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"Hounslow has contributed more to the recent growth of London employment than any other outer London borough. That progress will be hampered unless we can cut congestion by providing a faster, cleaner and more reliable alternative to the car. We believe that a tram is the answer." John Connelly - Leader of Hounslow Council
The route that the tram is planned to travel along already has the worst air pollution outside Central London. Problems on already severely congested roads will dramatically increase with passenger numbers for Terminal Five projected to be over 85 million a year. Home to many multi-national companies along the A4 ‘Golden Mile’, surveys of businesses say that the transport infrastructure is already struggling to cope and is a major barrier to growth. John Connelly, Leader of the London Borough of Hounslow said, “We are determined to find a long-term solution to the traffic nightmare that faces local people and businesses. As the international gateway to the capital and a major business location, Hounslow has contributed more to the recent growth of London employment than any other outer London borough. That progress will be hampered unless we can cut congestion by providing a faster, cleaner and more reliable alternative to the car. We believe that a tram is the answer.” When the scheme was first announced there was some scepticism over whether the link would ever reach as far as Chiswick but the plans are actually to take the scheme all the way to Hammersmith. Hammersmith and Fulham Council have given in principle backing to the plans. There remain many doubts amongst local people as to the viablity of the plan. Chiswick resident and regular tube use Karen Hartnell said, "I can't see how once you get beyond Chiswick Roundabout it would be viable to put in a tram line and extending the scheme to Hammersmith would be a gigantic waste of money because surely anyone wishing to use public transport to get to the tube will continue to use the Piccadilly line." On the Chiswick discussion forum Jane Bartlett also expressed doubts about the trams ever reaching this far east, "My concern is that the Council appears to be going for a lot of big business funding for this - the scheme was revealed at GSK's HQ and it is quitely clearly aimed at businesses on the Golden Mile. Whether they would be willing to fund the Chiswick to Hammersmith section seems doubtful." The funding of the study has also been controversial as the money came from the Parking Reserve Fund which is principally generated from schemes in Chiswick. Local businessman Chris Deering said, "I don't think Hounslow Council should be paying for expensive consultants at a time when they are cutting the education budget and if can't be persuaded otherwise why couldn't they commission a study on the Piccadilly line at Turnham Green." The scheme could be completed in 10 years' time, around the same time as the opening of Terminal 5. It is planned to have fast and reliable trams running every 6 mins in peak and every 10 mins outside peaks at 25km an hour. The study sees no major engineering problems and anticipates that 20% of car traffic will switch to the tram. Although the scheme's current budget is £290 million it is anticipated that passenger revenues would cover day to day running costs once the service is operational. A similar scheme in Croydon is generally acknowledged to have been a success and carries 1.5 million passenger Keynote speakers at a recent conference to launch the scheme were Professor David Begg, Director of the Centre for Transport Policy and recently involved in the Mayor's Congestion charge scheme, Janis Kong, BAA Heathrow Executive Chairman and Cllr John Connelly, Leader of Hounslow.
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