| Topic: | Re:High Street Urban Design - Look and feel of the street scene | |
| Posted by: | Michael Brandt | |
| Date/Time: | 20/06/08 18:33:00 |
| It's good to see a degree of thought going into this. I hope the horrors of urban design that are spattered throughout the country are taken on board and avoided. There's a fair few in this borough alone. Ealing seems to have led the way with the recent creation of a Heritage quarter. This was an idea by a local resident to initially try and retain the districts Victorian lamposts,. Ealing is the last town to have a fully intact district full of these. The same type of which, adorned Brentford and many were sold to Ealing when Brentford and Chiswick renewed with concrete lamposts in the 1950's. The Heritage quarter is a halfway conservation area without the planning restrictions or the snob factor. The brief is to enhance the appearance of the streetscene in a style that reflects and compliments the general aesthetic ambience. This encapsulates Northfields, Little Ealing and South Ealing as far as Pitshanger Manor and Lammas and Walpole Parks. The Edwardian street furniture will be retained, reinstated or renovated and painted in the original colours, Park railings etc. of the appropriate style will be reinstated and the lamposts retained but upgraded to meet safety specs. It's easy for this district as it is well looked after by it's residents although not for some time by L B Ealing. A period has been picked of which exists a record of how good it once looked and that will be the focus. It's not so easy for Brentford. Unlike Southern Ealing which is almost purely residential and 19th/20th century. Brentford was a grimy industrial town built over a much longer period. Much is lost right down to it's original lamp posts. But thanks to projects like Ealing's and a few in other boroughs, ways and solutions are being found to mix the best of the past with the present. Colour schemes, lamposts and lights, benches and trees all play a part and off the shelf fob offs should not be the only choices. I missed the exhibition but hope that many also think similarly over this most historic of towns. |