I agree with Mike and Vanessa that once the land is gone, there is no return. Keeping our historical buildings is very important but keeping our green spaces is much more important. Historical buildings may stimulate the mind but in this day and age when we, as a nation, are becoming increasingly obese, we need our parks and open spaces much more, especially in London. How can we justify exchanging public plants and trees for large building developments when we are trying to control carbon emissions? When the plethora of large apartment developments sprouting all around us are all sold or let, perhaps we should then, as a last resort, be looking at developing on what is not only green space but within a conservation area. It seems that Hounslow Council changes its tune as to what happens to conservation areas to match the money that comes in and not the principle set. I don't know much about current plans for Gunnersbury but I do know that nobody has even attempted obtaining lottery or heritage money for Boston Manor House and, surely, that is the first avenue we should investigate. It's my very strong view that what is private should remain private and what is public should remain public. When Friends of Boston Manor asked if it could tidy up the land under the M4 by utilising it for a skate board park and other activities which would retain the character of the park for the benefit of the community, we were told that the Highways Department would not allow it because of the need to have access for maintenance and the risk of terrorist attack. Has that now changed? We have long campaigned for a simple resurfacing of the park car park, so far without success. We tried to obtain the release of some of the GSK 106 money, allocated for the obnoxious CPZs, for the purpose, but this was also without success. Sorry if I have extended the topic to other areas but they do seem linked. Apologies also for the length of the posting but I only catch up with the forum occasionally. |