Community Engagement

A core aspect of the project is community engagement and a focus on local policy. In the main, this has occurred with relation to Ealing, London (UK).

This engagement has included a public event focused on the value of Covid-19 vaccines for individuals and communities, interviews with candidates from across the political spectrum running for local office, and research into the implementation and removal of Low-traffic Neighbourhoods in Ealing.

Get Jabbed Ealing!

Get Jabbed Ealing! was an online panel event that occurred in February 2022.

It featured panelists from the Conservative Party, the Green Party, the Labour Party, and the Liberal Democrats.

You can read more about Get Jabbed Ealing! here.

Hanger-Hill Ward By Election

In May 2021 a by election was held in the Hanger-Hill Ward in Ealing for a seat as a local councillor. The election was part of a broader set of elections across the UK.

Interviews were carried out with candidates from the the Conservative Party, the Green Party, the Labour Party, and the Liberal Democrats and released as episodes of The Covid-19 and Democracy Podcast.

Interviews focused on how Ealing had been impacted by Covid-19 pandemic and how Ealing Council coped during the first year of the pandemic, key local issues, and how events in Ealing reflected the national political picture.

The by election was won by (now Cllr) Fabio Conti for the Conservative Party.

Low Traffic Neighbourhoods

Paid for with central government funding distributed via the a fund set up by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) became an unexpected political battle ground in Ealing during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Among other things, LTNs in Ealing have led to the setting up of civil society groups, petitions, legal cases, and protest marches.

Rather than an outlier, events in Ealing reflect debates elsewhere in London, and other parts of the UK.

We have been carrying out research into LTNs, mainly but not exclusively in Ealing, since Spring 2021.

An interview with anti-LTN activist and leader on the Ealing Green Party Neil Reynolds can be found here.

A talk given by our Principle Investigator Peter Finn can be found here.