Politics in the Pub, Missing Trees and Making Hounslow Greener
Chiswick Homefields councillor Jack Emsley reports back
A visit to the pub with some fellow councillors
March 16, 2024
It’s my turn again to write this week’s Chiswick councillor blog. Luckily, every week as a councillor for Chiswick Homefields is a busy week, so there’s always plenty to write about - contrary to the headline picture, trips to the pub with fellow councillors are a rarity! So, from council committees to Area Forums, here’s what I’ve been up to over the past week.
Politics in the Pub
I popped across to the King’s Arms in Brentford last Friday to have a pint and a chat with our brilliant local GLA candidate Ron Mushiso (and the fantastic new Parliamentary candidate for Brentford and Isleworth, Laura Blumenthal). Ron is an extremely hard working local councillor in Chiswick Gunnersbury, and brings exactly the level of energy and passion for our community that South West London deserves in a representative.
I’m particularly impressed by his commitment to connecting with people across the South West London area, whether it’s through his Politics in the Pub roadshow or in his many trips to community events and places of worship. The most important thing we can do as local representatives, at any level of local, regional or national government, is engage with the people we were elected to represent. Ron does this better than almost anyone, and I’m looking forward to voting for him on the 2nd May and having him as our London Assembly Member.
Making Hounslow Greener
On Monday we had our final Housing and Environment Scrutiny Panel of the municipal year, where we finalised our recommendations for a report into how to improve nature recovery across our borough. I make this point every year, but I really don’t understand why there is only one committee to cover both housing and the environment - it means that last year, when we investigated the state of empty council homes in Hounslow, we were unable to scrutinise the council’s environmental policies, and this year in scrutinising nature recovery we have not been able to provide recommendations as a panel on the state of housing. These are two of the most important topics facing local communities today, and it’s beyond time the council made time for committees to investigate both at the same time.
Procedural moans aside, this year’s panel has been an important one - we’ve investigated both the state of nature recovery and new rules around biodiversity net gain in planning. The latter is particularly relevant to Chiswick Homefields, where residents in Grove Park are still outraged at the sight of large amounts of felled trees in the playing fields next to Cavendish Road. The loss of these trees to make way for plastic playing pitches is unconscionable, but current Biodiveristy Net Gain requirements make changes like this possible. One recommendation we’re making as a committee is implementing a new Urban Greening Factor in planning decisions, which should ensure that future applications are much friendlier to our shared environment.
On the subject of trees, I asked at a Chiswick Area Forum last year for statistics on the survival rate of the much trumpeted 8,000+ ‘trees’ planted by the council in the last planting season. I’m concerned that this number is fairly meaningless, as the majority of trees planted are whips, which the council admits have a survival rate of less than 50%. Is the council really as green as it says it is? It’s a question nobody can seem to answer, as the Parks department confirmed that they don’t currently have any data on how many trees planted by the council in 22/23 are actually still alive. This is strange, as it’s very unlike this current Labour administration to fudge the stats…
Digital Poverty
Talking of Area Forums, the Chiswick Area Forum was held last week - the theme was culture and digital inclusion, and the meeting heard several great presentations about Hounslow’s Summer of Culture, the Hounslow Arts Centre, and digital poverty.
In the discussion about digital poverty, Councillor Ron Mushiso was absolutely right to highlight the extreme generosity of Chiswick back in 2022, when locals came together to donate over 1,000 laptops and other devices for refugees and local school children who lived with digital poverty. Here’s a picture of us at Rocks Lane, one of the donation points for the laptop drive - isn’t it amazing how two years as a councillor can age you…
Cllr Ron Mushiso (left) and Cllr Jack Emsley (right) deliver laptops to Rocks Lane
Cllr Jack Emsley
07977 396017
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Monday 18 March 2024 at 7:00pm Cabinet
Tuesday 26 March 2024 at 7:30pm Borough Council
THEN:
- Tuesday 19 Mar 2024 7:00 pm
- Tuesday 16 Apr 2024 7:00 pm
- Tuesday 14 May 2024 7:00 pm
- Tuesday 21 May 2024 7.30pm (The Annual Statutory General Meeting of the Borough Council)
6th Floor, Hounslow House, 7 Bath Road, Hounslow TW3 3EB
During weekends, residents can still access council services on-line or via emergency numbers:
To inform the council of an emergency, please call 020 8583 2222
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 Gabriella Giles gabriella.giles@hounslow.gov.uk 07966 270823
Cllr Peter Thompson peter.thompson@hounslow.gov.uk 07977 395810
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. |