Updates From the Costa del Chiswick
Chiswick Homefields councillor Jack Emsley reports back
Councillor Jack Emsley
March 14, 2026
I’m enjoying writing this blog in what can only be described as the Costa del Chiswick – that is, a spectacularly sunny Saturday morning in Grove Park. It’s been another busy week with plenty to write back about!
Chiswick Area Forum
First, a quick reminder that the last Chiswick Area Forum of the municipal year will be taking place on Tuesday 17th March at Chiswick Town Hall, with the meeting starting at 7:30pm. You’ll have the chance to hear an update from the local police team, and ask questions about crime and policing priorities in the local area. This will be followed by a presentation from Abundance London on some of the work they’re doing around Chiswick to keep our area colourful and green.
It’s been a privilege to chair this year’s Chiswick Area Forum, which has allowed local residents to engage with a number of council departments on issues as diverse as weeding pavements, Gunnersbury Park festivals and e-biked. We’ve also heard updates from a range of brilliant local groups such as WildChiswick, the Flower Market and Riana Youth Group about all of their hard work to make Chiswick as special as it is. Finally, it’s a chance to ask questions of your local councillors, and hear about the work we’re doing in our local area.
It’s for all of these reasons that I was disappointed to learn that every other Area Forum in our borough apart from Chiswick has been cancelled between now and the election. Area Forums are an invaluable part of local democratic engagement, and it’s a travesty that Labour councillors have decided to deny that right to the vast majority of residents in our borough. As I said in the recent borough council meeting, Area Forum chairs receive an allowance for organising and chairing these meetings: any councillor who fails to do this job should either hand that money back to the taxpayer, or hand over to councillors who will do it for them.
Fly Tipping
Earlier this week I heard from a local constituent who had been handed one of the council’s infamous £1,000 “fly tipping” fines. Her crime was to have placed a folded takeaway bag in the wrong bin. I’m all for the council cracking down on fly tipping, particularly given the council has presided over our borough becoming one of the worst in the country for fly tipping offences. This isn’t a crackdown on fly tipping, though – it’s very transparently an attempt to plug a growing budget gap with heavy-handed fines.
Hounslow’s ruling Labour party essentially admitted this at the budget meeting earlier this month. Budget papers confirm that they are relying on an increase in revenues from fines of over £5 million to close the budget gap in our local authority’s budget. This isn’t about keeping our borough clean, it’s about bailing out a financially illiterate local council.
The kicker is that genuine cases of fly tipping, like the industrial-scale flytip we saw last year in my ward at Ravensmede Way, seem to get away with it. We need a council that takes tackling fly tipping seriously, not one that penalises residents for placing paper bags in the wrong type of bin.
In the meantime I’ve taken up my constituent’s case with the council enforcement team and urged them to think again – both for this case, and the wider policy.
Street Cleansing
Talking of well-meaning council policies which are proving to be a bit of a disaster – next week will see the start of a long awaited street cleansing programme in Chiswick. It sounds great on paper, but residents have raised two concerns: roads set to be cleansed have been given less than a week’s notice and, because so many roads are to be done in short succession, the parking restrictions associated with the works mean many are unable to find alternative parking spaces at such short notice.
The council has, perhaps conveniently for their treasury, threatened fines for anybody who doesn’t move their car on the day the works are set to take place. It’s almost as if this is a policy designed to squeeze even more revenue out of the local community?
Chiswick’s Conservative councillors have raised these issues with the highways team and asked for how our constituents can best comply with the restrictions given the challenges, As of this column, we’re still awaiting a response.
Jury Trials
Finally, I wanted to take this opportunity to say how disappointing it was to see our local Labour MP vote last week to abolish the right to jury trials for the vast majority of cases.
Trial by jury is a fundamental right, and scrapping it rips up something which has been a core foundation of our democracy for over 800 years. It’s a rewriting of our legal system without a mandate (this policy didn’t form part of Labour’s election manifesto), and I hope enough Labour MPs have the gumption to vote against it when it comes back to the Parliament for the final stages of the new law later this year. I won’t hold my breathe that our MP will be one of them, unfortunately.
Cllr Jack Emsley
07977 396017
DEMOCRACY: DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Anyone can attend public meetings of the council. Most meetings take place on the 6th Floor, Hounslow House, 7 Bath Road, TW3 3EB. Hounslow House is fully accessible. The nearest tube is Hounslow Central which does not have step-free access. Parking in local roads is limited.
Principal meetings are broadcast live on the Council’s YouTube channel
Council Meetings
Chiswick Area Forum
Tuesday 17 March
Normally at Hogarth Hall, Chiswick Town Hall, Heathfield Terrace, Turnham, W4 4JN, but moveable around Chiswick (please check the website) 6.30 for 7.30pm
Informal Meeting at 6.30pm Formal Meeting commences at 7.30pm
Both meetings are open from 6.30pm allowing residents to meet officers of Hounslow Council in Adult and Child care Social Welfare, Education, Housing and other Services (Residents are encouraged to stay on for the main agenda)
Emergencies
You can report emergencies outside office hours by ringing the council on: 020 8583 2222.
CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLOR SURGERIES
Chiswick: Every Saturday from 9.30am to 10.30am at Chiswick Library (the seven 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 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
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