The Safer Neighbourhood Team August newsletter is here.
Category: News
Algae at Ruislip Lido
Hillingdon Council have we have evidence of blue green algae at Ruislip Lido which can be harmful to animals and toxic to humans. The algae is a natural occurrence in hot and sunny weather.
The advice from the Environment Agency is that landowners should assess risk, ensure adequate signage is in place and consider restricting access. Algal blooms: advice for the public and landowners – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
They can control the bloom by covering it and controlling the supply of nutrients to the water, but this is practically very difficult on the Lido.
Given the evidence of dogs and visitors accessing the water, as a precaution they have temporarily fenced off the waterline to restrict access and placed signs on the entrance / exit points around the Lido and also on the fencing. The beach remains accessible.
They will review the position early next week. The Corporate Communications Team are sharing updates with residents through the usual channels.
Take your vaccine to save lives
HS2 roadworks
From 27 to 29 July 2021, a road closure will be in place to complete the installation of crash barriers near the entrance to the site on Breakspear Road South.
A diversion will be in place via Swakeleys Road B467/ High Road B466/Ickenham Road/ High Street/ Bury Street A4180/ Breakspear Road.
For further information please see our works notification.
If you have a question about HS2 or our works, please contact HS2 Helpdesk team on 08081 434 434 or email hs2enquiries@hs2.org.uk.
Hedgehogs
Today, in Eastcote, you have to be lucky to see hedgehogs, but around 70/60 years ago they were almost commonplace. The same is true throughout the UK. There were around 30 million hedgehogs in the 1950’s, but by 1995 this had declined to approximately 1.5 million. More recent surveys suggest that these numbers have continued to decline.
A number of reasons have been given for this: including overly tidy and totally enclosed gardens – hedgehogs need to move from one garden to another to feed, death due to increased traffic on the roads, climate change, using pesticides and more intensive agriculture with larger fields and less hedgerows.
Hedgehogs are still around in Eastcote – I have seen them in my garden recently, but we do need to take action to help increase their numbers. Below is a list of what you can do to help them; It would be terrible to lose these cute, lovely creatures for ever!
1, Make some gaps in your fence, (13 x 13cm/5 x 5”), and encourage your neighbours to do the same, so that the hedgehogs can travel the distances they need to find food and shelter and mate.
2, Plant hedges and create compost heaps, log piles and untidy corners for hedgehogs to sleep, feed and hide in.
3, Don’t use slug pellets, chemicals or pesticides in your garden. Encouraging hedgehogs to your garden will help reduce the numbers of slugs – they find them very tasty.
4, Leave out water for hedgehogs. If you have a pond, create a hedgehog escape route from it so they don’t get trapped. You can also leave out dog food for them to eat.
5, Check compost heaps and rough areas with your foot, before mowing, strimming or using a fork.
6, Always check the wood laid out for a bonfire, before setting alight. They can be attractive places for hedgehogs to go into hibernation.
Parent and Children’s Activities
You could also make a hedgehog house – see https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-build-hedgehog-home or https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/give-nature-a-home-in-your-garden/garden-activities/giveahogahome/ for instructions.
Or create your own basic hedgehog home using a box, and black bin bags for waterproofing/covering.
Craft Activity
Get some clay and sticks to make your own hedgehog. You may not be able to put in as many spines as they have (a hedgehog can have from 5,000 to 7,000 spines), but you can still make a good likeness.
Litter picking
On Saturday June 19th a litter pick involving a total of 26 volunteers took place in Eastcote Town Centre.
This was a joint effort of the Eastcote Conservation Panel, Eastcote House Gardeners and the 4th Eastcote Scout Group.
Small teams were sent out to cover the pavements and rain gardens, the service roads on either side of Field End Road , the three car parks and the Cavendish Pavilion footpath.
Well over 20 bags of litter were collected within one and a half hours.
Several people thanked us for our efforts during the morning and afterwards on social media a number of people said they would like to join any future litter picking events.
HS2 update
FROM HS2: As part of their ongoing pledge to keeping communities informed about the planning and delivery of the HS2 project, HS2 are introducing a number of improvements to how they share information with you.
This is a reminder that we’re moving your local website within the HS2 website
This summer we will be moving the contents of this website over to the ‘In your area’ section of the main HS2 website. We are also changing the way that we issue email updates about the project and giving you more choice about how you would like to receive information from us.
We have published local community landing pages for each section of the route between London, the West Midlands and Crewe. These provide information about the HS2 route within each area. Over the coming weeks we will be adding further pages and information to each area.
We are aiming to complete this exercise next month (July) and will write to you again to confirm this nearer the time.
Join the HS2 mailing list to continue to receive updates from HS2 about the project
We will no longer be using this website or Commonplace to issue email updates to you. Instead, we are asking that you sign up to receive information from HS2 directly. We will continue to produce regular updates about the project, including notifications of our upcoming works, how it’s being constructed and what we’re doing to make it less disruptive.
If you would like to continue to receive updates from HS2 you can sign up for email notifications at engagement.hs2.org.uk/join-mailing-list. We will ask you to confirm your email address as part of the sign-up process.
The personal information you provide will be handled in accordance with current data protection legislation and only used for the purposes for which you have provided it.
Find out more about what we will do to keep your information safe in our Personal information charter.
Contact us if you have any questions
If you have any questions about these changes or would like some help signing up to receive email updates from us please contact our HS2 Helpdesk team, available all day, every day on 08081 434 434 or email hs2enquiries@hs2.org.uk
SNT Newsletter and OWL app
The new OWL app was launched on Google Play and the Apple App Store on 1 July. You can install it on your smartphone to receive alerts for the local area.
The latest Safer Neighbourhood Team newsletter is available here.
Can you help?
Are you interested in Eastcote and our local community? Do you have maybe 1-2 hours a week that you could spare to help?
If YES then please contact chair@eastcotera.co.uk to discuss how you can help.
What’s Climate Change got to do with Eastcote?
Hillingdon Council would like your ideas on climate change by 20 June 2021.
The whole idea of climate change can seem a little unreal, something that will happen in some remote future. Maybe that is why the problem is now so urgent. Even in quiet, suburban Eastcote, serious flooding is happening more often due to extreme weather events which are expected to become more frequent and more extreme.
Hillingdon Council has followed up its Climate Emergency Declaration from early last year by issuing a draft Strategic Climate Change Action Plan and offering it for consultation. The Plan itself, and instructions on how to respond to the consultation, can be found on the Council website at www.hillingdon.gov.uk/Climate-consultation .
There is an online survey divided into seven Themes: Community Leadership, The Council’s Own Operations, Building Better Places, Using Clean and Green Energy, Waste Management, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, and Carbon Offsetting. For each one, you are asked to respond yes or no to the questions: ‘Is our approach clear?’ and ‘Have we missed anything?’ There is then a suggestions/comments box for each Theme.
It becomes a bit difficult if you want to say something that doesn’t fit easily into one of those themes, so there is an option to compile your own response and email it in.
The Council are clear that the Plan is the first step in a process that will involve the whole community, and that the Council must take a leadership role. Here’s a brief quote from the Plan: “Responding to the climate emergency requires a collaborative effort from everyone. It is therefore important that there is full engagement. It is also important to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to present their ideas and their experiences to ensure that the Council is progressing in the right direction.”
However urgent you think the climate crisis is, it’s probably way more urgent than that. So please set aside a little time, read the plan, and respond to the consultation by 20 June, so that the Council has a strong mandate for real transformative action.