Forum Topics

Dark menace? Comments due by 15 April

It's only rumours, but we have heard it said that a dark kitchen is planned for the old Sauki restaurant premises. I can't think of a more ridiculous site for a hive of delivery motorbike activity. On the High St opposite a listed building, no parking anywhare near, just railings and double yellow lines. Also a heavily residential location. There is no planning request yet and local councillor Katherine reassured me that there are some planning controls possible (I believe it depends on the harm to local residents). But there is an alcohol licence application I've only just seen, with a closing date of 15th April, on a Sauki window. It talks about wanting an alcohol sales licence, in and outside, every day to 11pm and mentions take aways as well as waitress table service. Imagine the noise til after midnight. But look at the the plan at the end of the application - see the Unit 8 Brentford Lock application via https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20071/licensing/1998/pending_premises_licensing_applications It is really alarming. It shows a before-plan of an open restaurant area and an after-plan (no planning application for such a radical change of use) of a very large area of closed off space for kitchen, cold and freezer rooms, storage etc and only a tiny bit one end labelled "BAR" No sign of a restaurant and no room for a real one. Whatever you think do make your views about Unit 8 Brentford Lock, High Street, TW8 8AQ, known to the council via licensing@hounslow.gov.uk Personally I think it's been far too secretive to be anything but bad news for Brentford and does not seem to have been notified to many affected residents. Luckily we don't live in one of the flats above.

Eric Baker ● 353d29 Comments ● 349d

Why would an Estate agent give telephone numbers that don't exist?

The reason I ask is because there is a flat in Whitestile Road TW8  that has had their board outside for several months now. I had tried calling the phone number given on the board 8994 9886 and it goes 'dead'  Saw one of their boards put up recently in what appears to be someone's rear garden in a back alley behind Darwin Road W5/Junction Rd. I thought it was a strange place to place it especially as there isn't a board at front of said house. Knocked the front door on several occasions but no-one at home I tried to phone the number on this board too  - 8840 6666  but it also went 'dead'. They have a great website and appear to have won all these awards, (wonder how anyone managed to contacted them to let them know).  I tried Ealing Broadway - 8280 9600  Northfields  8840 6666. Pitshanger 8998 3311.  Pinner 8866 0000 , Stanmore 8954 1111 Even tried their Property Management office 01895 200 900  but all went 'dead'  Thought i'd struck lucky when  a number in Brentford 8022 4654 came up (albeit with an electronic voice) and it appeared as though it was going to connect when it too when 'dead'  I thought perhaps they had gone out of business but they appear to be recruiting and the flat on Whitestile Road has been sold by them and a different person turns up regularly to open windows for 5 mins before leaving again.This flat came up in early Summer and I had a relative who was interested. The day the board went up I tried to phone the number on their board but as stated earlier it just went 'dead'  I phoned every branch on their website that day but without success and eventually ended up contacting someone in their Ruislip office who after much discussion "it's not my area love" I managed to get the asking price, which I thought was great.  A few days later approximately 5 people arrived at the property and the next day a 'SOLD' sign went up .  Not 'Subject to' Just 'SOLD'. Yet I'm unable to find out anything about the property on their website or even on zoopla  My relative is still interested in the property hence my interest.  

Debbie Paradin ● 502d8 Comments ● 389d

Musical Museum survival appeal.

I'm a volunteer tour guide at the Musical Museum in Brentford, London. https://www.musicalmuseum.co.uk/It is a very satisfying role because I watch the delight and wonder on the visitors' faces when they see and hear the instruments used for music reproduction through the ages. We have musical boxes, polyphons (the precursors of juke boxes) self-playing organs and pianos including player pianos and reproducing pianos that play the actual performances of famous pianists of the past including Gershwin, Rachmaninoff and many others. There are phonographs, gramophones, juke boxes that play 78s and a mighty Wurlitzer Cinema organ in our concert hall. The collection is of national and international importance because it restores and preserves working examples of extremely rare instruments.Loss of income during the Covid shutdown followed by huge inflation in the museum's costs mean that the museum can no longer pay its way so this year, our 60th, might be the last. We have trimmed our costs to the bone but must find money urgently to keep the doors open as we change the way we operate.If you value a historic musical resource, you may wish to support the museum's survival crowdfunder but if it doesn't seem that important to you, I understand that and I apologise for the intrusion. Here's the crowdfunder link.https://gofund.me/5632515eIf you feel able to, it would be great if you can also pass on the appeal to anyone you think might be interested.

David Lusty ● 422d16 Comments ● 401d

Update from Connect  Plus

They are contracted by National Highways to "fix" the M4 supports. They appear, via dozens on inter companies to be subsidiaries of Balfour Beatty - a very large construction company.I have been chasing them for updates on the construction and disruption of Windmill Road. Bearing in mind the work was supposed to be finished in May until for obscure reasons it was stopped for the coronation. Apparently the costs of this stoppage are alleged to be £400K, this will be paid for by Connect Plus, no doubt out of the directors' pocket money rather than via the majority of their revenues that come from the UK Taxpayer.When they restarted a few weeks ago they promised Windmill Road would only be closed at night, and the whole works would be finished in November."Thank you for your emails regarding the ongoing M4-A4 concrete pier repairs. Connect Plus Services works on behalf of National Highways and Connect Plus to manage, operate and maintain the M25 and its linking roads, as well as the Dartford-Thurrock River Crossing. I note your comments about the closure of Windmill Road and I’d again like to apologise for the inconvenience that this is causing. As you have observed, whilst this area is closed due to work on surrounding piers, we have put in place welfare facilities for our operatives on site. Having facilities in this location means that they are nearby for operatives, therefore negating the need for them to leave the area, reducing the time operatives are away from the site and therefore increasing production. With regards to the possibility of re-opening Windmill Road, we are aiming to have this crossing re-opened by 9 December 2023. Please be assured any change to this date will be communicated to you. We’ve assessed a number of different options here to allow us to speed up the delivery of these works, which included using overnight closures, but have found that working in this way would not be feasible in terms of either working safely, or delivering a suitable standard of repairs. Our works remain on schedule to be fully completed as planned in December 2023, as per the progress tracker sent in our most recent update to you of 29 September 2023. The original date proposed for completion includes a certain amount of delay/risk allowance, this is something that is very common within construction programs in order to allow for any unforeseen risks that may arise. It is due to an unforeseen risk that we have had to carry out additional works to piers. Although initial surveys were carried out previously to determine the level of works required, further areas of delamination were discovered during the Hydrodemolition process used to remove the effected concrete. These areas have increased the amount of works being carried out on some of the piers therefore increasing the duration of completion. Although this has lengthened the time of some of the elements of the program, we have been able to mitigate some of this time by working weekends, installing additional temporary welfare facilities, such as those at Windmill Lane, and increasing resource. This has allowed us to utilise the time/risk allowance and not exceed the overall completion date. Furthermore, I note your comments about the finances involved with the removal of our works in April, in advance of the coronation of King Charles. Whilst I’m not at liberty to discuss the costs in detail, I would like to assure you that this was paid for out Connect Plus’ own resources and not with funds from the public purse."When I'm back from a short holiday I will communicate further to Vonnect Plus. This will include my response here and anything else you would like me to inform them of.

Guy Lambert ● 544d3 Comments ● 544d

For N V Brooks

I remember you raising this, NV, and I have raised it with TfL a couple of times, and finally have a respons:"Thank you for contacting us regarding the traffic signals at the junction between the A4 and Boston Manor Road. An engineer has investigated your enquiry and looked into the operation of the traffic lights at this location. The traffic signals here operate under an automated traffic control system called SCOOT.  This utilises detection to monitor the number of vehicles and then uses the information to vary the green signal time on each approach to the junction.  During our investigation, it was found that part of the detection at this junction is faulty, meaning green signal times on street not being based upon real time traffic demands. While we wait for the fault to be fixed, we have updated the operation of the junction; these adjustments provide a longer green signal time for Boston Manor Road and have been observed to improve queues on Boston Manor Road.The A4 westbound receives a short green signal while all other approaches are held on red. This is to hold eastbound traffic heading into central London in order to reduce congestion and blocking of the junction at Boston Manor Road. If the eastbound was to run for this additional period of green signal time, then it would block the junction of the A4 / Boston Manor Road, preventing Boston Manor Road from moving when it does receive a green signal due to the A4 eastbound traffic blocking back."

Guy Lambert ● 545d3 Comments ● 544d

A fundamental flaw in Hounslow's Parking Strategy

If you look at the two documents that the council is currently consulting in it is hard not to be taken aback by the difference between the rhetoric and the reality.While it is a perfectly laudable aim to discourage car use and encourage sustainable transport measures, this is hard to achieve if you have a huge vested interest in encouraging people to drive which Hounslow does because it operates the largest number of car parking spaces in the borough.These are concentrated in the Hounslow town area which is also very well provided with privately run car parks so there would be a limited impact if the council were to get out of the car park business and bring much needed funds to its coffers by selling the sites for development.However, the 'strategy' is to upgrade the existing car parks and provide more when they deem demand requires it.The kerbside strategy on the other hand is to squeeze space even further with more parklets, EV chargers, bike hangers and cycle lanes. All of these are laudable, and some may even be necessary, but the report acknowledges that there are already parts of the borough where demand for residential spaces already outweighs supply.This includes Chiswick which already has the lowest level of daily car usage and pays more that the rest of the borough put together in permit charges.Chiswick's main car park at Sainsbury's is under continued threat of development and even that provides a fraction of the space available if you want to park in Hounslow. Squeezing further the limited available space will achieve almost nothing in encouraging people to switch modes of transport but will further reduce footfall on the High Road.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 558d5 Comments ● 554d