Weekly Update From Councillor Guy Lambert

Thursday, and Thursday, and Thursday, creeps in this petty pace

No need to shout 'Help' when getting the vaccine

On Friday I spent the whole day – with some interludes – on the interview panel for Non Exec Directors of Lampton companies. As before, some really impressive CVs and most of them were as impressive in the flesh – well, the virtual flesh – as on paper. After a weekend’s break I was back on the same treadmill on Monday with a similar experience. Probably just one further session of these next Monday then we can return to normal service. I won’t say normal life, because that will take a little longer, or perhaps a lot longer, who knows.

But this prompts me to mention some bright news. Out on my bike on Thursday my phone rang. Not a number I recognised so I assumed casework and would ring back or pick up voicemail when I got home. I actually hate voicemail and sometimes put it off, which is very naughty of me and not at all like the Melvinator who is excellent at picking it up. Anyway I steeled myself and picked it up, and it turned out to be ‘Hello, this is your doctor’s surgery, we’d like you to come for a VACCINATION please ring to organise’. Wow, and me a mere stripling, barely out of my teens and definitely not over 80 or even 70. Suffice to say, I would have bitten the receptionist’s hand off had that been feasible over the phone, and I arranged a time for Sunday at Fisher’s Lane health centre in Chiswick, where lurks my GP.

Turned up on Sunday and was duly Pfizered. Everything was extremely efficient, smooth and friendly as is my common experience with the NHS. No emergencies, and no need to shout HELP, which was a mercy as through my mask it would have come out as ‘Shhellphsh’.

Back to reality, in the middle of all those interviews I had an update from officers on the various waste projects we are progressing. The waste world is all over the place at the moment: residual waste, ie what goes in a wheelie bin, is stable. It is all incinerated and costs us a predictable £120-£130 per tonne. Food and green waste is also fairly predictable: we have to pay for it to be recycled (into gas and compost for food waste, just compost for green waste) but it is a small fraction of the cost of incineration as well as being a lot greener. But the true recycling market is terribly unpredictable. Our plastics, which are recycled in the UK, are fetching 1/3 of the price they were a year ago whilst textiles, which were in a lot of demand before the pandemic, you cannot give away at the moment. Our big push remains food waste because this is heavy and somewhere we think we (and residents) can make a big difference.

In the evening we had a rehearsal for the Area Forum which happens on Thursday evening at 5.30 (link to watch is here)

Tuesday was another Lampton-y day with my regular update with the Chair in the morning and then a ‘deep dive’ into the plans for Lampton Leisure, which is busily preparing its strategy and business plan. If I could take a slice of the enthusiasm shown by the team at Lampton Leisure and eat it up, I would put on weight even faster than I am during this gym-free lockdown. I think we’re going to see a really great improvement in our leisure services – in the centres and elsewhere – if we are ever able to reopen and it’s really encouraging to hear how closely we’re engaging with the NHS and Public Health, because the point of the leisure service, as well as providing fun and support for competitive sport, is to help us all live more healthily.

In the evening, a Trustees meeting for the FoodBox, which we hadn’t had for a while. Volumes of work are still very high and we are operating 100% delivery service during the lockdown to avoid people coming to the centre. The FoodBox is working closely and apparently very well with the Council’s Community Hub and we are still getting generous donations of food and money, and even more importantly donations of time from our incomparable team of volunteers. Us trustees want to be more involved in providing the service and I hope to be doing a day’s work shortly!

Wednesday was meeting free until the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in the evening. I spent some time doing the rounds of the ward, and in particular having a look at one or two issues that had been raised with me about waste and recycling. We are busy refreshing the recycling facilities on some of our council estates and by chance I happened upon a team from Coalo installing these handsome (?) bin housings on the Haverfield estate. The Melvinator (and I agree with him) wants local schools to add some art to these to make them more handsome still, and perhaps a bit more friendly-looking.

Overview and Scrutiny was having its annual look at the council budget and had asked a lot of probing questions. I was able to help with filling out some of the answers on Waste and on leisure services with my inspiring session with Lampton Leisure fresh in my mind!

So we’re round to Thursday again. Thursday, and Thursday, and Thursday, Creeps in this petty pace from week to week, To the last syllable of the current council administration; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to the next council election. Out, out, brief candle! Or perhaps I shall try to relight the candle in the new Brentford West ward (only just East of Brentford) or Brentford East, or somewhere else. Subject, of course, to me being assessed as a worthy candidate by the Labour party, my fellow members supporting me to be their candidate, and most importantly the residents wanting more councilloring from me. Sorry William S, but sometimes a man feels compelled to follow his stream of consciousness.

More Lamptoning today with a deep dive into our Property and Investment companies’ plans and a deep dive into the community services companies (Ie Recycle, Greenspace and Coalo) later in the day.

Then IBAF in the evening. I hope to see you there, even if the technology won’t let me see you. I can let my imagination run free – a sea of Brentford faces hanging on every word or more likely dozing over their tea and crumpet. Perhaps our next IBAF will involve real flesh, here’s hoping.

Oh, and shepherds were extremely delighted last night, though it didn’t altogether translate into today.

Cllr Guy Lambert

February 5, 2021