Councillor Paul Fisher secures IBAC funding for Ivybridge

by our Ivybridge correspondent

At the Isleworth and Brentford Area Committee meeting held on the 5th March 2009 a request was made by Councillor Paul Fisher for £60,000 funding to implement a 20mph speed limit on the Ivybridge Estate and this was unanimously agreed by all councillors present.

Councillor Fisher has been working tirelessly to procure this funding after listening to concerned residents about cars and motorbikes regularly speeding around the estate and the danger to all especially those who reside at Kirkstone Lodge sheltered housing and the pupils at the Ivybridge School.

He commented after the meeting: "At last we will be able to put in place measures to make the Ivybridge estate a safer place to live and visit and I cannot stress enough how pleased I am that at long last I have been able to secure this money after investigating all manners of funding for this scheme. In this current financial climate it has not been easy."

Half of the funding will be allocated from the local Area Committee Capital Allocation and the other half from S106 monies still unspent after ten years, which Councillor Fisher with the aid of officers from Hounslow Council discovered could be spent on the estate.

Councillor Fisher further commented: "I was absolutely gobsmacked when this S106 money came to light and will be fully investigating what other money could and should have been spent in the Isleworth area over the years. I am convinced there is a possibility of much more we can use to make this an even better place for all of us to live and I shudder to think what other worthy schemes may have been missed because for whatever reason we have not been informed. I can assure all Isleworth residents that I will fight tooth and nail with my Community Group colleagues to make sure any outstanding monies are spent in Isleworth and not returned to developers having not been used".

Councillor Fisher will now be meeting with Hounslow Homes and a Hounslow Council traffic officer on Friday 13th March in an attempt to implement this 20mph scheme as soon as possible, and will be reporting to the Residents' Association every step of the way to keep them fully informed.

Ivybridge residents will also be extremely pleased that the recent temporary traffic order put in place on rugby match days instigated by the Residents' Association, Hounslow Homes and Councillor Fisher is now to become permanent after the overwhelming success in preventing limousines and mini-buses from clogging up estate roads in preference to paying a parking fee elsewhere.