Dockless e-bike Bay Fiasco and Devonshire Road's Never-emptied Bin

Chiswick Gunnersbury councillor Jo Biddolph reports back

Cllr Jo Biddolph

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June 17, 2023

I look forward to writing these blogs and, at the beginning of the week, start making pen and paper notes about what to include. Often, when fingers hit the keyboard, completely different subjects trip onto the page. And so it is this week. It’s a case of “Events, dear boy, events.”

Dockless e-bike bays – what do you think of it so far?

The lines were painted, the bays delineated; the e-bikes were awaited, with collective breath baited. I know I was not the only one for whom the bays brought a sense of hope – of more order and less scattergun dumping of bikes – but, as so often happens, hope turned to disappointment.

Bikes are being dumped even more inconsiderately (on junctions, across drives and in the middle of the road, not just blocking pavements) and it is thought (with some evidence) that this is the work of pranksters.

What about the user experience? The scheme was activated early and a regular Lime bike hirer, unable to park in his usual spot, was warned of a fine next time with no way of asking for the warning to be deleted so he could start on day one with an unblemished record.

Elsewhere, he was told a bay was full, when it plainly wasn’t, and was directed to another miles away instead of the bay in a neighbouring road. In another the-bay-is-full error, the rider was able to park partly on the road and partly on the pavement, a few yards from, but not in, an empty bay. It’s head-scratching stuff.

There are still concerns about locations of bays. The loud sound the e-bikes emit if moved by hackers or disruptive jokers, will disturb residents with bays right outside bedroom windows of terraced houses barely set back from the pavement. The sensible alternative, to put bays alongside window-less walls, was refused. One bay has been put on a single lane stretch of road at a five-way junction that is regularly congested with stand-offs between drivers refusing to reverse to let the other driver through. It’s dangerous, locals said. They were ignored. What do you expect when decisions are made with little knowledge of how our roads work?

Dumped bike across an already dangerous junction on Power Road

Please report all problems to support@li.me preferably copying your local councillors so we can ask for them to be raised in the weekly catch-up meetings between Hounslow transport officers and Lime.

Litter, litter everywhere and not a drop picked up

Disgusting. Absolutely awful. A health hazard. So say owners of businesses about the state of Devonshire Road with strewn rubbish from an overflowing bin that has been a revolting problem for years but which has reached new lows in the last few months. No-one wants a bin outside their front door – whether it’s a shop or a home – and outside a café is even worse. I’ve been sent photos daily of the filth greeting traders as they open up in the morning. Their customers, and residents who walk between home and the High Road, have been far from impressed.

Devonshire Road’s overflowing bin

Reporting it for emptying wasn’t always successful, with grimness building up over long weekends of which we’ve had several recently. One of our regular street sweepers hasn’t been seen for a while (is he ok? residents ask) and an officer covering for him was spectacularly unaware that he was supposed to litter pick side roads, not just the High Road. “It’s not on my route,” he said slicing off a chunk of watermelon to cool down in the horrible heat through which he’s had to work. I’d probably want to do the minimum, too. (Bring in more people to share the hot workload? Work during cooler hours? Adjust the priorities?)

Hounslow Highways responded to my request for an urgent meeting with Devonshire Road traders, to take place this week, and will step-up collections until then. Ultimately, what is needed is a proper review of Devonshire Road where street furniture generally is a mess and there is no good place for a bin. I have, of course, asked for this several times before.

In the meantime, please do stroll along to support Devonshire Road’s lovely shops, cafes and restaurants, and to our independents generally throughout Chiswick. They are what makes Chiswick Chiswick – and they all badly need our custom. Remember: use it or lose it.

Introducing a commercial waste service

At long last, Hounslow council has introduced a commercial waste service and I’ve been supporting the Lampton 360 team by explaining the sensitivities and complexities of rubbish in Chiswick. It’s so easy to forget what normal should be, and to become desensitised when repeatedly exposed to the abnormal. Many years ago, I invited a friend from leafy Hook Heath in Surrey to leafy Chiswick in London which she had never visited. I still remember, with burning cheeks, the embarrassment when our journey along Turnham Green Terrace and down Devonshire Road involved stepping round rubbish sacks and heaps of packaging left out for collection. This was such a normal experience, seeing it through her eyes was a shock.

One of my aims with this new commercial service, is to persuade Lampton 360 to collect during the day so businesses can put out their rubbish just before the truck comes, not overnight for the foxes and wind to play havoc with. It’s not the first time I’ve said this. I’m hoping one day I’ll be listened to. There is another benefit, residents sleeping above or behind shops won’t be disturbed by the beep, beep, beep of reversing lorries or the slamming of bins as they are upturned and emptied then returned. Day time collections are no-brainers, aren’t they?

Who should chair the overview and scrutiny committee?

The farce of the recent overview and scrutiny committee still hangs over this significant and important council committee. Its role is to act as a critical friend, reviewing the detail of a policy or work of a department, a kinder, gentler form of holding the council to account. We Conservative councillors remain incredulous that a scrutiny committee chairman who lied about the number and type of comments he received about the proposed changes to restrictions at Hartington Road and Staveley Road has been reappointed chairman by the Labour group.

That was one of the reasons why I asked if I could attend the annual conference of the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS) last Wednesday. I wanted to know what others thought of the chairman’s behaviour. Shocked. What about a chairman who insists we go into sessions with set questions, leaving little chance to pick up on points made by people on the day? Shocked. My further concern, that the chairman was deliberately avoiding the “critical” aspect of being a “critical friend” to increase his chances of getting into the cabinet, resulted in a few nods and murmurs of recognition. The potential for preferment had penetrated a few other councils’ scrutiny committees. Many council constitutions stipulate that the chairman of scrutiny should be an opposition councillor. I agree.

Value for money for broadening the mind

Attending conferences, workshops, training events is interesting from several perspectives. Councillors are flooded with invitations from event organisers whose sole purpose is to rake in fees and that’s another eye-opener. Attending the CfGS conference cost LBH £195; the calibre of the people I met was exceptionally high; the learning was extensive; the lunch was delicious; and I travelled back on my favourite bus, the 94. I’ve attended a couple of events about the future of the high street with top notch speakers with successes to crib from, most recently for £399 plus VAT for two (I went with an LBH officer). Now that I’m the Conservative group spokesman for housing and homelessness, I was keen to sign up to a conference on improving homelessness services. The fee? £449 +VAT or £359.20 +VAT if booked early. I felt exploited, my heart-strings deliberately pulled – no price too high to solve this huge life problem. I couldn’t justify it while residents are being evicted with nowhere to go. The speakers didn’t seem to merit it (and certainly didn’t include any former prime ministers …).

Chiswick Area Forum to discuss Gunnersbury Park events

Were you disturbed by the booming base of the Waterworks festival in Gunnersbury Park last summer? Are you dreading the effect of even more music festivals this summer? The first Chiswick Area Forum of this municipal year, on Tuesday this week, is your chance to quiz the Gunnersbury Park CEO and LBH’s head of licensing about their mitigation plans for this year. The session will include a presentation from a local resident, a music festival organiser who knows how sound travels. The agenda, planned by new chairman Cllr Gabriella Giles (Chiswick Riverside ward), also includes an update from our area police sergeant and the Lime e-bikes scheme. Visit stalls and meet residents and councillors from 6.30pm (plus sandwiches and coffee/tea). The formal meeting starts at 7.30pm. Chiswick Town Hall.

No Mow May

It seemed such a good idea, to encourage wildlife and capture carbon. With a lumpy bumpy lawn that has defeated two mowers, one the second time I used it from brand new, I’ve been participating in Plantlife’s No Mow May from May 2022 to May 2023. Now, over half-way through June, with grass as high as Cyndi Lauper’s kinky boots, and a disappointingly narrow range of wildflowers (mostly easy to remove and even easier to spread cleavers and geum urbanum with its shallow but tenacious roots that won’t budge) it’s not just me who thinks enough is enough. Residents everywhere, especially people with allergies, want our verges mown. Although long grass at the front of my home will soon be alive with chirruping grasshoppers, and the back will flash with the brilliant blue of dragonflies, I can’t wait for a friend to come round with a strimmer.

Councillor Joanna Biddolph

Chiswick Gunnersbury ward

joanna.biddolph@hounslow.gov.uk

07976 703446

DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES

Tuesday, 20th June – Chiswick Area Forum : 6.30pm for 7.30pm

Tuesday, 20th June – Cabinet : 7.00pm

Tuesday, 4th July – Housing and Environment Scrutiny Panel : 7.30pm

Tuesday, 11th July – Cabinet : 7.00pm

Tuesday, 11th July – Health and Adults Care Scrutiny Committee : 7.00pm

Thursday, 13th July – Planning committee : 7.00pm

Tuesday, 18th July – Borough Council

CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLOR SURGERIES

Chiswick: Every Saturday from 9.30am to 10.30am at Chiswick Library (the eight 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 Chiswick Gunnersbury ward councillors takes this surgery). 

CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLORS and CONTACTS

Chiswick Gunnersbury (was 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

Chiswick Homefields ward

Cllr Jack Emsley jack.emsley@hounslow.gov.uk 07977 396017

Cllr Gerald McGregor gerald.mcgregor@hounslow.gov.uk 07866 784821

Cllr John Todd john.todd@hounslow.gov.uk 07866 784651

Chiswick Riverside ward

Cllr Peter Thompson peter.thompson@hounslow.gov.uk 07977 395810  

Cllr Gabriella Giles gabriella.giles@hounslow.gov.uk 07966 270823