| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Morrisons Supermarket site for sale! according to Kath the Editor | |
| Posted by: | Raymond Havelock | |
| Date/Time: | 22/09/15 01:00:00 |
| Interesting points of view here. I always appreciate Adam's input from his pro perspective, but just because that's the rules or the protocol and so on does not really bear any relation to the person in the street. The person who wants a loaf of bread and a tin of soup in this case. Whoever makes these designations or sets the criteria does not mean they have got it right simply because it is what the guidelines say. Barnes may well be lovely but it is hugely affluent and very twee. Brentford was not ,is not and will probably never be Barnes, or Hampstead or Chalfont St Giles. What it is in danger of is being made soulless, devoid of infrastucture and now...shopless. The demographics are quite different and quite ironically, Morrisons is probably the only place where those demographics truly converge. You see it all in there from Shell suits to posh blokes wearing lurid coloured corduroys. Like it or loathe it, Morrisons is the retail hub of Brentford. It's car park does not just benefit Morrisons, it keeps the other nearby retailers alive as well. The sheer arrogance to presume that the car park uses up space may well be fine for statistics and policy but the true reality is that without it the whole local commerce risks collapse. Brentford people alone cannot sustain a vibrant high street or indeed a half decent supermarket be it Morrisons or Waitrose. A huge amount of Morrisons customers come from South Ealing and Northfields, both bereft of a supermarket . The smaller ones are also much more expensive and both areas have very little parking. I spent a little time in the reference library. It seems in the 1960s the height of the court was restricted to match the height of the nearest residential dwellings . Then International Stores were restricted in their planning application to not exceed the height of the adjoining building and obliterate the Beehive Public House. It seems this was a reaction to the damage done to Brentfords environs by the Police Station apartment block. As for the conservation area, this is not to be confused by listing buildings. A great many conservation areas contain some ghastly structures. What a C A can prevent is more ghastly or unsuitable structures. There are many precedents. One example is nearby Ealing Green, a long established Conservation area. It contained and contains several post war buildings. Ealing Technical College, now part of West London University, Ealing Sorting Office, The Now demolished Flextrol Factory, Ealing Telephone exchange, The Film Studios rear, access not just the front lodge. And, if I am right, Has not part of Chiswick High Road been incorporated into a larger conservation area? And does that not include some structures equally comparable to the courthouse and store? What a CA can prevent is a repeat of the ghastly architecture that developers are all to keen to stick up. |