Topic: | Contacting Chiswick Riverside councillors | |
Posted by: | Andy Murray | |
Date/Time: | 24/02/15 12:03:00 |
Just in case anyone needs to know how best to contact Chiswick Riverside Councillors, the place to start is here on the labyrinthine Hounslow website (www.hounslow.gov.uk): http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/index/council_and_democracy/democracy_and_elections.htm It is under 'Council and Democracy' and on clicking through you will see handy pix of all 60 Councillors, plus their contact details, phone numbers and home addresses. NB: it is not at all the done thing to harass them on their home numbers. (The exception to the above is Cllr Ed Mayne of Isleworth, who lists his address as c/o Members' Service at the Civic Centre, though he does list his mobile). You will see that Cllrs' email addresses follow the format of firstname.lastname.hounslow.gov.uk, which is true for Council employees and Officers as well. Having read Sam Hearn's weekly diary, I can see how time-consuming the job of being a Councillor can be, (when not canvassing for the incumbent MP), so it is probably unreasonable to expect an instant reply. I do also know that IT issues can be rife, and, for instance, it was a non-functioning iPad that led to the recent consultation to GP residents without Chiswick Area Forum approval, so some allowance should be made for that. In canvassing myself last year, I discovered that large swathes of those I found at home had no idea who their local Councillors were, while only 40.05% of voters subsequently came out on the day, eventually to return the incumbents. This doesn't exactly give the moral high ground to some who complain, if they were part of the 60% who didn't bother to vote. My answer is to encourage as many people as possible to attend the Chiswick Area Forum (as opposed to the online www.ChiswickW4.com Forum), where you can observe the process and the Councillors at first hand. You are also allowed to raise issues on the night. There are only 6 meetings per year, and they last around 2 and a half hours from 7:30pm on a Tuesday night at Chiswick Town Hall. Chair is Cllr Sam Hearn, Vice-Chair (and Community Champion) is Cllr John Todd, and the Agenda is published 7 working days in advance here: http://democraticservices.hounslow.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeId=574 Next meeting is TUESDAY 10th MARCH, and the one after that isn't till 02 June, into the new budget year. |