A Series of Departures Some More Regretted Than Others

Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert reports back

Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert

January 24, 2025

This is my first attempt to do my 'normal' blog starting writing it on my web page. Me and technology are not always good partners so we'll find out if this works! OK, yes, I know calling my blog normal is challenging the language. Regular would be better but I have written this now and I don't know how to change it (a white lie. I'm a politician).

Well this has been rather a momentous week in all sorts of ways. I'll come to political matters later but my first note is about a meeting of the Friends of Parks in Boston Manor Park on Thursday evening. Probably the most memorable bit for me was about the council proposing to contribute £100 to each group to support the cost of public liability insurance. This seemed a bit cheeseparing to me and also I thought such matters would be covered by the council's normal cover. My spy tells me I am quite wrong and that for a small park it costs £150 for such cover. Sometimes I think I chose the wrong profession but I probably couldn't live with myself if I was an insurer.

On Friday I had a walkabout with officers and members related to the Housing and Environment Scrutiny panel. There was a good cadre of officers, councillors including me and Dan Bowring, river creatures (the ones who live in boats) etc. We walked the muddy path from Brentford Bridge down to Ballymore empire. across to Brentford Dock (yes, daring, and my spies there told me the net curtains were twitching because a posse of councillors were visiting) without incident and on to Ferry Quays, so I had a short walk home from there! It was about flooding. Mainly about flooding from the river/canals which affects Chiswick (often) and Brentford from time to time. There is real concern that this will get worse with global heating which will mean more sea around, but also that they are planning to use the Thames barrier less frequently to save it from wearing out. This is alarming! Of course there is other flooding and I'm personally underwhelmed by the work being done to provide kind of soakaways, to stop all the rain etc ending up in vulnerable places. I had a repeated moan about poor regulation of concreted-over gardens which is a terrible thing for the drains.

In the evening there was a session of the charismatic and talented Marky Dawson at the Brewery Tap. He is a one-off and whenever I watch him I find myself smiling and giggling.

Picture makes it look sparse, but there were plenty of customers there, including someone who made a point of thanking me for a bit of casework I had progressed.

On Saturday afternoon I went to the Bob Dylan Biopic, A Complete Unknown, in the community cinema in the former Acton Library. Lived in Acton for several years in a truly horrible flat but I was older then, I'm younger than that now. Dylanophiles will get that, others will be further convinced of my advancing dementia.

I like the cinema. Seats are comfortable, prices are relatively affordable (but 1 shilling for kids on Saturday mornings is not available) and it has a lovely community vibe. I hope we will get something similar in the old Police Station soon, but of course that is in the lap of the Gods (Cllrs Tom Bruce, Cllr Salman Shaheen, the Trustees of Watermans and the saintly developer community). Anyway I loved the film, especially the bit when the pretend Bob Dylan was telling the pretend Joan Baez in song that neither of them was Me, Babe. Acting was stunning I thought.

That was Saturday dealt with, and the next day, unsurprisingly, was Sunday. It's all very predictable around here. I had a day in my diary to visit Cakes and Classics at our iconic car park, Brentford's answer to the Taj Mahal. I give thanks to St Ballymore every day for this gift but this was the first time that I penetrated beyond the first floor. Me and a few people spent some time looking for the greatly advertised lift. I was proud to have found it, but it didn't work, which is definitely a drawback when it comes to lifts. After some more sleuthing I found one on another floor that did function and whizzed me up to the top. Well, not quite the top, but as far as I was allowed to go. A couple of chats with other car enthusiasts. Enthusiasm for the old Bristol among the exhibits. I liked the old Ford V8 and mildly coveted the Mk1 Jaguar XJ6 that The Duke has had on his books for several months. It is lovely, but I have nowhere to park it unless I sell my other car and in any case it is probably nearly as old as me and probably have as many soon-failing components as I have. Unusually I forgot to take any pictures and I should do better. There were a lot of dreary (to me) Porsches and Mustangs etc. Not against them, but they just don't get my juices flowing.

One of my regular mental health exercises is to spend a couple of minutes every morning going on to my balcony and thanking someone (who?) for the day, for the rivers which I adore, and for being alive. It's good to remember how important those are. Sometimes the beauty grabs me. This was this week

Back to the diary. I arranged after the meeting with the Friends of Parks to connect with the chair of that body and have a chat about what works etc, over a coffee. We have had a number of disagreements but there's no question that the way that Dukes Meadows works has benefitted greatly from her energy and passion.

I often cycle through Dukes Meadows on my constitutional - today I was on my way to Charing Cross Hospital - and I wanted to discuss some of the changes that have been made over recent years. There has been an attempt to manage parking (which I supported but the Friends didn't) but in hindsight I think they were nearer to right than I was.

The other thing was the 'bridge under the bridge' which provides a footpath which avoids a detour of about 250 M each way but allegedly cost £6M. It is a splendid thing, though after it was opened it sprouted signs saying no cycling which to me is an absurdity. I confess I normally cycle it, but cautiously because although it is often deserted, there are sometimes old people, children and dogs. Apparently someone has decided it is dangerous for cyclists. I doubt there is a living cyclist who would agree. There has also recently appeared a very grand road ending at a roundabout with only one access, because it's a cul de sac. Also splendid and apparently requested by the Friends but to my view rather pointless, though to be fair would make a handy short cut for a cyclist if I wanted to go that way. Which I never do, but that's just little me. Anyway a lively debate. Not really anything to do with me but I take an interest in Dukes Meadow because it is an important green space which I think could be improved.

On Tuesday evening I went up to the Strand, and visited the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) for the first time. I used to work near that and assumed it was a den of people with easels and paintbrushes but more recently I have met various people who are Fellows there. A couple of months ago I joined and On Tuesday I went there for the first time. This was for a session called Counting the Cost of Bowling Alone which was led by a guy called Andy Haldane. He is now CEO of the RSA but I remembered his name from when he was at the Bank of England. Very stimulating it was too, forcing some thinking outside the box (need to devote some more time to it, too). You can read and hear the lecture on that link. That's Haldane's bonce disconnecting your eyes from it saying connected.

I listened it some of it again casually today but concluded I need to set some time again to concentrate it and work our what to do with it. The theme I am on is local initiatives that support more engaged society, an important and difficult area for councillors.

On Wednesday I went to Hounslow House for a little memorial session for a council officer who has passed away suddenly. When I was on cabinet, for a year or two he had a role supporting the Cabinet and I met him regularly for a chat once a month. He was a most courteous and friendly man and very cheerful and enthusiastic. I learned on Wednesday that he was loved by his council colleagues and he had a very good turnout amongst colleagues, though I was the only councillor other than the Leader, who gave a speech.

Well worth a chilly ride to Hounslow and also a lot of friends amongst council officers were in attendance too.

In the evening it was the annual party held by Chiswick Calendar, a local website I support with a small subscription because I find their initiatives and news so informative. A fun evening at George IV with quite a lot of people from Brentford there, a brace of MPs, a couple of Chiswick Councillors with another, the leader and a couple of party types arriving as I left. I spent most of the evening with Tory councillor Gerald McGregor and his lovely wife. Do NOT read anything into that

Well, that's that for my week, except a cold ride to Hammersmith for my regular Fracture Clinic. He says see you in 6 months. I look forward to it.

Must say something about the political events this week. We have the very lovely Donald Musk and his vice president Donald J Trump as his assistant. The assistant has spent the time signing autographs on executive orders, many of them barmy. What's left he is lying on the TV and social media and starting a crypto-currency bubble to make him even richer. Fun for all.

The fun in Brentford, which thankfully I have no stake in as an independent, is electing new councillors in Brentford East (because Rhys Williams resigned) and Syon and Brentford Lock (because Balraj Sarai has - I believe - been removed for not attending meetings for longer than is permissible).

I have no stake in the elections, except as a Brentford resident and councillor. I don't know who will be standing but I do know two local Labour women who I both like, respect, and believe would make excellent councillors. I hope they are both selected and elected. Both wards are all Labour and I hope they will stay that way. The Conservatives have one decent local man who I suspect will stand but they are Conservatives and that is a large handicap. The Greens are always respectable and in another election system they would be a welcome addition to the council. I expect we will have an "Independent" in at least one of the wards. Whether he will be an independent, Reform, Worker's Friend, TUSC or something else I don;t know. But I hope whoever stands avoids the awful lies and attacks which infested previous elections.

By the way, there is only one Independent Councillor in Brentford, or Hounslow Borough

Councillor Guy Lambert