"This newsletter shows that Mrs Ann Keen's support seems only to be directed at some unelected aspiring candidates for Labour....when she perhaps should be helping and supporting the elected local representatives. There seems to be an injustice."How do 'Boucher, McKendry and Sampson working hard for you'. Do they assume that they have channels of influence at the Civic Centre and at Hounslow Homes that is denied to others?"Jim, you have strayed upon the essence of the whole dispute. The very cause of the ICG's creation and the sole reason for its existence. New Labour in Isleworth (and one suspects elsewhere) will not work with other organisations unless it can control them. This is borne out by a wealth of evidence dating back for several years, indeed for decades.Labour implies that it has single-handedly persuaded Thames Water to fork out £40m on an odour improvement programme. In actual fact this money will come from the public purse in the form of water rates following pressure on OFWAT by the Mogden Residents' Action Group (MRAG) - a non-political, residents' group which does not even get a mention in the Labour election leaflet. Alan Sheerins is on record as having attacked MRAG through the letters' pages of the local Times. Now he seeks to give the credit for its work to three individuals, none of whom has even set foot in an MRAG or Mogden Residents' Liaison Committee meeting.New Labour's attitude to other independent groups and associations in Isleworth is similarly aggressive and/or unco-operative. It attacks Ivytag, yet denies access to its own tenants' association on Ivybridge to many who desire to work for the community. It tried desperately to sabotage the Isleworth Community Safety Forum (ICSF), which it once controlled, after it had elected an independent Chair. It tried to take the credit for a project launched by the Worple Avenue Residents' Association (WARA), almost jeopardising a funding application in the process. This association is chaired by a Labour voter, but being a man who believes in doing things by the book and involving the whole community rather than excluding people on political grounds he appears to have incurred their unrelenting wrath all the same.They are trying to muscle in on the revitalised Residents' Of Worton Estate (ROWE), which is being run independently by residents with the help (but without strings, and only when asked for) of their elected ward councillors. A few weeks ago the Labour candidates circulated a leaflet which sought to undermine the association's ownership of its own community centre. In the meantime they keep a watching brief on ROWE through Hounslow Homes, which never ceases its efforts to get a foot in the door, even though the association is running perfectly without it or Labour.It doesn't take a political genius to work out what New Labour has in store for all of these organisations and groups should its candidates be elected in May.As regards the "assumed channels of influence", the simple answer to your question is "yes". Indeed, you may recall on another thread I pointed out that one of the prospective Labour candidates was using as her selling point the argument that community councillors, no matter how well-intentioned, could not do for local people what Labour councillors could do because we don't have "the right contacts". Bear in mind that the council officers with whom we work are required under their terms of employment to serve all elected members equally irrespective of political allegiance, and you will understand that the hapless canvasser has actually highlighted the root of the problem in Hounslow. Not only have these people subverted the very principles of democratic local government in this borough, but they actually brag about it!As community councillors we have endeavoured to help local residents to get involved in the decision-making and consultative processes. We have encouraged, assisted, and where necessary even helped to set up channels through which the community can express itself without interference. These independent channels are the very antithesis of everything which New Labour stands for.We have done this against the tide, under a New Labour council which has at best been uphelpful and on many occasions positively obstructive.If, as is our hope, New Labour loses its overall majority next May, we intend to work to create an environment in which universal community participation is actually encouraged.Thus the battle between the organised community and New Labour is not ideological, but organisational. However it is between two schools of thought which are diametrically and, I fear, irrevocably opposed.New Labour have had their chances to talk things through, and we have been spurned, mocked, abused and insulted at every turn. Now it is time to put our respective programmes to the voters, so that they can decide for once and for all which of our two approaches to local government they most prefer. Let's do it.
Phil Andrews ● 7095d