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

Hammersmith Flyover Closure - how long for?, why? so what?

The closure of Hammersmith Flyover has brought logjam to the roads in Chiswick and Brentford since Christmas   despite the partial re-opening on Friday (13 Jan) to small vehicles.  Large lorries and coaches are jamming up Chiswick High Road, and 9 bus routes are affected.  All vehicles driving within or through west London have had to factor in longer journey times.  The A4 is the major road route between Heathrow/the Thames Valley corridor and Central London, so the impact on the economy, not to mention the impression it gives to overseas visitors, is insurmountable.

 Why did this happen? Could TfL have helped the Council to reduce the impact on Chiswick, Brentford and beyond? And why SHOULD the closure of one road have such a devastating impact?

TfL’s  David MacNeill TfL said at yesterday’s public meeting (14 Jan) that they were caught by surprise.  They had been monitoring it since the summer, but the tensioning cables that hold the bridge together started “pinging” at an unprecedented rate in December, meaning the cables would not be strong enough to cope with the pressure particularly of heavy vehicles trundling over the bridge.  Reassuringly it’s probably not about to collapse, according to this technical explanation of the structure. 

TfL hope to replace the cables and have the flyover fully open within 4 months – which is cutting it fine for the Olympics.  David reckoned it could then have another 20 years life.  Boris and the Hammersmith Tories suggest it's then replaced with a cu-and-cover tunnel, eastbound entrance - Chiswick!?

In Chiswick, thanks to the prompt action of Hounslow’s Labour Council, we have:

·         Converted the  current 7am-7pm (and other part-time) bus lanes to 24 hour 7 day operation to maintain bus operating speeds and provide protection for cyclists.
·         Extended of current Monday-Saturday waiting restrictions to Monday-Sunday, and extended the evening restrictions by an hour, to 8pm

This has cost the borough in the region of £4000 plus an inordinate amount of officer time, some of it struggling to get facts and dialogue with TfL. The Council has not yet been provided with compensation for these costs.  Yet we are mandated by TfL, through the strategy Local Implementation Plan to maintain bus operating speeds on key corridors. 

We are very concerned that TfL’s response to the flyover closure has focussed more on protecting their Red Routes than considering the impact on local roads – there are no signs to draw vehicles away from Chiswick High Road -even when the Chiswick section of the A4 sometimes is flowing more freely than CHR.  Furthermore, in encouraging people to use public transport, TfL fail to promote their own tube and Overground services in their media releases but suggest as alternative travel options as First Great Western trains!

This “crisis” caused by the closure of one key part of London’s complex road network shows how vulnerable London’s road system is to complete overload, and how wrong Boris’ pro-car policy is.  West London’s traffic was mad before 23^rd December – gridlock on many roads at busy times.  The system is operating significantly over- capacity, closure of one element brings chaos, impacting on our lives and our economy.  Every past experience shows that the more you do to accommodate rising road use, the more road congestion you get.  Only a long-term vision centred around affordable public transport will achieve the much-needed modal shift.  Whilst Crossrail will change London’s transport landscape, it’s not enough.  We need to massively increase investment in rail, light rail etc.  I seem to remember being told that 5% of journeys shifting off the roads make a massive improvement to vehicle flows on a congested road system.  5% - that’s a minority of those car drivers whose  journey  probably could be taken by train tube or bus.  As HS2 and Crossrail show, the economic situation doesn’t stop the UK investing in major transport infrastructure, so let’s do more to improve the situation in West London –next on my list of big projects would be AirTrack, from Waterloo to Heathrow.  And if Boris really wants to help the motorist, he’d pledge to invest in better public transport to create space for those who cannot or won’t get out of their cars.

Brentford News from my fellow Labour Councillor - Matt Harmer

June news from Cllr Matt Harmer

Welcome to the latest email bulletin from Brentford ward councillor Matt Harmer. I hope that this finds you well. If you would prefer not to get these emails then please use the Unsubscribe link at the foot of the email.

* A4 latest *

It looks as though we have some progress on the A4. It’s some while now since parents of young children contacted me regarding the safety of A4 crossings. They told me that there had been a number of near misses and asked me if it wasn’t possible to do something.

As always, these things cost money and I asked council planners to look for funds that we could spend. They looked and found some money stemming from planning permissions that had been given in the area. Some of the time deadlines had expired and I’m happy to say that they managed to negotiate an extension where deadlines has passed.

Anyway, I spent a couple of mornings walking up and down the A4 with council traffic people and their colleagues at Transport for London (TfL), who manage the major roads in London. They were then charged with making what improvements they could, and last week they came back with some proposals.
What people wanted most of all was longer time to cross. And it looks as though we’ll get some positive changes there. Unfortunately, extending the time dramatically simply isn’t possible – not because of any decisions by the Council but following a decision of the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.  However we should be abl to reduce the time that people have to wait to cross.

But there are other things that are on the list. Something that has always bothered me is the state of the crossing points on the A4. The only light is above the traffic lanes. We’re told that lighting will be improved for pedestrians. At present it’s hard to cross Windmill Rd and Clayponds Avenue because there are no controls to stop the traffic and tell pedestrians that it’s safe to cross. One crossing of this kind will be put on each road.

There’ll also be some changes to what is charmingly called the street furniture – the railings, traffic signal push buttons etc. At the moment, people waiting to cross at Windmill Road stand in the middle of the cycle lane, worryingly close to the corner. It’s a bad layout and asking for trouble. There are also proposals to change some of the traffic signals, which have got a bit grimy (understandably, given where they are). I’ve asked that this be funded from TfL’s own budget, as they’d have to do it anyway.

A couple of caveats. The work will happen, and I will be pressing for it to happen quickly, but there is very little political accountability at TfL – it’s hard if not impossible to insist that things happen. The M4 has been deemed a Priority Route for the 2012 Olympics and will probably get first call for maintenance work – very annoying, but a fact of life. However the London Mayor and London Assembly elections are less than a year ago and if this has to be made an election issue then i’m sure we can make it one.

Finally on this, thanks again to everyone who contacted me and has signed petitions to ask for it to happen – it has definitely helped move things up the agenda.

* Cycling changes *

Staying with transport things but getting on our bikes. You may remember that our area was down to become some kind of cycling hub. Last week councillors discussed some changes to roads and payments that should help cyclists. Here are some of the main ones:

•       A cycling lane to allow left turns into Lateward Rd from Boston Manor Road. That’s the road just north of the police station. If you are cycling from the station to, say, St Paul’s School then at present you need to go a very long way round. A small cycle-only lane will make it possible to go directly without messing up traffic flows.

•       Some changes on Green Dragon Lane to make the road safer for cyclists where the slaloms that are there to slow down cars are located.

•       A cycle path through the Haverfield Estate

•       A route through The Butts and lowered kerbs around Tallow Road. You will know where this is if you cycle – parallel to the High Street, just to the north, and a useful link down to the canal area of the High Street.

•       A new cycle lane along the High Street and along from Morrisons to the junction with Ealing Road and beyond.

•       Some dropped kerbs to enable cyclists to get from the canal towpath to the A4 cycle lane (via Transport Avenue).

•       Better cycle storage facilities, stands etc.

I cycle short distances and these changes will make things easier. There’s sometimes a belief, I think, that ‘becoming’ a cyclist involves ridiculous amounts of lycra and knowing about WD40. It doesn’t. Going down to Richmond via the towpath on a nice day beats the 65 anyday.
If any of these changes strike you as poor decisions please let me know, and do let me know if there are any other changes we should try and make.

* St Pauls update *

After all that cycling, we might like to go and sit in St Paul’s Rec Ground. The playground seems to be very popular, and what is supposed to be a cycling track has become an exercise area, which is good. The people charged with maintaining and improving the park will be meeting some local campaigners this Thursday. So if you have any ideas for the park – and many of you have contacted me regarding litter bins and a couple of the rides that need fixing – then please let me know.

One thing that will be discussed is the mural, and plans are in place to repair/replace the parts affected by graffiti. I understand that plans are in place to restart an active Fiends group, and I’m sure volunteers will be welcome.

* Funding available *

Finally for now, a call for applicants for a Council fund for community initiatives and development projects at a local level. The maximum grant is £500 and you get more details at http://democraticservices.hounslow.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=60335 and see a report on things funded previously at http://democraticservices.hounslow.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=60342   If you want to apply, get in touch and I'll let you know who to contact.

* CPZ latest *

I expect to get an update on the situation regarding any potential Controlled Parking Zone on Enfield Road and the surrounding roads. A reminder - rather than go into another consultation following the petition that requested this I asked for some empirical work to be done on the present parking situation - are the cars parked during the day from the local area, is there a particularly beneficial time to have parking controls and other questions. We'll still go through a normal consultation process but the idea is that anything we consult on will be based more in fact than guesswork.

Unfortunately it took rather longer than expected to get three quotes to this work, as required. Anyway, that's now been sorted. As I said, there'll be no CPZ without a majority of support but the new petition scheme requires us to answer the request made by residents of the area.

* Can I help? *

Finally, please get in touch if you think I can help, either by replying to this mail or calling 020 8560 7033.
In the meantime, thanks for reading.


My mailing address is:
Matt Harmer
153 Ealing Rd
Brentford, Middlesex TW8 0LF

My telephone:
020 8560 7033

A4 Survey - of people and junctions this week!

Transport for London are this week surveying the environment for pedestrians crossing the A4 in Brentford. This is in response to the work we have done highlighting how dangerous it can be to cross even when using the pedestrian lights properly. This is a busy route to school for many families, who would dearly love to feel safer as they cross and recross in the course of a normal week. I do hope that as many people as possible can walk across their this week.

Improvements to the H91 Bus route

Happy New Year!

At last we are to see double-deckers ply the H91 route out along the A4, and it will be a 10 minute service with real-time information, starting on 9th January. This route has been a poor relation of local buses ever since I have been a Councillor, and many Brentford children (mine included) have notched up horrendours numbers of late detentions as a result of its intermittent service. It has slowly improved in the last year or so, as new funding has paid for service enhancement. These funds come from the planning gain (S106) from various developments along the A$. Improvements to H92 were not always included in the S106 list until us Councillors nagged officers to revise the draft S106 agreements.

The last tranche of funding is £430,000 from BSkyB and Capital Interchange Way. So with a better service along the A4, some of the congestion on the High Street routes might be relieved. ANd perhaps it might make local people consider using the bus instead of the car more often? (I feel a late new year resolution coming on!).