Say claims by Cllr Jo Biddolph put local businesses at risk
Much of Turnham Green Terrace is currently single storey
The three Labour candidates contesting the Chiswick Gunnersbury ward have angrily denied that there are any plans for a major redevelopment of Turnham Green Terrace.
In her latest weekly update published on this site Cllr Jo Biddolph claimed that the Labour administration in Hounslow wanted to see the line of single storey shops on the western side of the Terrace demolished and replaced with a line of taller building providing ‘trademark shoebox sized flats.’
Cllr Biddolph has been asked if she has any further evidence to back her claim.
She further alleges that the closure of Turnham Green Terrace to through traffic could be reintroduced quoting Cllr Hanif Khan as saying that Turnham Green Terrace would “have to be revisited in the future.” Cllr Khan had responsibility for transport at Hounslow Council when the now abandoned restrictions on Turnham Green Terrace were introduced.
Cllr Khan, as well as the two other Labour candidates for Chiswick Gunnersbury ward, Uday Nagaraju and Emma Yates have issued a statement saying, "This is a lie; Labour has no plans to demolish the single storey shops on Turnham Green Terrace. But lies have consequences. They make it harder for businesses to obtain loans and to negotiate leases with landlords. Careless talk kills businesses.
“Cllr Biddolph's obsession with remaining a Councillor means that she will make comments which could cost the lives of businesses on Turnham Green Terrace.
“We call on Cllr Biddolph to stop scaremongering for party political purposes.”
They also point out that planning directives in the London Plan prevent developers using the regular planning process to build 'shoebox flats' but changes to the rules by the Conservative government has allowed shops and offices to be converted under 'permitted development' to smaller unit sizes. They challenged Cllr Biddolph to name a development approved by Hounslow Council which had ‘shoe-box’ sized flats and called on her to urge the government to end the ‘scandal’ of permitted development.
Cllr Biddolph says that the idea of redeveloping Turnham Green Terrace has been raised in workshops about the future of the area and vehemently dismissed any suggestion that she was undermining local shops.
She said, "It isn’t me who is putting local businesses at risk. I’m not cabinet member for transport and traffic; Cllr Khan is. It is Cllr Khan who was ultimately responsible for the disastrous closures of Turnham Green Terrace and Devonshire Road; changes to Duke Road and Dukes Avenue; the South Chiswick (un)Liveable Neighbourhood; and the agreement with Ealing council to close Fishers Lane - all of which were imposed on Chiswick under his watch. The imposition of the so-called experimental cycle lane C9T (T for temporary which we all know is a myth) is his responsibility, too, as are the experimental changes being implemented right now to try to make it workable and safe but without any evidence that the modifications will work.
"In contrast, it was me through the Chiswick Shops Task Force, who has stuck up for local businesses and campaigned visibly and determinedly to get Turnham Green Terrace re-opened. After the concrete planters and barriers were removed and I walked along the road, business owners tooted their car horns at me and gave me thumbs up signals from inside their shops; others have thanked me since."
She accused Cllr Khan of having an 'anti-car obsession' and pledged, along with her two fellow Conservative candidates in Chiswick Gunnersbury to put residents at the heart of local decision-making, review controversial LTNs and work with TfL to reform and improve safer cycling infrastructure.
Cllr Biddolph was earlier criticised by her opponents for suggesting that Chiswick residents were more likely to report issues such as fly tipping and graffiti in the borough. The Labour candidates described this as ‘factually inaccurate’ and ‘insulting’ pointing to data on the FixMyStreet app which showed that reports in other parts of the borough were as high as in Chiswick.
She said, "Cllr Khan knows that a snapshot of data only records what has been reported during that snapshot and not what remains on the borough's streets, unreported. As Conservative councillor for Feltham North Kuldeep Tak said in response to Cllr Khan, 'We don’t want to live in filthy streets but we have to put up with them'."
A full list of candidates across the borough is available here.
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April 22, 2022
