WCGS
West Chiswick & Gunnersbury Society
Update: Chiswick Curve Public Inquiry
The Public Inquiry closed on Friday, 6th July.
The Closing Statements given on Thursday afternoon and on Friday distilled the 4 weeks of evidence, cross-examination and re-examination of the Inquiry and summed up the positions of the Rule 6 parties – Historic England, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Kew Society, of the Council and that of the Appellant, Starbones. To our Chairman’s surprise on Friday, she was asked if she wished to make any closing remarks.
Her Closing Statement is available here.
All Closing Statements will be made available on the Inquiry website. To find the website please click here.
The Inspector will provide a report with a recommendation to the Secretary of State who will then make a decision. We do not, as yet, have an idea of when that decision will be made but it may not be until late 2018 or early 2019.
The combined weight of the cases made by those opposing the development provided strong grounds on which to refuse the Appeal. The Appellant’s case rested mainly on the assertion that, even when highly visible as an intrusion into views of and from the many heritage assets and residential areas surrounding the site, this would be a positive impact due to the outstanding quality of the architecture. This new “Palm House” would invoke the qualities of the Grade I Listed structure in Kew Gardens and would be greeted with as much pleasure as the Eiffel Tower seen from the streets of the centre of Paris.
Chiswick Curve Public Inquiry – Update
Our chairman spoke today (Thursday 21st June) on behalf of our society and of the following local groups:
Grove Park Group Residents Association
Chiswick High Road Action Group
Friends of Stile Hall Gardens
Her statement is available here.
Other 3rd parties also spoke and you can find reports and updates on the Chiswick Calendar and W4 websites.
Chiswick Curve Public Inquiry: Update
Week 2 starts on Tuesday, 19th and our chairman and other 3rd parties are due to speak on Thursday, 21st.
Be there to support us.
Chiswick Curve – The Fight Continues!
The developer of the Chiswick Curve is appealing against the London Borough of Hounslow’s Refusal of the 32-storey building and the media screens.
The Public Inquiry will begin at 10 am on Tuesday, 12th June 2018 at Brentford Free Church, Boston Manor Road, Brentford, TW8 8DW.
This Public Inquiry is immensely important for the future not only of this part of the borough of Hounslow but also, more generally, of West London. The outcome will set the scene for other developments in the area.
What is at stake is our precious heritage, the character and context of our neighbourhoods and the quality of our lives and those of future residents, including any who might live in the development at Chiswick Roundabout should it be built. Much of what is at stake is what will be lost —and it will be lost for ever.
Be there to hear the Council, Historic England, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and others defend the Council’s refusal of the development and to hear how the developer’s team seek to justify the proposed development.
To see the Draft Inquiry Programe please click here.
The Inquiry will run for 4 weeks, Tuesday to Friday, each day starting at 10am at the Brentford Free Church (unless stated otherwise on the programme)
The website for the Inquiry is available here (please click here). More information will be made available closer to the Inquiry start.
Weeks 1 and 2 The Council will present its case followed by the “Rule 6” parties, Historic England, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Kew Society. This will be followed by “third parties” including WCGS; the Society’s Chairman has indicated her intention to speak.
Week 3 The Appellant, Starbones will present its case.
Week 4 Closing submissions
While you may not to be able to attend the Inquiry in its entirety, please attend as much as you can.
Talk to friends and neighbours – you could, perhaps, share attendance between you.
Thanks to The Chiswick Calendar, we can get an idea of numbers attending each day.
Please fill out the Rota Form provided on its website and The Chiswick Calendar will add the information (not your name, just a head count of numbers attending each day) to the calendar so that you can see which days there are people attending and where there are gaps.
To find the Rota Form on the Chiswick Calender website please click here.
Please attend as much of the Inquiry as you can; your support would be especially welcome on:
- Days 1 and 2 (Tuesday 12th June and Wednesday, 13th June),
- Day 7* (Thursday 21st June) when the Society and other resident groups speak
- Days 9 to 11 when the developer presents his case
- Day 13* (Wednesday 4th July) for the Closing submissions
*These later parts of the programme are subject to confirmation.
Before you come to the Inquiry why not download and print out this Card – please click here.
While members of the public will not be able to speak at the Inquiry, you can bring this card along and use the reverse side to get your message across.
To see the comments sent by the Society on the Appeal click here.
Latest Articles on the Chiswick Curve
To see the latest article on the Chiswick Curve on the W4 website please click here.
To see the latest article on the Chiswick Curve on the TW8 website please click here.
To see the latest article on the Chiswick Curve on the Kew Society website please click here.
For more background information please click here and scroll down the page.
Informal Gathering on 21st May,2018
With the success of the last get-to-together at the Gunnersbury Pub, we plan to have another informal meeting which this time, will include a short walk before. The walk will be an opportunity to point out and give some background details on some of the buildings that the committee and members put forward to be included in the Local List.
The meeting and the walk is open to members and their friends.
The walk starts at the Queens Head Pub (12 Sutton Lane North, W4 4LD) at 7.00pm and the meeting will be at the Pilot Pub (56 Wellesley Road, W4 4BZ) at 8.00pm.
Policing Re-organisation
Hounslow, Ealing and Hillingdon are among the first London boroughs to be brought together under a new policing structure.
The Hounslow Borough Commander, Raj Kohl, becomes the new Neighbourhoods Superintendent for all three boroughs.
A new Basic Command Unit (BCU) covers all three boroughs; its commander is Paul Martin who has been the Ealing commander for some years and has been involved in the pilot stages of the new BCU structure.
WCGS Annual General Meeting
The Society’s AGM will be on Monday, 5th February at 7.30 pm.
The venue as usual is Age Concern Hall, Oxford Road North.
The Minutes of the AGM held on Monday, 5th February 2018 are available here.
