Questions for Cllrs @_petermason, @DrAyshaRaza, @jkblacker, @JasbirAnand2 and @kamnagpal on tackling inequalities, healthy lives, thriving communities, a fairer start, specifically in reference to the ongoing air pollution and odour nuisance from the old Southall Gasworks site.
1) Why was there no Equalities Impact Assessment, taking into account the local area's existing economic and health inequalities?
2) Why weren't local residents informed about the risks (including …
Some perennial problems that our elected representatives seem to be unable - or unwilling - to do anything about.
Some things never change! 
Priority from nine years ago - clean streets! 
Julian Bell's Ten Year Plan. 
40% 'affordable homes' then. 30% 'genuinely affordable homes 'now.
Toilets?! 
'We care about Southall', they say.
That must be why they handed it over to the developers, and turned into a concrete jungle. 
Encouraging people to take more exercise by …
Imported from the original Twitter thread (via Thread Reader App), where you will find a better and complete viewing experience.
Look at these bricks! 
Is 2500:
A) The year the new cinema in Ealing will finally be opened to the public?
B) The price of a return flight to Nice airport and five nights in Cannes?
C) The number of genuinely affordable homes to be built by Ealing Council in the four years 2018-22?
GAH! 
898: October 2019: (ealing.gov.uk/news/article/1…)
1355: May 2020: ( …
Little did we know at the time, but these little strawberries were usually engulfed in a toxic plume of benzene, naphthalene, and god only knows what else.
Sensibly, the wife refused to eat them.
We later discovered that official planning documents for the nearby old gasworks, which was being dug up in the open air for new homes to be built on the contaminated land, stated that no vegetables should be grown on the land. Ever!
Ealing Council Leader Julian Bell publicly blamed 'the wrong kind of …
Took me an hour (as opposed to 10 minutes) to drive my lad home from school this afternoon, thanks in part to the High Traffic Neighbourhood (‘Improving access for HGVs’) in Southall ‘Green’.
Like a rat, I tried the side streets and back roads option and found those to be jammed, too, and Scotts Road - although confusingly still two-way throughout - is now No Entry from the eastern end.
I would have abandoned my car and got out and walked/scooted home, but there was …
In July 2019, I attended a public meeting with Public Health England to discuss air pollution problems created by the development of the old gasworks site.
At this meeting, I asked Public Health England if it is true that people with Asian and African heritage are genetically more at risk from poisoning from naphthalene – one of the main causes of the stink coming from the gasworks site.
Do you know what they said?
Yes.
Yes, Asian and African people are genetically more at risk from poisoning …
@Southall_Wside @theCALMzone @bonappetit #StopPoisoningSouthall @SouthallGaswork
You guys are really taking the piss now, aren't you?
@Southall_Wside @theCALMzone @bonappetit @SouthallGaswork .@PHE_London report on the health impact of @Southall_Wside @SouthallGaswork: 
@Southall_Wside @theCALMzone @bonappetit @SouthallGaswork @PHE_London Residents' own survey conducted a year ago:
Not sure how @theCALMzone think that #BerkeleyHomes and @Southall_Wside are in any way an …
‘A lack of scrutiny,’ says John Freeman, Regulatory Services Officer at Ealing Council.
He’s talking about lessons to be learned from the council’s response to the new asphalt plant built in neighbouring Hillingdon borough in 2014.
‘We didn’t expect there to be so much odour from a new building, or so many complaints.’
Moving swiftly on.
The highly contaminated old gasworks site in Southall has been kicking up a stink, too.
Carcinogenic benzene and naphthalene, among a cocktail …
Original Atkins report data doesn’t add up, and is full of holes.
PHE’s method of presenting data is unscientific and misleading, and appears designed to minimise the levels of toxic emissions.
Average levels of benzene and naphthalene at the southern boundary near the soil hospital have been up to 2 times higher than the legal limit for at least seven months.
This is a follow-up post to my previous PHE cover-up note.
Here is a graphical representation of what my earlier post found - …
Scientific and medical research shows that people of Asian and African ethnicity are genetically more susceptible to naphthalene poisoning via inhalation.
@PHE_London representative Robie Kamanyire falsely claimed this is from ingestion only.
youtube.com/embed/ZdTj-l3S…
@PHE_London 50% ingested, 50% inhaled vapours.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.11…
@PHE_London Roby Kamanyire has emailed the following response to my query. 
@PHE_London It beggars belief, his response. …
Levels of benzene exceeded the EU and UK ambient AQS of 5 ug/m3 during January to April 2019.
Public Health England’s third report released today is a cause of real concern.
Of course, it basically re-states its position in previous reports that there is nothing to worry about.
But in PHE’s second report (p.11), it showed a handy comparison table between weeks 1-16 and 17-27:
This table shows significant increases in average and maximum (range) recorded
levels of benzene and naphthalene in …
Questionnaire first distributed in September 2018.
Worried about as yet unknown, unseen long-term impacts
My house has been wrecked and the people who are working for Berkley are unable to listen to me and also the other neighbours
every evening, our bathroom drain lets off STRONG odour. It is awful! the smell spreads around the whole house - opening the windows is not even an option! daily use …
Our Great Leader, Julian ‘Two Jobs, Two Homes’ Bell, claimed on Desi Radio this morning that, “unfortunately”, none of the air quality monitoring data provided to him by Berkeley Group, the developers of the old gasworks site, provides any evidence of levels of chemicals harmful to health.
Well, would you believe it?
The same developers who paid their former finance director £9.5m to keep quiet about years of Tony Pidgley, …
From my original Facebook note.
Berkeley Group founder and chair Tony Pidgley promised to share their onsite air quality monitoring data with us almost two months ago. We’re still waiting.
Today,I finally received a response to my email of 29 September, in which I asked Tony to confirmm what his trusty sidekick Karl Whiteman told us when we met with the both, that benzene levels were ‘averaging 3.25 parts per million (ppm) [sic], and never exceeding 5ppm.’
‘Dear David,
I …
From my original Facebook note.
Berkeley will tell you about all the good work they do in the Southall community:
·Giving a tiny fraction of their £600m profits to the local homeless shelter
·Creating the ‘edible’ garden (and ad hoc public toilet) outside the college on Beaconsfield Road
·Partnering with the Let’s Go Southall project to get Southallians fit, healthy and active!
·Making the (acid) Rain Garden at Blair Peach Primary School for children to …
This has shocked us all to the core.
@BerkeleyGroupUK's Head of Construction at #SouthallWaterside asked to join the board of governors at the adjacent Blair Peach Primary School.
This is from the minutes of that meeting (29/11/17). 1/7
"The HT reported that a smell/odour from the building works has on certain occasions been extremely strong, resulting in headaches ad asthma attacks. In addition, a white cloud / mist was apparent for two days." 2/7
"The HT confirmed that she …
'Benzene evaporates easily, and most people can just detect its distinctive smell at concentrations between 2.5 and 5 parts per million (ppm) in air.' (hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg329.… [PDF])
aresok.org/npg/nioshdbs/c…
convertunits.com/molarmass/Benz… 
#Benzene #Cancer #SouthallWaterside #Southall @berkeleygroupuk @EalingCouncil @EalingCustSer @pejmason @juliangbell @EnvAgencySE @PHE_London @kamnagpal
hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg329.…
- short term exposure to benzene in air may cause …
Last Wednesday, I and two other #Southall residents met with @berkeleygroupuk's @damian_leydon, @rickwatler and @SangheraJags, and their PR company representative and note taker @chattycoley of @LocalDialogue, at their #SouthallWaterside HQ.
I have to say, I was mightily impressed by their palatial portacabin HQ. The reception area was bigger than my living room, and despite the lack of natural light and windows, the air conditioning was a great relief from the high 20s temperatures …
Visit To #SouthallWaterside
1:40 @damian_leydon 'We had to shut the site for 2 days when it snowed, it was unsafe... it cost me a lot of money to shut the site, but it was the right decision... We all know that ice can be dangerous!'
#SouthallLivesMatter
2:07 Visitor: 'Can we go into the soil hospital?'
@damian_leydon 'Er... no. No we won't be able to go in there today.'
#SouthallWaterside #MakingSouthallStink #Southall
Old story, but: 'Berkeley Homes is threatening hundreds of …
