These characteristics were on public display at last weeks' Brentford and Isleworth Area Committee which met to consider the football club's planning application on Griffin Park.
The Committee seemed to be more concerned with the outcome of next week's local Council Elections and the make-up of the subsequent Sustainable Development Committee, rather than the merits of the case, as a result the members are continuing to play "pass the parcel".
Some members seem to want continue the "cosy" existence of Brentford FC at Griffin Park. With no heed to the realism that football clubs need to find new ways of paying their way and turn their stadiums into community assets and more profitable resources.
In order for Brentford FC just to tread water at Griffin Park there would have to be a dramatic intensification in the use of their stadium. Brentford FC already have London Broncos as a summer tenant, it must be questionable whether the club would continue with its high level of local support in the light of such increase in activity.
Other Councillors and planners, quite rightly, insist that any application for a change of use of Griffin Park should be linked to agreement towards the development of a new site elsewhere in the Borough. This has always, and remains to be, the view of ABeeC and BIAS (Brentford Independent Association of Supporters). We would question, however, why it is that the ruling Labour Council have been so obstructive in the past to working with the football club in identifying such a new site.
From the abandoned Western International Market project through to the fiasco that is Feltham Arena, the Council have been characterised by inaction and a lack of political momentum. All this at a time when the ruling Labour Group promised that "Every effort will have been made to develop a 25,000-seat multi-purpose stadium in the Borough": ABeeC would remind the Council that they now only have a week remaining to honour that pledge.
There is every prospect that Brentford FC will soon be in the hands of a "not for profit" trust, in effect the club will be owned by its supporters. We would hope that in the light of this, there could be a more constructive relationship between the football club and Hounslow Council to secure the club's future.
With the impending demise of ITV Digital threatening the already fragile finances at the football club, the future of Brentford FC hangs in the balance. The Council elected, next week, to serve the people of Hounslow will have a number of priorities: not least to continue delivering vital public services, we would implore them that a thorough review of leisure and recreational facilities, and how this can be linked to the future of Brentford FC, is very near the top of their priorities.