Call to Stop 'Wild West Corridor' Developing Into Chiswick

'Sky's the limit' for developers on Golden Mile without proper planning policies

A warning that a 'Wild West' corridor could develop along the Great West Road into Chiswick, with 'cowboy developers' taking the law into their own hands, has been made by a local residents' group, as Hounslow Council prepares to start a public consultation on a detailed plan for the 'Golden Mile'.

The West Chiswick and Gunnersbury Society (WCGS) has called on local residents to become more aware of large schemes being proposed for their areas, saying that 'developers are here today and gone tomorrow unlike the established resident communities who have to live with the consequences'.

Tricorn tower planned for Chiswick roundabout

A number of high-rise schemes are planned for areas close to Chiswick, which will have a huge local impact, particularly the Lionel Road Stadium and its enabling residential development. A 32-storey 'tri-corn' building at Chiswick roundabout and other developments at Capital Interchange Way and the B and Q site are also on the horizon. Within Chiswick, local groups continue to campaign against the Lend Lease development at Empire House and Essex place.

Hounslow Council is about to launch the initial public consultation on the Great West Corridor plan review which it says will provide a "vision for change within the area (Osterley, Brentford and Chiswick) over the next fifteen years. Further information is available in a Great West Corridor Plan position statement

This review is partly to settle locally controversial issues such as the provision of adequate transport and other infrastructural pressures placed on an area because of the large-scale residential developments proposed and much taller buildings. The Hounslow Local Plan was formally adopted last September.

WCGS, on behalf of the G15+ consortium of resident groups, has been holding talks with the Council’s planning policy team and has made several proposals, emphasising the need for wide consultation and publicity. It has also recommended that public meetings be held in both Brentford and Chiswick to explain the purpose and process of the partial review and how residents can get involved.

The Golden Mile area earmarked for development

"We don’t want a Wild West corridor — a lawless area where, in the absence of policy, cowboy developers take the planning reins into their own hands, riding roughshod over the above issues and others such as air quality —and building like the sky’s the limit," said WCGS chairman Marie Rabouhans.

She said it was very important that residents get involved in local planning issues, and pointed out that during the Public Examination of the draft Local Plan earlier this year, residents had raised a number of concerns. Subsequently the Inspector had ordered a number of changes in his Report.

December 9, 2015