The attached document provides responses to the questions raised by residents at the Open Forum in December 2020:
Category: News
Covid vaccination update from Hillingdon Council
The vaccine program continues to be rolled out at pace. Everyone in the first four priority groups (aged 70 or over, or clinically extremely vulnerable) should have now been contacted by the NHS and offered a slot for a jab. If you have received a letter and used the NHS link you will be offered a slot at Wembley. This is because it is our nearest mega vaccination centre.
If travelling to Wembley does not work well for you then please call your GP to see where there is space at one of the many smaller local vaccine centres.
For more information please visit: www.Hillingdon.gov.uk/vaccine
North West London NHS Coronavirus response
Happy New Year to all from the North West London Clinical Commissioning Groups. Welcome to the first issue of our newsletter for 2021.
Rates of coronavirus have continued to rise across the country which unfortunately means we begin the year with another national lockdown. Please stay at home – this is the single most important action we can all take to protect our NHS and save lives. You must not leave your home unless necessary and stay two metres apart from anyone not in your household or bubble.
The NHS continues to remain open and so if you have a physical or mental health concern it’s important you continue to get in touch and access our services. Rest assured that attending medical appointments is still deemed as essential travel. If you have an urgent but non life-threatening medical need, you should contact NHS 111 First. We also provide information on accessing your GP during this time.
In this issue, we share an update with you on the roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine. We are aware that there is a new scam and people have been receiving suspicious calls and text messages offering the COVID-19 vaccination. Please take note of the things that we will never ask you to do. We encourage you to also continue getting your flu jab during the winter season.
We also share details on a payment scheme that offers support if you can’t work from home should you need to self-isolate.
To read the full newsletter please click here
Covid vaccination locations in Hillingdon
Newly-appointed Council Leader Ian Edwards gave an update on the vaccination programme’s progress in the Borough to Hilllingdon’s Council Meeting on January 14.
Cllr Edwards revealed that Hillingdon will host three of the ten mass vaccination centres planned for the North West London region.
They were listed as the Sir Winston Churchill Hall in Ruislip, and the Compass Centre at Heathrow Airport, which are expected to be up and running by February 1. A third site is yet to be confirmed in Hayes.
Cllr Edwards said eventually the three sites will be able to vaccinate 10,000 people a day.
These centres will add to the existing small vaccination sites running in the Borough – Ruislip Young People’s Centre and the Navnat Centre Hayes.
Eastcote Neighbourhood Watch Newsletter
Delivery scams
Eastcote Police are reminding residents to stay vigilant following reports of scam text and email messages which appeared to be from parcel delivery companies.
The messages appear to be from couriers like DPD and Royal Mail, stating that they have tried to deliver a parcel and asking you to click a link to reschedule the delivery. The link directs you to an authentic looking website, which asks for your full name, address, date of birth and mobile number. Upon completion of the form, you are then asked to enter full credit card details.
In recent reports the fraudsters have gone a step further as they are calling victims who have passed on their details back some days after the first scam, claiming to be from the victim’s bank. The fraudster claims to be investigating the delivery fraud, saying that there has been an attempt to take money again and that they need to transfer their money to a safe account. Some of the victims have been scammed twice as the fraudsters are able to convince them they are genuine due to having all the original information from the first scam.
It’s important to check the details in the messages and make sure it is genuinely related to an item you have ordered. Remember that a bank will never contact you and ask you to move money to another account.
Visit www.actionfraud.police.uk for advice on avoiding scams.
If you believe that you are a victim of this scam please report online to actionfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040.
Regards,
Gemma Robinson
Police Community Support Officer
Email: c091814@met.police.uk
Ian Edwards to be new leader of Hillingdon Council
Ian Edwards has been elected the new leader of Hillingdon Conservative Group of councillors.
The 43-strong group held an extraordinary meeting on Monday to elect a successor to Sir Ray Puddifoot, who announced last month he was standing down.
As Hillingdon is under Conservative administration, it means Cllr Edwards will become the new council leader at a meeting of the full council in January.
He said: “I am deeply honoured to be given this great opportunity to continue our policy of ‘putting residents first’, a message that resonates with so many across our borough. I will now begin to assemble a team that will continue delivering on resident priorities and all the services they value, I would also like to place on record my thanks and appreciation to Sir Ray, who has done a brilliant job over the past 20 years in leading our group and Hillingdon Council.”
Ian Edwards has been a councillor in Hillingdon since 2014 and currently represents Eastcote and East Ruislip ward.
He has held a number of positions, including chairman of the Central & South Planning Committee and chairman of the Social Care, Housing & Public Health Policy Overview Committee.
RAF Northolt revised hours for commercial flights
November Update – Open Spaces Society
As autumn progresses we see no end to the threat to open spaces and paths that are a cherished part of our well-being and heritage. We have received unprecedented requests for help and advice since the pandemic and we continue to campaign against government policy that would reduce the opportunity for local people to have a say about development that affects their outdoors. But, our campaigning works. We share some recent success stories in this update.
Lockdown Spaces appeal
One of the outcomes of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic and subsequent restrictions to our way of life has been that local green spaces have been more vital than ever to our health—physical and mental. In response to this crisis we launched our charters for open spaces in England and Wales.
We called on government and local authorities to equalise provision of local green spaces and for communities to act to save them.
Our small society has received more pleas for help to save open spaces than ever before. Responding to these requests will cost us more money and more staff time.
If you or your friends and family have ever found pleasure, comfort or relief in green space, please give to our Lockdown Spaces appeal.
You will be enabling us to continue our fight to protect those spaces which we treasure and need now more than ever.
As a charity with no government funding, we depend on the generosity of people like you to continue our vital work, now more than ever.
Our Campaigning Works!
After a long campaign Oxfordshire County Council recently completed the registration of a new town green at Witney, along with a new footpath, negotiated as part of a deal with developer Richmond Care Homes.
Well done to Scorton Parish Council, North Yorkshire who are taking an active approach to protecting open spaces in their community and recently reported that Jubilee Green now benefits from village green registered Status.
With each successful town or village green registration the local community will be able to enjoy their recreation in the knowledge that the land is protected from future development.
Your support will help us to keep the protection of community open spaces in the spotlight where they belong.
Livestock diversions and public paths
Agricultural representative bodies have lobbied Defra Ministers for legislation to facilitate farmer-managed diversions on public paths, to avoid cattle and other livestock. We have opposed their proposals, and called for a sequential approach to reducing risk to be more thoroughly tested before any further measures are considered
News from Wales
We have called for the introduction of a realistic fee for commons-swap planning applications that are made in Wales. Under English law the applicant makes a contribution to the administrative costs when applying to deregister common land and this may act as a deterrent to repeated applications which have only minor changes.
We have agreed to be part of a vision to protect Wales’s local spaces through good design and community involvement, by signing up to the
We look at different types of problem that make a path impassable as opposed to ‘out of repair’. As a member of the public what can you do if you come across an obstruction? Who is responsible? What is the legislation for dealing with these issues?
Supporting the work of the Open Spaces Society
We couldn’t keep fighting to protect commons, greens, open spaces and public paths without our members. We rely on subscriptions to fund our work and provide a mandate for action.
Open Spaces Society 25a Bell Street Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 2BA
Safer Neighbourhood Team Eastcote Newsletter