SteveSome months prior to the 2006 local elections, I was amazed to discover that a Public Meeting had been called by LBH as part of a consultation exercise over the proposed closure of the bridge over St. John's Road, and that the three (New Labour) Syon ward councillors had attended. No invitations, nor notification, had been sent to any of Isleworth ward's three community councillors.For those who are unfamiliar with the political geography of the borough, the boundary between Syon and Isleworth wards runs along the centre of St. John's Road and the closure was therefore of equal relevance to both wards.A simple error one might think, and I would have been prepared to accept this. However I wrote to the officer in question asking "is there any reason why the Isleworth ward councillors were not included in this consultation, when the closure will affect residents of Isleworth and Syon wards in equal measure?".His reply was thus: "Dear Councillor Andrews, I can confirm that there was no reason why residents of Ward 16 were not consulted. Yours sincerely...".Call me naive, but I had actually been hoping for something along the lines of "sorry, we apologise for our mistake", or even possibly an explanation.I later discovered that "Ward 16" was in fact officer-speak for the community of which it is my privilege to be an elected representative.We are now having similar, ongoing difficulties with consultation across the Syon and Brentford ward boundaries and I routinely bore my Area Committee colleagues by highlighting, and minuting, every such example which comes to light.It will be resolved, but Hounslow has an ingrained mentality and culture which took many years to develop and which will not be reversed overnight.In the meantime however, if I am not consulted over something and I am asked, I will not pretend that I was.
Phil Andrews ● 6433d