Constituency Matters
Onkar Sahota, Labour London Assembly Member for Ealing and Hillingdon
Over the last year, I have been working to address and represent the health concerns of those living in close proximity to the old Gas Works site being redeveloped as part of the Southall Waterside development scheme.
As residents of Southall will be all too aware of, there is a real lack of oversight in London around the environmental regulation of developments on brownfield sites. I raised this issue with the Mayor at September’s Mayor’s Question Time and was very pleased that he agrees with me that we need to see action take in this area. The key here is that there must be independent environmental monitoring in place in these schemes. Responsibility for this monitoring currently falls with the local authority. However, due to Government cuts to their budgets, councils usually have to pass this responsibility on to the developer.
It is entirely understandable that some residents struggle to express confidence in the impartiality or trustworthiness of this process when it is carried out by third parties with vested interests. Following my question to the Mayor, I met with Jules Pipe, the Deputy Mayor for Planning. This was a very productive meeting, and he assured me that the issues local residents have been facing with the Southall Waterside development are being taken very seriously at City Hall.
In addition to this, he indicated that work was being undertaken at City Hall to ensure that new contracts for developments on brownfield sites in London require independent air quality monitoring – at least those schemes that are large enough to be called in to the Mayor’s office. I am now hopeful that we can find a long term and sustainable solution to this issue.
Meanwhile, I will continue to campaign against the Government’s plans for Brexit, which as they stand, will fundamentally harm London. We are eagerly waiting to see the results of the vote on the Prime Ministers’ latest, and arguably not so new, iteration of the Withdrawal Agreement. Let’s be clear, we must avoid a no deal scenario at all costs and any deal put before Parliament, must also be put back to the people.
■ If you want to get in touch with Onkar Sahota AM, his email address is onkar.sahota@london.gov.uk