Where Was Everybody at the Chiswick Area Forum?
Local councillor Sam Hearn writes a blog about his week
Friday 10th November: To Hounslow town centre to lay a wreath at the memorial outside the Holy Trinity Church during the Borough's Civic Remembrance Service. Each of us is accompanied by a school child as we lay our wreaths. I feel a strong sense that there is far more that unites us than divides us a community. The discipline of the honour guard from the Irish Guards and the stern faces of our Ghurkha veterans are a physical reminder of the sacrifices that our armed services make every day to keep us safe.
Sunday 12th November: To the Chiswick War Memorial for our local Remembrance Commemoration Service. The Honour Party parades to the memorial with British Legion standards flying and a splendid party of Chiswick's Sea Cadets some of whom I recognise from Chiswick Pier. The wreath layers include Michael Denniss for the Conservative Party, Mary Macleod as President of the local British Legion and Cllr Felicity Barwood on behalf of the Mayor. The church is full for the service that follows the wreath laying. Richard Moy's sermon is challenging and reminds me of my ‘low church' roots. We used to call it ‘soul-searching'.
Monday 13th November: A quick dash out to Chorleywood to see my nephew who is briefly home from Canada. In the evening I am invited to a meeting of the Officers of the local Conservative Association. Although not an officer I attend as Group Leader. I note with surprise that only one other person in the room is older than me. It is good to hear that our candidate selection process is almost complete.
Tuesday 14th November: It is surprising how few people turn up at this evening's meeting of the Chiswick Area Forum. I suppose the agenda was superficially less eye catching than some recent ones have been. Normally I would have expected the stalwarts from the local amenity groups to have at least turned up for the developers' pre-application presentation on 396-400 Chiswick High Road.
We discussed reports on the reviews of the local plans for the West of the Borough and the Great West Corridor, and the so called Future Borough Strategy. The consultations on the local plans are still open for responses.
It was good to hear that TfL have come up with some additional funding to help create a more accessible route under Kew Bridge for the Thames Path. This is something I have been working on for a long time and was actually asked about in the British Legion after the Remembrance Service.
The update of Dukes Meadow showed that progress continues to be made. Unusually there were no contributors on this topic from the public.
Wednesday 15th November : Working at the Civic Centre with our PA and the staff of Democratic Services. There are always loose ends to tie up, legal issues to clarify and preparations to make for future meetings.
Thursday 16th November: Over to the other end of the Borough to discuss tactics with some of the candidates selected by the Feltham and Heston Conservative Association. Lively discussions ensued and once again I note that there is only one other person in the room who was older than me.
Cllr Sam Hearn
November 20, 2017
