Weekly Update From Councillor Guy Lambert

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A knitted postbox and a lavender library are canvassing highlights

Spotted out canvassing in Dale Street, Chiswick

This will be a quick one as I’m heavily involved in the build up to next weeks election (don’t expect one next week – I’ll be flat out all day and night, then flat out knackered all day Friday).

Friday and the weekend, busy door knocking. An extraordinary number of people who our database say are Conservatives saying ‘not this time’. Whether they will go so far as to begin a dalliance with the devil (me) is perhaps another matter but they will not be supporting the party party. It seems the fibbing is contagious in the Conservative party as – amongst many other dubious or plain untrue claims - they are putting about that recycling rates have stagnated – they have stagnated from 29.8% in 2017/8 to 37.8% in the latest quarter we have figures for, at a time when many councils’ recycling rates are going in the other direction.

More door knocking every day this week, with Monday out of the area in Chiswick supporting my friend and excellent councillor Hanif Khan and his equally good team. Chiswick Gunnersbury really deserves some talented, constructive and energetic councillors.

You see some nice things out canvassing, like this postbox in Boston Manor Road and a book library in Dale Street, Chiswick (se above).

You also see some ugly things, like this which we picked up on a footpath

You’ll not be surprised to hear that I am not a fan of the politics of my Conservative opponents, but I don’t believe they are either racists or nonces so folks – please don’t litter the streets with this stuff, just turn out and vote for me and Lara. Or Rhys and Marina if in Brentford East, or Katherine, Dan and Balraj if you’re in Syon and Brentford Dock. Oh, or Hanif and his chums in Chiswick Gunnersbury (incorporating bits of Brentford) or The Melvinator and his chums if you’re in Chiswick Riverside (incorporating bits of Brentford).

Canvassing etc aside, there’s the usual tide of casework, some we pick up on the doors and some which arrives through the traditional email or telephone route – council tax queries, missing recycling boxes, too many trees or too few trees (everybody likes trees except the one outside their own house), housing issues – plus we have some special election-related campaigns about this and that which generate sometimes multiple emails all of which I try to reply to (I usually manage but the flesh is weak).

Thankfully, normal council business is quite limited during the pre-election period, but I do have a Lampton Group finance and risk session (nothing to report) and our quarterly ‘network board’ with Hounslow Highways. They have started their weeding programme earlier this year in an attempt to keep things under control without the use of horrible weedkillers. They have been avoiding weedkillers for two seasons now which is quite pioneering work and it is a hard manual slog. If you see the team in your street I believe a cup of tea is always welcome – certainly one of my kind residents did this in Whitestile Road last week and I hear it went down a treat! Highways have heard about Labour’s plans for a ‘pavement pledge’ if we still control the council and are thinking about how to deliver. In the meantime if your pavement has problems you can report on FixMyStreet and if it meets the criteria for a fault it will be fixed at no additional cost to the council/taxpayer.

The weeding programme is here if you’re interested to know when the teams will pay your street a visit.

As I said, this is a short one. I hope to be back here in a fortnight’s time, but that will depend on people getting out to vote for me next Thursday. I’m proud of having produced 340 of these updates and I’m hoping to have the opportunity to get to 500. I’m also proud to be part of Council of the Year 2021, with the best roads and footpaths in London and the third best parks, and having delivered the vast majority of very challenging manifesto pledges from 2018. Lots more to do – give us the chance to do it.

Cllr Guy Lambert

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April 29, 2022