A Challenging Audit Report And Some Christmas Events

Sam Hearn's blog about life as a councillor in Chiswick

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.

Friday 5th December Part 2: Attended the meeting of the Hounslow Residents Associations' Forum at the Civic Centre. I was surprised to have five or six documents handed to me as I entered the room. Not sure how we were meant to read and absorb the information whilst participating in the meeting.

Saturday 6th December: Waiting around for the Printer to deliver leaflets. Worked on constituents' casework using my I-Pad. Glad to be able to help a resident from a Hounslow Ward who phoned in with a housing issue.

Sunday 7th December: First detailed read of the papers for the Audit Committee. The papers are a weird mixture of the dreadfully dull and the fascinating. Glad that we have able Finance Officers who can lead us through the very technical stuff. Treasury Management is crucial but the jargon can be impenetrable.

Monday 8th December: Mandatory councillor training/development at the Civic Centre. Interesting to hear about the efforts being made to get the automated councillors casework system up and running. The session ended with Housing and Traffic Officers leading workshops for Councillors who wished to participate. Pure gold dust.

Tuesday 9th December: Responding to constituents’ emails. The Audit Committee report on the Hounslow Homes frauds is baffling. What are all these blacked out sections?

Wednesday 10th December: On the streets again canvassing and delivering leaflets with three colleagues including Councillor Paul Lynch. Much struck by the number of people experiencing increased problems with parking since the introduction of the latest CPZ scheme.

Thursday 11th December: To the Civic Centre for the Audit Committee. A long agenda. Consideration of the independent report on the various Hounslow Homes frauds was the most high profile item. Coincidentally Private Eye had chosen to cover this debacle in the Rotten Boroughs column in its latest issue. The report itself was disappointing with many redacted sections including its entire action plan. I am sorry but the rest of this paragraph has been redacted.

Friday 12th December: Two Christmas "events" to look forward to today.

December 12th, 2014