Weekly Update From Councillor Guy Lambert

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Having a very Brentford Christmas and New Year

The Brent in torrent on Christmas Day

Well, here we are, Groundhog day in 2022. Somebody showed me a card yesterday and I thought it said ZOZZ. I may be getting into middle age. I remember 1961. I think it was The Beano. It alerted me that this was the first year since – some other year – 1691? – that had read the same upside down. Not a lot of people know that, but I don’t suppose that perturbs them greatly.

Having laboured over a misbehaving keyboard – can’t be me that mistypes – I was slightly miffed that Brentford TW8 editor had already departed for his/her private Caribbean island/Grannie’s house so it was not published before Christmas, except on my Brentford Councillors Facebook page which is DIY. Anyway, TW8 published it last week which gave me an excellent reason not to bother with a new one. There wasn’t anything to say anyway apart from episodes from my private life which are nonya.

Well, I can announce that Christmas Eve happened, as in due course did Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Eve etc. I expect you spotted that. Having had my Isle of Wight Christmas cancelled I spent some time in M&S trying to get a small bit of turkey to roast, but the smallest they had were for 6 to 8 people which would be a challenge even for me with one person joining me. I noticed after Christmas that most of them were still on the shelves with those yellow stickers on them. Bit of dodgy buying there, perhaps Matt Hancock was moonlighting.

All this disguises (or not) that I haven’t been doing all that much councilloring over the break, though I walk the town plenty and enjoy what it has to offer. I like the good old Brent when it’s rained a bit and becomes a raging torrent like it did on Christmas day

And I loved this threatening sky from the bridge in Church Walk

Walking up Green Dragon Lane I noticed a very small flat person whose head appears to have exploded as he ran around on the new(ish) footpath by the towers

The other good part of walking around Brentford is I often meet people, some who I know well, some a little, some not at all, and most people I meet are excellent company. Some others want to tell me about things that trouble them, like the man I met in Lionel Road North who pointed out cars parked on double yellows and the ever-diminishing pavement (he says) as The Mighty Bees gradually push out the temporary barriers they have outside the stadium.

The work on Watermans Park is progressing fast now. I walk there nearly every day and there is progress all the time, and you can begin to get a sense of what the ‘after’ will be like. It was also good to visit Boston Manor (somebody complained to me about the bus shelter by Boston Manor station having been nicked, which came as a bit of a surprise to me!) and bump into our natural park manager, Vanessa. She was raking up some leaves with a view to providing some soft furnishings for a bug hotel, if I understood her correctly.

I have been having camera trouble on my phone recently otherwise I would have provided photos of Watermans, so you’ll have to see for yourself. It was good to see this happy bunch on a miserable day outside the Steam Museum, where they had a new year event.

Still really missing my bike though – hope to be back on it in the next few days as my arms seem to be pretty well OK now.

Normal service is gradually resuming and I have had a real deluge of emails prior to the planning committee which took place on the evening of Thursday 6th (I am writing this on Friday, as Thursday ended up very busy).

Before that I had a convivial chat with a couple of the excellent people who lead Brentford Voice in a very lively Griffin, about how the town is shaping up and things which remain unclear, like the various major developments which are still to move forward.

I had a chance encounter in that same Griffin with someone who is trying to degas himself to help the climate emergency. Having shelled out for a new electric hob, he discovered to his astonishment that the gas supplier wants to charge him £350 to cut off his supply or charge him £100pa in perpetuity. Seems quite bonkers to me at a time when we’re trying to encourage the change so I have alerted my MP and various council officers.

On Thursday we had planned an Awayday with all the directors of the Lampton companies but for obvious reasons awaydays are off the agenda at present so it was a Stayday with Zooting© instead. There are huge challenges in some of the companies at present due to the pandemic combined to some extent with Brexit, but they are motoring ahead very strongly. We have managed to keep all services going unlike many councils but this is getting more and more difficult, with more than 30 people sick or isolating from the recycling and waste crew on Thursday.

This meeting was about how we want the companies to develop over a 3 year horizon, so an attempt to get out of the weeds of day to day operations. It feels a privilege to work with the Lampton Team, especially the non-exec directors who are without exception really exceptional people.

So to planning – 4 things to decide, mainly another attempt to build houses in a garden down by the river in Chiswick. A lengthy discussion and we ended up refusing the application, just as we did the last effort to develop here.

There were two applications in Brentford, one for a small development of social housing where the garages are around Layton Court. There has been quite a lot of anti-social behaviour around these mainly unoccupied garages so I was initially pleased to hear of a plan to demolish and provide some homes there, but some of the neighbours were unhappy so I called it in to committee so they could express their concerns. Unfortunately nobody was able to come and we could not see any string reasons not to proceed so this was approved. The Melvinator asked for (and won) some improvements to the pavement on Brook Lane North which is not in great condition he says (I hadn’t noticed) and I raised the hoary subject of the lack of lights on the footbridge, well known as a ni issue toa all local councillors. Not sure whether I got a result, will believe it when I see it (and I won’t be able to see it unless I get a result, as it’s too dark 😊 )

The other local one was the Team Keane encampment on Ferry Point, very near where I live (and right next to where Councillor Denniss lives – so he recused himself from the committee). I was initially very upset by Team Keane turning up and commencing work without permission on this site, as were a number of neighbours. However they have now been operating for a while and the concerns have dwindled. It is great to see the amount of rowing activity on the Thames and I was happy to endorse a temporary 2 year permission for them to remain. I’m still hoping that this will be a success and we will eventually get the permanent boat house etc that was promised when Ferry Quays was built 20-odd years ago but never materialised. I also persuaded them to provide a bit of funding for the heritage trail Brentford Voice are cooking up.

Darrell do (as they say in Liverpool) for this week. Happy New Year to both my readers and see you in a week.

Cllr Guy Lambert

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January 11, 2022