I would have more confidence in the need for rangers if I did not live overlooking the Ascott Allotments (behind Ranelagh Road). This is an overgrown mess rife with rats and our requests for rat traps have fallen on deaf ears over the years (something about "harming wildlife", the rats, perhaps?) not to mention our requests to have the mess of brambles and scrub growing several metres high by Baillies Walk which have turned the area into a muggers paradise of secluded dark overgrown walkways. Then there are all the dangerous uddy overgrown paths threading though the allotments themselves and the heaps of rotting minced garden refuse that provide the home for the rats. This being Ealing's largest allotment site and one of the larger open green spaces really does make me wonder why we are meant to fight to save these jobs against the reality of the state of the Ascot Allotments? As far as I can see the rangers do not do very much to contribute to the safety of my home and its surrounding areas.
Having seen some of the other cuts being implemented I wonder if perhaps this is one area where Labour has got its priorities right?
Nevertheless I do wonder at the way that the higher echelons of Ealing Council seem to have been spared the axe. I would very much like to see the axe travel all the way to the top; as far as the top executives responsible for the Ascott Allotments, Bailies Walk and the general mess that has prevailed around them for at least the past decade. Oh, and not forgetting the dreadful decline that has been apparent in Walpole Park with its disappearing play apparatus for children. We need new direction in this area and this has to come from the top. Our council's Chief Executive, Martin Smith, has only been there for a year, so he is relatively innocent, but I am thinking about some of the top executives who have been around for years and seem to be incapable of taking responsibility for what is happening under their watch. |