Remembrance Service – Polish War Memorial 13th Nov 2016 10:30am to 11:40am
Category Archives: General
Minutes of the South Ruislip Residents Association Quarterly Meeting Held at St Mary’s Church On Wednesday July 27th 2016
In attendance were 45 residents and 9 committee members. Councillors present Cllr Alan Kaufmann. Apologies were received from: Frances Jones, Margaret Wallis, Cllr Kelly and Cllr Duducu
1 .0 Meeting Opened 20:02
Minutes signed off. Item 3. Pedestrian access. Walkway to be open when the commercial site is opened for access from Long Drive.
2.0 Police
Update from Ward Sgt James Burgess. Many moves in the Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) for South Ruislip. Insp Rob Bryan has been promoted to Chief Inspector in charge of SNT’s. Sgt Burgess has three constables, new and all keen and adept. Sgt Burgess has been in the police for thirteen years. Mostly in neighbourhoods. Ward Sgt for 8 weeks.
Complaints about Field End Rd, Paddock Road, drug use. 3 drugs arrests including 70 wraps of heroin. Also cannabis. Also complaints in The Fairway. Vehicle and knife seized. Sgt Burgess said that they were successes as a result of information from residents, so please inform the police. They want more information. Personally to the SNT, by dialling 101, twitter and email. Don’t mind the route, just get them the information about local criminal activity.
Burglary figures. In May, 11 down to 2 in June. In a recent case a burglary was started, the alarm went off and the burglar was scared away by alarm. First break in for a while. The message from the police is take sensible precautions and reduce your risk.
One gentleman asked about cycling on pavements which Sgt Burgess explained was an issue he was hot on.
Discussed children riding on bikes recklessly in Queens Walk and Mount Pleasant. Cllr Kauffman mentioned Kings College as a good diversion for attention and hinted at plans for South Ruislip for BMX course/skateboarding and things of that ilk. “Watch this space”.
No plans to reopen the satellite police station on The Runway in South Ruislip. But plans locally to improve visibility of police by walking in the ward. Aim to be on the ward for shifts including on late shifts up to midnight.
Brackenbridge. Issues with kids on motorbikes. The police have seen this as well whilst walking in parks near West End Road and Bridgewater Road in the field. Comments that they were gathering in White Butts.
Complaint about a noisy motorbike in the area. Details taken by the police.
3.0 RAF Northolt
Hannah OC Operations and Squadron Leader James Tenniswood, Media and communications officer.
Round up of recent occurrences. There are two thousand people on the unit. The looked after the spare for Marine One which was brought in by C17. They have been involved with Exercise Griffon Strike in Cornwall, taking senior MOD and ministers there via helicopter to watch the drill.
Keeping them most busy – flights for Senior Ministers and Royal Family. Parliament in recess so a little quieter. But there have been a lot of short notice flights recently.
Also they site the two helicopters for London Air Ambulance. Their flying times are limited by sunlight.
Flight safety. Concern about local drones activity. Need users to stick to the CAA regulations.
Lasers. Being shone on planes are a risk to the sight of pilots. There are hotspots for lasers use in Field End Road and Long Drive.
Wingfield Way. Hedges cant be cut at the moment due to nesting season. Not cut April to July. Can do it in August and they will do.
The station was awarded Station of the Year by RAF Benevolent fund, for raising funds, £53,000 for this charity and raised £230,000 in a year for all the charities.
Questions about a quirky and noisy plane which was identified as a Piago airplane. Belongs to Italian air staff.
Comments that there are a lot of helicopter movements at the moment. The RAF representatives said they felt the number of movements for them was low, but there the base has a helicopter lane route over RAF Northolt. Apart from exercises not many there really. Just fly over head.
Maintenance on runway to take place in the next two years. But waiting and don’t know when. It will close for 6-9 months for fixed wing aircraft.
Comment from the floor about Project ARC meaning RAF Northolt could take up to 50,000 movements at year. 12,000 cap per year is the remit subject to ministerial approval.
Operational tempo meant that the RAF Northolt open day is a staff only event. However in 2017 the idea is a community open day so there will be a focus on local people getting tickets rather than plane/RAF buffs. They will advise more at the next RAF/community meeting.
4.0 Reports Treasurer
Current account £329.24 and deposit account £13,362.89 in reserve at 25th July 2016. Outstanding £140 for a newsletter and ID tags £15.
5.0 Chief Road Steward
Thanked the Road Stewards. Vacancies for Exmouth Road (40) Queens Walk (22) West End Road (12). Discussed Lanyard’s. The lanyard was the expensive part of the fit out.
Mahlon Avenue & Hardy Avenue did not receive a newsletter from Kate. Discussed the routine of the newsletters going out.
Geoff reiterated the need for up to date list of houses and the roads.
6.0 Ward Councillor – Allan Kauffman
Rubbish Bins. Spate of domestic waste in waste bins.
Roads to resurfaced Brackenbridge Road, Abbots close, Down Barnes, White Butts and Stafford Road. Next challenge is the pavements. First is Long Drive.
Green Flags – most awards in Hillingdon in the country. Awarded to parks for amenity and trees. Very proud of Hillingdon’s Green spaces and this award.
Bridge at South Ruislip Station Approach: Looking for a proposal from officers to improve the immediate area of the bridge, passed to TFL for £350,000. Ruislip Manor work cost £11 Million.
Complaints about weeds on Rydal Way. Sent photos to Cllr Judy Kelly. Comment on weed sprayer on a quad bike, being done at speed so possibly ineffective.
Complaint about bridge and pigeons at Ruislip Gardens.
7.0 Lidl
Lidl will be on major planning on 24th August. Recommended for approval. Watch for the details on the website. One of the issues was with Benson’s for Beds delay as an island in the car park. Plan to open by end of March next year
8.0 ARLA Site
Cited to open one week before Easter.
Shopkeepers in The Fairway complained about spaces being taken up being used for spoil. Parking spaces to be returned for customer use from Allan.
Have started the road widening.
9.0 HS2
Action Alliance against HS2. Cost currently £55 Billion. Spent £1 and a quarter billion with nothing to show for it. We believe part of Europe wide high speed rail link, but this idea is broken in London anyway. Expected downturn in the economy and so anti groups are hoping HS2 might be a casualty.
Meeting Closed.
MINUTES OF THE SOUTH RUISLIP RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION QUARTERLY MEETING HELD AT ST MARY’S CHURCH – WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27TH 2016
Minutes of the South Ruislip Residents Association
Quarterly Meeting Held at St Mary’s Church On Wednesday January 27th 2016
In attendance were 65 residents and 11 committee members. Councillors present Judy Kelly, Michael White and Allan Kauffman.
Apologies were received from: Cllrs Jem Duducu, Teji Barnes, Eddie Lavery. Colin Hook, Hazel Hook,Geoff Quantock, Frances Jones and Iris Ellis
1.0 Opening Remarks & Welcome & Matters Arising from the Minutes & Signed Minutes.
2.0 Henry Neal – Representative of Lidl
Henry Neal (centre) talking to South Ruislip Residents
Henry gave thanks to the community for support for the application for the Lidl site on Victoria Road, on the site of the Rover building. Given it took a long a time to get, during the time Lidl bought an additional piece of land which they will use to expand the store. An extra 400 metres square of retail space and it will give a different entrance for the delivery to the back of the store.
In response to questions:
What will happen to the Benson Beds and the Comet site?
Comet will be built on. Benson’s to remain. Expecting a decision next month on whether the expanded development will be approved.
When will people be able to shop there?
Start on site next month with demolition. Looking to open the shop by this Christmas.
Expecting any planning issues this time?
The two main issues last time were both highways issues. Firstly the number of car parking spaces and secondly delivery vehicles having to reverse passed the entrance. Feel that they can open the site and add more spaces and move delivery vehicles to the rear of the site makes for a strong case. But nothing settled until planning permission granted.
How will vehicles be leaving?
Delivery lorries via Stonefield Way. People parking at Lidl go onto Victoria Road via Stonefield quick exit. Stonefield Way will allow cars both direction to accommodate ease of exit for vehicles.
What happens if planning refused?
Committed to this development rather than the original so if face issues with the council will push ahead with it.
How will the Stonefield Way entrance work?
There will be a barrier there, a raised table to give equal rights to pedestrians. Undulating to keep cars to one side (like Vine Lane, Uxbridge?).
What happens to Benson’s for Beds?
They will be a tenant of Lidl, will suffer some short term inconvenience but longer term hoped they will generate more custom from increased footfall.
Worried about competition from four supermarkets in the area as will be?
No.
For more information go to http://lidlsouthruislip.co.uk/
3.0 Police Rob Bryan Inspector for North of the Borough
Keen to work with community members to help catch speeders in the area. Running joint speed traps. If you are interested email CommunityRoadwatch@tfl.gov.uk or see the community Roadwatch scheme online at www.met.police.uk/teams/transportnw/hillingdon for details.
Recent tests under ‘Operation Willow’ picked up 6 speeding vehicles, 1 vehicle seized and 1 arrest made.
Some changes of personnel on the ward however officers are increasing from 24 to 29 in the North of the Borough.
Police pleased with the joint initiative with RAF Police, with plain clothes work and anti-burglary.
Also worked on initiatives such as stay safe online at the GAA, Bourne Primary Crocodile Walk and Immigration checks on workers at Bradfield Road.
Question: Any burglaries locally? One reported by residents at Braintree Road
Burglaries down 50% on last year, but very high last year. Thieves targeting flat roof access, so secure ladders. They have kicked in older UPVC doors at the rear,
Older residents. If you see anything suspicious can call 101. Three neighbours saw suspicious people but did not call it in and an aggravated burglary took place. Burglary happened between 10 to 4pm. Reports of people in yellow jackets looking like ‘workers’.
Free burglar alarms for over 65’s. There is a waiting list. Very simple and effective.
4.0 Chief Road Steward
CRS Geoff Taylor has taken over and stated that the SRRA is short of Road Stewards for the following areas:
East Mead, The Fairway, Princes Way, Diamond Road, Jubilee Drive, Palace Road, Royal Crescent, Wingfield Way, Primrose Gardens, West End Road, Bridgewater Road, Exmouth Road, Field Road, Queens Walk and Victoria Road.
If you live near there and are able to help it would be much appreciated.
Geoff requested list of members where we don’t have them. Road Stewards please complete the census that Colin sent out. Were we had one of the RS’s on holiday, we didn’t have a list of members. So one road didn’t get newsletters. Names and Addresses would be great for members and ideally how much subs normally paid £1 or £2.
The idea of ID tags for Road Stewards and Committee members at the Quarterly meeting discussed. Broadly welcomed.
Tea break
5.0 Colin Russell – Head of Waste Services London Borough of Hillingdon
How big is waste in Hillingdon?
We have a weekly service – which is good. There is commitment for weekly to continue and no wheelie bins.
No intention for charging. However the council only has your money to spend.
What are the costs and how much is collected? Black bag of rubbish. Costs £10.2 million pounds a year to dump and £6m to collect. 47,000 tons in Hillingdon which is one of the highest volumes of waste in London but best in London for recycling. 22,000 tons of recycling. Volume has increased but weight has not gone up. Colin attributed that to manufacturers cutting resource costs.
Reasons for rejection of rubbish. Unsafe food waste in the recycling. Clean it a little – rinse through with food waste should be enough.
They renegotiate the contracts regularly to get best price but Grundons at Colnbrook takes much waste.
Broadly if in doubt about what to put in recycling put it in. What causes most concern to Colin? Carrier bags – at the moment they are shipped to China for repurposing but currently being stockpiles. Prices change for the value of waste.
Black bags cost £126 a ton to get rid of. Recycling clear bags used to get £4.34 per ton. Now pay £43 a ton to get rid of.
Food and garden waste 14,000 tons. Limit 6 bags per property. Cost £54 per ton. Food with it gets a better recycled product with the end waste which is why it can be taken.
Financially better to recycle.
Garden Bags. They fly away. Try to get them back to the right place but on a windy day it can’t be guaranteed. Looking at possibly a higher weight of base to the bag to reduce this but can’t make them too heavy for the men who collect.
Add your house number and road to reduce change of garden bag going missing.
Nagging issues. Mattresses. Hillingdon has more mattresses than other boroughs. 30-40 a days. Hayes and West Drayton mostly. Good news is they get recycled. Washed and used to stuff toys etc.
Picking up rubbish. Dog waste is expensive. 2 tonnes every week. Expensive as incinerated.
Fly tipping is an issue. They tend to try and clear rather than argue about where the problem is but have to push back on private land.
Glass gets recycled. Waitrose get a better price as split by colour but this would increase collection costs too much to split it. They will take broken glass.
Bread and vegetable tends to make up the majority of food waste. Should it be made compulsory? Colin felt not. Of the approx.34% who took the food waste kit, 75% still use it.
Any chance of South Ruislip waste centre opening again to the public? Colin felt it extremely unlikely. Costs rose from £250k to £415k to £469k to £715k over a relatively short few years making it one of the most expensive sites in London. It was uneconomic to sustain.
6.0 HS2
HS2 still petitions being raised. Internal audit for HS1 showed a recovery rate of 53% of funds used. Making it uneconomic, however Sid said, there is a refusal to publish the details until Hybrid Bill goes through council.
7.0 ARLA Site
Work ongoing. Where there is mud on the road and Sid has complained there has been a sweeper out in a few minutes. Starting the work on the roads mid-March. Will take until November to complete the roads.
Bellway Homes application to increase the build by 31 homes. Corporate greed. Amended petition to add more parking spaces.
8.0 SKPLC Site
As raised by Cllr Judy Kelly and Sid, please sign the petition for Harvey Road to support further council efforts to curtail invasive and anti-social disturbance by the SKPLC centre and it’s users which badly affects residents of Harvey Road.
9.0 SRYPC South Ruislip Young Person Centre
Cllr Allan Kauffman: The centre has run down. He has spoken to the new director. Lack of investment in the centre, however the borough has just employed 30 new youth workers across the borough. Work orders have been given to repair the front wall and funds available to improve the furniture. The Cllrs were perturbed to not sound recording equipment available for the centre purchases for £9k still sitting being unused.
They expect changes with the staff and work going into the centre and a full set of programmes to be given. Up from the two nights a week the centre is currently being used by the youngsters
10.0 Car Dealer in Princes Road
Enforcement order given to Corsa cars to remove vehicles. Will free about 30 spaces up.
11.0 Land Between Library and the Youth Centre
Likely to be tied up soon. 30 flats to be built – or that is what planning permission has been granted for the site. Likely to be sold to a developer.
12.0 Parked Cars Field End Road
Just agreed double yellow lines.
13.0 Building Opposite Station: 18 Flat development
Cllr Allan Kauffman stated this site was going to be used to house homeless families to save the borough bed and breakfast costs. Will be Hillingdon people rather than other authorities people. Allan was unsure if going to be staff on site – said he would confirm. Concern expressed but housing a transient population locally and the effects on the area and about the impact on parking in the area.
14.0 Double Yellow on Victoria Road.
Concern express that it’s ‘Becoming a car park’. Suggestion for parking one side only. Felt was a difficult issue but parking near the ARLA site is being looked at.
15.0 Clear the drains.
Concern expressed about surface water on Victoria Road. The borough do have gulley sweepers running routinely in the area.
Meeting closed 10:03
Hillingdon Literary Festival 16th-18th October 2015
Brunel University, Waterstones, London Borough of Hillingdon and others are getting together to organise a literary festival next month at Brunel University.
Big name attendees include Will Self, Kate Mosse and poet Benjamin Zephaniah.
The Festival is taking place between Friday 16th October and Sunday 18th October.
Full details of the event including a packed schedule of events can be found at:
http://www.hillingdonliteraryfestival.com/
Hope you enjoy the event if you decide to go.
Next SRRA Public Meeting Tonight!
Looking forward to seeing you this evening for the next SRRA Meeting at 8pm at St Mary’s Church Hall, The Fairway, South Ruislip HA4 0SP.
Minutes of the last meeting can he found here Quarterly Meeting Held at St Mary 22 04 2015 AGM.
North Hillingdon Local Policing: APRIL circular
UPDATE FROM INSPECTOR ROB BRYAN:
Dear reader,
Thank you for the positive messages received in response to last months circular. Always nice for my officers to get praise, which has been passed on to them.
Changes to Local Policing
We all remember the old Safer Neighbourhoods model of 1-2-3 which meant a local bobby was often seen. That changed when we moved to the Local Policing Model a few years ago, which for a variety of reasons reduced the visibility of local officers on the beat.
I am pleased to say the Local Policing Model has been reviewed and a number of changes made. It is not an increase in resources but rather a more focused way of deploying those resources so they remain visible:
Local officers used to have to cover the Appointment Cars. These are four cars across the Borough, working a day shift and a late shift. The car attended incidents where the caller was happy for an appointment. That meant 8 local officers a day not being visible locally. That has now changed and the Appointment Car is covered by officers on the 24/7 Emergency Response Teams.
Local officers used to have to cover a variety of tasks which took them away from their beat (hospital guards, constant watches in custody, crime scene guards). Again, these tasks now fall to the Emergency Response Teams.
Dedicated Ward Officers are ring-fenced and that comes from the very top of the Organisation. They will remain on their beats.
The shift roster has been reviewed and local officers will now work more hours where they are visible to the majority of the community.
What does that mean in reality?
For the North, it means you now have the following resources for every two wards:
One sergeant
Four PCs, two of whom are the Dedicated Ward Officers and cannot be abstracted.
Two PCSOs, both of whom are Dedicated Ward Officers and cannot be abstracted.
The two non-dedicated PCs can be abstracted for aid, but not for those tasks listed above. You should see more cops on the beat.
Additional to these officers is the North High Visibility Team, a dedicated team of one sergeant and five PCs who are tasked to disrupt offenders in our area. They are very proactive – in one week in March they made the following arrests: six people were arrested for possession with intent to supply drugs, one person was arrested for disqualified driving, one person was arrested for stealing a car and one of our well known criminals was arrested and remanded in custody for two counts of theft.
Bobby’s on the beat are not a thing of the past and I hope you notice the difference.
Yours,
Inspector Rob Bryan
North Cluster
Hillingdon Borough
( 020 8246 1816 | ( 07500097182 | 8 robert.bryan@met.pnn.police.uk
+ Ruislip Police Station, The Oaks, HA4 7LE
+ Ruislip Police Station, The Oaks, HA4 7LE
NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED
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Email XHMailbox.partnership@met.police.uk to register for crime prevention advice
Judge Rejects Sainsbury’s Call for Judicial Review
Hot off the press! Information from the Judge at the ARLA request for a Judicial Review. The judge rejected Sainsbury’s claims on all three grounds. Sainsbury’s have seven days to appeal but we hope they don’t given, what we understand to be, the strength and language of the judgement against Sainsbury’s appeal. I am sure there will be more on this soon but thought you would like to know! Will update when we know more.
General Election Hustings for Uxbridge and South Ruislip
We have had notice of an election hustings from the North Uxbridge Residents Association. This is not a ticketed event – first come first served.
General Election Hustings for Uxbridge and South Ruislip
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MEET THE CANDIDATES
MIKE COX (LibDem)
JACK DUFFIN (UKIP)
BORIS JOHNSON (Con)
GRAHAM LEE (Green)
CHRIS SUMMERS (Lab)
in St Michaels Church, Windsor Street, Uxbridge
on Friday, 10th April at 7.30pm
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The occasion is organized by the North Uxbridge Residents Association in association with St Margarets Church and the Hillingdon Inter Faith Network
But EVERYBODY RESIDENT IN THE CONSTITUENCY IS WELCOME
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The object of the meeting is to give residents the opportunity to ask questions of the candidates listed above so we can understand better the differences between the approach and policies of each candidate and the party they represent.
The meeting will be chaired by NURA Chairman, Paul Johnson. Residents wishing to ask questions must table them in advance, either by email (on nurahustings@btinternet.com) or on paper using a delivery box located in Uxbridge Central Library. No anonymous questions will be accepted and only those submitted in advance will be tabled.
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RAF Northolt Open Day – June 13th. Tickets on sale.
All details at the website here. They sold out last time and this is the 100th anniversary so if you are interested in going to the airport for the open day strike while the iron’s hot!
http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafnortholt/events/rafnortholtopenday2015.cfm
ARLA Update: Sainsburys to Launch Judicial Review
“Hi Jeremy
I have been contacted this morning by Mr Clegg and Mr Hill of Sainsbury’s, they informed me that they will be launching the Judicial Review with effect from today. I told them that we believe they are wrong. This despite all the contact they have received from MPs, the Residents Association, Local Councillors and residents. They said they would abide by the judges decision whatever that may be. I asked them if they would confirm that in writing but they declined. I believe that they will try to keep this going as long as they possibly can?
Individuals must decide what action they now wish to take.
Please post this on the website and Facebook
Regards
Sid”
– Sid Jackson, Vice Chair, SRRA