Category: News

Apply for your free trees – only 3 days left!

To be in with a chance to receive two free trees, simply fill out the form. The Woodland Trust and Mayor of London have 24,000 trees to give away to 12,000 Londoners. They come in packs of two so you can keep one for yourself, and pass the other on to a friend or family member. Every pack contains one birch and one field maple tree, perfect for London gardens, and wildlife will love it too.

You’ll be entered into a ballot and if your name is drawn, your trees will be sent out in late November. They will arrive in time for you to be part of London’s biggest ever planting weekend on 1 and 2 December 2018.

You’ll be helping the Woodland Trust and London’s Mayor to make London greener, and helping to create a UK rich in native woods and trees for people and wildlife, all whilst making your garden and neighbourhood look beautiful too.

These trees are being given out in support of The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy. This is an initiative to mark The Queen’s lifetime of service to the Commonwealth and conserve indigenous forests across the Commonwealth’s 53 countries for future generations.

All applicants must be 18 years or over with a London borough residential address. Only applications submitted between 6am on 2 October and 12pm 5 November will be included.

Complete the form to be in with a chance

OWL at the Open Forum

A big thank you to everyone who attended this year’s Open Forum and contributed to making it a great success.

The speaker, Brian Walters, Deputy Chair Hillingdon Neighbourhood Watch introduced us to OWL which has recently been implemented Borough-wide. OWL will allow both the Police and Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators to quickly alert you, via a message to your email or mobile phone, to crimes in your immediate area enabling the Police and the public to work together in closer partnership. If you would like to know more or want to sign up go to  www.owl.co.uk

 

Hillingdon Council Electoral Review – 5th November deadline for comments

The Boundary Commission has started an electoral review of Hillingdon Borough ward boundaries. The consultation process started in August and is scheduled to run until 5th November. Thereafter, consultation on draft recommendations will run from January to March next year with the publication of final recommendations on 7th May.

The purpose of the review is to consider the number of councillors elected to the council, the number and names of wards, the ward boundaries and the number of councillors per ward. Hillingdon Council proposes an overall reduction of twelve councillors in the borough, from 65 to 53. The last major review was in 1999 and this review is scheduled for implementation in 2022.

Your ideas and views on changes to the current structure are encouraged. There is a widely held view that wards should be based on resident association areas as these seem to best describe local communities. You can provide feedback online or in writing. Full details can be found on the council’s website at https://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/article/34194

New website

We are pleased to announce that our new website for ERA is “live”. This is our new home for all things Eastcote – local events, news, everything you want or need to know about our area, and information about planning and other developments in Eastcote.

You can also submit your event and your news directly to our new website by following the links highlighted.

If you have any comments or suggestions – or even would like to get involved, then contact us

London in Bloom 2018 winners announced

London in Bloom is an annual competition that has been running for more than 40 years. The competition is designed to promote gardening and horticulture across London.
Hillingdon won not only gold in the “large city” category but was also judged overall winner in that category for the second year in a row. We are very fortunate to live in the capital’s greenest borough.

The following Green Spaces local to Eastcote won awards:

Gold
• Eastcote House Gardens – won gold for the “park of the year” category
• Friends of Eastcote House Gardens won in the “our community” category
• Friends of Eastcote House Gardens won in the “walled garden” category
• Polish War Memorial and Garden won in the “park of the year” category
• Ruislip Lido won in the “large park of the year” category
• Poors Field won in the “common of the year” category
• Long Meadow won in the “large conservation area” category
• Breakspear Cemetery won in the “large cemetery” category

Silver
• Highgrove Woods won silver in the “small conservation area” category
• Pinn Meadows won silver in the “large conservation area” category
• Manor Farm won silver in the “heritage park and garden of the year” category
• Friends of Pinn Meadows won in the “our community” category

Other awards
• Friends of Eastcote House Gardens, marked as outstanding in the “it’s your neighbourhood” category
• Friends of Pinn Meadows judged to be “thriving” in the “it’s your neighbourhood” category

Autumn meeting of FOMLUC

The autumn meeting of the Federation of Metropolitan Line Users’ Committees (FOMLUC) was held on 18th September. The following points emerged:–

The Finchley Road to Baker Street drainage works would be completed on schedule and full evening services would resume on or about 30th December 2018. London Underground were in discussion with the Trades Unions on the effect a change of timetable might have on train crews.

Six “S” stock trains at any one time are returned to Derby for modification work to allow for compatibility with the new signalling system. Additionally some other minor problems such as with seat covers are being assessed.

Jubilee Line train doors opening whilst train in motion: a full enquiry is under way and all LU rolling stock is to be assessed.

Step-free access at Harrow-on-the-Hill Station: The contract has been let to Taylor Woodrow with Otis for the lifts. Hoardings are in place on platforms 1 to 4 and pltforms 5/6 are being cleared. LU are proposing a ramp for the Lowlands Road entrance/exit although there is preference locally for a lift. This will be reconsidered prior to planning applications yet to be submitted. Target time for the completed installation of the lifts is August 2019.

Redevelopment work at Rayners Lane station is underway. LU have not confirmed that numbers of car parking spaces will be maintained as at present. Lifts will not be installed due to the cost of removing and resiting items of infrastructure such as cables.

New signalling system: the schedule has “slipped” due to software problems although projected completion dates will be met. It is reported that the new system will not be installed north of Harrow where tracks are shared with the Chiltern Line although this was said by LU to be “unlikely”.

The delay in the opening of Crossrail to Autumn 2019 will have an adverse effect on LU/TfL finances in the current and 2019/20 fiscal years.

RAF100 Flypast – Message from RAF Northolt

RAF Northolt’s Communications Officer, Sqn Ldr James Tenniswood, outlines plans for the 100 aircraft flypast on Tuesday 10th July, in celebration of the RAF’s centenary year.

The flypast will enter London from the east, fly along The Mall, then split up into 9 packets of aircraft which will exit London over Hendon, Heathrow and the South West of London.

In London, the best place to view the entire flypast will be at The Mall, or just behind Buckingham Palace, somewhere like Eaton Square Gardens. If you want to see the aircraft that will exit over Hillingdon, the best, and only view will be just North of Heathrow; Harlington, Sipson and Harmondsworth areas. Aircraft from the flypast may be visible along the lower border with Ealing and the M4, and along the eastern edge of Harrow, east of the A5.

Unfortunately the aircraft will not exit over RAF Northolt or it surrounds. This is because, unlike the Queen’s Birthday Flypast, which is much smaller and usually flies out over RAF Northolt in order to avoid Heathrow airspace, this flypast, with up to 100 aircraft, will see Heathrow’s airspace closed and cleared; thus nearly all the traffic will travel out over Heathrow and to the south of Heathrow.

We will put out any updates on the RAF Northolt Twitter and Facebook channels. Of course the Flypast, and the parade, will be broadcast on BBC One on the day.

Michael Sobell Hospice Petition

Update: The petition will be delivered to a representative of the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust at the main Mount Vernon office, 9:30am on Monday July 9th.

Local residents have vowed to save Michael Sobell Hospice in Northwood, setting up an online petition addressed to The East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, asking them to “Find a way to replace the current Michael Sobell Hospice building that has come to the end of its life.”

Supporters are encouraged to join for the presentation of the petition. Organiser, Terry Dean, said:

“If you want to join us; The plan is now to congregate on the land just outside the gate 3 entrance of Mount Vernon Hospital on White Hill from 9 to 9:30am on Monday July 9th. I have cleared this with the police and invited them to join us.”

“I will be accompanied by Dr. Elaine Laycock MBE. Dr Laycock was one of the first doctors to work at the hospice soon after it opened. She used some of her time at MSH to help create the first Palliative Care Centre in Serbia which opened in 2013. She took staff from MSH to Serbia to teach them, and brought Serb doctors to MSH to learn. There are now two hospices in Serbia both based on the Michael Sobell model; it is ironic that there may soon not be one in Northwood unless we stand up for it.”

“Dr. Laycock and I will be meeting with Nick Hurd next week to discuss this campaign. I have in my possession a letter from Mr Hurd stating that he welcomes the Department of Health’s End of Life Care Strategy which encourages the development of specialist palliative care and hospice provision.”

If we are able to reach a target of 10,000 signatures we may be able to force a response from Westminster. At this stage we only need everyone who has signed so far to get one more signature! So please share this link if you have not already done so.” https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-the-michael-sobell-hospice

“Finally I have received a message of support from a relative of Michael Sobell. To remind yourself what we are striving to save please paste the address below into your browser to watch a short video made last year by media students of West Herts College.”

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