A Newly Elected Local Councillor's Busy Life

This time it's the turn of Patrick Barr to write about his week

You’ve heard the news by now, Cllr Joanna Biddolph is our group leader and I was appointed her deputy, an absolute pleasure. We’ve had a year to settle in and are now raring to go. It's early days in our new roles, however three words spring to mind; change, fresh and innovative. We have hit the ground running thanks to the support from a superb team.

This week started differently. My husband and I flew back from Venice last Sunday, after a short break. We were waiting for the vaporetto (similar to the Thames Clipper from Westminster to Greenwich) to take us from St Mark's Square to San Marco airport, not aware of what had just happened - the collision between a cruise liner and a small boat. It was only when we received messages from friends and family asking if we were ok that we realised, relieved to learn that it could have been a lot worse and that there were no serious injuries. Friends and relatives who know you’re abroad always assume you were directly involved when an incident occurs. “I know you and Richard are away, there’s a hurricane in the Pacific Ocean. Are you all right?” I find it very amusing.

A shock on Monday morning as I returned to work. I like my job, however, I do leave promptly to get back to what I really enjoy: being a Chiswick councillor. I start replying to emails walking to the car, making and receiving phone calls on my way home to catch up on the day's events. My husband and I are, at times like ships passing in the night. Once home, we chat about our day over a coffee. I absolutely treasure these moments; love, married life, bliss.

On Monday evening I started to prepare a health question for borough council. I have been doing a lot of work as shadow spokesperson for adult health and social care over the past few months (attending meetings as a member of the Adult Health and Social Care Scrutiny Panel, other regular meetings including Healthwatch Hounslow, an observer on the Health and Wellbeing Board and the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny committee meetings, meeting with heads of health and social care as well as doing my own research). The fruit of the hard work is starting to come to fruition. I had a conversation with my four year old nephew and asked him what he wants to be when he grows up. He said he wants to be a nurse, I got a tad emotional in the moment as he would make a super nurse as he’s such an intuitive little lad, but I know his career choice will change several times before he decides what he wants to be.

On Tuesday evening I attended Whittingham Court for the Parochial Charities trustees meeting, I arrived to find it was cancelled due to too many trustees being unable to attend. I take real pride in my work as a trustee for this cause. For those of you who don’t know, Chiswick Parochial Charities consists of The Lying-In Charity, offering an annual grant to assist pregnant women in the London Borough of Hounslow, and the Educational Charities. It supports older/elderly people to prevent or relieve poverty through accommodation/housing. Whittingham Court, based in Chiswick Homefields Ward, is an almshouse for people aged 55-75 at the time of application who are in financial need. I am about to start my second year as trustee. I have had the pleasure of meeting most of the residents, all of whom have a story to tell. Although I mostly attend just for trustee meetings, it has an incredible warmth which comes from the staff and the residents.

As is the same with most evenings, on Wednesday I had time to follow up on nitty gritty casework, the most important part of being a councillor. Recently it's been dominated by housing issues, both local authority and housing association complaints. Although we are unable to obtain a case number for housing association issues, taking up all these cases is essential. The meetings we attend, the residents we meet, the time we spend on casework provide some evidence of the amount of work we do but those simple figures don't cover everything we do. I would also ask that you bear in mind that some of us have full time jobs, unlike some of our colleagues who are retired, don’t work, or work from home and can dip in and out of council related work in the working week. This is reflected in the casework stats that you will see from time to time.

On Thursday evening Jo and I attended a public meeting about the closure of Hammersmith Bridge. The meeting, arranged by by Zac Goldsmith, MP for Richmond Park, took place in St Mary’s Church, Barnes, so Transport for London could provide an update on the closure of the bridge and for the public to ask questions and express their concerns. We went to on behalf of Chiswick residents to understand what has been put in place to alleviate the gridlock traffic at peak times and the increased number of rat runs in Chiswick. You will hear more from us on this very current and important issue effecting us all.

Friday is a day I don’t go to work and use the time to focus on council work that needs more delving into, a chance to meet with residents whose casework isn’t as simple as just an email, and to go round Homefields ward looking for any obvious issues that need to be addressed. Friday is also a day I use to arrange meetings with heads of Hounslow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), heads of social care, visits to nursing homes, GP practices, anything I was unable to do in the week.

I'm very much looking forward to Green Days; I hope to see many of you there. My next surgery is on 22nd June 2019 at the Chiswick Library at 09.30-10.30 am. As always, please come along and say hi, I'm really looking forward to seeing you.

Dates for diaries

• Community litter pick, A4 underpasses: Sunday, 9 June at 5pm (note time change, meet St Mary's School, Duke Road, contact Cllr Ron Mushiso)
• Chiswick Area Forum:Tuesday, 25 June (papers will be published a week before )
• Chiswick surgeries: Every Saturday from 9.30am to 10.30am at Chiswick library, upstairs in a private room.
• Gunnersbury surgeries: First Saturday of the month from 10am to 11am at The Triangle Club, The Ridgeway, W3 8LN, usually a group discussion but privacy can be arranged.

For casework please email me at patrick.barr@hounslow.gov.uk or call me on 07976 703263

Turnham Green ward

June 10, 2019