Forum Topics

Historic Route no 607 to end on Friday

With no public consultation whatsoever, the heritage hating Mayor is using TfL again as a political tool to push through the rebranding of the 80 year old 607/207 bus Route.This has been rushed through to coincide with the Uxbridge and South Ruislip By-Election and to beef up promised coverage in the area next week by the BBC - especially BBC London who have been in 'talks' with the Mayors office for some weeks on 'ideas'.  Hardly impartial.All rather bizarre.The 607 was the original route number for the 207 dating back to when it was a trolleybus route.In 1960 it became the 207.Then in a rare successful initiative the 607 was revived as a comfort and speedy limited stop Express route complimentary to the 207.Some bright spark has now selected the route to be renumbered SL 8  Not to be confused with Slough Local routes and bears no instinctive association to the 207 route or finding one's way around by logical association.SL stands for Superloop. It seems to have failed TfL SuperSalaried that the 207/607 is an almost entirely straight route end to end and not even a radial route. It is a trunk arterial route.It's pure vanity marketing. The latest gimmick livery and publicity claimed all sorts of features but even the USB chargers are actually just stickers !  So rushed purely to meet a political event so it's not going to happen anytime soon.The route remains the same, with the same frequency, with a bit of basic poor graphics. In reality the 207 -427 -607 already has had a substantial cut in capacity as the 3rd component of the 207 route, the 427, has already been cut back with journey, waiting times increased some months ago, along with capacity so as to not clash with this purely imposed political vanity exercise.TfL's own road improvements along with those of Local authorities have actually lengthens the travel journey times considerably even on early and sunday trips. Compare the original timetable with the mess of the newer ones and it's dreadful. The 607 is not really the express route it was or should be.  This Branding makes no difference to the actual service.Disregard for the long established and easy to familiarise London Bus Network with stupid renumbering, flaky claims and misleading marketing of a loop system that makes no sense unless you have time on your hands is indicative of the mess that TfL has become and how  politicians meddling is stuffing up so many aspects of London's better bits.SuperLoopy Indeed.

Raymond Havelock ● 1192d34 Comments ● 1177d

Tring Avenue now under attack from the architects who failed with 6 Marlborough Road

Congratulations to the residents and campaigners who convinced Ealing Council's planning team that the proposed 6 Marlborough Road development was unacceptable.A moral victory indeed and one which will hopefully stand up to the scrutiny of the Planning Inspectorate. But sadly, other parts of this borough face similar challenges from developers who care not one iota for the architectural integrity or the cohesion of our neighbourhoods.Across the North Circular from Marlborough Road lies the Rothschild Orchard Estate, built in the early 20th century and similarly under attack from unwanted development proposals and, by coincidence, the same architects as Marlborough Road, Red and White, led by Luke Pulham.In Tring Avenue a perfectly serviceable family home now faces being bulldozed to make way for a block of nine flats.  The Rothschild Orchard Neighbourhood Forum – an association recognised and approved by Ealing Council – represents residents in the Tring Avenue area and virtually all of our members are opposed to this scheme.Like Marlborough Road there are restrictive covenants in place to guard against over development.  These state that only one private dwelling house can be built on a plot, and no house should be unsuitable to the character of the neighbourhood.  Local residents nearby in Carbery and Kingsbridge Avenues have the benefit of these covenants and have been informed of this fact in case anyone wishes to exercise their rights in case of any breach.

Jo Bond ● 1194d14 Comments ● 1177d

South Ealing/Little Ealing traffic light chaos

The replacement works at the Junction of South Ealing Road and the A4 have been completed but TfL have inexplicably changed the phasing causing a time delay of 100%.This is causing huge delays to North- South Bus journeys with many buses having to terminate at the A4 along with tailbacks on the Westbound A4 Ealing Road and South Ealing Road.TfL have been doing similar 'alterations' on the A205 SCR east of Clapham and even at night there are delays and queues where previously there were not.It appears that this may be deliberate. It was tried before in the 1980s and the same problems occurred and was abandoned within a fortnight.With much larger vehicles than 40 years ago, less road space means even longer delays.This 'engineered' delaying, though creates other problems, vehicles three point turning, rat running seeking an exit elsewhere, and pollution as well as wasted fuel.It benefits no one and is costly with missed appointments of all sort and commercial delays.Disrupted bus journeys.The junction was even snarled up early on Sunday Morning which on a normal day would be near deserted.As usual no-one representing local people is listening or taking any action.So here courtesy of Brentford residents are some contacts if you are affected even as a non driving or bus using resident.The original sequencing of lights needs reinstating ASAP.We all need to email Guy Lambert ( a Hounslow Councillor who has been involved),  but importantly TFL and LBH and LBE. Although it is just over LBEs boundary, the effects are radiating well into Ealing & NorthfieldsGuy.Lambert@hounslow.gov.uk,Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Operational Servicestraffic@hounslow.gov.ukstrategicmodelling@tfl.gov.uk

Raymond Havelock ● 1209d1 Comments ● 1209d

6 Marlborough Road

I'm sure many will know that the area around St Marys in South Ealing is a conservation area.... and a lot of the surrounding area is an "area of interest" with some lovely streets and great characterful buildings.It's under threat as is much of our way of life.Pubs are closing and being turned into flats, open space under pressure, roads, parking, drainage, doctor services etc.... developers looking for a quick buck everywhere.Latest to be of urgent concern is Number 6 Marlborough Road.This is a lovely house and one of the oldest in Ealing. Unfortunately it appears not to be listed but really should be and it sits in a great position on a cracking road.It's been bought by a developer who is on the record of having zero concern or anything other than making money and sod the effect on the local area. Plans have been lodged to actually demolish the building and replace it with 8 bland, box sized, drab flats.The area simply does not need these - a load have just been built at the site of the old Grovesnor Club near The New Inn and lots of recent studies point to housing demand in London being on the slide.If you disagree with this ongoing systematic destruction of the local area I would urge you to log onto the Planning Portal and lodge an abjection.I would never trust our Council to see sense on anything but as many objections as possible can't hurt.Link https://pam.ealing.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=RMKY05JMI5F00&activeTab=summary

Colin Goodman ● 1371d22 Comments ● 1211d