Southall Town Hall Protest Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SOUTHALL RESIDENTS TO LAUNCH MASS PROTEST OUTSIDE TOWN HALL OVER DISASTROUS RISE RELOCATION
SOUTHALL, LONDON — Southall community members are staging a major demonstration outside Former Southall Town Hall on Saturday, 15th August, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Local people are demanding immediate accountability following Ealing Council’s decision to move the Recovery Intervention Service Ealing (Ealing Rise) substance misuse treatment centre from West Ealing to Southall.
Residents are officially calling for urgent, face-to-face meetings with:
- Chief Superintendent Jill Horsfall, West Area Basic Command Unit Commander
- Anna Bryden, Director of Public Health for Ealing Council
- Councillor Jasbir Anand, cabinet member for tackling crime and antisocial behaviour
- Councillor Paul Driscoll, cabinet member for healthy equal lives
A Community Under Siege: The Case for Accountability
The protest organisers are demanding to know why Ealing Rise was quietly transferred into the heart of Southall without a comprehensive Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) or robust public consultation. Locals state that the facility was shifted because West Ealing residents fiercely opposed its presence. By doing so, the Council has effectively dumped regional addiction issues into an area already burdened with significant socio-economic deprivation and the highest crime rates across the entire West Area Command.
The statistics back their anger. According to official Metropolitan Police data from November 2025, the Southall Broadway ward saw an explosion of criminal activity, logging 218 total crimes in that single month alone. The area’s annual crime rate now stands at a staggering 294 crimes per thousand residents, giving Southall Broadway a “High” 7 out of 10 crime rating compared to the rest of England and Wales. Anti-social behaviour (ASB) and open drug possession remain the primary drivers of these numbers.
Children Left Anxious and Terrified
The human cost of this decision falls heavily on Southall’s children. Daily, local pupils walking to Villiers High School, Hambrough Primary School, Beaconsfield Primary School, and Blair Peach Primary School must navigate streets littered with used needles. They are forced to witness open, blatant drug dealing and crack or heroin usage. Parents report that their children are left profoundly anxious, scared, and intimidated by aggressive begging and large, loitering groups.
Short-Term Policing is Not Enough
Families dealing with rampant drug operations right outside their front doors express deep frustration with an inadequate, slow local police response. Following intense media coverage exposing the community’s daily reality, the Metropolitan Police temporarily deployed the Territorial Support Group (TSG) to the area. However, this deployment is scheduled to end in mid-August, offering nothing more than a short-term, cosmetic fix to a structural crisis.
Core Demands of the Protest
The Southall community is uniting to demand a permanent, legally binding strategy that includes:
- Unconditional Meetings: Direct public forums with Chief Superintendent Horsfall, Director Anna Bryden, and local ward Councillors.
- Pre-Relocation Safety Levels: A concrete law enforcement and public health strategy designed to permanently reduce local crime statistics to the levels enjoyed before Ealing Rise was relocated, or lower.
- Reclaimed Public Spaces: Sustained, visible police patrols of public areas so that local parks and the canal towpath are no longer surrendered as hazardous “no-go areas” ruled by drug activity.
- Restoration of Relative Safety: Bringing back the peace of mind where residents can walk through their own town centre without fear.
“We refuse to allow our home to be treated as a dumping ground for systemic failures,” said a representative from Southall Residents’ Alliance. “Our children have a fundamental right to walk to school without fearing for their safety, and we expect our public officials to face us and deliver a real timeline for change.”
Event Details
- What: Community Protest against the Ealing Rise Relocation
- Where: Outside Former Southall Town Hall, High St, Southall, UB1 3HA
- When: Saturday, 15th August 2026, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
- Who: Open to all Southall residents, parents, business owners, and media representatives.
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Media Contact:
Southall Residents’ Alliance
Email: admin@southallresidentsalliance.co.uk
Interviews, video documentation of open drug use, and resident testimonies are available upon request.
