Liane Pibworth Wants Your Vote

Voting Wards in LBHF

Tomorrow is election day, and this year Liane Pibworth, whose experience becoming homeless with two young children means she knows more than most about the strengths and weakness of local government, is running for office in Shepherd's Bush Ward. We asked her a few questions about what she thinks is right, and wrong, in our Borough, and how she would try to go about fixing it.

Why are you running for office this year?
My journey towards this political arena has been forged though injustice and oppression, particularly when I and my children became homeless through no fault of our own.

We were unlawfully denied a duty of housing by the current council, and became street homeless for 8 weeks - and my baby slept in my suitcase.

We then suffered the consequences of homelessness in many ways, but in terms of access to education through local schools, seemed "locked out", we found ourselves in very precarious situations outside, and within the Borough.

I could say that this could well have been the darkest hour of my life, but I feel as though good will always triumph in the end, and through these trenches of life, I was able to get a fuller insight, of something most people (thankfully) only read about in the newspapers or view through statistics. I began by getting to know all the local homeless mothers and their children and came face to face with all of their sufferings, woes, and afflictions and became outraged by what they were facing - seemingly alone and abandoned by the very people that were being paid to support them. 

I began to fight for them, on their behalf because I cared deeply and genuinely and did everything I could to kick up a fuss. i was even more horrified by the lack of action on scandalous issues from the council. Essentially, I was all-ready carrying out the duties of a ward councillor faithfully without realising it, the passion for justice drove me - nothing else!

I then set up a women's ministry that sought to reach out and protect vulnerable women and children whose family life seemed to be hanging on by a thread, to the point of involvement from government agencies where the risk of separation of mother from child ran very high. I then began to meet with other social justice advocates, and groups and got invited to parliamentary events and meetings, and I started to have chats about some of my concerns, with different parliamentarians. I was soon invited by several political parties to join them and campaign for the issues that laid heavy on my heart, and so I finally felt that the natural choice for me to be able to go forward, was the current Conservative party right here in my beloved borough.  It seemed to dawn on me that my calling was in this area, and for this precise time, and I knew I needed to go with the flow of others ushering me, to serve others from this new platform.

I wanted to give back my time and honour to the person from the party who reached out to me to help my family leave homelessness behind, and who secured the stability of a warm home complete with hot water and windows for us: Councillor Harry Phibbs.

I really believe Councillor Joe Carlebach is the man for the job for meeting the Borough at its point in need, and leading us all forward towards safer, cleaner, greener streets, business prosperity, upgrades in living standards, and higher levels of scrutiny for social housing tenants. He's got a heart of gold towards vulnerable people, plus is a trustworthy family man. The heart of a father can often be seen at school sports day in the dads race! I'm sure he's the kind of dad that competes for his children's childhood memories, and that gets my vote.

I love all the values held dear by the Conservatives, such as clean streets, free from dumped trash. In some cities across the world, clean streets literally means having a street cleaning vehicle wash the pavements of grime, and gum every other night, leaving gleaming slabs somebody worked very hard to lay. We enjoy a vast amount of food restaurants here in the ward, plus the Theatre, the Green, the Fashion School, and many other great hubs - all fully deserving of being able to enjoy top notch sanitation on their streets.

I am not a politician. I am a mother, a woman, a friend, a fighter, a survivor and I am for people, not league tables, or statistics. This is why I am running for an office; because I care, and whether or not I get elected, I will continue to fight for people from an invisible realm, or from an established office under the wing of H&F Tory.


2. What are the issues that face our ward in particular?

The issues that face our ward, seem to be, and from listening to the people who live here: fly tipping. This is very high on the agenda - everyone's agenda across the wealth divide - no one wants to live like that because there are many families living here with young children who all want the best for their precious children. elderly, wheelchair users, sight impaired, business's. we all want to feel proud of the place we live in, and London is a global city, many, can only dream of living here, so I feel very blessed to be from a long line of family all born and raised here since 1890.  I feel a duty to pursue the high standards attributed to us from afar. 

Crime is also on the increase rapidly in the Borough and many people feel afraid dreadfully. I was horrified to witness a child being physically assaulted by a restaurant security guard earlier this year but relieved by the changes that have since been made to strategically change violent culture on the street, these strategic intelligences, and watches, are what will improve street safety for us all, and I am very assured working alongside my team Simon Hewitt and Charlotte Duthie - these guys are Shepherds Bush finest. we can all look forward to great things to come should we be elected.

Housing, low standards, disrepair, overcrowding, and the treatment of contempt for social housing tenants is high on my agenda, but is heavily carried by people without a home, and I personally want to tackle the failing standards families - those with young children especially - have to live with. Ten affordable houses have been built in one year, this past year, which is absolutely unacceptable. People need homes and it is soul destroying for any borough to host poor souls sleeping on the floor! Families facing overcrowding puts unbearable strain on quality of life, especially for youth, at their critical time of setting the blueprints for how their lives will map out in the future. This generation needs space to grow, think, relax, learn, and feel safe. All of our futures depend on the youth of today, so we need to honour them with better quality homes, more opportunities and local initiatives allowed to blossom straight from their minds and hearts. Mothers need as much support as we can give to them - after all what can be more important than raising a human being? Life is precious beyond imagination and a safe home is second to that!

What is the current Labour-controlled council getting right - and wrong?
The Labour administration has to end. I feel they are driving the Borough into a dry barren desert place, and quality of life is diminishing, especially for the children. Crime is rising, and there is more stress on our streets now because we are all suffering the bad fruit of the work they are doing, but I will say this in their defence: "success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm" - The Great Man [Editor's note: Winston Churchill].

What will you do to change things?

I will do everything in my "power" in line with the serenity saying; to change what I can, for individual people's lives. I want to take the mandate from the people and not enforce what I want to do, but rather work for the needs of the locals, whatever they may be. I want to support Charlotte Duthie source and plant more trees along the most polluted streets, Simon wants to tackle the fly tipping mentality, and I want to work towards moulding shepherds bush into a wonderful place to raise families, with more outstanding schools, less air pollution, calmer, safer streets but effervescent and vibrant atmospheres for traders.

My vision is to see more organic and health food shops spring to life, I'd love more socially aware coffee shops to arise that give back to the neighbourhood, acts of random kindness to sky rocket, and I really want to put a stop to our throw away culture and take a leaf from our neighbours book in Denmark, Switzerland, and Sweden where almost no rubbish is thrown away each week, and everything is creatively recycled. I want our amazing refuse collectors to refuse point blank to take away copious amounts of bags each week that are shamelessly buried into the earth. I am truly sorry for the wrongs of this party people may feel that previous leaders have let them down, and I hope the Borough has learnt from its mistakes of the past, but I am confident of this; that the new team, plus the asset of leader Joe Carlebach, we are set to go from strength to strength should the locals give us a chance to set right, the wrongs and put their trust in us once again. Please do.

The Shepherd's Bush Blog offers a personal view on life in Shepherd's Bush. If you would like to contribute a story about our neighbourhood, email us at shepherdsbushblog(at)gmail.com.