Name-calling and Abuse of Authority
Chiswick Homefields councillor Gerald McGregor reports back
Cllr Gerald McGregor
March 12, 2023
Local Politics
A hard fought By Election campaign in Heston West was a big element of my time over the last five weeks working as Agent for Muraad Ali Chaudhry, a local resident of long standing, who fought a solid and much appreciated campaign. At the last by election in 2019 the then Labour Candidate was elected with 3,440 votes. The number of votes cast this time (last Thursday) dropped considerably with many people abstaining or protest voting.
Big features on the doorstep were the huge rise in Council Tax and the impact of ULEZ and poor maintenance of council properties. A typical comment was that thanks to ULEZ second hand prices had dropped for non compliant vehicles and the HP or leasing financial burden on the family car was now greater than the current sale value (which does not help in financing the next higher cost and higher spec’ed vehicle.
The Labour vote for their winning candidate fell dramatically to 1,104 this time. The ward is also represented by the Labour Leader of the council so this result will have had a chilling effect.
The Budget for Hounslow Borough Council
The Labour Controlled Administration continues on its historical pathway of raising taxes across the Borough. The three wards of Chiswick (Homefields, Riverside and Gunnersbury) provide more than 40% of taxation, fees and charges raised into the coffers of the Local Authority and effectively subsidise the rest of the Borough which Chiswick has little in common with. Without this revenue Hounslow would lose a million a week from its income. At the Budget meeting, the Leader of the Number One Council in England in 2021!!!!, declared that Chiswick was a backwater. Well this sort of insult (subsequently apologised for) is not the form of leadership of a Borough that residents deserve.
The overall budget increase for Chiswick Residents is 6.2% with the Labour Mayor of London bunging us an increased charge in his costs of 9+%. The Conservative opposition at County Hall and the Conservative Opposition in Chiswick and Feltham were able to show that these increases were both unnecessary and could be covered by taxpayer financed balances and reserves already held in the Council and the GLA.
ULEZ
The small print and detail of the budget papers also revealed the truth about ULEZ and its effect on Hounslow, with £13,000,000 allocated to replace the Hounslow vehicle fleet that does not meet the Mayor's pollution criteria (70+ vehicles). This sum is greater than the whole budget increase being paid for by Council Taxpayers.
The Conservative Group pressed for the Council to allocate £315,000 to join an appeal by other London Boroughs in a court case against the Mayor for various breachers of the act setting up the GLA ie going beyond his responsibilities without authority. Nick Rogers, the London South West GLA Assemblyman has been leading on this action and took the Mayor to task at a recent public meeting
Traffic and Transport
The Conservative Group on Hounslow Council currently has real concerns about the transfer of experimental schemes into permanent schemes that continue to be controversial, where consultation has shown that four in five respondents do not want them and that traffic limiting schemes such as Hartington Road and Staveley Gardens do huge harm to motorists and enforcement with huge fines (84,000 penalty charge notices so far mainly to local residents) and unfair permit schemes; or where the interests of cyclists in Chiswick High Road involves spending tens of millions of pounds of taxpayer money without negative feedback being acknowledged.
These schemes are spreading across Brentford and Isleworth and into the west of the Borough with the same pattern of behaviour by those in authority.
Chiswick Library Surgery Report Saturday 4 th March
The Conservative group who hold weekly surgeries at Chiswick Library all tell the same continuing tales of residents fighting to understand what is happening to them on the streets and roads whilst the group tries to hold the Labour perpetrators to account through scrutiny and publicity.
The surgery was busy with people from start to finish.
Big issues this week from tenants who need help from Hounslow Housing with repairs promised and not delivered or complaints about workmanship not being resolved. Many residents do not understand documents they receive from the council, so form filling and advising on how to negotiate a council demand are a standard feature
Helping with an appeal because the post failed to deliver a letter from the council is not a new thing but when the issue is a Penalty Charge Notice it becomes a rising financial penalty because of delay
Feedback on salary and payroll issues is becoming more common, still dealing with an ongoing payroll deduction problem in a Borough Council Subsidiary
Having three phone sessions with different people unable to get to the Library and Following up on case work already in place by going outside the Library; and Library staff as helpful and friendly as ever.
Cllr Gerald McGregor
gerald.mcgregor@hounslow.gov.uk
07866 784821
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Tuesday, 14th March at 7:00pm: Chiswick Area Forum
Tuesday, 28th March at 7:00pm: Cabinet
Tuesday 11th April at 7:00pm: Overview and Scrutiny
Tuesday 9th May at 7:00pm: Overview and Scrutiny
Tuesday, 23rd May at 7.30pm Borough Council AGM
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
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |