Weekly Update From Councillor Guy Lambert

Marking the Melvinator's Golden Jubilee plus meetings virtual and real

Thursday began with the first of our “iLabs”. Microsoft Teams meetings led by senior council officers and involving, in the first round, academics, business people and specialists from external bodies like West London Waste. In fact a lot of very clever people. Oh, plus some interested councillors.

I’ve been to four of these in the last week (or three and a half, to be accurate) and every one has been informative and bubbling with ideas. In my fuzzy mind they all rather merge together and I offer maximum respeck to the officers who put them together, chaired them, and now have to make some sense out of all the diverse inputs, ideas and comments.

Getting back to Thursday, this was about low carbon neighbourhoods, mulling the ambition that being able to organise everyday life – home, work, shopping, leisure, entertainment- within a 15 minute walk or bike ride would be beneficial on many different levels and in particular would serve the imperative of reducing our CO2 output.

I immediately went from that to a ‘real’ meeting in Watermans Park. Our contractor had begun work on breaking up the shelter on a pontoon that has been in use by a rough sleeper, perhaps the source of all the damage done to fencing which had been erected to deter… rough sleepers. All was quiet by the time I arrived but I was told that the police had been on site earlier and arrested said rough sleeper who had decided to set about our contractor – an individual far from the first flush of youth - with an iron bar. The original idea had been to disconnect the gangway that leads to the pontoon, but they were concerned it might turn turtle. This wouldn’t be ideal at the best of times, but there is an enormous black drum on the pontoon and there are fears this may contain ‘effluent’ of the human variety, not something you’d be too keen to spill.

Straight back home and into Microsoft Teams (again) for the Economic Recovery Board. This is another committee led by senior officers and is looking at what the pandemic has done and is likely to do to the local economy, jobs etc. This is a pretty scary scene, but there are still opportunities and the council is doing its best to develop these.

The next (virtual) event is between some of the FoodBox trustees and the people leading the council’s Community Hub. Food deliveries from the government are stopping and the hub is winding down some of its services, and I wanted to ensure we found the best fit between what the FoodBox provides in terms of food and other supporting services and what the council will continue to do. Not conclusive, but good to start the dialogue.

Then for the evening session we have Cabinet (Online) Question Time. A few questions had been sent in earlier and we had a ticker tape of questions coming in. The technology didn’t allow us to have the traditional independent chair so Steve Curran had to take the chair, as well as answering some of the questions. It all got a bit confusing at times but I think we answered most of the questions and I think people appreciate that we put ourselves out there for these uncomfortable events. I believe about 80 people were online, which is not stunning in a Borough with nearly 300,000 residents, but a decent turnout compared with the numbers we get when we do it in the flesh.

That was a long day, though I managed to fit in a decent ride in the late afternoon to keep me some semblance of sane. Friday morning, the second iLab, this one about Low Carbon – looking at what we should do with transport, housing etc. But a very special date interrupted this, The Melvinator’s Golden Jubilee in the Labour Party – he joined 50 years ago today, when Head Teeth, as we called him, was PM. Mel is a wonderful colleague and I’m very grateful to have had him as a mentor, particularly in my early days as a councillor. He was very touched to have a good turnout of fellow councillors for his doorstep surprise, and Ruth Cadbury had managed to get him a poster signed by Keir Starmer so a very pleasant few minutes. I remarked he was looking very Rockstar with his corona haircut.

In the afternoon I met Steve Curran in the Verdict (well, outside it) to talk about a couple of issues I wanted to explore with him, mainly about the future of the property part of Lampton. They are busy building council houses (hooray) on the Acton Lodge site opposite Syon Park (under the name Kindred Homes) and on a site in Bedfont, with some more in the pipeline but we need to get clear on what happens next in terms of development and also buying existing properties. The 170-odd we bought last year are all tenanted by people who were previously in temporary accommodation and are performing well both for tenants and financially, but we need to work out what’s next.

On Saturday I had a stroll around Brentford with a friend of mine, incorporating a coffee at Rye on The Water and a return home via Dock Road. I was a bit shocked to see this notice at Brentford Dock.

I remember the scandal when the dock was first built, by the old GLC. The Tories won control of the GLC and declared the Dock ‘too good for council tenants’ so this great council estate was mainly flogged off. It seems it is still too good for the hoi polloi.

In stark contrast to a recently built estate in the heart of Chiswick where the riverside walk (which goes from nowhere to nowhere) has been kept open for us plebs to enjoy thanks to local activists and Hounslow planners, and very wonderful it is too.

Monday morning I’m back on the iLab treadmill, this one being about 21 st century mobility. All of a sudden trains and buses are no longer the panacea and our discussions cover electric cars and bikes and e-scooters, plus car sharing, walking, bikes. Thinking about it, I wonder why we forgot cable cars. Lots of food for thought again, and as usual challenging and innovative ideas from the external people. These are meetings I really enjoy because there’s a real buzz and excitement about them, though of course, all against a very challenging background.

In the afternoon a brief chat with the chair of Lampton. She has also been talking about the future of the property arm with officers and I’m pleased we’re on the same page, and building a consensus with Hounslow Housing and the corporate property people.

In the evening, Labour group. We haven’t ‘met’ as a group of councillors since the pandemic began so this was a bit overdue. We all seem to be pulling together well and it has been notable how hard councillors from across the borough have been working for the community during these hard times. We hear one of our number is stepping down due to work pressures. I remember them, just about. I do sometimes marvel at how people can combine full time jobs, sometimes with young children, and operating as a councillor, and I truly salute their energy and dedication.

On Tuesday morning we have the fourth in the series of iLabs, this one about Green Growth. Again, lots of interesting stuff but on this occasion I have to sneak off early because I’ve arranged to meet a bunch of rather irate residents out on the ‘3 ply’ road I mentioned a couple of weeks ago down Heston way. I must say that the litter etc situation has improved markedly since my last visit but problems remain, notably in a fenced-off area between the A4 and the service road. I felt a bit like the Pied Piper of Heston. As I walked down the road, flanked by ward councillors, Hounslow Highways people and council officers, the children came out of their houses and followed us. To be fair, they were older children, aged I’d say between about 25 and 90, and they were not following me for my advanced piping but because they wanted a grumble and figured I would make an excellent grumblee. Apparently the area was fenced off following a petition started by one of the ‘children’ in attendance because the area had been used for drug dealing and other nefarious activities. But it’s now become a jungle, people breach the fence to sleep in there, and others toss a bit of flytipping over it, where nobody can clear it. Anyway, the lady who petitioned for the fence now talks about a reverse petition, and we agree we should look to take it down and radically reduce the jungle. This won’t be the work of the moment, nor will it cost 5 bob, but there’s no other way we could see.

In the evening, a Labour party campaign committee. No campaigning or general knocking on doors at present, and we don’t think this is the moment, but we want to remind our members that the party is still here and we’ll need their help in due course.

Coming to Wednesday morning, I’ve agreed to have a chat with Tony Firkins from the Green Party, who regularly takes us to task on our record on green issues, and specifically carbon reduction. He wrote to me to say I was too generous in my blog last week about the Morrisons site planning application. I was keen to talk to him because I’m personally very keen for us to do the right thing but it’s sometimes far from obvious what is reasonable, both from a moral and a legal point of view. We agreed to talk at the early stages of significant planning applications in future so he can inform me and maybe help get to a consensus with the planners and developers.

Tomorrow morning we have the Cleaner Hounslow Community Reference Group, which I’ll be chairing. This has been delayed by Uncle COVID and we’re eager to get back on track, so I’d better prepare and have a stonking morning.

Finally our lovely local artist Wendy Mackenzie, who produces the annual (well, what else would it be?) Brentford Calendar is losing her studio in Catherine Wheel Road. If anybody can offer her studio space in Brentford she’ll be delighted to hear of it, plus she is inviting you to her final show in her current workshop. This will take place this weekend - Friday 24th July 5.30pm to 8.30pm; Sat 25th & Sun 26th July 11am to 6pm. There will be clear signage from opposite the front of The Brewery Tap, Catherine Wheel Road  TW8 4BD. 

Cllr Guy Lambert

July 23, 2020