67 Hounslow Road, Feltham

Until recently, there was an attractive bungalow/cottage at the above location.  Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.

I received the following today:

“LONDON BUILDING ACTS (AMENDMENT) ACT 1939-PART II STREET NAMING
SUBJECT: Naming New Development, 67 Hounslow Road, Feltham

This department is carrying out consultation with the public, emergency services and Royal Mail on the naming of the above development and in accordance with council policy, the Council’s library service have been consulted for suitable names.  The suggestions received are: –

Suggestions: Hedges Close/Place; Firs Lodge Close/Place; Seedman(s) Close/Place; Shepherd’s Close/Place; Watkins Close/Place

Accordingly I should be obliged if you would assess the names put forward and inform me of any objections you may have.  Also, if you should have any suggestions of your own please feel free to include these in your reply.  I would be grateful if you could confirm your views within 2 weeks.”

If you have any suggestions (ideally with an explanation or background) or opinions on what has been suggested thus far, please let me know.

6 December Planning Enforcement Agenda

In ten and half years of being a Councillor, I have never seen so many Feltham North properties on a single Planning Enforcement agenda.  I am aware of all the cases but this is an agenda worth sharing.

Carriageway Resurfacing/ Repair Works in Hounslow Road

I received the following this morning regarding the above (only applies between Lansbury Avenue- Brainton Avenue):

“I am pleased to inform you that the above work is part of an approved maintenance programme for your area.

The work is due to commence on 19 November 2012 and should be completed within 5 nights. The work will be carried out between 7.30pm and 4.30am at night. The contractor will advise dates and any changes by the placing of signs in the road.

Traffic through the working area will be controlled by the Contractor’s traffic signals or stop-go boards.

Access to the business/properties within the resurfacing limits will be maintained as far as it is reasonably practical, and will be subject to the contractor’s traffic control. Unfortunately there will be delays. Emergency access will not be affected. Any road markings will be replaced as a separate operation as soon as possible.”

Latest on the Emergency Gas Works

I wrote the following to the relevant department at the Council this morning:

“1. I am receiving a number of complaints about work not taking place for a majority of the day e.g. workers gone by 4pm.  If true, this gives a terrible impression when the works are meant to be emergency.  I would like a briefing on what hours are being worked and why they cannot be longer in these circumstances?
2. I received a call this morning stating that all of the lights were red and this was causing chaos.  The person who called me had already contacted the police.  I also reported this on ext 2222 at around 08:12am this morning.  Please let me know what happened to that call and how quick the problem was resolved.  I would also like to know what caused it?”

I received the following prompt response this morning:

“We have had the following update from TFL in response to other complaints this week, which addresses some of your concerns, although not all.
 
I take your points below regarding the difficulty of putting diversions in place.  I can report that having had RTS ‘tweak’ some of the phase durations on site today traffic along Harlington road is flowing significantly better than it was yesterday.  A London buses representative was on site monitoring the flow this morning and afternoon and reported that the wait duration during peak time was down to 18 minutes from 45 which, although still very long, is a huge improvement.

We have now excavated around the leak entirely and temporarily stopped it.  The details for the special kit to be made have been passed to the company who are manufacturing the repair kit tomorrow and I have booked them for Thursday morning for its installation.  The kit utilises a fluid substance that requires 5-6 hours to solidify and this time must elapse before the hole is back filled.  I have agreed with our reinstaters that they will be on site at 4pm on Thursday to back fill the hole and we intend to tarmac it on Thursday night.  This would enable site to be cleared early on Friday morning.

Until the repair kit is fitted there is no work that we can do on site.  I appreciate that a vacant site is frustrating for members of the public but due to other ongoing work load I will not be able to maintain a site presence tomorrow.  A team will inspect the site, excavation and trench support at the start and end of their shift tomorrow as part of our normal procedures.”

This afternoon, I received the following:

“I understand you have received the information update from National Grid on Wednesday which explains why the operatives are not on site at all times. They are waiting for the specialist repair kit to be made. It is frustrating for the general public that they are experiencing huge delays and unfortunate that they are seeing the site is unmanned, in some circumstances the Utility has no option but to leave the site unmanned. It may have been useful for National Grid to display a courtesy board to explain exactly what is happening. I have responded to the complaints received this week to explain the circumstances and the majority of people who complained were happy with the information given but stated they did not see a courtesy board although the area inspector has been to site on a daily basis and confirms there are courtesy boards on display. 

Regarding the temporary lights failure this morning – The contractor notified the company – Road Traffic Solutions – as soon as they were aware of the failure. There was a fault on the temporary lights; apparently the lights will default to red until fixed and they were fixed at 10.55am.

National Grid is in contact with the area inspector and will inform him of any change to the proposed completion on 21.10.2011.”

When I complete, I will request that the Council, TfL & the National Grid determine some Learning Points for similiar situations in the future.

Emergency Works: Gas Escape on A312 Harlington Rd West

I have just received the following:

“we have been notified of a gas escape in the south-western arm of Hounslow Road at the junction with Harlington Road East/West – please see e-mail below. To undertake the necessary excavations and repairs, it is necessary to close off a section of the south-western carriageway of Hounslow Road immediately south-west of the junction. Four way temporary traffic lights will be introduced at the junction so that each arm of the junction will have its own traffic signal phase to facilitate one-way shuttle working past the closed section of road.  The works could not be delayed until the half-term holiday and will inevitably cause serious delays at this busy junction.
 
The works are currently scheduled to take five days but I will advise you of any change to this programme that may arise as the works proceed.”

I will suggest that this be posted on the Council’s website.

Article on 102 Hounslow Road

This is a fair article on some of the things that have been happening recently, based on the contact I have received.

It is important, however, that residents report things through the relevant eForm when things happen.

I intend to take up any offer to visit the place when works are complete.

Update: I need to post the url as wordpress has changed the way that links are added and it seems to be having teething trouble:

http://www.hounslowchronicle.co.uk/west-london-news/local-hounslow-news/2010/11/18/residents-unhappy-with-home-used-for-worship-109642-27676055/

102 Hounslow Road, Feltham

I have received a number of emails and letters about the above property.
I know that this property was sold at an auction some time ago.  Since then there have been a number of planning applications.  Here is a list of everything in Hounslow Road:
http://planning.hounslow.gov.uk/planning_summary.aspx?strWeekListType=SRCH&strStreet=21500631&strStreetTxt=HOUNSLOW%20ROAD%20FELTHAM&strWard=ALL&strAppTyp=ALL&strWardTxt=All%20Wards&strAppTypTxt=All%20Application%20Types&strArea=ALL&strAreaTxt=All%20Areas&strLimit=250
 
And, here are links to recent applications at 102 Hounslow Road:
http://planning.hounslow.gov.uk/Planning_CaseNo.aspx?strCASENO=P/2009/1851
 
And more recently:
http://planning.hounslow.gov.uk/Planning_CaseNo.aspx?strCASENO=P/2010/0735

One of the queries I have received is whether the Local Planning Authority has allowed a Change of Use?  I was copied in on the following email on 2 September:

“Cllr Mark Bowen has asked that you be told about the lawful use situation with respect to 102 Hounslow Road, in particular relating to the three questions you put to him by your email of 24th August.
 
Planning permission is required for changes of use. However planning legislation (The Use Classes Order) groups a wide range of uses into ‘use classes’ and provides that changes of use within a use class does not need planning permission. For example, most retail uses come within Class A1 and planning permission is thereby not required to change, for instance from a shoe shop to a grocer. Use class D1 includes a wide range of ‘non-residential institutional uses such as a museum, a doctors surgery, a day nursery and places of worship. Planning permission was granted for a day nursery in 1967 and this remains the lawful planning use of the premises. The current use is also a class D1 use so does not need planning permission. There were no conditions restricting the 1967 use so the current use is similarly unrestricted. All this means that the existing use of the existing premises can not be controlled under planning law.

Pavement parking is possibly something that could be controlled under highways legislation and noise pollution could be an issue. Both, I understand, would be likely to be difficult but I have asked relevant officers to let you, and Cllr Bowen, know what might be possible.”

I thought it would be helpful to place this on the blog.  I will post any further updates I receive.

A312 Harlington Rd / A244 Hounslow Road – National Grid Gasworks

I received the following yesterday:

“Please be advised that National Grid will be carrying out works to repair a gas leak at the above junction this weekend. We understand the leak has been on National Grid’s log for a while and repairs need to be carried out as a matter of urgency.

Due to location of the works it will be necessary to deploy four way temporary traffic signals at the junction. All approaches to the junction will be narrowed down to single lanes. Works start on Saturday morning at 8am and it is anticipated the works will be finished and temporary signals removed by 6pm on Sunday evening at the latest.”

Over the past few days

Picked up the following:

1) Highways

Outside 81 Shakespeare Avenue:

Some carriageway defects on the carriageway between 1 Letchworth Avenue and the junction with Bedfont Lane.  Examples:

Outside 1 Clymping Dene:

Outside 12 Harlington Road East:

The footway dips at the side of 150 Field Road:

2) Graffiti

Outside 68 Burns Avenue:

Near 211 Staines Road, Feltham:

Bridge over Longford River by Burns Avenue and Ruskin Avenue:

3) Hounslow Homes matters

The grass near 1-4 Tennyson Close needs cutting:

I have been told that 8 Shakespeare Avenue is empty and there are items in the garden:

4) Feltham Arena

A constituent informed me that there had been a fire in the area and that the fire brigade had to break through barrier.  Whilst I have reported this to the correct people, I took a look and the barriers appeared reasonably secure:

5) Items or rubbish on footway

It was Sunday evening so may have been cleared but I noticed:

On Tennyson Close (outside 1 Shakespeare Avenue):

Opposite 105 Shaftesbury Avenue:

Opposite 1 Mill Way:

6) Fallen sign

On Harlington Road West (side of 27 Hounslow Road):

Will report later this morning.

Theresa Villiers in Feltham North on 17/04/10

The Shadow Secretary of State for Transport came to Feltham and Heston on Saturday.  She and I went around Viola Avenue, Beeston Way, Baber Drive, Byward Avenue, The Vale and Hounslow Road.  We delivered literature and walked and talked a lot about local transport issues and how the campaign was going more generally.  Here are the two of us in The Vale:

As was the case in my previous visit to these streets, there were a large number of defects marked out for repair.   Here are three from 47 Viola Avenue, 77 Viola Avenue and 97 Beeston Way:

Outside 212 Hounslow Road (after I reported the matter):

The utility box opposite 44 Viola Avenue still needs attention:

The graffiti and fly tip has been removed at the allotment in Viola Avenue:

Great to have such brilliant weather at the moment!