Residents are being urged to join a new campaign to block a multi-storey development adjacent to the Gunnersbury Triangle Nature Reserve.

Blackstone has applied for planning permission to Ealing Council to develop its site on Colonial Drive, off Bollo Lane, for mixed use, both office and residential. The company also plans a footbridge to link this with Chiswick Park, which also borders part of the site.

But the new group, HOOT ( Hands Off Our Triangle) says the development as currently envisaged, would overlook the reserve and impinge on its boundary. They say nearby developments already loom over the reserve on both sides, and it will completely lose its feeling of wilderness.

They are worried the development could be up to six storeys high, and would also create parking congestion in the area as only a number of disabled car spaces are envisaged. A spokeswoman for Hoot said “There are only approximately two more weeks to object to these plans(by 2nd March - Ealing planning ref: P/2012/0338). Check out the Gunnersbury Nature Reserve website and act quickly to save our local treasure.”

The Gunnersbury Triangle is situated on former railway land which was saved from destruction in the 1980s by local campaigners. In 1987, Hounslow Council and the GLC designated it as a local nature reserve and councillors recently voted in favour of upgrading some of its facilities as part of almost £500,000 worth of funding set aside from Chiswick Business Park.

A spokesperson for Blackstone said: "Our proposals would deliver much needed new homes for Ealing, business start-up space and a crèche on what is currently an underused and poorly designed industrial site. In addition there would be a new pedestrian link to and from the northern end of Chiswick Park – a welcome new access point to this thriving business hub."

"We have worked hard to prepare a high quality design for the Colonial Drive site that would be sensitive to and respect the local area and Gunnersbury Triangle nature reserve. No part of the nature reserve would be lost and we have agreed with the London Wildlife Trust that no further entrances to the reserve would be created. In addition particular care would be taken to strengthen the boundary between Colonial Drive and the nature reserve with additional landscaping and native planting, to enhance the vegetation buffer that already exists.

"We submitted a planning application for the site to the London Borough of Ealing in January following consultation with local residents and community groups. As part of this we made a series of changes to the proposals including a reduction in the overall number of units from 138 to 124. We have also increased from 3m to 7m the distance between the proposed building on the western side from the edge of the railway embankment and have increased the amount of green spaces around the site, all of which will be carefully landscaped to a high standard. We now look forward to our proposals being considered by the council."

 

 

February 27, 2012