Topic: | New Street Lights coming to Bedford Park (Hounslow) | |
Posted by: | Andy Murray | |
Date/Time: | 17/02/15 17:56:00 |
To be fair to members of the Bedford Park Soc. and to BF residents, when I and the local Councillors first heard of the Hounslow Highways PFI scheme, with its implications of new lights, torn up paving and spanking new tarmac, we were assured by the then-Lead Member, Colin Ellar, that, notwithstanding my concerns for parts of Grove Park, street furniture in Conservation Areas would be replaced on a 'like for like' basis. After months of trying to find out what that meant, I got the 'Street Design Guide' added to the Hounslow Highways' website, and only then could we see what it meant in reality. The 'heritage' design of the lamps didn't look too bad, but there are very few of them in Grove Park, so the GP emphasis moved on to plans for paving and, in the case of Park Road, the height of the standards. Then, when they were installed in my own road, (with columns 50% higher than previous) we realised that there was a measurable light intrusion into residents' homes, which has only now been mitigated. As we now see, and have seen with all the other stuff, the lights are a job lot and 'like for 'like' has not been supplied. But it is correct that the discussions about the application of the £350m, 25-year PFI have been ongoing. Andy Murray The Grove Park Group |