Green Party Condemns Gunnersbury Park Proposals

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Housing development 'will destroy over five acres of wooded land'

Darren Johnson, chair of the London Assembly and Deputy Chair of the Environmental Committee at the Assembly visited Gunnersbury Park last week to see at first hand the potential impact of the development plan proposed by the Jura Consultants for Ealing and Hounslow councils. He was joined by John Hunt, Green Party parliamentary candidate for Brentford and Isleworth.

The proposal is to refurbish the ‘listed’ buildings and add new facilities in the park. This would be partly financed by building housing on 5.6 acres of the park that runs along Lionel Road North.

The proposals also include a sports centre even though the Fountain Leisure Centre in Brentford is very close.

Darren Johnson said, “The proposed site of this new housing development is against everything we stand for in the Green Party. It will destroy over five acres of wooded land, which so badly needs protection in urban areas today. As well as giving us places to enjoy and savour, wooded areas provide valuable habitat for all sorts of wildlife and absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.”

Darren Johnson and his Ealing and Hounslow colleagues in the Green party urge constituents to write or speak to their councillors to defend the wooded area and to express their views on how this development should be pursued.

The selected land in the Southeast corner of the park would be sold or leased to a developer so that housing units could be built.

The Jura Consultants' report is can be viewed at www.hounslow.gov.uk/gunnersbury and the proposals are also on display at the Gunnersbury Park Museum.

Residents can also express their view by contacting Richard Gill, the Gunnersbury Park Development and Regeneration Manager, Gunnersbury Park Museum, London W3 8LQ and their local councillors.

September 3, 2009