El Salvador and the US Cheering England in the Steam Packet

Chiswick Riverside councillor Gabriella Giles reports back

Cllr Gabriella Giles
Cllr Gabriella Giles

July 14, 2024

Oof, what a week! Not only have we had a change in government, but the England Men’s team are through to the final of a major tournament, and there’s talk of a new bank holiday if they win. Why this was never done for the Lionesses is not a subject that I’ll go into today, but yet another reminder of how women’s achievements can be viewed very differently to their male counterparts.

Too strong a start on the old blog? Perhaps, but on the back-end of the Manchester United’s womens’ team moving out of their space to make way for the men, and the pay gap between male and female athletes (Wimbledon being an exception), this isn’t the first time I’ve written about this topic. With the Olympics starting soon, it’s incredible to think of all those competitors who have dedicated themselves to their sports, often with little to no remuneration, which was why I was so excited to hear of Flavor Flav’s move to step in and sponsor the USA Women’s Polo team. A little closer to home, and probably more relevant to a local politician, but on 4th July, 264 women were elected to become MPs, now making up 41% of parliament.

As someone who’s attended many 50:50 Parliament events over the years, I am interested to see what the impact of a more balanced representation will have on policies and legislation. To use one example, I hope that the recommendations of former MP Theo Clarke’s campaign, and the APPG report on Birth Trauma is picked up by this new government.

So what have I been up to this past week as a local councillor then? Well, after I recovered from an attempted all-nighter to watch the results come in, I was up bright and early to attend my surgery at Chiswick Library. As it was slow, I took the time to catch up on emails I missed over the previous two days and plan for the week ahead.

Monday started with a trip to Twickenham, for a meeting of the Joint Thames Strategies Refresh board. Regular readers of this blog will know of my involvement with the Thames Landscape Strategy, and next week, I take over the chairmanship of the Executive Review Board. As such, I have additional responsibilities outside of the council on these pan-London projects, and now also sit on the board of the Thames Strategy: Kew to Chelsea. It’s a very exciting time to take on this new role as we enter into new project phases with all of the groups, and the Thames Landscape Strategy also celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2024.

Tuesday was a day of calls with officers from the council, following up on casework; discussions about Harvard Hill Park; our Conservative group on the council; a discussion about parking reviews across Chiswick Riverside, and was topped off with a licensing panel with a brand new Chairman at Hounslow House. This panel was pretty straightforward, and as it finished early, I popped into the planning meeting, as there were a couple of items on the agenda that concerned riverside developments, and I wanted to observe the decisions, even if I hadn’t been able to attend the full meeting. The voting at times was quite farcical, with one officer even referring to the process as a shambles.

I spent Wednesday working, and replying to council emails before escaping to the Steam Packet for dinner where 20 members of my family who were visiting from the USA and El Salvador all got together to cheer on England in the Euros. It was great to get together and even meet family who I’ve only known by name, or hadn’t seen in 20 years, and especially nice to see younger cousins all getting behind the England boys.

Thursday started with a meeting with the outgoing chairwoman, Cllr Julia Neden-Watts of Richmond, and the two leading officers of the Thames Landscape Strategy, to discuss her achievements during her tenure, and ensure that our handover next week goes as smoothly as possible. I then spent the evening at Hounslow House again for a members’ briefing from the Housing team. The topics covered homelessness, temporary accommodation placements, the housing register, how to support residents experiencing Anti-Social Behaviour and how the council supports tenants.

It was a very interesting, if not long briefing session, where it was clear to see that the Housing department had a lot of challenges to overcome. It’s always interesting to me to gain insight to the operational side of the council, and what we’re told as councillors is often very aspirational, but not always effective in delivery.

During the week, there was an update on many of the projects that I mentioned in my past blogs. Unfortunately, due to the general election, the consultations on Hogarth Roundabout and the Grove Park CPZ were postponed, and have now gone live. We also got an update on the School Street co-design project for Brooks Lane.

Hogarth Roundabout:

This consultation went live on 11 July. There will be drop-in sessions at Hogarth House held on the 10t and 20 August. You can reply to the consultation here.

Grove Park CPZ Consultation:

There have been some changes to the proposals I wrote about in my last blog. This is a statutory 21-day consultation where any responses to the consultation should be submitted via trafficorders@hounslow.gov.uk. The changes here are minimal, and would mean that six of the bays have their 1-one-hour limits removed so that users can access the businesses on Sutton Court Road / Burlington lane and not worry about the parking restrictions, which are currently in place from 10am - 12pm. I would recommend looking at the traffic order for more information.

Street Trading Licences:

In my last blog, I wrote about receiving an application for seating outside of Niki’s Thai, and since then, I’ve received a couple more for the Copper Cow and the Bulls Head. Speaking with licensing officers, I’ve learned that the legislation introduced during the pandemic (Business and Planning Act 2020) has now been made permanent, which allows for businesses to apply for these once a year, instead of the current six-month cycle. It may not sound like much, but this type of legislation will save operators in the hospitality industry a lot of time and money in the long run.

London Police Race Action Plan Survey:

The Metropolitan Police have launched a survey to help them shape their Race Action Plan. This survey was launched this week and can be completed here.

The Week Ahead

Looking to the week ahead, the evenings are looking pretty busy: Monday will be Hounslow’s Community Stars Awards; Tuesday will be a Trustee meeting of the Chiswick Pier Trust (don’t forget about our Party on the Pier on 21 July); Wednesday will be by first meeting in the chair for the Thames Landscape Strategy, followed by a Licensing Panel meeting in the evening, and Thursday evening will be a Conservative group meeting. Hopefully on Friday, I’ll be able to meet up with some friends!

In the meantime, I wish you all a good weekend, and come on England! Do we think it’s coming home? I certainly hope so!

Councillor Gabriella Giles

gabriella.giles@hounslow.gov.uk

07966 270823

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 2024/25

The Next Borough Council Meeting is on Tuesday 23 Rd July 2024 at 7.30pm Council Chamber. 6 th Floor, Hounslow House 7 Bath Road TW3 3EB

Chiswick Area Forum is expected to be on Tuesday 24 th September 2024 at 7.30pm
The Hogarth Hall, Chiswick Town Hall, Heathfield Terrace, Turnham Green W4 4JN

The Next Borough Cabinet Meeting has been postponed to Tuesday 16th July 2024 at 7.00pm Council Chamber. 6 th Floor, Hounslow House 7 Bath Road TW3 3EB

The Next Scrutiny Panel is expected to be on Thursday 19th September 2024 at 7.00pm Room 610. 6 th Floor, Hounslow House 7 Bath Road TW3 3EB

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 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  

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