Tree Maintenance in the Borough, It's a Load of Pollards

Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert reports back

Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert

April 4, 2025

On Friday I had one of my periodic wanders around the ward, or a lot of it. To start it I made a very short walk onto my balcony. Soon got my breath back enough to summon the energy to take this picture

I saw it earlier when it seemed to be beached in the middle of the Thames. It was still there at 11am but had disappeared as the tide came in further. Not the first time I've seen this playing out on the Thames or the Brent.

I enjoy the excellent coffee, prices and people in the Potting Shed cafe in Boston Manor Park (and the park, too) and wanted to see what was going on. Someone had complained about the rather brutal-looking pollarding which had been taken out on some of the trees at the bottom of the park near the river/canal. Forgot to take a picture, but I am used to brutal pollarding. I remember in my early days as a councillor my old pal The Melvinator (he was a young pal then) complained about the council destroying the weeping willow on Ealing Road very near to where he lives. I took it up with the council and they said it was normal pollarding and all would grow back more lovely as ever. Me and Mel were both sceptical because my qualification as a tree access had lapsed (well, it lapsed before it was attained, or even started) but look at it now.

Other trees in Albany Road look stunning too, though whether they will be affected by redevelopment I know not. Hope not.

This all became pollarding day so I also looked at other pollarded trees I know like these, recently done at the front of Charlton House .

And this one near where I live. A couple of years ago there was nothing there apart from the trunk.

We'll end the arboricultural lecture there as your little mind can't grasp too much of this learned comment, but something else has worked its way into the picture. This splendid metal sculpture was put there as part of the planning permission. It is a popular place for fisher folk who dangle their lines into the Thames from the other side. It's a long wait for a fish to bite so sometimes a fisher needs relief and comes out to this side of the sculpture and dangles something else in the breeze to the amusement of those who live very near.

The appreciation of this artwork would not be complete without mentioning its partner.

This one is a more modest version of the same theme. I often find people looking at it puzzled and a friend who visited me recently asked me what the chimney was for. I took the 5th amendment on that and lament that the planners ensured these icons were provided and the boat house which was supposed to be built as a community building 25 years ago where the trees on the right of this picture can be seen, was conveniently forgotten, even when reminded. Trust me, I am still reminding them!

My wanders around the ward continued. I wanted to see what was going on at the Paragon, the site next to the University, where accommodation for about 1000 people of various types were evicted about 3 or 4 years ago as the owner decided they were unsafe. Over the last couple of years they have been largely rebuilding here and we expect it start to be ready for occupation, starting late this year. Coincidentally, our lovely MP had written to the landlord (NHG Housing Association) and had a response this very week, confirming it was mainly on track and meeting the expected dates. It will be quite a thing for Brentford and I will be sure to welcome people when they arrive and encourage them to add to the vivacity of the town centre! It is still scaffoldy and claddingy so I have not bothered with a pic.

Crossing the A4 there is Holly House. Came to my ward 3 years ago and I remember being shocked by the state of it with a huge hole in the wall. Contractors have been working on Holly House ever since but from what I can gather from talking to residents it is still in a mess with lots of damp and other problems. One for my agenda (again).

Next stop was Great West House. I worked there starting 1977 when it was Honeywell House. I eventually was managing the building - I will be blogging separately about that shortly - but it is a different place now. I took a look and a chap with a security uniform came and chat to me. I explained, and he agreed to introduce me to the construction manager. It is going to be converted into (you guessed it) flats which they are allowed to do without asking permission from the council, which is galling. Nice man and I told him I had some stories (I have a lot, actually) and would show him properly around later, by arrangement.

I remembered when I was first there I could look across to Firestone (not for long) Trico (for a bit longer) and Rank Audio Visual (I think) on the corner, and down on Fiat on one side and a little church on the other corner of Boston Manor Road. All gone - but more in my Honeywell blog soon.

Where Fiat was was redeveloped into a very 1990s business park called Riverside Way. This was the kind of office we all craved back then. I leased one in Birmingham and one in High Wycombe on this pattern for our offices (High Wycombe is now a Dreams superstore: I hoped they managed to fix the roof leaks which were built in by the developers and where we had buckets deployed all around our swanky Marketing HQ. I hope it doesn't wake up Dreamers with a drip. At that time, talk of sick buildings was fashionable..

This rather nice low-rise office park lasted a few weeks but by the time it was added to my ward it had become largely residential. A bit weird inside with some staircases ending up against a wall across them and therefore having become a touch pointless. The one remaining office block is I believe another being converted into... flats. I cycled around to just have a look and was surprised to see there was a car park there and a place for deliveries, known as Car Park C.

Exploring further, I discovered there was a downstairs, together with 'your own risk' and double yellow lines. And I thought I knew Brentford.

On Saturday morning I had my surgery in the library. Situation normal - like Eleanor Rigby's funeral, nobody came - but in truth the library was very quiet even outside the room I was in. 3 Students seemed to be working on the table upstairs and I saw a few others coming and going, including various children (hooray).

Going out there was a woman with very dark paper glasses. She asked me had I seen the eclipse. I had of course forgotten all about it. She lent me her spectacles (glasses is an exaggeration) and I looked. Wow. Well worth a look. The birds stopped singing. Well, maybe there are no birds in Brentford except the water birds, crows and Green Parakeets that squawk outside my flat.

I did have a go at inspiring the library a couple of years ago but never got very far. I asked the lead member to engage and he asked his cabinet assistant to help me. She was great and we were beginning to make progress when she was told in a meeting that she was no longer a cabinet assistant. Her mouth fell open, as did mine. We tried to keep it going but we failed. I have a bit more capacity now and may have another go at it. ANyone else want to play?

After that I was alerted to some action on the Windmill Road junction with the A4. It has been an awful mess for many months. It is still no oil painting but some of the worst trip hazards have been finally addressed by the developer who caused all the trouble.

On Sunday I noticed the water in the Brent was as shallow as I ever remember seeing it. Later on I took a stroll to my lovely town centre and on the way home decided to have a little drink in the Brewery Tap. A chap has to support local businesses. Lots of tables and boozers outside but as I made my pint last i observed water of the wet variety approaching from the western direction. After a while many people moved uphill to avoid the invading hordes. I held out, bravely, but in the end it was going to get me, so I went up Catherine Wheel Road. I have a video but I don't have a brain. Well, I do, but not one who knows how to show a video on a blog. It was scary there, I tell you, it was like The Poseidon Adventure but Shelley Winters didn't show.

On Monday I was off to Hounslow House. It was a day when the Mayor was giving out awards to people nominated by councillors as people who did a lot for the community. I thought of Carly Forrest. She writes to me from time to time about things that need attention and I try to assist with this. Carly is very determined and is a real asset to Brentford, so I was delighted to nominate her. She was surprised, because people who quietly try to improve everybody's life don't expect any acknowledgement, which makes it much more powerful.

There something wrong with the camera because you'd think from the photo I am fat. And scruffy. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In the evening it was the Area Forum meeting at St Paul's church. Despite my new state-of-the-art hearing aids - the Rolls Royce of the deafaid world, I could barely understand a word that was said. Actually other people had difficulty hearing and I think that room doesn't seem to work for those sort of meetings. Or perhaps it's just me. I asked a lot of questions of TfL but if I get helpful answers I will have to see if I can hear them on the recording!

Nothing very exciting happened after Monday, but on Wednesday someone alerted me there were worries about asbestos being spilled (if that's the word) by builders converting the Happy Valley aka as the former Chinese Chip Shop on Brook Road South. I know, but that's what I call Chinese take aways. Walked up there and talked to a foreman-looking chap. He said the asbestos man had come around already and dealt with it. Hope he was honest, but he had a honest face.

On the way home I took in another Goddard's van on Albany Road. There are two in a single drive (or perhaps I should call it a push, because I don't think it is going anywhere.) One of them is officially off the road and the DVLA have nothing to tell about MoT though they claim it is white, like the last one I mentioned.

Looks blue to me and it's obviously dangerous as in a cage. Or maybe just very valuable. Perhaps they want to export it to the USA.

Today I had an online meeting with the Regeneration Director and the lead member Tom Bruce. I had raised a lot of questions about things happening (or not) in Brentford, and it was good to get an update on a number of issues. There is a lot going on (you may have noticed) and there is limited capacity in the council to update these matters, but this was very helpful. I won't go through it all (I'm getting tired and you are bored) but it was good to hear positive messages about the police station and most importantly the likely new culture centre, which is the same message I am getting from Salman Shaheen. We are hoping for a new planning application (things need to be updated because regulations have changed) in the summer. I am continuing to dog them with questions and concerns about various matters in the ward (and the town) but they acknowledge that these matters move slowly and anything about development is especially slow in these times in Hounslow and everywhere else.

Except Heidelberg, where things are moving fast. Recently they have opened up the road that goes partly around the back and I wandered down there this week. There is a door and just like any competent burglar I tried it. It opened. There was another door inside. That opened too. There were lifts. I was about to press a button when the doors opened and a woman emerged. Feeling slightly guilty I explained my presence (I was not burgling) and she told me yes, she lives there and has moved in recently. I think she is just a brisk walker rather than any concerns about me...

This week’s progress pic

Councillor Guy Lambert