Earlier this year, Ealing Council began work with local people to develop a community-led vision for the future of Northolt through the Visions for Northolt programme.
Building on those conversations with local people, the council has worked with partners to secure further funding to develop a strategy to tackle inequality, create jobs and fight the climate crisis in the Northolt area.
The Mayor of London’s Future Neighbourhoods 2030 programme aims to boost London’s most disadvantaged and climate-vulnerable areas, including those areas most severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The funding of £30,000 will enable the council to work with local people and businesses to develop a Future Neighbourhood Strategy. This will be a community-led approach to tackle the environmental challenges faced by Northolt between now and 2030, drawing on ideas from local people to reduce waste, pollution and carbon emissions, and create new jobs in the green economy. This approach will celebrate and support existing organisations working towards tackling the climate and ecological emergency in Northolt.
Councillor Deirdre Costigan, the council’s cabinet member for climate action said: “Northolt is a great place but it could be so much better, and this money from the Mayor’s Future Neighbourhoods 2030 fund will make a real difference, alongside the grant we have already secured for active travel improvements.
“Northolt is within the top 20% of most deprived areas in England and this inequality has been further exacerbated as a result of COVID-19, with many Northolt residents having suffered job losses at Heathrow or worked in businesses that supported the aviation industry.
“That is why through our Plan for Good Jobs and Climate and ecological emergency strategy, we are working with local people and businesses to deliver more funding, more opportunities and more support for the area.”
Through the Visions for Northolt programme, local people spoke about the need to ensure that Northolt is clean, healthy and resilient, and the development and implementation of this community-led strategy is a great opportunity to explore this further.
The local partners are: Building Bridges, Trees for Cities, Fare City, Viking Primary School, and housing associations Network Homes and Catalyst Housing.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Climate action is about building a greener, healthier, fairer and more resilient city and ensuring future generations can thrive. Making positive changes to our homes and streets will benefit everyone, particularly those Londoners who experience the worst effects of toxic air and climate change. We’ve already made great progress – from cleaning the air with the recently extended Ultra Low Emission Zone, to ensuring all new developments are net-zero carbon through the London Plan.
“Future Neighbourhoods is about communities and local government working together to accelerate ambitious climate action and to lower emissions, clean up their air and transform their homes, showing what a net zero carbon London will look and feel like now.”
This funding is to be added to the £7.2m which was secured by the local authority and Transport for London (TfL) for active travel only last month which will be used to improve the Church Road / Mandeville Road (A312) and Kensington Road corridors for all road users.
