Forum Topic

Brentford's Parks

I don't have anything to say re Gunnersbury Park, by and large because I rarely go there. Is the burned out cafe (or an equivalent) again up and running?I would, however, like to say that the two parks I do visit, St Paul's in Brentford and Redlees in Isleworth are well maintained and good community assets. St Pauls has been looking fantastic with the daffodils in bloom - yes, I know they were planted by volunteers (not sure where the bulbs came from though). I see that there is currently some construction work going on around the basketball area.The work in Waterman's Park is also looking fantastic after years, admittedly, of decline and neglect.  

Anne England ● 1215d7 Comments

You said it. As and when and only then.The funding from the DoT is weird. It is supposed to be for enhancements and countering the noise and pollution form the A4/M4. And was also to be for more local based community enhancements .The greening of the cycleway and other improvements would have been easily covered.Yet no other local organisations got a look in.Money has already been spent on and works to protect the mansion was carried out before the CIC came into being. So what's happened since?  Did it get carried out and monitored?The costs are astronomic. If it were a private restoration it would be a fraction of the cost and probably a higher end spec.The priority given all the rhetoric about walking cycling and using open space for all should be making the dreadful footpaths safe and usable for all.That has a purpose and use and can be immediate.To stabilise and cocoon building can be done cheaply. Bringing in Historic England will add £££££s to any cost. Plenty of examples of that dotted around England.Of course it will be nice to see the building eventually renovated and put to good community use. But given Gunnersbury's definition of community it does not actually apply to genuine local community only the wealthier parts of community.But without an end goal of guaranteed purpose with no idea of actual needs or costs is pure folly.The building proposal (Along Lionel Road) which dates back to the late 1990s was prevented by the charter/covenant that exists. And is it true LBE and LBH engages a QC to try and unpick that covenant unsuccessfully ?  One of the ideas was for small almshouses for local people in their latter years to reside which was not a bad idea far less offensive than the blocks of flats mooted.

Raymond Havelock ● 1205d

I believe the work on the small mansion is actually largely paid for (weirdly) by the Department for Transport. This is intended to arrest deterioration and make  it weatherproof but perhaps people think it would be better if these airheads let it fall down.Historic England are developing a masterplan for the park but several million more will be needed to fully restore the small mansion and stables and bring them back into use. Everybody is hoping for community uses but that will require funding from somewhere. Back in the noughties there were proposals to build on the park to provide funding. These were kyboshed when Labour returned to power in Hounslow in 2010 and will not be revisited whilst Labour remains in power.It seems to me pretty sensible to spend what funding is available in the meantime to ensure there are buildings there to improve, as and when the necessary funds materialise.

Guy Lambert ● 1205d

Wasn’t the small mansion work paid by lottery money

Neil Chippendale ● 1205d

So rather than fix the footpaths they throw taxpayers money at a building with no dedicated purpose.Which of course will mean that it will end up being unsuitable for any possible purpose and thus require further expenditures to be adapted to any future use.This management , board and trusteeship lot are an utter crowd of self indulgent airheads with a cavalier approach to other peoples money.Why this catalogue of questionable ethics has not been called in properly by LBH and LBE is very questionable.  Probably because too many at both are also in the thick of it..It is verging on scandalous.

Raymond Havelock ● 1206d

The Gunnersbury website has now had an update posted:"Update on the Café and the Small MansionWe are pleased to announce that works will begin to rebuild the Gunnersbury Park Café in May, and we expect the works to be completed by the end of the year. During this time we will be starting a tender process to appoint a new café operator with a view to reopening in early 2023.We'd like to thank our visitors for their support during this process, and we can't wait to welcome you back to the café!We also have good news from the Small Mansion, as the first phase of restoration of restoring the roof is due to be completed in August. We will be working with both Hounslow and Ealing councils to develop the next phases of work and settle on an end use for the building.

Tim Henderson ● 1207d

The Bulbs were all paid for by local residents over a few years .

Raymond Havelock ● 1215d

There is no sign of the café in Gunnersbury Park being rebuilt.

Susan Kelly ● 1215d