What Would Churchill Do About Shops in Brentford?
Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert reports back
Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert
November 8, 2024
Ah, well, I got a bit of hope for Team Keane out of the communities team. I have tried to get various Cabinet members to move this forward but I have achieved nothing apart from comforting words. We actually (and the we includes me, the heads and staff of Team Keane and all the people of Brentford and surrounding areas, including schools like Brentford School for Girls, Green School and others too many to name) need some action because as the saying go, warm words don’t butter the parsnip.
Well now – back to the momentous events in my diary for the last few days. Ah yes, I spent most of Friday in the Digital Dock, awaiting a woman who had contacted me about housing. She was a no-show, so I spent the time doing some meditation and doing about 100 press ups. Virtual press ups. They are so much more pleasing and involve no straining or sweat, makes me feel like a member of the Royal family.
Also on Friday I had a stroll around my estate local town to take the balmy air and gaze upon my subjects local residents to see how they were dealing with the outrageous tax bombshell announced in the budget. They seemed to be OK which is good because they obviously cannot afford to die, especially if they have an extensive estate in the country like the man on the BBC news. He was upset that his son would not have such a large estate to settle in after he retires from his job in the City. So cruel. They might have to sell a bit of their farm to landless peasants – outrageous.
Not a lot to see but I was directed to Clifden Road. For the last umpteen years I have been campaigning to have the remaining pock marked roads to be resurfaced. Many of them were covered when the council allocated £4M to this under the ‘Pothole Pledge’ but two roads in Brentford escaped attention – short St Paul’s Road and longer Clifden. Obviously we were keen to punish the people in Clifden – one inhabitant particularly who cannot be named – but there comes a time when we have to do what locals want rather than the opposite, which is obviously our preference. So last week Clifden was put under the attention of Hounslow Highways. Parking was suspended for a day or 3 and ugly mechanical monsters from Hounslow Highways, accompanied by big ugly machines, got to work.
Cries emanated from the residents: there are supposed to be speed bumps and they have been flattened, and they have repainted various pointless yellow lines in places where they are not needed. I raised this with the Hounslow Highways MD who got the hump with his subcontractor for not doing the humps properly. The lines are more complicated because you can’t unpaint them without a formal Traffic Order and you can’t do it anyway because digging them up will make a mess of the lovely new surface. This one will run and run. Must go down there and get an update. If you want an update on St Paul’s Road, I advise you against holding your breath.
Meanwhile I daringly crossed the Dock Road bridge over the river to Brentford Dock. I lost my courage at the last moment and returned across the lock bridge without entering the prohibited area, rewarded by the rare sight of a moving narrow boat heading for Brentford port with a massive cargo of charcoal briquettes. That’s what we get with freedom from the bureaucracy of Brussels, or Bruxelles what us cultured types who speke Frog call it.
Lovely traditional Brentford parking as usual outside Morrisons. Don’t be alarmed, it had its hazard flashers going.
Saturday I fancied a film and went to Chiswick. The cinema there is luxurious and has a good selection (it would be good if they told us which of the many screens) but those of used to pensioners night at the Watermans are a bit shocked at being charged £20+ and even a beer is £8. Rather a dark film called Small Things Like These. Captivating though with my hearing I could not get all the words.
Sunday I was up to Chiswick again for the Flower Market.
It was deserted as usual due to the evil council making it impossible for anyone to get there or park within 50 Metres.
Monday was an easy day, with an update on the Transport Strategy over Teams in the evening. Katherine Dunne really understands her portfolio and presented very convincingly. There’s always a grumpy one and I was on about the almost completely unused Electric Charging bays in Hamilton Road. Katherine will look into it, like I used to look into potholes. One of my fellow councillors asked for potholes to be attended to. No longer my problem and I was so relaxed I didn’t bother to remark as is my wont that Hounslow always has the best-maintained roads in London. Of course it’s not me any more so they may well be declining sharply – who knows?
On Tuesday I had the online meeting with Communities as mentioned. I noticed a new sign on the former Heidelberg site:
The development is progressing fast and some of it begins to look like flats – the townhouses are rising too but still some way to go. I’d heard of Clarion, though I didn’t know they were the largest Housing Association in England and I had never heard of Latimer, but turns out they are the shared ownership arm of Clarion. Hoping amongst all these new flats and houses there will at least be a few that are affordable for renters and buyers. I hope the doors fit better than the hoardings
Meanwhile the construction of the river wall which is a bit like the call to prayer in Brentford, is continuing and to my ignorant eyes it looks like it is getting close to be finished.
Those rusty girders are the river wall in person (I hope it doesn’t rust in the salty water like a 1961 Vauxhall Viva). There’s a lot which are the same length (good) and a few that are longer (OK) and a few more lying looking innocent on the ground (not good). I watched the chaps for a few minutes. There is one in the crane cab that appears from my vantage point to be doing an impression of Rees-Mogg in the House of Commons whilst presumably doing the Metro Sudoku, or perhaps researching tractors in the Commons tradition. The other feller comes round the blue box once a quarter of an hour and does his bit for knocking down my building and making me even deafer for a couple of minutes. Tough work.
Later on Tuesday I get a letter from a cabinet member about progress on the police station and the Watermans site. Actually this letter was on Monday but we were told it was a great secret and not to be revealed even though the cabinet report was public and another member of the cabinet had already talked to MyLondon, who are obviously more trustworthy than ward councillors. It is fantastic news, and we hope by some time next spring we will get to the same position we were in about 6 or 7 years ago with someone looking to develop the sites.
On Thursday morning a number of councillors were at the Brentford Fountain Leisure centre with some officers from the council and from Lampton Leisure.
It took me back 30 odd years to when I was there regularly with my daughter who wanted as a 4 year old to use the slide, which wasn’t working. Plus ca change.. If you look closely (and if I was a competent photographer) you will see it’s still not in use. I used to go every week and do 66 lengths in the fitness pool which I calculated was a mile. Sometimes I lost count and ended up doing a few extra. That’s what makes me so slim and fit now. The Fountain was looking outdated and jaded 30 years ago, got worse when it was outsourced to a specialist provider and visibly cleaner and nicer now Lampton have had it for a few years. But it is still outdated and jaded and is very difficult to maintain. The Lampton manager mentioned gently that commercial providers where he used to work were less prone to produce the apples of architect’s eyes that councils liked to do in the 1970s and pointed up amongst other features the single-glazed glass dome on the roof which is very hard to fix and provides internal waterfalls in the winter months, at least.
Reminds also that about 7 years ago we had a deal with a housing association who were going to build us a new leisure centre on the site then occupied by a Citroen garage next door. All very nice, no loss of the facility until the new one was built, and the profit from the development would pay for the leisure centre. Apparently there was a change of management at the Housing Association and they decided not to do it. So they built a lot of flats on the Citroen site and we were left holding the baby (and with what is now a leisure centre to interest archaeologists). We have new ideas for both the Watermans and Fountains. Time will tell.
Something new to me was that there be lions in the Fountain centre.
They apparently hide high in the building, waiting for an unsuspecting antelope to come to the waterhole. I discovered some new Microsoft tool which makes them visible, though they refuse to sell the tool to antelopes.
After that I had a wander down the riverside path at Strand-on-the-Green. Very peaceful except for the ruddy noisy birds.
The pigeons were running the gauntlet around the big crows who probably thought they would make a nicer morsel than Thames Water would provide from the drain nearby. But then a pair of Magpies (such joy) turned up noisily in the trees and everybody seemed to get their wind up. This afternoon we have a tutorial about changes to the support we provide to people on low incomes. We have always been very generous, and I think we should stay that way.
Last comment this week. I was hoping to see shops beginning to emerge in the romantically-named Hounslow Block in the High Street. Called Block D as a homage to Ballymore I suppose. Rather than shops, some stickers very well designed by one of my talented neighbours and looking splendid appeared. Nice, but a) I think Brentford needs to get its shops opening for the good of those of us who would like to shop there and see our town centre thriving and b) there are several shop owners who are currently redundant because they have nowhere to carry out their trade, despite having been selected by the council to receive the prize of a premises. Let’s get this fixed please. Winston Churchill used to say “Action this day”.
Councillor Guy Lambert
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