Leading a Borough under a hostile Government

It’s been three months since Labour took back control at Hounslow after four years of the Tory/ICG administration.
THE TORY/ICG LEGACY
We have come into an organisation whose staff have been deeply demoralised by the past four years of Tory/Independent control, where £50 million has been removed from the revenue spend without any thought of the impact on the services, and where staff are not respected, nor encouraged to use their initiative to address local problems, and their employment rights are undermined. The Council’s partnership with key players in the borough – Police, Health, the Voluntary Sector, Business etc has been reduced to little more than a series of poorly attended talking shops. The businesses seeking to invest and create jobs in Hounslow tell us they felt the borough was “closed for business”.

We have told our officers that we will support them in turning round the culture of the Council.


CON:DEM GOVERNMENT ATTACKS
We have been told the rebuilding of five secondary schools and one special school in the Building Schools for the Future programme will be axed. This is only one of a raft of decisions being made by the Government in the name of economic necessity but is in reality an ideological attack on public services.

A series of grants in Hounslow for services for vulnerable children, young people and families have been already cut by Government - and this well before we hear about the main cuts to the Council's core grant - anything between 20 and 40% - at the October comprehensive spending review.

The cuts announced so far have fallen disproportionately on areas of deprivation – Newham’s cuts are six times those of Richmond’s. Hounslow has been told to expect at least a 25 per cent cut in direct funding over the next four years with the worst to come next year. We can only save so much from efficiencies and will have no choice but to withdraw services that people rely on in their daily lives.

We anticipate that the rate of building of desperately-needed affordable homes will fall to an all-time low. The HCA grants that subsidise the build programme may be one of the victims of October’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

On top of that the proposed rise in VAT, cuts to benefits and pensions and the withdrawal of tax credits will fall hardest on those with the lowest incomes Even people on middle incomes will struggle with their mortgage and childcare payments, and those in the public sector have the added fear of redundancy hanging over their heads.

I fear we could be returning to an era when homeless families were lucky if they got into a hostel. Local Councils, with less funding, will be expected to up the pieces.

LABOUR GROUP UPDATE

Those who switched off after the Parliamentary elections results on the 7th May, might not be aware that we took back the Leadership of Hounslow Council after 4 years of a Tory/ICG coalition. The Council is now 35 Labour and 25 Tory, with no Lib Dems or Independents.

On Tuesday 25th May at the Council AGM we formally took over. The new Team are as follows:
Leader Jagdish Sharma
Deputy Leader/Housing & Regen: Ruth Cadbury
Executive Members and their Portfolios:
Finance & Performance: Theo Dennison
Environment: Corinna Smart
Leisure & Wellbeing: Pritam Grewal
Adult Social Care & Health: Gurmail Lal
Children’s Services: Lily Bath
Education: Sachin Gupta
Community Safety & Enforcement: Ed Mayne
Communities: Raj Bath

The Mayor is Colin Ellar, with Poonam Dhillon as his Deputy. Matt Harmer is Group Chair, Alan Barber is Chief Whip and Ajmer Grewal, Secretary. Laurie Lopes is our Political Assistant (020 8583 2255) All of us can be contacted via the Members area at the Civic Centre 020 8583 2265. Or see www.hounslow.gov.uk or email us; name.name@hounslow.gov.uk

CUTTING OUR ALLOWANCES
Labour Group has agreed, and Jagdish announced to Council, that we will be reducing the Members Basic Allowance by 5%, and the Special Responsibility Allowances by 20%. We feel that the community of Hounslow will suffer as a result of the budget decisions of the new Government, and Councillors need to demonstrate that we are prepared to set an example to our residents.

LAMPTON PARK CONFERENCE CENTRE
We have instructed Council officers to fully market the Lampton Park Conference Centre (attached to the Civic Centre) for outside functions in order to maximise its full potential for generating income.

OUR 5 PLEDGES
Straight after the election we presented the Chief Executive with our contract with the people of the borough, the 5 Pledges on every leaflet we delivered:
• Action on crime with 100 uniformed officers on the streets in this area and CCTV in crime hotspots
• Extra cash for local schools to improve standards and new school places to give parents a better choice
• A new partnership with local businesses and housing associations to create jobs and build 2,500 affordable homes to rent or buy.
• A 24/7 team of Grimebusters to tackle graffiti, litter and dumped rubbish - and a direct dial phone number for immediate action
• A fresh war on waste and a council tax cut for all residents

We are also committed to delivering a truly listening Council, with effective communications and proper public engagement.

Officers are now working up the delivery plan on all these, and we will be reporting on them regularly.

THE MONTHS AHEAD
We have no illusions that the new Government is going to make life very difficult for Council finances. We won’t know the full details until 22nd June, but we will almost certainly be having to make difficult decisions affecting jobs and services. Notwithstanding that, your Labour Group of Councillors expects to be out knocking on doors, being visible at summer fairs, and listening to the issues concerning local residents

Coming Up for Air

It finally dawned on me that we would be leading the borough, when Phil Andrews (ICG) asked me when counting was under way on the Friday afternoon "How does it feel to be taking back the 6 seats in Isleworth/Syon?"

It's been one of the busiest and strangest two weeks of my life, with little chance to get to the blog. so here's a catch-up:
Friday 7th, we went to bed knowing we had gained control of Hounslow Council,, and lost our Parliamentary seat (Ann Keen) by 2000 votes.
On Tuesday Jagdish Sharma and I were elected (unopposed) by our Labour Group colleagues as Leader and Deputy Leader of Hounslow Labour Group - meaning we will be confirmed as Council Leader/Deputy Leader next Tuesday. At the same time news filtered in from the real world (?) that Gordon was going, and realisation that Cameron/Clegg would be running the country.
On Wednesday morning we handed the Chief Executive the five key pledges on which we were elected and asked him to start work on those until we work up our more detailed programme.

Thursday saw Jagdish and I celebrate with Labour Leadership teams from across London. We had taken control of 18 Councils, up from 9. Two key reasons were having the General Election on the same day so raising interest and turnout, and sheer organisation.

Our new Executive team met on Tuesday where we allocated portfolios and discussed our core priorities. We are all now getting to know the key officers and partners we'll be working most closely over the next four years, and the diary is starting to fill up.

Overall - I am continually bumping into people who say they are so relieved we are back. Council staff in particular have confirmed just how bad it was under the Tory/ICG alliance - the "improvement" programme has in many areas all-but destroyed people's ability to do their job and provide an acceptable service. We have to address that, and ensure that the difficult resource decisions we're going to have to make consider the implications for delivery and outcome. No illusions though that the next months and years are going to be a challenge . . .

Labour Takes Control of Hounslow, ICG Out

After losing Government we celebrated this evening on winning 35 out of 60 seats on the Council. This includes winning back all 6 seats in Isleworth and Syon, 2 in Bedfont, 2 in Hanworth, holding 1 in Feltham West and taking 1 back in Hounslow Heath and of course taking back the 3rd seat in Brentford - good to have Mel Collins back on the Council. So - final Tally: Labour 35, Tories 25.

A massive thank you to everyone who helped, supported and voted for us . . . . .

Well it's confusing, but Labour are not defeated!

Well Ann Keen lost - but only by 2000 votes, and c 6000 votes to the libDems. We will get it back! Off to the Council count to see a) if I retained my Council seat and b) whether we managed to win any seats back so we can take back control of Hounslow. It felt good when doing the sampling last night, and the Labour vote in both elections in Brentford was very strong.

Thank you to everyone who helped in this marathon effort, and to everyone who voted for us.

I'll let you know when we have the Council results.

Good Response this weekend

Great team of 5 supporting Matt Mel and I on the doorsteps this weekend, with another 15 or so delivering the leaflets. Thanks so much for all the help - and we're getting a really good response on the doorstep.

What did the Romans Ever Do for You - Sorry, what did Labour ever Do for Brentford High Street?

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