My first press release within my new portfolio

Here it is.

Moves within the Executive

The Leader of the Council has reshuffled some of the portfolios on the Executive.  Until a couple of weeks ago, my email signature outlined my portfolio as follows:

“Councillor Mark Bowen
Feltham North Councillor and Deputy Leader of Hounslow Council
Lead Member responsibility for Complaints Management, Customer Services, ICT, Housing Strategy, Housing Allocation & Private Sector Housing”

My signature now reads:

“Councillor Mark Bowen
Feltham North Councillor and Deputy Leader of Hounslow Council
Lead Member responsibility for Corporate Services including Complaints Management, Customer Services, ICT, Emergency Planning, Legal Services, Democratic Services & Human Resources”

This is a major change for me.  Obviously, I will miss not having the Housing Responsibilities as Housing casework has formed a large proportion of my ward duties since I became a Councillor in 2002.  This, in part, probably explains why I am so interested in that area.  However, Housing remains in good hands, with an excellent Officer team at the Council and of course all housing matters will now come under my good friend and colleague, Phil Andrews.  He is passionate about Housing and will more than build on his impressive record thus far - he showed real and decisive leadership and vision during the review of Hounslow Homes.  I will continue to be a member of the Tenants and Leaseholder Consultative Committee and the Affordable Housing Panel so I will still play a part in future improvements.

I have had a think about what has been achieved in Housing during the past couple of years, along with what remains to be done.  I would list some of the achievements as follows:

• Amended the Council’s allocation policy giving existing overcrowded tenants a better chance of family housing (3 bedroom plus) than was previously the case.
• Major Investments in Council Owned Housing that sit within the General Fund and not the Housing Revenue Account.  I recall Robert Kinghorn, who is sadly no longer with us, having a frustrating time campaigning on this when we were in opposition.
• We have brought other empty Council-owned dwellings back into use as high quality housing for local families.  Eleven of these are in Isleworth.
• Good use of housing grants.  I spent one Friday shadowing members of the Private Sector Housing team and I saw for myself the huge difference that these investments made in the lives of some of our residents.  This is quite often a win-win situation because it enables more people to remain in their home.
• Increase in the profile of Enforcement and Prosecution.  As is the case, with the planning enforcement area, prosecutions are a last resort.  But we have shown that we do mean business when we say we want high standards in housing.  Last year, we made clear what our enforcement policy is.  I have announced a number of prosecutions in the Chamber.
• Generally, we have given the private sector a higher profile than ever before.  I see the private sector as part of the solution and various reports have demonstrated that.  We launched a Private Sector Strategy.
• The London Borough of Hounslow is a Council others will be watching in the future in respect of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs).  A report has been approved on applying for additional licensing in five ward, including Feltham North, and we await a decision from the Government.  The issue is much higher up on the political agenda than it was in the past.
• We had the first Empty Dwelling Management Order (EDMO) in London, which went down very well with residents in Sunningdale Avenue, Hanworth as it removed an eyesore and brought a much needed family dwelling back into use.
• We have approved a £1 million investment to extend existing Council Housing in order to assist families who are overcrowded but are settled in a particular area.  Implementation will begin later this year and it is big news for twenty families in the Borough and it will make a real difference for them.
  We have made some very good progress in reducing the amount of people living within our Temporary Accommodation portfolio.  The target to reduce this by 50% by 2010 is very challenging but we are working hard towards it.
• We held a Low-cost Home Ownership event last year which was attended by around 700 households.  It was a moving occasion for me as I met so many decent and aspiration people who want to succeed.  I really wish these people all the best and hope that their dreams become reality.
• We are in a much stronger postion at a sub-regional (West London) level than we were previously.  We have been at the table making a difference.  We got a much better deal for Hounslow in the allocation of new build housing that is funded in West London by the Housing Corporation.  We do not import as many households from other Borough as we once did.

Section 3 of the recent Annual Report of the Affordable Housing Panel refers to some of the above and makes it clear that there is still much to be done.  I have not included information about every piece of work but wanted to pen down some highlights.

It has not been without difficult decisions e.g. rent increases for those working families living with Temporary Accommodation but big progress has been made in this area.

Certainly my work was not complete in seeing through the work on HMOs or in persuading enough working families within Temporary Accommodation to go into Low Cost Home Ownership but the foundations are laid and the whole area is in very good hands.

This change in portfolio is the right thing to do.  We have gained a lot in having two Lead Members for Housing but now is the time for one person to run with it.

I am now responsible for the new Corporate Services Directorate.  One of the key deliverables of this area is to build, and take to the next level, the work that has been done during the Performance Improvement Programme.  Not in a Generation should there be a need for a programme of this size at the Council again.  We must continue to embed strong business-like processes across the Council that will truly deliver service improvement and value for money.

I continue with Information Technology (IT), Complaints and Customer Services.  IT is crucial to any organisation and we need to get the best of out of technology in the future.  There has been a massive turnaround in Complaints Management and I am confident that we will build on that in the next year.  There is no reason why we cannot end up with the best and most effective Complaints Management record in London in the future.

Other areas are new to me and will be a real challenge, particularly Human Resources, Legal Services and Emergency Planning.  I have a meeting with the latter first thing this morning.

I am really proud to be part of this Executive and about what has been achieved during the past couple of years.

The minutes from the April Borough Council

The minutes from the above are well worth reading.

I am keen to emphasise items 8 & 9.  With regards to the first, the answer to the question from Cllr Barwood highlights a massive turnaround.  There are planning rules that need to be followed and enforcement notices complied with.  Taking the action referred to in the answer from Cllr Reid is a last resort.

As for the answer to the question from Cllr Harris, anyone who made the claims of a million pounds want to admit that they were mistaken?

A Politics-free weekend

Until now, as I have some emails to send out.

With the family away at the moment, I spent all day Saturday having fun at the London Welsh Centre.  In the evening, I was in Osterley at the Indian Gymkhana for a Charity event organised by Arti and Jorti Bhanderi, both whom are daughters of the late Premila Bhanderi.  The event raised money for various Cancer charities.  A wonderful time was had by all.  There are not many people I have come across who had the popularity of Premila.  Everyone there clearly still miss her.

Some out and about in Feltham North

Went for a walk the other day and took a picture of the side of the Londis Shop in Hounslow Road (near Feltham Park).  It had become a graffiti hotspot and a combination of the Council and the police took some action and it now looks much better.

Please do let me know if there are any other graffiti hotspots of concern to you.

Here is how he voted!

News BBC lists the Labour MPs who did not support the Government.
As you will see from Hansard, Alan Keen MP voted with the Government.

42 days - where do I stand?

There is a lot out there in the blogosphere about the Terror Bill and many have commented on this.  Were I an MP, I would vote against the above.   I really struggle with the principle of locking people up for long periods without charge.

I will watch how Alan Keen MP votes.  I suspect he will vote with the Government.

Climate Change Bill

There was a very interesting debate I caught on BBC Parliament yesterday about the above.  Andrew Tyrie MP made a very interesting contribution.  I always enjoy thought provoking contributions and I tend to welcome people who question consensus, even if that merely confirms that the consensus is sound.

Conservative Home have covered this MP’s contribution.  It is well worth reading as is his entire speech.

In terms of where I stand, I like things that are “green”, especially when there is also of an economic benefit too!  This is certainly not my area of expertise nor am I well read in the subject but I will continue to listen to both sides of the argument.

Electoral Calculus

I am not getting carried away (I never have with these) but the current polls look very good for the Conservative Party but not so good for Labour.

Electoral Calculus predicts the results of the next General Election, assuming that an election were held tomorrow and that such a swing were universal.  It is currently predicting a Conservative gain in Feltham & Heston with a majority of 0.48% - so the current indications are that this seat will be one of the hardest fought.

I know I have a lot of hard work ahead of me and I am well up for the challenge.  Clearly I am going to have to prove myself to the good residents locally.  No amount of wind or coat-tail will be strong enough on its own.

The latest from Councillor Sharma and Mr Alan Keen MP

Here is an article from the Chronicle about the former.  Make up your own mind.

And, I have finally received a response from Alan Keen MP.  More later.