Experiencing the Ultimate West London Day of Sport

Chiswick Riverside councillor Gabriella Giles reports back

Cllr Gabriella Giles

October 12, 2025

September has certainly been a busy month - I’ve sat on two licensing panels, joined in the fun at Tidefest on Strand-on-the-Green and the St Michaels Elmwood Road Street party, joined other councillors for the opening event of the borough’s 60th Anniversary Exhibition at the library at Hounslow House before speaking several times in September’s Borough Council meeting. Events have included the pleasure of attending the Principal’s Reception at the Arts Ed, where we were treated to performances from students, and a fantastic interview to get to know Professor Louise Jackson, and even a stint behind the bar at the Chiswick Pier Trust for the Great River Race.

Cllr Giles at Tidefest

Other events have included attending the Mayor’s inaugural dinner, holding my councillor’s surgery at Chiswick Library, joining a Thames Strategy Kew to Chelsea Steering Group meeting, and a personal highlight from the past month was being invited by a friend to the ultimate West London sports day. This included a visit to Brentford to see them beat Manchester United by 3-0 and then we hopped on the 267 to hotfoot it to Rugby HQ to see the final of the Women’s Rugby World Cup. We’re truly lucky to have these great arenas on our doorstep, and it was made all the better to know that we have our very own Chiswickian, Alice Cooper, to thank for the work she and her colleagues put in to organise and host the first Women’s Rugby World Cup in 1991.

It was a great day, I’ve been a life-long rugby fan and played while I was at university in Wales, so to be part of this event was incredible and a little bit emotional too. I don’t know what it is about Twickenham, and although I’d not been back since the local election count in 2018 and I pulled an all-nighter, there’s always a little magic in the air. We bumped into many friends, spoke to fans from all around the world, and had an absolutely amazing day. An added highlight was finding out last week that my friend and I had even managed to make an appearance on Ilona Maher’s instagram - totally unbeknownst to us!

Chiswick Village Development

However, being a councillor isn’t all fun and games, I’ve been working with a resident who is at risk of becoming homeless, and for the last three weeks, with residents from Chiswick Village who are worried about their ongoing safety as a result of construction that’s now started to build the penthouses.

I wrote about this last week in my blog for Hounslow Herald, as there is a real concern from residents about the construction that has started at Chiswick Village without any prior notice. In the last three weeks, I've attended three meetings with residents, spoken with many of them, and tried to understand what can be done to ensure that the safety of residents will be protected, not just during the construction phase, but in the future too.

Queries and worries range from wanting to know if the proper plans and permits have been applied for by the developers, how this construction will impact their insurance, and most importantly, if their homes will be safe to live and work from while the works take place.

To briefly get you up to speed, the planning permission was granted on appeal by the Planning Inspectorate in 2015. In 2022, as a result of the Grenfell tragedy, the Building Safety Act came into effect with new regulations for determining what is considered a Higher Risk Building. With the addition of the new penthouses, these now mean that many of the blocks in Chiswick Village will stand at more than seven storeys, and are therefore now considered to be higher-risk.

Residents haven’t been able to get a clear idea of what’s been approved from the developers, and based on my last discussion with officers from Hounslow’s Building Control, they are still trying to track down the relevant information, and ensure that the developers have submitted all the required information. The submitted plans are rudimentary at best, and the construction of the scaffolding has left many unable to open their windows, and worried that this has impacted the integrity of the outer walls of the buildings.

I visited on Saturday morning, and saw first hand the state of how the builders had left the common areas for the weekend. Ladders strewn on the floor, piles of scaffolding resting on the walls and blocking light into windows, and scaffolding brackets left in piles. The way things have been left makes it hard for residents to access their bike storage, and as a result many bikes are now locked to the scaffolding. It’s not ideal.

Having listened to residents, there are many anomalies with what they’ve been told, and we’re all working to find out more. I will continue to work with residents and Peter Thompson to ensure that things are done safely.

The week ahead

Looking to the week ahead, I’m off to a couple of film screenings on Sunday as part of the London Film Festival, Monday night will be the Chiswick Area Forum, Tuesday will be a local meeting of Conservatives in Chiswick Riverside, Wednesday I’ll be chairing a meeting of the local Conservative Party, many of whom are feeling invigorated by their attendance at the party conference last week, Thursday will be an estate inspection, and on Friday I’ll take my mum out for a bit of a pre-birthday treat - this of course will all be around my work, which will be a big one for us as we’re getting to the wire with our product development.

I wish you all a great week.

Cllr Gabriella Giles

gabriella.giles@hounslow.gov.uk

07966 270823

DEMOCRACY: MORE DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Council Meetings - Borough Council

• Tuesday 25 November

Including the first call on the Medium Term Financial Report for the Annual Budget 2025/26

Then a lengthy gap (why?) until:

• Tuesday 10 March

Including the Annual Budget 2025/26 and Council Tax setting for the Borough and to add the Mayor of London’s tax demand to bills to residents

There is public access for these meetings via a direct lift from the ground floor to the Council Meeting Room, 6th Floor, Hounslow House, 7 Bath Road, Hounslow TW3 3EB

Chiswick Area Forum Meeting, Monday 13 October

Meeting venue: St Michael & All Angels Church Bath Road, Chiswick, W4 1LW next to Turnham Green Station (100 yards)

The following items are included on the agenda:

Council Meetings – Overview and Scrutiny Committee

6th Floor, Hounslow House, 7 Bath Road, Hounslow TW3 3EB

27 November 7.00pm

Council Meetings – Audit and Governance Committee

• Tuesday 4 November 7:00 pm

6th Floor, Hounslow House, 7 Bath Road, Hounslow TW3 3EB

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.

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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