This is on ChiswickW4 today - seems that no area is safe.Dukes Meadows Trust - response to council development plans for Dukes Meadows Posted by: Kathleen Healy Date/Time: 20/11/16 17:03:00 The Council is planning to make significant changes to Dukes Meadows and has invited the public to view and comment on the plans.The deadline for responses is currently 4th December, we have questioned that and ask that it is extended, as the plans are only being physically displayed from today and two weeks for such detailed plans seems insufficient. They have been available online, but it is hard to read large plans with a lot of detail on an average sized PC, let alone a tablet.The proposals follow a consultation by consultants Around the Block, which started early this year. We engaged with the consultation, but had reservations about it; it engaged clubs and organisations on the meadows but not the public until now, the engagement of clubs was individually, with a couple of meetings by the consultants to report back and from the start the main outcome seemed to be building a new sports hub. At the joint meetings many concerns about current level of maintenance and stewardship of the area were raised and not addressed. The plans put forward now don’t address these issues.We have now seem the Around the Bock (ATB) report. It runs to 86 pages and we were provided with a digital copy. We paid to get it printed, as it was hard to study online. I read it in conjunction with the councils 2016 to 2020 Leisure and Culture Strategy; http://en.calameo.com/read/003916221e6c1bdd47bb4 the Local Plan http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/index/environment_and_planning/planning/planningpolicy/local_plan.htm and policies emerging on CIL (Community infrastructure levy.An early concern is that the “context” section of the ATB report highlights a paragraph from the Leisure strategy which says;“The London Borough of Hounslow is home to one of the largest amounts of open space of any borough in London. The Dukes Meadows site area is approximately 75.5Ha/ 187 acres including private and public assets”It doesn’t quote the next paragraph of the Leisure strategy which goes on to say;“Provision of open space varies widely between different parts of the Borough with the highest levels in Isleworth and the West and the lowest in Chiswick, closely followed by Central Hounslow, Heston and Cranford”And then;“West Area contains the greatest number of low quality spaces followed by Heston, Cranford and Chiswick. This is particularly an issue in Heston, Cranford and Chiswick, where the low provision of open space means there is likely to be a high intensity of use by local residents.”To quote partially from the report creates a misleading impression opposite to the reality. This and other things in the report including no mention of the “at least £2.3 million” of cuts to the leisure budget in the next few years, have not helped assuage our initial concerns about the rigour of this process.The plans now produced largely focus on sports provision. We support the clubs that help make the meadow the success it is and if the plans help them we will be pleased to support them. The clubs are currently considering the proposals and seeking more information and reassurances.We are, however, concerned that the informal, free leisure offered by the park is not valued and supported in this process. There are some “pubic realm” proposals, but these seem to have had scant consideration and show a poor understanding of the area. There are proposals to resurface the Thames Path from Barnes Bridge to the Pump House, although the sections was resurfaced around 8 years ago. The council didn’t have budget to surface the seating bays, so we paid for that to be done at the same time. There are paths on the meadows in urgent need of repair and areas where paths are needed, such as from the market area to the paddling pool, but there are no proposals for that. There is also a bizarre suggestion for a trip rail along the river path from Barnes Bridge to the Pump House, the illustration shows the current balustrading gone, but when I asked about this, it wasn’t clear whether the proposal was to remove the current railings or have both.It feels as though the public realm proposals were a bit of an afterthought and we wonder if any would ever be implemented, or if we would want them to be in their current form. Plans for the sports hub are far more advanced.The most disappointing aspect, is there being no proposals to make improvements sustainable by improving maintenance and management of the site and identifying resources for that. Without this, and with £2.3 million of cuts coming we are worried that beyond the sports hub, the rest of the park may decline over time. We are also concerned that more of the free, informal space in the park may be taken to accommodate parking for sports events. The informal areas are already just a small proportion of the site. The council survey can be accessed here; http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/Dukes_Meadows.htmOur response to the survey is also on our site; www.dukesmeadowstrust.org/events You are welcome to copy any of the wording if you like. You can also email us via admin@dukesmeadowstrust.org to join our mailing list and be kept informed about the free, family events we organise and receive news and updates from us.
Vanessa Smith ● 3184d