Residents First

Residents asked for views on Fulham Riverside

A reinvigorated riverside with thousands of new homes and jobs could be on the way in South Fulham and once again the council wants residents to have their say.

The second and final round of public consultation on proposals to transform disused industrial land on a riverside stretch of Sands End, from Carnwath Road to Imperial Wharf, is now taking place. Residents have until Friday May 11 to make their views known.

Known as the South Fulham Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), the council first consulted on the draft proposals last spring and has now incorporated a series of changes after listening to residents’ feedback. The SPD is important as it provides guidance for regeneration in the area over the next 20 years.

The latest consultation comes despite Thames Water’s controversial ‘super sewer’ plans which threaten to derail one part of the SPD – a possible residential led mixed-use scheme on Carnwath Road – for up to 10 years.

Million pound boost for Sands End school and community

More than £1.6m is being spent on developing Hurlingham and Chelsea School and creating a new community hub for south Fulham.

Hammersmith & Fulham Council approved plans at a cabinet meeting last week to contribute £1.3m towards developing new community facilities at the secondary school, on Peterborough Road.

That money has been promised from the capital receipt the council will receive from the sale of the Sands End Community Centre in Broughton Road, while the rest of the funding - £320,000 - is coming from the school.

The scheme includes a new library for use by both pupils and local residents, and the refurbishment of a formerly unused area of the school, which has been turned into a purpose-built arts and crafts, pottery and textiles suite.

Kirtling Street could save Fulham riverside

 Pressure is building on Thames Water to extend their super sewer consultation as an alternative and less disruptive construction site emerges.

The Mayor of London has written to the Water Minister, Richard Benyon MP, asking him to ‘instruct Thames Water to extend the consultation period to the end of March 2012’.

Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council is backing the Mayor’s calls as local authority engineers say that the sewer construction site that Thames Water has earmarked for Kirtling Street, in Wandsworth, could be expanded.

Kirtling Street is already one of three main construction sites needed for the 20 mile long concrete tunnel and council engineers say that by expanding it slightly the threat to Carnwath Road and Barn Elms could be minimised – or even removed completely.

Improved William Parnell Park officially opened

The new and improved William Parnell Park in Fulham has been officially opened.

Hammersmith & Fulham Council (H&F) has been working closely with environmental regeneration charity Groundwork London to transform the open space from a park and play facility which suffered from vandalism and bouts of nuisance behaviour into a secure, modern and innovative natural play area for all ages.

Known affectionately as Pineapple Park, the revamped park utilises the existing landscape including its large hills to create exciting opportunities for play. The park features a large slide and stepping stones on one of its hills, a timber climbing frame with cargo net and a basket swing. A sand pit, digger and board walk have also been installed for younger children.

The new facilities were officially opened by the Mayor of Hammersmith & Fulham, Cllr Frances Stainton on Saturday December 17.

Super Sewer Summit call to arms

An urgent public meeting to challenge Thames Water’s ‘ludicrous’ decision to dump the giant super sewer drive shaft on a residential street in Fulham has been called by the council.

The Super Sewer Summit , on December 7, will allow locals to probe Thames Water’s decision to earmark south Fulham for the main sewer construction site for their £4.1billion Thames Tunnel.

Thames Water’s u-turn, in deviating from their original choice outside of the borough, has sparked a wave of protests from residents and businesses south of Lillie Road – especially in the tight knit residential community around Carnwath Road.

Despite admitting at a meeting in October that using the Fulham riverside would be more costly and more disruptive to more people Thames Water named Carnwath Road as the ‘preferred site’ for the main west London tunnel drive shaft earlier this month.

The public meeting, organised by Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council, will be the first chance that residents, councillors and the MP have had to publicly question Thames Water about their change of heart.

Cllr Nick Botterill, H&F Council’s Deputy Leader, said:

"It is ludicrous that a densely packed residential community has been selected as the main drive site when Thames Water officials have admitted that it will affect more people and cost more money. We need to understand what is driving Thames Water’s bizarre u-turn and then persuade them that there are better alternatives.”

Fears have emerged that 29,000 lorries will bring roads like New King’s Road and Wandsworth Bridge Road to a standstill during the six years of construction work.

Anti super sewer site campaigners, backed by H&F Council, have vowed to fight the proposal and launch a concerted effort to persuade Thames Water to reverse the decision in time for the final selection deadline - which is expected next spring.

If construction work goes ahead on the Fulham riverside there would be an average of 31 extra lorry trips every day on west London streets for two years during tunnelling and around 33 per day when the tunnel is being lined.

Thames Water plans to move all plant and construction materials by road to reduce costs. Only excavated spoil will be taken by barge, despite the existence of the wharf being given as one of their key reasons for using Carnwath Road.

Earlier in the autumn the Selborne Commission - which was an independent study and report sponsored by five London councils – announced that a ‘shorter tunnel, combined with green infrastructure solutions that are built up incrementally in the medium to long term, would be both compliant with EU directives and less costly and disruptive to Londoners’.

Council saves the day for street parties

With 34 street parties on Friday in Hammersmith & Fulham, no one is perhaps as excited as Javon Parnell, organiser of a royal celebration bash in Pearscroft Road, Sands End in South Fulham.

It seemed that, at the last minute, Mr Parnell’s months of hard work organising a barbecue, music and games to celebrate the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton, would be all for nothing and that
the party would have to be cancelled – because the road was on a main London bus route.

But with another street party taking place in Broughton Road, on the same number 424 bus route, H&F Council sprang into action to save the day. Council bosses made sure the parties went ahead, negotiating with Transport for London and London Buses that the bus should travel down other roads. London Buses agreed and the route has been changed for one day only.