Forum Topic

The changing face of Osterley and Heston.(Planning Meetings)

As a resident of these parts for over 35 years,(after 30 years in W4 and elsewhere) one has felt tongue tied to make comment about some of the inappropriate, and in my view, very ugly developements that have been taking place in Osterley and surrounds.We have watched beautiful long established houses with delightful old English front gardens being totally demolished..and replaced by bulbous palaces surrounded by high railings...gold arrow topped metalwork..and the air of vulgar superiority.   No longer are the style of houses and gardens ones that your eyes sink into with warmth, pleasure and appreciation.  Now, its in yer face...I've stacks of lolly...keep out..and totally inconsistent with what you'd expect of a Conservation Area.It's a blessing that the Councillors on the Isleworth and Brentford Area Committee (Planning) have put a break on some of the planning applications...but I believe they need support...and perhaps need to hear from more of us.The new Councillors need to be well informed about what is going on. Property developements need to be compatible with the style of the area.Next weeks Planning Meeting will feature such developements. New Councillors..please quickly learn the ropes....and the delicate nature of TASTE!

Jim Lawes ● 7185d23 Comments

I hate shopping in Hounslow I hate shopping in Hounslow I hate shopping in Hounslow I hate shopping in Hounslow I hate shopping in Hounslow I hate shopping in Hounslow I hate shopping in Hounslow I hate shopping in Hounslow I hate shopping in Hounslow.I go everywhere else - and on the odd occasion I have to pop in to the Boroughs centre shopping area I always come back disappointed that there is no improvement in the town.  Now, I know that it has potential – we have been fobbed off with this story for years - and I know that it is a building site - but do I really have to wind my way into the Holloway Road car park through the biggest potholes in the Borough?It is really quite scary as there are pedestrians wandering across to join Jims Post Office queue, and instead of looking at who might step in front of the car I was trying to steer a route around the axle damaging holes.There must be some spare tarmac around – when the major roadwork’s are being done around here there are always men popping up to supply a driveway full of tarmac – so can’t somebody find some to fill the road surface?Puh-leese!

Sarah Felstead ● 7161d

A very ably chaired Isleworth and Brentford Area Planning meeting tonight agreed overwhelmingly to reject the planned TRAFFIC ORDER/CPZ until the matter has been further researched and residents come up with alternative ideas.It was a victory for residents...ably assisted by competant local Councillors, and two short presentations by householders.Pictures of local streets were screened...Gail Chatt, the Council's Senior Traffic Engineer was left in no doubt that previous Resident's polls were flawed, that we were dealing soly with the TRAFFIC ORDER FOR JERSEY ROAD and that money will be found somehow or other to finance any changes. There was no need to add Jersey Road to a separately budgeted scheme around the corner in Thornbury Road.  When presenting her pictures ..she surprisingly left out any to do with St Mary's crescent..which is generally bear of cars..because of their own CPZ!We liked Chairman Cllr Hardy (Community) asking for hands to be raised if you were there tonight for that issue. Some 15 hands went up. Asked to raise their hands again if they rejected the Council's plans..15 hands went up again."It was a sledgehammer" approach by the Council said one resident. When Cllr Barbara Reid (Con) said that the Council had never shown local Councillors the plans.."I only saw..after the event.. the letter that the residents had received"..that was the cause of much sway.  Plan REJECTED!

Jim Lawes ● 7179d

SarahWhich road was that in?

Jim Lawes ● 7179d

"""It always comes down to race doesn't it? I notice that you beat a hasty retreat from the Chiswick forum when several posters described your views as "odious"""Mr HughesNo it doesn't.....and I have never retreated from the Chiswick Forum. I meet dozens and dozens of nationalities from all over the world..and being very talkative, a reasonable good communicator, and a wide ranging reader of all kinds or reports and documents..I have a depth of experience in all manner of activites...and I make judgements ..when necessary..that I feel its appropriate to make.Different nationalies do seem to have different perceptions and characteristics. If I told you the stories I hear, and things I experience you would be staggered.By the way, I always use my real my name..don't fire pop shots (like you seem to do). Yes I have got involved in several of the Chiswick fractous discussions. Islamaic doctine matters come to mind..and whilst I was applauded for bringing some subjects up..I, with others, found our names on Islamic websites...as a consequence. But I am not ruffled by that. I'm defending my station...and objecting to other people's aggressions.Yes, I did come under some unpleasant responses on the Chiswick Forum when I raised the issue of "Asian Business Practices". Perhaps that could have better worded..but my comments were based on extensive and wide-ranging experiences and conversations with other members of the public including Indians and Pakistanis as well.Generalisations are dangerous I know..but ignorance and unawareness of what is going on is unacceptable.As the pattern of nationalities is different in Chiswick than it is in Heston, Lampton, Osterley, Hounslow Central, and some other spots locally..I reckoned that Chiswickians wouldn't have had many similar experiences..or would not clearly understand the underlying implications of my observations. I chose not to go into further detail on the Chiswick Forum..as I felt..to use my term..that I would be playing table tennis against a blanket.I was most impressed by the performance of all Councillors and Civic Centre staff who were at tonight's Area meeting..were you there?But I was most concerned when I spoke to a pedestrian passing by at the scene of the recent Brentford Mains Water Pipe burst.he was an employee at the Civic Centre.We spoke about the road works..but of course I asked more questions regarding life at the Civic Centre."Interesting local election results?" I said.."Will there be  much difference?""We shall have to wait and see" he said "but I'm a Labour man but not on this occasion""Yes it must be a tough job running the Council" I said..."it's not a matter of cutting financial expenditure but we need to sure that money is not being wasted, and that financial abuse or scams are not going on"" There's plenty of that going on" he said..." I'm an enforcement officer in a particular department and I see what some people get up too"I was getting quite excited at these revelations.  Yes,he said,many of those Asian Labour Councillors were landlords..not little landlords..but serial landlords and they were sometimes distainful of regulations behind the scenes. Thankfully, he said, most of these people lost their seats..and so things should get better...but they were so persistent and difficult"I went off thinking that this story just added to my experiences and opinions heard. I abhore incomers..whoever they may be..abusing the system. What are your views? Are you happier that there is now a Conservative-led Local Council?  Sad about that Hounslow Heath GP centre. Not being opened because they haven't got enough funds?  Did you hear of the Spri.....well its best not to mention..you'll say it's racist.By the way ..I would be very happy to discuss some of these things off Forum..and would be delighted to hear where you felt I was wrong. Maybe you can educate me..maybe I can ask YOU questions.

Jim Lawes ● 7179d

It always comes down to race doesn't it? I notice that you beat a hasty retreat from the Chiswick forum when several posters described your views as "odious".

William E Hughes ● 7179d

Sarah Felstead ● 7179d

http://213.210.33.3/ieListDocuments.asp?CId=236&MId=3233&Ver=4&J=4

Jim Lawes ● 7179d

""At the moment people appear to buy into the conservation land, not to CONSERVE and live with and improve by maintaining.  Those gaudy gates say it all.""Your dead right Sarah its exactly that.There were great protests in Hounsow last year about bulbous and inappropiate extensions by a gentleman originally from India ..I believe. Was it St Paul's Close?  Residents were furious. Their pleas were rejected. An Asian Councillor dismissed the protests with the quip that "everyone else was doing it""..according to the news story in the Local Press.I don't mind in the world where people come from..I just don't like them taking the mickey of regulations!  And you've heard nothing yet!

Jim Lawes ● 7180d

Hello Jim.  IMHO - The interesting thing about the whole planning arena is that unless things are specifically spelt out – in the plans and as a part of the process then it leaves open (what a developer has actually told me)  - loopholes.People affected by developments will testify that builders working practises (including what they build and the way that they build it) are often driven by the loopholes and what they can get away with, and not the ideals which are set down to protect the existing community and environment.If I were starting out on considering the planning process as it works – I would like to ask to identify what these loopholes are so that the process can be tightened up and any amendments to legislation, sought.  Amendments here would support the loopholes and make them a fair and open to everyone and stop somebody applying for one thing yet intending to build something completely different.  Permitted planning should also be looked at.One example we have seen recently is – the gap between the property next door and the ‘set back’ extension should be – say 1 metre – but there is the 4 inch no build boundary to consider before you build in the 1 metre – and does 1 metre mean just that – or is it okay then to fill the 1 metre in with overhanging eves and gutters and down pipes and sewage pipes to the bungalow in the back garden?  What is the intention of the 1 metre – is it to leave a clear line around the property to show they are detached from one another or is it something else?The main difficulty here is that we are living on a building site.  We no longer live happily in a nice area but in the middle of a developers dream and the neighbour’s nightmare.Every application should also have a historical consideration attached to it, along with an environmental consideration.  The environmental consideration and the historical consideration having clear ideals as to what people want considered under these headings.  For an example these houses have swifts returning from Africa to nest every year – yet their nests are being destroyed as houses are modernised and no nesting boxes and responsibility for maintaining them, sought.  It is such a lovely wonder of nature that these birds have been returning for generations back to the same tiny hole to rear their young.What environmental requests are being made of developers/householders as they ask to improve their properties?  What screening is being kept as fences and walls replace hedgerows?  Loft rooms are being asked for – but where are the solar panels and other methods of recycling water being asked for, especially as many of the houses are knocked back to just their outside walls?  Many people will say that the method of taking the house back to the brick work, entails using a pneumatic drill down the party wall to take out the plaster and the chimney breast.  The impression I have of the Osterley area is that the large houses are nicely spaced out and are in context with the open land of which it forms a part.  Building up to boundaries and filling in the spaces between the houses is surely not a part of conservation status – where will it end?  At the moment people appear to buy into the conservation land, not to conserve and live with and improve by maintaining.  Those gaudy gates say it all.I personally think that the whole process needs to be teased apart to look at what the legislation supports and what people are doing now, before we lose sight of what we all actually want!

Sarah Felstead ● 7180d

A) We have Jersey Road (Yellow lines and parking meters not wanted) (nor £45 parking permits)  (nor a reduction in parking places currently used by residents)...the TRAFFIC ORDER currently on the table providing  23 spaces for 50 residences (and parking fines if you don't abide!) is not wanted. Residents up in arms!!oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooB) We have the Thornbury Road shops etc..with all days commuter cars. A separate ..but related problem.oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooC) We have St Mary's Crescent with its "both sides of the road" CPZ !!ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooThere is a problem, but it needs further study...before any thoughts of implementation!  Planning Committee members please note these views.!!

Jim Lawes ● 7180d

Let's have that map again.oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooCommuter parking is a disaster for the shops in Thornbury Road, between St Mary's Crescent and Jersey Road.  Vehicles seem to be parked there all day..and so locals are not even able to shop for 10 minutes at the Chemists, or the vets, or at the grocers. Worst of all is trying to collect a fragile creamy birthday cake from the Bakers. All the businesses are suffering and cars and vans can hardly pass by.ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooNot only is there a lack of space to park at the shops..but there's hardly any room for motorists to pass.oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooAs commuter cars were littering St Mary's Crescent all day in times gone by...a CPZ(Controlled Parking Zone) was introduced about a year ago.  I believe Brentford's Cllr Bartholomew was involved.The result of that development is that St Mary's Crescent is now almost empty of cars all day!  It was decided to implement the CPZ on both sides of the road.  Crazy when one side of the road is parkland, an old peoples bowls club , the Library, and Newspaper recycling bins.ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooPressure has therefore increased at the Thornbury Road shops(where chauffeured parking officials arrive to nab people parking on corners..or near corners). In addition Jersey Road  has become solid for some 100 meters...by commuter cars who have moved from elsewhere ..and of course..visitors to the park..plus all the shuttle coaches from Harrods, Gillettes,and Sky..en route to Osterley Station.At Thursday's Planning Meeting, attended by Councillors from Brentford, Syon, Isleworth..who may not be familiar with the area under scrutiny..the current TRAFFIC ORDER proposed or issued by the CIVIC CENTRE..for Jersey Road needs to be put aside until further considerations have been taken into account. 90% of residents wish that.

Jim Lawes ● 7180d

The area around Osterley Underground Station has been a nightmare for residents for years and years.  One cannot blamed commuters wanting to take their car to some railway station en route to their place of work..it happens all over the country.  John Prescott even took his car some 200 metres to a hotel in Bournemouth so that his wife's hair wouldn't be spoilt before she appeared at a Conference!But over the years London Transport has failed, it seems, to ease the problem..or even get involved. They could have built a multistory car park on their existing site. The big house next door to the Station was even once owned by LT..and could have been adopted for parking. No ..the owner seems to have built a handful of bungalows in his garden instead.London Transport even owned the enormous Sports Ground across the road..the Great West Road.  Have they and the Council ever discussed the possibilities? Once I was told..no they haven't..we're separate organisations!!!So measures to control commuter parking on the roads surrounding Osterley Station have instead inflicted hardship and costs onto the local residents..not the commuters!It's important that new and existing Councillors on the Isleworth and Brentford Area Committee (Planning) become familiar with the geography of the area..and the parking implications of Commuters as soon as possible..as residents are up in arms about a TRAFFIC ORDER that has been published.Firstly, here is a map of the area. Jersay Road,Thornbury Road,St Mary's Crescent, and Ridgeway Road North..all TW7!

Jim Lawes ● 7180d

I got the story wrong - normally the workers chuck the tiles off the roof into a skip - but I understand that they were throwing the tiles into the front garden to the worry of passing pedestrians. Good job it was half term then - the kiddies to 4.5 schools wander past this junction as pedestrians.Was about to go along the 'conservation end' of Wood Lane this morning and the whole road was blocked by a skip lorry either delivering across the pavement of doing some sort of turn on the pavement to get back onto the A4.  It was 7.45 am.  So 'conservation status' does not protect it (and its pavements) from skip lorries then?

Sarah Felstead ● 7183d

That's Wood Lane on the right...St Mary's Crescent in the south...and Cranmore Avenue in the west.  The area has been a target for astonishing demoliton and bulbous over-development to the disbelief of indignant existing old time residents. Please CONSERVE  this Area!! Don't you agree?The brown line represents the Area border. The dotted line is suppose to be cycles routes..but it is erroreous...I believe.

Jim Lawes ● 7183d

Had an e-mail about the house next to the railway crossing on Wood Lane Isleworth.  The builders have apparently been sitting on the roof removing the tiles and throwing them off the roof, into a skip in one of the gardens.  The next thing is - they have removed half the chimney stack!  There is a new loft extension which looks a bit lopsided without the chimney in its original size.  :-(

Sarah Felstead ● 7183d

Who's the architect,Austin Tacious?

Keith Iddon ● 7183d

Vanessa and Keith..thanks for your responses.I do hope that someone gets to grips with what is going. But just like the Home Office shenanigans it seems that it's too late..a lot of damage has been done. Someone should stop it getting worse.and bring those responsible to heel. I'm aware that the Area Planning Committee have halted some of the grim planning applications.Sure things change,different styles come along..but downright rape of the conservation area is objectionable in my book.So,in the Osterley Conservation area,the charms of old english front gardens and houses were a delight to the eye.Yes this one does have a driveway for a car too.oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooThere was once a detached house occupied by two old ladies.. and they had a large front garden. Yes the house may have been a bit delapidated inside..but nonetheless..the overall vista was one of intrigue and delight.Next minute..the place is vacant..the house is demolished...there could be only one type of new occupant...the incomers...and they proceed to build in this Conservation Area this ugly monster..with the blessing of their possible good contacts at the Civic Centre. I asked a Hounslow Estate Agent "How do they get away with it"  You know by now what he said.Such is the greed to take regulations to the limit..I believe the front wall extends so far that the pavement is narrower than it used to be!!We don't want this in an established Conservation Area. Thank goodness for this Forum. Are you getting the gist?oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooBut hang on..next door was the beatiful old detached house of..was it Mr Walker..with the lovely front garden..with a blossoming tree? Now all you see is this vulgar frontage. How charming for neighbours opposite and passers by?oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo""We'll if he can get away with that...I'll have a word with my own friends on Hounslow Council and I'll try and get away with this""  and so the farce goes on. The destuction of a once beautiful stretch of road.These houses stretched the regulations to the very very limit and ...in my view...are in bad taste. Look at the comparision with the size of the pair of houses next door.This new place is hugh. I'll shed a tear when the gold paint appears on the arrows of those railings!oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooI urge new Councillors to learn the ropes quickly. Brentford Councillors may have different views..and different perceptions. It's the Osterley view that's important.Many locals are livid..but feel unable to publicise their concerns.

Jim Lawes ● 7184d

What you have to bear in mind is that applicants have the right of appeal, so if they decide to fight a refusal made locally the decision is made by a planning inspector who probably doesn't live anywhere near Hounslow borough. So what you, I, or anyone else thinks doesn't really come into it. We have several awful recent examples just near where I live and for the life of me how they slipped through heaven only knows, they are a joke, and the amount of "illegal" extensions/rear garden bungalow thingys etc. I saw during the recent elections was enough to make your hair stand on end, they were a blatant abuse of planning and most just had to have been built without permission. It would take a small army of enforcement officers to keep pace, never mind stop this.

Vanessa Smith ● 7184d

Last posting by me applied to your first picture on this thread..

Keith Iddon ● 7184d

Jim,this is horrendous...what an odd,unbalanced looking structure.The architect or planner needs a good kick up the whatsit for this!

Keith Iddon ● 7184d

Wasn't that where Mr and Mrs Coffins delightful house once was? It seems to have gone!  Is that a ceremonial entrance hall? Once again again its massive...and bulbous..even though its appears to be very well built.  Another Conservation Area flout?

Jim Lawes ● 7184d

The area is blessed..or was blessed..with a whole variety of houses..but all well established and unchanged for years and years. They became part of the furniture.Glorious gardens, quite a few bungelows, quiant old ladies,dog walkers, plenty of trees in the back gardens..etc etc.Parts of Jersey Road and Alderney Avenue have ..in my 35 years experience view, been raped by the people whose outlook is seemingly inconsistent with mine.Take this delightful scene in Jersey Road..at the posher end..when dainty houses lingered...and look at what is being erected beside it!ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooToo big, probably going to be ugly..and hey this is a Conservation Area...who in the Planning department is giving permission for this!ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooI once asked a Hounslow Estate Agent how did they get away with it.  I daren't tell you the answer.

Jim Lawes ● 7185d

Thornbury Road is a distinctive road...which before the Big Storm of 1987 had a long avenue of trees.  It leads to the Main gate of Osterley Park, Osterley House and the farm.The small parade of shops has been suffering for a long while with low sales and fewer visitors because Commuters cars are parked outside their shop premises all day.You may recall the delightful book shop beside the railway bridge. It used to be the old Spring Grove underground station.Opposite the book shop..is a pair of shops. There haven't had must success either...although the premises are attractive.  So the Cricket Gear shops closes...in piles a gang of builders (incomers?)..no planning permission...and look what they've done!  Thank goodness the Area Committee have tackled it!  But it shows you what taste some people have.ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooIt's incredulous what some people think that they can do with our locality!

Jim Lawes ● 7185d