Forum Topics

The Borough Council and it's communications endeavours

We are blessed with computers, blessed with this Forum and other local ones..and the London Borough of Hounslow releases lengthy videos via it's Webcam service of Council Meetings past and present in progress.Want to see Cllr Phil Andrews in action?  just click away with your mouse. In fact you can see all 60 Councillors in action in this way..especially when they deliver a speech.In four months time the new Administration will be halfway through their term in office.  It's essential therefore that their "vision for Hounslow" is well broadcast..and achievments are publicised as effectively as possible.  In my view the webcam service should be extended to include a "YouTUBE type facility whereby the Leader and his colleagues could formerly report one or two matters fairly regularly.Borough residents will then have less need to say that they don't know what's going on, misunderstood expenditure on say the "H Logo" change could be explained better, and so on..At last week's Executive Meeting..see the webcam broadcast..it was interesting to hear Cllr Mark Bowen say that constituents speak to him , they more often compliment the Council for their successes in dealing with dodgy landlords,dodgy house developement, and the dodgy claiming of benefits..rather than mentioning that 0% Council Tax achievement. These triumphs are being well reported in the local press.The law abiding folk are seemingly happy to hear that the Council is these days less tolerant of those who ignore our modest rules.However the Executive Meeting suggested that few under 40yr olds read the local press and were more likely to gleen their local news from on line sources.   W4.com and TW8.com were mentioned by Cllr Adrian Lee as being fonts of information..not just the Forums but the Newsletters and front page too.Hear Phil make his impressive contribution!! I believe he was gunning to share the top Communications Job (a new portfolio?) with the Leader Cllr Peter Thompson...but the quietly spoken Cllr Thompson muttered to the microphone.. "no thanks, thanks for the offer..but I'd rather do it myself!"    Phil performs very well..and his diction seems flawless..and we know how good his correspondence is! By the way, I have asked for Cllr Peter Thompson's mic to be turned up..so we can more clearly hear his chairmanship words.How do you think about any of this.

Jim Lawes ● 6874d4 Comments ● 6872d

Healthy Hounslow But Richer Richmond

Todays Evening Standard shows a jogger in Richmond Park illustrating a new report ranking Richmond 2nd in the UK for “future health”.  Delving into last years detailed report from CACI/TNS (this years not available) I found that the report concludes  Hounslow is quite healthy but has some demographic risk of losing this in the future. I reproduce some statistics which use demographics and heath risk correlations for the conclusions.  I compared Hounslow with Richmond, Elmbridge, Ealing and Hammersmith. The report has 3 Unhealthy categories (now, future, possible future) and 1 Healthy category and ranks boroughs 1 to 408.  The Evening Standard considered the Unhealthy Future for its article. Unhealthy rank 1 is bad but Healthy rank 1 is good.1 Unhealthy Now :    Hou 322, Rich 379, Elm 380, Eal 357, Ham 2862 Unhealthy Future:  Hou 124, Rich 381, Elm 374, Eal 182, Hamm 523 Unhealthy Possible Hou 330,Rich  26,  Elm   6, Eal 367, Hamm 4044 Healthy            Hou   30,Rich 206, Elm  316, Eal  5, Hamm   7These categories/groups 1 to 4 are defined in more detail as:-1. high levels of serious illness and poor diet & consumption patterns2. high levels of severely unhealthy lifestyles likely to lead to serious illness3. generally healthy but with some potentially unhealthy lifestyle traits4. good health with few lifestyle issuesThe reason why Hounslow, Ealing and Hammersmith are so healthy is that we have so many metropolitan, young, affluent, health-conscious professionals.  Richmond and Elmbridge lose out because of the high proportion of affluent professionals living there with high alcohol consumption and who like eating out.I focused on the areas of Hounslow’s demographics which make a difference in its rankings.  These are subdivided in the 4 categories as:-2.4 Metropolitan, multi-ethnic, smokers and overweight3.4 Affluent professionals, high alcohol consumption, dining out3.5 Low income families with some smokers4.1 Mixed ethnic metropolitan areas with good health and diet4.2 Metropolitan, affluent, healthy professionals4.4 Towns and villages with average health and diet4.6 Affluent towns and villages with excellent health and diet2.4 Hou 5.7, Rich    .7, Elm     .8, Eal 6.0, Ham 10.6 %3.4 Hou 8.3, Rich 29.2, Elm 41.1, Eal 7.7, Ham   2.5   %3.5 Hou 7.8, Rich   2.3, Elm   3.2, Eal 5.8, Ham   6.7 %4.1 Hou 6.3, Rich   1.0, Elm   1.8, Eal 6.1, Ham  21.0 %4.2 Hou 13.7 Rich  2.2, Elm   6.2, Eal 14.9, Ham 24.9  %4.4 Hou 11.8,Rich  4.9, Elm   8.2, Eal 15.9, Ham   4.7 %4.6 Hou 16.7,Rich 13.2, Elm  9.9, Eal 17.2, Ham   3.0  %

Michael Fletcher ● 6882d4 Comments ● 6876d