Category: News

Have your say on Hillingdon Council’s Cycling Strategy

The residents associations of Eastcote and Ruislip have requested extra time to respond to Hillingdon Council’s new Cycling Strategy consultation. The council has agreed to extend the consultation by two weeks, until 18th June 2024.

This will allow suitable time to update the document to create a final version which they will hopefully be able to launch not long after the general election.  Click Here http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/article/12781/Cycle-Strategy

The council has published its draft Cycling Strategy – a 10-year vision outlining its ambitions to enable more people to make trips in the borough safely and easily and improve infrastructure.

Residents, businesses and visitors are being asked to have their say on the draft strategy ahead of a final version being launched later this summer.

Among the proposals is the delivery of eight new dedicated cycle routes. A key element of the consultation will be looking to understand which of those routes residents favour most, which will enable the council to prioritise delivery.

The council has already overseen the installation of many kilometres of dedicated cycle network, and helped thousands of young people get free cycle training, but there remain obstacles to getting more residents out pedalling.

The strategy sets out how the council will seek to address those, in particular by utilising the borough’s green spaces and towpaths to help residents traverse the borough without having to use busy roads, which can be hostile to new or inexperienced cyclists.

Cllr Jonathan Bianco, Hillingdon Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Property, Highways and Transport, said: “We’re committed to creating a green and sustainable borough with thriving healthy households.

“By facilitating more safe, car-free travel options for residents it will remove non-essential and polluting journeys from borough roads, while helping residents to lead active, healthy lifestyles.

“We want to hear from residents and other stakeholders to ensure our ambitions align with residents’ needs, so that what we deliver will be well-used and also represent good value for money for everyone.”

Have your say on the draft strategy before the deadline on Tuesday 4 June

HS2 works update

Please see the works updates as follows:

HS2 works – closure of New Years Green Lane

This Week Coming – Newyears Green Lane – Road Closure for removal of Conveyor

1. Tue 28/05 to Sat 01/06 (5 days during School Half-Term Holidays)
2. Works are to remove the Conveyor that currently crosses the road between the HS2 Sites
3. The works are scheduled to take place over 5 days as contingency built-in as they are weather dependant (a Crane will be used to remove the sections of the Conveyor piece by piece)
4. If the weather is good then it is hoped the Conveyor can be removed quicker than the scheduled 5 days and the road reopened sooner

Update from National Organisation of Residents Associations on short term lettings

Our last update on Short Term Letting (STL) was in June 2022, where we reported on measures being taken to STL in other countries (including Scotland!) and being contemplated by government in England and Wales (ie the  Departments for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) – which covers tourism).  Since then, progress has been glacial.

A year ago, NORA held a meeting with the Short Term Accommodation Association (STAA), one of the principal trade bodies involved. Both parties agreed on the current housing crisis, and on the Parliamentary Committee’s two recent recommendations to the government:

  1. to “recommit to delivering the affordable homes the country needs, particularly the 90,000 social rent homes needed every year,” and
  2. to introduce a “tourist accommodation registration scheme and [asked it to] report back on whether the scheme could be used to allow Local Authorities to protect their communities from the holiday-let market.”  Both parties were in favour (a) of such a scheme, (b) of its being compulsory, and (c) of online booking agencies (eg AirBnb) being required to display the venue’s registration code on all advertisements or listings.  In this way, Local Authorities would be aware of the venues in their areas and thus be able to take other actions which were legal.  However, STAA saw there being difficulties in enforcement: so wanted such registration to be at no charge to the venue.

NORA later exchanged correspondence with STAA to add its conviction that, additionally, a new Planning Use Category would probably be needed for STL, allowing Local Authorities (LA) to require Planning Approval to be sought for change of use, if the LA so decided (though not in cases where the landlord is also resident).

In April 23, the Levelling Up Secretary of State announced that a scheme along the above lines would be introduced, and opened a consultation phase, to last to June.  However, little more was heard until February 24, when the proposals were confirmed, with changes “being introduced from this summer”; so don’t hold your breath!

Robin Kerr – meetings secretary
National Organisation of Residents Associations
www.nora-uk.com

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