February 2011 e-newsletter

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In this issue:

Proposals for Bramley Road Open Space

Ealing Council has recently published proposals for the redevelopment of the gardens at the corner of Bramley Road and Northfield Avenue.  This is part of the current development of a new children's centre and Log Cabin.

The aim is to improve the appearance and accessibility of the open space, and the proposals include:

  • re-landscaping the gardens.
  • opening up the area by removing railings and fences along Northfield Avenue and the access road.
  • installing new seating and benches.
  • providing access from Bramley Road.

© Copyright Nigel Jordan

Residents in neighbouring roads should have received a copy of the proposals, and the council web site has details of the proposal including the design objectives and a landscape plan.

The redevelopment is an opportunity to change the open space into an area that can be used by all of the community, and EFRA urges residents to view the proposal and submit their comments or suggestions for changes or improvements.

Ealing Council is asking for comments on the proposals by 16 March.

Northfield Safer Neighbourhood Team street briefings

The Northfield Safer Neighbourhood team are holding a series of street briefings over the next six weeks.

Wednesday 2 March, 16:00 - 17:00    Dorset Road
Wednesday 9 March, 17:00 - 18:00    Overdale Road
Friday 18 March, 18:00 - 19:00    Devonshire Road
Monday 21 March, 14:00 - 15:00    Gloucester Road
Wednesday 30 March, 15:00 - 16:00    Derwent Road

Officers will be on the street offering advice on motor vehicle crime, burglaries and crime in general.

The Metropolitan Police web site has further details of the Safer Neighbourhoods Team.

Update on licensing applications

Last November we reported licensing applications made by the new Sainsbury's store (replacing the Spinning Wheel pub), and the Plough pub, both on Northfield Avenue.

Sainsbury licence application

The new store applied for an off-licence for 06:00 to 00:00 (midnight) each day, and a licence for late-night hot-food sales.

The application was examined by Ealing Council licensing panel in January and they decided to approve the application but with reduced hours for selling alcohol of 07.00 - 23.00 Monday to Sunday. Additionally there are a number of conditions agreed with the police with the aim of prevention of crime and public nuisance.

Further, the application for late-night food was withdrawn.

Thanks are due to Les Smith of the Police Licensing Team for negotiating with Sainsbury's the reduction in hours.

Plough extended licensing hours

The application was to extend opening hours to 2:30 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings. EFRA submitted an objection to this, and we were also copied on several e-mail submissions by EFRA members.

Fuller, Smith and Turner, the owners of the Plough, seem to have been surprised by the objections and in January held a meeting to discuss residents' concerns. James Guest, the EFRA committee member with responsibility for licensing issues attended, along with Councillor David Millican.

Following the discussion Fullers decided to withdraw their application, and we thank them for taking local opinion into account in making that decision. Thanks are also due to Councillor Millican for his involvement in achieving this outcome.

Planning applications

The owner of the Sainsbury's/ex-Spinning Wheel building has submitted a planning application to extend the existing first floor flat and add an extra storey above. The existing 4-bedroom flat will be replaced by three 1-bedroom flats and two 2-bedroom flats.

Image of the Spinning Wheel pub

EFRA has two concerns on this application.

1) Overlooking of existing flats in Derwent Yard.

The plans show new windows that will face the existing side windows of flats of Derwent Yard, which are on the opposite side of the footpath/steps between the buildings. The narrowness of the path means that the gap is less than the limit of 21m within which the windows should be obscured.

2) Pressure on parking in the roads behind the site.

No off-street parking space has been proposed despite an increase in occupation density from four to at least seven. This is likely to increase the pressure on parking spaces within the Northfields CPZ due to the occupiers and their visitors. EFRA proposes that restrictions on residents parking permits and visitor vouchers should be considered.

Full details of the planning application are on the Ealing Council web site, through which comments can also be made.

Lammas Park pedestrian crossing

Earlier this month Roger Jarman, the EFRA committee member with responsibility for transport, submitted our comments on the proposed location of a new pedestrian crossing on Northfield Avenue close to Lammas Park, to replace the existing crossing just to the south. We have welcomed the proposed changes but had a number of detailed comments about the Council’s approach.

First, we suggested that a central reservation be constructed for the new crossing. This would improve the safety of the crossing which inevitably will be used by a lot of children as they cross to enter the park.

We also commented that the Council needs to think carefully about the location of the crossing’s Belisha beacons as the area has a number of mature trees which could obscure driver sight lines.

The Council seems to be keen on taking out the railings that line Northfield Avenue outside the park. We are concerned about this proposal and have advised the Council that the safety of pedestrians is paramount and should not be compromised by the removal of all railings in the area.

We also provided comments on proposals to site benches outside the park and to create slip roads for cyclists by the proposed crossing.

Finally we made suggestions to the Council about improving vehicular access to the park and also about the potential for speed activated signs in the area. The full response to the consultation exercise can be viewed on our website.

Overdale Road clean-up

As many residents know, the area behind Overdale Road has been a site for fly-tipping and graffiti over the years, and has been a very visible eyesore from trains passing through Northfields station. Committee member Celia Smith has reported on this in previous newsletters and has been working closely with the Northfield Ward councillors, Council Envirocrime officers and the Northfields Safer Neighbourhood Team over the past six months to help rectify this situation.

The site behind 48 Overdale Road (by the fence at the far end of the Northfields station, accessed via the Suri Motors entrance) is privately owned and tracking down those responsible for it took some time and investigatory work by the team and local residents.

However we are delighted to announce that after several months of perseverance with the Council, and the great work of Cllr Millican, Ricky Wright, Sergeant Fox and their teams, the large piles of rubbish have all been cleared, the graffiti removed on several occasions and garages inspected.

In addition, the owner of the site agreed to install CCTV cameras at his cost to allow for ongoing monitoring and prevention of these problems occurring again in the future, and to enable residents and business occupants feel safe and secure. EFRA will also continue to monitor the area and liaise with Councillor Millican and Ricky Wright if required to ensure the area is kept free of rubbish and graffiti.

Many thanks to all involved with this project, and for making us feel proud of this area of our community again.

Heathrow news

HACAN, the organisation campaigning against the expansion of Heathrow airport, has launched a campaign for a ban on night-flights before 6:00 am. The current night flight agreement for Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports runs-out in October 2012 and the government is due to start consultation on a new regime later this year.

Further details of the campaign are in a HACAN update that we have added to our web site.

EFRA Annual General Meeting

Advance notice of our Annual General Meeting, which will be held in the Log Cabin, Northfields Avenue on Thursday 26 May 2011 at 7:30pm.

At the meeting we report on our activities over the past year. We also usually have some of the Northfield Ward councillors and the Safer Neighbourhood Team in attendance.

The minutes from last year's AGM are on our web site.

Residents Parking visitor vouchers

There are now several variations on the design of visitor vouchers, some of which include a set of three years and so might appear to have a time-limit for their use. The following explanation of the validity of vouchers is from the Ealing Council web site and explains how to use visitor vouchers whose period for use appears to have expired.

Will vouchers purchased in 2010 or with a year of expiry still be valid for use in 2011?

Any parking vouchers purchased in 2010 or before will still be valid for use throughout 2011 and beyond. Please do not scratch the year on the voucher for these vouchers to be valid. Please note these old vouchers will only be accepted if all other details (excluding the year) are filled out correctly. Please do not write the year on the visitor voucher.

Ealing library local history talks

The next few talks in the series presented by Ealing Library are:

  • Thursday 24 March - The River Brent
  • Thursday 31 March - The 1911 Census: a historical view
  • Thursday 7 April - The Story of Lammas and Walpole Parks (delivered by Paul Fitzmaurice, one of the authors of the book on the history of our area, Little Ealing, A walk through history.

All talks start at 6.15pm at Ealing Central Library. To book either phone 8825 9278 or e-mail reading@ealing.gov.uk.

Contact details

email: contact@efra.org.uk

web site: www.efra.org.uk/contact

Little Ealing history web site: littleealinghistory.org.uk/contact

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