Hanwell Loses Lamppost Battle

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Meeting votes to transfer antique streetlighting to 'heritage quarter'

The attempt by Hanwell residents to stop their lampposts being uprooted and moved to another part of the borough looks to have been futile.

A recent meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee has voted to proceed with the resiting of the antique street lighting to a new Heritage Quarter in Ealing. The decision was called in for Scrutiny by Cllr Bassam Mahfouz for Labour. In the event voting was on party lines with the Conservatives supporting the decision including Cllr. Colm Costello who represents Hobbayne ward.

Residents who spoke at the meeting included David Blackwell on behalf of Hanwell Heritage and the Hanwell History Society, Carolyn Brown on behalf of the Hanwell Steering Group, and in their absence Brentham Society, Peter Chadburn on behalf of Campbell Road residents (HVG) and Beryl Pankhurst on behalf of Hanwell Village Green Conservation Area Residents.

As part of a PFI agreement to upgrade street lighting across the Borough, Ealing Council intend to remove 55 of the original Victorian and Edwardian lampposts from four roads in the Hanwell Village Green Conservation Area, refurbish them, and install them elsewhere.

"These lampposts have been here since the houses were built during the period stretching from the 1880s to 1912 and are part of our heritage," said Philip Jackson, a local resident known to many as Agatha Christie’s Inspector Japp to David Suchet’s Poirot.

Residents say that they were not been consulted by Ealing Council on the question of removing the street lamps.  The Council is blaming the previous administration for the decision and say consultation was carried out.

Save Hanwell's Cast Iron Lampposts Campaign is urging residents to contact Council Leader Jason Stacey to ask for the decision to be reconsidered.

August 22, 2008