'Charter of Hope' sent to new Councillors

Ealing Friends of the Earth held a stall at West Ealing Community Library's Spring Festival. Visitors were asked about the policies they would like to see supported by the candidates hoping to sit on Ealing Council.. They presented 10 policies on the environment and asked people which one was the most important.

'Warmer Homes and Lower Energy Costs' was the top choice, followed by 'Welcome Refugees and Migrants'.

This was the second times Ealing Friends of the Earth had carried out such a poll. At the Animals' Fair  in Hanwell in March those who took part voted for 'Improve Green Spaces', 'Strengthen Communities' and 'Say No to Harmful Developments'.

The categories were chosen by national Friends of the Earth and the other choices were 'Local Climate Solutions Funded by Wealthy Polluters',  'More Local Green Jobs', 'Better Public Transport', 'Help Community to Adapt to Extreme Weather' and 'Help Local Farmers Adapt'.

The results of the two polls were brought together in a 'Charter of Hope' and sent to all local council candidates. 

Ealing Labour Party

www.ealinglabour.co.uk/our-plan/ 

Ealing's Labour party has a huge majority on Ealing Council and wrote an extensive manifesto for the previous council elections including many green issues. They appear to be using the same document this time.

In it they promised to create 10 new parks, plant 50,000 trees and give 800,000 sqm back to nature.  

They announced in March that they had reached the goal of planting 50,000 trees – which is impressive. But does that mean they have now stopped planting or are they planning another 50,000 trees if they are returned with another majority on the council? And have most of those trees survived? 

Work has started on the new parks with some of them near completion including Peartree Park; South Ealing Cemetry; Occupation  Lane; Glade Lane Canalside Park; Acton Gardens; Southall's Green Quarter and Windmill Lane, Southall. The council has also finally backed the Warren Farm nature reserve after a local campaign to designate it as such.

However Ealing is experiencing significant development of tall tower blocks that have been opposed by vocal local campaigns. Highrise towers use more energy than low rise residential buildings that can provide just as many homes.

Labour candidates for Ealing Council score highly on the first ask (Plant More Trees and Improve Green Space) but low on  More Resilient Communities and Oppose Harmful Developments.

Ealing Liberal Democrats

www.ealinglibdems.org.uk/environmentleaflets 

Interestingly, Ealing Lib Dems have an Environment Leaflet that exactly mirrors the top three policies in our residents' survey. They say they are responsible for the council reinstating the position of Conservation Officer for Ealing Council, Stopping tall towers on our local parks (by forcing the council to adhere to Green Belt and Metropolitan Open Land designations) and Improving our local parks and leisure facilities.

On our chosen criteria (Plant More Trees and Improve Green Spaces, More Resilient Communities and Say No to Harmful Developments)  Ealing Lib Dems score highly.

Ealing Green Party

ealing.greenparty.org.uk/ 

Unsurprisingly, Ealing Green Party promises many environmental policies, but they don't have such a wide-ranging, ambitious, connected plan as Ealing Labour.

They mention their support for the Warren Farm Nature Reserve campaign, promoting public transport, car sharing and electric car charging. They are against airport expansion.

On our chosen criteria (Plant More Trees and Improve Green Spaces, More Resilient Communities and Say No to Harmful Developments)  Ealing Greens score reasonably highly. 

Ealing Community Independents

ealingindependents.org/what-we-stand-for/ 

Ealing Community Independents is a new party and has an extensive list of environmental policies covering Climate Justice and Inequality, Fair Green Transition, Protecting and Enhancing our Parks, Managing Open Spaces, Cleaning Up Ealing, Safer Active Transport, Improving Public Transport and Fair Parking and Enforcement.

On our chosen criteria (Plant More Trees and Improve Green Spaces, Resilient Communities and Say No to Harmful Developments) Ealing Community Independents scores reasonably highly.

Ealing Reform UK

www.reformparty.uk/ 

We cannot see a way of looking at the Ealing / Brent page of the Reform UK website without either joining or donating. So we don't know what they are planning for the environment in Ealing / Brent.

However Reform UK's national environmental policies are clear on their main website: Scrap Net Zero and Support Farmers and the Rural Economy.

On our chosen criteria (Plant More Trees and Improve Green Spaces, More Resilient Communities and Say No to Harmful Developments) it is difficult to know where Ealing Reform UK scores. Scrap Net Zero will add even more carbon emissions into the air and destroy trees (and do significant harm to humans). Their policy of Supporting Farmers and the Rural Economy sounds positive and should include Plant More Trees and Improve Green Spaces.

The other policies were: Fund Solutions (Local climate solutions funded by wealthy polluters) received 12 votes;  Homes (Lower energy bills and warmer homes) received 9 votes; Welcome (Welcome refugees and migrants and speak out against hatred and lies) had 9 votes; Adapt (Protect our community from extreme weather like flooding and heatwaves) had 7 votes; Green Jobs (More local green jobs and training for young people) also received 7 votes; Farming (Help local farmers adapt to extreme weather) got 6 votes; and Transport (Better public transport and cleaner air) had 5 votes. The categories were chosen by national Friends of the Earth.

A spokesman said: 'For the May 2026 local elections, you have the chance to decide what policies you’d like to campaign for. Together, your demands can tell a hopeful, justice-centred story about how climate action can improve people’s lives in your community'.