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
Saturday 21st May: Up on the Ridgeway with friends once again for a stroll from Goring to Watlington. Beautiful countryside with long stretches along the River Thames often through water meadows. Away from the Thames we followed the mysterious Grimm’s Ditch for quite a distance. A reminder once again that we live in an ancient land and that our puny political obsessions will soon be lost in the mists of time.
Sunday 22nd May: The failure of developers and officers to come up with an effective solution for the pedestrian underpass beneath Kew Bridge rumbles on. Two of my recent interventions on behalf of individual residents have borne fruit and it is nice when people say thank you.
Monday 23rd May: A relatively short meeting of the Conservative Councillors’ Group ostensibly to elect a leader and officers for the next year and to discuss the agenda for tomorrow’s Borough Council meeting. In practice re-electing our Leader, Peter Thompson, was never going to be difficult and the agenda for the Borough Council meeting was bland verging on the soporific. We used the rest of our time to revisit our process for generating a manifesto and began developing a strategy for the 2018 local elections.
Tuesday 24th May: Once a year we turn the Borough Council meeting over to “mayor making”. The public gallery was full of friends and family keen to see the new mayor installed and the outgoing mayor praised for his many outstanding qualities. The new mayor was formally “acclaimed”. In Hounslow mayors are actually pre-selected by the ruling Labour Group without any consultation with minority parties. The only other business was to announce cabinet appointments and to approve appointments to committees and outside bodies.
Wednesday 25th May: Into Strand on the Green School for a meeting with joint Head Teacher Ruth Woods. In the evening I sat in on the EU referendum debate at St Michael’s Bedford Park. Hilary Benn MP was the star turn but I am not sure that his oratory necessarily papered over all the cracks. Redoubtable local Councillors McGregor and Oulds were strong on statistics and legal wordings in treaties but appeared at the end of the day not to have won over any members of the audience. There is another local debate on the 9th June at St Paul’s Church Grove Park.
Thursday 26th May: What should have been a half hour journey to the Heathrow Academy for a briefing by Heathrow apparatchiks for councillors took more than an hour. Heathrow certainly put up a strong case but I still find the argument that the airport must expand or die ludicrous. They have accepted that legal barriers to the construction of a fourth runway must be put in place. But as soon as the new third runway is operational it will be full to capacity – and then what? The Heathrow presenters also say that a third runway would generate only a minimal increase in vehicle journeys. Mmmm. I manage a quick exit from Heathrow and then back to Chiswick for a meeting of the Executive of the Conservative Association. Our doors are open to anyone who wishes to find out more about running as a Conservative Candidate in the 2018 local elections. Finally to the Station House for a nightcap.
May 27, 2016
