Forum Topic

Special Borough Council Meeting on Tuesday

This should be an extremely interesting meeting where we can all be sure that the Labour Administration will be blaming everyone except themselves of course for reneging on the promises they made us all before the recent local electionsWhat worries me most though on the agenda is that hidden away in the small print is the fact that they intend increasing all fees and charges immediately so look forward to your parking fees and rubbish collection prices going up very steeply let alone planning applications and any licensing chargesSome vulnerable shopping parades currently at the moment due to the financial climate and to encourage the use of our local business's have a 10p parking charge for the first half an hour but will the Syon and Isleworth councillors fight to keep this arrangement that's if they are even aware of it?Labour have of course already announced that intend reducing the amount of Borough meetings so they cannot be challenged by Non Executive councillors so often but again in the small print is the proposal to throw some of the Scrutiny staff on the dole so in practice they will soon have free rein to push through any policy they wish to in the futureMany translation jobs are also to go which I would have thought Robin Taylor would be raging about but he seems very quiet on this matter but I guess if its comrades shedding jobs then that's ok with him!

Paul Fisher ● 5704d8 Comments

Sorry Adam, your view was not supported by the local traders on those vulnerable parades who have repeatedly pressed their opinion that a) passing trade was vital to their viability and that b)  the cost of parking outside their premises was a big deterrent to such potential customers from popping in to buy the odd pint of milk and a newspaper.I'm inclined to believe the traders since they know their business better than anyone - the fact they are still in business in such difficult times is some evidence of this - and if this were not true then why would Tesco be so insistent on providing free parking at many of their Express stores - the one on London Road being a prime example?Cheers

Jon Hardy ● 5696d

Ian, as I said it's a personal view, I wasn't aware that I had to give concrete evidence to dare to express a point of view :-(I could say that I ought to know about the economic viability of shopping parades as such issues often come up in planning matters, but in this case I'm simply expressing my personal view.Anyhow, my logic tells me that most business premises within local parades (with the exception of take-aways, restaurants etc - but local parades are usually dominated by retail shops) rely on a customer base within walking distance, rather than from passing vehicles I suspect makes up a small percentage of their takings.Hence in my view why I'm not convinced that parking charges make or break the viability of a local parade.

Adam Beamish ● 5702d

Paul ought to know about Parking as he was the exec member.Perhaps Adam could tell us what evidence he has for ' not being convinced'?

Ian Speed ● 5702d

No win situation, actually I'm surprised the new administration has been as restrained as it has been, compared with many Councils who have offered all employees voluntary redundancy etc.Personally I'm not convinced whether a 10p half hour parking charges exists or not would make any difference to the viability of a shopping parade.BTW Paul planning application fees are not set locally, but are the same throughout England and Wales, and although it isn't my area of expertise I'd have thought licensing was probably similar.

Adam Beamish ● 5704d

Did you not know Paul the whole planet is having financial problems Did you think your little pond could avoid it

Victor Mullins ● 5704d

I see that the "In-Year Savings" report has found its way tohttp://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/43737/response/114829/attach/3/In%20year%20savings.pdf(I did see it  earlier on the Hounslow site following the BrentfordTW8 front story page but a second read is worthwhile.)Can anyone explain the half million saving on waste charges ? It read to me that we were recycling more than expected so had saved £500,000 which was going to be diverted to highways maintenance (presumably for all the necessary work after last winter). But now it isn't going to be diverted after all. So does that mean we have stopped repairing the potholes ?And does the saving from not monitoring odours from Mogden (after the three years paid for by Thames under section 106) mean that we won't look for smells when the new plant comes on stream ?And what are the effects of cutting the funding for central support for the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme ?.....

Tim Henderson ● 5704d

This must prove that Robin Taylor is a racist as he has not objected to the cuts in the translation service using his own poster categorisation method lol

Paul Fisher ● 5704d

"...we can all be sure that the Labour Administration will be blaming everyone except themselves..."Bitter.

Robin Taylor ● 5704d