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Guy's blog

Catching up on last week's blog, I saw the piece Guy had written about the house up at Gunnersbury Park which has lain empty for a hell of a time. Guy said the Director of Housing had said that bringing the property back into use -'was not viable' - what he didn't seem to have then gone on to ask was 'Why'? As someone who has been chasing several empty council properties where I live, both of which have stood vacant, one for a year, another for over that time, and given the pressure on council housing, and indeed housing in general, then what is the reason for allowing any properties to stand empty? The council also have powers to take into their ownership private properties that have been abandoned, or, where an owner cannot be found, for whatever reason, so why the hell aren't they doing this? There are so many empty properties and so many people who would like a decent roof over their head, everyone should be using every means possible to bring these dwellings back into use. It is immoral that this is allowed to go on year after year, while those in authority just sit back wringing their hands. So, WHY? would seem a reasonable question.

Vanessa Smith ● 3d5 Comments

All the houses on the East side of Lionel road were actually built on the Park, as far as I understand so I doubt any such covenant would prevent a sale. No coubt some people would object, preferring drug dealing, ASB and a waste of public money to providing a 'new' house and a chunk of money entering public coffers.I agree Vanessa.Many of the officers are excellent and dedicated, but some of the management is a bit timid, especially if there is any sniff of lawyers in the air. Many of the senior people who I mainly dealt with (not all of them!) whom I thought were very talented have been poached - Director of Environment, Finance, Assistant Director of Environment, Head of recycling. Most were not replaced.Whoever is left are often overworked because the lack of their erstwhile bosses and colleagues, and have to cover extra matters that are not in their area of expertise.I did start a blog on the subject of 'Pace' but it is currently in my too hard tray 🤣I have struggled with many cases over the years which have taken years to be progressed. Some (trivial or important) usually get sorted in the end, but it takes far too long and needs great persistence from members. Not many of us have persistence and some only surface where there is an audience.I am not a natural politician but I'm determined to follow things through. It used to be more effective than it is under present 'management'.To be fair, it is easy to forget that councils (all of them) have been seriously hampered by the end of central funding from national taxes which had largely happened before I arrived as a councillor in 2015. I believe we lost £70M in central grants each year, which would fill a few potholes. I believe, but I have yet to engage with the detail, the current government has begun to correct the prejusdice against suburban councils like ours in outer London and means we will have some of that lost grant income reinstated. Something else I have to master.

Guy Lambert ● 18h

I think that there are lot of people these days n Hounslow who must have overflowing 'too hard' trays, it is a bloody scandal.

Vanessa Smith ● 21h

One possible reason why the house at the NW corner of Gunnersbury Park remains empty may be because it cannot be sold without the consent of the 50 or so residents of adjoining properties on Lionel Road North and Popes Lane who enjoy legal benefit of the Covenants of 1925/6;With whom any semblance of goodwill between themselvesand Hounslow Council was flushed straight down the toilet by the latter by their actions in 1995. When in response to possible objections to the leasing of greenhouses to acommercial firm, prior to an Appeal to the Lands TribunalCovenant holders were being asked to produce their title deeds,    michael adams

Michael Adams ● 22h

I never give up. Steve Curran accepted Peter Matthew's decision so I suggested to Steve it should be sold to a developer. This must have been 6 years ago. I also talked to the leader of Ealing Peter Mason and tried to get he and Steve to sort it (it is jointly owned by LBH and LBE as is all of Gunnersbury Park which makes making any progress on any matter at least doubly difficult) I believe the Rothschilds sold it that way because they thought Brentford (in whose patch it was) would build houses on their doorstep See Wikipedia "In 1925, following the death of Nathan's grandson Leopold de Rothschild, Leopold's wife, Maria, and son Lionel, sold the 200-acre (81 ha) Gunnersbury estate, which was entirely contained within the Brentford Urban District,[13] to the adjacent Ealing Borough Council and Acton Borough Council for £130,000. The land lay entirely outside their boundaries. The "Queen of the Suburbs" did not want more municipal housing, as would likely be built by Brentford under its policies, on its doorstep and the Mayor of Acton concurred, persuading her Borough Council to make it a joint purchase".It used to be in my ward until the boundary changes in 2022 so I have put less effort into it but it still annoys me whenever I think about it or pass it. I wrote a while ago to responsible Cabinet members, pointing out that it would be worth probably £1.5M with a bit of refurbishment and creation of a drive on Lionel Road. Nobody has done anything, mainly becasue it is in everybody's 'too hard' tray. I was however delighted to see the fourth flat in Carville Hall is now visibly occupied. It had been empty all the first 10 years I was a councillor. It was not owned by housing but by parks and the parks department claimed it was needed for something. These things are very hard to move. I have also told there is a perfectly good half of an old splendid gatehouse at the south of Gunnersbury park was empty or not used for housing. I took it up with various officers last year (despite it in theory being in Chiswick) and looking at Google Earth I'm delighted to see it has scaffolding and what looks like a new roof being fitted. I'll take a look next time I pass.

Guy Lambert ● 1d

The thought occured to me but this is not really a standard empty property. We sadly lost Barry Martin, who was the artist in residence in the lodge in Chiswick House Gardens recently. This provides a good model of what potentially could be done here but its the CIC that should be leading on this rather than the council housing department.On more regular properties being vacant, it remains a problem despite numerous pledges to tackle it. There is a maisonette near me that has been vacant for nearly two years. As I understand it, it is owned by a housing association which doesn't have the money to bring it up to the current standards. There should be an obligation on them to sell any property left unoccupied for more than a year.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 2d