By Councillor Peter Mason, Leader of Ealing Council and Labour Member for Southall Green

In my first act as Leader of Ealing Council, this morning (Wednesday 19th May)  I’ve written to campaigners in Southall with my commitment to act on air quality and the gasworks development

I’m a Southall councillor, and I know local people have been very genuinely distressed by the odour, noise, dust and extra traffic from the site.

This is a development being built by a private developer, and we don’t have enough powers as a local authority to regulate and monitor the site. That’s a fact, but it’s not a good enough answer for local communities concerned about the health of themselves and their loved ones.

So I want to make clear right from the start that we are on your side. From now on, we will fight with you:

• To take a strong stance with private developers and put local people in control of regeneration in their communities
• To lobby government for stronger powers to intervene when the community tells us building works are affecting their quality of life
• And we’re going to start the independent air quality monitoring local people asked for.

I want to thank air quality campaigners like CASH for amplifying the concerns of their communities, and  I share their determination to protect the health and quality of life of everyone in Southall.

We are on your side, and we can’t change Ealing for the better without you.