Cllr Raymond Graham (Conservative)

Group Office: 01895 250316

rgraham@hillingdon.gov.uk

Cllr George Cooper (Conservative)

Group Office: 01895 250316

gcooper@hillingdon.gov.uk

Cllr David Yarrow (Conservative)

Group Office: 01895 250316

dyarrow@hillingdon.gov.uk

For more information about council services please go to www.hillingdon.gov.uk

Contacting your local councillors Your Uxbridge North ward councillors:

Map ©

Crown Copyright. A

ll rights reserved. London Borough of Hillingdon 100019283 2016

Local news from your council2016

Uxbridge North 2016edition

RAF

Nor

thol

t Fre

edom

of H

illin

gdon

Par

ade

Putting our residents first in Uxbridge North

Dear Uxbridge North resident

12384

Welcome to your Hillingdon People Local, which highlights some of the things that your council has been doing across the borough and in your local area.

Despite the ongoing financial challenges that we continue to face, as local government funding is cut year on year, Hillingdon Council continues to go from strength to strength. We remain financially sound and in a much better position than many other councils who are reducing service delivery and closing facilities.

The Hillingdon Council tax freeze has continued and will remain in place in 2016/17 for all, and up to and including 2018/19 for those aged over 65. Year after year, we’ve frozen council tax, yet been able to build up record levels of financial reserves. Once again most fees and charges, including parking, will remain unchanged apart from those that we align to our policy that Hillingdon residents should only pay 90 per cent of what our neighbouring boroughs charge.

Services to our older residents, including our free burglar alarm initiative, winter heater loans, free use of swimming pools and swimming lessons, the Brown Badge scheme, free allotments, tea dances and the activities on offer at a range of dining clubs, associations and groups that the council supports are well supported and will continue.

Hillingdon is ensuring every child in the borough has a quality school place close to where they live and our £315 million school building and expansion programme, one of the largest in London has

expanded, built and rebuilt primary schools. The council’s focus will now turn to secondary schools.

In 2015, we retained our reputation as the greenest borough in the country, receiving more Green Flags for our parks and green spaces than any other local authority for the third year running. We also won Gold in the Britain in the Royal Horticultural Society Britain in Bloom competition.

The council also provides free weekly collections of waste and recycling which are the envy of residents in other boroughs. Further investment has allowed us to improve these services and even increase the frequency of collections, which in turn has led to us recycling record highs.

We are bucking the national trend by continuing to invest in your libraries and leisure facilities. Our library improvement programme concluded in 2014 and an increase in visitor numbers is illustrating how residents are enjoying the upgraded facilities, extended opening hours and the wider range of services on offer. The council has also been able to fund a range of leisure programmes and facility improvements across the borough to ensure you are able to partake in the best activities using up to date amenities.

In the last financial year, the council invested record levels in resurfacing more than 200 of the borough’s roads. Supporting our town centres remains a priority and we have boosted business in town centres with a range of regeneration projects. This is ongoing, with work currently underway in Hayes.

As well as improving your local area, we are continuing to oppose schemes that will damage our environment and your health and wellbeing. The HS2 proposals are shamefully inadequate, flying in the face of reality and the council is also calling on the government to rule out, once and for all, the suggestion of Heathrow expansion.

Residents regularly tell us that Hillingdon is doing a good job in delivering good services and, not only continuing to provide but also upgrading facilities. The main drivers of our success have been sound financial management, forward planning, good management, by and large an excellent workforce and our business transformation programme which is designed to reshape the way we deliver services.

We want to make sure that Hillingdon remains a place where our residents are proud to live with a council delivering the services that you tell us are important to you, and we will continue to put our residents first and at the heart of all that we do.

Cllr Ray Puddifoot MBELEADER OF THE COUNCIL

Hillingdon Local 2016 - UXBRIDGE NORTH.indd 1 19/02/2016 09:41

Improving your local areaHillingdon’s Cabinet has given each ward a budget to be allocated at the discretion of the ward councillors. In 2015, a joint grant with Ickenham, South Ruislip and Hillingdon East went to U Can Ask Angels for the creation of an outdoor area for children with complex disabilities and special needs at Hillingdon Park Baptist Church. Funding was also given to Uxbridge Sports Club for new grass rollers and a new footpath in Long Lane.

The council has plans to invest £5.8 million in the redevelopment of the Battle of Britain Bunker site at RAF Uxbridge to create a high-tech visitor and education centre and renovate the underground bunker. Work will begin this year to preserve this historic site. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne visited the historic site in autumn 2015, after the government pledged £1 million funding towards the bunker’s future maintenance.

The St Andrew’s Park development in Uxbridge is ongoing and will provide homes, a borough museum, theatre, offices, sheltered housing, school, shops, restaurants and hotel.

Uxbridge High Street has hosted a range of events. The annual BigFest once again brought culture to the town centre with a range of street artists and entertainers. Residents were also able to get their skates on, as the popular ice rink returned to the Civic Centre forecourt throughout the Christmas period, with prices frozen and new themed nights in 2015.

To celebrate the centenary of RAF Northolt, the council supported the RAF Northolt Freedom of Hillingdon Parade in Uxbridge in June 2015. More than 2,000 people came to see the event, which featured 170 armed service personnel and showed Hillingdon’s close links to the Armed Forces.

Cedars and Grainges multi-storey car parks in Uxbridge have been substantially refurbished to improve customer experience and make the car parks more user friendly.

Cleaner and greener Uxbridge NorthA record amount has been invested in maintaining the borough’s roads. In Uxbridge North, Chestwood Grove, Chetwynd Drive, Fairmark Drive, Grove Road, South Common Road, Lancaster Road, Sylvana Close and West Common Road were resurfaced during the last two years. Work has also improved the footpaths in Belmont Road, Croft Close, Sylvana Road, and West Common Road.

The Green Flag is the highest honour that can be awarded to parks and green spaces and Hillingdon now holds the most in the country with 34. Hillingdon Court Park and Uxbridge Common retained their Green Flags in 2015. Hillingdon also won the prestigious Gold status in Britain in Bloom 2015.

The council continues to offer weekly collections of waste and recycling. New and improved recycling services, including food, garden waste and textile recycling, helped Hillingdon recycle a peak record of 50 per cent of waste in some months in 2014/15. The council’s overall annual

performance was 44 per cent in 2014/15, meaning that it was in the top five performing boroughs in London for recycling.

Residents and community groups can apply for funding to make environmental improvements through the council’s Chrysalis scheme. In Uxbridge North, funding paid for utilities improvements to the Scout Hut in Sweetcroft Lane, for a new path at Hillingdon Court Park and resurfacing of the path around the Middlesex Showground. The Rotary Club of Uxbridge, who run an annual autoshow, applied for funding to allow classic cars improved access to the showground.

Uxbridge NorthPutting our residents first in

Putting our residents first• Council tax frozen for eight years

(12 years for over-65s)• More Green Flags than any other local authority• One of the largest school improvement

programmes in London• Recycling rates hit all-time high thanks

to new and improved services • Bucking the national trend of declining numbers

of library visitors, with 1.6 million in 2015• Record investment in roads• Boosting business in town centres

with regeneration projects• Continued investment in leisure facilities • Opposing inappropriate and damaging developments UXBRIDGE

NORTHCllrs Cooper, Yarrow and

Graham at the Battle of

Britain Bunker

UXBRIDGE NORTHHillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex

Find out more about Chrysalis at www.hillingdon.gov.uk/chrysalisi

Supporting young people in Uxbridge NorthAs part of our £315 million schools improvement programme, one of the largest in London, primary schools across Hillingdon have been expanded or rebuilt to ensure young people have a school place close to their home and receive the best possible education. A brand new school opened in September 2014. The John Locke Academy provides an extra 630 places for Uxbridge North pupils. Hermitage Primary School has also been expanded.

Young people across Hillingdon have been encouraged to volunteer through the Hillingdon Young Volunteers Award.

Supporting older people in Uxbridge NorthCouncil tax has been frozen for over-65s until 2019. Older residents can also benefit from free swimming and swimming lessons, free allotments, the council’s winter heater loan scheme, priority parking with brown badges, free TeleCareLine for over-80s, dining clubs and home library service. Over-65s can also have bulky household items removed for free via the council’s special collections service.

To ensure residents feel safe in their homes, the council supplies over-65s with free burglar alarms. Between April 2014 and December 2015, 54 alarms were fitted in Uxbridge North.

UXBRIDGE NORTHGary Seager, solo street cleaner for Uxbridge North

Safer Uxbridge NorthFixed penalty notices for littering and for unauthorised street trading have been issued in Uxbridge town centre.

Healthy Uxbridge NorthHillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex hosted the council’s first Sports Festival in March 2015. This free event gave residents the chance to try a range of activities and get advice.

The complex now hosts wheelchair based sports sessions, with new wheelchairs funded through FreeSport. The council’s Streetgames programme, which offers drop-in sports to young people for a low cost, has expanded to include multi-sport sessions at Hillingdon Athletics Track.

Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex also hosts the council’s Let’s Get Moving programme, a scheme that tackles obesity but also where hospital patients who have had cardiac problems or a stroke are referred to take part in a 12-week course of physical activity to improve their health and wellbeing.

Fitness sessions for young people are also run at the complex. Fit Teen Club encourages 13 to 16-year-olds to take part in a 10 to 12 week programme of fun, organised multi-sport games and nutritional sessions to increase activity and improve confidence. Ready Steady Boost is a popular multi-sports scheme for five to 11-year-olds offering a taste of different sports to those covered at school.

In summer 2014, a new 3km run, jog and walk loop was installed on Hillingdon House Farm. The 321 Loop is a jogging circuit divided into 3, 2 and 1km sections as a guide for runners or walkers. It is free and can be used at any time of the day. The council also runs free Jog it Off sessions for all abilities from Hillingdon Athletics Stadium.

Hillingdon Local 2016 - UXBRIDGE NORTH.indd 2 19/02/2016 09:41