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THE CHISWICKW4.COM CHATT SESSION
The Leader of Hounslow Council, Councillor John Chatt has kindly agreed to answer a series of Chiswick related questions from local residents. The response to this was massive and for reasons of space many questions are an amalgamation of queries from different individuals. Thank you to every one who sent in questions and apologies if your subject was not addressed. 2. What is the Council doing to secure sustainable and sympathetic regeneration of West Chiswick? 4. What plans has the Council to help St. Mary's Convent Nursing Home stave off closure? 13. Will we have Christmas lights in Chiswick this year? 14. When will the underside of the railway bridge on Turnham Green Terrace be cleaned? 1.
Does Councillor Chatt feel that it is fair
that Chiswick pays higher parking charges than
the rest of the borough? I am aware that there are concerns about the different charges for residents parking in different parts of the borough. One of the reasons is that different parts of the Borough clearly have different characteristics. In the east of the Hounslow, parking demand is extremely high with only limited on and off-street provision. Generally the pressure on parking decreases further westwards in the Borough. Public transport accessibility also is generally better in the east of the Borough and poorer in the west, for example there are more buses to Central London, and neighbouring areas. For these reasons, the Council has agreed that differential charges are maintained in the Borough with higher charges in the east and lower charges in the west. However when the charges were reviewed in April 1999, the Council raised the charge in the west of the Borough but agreed that the charges in the east should remain unchanged for a period of 2 years. In the review of charges implemented last year, the permit prices in the Chiswick area were reduced by £5 with other charges remaining unchanged and there are regular reviews of charges. Also, the £70 charge for Chiswick works out as £1.35/week to be able to park close to your property, one of the reasons that so many people are in favour of CPZs when schemes are proposed. In other parts of the Borough, funds have been available to meet the full costs of establishing parking schemes. However, in the Chiswick area, there have only been limited funds available to establish the parking schemes that have been set up in East Chiswick, Bedford Park, Mid-Chiswick and Central Chiswick. The schemes have therefore been reliant on the income from permits and other charges to cover the balance of implementation costs. 2. What is the Council doing to secure sustainable and sympathetic regeneration of West Chiswick? There are two issues I need to address in response to this question; the UDP of the Council and the future plans for the West Chiswick Area. In
terms of UDP, the Council has to give equal
consideration to social, economic and environmental
issues in all decision making whilst minimising
adverse impacts. Much of the UDP relates to
the use of brownfield land for new developments,
and to encourage a pattern of land use that
utilises current facilities, including the
provision of transport, which minimises the
harm to the environment. In West Chiswick this explains the reasoning behind the approval of the 'son-of-citadel' development. Planning permission was refused recently for redevelopment of the John Bull site for office development, because, I understand amongst other things, of the loss of a building of Local Townscape Character and unsympathetic scale of development. This shows that our Planning Committees are taking note of local opinion. Also, the high rise Chiswick West development is, I understand, still being considered following extensive consultation with local residents. For the planning officers and Councillors on the Chiswick Planning Committee, and the Sustainable Development Committee, the response from local residents is very valuable and the concerns expressed by residents are fully recognised. However the Chiswick West applicant has been advised that the proposals clearly depart from policies in the Council's Unitary Development Plan. It would only be possible to consider granting planning permission if it can be demonstrated that there are exceptional circumstances that would justify any departure from the Council's adopted policies. However I am not aware of any exceptional circumstances that would warrant approval, though I am not on the Planning Committee. For the future, the Council is proposing to designate much of West Chiswick as a Conservation Area as part of an urban design/Conservation regeneration strategy for Chiswick, subject to the outcome of public consultation. It could be that the designation could place early in 2003. 3.
Has there being a softening of Hounslow Council's
line on the expansion of Heathrow and would
a Third Runway ever be acceptable to the current
administration? No, not at all. There has been no change of policy regarding the borough's position on any proposed third runway at Heathrow. We are against it. Though there hasn't been any application to build a third runway, I have taken advice from Officers about the possibility. They suggest that expansion of this nature is not sustainable. The
reasons for this are clear: Back
to top Whilst
we can understand the problems that St Mary's
is having we are unable to get involved financially,
especially as we ourselves must conform to
new rules in this area. I have seen and heard
about the fund-raising initiatives for St Mary's
and I am very impressed with the community
effort to help raise the vast amount needed. However, I know St Mary's well after working with them on a number of building and planning issues in the past, both as Mayor in 1990 and Leader, and I have followed the activities of the home since. Once when I visited St Mary's I was told the many of the nuns were older than their residents and that this could be a future problem, however the current issue of altering buildings to follow new guidelines is one that is ultimately more important, and more of a threat to the Home's future. I wish St Mary's every success in raising the desired funds. 5.
Do you feel that the handling of the changes
at Chiswick Lane junction devalued any sense
of a community's right to decide issues of
importance to itself? Well, firstly I must apologise for the unacceptable delay in the completion of the CLJ works, which was partly due to a failure on our part to manage the project as well as we could. However I think that the question is looking at issues on a much bigger scale than one junction, and at the issue of local decision making in general. Hounslow was one of the first Councils to introduce local area committees, and to change the way decisions were made on a local level, in order to reflect the increasing importance of resident involvement in the process. Since the May elections our local area committees have yet more powers, especially in relation to S106 allocations, and the feedback from the last Chiswick Area Committee is that Chiswick Councillors have already influenced S106 for education in Chiswick. However, in some cases, other issues and policies need to be taken into account, especially if a decision affects more than just the local population. In the case of the Chiswick Lane Junction it was the Mayor's plans to improve bus services to and from central London. There are often bigger issues to be addressed by local committees, not just in Chiswick but also in our other areas, including the west area where I am a councillor, that do mean that local opinion needs to be balanced. Fortunately they don't come up too often but they always seem to be major issues when they do.
Yes,
I am alarmed, and the information I have shows
that air quality across London was generally
worse in 2001 than 2000, especially in Camden,
Kensington and Chelsea and Hounslow sites. We do monitor air pollution, as you can see from the monitoring station on the High Road, and there are known hot spots that we keep an eye on. 7.
Will the Council proceed with the current plans
for the library despite the objections of the
Friends of Chiswick Library? No - the Council will not be proceeding with the current plans for Chiswick library, primarily because they haven't addressed all of the issues that have been raised. The proposals have been taken back to the drawing board and they will have to be represented at the Chiswick Area Committee. I know that Chiswick Library is one of the busiest in the borough, yet it is unsuitable at the moment for local needs, especially with government guidelines relating to computer and internet facilities. We must be sure that all the issues are looked at, and addressed locally, before proceeding. 8.
Can Cllr Chatt confirm how much money is available
through s106 as a result of the development
of Chiswick Park, whether it is accruing interest
and what he would like to see it spent on?
At the present time I cannot. I am informed that the Deed of Variation is still being negotiated, and that the amounts of S106 money available will not be disclosed until the Deed has been signed. A full update is scheduled to go to Chiswick Area Committee and I would not want to bypass the procedure in this case. The local area committee is the place for this information to be reported. 9.
Do you share the concerns of some people that
the Grove Park School case is an early indication
that in the next few years Chiswick will have
more children than available primary school
places? I
think that the Grove Park school case actually
strengthens and increases the available school
places for local children, by re-emphasising
the importance of community schools for local
communities, and by putting local children
first for admission to their local school. Also, the William Hogarth School will be expanding over the next 4 years into a full Primary school, increasing places locally. 10.
When is the last time that you visited Dukes
Meadows? Do you feel this area reflects well
on the Council's/CIP's ability to maintain
open spaces? I'm
actually at Dukes Meadows quite often as I
am a member of the Civil Service Bowls Club,
and I was last there on Sunday. I am also a
regular visitor to the bandstand and river
areas, as well as the allotments as I am very
interested in the allotments. This is one of
the best allotment sites. Of course I have
also been to the Farmers' Market. I was invited to the Duke of Devonshire's visit, at which we discussed the area, and I also have close contact with the Friends of Dukes Meadows and I keep updated on their developments. Their work is invaluable and very much appreciated locally. 11.
What lobbying is the Council currently doing
to persuade London Underground to stop at Turnham
Green? We are currently not lobbying for the Piccadilly Line to stop at Turnham Green. Although it is part of the current Transport Strategy I think that there would be little to gain until the Tube has been transferred to the Mayor for London. I don't think it would be a wise use of what are scarce staff resources to lobby at the moment. However when the transfer has happened we will be working with, and for, local residents and groups to resume lobby strongly. I understand the Mayor has already made some comment about the need to review when he gets it within his control, which is welcome news. 12.
How do you reassure Chiswick residents that
their views will be adequately represented
on an Executive on which no members are from
local wards or even live or work in this area? Well,
there is a good argument here for me saying
that you voted in the wrong party, but I would
say that wouldn't I! In
all seriousness though, the fact that 9 Conservative
Councillors represent Chiswick shouldn't, and
doesn't, stop cross party links and procedures
- and I do have an open door to all borough
councillors, regardless of party. To
illustrate this, we have been working closely
with Luke Kirton, of the AbeeC party, on the
urgent issues of Brentford Football Ground
and we have recently been able to announce
some progress. Also, the executive works for the whole borough regardless of the ward we represent, and we try to keep abreast of local issues as much as possible. 13.
Will we have Christmas lights in Chiswick this
year? That
all depends on the willingness or ability for
the local area committee and local traders
to put funds forward for Christmas lights,
in the same way as the other areas in Hounslow
do. In Hounslow centre the area committee put
money into a scheme for Diwali and Christmas. I have also had some initial discussions with an advertising organisation who suggested that they could put lights on Chiswick High Road, as part of a project across the borough. There could be other ways to fund lights and these are being explored. 14.
When will the underside of the railway bridge
on Turnham Green Terrace be cleaned? In
the past the underside of the bridge has been
"proofed" against pigeons but I believe
that, in one or two areas, this proofing has
failed or been removed. As a result there is
some fouling beneath the bridge but not a level
sufficient to warrant expensive formal action
against London Underground, which might fail
due to the amounts concerned. Hounslow Council Leader Steps Down See the local government section of the site for details of the election results and comments.
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