Category: Democracy & Council

The recommendation to relocate Uxbridge Library to the borough’s Civic Centre was approved by Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet on Thursday (15 February) evening, subject to planning approval being granted.

The report presented to Cabinet advised that the Borough Solicitor was of the opinion that the current building is not compliant with equalities or health and safety at work legislation. It is spaced across six floors and because there are no fire evacuation lifts it can be particularly difficult for people with disabilities to safely evacuate. It also notes that significant capital investment would be required to improve the energy efficiency of the building and bring it up to modern standards.

Hillingdon Council has an enviable record of library investment, and whilst many local authorities have closed their facilities the council is committed to retaining 16 sites across the borough, further investing in buildings and facilities to ensure they are of the highest quality, maximum efficiency and continue to meet residents’ requirements now and into the future.

The relocation would ensure the library continues to occupy a prominent position in Uxbridge (only 300 metres away from the existing site) and improve accessibility by sharing the Civic Centre’s main entrance, offering step-free access to a new one-floor library space. There is also a bus stop opposite making it convenient to get to by public transport.

The new facility would be within easy reach of other council services, such as Learn Hillingdon Adult Community Education and Uxbridge Family Hub, as well as the range of other services available on-site, ensuring all the services that matter most to residents are easily accessible in one building. Work is already underway on renovating the Civic Centre as part of plans to revitalise the town centre and southern end of the High Street.

The new enhanced Uxbridge Library would remain the borough’s largest library and offer facilities not currently provided in its existing building, such as study booths, dedicated laptop/device charging bars, hireable meeting room space and a dedicated space for the popular Tovertafel (interactive tabletop projection) facility.

The plans also include space for exhibitions and events, a learning centre, dedicated children’s  library, a large book collection and use of the wider Civic Centre space for events and activities.

The relocated library is expected to save the council £412,000 per year from business rates, utilities, cleaning and staffing costs, delivering better value for money to residents. It will also help to deliver the council’s climate change pledge as the new library would save 165 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year. The council has recently received government funding to decarbonise the Civic Centre whereas decarbonisation of the current library building, which also has a high carbon footprint, is estimated to cost a minimum of £1.6 million and may not even be viable as there isn’t the space to accommodate the size of air source heat pump it would require.

Cllr Eddie Lavery, Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services, said: “We’re committed to creating safe and strong communities, thriving healthy households and a green and sustainable borough while continuing to ensure maximum efficiency in the use of council buildings and resources, delivering the very best value when using taxpayers’ money.

“The current Uxbridge Library building is no longer fit for purpose; if the proposal to relocate it had not been made now, one would have needed to be produced to protect the safety of all library users and to comply with the council’s legal obligations sometime in the near future. We will not shy away from making difficult decisions when they are in the best interests of all our communities.

“The new library will deliver a more modern, enhanced, accessible library, with a reduced environmental impact and running cost, housed alongside a wealth of other services to help us further build on our ambition to deliver more joined up public services to meet our residents’ needs.”

For more information and updates on the relocation of the library, visit www.hillingdon.gov.uk/uxbridge-library-relocation.

Hillingdon’s updated Local Flood Risk Management Strategy outlines how the Council will manage and reduce flooding risk. They welcome residents’ input, information and participation to ensure they fully understand where there are existing flood problems and that the approach best reflects the needs of Hillingdon’s communities.  Find out more at https://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/flood-strategy-consultation

Home-Start Hillingdon was established at the beginning of 1999, and is based in Hillingdon. This family support service for families in Hillingdon and the surrounding area was set up to offer a service, free at the point of access that would be available to all and completely independent of statutory agencies.
The scheme has 5 members of staff who work closely with a network of around 30 trained volunteers who carry out home-visiting support to families.

Home-Start Hillingdon recruits and trains local volunteers and carefully matches a volunteer to visit a family in their own home for a couple of hours a week. All of the families we support must have at least one child under five.

Find out more at www.homestart-hillingdon.org.uk

Dear Resident,

Each year the council must consider and agree a balanced budget for its services and the amount of local council tax to be raised from residents and businesses, to help fund this budget.

In considering its options for 2024/25, the Council is keen to hear the views of residents and local businesses on its budget proposals.

For information about the Council’s Budget Proposals and to have your say about them, please click on the link:  Budget proposals for 2024/25 – Hillingdon Council

The deadline for comments is midnight on Sunday 28 January 2024.

If you have any problems accessing the online survey or would like to receive a paper copy of the survey, please contact the Customer Engagement Team on 01895 277038 or email customerengagement@hillingdon.gov.uk

Kind Regards
Customer Engagement Team
London Borough of Hillingdon
2N/09, Civic Centre
High Street Uxbridge UB8 1UW
Tel: 01895 277038
www.hillingdon.gov.uk

Please see what’s on in Hillingdon over the next 3 months:

Hillingdon Culture and Heritage Jan – Mar 2024

 

Hillingdon Council is reminding residents this festive period about upcoming changes to collection days and the variety of free recycling options available in the borough.

The council is committed to recycling as much of the borough’s waste as possible by providing households with free, weekly, easy to use recycling collections for mixed dry recyclables, food and garden waste, and a free, bookable textile home collection service.

This Christmas there will be no changes to waste and recycling collections during the week commencing Monday 18 December. However, if your collection day is usually a Monday, the waste and recycling collection scheduled for Monday 25 December is moving forward to Saturday 23 December. This will help the council to ensure the shortest period of disruption to residents and enable normal waste collections to return as quickly as possible from Monday 8 January. All other collection days between Tuesday 26 December and Friday 5 January are one day later than normal.

Households tend to generate more waste during Christmas, and many items are often included in general waste when they can be recycled. Plastic bottles, including spray triggers, plastic tubs and trays, drinks cans, food tins, kitchen foil and aluminium trays, aerosol cans, paper, magazines, cardboard, glass bottles and jars can all be put in the council’s clear dry mixed recycling sacks. Most cards and wrapping paper can also be included, except for those with glitter on or foil which should be placed in general waste bags. Other items which cannot be recycled in dry mixed collections, include bubble wrap, crisp packets, plastic shopping bags and batteries.

Household batteries, including coin button, household domestic and rechargeable batteries can be recycled via the battery collection bins in most of our libraries.

Christmas leftovers that can’t be repurposed or frozen can be included in the council’s food recycling scheme, which in turn is turned into electricity and food fertiliser. A range of food waste can be recycled, including raw and cooked fish and meat, dairy products and eggshells; teabags and coffee grounds; and fruit and vegetable peelings. If your house is not signed up to this service, you can register at www.hillingdon.gov.uk/food-waste and receive a free indoor and outdoor caddy and caddy liners.

Your real Christmas trees can be collected as part of the council’s weekly garden waste collections. Make sure all decorations and pots are removed and cut trees taller than six feet in half and leave them at the edge of your property boundary. If you live in a flat, collections between Monday 8 and Sunday 21 January can be booked by emailing wastesupervisor@hillingdon.gov.uk. Residents can recycle up to six canvas bags of green waste, including flowers and small plants, grass cuttings and hedge clippings, through this service.

If you’re gifted some new clothes, you can recycle your old ones through our bookable textile home collection service in partnership with TRAID. TRAID also accepts small/medium sized electrical items alongside a clothing collection.

Small electricals, such as hair styling appliances, laptops, kettles and electric toothbrushes, can also be recycled at nine of the borough’s libraries through the council’s new recycling initiative with Material Focus. Since the scheme launched in October, nearly one tonne has been collected.

Additionally, the council offers a bookable, low-cost bulky waste home collection service for larger items, and waste and recycling can also be taken to the council’s civic amenity site in Harefield and the West Drayton waste weekends at Tavistock Road (Harefield will be closed on Monday 25 December, Tuesday 26 December and Monday 1 January).

Cllr Eddie Lavery, Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services, said: “The council is committed to creating a green and sustainable borough, and recycling reduces the pollution caused by disposing of waste, saves natural resources, such as timber and minerals, and saves the council money which can be spent on delivering other services.

“As we reach the end of another year, I’d like to thank Hillingdon residents for their continued reuse and recycling efforts and encourage those not taking part in the council’s recycling collections to give them a go to help to protect the environment now and for generations to come.

“We can all play our part in driving up Hillingdon’s recycling rates even further, so please do have a look on our website at the options available and how to use them.”

To find out more, visit www.hillingdon.gov.uk/rubbishandrecycling.

Budget proposals for 2024/25 were outlined by Hillingdon’s Council’s Cabinet last night (Thursday 14 December), which include plans to maintain and further invest in the borough’s award-winning services and generate efficiency savings through service transformation, with residents set to pay amongst the lowest levels of council tax in outer London. 

Hillingdon Council continues to deliver a balanced budget thanks to its record of sound financial management despite local government continuing to face acute budget challenges because of government funding not increasing in line with inflation and not meeting additional cost pressures due to the rising demand for social care services and housing support.  

The council has built and maintained a substantial capital programme which will see investment of £217.8 million in services, facilities and schools and a further £441.8 million between 2024/25 and 2028/29 on increasing and improving the council’s housing stock. 

The council’s 2024/25 budget also commits to maintaining and investing in services for residents, including free weekly waste and recycling collections, enhanced parks and leisure facilities, road and pavement resurfacing, town centre improvements and additional homes and school places. 

Each year, the council minimises the funding requirement from residents by creating efficiency savings through its transformation programme while continuing to maintain and invest in services for residents. This programme, rather than cutting services, finds better ways of delivering them at a lower cost and saved £20.8 million in 2023/24, with a further £33.4 million earmarked for the period between 2024/25 and 2028/29, including £15.8 million in 2024/25.   

Efficiencies included relocating services and reducing energy usage, such as moving Uxbridge adult education service to the Civic Centre; a number of ‘invest to save’ initiatives which will help to stabilise social care costs; developing a new, more modern and dynamic Youth Offer; expanding Family Hubs boroughwide to integrate family services; and making better use of technology. 

While the council is proposing a council tax and social care precept of 4.99 per cent (2.99 per cent core council tax and 2 per cent precept to fund residents’ adult social care), this equates to £1.27 a week for a Band D property, with residents paying amongst the lowest levels of council tax in outer London.  

Hillingdon’s fees and charges are also likely to remain lower than most London local authorities and be set in line with Consumer Price Index inflation for discretionary services used by residents.  

Cllr Martin Goddard, Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “While the national funding picture for local government remains bleak, here in Hillingdon, the council’s sound financial management continues alongside an effective savings delivery programme to ensure that residents don’t pay as much as others and that the council can continue to maintain and invest in its award-winning services.   

“The next year will continue to prove challenging, and we are going to have to continue to look at even more innovative and efficient ways to deliver our outstanding services, but we will maintain our commitment to putting our residents first through our robust financial planning.” 

Residents can visit www.hillingdon.gov.uk/budget-consultation before Sunday 28 January to have their say on the proposed budget. 

Please see the plans for the new HOAC site: https://planning.hillingdon.gov.uk/OcellaWeb/viewDocument?file=dv_pl_files%5C2382_APP_2023_2906%5CDesign+and+Access+Statement+-+Space+and+Place+v3.pdf&module=pl 

From 6pm on Thursday 16 November to Monday 20 November, essential maintenance will be carried out to the Planning, Building Control and Local Land Charges IT system.  There will be no access to any records held within the system and the following tasks will be unavailable on the council’s website:

*   research planning, planning appeals, planning enforcement and building control history

*   view planning applications and plans

*   submit planning application comments

*   submit building control applications

*   book building control inspections

*   request land charge searches and receive search results.

Proposals have been developed for Uxbridge Library to undergo a modernised and climate-friendly transformation and relocate to Hillingdon’s Civic Centre in spring 2024.

Where many local authorities have closed local libraries as a way to reduce cost pressures, Hillingdon Council has committed to maintaining its 16 across the borough through its Library Strategy, and further investing in buildings and facilities to ensure they are of the highest quality, efficient and meet residents’ needs now and in the future.

The council’s plans for an upgraded central library, which are set to be considered by Cabinet in December, include facilities not currently provided in its existing building, such as study pods, hireable meeting space and a dedicated space for the popular Tovertafel (interactive tabletop projections).

The plans preserve exhibition and event spaces, a learning centre with public computers, charging points for laptops, a dedicated children’s library and of course, a large book collection.

The council is bringing the service ‘in house’ as part of its mission to continue delivering outstanding services in more efficient and innovative ways as a result of the ongoing budget pressures being experienced by all local authorities, and as part of the organisation’s commitment to being more sustainable to meet its carbon reduction target of net zero by 2030.

While the library’s current location in Uxbridge High Street remains popular, the building itself is one of the council’s assets with the highest carbon footprint and with underused spaces.

Work is already underway on renovating the borough’s Civic Centre as part of the Uxbridge Masterplan to revitalise the town centre and the southern end of the High Street.

The new facility will also be more accessible with a bus stop outside and disability access, in comparison to the current location which is split across six floors and can be difficult for disabled people to navigate and can prove especially challenging for older people, people with dementia and those with special educational needs.

Cllr Eddie Lavery, Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services, said: “Uxbridge Library would remain one of our flagship facilities and a genuine community hub. Its relocation would deliver a fantastic new amenity for residents and visitors.

“We’re committed to creating a green and sustainable borough and making sound decisions about using taxpayers’ money. So, it makes little sense to keep open a building which is energy inefficient and where the space is underutilised, when we can move the library just a very short walk away into a building which will be modernised to the highest standards while offering enhanced facilities.

“The move would also help centralise the facility alongside other services which have also recently been brought into the Civic Centre, including Uxbridge Family Hub and Learn Hillingdon, our adult education service.”

Plans for the new library are set to go on display for residents to view and find out more in the current library building on Friday 10 November. For more information, visit www.hillingdon.gov.uk/uxbridge-library-relocation<http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/uxbridge-library-relocation