A new community office has opened for residents of the Havelock estate in Southall, bringing together teams from across Ealing Council to offer local people a better service.  

The Havelock Advice Venue aims to enable the council to work more collaboratively with the community, by putting residents first. Residents will be able to access a range of council services including housing, safer communities, adult social care, and financial inclusion. Help from community organisations will also be available.

As part of a community-led approach, the council has been working closely with residents on the estate to understand the underlying issues that they face. At a recent community drop-in event, residents told the council that they had benefitted from being able to speak to services locally.

‘We are being helped’

Manjula and Mradula are sisters who live on the estate. They said: “We came in today and got answers straight away. It’s nice to know that someone is listening to us and we feel confident that we are being helped. People here are nice and friendly and approachable. It’s also nice to speak to someone face-to-face, especially when your hearing is not so good!”

The office will initially be open from 9am to 5pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Local residents could change this if they feel that this does not meet their needs.

The opening of the new office on Monday 28 October was attended by local residents as well as Councillor Louise Brett, the council’s cabinet member for safe and genuinely affordable homes, Councillor John Martin, the council’s chief executive Tony Clements, and strategic director for housing, Nicky Fiedler.

‘Listening to our residents’

Councillor Brett said: “Working with our communities and engaging with our residents is vital to understanding the challenges they face where they live. We want to make sure that we are listening to our residents and empowering them to support the council vision of building stronger neighbourhoods.”