Flower Market Plans Makeover for Central Chiswick Car Park
Launching 'Co-Design Initiative' for 'Old Market Place'
The car park in the centre of Chiswick. Picture: Luke Greysmith
June 22, 2023
The organisers of the Chiswick Flower Market intend to seek the views of local people on the future of the car park where their event takes place.
Dubbed ‘Old Market Place’, it is now the location for three popular monthly markets including the flower market which takes place on the first Sunday of each month.
It has been three years since the first market was held but the organisers feel that there has been a continued disintegration of the area around the car park.
They say, “Old Market Place is blighted with crumbling kerbs, broken paving, poor lighting, mouldering benches, non-compliant parking spaces, poor pedestrian signage, flooding, constrained tree roots as well as collapsing walls which are becoming dangerous to passers-by. The area was last modernised decades ago and is no longer fit for purpose.”
Last year, some initial proposals were draw up for improvements which were presented to a public meeting at the George IV in October. Responses from these discussions and from further information about the area was collected and fed back into revised plans.
It is hoped that the closure of the police station and the new retirement community development at the site will provide an opportunity for funding to mitigate the inevitable disruption during the construction phase and allow the transformation of the area into ‘an attractive, safe, prosperous and green town centre’.
The Flower Market says it would like everyone to participate in a community-led design initiative to be launched at the next market on Sunday 2 July, and will run online throughout July and August. The results will be compiled by Create Streets and fed back to the Flower Market team. Responses and suggestions will be incorporated into the plans to be submitted to the council for review and official council consultation, prior to any implementation.
The Co-Design Initiative will be available online from Sunday 2 July, via chiswickflowermarket.com. Plans will also be available in Chiswick Library, with an option to respond on paper.
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