On 30/4/10 17:03, "Kerry .."wrote:
Hi Ruth,
I have a question regarding the labour leaflet that was was distributed recently where you stat that the Conservatives have done nothing to regenerate the High Street.
I have been searching on the internet to see who controlled Hounslow Council, and found out that it was controlled by Labour from 1971 to 2006, when labour lost control.
My question to you is what did Labour do in those 35 years to regenerate Brentford High Street?
Kind Regards
Kerry
From Ruth:
Kerry
Thank you for contacting me.
In the last 10 years of our administration: we worked regularly with the then owners of the various plots of land to bring them around the table. We drew up, consulted on, and adopted outline plans for the area, declared the canal-side a conservation area, ensured that the developments now built – Brentford Lock, Holland Gardens, Ferry Quays - went ahead with the best possible benefit for the town, ensured that the council-owned premises were let at rates that were viable to small businesses, supported the farmers market, brought several millions of SRB funds to finance improvements on the High Street – street furniture, lighting, signage, planting etc, and allowed High Streeet premises to be used for social enterprise and/or youth facilities such as TAHSA. Initiated the Brentford Heritage signage and information paths.
35 years includes the development of Brentford Dock, but not I grant you, the main part of the High Street which happened in the 60’s. However, we did initiate and fund Watermans Arts Centre, supported the founding of the Steam Museum, the moving of the Musical museum, the development of Victoria Steps and the Ham residential boat moorings, developed (then later improved) Watermans Park, enabled affordable housing to be developed on the Ham and also include it as part of all the other housing developments. I initiated the development of the Brentford Community Resource Centre and worked with Age Concern too, which together meant the old Health Centre came back into use.
I may have left one or two items out for which I apologise. I also regret we couldn’t keep the Red Lion open – if you remember that.
Ruth
Cllr Ruth Cadbury
Friday, 30 April 2010
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
No you don't live in LB Hounslow, because the computer says so!
I have just submitted a on-line report of a road defect in the middle of Popes Lane, W5. The person reporting lives on the south side of Popes Lane, is an LBH resident in Brentford Ward, despite having a W5 postcode.
She tried to report by phone a month ago, and then again 2 weeks ago, and was met with rudeness and denial about the whereabouts of her house. She was told she didn’t live in Hounslow and needed to phone Ealing. Ealing’s initial response was far more helpful, they confirmed the defect was in LB Hounslow. One borough said they would report it to the other, but today both boroughs are denying all knowledge of her call, and there appears to be no record that this is a defect that needs addressing.
This raises 2 Issues:
1) Refusal of LBH staff to acknowledge that there are people with W5 postcodes who are LB Hounslow residents. (Perhaps also an issue for people with UB/W3 codes but I bet it never happens for those with a W4 code!). Anyone with any knowledge of urban history/geography knows that post-codes and ward/borough boundaries are seldom coterminous, and council systems should acknowledge this. Residents in my ward with W5 postcodes are continually dealing with this ignorance from both call-centre and operational staff - in all departments.
Surely if Ealing’s web-site reporting page can acknowledge this, then any staff can, as they must be using the same technology when they input information from calls?
2) Lack of publicly available information about responsibilities on roads where the borough boundary goes down the middle. I have been told that there is a management agreement on such roads between the neighbouring boroughs, so that one or other borough maintains, services, (and enforces?) across the full width of the road – and it is agreed where along these roads the management responsibilities change. If this information was available, then ward councillors and residents living on such roads would save a lot of time in getting complaints to the right borough.
She tried to report by phone a month ago, and then again 2 weeks ago, and was met with rudeness and denial about the whereabouts of her house. She was told she didn’t live in Hounslow and needed to phone Ealing. Ealing’s initial response was far more helpful, they confirmed the defect was in LB Hounslow. One borough said they would report it to the other, but today both boroughs are denying all knowledge of her call, and there appears to be no record that this is a defect that needs addressing.
This raises 2 Issues:
1) Refusal of LBH staff to acknowledge that there are people with W5 postcodes who are LB Hounslow residents. (Perhaps also an issue for people with UB/W3 codes but I bet it never happens for those with a W4 code!). Anyone with any knowledge of urban history/geography knows that post-codes and ward/borough boundaries are seldom coterminous, and council systems should acknowledge this. Residents in my ward with W5 postcodes are continually dealing with this ignorance from both call-centre and operational staff - in all departments.
Surely if Ealing’s web-site reporting page can acknowledge this, then any staff can, as they must be using the same technology when they input information from calls?
2) Lack of publicly available information about responsibilities on roads where the borough boundary goes down the middle. I have been told that there is a management agreement on such roads between the neighbouring boroughs, so that one or other borough maintains, services, (and enforces?) across the full width of the road – and it is agreed where along these roads the management responsibilities change. If this information was available, then ward councillors and residents living on such roads would save a lot of time in getting complaints to the right borough.
Sunday, 18 April 2010
MOGDEN OPEN DAY
Took a break from campaigning yesterday afternoon to give a lift to Murad Qureshi (GLA Labour lead on Environment issues) to Mogden's open day. Never have I seen so many PR people in one place - well certainly not at Modgen which seems to have about 3 people working there on a normal day. Full info marquee and bus trip round the site.
Although I thought I had a good grasp of how our sewage is treated, I now understand a lot better. Those who live with the stench from the works will ask - did we do the right thing to grant planning permission to the extension? Well yesterday didn't change my view. Tens of millions have been spent on smell reduction, the expenditure came about after Ann Keen and I brought then Environment Minister Larry Whitty to the site around 2003, when the smell and mosquitoes were unbearable.
There is still the issue of the remaining uncovered storm tanks - used for storage of raw sewage when surges of run-off mean the works cannot handle the volume. With the extension to the works agreed, residents will have to wait until 2013 for the old storm tanks to be used less than 6 times a year. And if they are needed more often - the planning condition means they will have to be covered. If we had refused permission to TW they would not have been able to expand the capacity of the site, and residents would have suffered indefinitely, or TW would have got their permission on appeal with much weaker conditions imposed.
Although I thought I had a good grasp of how our sewage is treated, I now understand a lot better. Those who live with the stench from the works will ask - did we do the right thing to grant planning permission to the extension? Well yesterday didn't change my view. Tens of millions have been spent on smell reduction, the expenditure came about after Ann Keen and I brought then Environment Minister Larry Whitty to the site around 2003, when the smell and mosquitoes were unbearable.
There is still the issue of the remaining uncovered storm tanks - used for storage of raw sewage when surges of run-off mean the works cannot handle the volume. With the extension to the works agreed, residents will have to wait until 2013 for the old storm tanks to be used less than 6 times a year. And if they are needed more often - the planning condition means they will have to be covered. If we had refused permission to TW they would not have been able to expand the capacity of the site, and residents would have suffered indefinitely, or TW would have got their permission on appeal with much weaker conditions imposed.
Friday, 2 April 2010
Spring is here, and so is the election campaign
Well the nomination papers are signed and getting handed in for the Council election on May 6th, and it looks as though Gordon Brown will announce on Tuesday that the General Election will take place on the same day (I really hope he does!). Canvassing has shown relatively little anti-Labour feeling for a while round here. And in the last 3 weeks it has felt even more positive - reflecting the national shift as people wake up to the prospect of another Tory Government led, this time, by a shower of inexperienced public-school boys. I'm really looking forward to the next 5 weeks, although my family may not be quite so enthusiastic as they can't expect the same level of domestice service they have become used to . . . . .
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