My partner and I are both American.  We started our business, Outsider Tart, at the Farmer's Markets in west London then opened a shopfront five years ago on Chiswick High Road.  Prior to our arrival in the UK, I was an architect in New York City working mostly in the private sector but also on public projects involved with community improvement and amenity.  It struck us as odd that Chiswick High Road is a bit of an eyesore. We approached Hounslow to adopt a raised planter outside of our shop, redesign it, replant it and maintain it.  We completed that project two years ago.  We also have received Council approval to run an outdoor market on the pavement at the intersection of Chiswick High Road and Chiswick Lane.  The goal was to enhance the local area at this end of the High Road which tends to be the forgotten end.  Then it dawned on us that the entirety of the High Road needs a facelift.  Repeated attempts at petitioning the Council with and without the help of the local Councillors and our MP, Mary Macleod, have left Chiswick without funds.  As expats we are unqualified to weigh in on this, but many locals feel it has something to do with a Conservative borough in a Labour Council.  It does appear, however, Hounslow has no interest investing funds for quality of life improvements in W4. Neighbouring boroughs are getting massive funding for improvement, but Chiswick nothing.  Not even a new bench or bike rack. We have patched paving.  Our neighbours have new stone paving.  Real stone, at that.  Our proposal would be to create a necklace of pocket parks up and down the High Road, taking over neglected spaces, replanting them, energizing them with new street furniture, bike racks, rubbish bins, etc. but with a concerted effort/plan to do so.  Not the hodgepodge Council approach that has left us with mismatched bits and bobs and piles of weeds and rubbish.  I guess you could say we have already started.  Funding would be for the next phase and, hopefully, the one after that and the one after that...  The vision is to have a uniform scheme that leads pedestrians from Hammersmith all along the High Road to the North Circular to generate community pride of place and all the benefits that come with it be it increased trade for businesses or merely a more pleasant walk home.