West London
West London Citizens
Who are we?
We are West London Citizens, a Citizens UK Chapter. 58,000 people form our alliance from schools, universities, trade unions, faith groups, charities and community groups.
Together, we organise and campaign on issues affecting our local communities to overcome injustice and bring about change.
Since our founding in 2006, we have:
- Successfully campaigned for Heathrow Airport and Westfield Shopping Centre to become Living Wage employers.
- Started the Mass for Migrants movement in 2006 – which continues to this day.
- Campaigned and won a £200,000 investment from the local council towards a local park in Hammersmith and Fulham
- Campaigned for road safety, winning a brand new zebra crossing outside a local primary school in White City
- And much more!
Celebrating 20 Years of People-Powered Change
The Festival of Organising is a celebration of local communities building power and making change across West London, marking 20 years of West London Citizens.
Over the festival period, there will be multiple ways to see community organising in action — from large-scale assemblies to local neighbourhood campaigns, from schools and higher education organising to issue-based work on housing and public trust.
The Festival of Organising is for member organisations, both long-standing and new, as well as organisations we do not yet work with but are interested in joining us.
Sign up to our events below:
This 1-day training course will cover some of the basics of organising, including power, self-interest, leadership, and relational community organising. You will also learn about the 5 steps to social change - and how we can use this method of organising together as West London Citizens local alliances. Sign up here.
Ealing Citizens is launching the Ealing Citizens Housing Roadshow, a 12-month public campaign to raise awareness of housing issues, build community leadership and win action on poor housing and affordable, community-led development. The campaign will launch with a public event at Hanwell Community Centre on Saturday 17 October 2026, 11.00am–1.00pm, bringing together residents, councillors and community allies. Over the following year, six workshops will take place across member and non-member organisations, focusing on stronger enforcement and selective licensing, a Warm Homes Plan, and securing a pipeline of at least 100 Community Land Trust homes in Ealing over the next four year. Sign up here.
Join community leaders from across the country to build on our strategy to tackling the housing crisis. We will host roundtables with residents, tenants, housing experts and civil servants to discuss our three priority areas: temporary accommodation, affordable housing and healthy homes.
We will then move to Parliament where we will share our campaigns with MPs and government officials and build support. Sign up and learn more here.
A central gathering bringing together communities from across West London to celebrate 20 years of organising, to highlight current campaigns and to demonstrate the collective power of our civil society organisations. Sign up here.
This summit aims to build organisations' capacity to campaign more effectively, strengthen relationships between organisations and inspire one another with stories of challenge and change. Sign up here.
The stories at the heart of West London Citizens
As part of celebrating West London Citizens 20th year, Citizens UK Assistant Director Daniel Mackintosh spoke with community leaders to explore the powerful stories that were integral to the chapter's initial founding.
"Once we started talking with other churches, we realised we weren't alone in what we were seeing around housing. Being part of an organising network gave us the confidence to tackle difficult conversations and the support to know that together we could make a bigger impact than any one church could on its own."
Jackie Ashmenal, Leader from West London Citizens
"The leaders I had a chance to work with - senior people from faith, youth and community organisations - were already people of real standing in the community and came with far more experience than I had. What they hadn't ever done was meet each other and tap into this vision of broad-based power and institutional organizing."
Catherine Howarth, Founding Organiser for West London Citizens (and now Chief Executive of ShareAction)
"Citizens offered a way for St Charles to be truly part of North Kensington, not just located in it. Its commitment to social justice reflected our Catholic values, and it gave our students the opportunity to develop as active citizens, learning that democracy is not something you watch from the sidelines but something you participate in and shape."
Paul O'Shea, Principal of St Charles Catholic College, a Founding Member of West London Citizens from 2005-2015
What are we fighting for?
Since Spring 2023, West London Citizens have been working collaboratively across four boroughs to campaign for a Living Wage for all health and social care workers.
- Recently we succeeded in encouraging all 9 NHS Trusts in North West London to Accredit as Living Wage employers - resulting in pay rises for 1670 workers!
We are also organising on a number of local issues including:
- Access to good quality jobs, apprenticeships and work experience for all, across each of our boroughs
- A Community Land Trust homes campaign in Ealing, alongside Renters Rights workshops
- Ealing has become a Living Wage Place, and each of our alliances is working to increase the number of Living Wage and Living Hours employers
Want to join our Chapter?
We know everyday people have the ability to shape the world around them and we're always looking for new members to join us! Get in touch with our local Community Organisers using the form below:
Find out more about the benefits of becoming a Citizens UK member.
Westminster
- Bloomsbury Baptist Church
- St James Piccadilly Church
- Sisters of Mercy
- Farm Street Catholic Church
- City and Westminster College
- Westminster Quakers
- University of Westminster, London
- St Martin in the Fields
- Unite the Workers, Hotel Branch
Ealing
- St Anselm's Catholic Church Southall
- Christ the Saviour Church
- St Mary's Church in Acton
- West London College, Southall Campus
- Villiers High School
- London Community Land Trust
- The Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School
- Monster Cat Theatre
- Action West London
- Christ the Redeemer Church, Southall
Hounslow
- Brentford and Isleworth Quakers
- Refugees Welcome Hounslow
- Paniym Church
- ILAYS
- St Mary's Spring Grove
- Logic Studio School
Hammersmith and Fulham
- Old Oak Primary School
- St Lukes Church in Shepard's Bush
- AllChild
- Young Hammersmith and Fulham Foundation
Leadership team
- Simon Woodman — Bloomsbury Baptist Church
- Bernadette O'Shea — Brentford and Isleworth Quakers
- Kate Welsh – All Child
- Andrew Pitchford – University of Westminster
Keep in touch
News, stories and updates
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School children turn anger into art to call for lower bills and cleaner riversEleven pupils at Old Oak Primary School in West London have presented local politicians with collages, representing their anger with dirty water polluting our rivers and seas and rising water bills.
Read more -
Three Assemblies, One Story: West London Citizens Tackles the cost of livingIn the weeks leading up to the 2026 local elections, West London Citizens convened three powerful assemblies across Hounslow, Ealing and Westminster, bringing together hundreds of leaders to secure commitments from leaders across the political spectrum.
Read more -
Ealing Citizens Accountability Assembly Draws Hundreds to Call for Action on Housing, Jobs and Fair PayOn 28 April 2026, Ealing Citizens brought together over 270 residents from across the borough in a powerful Accountability Assembly, securing commitments from Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative council candidates to deliver on the community’s top priorities.
Read more