MP Joins Station Gardens Pavement Battle

Calls on Council to put right 'ill-considered and poorly executed work'

Following a meeting with residents in Chiswick earlier this month, local MP, Mary Macleod has joined their battle to have paving slabs restored to their road in place of recently laid asphalt.

She has criticised the impact of 'ill-considered and poorly executed work' carried out by Hounslow Council’s contractors on the pavements of Station Gardens.

Station Garden’s existing paving slabs were ripped out six months ago and replaced with asphalt paths. The road surrounded by streets that are within conservation areas whose historic pavements are being replaced, like-for-like, with new paving slabs. Hounslow Council had previously assured Chiswick Councillors that streets abutting or wedged between conservation areas would be treated as “heritage fringe” and would not have their existing pavements removed and replaced with asphalt.

Residents claim that the work done in Station Gardens is of a poor standard. The new asphalt path has been constructed at a higher level than the pavement it replaced. As a result the contractors have had to build cement mini-ramps to ease residents’ access from their garden paths on to the new path. According to people in the area these ramps are already cracking and many will not survive a hard frost. They say surface of the new paths is uneven and rain water sits in large pools that will freeze in winter-time conditions and present residents with a slip hazard.

Residents also say there are numerous other examples of poor workmanship from existing kerb stones being replaced with new kerbs that were cracked and damaged before they were laid, and that contractors refused to realign a grass verge on a tight corner that council waste recycling vehicles drive across three times a week leaving a deep trench and mud on the road.

Mary Macleod with Councillors Sam Hearn, Felicity Barwood and Station Gardens residents

It is claimed that the changes were carried out without any proper consultation and that Hounslow Council's response to complaints has been inadequate. A petition to the Council signed by 128 residents of Station Gardens and neighbouring streets to have the appalling asphalt removed and replaced with proper paving like that used in all the surrounding streets has been rejected.

Mary Macleod said: ‘Hounslow Highways has done a terrible job at Station Gardens. The investments into roads and pavements across the Borough from the PFI contract were meant to improve the local street scene. On this street the local infrastructure has actually been degraded. It is important that the Council treats everyone equally. The residents of Station Gardens are proud of where they live and they do not deserve to be on the receiving end of second rate work by the Council. I urge the Council to replace the tarmac on Station Gardens with paving, like that used on every other street in Grove Park, before the frost and snow arrives and the conditions of the street are made even more dangerous.’

Station Gardens before the changes

Station Gardens now

We asked Hounslow Council for a comment on the matter of Stations Gardens but have yet to receive a reply.

December 23, 2013