Riverside CPZ Leads To Parking Problems For Teachers

Councillor Sam Hearn's blog on matters of local interest

Friday, 27th October: To Strand on the Green Junior School for an 8.00am meeting of the governing body’s pay committee. Always an opportunity for a quick catch up about other school matters. On, by bike, to Brentford for a business meeting. Ready by the early afternoon to head off to Oxford for an overnight stay and to meet up with old friends for a meal. The Ashmolean Museum stays open till 8.00pm on a Friday evening so we went and gawped at the amazing Pompei exhibition (open until 12th January).

Saturday, 28th September: We stayed at the Head of the River Hotel, a beautifully situated and fitted out Fuller’s Hotel. I won a voucher for a one-night stay in a Tory Raffle but don’t tell my wife. We visited the quirky Oxford Castle and prison and went for a stroll along the Thames before heading for home.

Sunday, 29th October: After the morning service at St Paul’s Grove Park many of us stayed behind for a soup lunch organised to raise money for Water Aid .

Time flew by in lively conversation and I almost forgot that I had promised to join Cllr Ron Mushiso and others for the Turnham Green Clean-up Sunday. These community-based events are advertised on ChiswickW4 and are very worthwhile (see picture). Best of all I had the chance at the end to discuss, over a cup of tea, the latest developments in Orcadian archaeology with Helen the midwife who attended the birth of both my children.

Monday, 30th September: Finalised plans for a public meeting at St Paul’s Grove Park Isis Rooms to discuss local issues such as the Liveable Neighbourhoods consultation and the proposal to convert the upper floors of the Station House Pub into flats and modify the pub itself. The meeting begins at 7.00pm on Tuesday 8th October and follows immediately after the first of a three drop-in sessions being organised by the council, at the same venue, as part of the initial phase of the Liveable Neighbourhoods consultation.

An estimated £3.3m of public money has been allocated to South Chiswick to fund initiatives with the potential to improve public spaces, and increase the trips to be made by foot, bike and public transport. Your councillors are talking to local amenity groups and officers but we really need your ideas and suggestions so that this money is spent wisely.

The drop-in sessions at St Paul’s Church Hall (Isis Rooms) are on:

Tuesday, 8th October: 5pm to 7pm

Saturday, 12th October: 10am to 2pm

Thursday, 17th October: 5pm to 7pm

Tuesday, 1st October: Chiswick Riverside’s new controlled parking zones (CPZs) began yesterday. Several residents have complained over the last couple of weeks of difficulties in using the parking permit section of the council website. My emails tell me that everyone who contacted me now has a permit. Please do not hesitate to get in contact if you are still experiencing problems. Local schools are complaining that the small number of teachers who have to travel to work by car cannot afford to purchase a so-called business parking permit. I have been raising this issue with officers and the relevant Hounslow cabinet member but so far to no avail. Other boroughs can provide sensibly priced permits for teachers so why can’t Hounslow? This is not just a Chiswick problem. Do we actively wish to discourage good teachers from working in the borough?

Wednesday, 2nd October: Out canvassing this evening with colleagues in Osterley. It is good to see that support for our party is holding up well and that people are pleased to see us. Looking at my diary I am sad to discover that I cannot join our excellent new parliamentary candidate, Seena Shah, for a canvassing session on Saturday morning. I will be in Aylesbury for a conference on social housing.

Thursday, 3rd October: To Thame to assist a friend giving a talk about John Hampden MP to the local branch of the U3A. The recent interest in obscure parliamentary procedures forcibly reminded me just how ill-informed even some of our opposition politicians and otherwise well-educated commentators are. Our constitutional arrangements did not just happen but were hammered out on the hard anvil of social conflict and civil war over centuries.

Back in Chiswick for the Initial meeting of the Blossom Day Steering Group at St Michael’s Elmwood Road. A group of Staveley Road residents are seeking permission to close off part of the road to cars for a one day street party during that magical time every year when the street’s cherry trees erupt into bloom.

Dates for diaries

· Cabinet Question Time: Wednesday, 16th October at 7.00pm at St Michael’s Elmwood Road. Seats are first-come, first-entry. Questions will be taken from the floor but if you wish to submit a question in advance send it in to communications@hounslow.gov.uk by 12noon on Friday 11 October.

· Borough council: Tuesday, 29th October at 7.30pm at Hounslow House

· Chiswick Area Forum: postponed new date to be confirmed

Surgeries

· Chiswick: Every Saturday from 9.30am to 10.30am at Chiswick Library, upstairs in the private room.

· Gunnersbury: First Saturday of the month from 10am to 11am at The Triangle Club, The Ridgeway, W3 8LN, usually a group discussion but privacy can be arranged.

October 7, 2019