Category: News

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

As of from today until further notice, our office will be closed to the public for refurbishment. However, our service continues to be operational and we will continue to meet all clients who have upcoming advice appointments with us.

We plan to deliver new community drop-in advice sessions across the borough and will keep you updated on this.

For updates, please visit our website: www.hillingdoncab.org.uk

How to contact us: Request a Telephone Call Back -our online form can be accessed here https://tinyurl.com/bdhfbdeb

For urgent advice – call Adviceline on: 0808 278 7893, or leave a message for our team Voicemail Box: 07498 482 130

Hillingdon Council is marking Recycle Week (16 to 22 October) with the launch of new small electrical recycling points in libraries across the borough in a bid to increase the number of electrical products being recycled instead of being thrown away.

New pink collection bins have been rolled out to offer residents another convenient way to recycle their small electrical items in nine libraries: Botwell Green, Ickenham, Manor Farm, Northwood Hills, Ruislip Manor, Uxbridge, Yeading, Yiewsley and Oak Farm.  PLEASE NOTE THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE EASTCOTE LIBRARY.

The council, working in partnership with Material Focus, a not-for-profit organisation which has funded the scheme, will collect items including broken kettles, hair styling appliances and electric children’s toys. Small electricals can still also be donated alongside clothes as part of the council’s home clothing collection scheme with the charity TRAID. Larger items continue to be accepted at Harefield Civic Amenity Site and at the West Drayton waste weekends.

The theme for this year’s national Recycle Week initiative, The Big Recycling Hunt, focuses on items that can be recycled but are most commonly missed in the home. The council is building on this by also shining a light on items that don’t belong in household recycling but can be recycled by other means. When items that are not recyclable are included in a recycling bags this could lead to a whole batch of recycling being rejected and disposed of as general waste.

The most common items that can be recycled as part of the council’s dry mixed recycling collections (and may sometimes be forgotten about), include:

• • plastic pots, tubs and trays
  • plastic detergent/cleaning bottles and their triggers
  • shampoo/conditioner bottles
  • empty aerosols
  • drinks and food cans/tins
  • kitchen foil and aluminium trays
  • books, paper, magazines and cardboard
  • Tetra Paks and cartons
  • lids from bottles and jars.

The most common household items that cannot be recycled as part of the council’s dry mixed recycling collections, include:

• • clothes and textiles
  • batteries and electrical items
  • food and liquids.

Hillingdon’s waste and recycling team will also be hosting three recycling roadshows in Uxbridge, Ickenham and Ruislip this week to celebrate Recycle Week. They will be on hand to answer questions and help residents improve their recycling habits, find out more about how to bin less and recycle more, and share tips on how to reduce contamination.

The council is committed to recycling as much waste as possible by providing residents with free, weekly and easy-to-use recycling collections for mixed dry recyclables, food and garden waste. The council also offers free textile collections.

Hillingdon is seeing a steady increase in recycling rates. Food waste collections rose by 17 per cent between 2021/22 and 2022/23 as more people in kerbside properties signed up for the council’s free weekly food waste collections. Residents have also booked more than 8,000 free household clothing and textile collections via TRAID since September 2021, which is more than any other London borough, resulting in approximately 135 tonnes of textiles being reused and recycled.

West Drayton resident Rachel Rizzo and her sons, Enzo, aged 11, and Theo, aged eight are keen recyclers. Rachel said: “The boys love to get involved with sorting the recycling while I make sure that it’s all clean and dry. Weekly collections help us to stay on top of everything and the council website is great for checking anything we’re not quite sure about.”

Cllr Eddie Lavery, Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services, said: “We are committed to creating a green and more sustainable borough for future generations and our new small electricals recycling scheme in libraries provides another opportunity for residents to recycle and reduce the environmental impact of disposing of general waste.

“Thank you to all Hillingdon residents for their ongoing recycling efforts. We’re seeing more households recycling year on year which is fantastic.
We can all play our part in driving recycling rates up even further, so please do take the time to check that you are recycling correctly and doing all you can – every little helps.”

More information about the council’s recycling initiatives, collections and events is available at www.hillingdon.gov.uk/recycling.