MP’s UPDATE FOR BRENTFORD AND ISLEWORTH Residents September 2023

You can find previous reports of my work on my web site; www.ruthcadbury.co.uk  I also report regularly on my Facebook page and via Twitter and Instagram @RuthCadbury. 

 

If you would like to raise issues with me as your MP Please email on [email protected] with your address, a quick summary of the issue (and relevant reference numbers).   

 

See my Web page for information on local and national services.

MY PARLIAMENTARY ACTIVITY in JULY

For full details of my questions and speeches in Parliament, get regular updates about my Parliamentary activities TheyWorkForYou (votes) or see Hansard (speeches) & on YouTube

In the Chamber I;

• Led a debate on crime and anti-social behaviour in West London. I called for more police on the streets, action against crimes like car theft and better support for young people and community groups supporting them
• Raised concerns over the slow pace of the Government’s efforts to tackle the climate crisis
• Raised concerns over violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank
• Raised the 7 million+ backlog for NHS care and mentioned two examples of constituents who were waiting for diagnosis and treatment
• Spoke in a Bill Committee about new legislation coming into force in Northern Ireland on regulations on fire-proof equipment
• Spoke about the importance of the Government supporting cycling and walking schemes
• Raised the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan and called on the UK Government to take further action to stand up for their rights

 

Following concerns from constituents I’ve contacted a number of bodies that it appears are letting my constituents down;

• I wrote to SWR over proposed ticket office closures and staff reductions impacting Hounslow, Brentford, Whitton and Chiswick. I particularly raised my concerns about the impact these closures will have on rail users with limited mobility, or who don’t use smartphones.  I wrote on the same lines to the Rail Minister as this is a national consultation -  Government is forcing rail companies to take this drastic action.  By the time the consultation closed, almost half a million people had responded
• Tenants of APT Parkview, an office block converted to flats on the A4 in Brentford, continue to be billed for charges they are not legally required to pay, so I wrote to the managing agents.
• Langtry Court & Central House are two more office block conversions that have known building safety issues where the building owners are dragging their feet.  I wrote to the owners and Michael Gove about this further example of failure to address the building safety crisis.
• Andy Slaughter and I jointly wrote to the Halifax bank raising our concerns about their proposal to close the Chiswick branch
• The Housing Minister replied to my letter raising concerns about the service to Help-to-Buy leaseholders, particularly those trapped in blocks with potential fire-safety issues.  Needless to say I didn’t get much of a response.  

 

Outside the Chamber I;

• attended a Rail Delivery Group event on tackling sexual harassment on the railways
• met representatives of Moroccan Businesses – Morocco is swivelling from France to the UK and US for its growing export markets (and are planning to supply us with desert solar energy via a long pipeline!)

• heard from representatives of Indian-airlines and the Indian diaspora community seeking direct flights between Heathrow and Punjab and Gujerat.

• met representatives of trans youth seeking respect and rights for all young trans people in the UK

I also spoke at a national cycling and walking conference, with Chris Boardman (now Chair of Active Travel England) and the Deputy Mayor for Ghent, who described how they transformed the city centre (100,000 population) into an area with no-through-routes for vehicles, with implementation happening in a weekend (after over two years of planning!)

COMMUNITY UPDATE

The majority of July and August has been Parliament’s summer recess, which means more time to spend at community meetings, and the many summer celebrations and festivals across the borough.

Osterley Parkrun celebrated 75 years of the NHS by inviting many local NHS workers – and I was honoured to be able to start the runners with a short speech celebrating the NHS

Hounslow’s Community Stars event celebrated the remarkable achievements of so many who work in and for our local communities.  It was humbling to hear what these people have achieved, often against great odds at the awards evening at Hounslow House.

More celebrations - this time at Chiswick School’s Performing Arts awards evening  - which showed how students from Year 7 to the 6th form have worked and developed their skills together while clearly having a lot of fun under the leadership of a great team of teachers.

St Paul’s Church Brentford Green Fair showcased the range of work local people and groups are doing to address the climate, pollution, and habitat crises.  From re-purposing old fabric to showing off Lateward Road’s egg producing hen – there was much to see and do.

Hounslow’s Jamia mosque celebrated Eid  with a barbecue, stalls and entertainment along with a fun-fair.

And on the same day I attended Clayponds Gardens Fun day in Brentford organised by and for residents of Carville and Clayponds estates.

 

I also attended the West London Turkish Festival in Feltham, an event which gets bigger every year.

The Mighty Penguins is one of the most inspiring films I’ve ever seen.  It’s the true story of one of our local football teams;  Brentford Penguins FC is a fun football club for local young people with Down Syndrome, that meets weekly at Gunnersbury Park. The film, which is currently doing the rounds of the international film festivals, features founder former Brentford player Allan Cockram and three of the players – they describe their journey, and the team’s preparation for being the guard of honour at a Brentford match at the GTech stadium

I was honoured to attend the Induction of the new vicar of St Paul’s Church Grove Park, Caroline Halmshaw by Bishop of Kensington Rt Revd Dr Emma Ineson

 

Of course it’s not all celebrations – as pressing local issues continue to come up which I am raising and hopefully getting some movement on, on behalf of local residents and businesses. 

Everyone locally and anyone needing to drive or get a bus along the A4 through Brentford is aware of the works that National Highways are doing to the pillars of the M4. NH have taken out one of the 3-lanes and closed the Windmill Road crossing to vehicles. This work has restarted after stopping for the coronation and will last until December.

 

Working with Councillors, we managed to persuade NH not to close the pedestrian crossings this time, but we’ve not (yet) managed to get Transport for London to revert to the perfectly workable, but apparently non-legit, light phasing on the Ealing Road/A4 junction.   We’ll keep pushing, as the traffic jams, and people’s journey times are unacceptably long. 

Refugees Welcome Hounslow invited me to brief their Trustees and volunteers on the shocking Illegal Migration Bill – and the implications it has for those already here and seeking asylum, on any future asylum seekers arriving in Britain.

As so much of my constituency work is housing related – it’s very helpful to attend site visits with residents of estates, along with staff of their landlords. I’ve been out in Aplin Way Isleworth with Peabody (who have now taken over Catalyst Housing Association), and Trico House on GWQ with A2 Dominion. I’ve also had on-line meetings with leaseholders of Holland Gardens, Brentford and 120 Wood Lane, Isleworth, both groups trying to address serious issues in their blocks – and which I will be raising in Parliament in the Autumn.

Mind have opened a second charity shop in Chiswick and I was honoured to cut the ribbon.  These shops provide essential funding to support Mind’s work raising awareness about mental health and supporting those affected (whilst also selling rather good pre-loved clothes!)

Residents in Boston Gardens Brentford have found they have little control over the siting of a 5G mast that has been placed right behind their gardens. The area needs a 5G mast but they have not been told by the mast provider, nor the Playing Fields Trust who owns the land, and why it cannot be moved further away from the back gardens of residents. I am continuing to push the network and mast provider to reconsider, as the local authority has no power in what is not a planning decision.

Residents in Stags Way, Osterley found that over a weekend contractors were removing a large tract of woodland between their estate and Nishkam school.  I intervened, along with Cllr Tony Louki, and as a result  Council planning officers visited and work has paused.  Residents say the land provides an important wildlife habitat and screening from the school playing fields, while the school say the area attracts rubbish.

At the Government’s behest, SouthWest Railways are proposing closing the ticket offices at Hounslow and Brentford stations and cut staff presence.  I have written both to the Minister and SWR in strong terms, as the impact on older, disabled people, visitors and many more will be significant.

I’ve also written to the Rail Minister asking him to find funds to raise the platform height at Kew Bridge, as it’s very difficult to get on or off the trains there (and we also need step-free access to the platform).  I’ve lobbied before on this, but what triggered my latest letter was seeing him pledge £1m to raise the platforms at Ty Croes station, near where I was on holiday in Anglesey. That station sees 4000 passengers a year, whereas Kew Bridge had 810,000 passengers in the same period. I naturally felt that if Ty Croes deserved this essential improvement, then so surely does Kew Bridge.

 

After a spate of retail crime in Chiswick, reported in Chiswick Calendar and picked up by the Daily Mail and the Times, I have (again)  raised my concerns about the lack of a visible police presence in our town centres (apart from Hounslow which has a dedicated town centre team).   I am glad that there will now be a meeting between police and shopkeepers to address this situation. However I am not impressed by Home Secretary Suella Braverman saying that every crime should be punished, when she did not have the courtesy to ask police commanders if it was actually possible to do that given the inadequate resources her Government provides.

The Planning Inspectorate held a Public Inquiry into Hounslow’s refusal of the Duke of Northumberland’s proposal to build flats on Park Road, Isleworth, allotments.  I spoke in support of  local residents and allotment holders’ campaign to stop the development and to protect this essential green lung and community resource.

With best wishes to all readers  – and do let me know what you think of these updates!

 

Printed from an email sent by Ruth Cadbury MP