Cllr Joanna Biddolph sent a briefing to all members of the Ealing council overview and scrutiny committee before the call-in on 21st October 2021, anticipating that many would not know Chiswick and would not have the whole context of Fishers Lane. She also sent it to the two councillors bringing the call-in: Cllr Gary Malcolm (Lib Dem, Southfield ward) and Cllr David Millican (Conservative, Northfields ward).
You can watch the scrutiny committee's deliberations here.
Dear Scrutiny Committee members,
I am one of the three ward councillors for Hounslow's Turnham Green ward which includes the entire length of Fishers Lane other than the very few yards at the northern end where the road runs off a mini roundabout in Southfield ward then under the TfL tube bridge. All residents of Fishers Lane are in Turnham Green ward. All businesses on Fishers Lane are in Turnham Green ward. They have been very seriously affected by the closure. So, too, have all the residents and businesses along roads off Fishers Lane - boundary roads and feeder roads.
You have been asked by Hounslow council to approve this road closure despite huge opposition throughout Chiswick not just in Ealing's Southfield and South Acton wards, but also in Hounslow's Turnham Green ward and in the other two Hounslow Chiswick wards, Chiswick Homefields and Chiswick Riverside wards.
Given your council's sensible approach to the seven LTNs it has already removed, I urge you not to recommend that the closure of Fishers Lane be made permanent. Your decision will affect thousands of Chiswick residents who do not live in Ealing, as well as thousands who do - who want the road to be re-opened. They are by far the majority, no matter what spin you have heard from a tiny group of people whose lives are not impacted by the closure. The best action you can take is to refuse to make this closure permanent and, instead, recommend a full and proper consultation - respecting all our residents.
I lived in Southfield ward for 22 years and know in great detail how the local road network works for Southfield ward residents and businesses. I now live in Turnham Green ward and know how the local road network works for Turnham Green ward residents and businesses - and how and why the road is used by Chiswick residents and businesses in the two other Chiswick wards. I have had many conversations with Chiswick businesses about Fishers Lane, through the Chiswick Shops Task Force which I set up shortly after being elected.
Failure to respond to the climate emergency
Crucially, though, the closure makes a mockery of both councils' efforts to respond to the climate emergency. The result of the closure is that people who must use cars - I have not yet met anyone who drives frivolously - have been forced to take much longer journeys, lengthy detours along residential roads, increasing congestion on those residential roads in Southfield, South Acton and Turnham Green wards and therefore also increasing pollution as well as taking it to residential roads. Keeping Fishers Lane closed will make it impossible for Ealing and Hounslow councils to claim they have responded responsibly to what is now the single most important concern among our residents: acting to achieve net zero. The closure of Fishers Lane has not achieved modal shift - there is no evidence from anyone that this has been achieved. It has diverted drivers, it has not converted drivers - who, surveys show, already have a very high environmental awareness (see the attached mosaic map chart, commissioned by LB Hounslow).
Boundary roads experiencing increased congestion and increased pollution
If you don't know this part of your borough, you won't know which boundary roads, and other roads, have been affected. Furthermore, there are perhaps more in Southfield ward than I have listed. Residents, and business owners and their staff, have to take long detours and, in all but a few cases, now also have increased pollution outside their front doors.
Ealing roads directly affected - increased congestion and pollution from drivers on long detours
- Acton Lane
- Bollo Lane
- South Parade
- The Avenue
- Beaconsfield Road
- Cunnington Street
- Fairlawn Avenue
- Fairlawn Grove
- Newton Grove
- The Orchard
- Ramillies Road
- Ravenscroft Road
- Rusthall Avenue
- St Albans Avenue
Hounslow roads directly affected - forced onto longer routes, increasing congestion and pollution on other roads
- Alfred Close
- Arnott Close
- Belmont Grove
- Belmont Road
- Belmont Terrace
- Bridge Street
- Chiswick Common Road
- Clifton Gardens
- Dolman Road
- Elliot Road
- Kirton Close
- Mills Row
- Windmill Road
- and throughout Chiswick from most of our roads as Fishers Lane is a local Chiswick road, running north-south within Chiswick, not a rat run.
Objections to the closure of Fishers Lane
- Homecross House sheltered accommodation and ignoring the needs of older people: With 109 flats, all residents here are elderly and have been badly affected by this closure. Close to 200 people visit everyday - GPs, nurses, carers, chiropodists, hairdressers, etc, as well as family and visitors. The vast majority are affected by longer journeys, unable to visit as many people as they should in a day because of the longer routes they must take to and from Homecross House. Residents report that some of their visitors no longer visit as they can't get there easily; their lives are being restricted by the closure. Many cannot cycle, or walk; this closure has affected their quality of life enormously.
- Jessop House sheltered accommodation and ignoring the needs of older people: Another sheltered block, council-owned, with its residents in a similar position to those who live at Homecross House. Many cannot cycle, or walk; this closure has affected their quality of life enormously.
- Chiswick Health Centre and ignoring the needs of people with protected characteristics: Medical, support and care staff here report longer journeys which affect patient care as well as their own lives because of increased journey times. This affects people with protected characteristics
- School: The views of parents have been largely ignored; many are hugely affected by the long detours they must now take. It is important to note that there has been no opposition to any school street in Hounslow's Chiswick; there are better ways to introduce a school street system for this school than by full 24/7 closure of a road that affects so many residents and businesses.
- Businesses: Imaggio Interiors reports an 80% drop in footfall since Fishers Lane was closed. This is the only retail shop on Fishers Lane; you have I believe received an email from its owner, appealing to you not to make the closure permanent. Spaces offices, also on Fishers Lane, has tenants who are affected by the closure. There are hundreds of other business that have been affected, some of whom you have heard from. Huge numbers complain about the longer routes they have to take to reach work, or reach customers and suppliers, and how this has affected their business income and, ultimately, success - just as they need to recover from the pandemic.
- Petition to reopen Fishers Lane and Turnham Green Terrace: This petition, started by an Ealing Southfield ward resident, has attracted 10,530 signatures - from residents and from business owners and staff - and people are still signing it, demonstrating that a closed Fishers Lane remains a huge concern (Turnham Green Terrace has been re-opened so that is no longer the issue). Ealing council officers argue that there was initial opposition which has since reduced; that is not true; opposition remains as strong as it was.
Punishing the wrong people - Chiswick wards have the highest number of car-free households
Turnham Green ward has the highest car-free profile of the three Hounslow Chiswick wards; it also has highest percentage of households without a car/van than is the case for Hounslow borough and than for England; I attach three charts, taken from LB Hounslow's brand new data hub, showing the car-free profile of all three Hounslow Chiswick wards. I also attach a mosaic map that shows Chiswick's position in the borough - it has the highest car-free existence and, as mentioned above, the highest environmental awareness. Closing Fishers Lane punishes the wrong people - locals who are already making sensible and environmentally responsible decisions about when to use their cars.
Cycle counts
The cycle counts presented to you misrepresent the reality and are highly misleading. They compare a low count taken during a cold wet November, with a higher count taken in a warm sunny September. No wonder there are differences. More important is the fact that you have been denied the numbers; instead, you have only percentages which conceal facts rather than reveal them. The reality is that Fishers Lane is used by insignificant numbers of people cycling. Despite being closed for over a year - plenty of time to bed-in - there has been no modal shift as a result of the closure of Fishers Lane nor, indeed, any modal shift in Chiswick generally as a result of any of the Streetspace, LTN or cycle lane schemes.
East Acton to Chiswick cycle route - a construct
There is no evidence that this is a TfL required route. It is a construct to suit those who want to find reasons to promote the closure of Fishers Lane. The roads that are used to illustrate this route are not high traffic roads; there is no need for such drastic and damaging action as closing a local north-south route within (not through) Chiswick.
Local government ombudsman highly critical of LB Hounslow's road restrictions especially for ignoring elderly people
LB Hounslow has already been strongly criticised for ignoring the needs of elderly people in relation to two other Streetspace schemes; it has accepted the LGO ruling and must apologise for its actions. With such a high elderly population on Fishers Lane, I fear that LB Ealing will be dragged into a similar complaint in relation to the closure of Fishers Lane. For example the LGO said, “First, while I recognise the Council provided some reasons, I note these were general in nature, saying the closures were considered beneficial to pedestrians and cyclists. I do not consider these statements alone adequately explain the decision to close the roads in question to through traffic. l expected to see some evidence to show that officers considered the potential impact of these proposals. But there is no record of what consideration the Council gave to various factors which may have been relevant to its decision.” and “It is evident from the October 2020 paper to [Hounslow's] Cabinet that its consideration of the PSED was general and cursory. While we would not have expected it necessarily to carry out a full PSED assessment, there is no record to suggest that it considered the potential impact of the closures on groups other than those with disability but who might have other protected characteristics, particularly that of age. This is a section of the population less likely to cycle or walk significant distances. It is also a section of the population more likely to be reliant on public transport yet also reluctant to use public transport during the pandemic. Again, I would expect to find some record that officers considered this section of the population in its decision making. But none has been provided. That too justifies a finding of fault.” This article provides a summary of the LGO findings: http://www.chiswickw4.com/default.asp?section=info&page=conroad333.htm and this link leads to the full report: http://www.chiswickw4.com/info/ombudsmanreport.pdf
Apply the same principles to this unwanted Streestpace scheme as you have to your unwanted LTNs
Ealing's leader has taken the bold step to reverse seven LTNs. It seems contradictory, at best, to make the Fishers Lane scheme permanent particularly as most of the road is not in your borough. I urge you to take the same approach as you have locally - and reverse this unpopular closure.
Fishers Lane isn't a through-route or a rat-run; it is a local north-south route within Chiswick. It is important to the lives of Chiswick residents including a very high proportion of older people living in sheltered accommodation; business owners, their workers, suppliers and customers; doctors, nurses, health care workers and carers. It is a route between many people's homes and shops and services in three Hounslow wards and two Ealing wards. It is a route to work for Chiswick workers; it is a crucial north-south route within Chiswick.
The closure has pushed traffic onto residential roads, increasing congestion and pollution, so that people living or working in Ealing's Southfield and South Acton wards and all three Hounslow Chiswick wards, have to struggle with delays, diversions, increaesd congestion and increased pollution. It has limited their routes into, out of and around their local neighbourhoods, their homes.
I hope you will agree that making permanent this damaging and unwanted Streetspace scheme fails to recognise the huge and unnecessary negative impacts it has on lives and livelihoods - and on our joint efforts, as councillors and councils, to act on the very real and urgent need to tackle the climate crisis.
Please respond to the very great call - in Ealing and in Hounslow - that this scheme be reversed - and reject the cabinet's decision.
Jo
Councillor Joanna Biddolph | Turnham Green
Mobile: 07976 703446
Email: [email protected]
