What’s happening in the year ahead? Quite a lot. From new ways for you to have a say on your neighbourhood, to big changes to our parks, and much more besides.

The long-awaited new Local Plan, that will shape the future of the borough over the next 15 years, is reaching the point it can be finalised and ‘adopted’ by the council. It has been several years in the making, with ongoing consultations.

Lots of the council’s priorities for the year ahead have been informed, or supported, by the annual residents’ survey. The results of the latest one have just been published.

A voice – and funds

New ‘town teams’ will be set up in each of our 7 towns and will start to spend money on community projects of your choice. It follows the Your Voice, Your Town programme of meetings and events asking what your priorities were. This localised spending will be made possible through funds from the new Community Infrastructure Levy, which will make use of money received from developers as part of building projects across the borough.

The town teams will form an important part of the council’s new community charter, which will set out how residents should be able to engage with the council. And the ground floor of the council’s Perceval House headquarters in Ealing should move closer to being opened up for community use.

Our borough has just been awarded Borough of Sanctuary accreditation, providing an official endorsement of how welcoming it is to refugees fleeing conflict.

Getting around

To build on the number of people choosing walking or cycling to make short journeys around the borough already, the council is going to be investing in new cycle routes in Hanwell, Park Royal and Southall. But it is also going to add another 19 bike hangers to reach a target of 150 being available across the borough. And another 7 school streets schemes will be put in place, meaning 50 of our schools will be benefiting from the traffic calming restrictions.

More than £6million is earmarked for repairing and resurfacing pavements and roads.

And tackling the anti-social and expensive problem of fly-tipping is high on the agenda this year.

Parks and playgrounds

Talking of getting outside, there is lots planned for our ‘great outdoors’. Since 2022, the council has been working towards a target of planting 50,000 new trees. This year, it will plant the remaining 9,000. Meanwhile, further steps will be taken to protect 3 green spaces, including the rewilded Warren Farm and Horsenden Hill, with Local Nature Reserve status. Another 6 new parks and open spaces will follow hot on the heels of Pear Tree Park, which was opened last year. And, as if that wasn’t enough, the council has approval for a plan to create a regional park and should soon be able to announce the preferred location for it.

Playgrounds across the borough have been receiving a revamp thanks to a £2million scheme that will be completed this year.

And work on building the new Gurnell Leisure Centre, just recently demolished, is due to begin – complete with swimming pool, skate park and much more.

Jobs, skills and homes

Training and learning support will be extended to help hundreds of residents facing the toughest barriers to employment like disability, young people with special educational needs (SEND), and recovery from long term health challenges.

This will include a new Ealing Learning and Skills Hub. And 3 new ‘learning zones’ in Greenford, Perivale, and Ealing, to complement the 3 freshly revamped libraries. Meanwhile, there will be a pilot scheme to help people living in temporary accommodation find routes into jobs; there will be a new work experience programme for care leavers; and an extra 33 SEND places will be created in local schools by September.

Tackling homelessness will continue to be high on the council’s agenda, but also the work to protect those in homes already. A new Private Renters’ Association (PRA) is due to start meeting from October 2025 to support the 15,000 families renting homes privately in the borough. And the £150million investment will continue in 100 new safe and secure places for people in temporary accommodation to stay. These are often families facing eviction, or homelessness.