November 2011 Archives

YIEWSLEY High Street will be blitzed by lorries when the Crossrail construction project comes to town.

There are expected to be up to 120 lorry movements per day in the short, congested section between the Horton Road junction and West Drayton station, as renovation work takes place - the highest number for any Crossrail site.

PROPOSALS to package West Drayton and Yiewsley with Feltham in a new parliamentary constituency have been criticised by residents.

A consultation is taking place on plans by the Boundary Commission (BC) to cut the number of MPs and alter constituency boundaries.

The BC proposed linking Hayes with Feltham, but Hillingdon Council, in its response to the consultation, suggests West Drayton and Yiewsley wards join Feltham for parliamentary election purposes.

At a full council meeting last week, Deputy Council Leader Douglas Mills said: "We will, before the end of the consultation period, present detailed proposals that ensure our residents are put first, by suggesting the main Hayes area is linked along the Uxbridge Road with Southall and a separate suggestion that the Yiewsley and West Drayton area is linked with the Feltham wards in Hounslow."

Les Sweeting, of West Drayton's Garden City Estate Residents' Association, is opposed to the solution put forward by Mr Mills.

He said: "What a disastrous proposal. Where is this council coming from to even suggest that there is any link between the communities of Yiewsley and West Drayton to Feltham? It would appear they want to cut us adrift for some reason.

"There are no geographical, cultural, or institutional links to Feltham for the people of this area.

"The shortest public transport route, by bus, can take at least one hour, and can be as long as two hours depending on traffic and time of day.

"The whole issue regarding linkage is dominated by Heathrow Airport, which has no legal through route for private cars.

"If in an emergency a constituent wishes to attend an MP's surgery in Feltham, it would involve a complex, difficult early and late evening journey by public transport, with all the worries of safety which that entails."

A MUSLIM Association has abandoned plans to convert a former opticians building into a mosque 'as an act of goodwill'.

Residents were worried about the volume of traffic which would have been created if the mosque has been built in Colham Mill Road, West Drayton, in a former optician's.

The association said they would begin searching for a new site in the area which would be more suitable for their needs.

In a statement, the trustees of the Heathrow Educational and Welfare Association (HEWA), said: "We submitted a planning application to Hillingdon Council for an extension and further development at 1 Colham Mill Road, West Drayton.

"In response to concerns raised locally about the proposals, and in particular concerns about additional traffic that may be generated, HEWA has made a formal application to Hillingdon Planning Services seeking to withdraw this application.

"HEWA has taken this step as a gesture of goodwill to maintain harmony within the local community.

"HEWA will continue to engage with local residents and will be looking for a suitable site for its long term aims to set up a community/cultural centre which meets the needs of the growing Muslim community.

"HEWA will continue to work closely with the local authority and residents associations to achieve this aim."

YIEWSLEY High Street will be blitzed by lorries when Crossrail comes to town.

There would be up to 120 lorry movements per day in the short, congested section between the Horton Road junction and West Drayton station, as renovation work took place - the highest number for any Crossrail site.

Lifts will be installed at the station in a five week period which could spell traffic misery for locals, plus more fumes and increased danger.

But the price to pay for the cross-London rail link may be worth it: Crossrail is expected to bring jobs and prosperity to the borough, paricularly around the stations it will serve; West Drayton and Hayes and Harlington.

Airport owner BAA has postopned a move which would mean aircraft routinely taking off over the village of Cranford.

Hillingdon Council would have had to approve a planning application for alterations to taxiways to be built at the airport.

BAA said it wanted to concentrate on its ongoing Operational Freedoms trial, which involves noise monitoring from the ground in Longford.

It added if it introduced extra flights over Cranford, the two schemes could become confused, and it will reconsider its position when the current trial finishes in 2012.

A SCHOOL for autistic children was visited by a shadow education minister last week.

Sharon Hodgson MP (Lab) went to Yiewsley Grange School, in Yiewsley High Street, on Thursday to meet headteacher Akinyi Dulo and director Anna Kennedy and spend time reading with children.

CHILDREN at a primary school were the happy recipients of more than £100 worth of stationary and art supplies from a nearby retailer.

Staff from Wilkinson, in Fairfield Road, Yiewsley, dropped in to St Matthew's Primary School, in Yiewsley High Street, to deliver the goods.

LEARNING how to crack and cook an egg is one of the practical cooking skills pupils have been learning over the past week.

Rabbs Farm Primary School, in Gordon Road, Yiewsley, got a mobile kitchen set up in its assembly hall, thanks to a grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation, a charity which gives money to artistic and community causes.

Barbara Neville, deputy headteacher, said: "The children have made muffins, pizza, flatbread and rice, and the idea is they will be able to take these skills and show them off at home."

Paul Couchman, 41, of Peplow Close, Yiewsley, admitted claiming £28,000 in incapacity benefit from as far back as 2004 despite working for a theatre company.

Couchman, who worked under the stage name Peter Goode, performed Shakespeare classics Twelfth Night and Macbeth at venues across the south-east of England during this time.

He appeared at Uxbridge Magistrates Court last Monday (31/10) and was handed a 26 week jail sentence suspended for two years.

He was given a four week curfew and ordered to pay a £450 fine.