We think that at last the final piece in the assembly of the Capability Brown statue is nearly complete – the legal agreement whereby the Society gifts the statue to the Council who then formally take over the responsibility and maintenance of the statue. For reasons which we do not understand, the process has been mired in a legal bureaucracy, although there have been no disagreements about the detail. Nevertheless it will be relief when the process is completed.

 

In the meantime, ideas for a William Morris memorial are still being discussed. This is not a Hammersmith Society project although in principle we support it, and have suggested that instead of just another life-like representative, the memorial should illustrate Morris’ many different talents and activities.

Heathrow is launching another consultation on its Third Runway proposals from 17 January to 28 March, see www.heathrowconsultation.com.

 

There are two strands to the consultation, “Airport Expansion” which claims to address the transport and road network infrastructure, and “Airport Principles” about airspace and flight paths – but there will be no detailed proposals as to where new flight paths will go.  There is one Hammersmith consultation exhibition for a day on 20 February at Hammersmith Town Hall (see our diary, right) : Some of you may have received a leaflet through your door.

To conclude a very heavy year on major consultations (Local Plans for both LBHF and OPDC) we have one more major one which is the Mayor London’s latest draft for the London Plan.  It weighs in at a whopping 530 pages, which is 100 pages more than the existing plan last updated just over a year ago – and probably several times heavier that the first Mayoral London Plan produced in 2004 by Ken Livingstone.

 

Comments have to be submitted by 2 March. You can read the draft here Any comments/input welcome.

This controversial topic produced the largest response that we have ever received. Of about 40 responses, only one was in favour!

Hopefully many of you were able to get to the consultations/exhibition on the new scheme.  Reactions from members seemed generally positive.

Remember this was an initial consultation and the design/development team recognised that there was much work to be done to get the scheme up to a planning application.

For several months we had reported the impending Appeal of the 2015 proposals for the site by the developer Romulus. Just before the public hearing, the Inquiry was postponed by the Inspector ‘for personal reasons’. No new date has so far been offered. In the meantime, the developers and their architects, Allies and Morrison have prepared a new proposal which although very similar in appearance to the Appeal scheme has been reduced in size to overcome some of the principal objections both from the Council and local groups.

Since the publication of the Newsletter, about 24 members attended conducted tours of the new complex on 25th April.

We were all amazed and truly impressed by the scope of the project and the progress on site towards completion by the middle of next year. They are on course to deliver theatre/TV studio spaces and a cinema with dedicated foyer and screening room, a stunning main foyer and atrium area, restaurant, café brasserie and bakery, community & rehearsal space, local events & entertainment area, plus tenant and admin offices, on time and on budget as they promised. I would suggest to any doubters as to what a great project this is for Hammersmith that they go and see for themselves.

Visits are on a strictly pre-book basis : Contact Guy Hornsby

The bridge acts as the visual icon of Hammersmith and the silhouette of one of the towers forms our own logo, for example.

Any of you that have travelled over the bridge over the last few months cannot have failed to notice the problems – either with the decking and surfacing of the carriageway or the queues of single decker buses being marshalled by TfL officials at each end. Discussions between the Council who are responsible for the days to day operation of the bridge and TfL who are responsible for the bus routes using the bridge have been on going for months. Ultimately TfL want to permanently strengthen the bridge to carry double decker buses but there are arguments about how to do this, how long it will take and who picks up the costs.

This bridge was built in 1870 and is Listed Grade 2*. It now carries 20,000 vehicles per day – far more than was ever envisaged. A 7.5tonne temporary weight limit and width restrictions are in place and currently only one single deck bus is allowed on the bridge at any one time. The two authorities now seem to agree that the earliest a scheme of permanent strengthening can commence will be in the second half of next year (2018). This will involve the closure of the bridge for many months.  Visit the Council website