Council admits new contractor hasn't improved matters
Cllr Gary Malcolm next to a tree on Acton Lane
Issues with delays in tree pruning in Southfield ward have continued despite the council sacking its previous contractor.
At a recent Ealing Council meeting the Cabinet Member with responsibility for the borough’s trees acknowledged that the new contractor is failing to deal with the backlog and residents may have to wait even longer to get trees pruned.
The admission came in response to questions from Southfield Councillor Andrew Steed at the meeting on 14 December in which he raised a number of issues about the management of contractors and why work has still not been done to prune trees in Southfield and across Ealing borough.
Southfield Councillor Gary Malcolm added, “After twelve months of complaints from Liberal Democrat councillors, and residents, the Council is failing again after the replacement tree contractor for Southfield is still failing admits Labour after being grilled again by Southfield Liberal Democrat Councillor Andrew Steed. The Council need to get a grip on things and sort out these problems. Residents deserve better."
The councillors have received complaints that trees had not been pruned from residents of the following streets: Antrobus Road, Blenheim Road, Blandford Rd, Esmond Road, Hawkshead Road, Mansell Road, Montgomery Road, Queen Anne’s Gardens, Ramillies Road, Rusthall Avenue, St Albans Avenue, Shirley Road, Somerset Road and Temple Road.
The previous contractor had allegedly been marking work on trees as complete when the job had clearly not been done.
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5 April 2021
