Category Archives: Spring Grove

by | July 9, 2023 · 15:26

NatWest Bank Closure: Protest at 10.30 am Tomorrow, 10 July 2023

NatWest Bank, bailed out by the people to the tune of £46 billion and still 39% Government owned, are using spurious statistics, poor consultation and erroneous assertions to shut down the last remaining and accessible bank between Hounslow and Chiswick.  It’s the only one with a customer car park and also located within the Council’s London Road 30 minutes free Stop and Shop parking facility.

Last bank standing: NatWest, 486 London Road, Isleworth

No amount of online, video or telephone banking can replace a human face to face physical transaction whether elderly or any other citizen within the 30% without the means, online savvy or inclination or just likes going out.

NatWest Isleworth: Elderly customer with their carer drew up to the front door to use this most accessible of bank branches

Recent pavement surveys by NatWest customer and Isleworth resident, Madhuri Kapila, show buoyant footfall at 468 London Road.  There has also been a keenness to sign this letter to letter to NatWest Head Office and, so far, 150 customers, many elderly, greatly concerned and fearful of the closure, have participated.

NatWest Isleworth: Open during convenient hours 5 days a week

Daily attendance at the branch, of late, shows around thirty customers per hour, more if ATM users are included, translating to at least 750 user per week.  NatWest profits for 2023/24 show a 50% jump to £1.9 billion in the first three months of the year; why should the company need to close a long established and well used branch operating from Freehold premises?

NatWest Isleworth Branch: Night safe

All of the many shopkeepers Madhuri has spoken to (NatWest did not reveal of having spoken to any of our traders in its public relations pieces), are greatly against the proposal.  They see the bank as an anchor business for London Road as well as a banking facility for them and everyone else.

Last Friday, Madhuri and I visited NatWest Headquarters at 250 Bishopsgate to present the collected letters but no one was available to receive them nor this additional letter to Dame Alison Rose, Group Chief Executive Officer of NatWest Bank..

Ruth Cadbury MP also wrote this letter to NatWest Bank asking for a meeting and for the closure to be withdrawn.

Recently publishing a booklet for bank branch visitors, NatWest used a mixture of pre, during and post pandemic figures, with obscure graphics, to justify their current stance.  The decision really did appear to have been made prior to any  real consultation and, responses from NatWest since seem at best repetative and standard public relations deflections but at worse, some may describe as lip service and sham going through the motions.

Please show your support in any or all of these ways:

NatWest Bank Isleworth: Please maintain the Welcome

Download, complete and immediately return this letter to Keep Nat West Bank Open via email KNWBOpen@gmail.com

Ask that the closure decision be reversed.  Email or write to Dame Alison Rose, Group Chief Executive Officer, 250 Bishopsgate, London, EC2M 4AA: or email alison.rose@natwest.com and cc KNWBOpen@gmail.com

 

Monday 10 July 2023 at 10.30 am.  Join a peaceful protest against the closure outside NatWest Bank, 486 London Road, Isleworth, TW7 4DD.

Tell your friends.

Thank you.

 

TL 9.7.2023

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Filed under London Road, Neighbourhoods, Osterley, Spring Grove

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by | June 4, 2023 · 08:39

Vine Lodge: Latest demolition application

A new planning application to demolish the oldest dwelling on Isleworth’s Church Road, within the Spring Grove Conservation Area, is being considered by Hounslow Council.

A previous application to build two houses, LBH planning reference P/2022/0601, was refused in March 2022, and was reported here, this latest (P/2023/1409) is for the building of eight flats.

The site for application P/2023/1409, in context

The above is an extract from a whole document showing all drawings for this proposal, accessed here.

Residents have produced this flyer highlighting their views and to encourage submission of further comment as part of the planning consultation process.  Comments can be submitted beyond the stated deadline.

TL  4.6.2023

This report has been provided for information, the author, a member of the council’s planning committee, will make no determination in advance of a hearing, should one occur.

 

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Filed under Neighbourhoods, OSG documents, Planning, RAs, Spring Grove, Thornbury Road

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by | March 16, 2023 · 09:34

Borough Road War Memorial: Two new additions

Borough Road War Memorial College Plaque 3.3.2023

A new plaque was unveiled at Borough Road War Memorial on 3 March 2023 by the 57th Mayor of the London Borough of Hounslow, Councillor Raghwinder Siddhu.  He was accompanied by residents, pupils (including talented bugler, Max), staff and trustees of Isleworth and Syon School, former Borough Road College lecturer, John Hunter, and Osterley and Spring Grove Ward Councillors Tony Louki, Unsa Chaudri and Aftab Siddiqui.

The Mayor and locals at the Borough Road War Memorial Plaque unveiling 3.3.2023

It records the names of former Borough Road College staff and students who gave up their jobs and education to take part in World War I and World War II, killed and never returned.

The installation features an engraving and faces Lancaster House, the main college building vacated in 2006, nine years after its takeover by Brunel University, and crest of the college.

Borough Road War Memorial unveiled 14 May 1921

I raised the idea for this new plaque in 2018 because the names of those who perished were not visible locally as Brunel University had previously removed an indoor memorial to its Uxbridge campus.  During 2015, Brunel had made approaches to Hounslow Council to completely relocate the whole, almost 100 years old stone memorial too but this failed as it was strongly resisted by all Ward councillors at the time.

At Borough Road War Memorial: Restored Heston and Isleworth Borough Council light column

This memorial project also coincides with the installation of a rediscovered and then refurbished lamppost of the former Heston and Isleworth Borough Council, restored and recently installed by Hounslow Highways.

The names of the dead were shared by the Brunel University London Archives whose 2014 research is available via a QR code present on the plaque allowing access of detailed biographies of those named.

I am grateful to Miss Helen Bowman, Conservation Officer at the War Memorials Trust, whose sound advice helped us bat away Brunel’s cheeky claim; Vanessa Bevilacqua and colleagues from the Hounslow Council Transport Team for procuring the plaque; Sabeel Khan of the Hounslow Council Highways PFI Team for overseeing Hounslow Highways’ renewal and connecting of the light column; Hounslow Council Communications Team’s Mr Yagnesh Nakaraja for sharing pictures.

TL 16.3.2023

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Filed under College Road, Events, Hounslow Highways, Neighbourhoods, Schools, Spring Grove, Traffic

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by | February 21, 2023 · 18:38

The Grove to be resurfaced

Pursued for a number of years and the subject of numerous meetings and correspondence, The Grove is about to get a proper fix.

With Hounslow Highways and residents on The Grove May 2017

I had, recently, stopped reporting potholes on the eastern stretch of The Grove, with an assumption that if not patched further, the surface would get to such a state that it would eventually fail inspections and, it seems, this may have worked.  Last week, I received an email from Mr Sabeel Khan, the council’s Head of Highways PFI [Contract], containing the following,

“Early in 2022, we met and walked about the south section of Osterley and Spring Grove Ward.  We specifically spoke about the carriageway condition of The Grove, particularly the section from London Road towards the green near Harvard Road.  The road was not in the best condition at the time.  We spoke about not carrying out localised repairs as the road was scheduled to receive a treatment under the PFI for 2024.

The Grove, continually patched. February 2023

I am pleased to inform you that based on the 2022 surveys, the section of The Grove will be treated this year in March 2023.  Hounslow Highways have prepared the attached resident notification letter which will likely reach doors next week.  Advance signage will be placed at various points in the road and on street cones supplemented by the Traffic Order will be placed soon.  Once the treatment has been carried out over the two day period, a line marking crew will remark the road.”

With Sabeel Khan at The Grove and the remnants of the poor Horse Chestnut by Kenwyn Court after Storm Eunice February 2022

Although not done yet (works are scheduled to start on Friday 10.3.2023), I salute everyone’s patience as it has only taken almost six years to get to where we are.

TL   21.2.2023

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Filed under Hounslow Highways, London Road, Neighbourhoods, Road works, Roads, Spring Grove

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by | July 15, 2022 · 11:20

Short stay shoppers parking

Whilst the free 30 minutes ‘Stop and Shop’ parking (1 hour at South Street) has not been abandoned at London Road and Thornbury Road shopping parades, Hounslow Council has begun to remove the pay and display machines that dispense the paper stickers.

Parking advice change at London Road, Isleworth

Traders at Osterley Village on Thornbury Road, north of Great West Road first brought this to Osterley and Spring Grove Ward councillors’ attention when the signs began to go up late May 2022.  Residents and traders around London Road followed suit and OWGRA also received correspondence.

Shoppers are now asked to record their arrival on a previously downloaded mobile phone app, including the free parking period.  For the technology savvy, this would not be hard to do but our Ward does have a larger proportion of older residents, often carers, using their cars to reach local pharmacies, the launderette, supermarkets, Osterley Bookshop for a greeting card or stamps, the paper shop, Memories of India for a takeaway for example.

To an extent, one of our (retired) residents does agree with the new approach and wrote, “for the avoidance of doubt, I believe that the digital solution being adopted by the council makes sense for all except those who have less ability to access or use digital tech.”

Clarity on the new policy was sought from Mr Jefferson Nwokeoma, the chief officer whose department runs parking and were advised that a cashless system provides savings in machine maintenance and repair costs and secures the income received.  Conscious that, for some, the cashless system remains a challenge, councillors were advised that officers would provide information and communicate to enable residents to adapt to this change.

Osterley and Spring Grove Ward councillors are seeking an equitable solution which understands the demographic and some of the unique services available in our area.  The matter has been raised and discussed with council’s cabinet member for parking, Councillor Salman Shaheen.  He has asked officers to identify and work with one or two parades traders who would be able to provide an alternative free ticketing option and will get back to us.

TL  15.7.2022

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Filed under CPZ, Great West Road, Osterley, Parking, Spring Grove, Thornbury Road

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