Blog 547 15th October 2026

It has been another week that has been rather quiet in terms of new problems presented to me by residents. It's not obvious why that is but having another councillor in the ward who does stuff is novel for me after 3 years when my 'partner' did next to nothing.

I have the usual more long-term activities carrying on. One that has taken some energy this week has been the future of water sports in Brentford. This remains precarious and I have had conversations with the lead coach, one of the trustees, some fellow councillors and Brentford Voice. Nobody has a solution to the current, mainly financial, challenges. This is such an important thing for our town, our schoolchildren and our revived relationship with our rivers and canals and I will continue doing whatever I can to support the charity to survive and prosper. Of course, a real recognition of the opportunity from the council could resolve this immediately but thus far this has not been forthcoming.

I also spent a bit of time on trying to support the establishment of a charity shop in Brentford. That has been going for many months and our local outfit Alliance Arts is the local charity looking to make this happen https://www.alliancearts.co.uk/ They have collected over 1100 signatures on a petition but thus far they have had no real support from any of the landowners - essentially the council, Ballymore and the owners of Printmakers Yard. None of those are in my ward so I suppose it is cheeky of me trying to make things happen so if somebody calls me a busybody I plead guilty. Latest idea relates to the former Goddard shop on the corner of Half Acre which has come free again. I spotted people in the window yesterday walking around with a large sign saying 'To Let' - talk to Rolfe East. This shop has not yet appeared on the Rolfe East website and this one in Brentford would benefit for a modesty partition before any shop is opened.

More work needed on this.

Meanwhile turmoil continues with the bigger parties on Hounslow Council. We await the trial of Labour Councillor Athwal of Heston East on Fraud charges which is set for later this month in Uxbridge Magistrates Court. It has something to do with alleged misdoings at the Gurdwara in Southall (of course Cllr Athwal says he is innocent) but this also makes me wonder whether he lives in Hounslow. Equally, Conservative Satwant Kaur has been recently suspended and unsuspended from the Conservative group for what I understand to involve undeclared business interests. I see she now mentions that she controls a shop in Hayes, a dormant Trading company in Hounslow which according to her is called Aseis Trading but I suspect should read Asees Trading as Companies House lists it. She also lists Satgur Property Investment from Hayes (also dormant) and the previously not listed (I think) Sanjam Properties Ltd of Guildford. All very confusing for an innocent like me (and of course Ms Kaur is also innocent, like Sue Sampson and Cllr Athwal and apparently now former councillors Hina Mir and Raghwinder Siddhu who smell only of violets.)

It remains to be seen if our Reform colleagues David Kerr and Adam Parkins also turn out to be F****** lily white. I believe we will have an opportunity to make up our own minds by watching ITV Exposure on Sunday at 10.20 pm. It is in my diary, and there is a preview here https://www.itv.com/.../inside-reform-councillors-extreme...

I have a feeling we will be expected to take part in a number of by-elections soon. We have had some unwelcome developments within the Green Party, with a prominent motion about Israel/Palestine agreed at the recent party conference which none of our Hounslow councillors agree with. On Sunday we had a respectful (that's the way we Greens are) debate at the meeting of Hounslow Greens. Our new coordinator, Cllr Rick Rowe, agreed we should put this piece of policy to our local membership for a democratic vote on whether we should endorse this policy. The refreshing thing is I can report this without any fear of upsetting a whip or leader (we have neither in Hounslow Greens) which is a bit of a change for me!

I have been elected Treasurer of the local Green Party and find we have very little in the way of funds, which will become an issue if by elections do come. Mind you, we did very well in May when we had no money then either and 22 wards to support. We live in a world where the anti-patriotic Reform party receive massive financial donations from sometimes shady, often overseas donors and non-financial support from others who don't care about our country, like Elon Musk and German Daily Telegraph and 'offshore' Daily Mail owners. The Green party had donations last year of about £300K compared with £10m+ for Labour, £13m+ for Conservatives and of course nobody knows how much Reform received.

All the shenanigans in the council mean that Labour no longer have a majority and I (and perhaps other opposition parties) are arguing that they should not retain control of all the committees, nor all of the lucrative (especially after the recent 35% pay rise) chair and vice chair positions. I am raising this currently with the council's legal officer and we don't yet see eye to eye. The good news for me personally is that the attempt to kick me off the Planning Committee has failed (as of today!) We have a Special Council meeting set for next Wednesday. Not my idea of fun but these are important moments.

What else? On Saturday I spent a few minutes at Emanuel Hollow, the new section of Dukes Meadows named after one of the most expensive private schools in London, to whom the council for obscure reasons provide them with a boat house for the princely sum of £75 per annum until 2058.

Lots of volunteers, Lampton people etc directed by the formidable Karen Liebreich MBE the leading light of Abundance London. It is better for some plants but I think there is much more needed in Dukes Meadows, which I visit regularly and often feel a bit lonely in this enormous park!

On Sunday we had our joint surgery. A woman who lives on a boat in the Syon ward is troubled by noisy neighbours but this is a problem for Katherine and Dan to investigate. I then went to Brentford station to help out with a bit more horticulture supporting Air Quality Brentford. Knowing my green fingers I probably condemned many bulbs to death by my attempts to plant them in Emanuel Hollow and by the station.

Later we had the Green monthly meeting in Chiswick as previously mentioned.

On Monday my regular prowl which caused me to mention for the 87th time (estimate) the unacceptable state of the pavement outside the so called London Hospital in Windmill Road. Planning will not do anything about it, nor will Hounslow Highways, nor will the developer. Probably waiting for someone to fall over and sue them.

Meanwhile there is the traditional mess on Albany Road/Market Terrace. My local spy tells me that Lampton missed a collection but the inadequate grit bins (or uncaring residents or landlords) means they are always overflowing.

By the library it was important to have temporary traffic lights to avoid people crashing into the hole in the road in Boston Manor Road.

Oh. No hole, but those green barriers would play havoc with your tyres, especially when there was nobody in sight who may have warned people about this peril.

On Wednesday evening I attended (online) a session arranged by Heathrow. I was a bit surprised (I'm being polite - it happens occasionally) that their focus is entirely on the problem the new runway (if built) will cause to the M25 and people who live in Buckinghamshire. There is no problem anticipated anywhere East of Cranford.

I will remember how carefully Heathrow considered us in Brentford (and Chiswick etc) when the planes start flying directly over my head where I live and there is a large increase in freight traffic down the lovely A4/M4 corridor. Many of the passengers will avoid us by going via Elizabeth line leaving the Piccadilly line to be overcrowded by us locals (and still not stopping at Turnham Green). You couldn't make it up. It won't be a picnic in Slough either but like us, that smelly town doesn't matter unlike places where proper people live like Virginia Water.

I've been reading a very interesting book this week called Enlightened Entrepreneurs which features amongst others two who have a particular relevance to Brentford - one Andrew Carnegie and one George Cadbury. I will probably get to doing a separate article on these (and others like Jesse Boot) because I have spotted a striking difference in their approach compared to today's captains of industry like Jim Ratcliffe and Richard Tice.

Brentford may be smelly but it does have some gorgeous dawns.