Response to Hounslow Local Plan

Reading through 228 pages of a document and making constructive suggestions is not an easy task but we have completed it. The Hounslow Local Plan is an important document that sets out the council’s proposals for the future development of the borough over the next fifteen years. The Local Plan contributes to  the achievement of sustainable development, addressing the spatial implications of economic, social and environmental change.

Although the consultation is now closed it is still worth downloading and reading the draft Local Plan.

Brentford Chamber submitted its response in 23 pages. We’re not going to reproduce them all here but these are the concise key points we’ve submitted for consideration:

• Brentford needs a primary school and a secondary school. We need to stop families moving out of the area in search of schooling.
• Having over 44% of residential development for the whole borough in Brentford is excessive.
• We need a greater proportion of family housing
• We support a night time ban on Heathrow flights and believe people are more productive in the workplace if they’ve slept better.
• We need to protect employment sites in the area, whether commercial, industrial or office space to provide local employment.
• LBH needs to support new businesses with 2-5 years rent free periods to get them established.
• We support the move of Brentford FC to Lionel Road.
• We believe large retail companies should be approached with a view to meeting their needs to enable them to establish a presence in Brentford.
• Brentford needs a coherent retail strategy that will encourage growth and promote the town centre. Building empty units is not enough.
• We welcome the development of Market Square as a public space.
• Parking is an issue, particularly for the high street.
• We support the relocation of Watermans Arts Centre with the Ballymore High Street development.
• Public transport needs to be developed to make the Great West Road more attractive to employers and their employees. We are against any residential site on the GWR.
• Brentford needs a tourism policy (as does Hounslow) that helps hotels in particular disseminate local information to make hotel guests more beneficial to the area.
• Partnerships between businesses and education providers need to be further developed and supported, as well as small employment and craftmanship.
• We would welcome more detailed “master plans” from LBH showing what kind of development is to be permitted where.
• We need more green spaces as well as play spaces  (not just open) and the public realm needs to be better landscaped and made more attractive.
• Historic buildings need to be listed and preserved, being added to local or national listings where possible.
• We support the use of waterside as workspaces for water-related commercial activities.
• We need to allocate sites for education before they are developed.
• We need community facilities including residential homes for the elderly.
• We support policies that help reduce air, noise, light and sound pollution as well as promoting carbon reduction. All these contribute to ill-health as well as for other reasons.
• Brentford has several travel bottlenecks which have no easy solution.
• Gunnersbury and Kew Bridge stations need developing. Many stations need more cycle parking to encourage/enable commuters to cycle.
• E2/E8 need to be extended to West Middlesex hospital to allow a single journey from Brentford for more.
• We’re opposed to expansion at Heathrow.

We don’t expect all our members to agree with all these points, but hope you will all agree with most of them. Please do email us your thoughts as we will continue to respond to these consultations where possible.