More Access for Carers Proposed in Grove Park

Cllr Dunne explains her revised proposals to the meeting. Picture: YouTube

April 19, 2023

A meeting of Hounslow Council’s cabinet this Tuesday evening (18 April) has accepted a recommendation that a proposal to reopen access at Burlington Lane should be abandoned.

Instead, councillors voted to accept a series of recommendations form Cllr Katherine Dunne, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Climate, Environment and Transport Strategy, for measures that would enable better access to the Grove Park area for carers and improved awareness of the schemes.

A week earlier the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) had rejected a Chief Officer Decision (COD) to reopen access from Burlington Lane from the A316 and impose school street restrictions on the road instead. This had been proposed following complaints about difficulties that visitors including carers, delivery drivers and taxis were having in accessing the area. Most residents are exempt from restrictions on Staveley Road and Hartington Road but, unlike a scheme in Hammersmith & Fulham, it is not possible to gain access for visitors.

After the chair of the reported back, saying that his committee had determined that reopening Burlington Lane would create a rat run, Cllr Dunne conceded that the proposal should be abandoned and instead the council would proceed with issuing permanent Traffic Management Orders for both the Staveley Road and Burlington Lane restrictions.

She continued that, despite calls from local resident groups, she was unwilling to consider a visitor permit scheme. However, she proposed the extension of exemption to all carers working in the area irrespective of whether they hold residential parking permits. In addition, it is planned to align council’s approach for carers and district nurses and review the method for granting parking permits.

She contended that it remained possible to drive to any part of the area and therefore was proposing to send a letter in the near future to all residents including a map outlining the restrictions, some ‘mythbusting’ about the measures and frequently asked questions.

In addition, to tackle rising complaints about speeding in the area, more vehicle activated signs are to be installed in consultation with local resident groups as well as formally asking the Metropolitan Police to engage with the community over ways to tackle the problem. It was pointed out that it was the police not the council that was responsible for the enforcement of speed limits. The council would be looking at road markings to see if any needed renewing.

Cllr Dunne also said that there would be a signage audit at junctions with the A316 as the level of Penalty Charge Notices issued remained high. This, she pointed out, had been a recommendation of the COD. Signs highlighting exemptions for Black Cabs are also going to be added.

Peter Thompson, the Chiswick Riverside councillor and leader of the opposition, addressed the meeting next and broadly welcomed Cllr Dunne’s recommendations although he queried the practicalities pointing out that carers usually worked for private companies with staff changing on a day to day basis.

He described the previous proposal to close Burlington Lane as ‘bonkers’ and called on the council to involve ward councillors at an earlier stage rather than briefing them on decisions already made. He said that the fundamental problem had been the piecemeal approach adopted by the council and said that the schemes continued to cause issues. For instance, he had been told that the popular evening basketball group at Chiswick School Sports Hall had decided to switch its venue to Hammersmith after complaints from parents about the number of fines they had received and uncertainty about whether they could drive to pick up their children.

Cllr Thompson also raised the issue of speeding saying that the unintended consequence of the access restrictions had been to create relative empty roads which had encouraged remaining vehicles to be driven faster.

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

A vote was taken in which cabinet members unanimously supported accepting the OSC recommendation and issuing permanent traffic orders for the restrictions at Staveley Road and Burlington Road and the recommendations on carer permits and other measures put forward by Cllr Dunne.

She said after the meeting, “This will mean that we retain the current no-entry restriction from the A316 and we will proceed with a permanent Traffic Management Order that is brought in by 1 July 2023. The existing Experimental Traffic Management Order will remain until this permanent order is brought into operation. This will see the implementation of a permanent measure at the junction of Burlington Lane and the A316.

“I am very grateful to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, on the view that the Committee formed on the each of the recommendations in the Chief Officer decision prior to the Cabinet meeting last evening. Cabinet accepted the recommendations proposed by Overview and Scrutiny Committee and in addition proposed and agreed a number of other recommendations to reflect community feedback on carers, speed, signage and communications.

“These additional proposals, in addition to the earlier changes, demonstrate that we continue to consider and balance the views of residents alongside our policy position as a Council on our ambitions for transport, climate and public health.

“We will be updating our website shortly to reflect these recommendations and residents in the South Chiswick Liveable Neighbourhood will be written to outlining the final permanent scheme.”