IT WAS entirely predictable that Boris wants a large development on the Southall gas work site.
Everyone knows that London has to build more homes and that brown field sites, like the gasworks, are one of the best ways of doing this.
Not for the first time, this borough is reaping what it sowed. It was offered, on a plate, a modern mass transit system - the west London tram. A tried and tested, fast, efficient way of getting large numbers of people around. Trams and light rail work, and the government has just announced plans to extend several tram systems.
The west London tram would have dramatically reduced congestion in Southall and improved the whole community in many ways. It might even have saved the Himalaya cinema, by making it much easier for Ealing people, who ironically have not had a cinema for several years, to trip over to Southall in a matter of minutes.
More than that, the tram was planned to serve the gasworks site and provide the high quality public transport that such a large development should have.
A J MANUKYAN Acton
