This week we, as your local council, set a budget for the next financial year, which runs from 1 April 2025 to the end of March 2026.

We have a legal duty to set a balanced budget and, by being prudent, ruthlessly efficient and focused on value for money, we have always done so.

This has been achieved without making some of the significant cuts other councils have needed to make.

In recent years, we have experienced a very difficult economic climate. However, by continuing to be sensible with your money, we will find new and better ways to deliver for our communities.

We have lots to live up to. In last year’s residents’ survey, 92% of people said they liked the area they live in and 87% said the council does a good job. We will do all we can to make sure this sense of pride and identity continues in the year ahead.

These are just some of the plans for the year ahead:

• town teams will be set up, and they will start to spend money on community projects of your choice. It follows the Your Voice, Your Town programme of more than a year of meetings, events and asking you what your priorities are in your neighbourhoods
• this localised spending will be made possible through the new Community Infrastructure Levy starting this year. This will make sure money received from developers (as part of building projects across the borough) gets spent on community priorities right across the borough
• we will publish our new community charter this year, to ensure we have a new and improved approach to engaging with you
• work on building the new Gurnell Leisure Centre should move ever closer, with initial planning permission having recently been given

Our record £28million transport investment programme will continue:

• £6.25million will be spent on improving roads and pavements – including 8km of road resurfaced in the spring, and 7.5km of repaving
• this follows the work done in 2024, when 3,208 potholes were repaired; and almost 4.5km of new or improved cycle ways and pavement was added
• this year, the Get Southall Moving programme will bring new, wider pavements, new cycle routes, safer crossing points and the removal of litter and overgrown vegetation
• cycling will get a big push in 2025, with 2 new cycle paths and other improvements along Boston Road in Hanwell and Park Royal in Acton
• this follows the work of 2024, which included 95 new parking bays for e-bikes and e-scooters being added across Greenford, Northolt and Southall and 25 new bike hangars boroughwide
• we will continue working towards a new regional park for the borough, following last year’s opening of Pear Tree Park and the early completion of our pledge to see fruit tree orchards in all 7 of our towns
• we will be seeking Local Nature Reserve status for Horsenden Hill and the rewilded Warren Farm, meaning long-term protection for these green spaces
• after opening the new Library of Things, we will continue finding new ways to help people to reuse and recycle things
• we will set up hundreds more apprenticeships, and help even more local employers become London Living Wage accredited
• we will help improve community safety through our alleyway gating scheme, better street lighting (323 new LED lamps were installed last year, with 1,500 more to come) and the new Safer Ealing website (saferealing.co.uk)
• and we will strive to give all our children the best start in life by making sure the right early help services are available in the right place; and by continuing to support our fantastic local schools – 98% of which are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted – by providing more facilities for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

We can’t and won’t shy away from the financial challenges we face, but we are weathering the storms that have crippled some councils in recent years. This includes the cost-of-living crisis having driven an ever-higher number of residents to ask the council for support – people of all ages.

And London, as we all know, continues to be in the grip of a housing crisis. 1-in-50 Londoners are currently homeless and living in temporary accommodation. We are doing everything we can in Ealing to prevent people from becoming homeless. For example, allocating £150million for new council-owned temporary accommodation, to provide desperately needed homes for families who are unable to find, or afford, one.

The new government has been able to give us a little bit more money this year to help cover the gap in funding for essential services that it is our duty to provide, from social care and schools, to rubbish collection and pothole repairs.

We know times are financially tough for many people. Support is available through the council to the people who are struggling most to pay their bills, including council tax. Information is available on the council’s website, go to a search engine online and search for “Ealing Council council tax reduction”.

This budget is a step towards wider recovery for the council. The government has promised us financial stability over the next few years, and we will use that stability to deliver what residents want. The exciting projects we are paying for through this budget shows we are delivering even when money is tight. With greater stability in our finances, we are certain that we will be able to transform local services for the better.