VIRENDRA SHARMA MP SLAMS MAYOR’S DECISION TO GO AHEAD WITH SOUTHALL GAS WORKS DEVELOPMENT

Virendra Sharma MP has slammed the Tory Mayor of London, Boris Johnson’s decision to give the go-ahead for the Southall Gas Works development.  The decision was taken by Boris Johnson at City Hall on Thursday 25^th March 2010. Virendra Sharma MP and Labour Councillors from Southall attended the meeting. Southall Tory Councillors were conspicuous by their absence.

Speaking outside the Gasworks site to local residents on Monday afternoon Virendra Sharma said, “Tory Mayor Boris Johnson has ridden rough-shod over the views of Southall residents by giving the go-ahead to this huge development on the Southall Gas Works site.  The development is not acceptable to the people of Southall because with up to 3,750 residential units it is clearly too large and would result in massive congestion in Southall. The Tory Mayor’s decision to not allow more than 2,500 units unless the South Road bridge is widened makes absolutely no difference to the congestion Southall residents face because of this proposal. The whole scheme should have been scrapped and sent back to the drawing board.”

He continued, “The sheer size of the development will also put substantial pressure on educational, healthcare and other public services that are currently already straining to cope. The proposed Primary School and Medical Centre are just not sufficient.”

“The retail proposals are also based on pre-financial crisis research and are woefully out of date.”

“I am also very concerned about the contamination of the site and the proposed remediation work which has not been properly thought through and could have a detrimental effect on local people’s health.”

“The issue of proper compensation for the owners of properties earmarked to be demolished in Beaconsfield Road, The Crescent and Randolph Road has also got to be addressed.”

Cllr Ranjit Dheer also addressed residents outside the Gasworks and said, “Southall Labour Councillors attended the meeting where Boris Johnson made this decision and along with other community representatives argued passionately for this development to be scrapped. It was revealing that none of the Southall Tory Councillors could be bothered to turn up and fight for Southall residents. They abandoned Southall and made no effort to persuade the Tory Mayor to turn this disastrous proposal down. If they had any principles they would resign from the Tory Party and stand with the people of Southall but they will never do that. When Southall is grid-locked with traffic local residents will know who to blame.”  

ENDS