"You lot come in here expecting to be waited on hand and foot while I’m trying to run a hotel!"

Those of us who are old enough to remember Fawlty Towers will recall the classic scene in which Basil ranted at his guests after they’d complained about the quality of the service.

Life at Hounslow Council can be a bit like that. One sometimes feels politicians and officers would be more comfortable were it not for service users, tenants and residents interfering and asking unscripted questions.

At a recent meeting the new Chair of Planning defiantly declared that the borough's statutory Statement of Community Involvement wasn’t a contract between the local authority and residents, before rejecting proposed amendments submitted by the Group of 15+, a powerful alliance of local residents’ associations and community groups, which would have given it real meaning.

The rationale of the SCI is, of course, that it is precisely that. But Hounslow’s insecure ruling Labour Group instinctively regards legislation designed to promote community engagement as a challenge to be overcome, by Double-Speak and sleight of hand, rather than an opportunity to be embraced, and so the amendment was buried and the SCI itself waffled out of existence.

Meanwhile Council officers have been instructed that they shouldn’t continue to meet with representatives of G15+, on the hilarious pretence that other (unnamed) residents’ groups are complaining that it receives too much attention!  Instead a Council-controlled forum is to be established, through which all dialogue between the Civic Centre and residents’ groups must henceforth be channelled.

Recently it was revealed that the Hounslow Federation of Tenants’ and Residents’ Associations was to have its funding withdrawn.  HFTRA represents tenants and leaseholders from 24,000 local authority dwellings.

In Brentford and Isleworth residents took things into their own hands when the possible closure of our libraries and a major community centre was considered under the cover provided by the government’s austerity programme.  Locals in their droves squeezed into Brentford Library for a protest addressed by former newscaster Anna Ford and actress Susan Penhaligon. In Isleworth we marched in great numbers.  All these facilities remain open – for now.

When residents blighted by Thames Water’s wilful mismanagement of its Mogden sewage plant independently launched a High Court action against Thames they were denounced by a sulking local authority as “going off half cocked". Some 1,400 residents were successful and received substantial compensation.

It is clear the struggle for the soul of our borough is not a traditional political conflict between left and right, but in fact a quarrel over something far more fundamental. It is about whether we elect a Council that regards itself as the source of all enlightenment and the communities that comprise our borough as an inconvenience and a nuisance, or embrace the true spirit of localism and democracy as opposed to just paying it lip service.