The Chiswick Shops Task Force has submitted its suggestions for improving Devonshire Road having already conducted a survey of businesses on the road about the road closure.
Many of the suggestions were in the retail report it published in July 2020. It presented this list to Green Square Accord, the consultancy commissioned by Hounslow council to ask traders and residents of Devonshire Road, Prince of Wales Terrace and Devonshire Mews, as well as stakeholders (undefined, so far) for their views. There will be other suggestions, of course, but we hope this list will inspire the council to support this important shopping road, not hinder it.
The starting point is to recognise and honour the priorities for the road as a whole – for all who live or work there – and that therefore the two most important improvements are to:
- Reopen the road, reinstate parking and enable compromises for outdoor drinking/dining in line with the survey conducted for the Chiswick Shops Task Force: there is a willingness amongst traders and residents to compromise so outdoor drinking/dining can take place but not at the expense of other businesses, not for the benefit of some but not for all
- Recognise that this is a mixed road, with 29 shops and service businesses, 11 cafes/restaurants and many residents living above them as well as nearby: any compromise must work for all.
Beyond that, Devonshire Road needs proper attention – a thoughtful, innovative, aesthetically impressive range of improvements to reverse years of careless ad-hoc and uncoordinated decision-making which have turned it into a confusing mess.
- Welcome to Devonshire Road banner at the top and bottom of the road: traders put up a banner for the annual street party; what about having a permanent banner, or several banners changing with the seasons and for the street party (Carnaby Street does this);
- Signs listing shops and services: attractively designed (not municipal-looking) signs at the top and bottom of this stretch of the road listing the shops, bars, cafes, restaurants, etc, to tempt customers along it (as in Brewers Lane in Richmond, for example); the signs need to be easily changeable for when shops change;
- Bunting and lighting across the road: lights in trees and along tree trunks (see example photo); lights strung across the road; bunting strung across the road; or bunting strung with lights (as in Pavilion Road off Sloane Square, see example photo taken in the rain so it is unfortunately less dramatic); lights and bunting could change with the seasons especially at Christmas;
- Lights along shop fronts: trees are on the eastern side so the western side needs lighting up; lights strung along shop fronts so all are highlighted when it’s dark (as this is street lighting, the cost would be the council’s);
- Street furniture and street scene: the road and pavements are messy in parts with badly-organised and ugly bins, posts, signs, build-outs, bike racks, parking meters and would benefit from rationalisation and good planning based on cohesive thinking;
- Waste bins: are not in the right places (encourage people to walk to a bin so they do not have to be outside shop/cafe front doors); are there enough; could they be more attractive (an attractive bin would make throwing waste away a more attractive task, reducing litter, and improve the street scene);
- Recycling: there should be recycling bins near the road, to discourage waste; as with waste bins, encourage people to walk to the nearest recycling bins;
- Waste bins for residents above shops: opposite Hounslow Central tube station, Hounslow council provides special decent-looking wooden containers for residents to leave their purple sacks out of sight; why not here, too (residents of flats on the western side, overlooking Devonshire Mews, use a large ugly municipal waste bin on the corner of Prince of Wales Terrace and Devonshire Mews and this needs attention, too, with letters to residents to remind them to use the bin);
- Waste bins for residents of Prince of Wales Terrace: residents to be provided with sufficient bins so they do not need to use the bin intended for residents above shops on Devonshire Road;
- Recycling and waste collections for shops and businesses: Hounslow council should provide a commercial recycling and waste service so that shops don’t have to leave out their waste from close of business (it makes the road less pleasant to walk down when going out to eat/drink in the evening; Ealing provides a service for Pitshanger Lane, collecting between 10am and 11am so sacks can be put out for pick-up time);
- Pavement repairs: have been slow and sometimes bodged plus the dropped kerbs on the corners of Prince of Wales Terrace are regularly damaged and need to be rebuilt so they are fit for purpose on this tight corner;
- Shop signs: a few shops have signs that protrude from the front of their building; should all shops have them (I saw these in Pavilion Road, where each shop had its own name in its own style; in Duke of York Square all the signs are uniform; see photos); they could to be lit at night;
- Loading bays moved: their locations need to be rationalised so they are placed in front of shops that need them, creating space for outdoor drinking/dining (if this is to continue) for cafes/restaurants to use (traders should be asked where loading bays should be);
- Disabled bays: are these in the right places; how often are they used; how many are needed and where (in Hounslow, blue badge holders can park free in pay and display spaces; in resident/shared use spaced; on single and double yellow lines);
- Parking and outside drinking/dining: as you know from our survey, there is a willingness to find a compromise that works for all;
- Impact of outdoor drinking/dining: guidelines are needed for outdoor drinking/dining as it impacts differently on some businesses during the day and on businesses and residents during the evening;
- Christmas: the council could do much more to make more of Christmas including much better lights; Christmas tree trails, a more exciting switch-on-the-lights event, perhaps having one for each shopping road.
Beyond Devonshire Road
- Turnham Green Terrace: many of these ideas for street improvements should also be implemented in Turnham Green Terrace which is very scruffy because of ill-considered street furniture.
- Other events: Hounslow council should support other events throughout Chiswick – and the borough – to revitalise and support its retail economies.
The retail report, Ensuring a Thriving Retail Economy in Chiswick, is attached.
