Back to the Barricades

Some depressing news is coming in from Isleworth's Ivybridge estate. It would appear that some seven and a half years after the old administration at the London Borough of Hounslow managed to unite the factions in the historically divided tenants' movement on the estate, its successor has contrived to prise them apart again, leading to the rebirth of the independent group Ivytag (Ivybridge Tenants' Action Group) after a group of former officials split from the Council-backed United Residents' Association (URA), which is operating unconstitutionally with the backing of the ward members and the Leader of the Council.

I don't have the full story as yet, but essentially we are back to the pre-2007 position in which one "approved" group exists to tick the boxes whilst another comprises an active group of residents which is likely to outflank and embarrass the recognised association by achieving a naturally higher profile through its work and its commitment to the estate.

Ivytag is planning a number of activities to draw attention to its re-formation and to garner support from residents. There will be more on this anon.

The dark soul in our midst that cannot move on

I suggested a couple of days ago that I might try to get hold of the appalling Labour Party leaflet that is (very) slowly doing the rounds in Isleworth right now. However in the absence of half my family I have placed myself under virtual house arrest this week whilst trying to get things done, and so I still don't have a copy to hand. For those who await visual confirmation of this literary masterpiece with baited breath I urge patience. It is coming.

In the meantime I find myself reflecting with some amusement upon the various grumbles and allegations contained therein.

The main thrust of the attack was as follows:

1. When in office ICG councillors received the standard members' allowance, paid for from the local authority's budget. This included a Special Responsibilities Allowance (SRA) for those holding certain offices such as Executive members, Area Committee Chairs and so on.

2. I personally have become exceptionally wealthy as a consequence of having received these allowances, and simultaneously have been forced to enter into an Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA) with my creditors following personal and business difficulties arising from the recession.

The indignation over ICG councillors receiving members' allowances tells us quite a lot about the mindset of those behind the leaflet. All councillors receive these allowances. The Labour councillors who succeeded us as representatives of Isleworth and Syon wards - and in whose name this leaflet was published - receive them. As Executive members Isleworth councillor Ed Mayne and Syon member Theo Dennison each receive around £22k per annum. Should they remain Executive members for the duration of their terms of office, both will have received more from the taxpayer than any ICG councillor did during the administration of 2006-2010.

Similarly, Isleworth councillor Mindu Bains draws nearly £16k each year when her SRA as Vice Chair of the Isleworth & Brentford Area Committee is factored into the equation.

So how then do the authors of the leaflet have the brass neck to complain about the fact that ICG councillors, like all other councillors the length and breadth of the country, received an annual allowance? The answer is simple - in the minds of these people Labour councillors are "real" councillors and are thus entitled to be remunerated for their time and effort, whilst non-Labour councillors are in some way unreasonably occupying seats which rightfully "belong" to them.

Worst of all ICG councillors are not even politicians, not members of any of the exclusive little clubs that by right of birth govern our localities and impose their ideologies and their expertise upon us lesser mortals. ICG councillors are mere residents, upstarts from amid the ranks of the hoi polloi. How dare we gatecrash their little set-up and claim for ourselves anything whatsoever that was really intended for them?

On the subject of my own personal finances and indeed of all aspects of my private life much angst apparently abounds in Local Labour Land. Wild and usually inaccurate speculation about my working arrangements, an unhealthy interest in my children and the educational provision we have made to protect them from the deranged attentions of the kind of scum who disseminate the bilious filth that pervades these leaflets, unashamed lies about properties that I am alleged to own in sundry far-off lands - all of this competes for valuable space on a newsletter that could otherwise have been devoted to the cause of explaining to us what positive things our newly-elected councillors plan to do for their constituents over the three and a half years between now and the next local elections.

Some might consider it odd that newly elected councillors, supported by an administration of their own colour with a clear majority, should have nothing better to offer than bitter, ranting and spluttering attacks upon those they defeated several months ago. Especially when the object of their vitriol has made clear its preference for reverting to a role within the community which does not entail involvement in the electoral fray.

Others might think it even more strange that the individual singled out for particularly personal abuse (moi) is one who has clearly expressed his desire not to stand for election again.

But in actual fact a very clear pattern is emerging wherein the level of abuse and harassment that local Labour tries to mete out stands in directly inverse proportion to the willingness of the ICG to involve itself in electoral politics. This is a point worth reminding ourselves of over and over again when considering the actions of those concerned, and what our response to it ought to be.

A recent very good example arrived in the form of a letter sent to all sixty elected members at the London Borough of Hounslow, the Chief Executive, the Borough Solicitor and the borough's two Members of Parliament. Ostensibly from an Ivybridge-based individual (actually a former member of the ICG whose estate-wide and thoroughly deserved reputation as a fantasist, an incontinent liar and a general loony prevented him from achieving the high office he clearly felt he deserved), the letter brought to the attention of its recipients my personal financial difficulties and, characteristically confusing an IVA with bankruptcy, demanded the "resignation" of a backbench opposition councillor on the grounds that he had apparently somehow been responsible for a non-existent "constitutional breach" on my part.

Nobody who received the letter will have been in any doubt as to its true origins. The reasons for using the Ivybridge Idiot as a patsy were twofold:

Firstly, apart from the well-known fact of my having entered into an IVA the majority of the content was self-evidently libellous, making all manner of allegations. Whilst my critics know I am not litigious, and in any case will for obvious reasons have taken it as read that I could not afford the legal costs usually involved with an action for defamation, its authors will also have known that in the most obvious and clear-cut instances of libel a successful action (on prima facie evidence) can potentially be mounted for as little as £300. There is also the small matter of probably libellous remarks about a current councillor (Peter Thompson) and a former councillor (Jon Hardy) contained in the document. Much better to get a stooge to sign the letter who can be left to take the rap if the smelly stuff hits the fan.

Secondly, and more significantly, the fact of my IVA does not run comfortably alongside the picture they prefer to paint - that of the good-living, property-owning, champagne-swilling man of permanent leisure, shanting it up on the proceeds of my £26k per year (£18k during the last year) as an elected member.

It takes some chutzpah, not to mention a little imagination and creativity, for the same people to run two mutually contradictory smear stories about the same person, at the same time and in the same neighbourhood. It will be interesting to see how long they can keep both balls in the air without the whole thing coming crashing down around them.

In the meantime those of us with constructive work to do in the community will continue to do it, whether our doing so "intimidates" our poor elected members or not.

A day in the life of a dedicated community

This morning I attended the funeral of Frances Waugh, who had been the partner of Ivybridge activist George Burrell for nearly forty years. My ICG Committee colleague Martin Murphy was also there, as was our former Vice Chair Pat Cole. It was a modest congregation, but Fran was a sweet lady and we gave her the send-off she deserved.

I have had my differences with George. He is a man who has robust opinions and he has never hesitated to express them. But he is a good man and I am grateful for the support that those closest to him on Ivybridge and elsewhere - who were by no means confined to the ranks of the ICG - turned out to offer him in his time of need.

While Martin and I were at Hanworth Crem the ICG's current Vice Chair Andy Sibley was representing us at the Isleworth Youth Action Partnership (IYAP), at a meeting at the Isleworth Explorers' Club. This is one of those bodies that has received correspondence from certain personages ordering it to desist from inviting anybody connected or thought to be connected to the ICG to its meetings. Needless to say those giving the orders seldom attend themselves, but that hasn't prevented said personages from attempting to dictate the agenda. Like all the other organisations that have received this threatening but entirely toothless rubbish, IYAP very quickly filed it under "R".

This afternoon Caroline Andrews was at Brentford Business Watch, which is fairly much what it says on the tin. During her tenure as a Syon councillor Caroline made a lot of friends and contacts, particularly on Brentford Dock, and it is good that she keeps her hand in with those people, who judging by the invites she receives to events seem to value her presence. In this way the ICG can remain informed about all the latest issues and events which is useful if our help is ever asked for.

Tonight Shirley Fisher and Andy were at the Isleworth Bowling Club on a purely sporting visit, but one which will have reasserted our continued support for this excellent local community organisation.

We are currently being attacked on a local Internet forum for attending these events. It would seem that the powers who at this precise moment in time happen to be would prefer that nobody did so. But we are a community group and supporting community events is what we do, even if they themselves couldn't be arsed.

It is with genuine sadness that I resign myself to the fact that the old negativities would appear to remain, and that the political powers would seem not to have relented one iota in their bitter hatred of the community movement. But it is their loss, we will carry on doing what we do and supporting local people and their organisations. The rancorous, septic bile of our detractors deters us not one jot. The community revolution continues in spite of the election result, if our elected representatives will not work with us then we will simply work around them.

Frances Waugh

The sad news came in over the weekend that our longtime Ivybridge friend and member Frances Waugh had passed away after having been only fairly recently diagnosed with cancer.

I don't yet know the full details, hence the brevity of this posting. However I and I'm sure all my ICG comrades would like to offer our sincere condolences to her partner George Burrell and to all who knew her, and our support at this most difficult time.

Linford returns to Ivybridge, residents returning to the driving seat

It's hard to believe that nearly a year has passed since sprint legend Linford Christie last hosted the Street Athletics project on Ivybridge, but he was back today (Monday) and it was great to see a similar turnout to last time from the estate community.

Speaking personally I enjoyed the afternoon, milling around amongst the crowd and meeting some old friends from the United Residents' Association (URA), the Isleworth Somali Association, Residents of Worton Estate (ROWE), Hounslow Homes and from the estate in general. The new Mayor was there in attendance, as was Councillor Sampson (apologies to her colleagues if they were there also, but if they were I missed them).

I hope this event, now in its second year, becomes a permanent fixture. It brings people together from across the estate community in a way that nothing else seems quite able to do. Over the past year or so there has been a real estate identity actively taking shape which completely transcends any cultural differences and I really do hope that this is not jeopardised in any way by the recent changes in political management. More than ever it is vitally important that residents take control and direct events on the estate themselves.

Later in the evening I spent a useful couple of hours at a meeting in Osterley discussing the launch of a new cross-party (and non-party) residents' initiative which I believe will have a seismic impact over the next few years and beyond upon the way the local authority engages with the community it exists to serve. I can't say any more about this particular project until it formally goes "live", as it will over the next few weeks, but it is one that I am excited by because of its almost limitless potential. More on this anon.

Defying the nature of things?

Along the short walk home from Church a couple of hours ago I happened upon Jim, a member of our congregation who for whatever reason had been elsewhere this morning. We spoke about the weather, Jim's new suit...and the recent local election.

Jim is an affable, seventy-something West African chap who resides on Isleworth's Ivybridge estate. He was concerned about the fact that the ICG had lost its seats and that Labour councillors had been returned to office. "I voted for you all," he promised me. "I always do".

I see no reason to disbelieve Jim. What struck me was his eagerness to reassure me. It is something that I've encountered from many, many people during the last fortnight, this almost indecent haste on the part of local people to reassert their faith and support in the community movement.

For whatever reason I found myself pondering the words of the late Alan Clark, when describing the moment in late 1990 when power within the Conservative Party was first perceived to have shifted from Margaret Thatcher to John Major: "All too soon, though, Sir Tim Bell noticed that the crowd around her thinned, as people left her side and gravitated to Major. Truly recognition of the transfer of power is, at the epicentre of its vortex, instantaneous."

I confess that, whilst it would not have been quite instantaneous, I have been expecting for the last two weeks to witness the manifestation of at least some degree of fair-weather friendship. Of people who had professed their loyalty through perceived personal interest taking advantage of the changed situation to raise two fingers and tell us, or at least me, "I never liked you anyway".

That, surely, is the nature of things?

Not only has this not happened, but it is as though the mood amongst local people is to disassociate themselves, as swiftly and as unambiguously as possible, from the actions of The Invisible Ones, that mysterious but substantial group of people who don't involve themselves in community activities, shop at Tesco, drink in pubs, stand at bus stops nor even answer their doors to canvassers but who nevertheless emerge from the undergrowth and brave the daylight once every four or five years to cast their votes for Labour at general elections.

It is very reassuring to know that, amongst "real" people, the feeling is very much one of business as usual.

Ann puts on a show but it's not unusual

Back in 2005, shortly before the result of the general election of that year in the Brentford and Isleworth constituency was announced, a peculiar and rather amusing thing happened.

Ann Keen, who had presumably been notified by an associate that she had survived the challenges of the various opposing candidates, at last entered the election count at Hounslow Civic Centre. But that wasn't the amusing bit.

What gave cause for much hilarity was the entourage by which she was accompanied, and the manner of its arrival. Surrounded by young boys attired in near-identical suits, she was escorted all the way from her carriage, up the spiral staircase and through the antechamber to the podium from which the result was to be announced. I could have sworn the spotty oiks were marching in step too, although I concede that just possibly my imagination was playing tricks with me and getting carried away.

This group exercise in delusional self-importance was not in any way untypical, indeed the whole Ann Keen experience has revolved for most of its time around a cult of imagined celebrity. I recall a residents' meeting on my own estate being gatecrashed by the then local Labour Party organiser and a handful of his members who scrutinised the gathering closely, furtively identifying individual residents whom they obviously felt might be vulnerable to an approach before sidling up to them like market spivs and whispering "would you like to meet Ann Keen?", the name itself spoken in a more assertive tone as if to emphasise the sheer generosity of the offer that was being made to the lucky resident.

Until recently, when at long last it would seem to have dawned upon them that she has become a liability, Labour's wannabe local councillors would queue to be photographed with their idol, and would proudly publish their photographs all across their own election leaflets in the apparent belief that their own importance and celebrity would somehow be enhanced by mere association.

Last week, inevitably, the circus came to Isleworth. As Mrs. Keen's gold minibus arrived at the Bridge Link Centre on Ivybridge on Thursday an aide excitedly raced to the passenger side door to open it so that her very important personage could step down and greet the excited throng that been awaiting her arrival.

In actual fact it wasn't really much of a throng. Five or six frankly pathetic ladies who probably hadn't been so excited since the time they threw their knickers at Tom Jones, and a very small handful of bitter and resentful men who still mourn the passing of the good old days when only Labour Party members were allowed to get involved with organising residents' activities, inasfar as any actually took place, on the estate.

And the royal visit itself was a tad disappointing, for there were others who had turned up to actually speak to their MP and ask her questions only to be brusquely advised by one of her hangers-on that she would only be sparing them fifteen minutes of her valuable (and very expensive) time which was just sufficient for her to have some photos taken. The knickerless screamers will probably be sent copies that they will truly treasure for what little remains of their middle age.

For those though who actually had questions to ask or problems to resolve - rehousing issues, repairs, anti-social behaviour, domestic violence and the like - the fleeting visitation did not really provide a great deal of relief. As a result of this the local authority's Lead Member for Housing and Service Improvement, ICG councillor Jon Hardy, has decided at short notice to hold a surgery of his own (see above) to make good the deficit.

The sheer brass neck of these objectionable people who assume themselves to be our lords and masters and who, given half the chance, would reverse the movement towards involvement and participation that my colleagues and I have triggered since becoming part of the administration at the local authority is absolutely staggering. One can only imagine how, in private session, they must mock and pour scorn upon those they represent, or in many cases aspire to.

How gratifying it is indeed to know that it will all be over in six weeks.

IBAC splashes the cash

From the Independent Community Group website

Not content with our recent success in securing £550k of community funding as part of the recent budget the ICG was busy securing even more funding (over £16,000 in fact) for community groups and residents in Isleworth, this time by way of small grants and capital grants through the Isleworth and Brentford Area Committee (IBAC).

At the IBAC meeting on 18 March 2010 there were several applications for funding across the 4 wards the committee represents and we are delighted to announce the following allocations:

£6,000 for new school signs in South Street which will benefit the pupils and parents/carers of 3 schools

£3,000 for Kirkstone Lodge to improve the gardens

£4,455 for Isleworth Bowls Club to install state-of-the-art disabled facilities

£1,000 for St. George's Day celebrations on the Ivybridge estate

£500 for St. George's Day celebrations at the Isleworth Royal British legion

£500 for the Isleworth Somali Association to run community cohesion workshops

£250 for the Ivybridge Junior Rangers

£300 for the Bridgelink Stay and Play scheme on the Ivybridge estate

£500 for the The Friends of Isleworth Public Hall to fund the annual outing of the Thursday Club

Speaking after the meeting ICG Councillor Paul Fisher said: "It gives me a great deal of pleasure to support these worthy applications for funding and it is a real boost to see so many residents benefiting from the hard work of these wonderful organisations."

St. George's Day - the "Bigger Picture" comes into focus

Back on 12th August 2008 I commented on this blog in an article entitled "Seeing the Bigger Picture", following a visit to the London Mela in Gunnersbury Park: "Imagine 75,000 people attending a St. George's Day festival, bedecked with English flags and populated by British people of all cultural and ethnic backgrounds, with food, music and dance from South Asia, China, the Caribbean, as well as from the UK. A festival which would flaunt the proud Englishness of the diverse society which we enjoy today. What better way could there possibly be of putting across the message that we are an integrated community, contemptuous of prejudice and disharmony, diverse yet cohesive, brought together by the common values that unite us in a society in which Everybody Matters?"

Almost two years later, thanks largely to the efforts of my dynamic ward colleague Councillor Paul Fisher who is also the council's Lead Member for Community Engagement, residents of Ivybridge will be one of several communities in the local area that will be staging parties to celebrate St. George's Day with the support of the Isleworth & Brentford Area Committee (IBAC).

And here's the exciting bit - the Somali community, now thoroughly integrated into the residents' movement on the estate, has offered to play a leading role in the celebrations, which will stress the sense of common identity that people from different backgrounds enjoy on the estate and throughout our local area.

It is a source of great pride to me that these relatively recent arrivals to our village have become organised and contribute vociferously to our local community life. Their leaders pull no punches in highlighting areas of specific concern to Somalis as a group, but what really is encouraging is their desire and determination to play a full and active role in the life of the wider community also. Their ethos is one which strikes at the very heart of what Community Cohesion is about - eradicating disadvantage whilst encouraging responsibility and a sense of citizenship amongst their own.

The old ways, which encouraged separation and suspicion with a view to garnering votes from perpetually weak and frightened minorities, have been well and truly consigned to the scrapheap.

The key to reclaiming St. George's Day from the far-right is not to suppress it, but to re-present it an the image that is appropriate to the age in which we live. As a celebration of a diverse and tolerant England it provides us with a powerful tool for driving the Cohesion agenda forward.

Out and about with our community

Well actually it was too cold to be out and about, but last night Councillor Paul Fisher, myself and some officers from Hounslow Homes hosted a very small but useful meeting of residents from Isleworth's Worple estate at the Bridge Link Centre on Ivybridge to discuss some ASB and other problems they've been experiencing on the estate.

One hears surprisingly little from the residents on the Worple. Percentage wise, little of our casework comes from there and attempts to form residents' groups amount to so much hard work. And yet at the 2006 local elections the polling district comprising the Worple estate was the most solidly pro-ICG in the whole of Isleworth ward, out-performing even the loyal Worton. One likes to think they are contented and that they trust us, but it is never wise to take people for granted and the estate needs and deserves the same TLC as anywhere else in the village.

Once that meeting was over we drove across to Boston Manor to join another gathering of residents. Boston Manor is in Brentford ward - not represented by ICG councillors - but Councillor Andrew Dakers, with whom we enjoy a good working relationship, was there are we are always happy to lend our support to Linda Massey from Friends of Boston Manor (FOBM), who does a fabulous job as a volunteer and is always so gracious and level-headed in her dealings with the local authority even when she is feeling let down. The meeting was chaired by John Bradley, of Green Party fame. I'd never seen him chair a meeting before and he is actually quite fearsome!

Then this afternoon it was back to the Bridge Link where Councillors Jon Hardy, Paul Fisher and Andrew Dakers joined officers from Housing and myself in a meeting with a large contingent of Somali residents. One can understand the frustration of families of six, seven and eight living in two-bedroom flats, but that is the reality of the housing crisis and they were surprisingly understanding under the circumstances.

On the whole I find meetings with residents more enjoyable and productive than meetings with politicians. If nothing else, it helps remind me why I am a councillor. Meetings of the Area Committee have become much more enjoyable and dynamic since the community began to play a bigger role, and this is a development that we want to encourage still further in the months ahead.

Stars shine on Ivybridge as hundreds of youngsters participate in Street Athletics

Hundreds of residents gathered on Ivybridge last week for the local heats of Street Athletics, a community-focused youth engagement programme created by Olympic Gold medalists Linford Christie and Darren Campbell, both of whom came along to the event. The 2009 programme will incorporate 24 venues nationally followed by the London Final on Saturday 6th September and the National Final in Manchester on Saturday 20th September.

Unlike some "celebs" who turn up to engagements with agents in tow and sign a few autographs and pose for a few photos before disappearing as quickly as they had arrived, Linford and Darren remained throughout the event - in which youngsters of all ages participated, cheered on by parents, friends and wellwishers - chatting to the locals and encouraging the youngsters. As well as kids from Ivybridge, there were delegations from other parts of the neighbourhood including a team going under the name of the "Worton Warriors". Community councillors Paul Fisher, Shirley Fisher and Dr. Genevieve Hibbs were there to support the event, as well as Councillor John Todd from Chiswick and, not least of course, the Mayor.

This hugely successful project was facilitated by Hounslow Positive Futures (ably managed by Jen Emeny from the Brentford FC Community Sports Trust) and Nuff Respect.

The very considerable support shown for this project, following on from the similarly successful Ivybridge Fun Day held a couple of days earlier, demonstrates the vast reservoir of enthusiasm and goodwill that exists on Ivybridge, as elsewhere in Isleworth, when our people are motivated. There was a clearly perceptible sense of community spirit and pride around these events which reassures those of us who desire to build a strong and engaged community that it is there for the taking once we have succeeded in getting the attitude right throughout the local authority.

The advantages of projects like this one for Community Cohesion cannot be overstated. There was nothing that divided the people who came out onto Summerwood Road last week to take part in this massively successful event and Darren and Linford by their presence and attitude empitomised everything that was great and positive about our society.

I believe it is imperative that we do as much as we can to garner this new positivity in the months remaining to us within the administration at the council and, if following next year's local elections fate gives us another crack of the whip, to cement it irrevocably into the heart of our local thinking.

Just like the old days?

On Wednesday morning, when ICG and MRAG members ventured forth to distribute over 6,000 leaflets announcing that evening's well-attended Mogden demo, I made the conscious decision to volunteer to leaflet the Ivybridge estate by myself. I always feel it is a bit of a cheek to ask our usual leafleting teams to commit when the notice is so short, and that to annoy them by so doing might put their long-term commitment at risk.

With around 110 individual four-storey blocks of maisonettes and four eighteen-storey tower blocks, and with me being a tad overweight, out of shape and - erm - thirty something the prospect was a daunting one. Did I also mention that I suffer from a foot condition which makes even walking painful?

Well, I set off on my expedition after breakfast and laboured around the first fifty or so maisonette blocks before deciding to call upon a member on the estate for a drink of water (typically I had forgotten to take any with me). Also at her home was another former activist from the estate who had fallen out with us over a local matter. Over a fifteen minute chat we were able to resolve most of his issues and he pledged his restored support for the cause (later that day he was to turn up at the demo). During that time we were also visited by another member, who volunteered to distribute leaflets to two of the four tower blocks, an offer which wasn't refused.

When I left the member's flat I happened across one member or supporter after another. Two took small quantities of leaflets for their own blocks - every little helps. A third contacted me by telephone after having received the leaflet, and a fourth by e-mail. All four promised to turn up at the gates of Mogden later that evening, promises which all four of them were to honour. A resident who stopped me to report some outstanding, unperformed repairs did likewise. I also had the opportunity of a long chat with some of the girls from Hounslow Homes at the Langdale Centre - a really great team of officers of whom I am intensely proud, met one of the caretakers with whom I regularly exchange news and, a little later, was able to touch base with Councillor Paul Fisher, who had himself been leafleting elsewhere, over a coffee at the Bridge Link Centre.

By the time I had completed my assignment and hobbled home along the Twickenham Road the pain of my immediate predicament was more than offset by a feeling of elation from the sense that, just like before when I spent less of my time at the Civic Centre and probably more of it pounding the streets of my ward, there was a feeling of warmth and affection towards the Community Group and the cause it represents. On top of all that, the relationship we enjoy with the Hounslow Homes officers on Ivybridge is now a good and positive one, and they liaise constructively with us and with the one, united residents' group without fear of reproach. The spirit, as one of the members I spoke to that afternoon, was "just like the old days", but with new opportunities which simply weren't around when we seemed to be fighting the whole world.

The superb turnout at the demo itself was simply the icing on the cake. After that highly successful event I enjoyed a drink with one of those old members who had become a little disengaged but who was now once more raring to go and was volunteering for canvassing duty, a role for which he has an obvious talent.

Last night our monthly "Roadshow" social drink at the Isleworth Royal British Legion was quite well supported. There was a really good "feel" amongst those present, who included former active Labour Party members and Conservatives who support the ICG at a local level. We are recruiting not only numbers, but people of real quality and experience. As for the Legion itself, other than dispensing free beers for the duration of the evening it would be difficult to imagine what the people running the operation on both sides of the bar could have done to make us feel more welcome.

There is high morale amongst members of the ICG and a sense that we are ready to get out there and do a job. Just like the old days, in fact.

Engaging with locals is what it's all about

Yesterday it was my turn to cover our monthly councillors' surgery at Isleworth Library, and I think this month the attendance set a record for this particular venue.

Housing is always a big issue, and probably the most depressing as there is often an expectation, especially with me being Lead Member for Housing, that I can help applicants up the waiting list. All I can do in actual fact is to ensure that their applications have been handled correctly and, if they haven't, to rectify the situation. As somebody who is myself stuck hopelessly down the list in the "one day, some day" category (no dodgy "one extra bedroom" arrangements for me, but I digress) I know better than most that like all local authorities in this part of the world we can only stem the flow. The housing shortage is chronic and the only long-term solution must rest with some really bold strategic thinking on the part of our national government, now and in the future.

Service charges for tenants remain a concern. Despite my insistence at the time when they were introduced that they needed to be explained properly, thoroughly and repeatedly to our tenants along with their rights of appeal I don't believe we have fully grasped the spirit of my request, and this is an issue I intend to have addressed as a matter of great urgency.

One guy came along to complain about immigrants, despite him being an East African Asian. Whilst I couldn't empathise with his prejudices, it was difficult not to have some respect for the fact that he had worked all his life, paid his taxes and never claimed from the State. It occurred to me that perhaps he too was entitled to a little help in his advancing years, and I explained a few options which might be available to him.

Another gentleman took the trouble to come to see me to thank me for the fact that Council Tax had been frozen for the third year running. This was in some respects unusual - many people appreciate the efforts we are making to ensure that the burden of taxation is kept to an absolute minimum but in my experience it is not something that people tend to be particularly vocal about, possibly for fear that they might come across as being selfish or greedy.

There were some very valid concerns expressed about some overgrowing vegetation, owned unfortunately by our old friends at Thames Water whose dismissive attitude towards their neighbours is the stuff of legend, and a complaint about somebody who was allegedly operating an instrusive business operation from a property in a quiet, leafy residential street.

Some not insurmountable problems concerning removal of household waste were brought to my attention, while another resident had some issues with Hounslow Homes allegedly not honouring appointments. An alleyway to the rear of some houses on a local estate had apparently not been cleared, according to yet another resident. I was pleased to be able to inform him that I was already on the case, having discussed it at some length with the truly excellent Hounslow Homes team based at the Langdale Centre on Ivybridge.

Inevitably though the majority of the complaints related to the shameful decision by Hounslow Council's Sustainable Development Committee to approve an application by Thames Water to expand its capacity at Mogden by over 50% in defiance of concerns expressed by thousands of residents through petitions, legal action and well-documented popular protest. As has already been pointed out on this blog, this decision was taken following a claim by the applicant that the regulator OFWAT would not permit the covering of the storm tanks, a claim which despite being completely untrue was not challenged by officers whose job it was to advise the Committee. Residents will be able to judge the extent to which this part of the local authority's operation is truly "member-led" by the action that follows, or does not follow, this self-evident failure on the part of officers of the council whose duty it was to ensure that those advising the Committee were properly briefed. Whilst most of my visitors understood that we as ward councillors had always supported them and will continue to do so, it was quite hurtful to have had one finger pointed at my face along with a suggestion of betrayal.

Amid all the private meetings, presentations and formal decision-taking, the councillors' surgery provides a sobering reminder of why one was elected to the council in the first place. And councillors of any political hue or of none ignore the aspirations of those who put them where they are at their absolute peril.

Councillor Paul Fisher secures IBAC funding for Ivybridge

by our Ivybridge correspondent

At the Isleworth and Brentford Area Committee meeting held on the 5th March 2009 a request was made by Councillor Paul Fisher for £60,000 funding to implement a 20mph speed limit on the Ivybridge Estate and this was unanimously agreed by all councillors present.

Councillor Fisher has been working tirelessly to procure this funding after listening to concerned residents about cars and motorbikes regularly speeding around the estate and the danger to all especially those who reside at Kirkstone Lodge sheltered housing and the pupils at the Ivybridge School.

He commented after the meeting: "At last we will be able to put in place measures to make the Ivybridge estate a safer place to live and visit and I cannot stress enough how pleased I am that at long last I have been able to secure this money after investigating all manners of funding for this scheme. In this current financial climate it has not been easy."

Half of the funding will be allocated from the local Area Committee Capital Allocation and the other half from S106 monies still unspent after ten years, which Councillor Fisher with the aid of officers from Hounslow Council discovered could be spent on the estate.

Councillor Fisher further commented: "I was absolutely gobsmacked when this S106 money came to light and will be fully investigating what other money could and should have been spent in the Isleworth area over the years. I am convinced there is a possibility of much more we can use to make this an even better place for all of us to live and I shudder to think what other worthy schemes may have been missed because for whatever reason we have not been informed. I can assure all Isleworth residents that I will fight tooth and nail with my Community Group colleagues to make sure any outstanding monies are spent in Isleworth and not returned to developers having not been used".

Councillor Fisher will now be meeting with Hounslow Homes and a Hounslow Council traffic officer on Friday 13th March in an attempt to implement this 20mph scheme as soon as possible, and will be reporting to the Residents' Association every step of the way to keep them fully informed.

Ivybridge residents will also be extremely pleased that the recent temporary traffic order put in place on rugby match days instigated by the Residents' Association, Hounslow Homes and Councillor Fisher is now to become permanent after the overwhelming success in preventing limousines and mini-buses from clogging up estate roads in preference to paying a parking fee elsewhere.

Delivering good service in Feltham

This morning I spent an hour or so walking around Pinewood Road and Sandalwood Road in Feltham, in the company of Feltham councillor Gillian Hutchison, who is also a Vice Chair of Hounslow Homes. It is an area I am familiar with, having actually lived in Pinewood Road myself for a few months back in 1993.

Inevitably there is some work to be done there. Repairs and maintenance are an ongoing challenge, and no sooner is one job of work done than another needs doing.

I have sent Hounslow Homes a checklist of jobs which need to be undertaken on the estate and I've no doubt someone will be attending to them very shortly. The people of Feltham are fortunate to have a good team of councillors who will not allow the fabric of the local area to deteriorate.

When I was in opposition I invited the then Lead Member for Housing, Bobbie Awan, to Ivybridge to show her around and introduce her to a few of the local characters. People on the estate were heartened by the fact that she was taking an interest, and it was a source of some reassurance to them that despite the adversarial nature of local politics she and I were both determined that standards of service should be maintained.

Now that I hold that portfolio I would like to think that other councillors would call on me if they have any issues that need attending to on the estates in their wards, irrespective of which political party they bat for.

Our residents deserve good service.

URA - One Year On

When I first took over the post of Lead Member for Housing, or half the post as it was at the time, my first challenge was to oversee the Hounslow Homes Management Review as part of the agreement between the London Borough of Hounslow and Hounslow Homes drawn up under the previous administration.

Whilst most people would, quite reasonably, have expected the main focus of the Review to have been upon such obvious matters as service delivery, my mandate as a community councillor was more about democratising the process through which tenants and leaseholders were able to participate in the management of their estates. Hitherto, of course, the ethos of the old administration had permeated Hounslow Homes and political allegiance had often been the criteria for determining which tenants could be part of the process and which could not.

The Review process was not a pleasant one. My political opponents recognised, as I did, what it was that was at stake and resisted it with all their might. It was probably the first determined assault made by the new administration on the values which had inspired the previous régime. Obstacles were thrown into my path from all sides which had to be overcome. House publications were mysteriously briefed, regional and even national newspapers launched personal attacks, and a question was even asked of the Prime Minister in the House of Commons! What the process had the effect of doing, however, was to exorcise the forces which had laid dormant within all of the inter-connected institutions and to draw them out into the daylight which they so feared. Once that had been achieved, they could be and were put to the sword with relative ease.

The inspiration for my conduct of the Review, indeed the inspiration for the ICG itself at least in its earlier years, came from Ivybridge and the problems which had torn the local residents' movement asunder. The whole ethical battle between the forces of cronyism and democracy had been fought out in microcosm on that estate for three decades. To a large extent those people who were running the old tenants' association at the time had merely inherited this culture and were not consciously advocates of it. But the damage had been done, and one of my first acts under the revised terms of the Management Agreement which I imposed was to try to bring the warring residents together under the umbrella of a new association which every resident had an equal right to participate in.

In July 2007 the former New Ivybridge Tenants' Association (NITA) and it's independent rival the Ivybridge Tenants' Action Group (Ivytag) agreed to simultaneously disband and a new association, the United Residents' Association of Ivybridge (URA), came into being. At the top table former leaders of NITA and Ivytag sat side by side. Tina Howe, the former Chair of NITA was elected to the same post in the new association.

Frustratingly, there were a few who saw my support of the new Chair as an act of betrayal. This small group, people who had previously been my allies in the struggle to change things for the better, were simply unable to comprehend that it had always been the principle for which I had fought, not the personalities. My quarrel had never been with any individual and I had never professed it to be, but only with the culture of cronyism which those individuals had inherited, and which had been actively fostered by the old régime at the Civic Centre and at St. Catherine's House.

So it was then that the URA was born, whilst a small rump from the former Ivytag (as well as one ex-member of NITA who was equally unwilling to embrace the unity concept) walked away. In an amusing application of the "any port in a storm" saying, the local New Labour Party against whose political interference Ivytag had been fighting since its inception, appeared to come out in support of the new (ex-Ivytag) rebels!

It was against this background of continued (although by previous standards much reduced) unrest that the fledgling URA had to operate. However in one short year the URA has already chalked up some considerable successes. A new safety fence outside Ivybridge Primary School, the removal of the illegal burger van which had squatted in the residents' car park on rugby match days, vastly improved communications between residents and Hounslow Homes, promised action against the nuisance caused by match-day chauffeurs and an impending £60,000+ bid for a play scheme project were all announced at last night's well-attended Annual General Meeting, which I had the privilege of chairing in the unavoidable absence of my friend and colleague Councillor Paul Fisher, who was himself chairing the Community Investment Advisory Panel at the Civic Centre.

A strong new Committee has been elected for 2008/09, and I have every confidence that this determined team will take Community Power on Ivybridge to new heights and set ever better standards. One pessimist in their midst complained that "only" 17 people had been elected to serve. It is easy to forget the days when the large majority of those who aspired to contribute towards the betterment of the estate were sitting on the outside looking in.

Councillor Fisher and I are always looking for fresh ways to boost involvement in, and the influence of, residents' groups around the borough and some ambitious ideas have already been actively discussed with officers of the Council. This space should be watched with some interest.

A fine little meeting

On May 12th I wrote: "Whilst we crammed 200 people into Isleworth Public Hall last year to discuss the possible imposition of Controlled Parking Zones in and around South Street and St. John's Road, we are still capable of drawing in less than twenty on a bad day".

Well, last night we didn't have less than twenty at the ICG's Public Meeting at the Isleworth Working Men's Club - thanks to our trusty club steward who came and sat with us between pouring the pints!

All the same, and modest turnout aside, this first in what will be a whole series of Friday night public meetings was a superb exercise, with our team of councillors giving an extremely good account of themselves and several members of the public engaging us with their issues.

Caroline Andrews chaired the meeting with humour and with confidence. Jon Hardy provided a fascinating analysis of local health issues and the work of the Scrutiny committee and panels aided by the imaginative use of stage props. Genevieve Hibbs - Madam Mayor to some - was enthusiastically received as she talked the meeting through some of the work and duties of the community councillor in a coalition administration, and ran us through some of her themes and ideas for the year ahead. And last but not least, new Executive member Paul Fisher left those present with a tantalising insight of how we see the Empowerment agenda unfolding during the last two years of the present council. All that was left for Yours Truly to do was to keep the beers coming.

The small attendance included representatives from Charlton House, Brent Lea, Ivybridge, Worton and the South Street traders, and hopefully residents and businesses in these areas will be furnished with an account of the work we are doing and the efforts we are making to engage with the communities we serve.

Ideas are already being developed with a view to increasing participation at future events, including "themed" meetings and the targeting of special interest groups. In the meantime, I believe we were all enthused and encouraged by the way in which the diverse group of people who did come along engaged with us and with each other. There were no passengers.

Mysteriously, the lights went out on the IWMC shortly after midnight, but the community councillors who represent the wards of Isleworth and Syon have no intention of leaving our constituents in the dark.