Local Authority

A LANDLORD was fined more than £4,000 after 16 people were found living in filthy conditions in a house - and its garden shed.

Hillingdon Council officers visited the property, in Hillingdon Road, Uxbridge, in June last year, after a tenant complained that the ceiling in her room had collapsed and claimed there were a number of other problems with the house.

It was licensed to house 13 people but inspectors found 16 living there.

York Road will close while a crane is used for work at Coca-Cola headquarters in Bakers Court.

The road affected is between George Street and Belmont Road junctions from 10pm on Saturday, January 28 to midnight on Monday, January 30.

THE appeal against the refusal of planning permission for a Lidl supermarket was heard last week.

A planning inspector is now expected to decide within the six weeks whether the store can be built in Cowley Road, Uxbridge.

He visited the site last week to see for himself the traffic issues which persuaded Hillingdon Council to refuse the original application.

Mic Singh, who runs G&T News in Cowley Road and petitioned against the proposal, said: "He came down and had a good look.

"It is just a case of waiting now."

Cowley Road is already a busy route in and out of Uxbridge and opponents of the store claim it will make the traffic worse.

NEW timetables introduced for the Uxbridge branch of the Metropolitan line this week have 16 per cent fewer weekday trains and 25 per cent fewer weekend services.

The Gazette's analysis of the timetables contradict claims made by Transport for London (TfL) last month that a reduction in peak time services would be counteracted by an increase in off-peak trains.

A DECISION on Sainsbury's application to expand its Uxbridge store will be made tonight (Tues).

The company wants to create two extra storeys to include more floor space, a cafe, a children's learning centre and a car parking deck at the store in York Road.

FOR the fourth year in succession, Uxbridge is to get an ice rink in time for Christmas, and advanced tickets are now on sale.

Booking opened on Monday (21/11), with the rink opening to the public on December 2.

It will stay open from 10am to 9pm every day until New Year's Day, closing only for Christmas Day.

A CONTROVERSIAL continental market will open in Uxbridge town centre tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday - but its organisers has branded a decision to only let it run for two days 'a disaster.'

The council's licencsing sub committee approved the market at a meeting on Friday, but for only half the days the company behind it, Savoir Fayre of Northwood, had applied for.

For the second year running the market was only granted permission for two days. It will sell a range of European produce, and is expected to open between 9am and 7.30pm both days.

Drivers will be banned from turning right at a busy junction, subject to a consultation.

A council contractor has issued more than 740 on-the-spot fines in only six weeks to litterbugs and dog owners who have let their pet foul the street.

Hillingdon Council has employed XFOR Local Authority Support Ltd whose staff can be seen patrolling Uxbridge High Street.

So far £34,830 worth of fines have been issued. Between September 13 and October 22, 444 of the 744 ticket total have been paid, bringing in £22,720.

DEVELOPERS are being invited to bid for a plot of land where a day
centre once stood.

Hillingdon Council granted itself planning permission for the former Honeycroft Day
Centre site, in Honeycroft Hill, Uxbridge, earlier this month, to build 26 flats.

Now permission has been granted, the site which closed as a day centre in 2008 is more marketable.

The council has set a deadline of December 15 for bids.

Some people feel the detail of the development is flawed and they question why a path along the River Pinn has not been allowed.

Bob Parsons, former chairman of North Uxbridge Residents' Association, said: "This has been running for over a year and there have been four sets of revisions to the plans.

"We maintain it is essential to provide a riverside walkway to link the site into RAF Uxbridge, but they have chosen not to include this and the reasons cited against it are pretty weak.
"For us it would be an integral part of the scheme."

The council's arguments for not including a path were that it could disturb badgers which forage close to the River Pinn and that the entrance to the flats could become a drop-off point for parents taking children to a new school, when it is eventually built on the RAF Uxbridge site.

Mr Parsons said: "The site was earmarked for a housing development, which is not
necessarily the wrong thing to do, but it has to be done right, and developed to be compatible with the area.

"It has been described as looking like a tithe barn by the size and blandness of it.

"The area is surrounded by semi-detached houses and here's this great slab going in."