Having been away, it is somewhat depressing to be back in the UK and in Chiswick. There appears to be no change.Boris Johnson is still PM. When will the Tory party do the right thing and get rid of him. Overseas our reputation is being tarnished and economic growth (GDP per capita) since 2015 lags all major European countries, even Italy by some way. We are returning to the 1970s and becoming the sick man of Europe.Sticking with the 1970s more locally, the new Council said they were up for change and then gave Cllr Dunne, member of the Hounslow Cycling Campaign, the role of lead on Transport. Who can forget her performance on 23 September at the Call In. Very left wing, momentum orientated and the part of the party Sir Keir and team know have to be stopped if Labour are ever to get back into power. So is Cllr Dunne a deliberately conflicted choice? Or can we expect change.From discussing with friends in Grove Park over the weekend, it became apparent that some on Staveley Road and Park Road had been recently door stepped by the increasingly less read Chiswick Calendar no less; asking the wrong questions as one said about the Staveley Road and Park Road Barrier. As one said, the barrier has not stopped traffic entering Grove Park or reducing traffic on either Park Rd or Staveley Rd, but the person interviewing did not appear to understand that. As they all know in Grove Park, and those of us that would like to visit it is the measures all around the area that restrict traffic and those in Chiswick even wanting to go.And right on cue, an article appears today in Chiswick Calendar and is being tweeted and posted.. What a surprise! It looks like it was an organised activity and plan, following Hounslow Cycling Campaigns monthly meeting (last Thursday of the month) and often attended by Hounslow Councillors who are members of HCC. The meetings are great fun to join.The evidence of Council surveys and in the case of Grove Park, the local Resident Groups at the Church meeting in March. All says that Chiswick votes against the schemes by 80%. It always does. Every single one. And that is a problem for Cllr Dunne and HCC as the overwhelming evidence is against these schemes.And the evidence in this thread clearly supports the plan, the same old people trying to push a flawed survey and its results, the same on twitter and even Ruth Cadbury being asked once again and tweeting again. It regularly seems to be the same people who got the Chiswick Calendar to print a letter in November 2020 of 20 people who wrote into Government and supported Boris Johnson’s cycling plans. And now what we all know is that time and time again there are only 20 people in Chiswick who support these cycling plans, and sadly appear to be demonstrating the same failures as Boris Johnson.Labour should have won hands down in Chiswick wards given how poor Boris Johnson is, the fact is they did not and the reason for that is the local Hounslow streetspace schemes, which 80% of Chiswick do not agree with. There needs to be change.Well the Council says it wants to change, it wants to listen, and that means that it needs to work with the majority of Chiswick, the elderly, the vulnerable, residents and businesses.
Jonathan Mabbutt ● 1574d