News from April 2011

Saturday, 16 Apr 2011

Council Decides to Sell Off Hayes Library Despite Local Protests and Petitions

Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet met on Thursday night and despite all the local protests and petitons from local residents the ruling Conservative Councillors forced through the sale of the much loved Golden Crescent library in Hayes to convert it to flats. Not a single councillor involved in this decision comes from or represents the Hayes area.
I have launched an appeal to Hiillingdon Community Trust to purchase the library and to put it into trust to safeguard the building for community use. Many local voluntary and community organisations need office and meeting space and the library would be an ideal facility for local community use for residents of all ages and all cultural backgrounds.
Local residents are submitting this letter to HCT to urge that the trust intervenes to save the library building. Please print the letter and submit it to the HCT trustess to assist our camapiagn to save our wonderful library building.

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Thursday, 14 Apr 2011

Demonstrating to Save St Mary’s Fields

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Local residents demonstrated in St Mary’s fields in protest at Hillingdon Council’s failure to consult them over the conversion of these fields into formal football pitches. Folowing a local consultation several years ago the residents agreed that the fields be used for cricket and informal football. However without any consultation or even informing the local residents the council put forward a proposal to put a number of formal football pitches on the fields so that it could give planning permision for a housing estate to be built on the Railway estate, against the wishes of local residents who would lose their sports pitch. The council gains half a million pounds from the developer for allowing this development to go ahead.The Sports Council and Football Association objected to the Council’s proposal to put the football pitches on St Mary’s fields and made it clear that they were not an adequate replacement for the loss of the sports pitch. The residents are making their own views clear that they are against this proposal. They fear the increase in traffic, parking problems and the risk to the safety of children as this site is surrounded by busy roads. I fully agree and support the residents in this campaign. 

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Campaign to Tidy Up Hitherbroom Park in Hayes

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I visited Hitherbroom Park in Hayes this week with local councillors Lynne Allen and Peter Curling. Over the years we have campaigned with local residents to ensure that the park is kept tidy and to overcome the problems of flooding that has occurred when the stream through the park becomes blocked. Each year I get together a group of local residents called the Friends of Hitherbroom Park to do a litter pick and general tidy up. However we agreed with the council a few years ago a management plan for the park, which included a programme of regular drainage works to prevent the stream and pond becoming blocked and flooding occurring. On my inspection visit with the local ward councillors I could see that although some drainage work had been undertaken there was still debris dumped in the stream We will take this up with the council and make sure this park is properly maintained. It is one of the many local parks and green space areas that we are fighting to protect and keep to a high environmental standard. We are all determined as local residents that we do lose our open spaces or allow them to become run down. 

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Thursday, 07 Apr 2011

Council Installs Dangerous Windows in Hayes Tower Blocks

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I visited the tower blocks in Avondale Drive in Hayes this week because residents had expressed fears about the new windows the council had installed in their flats. There are no locks on the windows and they open outwards a leaving a massive gap in the window frame.To open the windows to clean them, you have to lean out over the window frame. Residents are worried that it could be easy to topple over and fall through the window. There are a large number of children that live in these flats and we are all fearful that an accident will happen. Some of the older residents have also said that they are frightened of fully opening the window for fear of falling out. I visited a number of the apartments and filmed a demonstration of how these windows work. It scared me but when we came out of the apartment block I noticed a young child actually standing on a window ledge.I am urging the council to look urgently at how these windows can be made safe do that we do not witness an accident in these apartments.

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