I don't think it's a Chiswick/Brentford thing - it's just an adversity to the number of properties being built in this area these days. There's plenty of people in Brentford who are not comfortable with the level of building going up around them these days - normally in the shape of overblown green-houses -all glass-work that just is a blot on the landscape, heats up the surrounding area, creates it's own micro-climate - it's not like the number of properties designed to be built around the proposed football site will be aesthetically pleasing to the eye or be architectural prize winners but more like cram as much as possible on the space available for maximum profit.Some people slag off the council tower blocks - built, luckily, at an earlier stage of councils development between greed and fleecing off the general populace but providing a service that could stand them in good fortune for years to come. Build a nice property, get the rent in and make a comfortable return, year on year - there are even programmes on daytime TV that still advocate the same principle - but are in the realms of private landlords - doing up a place - renting it out - getting a monthly return - etc. which is nice - which can provide a service to the tenants - but went horribly wrong. The problems with local authorities since the 1980s is another issue.Brentford football ground is in a unique position situated right at the centre of Brentford with a pub on each corner and looks like a football pitch as a coming together of several back gardens. Back in the eighties a bit of waste ground was developed to create a block of arch windowed studio apartments overlooking the ground - I see they're always up for sale and really haven't increased in value in line with the rest of the properties in this area. So it's not a good catchment to get a bunch of properties to overlook a football ground. Don't forget the number of properties in Brook Road that frequently flooded when the stands that had to build to accommodate safety features for the people who watched this particular type of sport. And weren’t adequately reimbursed for this? If BFC really wanted to expand they would have bought up the waste ground in Brook Road opposite Clifton Road and the bunch of Victorian terraces build on where the ground slopes southwards – pulled them down and given themselves a larger ground and better frontage. Of course the nimbsys in Clifton Road including a prominent labour councillor would have been up in arms about this proposal – probably - though she’s not averse to structures being built in back gardens in the same road. She’s a bit clueless. Nice person but not keeping up with the times. Cadbury’s a right soft touch unless you were born or grew up in this area. But again I digress. Don't forget the westward side of the A316 is in Brentford up until the Roundabout - check out the demarcations of the Middlesex boundaries - I think the problem people have in the relocation of a minor football team to that area is the impact it'll have on road congestion. And then try to stick up a bunch of lego designed properties to maximise profitable for a non-used bit of derelict land/plague pit is, in some peoples' minds, foolish to say the least and will get backs up because it’s unkeeping with the area. But the biggest opponents to this foolish foray of a minor league football club will be the world heritage site of Kew Gardens. It’s not a Chiswick v Brentford thing.I think the Chiswick mob are more vocal in seeing a greedy boy in action instead of a sensible boy developing a uniquely held bunch of back gardens.
Xanthe West ● 4304d