Acton & It's History

The name Acton is derived from the Anglo-Saxon for oak settlement. In the 19th century the area became famous for its laundries and soap factories.

Now the winds of change are again blowing vigorously through Acton, with improvements in the pipeline including Crossrail’s imminent arrival, a new shopping centre and the regeneration of the South Acton Estate.

The Elizabeth line arrives at Acton Main Line station in December next year, cutting the journey time to Bond Street to only nine minutes.

The Oaks Shopping Centre in the High Street is being redeveloped and, although the promised Waitrose hasn’t materialised, there will be a branch of M&S Simply Food as well as Lidl.

Finally, the giant South Acton Estate is being knocked down and rebuilt, with the first new blocks now lined up along Bollo Lane. The old estate was cleared under post-war slum redevelopment from 1949 and rebuilt over 30 years, becoming one of west London’s biggest council housing estates.

Now branded South Acton Gardens, the regeneration — a joint venture between Ealing council, housing association L&Q and housebuilder Countryside Properties — has not attracted the opposition encountered by earlier similar London council plans.

The £600 million, 52-acre scheme involves the demolition of 1,800 homes, replacing them with 2,500 new ones to include a mixture of tenures ranging from social rent to market rent, and from shared ownership to private sale, with 50 per cent affordable homes promised.

Transport

The big transport story is the arrival of Crossrail at Acton Main Line station in Horn Lane in December next year, with Elizabeth line trains to Bond Street in nine minutes, to Liverpool Street in 16 minutes, Canary Wharf in 23 minutes and Heathrow airport in 18 minutes.

Until then, there are train services to Paddington that take seven minutes.

There are Piccadilly and District line trains from Acton Town Tube station, and Central line Tube services from East Acton, North Acton and West Acton.

There are Overground stations on the Richmond to Willesden Junction line at Acton Central and South Acton. East Acton and North Acton are in Zone 2 with an annual travelcard to Zone 1 costing £1,364. The other stations are in Zone 3 with a travelcard costing £1,600.

Council

Ealing council is Labour controlled. Band D council tax for 2017/2018 is £1,361.15.