Category Archives: Local issues

Tunnel meeting with Secretary of State for Transport

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Here’s a brief note from Brian Cable about today’s meeting between Ray Puddifoot and representatives of Ruislip, Ickenham and Harefield residents concerning Monday’s meeting between the Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin, Nick Hurd, Boris Johnson, Zac Goldsmith, Ray Puddifoot.

We expect a formal statement soon and will publish it here.

In a nutshell:

The meeting with the Secretary of State was a success and he went from being lukewarm about reconsidering a tunnel extension to acceptance that it would be worth looking at again and saying that he would task HS2 with carrying out a new cost and technical analysis, in concert with Transport For London and the London Borough of Hillingdon. He will be writing to confirm this.

Ray was full of praise for Nick, Zac and Boris in the way they presented the case on our behalf.

Ray was equally unequivocal in saying that this had only come about as a result of the pressures brought by us in the communities and our representatives in exhibiting passion, determination, and putting forward well-informed arguments in our petitions and communications.

LBH intends to engage PBA again as its consultants on the tunnel.

He also pointed out potential pitfalls and political difficulties. Basically, it is a step forward, but we still need to attend to the Lords’ petitioning process and the current studies on traffic and dumping still need to be pursued to the end.

I feel a little less discouraged than I did this morning!

In anticipation that there will be a statement very soon.

Regards, Brian

Chairman’s review of 2015-6

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As part of the AGM, the Chairman reviews the Association’s activities during the preceding year. She also does a lot of other things like calling for votes on this and that and introducing the guest speakers. While much of this has to await the members’ approval next year, we thought it would be a good idea to see the body of her presentation here.

The House of Lords starts work on HS2

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Here’s a note from Brian Adams, Committee member and one of our leading HS2 petitioners, about the second reading of the High Speed Rail (London-West Midlands) bill on April 14th:

“It is good to see that some Lords understand the disenchantment of the communities and many of the issues.”

“Note the comment that they should start first with petitions from London and AFTER the summer recess.”

http://stophs2.org/news/15414-lords-say-to-petition

If you don’t want to take Stop HS2’s word for it, or want to explore the context more deeply, take a look at the Hansard transcript.

Your HS2 Compensation questions answered

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Many Ickenham residents are confused and worried about HS2’s plans for compensation (Assuming we don’t get the tunnel). In January, it published some maps and explanations of the various types of compensations on offer. We’ve extracted the Ickenham-relevant parts and put them on a new HS2 Compensation maps page. This links to three downloadable maps in .pdf format which you can browse at leisure (and zoom into to see the detail).

While researching HS2 compensation in general, we found a link to good plain english explanations by property consultants Roger Hannah & Co – well worth a look.

 

Police contact points

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Please don’t abuse these contacts. 101 is great for non-emergencies and 999 for genuine emergencies. Here are all the local contact points:

If you have a local issue, contact your Safer Neighbourhood Team sergeant by email:

  • Sgt David Peaks | Ickenham and Harefield | david.j.peaks@met.police.uk
  • Or phone your local Safer Neighbourhood Ward Officer:
    • Ickenham 020 8721 2543
    • If they are off duty, their phone will divert to voicemail that will be answered within 24-hours

Phone 999: Emergencies

Phone 101: Non urgent

And then there is always Inspector Rob Bryan, Hillingdon North Safer Neighbourhoods | Hillingdon Borough

Result! (Ickenham plan)

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Much more to come, no doubt, from Ickenham Plan but about 100 people attended the debut meeting today at the Village Hall. At the end they decided that it would be a good idea to create a Neighbourhood Plan to help preserve and improve Ickenham as a wonderful place to live.

Well done Ickenham Residents’ Association Committee member, Chris Mountain, for his hard work today, at the festive evening and on many occasions in between to start the ball rolling.

The intention is for the Neighbourhood Plan to have its own organisers, independent of the Ickenham Residents’ Association, although some Committee members might want to join in as private individuals. The truth is that the Committee has plenty on its plate already and might not be able to give the new plan the attention it clearly deserves.

Wanted: people who love Ickenham

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NP Poster
The meeting is about a neighbourhood plan for Ickenham – to discuss the comments that have already been received by the Residents’ Association on the subject and to decide whether to formally apply to the Council (LBH) for permission to start the process.

More information about the Ickenham Village Meeting can be found on the Ickenham Plan website

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like more information.

AGENDA

2.30   Exhibition opens.  Six different local theme tables, documenting views already  gathered and collecting more.
2.45  Welcome and introduction (Chris Mountain – Residents’ Association)
2.50  What difference a neighbourhood plan would make (James Gleave – LBH)
3.00  Question & Answers (Chris Mountain & James Gleave)
3.15  Show of hands on the question:

“Should we set up a Neighbourhood Forum and have a go at writing a Neighbourhood Plan for Ickenham?”

If there is interest, Chris will invite attendees to formally sign up as Forum Members. He’ll also ask if anyone is interesting in chairing the Forum, and will ask for volunteers to lead on the different emerging topics: Business, Green Spaces, Heritage and Housing.

3.20  Signing up and further collection of local views on theme tables.
3.30 Finish

We look forward to seeing you there!