A Week In The Life Of A Chiswick Councillor

Budget meetings, a theatre visit and a friend collects her MBE

Cllr Sam Hearn, who represents the Riverside ward in Chiswick, is chairman of the Chiswick Area Forum. He has written this account of his life as a busy local councillor.

Sunday – 23rd November: Reading papers and making notes ahead of the important Borough Council meeting. What can I contribute to the Group Meeting? How can we be to be a good opposition without ever being comfortable in that role.

Monday – 24th November: Group Meeting – a good turn out. Useful contributions from everyone around the table.

Tuesday – 25th November: With fellow trustees to the archives of Hounslow Library to see the progress being made in conserving the historic book collection element of the Thomas Layton Collection. Please click on www.laytoncollection.org . All this amazing “stuff” belongs to you.
Borough Council meeting and the approval of the first budget of the new administration and a peer into the council’s longer term future. Will the current plans for IT properly support the changes envisaged in other areas? For once all over at 10.00. Our request to extend the meeting was voted down.
Wednesday – 26th November: Shuffling my papers from last night and for once making proper notes to refer back to. Thinking of Val Bott and her big day at BP collecting her well-deserved MBE.

Thursday – 27th November: Reading and responding to a couple of emails about the review of the Ward’s new CPZ scheme. Am I simply a delegate as one of my correspondents firmly believes? I fancy that I can hear Edmund Burke whirring noisily in his grave. I am sure that he would be distressed to think that I am day dreaming about revolutions per second.

Friday – 28th November: Lunch in central London with councillor Gerald McGregor and two experts in local government finance. Time for me to practice my “active listening” skills. To the National Theatre tonight with Sue for Three Winters.

November 28, 2014