Massive Housing Development Planned For Bollo Lane
TfL scheme could be potentially largest ever in Chiswick area
Residents fear tower blocks could be at least as high as existing ones on Bollo Lane
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The largest ever housing development in the Chiswick area is being planned by Transport for London (TfL) on a site they own on Bollo Lane.
They are going to submit plans for a mixed-use development containing around 800 flats to rent or buy just north of Chiswick Business Park. In addition, the proposals seek to provide a what is described as a 'Green Corridor' along Bollo Lane that ‘will enhance the surrounding streetscape and provide a sustainable route and pleasant throughway for local residents’.
The site is currently used by TfL with some retail at the north of the area. Further details of the plans are due to be released later this month when two days of public exhibitions are to be held.
Details released so far by TfL suggest the development will take place on a long narrow strip of land running between the tube lines and Bollo Lane from the level crossing close to Chiswick Business Park to Acton Town station.
Global architectural firm HoK have been commissioned to design the project. Their portfolio includes a number of landmark buildings, airport terminals and stadia. They are currently developing Spire London in Canary Wharf which at 67 storeys would be western Europe’s tallest residential building.
TfL have been considering development at this site for some years, as part of its strategy to development property partnerships instead of selling off its sites. The plan is to use their landholdings, often disused sites being used as car parks, to generate revenue to invest in improving the transport network.
Approximation of area of the development. Picture: TfL
To accommodate 800 flats the development on Bollo Lane would necessarily have to have a number of tower blocks. It has been speculated by some local councillors that they would be at least the height of the nearby Pocket Living towers which are 13 storeys high.
While details of the plan remain sketchy ahead of the planned public exhibition, fears have already been expressed by residents about having another tall building which will overshadow their homes.
Some local residents believe that the Pocket Living scheme has created a precedent in which the industrial estate between Bollo Lane and the Stirling Road rubbish dump will see a significant number of tall buildings. That scheme attracted over 100 objections and the Southfield ward Conservatives set up a petition against it but it was given the go-ahead by Ealing Council. There is also concern in Bollo Lane about the impact on the already strained parking in the area and the possibility of more traffic on narrow roads.
The issue of a new development was raised by Gunnersbury Park Garden Estate residents with their local councillors, with residents concerned about a high rise building overshadowing their houses. Residents who live in Southfield ward say they now live in the shadow of the Pocket Living flats and have lost a huge amount of light because of its height and dominance.
"There is a current obsession with height over quality of life," said one local.
In 2017, at Mayor's Question Time, the transport company was asked at a London Assembly meeting if it would explore the development potential of the site, used as a car park and hardstanding on Bollo Lane, and which marks the entrance to the Acton depot, given its close proximity to the South Acton regeneration scheme.
The company replied, "TfL recognises that the Bollo Lane car park and hardstanding is close to the South Acton regeneration scheme and will explore the potential for residential development, once the scale of the depot improvement works is fully understood."
A public exhibition of the emerging proposal will take place: at Acton Gardens Community Centre, Unit A, Munster Court, Bollo Bridge Road, Acton, W3 8UU, at the following times:
· Day 1 – Wednesday 16 October, 10.00am-3.00pm
· Day 2 – Thursday 17 October, 2.00pm-8.00pm
We will publish details of the proposed development as soon as they are available.
October 5, 2019
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October 8, 2019
