The Final Countdown - a Few Last Bits of Business Before the Vote
Chiswick Riverside ward candidate Gabriella Giles reports back on her week
With fellow Riverside Conservative Candidates Seb Wallace and Peter Thompson
As we enter the last week of the campaign for the local elections, your Conservative team in Hounslow have been out and about actively listening to residents about their concerns ahead of polling day on 5 May.
In Chiswick Riverside, time and time again, I’ve heard residents share their frustrations over a Labour-led Hounslow. They feel that Chiswick has been neglected, that services have been moved to Hounslow and Feltham, away from the hub of Chiswick. It has been a concern of ours for a long time, especially as services such as adult education which are so vital for emotional and physical health have been moved further away.
Some would have you believe that this is purely because we don’t have Labour representation in Chiswick.
Unfortunately, I find this impossible to believe.
In my previous blogs, I have often questioned the competence of this administration, and ever since I was elected in 2018, I have been astounded by the acceptance of what is considered “good enough” in the borough. It started back at our council induction when we were proudly told of the number of twitter followers on the council’s account. I don’t have the numbers to hand, but I recall it being about 3% of the borough’s population. Even now, it has 16.3K followers, which may seem a lot, but as an organisation that needs to communicate with a population of just under 273,000, this accounts for about 6%.
Why is this important? In and of itself, it’s not really, but it has stood out in my mind as a marker of how the borough measures success.
In this case, as with most key performance indicators, it’s not always about the end number, but about what is being measured in the first place. While volume may be important, what may be more important here is the profile of the followers…are they other boroughs; are they residents; organisations who benefit directly from the council; organisations that partner with the council? I don’t have the answer to this, and I understand that there are many ways to measure success, but if you look at their recent posts, how many are retweeted, or liked? The answer: Very few.
I’ve been in a very reflective mood this year, thinking about how my first (and hopefully not last) term as a councillor has gone, what would I have wanted to do better, what I would have done differently if I had known then what I know now, and what decisions I am sure have made a difference.
Firstly, I have learned that as a councillor, the best time to influence policy is early on. Once reports come to Borough Council, it is most probably too late. Which means that the importance of having councillors who understand their roles is so vital. Under this current administration, it would seem that the council is very much officer-led, meaning that it is officers who set the agenda, not those elected to serve and represent you. In that same vein, it would appear that the strong-leader model that this administration has adopted does not allow for open debate or a culture of psychological safety wherein anyone can challenge an idea, policy or process without fear or recrimination.
We may not get it right all of the time, but to paraphrase Aristotle, you don’t get far by saying nothing, doing nothing and being nothing. In that same vein, I’ve realised that by speaking up in the chamber you can influence change, maybe not for the report in front of you, but certainly for the future.
Upholding the Licensing Objectives
One of the areas I have found I’ve been able to make a difference in is licensing, and in my last panel of this term, I sat alongside John Todd and Richard Foote to hear an application that had been brought by the police to remove the licence of a venue on Hounslow High Street where there had been an incident involving three stabbings on one night.
As a member of the licensing committee, we have a duty to uphold the four licensing objectives of the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, the prevention of public nuisance and the protection of children from harm. Personally, I am also acutely aware that many of our licensed venues are independently owned and run, so taking the decision to revoke a licence is not an easy one.
The hearing lasted for three hours, with lawyers from both the police and the owner stating their cases. The venue in question is one of the last late-night spots in Hounslow, and like many businesses reliant on the night-time economy that has struggled as a result of the last two years.
We had been provided a library of reports to read before the hearing, and even received last minute reports from both parties. Considering that I worked that morning, I was very glad to have given myself a little extra time to review if not read in full before the panel convened at 13.45. There were also a number of reports from the police and during our pre-meeting, we were able to view the CCTV footage provided by the venue and the police.
The existing licence had a good number of conditions that should have been maintained by the venue to prevent such a terrible incident from happening in the first place. For example, CCTV should have recorded the faces of every patron, instead, the bouncers had positioned themselves so that all you could see were the backs of people’s heads. They were also supposed to “wand” patrons, from the CCTV footage, you couldn’t see this happening, only cursory pat-downs were taking place, and the condition that every patron check their coats was not being upheld.
These may be trivial issues to some, but to me, an organisation that has a clear process and policy for ensuring that all employees know what their roles are and how that business needs to operate in order to fulfil its commitments will make sure that all employees know how to behave at all times. Especially in a time of crisis.
This was the rationale I used for my line of questioning when it came to asking the defendant about their operational procedures. Unfortunately, the lawyer for the business hadn’t been briefed on this, and the business owner experienced technical issues which meant that they didn’t elaborate on their answers enough to instil trust to demonstrate to the panel that they could rectify their behaviour to ensure that an incident such as a stabbing should never take place.
Like most contentious hearings, the meeting was lengthy. This was to enable both sides to put forward their cases. Licensing is quasi-judicial in its function, and this hearing definitely reminded me of the importance of the decision we would need to make. The business owner had engaged a lawyer and an independent assessor to provide recommendations and support their case, however, in this situation, the panel deemed it a bit “too little, too late”.
The assessor’s report had provided recommendations and suggested conditions that should have already been part of the DNA of the organisation. In our minds, they had failed in their duty to uphold the licensing objectives, specifically the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety and the prevention of public nuisance. We had no other choice but to revoke the licence.
It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but as councillors, we have a duty to ensure that our communities are safe for everyone.
Wellesley Road Alleyway
Talking of safe communities, I am glad to report that work has progressed on the cases I have raised regarding the alley from Wellesley Road to Chiswick Village. This has been going on for over a year, since the death of Sarah Everard, and I met with one of the directors of Chiswick Village back in February to discuss in person what was still required. Here are a few of the topics we discussed and updates:
1. The council has been able to get in touch with TfL to manage the litter and waste on the overground and London Underground land, specifically the broken pigeon netting under the A4 bridge.
2. The broken fence that was overhanging the path has now been “barriered off” by Hounslow Highways and they are trying to contact the owners of the adjoining property to find out when the fencing will be replaced.
We are still working on lighting, regular cleaning and tidying up any spots that have been liable to fly-tipping, or other anti-social behaviour.
Alley from Wellesley Road
Ward Police Panel
As the chairman of the Riverside Police Panel, I am delighted to announce we have a new ward PC, Jessica Bastick, to support PC Prabhdip Singh, and the ward panel will meet in the next couple of weeks to discuss our plans for the future.
As always, thank you for your support over the last four years, and I hope that you’ve enjoyed these insights. We are a small and varied group, each with different interests and specialities, but with one common interest - to make Hounslow a cleaner, safer Borough, that both listens and is accountable to you.
Cllr Gabriella Giles
gabriella.giles@hounslow.gov.uk
07966 270823
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Most council meetings are now taking place in person at Hounslow House though a few, such as licensing panel meetings, continue to be held virtually. Even if they are held in person, you can watch them live (or later) on the council's YouTube channel. Please check for each meeting by looking at the agenda reports pack for each committee.
Key Local Election Dates
26th April - Deadline for receiving new proxy voting form
5th May – 7.00am to 10pm local election 2022
Counting of votes – from 10pm
31st May – 7.00pm Annual Meeting of the Borough Council
2nd June to 7th June – Platinum Jubilee four-day weekend
SURGERIES ARE BACK!
We are back to our usual routine, after the pandemic, of holding face-to-face surgeries in Chiswick and Gunnersbury. Chiswick: Every Saturday from 9.30am to 10.30am at Chiswick Library (the nine Conservative councillors take this surgery in turn). Gunnersbury: First Saturday of the month from 10am to 11am at The Gunnersbury Triangle Club, Triangle Way, off The Ridgeway, W3 8LU (at least one of the Turnham Green ward councillors will take this surgery).
Chiswick Homefields ward
Cllr Patrick Barr
patrick.barr@hounslow.gov.uk
07976 703263
Cllr Gerald McGregor
gerald.mcgregor@hounslow.gov.uk
07866 784821
Cllr John Todd
john.todd@hounslow.gov.uk
07866 784651
Chiswick Riverside ward
Cllr Michael Denniss
michael.denniss@hounslow.gov.uk
07976 703274
Cllr Gabriella Giles
gabriella.giles@hounslow.gov.uk
07966 270823
Cllr Sam Hearn
sam.hearn@hounslow.gov.uk
07833 376222
Turnham Green ward
Cllr Joanna Biddolph
joanna.biddolph@hounslow.gov.uk
07976 703446
Cllr Ranjit Gill
ranjit.gill@hounslow.gov.uk
07976 702956
Cllr Ron Mushiso
ron.mushiso@hounslow.gov.uk
07976 702887
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
May 1, 2022