Local councillor Sam Hearn's blog about his week

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

Friday 1st April: It takes longer than I thought to write up a record of a meeting yesterday between neighbours in dispute over of a long standing noise issue. Frustration all round at the failure to submit a “call in” for a planning application within the fixed time limits. I finally make it to a performance the “Curious incident of …”. It is a strange coincidence that I recently got lost in exactly the same area of north London as the autistic hero of the play. My excuse was that I was following my Satnav.

Saturday 2nd April: Preparing papers for the AGM of an educational charity that I am a trustee of. Complete deliveries of latest Mayoral Election leaflets. Also spend time checking out the test site of the charity’s new website.

Sunday 3rd April: Had an “invigorating” telephone conversation with the Chair of a small local charity supported by the Council. Trustees have just been informed that officers from Hounslow Council’s Committee Services will no longer be providing support for it or attend meetings. Other larger and ostensibly more robust charities, such as the remarkable Hounslow Action for Youth, are also feeling the pain as council funding is withdrawn.

Monday 4th April: I see from my emails that a date has been set for a meeting next weekend of the local Party Ward Committee. It will be interesting to see what the new officers chose to prioritise. Refresh my memory of the issues for tomorrow night’s meeting.

Tuesday 5th April: A meeting of a small panel of Strand on the Green Governors. Attending this meeting means I that miss the first meeting of the Council Sub-Committee considering Parking Strategy.

Wednesday 6th April: Papers for next week’s meeting of the Chiswick Pier Trust management committee arrive. I note that the meeting is not in diary – fortunately no clashes. Collect latest leaflets for Zac Goldsmith’s Mayoral Campaign.

Thursday 7th April: Cllr Gerald McGregor fills me in on the progress made at the Parking Sub-Committee meeting on Tuesday. Another huge pile of papers to read.

April 8, 2016