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Guy Lambert blog fact check

Some lazy assumptions this week, councillor.The Windmill Road junction does indeed see large puddles in heavy rain, although the genuine flood issues that plagued that part of the road some years back are long gone. However, to blame this on people’concreting over their gardens’ is a bit of a stretch.Perhaps you should ask the ever-reliable Thames Water to investigate the drains there. Given the appallingly shoddy construction of Performance Point on that corner the chances are that there’s a substantial amount of concrete and other debris blocking up the sewers. It’s happened before.You might also want to point the finger at your council’s own planning department. Just up the road is Reynard Mills, which has a vast expanse of tarmac and concrete approved by your planning committee. Contributing to those overworked drains, no?I look forward to the increased flow out of the Churchill House development when its concrete and tarmac are added into the mix.As for rowing in Brentford, well a lot more could be done to support Team Keane. One suggestion made to the brains behind the GSK redevelopment is to give the club space adjoining the canal so that more schoolchildren can enjoy the benefits of rowing and canoeing with them. While I don’t enjoy your continuation of the class war, I agree that as a form of exercise it should be more accessible for all. After all, Britain’s greatest tower didn’t have a private education. Perhaps you could pursue this.Other than that, it was a reasonable read this week.

Simon Hayes ● 229d7 Comments ● 198d

BE PREPARED FOR A DAY FILLED WITH FESTIVE FUN AT THE BRENTFORD CHRISTMAS MARKET

This year’s annual Brentford Christmas Market will be taking place on Sunday 15th December 2024, from 11am - 5pm, offering an exciting day of festive fun for all the family. The seasonal celebration will be hosted by The Brentford Project, Johns&Co, Brentford Voice and acclaimed events company, T&T Markets, and will take place in three locations around Brentford High Street – Market Place, Bradshaw Yard and Workhouse Dock.There will be over 40 stallholders for guests to explore – as well as Duke of London’s ever-popular classic and supercar car boot sale – selling everything from Christmas crafts and gifts to festive food and drink. Throughout the day, there will also a busy schedule of entertainment and live performances, including the opportunity to meet Santa and his reindeers - it will be the perfect day to help get you into the festive spirit. Stallholders include:• Plonkers, which will be serving up festive drinks• Victoria & Me, providing vegan wellness products such as candles, oils and bath salts • Maternal Serenity, which will be offering reflexology and maternity wellbeing• Afia by Design, providing African print textiles• Layers Bakery, selling bakery and pastry products • Flossy Bears, selling candy floss and other delicious sweet treatsA range of newly opened retailers in Brentford will also be inviting guests to explore what is on offer, including waterfront restaurant Sam’s Waterside, local independent bookshop Hewson Books and homewares shop Mother Rugger. Alongside the market stalls, there will be an impressive programme for the whole family to enjoy throughout the day, including an opportunity to meet Santa and his reindeers – thanks to Johns&Co - face painting and a showcase of car eye-candy from classic and supercar hub, Duke of London, who will be hosting its ever-popular classic and supercar car boot sale throughout the day, selling vintage clothing, automobilia, artwork and vinyls. There is also an opportunity to win tickets to the Brentford vs Nottingham Forest Premier League game on 21st December with Johns&Co Christmas competition – all you’ll need to do is guess how many baubles are in the Johns&Co car, positioned in Market Place. There will be various prizes on offer, make sure you don’t miss out. There will also be a series of live performances from local singers taking place on both Market Place and Bradshaw Yard, including local choirs St Faith’s Players and Mad About Gospel Choir, who will be entertaining the crowd with festival carols, plus performances from The Hey Las and Marky Dawson. Grab your friends and family and get ready for a day filled with festive fun – we look forward to seeing you there! Full event schedule: Sunday 15th December  Time Performance 11:00 – 11:30 Eel Pie Two (Market Place)11:30 – 12:00 Sing Star Children’s Choir (Workhouse Dock)12:15 – 13:00 Marky Dawson (Market Place)13.00 – 14:00 Mad About Gospel Choir (Workhouse Dock)14:00 – 14:30 Gospel Choir (Market Place)14:30 – 15:00 St Faiths Players Choir (Workhouse Dock)15:00 – 15:45 The Hey Las (Market Place)15:45 – 16:30 St Faiths Players Choir (Workhouse Dock)16:00 – 17:00 The Hornets (Market Place)

Megan Rees ● 317d0 Comments ● 317d

TfLs random dismissal of wise concerns

So we have councillors who have consistently denied any issues with ' Enhanced Bus Stops' originally known as Bus Islands.Same characters have denied the increases in bus journey times even though timetables were altered well before proposals and were made public so as to 'lessen the impact'.Now we have a report that shows a huge increase in journey times but in fact some journeys on local routes are up from 15 to 20 mins to 45 to 55 mins. TFL dismiss incident involving pedestrians, cyclist and other cyclists involved in collisions unless it involves a motor vehicle.  The mislead bt making the assumption that all 'collisions' involving a motor vehicle and a pedestrian or cycles are caused by the motor vehicle.They completely distort the situation and then use local politicians and officers to bolster their desires.They have consistently dismissed complaints and concerns by multiple charities and emergency services and local groups who have first hand knowledge and expertise.Staff at the front line of some emergency services are 'discouraged' by management to lodge reports and complaints caused by traffic schemes and initiatives and in some cases it 'may bear on your career prospects'.The recent consultation was completely full of loaded questions and a tone of we are going to do this whatever, anyway. People are not stupid, they see what is clearly flawed and wasteful expenditure when so much that could make local getting around remains completely neglected.Little wonder so very few participate. Which is a shame but we all know that even if 90% participated and challenged the plans diligently or positively ( which is not permitted anyway) nothing would change.This is why we end up with such idiotic, second rate and for many downright dangerous ' improvements'.Does anyone really care about this endless misleading and misrepresentation towards citizens?

Raymond Havelock ● 335d21 Comments ● 322d

Regarding Dial a Ride if you’re interested

Please remember this service is for people who cannot use public transport and do not have their own vehicle, and that the drivers of the buses are not volunteers.My solutions for Dial-a-Ride would be to start they must be better funded, they need the app to be clearer when bookings are confirmed, they need to speed up the recruitment process, they need a bank of drivers that they can draw on when there are staff shortages, they need to prioritise certain types of bookings, particularly those going to medical facilities, if this needs other types of bookings to be rearranged, so be it, another possibility could be to return to one passenger journeys most of the time, I know this sounds strange but it will speed up the process and enable them to take more bookings, I don’t have a problem sharing the bus with other passengers if their Collection point or destination is the same as mine or is on the way to mine or vice versa but that isn’t always the case.The backup system for Dial-a-Ride Is Taxicard However, They either don’t turn up or turn up late most of the time. I’ve missed Doctors appointments and was left for more than one hour in the street two weeks ago, they didn’t turn up due to a lack of availability. this is not unusual and happens regularly to me, just think about it, how long would you wait for a cab? Would you wait more than an hour? Even if it was a very cheap service? I think not! I have concluded that the simplest solution would be to give the contract for Taxicard to Uber. A more complicated solution is to give people who are members of the Taxicard scheme digital taxi vouchers, like a preloaded debit card and make all taxi companies and taxi drivers take them. that way, if one company can’t fulfil your booking someone else can. And you might be able to hail a taxi in the street sometimes as well as use a cab service.I’ve had to delete most of what I’ve written because it was far too much. So this is just the basics. And it still seems too much!

Patricia Feeney ● 460d3 Comments ● 407d

Farewell to BA Williams

This Friday, BA Williams, the pharmacy located in Albany Parade and one of Brentford’s longest-established businesses, closes its doors for good, vacating their premises ahead of the demolition and redevelopment of Charlton, Albany and Osier Houses. Owner Mr Savani and his team threw a grand farewell party this evening, where a huge number of past and present customers came to express their thanks and say goodbye. It was truly standing room only and the warmth and goodwill was heartfelt and genuine.The team at BA Williams has taken incredibly good care of both my husband and me. They were always there to provide advice and kindness. The comfort of being able to talk to someone who was familiar with you cannot be overstated. I know that, over the years, they have done the same for hundreds, if not thousands, of other customers. They provided an invaluable community hub, and have always gone above and beyond to help those frightened, anxious or in need. It is a great loss for Brentford and we are the poorer for that loss. Forgive me if I am mistaken here, but several people with whom I spoke expressed surprise that none of our elected representatives appeared to be in attendance. I certainly did not spot either of our councillors (although I admit I would probably not recognise Cllr Yates unless she was pointed out to me), nor our MP who is frequently spotted out and about in Brentford. I can’t help but feel this was shabby. The shop is open until close of play on Friday. If you haven’t - and you’d like to - there’s still the chance to wish everyone well as they all head into their next acts.I cannot express how sad we are to say goodbye. We will miss everyone there terribly. Good luck, godspeed - and thank you. 

Tracie Dudley Craig ● 413d3 Comments ● 411d