12 February 2021 - Planning application changes overview

 

Energy, Sustainabilty & Community Aspects

• The revised energy strategies adopt site-wide heat networks which are reliant on air source heat pumps, removing reliance on gas supply to provide space heating.  Solar panels would be installed on suitable available roof spaces of both developments.  These changes would deliver on-site reductions of 59% and 51% of carbon emissions for the Tesco and Homebase sites respectively.  Further reductions would be possible by increasing the extent of solar panels.

• There would still be a need to offset the remaining carbon emissions.  We believe that more could be done to ensure that carbon off-setting is reduced to the minimum, particularly with Hounslow’s declaration of a Climate Emergency. 

• Reducing the size of the development to OWGRA’s red-line of 6-storeys would substantially minimise carbon emissions. This solution has been ignored.

• Retaining the current Tesco and reconfiguring parking (eg multi-storey) has not been addressed, despite having substantial environmental benefits. Re-purposing the Homebase site to accommodate a leisure centre (pool, gym, etc) would greatly benefit the community, but this has not been considered.

• COVID-19: the revised submission did not address the pandemic issues and the lessons learned. 

 

Transport

• The only significant changes proposed are some minor tweaks to the layout of the north-south pedestrian and cycle crossing on the eastern side of Gillette Corner.  A number of options are proposed, some of which would retain the underpass (removing the underpass would allow for widening of the road).

• The developer is still insisting that traffic volumes will decrease at Gillette Corner, but we disagree, particularly as the assumptions made are not convincing.

• We still say that Gillette Corner needs to be reconfigured, and traffic flows improved, to make it safer and more efficient for all users of the junction (vehicular traffic, pedestrians and cyclists).  The right hand turns from Syon Lane on to the A4 would remain dangerous.

• Where are the improvements to transport infrastructure?  Only one in four properties would have a parking space meaning that most of the new residents would be relying on public transport, which is poor (PTAL 2) and already overcrowded.  The only improvement proposed is a direct bus route from Osterley to Ealing Broadway.  There is no prospect in the foreseeable future of funding the much-needed Southall Rail Link (which would connect Osterley to the Elizabeth line at Southall from a new Golden Mile station), and the West London Orbital (which would connect the Hounslow Loop going through Syon Lane station and Brentford to the Overground at South Acton). 

 

Housing mix

• There has been a reduction in the number of studio and 1-bedroom flats and an increase in the number of 3-bedroom homes on the Tesco site.  However, studios, 1- and 2- bedroom flats would still account for 82% of homes on the Tesco site and 86% on the Homebase site.  This small change does not address the dire shortage of decent family-sized homes (3-4 bedrooms) in Hounslow. 

• There would still only be 25 small houses across the 2 sites of 2,150 homes.