NORTHWOOD HILLS RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION MEETING
WEDNESDAY 27th April 2011, 7.30 PM AT FAIRFIELD
(Approved 22 June 2011)
Minutes
PRESENT
Andrew Riley Chairman ARly
Maxine Goswell Temp. Minutes Secretary MG
Betty Walley Vice President and Health BW
Gordon Gentry Committee Member GG
Christine Bushell Committee member JM
Anila Hashim Planning Officer AHA
Leo Mindel Vice Chairman LM
Lesley Crowcroft Consultant Environmental Officer LC
Jane Clayfield Road Steward JC
Tony Lane President Elect TL
Lawrence Stevens Resident RS
Lynne Halse Committee Member LH
Herbert Levinger Transport Officer HL
Joan Butfield Resident JB
Fiona Morgan Treasurer FM
PLEASE NOTE: If your initials are in BOLD, then you have an outstanding action from the meeting to report on at the next meeting.
Thank you.
1) Apologies for absence, received from:
Andrew Retter, Alan Lester, Paul Akers, John Morgan, Anne Marie Chapman-Bennet, Erika Kimber, Ray Krystofiak, Terry Butfield, , Jonathan Bianco, Robert Symes, David Wright and Sue Katz.
2) Minutes of meeting held on 23rd March 2011
Approved.
3) Matters Rising
None
4) Chairman’s Report
a) The Chairman with deep regret reported that both Malcolm Ruddick and Jyotin Kumbhani had both passed away. He has offered our sincere condolences’ to both families.
b) He has been advised by Carys Walker at LBH that the Council Leader is in the process of signing off the capital budget paperwork for the playground project. This is expected to be completed after the forthcoming bank holidays and will give the officers permission to commence the project. Carys is awaiting confirmation as to which Green Spaces officer will manage the project but she will be liaising with them to put together a time line of events which she will share with the Ward Councillors and the Chairman.
c) ARLY recently visited the HS2 (high speed rail link) exhibition at Ruislip. While in theory HS2, if the proposed route is accepted by Government, will not impact Northwood Hills, he is concerned that construction traffic would need to pass through Northwood Hills. Both our MP and LB Hillingdon are supporting HS2 but not the proposed route.
d) The Residents Association and The Chamber of Commerce have recently had 2 meetings with officers from L B Hillingdon to discuss how Joel Street could be improved. Nothing has yet been agreed but in the near future the Council will start to consult widely about their thoughts. LB Hillingdon has had an initial discussion with TFL about the re-alignment of bus stops but they do not, at present, seem receptive to making changes. £400k has been set aside by the Council in this year’s budget for these improvements.
e) Following a post implementation review, the Council agree with NHRA that the diagonal car park spaces in Joel Street are too narrow. The spaces will shortly be widened which will mean that 2 spaces are lost on either side of the road. Separately Alan Lester reports that a number of people support his request to mark the spaces the other way around and as such he will now petition the Council to implement such a change.
f) Residents of Colchester Road, Lichfield Road and Winchester Road will be holding a joint street party in Lichfield Road this coming Friday to celebrate the Royal Wedding. It is believed that Coteford Infant school will also be holding a street party the day before.
g) Next week the Chairman will be jointly chairing a meeting with Nick Hurd which will bring stakeholder groups together to discuss how collectively we can work together to make Northwood Hills an even more attractive place to live and work.
5) Treasurer’s report
FM was welcomed to the meeting. The accounts were discussed and she suggested setting budgets for the forthcoming year to have a better understanding of the income/expenditure requirements in the future. It was noted that the advertising revenue had increased in the latter part of the year, and it was hoped that this level would continue, thanks to the efforts of AL. Discussion took place around the size of the balance to be left in the account as a general rule and the need to ensure that on-going income & expenditure should ideally balance, though if a particular large expenditure was required, then using some of the existing balance could then be further discussed. FM agreed to list the advantages and disadvantages of becoming a charity. Gift aid could be claimed if NHRA had Charity status, though the administration of this would need a significant resource. NHRA may be eligible for some grants which are not possible without charitable status, however, the Charity Commission Website showed that this was not necessary for an organisation with an annual income of less than £5,000, which was the case for NHRA, and so it was agreed that this was probably not a sensible route to follow at the moment. Agreed to discuss at the June meeting & FM agreed to look at various options, such as moving the account to an account which allows for the purchase of a bond (HSBC) to improve the very poor interest rate available at the moment.
6) Editor’s Report
The general view on the latest edition of The Echo was that it was excellent and AL was thanked for all his hard work. It had been published on time with no increase in cost, despite the rising price of paper. There was a disappointing lack of response from some areas -
Nothing from Haydon, Harlyn, or Northwood Schools or from the cricket and football clubs. AL had agreed to chase them again with ARly, perhaps also approaching their fundraising arms. CB agreed to contact Harlyn School & BW the sports clubs.
There had also been no response yet to the request for avolunteer Advertising Manager. Perhaps someone on the Committee is able to help with this as this is needed to keep the impetus going and improve income streams.
There had been no response at all for the Photo Competition. Those present were urged to encourage others to submit entries.
7) Secretary’s Report
Chairman thanked RL for sending in her report:
´ Sent 22 invoices for advertising in Hills Echo
´ Eight payments received to date.
´ Cheques to value of £435.00 passed to Treasurer.
´ Outstanding payments will be pursued.
8) Planning Report
AH reported on the following:
60 Stanley Road:
Their planning application was refused and now they are going to appeal. I personally, can't see any thing wrong with what they were asking and it is in keeping with the street scene. I hope they are successful in their appeal.
72/74 Stanley Road
The flat roof built on the extension at 72/4 Stanley Road was discussed at some length and agreed to be unsightly. The original application was for a sloping roof, but this was refused. AH agreed to discuss with JM.
It was suggested that an article could go into the Newsletter to explain how to go abut objecting/applying for planning permission.
38 Gatehill Road:
The application for a Certificate of Lawfulness re the rear dormers and
demolition of the garage and construction of an underground basement
was declined by the Planning Committee on 30th March 2011.
HL asked for it to be noted that the Gatehill Estate is NOT a Conservation Area. The consultation to convert it to a conservation area resulted in the following vote:-
51 No, 11 standard objection letters, 55 Yes,
As a consequence Hillingdon Council will not go ahead and Gatehill
merely remains an Area of Special Local Character.
12 Gladsdale Drive:
Their application to build a 1 bedroom bungalow was rejected so now they have gone for appeal. They have gone about this whole thing in a very sneaky manner and I hope their appeal is rejected.
Phone Mast Pinner Road:
The application for phone mast on Pinner Road was rejected.
Phone Mast on Joel Street:
The phone mast inside the Builder's Yard has been given notice to quit. There is an application for the existing phone mast just outside the builder's yard, opposite 144 Joel Street, to be made taller - from 15 to 17.5 metres. We have sent in our objection to it. The new phone masts, however, don't seem to have bits sticking on them but hidden inside.
150 Joel Street:
Their application to make it into a nursery was rejected so they have appealed against that decision.
2 Hilliard Road:
They have put in another application, this time to make it into two flats. We sent in our objections as the house/surrounding areas/parking provisions just wouldn’t be enough for this to be turned into two dwellings. They did try to make it look like there is space to park a car but I doubt if it would even fit a smart car.
Church Road, Northwood:
It isn't in Northwood Hills but it might affect people visiting the church. There is going to be parking restrictions on the road opposite the church. It looks like it would have double yellow lines and there would be an any time parking restriction on it.
Northwood Hills Library:
Noted that there had been an error in the design drawings and so it still isn't finish, despite the fact that it was meant to originally finish on the 18th of March, hoping now for an opening in May.
The new path to the library looks quite awful with the path being just concrete and not paving as the existing original entrance has.
Andrew Retter has advised the Chairman that the Council is unhappy with the building delays and will be considering implementing financial penalty clauses in the contract.
9) Transport Report
GATEHILL ESTATE
HL reported that the Council has applied to the Dept. of Transport for permission to implement the peak morning time no left turn at the Woodside Road cut through. However, there are delays due to reorganisation of the DoT.
LONDON UNDERGROUND
Although the situation at Harrow seems to be improving slightly, there has been a major problem with failure of the train indicators on the platforms. Signalling failures continue to disrupt services particularly in the morning rush hour. It has been announced that the signalling contract is being awarded to Bombardier.
There has also been a major incident on the Jubilee Line where passengers were kept for three hours stuck in a train before having to walk through the tunnel to the nearest station.
The Federation of Met. Line Users Committee is scheduled to have a further meeting with Mike Brown Head of LT on 25th May
TRAFFIC LIGHTS
A petition was being prepared to recommend removal of the traffic lights in Northwood as gridlock has resulted since their installation. It was also noted that there seemed to be a plethora of zebra crossings being installed across the Borough,
10) Conservation Report
LC reported on the 2 events planned, the Eastcote House Restoration Appeal launch on Mon 2nd May and the Saturday 9th July Fun day. HMS band may wish to play, MG to enquire.
11) Police Report
Noted that the increase was mainly in opportunistic thefts from motor vehicles, such as pcs/ipods etc. GG pointed out that the police numbers in The Echo did not work. Correct non emergency number is: 0300 1231212.
ARly to liaise with AL to ensure correct numbers are printed next time.
12) Health Report
BW reported that the Northwood and Pinner Friends had still been unable to transfer their outstanding funds to the Comfort Fund at Mount Vernon, but that this was in progress.
13) Ward Councillors’ Report
None submitted.
14) The Big Lunch, Sun 5th June 12-3pm, Salisbury Road
CB reported that the planning for this event was underway. The LST band would play 2 sets. LM agreed that the Scouts would help erect marquees. ALL asked to inform CB of any food they would contribute and any big garden games they could loan. HMS band may wish to play, MG to enquire. CB/LM/ARly to check insurance cover required. CB to send details to LC to advertise in Conservation Panel Diary Dates. AH/LH/ARly and JC to help distribute leaflets.
15) Planning for the AGM
3 speakers have been invited:
Julian Worker, Hillingdon Borough Police Commander: Policing in Hillingdon post the cuts.
Nick Hurd, MP.
Richard Barnes, Deputy Major of London: Transport for London.
CB was happy to do a short presentation on the Big Lunch and how NHRA were trying to build a community.
GG undertook to organise the teas, coffees & biscuits.
ARly would ensure information was in the press. It was noted that the local Gazettes seemed to have strange boundaries now for the stories they covered in the different editions.
The AGM would involve the officers and committee member elections, as required. GG has decided to stand down from the committee. He was thanked for his many, many years of dedicated service to NHRA.
ARly reported that BW hoped someone would start to take over from her responsibility as Health Officer and it was hoped someone would step forward before the AGM. The Chairman recently circulated a note about Hillingdon Policing representation. More than one person has indicated that they would like to represent NHRA on this committee so he will speak with individuals shortly.
16) Events Committee
The implementation of this new committee had been previously discussed & it was agreed that the constitution should be amended as required at the AGM. CB/LH and LM agreed to be part of this new venture.
A suggestion was made that an event on the Hogs Back could be organised in the future.
17) Diary Dates
Sun 1st May: Scouts St Georges Day Parade
Mon 2nd May: Eastcote House Restoration Appeal launch
Sat 7th May: Chamber of Commerce Fun Day
Sun 15th May: Ruislip Woods Festival
Sat 21st May: Scout Jumble Sale
Saturday 9th July: Eastcote House Fun day
18) Other Business
Noted that Ryefield DIY shop and ACES Fixings were closing.
University of the Third Age (U3A) have formed a new branch in the area.
19) Date of Next Meeting
AGM Wednesday 18 May 2011