Cheap Shots, Community Champions and Charities, Badly-run HMOs
Chiswick Gunnersbury councillor Joanna Biddolph reports back
Cllr Joanna Biddolph
April 1, 2025
Meetings of the full borough council can be both easy and impossible to predict. Of the six meetings a year, only four (soon to be only two) provide opportunities for we opposition councillors to hold the council to account by asking questions and debating motions. Some in the group are good at getting up and speaking spontaneously. Not me. I like to write my contributions word for word (even the introductory “Thank you, madam mayor”) though I almost always add scribbly changes during the meeting if others make points affecting what I had planned to say. The Labour group sometimes taunts us, alleging that our speeches are written by others. They often make preposterous claims and each time I wonder if they are, in fact, confessing their own tactics, in the manner of a narcissist’s accusations.
This time, the leader of the council Shantanu Rajawat accused us of being climate change deniers. He must have nodded off – or been absorbed in checking his phone or chatting with the Labour group whip – during motions proposed by us or to which we have contributed. His attempted cheap shot, to headline-grab, was not founded in fact. We might not agree with the way this Labour council is tackling climate change – tinkering from an ideological standpoint – but we all know it must be tackled – seriously and by looking at big issues pragmatically with a wide view, acknowledging where hoped-for improvements are not being made and policy approaches and changes are needed.
The agenda included debates on the council’s new transport strategy (lots of waffle, lots of spin, very little detail and, yes, more restrictions on our lifestyles are at its core, without assessing their likely impact on local economies); more changes to the constitution, cutting the number of times the opposition can propose motions (down to two a year, diminishing democracy still further, as highlighted by group leader Cllr Peter Thompson); Heathrow airport (there’s unity across political divides for a better not bigger airport); the council’s pay policy (even if the increasing gender pay gap is because more women are in lower paid jobs, why is that the case?) and councillors’ allowances.
It’s a bit of a tradition for me to speak about allowances, still making the same points I first made six years ago, so I blew the dust off last year’s speech and adapted it for now. An independent review panel looks at councillors’ allowances nationally, including payments for additional roles, known as special responsibility allowances (SRAs). Its most recent review, valid now, urged councils to re-set allowances which it considers to be significantly too low across the board nationwide.
Now is not the time to do that and the current policy – to increase allowances in line with staff pay – will continue. The panel recommends that no more than 50 per cent should receive an SRA; in Hounslow, 75 per cent of councillors are rewarded additionally. Unsurprisingly, we would like the number of SRAs to be cut by abolishing 15 non-job roles including cabinet assistants. Cabinet members have hundreds of staff working for them, why do they need another? The full list of SRAs is here.
The current basic allowance, paid to all Hounslow councillors, is £13,048. As I always say, each of us must prove we’re worth it.
You can watch the whole meeting on the council’s YouTube channel. I suggest you have a stiff drink at your side. Or a stress ball. Or both (the recording is in two parts).
Mayor’s recognition awards
The mayor was back in her red robe, frilly white collar and ceremonial chains on Friday afternoon, hosting a recognition reception to honour local champions for the outstanding and inspiring work they do in our communities. Each councillor is invited to nominate one person and I knew, immediately, who to recommend: Denny Anthony, youth officer at the Hogarth Youth and Community Centre. A youth worker for Hounslow Council, when funding for the centre was cut in 2018, Denny and his team transferred to the Hogarth Trust whose trustees took over to ensure the centre’s important work continued, improving the lives of young people, many disadvantaged. Denny represents the interests of young people more widely, too, ensuring their needs are embedded in policy including protecting them from crime. His warm, calm and unflappable personality quickly wins confidence and respect, inspiring others. Tea served in cups and saucers, cakes on stands, it was a charming occasion.
Denny Anthony of the Hogarth Youth and Community Centre receiving his certificate from the mayor, Cllr Karen Smith, with his colleague, senior youth worker, Naomi Alleyne and Cllr Joanna Biddolph
DKMS and becoming a blood stem cell donor
Before Covid, over 30,000 people came to work in Chiswick every day. It’s much less now but numbers are creeping up on midweek days. Businesses in wards seldom contact councillors; they just get on with it, commuting in and out, enjoying our shops, bars, cafes, restaurants and service businesses during lunch breaks and before going home.
I had no idea that DKMS, an important blood cancer charity, had been based here for 12 years and was profoundly moved by its work, described through real-life life-saving stories during a networking event at Chiswick Town Hall. DKMS operates in seven countries, providing blood stem cells to people with blood cancer or a blood disorder. It doesn’t run a blood bank, or a blood stem cell bank, it runs a donor register of people willing to donate blood stem cells if they are a match with a patient.
Four out of 10 patients will not find a match. Only seven per cent of the eligible population in the UK are registered and, of them, only a tiny proportion are from minority ethnic communities. As potential donors need to be between 17 and 55 years old, my immediate thought was that, surely in this hugely diverse London borough, our academies and schools could help shift the figures. I have suggested that the council works, cross party, to introduce DKMS to students, parents, staff, support staff and wider school communities, to build its register.
If you are the right age, would you like to help? Come to the town hall on Sunday, 6 April between 11am and 4pm to learn more and provide a cheek swab to find out if you are eligible to be a donor and join the register.
Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs)
If you live next to a badly-run HMO you will know about it. Dysfunctional recycling and waste; dirty mattresses tossed into the garden; noisy tenants disrupting sleep; revving motorbikes through the night … they have been a constant in Chiswick Gunnersbury ward and particularly in the Gunnersbury Park Garden Estate conservation area. There, residents (of whom I’m one) have struggled with increasing incredulity as the number of registered HMOs has crept up from 32 in 2021 to 52 today in five of its seven short roads. We’ve seen a lot. One party house took 15 years to resolve; at another, the landlord was fined £130,000 after far too many years of complaints; a night-time fire in a garage illegally used for business storage including flammables; extensions without planning permission with exposed live wires and intermittent water/heating; it’s horribly real and really horrible. There are others elsewhere in the ward, just as distressing. Of course, not all HMOs are badly-run; many are peaceful shared houses and flats that run efficient responsible households.
The council is now consulting on its HMO policy including bringing smaller HMOs, such as in blocks of flats, into its scope. I’ve already made several recommendations but each day seems to bring more, based on new revelations. Please comment so that we can protect residents from rogue landlords. The deadline for responses is 21st May.
Councillor Joanna Biddolph
Chiswick Gunnersbury ward
joanna.biddolph@hounslow.gov.uk
07976 703446
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 2025
Anyone can attend public meetings of the council at Hounslow House which is fully accessible. Most meetings take place on the 6th floor of Hounslow House which is at 7 Bath Road, Hounslow TW3 3EB.
2nd April: 7:00pm: Overview and Scrutiny Committee
8th April: 6:30pm: Cabinet Question Time in Brentford
15th April: 7:00pm: Cabinet
Important Current Local Issues During weekends, residents can still access council services on-line or via emergency numbers:
To inform the council of an emergency, please call 020 8583 2222
CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLOR SURGERIES
Chiswick: Every Saturday from 9.30am to 10.30am at Chiswick Library (the eight Conservative councillors take this surgery in turn).
Gunnersbury: First Saturday of the month from 10am to 11am at The Gunnersbury Triangle Club, Triangle Way, off The Ridgeway, W3 8LU (at least one of the Chiswick Gunnersbury ward councillors takes this surgery).
CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLORS and CONTACTS
Chiswick Gunnersbury ward
Cllr Joanna Biddolph joanna.biddolph@hounslow.gov.uk 07976 703446
Cllr Ranjit Gill ranjit.gill@hounslow.gov.uk 07976 702956
Cllr Ron Mushiso ron.mushiso@hounslow.gov.uk 07976 702887
Chiswick Homefields ward
Cllr Jack Emsley jack.emsley@hounslow.gov.uk 07977 396017
Cllr Gerald McGregor gerald.mcgregor@hounslow.gov.uk 07866 784821
Cllr John Todd john.todd@hounslow.gov.uk 07866 784651
Chiswick Riverside ward
Cllr Gabriella Giles gabriella.giles@hounslow.gov.uk 07966 270823
Cllr Peter Thompson peter.thompson@hounslow.gov.uk 07977 395810
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |