Forum Topic

Complete discourtesy and inefficiency of this Council

I am fed up with this situation, so am posting! I signed up for  the garden waste service online in March. No response, no tags.Sent online form to Council on April 9th. Reference number obtained. No response.Attempted to telephone Council several times - could not even be placed in a queue, was just told that they were busy and then hung up on!!I am a service user and they are the provider, the least I would expect would be some sort of method of contact. Shoddy service to say the least.If I don't hear from them by next week, I am cancelling my direct debit for Council Tax - no doubt then I'll get a response.

Julie Evans ● 3381d16 Comments

To get back to the original post! I too am getting pretty ticked off - I put in an FOI request and it is now five days over the 20 day time limit in which the council say they will reply. I have also chased this up twice and bugger all has been the response. The young lady from their communications department who spent her time in court with the infamous 'Wheelie bin' farce, and who claims she wants to know how people think and feel about the council, might care to look at a couple of other threads?

Vanessa Smith ● 3377d

No wish to get involved in any political squabbles but my former secretary and her husband are the current Mayor and Mayoress of Richmond and from what she told me it seemed Council policy that the Mayor & Mayoress were expected to use the Mayor's car and driver everytime they attended an event (which she found quite embarrassing at times).

Adam Beamish ● 3377d

Well, John would say that, wouldn't he? I have seen how hard Nisar works as Mayor and it's not that practical or dignified to go enrobed on a bus, or indeed to drive your own car with chains clanking! In any event, the council saved more than £100K in reduced allowances to councillors last year compared to the salad days before John, Paul Fisher and the crew were removed from power by an ungrateful electorate. Those were the truly profligate days!

Guy Lambert ● 3377d

Guy is right but one of his Cllr colleagues in my view forgot whose money he was spending in a rather profligate fashion.See http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/west-london-news/hounslow-mayor-blasted-using-thousands-11184554

John Todd ● 3377d

Only two councillors claimed any expenses in the last financial year. Details of allowances and expenses are published at http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/members_allowances_2015-16.pdf

Guy Lambert ● 3378d

My guess would be that she does read all the threads complaining about LBH, but doesn't respond, as they are factually correct, and therefore beyond her remit.

Ian Fillingham ● 3378d

There are also many Special Responsibilty Allowances (SRA`s) which add a few thousand to the general basic for chairing a committee group

Paul Fisher ● 3378d

Curran receives around £36,500 as part-time Leader, Cabinet members receive around £22,000 and ordinary members receive £9276. Details available on www.hounslow.gov.uk.

John Connelly ● 3378d

I suppose I could find this out elsewhere but maybe you could save me some time and tell me where one can find details of expenses claimed by Councillors. I'm not at all aware of what is possible but from my understanding the Councillors do not receive/get pad a lot of money for their efforts. While I may not be over-enamoured of some of the Council's decisions, I can't see that being a Councillor is a position many of us would relish.

Anne England ● 3378d

I think we all know that many officers and councillors read these local forums but simply ignore the issues raised or on the rare occasion they do respond it is often in a rude and patronising mannerWe also of course get the odd case of someone responding on behalf of a councillor using a false name

Paul Fisher ● 3378d

From another thread - Deputy Head of Communications at Hounslow Council:"My role at the council is in the communications team and as it is my responsibility to be aware of what people think about the council, what they're saying about the council, why they're saying it; and to try and ensure that what people are saying is factually correct. To confirm - I am employed by the council to do this."Pity she doesn't read a few more threads then isn't it? She'd soon find out what people thought!

Vanessa Smith ● 3378d

You will get a response alright. If you try to deprive our local commie council of their expenses dosh you will be subject to the most efficient ,ruthless and barbaric use of common law known to man . Yes,there's one thing you can say about our Hounslow commies the council services are crap but all our councillors can find the cashiers office in the dark to get their expenses

Robert Ayres ● 3381d

But LBH are so committed to community engagement so all the residents just make up these tales

Paul Fisher ● 3381d

If you are on Twitter - that normally gets a response where all else fails.

Vanessa Smith ● 3381d

To get a response recently I had to involve The Local Authority Ombudsman.

Christopher Hugh Dakers ● 3381d

Spot on Julie, and if you dare to put a dead shrub in the wheelie bin they'll refuse to collect...

Sarah Thomas ● 3381d