Cllr Greenhalgh at Quiz The Leaders event. (Hammersmith and Fulham Liberal Democrats)

Hammersmith and Fulham Liberal Democrats <info@hflibdems.org.uk>

Cllr Greenhalgh at Quiz The Leaders event.

November 22, 2009 9:22 PM

The Council's Quiz The Leaders event on 10 November was attended by nearly 200 people attracted by the opportunity to question Council Leader Stephen Greenhalgh, and a panel of service providers, chaired by local resident John Humphrys. H&F Liberal Democrat Chair Henrietta Bewley was able to question Cllr. Greenhalgh on lessons which might have been learned from the Goldhawk Estate controversy, but did not get any constructive answer.

The other panel members included the representatives from the police, fire services, Health, TfL and H&F Homes, but most of the controversial questions were directed to Cllr Greenhalgh, who is to be commended for inviting such a combative Chairman but who looked visibly strained by the end of the evening. Mr Humphrys was unable to forget his Today persona and intervened repeatedly to press him on the difficult questions.

Merlene Emerson (the Lib Dem's Parliamentary spokesperson for Hammersmith) asked to justify the very low numbers of affordable homes in the Council's core strategy. Cllr Greenhalgh considers that there is sufficient social rented housing in the borough and that what is needed is intermediate housing. He wondered whether social rented housing should continue to have the security of tenure that tenants currently enjoy.

Cllr. Greenhalgh insisted that estates in Hammersmith would not be demolished until alternative homes were available for their residents, but was unable to reassure the audience that he and his colleagues did not have plans to do so. "Every council in London talks to developers" he said. Asked by one audience member for a "legally binding guarantee that we will be allocated homes we want and can afford" Mr Greenhalgh evaded the question. There was also a worrying discrepancy in perception of quality of life on the White City Estate between one questioner and the representative of H&F Homes, who lives on the same estate.

Cllr Greenhalgh also batted off a question about threats to North End Road market, but again his reply did not inspire confidence that the Council would give priority to protecting the historic market.

Questioned about the highly controversial permission for the demolition of the Goldhawk Industrial Estate, which the Chairman had become personally involved in, Mr Greenhalgh admitted that lessons had to be learnt, though he was unable to say how they would affect future planning applications, including the Stowe Road Depot scheme. Asked by the Brackenbury Residents Association whether the council would consider appointing a Design Champion, he seemed under the illusion that the borough already had one.

A range of other subjects were raised by residents but the greatest enthusiasm was generated by a (lengthy) debate about cycling, with the audience (excepting your correspondent, apparently the only non-cycling Lib Dem in H&F) polarised over whether cyclists needed more support and protection on the roads or whether pedestrians needed to be protected from the cyclists.