Potholes, Crime, And Controlled Parking Zones

Residents brought local concerns to special meeting of the Chiswick Area Forum

There was a good attendance despite the hot weather at the special meeting of the Chiswick Area Forum last week. Most of the new councillors elected last May were also present.

The meeting was chaired by Cllr Gerald McGregor and deputy chair was Cllr Gabriella Giles who is the new community Champion.

The main issues raised were potholes in Windhill Road, local crime, and the latest CPZ for Riverside.

The new OWL police link with local residents has had teething problems in Chiswick, the meeting heard. A police report said this was due to administrative problems and would be rectified as soon as possible. Residents in Chiswick are waiting over three weeks to be registered compared to three hours for locals in Hillingdon and Ealing.

Complaints of begging in the Turnham Green ward were being monitored, as well reports of alleged drug dealing on Chiswick Back Common. Police would use powers such as stop and search and request additional resources if needed. Figures for May showed eleven fewer car thefts than the same time last year.

Homefields ward continued to have problems with theft from cars but many people continued to leave items on display which attracted thieves. Riverside ward had a low overall crime rate though there were some thefts of cars and some anti social behaviour with groups of young people in Hazeldene Road .

There were complaints from the audiance about drivers not obeying the 20 MPH speed limit, of idling car engines causing pollution, of cyclists going on the pavement and through red lights,

Gareth James of the Hounslow Council Traffic Department said that he would take the complaints back to have them assessed. Each road was looked at on its own merits.

One resident asked the councillors what pressure they were applying on Hounslow Council to join with the other local authorities in taking a judicial review against Heathrow Airport on the third runway.

Cllr John Todd said the matter was raised at the recent Borough Council meeting and the leader (Cllr Steve Curran) had repeated his support for a 'better not bigger' airport which was the official line of Hounslow Council. Cllr Curran had indicated he had no intention of joining in the action. The nine Chiswick councillors and local MP Ruth Cadbury opposed the third runway and their position on this was clear.

Asked about whether Hounslow Council might challenge the closure of Chiswick Police Station following the recent judgement taken by a Wimbledon resident on a similar case, Cllr Mc Gregor said that the result had come too late for councillors to raise it at Borough Council. The closure in Chiswick was driven by budgets and senior police representatives had twice appeared at the Chiswick area Forum to discuss the matter.

Potholes in Windmill Road were still dreadful and residents were baffled as to why such a short road could not be resurfaced properly despite complaints. It was suggested that a petition might be launched. Cllrs Gill and Biddolph promised to follow up with Hounslow Highways.

The consultation on the latest Riverside CPZ finished last week, and a number of issues had bee brought up. Cllr Sam Hearn said residents in private estates wanted to buy parking permits as there were insufficient parking spaces for them in the estate. Also, teachers at Strand on the Green primary school, many of whom drove into work as they lived a distance away, had been told it would cost £700 a year for a parking permit to leave vehicles on neighbouring streets, now that a CPZ had been introduced in SOTG. Cllrs had asked the Council whether they could have a lower rate s £700 was too much of a burden and the school could not fund this either.

The response to the latest consultation had been "excellent" according to the LBH Traffic deartment, with over 500 replies, of which a majority of 62% were in favour of controlled parking. Officers would now start up design the CPZ and it would be probably ready by ovember. It did not need to be presented to the Area Forum again, as there had been two consultations already.

the Cs9 was briefly discussed. Councillors said they brought up the issue at the Borough Council meeting as they wished to have another consultatio, but the debate had bee closed off by the administration. The meeting heard that the cabiet (Hounslow council) was expecting a report from TfL in the late autumn ad it would come up for discussion at Council level.

There would be a statutory consultatio so there would be other opportunities to discuss the issue, the meeting was told.

July 27, 2018