Bad News, Good News, Seasonal Problems and a Little Self-indulgence

Councillor Joanna Biddolph takes a sardonic view of her week

Cllr Joanna Biddolph

April 25, 2026

Lampton failures aren’t all financial

We have, as an opposition group, often exposed the financial failure of the Lampton group of companies, wholly owned by Hounslow Council which is also careering towards what seems like an ever-increasing budget gap – the local authority term for spending more than is due to come in.

Lampton isn’t only incapable of meeting its financial obligations. It’s not great (yes, I am being sardonic) at delivering a good service to council tenants. It should not take four months to restore hot water, absent in the bathroom and the kitchen, to the home of a family with young children. I’ve had to battle with other cases of contractors turning up without the necessary parts or skills or both, bodging it or not tackling it at all, stringing it out with repeated call-outs (and, perhaps, repeated call-out charges) and short-term fixes that go wrong a day or two later, but a lack of hot water for so long is a staggering failure. And there was a lack of it over Christmas and Easter.

There was no sense of urgency at Lampton or the contractor that provides (or doesn’t) numerous local authorities with “trusted property maintenance” as is claimed on its website. This failure is now being investigated. I have asked strongly worded questions and expect full answers, not blah blah blah paragraphs of corporate waffle. The residents deserve more than a medal for their resigned fortitude.

I first came across this contractor when an elderly council tenant in a Brentford ward appealed for help, that she was not getting from her own ward councillors, when she had a problem in her flat. She was in the depths of frustration and despair about spending yet another 90 minutes on hold when reporting issues, including the urgent and distressing problem she raised with me, followed by a less than sub-standard (yes, that’s sardonic, again) service. None of us has that amount of time to waste and expecting council tenants to do this is beyond the pale. Poor they might be. Providing a poor service to poor people is patronising at best. In my view, the contract (and service level agreement, as the jargon goes) should be revised – or ended and a new contractor with higher standards appointed.

Good news about Chiswick post office, I hope

It’s too soon to celebrate, but residents who have signed up for alerts to new planning applications in the heart of Chiswick, received notification on Friday of an application from the current postmasters at the post office for a change of use of premises on Chiswick Common Road. The current post office is hideous inside and out – as everyone knows – and far too large for the purpose, with consequential high rent and rates for redundant space. I’m throwing my enthusiastic support behind this application and will be supporting the postmasters whose commitment to providing Chiswick with a high quality, professional and friendly service cannot be faulted.

Mocked for worrying about the Chiswick Cough

It’s called the Chelsea Cough but here we are in Chiswick so it’s the Chiswick Cough. Our magnificent wow-factor plane trees along Chiswick High Road, and many other roads, are going through their annual pollen-shedding routine, filling the air and our throats, noses and eyes with very fine and very irritating trichomes. Noses run. Eyes itch. We cough.

It blows into cafés, restaurants and shops whose doors are open to encourage us in. It settles on outdoor tables and chairs which have to be wiped clean all day long, even if customers aren’t sitting outside because of the bits flying about. It’s worst of all for the lovely people who serve us at the Baker’s fruit and veg stall on the corner of Windmill Road, the Collins fruit and veg stall opposite the Catholic church, the stall at Sainsbury’s, and at the food and coffee stalls on the High Road, none of whom can close a door to keep it out or have a moment of respite, and this goes on day after day throughout this season.

We in Chiswick Gunnersbury ward asked the council to remove the pollen and bits, shuffled into drifts by the breeze, using mechanical sweepers at night every night, to minimise its spread. The council responded positively, if not as often as we wanted (it agreed to three times a week) and not at night (I watched one mechanical sweep while having a coffee at noon on Friday with Cllr John Todd).

Over on another media site, this request immediately brought out mocking by trolls and political opponents who criticised this call for action. And there I was thinking it was best practice for councillors to respond to requests, from residents, business owners and workers, for help and action. I’ve learned nothing in eight years as a councillor, it seems. I should have sat on my hands at home, ignoring the pleas.

A moment of personal indulgence

I’ve also often been mocked for my love of Alphonso mangoes, grown only in Maharashtra, near Bombay, or Mumbai as I now have to call the city of my birth. I grew up only knowing them and no other mango has ever come close. If you have yet to try this exquisite fruit, known as the queen of mangoes and sought-after by top chefs, please give it a go. The season is short and it’s now. Intensely perfumed, an extraordinary deep saffron-gold colour inside, with less stringiness around the stone which of course you must suck dry while standing next to a bowl of warm soapy water, they are not to be missed. Buy them from the stalls on Chiswick High Road, and find it turned into gelato at some of our ice cream parlours.

Is it au revoir or adieu?

Campaigning in these local elections has been rather odd. With so many political parties standing, and polls predicting wildly different outcomes, every day is a rollercoaster of weirdness. Described somewhat sardonically (that word again) on the discussion forum of this website (see the thread headed “Chiswick gripped by election fever”) it is far from sardonic on the doorstep with many people saying they will decide who to vote for when in the polling booth. Otherwise, it is business as usual.

Councillors knocking on residents’ doors always generates requests for help and Friday’s sessions brought work to be done on speeding, the impact of festivals in Gunnersbury Park (stinky loos and smelly fumes from idling lorries), potholes, dangerously out of true pavement slabs, fly tipping and parking (you didn’t think I’d forget that, did you?). Elections are for four-year terms and this is the end of my second term. I think back with embarrassment at the earliest responses I gave to residents in 2018; we all learn on the job, our replies becoming more informative, and providing deeper insights, as the years go by. My enthusiasm hasn’t dimmed, despite the best efforts of many trolls and detractors. What none of us knows is whether this blog is my au revoir or adieu. We will find out on 8th May.

Cllr Joanna Biddolph 

joanna.biddolph@hounslow.gov.uk 

07976 703446

DEMOCRACY: DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Council Meeting – Next Borough Council Not Till

26 May 2026 7:30 pm  – The Annual Meeting of the Council !!!!!!

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

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