A Busy Week Both Culturally and Politically
Chiswick Homefields councillor Jack Emsley reports back
Cllr Ranjit Gill and Cllr Jack Emsley by the new artwork on Turnham Green Terrace
September 21, 2024
It’s been a bumper week for your Chiswick councillors so, fair warning, this blog is likely a bit longer than usual - a perfect chance to grab a coffee and read on (or abandon trying before you get too invested).
So, from a fun weekend of community events to a couple of council meetings running into the late evening - and, stop press, a late addition to this blog in the form of good news about a local garden - here’s what I’ve been up to as your Conservative councillor for Chiswick Homefields over the past seven days.
Chiswick’s Big Weekend
Last Saturday marked the high-point of the Chiswick Book Festival, a brilliant local celebration of literature (I’m biased, but potentially the best in London…). The festival brings together a range of top-tier authors from across the literary world, from some of the biggest names in fiction to leading historians via brilliant food and nature writers. There was, quite literally, so much going on that you couldn’t find time to attend all of it!
On Saturday morning I headed down to the George IV for the first event of the day, a fascinating discussion on AI between three of the top voices in the sector - Madhumita Murgia, the Financial Times’ AI Editor; Nigel Toon, the co-founder of major UK AI business Graphcore; and legendary former BBC tech editor Rory Cellan-Jones. The discussion covered everything from how AI models are built (it was at least made to sound so simple…) to the impact AI is already having on our economy. A huge thanks to the whole team behind the festival for bringing together three titans of the AI world for a thought-provoking hour!
After the talk I raced up to Turnham Green Station for the unveiling of the latest W4 Plinth, a brilliant piece of community artwork organised by Abundance London and rotated every six months. In front of a big crowd, and following some musical performances from the ever-talented Chiswick School, the latest piece of artwork was unveiled - ‘Sky’ by artist Sally Gatie.
I’m not sure about the political optics of two councillors standing beneath a picture of someone dangling upside down, but Cllr Ranjit Gill and I were happy to pose for the photo and promote Abundance London’s fantastic homemade apple juice - which, incidentally, was made from Chiswick apples so is automatically much nicer than the stuff in the supermarket.
Whether you were attending one of the 80+ book festival events, wandered along to pick up a bottle of homemade Chiswick apple juice and see the latest W4 plinth artwork, or did some shopping at the brilliant Chiswick Cheese Market, there really was something for everyone. The area was bustling last weekend, attracting people from all over London to our patch in W4, and all thanks to the hard work of this brilliant and creative community. I’ve said it before, but this really is the best spot in our city.
State of the Borough
After such a jam-packed weekend, it was back down to earth for Chiswick councillors on Tuesday evening as we headed over to the other side of Hounslow for this week’s Borough Council meeting. These meetings are our chance to both represent Chiswick but also to hold Hounslow Council to account by suggesting alternative policies, scrutinising reports and asking questions about the state of the local authority.
The first part of the meeting dealt with what was rather grandly called the ‘state of the borough’ report, which is a collection of data covering just about everything to do with Hounslow, from demographics to local air pollution. You can find the full interactive dashboard here.
Smart interventions from colleagues included Cllr Gabriella Giles, who highlighted that the data shows Hounslow has the highest rate of falls in over 65s in the whole of London (by quite some distance), and from Cllr Ron Mushiso who rightly stated that we need to do more as a borough to attract young families to the area.
Following the report there were questions on the recent announcement that Hounslow Labour has presided over a £30 million black hole in its finances, just six months after claiming it had set a balanced budget - it’s a concerning number and one that needs to be urgently sorted, but what will be done to find the shortfall? More on the proposals to cut the council tax support scheme later in this blog, but otherwise details on the action to be taken were vanishingly light.
Winter Fuel Allowance
Following questions we got to a motion presented by Cllr Peter Thompson and I which aimed to take action to mitigate Rachel Reeves’ decision to take away the universal winter fuel allowance: actions which, I’m pleased to say, received unanimous support.
Leading charity Age UK has stated that this cut will impact around 10 million pensioners, including 2 million who are already in a vulnerable position due to finances or disabilities - the spin that this change won’t impact those most in need is sadly well short of the mark. The suggestion that this is a financial necessity has also been disproven, with the treasury last week refusing to give a shred of evidence of the so-called ‘fiscal black hole’. I wonder why…?
In our own borough, the new Labour government is taking the Winter Fuel Allowance away from 28,000 pensioners, including those on low incomes but who do not qualify for pension credit, and those who have high energy needs due to disability and illness. Our motion was aimed at taking action to mitigate this impact, and the council will now begin a campaign to drive pension credit applications from those who qualify but do not currently claim it, as well as working with a range of local charities to identify those who this cut will hit hardest and support them through a difficult winter.
To those who ask what a band of nine Conservative councillors can do in a local authority dominated by 52 Labour councillors - passing the above motion and forcing this council to act is a pretty good illustration.
Overview and Scrutiny
I’m a new member of the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee - a cross party group of councillors who look at proposed local policies in greater detail (what it says on the tin, really). At our first meeting on Thursday, I was able to ask a wide range of questions and make recommendations on everything from the state of Chiswick’s local plan (I’ve been promised a written response from the council on the status of projects in Dukes Meadows and to regenerate Gingko Corner), to a recent assessment which found the council is falling short in supporting residents with home adaptations (contributing to the earlier statistic about out borough being the worst in London for falls in the over 65s).
The main item on the agenda was the council’s proposal to cut the local council tax support scheme, details of which can be found here. We were only discussing the consultation at this stage, and I was able to ask why there are in-person consultations almost everywhere in the borough apart from Chiswick (where, despite our reputation as a wealthy part of the borough, quite a few people do still rely on council tax support). Thankfully I secured a commitment to review the locations of in-person consultations, and I’ll be pushing for at least a couple of opportunities for local residents in Chiswick to have their say in-person. In the meantime, if you are concerned about the proposed changes, please do get in touch with me or visit our weekly councillor surgery on Saturday mornings (details below).
Green shoots…
Congratulations if you’re read this far! There’s one final bit of good news to include which reaches me just as I’m finalising this blog on Friday evening - many of you will have seen the bizarre decision earlier in the summer by Hounslow Council to rip out a beautiful garden created by tenants at Windrush Close. Many residents wrote to the council to support the tenants and, following interventions from Abundance London, Chiswick Homefields Councillors (particularly my colleague, Cllr Gerald McGregor) and others, the council has confirmed it has reversed its decision and will allow the garden to stay.
I’m delighted that we’ve been able to persuade the council to change its mind, and even more delighted that such a beautiful green space won’t be ripped out by well-meaning but ultimately over-zealous officials. A victory for common sense!
Cllr Jack Emsley
07977 396017
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 2024/25
Chiswick Area Forum is expected to be on Tuesday 24 September at 7.30pm
The Hogarth Hall, Chiswick Town Hall, Heathfield Terrace, Turnham Green W4 4JN
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
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