What the Times said when the Torch Relay went through Hounslow town centre

Don't take my word for it. This is what jornalist Martin Fletcher says in today's national Times newspaper! Here is the full article.

Yesterday (24th Juy)  Hounslow was a place transformed — multicultural Britain at its richest and most vibrant
It is just one small flame, but it surely has magical powers. Yesterday, after processing around affluent Kingston, through the splendour of Kew Gardens, and past the riverside mansions of Richmond, the Olympic Torch reached Hounslow, a dreary expanse of westernmost London distinguished primarily by its utter lack of distinction.
You drive past Hounslow as you head out of London on the A4. You roar over its drab homes, bucket shops and cheap Asian restaurants as you land at Heathrow. In normal circumstances there would be no reason to visit, but yesterday it was a place transformed — multicultural Britain at its richest and most vibrant.
Thousands turned out to greet the Torch. Elderly Sikhs with beards and turbans, women in hijabs and young Rastas waved flags with fervour. They cheered as the Torch was born up the High Street by Sister Mary Joy, a nun who was Britain’s first firewoman and founded the Wormwood Scrubs riding centre for disabled and disadvantaged children. They whooped and screamed as she passed the Torch to the diminutive figure of Sai Singam, 12, chosen for his exemplary behaviour at school.
They were entertained by dhol drummers from Punjab, bhangra dancers and belly dancers, and Bollywood singers. They sashayed together in the sun-drenched street. They hoisted their children onto the shoulders of policemen and tried on their helmets.
For a few hours at least all differences fell away and the people of Hounslow were as one in their exuberance.
“There’s every race and nationality here, and we’re enjoying it together,” said Lester Sarmiento, 30, a Filipino barman watching with his four-year-old son. “It pulls the community together. Today everyone is smiling,” said Anthony Del Bono, an Italian-American from Brooklyn. “It reminds me of a Caribbean carnival,” said Carl McCarthy, 42, who came to Britain from Jamaica five years ago.
“The Torch is a massive opportunity for the nation to come together and show appreciation and national pride. We’re not just here to watch, but to say thank you,” said Murari Sharma, 70, a retired teacher who came to Britain from India as a student 45 years ago. “This is my country now, and the best thing about this nation is its tolerance.”
The Torch came and went in 20 minutes, but 20 years hence people will still recall the day that Hounslow was gilded by its flame.
 

Nightmare on Chiswick High Road - Hounslow is pressurinsing TfL

Well,  we all thought the Games Lanes would be a problem, but it's the light sequenceing, especiially on Chiswick High Road that is causing a nightmare for the town this week.  Here is our officer, Nick Woods's response to a local resident who complained:
thank you for this. I have yet again raised with Transport for London the appalling conditions along the High Road. Whilst, after a meeting in London last Friday afternoon, we seem to have achieved a general improvement across other parts of the Borough (helped, of course, by the school holidays) the same cannot be said of Chiswick. I can perhaps understand that there was some nervousness about this morning with the Games Lanes 'going live' along the A4 but, at lunchtime today, the A4/M4 was flowing freely whereas Chiswick High Road had traffic queuing solidly westbound from the boundary with Hammersmith and Fulham to the Heathfield Terrace junction.

 

As you may know, TfL's aim is to reduce general traffic flows along the Olympic Route Network (ORN) which includes the A4 through Chiswick and rather than just holding traffic at the immediate junctions onto the A4, they are trying to 'spread the load' to prevent absolute gridlock at the A4 junctions. But I believe they have tightened the screw far too much along the High Road and are actually causing gridlock in the Town Centre.

 

As you may know flows along the M4/A4 into London this morning were not brilliant, not helped, I understand, by an accident in the rush hour, but the route seems to be operating well off peak. TfL may well argue that this is because their measures are working. However, I firmly believe that their measures are too extreme and some relief is essential.

 

In terms of the Games Lanes along the A4, I have consistently argued for about the last 5 years, that they were unnecessary. Whilst I accept that you cannot have an athlete who has trained for years, be late travelling from his/her accommodation for his/her event at, say, Wembley Arena, I fail to see the same need to get that athlete or indeed an Olympic official to his/her accommodation in a fixed time from Heathrow and this is what the A4 Games lanes are intended to achieve. However, this was a battle I was never going to win and it appears that the Games Lanes are a requirement of any bid to host the Games. I also argued that for 'the greenest Games' there should be much more use of coaches, minibuses or, at the very least, electric vehicles for the Olympic fleet and, whilst there are some, I believe there should have been far more.

 

But returning to the High Road, I shall continue on the case and hopefully we shall shortly see some relaxation.

We are continuing to push TfL - they have to balance the needs of the Games with that of day-to-day living and working in London.

A4 Crossings Update - message from Transport for London

This was received by us yesterday (23^rd July) from Laura Dyett of Transport for London, Please let me know what you think.

A4 Great West Road – s106 proposals and issues at junction with Clayponds Avenue

I would like to start by addressing some general points raised regarding junction layouts and signal timings:

·         Louvers –

Ø  The louvers over the green traffic signals at the A4/Clayponds Avenue and other nearby junctions cannot be removed as they are an essential safety feature.

Ø  Their purpose is to prevent vehicles on the A4 that are held on a red signal at the first stop line from seeing through to the green signal at the second stop line associated with the pedestrian crossing. If the green signal was left uncovered then there is the possibility that these vehicles will mistakenly proceed into the junction and collide with vehicles entering from the side roads.

Ø  Louvers are never placed over a red signal so they have no effect on the visibility of the red signal for vehicles turning from the side roads onto the A4.

·         Signal timings

Ø  Request for longer ‘green man’ time – The steady green man is an invitation to cross and is designed to ensure that anyone who is waiting starts their crossing movement. It is followed by a safety critical clearance period, the duration of which is determined by the crossing distance.  This ensures that anyone starting to cross when the green man goes off will complete the crossing movement before vehicles receive a green signal. We have checked and can verify that all pedestrian timings adhere to Department for Transport standards.

Ø  One suggestion is to hold all vehicles on a red signal whilst pedestrians cross the A4. This measure would result in a significant increase in congestion on both the A4 and adjoining side roads as there would be a much longer period of time when vehicles were not moving through the junction. Any increase in congestion would not only have an impact on the economy but also on noise and air pollution levels, which are already high alongside the A4.

·         Drivers’ eye level signals – These are not currently allowed within our national traffic sign regulations. We would need a change to the regulations before we could trial anything on our road network.

 In regards of the measures that we propose to implement and their timings:

·         At the A4/Clayponds Avenue:

Ø  Louvers – In March we altered the angle of two of the louvers over the signals at the pedestrian crossings so that the slats were vertical rather than the standard horizontal.

This was done to improve the visibility of the green/amber signal for those turning left from Clayponds Avenue onto the A4, which from the north arm is the predominant turning movement onto the A4. This has helped to improve the visibility for left turners but an issue remains with those turning right from Clayponds Avenue or u-turning on the A4. As a result we have removed the louvers on the amber signals at the crossing on the eastbound carriageway to further increase visibility of the signals. This is being done on a trial basis as we need to monitor the junction to ensure this doesn’t introduce additional problems.

Ø  Signal timings – Our engineers have adjusted the point when the crossings change in the signal cycle to ensure that there is no traffic approaching when it changes.

Ø  Installing advanced warning signs of traffic signals ahead – to be installed on both Clayponds Avenue approaches to the junction by the end of this month.

Ø  Lighting under the M4 – we are leaving the light on 24 hours under the M4 structure above the crossing on the east arm of the junction to see if this improves visibility of the crossing.

Ø  Pedestrian crossing stop line – we are proposing to increase the width of the vehicle stop line in front of the crossing and increase the distance between the stop line and the crossing; both to the maximum measurement permissible by the Department for Transport. This should help to make the stop line more visible and provide additional stopping distance for those who mistakenly run through the red light. We will do this as soon as possible after the Olympics.

Ø  Signal heads – we will replace all of the signal heads at the pedestrian crossings so that they are cleaner and therefore more visible to drivers. This should be done by the end of August.

These measures are in addition to those we agreed as the Isleworth and Brentford Area Committee (IBAC) meeting in December 2010. In regards of these measures:

Ø  These include providing a signal controlled pedestrian crossing on the north arm of the junction, moving some pedestrian push buttons further away from the kerb edge, replacing all other signal heads, providing an additional signal head at the pedestrian crossings and relocating an existing signal head at these locations. The last three of these measures will help to improve visibility of the existing pedestrian crossings.

These measures are currently being designed by our Traffic Engineers who have to go through a number of stages in order to come up with a workable and approved design; particularly because we are required to alter the layout of the junction and signal timings in order to incorporate a crossing on the north arm. The situation is complicated by the fact that the existing signal equipment at the junction needs fully replacing before we can make any significant changes to it because it is too old to support additional requirements. We expect preliminary design work to conclude by the end of this year after which we will proceed with detailed design work and securing permits to carry out the work on the road. We anticipate that we will be able to implement the measures towards the end of next year.

Ø  At the A4/Windmill Road:

Ø  Installing advanced warning signs of traffic signals ahead – as at A4/Clayponds Avenue

Ø  Pedestrian crossing stop line – as at A4/Clayponds Avenue

Ø  IBAC measures – Providing a signal controlled pedestrian crossing on the south arm of the junction, moving some pedestrian push buttons further away from the kerb edge, providing an additional signal head at the pedestrian crossings, relocating an existing signal head at these locations and replacing all signal heads. Same progress status as at A4/Clayponds Avenue.

·         At the A4/Lionel Road:

Ø  Installing advanced warning signs of traffic signals ahead – on Lionel Road (south arm) approach only.

Ø  IBAC measures - moving some pedestrian push buttons further away from the kerb edge, providing an additional signal head at the pedestrian crossings, relocating an existing signal head at these locations and replacing all signal heads. These measures should be implemented early next year.

·         At the A4/Ealing Road:

Ø  IBAC measures - moving some pedestrian push buttons further away from the kerb edge, providing an additional signal head at the pedestrian crossing, relocating an existing signal head at this location and replacing all signal heads. These measures should be implemented early next year.

·         Standalone crossing near to A4/Brook Lane

·         IBAC measures - moving some pedestrian push buttons further away from the kerb edge and replacing all signal heads. These measures should be implemented early next year.

In regards of progress on these measures prior to the Olympics, from the 1^st of July until after the Paralympic Games there is an embargo on carrying out all but essential maintenance works on the Transport for London Road Network. A large majority of our staff will be at least partially re-deployed to Olympics based roles during the Games and it will take some time to revert our road network back to its previous state afterwards. All of this means that there will be an extended period of time where we cannot introduce any further measures at these junctions.

Finally, the measures we plan to implement will only help to reduce the occurrences of ‘red light running’ caused by vehicles who fail to see the traffic signal. From our own site observations, made during the school run period, we believe that some drivers intentionally run through the red light to avoid waiting for the pedestrian crossing phase to run. This is clearly an issue that needs to be addressed by enforcement activity and as such we have spoken to the Police about this.

Petition for Safer A4 Crossings in Brentford

Over the past week I've been collecting signatures at the gates of 3 of our local schools demanding prompt and serious action from TfL on the dangerous crossings of the A4 where pedestrian lights are regularly ignored by vehicles on the A4.

• In 2007, Brentford parents approached Brentford councillors with their concerns about safety on the A4.  We identified over £500,000 from recent planning applications that could be spent on these improvements.  After five years, no serious work has taken place.  TfL have said they wil make some minor changes, but not until October.  We are calling on the Mayor of London, and Transport for London, to begin work immediately on making the A4 crossings in Brentford safer.

I meeting local parents I met family members and friends of a woman killed on the Clayponds Lane crossing in recent years.  But also many parents who have had clse shaves when crossing at the "Green Man" and vehicles trying to shoot through the red light.  They are suggesting adjustments to the louvres on the lights, and repainting the white stop line and putting warning signs up.  BUt what many feel is that there should be additional drivers-eye level lights on the signal columns, which are prevalent in many other countries.  


Email me if you'd like copies of the petition ruth.cadbury@hounslow.gov.uk
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HOUNSLOW’S COUNCIL MEETING REPORT – 17 JULY 2012

The key issue of the night was at the end of the meeting, in answers to questions about the rise in the use of Bed and Breakfast, and the ending of Council Tax benefit.  They allowed Steve Curran and I to spell out in words of one syllable the impact that the raft of benefit changes will have on over 15,000 low-income households in this borough.  Growing debt, rising homelessness, greater stress on families, people having to leave their jobs to move to somewhere cheaper, children being taken out of school, and greater risk to vulnerable people.  We will not only have to allow for more time in our surgeries, but long term we will have to build in additional costs to deal with the inevitable long-term costs.  

The meeting started with a minutes silence in memory of the soldiers based in Hounslow recently killed in Afganistan.  Other announcements:

• Lily Bath announced that Brentford’s Torron Lee Dewar has received an achievement award and will be a torch-bearer on Tuesday (in Hillngdon unfortunately)
• I announced the torch relay arrangements, thanked staff for all they have done to assist with our part in welcoming the Games to London, but expressed anger at TfL for the way they have, without consulting the Council, changed the phasing of the lights on the A4, thus causing long delays on roads approaching it, and disproportionate disruption across the road network. 
•  I welcomed Brentford FCs news that they have been able to buy the land at Lionel Road so can proceed with their plans to develop a 15,000 seater stadium, a home for Brentford FC Community Sports Trust
• Steve Curran – all Hounslow’s secondary schools are rated Outstanding or Good
•  Ajmer Grewal – 6 Borough Parks now have Green Flag status, including Boston Manor Park
• Sachin Gupta – the borough's population is up 17% since 2001, now over 250,000 for 1^st time

Petitions: from parents of children with Type 1 diabetes with high maintenance issues, seeking proper support at school; and from residents wanting a CCTV camera to stop burglary and arson.

The Medium Term Financial Strategy shows that with sound financial management, Hounslow is tackling the consequences of Government grant cuts, is reducing depbt and growing reserves.

The full agenda of the borough Council can be found here

Modernising Social Care in Hounslow

At July’s Council Cabinet we made two significant decisions about Adult Social Care.
We want to end the false dividing line between health and social care services  so July’s Council meeting  agreed a joint feasibility study with Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust (HRCH) and Richmond Council (LBR) to explore greater integration.   HRCH provides the primary health services such as District Nurses, Physios, Health Visitors formally part of the PCT. If successful we'd end up with an ‘integrated care organisation’ which would serve those needing care and support living in both boroughs.  It would be a great achievement as this causes so many problems for people dependent on health and social care services.  Covering a bigger area could get economies of scale, and as the West Mid is at the geographic centre, there could be further benefits for the "hospital to home" transition.

The second social care paper was on improving Day Opportunities for Adults needing support.  We want people to have services that give them dignity, independence, and specialist services where needed.  There will be more home and community-based activities for the more able.  Acton Lodge in London Road Brentford will be rebuilt and so the remaining day-centres will provide specialist services to specific groups of disabled people - such as those with multiple and profound disabilities, or autism with challenging behaviour.

Collecting waste and Social Care is all Councils will be able to do by 2020

As someone who is passionate about local government and its importance in providing services and transforming lives, I was brought up short by the Local Government Association report on future funding this week.   By 2020 Councils in England will have enough money to give basic social care support and to collect the rubbish, and that is it.  

Councils were cut earlier and harder than the rest of the public sector by Government, and if the same pattern of cuts is replicated in the next Spending Review, and demand for services continue, then there will be a £16.5bn spending gap by 2020, or a 29% shortfall between revenue and spending pressures.  The report has modelled the funding available for services within these constraints.  If waste and social care are fully funded, other services face cuts of 66%, and that if capital financing and concessionary fares are also fully funded, then the cash cut for remaining services rises to over 90%

Whilst local government remains the most efficient part of the public sector, without money and massive reform, there is no solution.    

Obviously there are some big “Ifs”.  If this Government continues on its deficit reduction policies with no Plan B, then not only is the whole public sector screwed, but so is the economy as a whole – over 100,000 local government workers in England have lost their jobs since May 2010, most now spending less , paying less tax and claiming benefits, not to mention the impact on the thousands of businesses dependent on Council contracts. 

But even if Osborne changes tack, and the future for Council finance is in crises, and radical reform of services is inevitable – we will not succeed in the challenge by efficiencies alone .  There has to be a solution for social care funding, and we have to think about what services we want to pay and what we want to receive in return. 

Ed Milliband demands an Inquiry into Bollinger bankers

At last I feel Ed Milliband is groing into a strong leader theat this country so badly needs in the speech he made yesterday to the Fabian conference.

“How can it be that someone is sent to prison for stealing £50 worth of goods from a shop but there is no punishment for those who lie and cheat to gain millions of pounds?” 

In probably his strongest speech yet,  he attacked the criminal behaviour of Bollinger bankers.  He called for an independent enquiry into the banking sector, criminal charges for those who have done wrong and greater competition to the big four banks.  He reminded us why this matters; the family struggling to pay their mortgage, small businesses struggling and being ripped off with insurance products they don’t need.

Has made a powerful and necessary intervention into the issue that will dominate discussion about the economy and politics for some time to come.     A speech that in its immediacy, and moral strength, shows Ed Milliband as a PM in waiting.  He has put the present one on the back foot – Cameron now  has to respond with an inquiry, or look like the PM who protects the wayward bankers.