Welcome to the official website of the Independent Community Group (ICG), where you can keep up to date with all of the local news and views involving the ICG in and around the London Borough of Hounslow.

ICG leader, Isleworth councillor Phil Andrews (pictured left), is to attend a series of public meetings to debate MP’s expenses and democratic reform.

The meetings will take place in early July and have been organised by Brentford councillor and prospective parliamentary candidate for the Lib Dems, Andrew Dakers, under the banner of ‘Take Back Power Hounslow’ and coincides with the launch of his new website (www.takebackpowerhounslow.org).

All parliamentary candidates and representatives from independent groups in the Brentford and Isleworth constituency, as well as the current MP, Ann Keen, have been invited to take part in the debates.

The debates that Councillor Andrews will be attending will take place at:

All debates will be independently chaired and details will follow.

ICG councillor Paul Fisher has announced plans for this year’s Community Youth Fund scheme.

The scheme is aimed at helping organisations that are involved with youth work throughout the London Borough of Hounslow and grants of between £500 and £2500 are available.

Speaking after a recent meeting Councillor Fisher said: “I am pleased to announce the details of this scheme and would like to encourage as many organisations to apply for funding as possible.”

If you think that your organisation could be eligible for funding, or know of anyone that could be interested in applying, full details of the scheme can be found at:

http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/community_youth_fund_2009.pdf

The move comes after the council’s lengthy review of its parking policies and charges and means that shoppers wishing to use their local shopping parades will only pay 10p for the first half hour of parking, reverting to the standard charge thereafter.

Speaking after the meeting, Isleworth Councillor Paul Fisher (pictured left), Lead Member for Parking Services, said: “I am delighted that my colleagues on the Executive have voted to introduce this scheme in Isleworth, which will bring much needed help to our traders in these very difficult times.

“I was determined that this scheme should go ahead as soon as possible after the members of IBAC had made their nominations to the executive as I have been working with the traders on this since last August. I am aware that this has been a lengthy process and would like to thank everyone involved for their support and patience.”

The new charges will come into effect after the statutory consultation period of approximately 4 weeks. The areas to benefit are:

Old Isleworth - 1, 3, 4, 7-11 Upper Square, 1-4 The Pavement, 1-14 & 35-57 South Street, Shrewsbury Walk & 189-227 Twickenham Road.

Isleworth - 1-7 Odeon Parade, 468, 532-572 & 459-495 London Road, 3-5,16-20,11-27, & 31 -37 St John’s Road & 1A Woodlands Road.

The Mayor of Hounslow, Isleworth ward Councillor Dr. Genevieve Hibbs (pictured right) has launched a new website to celebrate her year as Mayor of the borough.

Traders of Brentford High Street, which is in Syon ward, were handed a much-needed boost when the Council’s Executive, which met on 7^th April 2009, approved the new charges for the recently re-furbished car park.

The land on which the car park is situated, which is on the south side of the High Street, and was derelict up until a year ago, was brought back into public use after members of the Isleworth and Brentford Area Committee (IBAC) agreed that a new car park was needed, following lengthy consultation with businesses in the area.

Although this was originally a temporary measure it soon became clear that there was the need for a more permanent arrangement and funding of £48,477 was allocated to re-surface the land and mark out the bays.

Following the completion of the work plans were drawn up to introduce a pricing structure that would benefit both traders and shoppers alike, while at the same time making it less open to abuse by people who were able to park there all day for free under the old scheme.

At last night’s Executive meeting Paul Fisher, Isleworth Councillor and Lead Member for Parking, presented the report outlining the new charges as follows:

Free for the first hour, 30 pence for 2 hours and 60 pence for 3 hours, with maximum duration of stay 3 hours.

Speaking after the meeting Councillor Fisher said: “I’m delighted that my colleagues on the Executive approved these proposals and would like to thank the councillors from all political parties of IBAC for their support over the last year on this issue.

“These charges strike a balance between the needs of the people that just use the car park to stop off to buy a few bits and pieces from the local shops and those who are there on business and need to park for longer periods.”

The new charges should be in place by the end of April.   

RESIDENTS of Isleworth, Hounslow, Whitton, Twickenham and beyond are bracing themselves for more odour after Hounslow Council’s Sustainable Development Committee voted to approve Thames Water’s application to expand its capacity by more than 50%.  After having first indicated that they would oppose the plans, councillors from across the political divide supported a Labour motion to approve after planning officers failed to correct Thames Water’s dishonest claim that the water regulator OFWAT would not permit it to cover the storm tanks - a necessary pre-condition for significant odour reduction. 

The truth of the matter, of course, is that OFWAT’s permission would only be required if Thames was intending to raise the money from the public by increasing water charges.  OFWAT recently confirmed to a Hounslow Chronicle reporter that it would not intervene if Thames were to commit a small proportion of its own massive annual profits to honouring its statutory obligations to the neighbouring community.   Senior officers at the London Borough of Hounslow knew this, but for reasons best known to themselves chose to withhold the information from members.  Once Thames had conned the Committee with this blatant falsehood, only the ICG’s councillor on the Committee, Jon Hardy, stood firm and opposed the application.

To show their disgust at the Council’s decision, residents from the affected areas gathered outside the main entrance to Mogden in a public display of solidarity and to remind Thames Water that this issue is far from over.

Among those that attended the demonstration was ICG councillor Phil Andrews and and MRAG (Mogden Residents’ Action Group) Chairman Steve Taylor. Speaking at the event, Councillor Andrews said: “We wanted to show Thames water that they will not be allowed to get away with the kind of behaviour that was on display at the SDC meeting when they effectively misled the committee over the issue of funding.

“We felt that it was appropriate to hold our demonstration on the same day, and at the same time, as Thames Water’s long overdue Residents Liaison meeting. It is also ironic that this meeting was planned for 1^st April and so soon after the Council’s decision to allow expansion, but WE are no April fools. We will continue to fight this decision and do everything we can to ensure that the residents of the boroughs of Hounslow and Richmond do not have to suffer any more than they already do.”

At a recent meeting of the Isleworth and Brentford Area Committee, members approved funding that will benefit residents and businesses of both Isleworth and Syon wards.

The first project to receive funding was for the refurbishment of the toilets at the R.O.W.E. Community Centre, which is located on the Worton estate in Isleworth. Speaking after the meeting, Councillor Paul Fisher said: ”I am delighted that the committee has approved the grant of £5,300, which will go towards some much needed improvements to this very popular community centre”.

The second project to receive funding, totalling £22,700, was for new signage to be erected in Brentford High Street, which is in Syon ward, and will highlight many of the local businesses that trade in the area. One particular part of the High Street to benefit will be Albany Parade, where it is hoped that new signage, along with subsidised parking, will attract more customers to visit the various traders there.

I addition to the above funding, a further £24,000 was allocated to the Ivybridge traffic calming scheme, that was recently reported on this site.

This latest tranche of funding means that £111,000 has been allocated to projects that will benefit the residents of both Isleworth and Syon wards in the last month and reaffirms the ICG’s commitment to community engagement.

At the Isleworth and Brentford Area Committee meeting held on the 5th March 2009, a request was made by Cllr. Paul Fisher for £60,000 of funding to implement a 20mph zone on the Ivybridge Estate, which was unanimously agreed by all Councillors present.

Cllr. Fisher has been working tirelessly to procure this funding after listening to concerned residents about cars and motorbikes regularly speeding around the estate and the danger to all, especially those who reside at Kirkstone Lodge Sheltered Housing and the pupils at the Ivybridge School.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr. Fisher said: "At last we will be able to put in place measures to make the Ivybridge estate a safer place to live and visit and I cannot stress enough how pleased I am that, at long last, I have been able to secure this money after investigating all manners of funding for this scheme and in this current financial climate it has not been easy."

Half of the funding will be allocated from the local Area Committee Capital allocation and the other half from S106 monies still unspent after ten years, which Cllr Fisher and officers from Hounslow Council discovered, could be spent on the estate.

Cllr. Fisher further commented "I was absolutely gob smacked when this S106 money came to light and will be fully investigating what other money could and should have been spent in the Isleworth area over the years. I am convinced there is a possibility of much more that we can use to make this an even better place for all of us to live and I shudder to think what other worthy schemes may have been missed because, for whatever reason, we have not been informed.

I can assure all Isleworth residents that I will fight tooth and nail with my Community Group colleagues to make sure any outstanding monies are spent in Isleworth and not returned to developers having not been used."

Cllr. Fisher is now meeting with Hounslow Homes and a Hounslow Council Traffic Officer on Friday 13th March in an attempt to implement this 20mph scheme as soon as possible and will be reporting to the Residents Association every step of the way to keep them fully informed.

Ivybridge residents will also be pleased to know that the recent temporary traffic order put in place on Rugby match days, instigated by the Residents Association, Hounslow Homes and Cllr Fisher, is now to become permanent after the overwhelming success in preventing limousines and mini-buses etc clogging up the estate roads rather then paying a parking fee elsewhere.