Housing, Traffic, and a Swedish Tour of the Backwater
Chiswick Homefields councillor Jack Emsley reports back
Nick Rogers and Jack Emsley on the Dukes Meadows walkway
April 1, 2023
My turn again to write this Sunday’s Conservative councillor blog for ChiswickW4.com - it seems to come around faster every time! My week has been packed with resident meetings, dealing with my casework in-tray and preparing for a busy post-Easter schedule of council meetings….
A visit from our local Assembly Member
Last Sunday I met up with our local London Assembly Member Nick Rogers at the Chiswick Food Market for a coffee and a chat with some of the stall holders and shoppers. Nick’s been busy holding Sadiq Khan to account over his proposed expansion of ULEZ to the outer London boundary and, whilst this latest policy won’t impact Chiswick, it is going to have an impact on every other area in Hounslow.
There’s an irony in Labour councillors on the one hand claiming we’re not aware of the issues affecting the west of the borough (instead infamously claiming we’re consigned to the “backwater of Chiswick”), whilst on the other refusing to stand up for their own constituents on this issue. The proposed ULEZ expansion will mean up to 42,000 of the poorest local residents, families and small businesses in the west of the borough could have to pay an additional £4,500 per year to drive to work or collect their kids from school. Labour councillors have asked for an exemption for the council’s own fleet of vehicles, though – one rule for Hounslow Labour, another rule for the rest of us…
After chatting to stallholders and local residents, we headed off down the riverside walk to talk about our inboxes and how us local councillors can work with Nick and the London Assembly to deliver for Chiswick. We also chatted about our shared love of grammar, and were both suitably horrified by this Hounslow Council sign just next to the bandstand:
The future of Dukes Meadows Community Centre
On Monday I met with the head of the former Dukes Meadows Montessori, based in the community centre opposite Alexandra Gardens. The Montessori closed down in September last year and, whilst the manager has kindly stayed on to look after the building since then, will be leaving for good in the summer. The race is on to find a new use for the building, and we spoke about possible new tenants as well as potentially reviving the Dukes Meadows Community Association – if you’re a resident in the Dukes Meadows area, please do drop me an email with your thoughts on what you would like to see the building used for in the future.
Hounslow’s housing horrors
The next day I met up with officers from the Housing Department for a meeting with residents of Middlesex Court on British Grove. Tenants and leaseholders have been worried about a number of maintenance issues which have gone unresolved for several years, including a broken gutter and low/no lights in communal areas. I was grateful to the officers for taking time in the evening to speak to residents and view the issues for themselves, and have received a list of proposed works with timeframes. Whilst I’m hopeful a number of problems will now be rectified there, it’s quite incredible that residents are having to wait for years in some cases for basic repairs. With the recently renewed focus by the council on the state of housing in the borough thanks to the government’s review into damp and mould, I’m hopeful that more of these longstanding issues in local social housing will now be addressed. With that being said, how on earth has the council allowed our local housing stock to get so bad?
Of course, it’s not just the state of maintenance in currently occupied homes which should shame Hounslow Council: our borough is currently home to hundreds of empty council properties (over double the national average, in fact). I’ve written about this before, but it’s a scandal that 200 council homes in our borough have been empty for over a year – this costs the council a huge amount of money, both in lost rent and in the additional charges they have to pay for leaving properties empty for over a certain period. Worse than the cost, though, is the fact that there are hundreds of people who are in desperate need of those homes. I’ll be discussing possible solutions to this with my colleagues on the housing scrutiny panel just after Easter, but the bottom line is: Coalo (the council maintenance company owned wholly by Hounslow Council, of course…) needs to get its act together and improve the way it maintains our housing stock.
Traffic and regenerating our riverside
On Thursday I had a couple of pints with the Dukes Meadows Trust at Chiswick Cricket Club. Traffic was high on the agenda, with many residents concerned about the council’s plans to create a new rat-run on Burlington Lane. Hundreds if not thousands of words have already been written on this site about the proposals, so I’ll simply say that the traffic department’s recommendations for changes to Staveley Road and Burlington Lane will be going before the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the 11th April, before Hounslow’s Labour-led cabinet makes the final decision on the 18th April.
Away from traffic, we also had a constructive discussion about potential regeneration in the area: following the restoration of the Dukes Meadows gates last year, attention is now turning to doing-up Promenade Approach to create a walkway between Edensor Road and the riverfront. It’s an area with so much potential, and I’ve loved getting stuck in with the Dukes Meadows Trust and local residents to turn this corner of Chiswick Homefields ward into a real destination on the map. Watch this space for more!
A Swedish tour of the backwater
And so on to the weekend – my other half’s mum has come over from Sweden to stay with us for Easter, and she couldn’t have picked a better time. This Sunday I’m looking forward to showing her the Flower Market on Chiswick High Road, then wandering down to Chiswick School’s car-boot sale before stopping off for some groceries at the Chiswick Food Market. Not bad for a day out in the backwater!
Cllr Jack Emsley
07977 396017
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
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
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