Newslettersummer2003

Welcome to our latest newsletter and our new AGRA logo. We hope you like it.

Annual General Meeting

This was held on 19^th March and was well attended. Traffic and parking dominated the discussions – more about that later in this Newsletter.

Committee members were re-elected without a vote and have been joined by Barry McGovern. There have been some changes in the responsibilities undertaken by the Committee members and these are listed at the end of this Newsletter.

Membership

AGRA exists as a forum for our community and to represent the views and concerns of the local residents at meetings we have with Council officials, Transport groups, local Police and Neighbourhood Watch. Your support of AGRA is vital if we are to continue to representing the residents of the Acton Green area and we would like to thank those members who have renewed their subscriptions for 2003.

Residents who have not yet renewed their membership for this year will find a renewal form with this Newsletter. Please complete and return this to the address indicated. If we do not hear from you we shall reluctantly assume that you no longer wish to be a member of AGRA,

CPZ

Following consultation with AGRA residents CPZ will start in late summer or autumn.

West London Tram Project

The proposal by the Mayor and Transport for London to build and run a tram from Uxbridge to Shepherds Bush, via Acton, is causing much concern for residents of our area. The planned route would require Acton High Street to be permanently closed to vehicles, with displaced traffic having to find alternative routes, primarily down Acton Lane, Bollo Lane and South Parade. One suggested alternative route would take the tram down Churchfield Road and this option is supported by AGRA.

London Borough of Ealing and TfL have set up public consultations and AGRA is represented at the meetings. Consultation will continue until the autumn and a final decision whether to proceed with the tram project will be taken by TfL in January 2004.

Chiswick Business Park. S106 Monies

Do you remember the £550k?

Ealing Council has disbanded the Trust which was to control this money to "provide easier and faster access" to the fund. The old Traffic and Parking monies have been reduced to £450k and form the budget for the Traffic, Transport and Environment Fund.

A Working Group set up by the Council, on which AGRA and Bedford Park are represented, met on 28 January. In late April a paper was prepared for presentation to the June meeting of the Acton Area Committee which contained proposals to expand membership of the Working Group to include South Acton and Acton Central and a "wish list" of projects. AGRA pointed out that there had been no discussion of the expansion of the Group, nor of much of the "wish list". Another meeting was agreed to but has not yet taken place. The paper was accepted without change and agreed without comment by all the Councillors at the Acton Area meeting.

AGRA will attend future meetings of the Working Group and attempt to have the money spent in the spirit for which it was originally intended, but in recognition that the Council regards it as a general fund against which bids can be made by South Acton, Acton Central and Southfield Wards.

The Proposed Third Runway at Heathrow

The third runway has become a real threat to all residents of the Acton Green area. At present we live in a quiet oasis which is one of its great attractions. Do please read the enclosed leaflet from HACAN with care and seriously consider their suggestions for action. None of us wants to live under a flight path.

New AGRA Web Page

We are in the process of taking up an offer from ChiswickW4.com to have an AGRA page on their site. The page currently being devised will outline AGRA's aims, list Committee members, give ongoing news as well as a potted history of the area and will provide some useful local links. The web page co-ordinator is Ann Williams and she can be contacted via e-mail on actongreen@btopenworld.com.

Neighbourhood Watch

There have been a number of incidents over the last few months, particularly in regard to cars. Please tell your Street Co-ordinator if you experience or hear of any, so that we can compile a more accurate picture.

We now attend the Ealing Community and Police Consultative Group, enabling us to know what is going on and to contribute to the debates and plans. There will be an Open Meeting for AGRA residents in late summer dealing specifically with Neighbourhood Watch matters.

Dave O'Grady, our Permanent Beat Officer has moved to Notting Hill and we are assured that he will be replaced shortly. The new Chief of Police for Ealing acknowledged that many Officers had been deployed to Central London because of terrorism, but assured us that this had stopped. His "strategy, style and policies" sounded firm and positive, we shall see.

We are currently updating the Welcome Packs for new neighbours. Debbie Jackson continues as Ealing Neighbourhood Watch Manager and can be contacted on 020 8567 0222 or 07944 161834. While we have no PBO get in touch with her instead.

DVLA Hotline

To report untaxed vehicles in London ring 0800 325 202.