What's Happening With Commerce Road?

Residents Have Their Say in Consultation

Way back in October, residents and interested parties were invited to Grounds coffee bar to take place in a consultation about Commerce Road.

As the feedback report says, "The workshop was an opportunity to bring together a range of interested parties to help talk about and start to think about the design of Brentford’s waterside and its future regeneration and how Brentford Lock West, the Commerce Road area could play a part in this."

From this event four possible options were created. They can all be seen in the feedback report (pdf), which is well worth a read, with lots of pictures and diagrams to capture the imagination and stimulate discussion.

Last night around 40 people turned up to the Holiday Inn this time to hear brief overviews of ISIS' research into Brentford, its employment, housing, transport, commerce etc. and then to examine the 4 proposed options and discuss the pros and cons of each.

Some wielded their pens and created a fifth option which hopefully combined the best of the 4 proposed options and eliminated the worst. There were residents from the Island and Robin Grove, Octink (one of the businesses in Commerce Road), boaters, Brentford residents, representatives of Brentford Community Council and others. There was, perhaps surprisingly, a lot of unity in ideas: that there were enough offices in Brentford already, that the towpath should be a feature for all to enjoy, that the watersheds should be kept, at least in part.

ISIS are going to take all this away and think about it. The slide shows of last night will be put up on their new website, www.brentfordlockwest.com and made available to all to read. Those who have experience of developers in Brentford or who have seen the edifices built here will remain cynical up to the end but the chance of having a genuine say in what gets built in Brentford is very welcome.

Why not add your thoughts on this development to the thread in our discussion forum or email editor@brentfordtw8.com

November 27, 2009