8,000 More Cars in Grove Park Feared if Road Reopening Approved

Burlington Lane is currently blocked off from the A316. Picture: Google Streetview

April 9, 2023

The controversial proposal to reopen access to Burlington Lane from the A316 is to be discussed at meeting of councillors this Tuesday (11 April).

Local councillors are saying that the move will re-introduce a ‘cut-through for commuters’ in the Grove Park area and local residents’ groups are also voicing opposition.

The borough’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) has been asked to consider the plan to abandon the hard closure of the road and introduce a school street restriction, between 8am to 9am and from 2.45pm to 3.45pm, Monday - Friday (during school term time), between its junctions with the A316 and Staveley Road.

The officer’s report recommending the scheme ruled out abandoning other restrictions in the area despite a consultation showing overwhelming local opposition, saying they had successfully reduced traffic in the area.

The plan was originally introduced as a Chief Officer Decision (COD), without any prior consultation, and was referred to the OSC by Cllr Katherine Dunne, the cabinet member with responsibility for transport, in what is widely seen as an unusual move. Normally, such decisions would be discussed and ratified by the cabinet and then sent to the OSC for further consideration. The OSC is made up of councillors not in the cabinet from both parties.

The COD is also proposing to issue a permanent traffic management order for the restriction on Staveley Road which has currently been implemented by an experimental one. This would mean it would no longer be subject to periodic review.

The rationale for the reopening of Burlington Lane is that there have been increasing reports from Grove Park residents of problems with deliveries and difficulties of access for carers. At the moment, it is impossible to access the area from the A316 during the day unless you are driving a vehicle with a residents’ exemption.

However, it is feared by local councillors and resident groups that reopening Burlington Lane would make it the primary route for vehicles seeking to cut through Grove Park to avoid congestion at Hogarth Roundabout.

“Hounslow Labour’s proposed Grove Park cut-through for commuters will see over 8,000 cars driving down Burlington Lane every day, increasing noise and air pollution for local residents in the area,” said Peter Thompson, Cllr for Chiswick Riverside and leader of Conservative group. “We hope that the committee will listen to residents and Conservative ward councillors and reject these proposed permanent schemes. Cllr Dunne needs to go back to the drawing board and find a proper solution to the traffic chaos she and other Labour councillors have caused in Chiswick.”

Jack Emsley, Conservative Councillor for Chiswick Homefields added, “I’ve had a huge number of emails from residents concerned about Labour’s proposal to direct over 8,000 cars a day down Burlington Lane, and hope the Overview and Scrutiny Committee agrees with Conservative Councillors that these proposals should be rejected.

“It’s clear that the current implementation of a barrier on Burlington Lane has not had the desired effect but reopening Burlington Lane whilst keeping other roads closed will only create new problems. We need a fair access solution which prevents cut-throughs from the A316 whilst allowing entry for visitors into Grove Park.”

The Strand on the Green Association and the Grove Park Group are arguing that other councils have found solutions to managing traffic in residential areas which don’t create the issues that the restrictions in Grove Park have done.

A consultation into the proposals received over 1,000 responses with 82% and 80% of all respondents opposed to making the trial access restrictions permanent for Staveley Road and Burlington Lane, with 10% and 9% in support.

According to a source at the council, the original plan was to force through the reopening of the road as an ‘urgency decision’ but the council’s Senior Governance Lawyer ruled this inappropriate.

Some observers believe that referral of the controversial plan to the OSC before the cabinet meeting may have been done in an attempt to give it extra legitimacy while others think that the hope is that a negative reaction to the plan, which is widely opposed in the local area, can allow it to be quietly shelved.

No residents have been allowed to address the meeting and one Conservative ward councillor has been allotted 5 minutes to speak along with the Labour representative for the ward, Amy Croft.

Previously, the OSC, which is made up of seven Labour Councillors and two Conservatives, has been highly critical of transport measures implemented in the Grove Park area but any decision it makes is purely advisory and can be ignored by the council. If the council does ignore the ruling of the OSC, councillors will still have the right to ‘call-in’ the decision for further discussion.

The members of the committee aren’t whipped, and theoretically can vote against their own party’s policy. After a previous meeting, a Labour councillor, Richard Eason lost the whip after calling on Cllr Dunne to resign because of the impact of her policies on Chiswick.

One possibility is that the OSC may recommend that any loosening of the restriction at Burlington Lane should be made through an experimental traffic order rather than a permanent one as is being currently proposed.

Hounslow Council’s cabinet is due to meet on the following Tuesday (18 April) which is when a final decision will be reached on the proposal.