17 January 2017: Our public meeting at Brentford Free Church was very well attended, thank you to everyone who came along and participated in the event. If you’d like to help us make a difference please send us an email at airqualitybrentford@hotmail.com
For those that missed the meeting or anyone who would like to look at this again, here is a PDF of the introduction: 01-public-meeting_nicola-intro
This is the link to John Dale’s film about living on Adelaide Terrace on the A4:
John is keen to make a follow-up film on air pollution if you have a story to tell do let us know.
And also a PDF of Professor Frank Kelly’s talk, for private use only please: 03-brentford-kelly
Feedback from the group brainstorming sessions:
- Find out what works, ie. what types of plants and formations, so that we can be focused and effective. We need a plant strategy. Look at California, China and Singapore info on plants and pollution. Work with Kew Gardens.
- Encourage people locally to return their driveways to front gardens and to plant gardens more generally
- Establish plants around the base of existing trees e.g. shrubs and bushes and avoid what seems to be currently the practice of concreting around trees
- If tree height and maintenance a problem, source slow growing hybrids
- A4 possibility of planting vertical gardens, hanging gardens
- Restore the surrounds of the library to a garden rather than tarmac/parking
- Green barriers for Middlesex Court on Glenhurst Road
- Hedging for Mercury House on Windmill Road
- Grow Wild have a scheme this year for 12-25 year olds to transform a community space with native wild flower and plants in a local area. Offering £500 to help bring the project to life. (Kew initiative)
- Brentford Market Place could be a much greener and friendlier space
- Too many cars
- Tax regime especially for diesel vehicles
- Repair potholes by kerbs for cyclists
- Congestion
- Car lobby
- Need to encourage walking, a mode shift
- Media coverage of public transport is negative
- Streetscape is dominated by cars
- Hedges along main roads
- More Zipcar systems and most importantly information about them widely available
- A strategic approach to cycle lanes. Restructuring routes to cut across parks, along railways. Heathrow has very poor support for bikes.
- Get more secure bike shelters on residential roads to make it easy for people in small houses/flats to store their bikes
- Improve localisation of facilities for local freelance workers who need fast internet, printing facilities and coffee
- Look at electric and hybrid cars as alternatives
- Liaise with companies in charge of electric charging stations
- World Earth Day exhibit of electric cars at Brentford Sunday Market
- Possible to work with Evans cycles to encourage bike use. See the Government’s ride to work scheme for people in employment https://www.evanscycles.com/b2b/ride-to-work
- HGVs and local businesses, incentivise to use off peak times for deliveries
- 30 mph limit through the residential area of the A4
- to have speed cameras in this section of the road to enforce the speed limit and
- clear signage to show the expected limit
- sign explaining that this is a residential area (and a pollution hotspot?), so that people understand why they are being asked to slow down
- enforcement of the 20mph limit on our local roads or use of the ‘smiley face’ digital display to raise awareness of the limit required
- park and ride to prevent so much traffic passing through Brentford
- stop the idling of cars locally and raise awareness that we are a pollution hotspot
- Pollution from current buses
- Need for more electric buses (remember trolley buses)
- Encourage more bus use and discourage cars
- Extend the E2 bus to West Middlesex Hospital
- More bus lanes required
- More frequent 267 route
- Green barriers required
- Need to dissuade parents to drive to school
- Increase road safety on A4
- Reduce volume of traffic
- School buses
We have passed this information to Hounslow Council and will be working with them and other organisations to address these issues.
