Living Next to Westfield

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Residents re-write the Council's logo

Shepherd’s Bush residents who live right next to the new shopping centre have accused the Council of putting Westfield’s interests before theirs.

A protest banner hanging across one of the houses in Shepherd’s Bush Place shows the H&F logo changed from “Putting Residents First” to “Putting Westfield First”. The banner went up in time for the shopping centre opening last Thursday (30 October).

“We’ve lived through appalling times without any acknowledgement of the suffering,” said Sharon Michaels who lives at the Uxbridge Road end of the terraced street behind the Central line station. “We haven’t really complained because we’re trying to be good neighbours but Westfield have taken over the whole street for months on end.”

As Westfield’s opening day approached, the pace of the building work was stepped-up to make sure the deadline would be met. This often meant work continuing late into the night. “I didn’t sleep last night because they were doing roadworks until gone 1.30am,” said Michaels on the opening day. She said the situation had been particularly bad when workmen started tearing down the old Central line station last February and began building the new one: “One night they were crushing concrete at 4am,” she said.

Shepherd’s Bush Place is a Grade II listed terrace of workers’ cottages which is bound by the Uxbridge Road at its southern end. Residents say a former footbridge leading from the Central line station over to the West 12 centre used to block out traffic noise but now that Shepherd’s Bush Place is more exposed, they want a barrier installed across Plimley Place – the wide open area next to Londis.

“We were promised we would be visually and acoustically protected,” said Michaels. “We want a proper acoustic barrier so that we are cut off from the noise. They want to put in glass screens and trees but the screen will be broken because they think it looks nicer. But the noise will come over the 3 metre barrier and go straight into our bedroom,” she said. “They made us firm promises but you could say that H&F are in the hands of Westfield. They haven’t put residents first at all.”

Mr Swallows, who lives further down the same street, says all the residents have different problems, depending on where precisely they are located. “Various people get upset about being overlooked by House of Fraser,” he said of those living at the northern end. “We are concerned about noise from the restaurant street. They’ve put up a barrier to stop the noise but I’m not sure if it will help. The worst thing was when they were building the flats (Bourbon Lane),” he said.

Pointing to the houses closest to Uxbridge Road he said: “They say they can’t sleep because of the traffic noise and one of the main problems is people urinating against the wall (next to Londis)”. He also said the ridge along the edge of the new Central line station posed another potential problem: “We want bird spikes to stop people sitting along the wall, drinking beer,” he said. Despite the issues, he was positive about the shopping centre: “It’s been disruptive but it looks fantastic and I’m looking forward to going in there,” he said.

Responding to residents’ complaints, Hammersmith and Fulham Council say Westfield is making a very positive contribution to the area: “It is simply not true that the Council has put Westfield first - in fact, the centre has brought huge benefits to Shepherd’s Bush. The Council has negotiated a series of major community benefits out of Westfield, including a £200 million boost to public transport in the area; £4 million for Britain’s first 24/7 beat policing squads; £3 million re-vamp for Shepherd's Bush Green; a brand new 21st Century Shepherd's Bush Library and 78 new affordable homes.

The Council say some of the outstanding issues are currently being worked on: "Westfield is providing permanent public toilets at the southern interchange but until they are built, Westfield has agreed to install temporary toilets. No definite plans have been approved at Plimley Place yet and the fine detail of the landscaping is still being discussed, though Westfield has agreed to provide some acoustic protection to minimise noise. We welcome residents' comments on the scheme and want to work closely with them and Westfield to come to a sensible solution."

 

Yasmine Estaphanos

4 November 2008