Category Archives: London Road

by | April 14, 2019 · 15:42

The Biggest Ward in Hounslow Borough: Planning updates

There is often a misconception that local authorities are in charge of everything and can influence anything but the basic fact is that Hounslow Council is only able to deliver within the various Acts of Parliament made at Westminster.

In terms of town planning, the council is mainly limited by the content of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Applicants turned down at the first stage of a planning application have a right to appeal to the government Planning Inspectorate and an aggrieved objector, for a fee, can also apply to the court for a judicial review; sometimes either may be pursued all the way to the Supreme Court.

So, todays wee update on aspirations familiar, new, and Oh! No, not that one again, advises of planning at its various stages here, in Osterley and Spring Grove Ward. Planning reference numbers are cited should anyone wish to seek more details on the Hounslow Council website Planning pages using the reference numbers quoted.

Should anyone wish to comment on so far undetermined applications, please write to planningcomments@hounslow.gov.uk

Adini, 891 Great West Road, TW7 5PD Ref: P/2017/5069

Southern elevation of approved Adini residential to Northumberland Avenue

Readers will recall a couple of applications from the owner operators of this site, one to modernise Adini’s commercial facilities, retaining the façade and another for residential to enable the development of the first. The council planning committee refused both applications but the applicant successfully appealed the housing element and the decision is explained here in the planning inspector’s letter.

Former Shell Garage and Contitrades House aka Gillette South Ref: P/2018/4691

Access Self Storage proposal: corner of Northumberland Avenue

This is the site on the corner of Northumberland Avenue and Syon Lane, much loved by itinerant waste collectors. Bar occasional open storage and a brief incarnation in 2017 as a temporary car park for BSkyB, this site was razed in 2008 in preparation for its development as a self storage facility then.

These past five years, the Canada based owners of Access Self Storage have made a number approaches to Hounslow Council Planners to build high and wide on this prominent corner site. Keenly scrutinised by residents and ward councillors the owners have come up with for what some may say is a more humane proposal which is likely to be taken to the council’s Planning Committee on Thursday 2 May 2019.

Osterley Station, Great West Road, TW7 4PU Ref: P/2019/0706

An application for lifts from street to platform level was approved before this councillor’s time back in 2009 but did not get built. A more refined scheme has now been submitted by Transport for London as part of the London Mayor’s ambition to improve access for all to the Underground.

Osterley Station Westbound platform where one of the lifts access would locate

There are some excellent architectural and railway history documents accompanying this application well worth viewing and the substantive commented upon:design and access statement; heritage statement.

Osterley Station Car Park

Readers will recall the December 2018 exhibition at the Indian Gymkhana with displays of proposals for housing on the Osterley Station car park. Following this event, Osterley and Spring Grove Councillors met with the optioned developer, Apartments for London, to feed back our own, and reiterating residents’, thoughts on their ambitions.

So far, no one has come back to us with either a planning application for what the developer originally hoped for or a suggested alternative but as soon as they do, a new exhibition and open meeting will be sought and residents advised and invited.

Domino’s 558 London Road, TW7 4EP Ref: P/2018/0741

In February 2018, the operator of this franchise applied to change their hours of operation from between 09.00 and 22.30 Monday to Saturday and 09.00 to 22.00 Sundays and Bank Holidays to 09.00 to 05.00 Daily, throughout the year. Planning officers considered both the application and responses from neighbours and refused the application and as a result the operator appealed to the Planning Inspector. The report giving reasons for refusal (mainly increased noise and disturbance affecting nearby residents during the night) has already been shared locally but can also be found here.

The inspector has begun the appeal process and has written to the council requesting any further comment from planners as well as residents. That letter can be found here and responses must be submitted in time for a 23 April 2019 deadline.

The appellant’s submission to the Inspector can be found here.

Farm Fried Chicken 481 London Road, TW7 4BX Refs: P/2019/1313 and P/2019/1318

481 London Road, Isleworth

In response to a local resident spotting a sign going up over these hitherto obscured premises, I raised various planning, conservation and licensing queries with numerous specialist council officers on 14 February 2019. At the time of writing, I appreciate the good work of the council’s planning enforcement team in getting (at least meagre) formal applications for the illuminated sign and change of use class from A3 (restaurant) to A5 (hot food takeaway).

To try to understand the applications, the only items to go by are drawings that attempt to regularise the sign and the change of use class.

Hours of operation of the takeaway are a licensing matter and should an application be made, will be shared here.

Warren Motors 585-603 London Road TW7 4EJ Ref: P/2019/0448

Once a common main road feature, the vehicle showroom is gradually disappearing, AFN Porsche and Marlborough Motors have long become Isleworth memories.

There is now a current application for the redevelopment of the Warren Motors site to provide two residential buildings of between part five and part eight stories to achieve 93 flats (comprising three studios, 43 one, 38 two and 4 three-bedroom flats).

The applicant’s agent has stated that the reason they have not held an exhibition or meeting is that the, “consultation process carried out by the Local Authority during the planning application will be more than sufficient. To carry out more engagement above and beyond this prior to the planning application consultation could risk causing consultation fatigue”. I have advised the Hounslow planners that I would be willing to chair a local event on this matter.

Telecoms mast opposite West and Penwerris Courts, Great West Road, TW5 0TJ (previously Ref: P/2016/5062)

 

A bit unusual this in the sense that from what I recall, wannabe applicants run their proposals by councillors first before making formal applications

On studying the telecoms company’s proposal there is little difference, in fact perhaps more obtrusive, to another proposal at the exact same spot in late 2016 which caused great concern locally and was refused by this local authority.

Almost all residents that would potentially face any equipment live in Osterley and Spring Grove Ward as well as the new Oaklands School.

Please forward any comments direct to me, tony.louki@hounslow.gov.uk or other Ward councillors for passing on to the council planners.

TL 14.4.2019

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by | April 6, 2019 · 17:42

Maxing out the Metro

Residents will have noticed the shroud over Coombe House at 7 St Johns Road, Isleworth where a Holiday Inn was once mooted but now in the throes of a government permitted scheme to convert this former office block to flats.

St Johns Road, Isleworth at Rennels Way

Little reminder is required of the Moore Brothers and neighbouring properties sell off and approval of flats and a couple of shops on planning application P2017/3612 approved in December 2017 but still showing in progress on the Hounslow Council planning pages.

Rennels Way, Isleworth from the east should all the development ambitions be realised

Developer the Citrus Group Limited, have recently been in discussion with Hounslow Council on the two hitherto unlet warehouse units behind Coombe House and Moore Brothers to build flats and some commercial on their footprints. The developer’s agent is referring to Units 1 and 2 Station Works at Rennels Way as derelict but on inspection anyone can see that they are being used as safe and secure site storage and facilities for the Coombe House job.  Perhaps the rent previously sought was too much otherwise they could have been let to small businesses offering start ups opportunities to thrive.

Unit 1 Station Works, Rennels Way

So these sites are being looked at for development and despite what appeared reluctance to engage before a planning application was submitted.

Unit 2 Station Works, Rennels Way

A developer’s representative have been asked at short notice to attend to explain and pitch at the St Johns Residents Association monthly meeting on

Monday 8 April 2019 at 8.00 pm

St Johns Centre

80 St Johns Road

Isleworth, Middlesex, TW7 6RU

Because of meetings elsewhere, no councillors will be present so a request has been made to the council’s head of planning for further engagement before a planning application is submitted and expected.

Further updates in due course.

TL 6.4.2019

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by | May 2, 2018 · 23:15

A letter to my constituents: 4 years in and still so much to do

Good morning

I hope you don’t mind my writing to you, just a few hours before the polls open but it has been a hectic few days and I am a little behind, a bit of casework outstanding too.

I think that we have been in touch before either via Councillor casework, a meeting I have held to discuss one of the planning applications, the London Road, our train stations or a traffic matter; along with others, you may have petitioned me. I might have knocked on your door whilst out campaigning or checking on local issues with Ruth Cadbury MP.  You may have seen what I do or found out what interests me from my Tweets or read the odd item here on my sometimes neglected website.

Moving to Isleworth the day after the storm of October 1987. Linkfield, Parkwood and now living on London Road. I did a couple of stints as councillor for Isleworth North in the 1990s, battling Tesco and the Earl over their development ambitions even doing the same with my then council comrades and our Chief Executive, the then plain Bob Kerslake, over the rebuilding of Marlborough School.  As a councillor since, I have met many of you and worked in all neighbourhoods to address residents’ issues and concerns; have even caught up with some old faces from back in the day.

It has be a great pleasure to have been your, the only, Labour Councillor for Osterley and Spring Grove Ward, these past four years. Not only have I tried to represent the largest and still greenest ward in Hounslow but I have succeeded, I think, in bringing people together to work on interests common in their neighbourhoods.

March 2017: Crawford Sidmouth Clean Up III

One of my proudest is, after having been invited to join a local environmental clean up in October 2014, was to support and encourage the residents of Crawford Close and Sidmouth Avenue in an ambition to pave and light a muddy but well used route to Isleworth Station. Three years and two clean ups later, works have started and a proper residents association has taken off. Funds for this came from the section 106 developer money I jad bid for.

Thornbury Park, Isleworth

Another success is, after many years of disinterest by the previous, Conservative, councillors, we have begun to improve Thornbury Park with the support of an enthusiastic Friends Group not to mention £80,000 of funds secured from the council. In 2015, the same amount was accessed for long overdue improvements to Jersey Gardens and the end result was the award of its Green Flag last year.

Another early achievement was to set up the Osterley Sports Network where I brought together Osterley and Spring Grove’s numerous sports clubs and grounds, schools, council and external funders to work together to promote their facilities, healthy pursuits and memberships.

January 2016: Former Borough Road College lighting not serviced for 10+ years until I was approached by residents for support and a long search to find out who should fix (was not LBH)

I could also go into detail about the number of flytips I have seen and reported, potholes I’ve requested to be fixed, graffiti removed, abandoned vehicles taken away and the rest of the environmental atrocities but this is bread and butter stuff. I would prefer, and I have encouraged, residents to do so their selves.

The reason I highlight these few accomplishments is that after over 25 years of Conservative councillors here in Osterley and Spring Grove, I have started to reverse their possibly preferred neglect of our neighbourhoods. I say that because it is easy to ignore and, not report and let any mess prevail in order to blame the rival political party in power.  That way, when it’s election time, all you have to do is accuse carelessness in order to get the votes.

May 2014: Neglected Jersey Gardens space left after gate stolen at St Mary’s Crescent now fixed following my bid for resources

That modus operandi does not and should not work anymore. You get elected, you embrace the role, you see something broken so do your best to fix it or refer it to someone who can.  No denying, Osterley and Spring Grove Ward, is  improved and  better cohesive because the people here have had a working and commited Labour councillor with no hidden agenda.

Former Telephone Repeater building on footpath to Osterley Station: owner pursued and fined under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Recently cleared of “squatters” following continued Hounslow Council enforcement.

From day one, I picked up and resolved long term issues that previous Conservative councillors either ignored or didn’t (and still don’t) follow through on, such as,

  • prosecution of the owner of the troublesome illegal dwelling on Spencer Road footpath
  • clearing and fencing of the Earl of Jersey’s notorious dump on Braybourne Drive
  • removal of trade waste bins from Clifton Road and a clean up behind the London Road shops, making this almost flytip free
  • securing cash to create safe routes and access to Isleworth and Syon Lane Stations
  • chasing Hounslow Highways and successfully reducing its backlog of repairs across the ward.

January 2015: Bins at Clifton Road

In short, I have worked hard with residents, the council, police and other local partners to reverse Conservative neglect and disinterest to make sure we have a ward we can all be proud of. I want to continue this, and I hope to do so with two more Labour councillors who can support us with this goal.

This is what I have been doing since May 2014 and should like to do it again but with a full team of doers, alongside Labour Party candidates Unsa Chaudri and Richard Eason. These two are energetic, enthusiastic, bright and waiting to get started. I would even go as far to say that they are twice as good as me.

Tony Louki, Richard Eason and Unsa Chaudri at Spencer Road recently

You have a choice to make. You will decide who will be your Osterley and Spring Grove ward councillors for the next four years. You can vote for three Labour councillors who will be hardworking and committed to ensuring that your voice is heard in the council.

  • Unsa works in developing community services in local government, as a previous candidate in Osterley and Spring Grove, she brings a wealth of experience working within the local community. Unsa serves as a governor for two local schools.
  • Richard is an experienced finance and projects professional who has spent the past decade championing community and voluntary sector activity and involvement.

Nationally, the headlines each day show just how big a mess the Conservatives are making in Government and their only ambition is to save their own positions.

Locally, Labour are getting on with running the Council, making steady improvements despite huge cuts in funding from the Government. The contrast between us could not be more stark.

The developer of new homes on London Road agreed to my request that the location be called Samuelson Place after the founder of Worton Studios and the blocks after directors who filmed there

With your support, Labour will continue to invest in improving services for residents. I’ve been working hard to do just that for the past four years. Unlike the two Conservatives I have just shared my term with, I bid for, and won, an additional £470,000 cash for the ward, for its parks, for improving amenity areas, for heritage, including the area’s film legacy, and for the Borough Road War Memorial. With a full team of three Labour councillors in Osterley and Spring Grove we would do so much more.

Osterley Library opened by past Labour strongman Alf King 52 years ago. Still operating despite the almost ritual quadrennial scaring and government austerity funding cuts

We will be able to,

  • continue the work begun to improve our parks and playgrounds
  • maintain Osterley Library, it will stay open, the Conservatives’ closure scares is a 30 year old broken record they have played at the last 8 council elections
  • work with and promote our local sports facilities
  • maintain pressure on Transport for London to improve the condition of the Great West Road, its pavements, cycle lanes and make safe the junctions at Gillette Corner, Wood Lane and Thornbury Road
  • keep pressing South Western Railway to improve the trains service and stations at Isleworth and Syon Lane.

Jan 2018: With OSG Dedicated Ward Officer PC Carl Scully noting another find of spent nitrous oxide charges

We will always support and campaign for more police; there were six looking after us here in 2014, now we’re down to just three officers; sadly, the Met has suffered swingeing austerity cuts too.

This election is important, in 2014 residents took a chance on me and I do not think I have let you down.

Tomorrow, I hope you will, even if you have never supported Labour before, lend your three votes to support my team, so we can fully maximise the service our neighbourhoods get from Hounslow’s Labour Council. If by 2022, we have let you and the Ward down, you can have them back but as many have been saying about me, so far so good.

Thank you

Tony Louki

Labour Party Councillor for Osterley and Spring Grove Ward

 Vote from 7.00 am to 10.00 pm and if you have not yet completed your postal vote, please do so and deliver it to any of the polling stations in the London Borough of Hounslow.

 Hounslow’s votes will be counted at Hounslow Civic Centre from 10.00 am on Friday

TL 3.5.2018

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by | April 30, 2018 · 11:22

Notes on a Conservative leaflet

Am grateful that while Unsa, Richard, our supporters and I have been talking to Osterley and Spring Grove residents at their doorsteps, one of our people has sat down and attempted to analyse the latest Conservative Party leaflet that started doing the rounds last week.

It’s a folded A3 colour sheet with a combination of local pictures and a few from internet stock. You do not need to have it in front of you to match what you read but please drop me a line for a copy if you live in the Ward and I’ll email one.

The supporter has written this in sequence and uses the word Tory or Tories, I prefer Conservative because that better describes a more narrow view on matters.

Here goes:

1: A new deal for Osterley and Spring Grove

  1. It is claimed that the Tories would “vastly improve” local services. Easily said. The deep cut by the government to the Council budget (now over £70m per year on the 2014 grant, and another £20m on the way) is not mentioned. There is no costing anywhere in the leaflet. The claims are hollow.
  2. The leaflet speaks of a Tory “master plan” for the area. Where is it? We have never heard of such a plan and, frankly, doubt that it exists.
  3. The Tories promise better roads, parks, libraries, youth services and waste collection without a costing in sight. This is to take the public for fools, expecting us to respond to any promises without asking any questions about how they will be paid for.
  4. They promise to end “waste and overspending” but give no idea of the scale or nature of the alleged overspending.
  5. They promise to “massively improve air quality” without a hint as to how this would be achieved.
  6. They promise an accessible Council which will listen and respond. Councillor Louki has been fulfilling that role as many residents are aware. It is one thing to moan and another to get things done.
  7. Councillor Sheila O’Reilly claims that for 46 of the last 50 years Labour has allowed the borough to fall into disrepair. A look around Osterley and Spring Grove makes it difficult to understand her claim. (The picture of The Grove in the leaflet shows anything but decay. It looks very pleasant.)
  8. The leaflet mentions a Tory Plan to revive the borough. Where is it? Why do they not give a link to it so that people can judge for themselves?

2: Wipe out waste

It is claimed that Tory financial management would save “millions”. How many millions? How it would be done? How does it compare to the £70m of government cuts the borough has endured?

It is claimed that the £28 million on a new waste and recycling centre has been entirely wasted but no argument is made to justify this claim. As the new service develops we think that residents will see for themselves how vacuous this claim is.

3: Fix the potholes

Hounslow’s streets are maintained under a PFI initiative instigated by the last Tory Council. It was negotiated to run for 25 years and leaves little room for the Council to determine matters. What are the Tories proposing in terms of a renegotiation of the contract? We are not told. Maneesh Singh says that a Tory council would “free up the money” to fix the potholes but he doesn’t tell us where it would be freed up from. The contractor fills and repairs potholes because Councillor Tony Louki reports them regularly, the Tories made just 23 such requests to Hounslow Highways in 2014 to 2017, only three of these in this ward.

4: A new deal for council services

This section repeats the extravagant claims of Section 1 (above) without a hint of costing in sight. This is to assume that residents can be satisfied with political fairy tales rather than grappling with the real problems.

5: Keep Osterley and Spring Grove special

The Tory candidates say that they will look after the special character of Osterley and Spring Grove which has been “forgotten by Hounslow Council for decades”. You wouldn’t guess from this that the Osterley Park conservation area was designated by the Council in 1998, the Spring Grove conservation area in 2001. You wouldn’t guess either that the Council has set up a new and enthusiastic conservation team which is currently reviewing the conservation areas and is doing so in consultation with residents.

The Tory candidates also say that they would work with police and residents to deal with problems of anti-social behaviour but say nothing of the problems of the massive reduction in police personnel and resources due to Conservative government cuts since 2010.

5: News Snippets

Candidate Cynthia Torto repeats the empty promises about air quality and claims that air monitoring in the area has been reduced but doesn’t say where or when.

It is claimed that Hounslow has failed to meet the demand for good schools, but Hounslow’s schools are performing well. The government website shows that the great majority of schools in Hounslow have a good or outstanding rating. So what are the Tory candidates referring to? They also do not mention two large new schools in Osterley and Spring Grove and a significant expansion of Isleworth & Syon School, using local funds.

Chiswick Conservative Councillor Gerald Macregor caught delivering the said leaflet on London Road but walking straight past a flytip

OUR CONCLUSION

We are all for robust debate in politics and welcome a challenge. It is therefore sad to see that the Tory candidates for Osterley and Spring Grove are prepared to produce such poor quality material devoid of facts, full of unjustified claims and empty promises and lacking in any genuine argument. Residents have seen the difference in having a Labour councillor like Tony Louki working for them and taking care of matters long neglected by a Tory Party that has long taken our people for granted.

TL 29.4.2018

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by | December 6, 2017 · 19:03

Friends of Thornbury Park Meeting: Tuesday 12 December 2017

There will be a meeting of the Friends of Thornbury Park at 7.00 pm to 8.15 pm on Tuesday 12 December 2017

in The MusicRoom, Spring Grove House, West Thames College, London Road, Isleworth, TW7  4HS

Following the successful bid and award of £80,000 for improvements, we now have proposals for works for parks contractor Carillion to reduce some  shrub areas, clear dead trees and also proposals for volunteer days in early 2018.  plans for the works can be found here, here and here and description of the works here.

Another idea discussed previously, is for the planting of a new linear orchard supported by the Mayor for London, Trees for Cities, Hounslow Council and the Heathrow Community Fund.  Trees for Cities will attend this meeting to describe the proposal and how it would work.

We will also be examining the long awaited ideas for playground improvements.

It is also a pleasure to announce that after two years of banging on about it, works took place this week to clear the privately owned site of the former Harvard Hill Tennis Club, some pictures of this task can be seen here.

Looking forward to seeing as many of you on Tuesday evening.

TL  6.12.2017

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