel included Cllr Steve Donnelly (East Acton ward and Cabinet member for Inclusive economy) and Mark Titcom, the managing director of Ealing Hospital.

It also included Inspector Ballard representing the Police for London’s West Area BCU and Vicky Fewkes, director and supervising solicitor at Ealing Law Centre.

The total number of participants was around 20. There were 4 LBOE councillors present including 2 of the possible 16 Southall councillors. This has nothing to do with Mr Sharma’s appeal. The residents are as active as the councillors. This could be due to low expectations of anything being done.

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Mr. Sharma, what is your position on Warren Farm?

Angela Fonso asked Mr Sharma about his position on Warren Farm? But before that she raised a few interesting points.

She is a resident of old Southall, one of the most deprived areas in the borough of Ealing. One argument put forwards by local councillors is that children in Southall need these sports facilities.

She said that in Old Southall, the Spencer Street MUGA is partially refurbished as a result of her campaigning (not the local councillors).

She also said that the sports facilities MUGA in Southall Recreation Ground are in a terrible state, really neglected, run down and has worn out surfaces.

We need good local facilities, close to where people actually live. Parents are not going to take their children to Warren Farm as it's very inaccessible.

Re-wilding has already taken place at Warren Farm. Developing a sports centre there and football pitches is effectively de-wilding the area.

So, Mr. Sharma, what is your position on Warren Farm?

Mr Sharma’s response was that he has always declared his indirect vested interest. His son and grandson run Southall Football club and (partially) own it.

Mr Sharma has not approached Ealing Council on this matter in any way. It is local matter for Ealing Council to decide. He will not interfere with their decision or try to influence it. He will support whatever they decide and will not be commenting on this subject.

You would think that we decided to concrete the whole place over

Cllr Steve Donnelly said that he "was a member of the cabinet that made the decision to progress the study to redevelop it jointly as for sports facility and the largest rewilding project in our region."

[He mentioned sports facility first but everywhere else the nature reserve is mentioned first. And not even in the same sentence. Why?]

"But everything that's been reported about it, you would think that we decided to concrete the whole place over."

"People talk about us, abandoning the rewilding. We're expanding the Warren Farm site with the aid of land that we have acquired from our partners Imperial College and at least 62% of the expanded site will be the nature reserve."

"The cricket pitches are not easily provided in a inner city environment and there's a big demand for those things."

"We've let the community down because we didn't have the money in allowing Warren Farm to fall into ruin. There are derelict facilities there that I think we have a responsibility to deal with to remove, to replace, in some way, simply for public safety, and we're going to do that."

"We're going to do more.
We're going to produce quality sports facilities and the biggest rewilding facility nature reserve in in West London."

"So we're going to do both those things and we're going to have the best of both worlds."

"You would think that we decided to concrete the whole place over"?
Is that due to bad reporting or misinformation or someone trying to muddy the water?

Forget about how much Warren Farm nature Reserve will be expanded for a minute. Has the council stated how much of the current Nature Reserve will be lost? If not, why not? Surely you need these basic simple facts before you can make any sensible decision?

"You would think that we decided to concrete the whole place over"?
Does not provide ANY relevant information. It is used to muddy the water.

Ealing Council decided to demolish the Tudor Rose, the only Afro-Caribbean venue in West London because they did not did not recognise its importance. When they were made to recognise it, their solution was to relocate them to a different location. Relocate what? The building? No, just assist them to find a different venue. In the end, they were forced to leave it alone. Even physically moving the building would not have been acceptable.

A bit more information may be added soon.