Agenda Item 2
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Agenda Item 2 At a meeting of the Chiswick Area Committee (Monitoring) held on Wednesday, 12 November 2003 at 7:30 pm at The Council Chamber, Chiswick Town Hall, Heathfield Terrace, Chiswick W4. Present: Councillor Thompson (Vice Chair in the Chair) Councillors Barwood, Gilson, Day, Lee, Kinghorn and Oulds. David Hopkins Apologies for Absence Councillor Lynch (Chair); David Beattie Councillor Davies sent apologies but was able to attend for the final part of the meeting. 28. Apologies for absence, declarations of interest or any other communications from Members Councillor Thompson, Vice-Chair of the Area Committee took the Chair as Councillor Lynch was unwell. The Chair made the following announcements: The Committee noted the death of Shirley Hadi, Chair of the Friends of Chiswick Library and recognised her sterling work for the people of Chiswick over many years through a variety of activities. The Committee passed condolences to her friends and family. The switch on of the Christmas Lights in Chiswick High Road would take place on Thursday, 20 November 2003 at 6.30 p.m. A press release with details was attached to the update from the last meeting, circulated to members and the public. Two reports listed on the agenda had been deferred, pending further information. More information was awaited in respect of the Bus Review report and the authority had received news that consideration of the West London Transit had been postponed until May. The Chair apologised to those members of the public attending for those items. He intended to rearrange the agenda order to reflect the interests of members of the public attending. 29. Chiswick Bus Services Possibilities Consideration of this issue was deferred, pending the receipt of further information from external agencies. 30. West London Transit Consideration of this issue was deferred, pending further information. 1 31. Licensing Act 2003 See the report of the Head of Street Management and Public Protection – Agenda Item 3. Andy Fielding, Assistant Head of Street Management and Public Protection, presented the report. He explained that the new Licensing Act was a substantive piece of legislation introducing a new regime for licensing. The key changes were set out in the report. The legislation provided a mechanism for the government’s intention to introduce more flexible opening hours, subject to the wishes of local communities. The Act gave extra powers to the police and local authorities to deal with the implications of extended opening. The legislation removed Licensing from the Magistrates Courts to the local authority. The local authority was required to establish a Licensing Committee of between 10-15 elected members to discharge its licensing functions. The draft Statutory Guidance indicated that all applications subject to objections would need to be determined by the Licensing Committee, via a Sub Committee of 3 elected members drawn from the main Committee. In Hounslow it was proposed that the Licensing Committee should consist of 15 members. This would be made up of two representatives from each of the Area Committees, together with further nominees from the political groups to ensure political balance. The timetable for introducing the new arrangements would be six months from the date Parliament agreed the Statutory Guidance. This agreement was imminent, so it was anticipated that the new scheme would be live between April-June 2004. The licenses, if granted, would not be implemented for 12 months, so that two parallel arrangements would be in place for a time. The authority had approximately six months to set up its Licensing Committee, agree its Licensing Policy and put new procedures in place. Mr Fielding invited the Area Committee to put forward two nominations for members to serve on the Licensing Committee. The Chair thanked Mr Fielding for his clear presentation and stated his belief that it was sensible to bring licensing procedures together as a way forward to control licensing arrangements in local areas. The Chair invited comments. Peter Eversden of the Chiswick Protection Group informed the meeting that the London Forum and Civic Trust had given evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee and the GLA about the cumulative effect of licensing premises for dancing and other activities within an area. He referred to the Open All Hours papers available on the Civic Trust website. There was concern about the movement of people from one licensed premises to another, possibly across boroughs, when opening hours varied and some remained open later. This caused a lot of disturbance. Mr Eversden urged caution since other government departments such as the Home Office and Ministry of Leisure and Sport had not yet finalised their legislation. He warned that there were loopholes. 2 David Hopkins, Co-opted Member, joined the meeting at this point. The Chair spoke of his experience as a ward councillor trying to prevent late licenses, for example a request by All Bar One to have late opening every night. Members were conscious that Chiswick High Road had a large residential component. He hoped that councillors would have the opportunity to bring such information to be considered in respect of licensing. Councillor Kinghorn stressed that within London there needed to be a dialogue across boroughs. Licensing practices would interrelate since there would be movement across Hammersmith, Hounslow and Ealing to access premises with late night opening. Mr Fielding acknowledged that there were many concerns about implementation but the new Act did bring together 5-6 regimes to one. The draft Guidance was ambivalent and there were a number of issues concerning zoning and the cumulative effect. Mr Fielding agreed that Councillor Kinghorn’s point was fundamental. He envisaged Hounslow’s Licensing Committee meeting with those of other authorities to address cross borough issues. Councillors Gilson and Lee were nominated and agreed as the Area Committee’s representatives on the Licensing Committee. Resolved: That Councillor Gilson and Councillor Lee would be the Area Committee’s representatives on the Licensing Committee. 32. Crossrail Benchmark Scheme and Options 5 & 6 See the report of the Assistant Chief Executive, Corporate Policy and Regeneration – Agenda Item 4. Chris Calvi-Freeman, Head of Transport, provided the Committee with an overview of the scheme. Crossrail had confirmed their intention to proceed with the Benchmark Scheme, including the line to Richmond/Kingston. The Benchmark Scheme proposed routes along the Heathrow Corridor, the Richmond/Kingston Corridor, plus two in East London and North Kent. The scheme proposed 24 trains per hour from Central London, with most going to Paddington. The project would not be in operation until 2013 at the earliest. Crossrail had approached the London Borough of Hounslow in February to discuss a route southwest to Norbiton. Options were a route via the North London line or via a Chiswick tunnel around Fishers Lane, with a station near Sainsburys. The Council had commented that one option had poor interchange and the second had implications for the community of major works on Chiswick Back Common. The Council also proposed two other options – a route from the North London line to the Hounslow loop and an interchange at Chiswick Business Park linking with Hounslow and Feltham. It was also suggested that if a tunnel option were to be pursued an interchange at Turnham Green would be more sensible. 3 Crossrail had now confirmed the route to Richmond/Kingston. This had been a surprise since there had appeared to be a stronger case for a northwestern route. No reasons had been given for the change, but there was a station proposed close to Turnham Green. Mr Calvi- Freeman pointed out that this might be an advantage to support the campaign to get the Piccadilly Line to stop at Turnham Green. He understood that Bob Kylie, in respect of the London Underground, had instructed managers to reconsider the Piccadilly line stop. Mr Calvi-Freeman clarified that if Crossrail went ahead, there was a strong possibility of an interchange at Turnham Green station but to achieve this there would be major digging up of Chiswick Back Common. What was now suggested was a station under the Chiswick Back Common Tennis Courts, with access to the ticket hall via a subway under Turnham Green Terrace. There would be lifts to access the tube station. However, this option would require the removal of a row of shops in Turnham Green Terrace between Thornton Avenue and the station. Letters had been sent the previous day to the owners of the properties. Members of the Chiswick Area Committee were asked to consider whether they supported this proposal or wished to consider pressing for alternatives, such as the interchange at Chiswick Business Park. However, Mr Calvi-Freeman cautioned that it might not be possible to persuade Crossrail to change their plans. Part of the proposal was to use the existing District Line to Richmond for Crossrail, replacing the District Line service with a more frequent, faster service to Central London, the City and East London. It would be an advantage to see half the services to Richmond and half to Hounslow/Feltham. Mr Calvi-Freeman had done some work to show how this could be achieved. He showed diagrams to the Committee to demonstrate Options 5 and 6, as suggested by the Council. He believed that it would be relatively simple to consider an alternative alignment of a tunnel towards Acton to emerge at the Chiswick Business Park. Trains could then run through Brentford to Hounslow or to Kingston. It would be expensive if it was necessary to continue the tunnel towards Richmond but Mr Calvi-Freeman suggested that any expense should be considered in the context of a £10 billion project. However, the alignment the Council had suggested was straightforward via Chiswick Business Park and was compatible with the new buildings proposed.