Recent Resident Enquiries Submitted to Hillingdon Council

Here are the atest round up of questions and queries I have submitted to the Council for more details or resolution. It is what being your local Councillor is all about and it is a great joy to be able to help.

If you are a Northwood resident and have any issues you would like me to try and solve, please email me on:

scott@northwoodconservatives.org

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ECP – ENVIRONMENT AND CONSUMER PROTECTION

1. NRA need to suggest some dates in Nov/Dec for a meeting with Philomena Bach and her team in the ward.
Cllr SSD suggests: Nov 19th, 24th, morning of 25th

2. Officers in ECP are requested to inform Cllr SSD of the date for the next Utility Company meeting – would we be able to collate, via officers, issues from around the various residents’ associations to feed back to them?

3. What is the current position with fining utility companies – has Hillingdon adopted the full powers under various legislation? If not why not?

4. How often will the old Reindeer site be monitored for rubbish? What is the current position with the owners and getting them to pay fines and costs?

5. Where is the wood carving promised for Northwood Green Lane?

6. When the Station Approach work in Nwd starts what will happen to the florist?

7. Does the new phase II scheme include heritage signage for the shops in Station Approach to put their names on – we can levy a small fee for this – to avoid the plethora of sandwich boards/a boards at the junction?

8. Why do some officers not reply to emails themselves but do it via another – I can understand Directors needing this but why others? Residents find it rather stand offish.

9. The Kewferry Road and Moor Park Road schemes – schools are being consulted with – why not residents too? What is the timeline on the work being completed?

10. The Rickmansworth Road scheme proposed crossing etc to make the road safer – what is actually to be done now and when?

11. When will the notices about the traffic lights in Green Lane go up and where?

12. Where is the proposal for a crossing near The Glen to help my older residents, also benches at the bus stop opposite Green Lane car park. Can we also have a bench at the bus stop outside the Boble College?

13. Can Jack Webster and Trading Standards advise me of where we are with the NRA complaints about car dealers parking stock in the area – what more can be done?

14. Has there been any measured increase in flytipping since the Hillingdon First card was introduced? What are the figures for reported incidences in the 9 months to September 2008 and same period 2009?

15. What can be done about the Misty Moon pub and the amount of street debris they create – especially from smokers – can we stop drinks being taken outside the pub?

16. The Misty Moon pub has a disco – is a licence required or is this generally permissible?

17. The raised crossing on Green Lane is still causing issues – the paint is worn too. What can be done to make it more visible?

18. In Eastbury Road there is a triangle of land, a small open space. Can we get some benches on here and make it a more formal area?

19. Are our local traffic wardens allowed to enforce by laws like cycling on the paths etc?

20. Why has Mount Vernon hospital not been formally informed hen works commenced on water mains and other utilities at Rickmansworth Road/Ducks Hill Road? What is the process for them being informed – is it the borough or the contractor’s responsibiltiy?

PCS – PLANNING AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

1. Can a senior planning officer please attend a committee meeting of NRA to meet the committee, or even consider coming to their open forum in November? Please contact Tony Ellis directly on 01923 821237

2. Please can I be told the detailed criteria for planning applications being delegated for officer decision?

3. Please can I have  copy of the latest planning permission that was given for the old dining hall in High Street Northwood. Please can a copy also be posted to Tony Ellis, NRA, c/o Conservative Group Office.

4. Why does our web planning system not work with Mozilla or Firefox?

5. LIDO – a Northwood resident visited the Lido and on Sunday 30th August the disabled toilet was locked, next day all toilets were locked. When open they are awash with urine and frankly disgusting. What is to be done to remedy this? There was also a lot of litter on the beach – how often is it cleaned in the Summer? Is there an increased schedule during peak visitor times?

6. I would like an officer to contact me to discuss progressing a farmers market idea in Northwood

7. Can we run an essay competition at the new Oaklands Gate library, for all ages? We have a well published local author willing to judge the competition and the ward fund could give the prizes.

8. The Chestnut Avenue football pitch needs reseeding as a matter of urgency

Comms – COMMUNICATIONS

1. The communication with Northwood and Eastcote where the Leader is not distributed remains poor. What was the response to rquests for more detail to be made available on the web and the idea from Northwood to post important informtion on the community noticeboards?

DCE – DEPUTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE

1. Would a scheme whereby members of CMT and SMT ‘adopt a ward’ and spend perhaps two days a year with residents’ associations and act as an officer link to the wards and residents be a productive idea? Very in keeping with Conservative Localism agenda.

Holiday

All quiet on the blog front, on annual leave for a week and now down in Kent until 27th October.

If residents need to speak to me I can be reached via 01895 250316 or on email scott@seaman-digby.com

Back soon….

Conference 2009 – Countdown to Manchester

Well conference is upon us soon and today I am traveling up to Manchester to oversee some of the final arrangements. We have got some great press already for events and projects that I have kicked off for the first time this year. Today in the Times they mention the retail mall we have in the conference zone. 17 major retailers anchored by Marks and Spencer and Harvey Nichols, giving delegates some leisure outlets between functions, speeches and fringes. If you are at conferecne do try the cocktail bar on the Harvey Nichols stand.

During the week there a range of events that we have organised, I must at this stage say that they would have been impossible without the hard work of my assistant, Eugene, and colleagues at CCHQ. They kick off with the Pub Quiz (Palace Hotel, Oxford Street, Manchester) on Monday night at 6pm, and at the same time a reception for retailers in the min restaurant at Harvey Nichols in Manchester (starts at 5.30pm). Over 400 people have bought tickets to the pub quiz and we are to be joined by 200 representatives from the retail sector at the reception in Harvey Nichols.

Tuesday night sees the Conference Pride event in Canal Street where 500 delegates and Manchester residents will party the night away after an introduction from shadow cabinet members, live act Angie Brown singing and then an auction. The event is at Spirit Bar in Canal Street and is in association with Manchester Pride. Ben Summerskill, the CEO of Stonewall, will speak and the event is hosted by Margot James and Iain Dale. An auction we are running has some great prizes including having the Harvey Nichols Mixologists come to your home and host a party!

To Wednesday when we have a ‘What Next for Conference’ fringe event in Charter 1 at Manchester Central, starting at

5.45pm. Eric Pickles MP and Emma Pidding, Chairman of Conference, are joining us to get ideas from association reps about how we can make conference even bigger and better. Later that night we will host the last night ‘Party for Change’ at Pure Nightclub in the Old Printworks. Here over 1500 people will be entertained by collaborations withlocal Manchester radio stations Key103 and Magic 1152, who are hosting a battle of the bands event and DJ slots. Microsoft have set up an Xbox room where the latest games can be played, a roller disco is run on the ground floor and the dancing runs on until 3am.

Tickets for all events can be bought online at www.conservatives.com/conference or via the Box Office in the main conference hall, just as you walk in by the Guide Information desk. Come along and see how different conference is in 2009. The commercial input to conference this year is immense and the relationships we have built across Manchester have added to the success we expect from the week. Tonight I am hosting a dinner to say thank you to our key Manchester partners ahead of the conference start. We return to Manchester in 2011 and the work for that starts during this trip when we sketch out some of the priorities for the event and how we plan it will be run.

The change of approach this year has included a more active marketing of the conference to our databases as well as bespoke html email campaigns to alert delegates and local party members and supporters to the events that are being run. Our web team headed by Craig have helped us get the message out deeper and wider than ever before, the success in sales and attention owes a lot to them and everyone at CCHQ who has been so supportive.

More pictures to follow.

Dave and George Help Protect the UK Rating

from Ben Brogan – Daily Telegraph 09/09/09

Let’s give Dave and Osborne the credit for saving our rating

The FT take on the ‘green shoots’ story this morning previewed the announcement from Moody’s on prospects for the UK’s AAA credit rating. The agency reckons there is no need for a downgrade because our debt is affordable (something about long-dated debt), and because there is now a consensus among the parties that public spending needs to be cut. And hooray to that I say. But hang on. Who created that consensus? Alistair ‘Cassandra’ Darling is deservedly getting praise around the place for dragging Gordon Brown away from his dishonest ‘Tory cuts v labour investment’ nonsense towards this week’s talk of ‘difficult choices’. The post-Brown Treasury and the Bank of England have also kept their credibility. But surely it is David Cameron and George Osborne who have banged on about debt and the need to cut spending. If we have avoided the national humiliation of being dropped into the banana league category, it’s thanks to them. The markets are betting Tory.

Back in Northwood

Just to let people know I am back from hols and can be contacted for any local issues on:

07525 987093

scott@northwoodconservatives.com

(Office 01895 250316 or 01923 822876)

Bourdeaux Bound…

From Saturday through until 1st September I will be in France and thus not contactable. My ward colleagues are available to deal with any resident’s issues or concerns and they may be contacted via the group office at the Civic Centre on 01895 250316, or through the ward offices on 01923 822876.

I will be intermittently be accessing emails so please do feel free to email me, I apologise now that I may not be able to respond quickly – scott@northwoodconservatives.com. Mail will be sorted by our house sitters but I will not get to see it until my return. Any urgent matters will be passed to Cllr Lewis or the office for a response if possible.

I hope you are all enjoying the summer and that the promised continued good weather stays from the next few weeks or longer.

Fun Run for Cancer Centre in Northwood

In September I am taking part with a colleague in the Moor Park 10k Fun Run. Our target is £1000 and we are well on the way – but we still need more support. If you can help support this great cause then please click HERE to sponsor us.

The work of the Lynda Jackson centre is well known locally and across London and the UK. It is an inspiring and amazing place offering a service to people at a really challenging time in their lives and those of their families. We wanted to help them beat the achievement of last year and have entered the run. We also hope that this will help with preparation for a half marathon in mid-October, and as a detox ahead of the party conference which starts the weekend after!

If anyone wants to join the team please drop me an email at:

scott.seaman-digby@conservatives.com

My Day at Hendon

I took a day’s holiday today to visit Hendon for day one of my induction as a special constable. The details of what we did are all hush hush but it coered the basic attributes of being a police officer and looked at how we demonstrated these in exercises we were given. We were all ‘locked up’ under examination conditions from when we arrived and I didn’t hit the internet or emails for 5 long hours – longest ever (when I have been awake that is).

One of the really exciting things was the diversity of those applying and the ages. From me at a ripe old 37 (I did tragically seem to be the oldest person there – how did that ever happen!) to a student in their second year at Imperial, and pretty much all ranges in between. In my cohort some 20 people, all connected with London, with different backgrounds (one person had to ring abroad for family details for the security forms and the time difference was an issue), different races and different reasons for being there, came together to offer their free time to their communities. It is maybe self indulgent to praise something I too am involved in and I do not mean to be egotistical when I do, but it is really encouraging that so many people are interested in helping like this.

That said it was only day one and more follows. If I pass today then the next step is more induction and fingerprinting etc (!) before embarking at the final stage on 19 initial days training in aspects of the police officer’s role and then further courses in specific areas – all rather intense but of course necessary. Before anyone asks I will not be on the beat in Northwood as I wasn’t sure that (or indeed Hillingdon full stop) would be a good idea. It is something I will discuss locally as it would allow me to be out and about in the area but the potential conflicts may prevent it. Once I hear my results from today I will blog again and report them. SHould be in the next three weeks.

Labour Dirty Tricks Continue

Google Adwords is a tool used by businesses to propel them to the frst few slots on a web search for a given search term. A google search on ‘David Cameron’ throws up all the usual links such as Conservative Campaign in the generic list but there are two entries in the paid for adverts.

One is by the ‘They work for you site’ which is a very useful resource about MP’s and their voting and attendance records etc, the other is an advert enticing readers to click upon it to read the ‘Truly Offensive Side’ of David Cameron. Sponsored by the Labour Party and paid for on each click.

Click here to see the screen shot of this screen shot enlarged.

Have the left learnt nothing from the Crewe and Norwich by-elections? Times have changed and thankfully negative and spiteful campaigning turns voters off politics as much as the expenses scandal did.

Thanks to Geezer466 at Hillingdonchat for posting this

On a Sunday Afternoon…

Having devoured the Times and the News of the World, and having got halfway through Mr Fry’s ‘The Stars’ Tennis Balls’ (totally recommend btw) I started to browse around Twitter as my two companions on the weekend house sit at the Knight’s house in Bath (Rob and Ben) are both now snoozing on alternate sofas. According (unscientifically I guess?) to an online quiz I am a Centre-Right Social Moderate – not sure it is accurate in all respects though?

Right: 1.46, Authoritarian: 0.17

My Foreign Policy Views
Score: -0.51

My Culture War Stance
Score: -4.22

These results were from a Political Spectrum Quiz which I foun on a Twitter post from ByrneTOfferrings, a very switched on 17 year old political blogger.

This site, Hunch, also has an amusing ‘Which Political Party Suits You Best?’ quiz. Amusingly the Conservatives were number two for me after the British Libertarian party – rather a contradiction with the results above?

Such is the fun on a wistful Sunday afternoon. Washing up from breakfast beckons now…