Ealing Liberal Democrat Councillor Matt Mellor, who represents Walpole ward, raises his concerns about how long Ealing Council, Thames Water and Everyone Active are taking to resolve problems affecting accessibility and residents’ daily lives.
In this opinion piece for EALING.NEWS, he highlights his efforts to get action on public water fountains, blue badge theft and disabled access to Acton Swimming Pool.
“As new councillors, we all aim to fix problems in our ward, and help people where local services or amenities are not working properly for them.
“For me personally, improving accessibility across the borough is a key issue given my own lived experience supporting my wife.
“The truth is, however, that it is hard to get things sorted and it can take ages. It is not that people don’t care. However, it feels like issues aren’t prioritised for quick resolution maybe because those in charge don’t always appreciate the impact on people’s daily lives.
“Let me give you three examples:
“I have contacted Thames Water persistently to get public water fountains fixed in West Ealing, outside Walpole Park and by Northfields station. It took a while to speak to the right team and then to get an engineer out on site due to long-term sickness.
“After three months, the one at West Ealing is working, the one on Mattock Lane requires a replacement button which will be installed once the part has arrived, and the one nearest Northfields station has no water supply. It is scheduled for investigation with no date for being fixed. This is incredibly frustrating given our water bills have risen massively this year in part to fund infrastructure improvements, but also because we have been living with red alert heat warnings all summer. We all deserve access to clean, safe and free drinking water, especially during heatwaves.
“Two years ago, I asked the council to introduce an electronic blue badge scheme to reduce the number of blue badge thefts in Ealing (473 in 2023). Last year, we submitted a petition with 400 signatures from across the borough to push the council to do the right thing. Despite promises before the election, the council has now reneged on any commitment to introduce such a scheme and will await national developments. They say it is not possible to deliver locally even though several other London boroughs have already introduced it. Again, this is massively frustrating as there is an opportunity to reduce the impact blue badge thefts have on vulnerable people and the council is dragging its heels.
“Pool pods are devices used to assist disabled people to enter and exit a swimming pool. Some people really rely on swimming to retain their mobility and/or do rehabilitation work and so it becomes a necessity not a nice to have.
“The pods at Acton Swimming Pool have been breaking regularly since August 2025 and need replacing. Correspondence between Ealing Council and Everyone Active has shown a series of temporary measures have been put in place but our own experience is that regular problems accessing the pool have persisted for months.
“Despite having the legal duty to ensure accessibility and contractual responsibility for capital expenditure to maintain the pool, Ealing Council did not act straight away to fund the replacement equipment from its own funding. Instead, it has taken a grant from the London Marathon Charity to resolve the situation.
“Whilst it is welcomed news, this has meant months of delays, and we are still waiting for new pool pods to be installed. At the time of writing, there is still no date agreed with the supplier for when this will happen.
“The council could and should have acted much sooner to prioritise accessible swimming in Ealing, especially as there is no Gurnell facility and people are reliant on Acton Pool.
“As Liberal Democrats, we will continue to push Ealing Council and all local service providers to do the right thing and sort issues for our residents, especially the most vulnerable, as quickly as possible.”
