Forum Topic

Stop over 100 trees to be felled in Grove Park Conservation area

Hello I would like to bring to your attention the planning application for re-development of the Quinton Hogg Memorial Sports grounds (also known as Roko) in Grove park. Whilst there are many good aspects to the application the developers intend to fell over 100 mature fir trees to make room for a cricket pitch and cricket nets for Latymer school. These trees are situated in a conservation area and their removal will result in the loss of 100 trees that provide important oxygen to the environment so that schoolkids can practice cricket. There are plenty of spaces for the cricket nets to be placed elsewhere in the grounds. I encourage residents of Chiswick to comment on the Hounslow planning application site. Case No P/2023/1835https://planning.hounslow.gov.uk/Planning_CaseNo.aspx?strCASENO=P/2023/1835

Patrick Munden ● 1153d24 Comments

Thanks for this, will sign.  Madness.

Claire Moran ● 1153d

There's a little owl that lives in the sports ground. I see it  every time I go past. Would be a shame to chase it away.

Simon Pedley ● 1153d

In the story on the front page of this website there seems to be no mention at all of the fact that developers propose felling 100 mature fir trees for the purpose of creating a cricket pitch for Latymer School. In his post Patrick Munden has attempted to rectify this.  Thank you Patrick for drawing this serious matter to our attention.

Rae Lewis ● 1152d

I looked at the application on the planning portal. They are looking at removing the fir trees near the tennis courts. This doesn't strike me as being too bad. I really don't like fir trees, so maybe I am biased, but if you are going to object to the plans, I would look at other aspects of the proposal.

Cecile Parfitt ● 1152d

Consent has already been given for the removal of the trees around the tennis courts - it isn't part of this planning application. They are planted like a hedge so although the number of trees lost sounds high the impact won't be great.If I have read the application right there are about 26 other scattered trees of various quality that need to be removed.  Latymer are promising replanting and an increase in biodiversity which will more than compensate for their loss. Nearly every sports pitch in the country will have been created by the removal of trees - sometimes it is necessary to choose which is more important but, in terms of impact, this proposal seems relatively benign.What would concern me more is the security of the community sports teams on the site. As the school will essentially be the landlord their teams will take priority. Will the cricket pitches be used for football and if so when will they be converted? Will pitches be available on Saturday afternoons?In a different context I have had experience of a school groundsman unnecessarily cancelling fixtures for a club I was involved with out of being overprotective of his pitches.I haven't heard what the views of Poly FC and Richmond Hockey are about this but they would be well advised to get specific and binding commitments from Latymer in return for supporting this application.

Francis Rowe ● 1152d

"What would concern me more is the security of the community sports teams on the site. As the school will essentially be the landlord their teams will take priority. Will the cricket pitches be used for football and if so when will they be converted? Will pitches be available on Saturday afternoons?"Maybe it will operate similar to Kings House School Sports Ground in Dukes Meadows.Very easy and accommodating to book cricket/football pitches to customers, outside of school hours.

Nick Jenkins ● 1152d

Hopefully that will be the case but Poly certainly used to run ten men's teams that will need pitches on Saturdays when a lot of school fixtures are played. I haven't heard any complaints so maybe a mutually agreeable arrangement has been come to.

Francis Rowe ● 1152d

A significant number of members of visiting teams get caught out by the Hartington Road restriction on a Saturday so any expansion of sporting activity at the site is going to be a bonanza for the council with lots of people unfamiliar with the area coming to the site. There would be a strong argument for removing restrictions on Saturday because anyone complying with the rules will be required to take a much longer drive through the Grove Park area rather than a 100 yard one into the Poly Stadium/Roko site.

Andrew OSullivan ● 1151d

I don't think you get a PCN if you drive into the sports ground on Hartington Road from the A316. Can someone confirm?

Francis Rowe ● 1151d

Hello Francis you can drive into the Non Private Estate from Hartingtdon rd to the sports ground without getting a fine

Pete Docherty ● 1150d

My error. The complaints I'd heard were from people at fixtures at Dukes Meadows who have crossed over the A316 on their way home rather than being at the Poly Stadium or from people going to the Chiswick School sports hall on Staveley Road.

Andrew OSullivan ● 1150d

Loads of visitors get caught out coming out of Riverside Drive. The only sign is a yellow one that warns of access restrictions on Hartington Road but if you are not familiar with the area you don't know that the road you are crossing into is Hartington Road.

Francis Rowe ● 1150d

Thank you Patrick for posting about this. It is indeed very sad that they are planning to fell these beautiful and magnificent trees, and it would be a disaster for the local birds and ecology. I have commented on the Hounslow planning application site to strongly oppose this.  It is essential that we all preserve the natural green spaces and trees.  The current sports field is being used as it is, and destruction of so many historic trees in it is not justifiable.

Nadine Reddy ● 1145d

Sometimes it is just convenient for developers and construction companies to remove trees which don't happen to have TPOs when perhaps especially now when we are more aware of our need for them we should be reconsidering.

Philippa Bond ● 1145d

I was a bit shocked by what happened to the sport pitch on the other side of Hartington.I remember it being a green field with only rugby posts on it, and with trees and shrubs around the edge. Somebody complained to me about these shrubs (hazel?) being culled.Now it looks to me more like a car park with a bit of a playing field.

Guy Lambert ● 1145d

As previously stated, the removal of the trees around the tennis courts has already been given permission by Hounslow Council.About 20 trees will go as a result of the stadium application. Latymer say their plans will increase bio-diversity at the site and there will be a report to justify this claim submitted with the application. I'm not competent to reach a conclusion as to whether their claims are valid or not, but I hope people objecting due to a loss of trees have read the report first.For me, the clearest concern remains the loss of community access to this site.

Francis Rowe ● 1145d

Sports groups really need to be able to organise themselves so that they don't have to have a car per person or player.  It never used to be like this. Affluence seems to bring more problems than it solves sometimes.  We used to share the carrying of kit bags.It is also really sad the number of hedges that seem to be cut down thoughtlessly destroying the habitats of so much wildlife.  It is so much easier to just cut it down losing all those years of growth in one fell swoop than it is to maintain it but keeping it is so much more worthwhile.Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone...

Philippa Bond ● 1144d

Phillipa, your post suggests a lack of familiarity with what actually happens. Very few teams both adult and youth won't car pool for fixtures. These days a team WhatsApp will mainly be about the logistics of getting everyone to the game. Some players won't have a car but they can usually rely on a lift. Particularly with adult teams there is an issue with team members coming from a dispersed area but, if players live reasonably close, they nearly always prefer to travel together rather than alone.I haven't been to the Hartington Road grounds on a match day since before Covid but then Poly were playing five men's fixtures at the same time plus other sporting activities on the site and there seemed to be zero problem with traffic.

Francis Rowe ● 1144d

Just to confirm that these trees were planted as windbreakers for the old tennis courts back in the 1980s. I know as it was my father and his grounds team who originally planted them.

Stephen Wiseman ● 1144d

Thanks for that.  It can be quite chastening to realise the age of trees.  and to have an understanding of why they were planted.  Windbreaks, sound reduction and fear of overlooking from new building is often the reason for a row of fir trees to be planted.  So they are pure youngsters compared to the TPOd trees, but even so it also ought to make people think - it is just so easy to delete them on a plan.Yes I agree, Whatsapp can be great for organising groups and sharing transport.

Philippa Bond ● 1144d

Latymer have certainly shared their school facilities in the past so hopefully they will in future.  However they are a business so let's  hope all clubs are active in making good representation.

Philippa Bond ● 1144d

I would imagine there maybe a possible agreement where Latymer will need to plant some other trees onsite to compensate for the others that were taken out. Conifer trees can grow up to three feet a year, so it wouldn't take long for them to become pretty established if more were to be planted somewhere else.The three original chestnut trees are protected thankfully, although there were more of those originally which were pulled down when they extended the pavilion back in 1960. That wouldn't happen nowadays I wouldn't have thought. I remember my Dad saying he used to climb them as a kid.

Stephen Wiseman ● 1144d

Yes, the speed of growth of some particular types of trees is why they are used as windbreaks, sound reduction and visual screening.  You can of course sometimes in retrospect regret all the years lost in growing any other type of tree instead when nothing will grow underneath them and if branches die or are damaged they will never grow back!Sadly even with Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) in place trees are vulnerable in many ways.  Apparently those three remaining sweet chestnuts are already several HUNDRED years old and have TPOs and let's hope that some more trees and shrubs will be planted as a part of the works.  Trees need to be planted more often and nurtured to give them an opportunity to grow to a grand old age and not just on rare occasions!http://www.chiswickw4.com/default.asp?section=info&page=conplan179stadiumupgrade.htm

Philippa Bond ● 1142d

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Juliet Hogg ● 1139d