Housing Associations, Lime Bike Chaos, Waste, Weeds and Policing

Chiswick Gunnersbury councillor Joanna Biddolph reports back

Cllr Joanna Biddolph

October 25, 2025

Holding housing associations to account

With a housing association case that has been on my desk since I was first elected in 2018, I was reassured but unhappy, when exchanging WhatsApp messages with a friend who is a councillor in Westminster, to know that I am not alone in finding it takes years to get anything done. I’ve blogged several times before about my exasperation at the reluctance of housing associations to act, at their appalling contractor management, their inefficiency, and their lackadaisical response to disgusting situations – here I am, raising defecation and urination again, this time not by Gunnersbury Park festival goers, but untrained aggressive dogs who leave their mark on communal carpets along corridors and stairs several times a day and whose owners feel no sense of responsibility to clear up their dogs’ mess. Or to train – or walk – their dogs.

So, I was pleased to learn a few months ago that Hounslow’s director of housing had set up a formal group of housing associations and a system for councillors to raise cases through officers. Up till now, I’ve battled my way through jobsworth gatekeeper nonsense responses; had luck a couple of times on discovering that I knew a board director, contacted them personally, and achieved some action; or been fobbed off, just as have the residents whose living conditions I’m trying to improve.

I’m testing the new system with two cases, the 2018 case and one from 2022, with a third from 2021 to be logged this weekend, and will see how it goes. So far, the housing association contacts picking up the cases are the same as those I’ve been appealing to for years but perhaps they’ll take notice now.

There should, in any case, be improvements in the speed and quality of response to complaints about damp and mould as Awaab’s Law comes into effect on Monday, 27th October. It sets firm actions and timeframes and will be extended in 2026 to cover more hazards. It is the result of the tragic death, in December 2020, of two-year old Awaab Ishak who died after prolonged exposure to damp and mould in his social housing home in Yorkshire.

Awaab’s Law – summary of key actions required by social landlords

Lime bike chaos returns

It’s eight years since the painful day in 2017 when Mobikes were dumped, unannounced, on Chiswick pavements. Seen as licensed littering, or littering with impunity, by many, the response to their arrival should have taught Hounslow council a lesson in how to manage policy implementation – by consent, not imposition – and what works and what doesn’t work – that hasn’t gone well, either.

After an explanation at the Chiswick Area Forum two weeks ago, when residents were told that Lime had decided not to operate in the borough, and that the contract with Forest and Voi was exclusive, a reply to a Freedom of Information request (FOI) apparently revealed a different story. It was the council, not Lime, that refused to allow Lime to operate in the borough – and the contract with Forest and Voi seems clearly to state that there is no exclusivity.

It seems mean, therefore, that Lime bikes can only allow its riders to cycle through the eastern part of the borough (Chiswick and a small part of Brentford), from one borough to the next, but not to park in the borough when, from the moment Lime was excluded, the point was that riders need to start and end their journeys here. E-bike operator coverage in neighbouring and further way boroughs means that Chiswick riders now need to break their journeys to switch providers. It’s inconvenient, it costs more, and from reports I’ve seen, it means that every stage of the journey is more complex with bikes that are not available or don’t work or run out of battery power mid-journey forcing the rider to start the absurd process again. If you were to devise a lesson in how to write a bad policy, this is it.

The parking point is also unnecessarily complicated – and hugely irritating to walkers and wheelchair users and others not so stable on their pins. Licensed littering is now even worse. All Chiswick wards are boundary wards, and have additional road ownership complexities (chiefly TfL roads), that have meant even greater pavement parking chaos. In the Gunnersbury part of Chiswick Gunnersbury ward, about 200 Hounslow residents step onto either an Ealing pavement or a TfL pavement. These have turned into free-for-all-parking spots for Lime bikes and scooters – as have the roads running off these pavements where Lime bikes can be ridden for some distance before the battery power cuts out (that means Chiswick High Road off TfL’s Chiswick roundabout, Power Road off TfL’s North Circular, Princes Avenue, Popes Lane and others). In two notable spots, on Gunnersbury Lane and The Pavement Popes Lane, private land in front of shops is also not excluded from Lime bike parking and is often clogged up with a chaotic muddle of bikes parked higgledy-piggledy.

To give Lime its due, it made changes including improving its geo-fencing. Its rider-management wasn’t great, and toppled-over bikes were a source of huge irritation, but the general view as reported to me was that it was getting there: a few more tweaks, with strong contract management, would lessen its negative impact. I have asked questions, of officers and cabinet member Cllr Katherine Dunne, asking for Lime to operate fully in the borough, while requiring it to smarten up its geo-fencing and allowing it to park with Forest and Voi in designated bays – not randomly, at the inconvenience and infuriation of residents and businesses. That’s why I was swift to sign the petition to Bring Back Lime.

Waste walkabout on Monday

Many policies ebb and flow, moving from strong implementation to none, in an invisible drift of shifting behaviour. On Monday, I will be on a walkabout with Chiswick’s ward improvement officer, looking at where we can instal more grit bins for the purple sacks of residents of flats of shops, and more bins to catch the litter of people walking along well-used routes. Litter management has slipped, in particular along the Chiswick Gunnersbury stretch of Chiswick High Road and the western side of Devonshire Road down to the underpass at Hogarth roundabout. Residents rightly offer suggestions for locations of bins but narrow pavements, busy corners, and businesses that understandably do not want bins outside their premises make it more complex than it seems.

High turnover of residents results in myths about where purple sacks can be left so education (of landlords and tenants) will be part of this exercise. Education of others is needed, too. Older residents who, as children, were told to “Take Your Litter Home With You” do not understand why passers-by toss bottles and cups into grit bins, or leave litter next to or on top of a full public bin. In fact, “Keep It, Bin It” is a current Keep Britain Tidy campaign.

Grit bins are for purple sacks only

Weeds and glyphosate

Has everyone who wants to avoid glyphosate being sprayed outside their homes or along their roads checked the state of their local weeds? The second spray takes place in Chiswick this week (from 27th October) so now is the time to dash out and get digging and pulling because the policy is “No weeds, No spray”.

Stay briefed about crime and policing – sign up to Met Engage

I’m enjoying, and really value, the updates sent by our local ward police teams, and by the Chiswick area police inspector, telling us of their successes in actioning priorities set by ward police panels or the Met. Email newsletters from Met Engage arrive from time to time – not too often, as I see it – and are mostly short and crisp; when longer, the details enlighten and reassure. The most recent one was a short questionnaire about attitudes to policing and I was glad to be asked and to give my views. You can sign up for the newsletters here.

Met Engage home page where you can sign up for updates about your ward and Chiswick

Christmas is coming – but where are the trees?

After the council’s Scrooge-like decision to save £20,000 by not paying for the usual Christmas trees – one for each of the four main town centres, including Chiswick, and a few other retail areas – there has been quite a scrabble to make Christmas happen as it should: to highlight all that Chiswick has to offer and encourage all to shop locally. I think I have secured the offer of three trees from sponsors in Chiswick (more about that soon) and am finalising details including the date for their switch-on with the festive streetlights. A local group will put on a performance which sounds very lovely. Look out for the announcement in chiswickw4.com. And, please, if you can, support our local businesses. They are all struggling with increased costs – and even more pain expected in the Chancellor’s budget on 26th November.

Councillor Joanna Biddolph

Chiswick Gunnersbury ward

07976 703446

DEMOCRACY: DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

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.

Principal meetings are broadcast live on the Council’s YouTube channel

6 November: Planning committee at 7pm

11 November: Cabinet at 7pm

25th November: Borough Council at 7.30pm

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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