Local councillor Sam Hearn writes a blog about his week.
Friday 24th June: Strange to be in the USA as the the EU Referendum results pop up on our mobiles. People on buses and in shops hear our accents and keep asking the same question “how do you feel about Brexit”. On reflection although Sue and I react in different ways both of us are treating the result a bit like a death in the family. Sue is numb with shock and initially incredulous. I feel the sadness but for me there is something more like the sense of release that one feels when an aged and terminally ill friend or relative finally turns their face to the wall.
Saturday 25th June: In the morning off to Cincinnati’s Findlay Market. It is a bustling Victorian era covered market very similar to the ones that I remember visiting in the north of England when I was a student – except that thankfully it is air-conditioned. In the afternoon we travel to Hebron, North Kentucky to attend the wedding of Matthew Walker and Brittany Langford. Brittany’s father is a Southern Baptist minister and he is the man in charge of the immaculately organised and beautiful ceremony. At the end of the service the Minister and his wife sing an amazingly professional duet. We cadge a lift with a professor of theology and his wife to the reception in the enormous Mess Hall at Fort Thomas.
Sunday 26th June: In the morning a long walk in the searing heat to Cincinnati’s historic Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum. This is the second largest cemetery in the USA and it contains 12 lakes, 40 Civil War Generals and 45 miles of road. We failed to find the grave of General Godfrey Weitzel who famously rode into Richmond (the Confederate Capital, not Surrey) at the head of his 25th Army Corps that recruited only African-Americans. The flights out of Cincinnati - North Kentucky to Washington and on to London were uneventful, unlike the outbound journey which took 34 hours.
Monday 27th June: Arrived to find the Civic Centre barricaded off in preparation for its imminent demolition. More by luck than judgement I found the room where the first meeting of the newly appointed Housing and Environment Scrutiny Panel was being held. At this meeting we focus on agreeing the content and timing of our work programme for the year. There is to be a one-off meeting on the new housing allocations policy that is currently out for public consultation. The subjects to be scrutinised range from Domestic Violence, Houses with Multiple Occupancy, the Hounslow Housing Garages Review and FMG. Cllr Khan quite rightly pointed out that there is nothing in the work programme about climate change … and he is right.
Tuesday 28th June: Back at the Civic Centre for a meeting of the Audit Committee. The highlight of the evening should be the Council’s draft accounts for 2015/16 but in practice councillors seem far more interested in Brendon Walsh’s exposition of the risk register for Regeneration, Economic Development and Environment (REDE). The intricacies of the corporate governance arrangements for Lampton 360 Ltd cause some baffled looks and nervous coughs.
Wednesday 29th June: Looking at the papers for next week’s Chiswick Area Forum. Before the meeting proper we have the annual election of the Chair Person although technically the appointment is made by the Group Leader. I have thrown my hat in the ring but I believe that there are other candidates. Democracy, don’t you just love it?
July 1, 2016