Forum Topic

Congratulations to Labour's new councillors for Isleworth and Syon wards

I would like to congratulate Mindu Bains, Ed Mayne and Sue Sampson on their election to the local authority as members for Isleworth, and Steve Curran, Theo Dennison and Jason Ellar who were elected in Syon, and to wish them all the very best for their term of office.I would also like to extend my congratulations and best wishes to forum contributor Dave Hughes, who was elected in Hanworth.Naturally I am disappointed that my Community Group colleagues and I were not re-elected.  The only "excuse" I have to offer is the obvious one - that like the other independents who were defeated and indeed the Liberal Democrats we fell victim to the massively altered conditions that holding the general election on the same day brought about.It could reasonably be argued by the victorious candidates that a mandate from over 60% of the electorate has more standing than the mandate we had previously enjoyed from 36-37% in our wards.Conversely one could protest that the outcome of a council election has essentially been determined by voters who have no interest in council elections, and who turned out to vote only because a general election was being held on the same day.Whichever way one looks at it, we are where we are and the new (and not so new) councillors should be given the opportunity to settle in, and to do their best to serve their new constituents as I've no doubt they will.  I sincerely hope that they are successful and that they find their new roles fulfilling and enjoyable.Obviously the victorious party made a number of promises during its campaign which it will be expected to fulfil, and assuming it does so residents of the borough can look forward to 100 new police officers on the beat in each ward, lower Council Tax, reduced salaries for Executive members and other key office holders, and homes for those who have been promised them.  It is reasonable that they will be held to their promises and I have every confidence that they will do their best to deliver them.As for the Community Group, our situation is of course a different one now and we will not automatically assume an adversarial position to the new councillors or to the new administration.  It is my honest and sincere hope that they learn from the mistakes of the past and adopt an approach to community engagement that we can support rather than feel the need to counter.  In spite of our best efforts we did not get as far in this department as we would have liked to.  We believe the senior management team under the coalition administration had a "twin track" approach to Conservative and Community Group priorities and this was a situation we failed to deal with before our time ran out.  It would be an irony, but a very welcome one, if the incoming Labour administation was to take this agenda forward in a way that we were unable to.

Phil Andrews ● 5575d30 Comments

After speaking to some residents who attended the Mogden meeting on Wednesday together with cross party Cllrs I was  astounded  to hear that Tory Cllr Brad Fisher blew a gasket at hearing my question asked of Thames Water which referred to the minutes of the June meeting. At the June meeting a resident Environmental Health Officer simply stated that, as the last improvement program had failed, and as Thames had not spend the full £46 million as allocated by Ofwat from ratepayers bills, could the Thames  director confirm how much was actually spent and why didn't they spend  whole allocation  lot to do the job properly. The Thames director said that he didn’t have the figures to hand but not all of the 46 million had been spent, and any surplus would have gone back to customers in lower bills. That in itself is a strange answer as one would have thought the director responsible for Mogden liaison, chairing these meetings, who also happened to steer the Expansion Planning Application through the Council, should have these figures at his fingertips  especially as this issue was the subject of much questioning in the High Court of Justice.  Therefore three months later I put the question in reference to the June minutes " Can Thames Water now confirm that only £30 million of the allocated £46 Million was spent on odour and do Thames Water and Cllrs believe it was negligent of Thames to divert the unspent money to other areas when it could have been used to increase the Ofwat regulatory output minimum from 60% to 80 or even 90%?" Now obviously something about this open and honest question caused Cllr Fisher extreme discomfort as he allegedly blew a gasket and stated that I had already been provided an answer in a meeting I had with him and the then Tory Leader Peter Thompson in April 2010.  This is astounding.  Firstly - Cllr Fisher knew the answer so  why didn't he provide it to the previous meeting in June and perhaps jog the Thames Water director's  memory? Why did he deliberately withhold this information from the meeting?Secondly - at the meeting with Cllr Thompson to which he refers, I TOLD HIM that only £30 million had been spent and I TOLD HIM that this would have been agreed with Thames Water by the Chief Officer environmental services and no doubt signed off by the then Tory Lead Member, Cllr Barbara Reid. I TOLD HIM that because of this blunder by his party, the program had failed and residents were still suffering.  It is probably appropriate to explain why this meeting took place in April.  The meeting took place very simply because, after the despicable behaviour and correspondence from Tory Cllr Adrian Lee,  our Group Chairman, Dr Whittall ( who is an ex Richmond Cllr and Deputy Mayor) felt compelled to write to Cllr Lee and rebuke him for his inappropriate  behaviour and  unacceptable  correspondence with myself and our group ,  both privately and in the public domain. The Tory Leader then intervened and kindly invited me to meet with him, Cllr Lee and others at the Civic Centre to discuss these issues and move forward.  Cllr Sheila O'Reilly who chaired the fiasco SDC meetings was also asked to attend.Surprise, surprise, Cllr Lee and Cllr O'Reilly didn't turn up. Nevertheless  Cllr John Todd and  Cllr Brad Fisher were there. I was surprised if not bemused to also see that  PPC Mary Mcleod had delegated her election agent to attend.  I genuinely believed that the meeting was constructive and we were able to air our differences and voice our expectations and I genuinely believed that these Cllrs would support residents in their efforts to improve the situation and hold Thames Water fully accountable.  Oh how wrong was I?  That these Tory Cllrs are now so determined to undermine residents, including their past coalition partners'  efforts,  and jump to Thames Water's every demand,  is indeed beyond belief.  Can anyone enlighten me as to why these people behave like this?  From all accounts Labour's Ed Maine is now taking the lead on this and displaying sincere resident support. This is acknowledged and  greatly appreciated. 

Steve Taylor ● 5450d

JohnLast night I attended a meeting of the Mogden Residents' Liaison Committee (organised by Thames Water) in my capacity as a committee member for the resident-led Mogden Residents' Action Group (MRAG).Two of your colleagues from the Conservative Group were present.Both made helpful contributions throughout, that is until the Chair very decently read out an e-mail containing a number of questions submitted by Steve whereupon one of them blew a gasket.Hugh James is the firm of solicitors that is assisting thousands of residents in their legal claim against Thames Water, including hundreds in a ward represented by three of your colleagues.  I recall that you were interested enough in this claim to travel to the High Court in London and sit through much of the proceedings, however your adverse reaction to their offer of assistance leaves me wondering quite where you are coming from on all this.I feel compelled to recall the defiant lack of co-operation that councillors concerned with Mogden received from chief officers at Environment during the last administration, and record with some regret the fact that our efforts to seek redress were not supported by our so-called partners despite the fact that our unquestioning support was taken for granted on issues of concern to them - to such an extent that nobody even felt the need to consult with us prior to Borough Council meetings.  A cynic would say that a pattern begins to emerge.I would therefore take issue with Robin's comments.  From where I am sitting it would appear that the two of you agree on quite a lot.

Phil Andrews ● 5451d