Forum Topic

A tiny patch of land

The council recently discovered that it is responsible for general maintenance of a small triangular traffic island at the junction between Park Royal Road and Victoria Road. It used to have a horse trough (stolen) and public toilets (demolished) and there are some redundant facilities cabinets. I understand that what appears to me a huge amount of money has been set aside to pay a landscape artist, instead of a quick tidy up and a sprinkling of grass seed. Do we not have better ways of spending money? I thought we had plenty of "volunteers" to do "community service".

Chris Bell ● 5554d11 Comments

Chris if you and your fellow residents are offering to 'tidy up and take charge' of this triangle of land I am sure the Council will save the money and let you have a go.Have you asked them?

Dee Cook ● 5554d

Hello Chris,As you know residents have been trying to get the council to bring this small island back to life for 8-9 years now, reintroduce sight lines for both pedestrian and traffic because of safety issues.  It has also long been used as a place to dump rubbish, building materials etc.,The National Grid removed the redundant cabinets free of charge to help the community regenerate this area.  So far the only money the Council has spent is on reintroducing the site lines which were badly needed.The council's landscaped architect has looked at this area in response to local residents requests, and the only outlines proposal/suggestion is for wildflowers and to work with the abundance of ivy, there has not been vast amounts of money put to one side to pay for this, we wish there was after all enough Section 106 is generated in the area.If you can point us in the direction of the 'plenty of volunteers' I would be happy to approach them, but as you are well aware the only 'volunteers' in the immediate vicinity are primarily elderly and already do enough on the neighbourhood watch front.  Which given all the recent crime in the area is a good thing.

Siobhan Martin ● 5553d

You may have noticed the parenthesis around "Community Service" and "Volunteers"

Chris Bell ● 5553d

If by that you mean 'Community Payback' this option has been requested on a number of occasions and at various meetings and whilst it has been considered we have received the response that it is not a viable option, too much rubbish to be cleared, too overgrown and probably the most accurate, too dangerous for community pay back, from a health and safety point of view given that only one side of the island has a wide footpath.As you know this island has been there since 1893 and was a major stopping route for the horse drawn carriages and as you say should have, if its not been pinched, a trough from that time courtesy of the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association.However this area is brought back to life, residents who have lived in the immediate area for a long time, and remember when it was well looked after and maintained by Ealing Council are delighted to finally see some progress being made in bringing it back to life.  It has taken long enough 8-9 years and counting!

Siobhan Martin ● 5553d

I noticed that the trough was moved at the side of the island several years ago when previous work was being done there, and it was not there the following morning.

Chris Bell ● 5553d

Did you report it missing, query why it had been moved?  Do you remember who was doing the work at that time?

Siobhan Martin ● 5553d

This happened years ago when I was working unsocial irregular hours anywhere, and from what I remember it was either local authority or TFL work being carried out around the edge. It could have been back when the public toilets were removed. As for the link between any proposed work, Health and Safety, and Community Service "Volunteers", many of them are far more used to broken glass, etc, than either of us.

Chris Bell ● 5553d

i have noticed a really bad smell of gas in this area when walking past .

Emma Daniels ● 5553d

Why not get the works done for nothing with no effot?Just ask one of the nearby compaies to sponser the work.Sure Carphone Wharehouse would come up with the money.

David Groves ● 5550d

Funding is being provided from already held Section 106 money for landscaping and improvements from previous developments in the immediate Gypsy Corner area.  Various local residents have spent a number of years trying to get this funded from the amount of Section 106 which is raised in the immediate area and with the help of our Cllr have finally received funding to improve this little green area which has existed since 1893.Most of the initial 'hard work' has already been done. The community got National Grid to remove their obsolete cabinets and atmosphere funnels Free of Charge as part of this local small regeneration/improvement effort.  The Council have pruned back at lot of the overgrowth and reintroduced safety sight lines for both pedestrians and traffic.  Most of the funding is needed to remove the fly tipping (builders rubble, bricks, cement and normal fly tipping) which has been there for years and is well bedded in with the ivy.  The weeds and rubble/rubbish will be removed later in the year and the Council will plant wildflowers to work with the ivy, so it will be very low maintenance.

Siobhan Martin ● 5549d

Sounds as though it could be better than the old NatWest bank site nearby, where different coloured stones were moved around to create graffiti which was left because of the cost of re-sorting the stones, easier to totally mix the stones. Now usually looks like it has been abandoned to the weeds.

Chris Bell ● 5549d