Plan for New Seating Area in Central Chiswick

'Gingko Corner' would be opposite former police station

The site of the proposed parklet at the junction with Linden Gardens

June 5, 2024

A plan is being brought forward to transform a corner of the car park in central Chiswick into a landscaped seating area.

The project is being led by the Chiswick Flower Market team including Dr Karen Liebreich of Abundance London and would see a bench placed by the eight-metre-high gingko tree in the north west corner of the park where Linden Gardens meets the High Road.

The cost of the 'parklet' project will be met by the Council’s United Kingdom Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) grant with additional support from the Chiswick Flower Market.

Currently the area is a raised flower bed with damaged brickwork also containing four non-native cabbage palms (Cordyline australis) and variegated ivy. The gingko tree was planted at this spot in the sixties but cabbage palms are more recent additions, put in place in 2006, and the plan is to remove these as it is claimed they add little biodiversity value or aesthetic appeal and that they are crowding the more valuable gingko tree.

There is a rarely used bench at the north edge of the site facing the High Road which means that the only seating nearby is for paying customers at cafes.

LGLA Projects Ltd. were commissioned last year by Hounslow Council to prepare outline proposals for the whole of the western end of the car park which is known by some as Old Market Place.

A visualisation of the proposed seating area. Picture: Chiswick Flower Market

The flower market team suggested that ‘Gingko Corner’ could form an early part of this wider project with work co-ordinated with the construction work to convert the police station into flats for the elderly.

The collapsing brick wall would be replaced and drainage would be improved by increased greenery and a reduction in hardstanding.

It is proposed to remove the motorcycle stand which faces Linden Gardens and declutter the pavement south of the police station. The motorcycle stand would be restored if the wider public realm changes for the area were implemented. The intention is to improve the intuitive pedestrian flow along Chiswick High Road, crossing Linden Gardens allowing step free access to a new long bench surrounded by extended planting beds facing the gingko tree. The parking space adjacent to the tree would need to be incorporated into this area to make it fully accessible with the council saying that a replacement bay would be found nearby if feasible.

The removal of the parking space is being justified by the council by reference to a parking survey which was carried out last autumn which showed that there were always 40 parking spaces available between 7am and 7pm and the central Chiswick car park was never full. This was contradicted by an informal survey carried out by local ward councillor Joanna Biddolph which showed that the car park was regularly full to capacity in the evening and she argued that loss of parking space would have an impact on the night-time economy.

Cllr Biddolph, who currently sits on the council as an independent during a three month suspension of the Conservative Party whip said that the push for seating in this area has come primarily from the organisers of the weekly markets in the car park and that council should prioritise the needs of local bricks and mortar businesses and that the loss of even one parking space could be significant particularly when the Birchgrove development is completed.

She added, "While improving this dismally-planted, long-neglected, lacklustre corner would be welcome, I am very concerned that adding seating will make this spot even more attractive for anti-social behaviour particularly at night. I have never been asked for more seating in this car park - it is, after all, a car park for transient use - but better planting and an improved wall seems to have wide appeal, though some have rightly questioned the cost of the project which has not yet been revealed."

Conservative councillor Ranjit Gill said, “Proposals to improve Gingko Corner are important and timely. This space in the centre of our community is in need of an uplift, and these proposals represent a huge improvement on what we have currently.”

His colleague Cllr Ron Mushiso added, “Any proposals to improve the community spaces are welcomed, however given that we have already lost a number of parking space around our High Road, I’ll be looking to engage constructively with planners to find a way to retain existing car parking spaces as part of the proposals.”

The council will be holding a statutory consultation into the removal of the parking space with a view to issuing a traffic order. Once this has been completed work is expected to begin quite quickly.