Protected Status Announced For Chiswick High Road
Hounslow Council has designated Heathfield Terrace to Chiswick Lane a conservation area
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Part of Chiswick has been given protection from "inappropriate future development" after Hounslow Council designated it as a conservation area.
The decision to declare a conservation area recognising the historic importance of the late 19th and early 20th century commercial development that grew up along Chiswick High Road and surrounding spur roads, was taken at the Council Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 21 July. It follows a public consultation on the issue which ended in June.
The new conservation area lies immediately adjacent to Turnham Green Conservation Area. The area has been drawn tightly around the commercial development of the late 19th century in the area.
Hounslow Council said: "The Chiswick High Road Conservation Area has been given the protected status in recognition of its historic value as a rare example of a boom town that sprung up in the late Victorian era and includes several listed and locally listed buildings, including the Packhorse and Talbot pub.
Important characteristics of the conservation area include a strong and consistent parapet line, high-quality detailing and use of materials.
The new status means “sympathetic” changes can still be made by property owners and new development will be required to conserve or enhance the area. Demolition of a building within the conservation area would require planning permission.
The move follows a consultation with people living or working within the conservation area and took effect immediately the decision was made by councillors.
Hounslow Council Leader Councillor Steve Curran said: “It must always be our intention to protect areas like this from inappropriate development and this is an important architectural, cultural and historic part of the borough."
Looking west along CHR circa 1901 (image LBH)
The Council had hurriedly designated CHR as a Conservation Area in August 2014 following an application by a developer to demolish the Packhorse & Talbot public house. But as part of a judgement in a judicial review (taken by the developer against LBH), the Council was told the previous consultation period for designation of the area as a CA was not sufficient and it had to start the process again.
The special interest of the Chiswick High Road Conservation Area lies primarily in its development as a shopping street in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the survival of the buildings from this age. It is distinct from the two adjacent conservation areas as Turnham Green which focuses on the earlier settlement in and around the Green, and Bedford Park which concentrates on the comprehensive development of the residential suburb.
The new conservation area has been a possibility since 2001, when it was first raised as a possible westward extension along the High Road of the existing Turnham Green conservation area The council is proposing the new conservation area as a distinct and different area due to its differing character, reflecting the commercial development that grew up along the High Road in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Chiswick High Road Conservation Area
Area covered by proposed conservation area marked in bold
The area covered will include buildings along the High Road from east of Heathfield Terrace until Chiswick Lane and the parts of Turnham Green Terrace and Devonshire Road closest to the High Road.
July 23, 2015