More resources for cleaning up the autumn leaves in Chiswick this year says Hounslow Highways boss

Looking after the Borough of Hounslow’s 12,600 street trees

Tim Hurley, Service Director for Hounslow Highways, was at the Chiswick Area Forum on Wednesday (16 September) to talk about street trees.

READ ALSO: Chiswick’s Street Trees

Chiswick is often described by estate agents and in magazine articles as ‘leafy’, which is usually considered a good thing but come the autumn, leaf fall causes problems.

Chiswick has more street trees than anywhere else in LB Hounslow

Tim confirmed we have more street trees than any other part of the borough, and we receive more of  Hounslow Highways’ attention and resources accordingly, but as residents pointed out to him, that didn’t stop a build up of leaf fall that last winter was not cleared in some streets until March this year.

READ ALSO: Chiswick residents fed up with trudging through slippery leaf slush

Stepping ankle deep into a wet, slimy mulch of a winter’s worth of fallen leaves is messy, but also potentially dangerous, especially for elderly and infirm residents, as it makes the ground slippery and it can be hard to tell where the edge of the pavement is.

When it is compacted down by being driven over many times it is also much harder to get off the road, and is usually by then mixed in with litter.

Compacted leaves, with a sprinkling of litter

Why is it so difficult to clear up the fallen leaves? It happens every year

Simplistically, we all know the leaves will fall in the autumn, but practically it is harder than you might think, Tim told the meeting, to predict when the main fall will occur as it often reflects a sudden cold snap. This year the leaves are falling early because of the long, hot summer.

There are a lot of additional resources being put into clearing up the fallen leaves this year, he told Chiswick councillors and members of the public at the town hall meeting. Until this year they have had two or three big sweeper machines at their disposal. This year they will have four.

Both Hounslow Council and Hounslow Highways are putting in money and as a result they have a much bigger budget this year.

Graph showing how much more leaf clearance takes place in the three wards of Chiswick Gunnersbury, Chiswick Homefields and Chiswick Riverside than in the rest of the borough; Hounslow Highways

Huge increase in street cleaning this year due to increased investment

“We have had £750k more this year. There is more resource and we are working on the plan for the next four years”.

The additional £750k of investment is for a series of street cleaning improvements that include both the whole street cleansing programme and other initiatives aimed at improving the frequency with which streets in the borough are cleaned.

‘Whole street cleansing’ – where everyone is required to move their car so the big sweeper can go down the road and sweep out the drainage gullies on either side, has improved hugely over the past year. Tim showed a graph that demonstrated the improvement.

Graph showing how much whole street cleansing has increased this year over last year; Hounslow Highways

Two teams were deployed this year, he said, with each team scheduled to attend three roads per day.

‘The gully cleansing programme has enabled a greater coverage of all gullies where previously parked cars would have suspended works.

‘From May to August the crew completed 3,678 jobs compared with 417 in the same months of 2025.

‘This reflects part of the £750k additional investment which includes nine additional barrow routes and night time crews in two centres’.

Where am I supposed to park my car when the Council does a whole street clean?

Tim’s deputy Sabeel Khan admitted more could be done to publicise to residents where they could park when their street was having a whole street clean and cars needed to be moved out of the way.

Cllr Amy Croft, the Chiswick Riverside councillor who is now Hounslow Cabinet Member responsible for infrastructure, enforcement and recycling, confirmed residents who have a parking permit are able to park in neighbouring streets and in adjacent CPZ areas without fear of being penalised when they are required to move their cars for the sweepers to do their work.

She promised the Council would do a better job of advertising that to residents, including advertising it on the temporary street signs the cleaning crews put up.

Asphelting tree roots represents the compromise between protecting the tree and protecting pedestrians from trip hazards

Problems with roots

Hounslow Highways also deal with problems caused by tree roots pushing up paving stones and making the pavement uneven.

Tim Hurley told the meeting they were having to deal with the consequences of trees planted sometimes 80 years ago and said they were now looking at putting in different species less problematic in terms of their roots and better suited to climate change.

They have a continuous programme of removing diseased and dangerous trees and aimed to replace them as near as possible to where they had been removed from.

READ ALSO: Large willow tree splits and collapses across pavement in Grove Park

Autumn leaves – Photograph of the day Jon Perry, enlightenshade

Autumn leaves; photograph Jon Perry

Where they have had to act quickly to cut down a tree to make it safe, they often leave quite a large stump which they aim to remove within three months, he said, as their immediate priority is to make the tree safe. Trees are increasingly stressed by the extreme temperatures that we are seeing as symptoms of climate change.

READ ALSO: London in danger of losing its urban canopy through climate change

READ ALSO: Over 50% Kew’s trees could be at risk says new report on the Botanic Gardens

If a big tree is making it difficult for pedestrians to use the pavement they have three options, he said: to cut it down; to build the footway out around the tree into the road;  or to resurface around the tree.

Photograph by Jon Perry – enlightenshade

Autumn leaves; photograph Jon Perry

Cut down the tree or build out round it? Replace the paving stones with new ones or with tarmac? Black or grey?

Removing trees is not the preferred option – they’re pretty and they’re good for the environment. As well as providing biodiversity and carbon benefits they also provide a canopy in hot or wet weather.

Building the footway out around them is expensive (£8,000 per location) and entails removing parking spaces – not always popular with residents; resurfacing is therefore the most frequent solution.

When residents report problematic trees through Fix My Street they send an inspector to make an assessment. Where they can, they replace upended paving stones with new ones, said Tim, but often they replace them with tarmac because it was a cheaper solution, more efficient, and bends with the root.

The pavements are inspected at least twice yearly, Tim told the Chiswick Area Forum, once by Highway Inspectors as part of a routine safety inspection, and once by an Independent Highway Surveyor to consider structure, integrity, and surface.

When the area around a tree was excavated, they have an arborist present to advise on cutting non anchor / primary roots.

Photograph by Jon Perry – enlightenshade

Autumn leaves; photograph Jon Perry

“Safety is always the priority”

Asked by Leader of the Conservative Group Cllr Jack Emsley where the balance lay between safety and aesthetics, he answered:

“Safety is always the priority”.

They were happy to discuss the quality and colour of the tarmac they use, he said, to prevent a patchwork of black squares on grey, but they then would have to consider if they went for the more expensive option here, would they have to use it all over the borough?

As residents and councillors raised particular trees that were problematic in specific streets – Park Drive and Princes Avenue on the Gunnersbury Park Estate; Duke Road; Heathfield Terrace; Town Hall Avenue; Staveley Gardens – Tim and Sabeel promised to have a look.

One which people in The Wild Bunch cafe opposite Turnham Green had observed as someone took a tumble, resulting in a bloodied face, Tim said he would go and inspect himself personally.

Hounslow Highways clearing the pavement and pruning the silver birch trees beside Kew Bridge

The Chiswick Area Forum meeting also heard from Jackie Elton, Chair of the Mid Chiswick Society and Friends of Chiswick Common, who outlined her opposition to Rocks Lane sports centre’s current planning applications.

READ ALSO: Objections to the ‘monstrosity’ of Rocks Lane sports building raised at Chiswick Area Forum

READ ALSO: MD of Rocks Lane answers criticisms of the sports centre in Chiswick

There is currently footpath repair work being done at Strand on the Green and Hounslow Highways have also been there this weekend replanting the flowerbed at the entrance to Thames Road from the junction with Kew Bridge, pruning the silver birch trees and cleaning the pavement around them.

The flowerbed at the junction of Kew Bridge and Thames Road, replanted on Friday; Top: Cllr Amy Croft helping with the planting