We are shocked and saddened to hear that RBKC Conservative councillor for Earl’s Court, Malcolm Spalding unexpectedly passed away on Thursday night and our thoughts are with his family and friends
These are some of the tributes to him that we received from residents via email and WhatsApp:
Resident Maria: “Malcolm was a true solid community champion. He was always on hand to help and give advice.”
Earl’s Court resident: “Very shocked to hear of Malcolm’s passing. He will be sadly missed by everyone who knew him and cared deeply about all things Earl’s Court and the people he represented. “
Earl’s Court former resident: “Malcolm was a powerful voice standing up for residents and businesses in the area He was a brilliant and thoughtful councillor. Rest in peace”
Campden resident: “So sad to hear about the death of Cllr Spalding. He was one of the few councillors with the right balance of patience and enthusiasm and a genuine passion for local government. “
Colville resident: “Very sad news. I don’t usually care for Tories but Malcolm Spalding always seemed like one of the decent ones. A fair, just and reasonable man.”
Here are some of the tributes from his fellow Conservative councillors on Twitter:
This is what Labour Cllr Monica Press said to us: “I worked with Malcolm on the Public Realm committee, we took different political views on the Earls Court development but living in Earl’s Court he was an active ward Cllr. He and I worked closely together on the short-term lettings working group and he was fully supportive of a pilot to license short-term lettings (such as airbnb) in RBKC which blight his and my ward.”
And here is our Editor with some words:
“I first came across Cllr Malcolm Spalding when he stepped in for Victoria Borwick at Earl’s Court hustings, held at St Cuthberts in 2017. Lady Borwick had not turned up and neither had any other senior Conservative councillors, leaving Cllr Spalding to speak for the Conservatives and to take the flak from residents . I thought he was very brave!
Later on, as I spent more time at the Town Hall I got to know him better. There were a lot of things we didn’t agree on, our political views were different and our visions for the future of Earl’s Court were different, but there were also times when we were in agreement such as over the Royal Brompton Hospital and over holiday lettings – an issue that he worked tirelessly on, producing this report:
Despite the disagreements and despite this blog not always being kind to him, he never took it personally, was approachable and even though I didn’t think all his views were fair or right, he wasn’t afraid to speak up and speak out, and didn’t cower and hide from criticism; I respected that.
One particular memory I have of him at RBKC is when he stepped in to chair a Grenfell Recovery Scrutiny Committee meeting. Understandably these meetings were fraught, being full of traumatised residents very distressed and also unhappy with RBKC’s supposed Grenfell Recovery efforts. After a rocky start, he managed to turn that meeting into an orderly one, where for once, it didn’t descend into a shambles with residents shouting over each other or end with residents in pieces, breaking down in tears. He was the only Chair of those meetings ever to manage this.
This borough has seen a lot of “fly- by-night” career opportunist councililors over the years who seem to use becoming an RBKC councillor purely as a stepping stone to something else, do not care much for Committee work, and are rarely seen in their wards, Cllr Spalding was definitely never one of those; he genuinely enjoyed being a councillor for Earl’s Court (not the easiest of wards to represent) and had a large personal vote there , he relished Committee work and speaking about his ward and issues there. Cllr Spalding was also an all-rounder, very knowledgeable and adept on a variety of subjects, from Planning and the Environment to Health to Finance. In this he was a rarity. Malcolm Spalding will be greatly missed. Kensington Town Hall will not be the same place without him.”
THis Is North Kensington 