Dominic Kirkbride is a Hanwell resident, community volunteer and Green Party member who was involved in the campaign against a proposed 24-hour casino on Hanwell Broadway. In this opinion piece, he reflects on that campaign and argues that local politicians should put cross-party cooperation ahead of party politics.
Since moving to Hanwell a couple of years back, I’ve grown to love Ealing borough and all it has to offer. It’s the first place in London I’ve put down roots, and more than that, I’ve found community here.
Inspired by all the good that residents do here, I joined LAGER Can to help keep our streets clean, and last year I co-founded the Hanwell Guerrilla Gardeners with local artist Lynne, and gardening oracle Olga. We were lucky enough to be given some funding from the Your Voice, Your Town Initiative from Ealing Council, and we’re now starting to collaborate with others like CURB (Clean Up River Brent) to make more of an impact on our town.
This is what happens when people with a common interest work together. Wouldn’t it be great if we could work together more harmoniously in politics, too?
Last year, when travelling back to Ealing from my summer holiday, I learned of the proposal for a 24 hour slot casino in the heart of Hanwell, on the Broadway. Like most people in our town, I was outraged; I knew that this was a direct threat to the wellbeing and vitality of Hanwell—especially its most vulnerable residents. The first thing I did was fire off emails to my local councillors to ask them to take action. Less than 24 hours later, Councillor Polly Knewstub and I were in touch, and we started planning the community’s response within a week.
Together (with others of course), we managed to drive attendance at multiple rallies, delivering flyers through thousands of doors, and garnering nearly 2,000 objections to the planning application. I wrote to countless headteachers, community and faith leaders, charities, and of course, the press. I designed posters and leaflets, and galvanised local businesses to join the cause. The council planners roundly rejected the application, and all the hard work felt worth it.
Very early on in the campaign, Polly – a Labour councillor – became aware that I’m a Green Party member (and soon to be candidate for May 2026 elections), and, despite a little more guarded communication, we managed to keep working together to defend the community and achieved our goal.
Finally – a year later – the casino’s appeal to the Secretary of State against the council’s decision has been rejected. Everyone involved is elated, and the former councillors are rightly sharing the news with the community on local Facebook groups—except something is missing. In most cases, the statements refer to Labour’s hard work, and the help of ‘others’.
Worse, Ealing Council’s Labour leader, Councillor Peter Mason shared on X: “Whilst others posed in pictures for their misleading leaflets, it was @EalingLabour hard at work to stop the 24 hour casino”. In one social media post, Councillor Mason has undone all of the progress that cross-party collaboration achieved for kinder, more productive local politics.
I couldn’t comment on Councillor Mason’s involvement in the campaign against the casino – I didn’t see him at any of the rallies or delivering any leaflets to inform residents – nor would I have wanted to. The campaign was successful because of everybody coming together despite their political persuasion and working hard together. In fact, the only thing I’ve had to say on the matter on official Green Party literature was to correct Labour leaflet claims that the campaign was wholly a Labour-run one.
In a time when our new Prime Minister is calling for ‘country before party’ and talking increasingly of cross-party collaboration in the national interest, what is the Labour Council Leader afraid of? What drives him, to not only ignore the part of members of the community in his congratulations, but to use a happy moment for Hanwell to take a swipe at other political parties?
Councillors from other parties have been elected to the council by Ealing’s residents, and it’s fair to assume that those residents would expect Labour to work with them productively in the area’s best interests.
That work starts with respect and honesty.
Whilst I don’t agree with everything Andy Burnham has offered up since taking office (new oil licenses, for example), I have felt a sense of hope recently that politics can take a better path – one that works for people and focusses on the issue, not tribalism. That optimism is thanks to Mr Burnham’s willingness to even speak of working together.
Let’s hope that the Prime Minister’s example will trickle down to Ealing Council leader Peter Mason soon.
