There was a protest outside Southall Town Hall when the Leader of Ealing Council, Cllr Peter Mason, came to speak about the Southall Rest programme.

Peter Mason was invited to speak by the Southall Community Alliance at their monthly forum/meeting at Southall Town Hall on Thursday 27th October 2022.

It was opportunity for residents to hear about plans relating to Southall and Ealing.

Admittance to the Southall Community Alliance (SCA) meetings was by appointment or prior invitation only due to the limited space available. The SCA management also reserved the right to refuse admission to the venue.

---

There were about 40 people at the meeting which included the Leader of Ealing Council, Cllr Peter Mason, Cllr Jasbir Anand, Cllr Shital Manro, Cllr Sarfraz khan, Cllr John Martin, Cllr Surinder Jassal and Cllr Faduma Mohamed. All the 40 seats were occupied.

There were up to 30 noisy protesters outside playing music and making speeches that made listening a bit difficult.

The protestors were “raising awareness of Ealing Council's failure to engage the public on the Southall Reset Plan at an open access inclusive event”.

They also wanted to “demand that Ealing Council bring back ward forums enabling greater engagement with residents”. They also have issues with the lack of response to their pleas of help regarding the Southall Gasworks development (The Green Quarter).

---

The “open access inclusive event” took place at the working offices of the Southall Community Alliance which has limited space available.

This was not a ward forum meeting. It was not organised by Ealing Council. It was just the monthly SCA forum/meeting organised in their working office. The only difference was that the Leader of Ealing Council would be speaking. It may appear like a ward forum to some, but that is not the case.

The restrictions on who could attend the meeting were due to "Our responsibility is to everyone here. We respect our elected counsellors. We respect our (council) officers who don't come here to be interrogated".

Mr Ravi Jain said that “People are angry and frustrated. They are disruptive because that is the only way they know.”

The response from Cllr Mason was that "The culture of an organisation is set by its leadership. I'm really clear that we're doing things differently. The pace of organisations is changing and the pace of the council is changing. It is slow."

Amarjit asked “You mentioned that the community needs to tell you the problems. Is there a magic number of times they have to tell you?”

Attendees were only allowed one question each. Many were there to listen. Even then the SCA management said something that equates to “Time is up. This is a council building and it needs to close at 8pm. Please leave“. That applied to everyone even the Leader of Ealing Council and the SCA management.

Had people been allowed to demand their xxxx rights to ask as many questions as they liked, on any topic they liked then not many people would have had a say.

The “meeting went ahead despite considerable disruption”. That disruption was outside Southall Town Hall but it was very loud.

How would you define someone using a sound system to play music and make speeches for 2 continuous hours. One interpretation is “I am protesting peacefully”. If it was happening outside your home, you would define that as noisy and causing disruption/disturbance. Is that belittling the protest? Or just stating a fact?

Is it possible to have a normal meeting inside, when that is happening outside?

The Southall Community Alliance “didn't show any community spirit” when they changed the meeting to invite only. They did not change it at the last minute. Circumstances last week forced them to change their policy.

Should they give priority to their members and regular attendees? Or should they let anyone in who wants to disrupt the meeting? They can only accommodate a total of 40 people in their working office.

They could not have accommodated 70 people. They barely managed to please the 40 people inside. They could not have appeased another 30 people.

False allegation against the SCA, that have been doing the rounds for years, do not promote an inclusive environment. You can't do that and expect to be given EXTRA privileges.

All charities/community groups can apply for funding from different sources like Ealing Council. They in turn have to deliver services that the project funder wants. They do not get to choose how to spend the money. The SCA is no different to other groups.

The SCA did not fund the "Save Southall Town Hall" campaign, "Save Southall Youth Centre (YAC)" campaign or "Save the Green, Southall" campaign. It merely allowed concerned residents to use their offices once a week for their meetings.

The above are just examples to demonstrate that the SCA cannot give out money to anyone who wants it. It needs money to operate. It can only advise, what money is available, for what services, from where.

Every organisation has a simple basic principle. One member one vote. The minority cannot dictate to the majority.

It does not help us or them. It does not help the SCA or the protesters.

Mr Ravi Jain said that “People are angry and frustrated. They are disruptive because that is the only way they know.” Ealing Council needs to improve their communications skills. The protesters need to constructively engage with others.

Had the protest outside been less noisy (and disruptive), then they would have been taken more seriously by all parties.

Cllr Mason said "We sort of drawn up the drawbridge, which disengage, brought down the shutters because we feared a conversation that we know that we would otherwise need to happen. And to some extent, it's born out by what's happening outside today."

He also said "We believe in the idea of compromise, in grown up conversations".

"This is an open conversation that will continue and you will see that happening because our members will be here, our councillors, our officers will be here."

The Southall Reset programme, we are told, is about resetting the relationship with the residents of Southall.

Cllr Mason also said "You, like the people outside need to hold us accountable for it. If I make a promise, I wanted you to make sure that I'm shooting my words".

It's time for a constructive dialogue (with everyone).